Advocacy and more
Yesterday was a proud moment for me… but I’ll get to that later, you know I like to give you the rundown of my week starting with Saturday.
One final celebration for Nick's 27th birthday.
So in keeping with that tradition, Saturday we celebrated Nick’s birthday one last time while watching the Hurricanes football game. It was simple bar cakes from Publix and Little Caesars pizza, nothing fancy schmancy but it was perfect. The Canes won and he got some cool gifts and he was a happy camper and that’s all that matters. Not even the all-day rainy weather could put a damper on his good time.
Sunday was filled with doing absolutely nothing. Just sitting on the couch, watching football, eating leftover pizza and snacking on tortilla chips with my homemade pico de gallo. And leftover cake of course. There was a nice visit from his friend Geno and his Mom Sheebah who brought Nick a gorgeous cake and nice gift card since Geno couldn’t make it on Saturday.
Monday I did my every other week food rescue from Panera in Aventura where I chatted with their manager Jasmine, a college student who is a total sweetheart. After packing all the bags of pastries and bread in the trunk, I drove it up, like I always do, to The Caring Place, Miami Rescue Mission’s Broward Outreach Center. I love doing this.
Solo lunch at Cracker Barrel in Pembroke Pines. Took half of this home and had it for dinner.
Cute Christmas ornament from Cracker Barrel.
Tuesday, because my dental appointment was switched to the Pembroke Pines location, I treated myself to lunch at the nearby Cracker Barrel. Before I left, I meandered through their store and bought a few cute gifts for the kids and a cute Christmas ornament for me.
Wednesday was trivia at Old Tom’s Cafe and it was us three, we called ourselves The Triple Threat because our pals the Wutzlers couldn’t make it. We did OK but missed a few that we were kicking ourselves for not knowing. We still had a great time and I had an amazing mushroom swiss cheeseburger in honor of National Hamburger Day!
At the Miami-Dade County Commission Budget Hearing yesterday, advocating for our county arts budget to be fully restored. Vance of course noticed that the woman behind me to my right looks like she's asleep!
Then the absolute highlight of my week was yesterday when I attended the Miami-Dade County Commission Budget Meeting where I was part of a very large contingency from the local arts community who came out to advocate and plead for the cultural arts budget to be fully restored. I actually got my one minute at the podium to plead my case and felt I did a good job. I spoke from the heart, nothing rehearsed and it resonated with people. Lots of people were very complimentary even called my words eloquent. I was very moved by all of it.
Me, Vance and Brook at his and his wife Tyler's Emerson Dorsch Gallery in Little Haiti taking in their latest exhibition. Opening night was fun, always great seeing them.
After the meeting, I headed over to Emerson Dorsch Gallery where I met Vance and we enjoyed chatting with our longtime friend and the gallery’s owner Brook Dorsch and his wife Tyler. Loved seeing some cool art and greeting several familiar faces from the art world. We saw Elizabeth’s art teacher from Miami-Dade Kristen Thiele who has a space at Bridge Red Studios and also saw local artist Karen Rifas and gallery owner Charo Oquet who runs Edge Zones. I wrote about Bridge Red for Biscayne Times and did a piece on an event at Edge Zones for Artburst Miami.
And now, I bid you adieu until next Friday as I have to get ready for my Girls’ Weekend Trip to Charleston, SC! Really looking forward to spending quality time with my besties Monica and Gema.
Jojo in his little camper chair, all smiles. Happy birthday cutie!
And one last thing… today is Jojo’s first birthday! He’s having a blast with Mom & Dad at Walt Disney World. Happy birthday Jojo, love you!
See ya next Friday!
