This past Friday was our Delta Holiday party. Yes, it is late to have it, however, if we had it on a Friday or Saturday before Christmas we would be taking away thousands of dollars of business. So we have it in the beginning of January!
The Delta Edmonton Centre Suites is primary a suite hotel, however, we do have some classic style guestrooms that we call Delta Rooms.
All of the rooms either look out into the city, or as we are located in a mall, look out into the mall through 1 way mirrored glass. It makes for some great people watching!
In our hotel we have a pretty great sense of community and have a lot of fun along the way. One thing that we do each year is a pumpkin carving competition. Each department gets 1 pumpkin that they get to carve. The guests in the hotel then have 3 days to vote on which one they think is the best entry.
It is a great way to get our guests involved and for all of us to have a little bit of fun! I am a huge Halloween fan so this is right up my ally.
Here are a couple pictures that I snapped of a few of the entries!
I had this question asked to me many times this weekend. Some people thought I worked in the fashion business, some thought I was still in college, and others knew I did something in the event world but just not sure what!
My official job title is Conference Service Manager for the Delta Edmonton Centre Suite Hotel. This basically means that I am an event planner for the hotel. I work with everyone that is non corporate, so government, social groups, weddings, etc.
My day to day job includes helping meeting planners with their events that are held at the hotel. This means finding them space, guest rooms, going through meals and decorations, and everything else inbetween. I then work with the different departments in the hotel to make sure that every event runs smoothly.
Sounds pretty easy, but some days we will have 7 or 8 events happening. So that makes it close to 20-30 events just in 1 week when it is busy. There definitely is no shortage of work in our peak seasons!
I had mentioned a few weeks ago that I was able to attend the Feastival of Fine Chefs in Edmonton. This was a really cool event that was a lot of fun to go to.
Feastival is put on by the Alberta Food Processors Association. It is an event that helps bring attention to the quality of produce and goods that are grown in Alberta, the quality of fine chefs and food that is created in Edmonton, as well as helping the Alberta Food Processors bring some attention to their programs.
There are over 1200 people that attend this event each year, and a huge waiting list to get in. This is the reason why everyone wants to go....
These were 2 of the 4 courses that my hotel, the Delta Edmonton Centre Suite Hotel had at the event. We were lucky enough to have a table and bring some clients and friends along for the evening!
Each hotel or restaurant is given a box of ingredients that they have to use for each of the 4 courses of the eventing. These could range from Alberta Beef and Elk, to Alberta grown apples and squash. The chefs then have 1 week to create and perfect their dishes.
Throughout the night the guests get to eat 1 course from 4 different hotels or restaurants in the city. I was lucky enough to get 4 amazing meals! I do have to say though that they best food that our table got came from the Delta Edmonton Centre each time! So that made us pretty proud.
If you ever get the chance to attend this event I would say to take that opportunity. It is a really fun night filled with great people and amazing food. And who knows you may just find your new favorite restaurant while you are at it!
It has been a while since I did 101 in 1001 update. I have been making some good progress in my list, so here is what I have been up to lately.
4. Maintain my blog for a year
I have been blogging for almost 14 months now. I was a little behind in celebrating my 1 year anniversary, but I am thrilled that all of you have been a part of this journey.
13. Watch every episode of Lost
With only 4 or 5 episodes of Lost left before the series is over, I have almost completed this task. I must say that I am disappointed in this season and hope that the final season does not leave a sour taste in my mouth. The other 4 seasons have been nothing short of stellar!
25. Scrapbook Vegas May 2009
This week I got all my photos printed from Vegas, and now can start to dive in Scrapbooking. It is supposed to rain all weekend (thank goodness! We are so dry that I will gladly take a rainy weekend), so it may be the perfect time to start.
29. Take a girls trip somewhere every year (1/3)-(Bethan & Stacy's roadtrip to Canmore/Kananaskis)
You can read all about Bethan and my girls trip here.
30. See a Broadway performance in NYC
We are less then 1 month away from being in NYC (insert happy dance here). We are definitely going to see a Broadway show; we just need to decide which one. Any suggestions would be great.
42. Have another Marcus type adventure
We are planning on having another great adventure when we are in NYC. We just need to find Marcus’s brother/sister in NYC. I have a feeling this may be a couple day journey with the new Marcus. After all NYC is a big place.
63. Plan 20 events in 1 year (20/20)
With this new job I have easily done this. I think it only took 2 weeks!
65. Plan an agriculture event & 66.Complete a contract job
I am in the process right now. You can read all about it here.
Working as part of the City Centre mall, I see a lot of interesting things each day. When you step out of the entrance to the hotel, into the mall it really is like you have entered another world.
The Mall itself is really quite interesting. There is a main Avenue that cuts through the mall, and a sky pedway that connects it on either side. The mall is also the north point to the downtown pedway that connects pretty much the entire downtown core.
Throughout the mall there are many different sections. Yes it is all stores, and restaurants, and things that you would find in the mall, but it is the people in these areas that really make it interesting. Let me give you an example.
