The way to feel good on Xmas morning

Sheila, Sandy and I answered Federation's call to help cook Xmas lunch for the patients and families at Ronald McDonald House this morning.  This House is attached to Jackson Memorial Hospital and caters to the families of seriously ill children who are undergoing surgery or treatment for life-threatening illnesses. We spent two hours preparing lasagna, pizza, salad and cookies for the 12 noon lunch, and received in return a very special warm feeling that comes with helping those less fortunate.  Our thanks to Syd Carpel for including us in Federation's efforts.

I worked like a well-greased machine with a young lady named Meghan, whom I dubbed Noodle Lady, because her job was to lay out the pre-cooked lasagna noodles as I ladled ricotta cheese and tomato sauce between the layers.  For a non-cook, I think I did pretty well.

Sheila was in charge of pizza and salad making and Sandy was the Cookie Lady, arriving with her special Cranberry Oatmeal cookies, prepared at home and ready to be baked.  Deelish!

The little boy on the left in the photo with Sheila and Sandy recently underwent a kidney transplant and was doing great. We got to chat with his very grateful father who told us both his son and another little boy received the kidneys of a 26 year old man who apparently died in an accident.

The three of us walked away knowing how much we had to be grateful for on this holiday morning.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year!
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Where were you on November 22, 1963?

Fifty years ago today, at 11 o'clock in the morning, I was sitting in the coffee shop of the Barcelona Hotel on Miami Beach where I served as the pr director, chatting with the hotel's social director and photographer, when a staff member ran in and gasped "The President has been shot!". The scene is engraved on my brain.

Much like anyone who was alive in 1963 and heard that unthinkable news, we were paralyzed for the moment, then together we rushed to the one place in the building where we knew there was a television set. . the hotel bar. Gathered around the black & white tv set, with tears in our eyes, we heard the announcement that the President was dead.

When I think back to that terrible day now, I also have a vivid picture of JFK campaigning for the presidency a few years earlier and visiting Miami. My sister Fran and I heard that he would be making a stop at the 163rd St. Shopping Center in North Miami. I played hooky from work and picked her up to try to get a glimpse of him. In those days security was very lax and we heard that his entourage would be making their way down Biscayne Blvd. so we parked our car on the side of the road, put the top down on my 1959 Dodge convertible, and sat up on the hood like two groupies. We waved like crazy as his open car passed us and were positively dazzled when he waved back. That scene is also engraved on my memory.

Strange how certain events remain vivid through a lifetime. Almost everyone remembers every detail of where they were and what they were doing when 9/11 occurred. That goes for me as well. Tragedies seem to make the deepest impressions.

It's hard to believe that fifty years have passed since that day in Dallas. Listening to all the memorials on television, the sadness of the moment returns.

Fun nite for fund raising. . .

I've been to many fund raisers, but the one I attended on a recent Saturday evening was definitely unique.  Saks 5th Avenue's 3rd Annual Fashion for a Cause, at posh W Hotel on Miami Beach, was co-hosted by The Juice Foundation and benefitted UM's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Yes, it was a fashion show, but not like any I'm quite sure you've ever attended.  The Juice Foundation is headed by Jenine Howard, wife of the Miami Heat's Juwan Howard, and the fashion models for the evening were the kids of all the Miami Heat players.  Talk about "attitude"!  Ranging in age from Chris Bosh's 2 yr. old son Jackson and Ray Allen's 3 yr. old son Rashard, up to the Howard's 12 yr. old son Jace, not to mention Lebron James' two offspring, Lebron Jr., 9, and Bryce, 7, the show was a knockout. The audience was pretty sparkling as well.  (See photo of shoes on the woman sitting in front of me.  Sorry, but I couldn't resist another fabulous pair of Loubetins.)

The auction preceding the fashion show was also unique.  First item up for bidding:  A chance to be a ball boy at an upcoming Heat game.  If the bidding hadn't started at $2500, I might have bid on it myself.  When two bidders were fighting each other at the $4000 mark, Juwon Howard raised his hand and announced the team would go for two ball boys at two different games..  The result: $8000 for the Cancer Center. 

