Melificent

Weekend Highlights

This past week Miami played host to the very artsy fartsy Art Basel. It is a contemporary art exhibition, which has been referred to as the Olympics of the art world. Although I am not a fan of the pretentious crowd that makes its way into my city, I absolutely love all the talent that starts flooding in as well. There was an overwhelming amount of galleries, exhibits, installations and events going on throughout South Beach, Downtown and the Design District and at times, was enough to make your head spin. Thankfully, I decided to take it easy this time around by picking and choosing those that seemed really up my alley without overdoing it. Which ones made the cut? Metric’s free show on the beach, Toyota Antics at Grand Central featuring Phantogram (too bad they didn’t play until after we left), Rainbow City and Hello Kitty’s 50th anniversary Small Gift party.

Credit: Agustin Sanchez

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Christmas Gift Donations

Credit: State Library of New South Wales Collection (Flickr)

For all of those that do not  know, I have a full-time job working with therapeutic foster children. These children either have a mental health diagnosis or are developmentally disabled. A lot of them have been abused, neglected or abandoned by their families and many have never received a gift, much less celebrated a holiday, in their lives.

We’d like to change the way they view the holidays by making sure their Christmas is a special one. I am asking my friends and family if they would like to participate in donating Christmas gifts to these very special children and I’d like to extend the opportunity to my readers as well.

If you are interested in donating a gift to a foster child, please comment to this post.
Thank you in advance!

Weekend Highlights

I finally decided to hit up the local farmer’s market after making that post last week complaining about our lack of them in the area. The hubs and I woke up early and made our way to Pinecrest Gardens for their weekly festivities ready to find some really great stuff. I did find really great stuff, just not what I expected.

There were a lot of organic food items. I was expecting more produce. There were plants and trees. I was expecting more fresh flowers. You get it. However, now we know that we can wake up hungry and with cash in hand ready to chow down on some good breakfast or lunch items. Unfortunately, this time around we left empty handed.

The rest of our weekend was pretty low key. We had a good time with each other, enjoying our alone time (we don’t get a lot lately) eating, drinking, exploring and cuddling. It’ll probably be the last time until the new year that we have no set plans so I really tried to revel in it. Lots of events and fun (and sometimes stress) coming soon to a blog near you! 😉

Have a great week, everyone!

Things I wish we had: Farmers Markets

Farmers’ Markets are usually a staple for most cities, but unfortunately, that’s not the case in Miami. I love looking through all my blogs and checking out what my favorite writers discover, whether it be fresh and organic food products or absolutely stunning flowers, often leaving me pretty envious of their loot. Thankfully, this has begun to change lately and some markets are starting to spring up around town. However, not many of these are year round and the majority are quite a hike from our home.

One in particular, the Pinecrest Gardens Farmers’ Market, isn’t too far from us and just opened this past Sunday. It runs until May so I definitely want to make it a sweet weekend date for the hubs and I. I have been dying to have some fresh flowers in the house (I think they brighten up the mood so much & lord knows I need mood brightening lately) and hope I can find some quality ones there!

For a full list of Miami Farmers’ Markets, click here.

What do you wish your city had more of?

Weekend Highlights

Saturday we spent the night celebrating my glorious hubby’s birthday party with our closest friends at home. I think it was a complete success and everyone seemed to have a very good time. A very good time. Such a good time, in fact, that I spent the majority of my Sunday morning cleaning up after the mess. But it was completely worth it. We got to spend time with some of our favorite people and there really is nothing better than seeing the love of your life enjoying his special day. I love you honeycakes and hope this year is even better than the last! <3

Because of the festivities, I couldn’t attend the Vampire Diaries Tour in South Miami with Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley, but a couple of my buddies did and shared their experiences! You can read all about them here and here. Sounds like it was a great time filled with many a smoldering look and flirtatious winks.

And next weekend brings even more fun: it’s Halloween!!!!
I have an elaborate costume party to attend on Saturday night and then plan on going trick or treating with my nephew Sunday. What plans do you guys have for the holiday?