A few weeks ago, when we were out at the MAM, I spotted a strange series of statues. We circled around the block, and stopped to inspect it. What was it?



A broken bowl of fruit! I love it. I ran through the pieces of peel while a homeless person looked on like I was nuts. Understandably so...

General Atrocity

I really really really hate when people try to be clever with the way they spell their business names. I do. It's not cute, it just makes you look ignorant.

Needless to say, when I saw this, I was thoroughly disgusted:

No. Just no.

I will never go to your bakery, South Beach business. Simply because you spelled Tasty with an unnecessary "Y" and an "EE."

Where I come from, thats "Trashy," or as you would spell it, "traysheeeee"

Welcome to the greatest show on Earth!

Well, I take that back, the best show I have seen has probably been B.B. King but I digress.

So you may ask yourself, "What does a sarcastic nerdy girl in her late 20s do on a Saturday night?" Well, last Saturday, I went with my girls to the circus. Yup. The circus. We got there late, but the story is the same age-old story, the ringmaster is challenged by the head clown and the whole thing is them one-upping each other.

All I have to say is whoever choreographed the show and designed the costumes is awesome. It was pretty much 80s punk influenced, with a splash of glitter and glam. Loved it!
And I am a cat person, so this thrilled me:


Also, I love acrobats and contortionists:

I wish my camera was better because these guys were all amazing.


I also really liked the elephants. I want one because they are super cute. But I suspect my cat wouldn't appreciate that.

And of course the show came together at the end with all the performers (except for the tigers, obviously)


But one of the coolest things? This:


I couldn't believe they got all 7 in that little cage!

The circus is so much different than when I was a kid, at least it seems like it. But it's a really interesting experience to watch it as an adult. The way they bring your eyes to one part of the stage while setting up the other is really clever. I definitely recommend going.

It strikes me as funny that it is not unusual to see peacocks around Coconut Grove, South Miami and parts of the Gables. They are so representative of most people in this city, preening and flaunting all they have.

Needless to say, when we were in the grove, we found a bunch:



It was pretty cool. I haven't seen any peacocks for a few months now. I sat for awhile, my camera trained on them, trying to grab a good shot of the whole group, but the trees were in the way. Finally, these two broke away and ran down the wall. I don't think they appreciated the paparazzi about them, though they were staring directly at me the whole time.

This was one of those "only in Miami" moments for me, I guess.

Art about town

This past week has been crazy for me, and as a result I really have neglected my blogging. But I have several pictures from various escapades around town that I wanted to post.

These are pictures from the last Wynwood Art Walk. For the most part, the galleries we went into were unimpressive compared to last month, because people went over the top for Basel. But I did find some interesting wall murals which I liked:



This is a wall I have posted before, but the artists have changed up the pictures.



As for galleries, here are a few things that I took pictures of. There weren't a whole lot of new displays, unfortunately:


and then from far away:







This display reminds me of one of the displays from Objects of Value from MAM, I think that's where the inspiration came from, since this is relatively new and Objects of Value is not...

Cutest thing ever!

Yesterday I was at the German place on Lincoln Road and saw a woman walking 7 or 8 miniature greyhounds. Not only were the greyhounds adorable but they were all wearing black Obama sweaters. A photo is coming shortly :)

My tea says "a relaxed mind is a creative mind"

One of the things I like best about my relationship with El Hombre is that he appreciates art and museums as much as I do. The last few weeks have been stressful, and so last Saturday we took the afternoon and went downtown to the Miami Art Museum and the South Florida Historical Museum. It was nice to be able to wander through both, though they are so different.

I love MAM. I do. I think it's fantastic. The exhibits are good, but I also loved being able to silently wander throughout the space, pass by a piece, then turn and look at it from another angle, without the hustle and bustle you get in the Wynwood galleries. I like being able to pause and look at what is being presented without being bumped into, hustled through.

There are currently three exhibitions at MAM. My favorite was probably A Flying Machine for Every Man, Woman and Child. If you are following the flow of the museum, this is the first one you wander through, and it has four headless mannequins, dressed in vintage garb on bicycles with propellers. I don't quite know what it is that drew me back to this exhibit, but I loved it. I wish I had been able to take pictures. The mannequins were obviously a family, father, mother, daughter and son. It embraced our obsession with flying, and with technology.

The next exhibit, and my second favorite, was Objects of Value. My roommate, the ragin cajun, has told me about this exhibit before, and I always thought it sounded interesting, though it could come off as really interesting. It's a bold statement on how humanity is obsessed with assigning everything a unit of value, even cubic space. One of the pieces struck me because I think an artist at Wynwood took inspiration from it. The piece is a neatly piled "rug" of crystals, with a real diamond in the midst.

The final exhibit is on the second floor of MAM. It's Moving Through Space and Time. The collection is a series of documentaries, and admittedly, it's hard for me to watch these things because when I am in "museum mode" I like to walk around and come back to each piece. But the presentation of the documentaries is interesting. Most of them take place in countries that have been rife with unrest, whether it's Eastern Europe, Mexican border towns or the Middle East. You would walk through rooms with TVs playing the same documentary, but in different parts. That was interesting because it messed with my perspective (in terms of vision.)

I loved the museum, I will definitely go back again, as their exhibits will be changing soon. And also, the gift shop is super super awesome. Which I appreciate.

