November 17, 2017

Stars and Cars: Week One

November 17, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

40th Denver Film Festival via the 2017 Toyota Prius Prime Premium

For the past four years, I've had the privilege of covering the annual Denver Film Festival, presented by the Denver Film Society. As a film fan, it's an amazing opportunity. As a resident of Colorado Springs, though, not Denver, the 140-mile round trip to attend screenings, panels, red carpets and more has slightly dampened my enthusiasm for the honor each time festival time rolls around.

This year Toyota came to my rescue, providing not just one vehicle for zipping up and down I-25 for the festival, but two. For week one of the 40th Denver Film Festival, Toyota delivered to my door a 2017 Toyota Prius Prime Premium plug-in hybrid, which turned the trips to and from Denver into festive occasions pert near as fun and entertaining as the event I covered.

I was surprised by how attractive and well-appointed the 2017 Toyota Prius Prime Premium is. How comfy and flat-out cool it is, too.

November 15, 2017

Personalized puzzles for pre-turkey patience

November 15, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

Savvy restaurant servers know the first task when waiting on customers with kids is to provide puzzles or coloring pages for entertaining the little ones while they wait for their food.

Savvy grandmothers and others can follow the same tack this Thanksgiving by providing personalized puzzles to pint-sized guests gathered at the table, awaiting their turkey.

The personalized part makes pre-turkey puzzles more fun — and it's so easily done.

November 13, 2017

Plural magic!

November 13, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

Plural magic!

Welcome to a new week! I'd like to start this week sharing with you a smile, and few folks make me smile as much as my grandson Camden.

Most recently, Camden cracked me up with the following, which Megan posted on...

November 11, 2017

Saturday movie briefs: 6 movies for Veterans Day Weekend

November 11, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

I live in a city that survives and thrives in large part due to the numerous military installations located here, those being the United States Air Force Academy, Fort Carson, Peterson Field, Schriever Air Force Base and NORAD.

Despite the strong and unmistakable military presence of my everyday — the patriotic sound of morning Reveille and evening Taps often emanating from Peterson plus eardrum-rattling USAF Thunderbird flyovers directly above my house during football and graduation season, for starters — I unfortunately too often take for granted what veterans of every single military branch have done and continue to do for our country as well as other countries around the world.

Today, Veterans Day, I want to humbly and wholeheartedly...

November 08, 2017

Thanksgiving theatrics: Family fun galore courtesy What Happens at Grandma's

November 08, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

My friend Grandma Joyce from What Happens at Grandma's has done it again: crafted a creative and clever holiday activity for kids! This time it's for Thanksgiving, and this time it's unique among Thanksgiving arts and crafts found online because it's performance art — a three-act play for grandkids to perform for friends and family on Turkey Day. Thank you for sharing, Joyce!

The kids don't know it yet, but they're going to superstar in a post-dinner Thanksgiving play at grandma's this year. Considering their love of theatrics, I'm confident they'll gobble up this opportunity right along with savory sweet potatoes served on the rapidly approaching family day of thankful...