All of the cheap Swedish furniture you can handle

I wrote an email last night to break the news to Kayla that IKEA is planning on coming to Colorado. I don’t really know how she reacted, but I can only imagine it was with tears of joy. That girl has been jonesin’ for cheap, streamlined Swedish furniture for a while.

They had a press conference this morning announcing plans to come to Centennial. According to The Denver Post the planned store will have more than 400,000-square-feet on two levels and include a 1,700-space parking garage. The store plans to employ 400 people.

No word yet on when they’ll open. To tide yourselves over until the store cuts a giant ceremonial ribbon and opens its doors, brush up on all things IKEA at Wikipedia. Of particular interest to me were their naming conventions for their products. Browsing their Web site is like taking a foreign language lesson.

Highland Garden Cafe

Last week I went to the Highland Garden Cafe with my mom. It is on Lowell across from Highland Pacific Oyster Bar. This place was so cute! It’s two old Victorian houses combined together and a good half of the seating is outside. It feels intimate and secluded; my mom and I sat tucked behind a huge tree. I really liked the menu, tons of fish, only a few non fish items on the menu. The appetizer was so delicious. We had a goat cheese quesadilla with a mango lobster chutney. My mom had the baby lamb leg things she raved about and I had quail which I hadn’t had before. They were really yummy, moist, and sweet. Oh! and they have a HUGE dessert menu - I was really surprised by how many choices there were. We ordered two desserts but could only eat one because we were so stuffed. The blueberry crisp was only okay but the strawberry rhubarb thing was amazing. I would definitely go back… it was fun foods a bit expensive but not fancy. It’s an in between place: great atmosphere - sit on plastic patio furniture. one waiter for 8 tables - expensive prices (mom and I spent 130+). Also, I noted a lot of older people there, it is located in a pretty hip and younger area and I didn’t really see very many younger people… I just noticed that’s all.  However it could be the quieter garden atmosphere and there were a lot of large family gathering there which I really liked. I loved it and I loved taking my mom there so keep it in mind when you’re over off 32nd and Lowell.  It’s just a couple blocks up… a perfect summer evening spot. -HB

NKOTB Denver

That’s right, New Kids on the Block is coming to town - and you can see them! November 18, 2008. Tickets are presale right now, but they’ll be out to all soon at about $50 on up.

If you don’t know NKOTB - well I don’t know what to say to you if you don’t know NKOTB. But here’s a little refresher:

In the late Eighties and early Nineties, while still teenagers themselves, New Kids on the Block became a phenomenon, selling over 70 million albums – including the back-to-back international number one efforts, 1988’s Hangin’ Tough and 1990’s Step By Step — and a series of crossover smash R&B, pop hits like “You Got It (The Right Stuff),” “Cover Girl,” “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time),” “Hangin’ Tough,” “I’ll Be Loving You,” “Step By Step” and “Tonight” — as well as countless number of concert tickets, t-shirts and even lunchboxes to primarily female kids around the world. Then under the guidance of producer Maurice Starr who had previously brought the world New Edition, the New Kids made a tremendous impact on the culture very quickly.

“The Right Stuff” really is — at long last — returning to your block. Thankfully, this time, it’s all happening in the right way too.

New Kids On The Block — five now fully-grown men who forever defined what the modern boy band would look and sound like — are back together for the very first time in nearly a decade and a half, and currently hard at work on their first new album since 1994. That still untitled album should be released sometime this summer, preceded by the New Kid’s first new single since the Nineties, and followed in the fall by an already hotly anticipated international concert tour.

So, if you want to check out NKOTB’s “Right Stuff” or new stuff - or just check out Jordan Knight, Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood - grab tickets starting 6/9, Monday at 10 am while they last, and head up to Broomfield come November.

Brush with fame

Last night I was eating dinner at California Pizza Kitchen in the Cherry Creek mall and saw Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan eating dinner a table away. It was my first celebrity spotting since I was seven years old and saw John Stamos in an airport in Hawaii. I would like to say that over the years I’ve matured and celebrity no longer holds any power over me – but I haven’t. I thought it was pretty cool. She was shorter than I expected, but according to wikipedia, she’s only 5’2” tall.

 

After doing a little internet research I realized that maybe my spotting wasn’t so rare – Michelle started going to the University of Denver in 2006. In my search I also turned up many of the accomplishments of the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history – and lots of strange trivia including: 

• Hallmark made a snowglobe with a figurine of her in it.
• Michelle suffers from claustrophobia.
• Her Chinese name is Kwan Wing Shan.
• Michelle has a dog, Ginseng, a teacup Malti-Poo. 

I have no idea how reliable the sources of this trivia are, or if in fact Michelle has a Malti-Poo and is claustrophobic, but I thought it was interesting.  And I wonder what kind of dog John Stamos has…