So, there’s a free app called, “YO.” It’s designed to send people a quick, verbal “YO” anytime you are thinking of them. #brilliant Anyway, Audrie Rañon of the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) is the last person I would expect to turn me on to such a thing but she did and now she’s my first (and only) friend on YO. 

I first heard about Audrie from friends and fellow artists, George Medeiros and Scott Durfee of Spathose.  They always spoke so highly of this woman who, it turns out, is Director of Guest Relations, Retail Operations and Internal Events for the world-class museum on Beach Drive in downtown St. Petersburg.

“I cover a lot of ground,” Audrie says of her dynamic, artful existence.

It wasn’t until I was invited to participate in an event at the museum that I crossed paths with Audrie for the first time. We instantly clicked and I have Aylen Suarez to thank for introducing us. 

On the day of our lunch date, I picked Audrie up at the museum store, where I was delivering two Leslie Joy Original images on canvas that I’m honored to say are now available for sale there.

After lunch, Audrie invited me to stick around and experience the current MFA exhibit, “My Generation: Young Chinese Artists.” I highly recommend it (on display through September 28, 2014). Audrie is pleased to point out the exhibit is shared with the Tampa Museum of Art, appreciating that this type of collaboration doesn’t happen every day in the museum world. 

We skipped across the street for a bite to eat. She ordered a delightful salad and I had a veggie flatbread but the mutual objects of affection at our table were the roasted grapes.

Audrie fancies herself a cook and learned what she knows at the knee of her Lebanese grandma.

“I like to use a lot of fresh ingredients. Quinoa, chickpeas.”

But she doesn’t bake because she realizes her methodology doesn’t work, saying, “I use recipes for inspiration.”  

She and her husband of 32 years have two grown boys and live on Franklin Street in downtown Tampa. #cool

“We’re very much urbanites.” 

Anyone who knows me knows I love birds so I practically squawked out loud upon learning that Audrie has a Yellow Naped Amazon parrot! His name is Hawkeye (after a character in Last of the Mohicans). Yellow naped are good talkers but Audrie insists Hawkeye uses no bad words.

“Bad grammar but not bad words,” she says. “’Where ya at,’ he’ll say.’”

Hawkeye loves to watch soccer and mimics crowd sounds—cheering and whistling. We agreed he would appreciate the roasted grapes too. 

“I always thought I liked traditional art until I met contemporary art,” Audrie says with a sparkle in her eye between bites.

Her heart’s always in the right place then. Surrounded by art. She’s had a hand all over the local art world at such cultural institutions as the Tampa Bay History Center, the Henry B. Plant Museum, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts (FMoPA) and Tampa Museum of Art.

“I dabble in the antique world,” Audrie says of her free time and runs an online store (My Favorite Vintage at Rubylane.com) with mostly vintage art and pottery. Someone, eh hem, was lurking about on the site and found a pair of skyscraper-shaped art deco dress clips and a wonderful abstract fabric collage among the offerings listed there. 

“I love that aha moment when I find something really cool and then start learning the story behind it.”

Every fiber of the rocker girl in me is into what mixed media designer Joanna Coblentz of Dollface custom jewelry and apparel is doing. 

For starters, it should be noted that Joanna is making a living through her craft. She does work for her mother (who owns an optical shop in Sarasota) three days a week but a few clients who get their duds custom deconstructed and embellished by Dollface make it a sustainable business…in more ways than one. 

“I can’t throw anything away. If it can be used to make something beautiful to be worn, I’m going to recycle it,” Joanna says. 

In a way, she provides a public service. “Nobody wants to throw away their favorite concert t-shirts. I find ways for people to keep things they love and don’t wear anymore.” And she’ll listen to The Pixies, “or some 80s hair band,” while she does it. “I’m really old school,” she admits. 

Joanna started out doing Steampunk style seven years ago, revamping costumes for burlesque dancers. “I realized I love making costumes but it’s not practical. I can’t make a living off of costumes.”

A friend suggested she take her costume concepts and apply them to create jewelry. The idea struck a chord with Joanna. She could still mix leather and lace and hard and soft elements. “But you’re not having to wear it in this big outfit,” she says. 

