Mardi Gras ... Riverboats.. New Orleans... Winter Winter Go Away... Come Again Another Decade...

Lord have mercy...what did we do to bring on the wrath of the Ice Queen? More than 50% of the 48 states that make up the Continental US... are covered in some sort of wintry mix in MARCH... Note that Icy Mix goes as far south as Louisiana and South Carolina.

The weather warnings from the South's Iconic Tourist Trap aka "South of the Border" asks people to drive carefully due to "slick spots"...note discussion from the NWS for that particular region.

Statement as of 3:59 AM EST on March 04, 2014

... Residual slick spots may be encountered this morning...

Although no additional precipitation of significance is expected
today... residual slick spots on untreated roadways and bridges
are possible. A surface that looks wet may actually be ice. Motorists
should expect these conditions... use extra caution... keep your
speed down and allow more than the usual space between vehicles.

Temperatures in the 20s early this morning will only slowly
recover... reaching near and just above freezing late this morning
through midday.

Yup...South of the Border or as the locals call it S.O.B. has slick spots and talking on the highway not the $16.95 tee shirts they be selling... We stop at S.O.B. a lot and it always amazes me as I wonder what "he" was thinking. If you want to know .... check out the link below.

http://www.thesouthoftheborder.com/history/

My kids have a better time at South of the Border than I do. My busy mind can't handle that much busy, I think too much.

My kids party..they were born partying. They make any and all moments dramatic. I wonder where they get it from...  Their writer-dancer mother or their actor father ... they do know how to party and have fun. And, for most South of the Border is that place to go to bum around... find a clean bathroom on a road trip, buy fireworks and mess up your diet really badly....   Growing up South of the Border was where the Miami kids raced up Smokey and the Bandit style to buy fireworks for July 4th and bring em back to Miami where in those days you could not buy fireworks. New Orleans was where the same kids hauled ass in pick up trucks when Miami was part of the South and partied at Mardi Gras and brought back loves beads they sold to the same kids who they sold fireworks to in June before school was out.

Telling you there is no where in the world to grow up better than Miami. You got it all and you can hop on a plane anytime and fly anywhere in the world if you really need some snow or autumn colors. We don't need spring as Miami has Spring 365 days a year. It's why they call it FLORIDA...

Flowers all the time.........

http://levimeyer.com/22666/dsp_agent_page.php/175250 (check it out.. buy a house.. live the dream)

So...if you want to escape this winter or all winters..head South or Southeast depending where you live and head for the beach. Yeah, am kind of missing the kids but hey how often do you get to watch the sun glisten off of the ice on the deck?? Well.. a lot this particular winter. But, I'll be heading out soon to New Orleans for the Mariposa Annual Catastrophic Claim Conference on a riverboat where I am the keynote speaker..  there better not be ice in the Mississippi River or I will really wonder what goes with this winter. It seems Anything Goes ... anything and everything goes this winter. 

Seriously the whole event is on a Riverboat. If you are an adjuster.. how can you miss this event?

Hop on aboard... check out the link below:

http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e7b3zea3f5cdb355&llr=8wkyw4jab

Just remember the old adage about SPRING... no matter how bad the weather... spring will always come. For me that spring will be in Florida where I hope to see Royal Poinciana trees blooming. They are imports and one of the only trees that lose their leaves in Miami... 

But today... today is Fat Tuesday. Mardi Gras and all that means to kids who grew up with a knowledge of that as a national holiday ... Okay maybe more a Southern Holiday? It means I am eating something decadent today, drinking honey bourbon over ice cream... oh I mean eating ice cream with honey bourbon over it and some pralines broken up with a sort of Vegetarian Jambalaya (yes they do make that) and listening to jazz today. What about you? What are doing??

http://www.nola.com/live/

Note it is one of the coldest Mardi Gras as the temperatures did dip down quite a bit, but have a Mardi
Gras drink in a Hurricane Glass and trust me.. you won't notice the chill.. nothing warms a person up faster than Dixieland Jazz and some nice, fine libation.  Find one here.. make it non-alcoholic if you need...but don't forget to play some jazz... there is no compromising on the jazz..  

http://allrecipes.com/howto/top-10-mardi-gras-cocktails/

You can watch Mardi Gras live on that Nola link or you can go out... get something special for the day to celebrate and remember... after Mardi Gras comes Spring .... really... honest. I promise. Maybe not right away this year, but soon enough it will be spring. And, if you really hate winter and waiting for the spring. Move south and buy a place in Miami. Hey... seems all of Putin's biggest millionaire friends buy there? And, THAT is the secret of Miami... all news stories always have a Miami Link in them.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/sanctions-push-to-punish-russia-over-ukraine-gains-steam

Quoting Marco Rubio, who I like because he is a fellow Miamian who grew up just down the block from where I spent a good part of my childhood before my parents moved to Miami Beach.. 

"“The Obama administration should immediately add more Russian officials to the Magnitsky list, which places travel bans and other sanctions on them — something President Obama failed to do in December,” Rubio wrote. “Living in Miami, I have seen in recent years the wave of Russian tourists coming to our city and state to spend money and buy property. Many are government officials or allies whose wealth stems from allegiance to Putin, and we should limit their ability to travel here.”"

Yes...Virginia there is ALWAYS a Miami Link... 

So... can all those rich Russians be wrong? Yup.. missing Miami today. But, I'll be okay because I am going to celebrate Mardi Gras...and then Purim (keep thinking maybe should go to Miami for that... hmnnn) and then back to Miami in May. 

Winter Winter Go Away... just remember what Carl Fisher said so well back in the 1920s.. "It's always June in Miami!"

http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e7b3zea3f5cdb355&llr=8wkyw4jab

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh9WayN7R-s

One of the greatest pure American wonders is the American Musical. And, the first American musical was Showboat brought to the stage by Florenz Ziegfield. Showboat birthed all those other musicals that we know and love so much And, what did Ziegfield do back in the 1920s?  He took a risk... He produced a musical play... he did one of those adaptations you hear about on the Oscars. He took a great book by Edna Ferber and put it on the stage as a show based around one theme...unlike anything ever done. Showboat also confronted the race issue before it was popular to talk about in Hollywood. In fact.. Hollywood didn't really exist back then.... Showboat confronted the issue of deadbeat dads .. really if you look at it that way. Showboat confronted alcoholism and gambling addiction. A much overlooked moment in American theater history. First the book... then the musical on stage...then in the movies. The Arts never fail to explore the real issues facing America... we as artists don't stick our heads in the sand. 

http://www.npr.org/2013/05/07/181901827/show-boat-steams-on-eternally-american

http://www.npr.org/2013/05/07/181901827/show-boat-steams-on-eternally-american

A scene from the musical... 1927... 

http://www.mardecortesbaja.com/2009/03/16/a-show-business-circle/

If you are stuck home today waiting for the snow and ice to melt in 53% of the country... check it out and learn more about the American Musical. Or ... look online and buy a house in the sunshine. Or... remember to stop next time at South of the Border and take lots of great Selfies to put up on Facebook :)

Besos Bobbi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo6lPifGnGA

Ps... Really check it out.. buy something... he's going to become a father soon... he could use the money :) and he knows Miami... my family's been in Real Estate in Miami in one way or another for 4 generations. If you want to learn about Miami.. learn it from a native. He's also a very good writer.

http://www.communitynewspapers.com/south-miami/blame-irma-la-douce-for-coconut-grove-art-festival/

http://levimeyer.com/22666/dsp_agent_page.php/175250