Out and About in Jax

St. Johns Town Center 2011

2011-10-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

Its getting to be that time of the year again... seems like it comes earlier every year, doesn't it? If you're like me, you get irritated if someone so much as mentions Christmas before Halloween, or even Thanksgiving. But there's a good reason I'm doing it!

The St. Johns Town Center Holiday Spectacular is coming! It will be happening on November 19th all day. Here are some of the details from the event website :

Holiday Spectacular, presented by St. Vincent's HealthCare, comes to town on November 19 with a full day of music, cooking demonstrations, special retailer offers, vendor booths and, of course, Santa Claus' arrival, the lighting of the dazzling 32-foot tree and a fireworks display! We are excited to announce that Dia Frampton, runner up of NBC's The Voice, will be the headliner this year. Up-and-coming rock group Parachute, Jacksonville University Jazz Ensemble and Charlie Walker Band will also be performing. Event timeline: Noon - 6 p.m.: Kids Family Zone, Holiday Cooking Demonstrations, Boat Show, Vendor Booths, Art Festival. Noon - 9 p.m.: Beer Garden. 6 p.m. - 9 p.m.: Entertainment, Santa's Arrival, Tree Lighting, Fireworks. In Partnership with: St. Vincent's HealthCare, Florida Blue, Poll Tropical and Sight & Sound.

I went to this event last year with the fam & had a blast. You can read that post here. I plan on going again this year, so I will hopefully see you out on the 19th. Happy Shopping!

Jacksonville.com's "One of Us" Column

2011-08-30T05:05:00.000-07:00

Lately my life has been beyond hectic. Part-time nursing at Shands Jacksonville, full-time Mom, part-time Family Nurse Practitioner student at the University of Florida. Oh, and did I mention? I found out in June that I am pregnant with my second child... due in February of next year.

Needless to say, there is little spare time in my life. But last week, when a journalist from the Times-Union called and said he'd like to write about me for a feature in Jacksonville.com called "One of Us," I couldn't turn it down.

I consider myself a First Coast journalist of sorts, and I'm a huge fan of the Times Union and www.jacksonville.com. I'm on the site all the time, keeping up with the latest on the First Coast, and I especially love their events calendar.

So, on Wednesday of last week, even though I was packing for a road trip up to the Washington D.C. area for my sister's August 27 wedding, and even though it was my first day of classes for my Fall Semester, I made time to sit and talk with Charlie Patton.

I could tell right away I liked Charlie. He was right on time, and greeted me with a warm smile and a firm handshake. He pulled out a copy of an email he'd received from my husband, Jim. Did I mention I'm married to a fantastic guy? All of the above craziness in my life is only possible because of Jim's tireless support. He cooks and cleans when I'm at work or school, takes Christian whenever I need some study time, all the while lending a shoulder to cry on and keeping me (somewhat) sane during all the chaos.

Jim is also a fan of www.jacksonville.com (he visits the site each day) and he really likes the "One of Us" column, which features short pieces about interesting locals. As Jim was reading some of the pieces in the column, it occurred to him that Charlie Patton might want to write about me. So despite the fact that Jim's life is every bit as busy and crazy as mine, he took the time to write Charlie an email all about me and how I'd be a great person to feature.

I'm one lucky girl!

So after Charlie showed me the sweet email, he whipped out his notebook and got right down to business, asking me questions about some of my favorite topics... the city I love, my work, my blog, my family and my educational program.

I tend to get a bit long-winded (as anyone who has read some of the posts on "Out and About in Jax" can attest) but Charlie patiently listened while taking occasional notes, and peppering me with questions. I've interviewed many people since starting "Out and About in Jax," and my method is self-taught. I've never had any kind of training on conducting an interview, so it was fascinating to watch a trained experienced journalist in action.

Before I knew it we were finished -- Charlie was both punctual and efficient. Next I met Don Burke, a gregarious talkative photographer. Don asked me to put on a pair of scrubs and gather some of my school books for a picture that would be used in the piece. While he snapped pictures, we chatted about our lives. Don was a great photographer, putting me at ease as he worked on the lighting and quickly took a series of shots. He lingered a few extra minutes chatting with me before they both left.

Today I read the piece and saw the photo -- they are both incredible. I am impressed by their work and humbled by the entire experience. You can check them both out here .

Life is such a roller coaster and adventure for me at this stage. I just celebrated my 30th birthday, a landmark that I thought would require me to mourn the end of my 20s, but my life is too busy and exciting for that. One minute I'm scraping dried cheerios off the table, the next I'm answering a Professor in class, then I'm tying a tourniquet and placing a needle in an anxious patient. Somewhere in the middle of all of it, I'm sitting in the bathroom staring at a faint pink line on a little stick and being slammed with the realization that my life has changed forever again.

And then somehow I'm sitting on my couch being interviewed by a reporter and before I know it, I'm reading a well-written piece with a great picture all about this interesting local nurse/student/ mother /writer and for a second, I can't even believe the piece is talking about me. How did I ever get so lucky and blessed?

I don't think I'll ever know the answer to that question, but I will always be grateful that I am asking it. I can't wait to see what's next...

Prayer Walk at the Church at Argyle

2011-04-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

This weekend I once again did the Prayer Walk at the Church at Argyle. Of course it was an amazing experience -- something I desperately needed. Right now, my life is like a busy intersection during rush hour. I'm in grad school part-time, work part-time and I'm a full-time wife and mother. This is mainly why you haven't seen a blog post here in awhile.

Going on the Prayer Walk was so wonderful, how can I explain it? It was like God gently guided me out of the busy intersection, down a peaceful tree-lined road and sat me next to still pond so we could talk.

Or, mostly so He could talk and I could listen. I'll give you one guess as to whether I'm better at talking or listening....

Okay, but before I get started talking, (I knew you'd guess right!) let me tell you a bit about the Church at Argyle. This place is nothing short of amazing. Located in Orange Park right on Argyle Forrest Boulevard, sits the church, an unassuming group of brick buildings adorned with a simple cross and a roadside sign. There's nothing intimidating about it, in fact, everything about the place is designed to be welcoming. Everyone is encouraged to dress casually, and the atmosphere is warm and relaxing. As you walk in, you are greeted with smiles and hugs.

I came to the Church at Argyle for the great atmosphere, but I stayed for the music.

There is no way to describe how awesome the music is at this church. I get goosebumps and/or tear up nearly every time. Each time I am immersed in the awesome, uplifting contemporary worship music I think: I can't believe how good these singers and musicians are! They need to take this show on the road -- they are that good!

Leading the music is our pastor and music director -- Pastor Rick Painter. Last year The Church at Argyle lost our beloved Pastor, Dr. Ken Dyal, and our church chose Rick to take his place. Now pastor Rick does double duty, leading the worship, giving the sermons, and leading the church. Although everyone in the church misses Pastor Ken still so much, I believe our church is as wonderful and strong as ever, and that is due in large measure to Pastor Rick's devotion and hard work.

Pastor Rick doesn't tower behind a podium and never raises his voice during sermons, something I truly appreciate. I've been to a number of other churches where the pastor passionately yells during the sermon, and it always makes me uncomfortable. Pastor Rick gives his sermons seated at a table on the altar, talking to the congregation as if we were sitting at a table with coffee and having a heart-to-heart. I of course love this approach. He gives simple, easy to understand teachings that we can all apply to our daily lives, so I find it really refreshing.

Other things I love about Argyle -- we have a great "Kid Stuf" production once a month, which is a Disney-style song and dance stage production for parents and children to enjoy together and learn about God. We also have many Life Groups (I'm in one and its great!) where groups of people from church get together in each other's homes to share meals, talk and "do life together". There's much more: a motorcycle riding group, a guys golf group, and lots of groups for kids and teens. Check out the Church at Argyle's website to learn all about the various groups and ministries at www.thechurchatargyle.org

Okay, on to the Prayer Walk. First let me explain what a Prayer Walk is. Similar to "Stations of the Cross" that other churches have during their Holy Week (the week before Easter), its a path of "stations" set up, for worshipers to walk around to and reflect on Jesus' final days, and his death and resurrection. The Church at Argyle's Prayer Walk is held for several hours on Thursday and Friday before Easter, and times to enter the prayer path have to be set up by appointment.

I called for my appointment pretty late in the game. I called from work the day the Prayer Path was starting (this past Thursday). I spoke to Hal Hunter, the Ministry Pastor at the church. Hal is an amazing person -- this quiet gentle soul that radiates warmth and kindness at all times. The first time I went through the Prayer Path was two years ago -- an event that Hal helped orchestrate. At the time, I was struggling through a tough time -- my father and I were fighting and I had all this built up anger and frustration.

Back then, I was so desperate for some help from my growing anxiety and stress, that I'd approached the altar after church to pray with someone. Okay, so if you grew up in a Catholic Church, you know that this is way outside my comfort zone. Also, if you know me, you know that I don't cry easily, and open displays of emotion are not my thing. Still, that day, I walked up to Hal, starting to ask if we could pray, and then I just burst into tears.

Actually, it was kind of funny. Not at the time, mind you, but my memory of it is funny. Here's why. First of all, I'm a control freak most of the time (I know, big surprise), and I always have in my head exactly how something is going to go. I absolutely did not expect to lose it like I did. I think my mini breakdown can be attributed to 2 different things: first, as any of you control freaks out there know, the more you try to keep tight control over an emotional situation all the while not dealing with the emotion... well eventually something's gotta give and that something most likely is going to end up being your sanity. The other thing that made me lose it that day?

The genuine kindness and compassion written all over Hal's face. Genuine compassion like that is rare.

That day, as I loudly blubbered to poor, quiet Hal in the middle of a crowd that was hanging out after church, most of whom were now looking over in alarm, Hal acted as if all of this was perfectly natural. He confidently guided me out of the church and to his office, handed me a tissue and listened to me for a long while. Then he produced an excellent book on the topic of forgiveness, and some kindhearted advice that was exactly what I needed. It was like he handed me a life preserver in the middle of a time when I was drowning. It changed my life. The whole story of that encounter plus the prayer path I did that year can be read here:

So when I called at the very last minute for an appointment this year to do the prayer path, Hal was of course the embodiment of compassion. There were no appointments left, but Hal gave me his own time slot, despite my protests. Although Hal probably ministers to thousands of people each year and our encounter was two year ago, he remembered it completely. "I remember that the Prayer Path was a very emotional experience for you. I want you to have my time slot. Really. Its ok..." Like I said, embodiment of kindness...

So I showed up plenty early for my appointment to go through the Prayer Path on Thursday. After I stopped by the check in table, I spent some time chatting with friends I've gotten to know after several years now attending the Church at Argyle. One of them of course, was Hal. It's funny though, whenever I talk to Hal -- his voice is so quiet, I always have to immediately adjust my speaking volume. I start out all loud and high pitched and end up hushed and quiet. Then I saw my friend Kaliegh a sweet young energetic college student, and my volume and pitch when right back up as we giggled and chatted.

Just then I spotted a boy, maybe age 8 or 10 years old come out of the Prayer Path. A member of the Creative Arts Team (these guys put together great stuff for our worship gathering -- funny videos & skits, and serious / emotional stuff too, like the Prayer Path) came over to ask if the boy would like to say a few words on video about the Prayer Path. Then this kid proceeded to give an eloquent, articulate summary of the Prayer Path and what it had meant to him. I was beyond impressed. It reminded me of another huge reason I chose Argyle.

I am so impressed by the kids and young adults! Sometimes these guys will speak to the church about a conference they've attended, or they'll even get the chance to put together some of the worship gathering, and each time I'm blown away. Several young adults sing and play in the musical part of the service and each time, I'm just so floored. I want Christian to be raised in this kind of environment.. lots of great examples to follow and good crowds to get mixed up in. Lots of great leaders to guide him.

But I digress. Soon it was time for me to go into the Prayer Path. I was outfitted with headphones and a small mp3 player by one of the sweet, cheerful church leaders. She had a computer set up and was able to tell exactly when I should enter the path. Another thing I love about Argyle. They're very savvy and modern (at least to my eyes). They have all the worship services on the website to watch in case you missed a service, or just want to watch it again. The staff members have Twitter accounts and blogs. The first time I saw one of the youngsters look up a Bible verse on her I Phone App, I was like "boy am I behind on the times!"

The church leader then led me into our main worship area, which had been completely emptied of chairs and transformed into a path that was taped onto the floor. Thirteen stations were set up along the path. There was slow, sweet meditation music playing quietly in the background, and candles were lit everywhere. The lights were low, and the candles were giving off this warm, sweet haze. I was led to a comfortable chair -- the first station, and a soothing narrator's voice talked to me about the Prayer Path and gave me instructions.

"Welcome to the Prayer Path at the Church at Argyle," the narrator said, as soft music played. "This is meant to be a special time of reflection for you. The theme for this year is 'From Beginning to Beginning: the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.' So just relax, and follow the instructions as we travel along the path. Don't worry, nobody will be interacting with you, you won't be embarrassed in any way. Anything you write down at a station will either be erased, or you will take it with you. So don't be afraid. Just enjoy this time of peace and reflection." After a few minutes, everyone quietly filed to the next station, and I headed to station #2.

The narrator then guided me through the stations, which recalled various milestones in Jesus' life. While reminding me of the events of Jesus' life, the narrator also encouraged me to interact with the stations. At one station, I was instructed to write on a small piece of paper something I need God's help with. I filled my tiny piece of paper with a long run-on sentence. It went something like: "I need God's help with balance for my life, balance with school, work and family, and I need God to help me remember to be more selfless, I think I struggle with selfishness a lot..." as usual, I was completely unable to be concise. Besides, "what I need God's help with" is a topic I could easily write a book on.

Then another station encouraged me to consider what I was doing for God in my life. This was tougher. Another station had me sitting in front of a mirror, and as the narrator recalled Jesus' temptation in the desert, I was encouraged to think of what were the temptations I dealt with each day, and then I was to write about that temptation right on the mirror. Then (thankfully) I got to erase it away. One really cool station had a path of sand set up right on the church floor, where I got to remove my shoes and walk barefoot through the sand while the narrator recalled the beautiful poem "Footprints in the Sand" by Mary Stevenson.

All in all, it was such a wonderful, peaceful experience, and it took me about 30 or 35 minutes. As I said, something I really needed. When I exited the Prayer Path, I was also given the option (If I wanted) to say a few words in front of the camera about my experience.

Did I want to? Ha! The camera loves me. Or, let's face it I love the camera. The Zombie Disco video springs to mind... So I spoke from my heart on camera. "I think sometimes the life and death of Jesus seems like something that happened so long ago, in a country so far away. Today, walking the Prayer Path was a reminder of how close it all really is."

There are so many things I am grateful for in my life. Faith, Love, Family... the Church at Argyle for me is like all three of those things wrapped up in one awesome place.

Considering Relocating to Jacksonville?

2010-12-19T08:10:00.000-08:00

In the past two years that I've been writing this blog, I've been contacted several times by people looking to relocate to the Jacksonville area. So I had the idea recently of compiling some of my responses to them and writing about all of the reasons I love this city, and why it's the perfect place to live. And, no, nobody paid me to write this piece or say these things. I really do love Jacksonville this much, and just want to share it with as many people as possible. I realize that there are some of you out there that don't like Jacksonville, and let me just say, with all due respect...

You're obviously insane.

Okay, I'm kidding about the insane part. But I do feel fairly qualified to make a judgement on Jacksonville -- I grew up in a military family, and I was in the military myself for five years, so I've lived in lots of cities all over the country and there's no place like Jacksonville. I've lived here since 2006 and plan to spend the rest of my natural life here. There are many great reasons for this:

First and foremost -- the cost of living and the quality of housing here. For the price of a small townhome or condo in some other places in the country, you can have a four bedroom home in a gorgeous neighborhood in Jacksonville. Especially with today's rock-bottom housing prices, Ditto on that if you are looking to rent. For a look at real estate listings, I found a pretty good website called ZipRealty. To look at homes to rent, check out rentals.com.

One thing I love about housing down here are the planned communities. These are huge housing developments complete with athletic centers, churches, schools, shopping and golf courses, built with ample sidewalks and sports fields, and a great community atmosphere. There are several I can think of off the top of my head: Oakleaf Plantation, Fleming Island, Nocatee, Eagle Harbor and The World Golf Village . I know there are more than those as well. Browse some and check out the prices. Not bad, right? A lot of these places have absolutely everything you need, so that you hardly ever have to leave. Great during a time when gas prices are higher each day.

Okay, other reasons to live in Jax, the weather is beautiful here year-round. There are some times in the summer that get pretty hot, but since we are near the ocean, I think we have a bit more of a breeze, and since we are in the north of Florida, it isn't quite as hot as say, south Florida or as humid as Orlando (which is smack in the middle of the state). The rest of the year is awesome. Live here and you'll be wearing shorts and flip flops as late as September or November, and as early as February or March. In fact, as I write this piece, it is a mere four days until Christmas, and it's 65 degrees outside and sunny.

Although most people worry about hurricanes when contemplating a move to Florida, Jacksonville is actually the least hurricane-prone coastal city in Florida. I did a little Internet research into why, and it appears to be due to a couple of interesting factors. For one, Jacksonville has this sweet location at a big indentation along the Atlantic coast, so it lies more than 80 miles from The Gulf Stream current (Miami is only 3 miles from the Gulf Stream apparently). Hurricanes often travel up the Gulf Stream and head up the coast away from the River City. Here's a fun fact: the only hurricane ever to hit Jacksonville since the late 1800s has been Hurricane Dora, a weak Category 2 storm, back in 1964.

More to love about Jacksonville -- There's a large international airport right here, so travel is pretty cheap and easy. I've travelled in and out of that airport many times, and I have to say, compared to DC or New York City airports, JIA is a snap to travel to and from, park at, etc. Go to your favorite travel website and check out ticket prices to and from JIA and your favorite destinations and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. While we're on the topic of travel, I should mention that Florida is the tourism capital of the country, so there's lots to do nearby. St. Augustine is an hour away, all the Universal and Disney parks only three hours away. Savannah, GA is only 2-3 hours away. Daytona Beach is about 2 hrs away. Several great cruise terminals are in nearby Tampa or Miami and you can visit areas all over the Caribbean for pretty cheap. Just to get a glimpse of the amount of fun you can have vacationing in the Sunshine State, check out visit Florida. Here's the bottom line: imagine going on an awesome Bahamas cruise or seeing Disney or even Miami or Key West without having to buy plane tickets!

Want to visit the beach without going far? No problem. Jacksonville Beach, Ponte Vedra, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, and St. Augustine all lie less than an hour from Jacksonville. Move here, and a day at the beach will no longer be more than a brief trip in the car. Since Jax is located on a beautiful coast with a huge river running through it, you are never far from breathtaking waterfront scenery and water activities.

Jacksonville is a major metropolitan city with lots of surrounding country, so many people agree that one of the best aspects of Jax is depending on where you live, or where you go in the city, you can get the "big city feel" or the "small town feel". We have several state parks here for "outdoorsy" activities like hiking, camping and the like.

Are you more interested in art, music and academics? We do have several local colleges/universities. University of North Florida, Jacksonville University, and Florida State College at Jacksonville are all housed here and The University of Florida has a presence here--there are a lot of UF classes here in Jacksonville, and UF's campus in Gainesville is less than two hours away. Check out all the helpful links running along the right side of the page to browse all there is to do in Jacksonville. There are lots of art, music and dance events going on all the time. We have several local museums such as the Cummer Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Science and History. We have a big art walk throughout the downtown area the first Wednesday of every month, and each Saturday we have a huge art/farmers market downtown with live music and street performers. Also, because of the size of Jacksonville, we have no shortage of Broadway shows, musicians and celebrities that come here to perform. We have several great local venues for performers, including the Times Union Center, Everbank Stadium, the Prime Osborn Center, and The Florida Theater. Are you wondering what some of the Jacksonville events/places are like? You're in luck! That is the very reason I've been writing this blog for the last two years. Check out the archives to read some of the cool places I've been and written about!

Okay, one thing I know I need to mention in this day and age is the job market. Although I am far from an expert on the local job market, I will say that I bet that compared to many places in the country, our job market is pretty good. We have two major military bases here (Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Mayport Naval Air Station), as well as Cecil Field which is a commercial base. We have several HUGE health care systems here, Shands, Baptist, and St. Vincents (off the top of my head). The universities and military keep new people coming here all the time, so the housing market here isn't suffering as bad as in some places, so that keeps a lot of other local businesses afloat. Check out this Wiki link of a huge list of major companies headquartered in Jacksonville. You'll see some big names on there, like CSX railroad, Winn-Dixie Groceries, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, and Steinmart, to name a few.

Okay, that's the major stuff I can think of for now, although I reserve the right to add stuff later. Agree or disagree? Have something to add? Questions? Feel free to leave a comment here, or on the Facebook Fan Page. And hopefully I've at least given you some points to consider if you're thinking about moving here, or if you do live here, something to forward to anyone you may be trying to convince to move here.

I count us Jacksonville residents among the luckiest people on Earth. I'd just like to take this moment to say Happy Holidays to the "Out and About in Jax" readers out there, and from the bottom of my heart:

Thank you so much for listening.

St. Johns Town Center Holiday Spectacular

2010-11-21T06:37:00.000-08:00

This Saturday, the family and I went to the St. Johns Town Center Holiday Spectacular. I think this is going to become an annual tradition to kick off the Christmas season in my family. The event was awesome! We were able to shop, have a dinner out, browse local art, climb around in some boats (I'll explain), and of course watch some amazing live music! We saw a huge Christmas tree being lit against a backdrop of fireworks. On top of everything else, I got to meet and have a picture with the event headliner, Vertical Horizon! In short, it was a night I will never forget. (To read my interview with lead singer, Matt Scannell, click here ).

I have to admit, that one of my fears about going to this event was that it would be absolutely crowded. I was afraid that parking would be a nightmare and we would be unable to get in anywhere to eat or shop. I was also afraid that the area where the stage was set up would be so crowded that we would have trouble even watching the live music.

I'm happy to admit that I was wrong about all of that. Although this was a very popular event and it was crowded, St. Johns Town Center is so huge, that there was plenty of room for everyone. We arrived at the Town Center in the late afternoon. Parking wasn't too bad and only took about five minutes. We were able to park pretty close to all the main action.

The entire event was centered around the Town Center's 32 foot Holiday Tree, which was in the center of the courtyard right outside Maggiano's. Situated in front of the tree was a stage, and there were huge TV screens set up where people could watch the stage action from several different vantage points. For several blocks around that main courtyard, traffic was blocked, so the entire event had the feel of a huge block party. Along the streets were tents that housed artists, jewelry makers, local businesses like dance studios, and even food vendors like Cantina Laredo and Renna's Pizza. There was also a huge kids section filled with bounce houses and face painters. We even spotted a place where kids could take pictures with Santa. Another really cool area was the Ashley's furniture area -- a roped off party, complete with what looked like a full bar, and lots of beds, couches, and chairs to relax on with a big flat screen TV to watch.

In the center of it all was a huge setup from Marine Max of like, 6 boats that kids and parents were free to climb in. This was an immediate attention grabber for Jim and Christian, and they scrambled up into the driver's seat of the largest of the boats while I continued looking around. I stopped by a huge Jacksonville Sharks display as well as a Jacksonville Jaguars set up. I apparently missed it, but some players and cheerleaders had made appearances earlier in the day. Mobile Health Vans from St. Vincents (the biggest sponsor of the evening) and Baptist Health Care were parked along the streets, and I also spotted several local radio stations.

In short, this was a HUGE EVENT. And it was 100% FREE! There were never really any lines for anything either. Each thing we wanted to do or see, we were able to just walk right up. St. Johns Town Center is just so huge, that I'm sure it's used to accommodating crowds. I went to the tree lighting ceremony at the Jacksonville Landing two years ago, (you can read about it here ) and it was fun, but it was so packed that you could barely move.

Not the case tonight... walking around was easy. I was able to walk right up to the huge Holiday Tree, and the stage. I was able to get in and out of the stores easily as well. I picked up a huge holiday candle from Bath and Body Works (you have to check out their "Fresh Balsam" scent! It smells just like a live Christmas tree!)

Soon the guys were all done looking at the boats, and we headed toward the Holiday Tree to meet up with a PR professional named Jamie. She was going to hopefully help me get the chance to meet Vertical Horizon! Jamie helped coordinate the phone interview with lead singer Matt Scannell that I mentioned earlier. The whole thing was a dream come true for me -- I'm a huge Vertical Horizon fan. Their song "Everything You Want" topped the charts in 1999 and 2000 and is one of my all time favorite songs. They also play several other big hits including "You're a God", "I'm Still Here," and "The Best I Ever Had".

While we waited for Jamie, Christian got to meet a few furry friends -- Clifford the Big Red Dog, and a Chick-fil-a cow dressed up in a Santa suit that Christian called "the Christmas Cow".

Jamie was great. She was so nice. She had already read my piece about the Matt Scannell interview and had a lot of sweet things to say about it. She got me a "VIP" badge and whisked me back to a meeting room inside Carabbas where there was a small party going on. She set me up with a spot in a line of fans waiting to meet the band.

Minutes later, I was meeting and having my picture taken with Vertical Horizon! It was so surreal... even now, I can hardly believe it happened. All of them were just so nice, and Matt hugged me several times and told me how great I did in my interview with him. It can't be said enough, Matt is just such a great guy!

I stumbled out of the party after that, totally starstruck and in disbelief about all of it. From there, the fam and I set out to find somewhere to have dinner. There was a pretty long wait for the major restaurants near the block party, like the Cheesecake Factory and PF Changs, but we were able to walk up to The Grape (a charming little wine bistro) and sit at a table outside.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous! So Jim, Christian and I sat at the table, and enjoyed a nice dinner while watching the happy crowd drift by.

Jim smiled at me from across the table. "You look content," he observed.

"I'm beyond content!" I beamed, "I've just met Vertical Horizon, had a great day with my family, and now I have a glass of fabulous Chardonnay and I'm people watching at a huge Jacksonville event on a beautiful November evening. I'm totally sublimely happy."

After dinner, we headed back to the main square just in time for Vertical Horizon to take the stage. They thanked the crowds and the event sponsors, and got started playing. They played "The Best I Ever Had", which is a really pretty song. After enjoying success as a pop hit, it was redone by Gary Alan and became a big Country hit.

Matt's voice was even more beautiful singing live than I could imagine. The radio really doesn't do him justice. I was watching him sing in front of this big cheering crowd and trying to convince myself that I really did just meet him an hour earlier.

He sang a few Christmas songs like "The Little Drummer Boy," and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". I have to admit here, that it isn't exactly easy to get me into the Christmas spirit. I usually get annoyed if anyone so much as mentions Christmas before Thanksgiving. But slow dancing with Christian while listening to Christmas music and looking at the glittering lights strung around the courtyard against the backdrop of the night sky .... it was awesome. It made me remember the way I used to feel about Christmas when I was little.

Matt paused between songs to tell a story about one of his songs called "The Man That Would Be Santa."

"There was a time in my life where I was having a difficult time with my father. We were fighting about something then that now neither of us can remember. But during that time in my life, I was going to school in Washington, D.C. and my parents were living in Maine. So, I worked all day on this song, and I finished it at like, 9:00 at night. I got in my car, and drove all night, back to my parents house. I arrived at I think 5;00 in the morning. My Dad answered the door and at first he was a little freaked out, I mean here's his son who should be in Washington D.C. standing on his doorstep at 5 in the morning. The first thing he said was 'Matt? Are you okay?' and then I said 'I will be after I sing you this song...'"

I was of course impressed with this story, and I thought about how Matt had explained in the interview that he uses songwriting to help him work through pain in his life. The song was really touching and inspiring. I also struggle with a difficult relationship with my father, and I wish I was brave enough to drop everything and use my talent and creativity to work through it in the way Matt did.

After he finished that song, he started to tell us another story. "So, a few years later, I was living in New York, in a small apartment I could barely afford, chasing my dream. One night I was sleeping and I woke up and this guitar riff came to me..." he started to play a few of the beginning notes of his HUGE chart-topping hit "Everything You Want".

The entire crowd, (me included) went wild. He went on to explain the way each part of the song came to him in his sleep, and the way he put the song together. Then he rocked the crowd with an incredible performance of the band's supernova hit. I had tears in my eyes the entire time.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. When the final notes of the song were played, to the wild cheers of the very enthusiastic crowd, the huge tree in the center of the courtyard was lit up, and an awesome fireworks show lit up the night sky.

It's an evening I won't ever forget. I think any gifts I get for Christmas will probably be overkill at this point. Having such an amazing evening with my family in such an amazing city, and getting the chance of a lifetime to interview and meet one of my favorite bands -- all of it will be pretty hard to top. What a perfect time of the year to realize just how lucky and blessed I really am.

Bring on the Holidays!

Interview with Lead Singer of Vertical Horizon Matt Scannell

2010-11-18T19:09:00.000-08:00

Wednesday night I got the chance of a lifetime -- to talk to Matt Scannell, lead singer of Vertical Horizon. His song "Everything You Want" skyrocketed to the top of the charts in 1999 and 2000. In fact, it was the most played single in 2000 according to http://www.verticalhorizon.com/ . They also have a lot of other big hits like "Forever," "You're a God," "I'm Still Here, and "The Best I Ever Had." You can listen to "Everything You Want" (and watch the music video) here.

The year 1999 (the year "Everything You Want" was released) was the year I started college at UF. I fell in love with this song the first time I heard it, along with millions of others. There's something about this song, I think unlike any other song I've ever heard that just draws you in. It's filled with such real, honest emotion. It's like you can hear the sadness in Matt's voice as he sings. It's inspiring and touching, and the raw emotion makes it (for lack of a better word) beautiful.

I can remember that my first year in college was when Napster and other downloading sites were in their infancy, and "Everything You Want" was one of the first songs I downloaded. I put a shortcut to the song on my computer's desktop and I would listen to it all the time. I couldn't listen to it while cleaning the dorm room or studying, though. There's something about this song that demands my full attention. Whenever I would play it, I'd just turn it up and sit still and be immersed in it. I've never tired of hearing it, either. There's something about the song, the nuances and the meanings behind each line. I think I hear something new each time I listen to it. Even now, if it comes on the radio when I'm driving, I can't talk or do anything else. I just turn it up and let it wash over me.

"Everything You Want" is among probably my top five favorite songs of all time, and it was important to me at a time when I was finding myself and starting out my adult life. So when I heard that Vertical Horizon was coming to St. John Town Center's Holiday Spectacular Nov. 20th, I found a contact person and begged for the chance to meet the band.

I didn't necessarily expect a reply -- I write all kinds of emails asking for one thing or another for my work with "Out and About in Jax", sometimes I get a reply and sometimes not.

But after a few emails back and forth, the answer finally came that I would get the chance to actually speak with Matt Scannell over the phone for a 10 minute interview! Okay, I know I say a lot on here that "I was beyond excited" about one thing or another but believe me...

I was beyond excited!

Because of the time zone change between where I am (Eastern Time Zone) and where Matt is (Pacific Standard Time) and due to the fact that he's getting ready to travel, and juggling his work for his next album, I didn't exactly know when I would get to talk with him. I'd gotten a phone call from his management company trying to nail down a good time, and I'd been exchanging emails from some people who work in public relations for the Town Center. So I was filled with nervous excitement all day, not knowing exactly when or even if the phone call would come. I had a list of questions scribbled in my pocket that I kept with me all the time, and I'd done lots of Internet research about the band, and about Matt in particular, but still of course I felt unprepared.

Matt had been interviewed by the likes of Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and Dick Clark, to name a few -- and here I was, no formal education in music or journalism, no real credentials, and very little experience conducting interviews. All I've learned about interviewing I've figured out on my own with a little notebook, digital recorder and passion for writing and connecting with others.

I think that this is one of the most amazing aspects of the 21st century. Through Facebook, Twitter, live chat, and blogging, now the average person has greater personal access to everything -- political candidates, movie and music stars, large companies. I'm so lucky -- I live in a time where somehow, armed with a laptop, digital camera, and a small recorder or notebook, I've turned into a budding journalist of sorts.

I am beyond grateful.

So even though I knew the call was coming, I still jumped when my phone rang at around 8:30 pm. I was still dressed in scrubs from working a 12 hour nursing shift. My heart pounding, I ripped my list of questions out of my pocket and scrambled into my room (locking the door behind me so my 3 year-old couldn't get in (you moms out there know what I'm talking about) and answered the phone.

I think my voice was shaking as I said "Hello". I didn't have any idea what to expect. I'd never spoken to a star this big in my entire life, and he was taking time out of a busy workday to talk to me. It seems each time I do something for the blog, whether it's stepping into a packed $75 a ticket charity event, or meeting the CEO of a resort, or walking into a Buddhist meditation class, I have this moment a split-second before I take a flying leap out of my comfort zone where I say to myself What the heck am I doing?!

The minute I heard Matt's kind, friendly voice on the other end though, all my fears subsided and I completely relaxed. He was so genuine. We talked for twenty minutes, and there wasn't a hint of pretentiousness, impatience or condescension anywhere in his voice the entire time. Although he's probably given hundreds of interviews, he never once seemed bored and I never got a canned answer. Each question I asked, he took a moment to truly think about and give me an amazing, in-depth, well thought out response. The very honest, genuine voice that instantly drew me and millions of others into the experience of "Everything You Want" and made Matt a star, also put me at ease that day. This was not simply a "star" or "celebrity" I was talking to, but a really great guy.

I'm going to try my best to replicate the experience, and most of what he said, but I have to admit, I had no way of recording what we were saying since it was over my cell phone. I relied on handwritten notes, which I've used successfully for other interviews and pieces. I know quite a bit of shorthand (we use lots of abbreviations, symbols and shorthand in the medical world), but I'm afraid it's still going to be tough to capture how incredible Matt's answers were.

Matt was extremely articulate. If you google interviews with him and read a few others, you'll see what I mean. His speech has a poetic quality ---everything from his word choice to the way he weaves imagery and his own personal philosophy into his answers makes for a fascinating conversation -- its easy to recognize the natural talent with words and ability to connect with others that make his songs so special.

"Hi Erica," he started, "I'm so glad to get the chance to talk to you. It was a really busy day in the studio, and I got out a bit early, so I'm really glad I had the chance to give you a call."

"I'm so glad you called too!" I almost squealed. I tried to promise myself I wouldn't gush too much, (I'm sure he gets enough of that already) but I told him all about how much I loved "Everything You Want" and about how I listened to it all the time in college.

"Thank you so much for telling me that!" he said genuinely, "I never get tired of hearing stories about how something I wrote touched someone else. Believe me, its an amazing and humbling experience to know that something I did can have that effect. I think that's what so great about music -- it can be so emotional. It has this amazing ability to help us reach beyond ourselves and connect with others through our shared emotions and experiences. I hear stories all the time about the way one of my songs has meant something special to someone, and it's incredible."

"Can you tell me one of those stories?"

