Happy Saturday
Hello everyone on this gorgeous Saturday here in Miami!
Here’s what happened since last Friday…
Last Saturday, Vance, Elizabeth and I went back to the ESPN Wide World of Sports and watched Nick and his team win their second game so they’re gold medal winners! After the game, we all went for a late lunch back to Metro Diner where Elizabeth and I had gone the day before.
Elizabeth and Nick in the big chair!
On Sunday, after going to church in Merritt Island and breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts, Vance, Nick and I went back to the apartment in Cape Canaveral. There, we waited for Elizabeth to come over from Orlando. Once she arrived, we went out to dinner at Rising Tide Tap & Table which is at Port Canaveral. We enjoyed our meal very much then headed back to the apartment. We hung out and watched football for the rest of the night. The place has a super comfy leather sectional couch perfect for lounging around.
View at Banana River Park
Monday was Veteran’s Day and while everyone was asleep, I decided to take a long solo walk to Manatee Sanctuary Park and Banana River Park. Saw lots of cute turtles and other wildlife and took in the beautiful views. I’d actually been to Manatee Sanctuary Park before, during one of our weekend trips to the area a while back.
When I got back to the apartment we all piled in the car and went to watch the rocket launch from Jetty Park. It was actually really, really cool. It was lunchtime by then so I suggested we return to 4th Street Filln Station in Cocoa Beach and that was a hit with everybody. (I went there with my niece for breakfast on Friday as you might recall from last week’s blog). Vance says he really liked it too so he’ll be going back while he’s up there during the week.
Cocoa Beach
After lunch we went to the beach and enjoyed the amazing weather. Nick and Elizabeth threw around the football and it made for fun family time. Then it was time for us to say our goodbyes and Nick and I headed back to Miami and Elizabeth back to Orlando.
Performer belting out Tina Turner’s hits during the Broadway in Miami season kickoff party at the Arsht Center.
They had these fun personalized signs for all us media at the Arsht event.
Wednesday night I attended the Broadway in Miami season kickoff party at the Adrienne Arsht Center. It was nice hanging out with fellow journalists from Artburst Miami, chatting with the Arsht Center’s PR team and watching an amazing performance of Tina Turner hits. I’m really looking forward to the upcoming season. Click here to check out the lineup of shows.
An art piece by Marco Olivier created from recycled ocean plastic.
View from the Coral Ridge Yacht Club.
Thursday, I spent a majority of the day with Vance at the Florida Ocean Alliance at their Annual Meeting and Luncheon held at the Coral Ridge Yacht Club in Fort Lauderdale which he attended on behalf of Port Canaveral. It was a nice afternoon listening to a series of educational presentations against a beautiful waterfront view from the Yacht Club.
Airmen of Note in concert at Miami Senior High School, my alma mater. Go Stingarees!
And then on Thursday night, I was pretty wiped out but didn’t want to miss the Airmen of Note concert at my alma mater Miami Senior High School. I’m really glad I went, especially since I ran into Alina Armas who teaches there and is one of Nick’s former teachers from elementary school. We sat together at the show and it was really great seeing her. I also loved being back at my beautiful high school. So many memories in the auditorium and in those halls. The performance was very memorable and they have a few more shows here in South Florida if you want to catch them in action. Click here to see where and when.
Me, Suzette from the Arsht Center and Marcia from the University of Miami at the breakfast.
Poem composed for me after giving the poet just three simple words as inspiration.
Lastly, yesterday morning I attended the Arts & Business Council of Miami’s Breakfast with the Arts & Hospitality at the InterContinental Hotel in Downtown Miami. It is always wonderful to be surrounded by the arts community and listening to the panelists speak. It was a great lineup as always that included Jonathan Plutzik of The Betsy Hotel, Jean Blackwell Font from CollaboARTive, Gina Genna of the InterContinental Miami Hotel and Samantha Nieves of Ball & Chain Restaurant and live music venue in Little Havana. There were some awards presented, a play reading by City Theatre’s leadership and on the spot poem creations from The Biscayne Poet. The cool group StepFlix provided interactive entertainment throughout the morning and artist Picardo presented his abstract artwork. It was a great way to culturally kick off the weekend.
I’ll be right back here next Friday (let’s hope, if not on Saturday) to share my upcoming article on The Miami Book Fair which starts tomorrow by the way and let you know about any other cool stuff going.
Right now, I’m headed over to the MOCA Plaza to check out what’s going on at “The Reset” event over there and then probably headed to North Beach to see the printmaking exhibition on display at The Walgreens created by Tom Virgin of Extra Virgin Press.
Have a great weekend!
