A Photo Blog - My Milwaukee Hotel

The Hilton in Milwaukee was built in the late 1920's and is it elegant and sumptuous. It connects to the Convention Center via skyway from the south, the other host hotel (the Hyatt) connects from the north. The Hilton is closer to the classrooms, the Hyatt is closer to the showroom floor. Both hotels have their advantages, but I prefer the Hilton's rooms and parking and the Hyatt's bar and restaurant. I end up walking between them often, and it's a mile round-trip between them. Here's a photo blog of what I loved at the Hilton - lots of chandeliers and over the top pretty.

I'll start with my room. It was in a strange short corridor and there
wasn't much to see from the window, but the bed was comfortable
and the heat/cold controls were very understandable and quite
adjustable. It was quite nice. 

As I mentioned, the view from my room wasn't much
to write home about since I looked at the opposing
wing. But it was very private and quiet, a real plus
when I'm working myself into the ground each day. 

The lobby is elegant. You can see one of the amazing
chandeliers to the left. The counter where you check in
is ahead of you. 

Moving away from the check-in desk, a small bridge takes you
over the lower lobby and toward the lobby bar. The bar is
only manned in the afternoon and evening and seems to host a lot
of private parties. I never was able to actually have a drink in
there. But there chairs, etc are very comfortable and I did
relax there one afternoon between events. 

The lobby bar features these wonderful chandeliers.
I loved the various mirrors and sculptures throughout the
room, also. They renovated this a few years ago and
it's quite nice. 

To get to your rooms, you have to either climb stairs or take an
elevator. I loved the decorative header above this staircase. 

This ventilation cover in the lobby area is typical of the
decorative elements throughout the public areas of the hotel. 

If you're not taking the stairs or the escalators, you're
using the elevators. They have a bank of eight elevators
all with decorated doors in elegant framing. 

One of the elevators got stuck during my stay (I wasn't
in it - thank goodness). The next day they had these
signs prominently displayed. I guess people
were too impatient to wait for the next available
elevator car. 

Finally, after a week, it was time to leave. Good-bye room! 

I'll talk about things of more substance tomorrow, but not everything can be earthshaking - LOL. Have a wonderful Thursday, I'm off to the gym and the elliptical machine.

Holiday Cards - Call Out #1

Here it is - December 1st, and I have a ton of work still to do on my Holiday Cards before getting them into the mail for those of you who supply me with your addresses. I have addresses from Hans, silver_trails and curiouswombat, but here's how this works.

You want one of my cards, you supply me with your current address. That includes you, huinare, and you, drummerwench, even though we discussed cards when you were up and we visited earlier in the year.

I've always loved this holiday card image. It's a study in
negative space and the design implications created by
just removing the fence bars at just the right places. 

Old friends (Sharon and Missy) and family (Catie, Annie, etc) are exempt from the "supply me with an address" because I think I have the correct ones (we'll find out, won't we?).

I'm going to screen comments (on DW and LJ) so that you can comment directly on this notification, but if you have hesitations, feel free to message or email me directly. I only make a total of 50 cards and sometimes it works out to a few less because of production issues. So far I'm on track, but I still have two major stages remaining and I'm going to be working on getting this year's card completed - full steam ahead!

So give me your current addresses, please. I love it when I have the opportunity to send my cards around the world and I don't expect (although I adore) receiving a card in return. Hasten to your keyboard and give me your address! Happy Tuesday.

Day Off - Studio Time?

I only get two more days off this month and today is already filled to bursting!! I almost forgot that I had a 10:00 am appointment to look at some "inherited" jewelry making supplies that a lady wants to sell. It's a good thing she Emailed me to remind me :-)) The inventory listing she Emailed to me doesn't look like there's really a lot to interest me, but I'll take a look.


I did order a copy of the Imperishable Beauty softcover catalog from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. I had been meaning to get this book, featuring the art of Lalique, Fouquet and other Art Nouveau artists. I had seen examples of the photography in several magazines that spotlighted the exhibit. It will be wonderful eye candy :-) Hopefully I will get a chance to get some of my OWN work done today too :-))