Miami is world famous for its beaches, nightlife and fashion but it is also a diverse and exciting 
cultural centre.  

This weekend I attended the opening of the 74th season of the Florida Grand Opera.  The sell out audience were treated to a spectacular production of the enduringly popular Madama Butterfly.  
At the Sunday performance at the Arscht Center/ Ziff Opera House  in downtown Miami, soprano Venessa Isiguen made her debut and she was wonderfully supported by Caitlin McKechney as her handmaiden Suzuki.   Vanessa looked beautiful and her voice was pure and haunting.  Suzuki offered
support and strength along with her fierce loyalty. The audience rewarded them with a standing ovation.  

Both of these outstanding singers and also baritone Chance Eakin are members of the Miami Beach Community Church choir where their powerful voices grace our services week after week. Modesty almost forbids me from mentioning that I also sing in that choir! When complimented on my beautiful voice by members of the congregation, I always tell them, 'It's not me. its the lady next to me.  That's Caitlin, she is a member of  the Florida Grand Opera'.  

I am so looking forward to following the global careers of  these fabulous young artistes  and also to more Miami performances at Madama Butterfly in November and December.

Miami Book Fir International also opened this weekend.  Now in its 31st year, it is believed to be the largest literary event in North America.   The official opening was held at the Olympia Theatre in downtown Miami.  National radio broadcaster Ira Glass hosted a unique theatrical performance called Three Acts, Two Dancers and a Radio Host.  A strange, eclectic mix of dance, radio interviews and storytelling, the experience was a good indication of the type of quirky unusual presentations the Book Fair enjoy presenting along with author events, poetry readings and children's reading activities.  

Author events give readers a wonderful chance to get up close and personal to best selling authors and hear them tell in their own words,  aspects of their life stories, some of the tricks of the writing trade and stories of their writing processes.   Patricia Cornwell's shared details of her life as a journalist for the Miami Herald and also in the Office of the Chief  Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia.  She became a trailblazer being one of the first novelists to incorporate in depth forensic science into crime fiction.   Her latest novel is called Flesh and Blood. Best selling novelist Anne Rice is also in the blood and gore business and she has just published her latest book featuring the vampire Prince Lestat.  

These women are inspirational and I take their phenomenal examples success stories as a vision for my own ambitions.  Let me share a secret with you.  Last year after watching author Dan Brown deliver the opening lecture at the Book Fair, I made a decision, 'Next year I intend to have my own novel out by the time of the Miami Book Fair'.  My debut novel Love Mother Love Daughter was published last month and this weekend (22/23 November) I will be at the Miami Book Street Fair promoting 
it.  

Next year. I am promising myself a best seller..........

Life Is FABULOUS,   LIVE FABULOUS 

50 years of Biba Celebrations - House of Frazer.  Having been hanging out with 
the super-cool designer, the  iconic Barbara Hulanicki on Miami Beach, so excited to find that her 
original designs had been re-envisioned and formed part of a 50 years of Biba Celebration. 
Took this photo in store at  House of Frazer - the fashion looks fabulous as ever and the clothes have a timeless glamour.  Class shows...

To Palm Beach to celebrate my birthday (remember the rule In Seven Steps - never reveal which one!).

Drove up the coast from Miami Beach in my gold convertible - top down all the way - with my special friend and fellow Palm Beach habitue Jude Parry.  Jude treated me to lunch at our very favorite restaurant Tabu!  Palm Beach knows all there is to know about FABULOUS! My kind of place.  

I visited the wonderful Palm Beach gift shop - Sherry Frankel's  Melangerie in the Gucci Courtyard on Worth Avenue where I was able to buy a handmade cushion stating THANK GOD I AM FABULOUS!

When it comes to gift buying for the 'Fabulous' people in your life - including yourself - check out Melangerie.

I rounded off the day with a visit to the Palm Beach Dramaworks stage production of the classic Thornton Wilder play 'Our Town'. PBD always present  first class theater and the play was thought provoking.   

Happy Birthday to me!!!