We suppose we have some 'splainin' to do...

Well looky at those pretty pictures that Miss Vero posted yesterday with absolutely no explanation at all! What has happened to our gin soaked brain, have we finally hit our limit? Well, let's just say we are busy beyond our wildest imagination and hit the "publish" button instead of the "save" button and there y'all have it.

So let's get started catchin up...

The first picture was taken from a recent trip to the gorgeous city of Savannah, Georgia, where we were visitin' with some kin but always make a point to do touristy things. Since Savannah's liberal alkeehaul policy requires that y'all follow the local open container law strictly - meaning that you must have an open container with you at all times while wakin' around, we consider Savannah and New Orleans the only two great Southern cities outside of Florida (in our little ole humble opinion, which requires a good time be had). We'll get to some N'awlins pickins in a little bit but for now, back to Savannah.

As y'all can plainly see we are indeed wearing yet another pair of gorgeous and always fashionable, Bonanno Sandals! Since we missed our favorite show at Club One with the famous and fabulous Lady Chablis, we thought we'd take a touristy picture outside of Mr. Jim Williams' Mercer House. Now iffin any of y'all don't know the story of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" by now, for pity's sake get yourself down to the library or order it up on netflix, there's just no dang excuse!

After having the most delicious lunch at The Pink House (a tourist destination that should not be classified as such and because Miss Wilkes wasn't open), we stopped into yet another hot touristy spot, The Pirate House. Sitting at the bar and visiting with folks and who do y'all think we run into? Some kids from Vero, that's who! They were doing the incognito touristy thing too. Vero's own cutey pie, Miss Katie McKenna is second from the left!

We finished the evening in one of the greatest dive and hole in the wall bars of all time -Pinkey Masters! A whole lotta history just oozes out of the walls along with the nicotine and whiskey.
"The Pinkie’s clientele is also varied, hosting an assortment of incognito powerbrokers, drunken partiers, roughnecks, gays, SCAD students and professors, lots of news reporters, and an occasional off-course tourist." Our kind of place.

We 've written about Savannah before, so if y'all are thinkin' about makin' a trip - the links that we've just mentioned plus our previous post (just click on "Savannah, GA at the left on the "List") should provide all the info one would need for fabulous food and a rip roarin' good time.

When we got back in town, Miss Vero got a call from our good friend, best blogger, facebook conqueror and favorite real estate Queen, Miss Barbara Martino-Sliva, who invited us to the opening of the new Surf Club last Thursday night. Miss Barbara said this event was right up Miss Vero's alley and boyee, was she right! Yet another fabulous boutique hotel has opened up on our beach and the party was heavily attended. Spotted among the myriad of realtors and go-getters were County Commish, Big Ole Gary Wheeler with an entourage including the first-to-leave-'causes-he's gotta-get-up-early, Mr. Rhett Palmer. Another political dynamo in attendance (insert appropriate sarcastic tone), ex- Mayor and office squatter, Mr. Sabe Abell.

Open bar and fantastic food! We especially loved the bacon wrapped filets, enormous sliders and turkey coquettes. Our friends, The Ryan Larson group (perhaps you've seen them in this video?) provided the perfect music. Miss Vero can't wait to get back, we adore the decor of Dukes bar and the extraordinary rehab and magic that owner, Mr. James Clarke, the gracious Mr. Gary Hughes and their partners have performed to bring this property back to life. Check out their amazing website!
surfclubverobeach.com

We had a lovely tour of the resort and we spotted two publications prominently featured in the rooms (hence our unexplained photos). Y'all might recognize the ultimate source for local news verobeach32963!

Speaking of vb32963, we have a little more to say about news and bloggin and will deliver that post to our friends at Veronews.com as quick as we can.

But for now, let Miss Vero fulfill at least one promise and give y'all a little bit of WHO DAT! from a good friend of ours in N'Orleans. As y'all probably know by now, we detest the sport of football, but even our ole vinegar veined self could not help but watch The Saints win the Superbowl. Miss Vero knows many folks in NOLA and sure does love that town. It is takin all our strength not to get in the convertible and drive to that party right now! But alas, hunnies, there is plenty goin' on right here in our own little town and while we get our vodka bottles in a row, straighten out our mixers and get down to takin' care of some serious business, we will leave y'all with this fabulous video done by our good friend Mr. Carlo Nuccio to help celebrate their victory and the indomitable spirit of the deserving City of New Orleans!

MWAH!
missvero@live.com

OPEN THE WINDOW, STICK YOUR HEAD OUT AND YELL...!

"I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it:"

"I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

Ok, we feel better now.

While all that is true and "Network" is a brilliant movie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_(film)

Miss Vero must confine our self to little ole Vero Beach. However, we must confess, it was initially the sentiment of the character Howard Beale that got us bloggin along in the first place. And so, that is exactly what we did, we got up and stuck our head out of the cyberspace window and started shoutin about all the things in Vero and Indian River County that made us mad, glad but never indifferent.

And along the way, we found others who were happy to stick their heads out and do a little shout out with us. Then there are the folks who read us silently every day, the people obsessed with finding out the identity of Miss Vero and the small, yet highly paranoid, percentage who think we have some kind of diabolical agenda.

We did have some fun in 2008. Hearing that PJ Editors and Russ Lemmon sat around in a serious conference trying to figure out little ole Miss Vero was high-larious. Surely a big time newspaper wouldn't be frettin over a silly ole blog. Would they?

