Posts by apinkdiamondintherough
Fleetwood Mac played at our party at the high school this weekend…
This weekend my parent-in-laws celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. My husband has three brothers and together with their wives we hosted a party in the cafeteria of their high school alma mater, Christian Brothers High School in Memphis, Tennessee.
My inlaws thought it was perfect.
Even Pasta (as his 11 grandchildren affectionately call him) who was resistant (read complained loudly) all through out the planning stages was singing our praises when the last guest left.
Pasta had one request. The Memphis Bop DJ, Eddie Richardson must be there. Pasta and MeMaw love to dance and Mr. Richardson knew the music they liked to hear.
50th Wedding Anniversary First Dance
DJ Eddie was there and he was great! If you are hosting a party in Memphis I would highly recommend.
But the 50s music was a little overshadowed when Fleetwood Mac took the stage. My husband’s cousin, Billy Burnette, was in the band from 1987-1995 and he graced us with 3 songs written by his father Dorsey Burnette.
I got the whole thing on video and just had to share. Check-it out on youtube.
Foot Note 1: Billy Burnette is touring with his latest album in Europe. He has gone back to his dad’s rock-a-billy routes Click here to find him on iTunes.
Foot Note 2: A reporter, Hank Zevallos, confirmed stories that we heard from my husband’s Aunt Alberta for years. Aunt Berta, now 81, has always entertained us with wild stories of Uncle Dorsey Burnette’s Rock’N'Roll Trio and their influence on Elvis Presely. This author goes as far to ask the question if Elvis actually stole music and ideas from The Burnette Brothers. Curious? Check-out the facts that he has uncovered: http://www.biwa.ne.jp/~presley/elnews-JohnnyBurnette.htm
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My first visit to a beauty bar
When I lived in Dallas I was spoiled.
Whenever I had a formal event, a photo shoot (it happened once) or a date with my husband, when I wanted to look my best a highly sought after make-up artist made me look fabulous. Her time is not cheap and sometimes I couldn’t swing the expense but she did it anyway. That is just what best friends do (I bet I paid her every 5th time and she fed my ego a bit and let me barter for the other events, but she is no dummy and I think we both know who got the better end of that deal).
The Chanel Counter
I miss the calm Jeanne Marie brought to the pre-party-mania that usually goes on at my house as I’m trying to get dressed, feed the kids, prep the sitter and possibly even organize said party that is about to take place. Just watching her work so calmly and beautifully gave me confidence in myself… “channel JM and you know your party will be a success.”
But never mind that feel good stuff JM made me look like a rock star and isn’t that what is most important?
Well maybe not, but it is pretty awesome to feel your absolute best on a special night out AND not have the stress of making that happen all by yourself.
Here in Miami I can’t replace Jeanne Marie (those that know her know no one could!) but I did stumble across a Beauty Bar that did a pretty nice job of “putting my face on” before a party last Friday, for only $35.
Last week I was watching a national news story about “a new trend sweeping the country: beauty bars.” My curiosity was peaked so I went on an electronic hunt (GOOGLE) and did not find an exclusive beauty bar but did find that the “blow-dry” bars that had popped-up in the area also had make-up services (Dad, in case you don’t understand a “dry bar” is a salon that just styles hair or “blows” it dry. No cuts or colors. And yes it is an awesome concept. Remember when I got tennis elbow in college from blowing dry my hair?)
And because a blow-out from a Dry Barhas been on my to-do list I thought I would give both the make-up and hair service a try.
Bdry Blow Bar, just off Lincoln Road on Miami Beach, met all of my expectations. The decor was modern and clean, the details weren’t forgotten (iPhone chargers and iPads for reading at each station, spa water and cupcake snack options) and the stylists were hip AND sweet to my little tag along for the day (the little diva wasn’t taking photographs that day)
Bdry Blow Bar on Miami Beach
And the make-up? She did a great job. Bdry Blow Bar proved to be the perfect pre-party stop for the toga themed Bare Bones Ball my husband and I attended Friday night. I haven’t seen any digital evidence of our attendance yet but I know if there are pictures of my keg stand, I don’t look too bad because my face was flawless!
Kidding, no I thought better than to attempt the keg stand, but I do wish I had been smart enough to stay away from the trash can punch…
If you have never had your make-up done pre-event before, you MUST do a little investigative work and find the closest beauty bar near you (in Dallas, leave your email below and I’ll send JM”s contact info). The self-indulgence doesn’t feel too pricey at $35, and you will look like a million bucks!
Visit to the Beauty Bar
Miami’s Greatest Art Fair
“The Season” in South Florida is upon us. While the rest of the country freezes, temperatures are perfect in the tropics and the Magic City retailers and hospitality experts are pulling-out all of the stops. New hotels are opened, and old ones are repurposed. The newest winners of Top Chef make guest appearances and the old masters tweak their menus. There are pop-up restaurants, boutiques and even cabaret shows, AND every weekend a different organization puts on “Miami’s greatest art fair.”