Must also mention the evening's food offerings, all donated by various companies and geared towards kids, big and small.  Sliders. . .little square melted cheese sandwiches. . .Yogurt popsicles. . .Oreo cookies coated in white chocolate. . .jars and jars of jelly beans, chocolate covered raisins. . you name it, every childhood delight was there for the taking.  And adults and kids alike were eating everything.  Everyone got to have their picture taken, including me, as long as you followed instructions and went slightly nuts as the photographer snapped away.

It was a fun evening thanks to my invitation to attend via my friend Sandy's "marketing maven" daughter Alison who was in charge of the event.  Watching her work took me back to my pr days running charity events for clients.  I recognized all too well the look on her face as her eyes scanned the room constantly to be sure everything was going as planned.  It was, Alison.  It was great.
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The kids model like pros!

 Juwan Howard greets a normal size guest.  Those players are really tall!

 

A medical moment. . .

I have a need to talk about hospitals.  Because I've been spending a lot of time at one in particular the last ten days. That's because the "significant other" developed a nasty blood infection and is currently the resident of Room 414 at South Miami Hospital.

Mainly I want to talk about nurses and nurses aides.  They are truly remarkable human beings, both male and female, short and tall, old and young.  In Benard's world they come with names like Arlene. Althea, Amilcar, Zonaia, Jennifer, Laura, Jun and Nelda.  Jun is a young Philipino man who couldn't be more caring or helpful. Benard spent time in the Phillipines during WW2 and he and Jun have great conversations.  Nelda is Benard's absolute favorite, she calls him Papi and treats him as if he truly was a close relative.

Basically, I hate hospitals.  The farther away I can stay the better I like it.  But if you have to be in one, South Miami is about as good as it gets.  Each day I walk away wondering why someone chooses the nursing profession.  It's a hard, messy life with patients coming and going, either better or worse for the experience.  I am awed by their dedication.

Hopefully, Benard will be well enough soon to leave Room   514 and return to his normal lifestyle.  I won't miss traveling daily to the hospital to visit him and act as his surrogate.  But I will have new respect for the nurses who work there.
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Photo caption:  A shout out to the wonderful Therapy Dogs who truly brighten a patient's day. This cutie's name was Alli and really made Benard smile.

My "Christian Louboutin Moment"

I don't consider myself a shoe freak, but I do have a closet-ful of carefully stacked boxes containing some gorgeous 3 inch-heel numbers that I used to wear on a regular basis to work but haven't seen the light of day in several years.   There's a purple suede number in there that makes me sigh every time I catch sight of it.

Let's face it.  It's not a question of still fitting as much as still being able to walk with a modicum of pain and a smidge of dignity.  If you are a woman of a certain age, I need say no more.

But the deliciousness of truly sexy shoes dies hard.  I found that out again today.

I was having my nails done at Salon Trio when I noticed that one of the co-owners, Nicole, was wearing a truly incredible pair of shoes.  The shiny red underside of these sky high beauties was a dead giveaway:  "Christian Louboutin! OMG! I've only seen them in ads and in places like Saks and Neimans.  And here they were in the flesh! (You don't want to know how much these babies cost.  Think four figures to start.)

Nicole:  "Would you like to try them on?

Me:  "What size are they?"

Nicole:  "Does it matter?"

Me:  "Of course not.  Hand them over."

See attached photo for moi "standing tall" and feeling tres sexy. . .wobbling a little. . .but loving every second.

Thanks, Nicole.  It was a great moment. I simply had to capture it on camera.
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My "hands on" problem. . . .

I am convinced that my eventual undoing will be the result of an un-openable cap on a child-proof bottle.  My demise will come in one of two ways:

1.  I am in the desert (or just in the heat of a mid-summer day in Miami), dying of thirst, suffering from dehydration, with moments to go before all my organs start shutting down. But I still can't get the cap off the goddamned plastic bottle of water clutched in my feverish hands.

