Blum's Dirty 30...

Quite possibly the BEST long weekend vacation of my life thus far!!! The planning for a trip to celebrate the life of my very dear friend started months ago. We talked about a few places that she was thinking about venturing to and Miami kept making an appearance. So, MA and I decided we would make a fb invite for Blum's Dirty 30 to Miami. Turns out that only the three of us could make the trip and I almost had to miss out due to my car troubles. Thank you baby Jesus for making it all work out!

From the plane ride to Miami till the plane ride home it was just one crazy situation after the next. Making for great memories that I think back on and wonder, "Did that really happen!!" YES and YES. Amazing, ridiculous, belly laughing GOOD TIMES! It really was the best place to celebrate a 30th birthday. A new decade that I am positive is going to be even better than her 20's if the start of her 30's is any indication to the rest of it. A time when she really knows what she wants and doesn't have those insecurities that come with your 20's. I'm excited for her future because I just know so many amazing things are to come!!!

Back to the trip:

The hotel that was stayed in was amazing and I recommend anyone wanting to spend time in South Beach to stay at the Shore Club. You won't be sorry! The lobby was even beautiful and smelled so delish. The outside area leading to the pool made you feel like you were in the tropics and the pool itself was really nice with beds and chairs all around. You can spend your days by the pool where it is pretty much a party each day, where people who aren't staying at the hotel will come to and at night they have a club at the hotel and the outside area gets filled with people and music. You wouldn't have to leave the hotel if you didn't want to, but of course we had to explore!

The first night we met some guys who were Miami veterans and offered to take us to a club. Little did we know that they went to college with the guy who owns most of the clubs...score! We ended up getting in VIP at club Set and spent four hours dancing until our feet hurt. Rather I danced until I got serious blisters, Blum spent most of her time dancing and MA was time traveling ;) After the club I convinced most of our group to take a dip in the ocean. That night didn't end until 6 am.

The next day was A-mazing and we were pool side until close to sun down. We met some super fun people and a few guys who were also celebrating their 30th! The sun was shining, music blaring, and drinks flowing all day. I would really like to live that moment over and over again! I also wish that I could share the pics on here, but STILL haven't figured out how to. Anyways, the day really was amazing and after a few hours napping and getting ready, we had another ridiculously free and fun night! Met some awesome Brits in the outside bar of our hotel and played a few hours of Never Have I Ever! Best ice breaker ever!!! Then around 2am it was time to go to a club. Yup...you read right...2 AM! Ridiculous right? I mean, totally not my normal life, but it's Miami and the night life doesn't really get going until way late. We were living the Miami life and doing it spectacularly, if I may say so myself. This night did not end until 8:30 am.

Day 3: All day at an Irish Pub that wasn't very Irish watching college football and drinking. Had to take a break from the sun. A nice stroll on the beach to watch the sunset. Which, aside from the late night/very early morning dip in the ocean, was the only beach time we had in Miami. We had our first actual meal out that night as well at the restaurant Nobu (delish sushi...go there if you find yourself in South Beach) and then I had to call it a night around 1 am because fiby was being rude and wanted to join me on the trip! The girls had an interesting night at the club in our hotel where MA really thought she was getting free drinks from an Italian Mob king (I still get a good laugh thinking about it...sorry MA).

On our last day in paradise we didn't have to head to the airport until 4pm, so we had plenty of time to play poolside. It was a great afternoon and a perfect end to an amazing trip! At the airport we had to part ways with Blum because she was flying on a different airline. After saying our goodbyes and the long-ish line through security (where I got selected to go through the body scan...I've seen images of those before and they leave little to the imagination! Hope Mr. Airport Security man got what he wanted), MA and I had one last adventure at one of the airport restaraunts. We each got a super fruity cocktail to really end Miami right and started conversation with a random guy who plopped next to me. If you ever want to start talking to a stranger who orders a bloody Mary at 5 in the afternoon just say, "oh so you're REALLY hungover huh?". It worked like a charm. So much so that we ended our convo before he had to catch his flight back to Texas with "We're in love, let's fly to Vegas next weekend and get married!" and this was even after I laughed at him and said "well that's embarrassing" when he shared that during his first real jujitsu fight (I know there is a name for this and I can't remember it for the life of me) he got knocked out on the first punch. He even gave me a big kiss...TWICE! Because he liked my soft lips so much he had to have another. His words...not mine. AMAZINGLY random and superb send off to end my stay in Miami!

Thank you Blum for picking Miami and being 30 and fabulous!!!! Best.trip.EVER!

Row row row your boat...

Gently down the stream. OR, paddle your ass off so you don't go for a swim in the FREEZING river! I just got back from a great quick getaway; whitewater rafting in the Nantahala River in North Carolina. I am already dreaming up plans for a return trip!

The weekend getaway was much needed! Ended up meeting quite a few new people and probably not the crowd of people that I normally hang around, but for the most part all of them were fun. I could have done without one or two of them. A group of 13 of us stayed in a 3 story "cabin" that was gorgeous and the view was AWESOME! I wish I could share the pics that I snapped from my phone...one day I'll figure it out. But off of the middle/main floor was a wrap around porch and you could sit out there and see the luscious mountains surrounding you.

Saturday we spent the morning whitewater rafting. Had to take two rafts and my raft was the fun raft...OF COURSE ;). We spent the three hour trip laughing, whooping up a storm, going down some of the rapids sideways or backwards (on purpose...gotta switch it up sometimes), trying to play bumper boats with the other groups raft(I don't think they liked that so much), and taking almost every comment someone said to a sexual place or just being very blunt. It was a BLAST! The only downside was the fact that the water was cold freezing. My feet were so cold that about 10 min in I couldn't feel them anymore and when we would hit a rapid sideways (felt like we always went my side leading the way) my entire bottom half would get drenched. You can imagine what other parts of my body temporarily lost feeling! But, freezing water temps aside, it was quite the fun experience and one I definitely want to do again and again and again.

That afternoon a small group of us went on a hike near our cabin (the majority stayed behind to enjoy the hot tub) and the views were breathtaking. Being surrounded by the beauty of nature is an intoxicating experience for me. Always has been for as long as i can remember. My racing thoughts take a time-out and I can just be in the moment. I imagine this is what meditating would feel like if I could just master it. I'm pretty sure the hike was the highlight of my trip. Don't get me wrong the rafting was f-ing amazing and fun, but I was in need of some soul soothing and the hike did the trick. I definitely need more soul soothing! I will be looking for good trails to explore closer to me.

Today Fiby has been making me suffer for having too much fun! A price I'm willing to pay to ENJOY my life. I'm just wishing that I could go a few hours without feeling anything...