"Well, I do have one particular story I really love. So my brother took off for a month once, to go backpacking in Nepal. He went out near Everest, and just all over -- in tiny villages and places where there was barely anything we would think of in terms of civilization. Out in one of those villages, sort of in the middle of nowhere, was a small hut where this old man was inside knitting sweaters and listening to a tiny radio. 'Everything You Want' was playing on that radio!"

"Wow! That's incredible," I breathed. I hadn't realized that this song had been played all over the world, and was reaching places so far from the US. "Well, obviously 'Everything You Want' is your most popular song, but do you have a favorite song of yours?" I asked.

Matt laughed. "Gosh, it's hard to pick a favorite. I'd imagine it must be something like a parent trying to pick a favorite child. It's an interesting question... well, there is this song from the album, Go called 'Underwater'. It's just so completely free from any kind of pop influence. It isn't meant to be a pop hit, it is completely artistic. To me, it's like a painting in a way -- just filled with my own creativity and expression, so it's really special to me." (You can listen to the song and watch the video here).

"Speaking of your albums, you released your latest album Burning the Days last year. In that album, you have a mix of more upbeat positive songs, like 'The Lucky One', and more dark songs like 'Save Me From Myself.' Which do you identify with more at this point in your life?"

"Well, to tell the truth, I wasn't all that happy in the past. I've been through a lot in my life. I like to use music as a vehicle for self-expression. I think creating music is a way to not only make a living, but when you pour yourself into it, and use it to work through problems in your life, you can become a fuller and better person. I tend to hold onto things -- whether its guilt, or anger... songs for me are like capsules for trauma, regret and pain. The music for me is a way to let go of those things in my life. So some of my songs can be darker, but also there are a lot of positive things going on in my life lately and I'm all around a very happy and positive person right now. For me, the glass is half full and that comes through in a lot of the more positive songs I do."

"I've read that it was a difficult personal experience with someone who you were in love with that inspired you to write 'Everything You Want.' Can you tell me a little about that?"

"Yeah, so I was in love with this girl, and she was just a broken person. She kept turning to everyone except me for love and acceptance, and I wanted so much to help her. I wanted to be the one to give her everything she wanted, but I couldn't. She just couldn't accept it from me, and it was that pain, that led me to creating the song."

"When that song hit the radio, that was the thing that helped skyrocket you to success. Was there any one moment where you knew you'd made it ... where you knew you were becoming a star?'"

"Hmm, I can't think of any one particular moment. It was sort of a lot of 'little' experiences that started to add up to a feeling of achievement. Well, I wouldn't call these experiences little, but when we went on David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Conan, those were pretty big moments. We were interviewed by Dick Clark once -- that was really awesome. Once, my mom was driving from my hometown of Worcester to Cape Cod (its about a 2 hour drive), and she told me that she listened to my song nearly the entire time. She would switch from one station to the next and it seemed it was always on. I think those are the moments where you take a second to realize how lucky you are and how much all of your hard work is starting to pay off. I've been playing guitar since I was 7, and writing songs since I was 10. Now I've been doing what I love for 25 years and each day I feel so lucky to be able to make a living doing something I am so passionate about."

"That's awesome," I told him, "I feel the same way about writing. I started journaling and writing short stories when I was eight or nine. Writing is something I've been passionate about my entire life. It's just a hobby for me now -- it's not like I can make a living doing it, but I feel so lucky to be able to do it. That's interesting that your mom had the experience that they were playing your song all the time. I felt like they never played that song enough. That's why I had to put it on my computer so I could listen to it all the time."

"I can't tell you how much it means to me to hear something like that, Erica" he told me, "its so nice of you to share that with me, and I love you for it."

Did you hear that?! Matt Scannell said he loves me! I momentarily forgot where I was, and had to glance down at my list of questions, which I'd almost completely forgotten in the natural ebb and flow of our conversation. "Okay, let's talk about the event for a minute. So you're coming here on Saturday to perform at the St. Johns Town Center Holiday Spectacular. I read that you are going to be doing a mix of some of your popular hits along with some Holiday songs."

"Yeah, we're really excited. The whole band will be there, and its going to be a more 'stripped down' acoustic performance. I really like acoustic guitar, and I think everyone who comes out will enjoy the experience. It should be a lot of fun."

"Have you ever been to Jacksonville before?" I asked.

"Yeah, actually but it was a number of years back. Some friends of mine actually knew a few of the Jacksonville Jaguars cheerleaders, so I came with them to visit awhile back. I'm excited to be coming back though."

"Any particular part of Jacksonville you want to try to see while you are here?"

"Well, yes. Have you ever heard of the Food Network show 'Diners, Drive-ins and Dives?' "

"No," I laughed, "Sounds like a tongue twister..."

"Yeah, I guess it is," he laughed, "But it's this great show all about local places to eat in different cities. There's a place the show featured in Jacksonville called The Metro Diner (http://metrodiner.com/ ), so some friends and I are going to check that place out. I'll be in town a few days and it will be nice to check out the area."

"I think you'll have an incredible time," I told him. I took a few minutes to gush about what a fantastic city Jacksonville is and how much I love it. Then I moved on to my last couple of questions. I was trying to keep in mind how busy Matt was -- I didn't want to take up too much of his time, although he gave off every impression that he was enjoying the conversation and never seemed rushed at all. "Tell me," I asked him, "Where do you get inspiration for your music if you are stuck?"

"Well, I try to go out to a movie, read a new book, maybe check out a new art exhibit, and I look for new ways to stimulate my mind or emotions. I try to take an active role in a passive activity if that makes any sense."

"It really does."

"Yeah, and I also try to tap into my own experiences and emotions as well. I don't like to listen to music as much to get inspiration, then I'm afraid I'll take on someone else's ideas or energy. I like to tap into things from my life, whether positive like happiness and love or dark, like pain or trauma. I don't really strive to make music just so I can sell records. I want to make myself a better person in the process."

"I remember how you said before that you use songwriting and music as a way of dealing with your pain," I cut in. "I really admire that. My passion is writing, but I often shy away from writing about anything difficult. I like to write about happy experiences, but I can't really make myself face anything difficult or painful when I write."

He took a moment to speak directly to me as he said, "You know Erica, when I was starting out in music, I played other people's songs. It took me awhile to be able to tap into my own creative side and to be able to deal with my own experiences. It took practice, and in the end it was a way for me to heal. You may find that in time you are able to sit down and write about the more difficult aspects of your life."

I'd read in some of my research about Matt that he'd actually been given the nickname "professor" because of his innate ability to explain anything and be so easily understood. I brought this up right here, unable to stop myself from gushing. "I've heard you've been called 'the Professor' before. You seem to have a great way of explaining things. What did you major in at Georgetown?"

"Psychology," he laughed.

"Makes perfect sense. I feel like you are inside my head! Okay, I know you have to go soon. Let me ask you one more question. What's next for Vertical Horizon?"

"Well, we're going to be doing a little more touring in the Summer, which we are all really excited about. Also, I've done a lot of work with Richard Marx. We've done several shows together and we've made a couple acoustic records together. Right now we're working on a band record that I think is going to be really awesome. Of course I'm looking forward to Saturday's show at the St. John's Town Center. Are you going to be there, Erica?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world!" I exclaimed. From there, I wrapped up the conversation, thanking him profusely for taking the time out to talk to me. The entire conversation was a dream come true for me.

I can remember so vividly the 19 year-old I was, sitting at my computer, feeling so connected to the strikingly beautiful and hauntingly sad (yet somehow uplifting) voice drifting from the speakers as I listened to "Everything You Want" over and over. I could never have imagined back then how much I would mature in just ten years, or how far my life would take me. There are so many things about my life right now that I would never have believed if someone had told me about it back then.

How could I begin to fathom that I'd be juggling a career, a family and school while still persuing a passion that has somehow enabled me to one day have a conversation with the man behind the song I loved so much back then?

This interview has been so much more for me than another piece for "Out And About in Jax". It has inspired me so much -- to continue to persue what I love, no matter how far it takes me out of my comfort zone, to maybe use writing to explore and express the more difficult things in my life, and to truly realize how much we all really share. I think that's what writing for me is about -- sharing my experiences in a way that everyone can relate to.

I think Matt Scannell was completely right. Following your passion can and should be something that makes you a better person.

Okay, so here are the event details: I'll be at the Holiday Spectacular Saturday, and it's going to be amazing. St. Johns Town Center will basically be the site of a huge Holiday kick-off party all day. There will be activities like bounce houses and face painting for kids, plus shopping and specials for adults. Music performances start at 6pm, with performances from The Charlie Walker Band http://charliewalkerband.com/ , Ryan Star http://www.rstar.net/ and the UNF Tuba Euphonium Quartet. Vertical Horizon will take the stage at 8pm, and afterwards, Santa will lead the crowd in a count down to lighting a huge 32 foot Christmas Tree. Then there will be a dazzling fireworks show. Believe me, this is going to be the event of the YEAR. And best of all it's FREE. I can't wait! See you there....

One Ocean Resort Gallery Re-Opening

2010-11-05T06:44:00.000-07:00

Thursday night Jim and I headed out to One Ocean Resort for the re-opening of the resort's art gallery. It had rained earlier in the day, and the rain brought with it the first real chill we've had in the air for the Fall.

"It's about time we've had some cooler weather!" I mused as we zipped up 9A in Jim's Honda Accord. "I mean, its almost the middle of November for chrissake and up until now, it's been 80 degrees out every day!"

Jim changed lanes quickly while barely touching his blinker. My life flashed before my eyes for the tenth time on the trip. "Jim, I actually want to make it to One Ocean alive," I whined.

"You said we were running late, so I'm trying to make up for lost time..." Jim mumbled as the odometer needle edged close to 80mph.

I was pretty keyed up for the evening, and it wasn't just the multiple near-death experiences.

Not only was I excited about seeing the new photography exhibit, but I would also get to meet the featured photographer, Shepherd Boggs, as well as the general manager of One Ocean, Sileshi Mengiste. Mostly, I was excited to see the resort again. I'd been before, back in March for their "Fashion First Thursday" event. During that evening, I'd gotten a tour of the gorgeous resort and wrote all about it in detail. You can read about that evening here.

Finally we headed into the ADORABLE little area of Neptune Beach, and cruised right up to the front entrance of the resort. The resort has complimentary valet, so Jim and I hopped out, thanked the very polite valets, and headed into the lively party right in the lobby of the resort.

One Ocean is so breathtaking. (http://www.oneoceanresort.com/) It's hard for me as a writer to give you an idea of what it is like. I'm going to give a shot at describing it, but there are only so many adjectives like "gorgeous", "beautiful" and "breathtaking". You just need to trust me and go for a visit. You don't need to be a guest there to see it either. There are several areas of the resort you can go experience without having to book a room. They have several bars, and a restaurant called Azurea. Also they have a spa that I promised myself I'd get a chance to try soon. I got a complete tour of the resort during my last visit to One Ocean and described all of it in detail, if you want to read about it here.

The entire resort is made to look like elements of the beach are brought indoors. The floor is a pearl, sandy color, made of tiles that have crushed seashells in them. Complimentary shades of pearl, teal and brown are everywhere, and everything from the light fixtures, to the fountains and artwork are made to look like bubbles, or to have the illusion of being suspended in midair.

There was a lively well-dressed crowd of maybe 100 people filling the lobby and spilling out of the small art gallery that is situated on the outer edge of the lobby. After I took a second to get a look at the gallery, the lobby and the crowd, I set about looking for Nancy Click, a PR professional from the Mayfield group, which handles public relations for the resort.

Nancy was really warm and friendly, and looked dazzling in a brown and teal dress. After quick introductions, she started telling me all about tonight's event. "The photography we used to have featured in our gallery here at the resort was the work of local artist/photographer Sherri Ebert. Several months ago, the resort put together a panel of judges that would select a new artist's work to display. Ms. Ebert was actually on that panel, so she helped pick the next artist. So we put out the call to local artists to submit their work. There was something very special about Shepherd's submission. The way he displayed his photography was on a sort of interesting canvas... it's hard to describe but it definitely got the attention of everyone in the room. Shepherd is a surfer and photographer, and his love of the water, surf and sand is evident in his photography. This makes his work really perfect for One Ocean."

Next, Nancy whisked me over to meet none other than Sileshi Mengiste, the general manager of One Ocean. He was tall, with a dark complexion, and wore a nice suit. He smiled and shook my hand, and then took ten minutes out of what I'm sure was a very busy time for him to treat me like I was the only person in the room and answer all of my questions. In short, he was everything you'd expect the general manager of a huge, opulent resort to be... polite, charming, very articulate, and passionate about the resort.

"Is this your first time to One Ocean?" he asked me.

"Oh no, I came here earlier this year for 'Fashion First Thursdays'."

"Oh wonderful, welcome back. Would you like a drink?"

"Sure!" I replied, quite impressed. He turned and headed toward a different room that housed some appetizers and drinks. I've done maybe a handful of interviews since starting this blog almost two years ago, and I've probably never interviewed someone as "high profile" as the manager of a resort, and I've certainly never had someone stop the interview to see if there was anything I needed or wanted.

We walked up to a table of wine glasses and a server expertly showed me the various wines they had available. I opted for a glass of chardonnay, and it was swiftly handed over, chilled to the perfect temperature. I didn't catch the name of the chardonnay, but of course it was perfect. In fact, everything about the resort seemed perfect. It occurred to me that everyone working there was probably an expert at providing impeccable service.

As I sipped the chardonnay, I asked Mr. Mengiste what events the resort had planned for the coming holidays. "Well, each year we do a different 'gingerbread house' that we set up in the lobby. Last year we made a castle, one year we even did an igloo! We're talking about 400 pounds of sugar and flour.. We do it every year for the kids. I think this year we're going to have a train running around the outside of the gingerbread house. We're still working on the plans for all of it, but it's going to be really awesome. Also, each year we do a 'high tea' here at the resort at lunchtime for several weeks during the Holiday season." (To read a brochure with all of One Ocean's Holiday menus click here.)

"So tell me a little about the art gallery," I asked him.

"Well, the art gallery is just another way to communicate luxury. That's what everything at the resort is intending to do. People really appreciate art. Also, choosing a local artist is just another way our resort strives to stay connected with the community. Then there's the way Shepherd's work fits in with the design of One Ocean. Everything about the design of the hotel, from the colors, to the fountains, sculptures and artwork is all about bringing the beach and the ocean in. We want the artwork displayed in the gallery to be a part of that. Shepherd Boggs' photography has lots of wonderful scenes from the ocean."

Since we were talking about the design of the hotel, I had something I was dying to ask. "So, I got the chance to have a tour the last time I was here. There are a lot of interesting features of the resort, from the meditation lounge overlooking the beach, to the gym, to the bars and restaurant. And you probably know this place better than anyone. What is your favorite part of the hotel?"

An amused smile lit up his face, and Mr. Mengiste actually took a few moments carefully considering his answer. I thought this was interesting, since its a question I thought he'd probably been asked before.

After a few moments of consideration, he gave me this glowing, descriptive eloquent answer: "My favorite part of the resort, is the deck right outside Azurea (the restaurant), on a beautiful day, when it's 70 degrees outside. Sitting there, listening to the ocean, sipping a nice drink when it's quiet. That area is absolutely perfect."

Soon, it was time to meet the artist/photographer whose work was being celebrated for the evening, Shepherd Boggs. http://www.shepherdboggs.com/ Nancy appeared at my side again in a flash, and brought me over to a couch in the lobby where the affable, surfer/photographer sat, sporting a tan, shoulder-length blond hair, a suit, and a contagious smile. Here's what I already knew about him from some Internet research: He's 27, graduated from UNF with a degree in photography in 2006 but has been working in photography for 8 years. Currently, he was being interviewed by a woman wearing a black cocktail dress and taking notes on a notepad.

"Who's she?" I leaned over and asked Nancy.

Nancy explained that the girl currently interviewing Shepherd was a travel writer from a website with 'travel" in the name, but now I can't remember the name of the website she told me.

Shepherd and this other girl wrapped up their interview soon after I arrived, and it was my turn to sit down with the hero of the hour. I introduced myself and told Shepherd a little about "Out and About in Jax". "Clearly, I'm a far better journalist than the girl you were just talking to," I added with great importance, "I use a voice recorder instead of a notepad."

We both laughed. I started off by asking him about his opinions about the state of the field of photography today. "Isn't it true that it's a little tougher to make a living in the photography business because now everyone thinks that just because they own a digital camera they can be a photographer? I've heard that a lot of people think any friend with a nice camera can do pictures for their wedding."

"The way I look at it," Shepherd told me, "Is that nowadays, there are a lot more photos out there, but the quality just isn't as good. In order to be able to consistently take really good photos, you need the proper training and lots of experience."

Right then, we were interrupted by some adoring fans that were constantly coming up to congratulate Shepherd and praise his work. He was mildly apologetic about us being interrupted, but I reassured him. "This is your night. Don't worry about it."

Besides, I had a cold glass of chardonnay in my hand and a great seat for some fabulous people watching in a gorgeous resort. And we had a sitter watching the kid at home. At that particular moment, I was certainly in no hurry.

After the brief interruption, I sensed my time with the featured artist may be shorter than I expected, so I decided to skip to my best questions. Since I'd had such success with this question with Mr. Mingiste, I asked Shepherd "Do you have a favorite photo that you've taken?"

He also seemed lost in thought considering the answer to that question. "Well, I don't know if I actually have a favorite. Each photo I take is a representation of an experience I've had. So it ends up not just being about that particular photo but my actual experience. So for me, each photo is special in its own way."

"What is life like as a professional photographer?" I asked. "Is photography your hobby, or your full-time job?"

"Its a full-time job, but more than that, photography is my whole life," he answered happily, "And I absolutely love it. I travel, follow my passion... I'm a very lucky guy."

At that point, we were mobbed by some fans, including one guest who immediately offered to buy one of Shepherd's photos. There was something about this guy (the one who offered to buy the photo) that made him seem powerful and influential. It wasn't just that he was approaching an artist at the opening of his exhibit and confidently offering to buy a piece of artwork, but also the way this guy seemed to be flanked with an entourage, and the way he made a point of introducing himself to me with a firm handshake, stating his first and last name, as if I should know who he was. I didn't. As I glanced around at the crowd at the resort that night, I bet that there was more than a few powerful, influential types.

Just then, a friend of Shepherd's named Gary Denman sat down and introduced himself to me, piquing my interest by promising to tell me a funny story about Shepherd. (A promise he never really did deliver on). Although he did let me in on the interesting piece of trivia that Shepherd is the son of a prominent local physician.

I was relieved that Gary had come over to talk to me. Shepherd was surrounded by an ever growing crowd, and I sensed that our interview was pretty much over, so it was nice to have someone else to chat with, sparing me any awkwardness. Gary explained that he owned "The Photoshop" a Jacksonville Beach digital print and camera store. http://www.clickprintshare.com/ . Gary told me that he teaches photography classes at the shop, as well as classes in various photography software programs.

We chatted for awhile and he even offered to take my photo in front of one of Shepherd's masterpieces. Which, by the way were awesome. There were several large photos in the gallery, including pictures of sea life like large swordfish and small starfish, taken underwater, and several beautiful pictures of glittering waves taken from a surfer's viewpoint -- the inside of the breaking, rolling wave, a huge glittering tunnel of water and sunlight. You have to check out these works of art. If you can't make it to the art gallery at One Ocean (which you should of course make every effort to do) at least check out Shepherd's website http://www.shepherdboggs.com/ .

After checking out the gallery and mingling for a few minutes, Jim and I headed over to Azurea to have a drink at the opulent bar. We were tempted to have dinner in the restaurant, but we'd eaten before we left the house, and we didn't want to push our luck with the sitter. So we ended up finishing up our evening at One Ocean in the place Mr. Mingiste had told me about. Out on the deck behind the resort, Jim and I looked out at the rolling surf under the moonlit sky and felt the sharp cool breeze blowing in from the water.

It was, in fact the perfect place to be.

The Premiere of Gore-E-ography: The Making of Death Harmony

2010-10-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

Thursday night I attended the premiere of Gore-E-ography: The Making of Death Harmony at the Florida Theatre. I'd been looking forward to this for a long time. Last year, I attended the world premiere of Anthony Kilburn's film Chiaroscuro Baby at the Florida Theatre and had an awesome time. It was through that event that I first met Anthony Kilburn, a great Jacksonville filmmaker. To read the piece about the premiere of Chiaroscuro Baby click here.

Earlier this year, Anthony gave me the chance to be in a music video some of his colleagues were making to help promote his latest film, Gore-E-ography. We shot the music video back in July. The whole experience was so much fun -- I got to wear a sparkly dress and roller skate around to a fantastic song called Open Skate: Zombie Disco. To read all about the experience and to see the music video click here.

In addition to being in the music video, I'd also added to my film acting experience by heading out to Riverside in August to be a part of a photo shoot. In the photos we took, I played the sister of the makeup artist in the film. I was made up to look like I had a tumor growing out of the left side of my face, and then my face was covered with zombie makeup. We took a gruesome family portrait, and several other funny photos. To read about that film shoot, you can click here

Okay, I know it's taking me awhile to get to the story of the evening of the premiere ... what can I say? I'm long-winded. Sue me.

So, I took my husband Jim with me to the premiere and as we parked right across from the Florida Theatre, I was teeming with excitement. I started grad school back in August, so I haven't been able to go out much, or to do much for my blog since then. So I was thrilled just to be out and about again. Not only was I getting a rare night out, but I would also see all the friends I'd made since getting involved with Gore-E-ography and best of all, I would get to see myself on the big screen. I had yet to see the photos we'd taken during that August film shoot, and I was as excited to see the pictures (and how they'd be incorporated into the movie) as I was about seeing the entire film.

As we walked up to the theater, we could see a red carpet and photographers outside, along with a fun looking crowd. The attire for the evening was supposed to be either black tie formal, or a zombie, ninja or vampire costume.

Oh yeah, it was an awesome crowd.

Oddly though, the crowd didn't seem near as large as the crowd had been for the premiere of Chiaroscuro Baby last year. Once Jim and I picked up tickets from the Will Call window, we headed over to the red carpet. "Take my picture here on the red carpet," I begged Jim, "and can you pretend you're the paparazzi? Maybe yell out at me a little?"

"I'll take your picture," Jim mumbled, rolling his eyes and laughing. Maybe just to humor me, a photographer from the Florida Times Union came up and snapped a picture of me as well.

After taking pictures, Jim and I headed inside and almost immediately ran into Jay Hagley. He plays "Chet the makeup artist" in the film. I also saw his mom standing nearby... she had been such a good sport during our photo shoot in Riverside. They'd covered one of her eyes with paper and liquid latex so it looked like she was missing an eye for the photo. She'd sat still for over an hour while the makeup was applied and then posed for dozens of pictures. She looked great for the premiere. "Much easier to see without the liquid latex over your eyes, right?" I laughed. In the middle of the lobby was a table with free wine and beer. Jim picked up a Sam Adams Octoberfest and I picked up a glass of Merlot.

Right near the beer and wine table was a table of Gore-E-ography merchandise like movie posters, and t-shirts that said things like "Team Ninja" "Team Zombie" or "Team Vampire". "See that guy over by the table?" I whispered to Jim, "That's Oliver. He made a comic book about the film, and I think he also illustrated the movie poster." Jim already knew that his job for the evening would be to a) follow me around and b) listen to my running commentary about the evening.

"Ohmigod, there's Bill Welch! He's one of the Mad Cowford Improv Players! This guy is hillarious. He plays the director of the film."

"Oh, so he directed the movie?" Jim asked.

"No, Bill Welch plays the director of the film inside the film -- Death Harmony."

"The film inside the film?! You lost me."

"I've been talking about this movie for months. Have you even been listening to me?!"

"Sorta..."

"Grrr. Okay. So Gore-E-ography is the film we are here to see today. It is a mockumentary, (like This is Spinal Tap, or The Office) about the making of a indie film called Death Harmony."

"So it's a horror movie?"

"No, it's a comedy. The entire film is improved. Mad Cowford is a local improv comedy troupe, and several of the Mad Cowford players (like Bill Welch) star in the film. The way this movie was made was that Anthony sat down several actors and gave them the scenario that they were making a movie, and he started asking them questions about themselves, their roles in the movie, and what the movie would be about. He used whatever the actors came up with in the interviews to make the rest of the movie. So what ended up coming out of the interviews was that Death Harmony would be about a marriage between a zombie queen and a vampire prince, with ninjas trying to break up their alliance. The whole thing was shot over two days of filming."

While Jim was lost in thought trying to piece together all of this, I dragged him over and introduced him to Bill Welch. After chatting with Bill for a minute, we heard some cheering and cameras flashing, so we headed back out to the red carpet to hear what the commotion was about. A limo had arrived, and some people were getting out.

"Who's the guy in the suit with the long hair and those bright neon sneakers?" Jim asked.

"The guy surrounded by the cheering adoring fans? That's Matt Shuman. He plays the male lead in the film. Oooh! Look, there's Courtney Gardner, also surrounded by adoring fans. Love her dress. She plays the female lead in the movie. She was also in that music video with me. Also, she won Best Actress in this year's 48 Hour Film Project."

"The 48 what?" Jim asked.

"Never mind.. lets go upstairs and get a look around. I think there's some free food up there too." As we meandered through the lobby and up the stairs, we got a good look at a lot of the interesting costumes. There were some people who were really into dressing up for the big night. We saw some really great zombie makeup, complete with painted blood dripping from the corners of the mouth, as well as some long vampire capes. It was a great mix -- in addition to the costumes, we saw people in really formal affair. There were women in dazzling floor length gowns, and a guy in a tux sporting a cane.

"What's with the cane? Why do some guys think its cool sporting a cane with a tux?" I asked Jim.

"That's an umbrella," Jim told me rolling his eyes.

"What?! It is NOT," I laughed.

"Wanna bet? It's an umbrella."

"Yeah, it's pouring out tonight," I mumbled sarcastically.

"What's with this guy?" Jim, smirked, "is that a top hat?"

"That's Anthony Kilburn!" I screeched, excitedly, "He's the director!" We walked over to Anthony and congratulated him on the big premiere. I thought Anthony looked pretty calm -- if I were putting together a premiere for a movie, complete with live music, food and drinks, I'd be a mess.

Next we headed upstairs to get a look around the theatre. When we reached the top of the stairs, Jim suddenly burst out laughing and walked right up to one of the Florida Theatre ushers. "What's up man? What are you doing here?" Jim asked as he shook hands with the usher. It turned out that one of Jim's coworkers volunteers as an usher for the theater. At that point, they started talking about engineering, and their speech faded in my head into something sounding like the teacher from Charlie Brown "wah wah wah wah"...

So I headed over to the bar area where there was some free food to sample. The goodies included some kind of spinach and cheese pastry, chips and salsa, barbecue meatballs, and sushi. Soon Jim joined me and we had an awesome time wolfing down the food and watching the live band. They were really good -- they played fun party songs like "Word Up" by Cameo, and "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry. It was impossible to listen to without wanting to dance. It made for such a fun atmosphere.

Finally it was time to head into the theatre. We got some good seats and settled in for what we knew would be a great show.

First Anthony Kilburn came out to huge cheers from the crowd. He thanked everyone for coming and then made a great speech. "This is what Jacksonville could be," he said passionately, "You guys are here, for a red carpet film premiere, for this little podunk indie film that me and my friends put together. That's pretty cool. Think about it guys, I'm just one independent filmmaker. I'm working with just a handful of actors and technicians. But what if the people of Jacksonville who are filmmakers and actors and technicians could band together to do things like this --world premieres at the Florida Theater... There's absolutely no reason why Jacksonville can't be the independent film capital of the world!"

"This film was an experiement. It started out because I was bored," Anthony quipped, to laughter from the crowd, "I wasn't doing anything, so I decided to make a feature film. I wanted to see if I could make a film without a script. Without a plan. Without any money... you know, the stuff most indie filmmakers do. So I got together with some really talented people and gave them this idea that we would be making a film called Death Harmony and that the film would just be really bad. At first, they all thought it was pretty weird. But by the second day of shooting, which was... the last day of shooting..." the audience roared with laughter, "By the second day of shooting, we were all convinced that this was more than an experiment, it was a feature film." From there, Anthony thanked the sponsors for providing the food and wine, as well as the cast and crew, and presented "The film that Folio Weekly said was not funny..."

Turns out Folio Weekly was dead wrong. The movie was hilarious. You could tell all throughout the movie that the actors were ad-libbing and improving and that gave it the unpredictability and bursts of unexpected humor that have made unscripted shows and movies so popular. All of the actors worked so well together, accomplishing something that even seasoned improv actors probably have a hard time doing. They genuinely supported each other without upstaging one another, using creativity to create funny moments while all the while appearing to be serious and passionate about their film.

It was great. I laughed pretty much the entire time.

When the last scene finished with huge cheers from the crowd, I was sad to see it end. As we walked out into the warm night (I can't believe it's still this warm this late in October), I thought of what Anthony had said about our great city and hoped right along with him that Jacksonville would see more indie film premieres and events centered around local films. I'm convinced though, no matter what happens with Jacksonville's film scene, Anthony Kilburn will keep making indie films, at least until some big studio recognizes his talent and dedication and snaps him up. Then we'll all get to talk about how we watched some of his first few films at the Florida Theatre. Until then, I can't wait to see what the next project will be.

State of the Re:Union -- A Celebration of Community

2010-09-10T04:53:00.000-07:00

This Wednesday, as I sat in class and tried to focus on learning about various types of nursing research, my mind kept drifting to the upcoming evening and my invitation to attend "State of the Re:Union - A Celebration of Community" at the downtown library. The event was the first fundraiser for a relatively new NPR show called "State of the Re:Union". http://stateofthereunion.com/

The show is all about different US cities and how they create community, and face adversity. According to the show's website, it all started when creator and host, Al Letson, entered an idea for a new NPR show into a contest called " The Public Radio Talent Quest". Al and his idea for State of the Re:Union was one of 1400 entries into the contest. His show was one of only three winners, and Al received grant money to produce a season of episodes. After its pilot season, the State of the Re:Union team received one of the largest public radio grants ever given to a single project to continue the show's production.

Since beginning its pilot season, Al and his team have put together in depth shows about 10 different US cities, including places as well known as Washington, D.C., and our own River City, and places a little less well-known, like Greensburg Kansas and Oakridge Oregon. Each episode features interviews with locals and features some of the interesting aspects that make the city unique. You can listen to any of the show's episodes on the website. Also, you can check out pictures and videos from the different in-depth stories. I listened to most of the episode on Jacksonville and found it fascinating. Al's voice is fantastic... it has a soothing, rhythmic quality to it.

Further research about Al Letson revealed why: he's a poet. Before his career in public radio began, he was an award-winning performance poet. Check out this youtube video of his performance of a poem called "The Ball, the Rim, and Him":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OukbrA3v4A&feature=related

...I know, mesmerizing, right?

When the time finally came for me to head down to the library for the fundraiser, I was pretty excited to check it out. I parked in the lot behind Burrito Gallery, and headed into the hallway right outside the Library's Hicks Auditorium.

When I arrived, the place was already packed a with a dressy, lively crowd. Live music played in the background, and servers weaved through the crowd with plates of appetizers. A few high top tables were assembled that clusters of people gathered around, chatting. Near the front of the hall, a table was set up with an array of drinks. I picked up a glass of red wine and a few pieces of sushi from one of the servers from Bento Sushi, and worked the crowd, meeting people and chatting.

I spotted Al Letson, and I wanted to meet him and get a picture, but it seemed he was always surrounded by a group of adoring fans. He wasn't out for long -- he had to go and prepare for his performance later, so I didn't get a chance to meet him. It was okay, though. After hearing him speak later in the night, I felt as if I'd gotten to know him personally. (More on that later).

When I stopped at a table to chow down on an array of goodies I'd snagged from the various servers (treats from Orsay, Biscottis and Bento Sushi), I struck up a conversation with the women who were already standing at the table.

The women were from none other than the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville! http://www.culturalcouncil.org/ The Cultural Council is a local arts agency that puts together a fantastic local events calendar called "Experience Jax". http://www.experiencejax.com/ I use the Experience Jax Calendar all the time to look up events to write about and to put together my bi-weekly "List of Interesting Upcoming Jacksonville Events" on the right hand side of the blog.

Needless to say, the group of us had a lot to talk about.

Of of the women, Christie Holecheck (the Cultural Council's program manager for art in public places) introduced me to several people involved with the Cultural Council, and talked quite a bit about the "Off the Grid Program". "Off the Grid" is a partnership between The Cultural Council, Downtown Vision, and local artists and property owners. The program partners the artists with the property owners--artists are given vacant spaces as much needed space to create and display their work, and the local property owners get artwork to help beautify their vacant spaces.

I'd heard of the program before while interviewing local filmmaker, Anthony Kilburn. Anthony was planning on donating some proceeds from sales of his latest film's soundtrack CD. To read the piece about the interview and Anthony's latest film : Gore-E-ography: The Making of Death Harmony, click here:
http://www.outandaboutinjax.com/2010/08/jacksonville-music-video-revival-in.html

Soon, my friend Stephanie, another nurse from the hospital, rushed into the room. She'd worked a 12 hour shift and had to come late to the fundraiser. She grabbed a drink as she asked me "What'd I miss?"

I gave her a quick rundown of the food I'd tried and the people I'd met. I also pointed out a few local celebrities that were there. "Over there in the black dress, That's Melissa Ross, host of WJCT's First Coast Connect, a radio show all about local happenings. I got to meet her during a tour of WJCT a few weeks ago."

"Wow, really?"

"Yep, and somewhere around here are Wayne and Delores Weaver, the owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars."

"No way!"

Soon, it was time to head into Hicks Auditorium to hear Al Letson give a presentation all about the show. Stephanie and I got comfortably seated in the lovely theater, and soon Melissa Ross took the stage. As the emcee for the evening, she thanked everyone for coming and announced that people would be walking through the crowd selling $10 raffle tickets for the evening's biggest prize: an invitation for two to enjoy a Jaguar's game from the Weaver's private suite!

Next Melissa introduced a representative from NPR's national headquarters in Washington DC, who spoke about the show and how successful it has been across the country. "You know, Al doesn't do interviews, he has conversations," this rep gushed. "His passion for the people he meets and the work he does comes through in every single show."

"Wait a minute," Stephanie leaned over an whispered, "I thought this was just a local show. You mean this show is produced here in Jacksonville but it's broadcast all over the country?! That's awesome!"

Soon Al Letson took the stage. You could tell the crowd was thrilled to see him. There's something about this guy... he has an awesome stage presence, and this great star quality. He's also great at public speaking, and makes you feel as if he's talking only to you.

Al welcomed everyone and thanked several people, including the Weavers, who he said had been extremely generous and supportive of the program. Next Al told some of his personal story.