2.I am stricken with a rare tropical disease that can easily be cured by the miracle medication in the little plastic container that I am holding in my trembling hands.  You guessed it.  I can't get the top off this intricate little number that demands that you press down while simultaneously turning in a counter-clockwise fashion.  Forgeddabout it.

I am not kidding when I say that the new bottle caps are designed to prevent opening by senior citizens with weak hands far more than by small children.  At least small children have a Mommy or Daddy to open theirs.  I'm stuck with multiple methods of invention, none of which work as well as the significant other's strong hands, but he's not always around when I need him for that purpose.

For the screw caps on my acryllic paint tubes I carry a pair of pliers in my equipment bag, stolen from my tool box.  For the ring of plastic that seals the top of the Coffeemate Creme bottle, I have a hook-like thingy that I bought on line, that really works well. Unfortunately, that's the only thing it works on. For the top of the new Hellman's Mayonaise jar in my refrigerator, I have a flat circle of rubber that is supposed to give me leverage when I try to twist it open. Oh well, mayonaise is fattening.  I can probably do without it.  I've even been known to use my teeth on certain occasions, but nothing is more expensive than new caps for my two front teeth so I try to keep that method to a minimum.

I know there are more important problems in the world today than my inability to deal with bottle caps, so I'll sign off now.  I'm kind of thirsty anyhow. Think I'll go get a drink from my kitchen faucet.  Pretty sure I can handle that.
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Photo caption:  Even Wasabi is confused by all these implements.  Think how I feel!

Veteran actress, Brooke Shields, was co-hosting the Today Show this morning when I happened to glance at the screen.  Still very good looking, Shields, who began her career at the age of 12, is no longer a kid, in her mid-40's, twice married, with children of her own.  Seeing her took me back to one of my crazier pr experiences.  One in which both she and Prince Albert of Monaco very much figured.

It was in the early 80's and my pr firm was representing the brand new, very up-scale Bonaventure Spa and Resort in Broward County.  Bonaventure was proudly sponsoring the Princess Grace Tennis Tournament, a major fund raiser held annually by the Monacan royal family for some charity that slips my mind at the moment.  The really big deal was that Prince Albert, Grace Kelly's son himself, was coming to the resort to preside over the event.  Big excitement.  Big possibility for national and even international publicity for my client.

Someone in my office watched a TV show where 19 year old Brooke Shields was interviewed.  One of the questions she was asked was "Who would you most like to meet?"  Her answer? You guessed it. Prince Albert of Monaco!  OMG, a double whammy for my client. . the hot young actress and the hot young prince.

Contact was made with Brooke's agent who just happened to be her mother and arrangements were finalized for both of them to arrive at the resort.  The actress came with her mother.  The prince arrived with an entourage that included two body guards, a well known pro football player, and two  "royal groupies", one more super sophisticated and ultra sexy than the next.

Albert, who was rather short and not terribly good looking, did us the favor of posing for photos with Brooke. The moment the photographer finished, he smiled briefly and hightailed it back to his entourage.  To say that he was uninterested in the extremely tall, surprisingly unsophisticated, teen age actress, was the understatement of the year. 

Poor Brooke. She was totally devastated at the obvious brushoff, actually to the point of crying.  That's when her mother, a dominating presence if ever I met one, suggested that a few hours in the plush new Spa might make her feel better.  But she mustn't go there alone.

"You have got to be kidding," I spluttered, when the client informed me that I was the one chosen to accompany the actress.  "Go!" he commanded, "and for God's sake, try to make her feel better. This was your idea.  Now take care of it."

That's how I ended up, wearing nothing but a towel in the ungodly hot suana at Bonaventure Spa, sitting next to a sniffling, equally naked Brooke Shields, trying to convince her that Albert was no big deal.  Had I known at the time that she would soon meet and marry Andre Agassi, she might have felt a helluva lot better.

Watching her this morning on the Today Show I was pretty sure she has long since forgotten the incident.  Me?  I'll never forget it.
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Photo caption:  Did I mention she was tall?????