Weekend Roundup

Happy Friday everyone! What are your plans for the weekend?  I think El Capitan is headed to the keys this weekend.  I'm hoping El Hombre and I can spend a lot of time on the boat, now that Debbie isn't around to spew rain and create lots of chop.

Until Monday, here's some stuff to tide you over:

It's clearly Mango season, and this looks delicious.

Today is Critical Mass. Have you ever been? I haven't but El Hombre is hooked.

Tomorrow is Social Media Day, be sure to check out some of these events.

Sunscreen suggestions from my girl over at Indigo & Canary

Can you imagine taking this class in college? How awesome!

What an awesome song to kick off the weekend - an oldie but a goodie

Design District Spa

For the last few years I have been a patron of Emena Spa in the design district. It started off innocently enough -- a friend of mine called me to let me know there was a Groupon for laser hair, and she wanted to know if I would try it with her.  I thought about it and agreed, only to find out that she never bought the Groupon.

So I figured that if I hated it, I wouldn't really lose a ton of money, and why not try it out? Many of my friends are huge advocates of Miami.  I was actually more concerned about the type of service I would receive, and pleasantly mistaken. 

Miami is notorious for rude service. It is absolutely part of the norm to be ignored or treated like less of a person. But this has never happened to me at Emena, and after several years of being a customer I figure it's the least I can do to share my experience.

When I first started going to Emena, it was a small spa, offering limited services and they used the Groupon to get new business.  Christina, the owner, was always there (and still is, more often than not) greeting people, checking them in and chatting with them.  Since that time she has grown out her business to include more services, and each of the employees and techs have been professional and nice. The area is modern, clean and inviting and they run great specials and deals throughout the year.

The one thing I do have to mention is that appointments tend to run behind schedule a bit, but when all your patrons run on Miami time, that's to be expected.

If you live in or around the Midtown area and want to try out a new spa, head over and check them out!

I'm coming back...

Hello! Is anyone still here?

I know it's been awhile, I apologize.  It's been crazy over the last few years, and it's been keeping me from writing.  Hell, commuting 5 hours a day for work (no I am not kidding) was a major part of the reason why I sort of fell off here.

I also started to feel like my postings were getting stagnant over here. I mean, I was getting bored of my own posts, so I can only imagine how my readers (if any of you are left) must have felt.  "Oh there's 305 writing about biking and buying veggies at some miscellaneous farmer's market again."

Anyways, so El Capitan and I had a good conversation about our blog the other day, and she's been missing it too.  We are both in better places to get to writing again, and have plans for diversifying a bit.

In other news, I have come to the conclusion that I really need to get comfortable with WordPress. So I recently started up a blog called Amaro e Dolce where I will be posting about a myriad of topics. I will still be maintaining this blog to talk specifically about life in South Florida.

Cheers!

Christina

Miami heat craze

So we hopped on our bikes to video the party at la Carreta after the heat win. I have several videos on my YouTube.  For a more thorough recap, check out my new blog home: http://amaroedolce.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/pots-pans-and-parties/

Happy new year!

Happy 2012! This was taken from our boat in Biscayne bay

2011 in Review

This has been a good year for me - full of travel, fun and new opportunities. Rather than listen to me drone one in paragraph form, here's a bulleted list of highlights!

• I got a new job! And it's only one county away!
• I walked in three friend's weddings.
• I routinely experienced the joy of South Florida Public Transit. 
• I read alot of books, and alot of classics. How did I only just read the Count of Monte Cristo? Amazing book!
• I paid off my credit card debt - woohoo!
• Have gotten alot stronger, physically.
• Spent alot of time on the boat and finally saw Stiltsville.
• My troop performed at Tribal Fest and we rocked it!
• I hiked the Cinque Terre in Italy and drove northbound on Pacific Coast Highway. I also travelled to these places:
• Charlotte, NC
• Wilmington, NC
• Columbia, SC (yup, still hate it)
• Augusta, GA/ Aiken, SC
• Tampa
• New York/Brooklyn
• Key West
• Paris, Florence and the Italian Riviera
• San Francisco, Sonoma and Northern California

So some things I didn't get as much accomplished as I would like, but overall I think it's pretty successful.  I don't do resolutions because that implies a one-time goal set, and quite frankly I think that resolutions are generally overambitious and doomed to fail. I am a fastidious planner and obsessively goal-oriented, so here are some of the things I have been planning on, going into the new year:

• Continue to build a financial reserve (made easier by new job.)
• Continue to strengthen myself and stay in shape.
• Get back to karate, now that I have put this knee injury behind me.
• Pay off a bigger chunk of my student loans of doom.
• Write and blog more - although this may be at an undisclosed, new location
• Travel to the following places:
• Iceland
• Austin, TX
• San Francisco, L.A. (via southern part of PCH)
• Key West 
• Charlotte, NC and Charleston, SC
• Chile

I'm excited for this new year. And no, I don't believe that crap about the end of the world.  Fun fact for the road. Rapture was supposed to bring the end of the world - with the world erupting in a ball of flame - on my birthday. Nice, right?

Have a happy New Year! Stay safe tonight, and don't drink and drive!

Miami Perfume

I was on my way to work the other day when this story popped up on WLRN. (Beware, WLRN seems to be having server issues today)

Apparently the City of Miami tapped someone to create a perfume that is inspired by the city of Miami. The reporter proceeded to interview people about what smell best represents the MIA. It's pretty interesting because the responses show a total range of what this city is. From sea brine and Cuban coffee to urine in the streets, Miami is everything.

Apparently the perfume represents more of what Miami is perceived to be - a glamorous seaside party town, but the concept of scent tied to identity is much more interesting to me than the outcome. How would you describe Miami through scent?