I vividly remember celebrating Easter at Southside Methodist, my pre-school that held an annual egg hunt in the lawn in front of the church. There was always some level of competition for these things, but being the youngest of three, for some reason the Easter egg finding gene must have been nearly depleted by the time it got to me. Let me set the scene. It was a beautiful day, breezy and cool, with the sweet smell of spring just beginning to waft through the air. Parents and children alike were dressed in their freshly pressed Easter attire. Frilly hair bows framed the faces of little girls and clip-on ties and jackets made the little boys spitting images of their fathers. All around pre-schoolers ran, with keen eyes and brimming baskets. Every now and then the sunlight would glimmer on a precious plastic egg in its secret hiding place, which most definitely was filled with...

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Breakfast- Bay Street, Jax City or The News Café. Midday Starbucks: KT- grande soy chai latte Kendall-this week venti iced carmel macchaito Anomoly in 5 points- both of us ALWAYS find a dress on our lunch break. Sushi Café in Riverside-edamame! Tuesday nights @ Mellow Mushroom w/ bartender Brett. Dance parties to Hannah Montana. Mass w/ Saul. Boy updates. Sports bar @ the Plaza for show night dinners. AAF JAX weekend getaways. Hospitality Suites. Al’s Pizza. Zen sessions on the couch. Lunches w/ bossman. “K” girl meetings. Family breakfast/lunch in the board room. Mervin’s stories in general. Buritto Gallery- LOVE THE STAFF and Chicken Salad!!! Toni’s talks in the AM on the comfy chairs. The adventure’s of Jon Bosworth. Dancing Stage right. Zoe’s! Escaping for a snack before a show. MC’s weekly office supply orders....

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I really couldn’t tell you the last time I had the flu. It has been too many years and the memory of how it felt was expunged from my brain. So every year when it came to be that time when on the news you would hear about flu vaccines, I would be smug in my thoughts of Pssshh flu shot…I’d way rather have soy chai tea latte from Starbucks. Well although I’m sure all of you may think the same way as I did, I am here to shed light on the truth. The truth that overpriced, over caffeinated and over hyped beverages are simply not the best combatants for influenza. Darn. It was upsetting to me too. Thus I found myself sitting in the office of a certain urgent care center in town. I don’t want to name any names, so let’s just call it Poclantic. The nice people at Poclantic told me upon arrival that the wait was going to be at least two and a half hours. So I sat and waited, and with every...

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Happy Friday (and Leap day)! I will admit I am still depressed after watching Robbie Carrico’s American Idol career end last night. I was rooting for him and no, I don’t think he wears a wig! Oh well, I’m voting for David now. I am however thrilled to know that it is the weekend! Mainly because I need to mend my health and get rid of the 11 day old cold! (Yes mom and dad, I’m going to the Dr. this afternoon). New favorite singer alert! Kevin So- he was the opening act for Keb’ Mo’ on Wednesday. This guy was amazing. He is one of those artists who have been around for a while; I just didn’t know he existed. Get it? He was an absolute pleasure to work with the night of the show. Very friendly, charming and graciously signed one of our “brick” templates for a project we are working on here. The first song he sang- All I Need is You, is what hooked me. His mixture between folk, pop and blues was captivating and had me downloading his songs off iTunes as soon as I got home. Check him out on www.kevinso.com....

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The 2008 ADDY Awards Advertising is an art. And art is all about expression. So what better theme for the 2008 ADDY Awards than Express Yourself? There simply wasn’t one more appropriate so the Jacksonville Marketing and Advertising Club took it and ran with it. Well first and foremost let me clear something up so that we can continue without any confusion. What was once known as JAXMAC has been renamed the American Advertising Federation of Jacksonville—yes, AAFJAX. No duck impersonations needed, thank you. The name unveiling happened at the awards ceremony along with the distribution of many awards to deserving local advertisers and creatives. The American Advertising ADDY Awards is the biggest creative ad competition in American, and Jacksonville was poised and ready to represent. With around 300 entries from local participants such as Ruckus, Brown Dog Creative and Scott-McRae...

