If you don’t know this about me, I was a ballerina for 13 years, and quit around the time that we moved to Orlando. One of my biggest regrets in life is that I did not enroll in a dance school in Florida, but that’s besides the point.

On Friday, I was able to check out the Don Quixote performance at the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts with Halston. The inner ballerina in me was ecstatic and I had to pull out my New Year’s Eve outfit from the closet, because it gave me serious ballerina vibes.

Kitri was played by Adiarys Almeida, a ballerina who at 22 was the first Cuban female dancer to be a finalist at the USA International Ballet Competition in 2006. I love when Hispanics are represented on stage, and even more when they happen to be from Puerto Rico or Cuba! I’m not sure how else to describe her dancing other than so alive. Every pirouette on her pointed toes, her flirtatious fan dance as she teased Basilio and even when she was ignoring the advances of Gamache were on pointe (pun very intended) with her character.

It is rare for me to find myself, hands clasped over my chest, smiling and completely immersed in something (and not thinking about whipping my phone out to take pictures) but Orlando Ballet really outdid themselves this time along with the beautiful sounds of the Orlando Philharmonic. If you haven’t made it out to an Orlando Ballet performance, their next one will be Beauty and the Beast on April 29-May 1. In the meantime, I’ll be signing up for ballet classes and reliving the glory days! 

Saturday took us to Tampa to celebrate sweet Savannah’s first birthday! I’ve never witnessed a baby eating a smash cake as daintily as she did. She’s such a little princess and her eyelashes are on fleek (are kids still saying that?).

We also took a detour to visit the new Warby Parker store at the Oxford Exchange. If you’re familiar with the setup of the market, you know that the bookstore used to take up the entire front lobby entrance, but now the glasses store occupies half of the area. I’ve been a fan of the brand for a few years now (proud owner of two pairs!), always recommending it to friends, so I’m psyched that they opened up a store close to home. Now instead of ordering five glasses for the at-home try-on, I can spend hours trying on different frames at the store!

That evening we discovered and hit up a new local favorite: Black Rooster Taqueria. The space is small, so make sure you get there a bit before 8:00 p.m. to beat the crowd and be able to actually snag a table!

Sunday was spent brunching with the best around downtown Orlando, celebrating my coworker’s birthday. We started off popping bottles at Kasa‘s brunch (Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. – $32 all you can eat and drink, $27 to just eat or $15 to just drink), sipping mimosa flights at Eola Wine Company ($10 flights!) and suffering from a brain freeze  a the Pop Parlour were I proceeded in dropping a frozen pop on my feet because I’m five. Like I said, brunching with the best.

This week will be another hectic one, trying to wrap up different projects before heading off to Brazil on Sunday, and Miami the week after next. Can’t wait to get my Hepatitis A and B shots tomorrow morning and cry about it for a few days. Bear with me, I’m only 24.

How was your weekend? 

xx