I would definitely recommend making a day of the Miami-Dade Cultural Center. I will continue with the Historical Museum in another post because this one is getting rather long (sorry Rick)

Cookies!

Hello all,

So if you haven't seen in the Herald, CBS4 (two days in a row), Channel 10 (also two days in a row) and Channel 7,

Girl Scout Cookies are here!

I personally, am pumped. But I am also a cookie/chocoholic. Cookies are just a way of life for me.

I can't wait to get some Thin Mints and Samoas and crush them up into some vanilla frozen yogurt!

Smile!

An open letter to men in Miami

Dear men in Miami,

As a relatively decent-looking woman, I want to give you some tips to improve your game.

First, if you are roughly twice my age, or if El Capitan and I can add our ages together and get yours, then chances are, neither of us are interested. Sorry, but just sayin'. With that in mind, if you drop extra-large shirts into both of our laps and then wander aloud about us wearing them, that's pretty weird and creepy.

Secondly, do not tell me you do not drink when you are clearly slurring your words. I do not believe you. Especially if you repeat the same thing over and over and over again. You are clearly drunk. Face it.

Now, if you happen to observe that there are two girls, sitting with two guys, one of which is the ragin' cajun (my roommate) and the other is Lefty, and the two girls are clearly not interested in talking to the dirty old man, do not think this is your opportunity to move in. And if you do, please do not tell me not to talk to one of my guy friends because he's a different race. The line, "I'm sure he is a nice guy, but imagine what your children would go through, and what their hair would look like," is stupid and ignorant. Do not assume that I am a racist who is afraid of people from other cultures simply because I have white skin. And do not follow this line up by talking about your children and asking me to tie a cherry stem. That's trashy.

Also, if I claim to get up and go to the bathroom TWICE in a 10 minute period, I'm not drunk, I just don't want to talk to you.

I hope this helps your game.

Sincerely,

Christina

P.S. - I am officially never going to a bar without El Hombre again. Freakshows abound!

Santa's Enchanted Forest, part 2

A few months ago I went on a rant about how tacky Santa's Enchanted Forest is. Ironically, a few weeks ago, my roommate ended up with free tickets, and gave me two of them. Of course I took advantage because of this sick fascination I have with the underworld of tacky.
I have to say though, the amount of lights those people put up is ungodly. It really is.


No joke, as we were entering, the first thought that passed through my head was, "I'm glad I'm not prone to seizures." The second thought? "This is fantastically hilarious, I can't wait to write about this!"

Upon entering, you find Santa and his elves in a myriad of situations, from skiing to sneaking into the house to deliver presents.

This one was clearly King Santa.


And clearly Santa is inclusive of all. Even aliens.

But don't you worry! If you felt there weren't enough lights, here's some more:


Santa's is really just a giant fair. Complete with the animals:

Monkey!!!!!!!!!! My favorite

Poor things, they were among the most ridiculous amount of lights in the front of the fair.

And what's a fair without an elephant? There were also sea lions but we missed the show.

And did I forget to mention the fair food? In Miami, arepas and elephant ears are staple fair foods, as is corn-on-the-cob and pork-on-a-stick. But this truly takes the cake:


The candy apples just looked pretty.

You can also find different types of decapitated snowmen. Because nothing says "Christmas" like a headless body... right?


Note that it appears the snowman in the back is delighted by the head of the snowman in the front. Perhaps it was the perpetrator of the crime...

And you know, if you would like to buy some bling, or something to represent where you hail from, no worries!


There is also a giant red Christmas tree, just in case you forgot what the point of the fair is...


And rides!

The under-appreciated boardwalk

For a variety of reasons, my holidays were really rather stressful. I think they are stressful for most people, but this time was a little more than usual. So New Years Day, I finally convinced El Hombre to go with me walking on the upper part of the Miami Beach Boardwalk. When I lived on 23rd street, I used to walk this boardwalk all the time to relax, get some exercise and just enjoy the scenery.

In my opinion, this is an under-appreciated part of the beach. The boardwalk spans from 47th down to 5th street, where you can then transition to the beach and walk down to SouthPoint. But most people only walk from 15th street to 5th. In my opinion, the best part of the walk is from 23rd street (from 20th-22nd is closed off for construction) to 47th. It's a wooden boardwalk, where biking and rollerblading is restricted, and most of the people abide by this rule. You actually see the water and you get much more of a mix of locals who use the boardwalk to run, walk or just to get out and enjoy the scenery.

Here are a few pictures of our walk:


(ok, this wasn't on the boardwalk obviously, but right before we crossed Collins. Definitely an 'only in Miami' moment for me)


The kite surfers were all up-and-down the beach. You have to love an area where you can get in the ocean all year 'round! We actually sat on the beach and watched them for awhile.


There is much more foliage on the dunes, including large succulents and small trees. This was my favorite shot.

Shoes, Really?

On Yahoo this afternoon I came across a story about hundreds of pairs of shoes being spilled on the Palmetto. I hope no one was inconvenienced by this bizarre yet pretty funny shoe "spill." Enjoy the link to the story and wait for the guy at the end - he makes it all worth while.

North Carolina

Here's some pics from the NC mountains...

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009! I hope this year is a good one for everyone!