FYI- here's a bit of advice that is not CO or NW specific, but might save you a headache or two in the future. First, a one hour connection time before an international flight that you really would like to make is not generally enough. Second, try to make your connections in Europe, that way if you misconnect you're at least stuck in an interesting place like London, Amsterdam, or Frankfurt (particlarly interesting if you've never been there just because it's not the US).

Good luck.