Jingle, Jingle, Jingle

December 23, 2009

Michael, Santa & Marta

The Coopers

Ileana & Marta

Jingle, Jingle, Jingle



As the Christmas holiday actually approaches in Key West, the frenzy of activity and parties intensifies even more. Add to that the arrival of my mother Marta for her first Key West Christmas visit and the preparations for our own Christmas eve party and we have been quite busy as the holiday draws closer.

Dan & Ann

The man cave



Sunday night, our neighbors across the street, Dan & Ann, hosted their annual holiday party. Dan had worked to convert his garage into a wonderful bar, or man-cave where the drinks flowed liberally for the crowd of friends gathered for the party. Ann oversaw the kitchen and the wonderful assortment of incredible food. It was another in a long line of great holiday parties and the best news is that we simply had a quick stroll across the street to get home.







Dan & Ann’s party was simply the first in a busy week of partying and my mother Marta arrived on Tuesday afternoon in time to take part in the Key West holiday party circuit starting on her first night in town when we headed over to our friends Jim & Joanna Cooper’s huge holiday blow-out party.

Jim & Joanna

Marta, Kathy & Nadene

Penny & Rich

Jim and Joanna were featured earlier this year on the ABC television show “Wife Swap” during which they traded wives with a couple in Utah. The Coopers were portrayed in the show as the consummate Key West party family and they certainly lived up to that reputation with their fantastic holiday party which featured a chorus of young singers singing holiday songs, an appearance by Santa Claus and even some snow. It provided a wonderful introduction for Marta to many of our eclectic friends.







Wednesday, we spent much of the day making preparations for our own party squeezing in a few hours to head out to lunch at Salute and do a little shopping on Duval Street including Marta’s favorite store Fast Buck Freddies.

Marta

Kathy, Bobby & Marta

Blessed Community Gospel Choir

This evening, we heeded out to the amazing Casa Antigua, the fantastic home of Tom Oosterhoudt and his mother Mary Ann Worth, who were hosting a Christmas open house party with special guest Congresswoman Ileana-Ros Lehtinen, the Republican representative in Congress for South Florida.

Tom & Ileana

Clayton

Randy Roberts with Marta & Jeff

There was a virtual who’s who of the movers and shakers of the Key West community in attendance and Marta was in seventh heaven. The amazing home, with its fabulous lush courtyard and pool was the first residence of writer Ernest Hemingway when he arrived in Key West and is a fantastic spot for a party.

Xmas Party Extravaganza

December 21, 2009

Dancing at Blackfin





Xmas Party Extravaganza

Greta & Tom

As busy as our lives sometimes are, we very rarely experience an evening that we did this past Saturday when we made it to four separate holiday parties on the same evening. The evening began at 6 pm and we didn’t arrive back at home until after 3 am Sunday morning, which just so happened to be Kathy’s birthday. Nine consecutive hours of spending some amazingly fun times with many of our best friends; celebrating Kathy’s birthday and all manner of holiday party surprises and adventures.

Carl & Kathy

Eithne, Heidi & Kathy



We started the evening out at a holiday cocktail party at the home of our friends Heidi and Dennis. It was a great kick-off to a long night of holiday cheer. There was great food, libations and wonderful company in their beautiful home on Patricia Street. As much as we would have enjoyed staying longer, we had to leave to make it to the next batch of holiday parties.

Tom & Michael



Our next stop was at the Key Haven home of friends Tom & Greta Ford. Greta is one of the water aerobics instructors at FKCC and their party was more of the same merriment, More food, more friends and a few more drinks. It is always enjoyable to get to see how different people live and how they decorate for the holidays. While there, we were able to see Santa Claus visit, riding around on the back of a Summerland Fire truck through the Key Haven neighborhood is an annual holiday tradition.

Wedding Surprise!



We actually followed the truck towards our next destination, in a different section of Key Haven to the home of our friends Greg Elliott and Beth Wilson, who had a big surprise for us when we arrived, announcing that they had been married earlier in the week in a small sunset ceremony on Greg’s boat. What a great surprise to everyone! They had waited to announce it to their guests at the holiday party and we even got to see a beautiful slide show of photos from the wedding.



Graf, Eileen, Nadene & Trevor

The announcement certainly added to the festive celebratory mood of the evening. Congrats to Greg & Beth, we are so thrilled for you both! We stayed at this party until sometime after midnight before heading downtown for the final piece of the party puzzle.





Jolly, Natalia & Ian

Marky & Kathy

Our friends at Key West Burlesque had wrapped up their holiday show (which we saw last week) and to celebrate another huge success they had a wrap party at the new Duval Street restaurant bar the Blackfin Bistro. The place was packed with cast, crew, friends and supporters of the Burlesque troupe which is headed up by the luminous Tatah Dujour and Marky Pierson. We love the burlesque performers because they are so talented and creative and they certainly know how to have a good time.

Tatah & Marky





The party lasted into the wee hours of the evening and was still going strong when we finally called it an evening around 3 AM. Exhausted, yet thrilled to have shared a wonderful evening with so many of our friends. Kathy & I feel truly blessed to have such an incredible group of friends and to live in such a great community.



Kathy & Beth

More Holiday Fun

December 20, 2009

Our house





More Holiday Fun

This has been one of the busiest Holiday seasons that I can recall here on our little Island of Misfit Toys. Perhaps it is the added major projects at home with our new bathroom and the wonderful new Momo mural, or maybe we are just agreeing to do more and more every year, whatever the cause, it has been one hectic holidays.





Our home is finally completely decorated and the Christmas tree is up and full of ornaments. Kathy has been thrilled because our home has finally become a legitimate location on the conch train and trolley holiday lights tours. Each night, trainloads of festive holiday revelers pass by, often cheering loudly or even singing. It’s fun to spot friends or to hear your name called out from the passing trains. I have included a couple of photos of the house, which do not begin to do justice to our light display.

Momo finishes mural

The school semester at the Key West Preschool wrapped up with a wonderful little holiday performance by the children at the school. I went over to catch the show, which is always a hoot. The kids are so adorable; it is really fun to see them perform. Almost as fun, is to watch the masses of parents and grandparents as the jockey for the best angle to take photo and video. Kathy now has the next couple of weeks off for the holidays.







Thursday night was the monthly Walk on White gallery walk on White Street. This time we kicked off at the Holiday party for the Florida Keys Council of the Arts which was held at the beautiful White Street home of Richard & Suanne Hatch. The party was another huge success for the Arts Council as a huge crowd packed the place and hopefully raised a bunch of money.

Arts Council party



We walked down White and visited the holiday party at KONK AM radio station where they were serving Key Lime martinis, then headed down to the new Out of the Blue restaurant and Harrison Gallery before finishing up the evening at The Studios of Key West. They were hosting an exhibit by sculptor John Martini and an exhibition of paper-making by the Combat Art project. There was a ton of people out for the walk and everyone was in high holiday spirits.



Marky's studio

Lauren's studio

Back at home, Momo was putting the finishing touches on his mural in our living room. The article in the paper has generated a lot of interest and people have actually been dropping by to see it. We are thrilled with the finished project and happy to host such a cool project.