I have never seen so many Art Fairs. I cannot explain their frequency, but I will tell you an art fair is a fun way to spend the day.
“The Season” begins with the Mecca of Miami art fairs, or rather the Mecca of the Americas (that’s two) art fairs, Art Basel, which is typically the first weekend in December. The buzz that surrounds the event is exciting! I moved here shortly after Art Basel 2011 and I could not wait until December 6, 2012 to become part of the hype!
As the event drew closer I realized I had a problem.
I didn’t really know what an “Art Basel” was. The news reports and beautiful prior year pictures referencing multiple fairs and tents and shows and parties at multiple venues scattered all over the city was confusing.
I called for help from a new friend whom I overheard saying that opening night of Basel was her favorite evening of the year in this city.
“Grey, could you please tell me how Art Basel works? What is it, exactly? “
“Meredith, “ she patiently explained, “think of it as a week of art, with over 20 art fairs going on all over the city, at the same time(light bulb moment).”
She continued, “Art Basel, is the biggest event. It is held in the convention center and includes over 200 galleries from all over the world who show pieces from their collections (there were 260 galleries this year). Some of the galleries at Art Basel will have pieces for sale that cost several million dollars and you will definitely see works from some of the old masters. Due to Basel’s huge success and international artistic draw, other week-long art fairs and unique exhibitions started opening in Miami, during that same week (AHA, I thought… clarity was coming).
I pressed for more details and came up with a plan.
As an amateur to the Miami art fair world I knew I had to see Art Basel. My husband and I booked a sitter for Saturday night and bought half price after 4 pm tickets, for $20 each. We had such a great night. Both the art and the fashion of the patrons was FABULOUS and we had a blast.
Art imitating life? Vince at Art Basel 2012
Picasso at Art Basel
If you happen to be new to town, a day spent strolling artist’s booths in 70 degree weather with a treat from the latest and greatest food truck makes for a great way to get to know someone a little better. The week of Art Basel proved to be a great way to spend time with a few of my new friends. I tagged along to ArtMiami, the largest and oldest satellite fair, with my information source, Grey, and ran into a new acquaintance at the funkiest fair I visited, Scope.
Touchable art at Scope Art Fair 2012
Video art
Prada Baby at ArtMiami 2012
The week of Basel just left me wanting for more . I missed the Shop Bazzar event in the Design
district, where Bazar magazine debuted a new online site where you can purchase
items from the pages of their periodical. I would have loved to have visited the emerging artists showcased at the NADA art fair “mid-beach” or heard one of the great bands in town at the ultra sheik karaoke bar Jelsomino. Thank goodness for next year.
This weekend I am looking forward to taking my family to the 62nd Annual Beaux Arts Festival of Art, “Miami’s Oldest Juried Fine Arts Show” because I heard it has beautiful art, is not too crowded and fun for the kids
And I know, “the nation’s largest outdoor fine arts festival,”), the 50th Annual Coconut Grove Art Fest, on February 16-18 will be awesome because we got to go last year. How can you beat access to 200 artists from all over the world lined-up along Biscayne Bay? Last year my husband and I had fun talking to several painters about their craft.
But I’m sure I won’t have to wait until February 16th. South Miami, Coral Gables, North Beach and South Beach are sure to have fairs extraordinaire and I don’t think I should miss them. After all, what good is a Miami blogger if she can’t even make the city’s “Greatest Art Fair?”
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This January we gave ourselves a gift of time
Last Labor Day, as my 3 children were starting school, I made a commitment here on this blog to try new ways to meet friends in Miami. So I did.
I did not have luck meeting potential besties during my first 8 months in the Magic City so I was ready to take action. And you know what? My efforts have paid off.
Last semester, I met some wonderful people and started to build some great new relationships. I also drove 3 children to and from 2 different schools, 2 ballet classes, tennis lessons, weekly tutors, and Sunday school PLUS helped them complete their mountains of homework, fed them, bathed them AND got them to bed at a decent hour.
One day my husband asked me why, without fail, I was always in a bad mood (code for screaming like a lunatic) on Friday mornings. In between barking orders at the kids I said, “you mean I act like this every Friday?” “Yep,” he said, “every Friday.”
“WELL…” I started to give him an earful, but took a deep breath and admitted, “this is just hard. I really struggle to get them all out the door, dressed appropriately, with all of their required or desired “stuff” on time, everyday. ” And being the clear-headed “fixer” that I fell in love with, my husband said, “OK, well I will just have to help you more. And so he did. Admittedly, his version of getting the kids out the door looks different than mine, but it is fine. It works. With a little change we figured out a way to make our mornings a little more enjoyable for everyone in the house.
