Submitted by Megan Sehr Denver Want to celebrate International Women’s Day this year? Join WorldDenver on March 6 for their annual International Women’s Day luncheon and help them honor two women trailblazers leading change in the world: Lieutenant General Michelle D. Johnson, U.S. AFA, who represents the fearless leaders needed to challenge women’s agenda in the military; and Terry Odendahl, GlobalGreengrants Fund, who supports international change for marginalized women through fighting climate change and environmental injustice. Learn more about the event at: http://www.worlddenver.org/event-1766325 This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #InternationalWomensDay #WorldDenver

Submitted by Margaret Flynn Wheat Ridge, CO Denver Metro This is my first year as a Girl Scout leader after taking over my daughter’s Troop in the fall. I took the Leadership position because it was a activity that my daughter absolutely loved and I did not want her to miss out! Little did I know that I would get so much out of being a Leader…way more than I give. I LOVE seeing the girls use their problem solving techniques while they work as a team. It is especially fun to see them develop their own voice. I recently challenged my Troop to write a script for a sales video that they can share with family and friends. I think they did a fine job!! My girls hope to earn enough money through Cookie Sales to go on a Camping trip this spring. Thank you for watching! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. This video was submitted as part of the Best Cookie Video Contest, learn more (http://gscoblog.org/2015/02/best-cookie-video-contest/) #cookievideocontest

Submitted by Michelle Bowen Montrose Western Slope Ive been playing piano for 6 years, and wanted to incorporate it into my cookie video by doing a mini piano lounge skit. Buy COOKIES help a girl take a destinations trip! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. This video was submitted as part of the Best Cookie Video Contest, learn more (http://gscoblog.org/2015/02/best-cookie-video-contest/) #cookievideocontest

Submitted by Brandie Bowen Montrose Western Slope Here is the video we made for her digital cookie website. This is her second year selling cookies, and she has some exciting ideas about how her troop should spend their cookie money. This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. This video was submitted as part of the Best Cookie Video Contest, learn more (http://gscoblog.org/2015/02/best-cookie-video-contest/) #cookievideocontest

Submitted by Faith Hamm Colorado Springs Pikes Peak This is my first year selling cookies and I am loving it! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. This video was submitted as part of the Best Cookie Video Contest, learn more (http://gscoblog.org/2015/02/best-cookie-video-contest/) #cookievideocontest

Submitted by Emma Johnson Fort Morgan Northern and Northeastern Colorado My name is Emma and I am a first year Junior. I just moved to Colorado from Michigan and my troop has really welcomed me here. We are saving our cookie money for camp but we haven’t decided which one yet. Whichever one we pick I can’t wait to go to camp here in Colorado! This story was submitted using the Share Your Stories form. You can share your Girl Scout moments too. #summercamp

Submitted by Paige Hollingsworth Colorado Springs Pikes Peak I love both the movie Frozen and frozen Girl Scout Cookies! What better way to enjoy them than to combine them. This video was submitted as part of the Best Cookie Video Contest, learn more (http://gscoblog.org/2015/02/best-cookie-video-contest/) #videocontest

Submitted by Julia Trujillo Arvada Denver Metro Here is my contest entry — Come and Get Your Cookies! This video was submitted for the Best Cookie Video contest. Learn more (http://gscoblog.org/2015/02/best-cookie-video-contest/) #videocontest

What did you do for your Gold Award project? For my project, I created Care Kits for Littleton Adventist Hospital, and typed up a guide for how others can create their own Hospital Care Kits in their community in the future. Why did you pursue this Gold Award project? When I was 8 I had an emergency appendectomy and had to stay in the hospital for a week. This was a scary experience and I wanted other families like mine to be more prepared for a stay in the hospital. How did your Gold Award project make a difference? I made a difference in my local hospital and in hospitals around the state and country to give patients care kits to help them have necessities to be comfortable in the hospital. What skills did you gain through earning your Gold Award? I gained leadership skills, organizational skills and compensation skills through earning my Gold Award. How did you make your project sustainable? I made my project sustainable through making a hospital care kit guide and writing a blog post. What was your connection to the national or global community? I sent my guide to my aunt in Arkansas who used to be a hospital manager, and my uncle in South Carolina who volunteers at a medical center. What will you most remember about your Gold Award project? I will most remember the response I got from the hospital when I delivered my Care Kits, and how happy the volunteer coordinator was to see that someone wanted to help patients. How will earning your Gold Award help you in your future? Earning my Gold Award will help me to have more organization and leadership skills when in a new job or in school. Why do you feel the Gold Award is an important part of your Girl Scout experience? The Gold Award is an important part of my Girl Scout experience because it shows me that I committed to making my own project from all of the skills I learned from being a scout. ***IMPORTANT NOTE: This blog represents only a small fraction of the hard work, dedication and requirements that go into earning a Girl Scout Gold Award. It is simply a brief summary, which is meant to inspire Girl Scouts to Go Gold in the future. For more information on earning your Gold Award, please email highestawards@gscolorado.org #GoldAward #HighestAwards #Littleton