"For many years I was a flight attendant. This allowed me to travel all over the country, working on my poetry and meeting so many wonderful people. I was very interested in the story of each city and the different people and communities they shaped. If you had asked me back then, before I started work on 'State of the Re:Union' if I was a patriotic person, I don't know how I would have answered that question. But now, after two seasons and travelling to so many cities, I would have to say that I have developed a patriotism and love for this country that is truly amazing. There's so much talk nowadays about 'red states' and 'blue states'. Sometimes it seems the media would have us all believe that this nation is bitterly divided. The truth of the matter, I have found is that deep down, we are all really the same. We are all so much more similar than we realize."

Al was breathtaking to listen to. He punctuated his speaking with clips from some of his shows that were projected on a large screen on the stage. Through these clips, Al introduced us a priest from an inner city Episcopal Church in New Orleans, that honors all those murdered in his city by writing their names on a special board in the Church and praying for them and their families. ( I think when that beautiful heartbreaking clip ended, the crowd was holding it's collective breath). Another more lighthearted clip introduced us to mobile food vendors in Austin, Texas that sell everything from Mexican food to Barbecue out of renovated trucks, trailers and even school buses. Another, more shocking story was about Massey Mining company in West Virginia, and its practice of "mountaintop removal" mining. In this mining technique, the tops of mountains are literally blown off, causing devastating effects to the local people and the environment.

Through Al's clips, pictures and stories, I got the chance to meet people, see places and learn things I'd never get the chance to otherwise. I was impressed by the concept of the show and the quality of the work he was showing us. I tended to agree with him, that we all are so much more similar than we realize. I identified so much with the people and places we were shown. Although I'm not entirely sure what is meant by the spelling of "re:union" I believe that one of the things the creators of the show are trying to do is pull the country closer together (a reunion) by showing us the real people and stories that make up each community in our nation.

This concept of reunion is a very noble goal, and I think something our nation desperately needs as we face such a difficult time. I definitely plan on tuning into the show every chance I get, and checking their website often to catch past shows and view video and pictures. I can't wait to learn even more about this great nation, and I hope that tonight Al and his team raised enough to help keep them out doing stories like this for a very long time.

Jacksonville Music Video Revival in Five Points

2010-08-07T06:47:00.000-07:00

Ohmigod I have so much to tell you about this week! Friday night, I went to The Jacksonville Music Video Revival at the Five Points Theatre (and saw myself on the big screen), attended a Mad Cow Improv show at Northstar Sub Station, hung out at Dos Gatos and caught a concert at Cafe 331. On Thursday, I got a tour of WJCT during the day and participated in a movie shoot in Riverside with some gory looking liquid latex on my face at night.

Oh yes, we have a lot to cover.

Okay, let me start with Friday night and the Jacksonville Music Video Revival. I could hardly contain my excitement as I drove downtown toward the Five Points Theatre Friday night. A few weeks ago, I was invited by local filmmaker, Anthony Kilburn to be in a music video to promote his upcoming comedy Gore-E-ography: The Making of Death Harmony. (Gore-E-ography rhymes with choreography). The music video shoot was so much fun! You can read all about it here: http://www.outandaboutinjax.com/2010/07/shoot-for-zombie-disco-music-video.html

I'd had a blast at the video shoot, but I hadn't yet had a chance to see the full finished project. Not only was I jazzed to see the video and hear the song again (a super catchy fun song called "Open Skate (Zombie Disco)"), I was also pumped for my big screen debut.

Let me tell you a bit about the Jacksonville Muisc Video Revival. Its the brainchild of blogger and EU writer, Jack Diablo (http://www.jackdiablo.wordpress.com/). To read an interview with Jack all about the Music Video Revival, click here: http://jackdiablo.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/jmvr-interview-at-wingard-creative/

Basically Jack says that after attending the Citrus Cel Animation Festival recently, he was inspired to try to resurrect the art form of the music video (remember when MTV actually played them??) and to showcase Jacksonville's great local music scene. So Jack partnered up with EU Magazine, the Five Points Theatre and CW 17 among other sponsors and put out the call to all local musicians and filmmakers to submit their videos.

So the big night was Friday night from 5-7pm, and coincided with First Fridays in Five Points, an event that happens on the first Friday of each month. Similar to the First Wednesday Artwalk downtown, Five Points shops and restaurants stay open late, many featuring local artwork and/or live music.

When I arrived in Five Points a little after 5pm, the streets were packed! Really interesting looking cars were parked all over the place (including brightly colored souped-up trucks, lowered so much that the body of the truck appeared to be resting on the ground). Adding to the unique mix of people, groups of bikers sat outside having beers, and dressed up girls browsed the shops. An avid people-watcher myself I was in heaven: I love eclectic, diverse groups of people.

I met up with Effie right outside the Five Points Theatre. There were two showings of music videos, one at 5, and one at 6 (each showing consisting of 14 videos, and taking about an hour). We arrived close to halfway through the first showing. As we headed into the theater, I immediately noticed the familiar, toe-tapping notes of "Zombie Disco" wafting from the theatre. "That's our video playing!" I screamed, as I grabbed a startled Effie's wrist and dragged her into the theatre. So we stood in back of the dark theatre and watched the "Open Skate (Zombie Disco)" video.

It was so GOOD!

In my view, the best music videos are ones that tell a story, and that's how ours was. Our video was the story of a guy and girl zombie (CJ and Courtney from my last post about the video shoot) who starred in a music video together back when they were humans. So the zombies are each in their respective homes, (as zombies now) and their human music video comes on TV. This causes them to head out into the city, looking for each other, killing people and recruiting more zombies along the way. Near the end of the video, they find each other and then do a Thriller-like dance with a big group of zombies. It's hilarious! You can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBnH4J9YcEU

I can't even describe how cool it was to watch myself on the big screen. In fact, I reached up with my camera and snapped a picture of the image of the three of us on the screen. When the video finished, I burst into cheers, startling a few people sitting nearby. There was only a smattering of people in the theater for the 5pm showing (most people showed up at 6) but they clapped and cheered along with me.

Effie and I settled into a couple of seats to watch the rest of the videos. Of course, in my completely unbiased opinion, our video was the best, but the other videos were really cool too. I was quite impressed with the obvious work and talent that were showcased in the different videos. Also impressive was the range of types of music that were represented: we saw everything to pop sounding songs (like ours), to more hard core rock, to slow smooth R&B to rap. It was a really great blend of music, and almost all of the videos were impressive visually too.

One video I really liked was for a song called "Trouble Hunters" by Astronautalis -- the video was shot in many locations, a beach, a parking garage, a store, a house etc and was really cool to watch. It featured a guy with a Dracula-esque vampire cape and big fake teeth singing, along with different scenes of people shooting each other, or running.. not really sure what the story was supposed to be, but I was entertained the whole way through and I think whoever filmed it was very talented. http://www.last.fm/music/Astronautalis/_/The+Trouble+Hunters

Another honorable mention goes to "Something More" by Mr. Al Pete featuring Tony White. Reminiscent of Boys II Men, this was a beautiful R&B song --the guys were very talented vocally, and the quality of the video was very good. A majority of the video was shot in San Marco Square. I remember thinking that Jacksonville really should get more credit nationally. We have such a beautiful city, and obviously there is some great talent here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SskZ1Me7Zws

One of the funniest videos of the evening was probably "Rootin For the Bad Guy" by The 2416. In the video, a pack of puppets that look like something out of a Fandango commercial hunt down members of the band and kill them. There's a part in the middle of the video where two female puppets seduce one of the band members and then strangle him with his own belt... it had the audience hooting and snorting... check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11fgGTRwr8g

Soon the 5pm showing was finished and we had a few minutes to kill before the 6pm showing started. I headed out to the lobby and had a look around. I was really impressed with the Five Points Theatre. They have a great snack bar with beer wine, and other drinks and snacks, a nice lobby and pretty nice bathrooms. I made a mental note to come here to see a film soon. They tend to show lesser known films and Indie films -- something I'm becoming more and more interested the longer I'm involved with Gore-E-ography.

Soon more of the cast and crew of Gore-E-ography started showing up, and I chatted with them and introduced Effie. I'd just seen them the previous night for a film shoot. Anthony Kilburn (the director of Gore-E-ography) had invited me, and it was a really cool experience. Although he is already through filming all of the footage he needs for Gore-E-ography, Anthony was gathering some people at his house to do some still shots that will be used in the movie when the characters refer to their past.

So Thursday night, I gathered with about ten other people at Anthony's house in Riverside for the shoot. I had a lot of fun, and met some really interesting people-- some were actors, and some were friends and family of actors. Everyone got along really well and we all had a lot of fun. I played the little sister of one of the characters in the movie, played by a gregarious guy named Jay. Jay must have been the most hilarious guys I met that night. He's one of those people who two seconds after you meet them, make you feel as if you have been friends all your life.

So in the movie, when Jay's character talks about his family, the still pictures we took will flash up on the screen. My character is supposed to be deformed, so a makeup artist at the house spent about an hour painting liquid latex onto my face to make an grotesque tumor like lump coming out of the left side of my face. It was my first experience with liquid latex, and I'll be honest, that part of the experience was a little rough. First of all, it took over an hour to apply the latex and makeup. Also, the latex gave off some fumes, causing my eye to water, and the latex REALLY stuck to my skin (and some of my hair). With the latex covering half of my face, it made it really hard for me to make any kind of facial expression.

The most fun photo we took was of me, Jay and Jay's mom, who came that night just to play Jay's character's mom in the photos. Jay's mom deserves a "Best Mom in the World" award for allowing the makeup artist to cover her right eye with a sheet of liquid latex and makeup. You just try covering an eye for even a few minutes... you lose all depth perception. Poor thing had to practically be led everywhere after the makeup was applied.

So for one of the photos, we gathered in Anthony's kitchen, and Anthony's lovely wife, Halina snapped the photos while Anthony directed. Jay walked out of the kitchen through the back door, while Jay's mom and I stood together in the middle of the kitchen. Halina set up a bright light on us, and then Anthony yelled for Jay to come out and scare us. Anthony called out directions: "Look horrified, Erica! More horror on your face! Mom: grab the phone like you're calling 911! Erica! Can you look a little more scared? Can you open your mouth up any more than that?"

"I can't look scared," I answered, "This latex is freezing up the entire left side of my mouth and face. I feel like I've been shot up with botox or had a stroke!"

"Can you grimace out of the right side of your mouth?" Anthony asked me. So I jutted out the right side of my mouth and contorted my face in mock fear. Everyone in the room cracked up, so I started laughing too. It was a lot of fun. What was not fun was ripping the latex off of my face. I swear I'll never get irritated when one of my patients whines about me taking tape off their IV ever again. Of course I'm glad I did the shoot, and as a result I'll officially be in like a tenth of a second of the feature film, premiering at the Florida Theater on October 28th. I'll be listed in the credits (and in the IMDb) as an extra!

Okay, so back to the Music Video Revival. I ran into Anthony and Halina, and Jay among others. I also ran into CJ, one of the stars of the video. I thanked him profusely for a great tour he gave me of WJCT studios on Thursday. I got to look behind the scenes and see all the radio and television equipment used for WJCTs television channel and radio station. I got to see set pieces, and television cameras. I also got to see the rooms where NPR radio programs are done. I'm a fan of NPR, and listen a lot in the mornings, especially when I'm on my way to work. One of the highlights of the tour was meeting Melissa Ross, host of First Coast Connect which airs on WJCT's radio station 89.9FM each weekday morning from 9-10am. The program is all about Jacksonville -- local news, events and issues, so of course I'm a huge fan. http://www.wjct.org/radio/shows/wjct_news#fcc

Effie and I stayed at Five Points Theatre long enough to see the videos we'd missed due to our late arrival to the 5pm showing. Jay sat next to us, occasionally leaning over to comment on one of the videos. Of course we stayed to see the Open Skate (Zombie Disco) video one more time. Right before it came on, I leaned over to Effie and whispered, "Just so you know, I'm going to scream and cheer obnoxiously the entire time our video is on."

"Oh, goodie," Effie replied. Of course the whole Gore-E-ography group cheered for our video. After our video aired again, Effie and I slipped out of the theater to go find somewhere to eat, and Jay tagged along.

We ended up trying a new sushi restaurant right in Five Points called Yoshi Sushi. The food was pretty good and the place was really nice inside. The service was a little slow, but as the waitress explained, they've only been open 2 days, so they are probably still getting their routines down. While we ate, Jay invited us to a Mad Cowford Improv show going on that night at 8pm. He gushed about the improv comedy troupe and how much fun the shows are.

Several of the Mad Cowford players are in Gore-E-ography, and I have met a few of them, so I'd been meaning to attend one of their shows. I love improv comedy -- when my twin sister and I were undergrads at UF, she was a theater minor, so I ended up hanging out with theater types a lot. I love improv comedy and even went as far as taking an improv class at UF. Effie and I were pretty easily talked into attending the Mad Cowford show, so soon we were headed over Northstar Substation on Bay Street.

I love nights like that -- you start out the night without much of a plan, and you just drift from one place to the next, having so much fun along the way.

Soon we were seated at Northstar, waiting for the show to start. There was a pretty large crowd there, impressive since on this particular night the AC at Northstar happened to be broken, so it got pretty warm in the restaurant. The show was so comical I almost didnt' notice the heat. The players made jokes about the heat, and nobody seemed to mind too much. Mad Cowford Improv has shows every Friday night at Northstar Substation on Bay Street at 8:15pm. (http://www.madcowford.com/) I definitely plan on coming to more of them. Northstar had a great menu (I instantly regretted having sushi beforehand, we should have waited and just eaten at Northstar). The menu had pizza (baked in a brick oven), sandwiches, salads and wings among other things, plus beer wine and an array of bar drinks. Several people around us were having dinner and the food looked and smelled awesome. http://www.northstarsubstation.com/

There were about six players that came up front to perform, and they played several improv games, resulting in some fascinating (these guys were talented) and entertaining skits. For example, one of the games they played was called "hijacker". One of the players ran outside so he couldn't hear the audience suggestions. The rest of the players would pretend they were on a plane, headed to a certain location. The players then asked the audience for suggestions such as where they were going in the plane. What we came up with was that they were headed to Dubai to go to the Gap, and that the hijacker's weapon was a seal (as in the animal). I know, weird right? The hijacker then came back in the room and based on clues from the other players had to guess where they were supposed to be headed, what the weapon was, etc. It was really funny, the hijacker yelling diabolically at the other players (who were screaming in mock fear) while he made guesses as to where they were going.

In one skit, the players had to create an entire scene where all they could do was ask questions. In one game, each line had to start with the next letter of the alphabet, and they had to go in order through the entire alphabet. (Did I mention these guys were talented?") The show took about an hour, with a ten minute break halfway in between. During the break, my friend Monique texted me asking where I was, and soon she joined us. It turns out that one of the players, Matt Flagler is a co-worker of hers. He was great in the show.

It was right around halfway through the second act, when I was sitting with my friends, laughing at the performance that I remember thinking how much I love going out. I'm not just talking about attending charity fundraisers and events for my blog, but heading to different night spots, meeting people and hanging out with friends. It seems that since I graduated college and got married, I certainly have tended not to go out as much, and I've missed it. I love meeting new people, and realizing how connected we all really are, and experiencing something new, much like the Mad Cowford show.

Once the show was over, Effie Monique and I headed over to a bar right across from the Florida Theatre called Dos Gatos. Effie knows the owner, (come to think of it, she knows everyone in Jacksonville), and Dos Gatos is one of her favorite hangouts. It was a really fun place. It had an upscale look about it, with gilded light fixtures, dark wallpaper, and a beautiful painting on a brick wall, and it played fun 80s music all night.

After spending several hours there, we headed over to Cafe 331, another place where Effie knows the owner, and had some food and enjoyed some live music. I wish I'd caught the name of the band -- they were really good. I LOVED the food at Cafe 331. If you ever go there, definitely try the Gyros and the feta fries! Effie is such a social person (much like me) and we made friends easily as we chatted with the owner and met other people in the bar. I didn't get home until 2am, and when I finally did, my face was sore from smiling and laughing so much.

I am always amazed when I hear anyone complain that they are bored in Jacksonville. There is so much to do if you know where to look. Last night for me was a great example of how much fun our city can be. I felt so lucky to be a part of such a fantastic evening in a fantastic city...

Shoot for "Open Skate (Zombie Disco)" Music Video

2010-07-17T16:12:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon I got the chance to be in a music video! Yep, you read that right, and it gets better. I was in a music video for a really fun song called "Zombie Disco", wearing a bright gold sequin dress and roller skates.

Yes, roller skates. Let me explain.

So, in the Fall of last year, a great local film director named Anthony Kilburn invited me to the premiere of his latest film: Chiaroscuro, Baby. (To read the piece about that premiere, click here: http://www.outandaboutinjax.com/2009/11/premiere-of-chiaroscuro-baby-at-florida.html )

Then, in June of this year, I noticed the 48 Hour Film Project on Jacksonville's event websites. I thought of Anthony and emailed him in the hopes that he or someone he knew was participating and might let me tag along while they shot a film. As it turned out, Anthony not only had a team participating in the project, he also generously offered to let me help out with it. Unfortunately, when I looked at the dates of the 48 Hour Film Project this year, I found out that I would have to miss it. I was already set to be out of town that weekend for a wedding.

I was SO bummed that I had to miss the chance to participate in the 48 Hour Film Project. Let me tell you a little bit about it in case you haven't heard of it. The 48 Hour Film Project is a weekend where teams of filmmakers and actors gather on a Friday evening, and are given a genre they have to shoot and a few "elements" that have to be in the film, like a line that needs to be said, or a prop that has to be used. For example, this year, the elements were a lamp, the line "I love a good challenge", and a character named Tina or Todd Daubert. The filmmakers then get only 48 hours to write, act out and edit their films.

The 48 Hour Film Project originally started in May of 2001 when a Washington, DC area filmmaker named Mark Rupert came up with the concept of making a film in 48 hours. Since then, it has grown into a huge phenomenon: last year 40,000 filmmakers made over 7,000 films in 76 cities. This year, the 48 Hour Film Project is going international, with competitions all over the world. To learn more, check out http://www.48hourfilm.org/

Even though I couldn't be on Anthony's 48 Hour Film Project Team, I was still hoping to get involved somehow in some local film projects. When Anthony told me he needed some girls for a music video with a 70s roller disco theme, I jumped at the chance. I also jumped at the chance to interview a local filmmaker as I peppered him with questions about his latest film project and the music video shoot.

Anthony started answering my questions by explaining the music video and how it is related to his latest film -- a full length feature called Gore-E-ography (rhymes with "choreography") The Making of Death Harmony. "The movie is a mocumentary of the making of a low budget horror film. The whole thing is actually like a huge experiment. The entire film is improv-ed. We partnered up with "Mad Cowford Improv"to shoot the film," Anthony explained. A quick note -- The Mad Cowford Players have shows every Friday at 8pm at Northstar Substation downtown. If you're not familiar with improv, it's a comedy show that the players make up as they go along. If you've ever seen "Whose Line is it Anyway?" -- that's improv comedy. Improv is really fun to watch and I plan on going to a show just as soon as I can. Learn more about Mad Cowford Improv at http://www.madcowford.com/

Okay, back to Anthony's explanation of Gore-E-ography. "So we started with a handful of actors and set out to make an improvised film -- all we decided before we started filming was that we wanted it to be a mocumentary about the making of a low budget horror film called Death Harmony. Then we just started doing fake interviews with the actors. Whatever those actors came up with during the interviews -- that's what we used to base the rest of the movie on. It was a lot of fun. It turned into a vampire, zombie, ninja flick. Oh yeah, and its a musical."

I was already fascinated. "What a great time to do a movie with vampires in it!" I laughed.

"Oh, it was so awesome to film," Anthony continued. His enthusiasm was contagious. "So we finished the film over three different days of shooting, and right now we're working on the editing. Somewhere along the way, I came up with the idea of making a soundtrack for the film inside the film. So my friend Damon and I wrote the soundtrack and we started recording."

Hold up. "You wrote an entire soundtrack? How many songs?" I asked breathlessly.

"Fifteen or sixteen."

Wow.

"So this is where the music video you will be in comes in. One of the songs from the soundtrack is called Open Skate (Zombie Disco). We're going to shoot a music video of the song to help promote the movie. We also plan on submitting the video to be in a local music video showcase at the Five Points Theatre August 6th from 6-9pm. http://jackdiablo.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/music-video-contest-862010/

"What should I wear?" I asked.

"Just something 70's inspired. If you've never seen it, check out Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive video on You Tube to get an idea of what we are going for," Anthony instructed. Although I love the song (you simply can't listen to it without dancing), I'd never seen the I Will Survive video, so I did as Anthony suggested and checked it out online. You can watch it here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBR2G-iI3-I

The music video is so sweet and simple -- for most of the video it's just Gloria, dressed up in glittering black, her strong, defiant voice belting out those empowering lyrics we can all recite in our sleep. Then from time to time the shot will cut away to a thin black woman wearing a white bow around her neck, a glittery red tube top and red leggings, on roller skates, skating around to the song. The concept seemed simple enough, but what to wear?

I panicked as I went through my closet Saturday morning. I googled "70s disco outfit" and the pictures all seemed to feature Farah Fawcet hair (which I tried in vain to impose on my thick, straight mop), and tight clothing with lots of glitter. I ended up taking a red glittery dress I'd once worn in a dance recital and cutting off the skirt, making it into a tube top. I put on a jean skirt with it, and a rainbow colored belt I'd borrowed from my awesome friend, Effie who seems to have everything when it comes to clothes.

The shoot was set for 2pm at WJCT studios downtown. I left the house about noon, giving myself two hours to buy some roller skates and get downtown. I had thought picking up the skates would be easy, as I headed to a nearby Target. I was surprised to find there were no roller skates at Target -- only Rollerblades, and Anthony had been very specific. He wanted skates, not Rollerblades. I tried to imagine the roller chick from the I Will Survive video in Rollerblades. Nope, wouldn't work. Rollerblades are early 90s, definitely not 70s. So I headed over to Wal-Mart. I then discovered that the Wal-Mart on 103rd does not sell any kind of skates (Rollerblade or otherwise).

Now I was running seriously short on time. I made a last ditch effort, zipping down Blanding to Sports Authority. I tore into the store and made a beeline for the first employee I saw, begging in a breathless and slightly panicked voice for roller skates. She must have thought I was completely insane.

I mean what kind of person has a roller skate emergency at 1:30 on a Saturday? Turns out they had a few pairs of skates and just happened to have one pair in my size. They were bright white with purple wheels.

Perfect.

Thirty minutes later, I was standing outside WJCT studios and meeting Andy , the director of the music video. He was soft spoken and good natured, smiling easily. I was a wreck when I arrived -- I'd been keyed up and nervous/excited all morning about the music video, then my nerves were frayed by the last minute roller skate chase. Somehow, meeting Andy put me very much at ease. Arriving at the same time that I did was Courtney Gardner, one of the stars of Gore-E-ography, and (as I would soon find out) somewhat of a local film icon, having just won "Best Actress" in Jacksonville's 48 Hour Film Project. Courtney was friendly and very pretty, she had long, straight brown hair and wore a cute black tube top with black pants.

Andy had a magnetic key card that he used to gain us access to the WJCT building, and after some brief introductions, he buzzed us into the studio.

I was already starting to feel like a star.

I can't even tell you how cool it was walking into WJCT studios. I listen to NPR (broadcast from WJCT) in the mornings on my way to work, and I occasionally tune in to some of their shows and documentaries. http://www.wjct.org/ .

After we headed into the building, Andy led us down a short hallway and then into a large film studio. The room was huge -- it was like a large warehouse, with a gray cement floor and black walls and ceiling. The walls were covered with various different pieces of film equipment, and the ceiling was covered with hundreds of different lights. Only a few of the lights happened to be on, and the place had such a dim, quiet surreal quality. I was tingling with nervous excitement.

Another actor that would be in the video, CJ Forrest was waiting for us in the large studio. Like Andy, CJ also works at WJCT. CJ and Andy set about adjusting the lighting and setting up the camera while Courtney and I chatted. Courtney seemed to me to be a very talented, ambitious and intelligent person. She talked with confidence about film acting, and her dreams of one day making it to Hollywood.

"I want to go to LA, but I want to do it right," she told me. "So many people go there with little experience or plan, and end up having to come back within six months. I really want to build my resume and portfolio, make contacts, save up money and do my research before I go."

"Winning Best Actress at the 48 Hour Film Project must be great for your resume," I cut in. "Tell me a little about that."

She smiled. "The team I worked with was from the Jacksonville Film Institute. The film we shot is called Smooth Move, and its a love story about a guy who works in a smoothie shop in San Marco. He's in love with a local wine connoisseur. It won several awards including 'Best Overall Film,' and 'Best Director.'" You can watch the film here: http://vimeo.com/12922281

Courtney also spoke so passionately about Gore-E-ography. "In Death Harmony, I play a zombie queen who falls in love with a vampire prince. The zombies and vampires are at war, so its hard for us to be together... then there's the Ninjas, who are trying to break up our alliance..." the both of us were laughing while she explained it. It must have been so much fun to film.

Soon it was almost time for us to start filming our music video and I realized that the outfit I'd put together would look ridiculous. My outfit was bright and multicolored, and Courtney and CJs outfits were understated and black. Then Courtney pulled a gold sequin dress out of her bag. "I found this at Goodwill. Try it on!"

It fit perfectly -- I loved it. Next, I laced up my skates and started warming up by skating around the studio. The last time I was in roller skates was last fall for a roller rink birthday party, so it had definitely been awhile for me. Also, the studio floor was a bit uneven. Still, after a few laps around the studio, I felt pretty comfortable on the skates. While I warmed up, Andy and CJ tied a huge disco ball to a fixture on the ceiling and set about adjusting the lights to get the best effects out of the ball.

"Okay, I think we're ready," Andy finally announced as he hoisted a huge camera up onto his shoulder. Andy is a slim guy and that camera looked so heavy. I was impressed that he was able to hold it up as well as he did for the three or four hours we worked. CJ and Courtney took their places directly in front of Andy, prepared to dance and lip sync to Zombie Disco. Andy's hands flew over the various controls of the camera expertly as he adjusted for the shot.

The butterflies in my stomach stepped up their game by this point. "What am I supposed to be doing?" I asked Andy, "Should my face be serious, like the skater in the Gloria Gaynor video, or should I be smiling?"

"Just skate around the outside for now," Andy instructed. "You should be smiling, this is a fun song. Don't worry, we'll take lots of footage and shoot it several different ways. For now, just smile and dance around while you skate. Do whatever you feel like. Can you hit play on the stereo?"

"Ugh," Courtney mumbled, "We recorded this song just last night... it's my voice on there. I don't have that much of a singing voice."

I skated over to the stereo, unsure of what to expect, and hit play. Then I stood, drew a deep breath, and started skating.

Okay, let me just say this:

Zombie. Disco. is. FABULOUS!

It's a fun, upbeat, sexy song you can easily dance to. In fact, I don't think it would be possible to listen to it without dancing. Courtney's voice sounds fantastic -- I swear I thought I was listening to a top 20 hit. I'm serious, this song could be a big hit. I mean, how many Halloween songs do we have? Monster Mash and that's it? This song beats the PANTS off Monster Mash. I can't wait for all of you to hear it. As soon as the video gets finished, I'm posting it on The Out and About in Jax Facebook fan page (see the link on the side of the blog to join) and I'll post a link here in its own separate post.

I don't think this music video shoot would have been near as easy and exhilarating as it was if the song had not been so much FUN! My dancer side took over and and I smiled as I skated around the outside of the actors, grooving to the song and occasionally throwing my hands up in the air or clapping . As I skated around them, I stole glances at Courtney and CJ. Courtney looked perfectly at ease, lip syncing the song to the camera, alternately smiling and putting on a serious sexy face. She looked well rehearsed and natural. CJ was fantastic! He danced around her, doing all kinds of Saturday Night Fever -esque disco moves.

We ran through the song again and again, each time doing something a little different. During one take of the song, I skated up next to CJ and Courtney and danced with them, in some takes, I skated in front of them as if I was intentionally trying to upstage them. One of the many things that was so much fun about the shoot was that everyone pitched in ideas and we all tried them out. For example, at one point CJ got the idea of lowering the disco ball so that he and Courtney were positioned on either side of it singing to each other. They would then playfully bat the ball back and forth like a tether ball and then do some Matrix - like backward bends to avoid the ball.

We got occasional breaks while Andy and CJ adjusted the lighting, but for most of the time I was skating. I really got a workout. I got maybe a small glimpse of what life is like for Hollywood types. For every two or three minutes of easy action and dialogue you see on the screen, there are untold hours of hard work and repeating the same thing over and over.

Andy and CJ worked really well together. At one point, they got some footage of just me skating, and CJ pushed Andy (still holding the camera) in a rolling chair around the floor following me to give the the illusion of a moving camera.

Near the end of the shoot, CJ had the idea of doing a little "insert" (that's what he called it) of me skating up to him while he was dancing, and flirting with him. He would then dip me backward, but when we both came up, there was Courtney looking angry. Courtney would then grab my arm and fling me so I would sail off to the side. This was really fun to do, but took lots of practice to pull off. It was really hard to start and stop on skates on that floor, so CJ would have to catch me when I skated over. Also Courtney had to really pull hard on me to fling me off to the side. All of it took real muscle power and lots of practice. In the end, I have no way of knowing if it will even make it into the final video, but it was still really fun to film.

It was all so much fun and I hated for it to end, but after about three and a half hours or so, Andy announced that he had all the footage he needed. I gathered the three of us for a quick group photo, and then Courtney and I got changed back into our regular clothes. CJ and Andy walked Courtney and I out even though they would have to stay to put away equipment. "Talent leaves first!" Courtney teased.

"Is that what I am? Talent?! I laughed. Nobody's ever called me that before!" I also pestered CJ... "So, are you going to give me a tour of WJCT someday?"

"Probably not," he deadpanned.

Actors.

We all laughed. I thanked all of them profusely and left. Since then, I've been giddy about the whole thing. I can't wait to see the video, even though I fully expect that after all of the editing, I'll probably only be in like, 5 seconds of the finished video.

I also can't wait for the Gore-E-ography premiere, and all of the events surrounding it. Anthony has a few things in the works. One of the things he's doing is taking the soundtrack and giving it out to local bands to record covers of all the songs. Anthony will then use those cover versions to make a CD which they plan to sell and donate all proceeds the Greater Cultural Council to help fund the "Off the Grid Program". This program takes unused space downtown and gives it to artist to use for hosting art shows.

Anthony also hopes to have some cast members and volunteers dressed up as zombies and vampires holding up signs about the film walking around the First Wednesday Art Walk.

"The biggest event of all will be the premiere October 28th," Anthony told me. "We will have a local band doing live versions of songs from the soundtrack. So there will be live music and drinks. A lot of people will dress up as vampires, zombies or ninjas for the big night. It's going to be an awesome party."

I for one can't wait. I plan on being there and writing about it. Anthony was kind enough to show me just a few short clips from the movie and I laughed the entire time. Trust me, this movie is going to be awesome!

Check back here often, because I plan on posting here when the music video gets finished and I'll let you know if it ends up being in the lineup for the Music Video Showcase at the Florida Theatre August 6th. In the meantime, I'll let you know about any events I go to related to the movie, so you can come out and look for me-- I'll be the one wearing the gold dress and white roller skates...

Buddhist Meditation Class in Orange Park

2010-07-06T19:26:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night I went to a Buddhist Meditation class held in a small building behind the Granary, a whole foods store on Kingsley Road. I know what you're thinking -- you can't really picture me in a Buddhist Meditation class. If you know me pretty well you're thinking a meditation class? Don't you have to be quiet in a meditation class?

The short answer -- yes. But I still managed to get in plenty of talking.

First of all, let me explain how I ended up in a Buddhist Meditation class. One major factor is that I just finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert for the fourth time. I bought the book when it originally came out in 2004 and it changed my life. I've read it several times since then and each time, her story inspires me in a different way. Essentially, Eat, Pray, Love is the story of Liz dealing with a crushing depression in the midst of her divorce, by taking a year off to travel to Italy to study pleasure, India to study spiritual devotion, and Indonesia to find a balance in her life between the two extremes of pleasure and spiritual discipline. There is no way for me to overstate how awesome this book is, or how much it has totally inspired me. Her writing style is quirky, energetic, full of self-revelation, and lots of humor. When you're reading it, you feel as if Gilbert herself is sitting across from you with a cup of coffee telling you the whole story. Each time I sit down to write a piece for the blog, that's what I try to accomplish, and my style of writing is very much modeled after the writing in Eat, Pray, Love.

It's not just the writing style of course that inspires me. It's also the bravery. The adventurous spirit Liz embodies in the stories in her book (ie: making friends in Italy when she barely knows Italian, going to Bali without a map or plan) is part of what inspires me each time I have to take a deep breath and muster up the confidence to walk into a totally new event for my blog, introduce myself and start asking questions. If you have never read this book, just trust me on this -- drop whatever you are doing right now and go get it. There's a movie coming out based on the book and starting Julia Roberts. The movie is coming out in August (just in time for my birthday) and believe me, I will be one of the first people in line to see it.

Okay, back to the meditation class. So, in Eat, Pray, Love when Liz Gilbert goes to India, she spends three months at an ashram, studying Yoga. She spends most of her time in meditation, and she describes it as helpful and transformative, something essential to making herself whole again. Of course Gilbert is not the first to suggest meditation as a vital practice... most of us have heard about how it can relieve stress, lower blood pressure, help you get closer to God, help you to understand the inner workings of your mind etc. but I've never been able to do it. I keep trying, but I can't get my busy, control -freak mind to be quiet for more than 10 seconds at a time. Whenever I do try to meditate, I'll sit still, close my eyes, draw a few deep breaths, and then my mind will start humming with stuff like Did I turn the coffee pot off this morning? What chores do I need to get done tomorrow? My leg itches. I'm hungry. Some chips would be good....

I usually give up on meditation in frustration. But lately, I've had a renewed determination to meditate. Mostly this has been due to a stressful situation with a close friend. A friend of mine has been having a tough time in their life, and control freak that I am, I keep trying to get involved and help them. This is causing me a great deal of stress -- mostly because none of the circumstances in my friend's life are within my control. This generalized stress has somehow permeated most areas of my life and has caused me a mild case of the blues. Sometimes, I believe the stressful times in life are there to show us where we need to improve. Let's face it... if things were always sunshine and rainbows, we'd never have to take a good look at ourselves and see where we may need to change.

I think one of the most inspiring messages of Eat, Pray, Love is that when things are getting beyond our control and causing us stress, the one thing we must do (and really the only thing we can do) is work on ourselves, and how we respond to the situation. That can make all the difference. I love the idea that we can orchestrate our own happiness by listening to ourselves and communing with God or the Universe through (among other things) meditation. It was my desire to somehow deal with all this stress in my life that I started reading the book again, and it was during this latest reading of Eat, Pray, Love that my determination to meditate was renewed. While researching events for "Out and About in Jax", I stumbled across a listing for a meditation class in Orange Park just 20 minutes from my home.

