Live from Miami Beach...where the waves took me under 😳

ON STAGE with Elton John!!

Many moons ago, I interviewed a member of Elton John's crew when I was a rookie reporter in Tallahassee, Florida. Given that he moved a lot with the band and I moved every few years as I changed TV markets, we lost touch for more than 20 years! A few months ago, I read an article in Rolling Stone where the reporter had interviewed my long lost friend, Rick. I decided to write to the reporter and asked him to pass my contact information to Rick, hoping to reconnect. Within 24 hours, we were back in touch as if no time had passed. 

Rick is awesome and treated my friends and me to an enormous surprise during a weekend girls' trip to Vegas this weekend. We were taken onstage with Elton John! Take a look from my point of view: 

Chutzpah

Today I received my bracelet from My Intent Project. It is a custom bracelet (and necklace) shop online where you can create your mantra word and they will engrave it into one of their jewelry pieces for you. I chose "Chutzpah." It is a word I have lived by for a a few decades. Ironically, when the Dallas Business Journal featured me in their "40 Under Forty" series years ago, the headline that they used was "Reporter's got chutzpah." Oh.So.True!

Year #2 with the Gleneagles BOG

Another year with the Gleneagles Board of Governors!

Our Club renovated our golf course and being a Board member gave me a first-hand look at the undertaking of redesigning a course. Seeing a set of blueprints transition into reality and watching it come to fruition has been rewarding and educational. 

Hurricane Irma Heading For Caribbean & Florida

Hurricane Irma is barreling towards the Caribbean and Florida. St. Thomas is the little red dot on the left in this graphic. MANY prayers to everyone in its path. I am in touch with our friends living in St. Thomas. More to come...

Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas

One of my favorite places in St. Thomas is The Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas,​ a shul that my brother, Sherman​, introduced me to six years ago. It was founded by Sephardic Jews from Spain and is known for its history and sand floors. I buy much of my Judaic jewelry here too. 

Let's take a look inside...

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The Cool Side of the Caribbean

While March is our favorite time to be in the Caribbean, we will take a last summer trip in July sometimes before the true kickoff to school in August. July obviously brings intense heat and we needed a reprieve from the sun and sunburn. 

Magic Ice  in Charlotte Amalie is a great place to get out of the heat. The temp is 25 F!

St. Thomas: Home Away from Home

Every year, we spend a few weeks at our place in St. Thomas. Spring is our favorite time to go, but we make a trip in late July to give the little one his last "big trip" before school starts. For us, it is simply an excuse not to leave the same lounge chair for a week. 

It's a 🍍 Party!!

WELCOME to the Gleneagles Board of Governors

This month I became a member of the Board of Governors at Gleneagles Country Club. There are a lot of exciting things ahead, as we are about to reconfigure our golf course during this time too. It is a double-duty job because I will also represent our Entertainment Committee on the Board. I was elected Chair of the Entertainment Committee last November. Ironically, I had not thought about running for the Chair position when two people put my name into the nomination pool. Needless to say, I am excited to get started in this dual role and more than happy to represent the Entertainment Committee to the Board and represent the Board in the community!

You Gotta Have Friends!

I have the most incredible group of friends 💕 It is a beautiful night, dining al fresco to celebrate my birthday! 🎉Libras celebrate all month long 😊 ❤️

Chase Alexander

I am excited about my new business, Chase Alexander Media Consultants. It has been in the works for a little while, and once I officially launched, it picked up business rather quickly. It is the perfect blend of my TV news and healthcare public relations background. I am now representing clinical areas that range from alternative medicine to psychology and neurosurgery. Best of all, I can tailor my hours.  
                   

                  Follow us on Facebook. 

There is another big thing on the horizon, which has kept me very busy this year (thus, the blogging hiatus). It is an exciting time, indeed, and happy that it is all falling into place as planned.

Model Mayhem

Hiatus has been good to me.

It has been a crazy past few months, but I thought I would do a quick check-in.

One thing keeping me busy is my little model, Cameron Alexander. 

Here is one of his latest shots. He is quickly transforming from toddler to "little boy" before my eyes!

While I am still holding out that he will be an entrepreneur or a surgeon, he may just land in front of a camera lens as a future career. As long as he does not land behind a TV anchor desk!

Hello, Hiatus!

All good things must come to an end, even if it is temporary. Like many fellow bloggers, I have decided to take a break after six fab years of various preppy & delightful blog entries. I have a couple of big projects brewing right now, which will need much of my attention for the time being. Of course, I will be back along the way to tell "y'all" about them!

THANK YOU for following me over the years. It has been a wonderful blogging journey and I look forward to jumping back onto the preppy debutante again one day. I have not abandoned all social media and will continue my little updates on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and I recently joined Instagram. Hopefully, I will see you in the other social media circles for now!

-rikki

"I've Been to the Mountaintop" 

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

LIGHTS OUT: U.S. Fashion's Night Out

Many of you woke up to the email below this morning.

For the past four years, women across the country planned their Ladies' Nights Out around one of the biggest fashion events of the year (outside of Fashion Week), Fashion's Night Out. 

I have spent a few years blogging about Fashion's Night Out from Neiman Marcus in the Chicagoland area, to the Dallas area Neimans. 

FNO will be on hiatus this year (insert very long, sad face here) stateside to give retailers the opportunity to focus on other events. Meanwhile, it will continue abroad in Europe, Asia and South America, among other continents, and will be spearheaded by Vogue. 

Fashion's Night Out was always a great event to attend and Neimans consistently did a stellar job. It will be missed this year, but I am sure the Girls & I will simply find another reason to get together for clothes and cocktails.