Rockefeller Tree

My husband joined us for Write Nite this week (yay!) and afterwards we walked over to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree...

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Views from a Street

Macy's Day Parade, Thanksgiving Day 2012, New York City...

{see more pics...}

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Warhorse at Lincoln Center

Last night we saw Warhorse at Lincoln Center. We first heard of this play (which is also a best-selling children's book and upcoming movie) from one of my dad's oldest friends, Tom, who is a composer, lyricist, and music producer here in New York. Over dinner one night a few months ago, Tom and his wife raved about the Warhorse production and once we heard the premise, we were captivated...

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Ringling Museum

The Ringling Museum of Art is located in Sarasota, Florida, on about 20 acres of waterfront property purchased by the circus giant himself back in 1911. This multi-facility museum highlights works of fine art, a historic mansion, circus paraphernalia, and a theater.

Truthfully, I never knew this place existed until I read my friend Katy's blog post on her visit about a month ago. She sold me on a visit with all her photos of the dwarf garden. So on a beautiful afternoon last weekend, I went to the museum with my parents to explore the grounds and exhibits...

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GeckoFest

One of my Writing Retreat goals was to take at least two inspiration days to help fuel my creativity and boost my writing ideas. Well, since I like festivals, last Saturday I drove over to nearby Gulfport for their annual GeckoFest. It's a twelve-hour festival with live music, arts and crafts vendors, street food and so forth. Here are some pictures from the excursion...

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Blog Award Finalist

I have no idea how this happened, but I found out yesterday that my blog is a finalist for The Best Designed Travel Blog in this year's Travel Bloggy Awards. So, thank you to whoever nominated me for the award! My little website is up against lots of big contenders. But who doesn't like an underdog, right? The winner is announced on August 26th at the 2011 Travel Bloggers Unite conference in Innsbruck, Austria. So, I'm not getting my hopes up, but I could really use some new luggage! And losers don't get luggage.

The Power of Art

For me, David Small was one of the most memorable keynotes of the SCBWI conference last weekend (you may recognize him after taking at look at this book cover). He's an award-winning childrens book author and illustrator, and during his talk he shared a book trailer for his new graphic novel Stitches...

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Silks Class

This year is all about trying new things and getting out of my comfort zone. You might remember when I took my first trapeze class last week? Well, this past weekend I went back to Trapeze School New York for an aerial silks class...

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Message in a Bottle

Here is a lovely bedtime story for you.

In the summer of 1977, Olivier Vandevalle tore a page from a book and wrote down a message.

This is what the note said: "I am boy of 14 years and my house is in Belgium. I do not know if you are a pupil, a woman or a man. I am on a sailing boat of 18 metres. Her name is Tamaris. While I am writing this letter we have just passed Portland Bill on the south coast of England. We left this morning."

Then, Olivier printed down his full name and address in Belgium. He rolled up the note and slid it into the mouth of an empty wine bottle. With his father's help, he sealed the corked bottle with candle wax, and tossed it over the side of his family's yacht into the endless sea.

After a few years, Olivier forgot about the day he released a message in a bottle into the ocean. He went about his life in Ostend, Belgium and had two children of his own.

Thirty-three years later, Lorraine Yates found a bottle washed up on an English beach. She saw an aged note stuck inside.

When Lorraine opened the bottle, she read a thirty-three year old letter from a young boy to a stranger. Her search for Olivier Vandevalle began with the outdated address. After this attempt was unsuccessful, she found the now-forty-seven year old on Facebook.

At first Olivier had forgotten about the bottle from so many years ago. But as Lorraine shared the details of the letter, she gave him the gift of a beautiful memory.

Olivier recalled the fishing and boating holiday with this family. He remembered the wine bottle – below – and writing a message for the bottle. It was as if he was sitting beside his father once again, melting a candle and sealing the bottle with wax.

Learn how to make a weathered-looking message in a bottle.

What will you write?

{info gathered via Gadling and the UK Daily Mail}

A Sound of Music Moment....

I just discovered this {via Lenorenevermore}. It totally made my morning.