But, as an example, our post about our time on the set of a Paul Newman movie (Oct. 1st, "While We Were Out") and our picture with Mr. Newman, sure was a whole lot better than the story the PJ ran: http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/sep/30/woman-recalls-newmans-inlet-03/

And we were especially amused by Diana Foote, the so called, food critic of the PJ, who had us squeal with laughter when she considered wearing a fur to lunch in Vero. It didn't take too much time for our giggles to turn to disgust when we realized that this person would actually own a fur, that we caught her "lifting liberally" from another writer (May 22nd "Paid to Plagiarize?"), that she considered "eating Eeyore" in her imagination and then saw fit to share that thought. In print: http://missverosbeachhouse.blogspot.com/search?q=my+misery And that her editors see nothing wrong with sending her to the Olive Garden and allowing her children to tag along on the dining dime, is equally unforgivable.

If the PJ wants to slap their ubiquitous "we're looking out for you" sticker on something, why not let the food critic budget go to groceries for a deserving family for a week? One of the nicest thing a loyal Beach House fan did for Miss Vero was to create a widget for verobeachrestaurants.com, so that we could get a glance of many opinions of all the great restaurants in town. Brilliant - and thank y'all so much, Mr.Mark Landry.

So yes, we had our issues with the Press Journal, especially Mr. Russ Lemmon as the designated driver of Indian River County opinion. Poor Russ, with no sense of humor, it's like asking the nerd hall monitor to be in charge of the Prom night after party. But thankfully, we have our own Mr. Max Newport, who y'all know had a varsity letter and was captain of the debate team, to antagonize Russ. See? It's true, sometimes high school never ends.

Along the way, we did find those who kept their sense of humor. Our big surprise includes Mr. Milton R. Benjamin of verobeach32963, an inspiration as well as a gentleman. And, Mr. Rhett Palmer, who we totally disagree with, on oh so many levels, yet the man makes us laugh (again, on oh so many levels). Besides, what Southern belle could ever resist a man named "Rhett"?

Of course, this was a political year and local politics gave us a heck of a lot of material. Let's not forget, that the PJ picked and chose which stories to tell us, about which candidates they were influenced by. Yup, the tradition of good ole bubba politics was well honored in our local races. Just ask Kay Clem. Oh and Tom White. Did I forget Bob Solari? Did Debbie Mayfield resign yet? Is Jeff Barton retired? How Claudia Jimenez and Kevin Sawnick squeaked in, we'll never know. We suppose Charlie Wilson is not the political powerhouse he professes to be and all that posturing in Paladin's Hummer, was just a good ole boy's joy ride after all. We also suspect, that the PJ's unjust treatment and reports of Mr. Ken Daige, lead to the continued installation of the scissor toting Mr. Tom White (said scissors recently relinquished to the new mayor, Mr. Sabe Abell).

Were we surprised to see the Dodgers pack up and go, not to be replaced? Nope. In fact we got word from an incredibly reliable source and told y'all in our Nov. 9th post "Would Y'all Like Another Scoop?".

Piper laying off workers? If you've lived in Vero Beach longer than Russ Lemmon or for that matter, longer than some politicians, you'd know that this was inevitable. In fact we mention this in our very first post April 30th, "A Blog is Born".

So yes, we could continue on and on about the past, but that is not to our liking. No hunnies, Miss Vero never looks back, as fun as it may be and as much as we luuuuuvvvvvvv to say "we told y'all so!", Miss Vero would like to focus on the future, so here it is...

Miss Vero's Beach House will continue to let folks speak about what is on their minds and will initiate conversations that our local newspaper seems to overlook. It is Miss Vero's sincere belief that we are not "bullying" the local media, (as, we can only assume, we are being referred to in comments on Mr. Lemmon's ironically titled column "Crystal Ball Sees Mundane 2009), rather we are proddin them to actually do their job. http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jan/01/crystal-ball-sees-mundane-2009/?feedback=1#comments

We do want the Press Journal to do well, that's the point, we want to be proud of our local paper, as we once were. We want to talk "over the fence" with our neighbors, we want to reminisce about old Vero and give newcomers an appreciation and welcome to everything we love here, so that they may feel a connection and ownership, so that they understand the local politics, so that they are informed about their own futures, so that they value the fragile nature of our environment (AND HERE IS WHERE WE GIVE A HUGE THANK YOU TO LDOUGLAS). But without discussion, without presentation of factual information, without inclusion, it cannot be done.

Oh, and by the way, if y'all are newcomers, please leave that "when we lived back in blah, blah, it was better than Florida..." attitude at the door. Y'all wake up, cause Y'ALL LIVE HERE NOW, ADAPT.

Instead of trying to predict the future, Miss Vero would like to have hope for the future of our local newspaper. We'd like to work toward the future of citizen journalism and we'd like to have a goal for the future of more diverse contributors and guests at the Beach House. Because we realize (and we are constantly being told), that our little blog is a big thing around town and gettin bigger - folks now look for us everyday, cheer us on and support us in many ways. We feel that we now have a responsibility. It isn't about selling advertising or building a business, it's about sayin what what needs to be said, reporting things that wouldn't make it near the main stream (Like our personal favorite - Drag Queens!) and in a more serious vein, asking questions that should be answered by our local media and government.

Perhaps, somewhere along the line the "news" turned into police reports and advertising editorials, but when people of any community allow this to happen, they are silencing themselves. Instead of standing up and going to the window as it was done back in 1976 (and, we have to admit, that speech is still timely), it's time to sit down at the computer, open "Windows" and shout out, "WE'RE MAD AS HELL AND WE'RE NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

Miss Vero did, and it feels real good. So let's build a bigger Beach House in 2009! Everyone's welcome, even Mr. Lemmon.

Come on in, sit and stay awhile, pour yourself a cocktail, but don't take yourself too seriously...
MWAH!

missvero@live.com

P.S. Our #1 New Year's resolution is to answer our emails in a more timely manner. So if any of y'all wrote to Miss Vero in the past month or so (yes, we know how bad that sounds), expect some correspondence this weekend. Really.