Five days into the sale, we have the equivalent of 93% of the amount of cookies that were sold in the entire six weeks of last year’s sale out in the field. With 1,700 less girls selling this year, we should not have this volume of cookies out. This means that troops are either on pace to more than quadruple last year’s sale or there are cookies in the field that will not be sold this week or even next week. As a result troops who have done what we have asked do not have enough cookies for their booths this weekend. Please play nice for everyone’s sake. We have enough cookies, we just need you to share and be realistic about needs for this weekend. Per the troop guide: 1.       Please check with your girls first for excess inventory, then check with other troops in your service unit. 2.       Use your starting inventory for booths first. 3.       If you have more than you need for this weekend, please let your service unit cookie manager know and transfer them to another troop or return them to your cupboard. Council expects another shipment of cookies next week, so you will be able to get more, but the numbers tell us that some people have cookies in their garage that that will not be sold. That’s how our council gets stuck with hundreds of thousands of cookies at the end of the sale, and it hurts us all.  An important note:  please be kind to your cupboard managers. These are volunteers who put in an unbelievable amount of time to help you and your girls. They are awesome! #cookieinventory

Have you ever made homemade butter? What about jam? Have you ever brewed your own sweet peppermint tea with peppermint from your garden? Have you ever made a pizza with fresh toppings you’ve grown? How about cook and eat eggs for breakfast eggs you’ve collected that morning from the chickens? Ever milked a goat? And have you ever made your very own homemade apple dumpling from scratch? At Tomahawk Ranch, we have!! When girls attend Tomahawk Ranch in the summer, they will have the opportunity to try some of these amazing experiences. At 8600ft in elevation within the heart of the Rocky Mountains, Tomahawk has its very own garden, greenhouse, and ranch! We raise barn animals like goats, chickens, pigs, donkeys, peacocks, horses, rabbits, llamas, sheep, and more! We also grow everything from strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, limes & lemons, to beautiful flowers, stevia, mint, (and mint, and more mint!),  basil, rosemary, chives, sage, thyme, and SO MUCH MORE!  We even grow flowering cashmere for our fairy sweaters in the winter! We want to share our amazing recipe for honey cinnamon butter with you, to give you a sweet taste of all the fun times you will have at camp-you can even try it at home! Tomahawk Ranch Honey Butter: Ingredients: Heavy Cream, Salt, Local Honey (from an apiary down the road or your local farmer’s market), Cinnamon Supplies: Small Jam Jar, Marble (optional) Fill your jam jar ¾ of the way with Heavy Cream Add a couple pinches of salt (this depends on how salty you want your butter) MUST ADD SALT THOUGH (it’s what makes it butter) Add about 1 tsp cinnamon Add a generous spoon full of honey OPTIONAL: Add a marble to your jar to help with easier mixing Tightly close your jar Begin shaking your jar like a polaroid picture (if you just happen to have a paint can shaker at home, this relieves the stress of your arms) (we don’t so not to worry!) You will 100% know when the butter is done-it will look like a chunk of butter.  If your butter has an ice cream consistency YOU ARE NOT DONE…keep shaking until it ABSOLUTELY looks like butter. Once your butter is done, your chunk of butter will be sitting in liquid.  This DELICIOUS liquid is BUTTERMILK!!!! Make sure to pour out the buttermilk to save, as it makes wonderful pancakes, biscuits, cookies, pies, skin smoothing baths and more!! Reminder: If you used a marble, don’t forget to spoon it out (it wouldn’t be too tasty), then close up the jar to give one last shake w/o the marble. Then refrigerate and enjoy!! We recommend making homemade biscuits with your buttermilk to enjoy with your freshly made honey butter!! Enjoy making Tomahawk Ranch Honey Butter at home, but if you want more recipes, or enjoyed making butter register your daughter for camp today, and enjoy ALL we have to offer!! Learn more about resident camp sessions at both Sky High and Tomahawk Ranch Camps this summer for your girl! Sincerely, your excited Camp Director, “Obi Joe” Monica Gray #summercamp #overnightcamp #residentcamp #SkyHighRanch #buttermilk #TomahawkRanch #honeybuter #camp #greenhouse

Keep calm, Colorado has cookies! The rumors about not having enough cookies are just not true. We are excited that your girls are doing so well, and we have ordered more cookies which will arrive early next week. Based on last year’s sale and membership numbers, we estimated needing 3.4 million packages of cookies for the entire sale. There are currently 3.3 million packages of cookies out with volunteers and families in the state. This is without a doubt more inventory than we need to get through the first weekend of booth sales. The only way we are going to have a problem is if troops and families are keeping cookies that they will not need for this weekend. Please do not pick up enough cookies for what you optimistically will need for the next few weeks. Please don’t sit on cookies because that creates problems for everyone. Be a Girl Scout and share – ask your families to give your troop cupboard their excess inventory. Troops, take back extra inventory above what you need through the weekend to your cupboard. If everyone does this, we will have more than enough cookies. Thank you!!