I think it's great that the Universe appears to operate this way. When you truly need and/or want something that's good for you , the Universe finds a way to miraculously bring it into your life at just the right time.

The class was not just about meditation in general, but more specifically was a Buddhist meditation class. The class was put on by the Maitreya Kadampa Buddhist Center of North East Florida. Now, let me be honest here, I have no idea what "Maitreya Kadampa" means -- and in fact, my understanding of Buddhism is pretty limited (all I know about the world's 4th largest religion is limited to what I can remember from my high school World Religions class and some brief Internet research).

Let me give you an extremely brief overview of Buddhism from my limited understanding. Buddhism is a religion and a philosophy based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, a prince who lived in northeastern India in around 500 BC. Gautama would later be called the Buddha or "The Awakened One". Buddha studied with the spiritual teachers of his day, and became extremely devoted, spending all his time studying, meditating and fasting. This extreme fasting nearly caused him to starve himself to death. (The Buddha statues today depict him as very chubby and round, but this is to denote his contentment. Actually he was a very thin man). He at some point discovered what Buddhists call the "Middle Way" a path somewhere between the two extremes of self-indulgence and extreme self-denial. Buddhism, like many Eastern philosophies is centered around the idea of intuitive knowledge (ie: all the knowledge you need, and all there is to know in the universe actually exists inside you.. you just need to find it), and the idea of finding a way to end suffering, by detaching yourself from desires, cravings, and delusions about the way things ought to be (ie: I need to be rich to be happy, I need to be thinner, everyone has to like me). Okay, like I said -- really brief overview. Now on (finally!) to Tuesday night's class.

So Tuesday night, I had really no trouble finding the class. If you head down Kingsley Avenue, you'll see the Granary, a two story building that looks a lot like a house, it's right across from St. Catherine's Catholic Church. Behind the Granary is a small 1 room building called the "Solar Building." I was about 10 minutes late to the class, so I was pretty nervous as I gently tapped on the door to the building and then opened it. I walked right into a small gathering. A teacher sat on a chair facing eight students sitting in chairs, and they were in the middle of singing a pretty little hymn. One of the students sat on a small cushion on the floor, and seated next to him, (I love this!) on his own little cushion was an adorable white dog.

As if the Universe had planned this all out perfectly for me, there was one empty seat. I glanced over at the teacher who smiled at me very warmly, and I felt somehow right at home as I hurried over to the empty seat, picked up some papers that were placed on the seat, including the words to the hymn we were singing, and joined in.

Once we finished the hymn, the teacher, whose name was Liana Dawson, led us through what she called "a calming meditation". It was a guided meditation (meaning she talked us through it) which I really appreciate. It gave my mind something to focus on, so it didn't run as wild. Liana had us sit comfortably in our chairs, with our backs straight and our feet flat on the floor (with the exception of the gentleman on the cushion -- he sat in the cross legged lotus position and the dog laid in the stretched out, eyes-half-shut happy doggie position). Liana also instructed us to place our right hand inside our left, palms up and thumbs touching. Then she instructed us to close our eyes, as she gently guided us into focusing on our breaths, then letting go of our thoughts. Then she had us count our breaths for a few minutes (this really helped me let go of my thoughts because it gave my mind something to do). Next she asked us to gather our negative thoughts, emotions and actions up, and visualize them as a thick black smoke. With each breath we were breathing out that smoke... getting rid of it. This I had a little trouble with. I mean, I could picture myself breathing out some black smoke, but I wasn't exactly sure how to "gather my negative thoughts and emotions", and once I visualized breathing out black smoke, I didn't necessarily feel I was rid of everything negative.

The next part was my favorite. She told us to imagine ourselves now breathing in a beautiful white light. This light fills us with joy and we eventually get so full that it spills over onto everyone around us. I love this concept -- that if we can fill ourselves with joy and peace, it spills over to others around us (how can it not).

Think about that all of you out there who feel guilty when you take time for yourselves... if you bring joy and peace to yourself, it will eventually spill over to your family. So doing something that brings you true joy really isn't just a selfish act. The flip side of course to be wary of, is that if you are doing something that corrodes your joy and peace, you can be sure that the lack of happiness in your life will spill over to those around you as well. I thought of how my general stressed-out nature was affecting my family lately, and held on even tighter to the brilliant happy white light.

I think this calming meditation took about 15 minutes, although it's hard to tell -- the passing of time becomes a fuzzy thing when you are meditating. Liana finally asked us to finish meditating and open our eyes, and I got my first real look around. I was the youngest in the class by far, the other students all appeared to be in their late 30s up through late 40s or early 50s. There was a pretty equal mix of men and women. Everyone wore normal street clothes like jeans, shorts, or khaki pants. This was comforting - at one point I was afraid I would be dressed inappropriately, that everyone would be wearing yoga pants, or maybe some sort of long robes or something.

Liana then went on to a 30 minute lecture about today's topic, which was the concept of giving up what she called "self-cherishing", and cultivating compassion for others, so that you learn to put others above yourself. This jives well with Christianity (and probably most religions). I have to admit I felt a tad guilty about attending a Buddhist class, since I am actually Christian. What does this mean? I had to wonder, Am I doubting my faith? Switching religions?? No, I think that there are concepts from every religion that we can learn from -- things that we can pick up (much like the practice of meditation, and the notion of giving up self-cherishing) that can help us along in our chosen faith path.

Liana explained that today's class had to do with the patient endurance of suffering. Specifically we were talking about when someone insults us, or otherwise bothers us, do we always need to retaliate? We need to recognize that the other person is suffering, and retaliation only adds to their suffering and ours. Also Liana pointed out the concept of karma -- what we have done in our life (and in past lives) has led to our current suffering, so perhaps we need to patiently endure it. Liana recommended the Buddhist practice of "accepting defeat and offering the other person victory". Liana told a Tibetan story filled with Tibetan names (that I of course can't remember). But the gist of the story was that many centuries ago, there was a Tibetan king that gathered up lots of money to bring spiritual teachers to his kingdom to bring wise teachings to his people. Somehow this king was captured by a rival king, and a ransom was demanded. Rather than pay the ransom, this king offered up his life, insisting that all his money still go to bring great spiritual teachers to his kingdom. The king knew that his life was less important than this noble goal, and many more would benefit if he used the money to gain spiritual teachings for his people rather than save his own life. The spiritual teachers did come (and the king did lose his life). The spiritual teachers wrote some famous books that helped bring Buddhism to the Western world. "So," Liana shared, "that king's sacrifice still impacts us today". I got goosebumps thinking about it.

Next we positioned our chairs in a circle and talked about how we might apply today's teachings to real life situations. Here is the part I was eager for. Like a self cherishing individual I was thinking, how can all these teachings help me? I waited my turn.

First, one of the older gentlemen in the class, dressed in a polo shirt and khakis, told the story of a friend who'd hired a contractor for some work around the house. The contractor was hanging around taking all day to do his work, while also stealing beer from the fridge. Was this to be patiently endured? Should the friend accept defeat here?

The American in me had a very hard time with the concept "accept defeat". My father was fond of quoting lines from his all time favorite movie Patton growing up, and one of his favorites was "Americans love a winner, and will not tolerate a loser!" Even Christians, with their "turn the other cheek" teachings would probably not condone the patient acceptance of this behavior. They may point out that the friend has a moral duty to at least point out the bad behavior to the contractor, and not to tolerate it. Here's where I spoke up "If the friend patiently endures this behavior from the contractor, he can't really be helping the guy, right? I mean, letting the guy have beer all day can't be good for him." This was essentially the crux of the stress between me and my friend. I could see my friend making mistakes and I had much better ideas for how they should be running their life. Should I point all this out to my friend, or be more supportive and non judgemental?

Liana spoke up, quietly (everyone in the class spoke quietly except for me), laughing easily and suggesting that she didn't know the exact answer to this situation, but perhaps the friend should look compassionately on this contractor, patiently accepting the state of affairs, and trying his best to talk to the guy saying" I see you are drinking during the day. Is everything okay? Would you like to talk about it?" Perhaps the contractor may be so moved by this act of kindness that the situation might change.

A concept which at first I rejected but after a lot of thought, I think I'm understanding better. After all, I can clearly see that my stress is all derived from the illusion that I have any control whatsoever in my friend's situation. Isn't it completely out of my control? And if it is, instead of constantly trying to fix it, might I be better off patiently enduring the situation until it resolves, or doesn't? During the class, Liana pointed out that often we cause ourselves much more suffering by avoiding suffering rather than just enduring it. Instead of constantly worrying and wondering how I can change the situation, maybe I need to just say, this sucks, and let it just suck for awhile. It will probably lead to less stress from me, and Lord knows, my worry and stress certainly isn't helping the situation any.

I brought up my particular situation in class, and the teacher and other classmates listened and threw out helpful suggestions, much along the lines of what we were learning today. People laughed easily and smiled a lot, and I remember thinking just how refreshing it was that nobody seemed to take themselves too seriously here.

At the end of the class, Liana led us through another meditation, where she encouraged us to think of our own personal lives and how we could more effectively offer up victory to those who we felt slighted by, (in other words we don't have to get everyone back we feel has wronged us). I thought of everything Liana had said -- about my karma. I thought of all the ways I had been actually contributing in a negative way to the whole situation. In some ways, I brought a lot of it on myself. I also thought of patiently accepting suffering, and how much more suffering I was causing for everyone by trying to avoid a little suffering.

I thought of a simple example from my life. One of my biggest problems through this tough time has been a difficulty sleeping. I lay awake at night, stressed out, brooding about everything that I feel is going wrong, and I start to toss and turn and can't sleep. In an effort to avoid an hour or so of sleepless worry, I've been having a glass (or two) of wine, occasionally accompanied by a Tylenol pm. Although this sometimes helps me to relax and sleep at first, I inevitably wake up in the middle of the night and toss and turn for a few hours because it is a little known fact, but alcohol actually ends up causing interference with REM sleep. So, now the next day, I am groggy from sleep deprivation and Tylenol pm, and have a mild headache from the wine. I'm even more stressed out, drink more caffeine during the day because of the grogginess, and lo and behold the cycle repeats itself --I am unable to sleep the following night, so I repeat the behavior again. I cause myself so much sleeplessness and stress just trying to avoid an hour or so of trouble getting to sleep. So I thought about how I could be more patient in my life. Maybe instead of avoiding some unpleasant things I should just let myself experience them. While we meditated, I tried to let go... letting go of that need, (to control my friend, and make them into what I thought they should be) really felt liberating, and I felt much peaceful afterward.

After the class, I chatted with Liana a little, and formally met a few of my classmates including , Kipper, the most laid back dog I've ever seen. While we were talking, Kipper's owner was cradling him like a baby, and Kipper just dozed the whole time.

Liana told me a little about the Maitreya Kadampa Buddhist Center, headquartered in Atlantic Beach with centers and classes all over Northeast Florida and Southern Georgia. Their website is awesome, I checked it out before class. It is filled with class schedules, events, book recommendations and videos. Check it out at http://www.meditationinjacksonville.org/ . If you'd like to attend a class which I highly recommend, you'll probably be able to easily find classes and events in your neck of the woods. There are classes and meditations you can take right from the website as well. All classes are open to people of all faiths and traditions and they are very welcoming and easy to be a part of, especially for novices like me. If you do come to a class, bring a $9 donation ($5 if you are a student or have any economic hardship). If you can't bring a donation at all, that's okay too. No student will be turned away because they are unable to pay.

One other thing I wanted to mention was that two of the classmates I met were Nelson and Julie Hellmuth, the owners of the Granary. Nelson explained that they started the whole foods store 31 years ago. It started as a hobby and now has grown into a thriving business. They sell lots of organic healthy goods. I'm a pretty healthy eater and love unique organic things, so I made a mental note to check it out as soon as humanly possible. Nelson is a solar engineer by trade, and he had actually built the "Solar room" we were all in. "Everything in it... lighting, cooling and heating is completely solar powered" he explained. Out behind the room was a deck with a small pond, complete with lilly pads and pretty trees, the branches swaying in the breeze. The entire place radiated peace. I loved it.

As I was leaving, I saw Nelson pulling away in what looked to be a solar powered truck. It made almost no noise as it backed up, other than clicking and a faint electronic sound. it was about the size of a smart car. This guy is the real deal , I remember thinking. He's not some bigwig that runs a large chain organic foods store just for the profit, but a quiet, comtemplative man that really believes in living green and believes in what he sells. I couldn't wait to check out the Granary someday soon.

I also couldn't wait for my next meditation class. I've ordered some books that Liana reccomended, and I'm trying my hand more at meditating and practicing patience at home. In the two nights since class, I've stopped having any wine or tylenol pm before bed. Although I had to suffer through a little tossing and turning at the very beginning of the first night, I've slept extremely well ever since. I'm more well-rested than I've been in months. What other positive outcomes can I expect to see in my life as I put some more of these excellent principles into practice? I'm marvelling at the thought... this class was everything I'd hoped for, and exactly what I needed.

Lowe's Build and Grow Workshop

2010-06-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning, Christian, Jim and I headed up to our local Lowe's store for one of their "Build and Grow Workshops". http://www.lowesbuildandgrow.com/ These are really great kids workshops held every second and fourth Saturday of the month, from 10-11am. At the workshop, kids and their caregivers together build a small wooden craft. The projects are very easy, and it's something kids of all ages can do. Best of all, it's free (!) and a great way to spend time together as a family. Christian has been going since he was 18 months or so, although it's only recently that he's really been able to help out with the project in any meaningful way.

Jim has been taking Christian for months now, but today was my first time going. I found it really fun. Jim signed Christian up online beforehand. You don't have to sign up online, but it guarantees your spot. I guess they sometimes may have to turn people away if they fill their workshop to capacity, but I don't know what their capacity is. I bet it changes for each store. We went to the Lowe's on Kingsley in Orange Park and there were probably fifty people there, and when we left, there, people were still arriving with kids.

If you don't want to sign up online, I recommend you show up on time or at least a little early. We arrived at 10am on the dot, and there was quite a line forming. We filled out a small form, checked in at a table, and were given a small kit with wood, nails and stickers, a little apron and a small set of goggles. We were instructed to bring the same apron and goggles to any workshop we go to, although we forgot the ones Christian already had, and it was no big deal for them to give us another one. The project is the same at all participating Lowe's stores, and it changes each time. Today, we would be building a monster truck.

Armed with our kit, apron and goggles, we headed over to a group of boxes to pick up some carpet squares and hammers and found a spot on the floor to sit and work on our project. Christian was really excited, and he was watching Jim's every move and listening intently while Jim explained the project and spread out their materials. Christian and Jim looked so much alike then, focusing on their project with intense concentration.

While they got started building their monster truck, I got a look around. Kids of all ages were there, from 2-year-olds like Christian, all the way up to 10 and 11-year-olds. I also loved the fact that I saw so many girls there with moms and grandmas. Call me a sexist person, but I thought only dads and sons would be interested in this sort of thing. But the girls seemed to be having a great time!

The monster truck was simple to assemble, and took about 20 minutes to build. There was a set of easy to follow instructions that came with the kit, and there was lots for Christian to help with. Several steps included hammering large and small nails into pre-drilled holes. Christian loved hammering the nails. Another thing I really appreciated about the project was that it wasn't at all messy like some kids projects can be. When the truck was finally built, there was a sheet of stickers to place on it, and Christian had a great time placing stickers all over the truck.

The truck looked great when it was finished, and Christian was so proud of his creation! It has become his favorite toy. He treasures his "Mosser Truck" and carries it with him everywhere like a security blanket. As we were leaving, we were given a certificate with Christian's name on it, and a patch to sew on his Lowe's apron. The Build and Grow Workshop was a very easy and fun way to spend a Saturday morning together as a family, so we'll definitely be back.

I was so inspired by the quality time with Christian (the older he gets, the more fun he is to take out and about with me), that I decided to take Christian to Memorial Park on Riverside Sunday morning for a picnic. It was a little hot out, but we found a great spot in the shade to set up our blanket. There was a cool breeze coming from the river, and lunch I'd packed was incredible.

One of my passions in life is food, so you know I packed a giant cooler full of food... way too much for just Christian and I. I stopped by Publix and picked up an Italian sub, some olive tapenade, Havarti cheese, wheat crackers, slices of watermelon, and some peach flavored sweet tea. While Christian and I ate, we watched squirrels, mocking birds and dragonflies buzz by. We also spotted some couples stroll by. Off in the distance, a guy had rigged up a long rope between two trees about three or feet in the air, and was practicing tight rope walking. This provided some great lunchtime entertainment. Christian looked up from his peanut butter and jelly, smiled and said "Mommy, peek nit (picnic)?"

My heart instantly melted.

Sometimes, I can get so caught up in all I have to get done. A born multi-tasker, I am rarely involved in less than five things at once. I am involved in a few moms groups, a women's bunco group, and a dance class (I just had my recital last night). In addition, I work as a nurse, and I'm starting grad school for Nurse Practitioner in the Fall.

Sometimes its easy to forget how much Christian needs my time. I think Life and the Universe are constantly trying to teach us this lesson: there is no greater way for us to spend our time than with family.

Make-Up Bar at Daniel James Aveda Salon

2010-05-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was pampered at a unique social event: a "Make-Up Bar" presented by Young Jax Promotions, a company that puts together upscale social events for young Jacksonville professionals.( http://www.youngjax.com/ )

It was a lovely Saturday evening as I headed downtown to The Daniel James Aveda Salon (45 West Bay St.) a block down from the Landing. (http://www.danieljamessalon.com/ ) As a working mom, I don't usually get much time for pampering, so I was excited about the makeup bar. In the online postings about the event, I'd read that the evening would involve networking, pampering, jewelry and Aveda makeup. I have to admit, I don't know much about fine salons and makeup. But I love socializing and networking, and the event sounded so unique and interesting that I couldn't pass it up.

The salon was housed in a brick building that had a lovely little courtyard in the middle of it, including trees and a small stone water fountain which ran into a shady pool. In the courtyard, tables full of gleaming jewelry, brightly colored purses and trendy sunglasses beckoned. Before I checked out the tables of goodies, I headed into the salon and was immediately greeted by Talaya (pronnounced tuh-LAY-uh) Waller, the founder of Young Jax Promotions, and her Public Relations Director, Vanessa Fleury.

The ladies welcomed me, handed me a bag of free Aveda products, and a glass of sangria and invited me to have a look around while waiting for my chance to have my makeup done. The Daniel James Aveda salon has two levels. We were on the first level, which housed shelves of Aveda products and three makeup artists working on clients. The upper level housed the salon chairs, where an array of salon services are offered. Tonight, besides makeup application, the ladies also had the choice of having their eyebrows done.

There were about ten women there when I was there, but Vanessa told me that since beginning at 4pm, they'd had 32 ladies come through, which was the full capacity of the event. I was impressed. Some fun hip-hop music was playing in the background, as the ladies chatted and mingled. It felt a lot like a party. I even ran into one of the doctors I work with at Shands! (small world).

Just as impressive as the party was the table of jewelry and purses from Salena's Accessories (426 N 3rd St in Jacksonville Beach). The purses were brightly colored and the jewelry was more of the chunky, eclectic variety. I'm always trying to get myself to wear more eclectic jewelry, and I fell in love with a Y shaped necklace adorned with silver and multicolored pastel ovals. I bought the necklace and I LOVE it (in fact, I'm wearing it right now). It came with a matching pair of earrings and both the earrings and the necklace together only cost $18. Not bad.

While I was shopping and sipping sangria, I glanced over at the rocky waterfall and watched a photographer snapping shots of one of the girls who had just finished her makeup session. Like all of the women I met that night, this girl was beautiful, and dressed really nicely. She looked gorgeous sitting on the rocks and flashing sexy looks to the camera.

I headed back into the salon and soon it was my turn to have my makeup done. Talaya Waller, (the person who'd put this entire event together) was actually at one time a makeup artist, so she was doing makeup for some of the ladies. I got to have her as my makeup artist for the evening, which I was thrilled about because I had lots of questions for her.

Talaya is quite the entrepreneur. After a recent move to Jacksonville and taking a job as a Community Planning and Development Specialist with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, she started looking for events and hang-outs for young professionals like herself. "Atlanta has five major colleges, so I am used to being surrounded by young professionals," she told me, "But I found relatively few things here in Jacksonville designed specifically for young professionals to meet and hang out. I like getting dressed up nice and going out, but the club scene can get old. So, when I couldn't find the events I was looking for, I decided to start Young Jax Promotions and put the events together myself."

I could relate. "Out and About in Jax" was born much in the same way. I wanted to find a local magazine or website where I could go to read all about local events. I wanted to read more than the basic details of the event -- I actually wanted to get a feel for what it was really like to be there. When I couldn't find a website or periodical like what I was looking for, I decided to start it myself.

Since starting Young Jax Promotions in January, Talaya has met many young professionals and has enjoyed a lot of success, planning several popular events including a cocktail hour at the Omni hotel, and several "Financial Tips and Cocktail Sips" evenings where guests had drinks while listening to lectures about personal finance and investing. The next evening for Financial Tips and Cocktail Sips will be Thursday June 10th from 6-10 pm at Bistro Aix in San Marco. The topic will be "Tax and Student Loans" and it's only $10 to get in, and the first drink you order is free. Its a good deal, and I plan on going, especially since I am going to grad school in the Fall, and (let's face it) I love socializing and having cocktails.

In addition to her day job with the Department of Housing, and her weekend job with Young Jax Promotions, Talaya also runs Walleristic Business Consulting (http://www.walleristic.com/ ) She chuckled as she told me the story of how she came up with the name. "My last name is Waller, so if someone is acting up in my house, they are said to be going 'Walleristic'. My mom will call me and tell me 'your father is going all 'Walleristic' on me..." I thought it was cute.

"How did you come up with the idea for a "makeup bar"?" I asked her.

"I saw it done on The Real Housewives of Atlanta once, and several people I knew asked if I would be willing to put something together like that. Sometimes the best ideas for events come from the people in the community -- the people who will actually be coming out to the event. So far it has been really successful. The Aveda Salon staff has been great -- they were more than willing to help out for tonight's event, especially Chudni Baker (my stylist), Lauren and Ivy (the other makeup artists here, and Carlos who is doing the eyebrows for the ladies."

As for what's in the future for Young Jax Promotions, Talaya tells me she wants to continue with the successful "Financial Tips With Cocktail Sips" evenings, and also wants to have more upscale cocktail hours like the one she planned earlier this year at the Omni Hotel, but she is still looking for a good venue. She's also working on putting together an email list for people who are interested in the Young Jax events. If you'd like to be included, shoot an email to info@youngjax.com .

Talaya did a great job on my makeup, and we stepped out to the courtyard to take some pictures. As I sat next to the waterfall and had my photo snapped by a photographer I felt so glamorous. I'd had a great time, and it had certainly been inspiring to meet a person like Talaya. I can't wait to see what's in the future for Young Jax Promotions, and I plan to be at more of their events.

Make-Up Bar

2010-05-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

Do you need a night out? Want a Makeover? Do you watch The Real Housewives of Atlanta?

Join me tomorrow (Saturday ) night at the Daniel James Aveda Salon downtown http://www.danieljamesavedasalon.com/ for a Make-Up Bar presented by Young Jax Promotions, LLC (a company that arranges events for young professionals http://www.youngjax.com/ ):

The Make-up Bar is all about beauty and relaxation. Every woman is looking to be pampered and the make-up bar is prepared to do just that. This event provides an upscale experience for guest to socialize, enjoy complementary signature drinks, enjoy vendors and receive professional make-up services using Aveda make-up products. The finishing touches to the event include take home swag bags and a professional photo shoot. Good taste and good quality is exactly what this evening is about. As seen on the Real Housewives of Atlanta, this event is designed to be elegant and the perfect networking opportunity. Refresh your look with Aveda make-up; accentuate your inner diva with jewelry with your closest friends, while making new ones. If you or someone you know would like to attend this event please visit www.youngjax.com, click on the “Events” and then “Makeup Bar” to purchase your tickets.

Have any questions you want me to ask Talaya Waller, the founder and events manager of Young Jax Promotions? Have any questions for the staff of the salon? Email me at outandaboutinjax@gmail.com and let me know...

See you there!

Weekend in Savannah

2010-05-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

This weekend Jim and I headed to Savannah to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. My sister, Katie was nice enough to watch Christian for the night so we could get away. I had never been to Savannah, so I was pretty excited. I'd heard lots of great things about the city from friends -- that it was brimming with history and great food, that it was beautiful and romantic. But as a working mom, let's face it, I would have gone just about anywhere for a night away.

The 3 hour trip (most of it on I-95 North) was easy -- which is one of many reasons why Savannah is a great place to visit from Jacksonville. The weather this weekend could NOT have been more perfect... it was warm, bright and sunny, with low humidity and a cool breeze. During the trip up, Jim and I chatted (ok, I chatted... Jim just drove and listened).

"I HAVE to see Paula Deen's restaurant! I heard sometimes there's a really long wait, and if we can't get in, that's fine but I at least have to see it. And I heard we will be able to see the park bench where they filmed parts of Forrest Gump. We definitely have to take a trolley tour... Or maybe we should do a walking tour. What do you think?"

"MM hmm," Jim replied as he stared through the windshield.

"Ohmigod, are you listening to me??!"

"Yeah, I heard you. Something about Paula Dere."

We finally arrived in the historic district late in the afternoon on Saturday, parked and checked into our bed and breakfast, aptly named "The Savannah Bed and Breakfast Inn", http://www.savannahbnb.com/ which was a lovely little inn on Gordon St. The inn itself is a series of two or three town homes on Gordon Street right next to a lovely square called Chatham Square. Our room was still being cleaned, so we headed a few blocks away to a cute little place called the Six Pence Pub. The Six Pence Pub is a small Irish pub with a large bar, and indoor and outdoor seating. I ordered a cup of french onion soup and a prime rib sandwich with potato salad. The food was great! Jim got BLT (I know -- pretty boring, right?) This was a point of contention for us all weekend. He doesn't care much about food.. it's really just an afterthought to him, whereas I am obsessed with it. When the waitress asked Jim what side he would like with his BLT he said he didn't want any. Are you kidding me? I asked for the collard greens for him and ate every bite. In Savannah, you can get southern favorites like corn bread, collard greens and black eyed peas pretty much anywhere... sigh! It's like heaven. The collards were awesome -- just a little bit spicy and full of ham flavor. The potato salad was the best I'd ever had -- creamy and salty but also thick. None of it ran on the plate. The chunks of potato were just the right size.

Another interesting feature of Savannah is that there are no open container laws, so people walk the streets with alcoholic beverages all the time. In fact, the waitress asked us if we'd like a drink to go. We politely declined, but the offer was interesting.

Next we strolled the streets and had a look around as we headed North toward the Savannah River. You can walk pretty much everywhere in the historic district in about 15-20 minutes, and the walk was nice. Savannah is just like you might picture it... lovely squares with statues of historic figures and fountains, surrounded by tall oak trees draped with Spanish moss. Horse-drawn carriages and trolleys slowly passed us on the narrow streets. We saw several unique buildings bearing the label of the "Savannah College of Art and Design" which is a huge presence in the city.

As we got nearer the river to Bay St. and River St, the scene got more lively. Lots of bars, restaurants, antique shops and boutiques lined the busy Bay Street. It was in one of those bars (now I forget the name because we only stopped in for a minute) that we met up with a couple of Jim's friends from work. Jim had found out earlier in the week that they would also be in Savannah vacationing for the weekend, so we'd promised to meet up for awhile. The four of us chatted as we strolled through a few antique shops. One such shop we walked into was a store called Jere's antiques which was this huge warehouse filled with antique wooden bookshelves, bars, tables and the like. It was very interesting to look at, but each piece was pretty expensive (I saw one huge bookcase that cost as much as a car!) I guess I just don't get the whole antique furniture idea. If I spend a lot of money on furniture, I want it to look new.

I guess I'm not that much of an antique person. I did enjoy looking through the different shops, though. The stores had interesting old books, paintings, toys, porcelain tea sets, flapper dresses, hats... like going through some one's attic. I was particularly interested in some of the medical stuff -- including a nursing school text and some syringes, bone screws and medication vials from the 1950s... very cool.

After spending a few hours shopping, we sat at a pub on River St. called Kevin Barry's Pub and had a drink before Jim and I headed back toward the bed and breakfast to get ready for dinner. On our way home, we passed a beautiful wedding being conducted during sunset in one of Savannah's peaceful squares. As we walked by, a string quartet played while the newly married bride and groom climbed into a horse-drawn carriage and bridesmaids dressed in midnight blue gowns were escorted up the aisle by tuxedo clad groomsmen.

My eyes filled with tears.

"Their anniversary date will be the same as ours!" I exclaimed. Jim reached out to hold my hand, and for that moment, I felt as special as a blushing bride.

Once we were back at the inn, we caught the tail end of a wine and cheese reception, which the inn holds every weekend evening. So Jim and I sat out at a little table overlooking a courtyard behind the inn, sipped wine and talked about where we wanted to go for dinner. We also filled out little cards letting the kitchen staff know of our breakfast choices before heading up to our room.

The room we stayed in was the Holly room, and I highly recommend it. It was small, but well appointed with a plush queen sized bed and lovely view of Chatham Square. We got showers and got dressed for dinner.

It was dark outside when we stepped back out into the warm, breezy Savannah evening. I think the darkness with the warm glow of street lights made Savannah look even more beautiful and peaceful than it had in the daytime. Jim and I strolled the lovely streets once again, determined to find an elegant, yet reasonably priced restaurant that had a place we could sit outside and eat.

We found the perfect place: a great Mediterranean bar and grill called The Mirage, located on Broughton Street. Jim and I sat at a romantic table for two right outside the restaurant as we shared a bottle of Riesling and did some people watching. The people watching proved quite interesting -- The Savannah College of Art and Design was putting on a fashion show just down the street. Jim and I watched as college students and models strolled down the street in some very interesting outfits.

We had mentioned when we arrived that it was our anniversary, so when the waitress brought us appetizers (a caprese salad for me and sauteed shrimp for Jim), the owner herself also stopped by to check on us and wish us a "Happy Anniversary". It was really sweet. The entrees were awesome -- we had lamb kabobs and saffron rice with steamed veggies. To top it all off, our very nice waitress brought us a divine pistachio baklava dessert topped with a strawberry cream sauce, in celebration of our anniversary. The food tasted delicious and the service couldn't have been better. It was the perfect ending to an already perfect day.

The next morning, Jim and I got up by 9, got packed up, and made it down to breakfast before 10am. Breakfast was an amazing egg, ham and potato casserole with toasted honey oatmeal bread and fresh fruit. Mornings are my favorite time of the day, and I'll never forget how happy I was, sitting out on the balcony area behind the inn, sipping coffee and enjoying the warm Savannah morning.

After breakfast, we checked out of the inn and packed the car before catching a shuttle that took us to the Savannah Visitor Center, where we bought tickets for and boarded an Old Town Trolley Tour trolley. http://www.trolleytours.com/ Old Town Trolley Tours operate in several cities (including St. Augustine). Our tour guide had a thick Savannah drawl (just like Paula Deen!) and was a real joy to listen to. I remember her saying "Now yah'll, we have a cawlege here cawled the Savnah Cawlege of Ort and Desahn, and they's some cawlege students thauhr. Now yah'll, thay have them sum orange and red hayur and stuff. Yah'll theys just kids so they need to express they sayulf..." She cracked me up!

The major feature that draws so many tourists to Savannah is it's history, and there is more to the history of Savannah than I could ever list here, (wikki it) but some of the highlights of the tour were: The house where they shot "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" (called the Mercer house), the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace (she was the founder of the Girl Scouts), Chippawa Park, (the park where they filmed the bench scenes from Forrest Gump), The Pirate's House, (a restaurant that was once an inn, said to be the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island), and of course there was much more.

When we boarded the trolley, we were given stickers to wear on our shirts for identification, and then we could get on and off the trolley as much as we wanted. So we hopped off the trolley to see the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, a huge, gorgeous Catholic cathedral. It was Sunday morning, and worshipers were quietly heading into the cathedral for Mass. Jim and I walked in to have a brief look around, and the familiar smell of polished wooden pews and incense (from my Catholic school upbringing) brought back memories for me. The inside was breathtaking -- beautiful, ornate and peaceful.

After checking out the cathedral, we hopped back on another trolley and rode for a few more minutes, listening to more about the history of Savannah. "Listen out for stop #10" I whispered to Jim.

"Why?"

"That's the stop for Paula Deen's restaurant, 'Lady and Sons'."

"Why are we going there?" Jim asked, " You know it's going to be packed. It's probably all hype anyways.. probably a huge tourist trap."

"If the wait is too long, we don't have to eat there. I just have to see it. I want to take a picture. She has a gift shop and we can just look around there a little bit."

Just then the tour driver announced, "If you are trying to get in to Lady and Sons today and you don't want to wait, you can tell them you'd like to get carry out. They'll let you come up to the front of the line, and give you a box to fill at the buffet. Then you can stop by a nearby park with it and have a picnic. Another great tip is ask if you can sit at the bar.. sometimes you'll get seated faster."

Soon we made it to stop #10, hopped off and walked down Congress street a few blocks to the world famous Lady and Sons.

For anyone who may live on another planet, or for any other reason doesn't know who Paula Deen is, she's a cook, turned caterer turned restaurant owner turned Food Network Star. My mom is completely obsessed with the Food Network and thinks Paula Deen is a god, so I knew I'd be in big trouble for not getting a picture.

Lady and Sons is a three story restaurant on Congress Street with bright red and white awnings. The gift shop looked a little crowded, but I didn't see a big line outside like I'd heard about. I asked the hostess how long the wait was, and then she took my breath away when she said "We can seat you right now." Then she handed us two tickets and instructed us to take the elevator to the third floor.

I was giddy with excitement.

"Erica," Jim said, "We just ate breakfast not two hours ago. I'm not even hungry yet."

"But it's Paula Deen's restaurant, Jim!" I almost shouted, as I walked into the restaurant full of awe and anticipation, "You don't understand, she is like the Queen of all things Southern, Fried and Comfort Food." Jim sighed, shrugged and followed me into the elevator. Once we were on the third floor, we were greeted by a hostess who took us right to a high-top table next to the bar. The waiter took our drink orders and then invited us to the buffet.

I almost chuckled as I passed the salad bar (who comes to Paula Deen's for salad?!) and I approached the main buffet. The buffet wasn't huge: it only had a handful of items. Fried chicken, roasted chicken, barbecue pulled pork, mashed potatoes and gravy, cream corn, collard greens, lima beans, black-eyed peas and maccaroni and cheese. I put a little of everything on my plate and headed back to the table. My plate was pretty full, and I thought to myself that I would never be able to eat this much food -- I was barely even hungry.

Then I tasted my first bite.

Okay, you know how sometimes you approach something with pretty high expectations, and then your experience actually ends up shattering every expectation you had and sending you into an orbit of uncontainable "I can't believe this is happening to me!" euphoria?