As such, her light as a feather leather bib statement necklace collection has swept me off my feet. My favorite one features soft, distressed leather and a fabric eye print with crystals, chains and a hinge.  Some have grommets and zippers. Each is one of a kind.

When it was first introduced to me, Zumba® was described as a Brazilian dance party. Not much for exercise (or fitness of any kind), my ears perked up. Brazil? Love it! Dance? Dig it. Maybe I can do that, I thought. That was a few years ago and since then I have been hooked.

The music is the best part but I have always said that Zumba® does a great job incorporating fashion in its culture. Long hair is left loose to whip about to the beat; cool deconstructed shirts and tank tops in brilliant hues hit the "dance floor” at Zumba studios and conventions worldwide. There are lightweight pants with straps that catch air from all the movement, and there are shoes and accessories too. Even lace shows up in the mix. And the light weight “sticks” (available in 1 and 2.5lbs) make maraca-like sounds.

Truth be told, all this time I’ve been doing Zumba in my Puma's but I jumped at the chance to try the “Energy Push” sneakers from the Spring/Summer 14 collection (zumba.com/shop). They are sassy! I love how light they are and the double laces add a little spice to their look. The mixed materials in black and aqua and lime add energy and attitude.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I gotta fly! Beto Perez, Zumba’s founder and choreographer, is waiting for me (in my DVD player). #sexy

My husband swept me off my feet last summer with a surprise trip to Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota. From the day of that enchanted experience, I knew VERTICAL would kick off spring with a collection of photos from the Zen garden. 

I photographed this naturally occurring heart shape at Antelope Canyon out west and remember feeling lucky to spot it. It reminds me of all that can be revealed to us if we are open to exploring different angles and that looking beyond the obvious can unearth something marvelous. Love is in the air this week so I thought it apropos to share my heart with you. 

Love is universal. Everyone needs love and it comes in various forms. Love exists between couples and between friends. Love is shared between brothers and between mothers and daughters. Love thy neighbor. 

No one knows when or where love will show up. I tell my single friends who are looking for the romantic kind to hang out in airports because that's where I found mine. But that's a whole other love story. 

Love has the power to save the world. Sometimes, when humanity seems to have lost its (collective) mind or when ugliness surrounding us blocks out the light, all we need is a reminder. All we need is love.  

Truffles, and cupcakes, and gelato, oh my. On the approach to The Festival of Chocolate at MOSI, the sweet smell welcomed visitors even before they entered the museum. Once inside, a vast landscape of heavenly chocolates wooed us. Popcorn, ice cream, fruit, cakes, macaroons and candy apples, to name a few, all played parts in the almost overwhelming display.

Chocolate vendors lined the room as far as the eye could see, making the space feel reminiscent of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. For the more traditional chocolate lovers, there were the classic strawberries, Oreos, and truffles. For the spicier crowd, there were chocolate covered jalapeños and yes, even insects.

The Experience

Tarpon Springs is like a piece of Greece tucked away in a corner of the Tampa Bay area. Walking the streets, Greek chatter filters out of open shops, as men stand puffing away on cigars, watching people walk by from their doorways.

We visited National Bakery and picked up some kourambiethes, delicate little shortbread cookies dusted with confectioner’s sugar, that look like mini snowballs and melt in your mouth the same way. Overflowing piles of fresh bread stuffed into bags sat on top of the three display cases. The inside of each case carried shelves upon shelves of more sugary Greek treats. My grandmother picked up a couple of loaves of bread, taking a bit of the freshly-baked scent of National Bakery with us as a souvenir.

Visiting a few local churches was next on the agenda. We made it just in time to see the stained glass windows in full display, when the sun was high and cast stained glass shadows that made the floor look like the inside of a kaleidoscope.

It’s hard to walk past one storefront in downtown Tarpon Springs without seeing at least a few baskets overflowing with sponges inside. My grandparents and I had perfect timing, and made it to the dock as sponge divers unloaded one huge batch of freshly plucked sponges.

One of the best parts of Tarpon Springs is, of course, its flavor. Saganaki, feta cheese served—literally—flaming hot; the alternating flaky layers of spinach and phyllo dough in spanakopita; the bitter grape leaves rolled like mini burritos, stuffed with slightly sweet rice-and-beef to make dolmades. Oh, and the half pound of feta cheese in salt brine that my grandparents sent me home with.