A Birthday and a Rok:Brgr Detour...

This past Friday night we went downtown to celebrate our friend Jarred's birthday. The location was set, the standard... Tarpon Bend. We arrived to find Tarpon SO packed that there was no way in bloody hell we would get in there. So we took the Rok: Brgr detour...

Lovers Ackerman

Lovers Goodstein - Happy Birthday Jarred!

Jennifer, Lenny and Rachel

This was our second time at Rok:Brgr and I must say that our experience was much better this second time around. This prohibition 1920's style restaurant is so fun in style and decor. With an extensive food and drink menu including over 65 different beers from around the country, our waitress was great in keeping the drinks, apps and food flowing. We were crammed in at our table tight tight tight, but the weather was so beautiful out that there was no way we were sitting inside! 

The food here is good, though I feel a little pricey. You're paying for the ambiance and those gourmet burgers get you! As winner of the 2011 New Times Best Restaurant in Broward County & The Channel 10 Best Burger Contest it's definitely worth checking out. The D Wade, Las Olas and Prime Burger all sound so yummy. Andy likes ordering the salad that comes with a burger on the side... Yum! The fries are also great (Truffle or not).

Rachel ordered the build your own burger with Kobe beef and a monstrous amount of toppings.... 

Rachel's Monstrous Meal

We ended up having a great night!. All of us were filled to our maximum beef, salad and ultimate brownie overload capacity. Since we were celebrating Jarred's birthday they were great about bringing desserts (with a candle) for us to have our fiesta too. I should also mention that the manager was super cool about bringing out our special request (that ultimate brownie is no longer on the menu) -  You can check out the menu for yourself here.

You can also check out my Yelp! on Rok:Brgr here

I'm sure we'll be back many many more times... Such a great spot downtown!

Anthropologie Lunch Run Fun....

I love doing this... It can be a little hectic and I don't do it too often, but I had a couple gift cards to splurge with from the holidays... So here we go!

Ahhhhhh behold the Anthropologie lunch run...

Anthropologie Aventura

Trying to make it from work to Aventura Mall, park, find clothes, try them on, check out and drive back to work all within an hour. Yes, it can be done! I've even managed to bring along my friend Sara before and we both made it out alive AND with purchases!

This time I had a mission. I knew exactly what I needed so I made a bee line for it!

My Selections....

I always do so much better at Anthropologie when I see what's online first and then go in... The clothes are always so smushed together - beautiful but smushed. Hey, when you only have an hour browsing is not really an option!

After trying on my online finds I committed to two pieces... Basics for Spring! A long white tee with fun pockets in the front and a tangerine fun top with a collar. Tangerine is THE color for Spring don't ya know. Refinery29 and Little Pink Book as well as numerous other sources are all screaming for tangerine!  I love both of my purchases so much I reviewed them on Anthropologie's website and they actually posted them.

You can find the reviews here: White Shirt & Tangerine Shirt - Woohoo! I'm famous :)

On the way out I had to drool over this bed.... Ahhhhhh Someday.....

Amazing Bed Display... Droooooooool

You can also find my Yelp! on this Anthro location here. - Hope you enjoyed coming with me to the mall ;)

Completely New in 2012....

Happy New Year!!! In an effort to become a complete and total social media nerd, I bring you tons and tons of changes for the year....

The first of which.... It looks a little different around here huh? Little cleaner, little different... Nice! Also with the changes comes a new name for my blog because let's face it... the last name of this blog was a little hard to figure out. I'm loving the new name.... Do you know what a Green Tara is?

Well, you know I love to read all that New Age stuff.... The Secret, Spirit Junkie, Chakras, etc.... Go ahead, call me a Hippie :) LOL Anyway, in my readings I came across the Green Tara...which hello, that's me! A Greenie and a Tara, but theres a deeper meaning. Rather than try to explain it all to you let me consult a little thing called the internet for some help:

Tara (Sanskrit, "star") is a Buddhist savior-goddess especially popular in Tibet, Nepal and Mongolia.The goddess of universal compassion, Tara represents virtuous and enlightened action. It is said that her compassion for living beings is stronger than a mother's love for her children. She also brings about longevity, protects earthly travel, and guards her followers on their spiritual journey to enlightenment. In Buddhist religious practice, Green Tara's primary role is as a savior. She is believed to help her followers overcome dangers, fears and anxieties, and she is especially worshiped for her ability to overcome the most difficult of situations. Green Tara is intensely compassionate and acts quickly to help those who call upon her.

Green Tara

There ya go... it had me at hello :) Of course the love part of the blog name is just that... Love!

So back to the changes.... I kicked around the idea of doing another blog about the places and faces I love here in South Florida and then realized I can't even maintain one blog let alone two... So here now we have the merging of the two. GCD and fun, all wrapped up into one cute little package.

You'll notice on the side a new Yelp! app... FUN!!! I created a yelp account oh about 2 years ago and never used it again until recently... I'm in love again. It's a great way to get and give reviews of your fave restaurants, shops, events and more. Since Andy and I like to eat, shop and play all around South Florida, I thought it would be fun to share the events and adventures we go on. Both of us love our city so much - art shows, concerts, restaurants... AND some reviews here and there. If there's an upcoming event you think we should know about or if you attended the same one we did - OR if you want to just scream "I like Potatoes!" feel free to post post post!

So that's all for today, I hope you had an amazing 2011 - here's to 2012! Cheers!