This was one of those moments.

Believe the hype.

Paula Deen deserves every single penny of her millions.

Do you hear me? Every cent.

"Ohmigd!" I exclaimed hysterically after a bite of fried chicken, "this is absolutely incredible!" I would have startled several people sitting nearby if they weren't just as engrossed in their plates of culinary perfection.

Every single bite of each thing on my plate was the best I ever had. The best macaroni and cheese I've ever tasted. The best collard greens I've ever touched. Hands down the best fried chicken I've ever bit into. Each bite melted in my mouth. It tasted like the chicken had actually been fried in pure butter. The macaroni and cheese had to have a pound of butter, a pound of cream cheese, and several different types of shredded cheeses in it. It was divine. I inhaled my plate, and only paused briefly between bites of food to gush and take the Lord's name in vain and otherwise embarrass Jim.

"We don't need to go to church today," I told Jim as I swallowed a perfect bite of macaroni and cheese, "I think I'm having a spiritual experience right now! I think I've found God."

"Erica!" Jim said, rubbing his eyebrows, "do you think you could hold off on the blasphemy a little bit? I don't want lightning to strike us right now."

"Believe me Jim," I said, tearing off a huge piece of the sublime cheddar biscuit our waiter placed on our table, "God understands. Anything this amazing had to come from God. Do you think He's back in the kitchen?"

"Erica!" Jim wailed.

I polished off the collards and moved on to the heavenly mashed potatoes and gravy. "Jim, Buddhists believe that only through many lifetimes of rigorous meditation and discipline, can one reach Nirvana. Obviously they've never been to Paula Deen's".

"Can we just eat?" Jim asked exasperated, but slightly amused.

"It makes me so sad to think that people in this country..." I started, sniffling and blinking back imaginary tears ... "actually diet when there is food this good to eat!"

I paused here to bite into something wonderful called a "hoe cake"... its like a pancake made of cornbread and fried in butter. I learned earlier on the trolley that settlers to the area actually cooked them on the hoes they used to till the land.

"Why do people even bother with drugs when you can have fried chicken?" I asked as I polished off my second piece.

It was only after I completely cleaned my plate and ate my hoe cake and cheddar biscuit that I noticed what Jim had on his plate.

"You're eating a salad??!" I gasped, " Who comes to Paula Deen's for a salad? Is that roasted chicken instead of fried?! Plain rice? With no gravy??! What is wrong with you?!" I was beside myself. He didn't even touch his hoe cake or biscuit! Luckily for Jim, the waiter came by just then and interrupted my tirade.

The waiter didn't even ask us if we liked the food. Such a question would have been completely incomprehensible. He simply asked us if we'd like to see the dessert tray.

"There's more??!" I asked breathlessly. The waiter then returned with three desserts: a chocolate chip butter cake (never heard of it, but it looked like a bar of butter mixed with sugar and chocolate chips), a peach cobbler, and a banana pudding.

"I'll take the chocolate chip butter cake," I replied, almost clawing it off the poor waiter's tray before he could hand it to me.

"And for you, sir?" the waiter asked Jim. Then Jim said, (and I quote), "No thanks, I don't want any dessert."

The waiter looked at me.

"Obviously, he's completely insane," I explained.

The waiter laughed. "Well, let me ask you something, if you had to pick your second choice of dessert, what would it be?"

"Banana pudding!" I said without a moment's hesitation.

"Okay," he laughed. "Then I'll just leave it here and see what happens to it."

I think it was gone before the bowl hit the table.

So needless to say, lunch at Lady and Sons was the highlight of our trip, but I had a great time celebrating six years of marriage with Jim, and experiencing such a great city. I want anyone reading this who hasn't been to start planning a trip to Savannah right now. Believe me, you'll love it. If you've already been, it's time to start planning your next trip there.

God knows I am.

The Ritz Chamber Players Spring Concert

2010-04-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

This Wednesday I was invited to the Ritz Chamber Players' Spring Concert. I had to work that day, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity to attend the performance. I knew that the Ritz Chamber players must have something to do with the Ritz La Villa Theatre and Museum downtown, but I have to admit, I didn't know much about it. I've never been to the Ritz LaVilla Theatre and Museum but I really want to go soon.

The concert was held at the Jacoby Symphony Hall in the Times Union Center, and started at 7:30. My nursing shift technically ends at 7, but by the time I give a report to the oncoming shift, I usually end up leaving the hospital at 7:30, so I knew I would likely be a little late to the concert.

As it turned out, I was able to get finished with report, changed and out of the hospital in record time, and Shands is conveniently located right downtown, so the drive only took about 10 minutes. Parking, however, took a few minutes more. Parking downtown can be difficult, even on a good night, but I didn't mind parking and walking a few blocks to the Times Union Center. It was a warm, breezy night, and the wind blew in just the right direction so that the warm, sweet smell of the Maxwell House plant lingered in the air. The sun was setting over the Jacksonville skyline, and during my walk through the downtown streets, I offered up a prayer of thanks for this fantastic city.

I was in a great mood.

I'd just finished a 12 hour nursing shift, and sometimes complete exhaustion and can put me in a calm, happy-tired mood. You might be surprised at how fast paced and exhausting work really is on a nursing ward. Hope you don't mind if I take a brief pause in my story of the evening to clear up some possible misconceptions about my profession and to rant a little.

In the past decade or so, mostly thanks to "ER" and similar shows, the general public has gotten a much more realistic portrayal of what life and work is really like for doctors and nurses. Still, most people are led to believe that nursing is only really fast paced in the ER. I am routinely tempted to hurl the remote at the TV when I see shows like the recent "HawthoRNe" starring Jada Pinkett Smith, or "Mercy" and their portrayal of nurses. Yes, they portray nurses as heroes of sorts, but they depict life on the ward as relatively slow and carefree. On one particular episode of Mercy, I watched a nurse sitting down in a patient's room watching a movie and munching popcorn! Did I mention that in a typical 12 hour shift I never sit down, barely take 15 minutes to eat, rarely stand still, and usually leave sweating and sore like I've just run a marathon? Once I wore a pedometer during a shift and discovered at the end that I'd walked over 5 miles! In fact, I often forget even to drink water until my throat becomes so dry that it is sticking to itself. I mention this because often I will tell someone how stressful and exhausting a typical work day is for me and they will say with concern "Oh, you work in the ER?" Most people can't imagine how tough nursing on the ward is.

Let me give you a real life scenario from a typical Monday morning on the ward: I receive report and start prioritizing in my head: I have six patients, each of them needing me to obtain, organize and bring at least 20 different medications at different times throughout the day. They will all have to be assessed and charted on, and the charting for each patient is many pages long. In addition, several of them are coming and going throughout the day for different procedures and/or need me to change dressings, place lines (like IVs and catheters) draw blood and the like. Today our medical system is so advanced that many people can be treated and cared for outside the hospital, which means that those that are actually in the hospital are very sick and need lots of care, tests and procedures.

So, on a typical morning, as I am trying to organize my day I note that several of my patients are on insulin, so I resolve to see them first. I will need to draw up differing amounts of insulin to give each of those patients based on their particular blood sugar before breakfast. As I start heading to see these patients, the clerk calls out that I have a phone call from the OR asking about one of my patients going to surgery. The pager on my hip starts beeping loudly, several of my patients are calling for pain medication. On the way to the phone, one of the Nursing Assistants grabs me to inform me that one of my patients has a very high blood pressure and the doctor will need to be paged. While I am taking the phone call (and re-prioritizing in my head -- the blood pressure will probably have to be dealt with first), another nurse calls out that one of my patients is confused, trying to get out of bed and has ripped out her IV. I speak to the OR quickly and after I get off the phone and head for the confused patient's room, a doctor grabs my arm and asks me some questions about one of my patients. He informs me that the patient spiked a fever overnight and now needs an x-ray, and some blood and a urine sample (taken via catheter) stat. Standing behind him is the family member of one of my patients who would like me to fill a pitcher of ice and bring some cups and straws.

This pace continues for 12 straight hours, rarely letting up.

I love my work, though. I don't think someone could stay a nurse for very long if they didn't love it. I don't mean to sound as if I am complaining. I say all this to let you know that nurses work really, really hard. If you or someone you know is ever in the hospital, take the time to say "thanks" and don't be upset if it takes your nurse a few minutes to get to you when you call. If you have a nurse in your family and/or group of friends (most of us do), be sure to tell them how much you appreciate them.

Okay, off my soap box now. I arrived to the Times Union Center, grabbed my tickets from the Will Call window, and met up with my friend Effie in the lobby. We were only about 20 minutes late for the concert, and we quietly walked into the gorgeous Jacoby Symphony Hall and had a seat. There was open seating that night, and the theater was a little less than half full.

Four musicians were seated onstage: three men and one woman. One of the men played a cello, and the rest of the musicians played violins. Huge aqua and gold toned paintings set up on easels lit up the stage behind the musicians. The woman playing onstage was wearing a matching shiny aqua top. The piece they were playing was "The Appointed Time for String Quartet" by James Lee. According to the program, Mr. Lee is a contemporary musician/composer. Now only 35 years old, Mr. Lee wrote the piece in 1999. The piece was soulful and upbeat, and the musicians were animated, really into what they were playing.

The term "chamber music" is used to describe a type of classical music written for a small group of musicians... small enough to play in a palace chamber (read: small room). So by its very nature, chamber music is meant to be intimate, and that's how the performance felt. As I immersed myself in the music and let my mind wander, I was able to read the faces of each musician, and carefully watch each of them play.

The music was so pretty... the players so talented. I can't believe how fast their hands moved, and how skillfully! They never missed a beat or a note. With no conductor, I was amazed at how each musician knew when to come in and out, when to pause, and when to start again. In many ways, the players' movements looked choreographed like a dance. The bows the musicians ran along the strings often moved in unison, while the faces of the players brimmed with emotion (much like the music they played).

The piece: "The Appointed Time for String Quartet" was had four movements (segments) and was very interesting. I read in the program that the composer meant for the piece to be "a musical commentary on Jesus Christ's temptations by the devil in the wilderness", so the music ranged from fast paced and thrilling in some places, and slow and meditative in others. It was a great experience. At the end of the piece, we all clapped wildly and a man jogged up onstage from his position in the audience and shook hands with each of the musicians. I assumed this must be the composer, Mr. James Lee himself.

Next, a Mr. Terrance Patterson strode onto the stage, clarinet in hand and sat down to play along with the string quartet. Mr. Patterson founded the Ritz Chamber Players in 2002, deriving the name of the group from the Ritz LaVilla Theatre and Museum.

LaVilla is the name of a Northeast Florida Plantation. In the mid 1800s, many formerly enslaved people began a life of freedom near this plantation, and for more than 100 years, the LaVilla area served as a "vibrant center for African-American commerce, entertainment, education and religion" and was once called "the Harlem of the South". In the late 1990s, the neighborhood was revitalized with funds from the city of Jacksonville's River City Renaissance Initiative" and the 1929 Ritz Movie House became the Ritz LaVilla Theatre and Museum. (http://www.ritzlavila.org/)

Today the museum houses an exhibit featuring the history of African Americans in Northeast Florida, and the theater hosts various shows and fun events like "Amateur Night" (where local performers compete for a cash prize) and "Art of the Spoken Word (where artists, poets and musicians perform). Similar to the museum, the Ritz Chamber Players seek to feature African American musicians and composers and according to the group's mission statement emphasizes building audiences and arts that reflect our diverse society. The group has so far been very successful. The Ritz Chamber Players have played throughout the country, including Carnegie Hall in New York, and has played via radio broadcast to over 40 countries. The group was even featured on television at the 37th Annual NAACP Image Awards, and plays often at local music festivals.

The next piece played onstage that night was Mozart's "Quintet for Clarinet, Two Violins and Cello in A Major". Immediately, Effie started quietly clapping with excitement. She leaned over and whispered, "I used to play clarinet in high school! I used to practice this piece all the time!"

I was stunned -- I too played the clarinet. It seems the longer I hang out with Effie the more I realize we have in common. I was never as good as Effie on the clarinet, though. I only played for a year, and only in 6th and 7th grade. I gasped as the music began and Mr. Patterson played cascades of notes, his fingers flying up and down the keys, while the beautiful flowing sounds of the clarinet trilled effortlessly up and down the register. "You played THIS song? In high school?!" I whispered. "I think I was able to barely eke out the main theme to Superman!"

Effie laughed.

This piece was also very enjoyable to listen to. Both Effie and I were riveted by the remainder of the performances. By the time we left the Times Union Center that evening, we were talking about coming back to see more Ritz Chamber Players concerts. They have various concerts and performances throughout the year and a growing Ritz Chamber Music Society. Check it all out on their website http://www.ritzchamberplayers.org/

After the performance, we walked a block over to the Jacksonville Landing and had dinner at The American Cafe. The food was excellent, and we sat outside on the balcony overlooking the St. Johns River and the glowing Jacksonville skyline. It was a GORGEOUS night.

A fascinating performance followed by a great dinner shared with a close friend. Doesn't get much better than that.

Clay County Agricultural Fair

2010-04-03T06:49:00.000-07:00

Friday evening Jim, Christian and I visited the Clay County Agricultural Fair. http://www.claycountyfair.org/ I'm embarrassed to admit that even though I've lived in Clay County for the past four years, I've never been. While Jim and I chatted during the 35 minute or so drive from Orange Park to the fair's Green Cove Springs location, I wondered aloud if there would be enough there that would interest a 2 year old. Turns out, there was plenty for all ages.

Parking at the fair was free and was a total cinch. There were several police officers and volunteers helping to guide the cars into their parking spaces. While I am mentioning police officers I should point out that there were police officers and firemen everywhere at the fair. They seemed to be enjoying themselves and were a friendly presence. It made me feel very safe.

As we headed through the parking lot toward the fair's main entrance, I noticed that the weather was pretty hot out, even though there was a merciful cool breeze. A few practical tips for visiting the fair -- bring and wear sunscreen. Sunglasses are also a good idea. Even though we visited in the early evening, it was still very hot out, so you might want to visit very early in the day or later in the evening when it's not as hot. I think the fair's organizers picked the perfect time of year -- it's only going to get unbearably hotter from this point in the year on.

Another practical tip that I didn't think of -- consider wearing sneakers as opposed to flip flops. Being a Florida girl, I wear flip flops pretty much everywhere, (and I can't believe this didn't dawn on me earlier) but the ground we were walking on all throughout the parking lot and the fair was loosely packed dirt, clay and dust. My feet were disgusting by the time we left. ( I know, TMI right?) Also, bring your own bottles of water if you can -- you'll get thirsty and you'll probably want to save your money for attractions and rides. One more thing you'll need -- cash. You can use your credit cards at the admission booth, (and probably the booth to buy tickets to ride the rides) but for food and games you'll need cash. If you forget cash, there's an ATM right as you enter the fair that you can use (if you don't mind the $3 service charge).

As we paid for admission (kids 5 and under are free, adults are $8) I cursed myself as I realized we'd also forgotten Christian's stroller. (Turns out I wasn't extremely well prepared for our visit). However, right as we entered the fairgrounds I spotted a booth where you could rent these awesome little "strollers" which were shaped like small race cars, but had a handle for adults to push. Christian LOVES anything even remotely car-like so he was way more excited about this than any of the fair's rides. Stroller rental was only $5 and worth every penny. It had a shade to keep Christian cool and even a small cup holder near the steering wheel for Christian's cup of juice.

Our collective excitement grew as we walked through the park and got our first look around. Bright lights flashed from the different booths and games, and the sounds of laughter and smells of fried dough and chocolate covered apples filled the air. The booths of food had to be for me the most interesting and exciting part. From the moment I decided to check out the fair, I was dreaming of a big bite of funnel cake. Chinese food, barbecue, specialty coffees, turkey legs, chicken on a stick, cheesecake on a stick, flavored soft pretzels and something called a doughnut burger beckoned us from all directions.

We weren't quite hungry enough yet, so we headed past the majority of the food to this really cool petting zoo area. There in the petting zoo, Christian was able to pet and feed many different types of animals he might never get a chance to see otherwise -- a deer, lama, camel and goats among others. He was very excited about this, and it made for great pictures. After petting some animals, we could hear some music gearing up in a small field roped off and surrounded by packed bleachers. Signs posted around the field announced that we were about to see a "Disc-Connected K9 World Famous Frisbee Dogs Show". http://www.k9frisbee.com/

This. show. was. awesome!

For me, the K9 Frisbee Dogs show was the highlight of the fair. Lawrence, the lively announcer (and one of the owners of the team) told us that several of the dogs in the show were World Championship Frisbee Dog Finalists. One of the dogs, a cutie named "Harley Davidson" was the 2008 AWI World Disc Dog Champion! The show consisted of trainers coming out with dogs, and as upbeat music boomed through speakers, the dogs would do AMAZING catches with the frisbee. These dogs leaped over their trainers, did back flips, and other amazing catches. Christian was riveted, and the audience was fired up. In between acts, Lawrence explained that he and his trainers and dogs travel the world to perform their show. He also said that he and his wife rescue dogs, teach them obedience skills and adopt them into loving families as a way to give back. He explained that any proceeds from the sale of their merchandise goes to support this ministry.

I thought it was all very cool. After the 25 minute show, we headed over to the exhibition hall to get out of the sun and cool off. Inside the exhibition halls, we browsed candles, arts and crafts, jewelry, handbags and the like for sale. There were huge boxes full of different candies to buy. We also saw exhibits put together by local community groups. Botanists were on hand selling exotic plants, and we passed a table manned by a local politician up for re election (although there was a small crowd around him blocking him from view so I didn't catch his name).

After browsing the exhibition hall for awhile, we headed to a different area of the fairgrounds to check out the rides. Christian immediately spotted a small train on a track and started pointing and screaming excitedly about the "choo choo!" Trains are Christian's current obsession. So Jim bought some tickets and we put Christian on the train. It was right about the time that Christian was gently strapped in by the nice attendant that he (Christian) began to get a concerned look on his face. I was waving and smiling excitedly nearby, poised with my camera to take some adorable pictures, and I remember thinking: Uh oh, this isn't going to go well, is it?

Just then, the train let out a whistle and started to puff down the track. Well that did it. Christian broke out in shrieking sobs, and I began laughing so hard that I could barely speak as the sweet attendant stopped the train and handed Christian and my two tickets back to me. I'll be sure to tease Christian about that when he gets older.

From there, we tried putting Christian with his dad on a slow moving go-cart ride, but no dice. Christian was not having it. So we took a look around at some of the fair games and rides. The games and rides were just what you'd expect. The games were of the ring toss, shoot at targets, and hitting a target with a mallet variety. I even spotted a (very) brave guy who was guessing the weight of anyone who wanted to step up and face the scale. For rides, they had the apples that spun like "teacups", those cars that run up and down hills quickly in a circle, the chair-o-plane (those swing-like chairs that spin in a circle high up in the air), tilt-o-whirl, and the obligatory ride that picks you up to the highest point in the park and then drops you suddenly. There were also fun houses, and haunted houses and roller coasters.

We were getting hungry by this time, so we set out to pick out what we'd eat for dinner. Despite the fact that we were surrounded by all different kinds of interesting foods, we ended up heading to the concession stand and eating hamburgers and barbecue. It was good though, and there was a covered area with picnic tables to sit and eat.

After eating, we headed over to the livestock area of the fair, which was really really cool. We entered this large covered amphitheater and were able to look at some RVs, sheds, tractors and lawn mowers for sale. Nearby, kids could ride ponies that walked along in a circle, or practice milking a fake cow (actually looked pretty fun!) Beyond that, there were rows of pig pens with at least thirty different huge pigs to see. They were all dozing. I heard an overhead announcer announcing there would be pig races later. I could hardly imagine these lazy beasts running a race. Besides the pigs, there were stalls of huge cattle and fenced in areas with little piglets, baby goats, and other farm animals. Equally impressive was a huge poultry area that housed cages filled with chickens, crowing roosters, huge turkeys, ducks, peacocks, and many other types of birds. One of the best parts was a cage filled with adorable baby chicks you could reach in and pet.

Christian absolutely loved seeing and petting the animals, and there were plentiful hand washing stations and purell dispensers, which I thought was a great idea. While I'm mentioning the hand washing stations I should also mention that there were several well stocked and clean restrooms throughout the park.

After we left the livestock area, we were able to watch a frog jumping contest in which kids were handling HUGE toads that were hopping around a little play area. The frogs were gross looking, so the kids LOVED it. By now it was getting later and closer to Christian's bed time, so we decided to head out of the park.

I had a great time and definitely can't wait until next year. By then Christian will be a bit older and hopefully a bit less shy about riding some of the rides. I should also mention there's some cool events coming up in the fair schedule (the fair runs April 1st - 10th) -- most importantly Julianne Hough is singing Saturday April 10th at 8pm. I'm a huge Dancing With the Stars fan and Julianne is a pro dancer who won the competition twice. Now she's launching her country music career. She's extremely gorgeous and talented. I may just have to try to make it out there that day. Also there are music performances by local stars, a high school rodeo, autographing by a monster trucker, cloggers, belly dancers and more. The activities and events are far to numerous to mention here, so be sure to check out the Fair's events schedule http://www.claycountyfair.org/daily-schedule.htm

Before I went to the Clay County Fair I remember being a bit puzzled about why a national star like Julianne Hough was performing here. Don't get me wrong, I love Clay County and plan to live here for the rest of my natural life, but we aren't exactly New York or LA. After going to the Fair, it was easy to see why big named stars were choosing to perform here. The Clay County Agricultural Fair is not your average fair. It has been granted a First Place Agricultural Award of Excellence from the International Association of Fairs and Expositions, and each year draws tens of thousands of patrons. The great combination of great food, rides and games, as well as entertainment and of course the up close and personal encounters with so many different types of animals really did make it a memorable experience.

We'll definitely be back.

Spring for the Arts at Deerwood Country Club

2010-03-20T06:20:00.000-07:00

"So what's this fundraiser called again?" Katie asked me as we drove down Southside Boulevard.

"Spring for the Arts!" I reminded her, "I went last year and had an awesome time. This fundraiser is like nothing you've ever seen before. I mean, it's got the food, wine and dancing that most fundraisers have, but there are things that set it apart. Some really big names come out to this event each year. Last year, Joanie and Russell Newton came, (be sure to google them) and so did the Haskells. They own Haskell Construction company."

"Oh wow," Katie responded, impressed, "What else makes this event so amazing?"

"Well, THE most amazing part of the evening will definitely be the live auction. Not all fundraisers have one. Tens of thousands are bid on incredible items like a party for 20 at the Luxury Suite in the Jaguars stadium, or a trip for four to California. Also, the silent auction is HUGE. There are probably a hundred items, all very unique and some very valuable. This event raises huge amounts of money each year."

"And all that money," Katie mused, "Where does it go?"

"To the Cathedral Arts Project. They are the charity the party is raising funds for. Its a really great organization that sponsors after-school twice weekly arts classes for needy kids. In fact, Cathedral Arts Project is Northeast Florida's largest provider of after school visual and performing arts education." http://www.capkids.org/

"Someone did her research," Katie sang.

I laughed as we pulled up to the complimentary valet right in front of the Deerwood Country Club. We hopped out of the car in our little cocktail dresses, barely able to contain our excitement. Right outside the entrance, a group of young school aged kids from San Jose Elementary Violin Class sat in rows of chairs, playing violins. They sounded great, I couldn't believe how talented they were!

We headed inside and checked in. We were each handed name tags, a program and a bid card. We headed straight over to the Jacksonville Magazine photo backdrop to have our pictures taken. I learned my lesson on this last year -- if you want your photo taken by Jacksonville Magazine, get it done early in the evening.

From there, we were each handed wineglasses by a handsome man in a suit and we headed to one of many wine tasting tables. There were so many tables set up with excellent wines to taste that we never had to wait to get a glass. Drinks in hand, we started to have a look around.

I went to this event last year, and one of the most striking differences from last year to this had to be the decor. The decor was of course lovely last year but this year... ohmigod it's almost impossible to describe. Beautiful green moss and bright violet orchids were EVERYWHERE. On the center of each table and at other various locations around the hall were these tall clusters of wood branches in vases. The branches were adorned with fresh orchids and hanging from the branches were tea light votives. The low lighting and the moss and orchids gave everything a romantic, "Garden of Eden" feel. The decor for the evening was done by Dawn Sinisgalli -- an interior decorator and wedding planner.

The crowd looked a bit larger than last year's crowd. It seemed there must have been several hundred people in attendance. The crowd consisted mostly of couples, and most people appeared to know each other, so there was lots of animated conversation going on around us.

As Katie and I perused the silent auction, we saw the usual gift baskets, cases of wine, artwork, and spa treatments. However, we also spotted several unique items, including a cooler on wheels that had built in speakers and doubled as an MP3 player, an autographed photo of Steve Spurrier, a three hour cruise for 12 in the Casa Mia Yacht (minimum bid was $1000), and a hunting trip for six at a local hunters lodge. My favorite item in the auction was a striking painting of the Jacksonville skyline done by many Cathedral Arts students, working on the painting in rotation for over a month. I grabbed one of the party guests and asked them to snap a picture of Katie and I with the painting.

While we were looking at the silent auction items, we ran into Kimberly Hyatt, a Presbyterian minister, and Executive Director of the Cathedral Arts Project. Soft spoken and sweet, with an obvious love for her work, Kimberly was a joy to meet. She told me a little bit about the good work the Cathedral Arts Project does, and why the Spring for the Arts Fundraiser is so important. "Cathedral Arts Project's classes reach over 1,000 public school students each week, teaching these kids skills they will need throughout their lives. Over the past four years, over 75% of these students improved their grades, behavior, communication skills, and their ability to express anger and handle conflict. There are literally thousands of children on the wait lists to get into these classes. The funds we generate from events like these make it possible to help these kids."

After chatting with Ms. Hyatt, Katie and I moved onto the food. We found an empty table on the lovely patio outside. The view from there was GORGEOUS -- it overlooked this huge lake surrounded by the lovely lush green golf course. The air was warm, with only a hint of cool breeze. Katie and I were grateful for the warm weather, since we'd decided to wear relatively short cocktail dresses.

Deerwood Country Club provided the food, and I'm sure this goes without saying, but the food was FANTASTIC. Among the goodies we sampled were garlic shrimp orzo, tender fillet of beef, black bean cakes with guacamole and sour cream, baked salmon with Asian ginger glaze, and salad with crumbles of goat cheese.

While we ate, Katie and I met Pepper Peete, the executive director of a great charity called First Tee of Jacksonville, and Brenda Titus, a member of First Tee's Board of Directors. First Tee brings golf instruction to at-risk kids that might never get the chance to learn the game otherwise. "The kids learn all their life skills through the game of golf," Brenda explained. http://www.thefirstteejacksonville.org/

"To see the change in the lives of these kids is so wonderful to watch," Pepper chimed in. "In fact, we've had several kids return to give back to the organization after many years, who are finishing up college, fluent in several languages, even heading off to med school. The thing I hear time and again from these kids is that the confidence, and respect for their environment that they learned learned in our programs has made all the difference in their lives."

Pepper and Brenda went on to tell me that in October, First Tee will hold their fourth annual "Taste of Golf" Fundraiser, First Tee's biggest fundraising event. "Several of Jacksonville's finest chefs and venues will bring some fabulous food," Brenda gushed, "Several local celebrities should be there as well -- it's going to be a great event!"

"I'll be there!" I promised.

As soon as we finished eating, we heard Charlene Shirk's voice over the microphone, so we hurried into the ballroom to hear her speak. Charlene used to be a First Coast News anchor, but in 2007 took a job as Director of Community Relations for the Players Club Championship. She was the emcee for the evening, and she was a natural-- confident, good at public speaking, and of course beautiful and charming. Her short hair was up in a sort of french twist and a she wore cute short aqua colored dress. She welcomed all the guests, plugged the upcoming Players Championship (May 3-9th) and even relayed a story of how the work of Cathedral Arts has inspired her.

"Whenever Kimberly Hyatt sends out Cathedral Arts Project correspondence, she always includes a picture of a student from the program with a work of art, or holding an instrument, or standing in a dance outfit. I recently received a picture of a little girl with curly strawberry blond hair holding this amazing painting of the Eiffel tower she had painted. I know the kind of environment this girl lives in each day, but in her face I saw such hope and such pride!" here Charlene's voice broke a little and flooded with emotion. "I put that picture on my bulletin board at work and each day, if I'm having a tough time at work, I take a deep breath and look into that little girl's face, and it gives me strength and inspiration to keep going."

Next Charlene introduced Mr. Russell Newton, an honorary chair of the evening, who presented a Guardian of the Arts Award to a representative from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida. Mr. Newton was lighthearted and funny. He indicated Charlene Shirk and joked that he was trying his best to "keep up with a 21 year old cheerleader" while onstage. He quipped that his wife, Joannie had dragged him out to the event, and made fun of the fact that one of them was Episcopalian and the other Presbyterian. He also read a speech written by Kimberly Hyatt all about the ways Blue Cross had contributed to the Arts in Jacksonville.

Next Brian Sexton (Jacksonville Jaguars radio play-by-play announcer, often called "The Voice of the Jaguars") took the microphone and kicked off the live auction. He started out asking if anyone in the crowd would be willing to donate the cost of sponsoring one child in the program for one year -- one thousand dollars! I remember when I saw him do this last year, I was floored. He wasn't auctioning off any items here, just asking for a huge donation. Several bidders in the crowd pledged to do just that (including the Blue Cross Rep). It was pretty cool to watch. Then he dropped down the amount to $500, then $250, then $100. Lots of bidders pledged lots of money, even before Mr. Sexton started auctioning off anything. I thought that was really generous.

Speaking of amazing generosity, Mr. Sexton then announced that the first item up for bid in the auction, a party for 20 in the Fidelity National's Luxury Suite during the Indianapolis vs. Jacksonville game had already been bought by an anonymous donor. This donor had pledged $20,000 for the party and was going to give it to some members of the Navy! Then he went on to auction off the other items including an in-home dinner for 8 prepared by Bistro Aix chef Tom Gray, lunch with Jaguars player Maurice Jones-Drew and private tour of the stadium, a year's membership to Marsh Landing and Serenata Beach Club (retail value $100,000!) and a trip for four to Sonoma Valley Inn in Napa Valley. The live auction was really cool to watch with small bidding wars going on involving thousands of dollars, and most items going for over $5,000.

After Brian Sexton finished up auctioning off the live auction items, Charlene Shirk took the microphone again to make some announcements about the silent auction. By this time though, the friendly crowd had gotten even more friendly after lots of wine tasting and socializing, and Charlene had trouble talking over the growing chatter. "Don't make me shut down the bar!" she teasingly threatened.

Next the band KTG started playing fun party songs like "Brick House", Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" and even more modern stuff like "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas. (http://www.ktgentertainment.com/) I've heard them play at several local events, and they're fantastic. Lead singer, Teri Levine had a really nice voice -- she did an awesome job with Etta James' "At Last". Several couples came out to dance, and some of them had obviously been taking ballroom classes and were very talented. One of the band members, Roderick McMorries often walked out to the crowd encouraging people to come out to the dance floor and dancing with some of the ladies.

After watching the dancing for awhile, Katie and I headed into one of the small rooms adjacent to the ballroom to sample some amazing desserts. There were dark chocolate shells filled with cream and plump blackberries, strawberries and raspberries, and small key lime pie tarts among other goodies. I must have crammed several desserts into my mouth and they were all incredible.

Right around that time I spotted Charlene Shirk looking at a few of the silent auction items and socializing with friends. I was dying to meet her, but wasn't totally sure what to say, so I congratulated her on what a great job she'd done despite the chatter of the crowd. "The first year I emceed I got my feelings hurt about everyone talking!" She laughed, "This year, I just threatened to cut off the bar, even though I can't really do that..." Just then someone grabbed her to talk to her, so I didn't get a lot of time with her, but it felt cool just to be able to meet such a prominent local celebrity.

Eventually we decided to head home but agreed that it had been an amazing night. "Let's go to Spring for the Arts next year, too!" Katie gushed while we waited for the valet to bring my car around. "And since its a year away, that will give us enough time to round up eight thousand dollars so we can bid on a weekend in California!" she laughed.

"Oh definitely," I said as our car pulled up. I glanced over at the now empty seats where the young students playing violins had greeted us when the night began, and added "And we'll know our money is going toward a really worthy cause."

I will be at Spring for the Arts Friday

2010-03-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

This Friday, March 19th Katie and I will be attending Spring for the Arts, an awesome fundraiser put on each year by the Cathedral Arts Project. The Cathedral Arts Project is an awesome charity that provides weekly arts classes to under served kids. Check out their website at http://www.capkids.org/

I went last year to Spring for the Arts and had an amazing time. You can read all about it at http://www.outandaboutinjax.com/2009/03/spring-for-arts-to-benefit-cathedral.html
This is one of the most impressive charity events I've ever been to. If you like fundraisers, this is one you can't miss! There will be wine tasting, fabulous food, live music by KTG, and the most impressive silent auction you've ever seen followed by a thrilling live auction.

Hope to see you there!

Meeting Jeannie Blaylock From First Coast News

2010-03-11T09:06:00.000-08:00

It was a wet, rainy afternoon (our first day of lousy weather in awhile) and I was running late. "Yuck," I muttered to myself as my car splashed through a puddle. I was headed to Calvary United Methodist Church on Blanding, the monthly meeting place for Moms Club of Orange Park/Westside momsclubjopw.webs.com . Moms Club is a great organization. I've been a member for about 2 years now, and I like it a lot. Each month, we schedule lots of play dates, potlucks and other activities for moms and their kids.

This particular monthly meeting was special, because Jeannie Blaylock was coming to speak to us about breast cancer awareness. Jeannie is a First Coast News anchor, and one of the creators of "Buddy Check 12", a program that encourages women to pick a buddy to call on the 12th of each month and remind them to do their monthly self breast exam.

According to her biography on http://www.firstcoastnews.com/, Jeannie has won sixteen Emmys and a Peabody award (a prestigious broadcast journalism award). In fact, she is the only person in Jacksonville to have won a Peabody. The "Buddy Check 12" program has reached over 540,000 women in the area and is credited for saving the lives of 280 local women.

In short, it was an extreme honor to meet her, especially for someone like me. I'm a news junkie and a big fan of Ms. Blaylock's. Also, I consider myself somewhat of a budding First Coast journalist. Needless to say, I couldn't wait for today's meeting.

I finally arrived at Calvary United Methodist only about 10 minutes late, and luckily Jeannie hadn't arrived yet. Calvary United Methodist is a fantastic place for moms of young children to meet, because they have a kids playroom right next door to a large conference room. So each month when we meet to catch up and conduct club business, our kids can play right nearby. I let Christian run off to play with the other kids, while I chatted with the other moms that were seated around a large set of tables in our meeting room. Soon, the church secretary (who was just as excited as we were to meet Jeannie) chirped "she's here!"