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I survived another Singles Awareness, I mean Valentine’s Day. Much to my surprise, it turned out to be one of the best ever. The day started with a single rose (thank you bossman) and ended with an uplifting experience. Earlier this week I ran into an old advisor of mine from UNF and as we were chatting, the fact that I work at the Florida Theatre came up. He inquired about Trisha Yearwood tickets, which I assumed he would use to take his wife out for Valentine’s Day. To my surprise he wanted to bring his 17 year old son, who 11 years ago had met Trisha in Phoenix at a conference. Ever since then he has be her biggest fan and always asks his father to, “Tell Trisha I said hi!”, every time he traveled to Phoenix. So last night Tom surprised his son Christian, by bringing him to the theatre without revealing who they were there to see until he gave him the tickets. The pure excitement and overwhelming joy was moving in itself....

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No, that spot wasn’t dirt. Yes, I do wash my face. 12:20 on Ash Wednesday you would have found me standing in the back of Immaculate Conception. With ashes on my forehead, a few co-workers and I made the short walk back to the office, contemplating what we were going to give up. Lent being a time of repentance, many forego something they enjoy, a food or activity. I’m not what you would call a devout follower of some of the traditions of my confirmed religion, but thought that this would be an interesting and appropriate time to reflect of what I wanted to give up. Let’s see if I can do it. 1: I’m going to give up my disdain for talk radio. It used to really irritate me when I was driving to school back in the day (and yes for me that means like eight or nine years ago) with one of my parents and they would listen to talk in the morning. Ever since then I’ve never taken to listening to people talk at me in the car. The catalyst for such a transition? Our incredibly fun Saturday morning live radio broadcast...

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January has left the building. Enter a PACKED February schedule. We have a lot to offer this month and YOU need to take the time to check it out. Classic rock, dance, country, family shows- it is all here. Next week the amazing group from Classic Albums Live will be here to perform Led Zeppelin’s IV. This is an experience unlike any other. If you were lucky enough to be here for the Pink Floyd show, you know what I am talking about. This group plays the album in its complete entirety. On February 5 immerse yourself in the classic music and talent- which will then intrigue you to check them out next month when they perform The Beatles Sgt. Pepper. Dance. I know we have touched on this a few times and Katie let you have it in the last post, but here I go again…. Next Friday, February 8- Jennifer Muller/The Works. This company is unlike anything I have ever seen or experienced before. The showcase in New York gave us insight to what we will expect here, on our stage, and it will blow you away. The part...

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I’ve lived in Jacksonville my whole life—a soon to be 23 years. That’s a pretty long time to get used to a place. The way it works and the way it very much doesn’t work. Travel is a blessing. You must always get outside the little box you call home to experience exactly what else is out there…the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful for that matter. So when my beloved job takes me places, I gladly accept the invitation. Now don’t get me wrong about Jacksonville. I do love this place. It has been the setting of grand memories and almost every notable stride made to advance myself in life. But it simply does not have everything. It simply does not understand everything. We as a community have a lot of work to do. Let’s start here. A recent trip to New York brought out the magnifier glass on my world back home. The city is incredible and if you have never been, you must make...

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Let me begin with this, Kathy Griffin is a tremendously funny lady. What a great show last night. The sold out crowd never paused for a breath while laughing from start to finish! For those of you who are Life on the D-List fans, I got to meet and chat with Tom! Woo! Now for a little recap of NYC…I don't even know where to begin with my amazing "business" trip to New York City. Let's see, our hotel was on 6th Avenue, which is in the middle of everything! We were in walking distance of Central Park, Times Square, Broadway theatres and of course 5th Avenue (just to name a few). Through the Association of Performing Arts Presenters conference which we attended, we had the opportunity to see and experience various showcases and events unlike anything I have ever seen or done. As Katie reported last week, we were lucky enough to visit Jennifer Muller/ The Works studio to enjoy excerpts from new and old dance pieces. Incredible, this company will take your breath away. The best part of the experience, was knowing they soon would be here on our stage to share their amazing talents with the Florida Theatre. The company will be performing with local Jacksonville dance students from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Jacksonville University as well as FCCJ. It is going to be remarkable to see the collaboration between this innovative company and the local talent. Take the time to experience something you may never have before and check out their performance on February 8th....

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