Once the mornings were looking better I wondered what could be done to fix the afternoons.
It felt impossible. Everything seemed great when my sweet smiling children ran to the car when school was over for the day, but then it was sort-of a whirl wind of multiplication tables, dance uniforms, snacks, screams and dirty dishes and before I knew it it was 30 minutes after my idea of a 6-year-old’s ideal bed time and my 3 disgruntled, dirty children were all standing in the bathroom making their case about why their baths could wait until another day.
After much analysis and red wine I came to the conclusion that my problem was…… (DRUM ROLLL please) TIME. I just did not have enough time to get everything I needed or wanted to get done in the day, so I was cutting out sleep, which was making it harder for me to get things done the next day, so I would cut out more sleep, which caused me to be real grouchy the next day, which probably caused my children to get less done because my yelling just wasn’t the positive reinforcement that my precious little angels needed, which made me yell more…it was a vicious circle.
Doesn’t everybody need more time? Doesn’t everybody have this problem? Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher, said “time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,” is like saying “I don’t want to.”
Could that be true? I really wanted to cook our family a homemade dinner but last fall, I usually couldn’t find the time to do so. I really wanted to sit on the floor and laugh with my 4-year-old (she laughs a lot), but sadly I couldn’t find the time to do so. And truthfully, after I helped each child have the perfect day I wanted to tuck them in bed, throw on my favorite heels and red lipstick and look FABULOUS (HA- usually I need total reconstruction by the end of the day, but this is a wish, remember), give a babysitter the keys and go to one of the Miami Hotspots on my must see to-do list with my husband and/or a new friend, and then bounce out of bed the next morning and do it all over again, but that is just a joke!
I think the Asian wise guy might have had one too many Sake bombs when he was throwing around his opinion on time… but he did get me thinking….
Was there something I was doing during the day that I didn’t want to be doing? And when that question felt a little selfish I wondered, was there something that we (the family) was spending time on each day that nobody wanted to do? Was there something we could cut out of our schedule that could give us more time to do the things that we really wanted to do?
My husband and I spent “time” over our December holiday vacation to try and find an answer to that question. We pondered, we observed, we discussed and we finally concluded that a possible real solution was to withdraw my youngest child from preschool.
The little lady was not loving preschool (so she didn’t want to go), the 5 mile drive two and from twice a day, in ridiculous Miami traffic was costing us at least an hour in the car, and the only time she was at home, I had to put her in front of the TV find a stimulating activity for her to do in another room so she didn’t distract her brother and sister from completing their homework- so I felt like I wasn’t getting to spend anytime with her… and if you knew her you would want to spend time with her too… I’m telling you this kids is funny.
face paint at the Dallas Arboretum
When I ran the pros and cons list by one of my wise new friends (new friend made on this blog’s friendship challenge) she said, “pulling her out of preschool sounds like a great idea, but you need to be real here. If you pull her out you are doing it for you. Granted she might not like the kindergarten work sheets that they have decided to do to teach letters and numbers but she is FINE. And she is learning. And when they do get to play she loves her friends. You would be pulling her out of that school so you could spend more time with her and not drive across town. But that is OK. I just don’t want you to make the decision on false pretenses.”
And she was right. Anna Kate was fine… but our family life really wasn’t. I wanted a happier place for all 5 of us and after much thought we decided to give it a try. We didn’t send her back to school this month. It has only been one week but so far it has been AWESOME!
I’ve actually been surprised how much more relaxed I have been. I knew that driving in traffic was stressful but had forgotten how stress can really drain your energy supply. Its been nice because this week, when my big kids got home from school, I already had dinner prepared, and I felt more relaxed so helping them complete their homework didn’t seem as hard. Does that make sense?
And during the day… Anna Kate and I had fun. I’m not sure if it is because she is brilliant, or she is just a normal 3rd child (probably a combination of both) but she already knows more at 4.5 than her brother and sister knew when they started kindergarten (which is probably to their credit… make sure I explain this in case they read this article one day… BECAUSE THEY TAUGHT HER STUFF) so I don’t feel too much pressure to “teach” her new academic things… but I did that too!
The new changes in our schedule makes me feel good and when I feel good I don’t yell and when I don’t yell my whole family feels good and when my whole family feels good, I am happy.
Estes Park family picture
What about you? Are you happy? Do you find there isn’t enough time in the day to accomplish all the things that you want to accomplish?
This blog is about Miami and my journey getting to know my new city, but in case you haven’t noticed I haven’t made the time to write on this blog in about a month AND IT IS NOT BECAUSE I DIDN’T WANT TO MR. CHINESE MAN. I was just having a real hard time finding the time to do all of the things that I love, including writing right here. We’ve made changes in our family schedule and I think that is going to help all of us spend our time doing things that make us more happy than the things we were doing before.