Jeannie Blaylock breezed into the room, full of smiles and warm greetings. She was beautiful and well dressed, somehow managing to look simply fantastic despite the storm outside. Even though some might be intimidated by someone with such a perfect appearance and obvious celebrity, she was so warm and friendly that we were all immediately put at ease. I was impressed by how intent she was on connecting with each one of us.

After chatting with us for a moment, Jeannie began to speak about breast cancer, and her passion for the subject was instantly apparent. She told the story of a young friend of hers who died of breast cancer and inspired Jeannie to start working on "Buddy Check 12" 17 years ago. "At the time, breast cancer wasn't as easily recognized, and although my friend found a lump and told her doctor, she was young at the time, and the doctor didn't take it seriously," Jeannie related. "I know that some women may be reluctant to check themselves because they think they'll probably never get breast cancer. Nobody thinks they are going to get cancer, but now 1 in 8 women will face it in their lifetime." Jeannie looked into each of our faces and told us, "Think of all the things in your lives that you have to live for. Can you imagine leaving your young kids behind? Don't be afraid that if you check you might find a lump. Finding a lump isn't scary. What's scary is not finding the lump and giving the cancer a chance to spread. If they catch the lump early and get it out of there before it gets a chance to spread, the cure rate is over 90 percent!"

Jeannie demonstrated how to do a breast exam, and talked about what a lump generally feels like. She reminded us that those of us who are 35 need to have a baseline mammogram, and then start getting mammograms every year or two years starting at age 40. "Now don't panic if you find a lump because 85 percent of breast lumps are not cancer. Just be sure to check it out. They can't tell if it's cancer from a mammogram. They have to do a biopsy for that."

"Also, most of you have men and boys in your lives, so be sure to remind them to do their monthly testicular exam. Testicular cancer is much more rare than breast cancer, but the cure rate is 99 percent. Also, testicular cancer can spread quite quickly if it is not found and sometimes men can be the most reluctant ones to go see the doctor. So as the women in their lives, it might be up to you to make sure you get that guy in to see the doctor if there's a lump."

As a former nursing student, and a health care professional, I've listened to many talks on breast cancer, but none so personally touching. Jeannie talked to each of us the way one girlfriend talks to another. She was extremely familiar with the topic and knew exactly what she was talking about, but didn't sound in any way bored with the subject. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Her enthusiasm was contagious.

Even more impressive than her enthusiasm had to be her public speaking skills. Each of the moms in the group had kids that were under the age of five, including a set of twins. The preschoolers and toddlers were constantly coming into the room with loud toys, asking for snacks and knocking things over. Jeannie was lighthearted about the distractions, and didn't appear at all to get frustrated. She stayed very focused and remained on topic while occasionally cheerfully chatting with one of the kids that wandered by.

At one point in the talk, I was so captivated by what Jeannie was saying that I failed to notice that Christian had wandered off with my purse! One of the moms politely tapped me on the shoulder and nodded in the general direction of a pack of toddlers that looked kind of like a pack of lions surrounding a fresh kill. After skillfully dividing the contents of my purse, they were quietly putting on my chap stick, taking coins out of my wallet, and dialing up a few of my friends.

While wrapping up her talk and answering our questions, Jeannie was interested to hear of any personal stories we had about how breast cancer had touched our lives. She encouraged me to start doing Buddy Check 12 as well. She asked me if my mom were alive and how old she was. "My mom is 57," I replied.

"Due to her age group, your mom is at a higher risk for breast cancer. So you should give her a friendly call each month to remind her to check. Imagine how you might feel if you didn't call to remind her and then at some point she found out she had some sort of advanced stage breast cancer." It really hit home, and I resolved to call my mom later today. "I call my mom each and every month," Jeannie said, smiling. "Its a very enjoyable phone call and the both of us check up on each other and remind each other that we care." Before Jeannie left, she asked us to spread the word about "Buddy Check 12" and to make sure we all continue to talk about breast cancer and the importance of catching it early.

Jeannie gave us each a Buddy Check 12 information packet with a card to hang on the shower head explaining how to do a self breast exam and how to do a self testicular exam. Also included in the packet was a list of local resources for mammography. "For the women out there that may not be able to afford a mammogram there are resources available," Jeannie told us. Call 1-877-9MY-MAMO. Also for more information about Jeannie and the buddy check 12 program, check out http://www.firstcoastnews.com/

I left the meeting today feeling starstruck and inspired. A called my mom a few hours later and reminded her to check for lumps. It was a great conversation, and I may have just saved my mom's life. In fact, I feel very much that this piece may be one of the most important ones I've ever written. If you are reading this, make sure you check yourself each month and call up someone you love and remind them to check too. This subject is so important, all of us should be talking about it.

Fashion-First Thursday at One Ocean Resort

2010-03-05T07:14:00.001-08:00

This week I was invited to an event at One Ocean Resort in Neptune Beach called "Fashion- First Thursday". When I heard that One Ocean was located in Neptune Beach, my first reaction was "where is Neptune Beach?" I'm embarrassed to admit that my knowledge of Jacksonville's surrounding areas is somewhat limited. This is pretty pitiful considering I've lived in the Jacksonville area for four years now, and I spend much of my time researching places to go in the area. If you've met me, or if you've spent any time reading my posts here on "Out and About in Jax", you probably know that I have a horrible sense of direction. Maps don't help me out much either. My gut reaction when looking at a map is to: a.) panic, shove it into the hands of the nearest person and beg for help, or b.) find the nearest GPS device.

Luckily, Effie was able to come out with me tonight, and as a Jacksonville native and a person with a great sense of direction, she was a huge help. In addition to helping me easily find Neptune Beach, which didn't take long -- the drive to One Ocean from Orange Park only took about 35- 40 minutes-- she also pointed out various points of interest along the way. As we drove, Effie explained a little more about the Jacksonville area beaches. "Along the Atlantic coast, there are several beach areas, which are all along the same coastline. From North to South, there's Atlantic Beach, then Neptune Beach, then Jacksonville Beach. All are great areas with different things to offer."

As we drove along Atlantic Blvd and into the beach area, Effie pointed out various restaurants and shops she liked. She was like my own personal tour guide, which was just awesome. The Neptune Beach area was so adorable! It's a small area that used to be part of Jacksonville Beach up until 1931. Simple streets right near the water are lined with nice shops and cute restaurants. I vowed to bring the family here for a day of playing on the beach and shopping just as soon as the weather warms up.

Effie and I pulled up to One Ocean, a GORGEOUS resort right on the beach. http://www.oneoceanresort.com/ Notice I said "resort". The word "hotel" doesn't really do it justice. I'll explain why.

I parked in the lot right in front of the resort and Effie and I headed up to the impressive front entrance. We were stopped by a nice guy wearing a suit. "Ladies, the parking here is complimentary valet. We will need your key."

"Sorry, I'm an amateur," I explained as I handed over my key and was handed a valet ticket. So tip #1 if you visit One Ocean (which I HIGHLY recommend) use the valet, it's free. Tip #2--prepare to be amazed.

As soon as Effie and I walked into the lobby we were floored. Every inch of space was expertly decorated in lovely shades of blue and pearl. Marble was everywhere. Beautiful works of art were incorporated seamlessly into the overall design of the first floor, and each piece of art seemed to give off the illusion of various objects being suspended in mid-air giving the entire place a sort of magical quality. Just being in the resort gave me the feeling of being a rockstar! ... or at least a celebutante. (wikkipedia it folks!)

This may perhaps be the biggest reason I suggest visiting One Ocean the first chance you get-- they will make you feel like a celebrity. As the mother of a toddler, I spend a lot of my time doing things like scraping dried cheerios off of the furniture, and rescuing toy trains from the toilet, so I can't tell you how awesome it is to walk into a place so glamorous and be made to feel like Paris Hilton. I'll explain exactly how they accomplish this in detail, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Effie and I walked up to the hostess station of the resort's amazing restaurant/lounge Azurea (pronounced as-YUR-ee-uh) and we were led to the opulent bar area with pretty little couches and tables. We were seated at a lovely comfortable couch where one of the hostesses explained the details of the evening. "Welcome to our Fashion-First Thursday, a chance to check out the season's hottest trends while experiencing Azurea at One Ocean. This event is free and open to the public and will be held on the first Thursday of the month. Here you can sip signature cocktails, sample gourmet hors d' oeuvres and mingle with models who will be wearing the latest from Rosie True, one of the hottest boutiques in Northeast Florida. (http://www.rosietrue.com/) The models are in the back getting ready and will be out shortly. Feel free to ask the models your questions, and touch the clothing and accessories. "

"Whoa, we can touch the models? Don't tell that to any of the guys who might be here!" Effie laughed. The three of us looked around. There were maybe 25 people in the bar area, and only three or four of them were guys (including the bartender).

"So how about some drinks, ladies?" the hostess asked, "Our signature cocktail tonight is the True Love martini. For each one you order, you get a chance to win a pair of Sergio Zelcer shoes." She motioned for another hostess who walked up to us carrying two of the most adorable and interesting looking shoes I'd ever seen. They were open-toe platform shoes made of patent leather with a hint of gold along the leather.

"I'm in!" Effie breathed as she held the shoes. At that moment I was pretty glad I'd brought Effie. Effie is a fashionista -- I'm always jealous of her amazing sense of fashion. I've always admired people who know how to dress. I don't really have a knack for picking out unique or interesting clothes. My wardrobe is very simple.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to 'pull off' shoes like that," I laughed. Plus I'm not much of a vodka drinker, so I opted for a margarita. While Effie and I waited for our drinks, we glanced around the lounge. The entire back wall was made up of panoramic windows looking out on a gorgeous stretch of Atlantic Beach. The bar area was lit with dangling light fixtures that looked somewhat like romantic hanging candles. Against the back wall of the bar was a mirror that housed a flat screen TV. It all looked so amazing!

In a flash, the hostess reappeared with our drinks which of course were delicious. Just as I was taking a sip of my margarita, I heard a woman's voice ask "Excuse me, are you Erica?" Her name was Jordan Jacobs, and she was a PR professional for the resort. It was Jordan who had originally extended the invitation for me to come tonight and she'd recognized my face from the blog. Jordan and I quickly made great friends. As we got to know each other we discovered that we'd gone to same college right around the same time and that we were both married to engineers. Our personalities were similar too.

Someone like Jordan is a dream come true for bloggers like me. She knew exactly who to introduce me to, and was a expert on everything about the resort and tonight's event. Then she uttered the words I was dying to hear: "Would you like a tour of the resort?"

So Effie and I grabbed our drinks and stood to follow Jordan. Just before we headed out of the lounge area, we met David, one of the resort's managers. David welcomed us and explained some of the future plans "Fashion-First Thursdays". "When the weather gets nicer, we'll bring this event outside on the terrace overlooking the beach and have a DJ. In the past we've had some pretty big crowds come out so we are expecting this to become quite a huge event as we head into the summer," he told me.

As the three of us headed back toward the lobby, I started gushing to Jordan about the decor and the artwork displayed everywhere. "All of the artwork is museum quality. So you could actually purchase anything you see here. The hotel keeps a detailed portfolio of all of the art including who crafted it, and all the other details about the artwork," Jordan explained. Then she led us into a small white-walled art gallery in the lobby! The small art gallery displayed the photographs of local artist Sherri Ebert. The landscape photos were gorgeous. They looked like expert paintings.

We left the art gallery and headed up a marble staircase, passing more works of art along the way. Jordan explained the hotel's decor theme. "The inspiration for everything in the hotel is all about the ocean... various shades of blue and pearl are integrated everywhere. Also, things are circular and are shaped to incorporate a sort of 'bubble' theme."

Once on the second floor, Jordan ushered us into an elevator as she explained the personal service each guest at One Ocean receives. "Two days before you arrive, a guest historian emails you and asks you tons of detailed questions about your preferences: your favorite snacks and drinks, how you take your coffee, what newspapers you like... they get all kinds of details about you. They find out what car you are driving and what time you are going to arrive. When you show up, your personal docent greets you by your name (they know that its you from the time you said you'd arrive and the car you are driving). The docent guides you right past the front desk (you don't even have to stop there) and straight to your room. Your room is stocked with a mini fridge with all of the snacks and beverages you like at no extra charge. You are also asked if the hotel staff can steam anything for you, or if they can unpack anything for you. They take care of every detail you need during your stay, including recommending places to go in town."

Wow. I was already extremely impressed and we hadn't yet made it into one of the rooms! Jordan took us up to the fifth floor and showed us one of their king bed suites. (One Ocean has 193 rooms, three of which are suites). The rooms range in price anywhere from $160 a night all the way up to over $600 per night. Before we entered the suite, Jordan showed us this really cool button right outside the door that looked like a doorbell. Jordan explained that the staff can press this button which will light up in a certain way if nobody is in the room (it senses body heat) so the staff will never disturb you if you are in the room!

The suite was absolutely incredible! It had a half bathroom for guests, and a living room area with a mini fridge and cabinet stocked with snacks and drinks. The bedroom was amazing! It had a plush king sized bed, a flat screen TV, and a luxurious bathroom. The best feature of all was of course the view. The living room and bedroom featured floor-to-ceiling windows with a panoramic view of the ocean. Right off the bedroom was a balcony overlooking the pool and the beach. The three of us walked out onto the balcony and the view was simply breathtaking. My heart jumped in my chest and my hands gripped the railing as I gazed at the rushing waves on the moonlit beach.

I've missed the beach so much.

I grew up in coastal towns (I'm a Navy brat) and most of my childhood was spent in Pensacola, Florida --very much a beach town. My first jobs were at realty offices and restaurants on Perdido Beach. The sand and the waves are a part of me, and I've missed that so much over the past few years. Having a very young child at home has really prevented me from getting out to the ocean. Not anymore, I promised myself last night as I vowed I'd spend a lot of the coming summer out on the beach.

As we left the suite, Jordan told us that one of their best suites is called the "Grisham Suite" because John Grisham used to stay there back when the hotel was called the Sea Turtle Inn. (The Sea Turtle Inn became One Ocean Resort in 2008). Jordan couldn't show us the suite because it was booked. "It stays booked pretty much year-round. It's amazing... it has a jacuzzi tub in it that overlooks the water," she explained.

Next Jordan took us back down to the second floor and showed us the spa. "The spa has a meditation lounge that any of the guests can use, and it overlooks the water. There are also two VIP suites for couples, or girlfriends to have treatments done. We get some bridal showers sometimes thrown in there. They can do all of the spa treatments right there in the room, and lunch can be brought in. The spa also has a complimentary juice bar, with different fresh juices and hot tea. Any guest can visit the juice bar and relax in the meditation lounge, even if they aren't having anything done in the spa. Any guest can also use the spa's locker room, which has a jacuzzi tub and a high pressure steam shower.

Next, Jordan took us into One Ocean's state-of-the-art fitness center, which like most rooms in the resort featured an incredible view of the beach. The treadmills (which were equipped with flat screen TVs) were situated right in front of the panoramic windows. "Personal trainers are available upon request, and there are also great group fitness classes here at the resort like 'sunrise yoga' or 'sunrise tai-chi' on the beach," Jordan explained.

We left the fitness center and stopped by the kids club. "The kids club has wii and other video and computer games for the older children as well as arts and crafts for the younger kids," Jordan pointed out. "Also there is no kids menu. The kids simply tell the chef what they want, and the kitchen can prepare it."

Next we headed out to the pool area, which contained a pretty kidney-shaped pool surrounded by a cobblestone patio. The pool was heated, and we could see steam rising off the water against the windy chilly night air. Surrounding the pool were deck chairs and even large beds that Jordan explained can be moved out onto the sand if guests want that.

Beyond the pool area, along the rear of the hotel was a beachfront terrace that Jordan explained gets used for a lot of wedding receptions. At the far end of the terrace was a lit fire pit -- it looked so warm and inviting.

After spending a few more minutes gazing out at the beach, we headed back into the lounge from the terrace, and our tour was complete. I was so impressed by everything we'd just seen, but I was also eager to see some of the models showing off their Rosie True designs. Effie, Jordan and I ordered another round of drinks (I switched to water), and chatted while we were served some amazing appetizers (including spring rolls and mango wrapped sausage). Soon some lovely models stopped by to chat with the guests, each wearing beachy outfits from Rosie True.

The clothes were VERY cute: lots of jean shorts, skinny jeans, thin cotton shirts, big handbags and dangling jewelry. Each of the models chatted with us and talked about the designers they were wearing and what their favorite items were. It was really fun.

Eventually, it was time to go, and Effie and I headed back out to the valet to pick up my car. While we waited for the car, we talked about what an awesome night it had been. While we were chatting, we realized we'd been hearing a horn honking continuously. As the slightly annoyed valet returned (without my car), it slowly dawned on me that by using my keyless button to lock my car when I originally parked, I'd unwittingly set the car alarm! "Sorry!" I laughed nervously as I fumbled in my purse for my key chain remote, "I'm still an amateur!"

Effie is especially glad she went (we just found out that she WON the Rosie True shoes!) We can't wait to come back in April for the next Fashion-First Thursday. Keep an eye out for us... I'll be the one gazing at the water and gushing about how much I love the beach and Effie will be the one in fabulous new shoes.

Marilyn: Forever Blonde Performance at The Museum of Contemporary Art

2010-02-12T09:01:00.000-08:00

It was 7pm, time for the evening change of shift on my med-surg ward at Shands Jacksonville, and I was in a hurry. I needed to be at the Museum of Contemporary Art downtown by 8pm for a performance of "Marilyn: Forever Blonde," a one woman play all about the life of Marilyn Monroe. I was scrambling to give report on my patients to the other nurses when the clerk announced that I had a phone call. I picked up the phone. "This is Erica," I mumbled quickly.

On the other end of the line was a nurse from another facility who informed me that one of my patients was supposed to be transferred to them. He wanted a report on the patient. "What?!" I almost yelled into the receiver, "Transferred...?" I reached clumsily around the desk until I found the patient's chart. I flipped it open to the page of doctors' orders. "I have no order for a transfer!"

The other nurse sighed. "Well, just have the next nurse give us a call when you get the order and the patient is ready for transfer. " I glanced at the clock. It was already 7:30 and I had two more patients to give report on, plus now I needed to page the on-call doctor to ask for an order to transfer my patient.

I was finally able to obtain the order and finish report, but it had taken a considerable amount of time. "The one day I want to make it out on time..." I grumbled as I power -walked off the ward and into the staff locker room. I tried to change as quickly as I could, and then ran out to the front entrance of the hospital where a shuttle took me to my car. The five minute drive to MOCA from Shands took me ten minutes... I only missed one or two turns (pretty good for my directionally impaired brain) and I was able to find parking right near the museum. Still, I walked up to the front door of the museum at about 8:10.

As I walked into the museum, I met Carl Holman, the Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications for Public Relations at UNF. Even though I was late, Carl couldn't have been nicer. I asked him how UNF and MOCA are related as he walked me to MOCA's performance theater. "Since about May of last year, MOCA and UNF have been involved in a special relationship. Some of UNF's art and design classes are held at MOCA which is now a cultural resource for UNF," Carl explained. MOCA's performance theater is located on the first floor behind Cafe Nola.

The theater is small but very well designed and comfortable. I took a seat and glanced ahead at the stage, which was set up to look like a large bedroom or hotel room with a rectangular raised photo set covered with silk sheets, that looked somewhat like a bed. I glanced down at my press materials for the evening which included a description of the play:

"It is 1962 and Marilyn Monroe is in the midst of a photo shoot. She is 36 years old and while she is still beautiful, she has lost some of that little girl charm that made her Hollywood's biggest star in the 20th Century Fox prime of her early twenties. Divorced for the third time and living alone, frustrated by Hollywood and tired of the label 'sex symbol', Marilyn longs to be respected for her talent and loved for who she really is rather than the character she has created for the silver screen. She wonders what it would be like to do it all over again."

The lights dimmed and then went completely out. I heard the muffled sounds of the play's only actress, Sunny Thompson taking her place on the stage. When the lights came up again, I could see Sunny in the center of the stage atop the photo set, entangled in silky white sheets. My hurried, frantic mood was suddenly lifted and I was immersed in a trance-like calm. Among the press materials I held in my lap was a quote from EdgeBoston, "Sunny Thompson simply IS Marilyn..." This was a complete understatement. I felt as if I were in the very presence of the legendary Ms. Monroe.

Sunny started to sing in a feathery, silky, gorgeous Marilyn voice and it seemed that we were all caught up in the same trance. Sunny/Marilyn was absolutely adorable. I'd read that the play's writer, Greg Thompson (and Sunny's husband) researched and worked on the script for fifteen years. Every word in the play is taken from Marilyn's own quotes, and each of the 17 songs in the play are ones that Marilyn herself has performed in movies or onstage.

For almost two hours, Sunny / Marilyn drifted casually to different parts of the set (from a vanity table, to a record player, to the bed in the center of the stage) as she told stories from her life. She spoke of growing up in orphanages and foster homes in California, as she dreamed of stardom. She told the story of her young marriage to Jimmy Dougherty, then talked about her young adult life, about working hard to make it in Hollywood. She told many stories of sleeping with producers and other influential Hollywood men. She spoke with giddy excitement about her marriage to Joe DiMaggio, and performing for soldiers in Korea. She also spoke with affection and excitement about other icons she'd known and been involved with, such as JFK, Frank Sinatra and others.

Sunny had Marilyn's speech, mannerisms and charm down-pat. She never let any of it drop for a second. It seemed every line was delivered with energy and emotion. It was so enjoyable to watch. The times when she would occasionally break into song were probably the most mesmerizing. Her voice was simply incredible. And who doesn't like to hear "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend"? Another thing she did that had all of us captivated was to walk behind a translucent partition to change into various gorgeous outfits that Marilyn had worn in certain moments in her life, such as a white robe, a striking halter top red gown, and a silky nude colored gown.

Sunny/Marilyn was very witty and funny most of the time. She was so playful, cute and sincere. Even when she talked about the sad times in her life, she never appeared to try to garner pity. She was unapologetic about her sexuality, as she told stories of doing sexual favors for producers, sleeping with her female acting coach, Natasha Lytess, calling up President Kennedy in the late night hours, and of using her effect on men to her full advantage. "Sex is a part of nature," she mused, "and I go along with nature."

Towards the end of the play, we all got a glimpse of Marilyn's sadness. She cries as she talks about her three miscarriages and failed marriage to playwright Aurthur Miller, and of several times she'd "loved and lost". Perhaps what's most sad is how disillusioned she eventually came to feel about the Hollywood she'd spent her young life dreaming of. "Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss, and fifty cents for your soul... they treated me like a machine, a money machine..." were among her memorable quotes. She also spoke about a deep seated loneliness as she said "I knew I belonged to the public and the world, not because I was talented, or even beautiful but because I'd never belonged to anything or anyone else". She longed to be taken seriously as an actress, but felt she could never be seen as "a plaything", or a sexy bombshell.

The whole experience was moving, thought provoking and utterly enjoyable. The play travels around the country with the Marilyn art exhibit (now on display on the second floor of the museum) and really helps bring the art to life. Marilyn: Forever Blonde has won several awards and has received rave reviews in the US and abroad. I have to admit, I didn't really know all that much about Marilyn Monroe before, but by the time the play ended, I felt as if I knew her personally. You just HAVE to check it out. It runs from now until March 7th, Thurs-Sat evenings 8pm, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2pm. Check out MOCA's website to find out more:

http://www.mocajacksonville.org/event/forever-blonde-marilyn-monroe

I have to be a little candid here and admit that I think I've struggled more with writing this piece than anything else I've written so far for "Out and About in Jax". I think the reason is that, like Marilyn -- the play really has an allure that defies description. I can't tell you exactly why it was so powerful and mesmerising, I can just tell you that if you go to see "Marilyn: Forever Blonde" you'll be moved, inspired, and you'll feel you've spent an evening with one of the most fascinating women of the last century.

Platinum Promises Gala to Benefit DOSA Camps

2010-01-31T16:01:00.000-08:00

This weekend, Jim and I went to the Platinum Promises Gala held in the Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. As we headed downtown Saturday night, I was really excited. Of course I love a dinner/dancing/ silent auction fundraiser, but I was also very psyched to see the Stadium -- I'd never been. Even more than that, I was looking forward to checking out the Stadium's "Touchdown Club" which is a posh meeting space in the stadium.

I thought the "Touchdown Club" would be a room. It was actually a six floor building that was part of the stadium! The "Touchdown Club" building took up the middle of the front of the stadium, and the entire front wall was made of floor-to-ceiling glass windows. As we parked and approached the stadium, we marvelled at how awesome it looked lit up at night.

We walked through the glass doors on the first floor and approached the check in desk. After we were checked in and handed 2 drink tickets each, we were directed to the elevators and instructed to head up to the fourth floor. As we entered the elevator, we bumped into a striking couple. The woman wore a disco ball necklace and a one piece black halter top bell-bottom suit. The man wore a bright floral polyester shirt and a peace sign necklace. The theme of the gala was "70s" (in case you haven't already guessed). As we ascended to the fourth floor, the man "strutted" around the elevator, doing a pretty good impression of the Bee Gees. "It's all in the walk," crooned, "I'm stayin' alive!"

"Ugh, this date just went from bad to worse!" the woman groaned as we all walked off the elevator laughing.

The fourth level of the touchdown club was this amazing carpeted room with a huge beautiful square shaped marble topped full service bar in the center. Like all of the floors of the Touchdown Club, the front wall was nothing but windows and offered a gorgeous view of the Jacksonville skyline all lit up at night. The back wall was lined with doors that led out to the stadium seating. Situated along the other walls were various snack bars. A stage and dance floor were set up for the evening with a glittering disco ball overhead. Also set up for the evening were about 20 dinner tables with white tablecloths, and cute disco ball centerpieces. Along the sides of the party area buffet tables were set up with amazing smelling beef, chicken and seafood.

Jim and I were pretty hungry, so we found an empty table, set down our stuff, and headed over to the buffet tables. The goodies set out for us to help ourselves to included grilled salmon, roasted garlic braised chicken, grilled asparagus, mashed potatoes, salad with blue cheese, and a carving table with melt-in-your-mouth prime rib. Jim and I heaped tons of food onto our plates and headed back over to our table to dig in.

While we were eating dinner, I glanced around the room. The crowd was a good mix of older and younger people. Many people appeared to know each other, and I spotted couples as well as singles. Everyone seemed to be really into the theme, and I was quite impressed with the array of outfits I saw. Many men wore Afro wigs, and women wore short tight polyester dresses and white boots.

While we were eating, a really nice lady named Sue Goebertus sat down next to us and started chatting with me. "So," she asked me, "How are you connected to the charity?" I explained all about "Out and About in Jax" and she seemed very interested. Then we talked a little about the DOSA Camps, which was the charity that the gala was raising funds for.

DOSA stands for Diocese of St. Augustine and the camps are a part of the Ministry for Persons With Disabilities in the Diocese (read: district) of St. Augustine. There are three camps included in the DOSA camps: Camp I Am Special, Camp Promise and Camp Care. Each camp is a week long summer camp (Held between May 20-July 23rd) for children and young adults faced with developmental disabilities. Many campers are paired up with a "buddy" which is a high school or college student volunteer. The camps touch so many lives, bringing joy and confidence to the campers and a life changing experience to the volunteers and buddies (some 340 campers and 240 volunteer buddies last year), while also providing some rest for the usual care givers of the campers. To read more about the camps or to apply to be a buddy, a volunteer or a camper, check out http://www.dosacamps.com/

As if to illustrate what we were talking about, as Sue and I chatted, I glanced around at the flat screen TVs that were situated along all the walls in the room. A slide show of campers and their buddies at camp played on the screens. The campers and volunteers just looked so happy. I was touched that so many people had turned out to help support such an awesome cause.

"Have you ever heard of Hands On Jacksonville?" Sue asked me, changing the subject a little. She went on to explain that Hands On Jacksonville is a great organization that pairs up volunteers with projects that need them. ( http://www.handsonjacksonville.com/ ) Once someone registers on the site, they can search for and view hundreds of volunteer opportunities in Northeast Florida, and even sign up for a particular opportunity. People can sign up as individuals and form teams. It sounded very interesting, and since one of my New Year's Resolutions is to get more involved in volunteering, I definitely made a note to get myself registered on the site as soon as possible.

While Sue and I were talking, we were served a yummy blueberry cobbler for dessert with an amazing granola and whipped cream topping. After dessert, Jim and I excused ourselves and headed over to the bar to trade in our drink tickets for a couple of drinks. While we sipped our drinks, we strolled over to the silent auction tables. The silent auction at this particular event was somewhat small, but still had some pretty cool items. One of them was a rosary made in the Church of All Nations which is in the Garden of Gethsemane. The bid for the rosary was already up to $50 and it was still relatively early in the evening.

I also spotted some Gucci sunglasses and the bidding had already gotten up to $260! I saw several facials and massages for bid, as well as a few gift certificates for dinners out. One interesting item was for a one hour in-home massage by Greg Mc Daniel.

After checking out the silent auction, I headed toward the elevator. Jim was confused as he followed. "Where are we going?" he asked me, "Are we leaving already? Did you forget something in the car?"

"No, I said," a little mischief in my eyes, "We're in the Touchdown Club.. we need to have a look around."

"Are we allowed to?" Jim asked nervously.

"Of course we are, I'm a member of the press, right?"

"Not exactly," Jim snorted. First we checked out the second floor, which was also called the Concierge floor. The level housed a snack bar called "Sweet Victory", among other snack bars and gift shops. From the second floor, I headed out one of the doors into the main seating area of the stadium. The night was cool and breezy, and there was something so mesmerizing about the huge stadium glowing in the moonlight. It was a little unsettling just how quiet it was, especially considering how loud the place probably gets on game day. The seats and floors were very clean and everything looked well cared for. I liked the teal color of the seats and walls.

After checking out the main seating area of the stadium, we headed up to the 5th and 6th floors which were basically long hallways filled with doors that led out to sky boxes. Each door had a label like "First Coast News" or "Haskell", or "Defensive Coordinator". "Which one is the defensive coordinator?" I asked Jim, "Is he the one that makes sure all the players' outfits match?" Jim just answered with an exaggerated sigh. So I asked another question. "How rich do you have to be to have one of these sky boxes with your name on it?"

Jim laughed. "Richer than we'll ever be! Are we done with this part yet? I'm afraid we're going to get in trouble."

"We're just looking around," I shot back. "We're not touching anything. I'm sure nobody would mind."

Once we were done checking out the other floors, we headed back to the party on the fourth floor. By then, the Boogie Freaks had taken the stage area and had started to play "Get Down On It". This caused the dance floor to suddenly become packed with excited party guests. The costumes were just the best part of the entire evening. I spotted one gorgeous lady in an amazing rainbow colored polyester suit with large holes cut in the sides so most of her midriff was showing. She wore clear heels that sparkled with flashing lights each time she took a step. Another woman wore a fluorescent pink short dress with knee length white go go boots! She danced with a Rod Steward look-alike with sunglasses and long hair. As if we hadn't seen enough of The King this week, I spotted a guy wearing a bright white Elvis costume adorned with rhinestones.

Okay now lets talk about the music for the evening. Let me just say this: If you are ever invited to, or hear about, an event where the Boogie Freaks are playing, trust me on this: you have to go! The are so much fun! I have some friends who are almost like Boogie Freak groupies, always going to places they play. I went with them once before to Whitey's Fish Camp in Orange Park to hear the Boogie Freaks play and it was fantastic. What's not to love about dancing to songs like "Brick House", "Stayin Alive", and "Boogie Shoes"?

The group consisted of four guys, dressed head to toe in 70s garb: platform shoes, bright polyester shirts, star shaped sunglasses, and Afro wigs. They played hit 70s dance songs , with the occasional pop hit from another decade like Jimmy Buffet's "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Hard to Handle" by the Black Crowes. For some of the songs, they appeared to have their own little choreographed moves they did as they played and sang. It was very enjoyable. They were a fun group, but also obviously talented. In fact, as I watched closely, I noticed that during one of the songs, the drummer was flipping his drumstick in the air between each strike of the drum and still keeping a perfect beat.

When the Boogie Freaks took a rest after about 20 minutes of playing, I took the opportunity to rush up to the lead singer, a nice guy named Keith. He took a picture with me, and I asked him a few questions in rapid fire: "How long have you guys been playing in this band together?"

"Ten years," he answered with a smile.

"Don't you ever get tired of some of the songs?"

"Sometimes, but the gigs are always fun."

"What's the biggest gig you ever played?" I asked him.

"We played the Hula Bowl in Honolulu a few years back," he told me. Wow.

"Do you have a favorite song?"

"What, a favorite song of all time?" he asked looking a little overwhelmed as he tried to come up with an answer.

"Well, what's your favorite songs out of the ones you guys play?"

"Oh, it's gotta be Earth, Wind and Fire's 'September',"

"Omigod I love that song!" I gushed, "Its in my workout play list. Are you going to play that later?"
"Of course," he promised. So I thanked him for his time and skipped away, giddy with excitement that I'd met the lead singer of such an awesome band.

The rest of the evening seemed to just fly by. Jim and I danced, gazed out at the gorgeous view of the city, and ordered a couple more drinks. We just had a fabulous time. Before we knew it, we had to start heading home, and we reluctantly headed back down the elevator and out the front door into the windy cold night. It seemed the temperature had dropped 20 degrees in the last hour and we had to hurry to our car. As we walked out of the main gate of the stadium, we passed by a security guard. "Goodnight," I called over to him, "Try to stay warm!"

There was also a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office vehicle parked right outside the stadium with a police officer sitting inside listening to some blaring country song and watching a music video on his nifty little police laptop. I thought it was cute. "Didn't he get the memo that tonight is all about 70s music? " I asked Jim through chattering teeth as we hurried by. "The 70s was such a fun theme," I mused, "I hope they do the same theme for next year's Platinum Promises Gala, because I definitely plan on being there!"

Best of Jacksonville Party 2010 at MOCA

2010-01-29T07:15:00.000-08:00

Last night Jim, Katie and I headed downtown for the Best of Jacksonville Party, a soiree thrown in late January each year by Jacksonville Magazine, a great publication that features local businesses, events and other topics of interest. The magazine has no doubt been a huge influence for me in the creation of "Out and About in Jax".

Close to four years ago, when I first moved to Jacksonville, I was a Navy nurse working the night shift in Naval Hospital Jacksonville's emergency room. I spent a lot of relatively lonely nights off awake in the late night hours when there was relatively little to do. It was then that I discovered Jacksonville Magazine. I fell in love with it immediately -- the arrival of the magazine was probably the biggest event in my month back then.

I would settle down on the couch, pen in hand and mark all of the interesting events (community and charity events were my favorites) that I would get to go to one day when I had the time and was awake during the daylight hours. My issues of the magazines became well worn and "dog eared"... I read each of them cover to cover. Months later, when I was deployed to Guantanamo Bay, my issues of Jacksonville Magazine came with me. There was relatively little to do on the base during downtime, so I spent a good deal of time reading. It was great to take a little piece of the city I love with me when I was so far from home.

