I just finished up with the Alternative Fuels and Vehicles Conference (www.afvi.org).  My company, Alloy Custom Products, had a booth in the Expo (www.alloycustomproducts.com).  Alloy manufactures cryogenic tanker trailers… for the alternative fuel market, our trailers are used to transport LNG.  I like to refer to Alloy as my ”real job,” since playing with jewelry all day for BlumLux can’t possibly be considered a real job! 

This year, the annual conference was in Las Vegas at the Rio All-Suite Las Vegas Hotel and Casino.  The Rio was ok, but I would have preferred to stay on the strip since there was nothing that I wanted to do in the Rio.  I did however eat at one of the most amazing restaurants!  As an avid fan of Top Chef, I wanted to eat at Tom Colicchio’s restaurant Craftsteak (Rating *****/*****), located inside the MGM Grand.  I highly recommend it!  It was one of my favorite meals ever!  My table had the kobe beef tasting menu.  We had an enormous selection of appetizers, entrees, and desserts!  (I have been to Chef Colicchio’s Craft in New York, and I was not impressed.)

 This conference makes you realize how important it is to do your part on Going Green.  With gas prices continuing to go up, Americans are looking for ways to utilize alternative fuels.  If you’d like to learn more on how you can help… check out www.cleanskies.org.  I was also able to preview a lot of the upcoming new cars… the Chevy Volt is awesome!!!  (It won’t come out until 2010.)

~Carli

The brace is gone!!!  I am so pumped!  This is the first time in four months that I haven’t had a cast or a brace on my arm!  I still have to have physical therapy twice a week to regain motion, but it’s so exciting to be able to wear normal shirts again… and of course jewelry!

While I was in Louisville, for my almost weekly visit to the Louisville Arm and Hand, I met up with my college buddy Diane.  We had lunch downtown at Makers Mark Tavern on Fourth Street.  I would not recommend it.  The atmosphere was fun, and the service was very good.  However, the food was nothing special… and there was no one there!  I guess that should have been a red flag!  Maybe it would be better at night.

Rating:  **/*****

www.makerslounge.com

446 S 4th Street
Louisville, KY  40202
502.568.9009

~Carli