My Art Basel Experience...

Art Basel.... What an awesome experience!

First of all, after living in South Florida for over 10 years... wait... make it 15 years... and not making the trip down (how embarassing) it was well worth the wait. This will definitely become a staple in our calendar for many years to come. Though tickets to Basel are $40... each... yes, each....I must say it's so worth it for the experience!

From the Convention Center to Wynwood everything was so inspiring... Such a great event, my only regret is that I wish I could have done more!

Here are some pics of my favorite pieces - Let's start with the Convention Center....



The Entrance



It's so very Muppets isn't it?

The Andy Warhol Room.. Awesome!



There is Magic in All Things... Warhol



It Should... Shouldn't It?



This is a Bikini Contest in Fort Lauderdale in March of '83 (My Bday)

They were just plain cool....



You are encouraged to touch and run through.... GO!



Loved this.... I'll take it!

The newspaper from the day John Lennon died,
pictures removed to focus on the words



Me being silly in the mirror box


And now on to Wynwood....


The Wynwood Walls.... Finally got to see them!



Another one of the walls....



Just thought the juxtaposition of the deer being camo was cool



We do!



It took me a couple tries to read it... But it's great!



Random, but cool!


So that's it in a nutshell... An amazing art filled weekend with so many events, exhibitions, gatherings, concerts, food trucks and SO much more. Hope you enjoyed the pics - I can't wait til next year.... actually forget next year - I'll be down in Wynwood again ASAP!

Holy Crap It's Been 2 Months....

Time seriously flies when you're having fun....

This season has been amazing! It's been so filled with personal and professional achievements - As Cher would say in Clueless, "I'm Combelling!"

Heartsy was awesome.. The experience, the sales, the exposure... I would recommend it to any etsy seller. It's a great system with a great organizational tool for managing the sales you make... Just the greatest thing ever. For info on how to apply check out their website - Heartsy

Also since my last post Art in the Park has come and gone. That's always the best show- the weather always works out and is gorgeous, the people are awesome and the food - YUM!

Theeennnnnn we had Art: Sunny Side Up .... Which was a show I did at War Memorial which was awesome as well. The thing that was the most special with Art Sunny Side was that I got to do it with my fave artist peeps - Phairytale & Doopie Moo's - and we all had a fun little section to call home... Also Penelope Lane was there to take some awesome pics... Check 'em Out:

Sara, Elisha and Me

Me and Susie

Lorna, Me and Cari

Soooooo... now it's just on to prepping for 2012. GCD has been steadily growing and I'm definitely looking forward to what next year will bring. No new art shows on the horizon yet (though I'm sure there will be soon) I'm kind of liking just focusing on etsy and improving techniques and getting organized for once!

Thanks for everything to family and friends - you've made this an awesome year and I couldn't do it without your endless love and support!

Love you and all the best - Tara

Everything Happens For a Reason...

In an amazing turn of events, my shop will be featured THIS weekend on Heartsy.... The same weekend that would have been Langerado.... Oh and might I also add that this weekend calls for rain in South Florida.

Someone up there is looking out for me.... :)


So starting tomorrow (or today if you're a Heartsy VIP) you can buy a voucher and spend $10 for $21 worth of GCD products... Become a VIP and you can receive $31 worth of products for $10... Pretty snazzy!

Join and enjoy!


http://www.heartsy.me

If you need me I'll be folding and gluing my little heart out this weekend...

Love!

News and Holiday Craziness.... Already!

It's been a while, so just taking a moment to stop by and catch up.... Hello!

It's been so crazy (in a good way) I can definitely tell the holiday season is upon us and because I'm already feeling the rush.... Such a good problem to have!

This is the year/season that GCD is going to grow grow grow....

So the first in a series of news... and the BIGGEST one... Is that a curator from the website heartsy.me contacted me saying that they want to feature my company. Heartsy has a reach of 150,000 people... that's right folks... 150,000. Think of them as basically Living Social for artists. I offer up vouchers for my store at a discount and they promote me to their followers. Sounds like a good deal no? I offered them a quote and they accepted so we're off and running. I will definitely be sure to let you know the date I'm being featured. Have to write a bio, new shop info and a couple of other logistics.... This is going to be great!

Check out Heartsy here:

http://heartsy.me
The second is that I've been accepted to Art: Sunny Side Up - Holiday Show. It's on 12/3 at War Memorial Auditorium and is sure to be a great time as well. There will be lots of local companies, artists and other fun holiday fare...

More info on the show here:

http://www.artsunnysideup.org 

I'm learning to get out of my comfort zone in a lot of aspects of my company. The familiarity of the same shows, the same products, etc. I'm trying out a lot of new styles, will be trying to get into new stores, etc. So be on the look out for all the new products!

The one product that I'm most happy to have on the horizon for the holiday season are the new small flower ball ornaments I've been making. They are mini-versions of the big kusudama flower balls I have shown before and look great stacked in a clear vase, hung or even to be used as Christmas Ornaments. They can be made custom to whatever book/style/color scheme you're looking for - Here are some examples:

Harry Potter Paper Flower Ornament

Map of South America Paper Flower Ornament

Beatles Sheet Music Paper Flower Ornament

All are $12.50 - The possibilities are endless..... Special Requests Welcomed!

That's all for now - will write more soon with the deets of the Heartsy feature - I'm so excited!

Not too shabby for the week that was supposed to have Langerado at the end of it... :)