I wanted to share our time changes with you just in case you needed a little inspiration to make a few changes in your life.
Read MoreShort-cuts from the Kallaher Kitchen
I had 50 of these cute stickers printed about 4 years ago and still have 48 sitting in my stationary drawer.
I enjoy cooking. When I bought my kitchen labels I imagined meals delivered to new mothers, pies welcoming neighbors and homemade toffee for friends and teachers during the holidays.
But since our 3rd child was born and homework started coming home with all 3 children I have had a hard time getting a home-made meal on the table, much less tasty treats for my neighbor (Last week my husband promised to take charge of insuring my 4-year-old completed her homework after I threatened to start gathering troops to storm the school with sharpened pencils and silver protractors)!
After quickly growing tired of frozen waffles breakfast for dinner and Annie’s maccaroni and cheese (the word “organic” on the box helps absolve a tiny bit of guilt when shaking the neon orange powder into the pan), I went to the internet for help. I found two tools on the web that have helped bring better food to our table.
I thought I would share here on the blog in case you’ve served your children one too many hotdogs this week or Heaven-for-bid SPAM (Diane Swartzendruber, don’t give me that “it’s a delicacy in Hawaii story”.. it is unrecognizable meat that comes in a can and I think we could all probably do without).
My family eats the best when I sit down on Sunday, plan our dinners for the week, pull the recipes, create a grocery list then go to the store for one big weekly shop. But with the multitude of fun weekend opportunities here in Paradise and the rising number of school/church/social obligations for all of my little people, carving the time out to make that process happen, well, has not been happening. And when the Sunday prep doesn’t take place the Kallaher Kitchen usually serves something with a side of Kallaher Ketchup and my worry of raising “Anti-Foodies”, or really just “Junk Food Junkies”, moves the need to provide healthy meal time solutions for my family higher on my mental to-do list.
The meal planning website No More To Go has really taken the time and stress out of the planning portion of weekday meals at our house. I paid a minimal fee for 5 complete meal ideas to be delivered to my inbox every Friday morning, complete with recipes, grocery lists and even kid friendly pointers. I’ve always liked the challenge of trying a new recipe and Stacey, the fabulous home taught chef behind No More To Go, includes a large variety of recipes in her weekly rotation (which means no searching on the internet for the new idea).
My favorite part of No More to Go is the grocery list. The weekly list is organized by department and coded by recipe. I haven’t been able to go 5 for 5 with the ’No More to Go’ recommendations, meaning cook all 5 meals on my weekly email, but that has not made the use of the week’s grocery list a problem. I just pick the meals I want to cook and then easily cross-off the ingredients that don’t go with the meals that I plan to cook for the week, then I still have a list of the necessary items I need to buy, organized by department, and it only took about 5 minutes to print and put in my purse before a trip to the store!
See my husband’s favorite recipe this month, white chicken chili, here
AND I promised my friend Texas that I would get her the homemade granola recipe that Stacey included as a bonus weekend treat. It was WONDERFUL and also made the house smell great. Click here.
For dinner parties I always go to Tyler Florence for advice (but could certainly use any of the No More to Go meals… Tyler has been with me long before I was introduced to my favorite meal planning website)!
Honestly, besides my recent soire last month, I can not remember the last time I hosted a dinner party. My recent Friendship Project has pushed me to try new things so a couple of weeks ago I made good on a promise I made on the blog to invite a family that I got to know at a child’s birthday party over for dinner (see the old blog post here).
On D-Day (“d”inner party day) I went to the grocery store on my way home from my half marathon training run and by 9:30 a.m. every burner on my stove was turned on high. My husband took our wild child youngest to the golf course, while her siblings enjoyed a lazy day in the house and I had fun cooking and decorating for our 5:30 dinner date (Saturday night start times have gotten earlier, especially when the kids are included in the festivities).
”Tyler’s Ultimate” 30-minute show on the food network promises the tastiest recipe for whatever the day’s topic, irreverent of time, ease or budget. I’ve enjoyed recipes from Paula Dean, Rachel Ray and The Neely’s, but for complete meals I think Tyler really nails it. I’ve tried several of his combinations with huge success. On D-Day I fixed all 4 recipes from his “Ultimate Chicken Corden Bleu” show. This is the second time I have prepared the entire meal and it is fabulous, fancy, but not too hard to make. (click here for a list of his recently aired ultimate meals).
I need to work on my food blogging skills… I did not take any pictures of my recent D-Day until the food was gone….
I am hoping to don one of my favorite aprons a little more often over the holiday season (my stack of cute aprons are threatening to mock me like my tennis skirts used to do before I actually played tennis). I would love to hear about any kitchen short-cuts that make your life a little easier.
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