Mod Weekend

I will openly admit that I am completely obsessed with everything mid-century. So when I found out that this weekend there was an event going on called Mod Weekend to spotlight the reconstruction and revitalization of the historic hotels on Fort Lauderdale’s Breakers Ave, I just about fainted! I have been longing to attend a party with an early 60s theme ever since I saw the first season of Mad Men. To my delight, the opening party for the weekend event was called “Mod Men” and costumes were optional absolutely necessary. I channeled my inner Megan Draper from her infamous Zu Bisou Bisou scene and danced the night away.

The hotels that they chose to renovate were absolutely stunning and I admire the fact that stayed true to the mid-century style while also keeping it modern.  At the Mod Men party there was three pop-up galleries from local artists, one of which blew me away with her artwork. I’m kicking myself now for not getting a picture of her work, but I also feel like it would have been hard to capture. She cut thick card-stock into three dimensional designs of buildings and mounted them on black backgrounds. Her designs her so incredibly intricate and most of them were local buildings that are a part of history in Fort Lauderdale. I was so in awe of the whole party that I couldn’t wait to come back to see the event during the day.

On Sunday I decided to go check out what Breakers Ave had to offer, and at first I was taken aback that there was almost no one there. I though it was probably because of St. Patty’s Day, and that may be true, but as far as vendors and activities go, I was a little underwhelmed by the quantity. The quality, however, was outstanding! There were tons of old cars along the sides of the streets, mid-century vintage collectors and retailers, and a food truck. Of course the usual favorite, Cadence, a local landscape design firm had a beautiful pop-up garden with a vegan sorbet stand and on the other side was a vegan hot dog stand! It is always a pleasure to see Brew Urban Cafe at these events too; I was able to get my coffee fix that worked just enough to get me down to the vegan sorbet stand! I had one scoop of mimosa flavor and one scoop of coconut vanilla, and then decided to stroll around to see the architecture. As a local, I find that you often take these little areas for granted, specially considering I never really venture east of the intercoastal.

It was a beautiful weekend and I hope that Tropic Magazine will put on more events like this in the future! I feel like events like this that highlight why Fort Lauderdale is so unique are so important to the culture of the city.

So I want to know, are there parts of your city or hometown that have historical significance or a unique attribute that you feel is often overlooked?

 

March Madness

I feel like March is always one of those months, much like July or December where there is always so many things to with barely enough time to do it! Just for my own sanity, I decided to research where the phrase “March Madness” originates from. Could it possibly be from enduring a long, cold winter that causes one to go mad in the beginning of spring? Well, sort of. The term actually stems from a phrase ”As mad as a March Hare” in reference to the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. In England, it is well known that during March the wild rabbits do indeed go mad and get frisky after winter has passed. So there is your etymology lesson for the day, now on to some of the madness that ensued this weekend. 

Saturday, my best friend Rhiannon and I decided to cause some mayhem and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at the South Florida Renaissance Festival. Though I didn’t wear green (I’m not Irish–or a leprechaun), drink green beer (That amount of food dye disgusts me), or kiss anyone Irish (How unfortunate!); I did listen to bag-pipers and see a lot of men in kilts!  I discovered a delicious new drink: The Snakebite, which is a cider/beer mixture and surprisingly too easy to drink! I had such a great time that I found myself wondering why I haven’t been to the RenFest for over 10 years. Between face-in-hole photo ops, throwing axes, and expert fashion advice, I couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate St. Patty’s Day! 

I was lucky enough to find a vendor selling crystals, as I have been looking for an amethyst necklace forever. Not only was he selling cut amethyst pendants, but he also had raw amethyst crystal pendants….which I probably got a little too excited about (I blame all the snakebites!). I ended up buying one of each and scoring a pretty good deal on them both. I will be showing off the uncut amethyst necklace in my next post about the other event from this weekend, so stay posted!

Girls just want to…

Have fun and play dress up, amongst many other things.

Ever since I was a little girl I have always been obsessed with putting on my mother’s makeup and jewelry. I remember one time when I was about five years old, my mother let me put on make up and she helped me into her wedding gown and told me to pose like a princess. That was the earliest I remember our mommy-daughter photo shoots. Unlike the obsessive pageant moms, my mother never forced me into being her little muse, but I often volunteered. It became such a huge part of my personality, and I have recently realized that doing hair, makeup, and taking pictures is an excellent bonding experience for all parties involved.

My younger brother’s girlfriend, Melissa, recently asked me to be in a fashion show that she was a part of. It was such a wonderful experience that I wanted a way to repay her, so I thought nothing could be better than spending all of Friday getting dolled up and snapping pictures of each other! We didn’t get to spend a lot of time together during the fashion show, so I was really excited to spend some quality time with her. I did hair and makeup for us both, except for Melissa’s second look where she painted a fierce black mask across her face. Doesn’t she look like a beautiful warrior princess?

Nothing brings two girls closer together that oohing and ahhing over the gorgeous pictures we captured and laughing hysterically at the ones where our eyes were half shut. However, those pictures are for our (half-shut) eyes only! Here are some of the “ooh”, “aahh”, and “OMG” pictures from the shoot. Enjoy!

Welcome to my little world…

This year has started off in a whirlwind of excitement and activities for me. Sometimes it is hard for me to even believe that two months have already gone by! In order to keep my sanity that I may already be losing, I decided it would be best for me to keep track of my life through this wonderful blog, or, at least I hope it will be a wonderful blog!

I guess I’ll start with the most magical moment of the year so far…

I was lucky enough to work with an amazing team two weeks ago. Kris of Starry Night Photography asked me to model for the Spring collection of Sea of Bees Jewelry. I didn’t know much else about the shoot, besides that I would be wearing an amazing icicle crown and I’d be working with another model. Well, it turned out that the other model was a no-show so I was lucky enough to get to model the whole line! I sat down as ValerieVixen applied my makeup, and I was beyond stunned when I looked in the mirror. She had transformed my blank-slate of a face into a fierce she-wolf.  We trekked off to a local park for some stunning outdoor shots, and then at sunset headed back to the studio to create a more dramatic look.

As a girl who has never worn false eyelashes in her life (I have to thank Dad for my long lashes!) I was beyond thrilled when ValerieVixen pulled out these four inch long lashes that she had made herself!  I’m pretty sure, I squealed with excitement when I saw them. Immediately following the shoot, I was rushed to get to C&I Studios for the album release party of my fellow coworker, Corey Bost. Since I was so rushed, I had forgotten that I was wearing those fancy eyelashes! However, I was immediately reminded when everyone was staring at me like I had some kind of strange disease. I have to admit that the eyelashes did not last through the night, but it was definitely fun to see people’s reactions. I thought it was hilarious that people wanted to touch them and some proceeded to ask for a butterfly kiss.

By the end of the shoot, I was completely obsessed with Sea of Bees Jewelry, and I know I will be purchasing many of her unique items in the future. I urge everyone to check out her line and support her small (but quickly growing!) business. Her stuff is absolutely gorgeous and completely unlike any kind of jewelry I have seen before. Stephanie Smith is the brains and artist behind the whole line and she sculpted the most awesome crown inspired by Game of Thrones! I was definitely excited to be a part of House Baratheon for the day!