25th Birthday Celebrations!

Last week, I was in Miami prepping for Taste of the Nation South Florida - which happened to fall on the day before my birthday. It was our first year doing the event in South Beach (we'd done it for 25 years in North Miami and 23 years in Fort Lauderdale, but decided to combine them into one big event this year), and it was a huge success! The venue, Loews Miami Beach Hotel, was beautiful and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Check out this welcome from the Loews - they certainly know how to treat their guests!

Sunrise the morning of the event. Rise and shine!

During the tech run through, I made them stop so I could take a picture of Ruthie's 15 seconds of fame. (She's the background on my computer - not part of our program. Duh.)

We don't drink during our events (for obvious reasons), but we are allowed to join in on the fun during the Chef After Party. This event's Chef After Party (or as I told people - The Hotel's Birthday Bash for Me!) was held at SOAK at the Loews, and was super fun.

Since it was my birthday at midnight, I obviously had to have an after after party.

Needless to say, I was a little tired the next morning as I boarded my flight back to Atlanta to celebrate my birthday with family and friends.

I somehow rallied for dinner with Adam and the parents at Ray's on the Creek - delicious!

Post-dinner we went out in the Marietta Square with our friends! After a quick stop at Hemingway's and Johnnie MacCracken's, we ended the night at (where else?) Mulligan's.

Let's end this post with this gem. We have some "ethnic" neighbors who have lost their dog. Puddle = Poodle.