On my way to get something to drink from Second Cup this is what my journey looks like:
I exit the hotel on the 3rd floor and take the escalator down to the mall’s 2nd floor. I walk along the mall taking my time to look in Calvin Klein, Aldo, Jacob, and take a smell at the Body Shop. I then ride the escalator down to the main level where I find Second Cup.
This may not seem like a very interesting journey, but stick with me. I then walk along the main floor back to the hotel. Except this time it is packed with business men that are in a hurry. There is no time to smell the flowers at Bunches, or do some window shopping at BCBG, this is a extremely different pace. If I venture to the food court 1 level below to pick something up at the dollar store, I find myself in another world yet again. This one is filled with “white trash”. Today I saw a man wearing large cow horns on his head. See what I mean when I say it’s another world…
Another common walk that I will take is to Starbucks. This is a little bit of a longer walk, but much more interesting. Again I start out the hotel and walk along the 2nd floor of the hotel. I reach the sky pedway, and walk past the 20-50 person line up for Tim Hortons. This area I refer to as Asia. It is filled with well dressed Chinese, and Japanese. After you make it through Asia, I find myself in the Bronx as I call it. This place is filled with black people, who look like your typical hip-hop video. I feel like the whitest girl ever walking through here. I then take the escalator down a level (well actually I stop to look at the custom leather purses and custom made gowns and wedding dresses first) to find myself in the business world again, and take 1 final escalator to the basement to Starbucks.
It never is a dull walk, and great way to take a few minutes out of my day to get my mind off work.
Almost 2 years ago I started to golf. It was very natural for me as both my parent’s golf, as do most of my family members on my dad’s side.
Now 2 years later, I am gearing up for year #3 of golfing. In that time I have never taken a lesson, but have become pretty good, or what I think is good anyways.
When I started to golf, I was not going to always have to rent clubs, so after my first round I purchased my clubs. As with anything in my life, I didn’t want ugly or the cheapest ones. I traded up my bag, bough a matching glove, tees, balls, everything had to match!
My skills have definitely improved over the years. I no longer cheat when I am playing, and I have taken the foot club (kicking the ball out of the rough) out of my bag. I think it has made me a better player for it.
This year my goal is to do 18 holes. This is something that I have never done before. It is one of my 101 in 1001 to score under 100on 18 holes. I know that doesn’t seem like much, but when you shoot 45-60 in 9 holes, it will be tough.
We also have a work golf tournament that I am gearing up for. I have never played in a tournament so it should be fun! Of course I have no doubt that there will be plenty of booze and laughs along the way. I got tipped of that they had several tequila shot stations throughout the course last year!
I will keep you posted with my golf progress. I am looking to get a new putter so we will see how that improves my game!
Although I love my job at Delta, I still wanted to keep doing some side event planning contracts on the side.
A couple of weeks ago my good friend Robyn suggested my name for a contract helping run and organize a miniature donkey show. Yes I know I have no experience with miniature donkey's, however, it is an Ag contract and I thought it would be great to expand my horizons beyond cattle and horses.Wednesday, I got thrown into the contract with a meeting about what I would be doing and a bit about the show. I am really excited about this project, and think it should be pretty fun along the way.
One of my first projects to complete is designing trail and jumping courses for the donkey's! In my previous days as a show jumper in Pony Club, I did my fair share of jumping courses. However, there ones are a bit different, with some classes only allowing them to jump 10". I will keep you posted along the way. The show is the end of July at Westerner Days in Red Deer. I'm expecting to get a few laughs along the way, and an eye opening experience.
This weekend my best friend and guest blogger Bethan and I ventured out for a girls weekend. It was long overdue, and so we made the most of this trip!
We started Friday night heading to Calgary to celebrate a friends Birthday. We all loaded up and went to the Back Alley for a night of dancing and a few beverages. There was lots of laughs along the way, and it was a really fun night.
The next morning we ventured back onto the highway to head to Canmore. The Rapunzel Salon in Canmore was our destination for a Spa afternoon. We had 1 hour hot stone massages, pedicures, as well as having our hair and make-up done. It was a great way to relax and just have a fun weekend.Our next stop was the Delta Lodge in Kananaskis. Due to a wonderful employee discount we had some great food, and an amazing stay. We did not want to get out of bed to check out the next morning!On our way back to Olds, we kept seeing all of these people pulled over on the side of the road taking pictures. Now this is not an unusual scene while driving in the mountains, however, it was not deer and mountain goats they were taking pictures of, it was swans!
It turns out that there rare swans have made there home in the Rocky Mountains right now. No one really know why they are there, but we seen hundreds of them. It was really neat.
We had such a great time that we are now going to do this every 3 or 4 months. We have developed a rating system to find the best Delta and spa's. I think it should be a fun journey!
Now I know you are probably saying where are your pictures from the weekend!! Well... Bethan and I both forgot our cameras. So the pictures you are stuck with are some stock photos I found. I know, I was event told before I left not to forget my camera....