So last January, when my friend Effie mentioned the Best of Jacksonville party, I said I'd love to go. When I had read that the party would be held in the Museum of Contemporary Art and would feature some food and drinks from local restaurants, I had envisioned a quiet evening with a small crowd, munching on a few appetizers as they strolled the museum and gazed at paintings.

The party turned out to be so much more! The museum had been packed with happy, young well dressed party -goers, an awesome DJ blasted music while the museum appeared to be converted into a classy nightclub. Every wall of the spacious museum had been lined with amazing appetizers, drinks and desserts from some of the finest Jacksonville restaurants and bars. There was also a cover model search going on, so gorgeous models were everywhere.

There is so much more to this party than I expected, I remember thinking, I wish there were a place I could go to read all about all of the details of interesting events like these in Jacksonville.

That's when inspiration struck like a lightning bolt. I could write that!

So "Out and About in Jax" was born. To read that very first post all about last year's Best of Jacksonville party, click here:

http://www.outandaboutinjax.com/2009/01/best-of-jacksonville-party-at-moca.html

It goes without saying that I was excited about this year's party, and Katie, Jim and I chatted excitedly as we cruised the streets of downtown looking for parking. Michael Buble's version of "Save the Last Dance for Me" drifted from the radio speakers. "Omigod I love this song!" I cheered as I turned it up. Then I closed my eyes and let Michael Buble's silky voice wash over me as he sang the line "Oh I know the music's fine like sparklin' wine..."

"You got that right," I murmured. If you've never heard this song, download it now. It's gorgeous.

Parking was a little difficult, but we finally found a spot in the lot behind the museum, adjacent to burrito gallery. It was a little cold out, and I wasn't really dressed for the cold. I wore a thin, floor length gray dress and strappy heels, so we walked quickly through the brisk night air.

Getting in and picking up our tickets from the Will Call desk was a snap. Just like last year, the lights were off in the museum and a DJ played some loud fun dance music. The place was packed with a young, attractive well-dressed crowd. Cafe Nola, the museum's restaurant, was set up as a bar and there was a long line there for drinks. Right nearby, some Cafe Nola chefs attended a table where they served up some awesome shrimp and grits. The shrimp was smothered in some sort of cream sauce with onion and bacon bits. In the Cafe Nola area, we met up with our friends, Effie and her husband Eric, as well as Effie's sister Johanna and her husband Donny. We chatted with them for a moment, but the three of us were starving, so Katie and I wasted little time heading toward the stairs.

"The second floor is where most of the food is," we explained to Jim as we dragged him along. Just like last year, the landing between the first and second levels was set up with two photo backdrops. Photographers snapped pictures of model contestants for the magazine's "Cover Model Search" on one side of the landing, and on the other, photographers took pictures of the rest of the party guests. I still have the picture Katie and I took last year prominently displayed in my living room. We all resolved to have our photos taken... after we chowed down.

As we headed up the stairs, I also spotted Joe White, leaning against the railing of the stairs and chatting with a few party guests. "Ohmigod!" I whispered to Katie, "That's the editor of Jacksonville Magazine!" Each issue of the magazine begins with a column written by Mr. White. The columns are usually really fun to read, and are filled with personal stories and insights. I'd been reading the magazine for four years now, so I almost felt as if I knew him.

Katie read the excitement on my face. "You should go introduce yourself to him," she suggested.

"Not right now," I said as we quickly hurried past, "He's busy. Maybe later." The truth was, I was nervous. What would I even say to him? I'm a huge fan of you and your magazine, I've been reading it for years and it's inspired me to create an entire website that has become this amazing part of my life, giving me the chance to attend events and meet people I could only ever dream about before?" I didn't want to come off sounding like a wierdo!

Once we reached the second level, the amazing sights and smells coming from all the tables around us seemed to pull us in so many directions, we weren't even sure where to begin. Every single wall was lined with tables filled with gourmet treats. Wasting no time, I made a beeline for the Blue Bamboo Restaurant table and picked up a serving of thai peanut coleslaw that tasted crispy and sweet. The Twisted Martini table served some sort of citrusy tasting shooters made with Smirnoff Lime. "What's this shot called?" I asked the rep working the table, who was pouring the shots into little plastic cups.

"Um, 'a shot'?" the guy laughed.

I rolled my eyes playfully. "You mean it's not a sloe screw on the beach...."

"With the sea breeze..." Katie teased playing along.

"No." the "bartender" answered.

So we downed the shots (were actually pretty good even though I don't typically like vodka), and moved along. The next table we approached was the River City Brewing Company who served up "salmon-tinis" which were small dishes of chopped smoked salmon and capers served in small plastic martini glasses. The capers gave the salmon just the right amount of "zing" and it just melted in our mouths. I think Jim went back for seconds on those.

Joseph's Pizza had calzones and baked ziti, Deco Bistro served a really good layered dessert (I think it may have been some sort of tiramisu) and also some sauteed shrimp. Shrimp was quite the popular food item tonight -- many of the tables served it in one form or another. Jim loves shrimp so he was in heaven.

I love scallops, so I was thrilled when I saw The Reef Restaurant table serving scallops atop a pita chip drizzled in a yummy southwestern style sauce. "Seafood is quite popular tonight," I mentioned to Katie as I picked up some shrimp sausage from Sliders Seafood Grille and Oyster Bar. Then I noticed small servings of Key Lime Pie (my all-time favorite dessert) at the Sliders table. It was excellent!

Next we picked up servings of huckleberry scones and shrimp and grits from Orsay. By this time I was laden with so many leaflets and menus from the restaurants, plus a couple servings of food from the Orsay table, that I looked around for a place to sit so I could balance everything and eat. Luckily there were some benches nearby. Seated on these benches were a few models -- easy to spot due to their tall thin appearance, and beautiful short dresses. Unlike many of the excited, happy models we'd seen that night, these girls appeared to be scowling. "They look mad," I whispered to Katie as we took a seat on one of the benches, "why do you think that is?"

"Because they're surrounded by fantastic food and can't eat," Katie whispered back, as she shoved a bite of shrimp and grits in her mouth. I elbowed her in the ribs. Then, as I balanced everything on my lap, I dug into my small bowl of shrimp and grits, and accidentally toppled it onto the floor.

"Ugh, we can't take you anywhere nice!" Katie teased as I squatted on the floor in my gown, trying to discreetly wipe up grits with my cocktail napkin.

Once we finished eating what we had amassed from Orsay, we went on to the next table. Mezza Luna Restaurant had what may have been the most amazing dish: braised short ribs with swiss chard (which tasted somewhat like collard greens or sauteed spinach) and black currants topped with chopped apples. It was sublime!

The best dessert award (at least in my book) had to go to Three Layers for their "Jeff's Square", this amazing blond brownie marbled with cheesecake. A few months ago, Effie and I went to a performance of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. Before the performance, though we stopped by Three Layers for a meet and greet with some members of OPUS (the symphony's young professionals group). Three Layers is a really interesting coffee house/bar downtown. So that night, we'd spent most of our time at the bar, chatting with the adorable and friendly bartender. I remember telling him that I was in the mood for dessert but was unsure what to get, so I asked what his favorite dessert was. "Oh, you HAVE to try the Jeff's square he gushed. It's the best dessert we have."

Of course he was right. The dessert is to die for.

An honorable mention goes to Mojos Smokehouse for their barbecue ribs and chicken, and TPC Sawgrass for a melt-in-your-mouth fillet with a ginger wasabi sauce.

Once we were full and had visited pretty much every table, we headed up to the third level of the museum where the newly unveiled "Marilyn Monroe: Life as a Legend" exhibit was displayed. It was really cool. There were many paintings and photographs of the superstar, including many evocative paintings and some of the nude photos taken by photographer Tom Kelly in a New York apartment when Marilyn was just 22 years old. Katie and I decided our favorite was a 1954 photo called "Pleasant Sitting" taken by Milton Greene.

After checking out the Marilyn Monroe exhibit, Katie and I headed back downstairs to find Jim (who'd wandered off to find drinks). Jim, Katie, Effie, Eric and I met up on the landing area on the first floor, and decided to try to get a photo taken. However, by then, the photographers were already finished up and putting away some of their equipment.

Just as we were chatting about everything we'd seen and trying to decide on what to do next, the DJ turned down his music, and a Marilyn look-alike in a dazzling white dress took the microphone and addressed the crowd. She spoke in a high-pitched whispery "Happy Birthday Mr. President" voice, and thanked everyone for coming. She also invited all of us to the "Mad About Marilyn Soiree" on March 13th, a Hollywood style party to be held at the museum. I may have to check that party out and write about it.

When Marilyn finished addressing the crowd, the music was turned back up and I spotted Joe White again out of the corner of my eye. "You should go introduce yourself," Katie urged me again, "C'mon, what's the worst thing that could happen?" So I drew a deep breath and walked over.

Mr. White couldn't have been nicer. I always end up having to laugh at myself when I get so nervous about meeting local celebrities. They always end up being extremely nice and appear delighted to talk to me. I gushed about the magazine and told him about "Out and About in Jax". He listened with interest and engaged me a little, talking about the magazine, and their website and blog. All in all he was very charming. "Thanks for coming to the party," he added when we'd finished talking. "You have to stay for our Elvis band.. it's very entertaining." Elvis band?

Sure enough, when I walked back over to Effie, Eric and Jim, there was a band setting up where the photographers had been and I spotted an Elvis look-alike. I was on such a high from my encounter with Joe White that I grabbed Effie and we walked right up and asked Mr. Presley for a picture. He happily obliged.

Now I was on cloud nine. "What next?!" I asked, ready for anything.

"Well there's this guy I think is cute..." Katie mentioned.

"Let's go meet him! Where is he?" I asked, my eyes scanning the crowd.

"He's wearing a khaki colored jacket, and he's standing in line for drinks," Katie explained.

"You want me to introduce you? Strike up a conversation with him?" I asked.

"I'll handle it," Katie said, rolling her eyes. I'm sure she wishes I would try not to play cupid. She turned and walked back down the steps toward Cafe Nola.

"What are you going to do?" I whispered fiercely as I followed her through the crowd.

Katie shrugged. "I'm going to just walk up and tell him he's adorable."

"What??!"

The girl has guts. She did just that, and struck up a conversation easily. The guy's name was Chris and he was really nice. He introduced us to his friend Tony. Both guys live in St. Augustine and invited us out to a performance Saturday night by an 80s cover band. The conversation flowed easily among the four of us and I have to admit, the attention we were getting from a couple of young attractive guys was nice.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jim walk over and sit at a nearby table a few feet away. Jim is so great. He's a quiet guy, sometimes coming with me to these events, content to let me have my space and walk around meeting people, talking about my blog, gushing about the particular event we're at, soaking up the attention, while he hangs around quietly, sometimes on my arm and sometimes in the background.

The lyrics from "Save the Last Dance for Me" came back to me then, buzzing around in the back of my mind:

You can dance, go and carry on/ 'Till the night is gone/And it's time to go/If he asks if you're all alone/ Can he walk you home, you must tell him no /'Cause don't forget who's taking you home / And in who's arms you're gonna be/ Save the last dance for me...

So I excused myself, and walked over to where Jim was sitting and sat right next to him, reaching out my hand. "Hi, I'm Erica. I noticed you sitting over here and I was wondering if you might be able to give me a ride home tonight." Jim raised an eyebrow and we both cracked up laughing.

Somewhere in the background, Elvis roared "You ain't nothin but a hound dog" to the screams of some excited women in the crowd.

I'd had a fantastic time, and was reluctant to leave. When the three of us headed home, we had so much to talk about... the amazing food, the music, the people there (including Katie's new found friend Chris who'd gotten her number) and the editor of my favorite magazine. What an awesome night it had been!

I'm already re-inspired. This is going to be a fabulous second year for "Out and About in Jax". I can't wait to see what else is in store for 2010...

I'll be at the Platinum Promises Gala This Saturday

2010-01-24T11:49:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be a bit busy this week.

As you may know, I'm going to the Best of Jacksonville Party at MOCA on Thursday the 28th at 6pm. It's going to be a fantastic party, and I hope all of you can join me for it.

I also wanted to let you know that I will be attending the Platinum Promises Gala at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium on Saturday at 6:30pm.

It should be an awesome time. The theme is 70s -- always a really fun theme, and the Boogie Freaks are playing! I've seen them several times and they are so much fun. (When you get to dance to favorites like "Brick House", and "Stayin' Alive", what's not to love?)

Probably the best thing about the evening is the charity. Proceeds benefit great summer camps for children with disabilities. To learn more, check out www.dosacamps.com I sure hope all of you can make it out to both of these awesome events... it should be a very interesting time. And if you can't make it to one or both of the events, check back here to read all about it...

Happy New Year!

2010-01-10T15:40:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010! A big thank you out there to all readers of "Out and About in Jax" for making 2009 such a fun year! There's lots coming up in 2010. First and foremost, the site has a new address http://www.outandaboutinjax.com/ ! Next, the Best of Jacksonville Party is coming up January 28th. That's the party that started it all. I went last year and was so inspired by how fun and interesting it was that I decided to write all about things to do in Jacksonville. To check out the piece about that night, click here:
http://www.outandaboutinjax.com/2009/01/best-of-jacksonville-party-at-moca.html

Check out the piece and better yet, join me at the party! To purchase tickets, click here:
http://www.jacksonvillemag.com/site_articles.php?sitearticle_id=30

If you are new to "Out and About in Jax," you're in for a treat. It's a site all about events and things to do in the Jacksonville area. There is a weekly listing of interesting charity and community events, as well as a great list of local event websites and other resources. My favorite is a list of "Jacksonville Freebies" --great things to do for free.

There are postings of all kinds of awesome events and places from last year, like the Spring for the Arts Gala in March, meeting Chuck Wicks and Justin Moore at an awesome concert at the Landing (also in March), Dessert Under the Stars on Valentine's Day at the Musem of Science and History, Catholic Charities' Black and White Ball, and The Celebrity Cabaret in November. Check out the archives for great ideas of places to check out this year and put "getting out more and seeing all that Jacksonville has to offer" at the top of your "To Do List".

Another great idea for your "to do" list might be to get the word out about your venue or event. Consider advertising on the site or sponsoring my attendance to an event. It's more affordabe than you think, and "Out and About in Jax" recieves about 1500 page views a month and is posted on several local news websites and Moms' club websites. It has even been mentioned in the Florida Times Union! Email me at outandaboutinjax@gmail.com if you are interested.

Stay tuned, and I hope to see you all Out and About in the beautiful River City. It's going to be a fabulous year!

Ollie Koala's Backyard in Mandarin

2010-01-05T16:23:00.000-08:00

Earlier today Christian and I went to Ollie Koala's Backyard -- an indoor play place with arcade games, a crawl maze, and a few simple rides. (http://www.olliekoalas.com/ ) It is very similar to Chuck E Cheese. Ollie Koala's is located in a shopping plaza on the corner of San Jose Blvd and Loretto Rd a few miles South of I-295. Parking and getting in was easy. The place wasn't crowded at all. If you get the chance to visit on a weekday -- that's of course much less crowded than trying it on the weekends.

The place is typically only open on the afternoons and evenings when school is in session, but has longer hours when school is out (like today). So we walked in at about 10:30 in the morning. The staff member that greeted us when we walked in was really friendly and gave us each a simple matching stamp on each of our wrists that only showed up under their black light. Chuck E Cheese has the same security measure. As we left later that afternoon, the stamps were checked under the black light to be sure they matched. Getting in was free.

Christian and I headed in and had a look around. The place is pretty spacious, and the decor has a fun beachy Australian theme with surfboards, "kangaroo crossing" signs, and grass hut roofs over some of the tables and eating areas. There are several party rooms for kids' birthday parties. The games are all brightly lit and interesting. They are 35 cents each and are paid for by using a rechargeable card instead of tokens. There are the typical car driving arcade games, ski ball, "whack a mole" and the like. There are only a few simple rides, and they are only geared toward preschoolers -- simple planes and cars that rock back and forth. Along the back wall was a snack bar with a a relatively large menu. Unlike Chuck E Cheese, there's no stage show, but I never remember actually watching that show much as a kid.

Christian and I headed to the center of the Ollie Koala's to their large "playground" which is an intricate obstacle course with climbing passages and slides. I met up with some other members of Moms Club of Jacksonville -- Orange Park/Westside. Or "Moms Club" for short. It is a division of the international MOMS club which stands for "Moms Offering Moms Support. I've been in the club now for almost two years and I really like it. We have a monthly calendar full of play dates, potlucks and trips out to various local places like Chuck E Cheese's, The Orange Park Mall play place, Mommy and Me at Cecil Rec Center and some local parks and playgrounds. Check out our website: momsclubjopw.webs.com

So I chatted with a few of the other moms while Christian ran around the place, grabbing the steering wheels of the car arcade games, and climbing into some of the rocking "rides". The good thing was that at 2 years old, Christian doesn't have the attention span for the games, he just wants to run by, hitting the buttons and turning the steering wheels. He doesn't like the riding games when they actually move, either.. it usually freaks him out. So I really didn't have to pay for any of the games, and he played intently for several hours. For the kids who were actually playing the games, they also spit out tickets to trade in for prizes.

After a few hours of playing, we got hungry and headed back to the snack bar to order some lunch. The menu was pretty extensive, including of course pizza, but also salads, wraps, and several types of sandwiches. They have the typical sodas and fruit juices, but also beer! (there's a sign though limiting only 2 per customer). I got some pizza for Christian and I to share, a diet coke for me and a beer for Christian.

Just trying to make sure you're paying attention. Christian actually got some apple juice.

The pizza was excellent. The cheese was thick and gooey and there was some sort of amazing garlic butter on the crust. After eating lunch, we played for a few more minutes before deciding to leave.

We had a great time. I'd recommend the place to anyone with kids. We'll be sure to come back soon. Anything that can entertain Christian for several hours while also helping him to get out all of his endless energy is alright in my book....

The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra- Handel's Messiah

2009-12-20T06:52:00.000-08:00

This weekend Jim surprised me with an early Christmas present -- tickets to the symphony. I went to the symphony a few weeks ago with Effie and raved about it and I think Jim has been wanting to go ever since. Aside from his parents taking him once when he was in high school, he had never been. Katie graciously offered to watch Christian, and at around 7pm we headed downtown for the 8pm performance.

We found some $5 parking right near the Times Union Center (which is usually very easy to do, even on a Saturday night). Tonight it was frigid out, and I silently cursed myself for insisting on wearing a black dress. It was a long black dress, and I wore a long sleeved sweater and a jacket over it, but I probably should have worn pants. Thankfully the walk to the T-U Center was short and once we were inside the building I felt fine. The temperature was comfortably warm.

Presenting our tickets and getting in was no problem, but getting seated was a bit of a nightmare. The first usher that took our tickets confidently told us to "head up the stairs and to the right". We did that, and then waited in line with a herd of people outside a door to the symphony hall until we arrived at another usher who dismissively told us to head "down the stairs and to the right". After heading back down the stairs and waiting another few minutes in line and reaching another usher, we were instructed to "go across to the other side". By then we were getting pretty frustrated.

I have to say this about the symphony that evening... the crowd was a little tense. It was odd. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get to their seats, and to add to that general tension, an overhead announcer welcomed everyone to the symphony and informed us all that if we did not make it into the hall in five minutes for the beginning of the concert, we would not be allowed in until intermission! "You mean to tell me that you could pay upwards of 30 bucks a pop for seats to the symphony and if you are a few minutes late, you don't get in?" I asked Jim.

Jim shrugged. We finally made it to our seats after having to push past a row of people who were already seated. They were none too pleased with us. "Hi!" I chirped as we wriggled past, "so sorry! Enjoy the show! Merry Christmas!" Nobody seemed very charmed... weird. We sat down and settled in for the performance.

The musicians were already seated onstage, but it was different than when I'd been with Effie. A few weeks ago, Effie and I had gone to see Beethoven's Eroica. It was only the second time I'd ever been to the symphony, and I had a SPECTACULAR time. The Jacoby Symphony Hall, located inside the TU center is built especially for the Jacksonville symphony. The acoustics inside are fantastic, and the hall itself is gorgeous and has a huge concert organ that takes up the entire back wall. When Effie and I went a few weeks ago, there was this awesome guest pianist that played for like twenty straight minutes without sheet music! His hands were moving so fast over the keys at some point that you could barely see them. The night was so awesome, especially because during intermission that night, Effie's boss, who is a member of the Conductors Club (a group of generous donors to the symphony) took us into this lovely party room where members of the club were having appetizers and drinks and mingling with the musicians! So I walked up and grabbed the hand of the guest pianist and shook it and gushed over what a good job he did (while simultaneously stuffing free appetizers in my mouth...) I'm sure he was quite impressed with me.

Anywhoo, the night I went with Effie, the atmosphere seemed light and happy. We were a few minutes late to the symphony that night, but they were able to seat us during a break in the music about ten minutes into the show. Now for some reason tonight they were telling guests that late seating was impossible, and everyone was so tense... it was just a totally different vibe.

But as I said, the stage looked different this time than last... the whole symphony wasn't onstage.. just the string instruments like violins and cellos. Seated behind them was about 150 singers in black robes. Soon the lights were dimmed, and a violinist walked out and played a single note.. . ( I think it was a "C" if I remember middle school band practice accurately) and all of the musicians played the same note, tuning their instruments. Then, after a moment of silence, the conductor, Michael Butterman walked out onto the stage with four singers to the applause of the crowd.

Soon, the musicians started to play and one of the singers stood up to sing. Handel's Messiah is an oratorio which is a musical concert piece for an orchestra, a choir and some soloists. It's 106 minutes long, and the singers are singing Bible verses in Elizabethan English (like "comfort ye my people saith your God...") The music was beautiful, and there was something very mesmerizing about the striking vocal talent of the choir and soloists. They were all able to hit several notes up and down the register one right after the other in split seconds. It was breathtaking to hear.

Jim leaned over and whispered in my ear, "what are they singing? Is it English?"

"It's Bible verses," I replied.

"What are they saying? It sounds like "We like sheep." Jim asked me. I laughed and flipped through my program, finding the particular verse we were on.

"They're saying "All we like sheep have gone astray," I whispered.

"I thought this was going to be a medley of popular Christmas music!" he whined.

"No, that's Holiday Pops!" I chuckled.

I let my mind wander during the performance, immersing myself in the music. Somehow, I was easily able to sit incredibly still (which for me is usually pretty difficult)... it was a lot like meditation. From time to time I read my program, even though it was pretty dark. A nice usher sitting nearby wearing a festive Holiday sweater vest and a jingle bell necklace (which she had to cover with her hand when she moved to keep it from ringing) offered me her flashlight to use to read my program. I politely declined... I think the patrons sitting near me might have quietly dragged me out into the hallway to murder me... Just kidding. Sort of.

A word of advice if you decide to go to the symphony. Every fifteen or twenty minutes, the musicians will finish a piece of music (called a movement I think). Then there will be a minute or so of silence as they prepare the next piece. DON'T CLAP. The last time, when I went with Effie to the symphony, I kept feeling so bad for the musicians when they would finish a piece of music, and be met by silence. So I would start wildly clapping. Poor guys, I was thinking, they did a good job! Sometimes a smattering of applause would join me. Finally, after I did this three or four times, Effie gently lay a hand on my knee and explained. "We don't clap until the very end."

Oh.

So, after about an hour of the concert, we were let out for about a 10-15 minute intermission. during that time, we each ordered a drink from the bar (I had an awesome glass of Chardonnay--I've been dying to get the brand name ever since). We also took a picture in front of a huge Christmas tree. The entire TU Center was decorated for Christmas and it was really pretty. I looked around at the spectacular view of the river, the lovely well decorated TU Center, and the dressy orchestra patrons. The people watching alone was worth the trip downtown.

Then the booming overhead voice announced that we needed to be back into our seats in five minutes or we would miss the rest of the performance. From there it seemed that every person in the crowd was scattering like startled deer. I thought the whole thing was a little too uptight.

Still, we all managed to get back into our seats, and the rest of the performance was really interesting and fun to watch. I immediately recognized the famed "Hallelujah chorus" in the middle of the second part of the show. You would too if you heard it... it's that famous

"AAAAhh-le -LOOO- yah!... AAAAhh-le-LOO-yah! Alleluyah,Alleluyah, Ah-leeee-lu-yah!" So for some reason, the entire hall stood up during this chorus! Jim and I stood too, bewildered. Reminded me a lot of Catholic Masses I attended growing up. I looked it up later on the internet and it turns out that the first time King George II heard this chorus played, he rose to his feet, so the rest of the audience did too, so it has been a tradition ever since.

Finally, the performance was over, and the audience gave the entire orchestra and the singers a standing ovation. The conductor then walked off the stage with a flourish. Then after a few seconds, he walked back on, and indicated the singers for applause, then the orchestra. It was really sweet. Everyone clapped and cheered for several minutes. This happened the last time when I visited the symphony with Effie too. I think the conductor walked on and off the stage three or four times!

As Jim and I headed back out into the brisk night air, we gushed excitedly about how much we had enjoyed ourselves. The musicians and singers were just so talented. When is it in today's world that you can really hear gorgeous centuries-old music being played in it's purest form (no digital altering, no editing). Also, there's just something about going to the symphony that's so... classy. I felt fabulous in the concert hall in my black dress, being escorted by a man in a suit for a night at the symphony. We'll have to do it again really soon.

Opening of III Forks Restaurant in Southside

2009-12-02T06:42:00.001-08:00

Last night I went to a reception honoring the opening of III Forks (pronounced "three forks" http://www.iiiforks.com/ ) Jacksonville's newest fine dining establishment. Three Forks is a prime steakhouse that started in Dallas, Texas and soon branched out to two other locations in Texas and two in Florida. The Jacksonville location is III Fork's newest restaurant location. I had an awesome time! The food was absolutely incredible and the actual restaurant... I've never seen anything like it. You HAVE to go try it for yourself soon... trust me you won't be disappointed.

Before you go, one thing I should mention is that you might not find it on your navigation system. Last night, as my husband, Jim and I (who as a couple are directionally challenged and rely waaay to much on navigation) got lost and had to call the restaurant for directions. Mapquest recognizes the address, though so just mapquest the restaurant before you go and you'll be fine. III Forks is located in Tapestry Park which is near the intersection of Southside Blvd and Gate Parkway. You turn onto Gate Parkway from Southside and then make a right onto Deer Lake Drive. You'll see the restaurant about a quarter mile down on the left.

Jim and I were a little late, so we parked and hurried up to the main entrance of the restaurant. This restaurant really defies description... but of course I'll try. There's an outdoor patio area with beautiful fountains, plasma TVs, and plush cozy chairs and tables. The most impressive and eye catching feature of the outdoor area had to be this huge smooth concrete table with a fire in the center! Yes, a fire. The fire was dancing on top of glittering black rocks and encased in glass. This patio area was filled with people, lounging, talking laughing, sipping wine and sampling plates of appetizers.

I tore my eyes away from the mesmerizing patio area and looked around Tapestry Park a little. Tapestry Park looks really new and it's beautiful. It has kind of a medieval look about it (cobblestone streets, little towers, stone archways) -- reminds me of Palencia. Located in Tapestry Park are a few restaurants, retail stores, a hair salon, condos and a hotel. http://www.tapestryparkcondos.com/

Right in front of the restaurant is a valet service. Also at the front of the restaurant were two representatives from Jacksonville Magazine taking pictures of guests in front of their trademark backdrop. I love Jacksonville Magazine, (it's a magazine all about events in Jacksonville) it's like my bible. I read it cover to cover every month. I strolled right up to the backdrop for a picture (and a chance to gush about how much I love the magazine) before finally heading into the restaurant.

The inside of the restaurant was even more unique and impressive than the outside. I spotted glass enclosed fires (similar to the one I saw on the patio) in several spots in the dining room. Situated right in the center of III Forks was a huge glass enclosed wine cellar that housed thousands of wine bottles (all perfectly positioned with their labels facing out). Right behind the wine cellar was a private glass enclosed room with a table for 6-8 people.

From the hostess station, I was led over to the bar area where the reception was being held. The bar is huge, and wraps all along the back of the spacious bar area. Situated along the other walls of the bar area were tables of hors d' oeuvres, desserts and wine. The aroma was heavenly and I couldn't wait to dig in. The bar was packed with reception guests, but I managed to pick up a lovely glass of chardonnay pretty quickly. I then headed over to the line for the food while I sipped my wine.

As we waited in line, we were greeted by servers handing out hors d' oeuvres from silver platters. Every time one passed me, I was sure to sample what they were serving, it was all so good! Among the goodies I sampled were toasted french bread topped with small strips of tender fillet mignon seasoned with creole mustard, ahi tuna with some kind of Asian wasabi sauce, and slices of toasted french bread topped with chunks of creamy mozzarella and fresh tomato drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. The service was awesome! Servers dressed in all black with gold name tags greeted me every few minutes to offer me an appetizer, or bring me another glass of wine. Everyone was so nice!

In between sips of wine and big bites of appetizers, I managed to meet a really nice guy named Ryan, a graphic designer for Renaissance Creative. Renaissance Creative handled the Public Relations for the evening. http://www.renaissancecreative.com/ Ryan took me and Jim's picture and then chatted with us for a few minutes. I told him about "Out and About in Jax", and he asked me about some of the upcoming events going on in Jacksonville. "I'm 22 and new in town. What is there to do around here?" he asked. This is a question that might take me hours to answer, but instead of answering, I changed the subject drastically and put him on the spot. (A glass or two of chardonnay does that to me.)

"Ohmigod, you're 22 and new in town? So is my sister, Katie!"

"Here we go," Jim mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up, Jim. Anyways, Katie is 22 and new to Jacksonville. She's always looking for people her age to hang out with. Are you single?"

"Erica!" Jim groaned.

But Ryan was really nice, he didn't seem offended at all. He answered my questions and let me give him a business card with my contact info.

"You're always trying to play matchmaker!" Jim teased. But I ignored him, because we had finally made it to the food tables and I was already grabbing goodies and loading up my plate. The line seemed to be flowing in the wrong direction because the first table we approached was a dessert table. I didn't mind at all and I grabbed a hard chocolate shell filled with chocolate mousse, an ADORABLE tiny saucer of creme brulee, and some sort of white pastry with a whipped topping.

Right around the time I was grabbing desserts, I heard the tinkling of forks on glasses, followed by silence. Then from somewhere in the room, I heard the general manager of the restaurant, Curtis Osmond addressing the crowd. He thanked us all for coming and talked a little about the restaurant. He also mentioned a charity promotion going on December 1st-3rd. Net proceeds from the sales of any gift cards bought will go to the Sulzbacher Center for the homeless. I thought that was really awesome. What a great way to give a unique Christmas gift while also giving to a great cause!

I tried really hard to pay attention to what Mr. Osmond was saying, but I'd passed the dessert table and was now dangerously close to a table of gourmet seafood. My attention was dragged away from the speech by the biggest, most mouthwatering looking pan seared scallops I'd ever seen. I broke the silence around me by gawking and exclaiming "OHMIGOD those scallops are HUGE!" Jim shushed me, and the sweet gentleman serving them chuckled and quietly asked if I'd like one. He put one on my plate and gingerly topped it with lemon beurre blanc sauce. Next I approached a gorgeous ice sculpture adorned with the III Forks logo sitting in the middle of a huge dish of giant shrimp. I helped myself to a couple of shrimp and then was served a large crab cake topped with creole mustard that smelled divine. Next it was onto the carving table where we were served strips of rare rib eye and fillet mignon. By this time my plate was full and looked so amazing, I practically sprinted out to the patio area so I could eat.

We found seats at the lovely table with the glass enclosed fire in the center. The cool night air, coupled with the lovely surroundings, and the sounds of party goers chatting and jazz music softly playing in the background created an amazing atmosphere. I'm sure at this point it goes without saying, but the food was incredible! The steak was tender and flavorful, and the crab cake melted in my mouth. I've never had scallops so perfect. Even the creme brulee was perfect, and if you've ever attempted to make creme brulee, you know how challenging that is.

As I ate, I wrote notes in my little black notebook I typically bring to events. "If you're a food critic, you HAVE to try the crab cakes," said a tipsy woman with short hair seated next to me at the bar. "I loathe crab cakes," she told me, "But after having the crab cakes here, it made me want to run in there and knock over every person in that line to get another one." I started laughing... the mental image of her plowing through the dressy party guests like a linebacker and grabbing crab cakes was hilarious. But after having a bite or two of the tender flavorful crab cake, I completely understood.

"Oh, I'm not really a food critic," I corrected her between mouthfuls, "I just write about events." But she had decided I was a food critic, and she gave me a detailed review of every appetizer passed to her by a server. She would tell me things like, "I like the ahi tuna. The spicy sauce pairs nice with the cool tuna and has a nice flavor," and "the french bread has a great crunch to it, and goes really great with the tender steak." She cracked me up. The minute I finished polishing off everything on my plate, a server seemed to appear out of nowhere to take my plate and offer to get me another glass of chardonnay. I was just so impressed by how attentive the servers were.

With a fresh glass of chardonnay in my hand, and my appetite completely satisfied, I decided it was time to mingle. I managed to get a few minutes to talk to Curtis Osmond, the general manager of the restaurant. He impressed me so much. Even though he must have been incredibly busy, he treated me like I was the only guest at the restaurant. He appeared genuinely happy to meet me and even complimented me on my smile (I think I was blushing, and I don't usually blush.) He seemed so relaxed, and if I were hosting a huge party and trying to make sure to serve perfect food to hundreds of guests, I might be stressed, but he seemed perfectly at ease. And he should have -- everything was going along so smoothly. The guests were pleased, the food was perfect and plentiful, and the service was impeccable.

He told me a little about the restaurant. The dishes they serve are obviously mostly steaks and seafood and range in price from $13-$37, not too pricey. "We really want this to be a place for all occasions," Curtis told me, "From date night, to a dinner with friends, to a place for a business dinner." He even explained that for special occasions, they have three private rooms. The "wine room" I spotted behind the wine cellar seats 6, there's a room behind the bar that seats 8 called the "poker room", and then a separate private dining room that seats 30 called the "captains room". If guests want to book any of these private rooms or host any other events at III Forks, they just call the restaurant and speak to the special events coordinator, Kelly McGwin.

Curtis also told me he has over 20 years of experience in the restaurant business. He started at the III Forks in Dallas. He helped open the location in Austin and ran that restaurant for 3 years before moving to Jacksonville to start this location. "Why Jacksonville?" I asked him.

"Well, we didn't really choose Jacksonville, Jacksonville chose us!" he laughed. Then he explained that business professionals from Jacksonville who do a lot of travel and who'd dined at some of the other III Forks locations started calling and asking for a location in Jacksonville. "We came out here, fell in love with the city and really fell in love with Tapestry Park," he told me

I complimented him on the great idea to have a fundraiser for the Sulzbacher Center and asked him what gave him that idea. "We like to develop deep roots in the community and finding a good local charity to help out is a great way to do that. I really like the Sulzbacher Center, they do amazing work."

After we chatted for a few minutes, Curtis introduced me to Executive Chef Joe Everett. Chef Everett must have been very busy but he took a few minutes to talk to me and was very personable and charming. "Our goal at III Forks is to have the best available food simply prepared. The other guys can try to beat us but they won't," he laughed. He also explained, "III Forks is an all prime steakhouse. That means that every single cut of beef in the restaurant is USDA Prime, which is the best beef in the US. Less than 2% of the beef in the US qualifies as US Prime. Many steakhouses offer some prime beef, but ALL our beef is prime. Very few steakhouses in the US can say that."

"What's your favorite dish in the restaurant?" I asked him.

"Bone-in rib eye," he told me passionately without a second of hesitation,"Rib eye is a great cut of beef. It has the fat marbled in it, and as we Americans know, the flavor is in the fat." Chef Everett has worked in prime steakhouses in Chicago, St. Louis and Orlando, honing his skills, which helps explain why the food was so perfect that night.

After I let Chef Everett head back to the kitchen, I took a moment to talk to the representatives from the Sulzbacher Center. They had a table set up with info about the center. As Northeast Florida’s only provider of comprehensive services for homeless men, women and children, they are so much more than a homeless shelter. They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and serve nutritious meals and offer safe shelter. In addition they team up paid staff, volunteers and students to provide outstanding health care in their clinic offering medical, dental and optometry care. Their job placement assistance and life skills programs equip men and women for employment and for success. Check out the center's website and consider donating or volunteering! http://www.sulzbachercenter.org/

Soon it was time to leave, and I finally did that, reluctantly. I couldn't believe what an amazing night it was. I can't wait to go back to III forks for a date night or a dinner out with friends.

Opening of III Forks Restaurant in Southside

2009-11-30T09:31:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow night I will be attending a reception celebrating the opening of III Forks Restaurant in Tapestry Park in Southside. III Forks is an award-winning prime steakhouse with several locations worldwide, but only 2 other locations in Florida. I will have a piece about the evening posted here by sometime on Wednesday so check back here then to read all about the restaurant.

One cool thing III Forks is doing right now is donating all net proceeds from gift cards purchased December 1st-3rd to the Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless. It's a great way to give to a loved one and a great charity at the same time!

I will get some time tomorrow to talk to both the general manager and the executive chef, so if you have any questions you'd like me to ask, shoot me an email at outandaboutinjax@gmail.com or put a comment on this post.

I'll have the answers to all your questions as well as the details about the restaurant posted soon....

8th Annual Cirque Du Cabaret to Benefit the Limelight Theatre

2009-11-20T09:16:00.000-08:00

Last night Katie and I headed to St. Augustine to attend the Limelight Theatre's 8th Annual Celebrity Cabaret Fundraiser. The night was absolutely incredible. I can't wait to tell you all about it!

I'd never been to the Limelight Theatre before, but I'm a big fan of theater and couldn't wait to check it out. The building itself is a little hidden, tucked back under some Mossy Oak trees on Old Mission Avenue off of US 1. I had learned through a little Internet research that the Limelight Theatre was founded in 1992, but used to put on productions at various locations all around St. Augustine. The theater didn't get a permanent home until 2001 when it purchased the 2 story building on Old Mission Ave. The building has undergone extensive renovations and now houses a main stage and black box theatre. The Limelight Theatre has put on over 100 shows and is now respected as one of North Florida's top cultural organizations.

We parked at a Ramada across the street and walked right up to the theater. The building was an impressive two story light yellow stucco building that looked gorgeous lit up against the night sky. Outside the theater was a large party tent set up where the pre-show cocktail party was going on.

After Katie and I picked up our tickets at the Will Call window, we headed into the cocktail party. On the way into the party, we passed several young performers dressed in interesting costumes. One guy looked like a minstrel, complete with puffy shiny pantaloons and an over sized frilly white shirt. "We're getting a picture with him later," I muttered to Katie, "But first, some drinks!" If you are going to attend a charity event, this is the way to go.. open bar and dinner before a fantastic live show, open bar and dessert at intermission and open bar cocktail party after the show.

So we headed up to the bartenders, four charming, handsome older men in tuxedos. After one of them handed me a glass of white wine, I struck up a conversation. "So, this doesn't really look like your day job? Are you guys bartenders, or local celebrities?"

"Both!" he chuckled. He indicated one of the tuxedo clad gentleman. "That's Ray Matuza. The stage is named after him. That other guy over there is a retired senior pilot and administrative vice president of Delta." I whipped out my little black notebook and started taking notes furiously. "And who are you?" I asked the bartender I was talking to.

He laughed. "I'm Bill Kopf. A retired IBM-er. And ship captain of the good ship Excalibur. Who are you?"

"I'm a blogger. Do you know what a blog is?" I asked him.

"We IBM-ers usually do!" he laughed. I took a swallow of wine and reminded myself not to ask that anymore. Almost everyone nowadays knows what a blog is. I excused myself and moved on to the food.

Dinner was pasta salad, shrimp pene pasta and chicken paella served buffet style. Katie and I had some trouble juggling our drinks and plates of food as we looked around for a place to eat. Situated throughout the tent were small tables for guests to stand at and eat, but all of the tables were occupied. So Katie and I crashed a table where a couple was already standing. The couple was nice enough and didn't seem to mind. We introduced ourselves briefly and then dug into our food. The food was absolutely incredible. "Who catered the food?!" I asked with my mouth full.

The gentleman of the couple, a guy with a beard sporting a Loony Tunes tie answered me. "A different restaurant every night caters the food. They are all from the St. Augustine Independent Restaurant Association." The SAiRA (pronounced "sara") is a group of 16 independently owned and operated St. Augustine restaurants. Check out their website at http://www.staugustinerestaurants.com/

Looney Tunes tie guy (I didn't catch his name) then asked me a question. "What charity is this fundraiser raising money for?"

"The Limelight Theatre itself is a charity," I replied. "You donated money to come to a charity fundraiser and didn't even know what charity it was?" I teased.

"Hey, the tickets are still tax-deductible, right?" he answered, laughing.

Just then a gorgeous blond girl walking on stilts (yes, stilts) and wearing a sexy ringmaster costume complete with fishnet stockings strode into the tent. She had to duck in several places to keep herself from hitting the top of the tent. She was so beautiful and her costume was so eye catching, that she immediately stole the attention of everyone in the room. She was also incredibly graceful on those stilts. "Ohmigod," I gushed to Katie, "How is she doing that? How is she so comfortable on those stilts? I can't hardly walk straight in these damn heels!"

"Her costume is so incredible," Katie said, her voice full of awe, "Those fishnet stockings are awesome."

"She's got a whip in her hand, too" the Looney Tunes tie guy added.

"Of course the guy noticed that," I mumbled rolling my eyes. "C'mon Katie, let's go talk to her."

The girl on stilts' name was Juliana Tucker and she was extremely nice. She explained that she does the stilt walking for Universal in Orlando on the weekends and during special events. Juliana's mom had some connections at the theatre and asked Juliana to come in to do this for the show.

"Will you be performing in the show?" I asked her. "No," she replied, I'm just doing this to help out entertaining the guests before the show. Juliana also introduced me to Erika Sheppard, her roommate at UCF, who was also wearing an adorable costume and walking on stilts.

After chatting with the girls for a few minutes, it was time to go into the the theater and take our seats for the show. Katie and I got great seats, near the front and got comfortable. "What is a Cabaret anyway?" Katie asked me. "Cabaret is a sort of variety entertainment, usually including pieces of theater, song and dance. It began in France around the turn of the 19th Century." I told her, "Elaborate costumes and stunning showgirls are the hallmarks of Cabaret."

While we waited for the show to begin, I surveyed the audience of about 100 people. Katie and I were among only a small handful of younger people. Most of the guests were more seasoned individuals and everyone was dressed up. It was a classy joyful crowd though. Most people had brought drinks into the theatre and you could tell they expected a good time. I couldn't wait for the show to start.

Finally, the lights were lowered and the St Augustine State Attorney, R.J. Larizza came out to give a welcome and introduction. He thanked everyone for coming and encouraged the audience to be supportive of the local celebrities and business leaders who would be performing. Then the first number came out. It was four gentlemen, dressed up in vaudeville looking pin-striped suits and top hats singing "Showbiz Medley" (you know that "There's no Business Like Show Business" song). They weren't singing, though, they were lip-synching, which is what all the performers did for the evening. It was really entertaining.

After the first number finished, the emcees of the evening, local attourneys George McClure and Patrick Canan came out. They introduced themselves and got the audience excited. They thanked all who made the event possible like the Limelight Theatre's Board of Directors and the Advisory Board, as well as all the sponsors, volunteers and performers. They came out between each act and their witty banter helped keep the evening flowing. They would also give a little info before each number about the performers and sponsors of the routine. Before announcing the second routine of the evening, they decided to draw out a random ticket for a door prize. The prize was a commemorative Celebrity Cabaret 2009 t-shirt. "The lucky winner is... D-13!" George McClure announced. I looked around me for the winner.

"That's you!" one of the ushers yelled to Katie. So Katie got to go onstage to collect the adorable purple t-shirt.

"This night just keeps getting better and better!" she announced when she got back into her seat.

All of the routines were very entertaining and ranged from the silly to the serious. It reminded me of watching a dance recital, except that the performers were lip-synching. One of the most entertaining numbers in Act One was when four women came out to perform to "She's Got You" by Patsy Cline. If you've never heard the song, it's a mournful song about how the girl singing has little mementos from the man she loves, but the "other woman" has him. So there are lines like "I've got your picture... she's got you" and "I've got your records... she's got you". During each part of the song, the ladies would reach into the bosom area of their dress and pull out items, such as a picture, then records, then.. . feather boas, then thong underwear... which were tossed out into the audience. By the end of the song, the audience was roaring with laughter. On the very last soulful "She's got you" line of the song, the girls held up their forefingers and thumbs only a couple of inches apart during the word "you"! It was HILARIOUS.

Another number I absolutely loved was a routine to "All That Jazz" from Chicago choreographed by local dance teacher Victoria Lane. The dancers wore lingerie and leather shorts and danced with chairs... it was sexy and well choreographed. Another great routine was a graceful and beautiful ballet routine by Lynnette Wadsworth to "Send in the Clowns" from "A Little Night Music".

Right before the last dance number in Act One, the emcees came out and explained that the dance number would be performed by the Junior Service League, a local women's organization that promotes volunteerism and charity. "Look," George McClure said in a hushed tone, "These women are really sweet, they want to send all of you thank you notes for coming out this evening. They are very sweet, shy young ladies and I want you all to cheer for them and make them feel welcome." He basically set things up so that the audience was expecting shy little girls to come out for a timid routine. Then Britney Spears' "Circus" starts blasting overhead and five women burst out onto the stage in lingerie and boots to do an incredibly awesome sexy routine. It was fantastic!

When they were finished, the audience sat in stunned silence and George McClure quipped, "Wow, that sure isn't the women's league I remember..."

Now it was time for intermission, and Katie and I helped ourselves to some awesome multi-layered chocolate desserts and soft chewy peanut butter cookies from Marsh Country Club that were set out on tables in the lobby. We also picked up a couple more drinks and headed back outside to the party tent.

It was out in the party tent that we met Rhett Davis, an incredibly nice, charming member of the Limelight Board of Directors.

"How did you get involved with the Limelight Theatre?" I asked him.

"I work for A.D. Davis construction company who did the theater renovations," he explained.

"You did a great job, the theater looks great!" I gushed. "So tell me a little about the Celebrity Cabaret Fundraiser. How much money do you usually raise, and what is that money then used for?"

"The Celebrity Cabaret is by far our biggest fundraiser each year. We typically raise around $60,000 which goes toward Limelight shows and children's programs. Our Kidz fACTory programs are a great way for kids to be introduced to acting and stage performing. For example, we just finished a kids workshop called "Poe Poe Poe" where we put on short plays of some of Edgar Allen Poe's famous works. "

"How long does it take to plan the Celebrity Cabaret Fundraiser?" I asked him.

"We really get started in the summer, and the fundraiser is put on each year in the fall. The Executive Director of the theatre, Beth Lambert choreographed most of the pieces. She's awesome. Most of the acts you see in the show have been rehearsing for about six weeks."

Just then, a gentleman in a tux walked up and asked if he could take a picture of Rhett, Katie and I. Then Rhett turned to me and asked, "Would you like to get a picture with the entire cast?"

Would I??!

So Rhett swiftly guided a giddy Katie and I backstage. The backstage area was bursting with excitement and nervous energy. Various dancers and performers in amazing costumes were talking, stretching and preparing for Act 2. It reminded me of some musical shows I'd been in when I was in High School. I used to be really involved with Theater. Being backstage last night made me realize how much I missed it. I need to get back into Musical Theater somehow.

Rhett somehow managed to arrange all of us for a great picture which I have posted at the top of this piece. It was so cool! After getting the picture, we headed back out toward the main lobby. On our way out of the backstage area, we ran smack into a guy dressed head to toe in drag! He had the blond wig, the super short sparkly dress, and bright pink heels. The three of us were a little nervous as we tried to wish him luck in the second act and scoot by.

"Hey!" he loudly scolded Rhett, "My eyes are up here!" as he dramatically gestured towards his face. Rhett managed an awkward nervous apology as Katie and I stumbled out of the backstage area roaring with laughter. Then we found our seats back in the theater and anxiously waited for what promised to be a great second act. Soon the emcees came back out and announced another drawing for another door prize. This time, it was two tickets to see "My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish, and I'm Still in Therapy" at the Moran Theater in February. Katie won again! I couldn't believe what an awesome night this truly was turning out to be, and I couldn't wait for the second act to start.

Act 2 was every bit as good as Act 1 if not better. The men dressed in drag were out in full force in the second act. They did a hilarious dance to "Let Me Entertain You," by Ann Margaret, and then their wives came out dressed in black outfits to dance to the same song sung by Eddie Fisher. Two awesome local dancers, Jessica Alexander and Jennifer Dournaux did a very cool dance to "Take Me or Leave Me" from Rent.

But whoever put on this show absolutely saved the very best for last. The last act was three guys dressed in the now famous black leotards, pantyhose and heels from Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video. They did an AMAZING dance to "Single Ladies" that BROUGHT DOWN THE HOUSE. I'm serious. This act alone was worth the price of admission. I think if you are going to walk out in front of an audience in a black leotard and heels and dance to "Single Ladies" you have to commit and that's EXACTLY what they did. One of the guys even selected some poor old guy in the front row to grind on. The three guys were perfectly in sync and some of the choreography they were doing actually looked kind of difficult. There wasn't a dry eye in the audience and we were all screaming and cheering throughout the entire song. It was incredible!

As Katie and I left the theater we were on cloud nine. The night exceeded my wildest expectations. If you are like me and love charity fundraisers, this is one you just can't miss. There is a show tonight and Saturday night. Believe me, you HAVE to go! If you can't make it to the fundraiser, plan on going to an upcoming Limelight Theatre Show. They are doing "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" December 18th-Jan 17th. I definitely plan on catching that show. Maybe I'll see you there.

Either way, definitely plan on attending Celebrity Cabaret 2010. Katie and I have decided we're going to be in that show. Not sure what song we'll dance to yet. If you have any suggestions, shoot me an email. I'm leaning towards something by Britney Spears or Beyonce....

Limelight Theatre Presents Celebrity Cabaret 2009

2009-11-19T12:40:00.000-08:00

Tonight I will be attending a performance of "The 8th Annual Celebrity Cabaret 2009", a charity fundraiser for The Limelight Theatre in St. Augustine. I'm really excited, apparently the event includes a pre and post show cocktail party with open bar and hors d' oeuvres provided by SAiRA (The St. Augustine Independent Restaurant Association). The performance will be several local celebrities lip synching and dancing to circus themed tunes. Performances are tonight, and Friday and Saturday night at 8pm (with the cocktail party starting at 7pm). So join me out there tonight! If you can't make it tonight, check back here tomorrow for a detailed review of the evening, and plan to attend one of the performances! For tickets to the Limelight Theatre’s Cirque du Cabaret, visit http://www.limelighttheatre.org/ or call (904) 825-1164.

Premiere of Chiaroscuro Baby at the Florida Theatre

2009-11-05T05:15:00.000-08:00

Last night my friend Effie and I got all dressed up and headed out to the Florida Theatre for the world premiere of a movie made in Jacksonville called Chiaroscuro Baby (Pronounced Char-o skyar-o). http://www.chiaroscurobaby.com/

All I knew about the film was that it was supposed to be completely filmed in Jacksonville, and that it was in black and white. The website suggested that the movie had a 60s theme to it, but I didn't know if it would be set in the 60s. The movie was supposed to be about a Jacksonville artist who gets caught up in sex, drugs, and other trouble in his quest to find himself.

I wasn't as concerned with the film as I was with the party: who would be there, what people would be wearing, and (lets be honest) the free drinks.

"Ohmigod," I breathed as we walked toward the theater. There was a red carpet outside, with a velvet rope and limos arriving every few seconds.

"I feel like we're in New York or Hollywood!" Effie laughed. As we walked up and joined the crowd, I noticed that almost all of the guys were in tuxedos, and all the girls were wearing gowns. "Now which of these glamorous people are actors and actresses from the movie?" Effie asked me.

"I have no idea," I shrugged, but guessing was sure fun. "Howabout that guy in the white tux with the cane?" I laughed. "Or that girl in that awesome red dress?" That's when I realized I forgot my camera. I was so mad at myself. There were so many great things I could have snapped pictures of... the marquis, the roaming spotlights, the red carpet, the limos, the tuxedos and gowns... While we stood outside the theater in the crowd, a limo arrived and a tall thin guy with curly brown hair got out. The crowd burst into cheers and flashes from multiple cameras went off. "My money is on that guy being in the movie," I said, feeling a little jealous.

"Hey, how come nobody's snapping my picture? Doesn't anyone know I'm a very important blogger?" I whined. So I grabbed the arm of a guy nearby and asked him to get a picture of Effie and I, using my cell phone camera.

Now that we'd had our picture taken on the red carpet, it was time to head in to the theater. After picking up our tickets at the will call window, we entered the party. The theater was ornate and gorgeous as always, but the dressy crowd made it look even more glamorous. There was a cash bar at the entrance, and another one upstairs, but the only free drinks were at a table in the middle of the lobby. The line was considerable. But Effie and I chatted and did some people watching while we waited in line. The award for the most unique getup, I mean ensemble, went to a tall lanky brunette wearing a blue gown with a bright pink pillbox hat with bright pink tulle spraying out from the hat in several directions.

When we finally got to the head of the line, I chose a chardonnay named "Running With Scissors" and Effie got a glass of red wine (I didn't catch the name). What's with the weird names for wines lately? It's a bottle of alcohol, not a horse in the Kentucky Derby!

We drank and chatted, and as I neared the end of the glass of wine, I suddenly realized I hadn't had dinner, and I could really feel the wine. I was feeling pretty good. We'd both finished our glasses of wine and were having a great time. A live jazz band was situated on the top floor overlooking the lobby, and beautiful music and happy voices filled the air. There was still some time until the movie was supposed to start, so Effie and I decided to get in line for another glass of wine. The problem was that the lobby was so crowded, it was hard to see where the line began and ended. Effie tried to organize the line a little "I used to work in a movie theater," she explained, but that proved difficult.

"Let's just go pay for drinks at the cash bar," I suggested. But neither of us had brought cash. An usher informed us that we could use a check card to get cash at the will call window. So we headed there. It was at the will call window that I spotted the director of the movie, Anthony Killburn. I'd met him before at a screening of the movie in San Marco a few weeks ago. (In case you've read that post titled "Afternoon in San Marco," Anthony was the "beret guy"). Even though he was wearing a tux tonight, he still sported a beret. He looked great. I introduced him to Effie. He seemed pretty nervous (I would be too), but he was really nice to us. After he moved on, Effie ran into some people she knew. Effie is pretty active in the Jacksonville art and theater scene and she spotted a few people from the Museum of Contemporary Art where she volunteers as a docent.

After picking up some cash, we headed back inside and bumped into a pair of guys who were also feeling the effects of some free wine and a fun atmosphere. "Are you two in the movie?" one of them asked. They each carried two glasses of wine. "Are we "double fisting it tonight, gentlemen?" I teased.

"Sure!" one of them laughed, "Did you see that line? It's long." Actually, it was a smart strategy. I told him I wished I'd thought of that. "Here, you want one?" he asked, offering me one of his glasses of red wine. I politely refused and Effie and I moved on.

"Those guys were drunk," Effie laughed. "Yeah, but the attention was nice," I responded. We headed upstairs to the cash bar and picked up a couple of drinks. Then we found a nice couch to sit on and comment on the guests strolling by. With a couple of drinks in us, we were our own little Melissa and Joan Rivers. We gawked at a heavyset woman who walked by in a sheer "dress" that really was more like a long shirt. And she was wearing bright red heels.

"There's no place like home. There's no place like home" I whispered in Effie's ear as she playfully smacked me. By the time it was time to head into the theater seating area, I was pretty much tipsy. So was the rest of the crowd. Always the rule-conscious one, Effie was wondering if we were allowed to bring our drinks into the theater. Everyone else seemed to be doing it, so we followed suit. Effie and I got great seats in the balcony right up front.

When the director walked out onstage to say a few words, you could hardly hear him over the cheering and hooting from the lively crowd. He thanked the cast and crew, making special mention of the "extras" in the film. "I wanna be an extra!" I whined aloud to Effie. I decided right then and there that I would do whatever I could to be an extra in Anthony's next film.

Soon the movie started, and Effie and I were laughing because the crowd was so "lively" that during the opening credits people would burst into cheers for no apparent reason. So just for fun, I'd scream when it got quiet, and pretty soon the entire theater was cheering along at nothing in particular.

I have to say, the movie was fun to watch. It was in black and white, but I don't think it was supposed to be set in the 60's because I noticed that several of the characters using cell phones. It was really cool seeing parts of Jacksonville in the movie. The Avondale area, Five Points, and the Museum of Contemporary Art were some of the spots we recognized. Effie and I started to realize as we looked around that several actors from the film were seated all around us. Effie even caught one of them mouthing his lines along with his onscreen counterpart. One of the main characters in the film was a girl that Effie knew from MOCA. That girl was sitting right across from us. And she was naked onscreen about ten minutes into the movie. "That might be awkward the next time you bump into her," I teased. I can't imagine what that must be like for an actress, to be naked in front of so many people.

Overall, the movie was enjoyable to watch, and it was fun pointing out the different spots in Jacksonville that we recognized, but the sound quality wasn't good. So it was hard to follow the plot, because we could only understand some of what the characters were saying. But we had a great night. It was my first movie premiere, and I loved it. I'll DEFINITELY be at the next premiere for a movie made in Jacksonville, especially since I'll be an extra. If anybody is out there reading this that happens to be involved in the local film industry -- I mean it, email me.

After the movie, Effie and I headed out to The Grotto, a great little wine and tapas bar in San Marco. My sister Katie joined us and together the three of us polished off three appetizers, two desserts and a bottle of wine. It was the most fun I've had in a long while.

Upcoming Trivia Night to Benefit Catholic Charities Junior Board

2009-10-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

Come on out next Wednesday, November 4th to Mudville Grille for a super fun charity/networking/ fundraiser event. The trivia starts at 6:30 pm at the Mudville Grille (3105 Beach Blvd), and it only costs $2 to play. Proceeds will benefit Catholic Charities Junior Board. The Junior Board is a group of young professionals dedicated to becoming leaders in Jacksonville and raising funds and awareness for Catholic Charities' programs. Now is a great time to get involved in the Junior Board. Check out our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31255497209

Anyone can come to the trivia night and play, whether or not they wish to join the Junior Board. So grab some friends and come on out to have fun, meet some great people and support a wonderful cause. If you have any questions, shoot me an email at outandaboutinjax@gmail.com and/or call Katie Santilli at 904-354-4846 ext 227.

Conner's A-maize-ing Acres

2009-10-25T10:27:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, my family and I headed out to Hilliard for the Opening Day of Conner's A-maize-ing Acres, which is a farm with lots of attractions mostly for kids. They have a cornfield maze, a petting zoo, a small "train" to ride, haystacks to climb, little foot pedaled go-carts to ride, a playground, and so much more. We had a fantastic time, and my 2 year old son loved it!

To get there, we headed west on I-10 to 301, then north on 301, west on 90, and north on state road 121. The drive took less than an hour and was really nice. We got to see a lot of adorable country homes and farms along the way.

Parking once we got there was a little difficult. There was a dirt lot on the farm for parking, but the aisles for cars to travel down were really small, and there were no clear markings showing us where to park. We found a spot though and headed over to the main entrance. It was pretty crowded -- I'd say there were several hundred people, but today was the opening day for the season. I'm not sure how many people visit on a regular day. The crowd mostly consisted of parents and grandparents with young children.

You can find out more info about the park at http://www.connerscornfieldmaze.com/ . Admission prices are around $7-10 depending on your age. (Kids under 2 are free). There are discounts for military, firemen, policemen and big groups. The season runs Oct 23rd-Nov 21st. It's open to schools and other special groups by advance reservation Tues-Friday 10am-2pm. On Saturdays, from 10am-9pm it's open to the public.

We checked in at the admission ticket booth, paid and were given wristbands, and then we were free to wander the farm. There was a covered picnic area with tables in the center of the park. Also in the picnic area was a big ring filled with corn husks and corn kernels that kids were playing in like a sandbox. To the left of the picnic area were booths selling various foods like barbecue, hamburgers, hot dogs and sodas, as well as homemade ice cream. Also there was a huge playground for kids, as well as a track for kids to race some "go carts" powered by foot pedals. To the right of the picnic area was a huge cornfield maze to run around in, as well as a pumpkin patch and veggie garden. We saw a giant haystack that kids were climbing on, as well as an adorable "train" made out of a tractor pulling about 10 "cars' made of barrels on wheels. This seemed to be a favorite among the kids. Beyond the train was a petting zoo.

We headed to the petting zoo first. Christian LOVED this part! We saw baby goats and their mother, a cow, many chickens, piglets, and a donkey. There were also several different other kinds of birds besides chickens. For 25 cents, you could buy a small container of feed to give to the animals. Christian giggled and laughed petting the various adorable animals. It was so great to see them so close up. My favorite animals HAD to be the baby goats! They were so energetic, running, jumping and sparring with each other.

After visiting the animals, we waited in line for a chance for Christian to ride the train. While we waited, Christian climbed and played on a large haystack. There were lots of kids climbing up and jumping off this large mountain made of bundles of hay. Soon it was time to ride the train, so Christian got in with Katie. The ride took only about five minutes, and wound all around the right side of the park. The kids all seemed to love it.

After the train ride, we were all getting pretty hungry so we headed over to the other side of the park for lunch. There were two main trailers serving food. It wasn't well marked, but there were two lines in front of the trailers. When facing the trailers, the right line was for ordering and the left line for pickup. (We got caught accidentally getting in the wrong line until someone corrected us). There were all kinds of different things being served like hamburgers, hot dogs, homemade mac and cheese, barbecue pork sandwiches, chips and sodas. We all got pulled pork sandwiches and chips. I ordered Christian some mac and cheese. The food was very good, and we ate it in the covered picnic area. After lunch, we treated ourselves to homemade ice cream (made right in front of you in churns!) They had a variety of flavors, like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and peach. I had the vanilla. It was awesome!

After lunch, we each took turns playing with Christian in the large gated playground, which had small stationary tractors, as well as playground equipment. Christian loved the playground! One other thing to mention about the park -- the only restrooms they had were the portable restrooms, but they were actually relatively clean and well stocked.

We hated to leave, put it was getting late, and we needed to go. We really didn't have time to do the cornfield maze -- we plan to do it next time. I think it takes a little time to do, and probably is more for older kids anyway. Overall, we all had a great time and we definitely plan to go back. It was an easy and fun way to have a great afternoon with kids.

80s Themed Birthday Party at Skate Station

2009-10-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

This Monday I went to a birthday party at Skate Station in Mandarin. I got lost trying to find the place (this is a prerequisite for me when attending any event), so I was a little late. A friend of mine from Catholic Charities Junior Board named Liz was having an 80s themed skate party for her birthday. It was a really great idea. Even better, she was having a "party with a purpose" -- she asked guests to bring donation items for Catholic Charities' refugee resettlement program instead of gifts-- I thought that was really cool. (check out the Junior Board on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31255497209 )

Skate Station was actually not hard to find (I just have a horrible sense of direction). It's in Mandarin, right off of San Jose. Once I'd finally made it there, I parked and headed in to the party. The place was pretty empty, which makes sense -- it was a Monday night after all. There were about 20 or 30 of us there celebrating Liz's birthday and we had the place to ourselves. There's a "party zone" in the back of the place just for occasions like this, and there were tables set up covered with desserts and drinks, as well as a table for our donated items. I'd made up two baskets full of sponges and cleaning supplies to donate and adorned them with pretty bows. I was proud of myself. I felt really good about putting that gift together. I'll have to remember to do a "party with a purpose" for my next birthday.

After dropping off the gift, I wandered over to the desserts and helped myself to these AMAZING cookie "sandwiches" filled with whipped cream from Publix. I also found Liz, dressed head to toe in an 80s getup, complete with "crimped" hair, a shirt with the neck cut out so it was falling off her shoulder, and a jean skirt with colored tights. She looked great! I gave her a hug and met up with a couple others from the Junior Board.

Next I headed over to the rental booth to pick up a couple of skates and soon I headed out to the rink. I was a little wobbly on the skates right at first, but within a couple of minutes, I was gliding effortlessly around the rink. (It's all in the "criss-cross" motion you need to do with your feet on the turns.) I was overwhelmed with memories. It felt as if I was sailing right back into my childhood. "We Got the Beat"by the GO-GOs was playing overhead, and I started to remember everything about the many times I'd been to the skating rink growing up. Birthday parties were held there, school trips, even many of my high school dates were (no kidding) in skating rinks. My first kiss was in a skating rink. His name was Adam Lutz (he ws adorable) and we were high school Freshmen. We'd finished skating and my mom was waiting outside to pick me up. We were saying "goodbye" in the snack bar of the skating rink and somehow after the hug we managed a little kiss. It was innocent and awkward... it was perfect. I remember running out of the rink blushing, bursting with excitement and knowing I'd somehow changed in that brief moment.

There were lots of other things that I started to remember about the skating rinks I'd been in growing up. There was a referee that would skate around whistling at people if they tried to skate in the wrong direction, or show off too much. He even wore a referee-like uniform. There was a DJ too, and you could go up and request songs. I was always requesting something by Michael Jackson.

All the coolest kids had speed skates, right? Remember speed skates? I'd never tried them but I'd wanted to growing up. The kids I envied the most were really good on their skates and could weave around others in the cowd, and actually dance a little or manage to turn or skate backwards. One time I can remember being absolutely blown away watching a group of three or four guys skating together in a single file line doing some sort of choreographed dance on their skates.

Another memory I had from my days at the skating rink growing up was that whenever I attended a birthday party at a skating rink, we all ended up out in the middle of the rink doing the "hokey pokey" on skates. The most memorable thing had to be, (say it with me) Couples Skate. The lights would dim, the disco ball came out, some Mariah song would be on, and I'd sit there and pray for a guy to ask me to skate. Once or twice a guy did ask me to skate, and it always felt so magical, even if it was much more difficult than slow dancing and required less physical contact.

I had such a good time at Skate Station that I really didn't want it to end. When Christian gets a little bit older, I'm definitely bringing him there. They have lots of little arcade games (they even have skee ball!). They also have a fun little kids climb and play zone called "Wally's Playgrond". Looking at their website, www.skatestationfunworks.com/mandarin they have a lot of interesting events, like something called "Disgusting Skate" Fri Oct 23rd. "Be as gross as you want, prizes for the grosest games ever." They also have a "Halloween Carnival Night" on Halloween with carnival games and a costume contest.

So I'll definitely be back. I'd forgotten how much I loved the skating rink. In fact, I think I have some pretty good ideas for my next birthday...

Cars and Coffee River City Marketplace

2009-10-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, the fam and I went to "Cars and Coffee" (jacksonville.carsandcoffee.info) at River City Marketplace. Every month, on the second Saturday of the month, car enthusiasts from the Jacksonville area meet to look at and talk about their cars. I'm not sure I would classify my husband as a "car enthusiast". I don't know if that's an extreme enough term. You might call him a "car enthusiast" if you could call someone a "heroin enthusiast." The man eats, sleeps and breathes cars. He's a walking car encyclopedia.

But I digress.

So we headed to River City Marketplace Saturday morning, and the weather was nice. It was a little hot out, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I'd never been to River City Marketplace, but I really liked it. I'll have to go back on a shopping day with some girlfriends. Lots of great stores -- it reminded me of St. Johns Town Center.

We parked Jim's Honda Accord (otherwise known as "the other woman"), and got out to have a look around. Okay, before I tell you about the car meet, I might as well admit up front that my knowledge of cars is "limited". And when I say "limited" I mean "non-existent". At the meet, when Jim pointed to a car and said "Do you know what kind of car that is?" I would answer "yes, that's a blue car." Also, I would frequently embarrass him with comments like "oooh! Is that Lightning McQueen's Girlfriend car?" Then Jim would have to roll his eyes and mumble, "It's called a Porsche, honey." To which I would reply, "Ohmigod, look at that other car over there....it looks like Doc Hudson!"

Still, walking around looking at the nice cars was really fun. Jim was truly in his element, looking at the cars and telling me facts about them. Katie's questions about the various cars however mostly consisted of "when's lunch?"

The coolest car there that day had to be a tiny little sports car called a 427 Mustang Shelby Cobra. It's owner was sitting in a captain's chair just answering questions, and soaking up the rays and the "wow, awesome car" comments. "Is it a replica?" Jim asked the guy, "Oh yeah," the guy laughed. The original would be well over six figures to buy, Jim explained. We also a Honda NSX, a rare car made in the 90s that cost well over 90 thousand back then. We saw a black Lamborghini that a bunch of guys were taking pictures of, and Lotus Exige (ex-eej) which looked like a race car. Instead of seat belts, it had five point harnesses. Although it looked like it was made only for a race track, Jim explained that it was "street legal" which means you can drive it on the roads.

Katie and I were very outnumbered gender-wise. Most of the people there were single men, or fathers and their kids. Christian seemed to have a good time, although he really wanted to get out of his stroller and touch the cars. He wanted to climb into the driver's seat and press all the buttons, which wasn't really going on much around us. It warmed my heart though, to picture Christian and Jim doing lots of father/son activities like this as Christian gets older.

All in all, it was a fun afternoon. After looking at cars, we went shopping for Halloween stuff in the shopping center, and then went on to have lunch at Chilis. We'll definitely be back to do this again. In the meantime, I'll brush up on my car knowledge. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to put the Pixar's "Cars" DVD on again....