The Sunshine State

Business travels took me to Florida this fall and Sebastian was able to find a cheap Delta flight ($159 round-trip, can you believe it?) and join me for the weekend. We stayed in chic Bal Harbour - first, at the historic Sea View Hotel and next at the five-star ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa. Both lovely with their own charms! I'd stayed at ONE previously, but this was my first time at the Sea View.

Our first night, I enjoyed a great lychee martini at Makoto, Stephen Starr's new Japanese restaurant at the Bal Harbour Shops before sitting down to a late dinner at Carpaccio with Sebastian's friends from Paraguay who were staying in Miami for the weekend. The next day, we woke up early to head to South Beach. We spent the morning walking around Lincoln Road and then relaxed at the beach for a few hours, until Sebastian was stung by a swarm of jellyfish - poor guy.

All in all, it was a great weekend...

 Drinks at Makoto

Dinner with Tony and Nadhia at Carpaccio

 View from our room at ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa 

 Soaking tub at ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa

South Beach

 Lunch at Mister Collins

Welcome to Miami

Each year, my childhood friends and I get together for a girls' weekend reunion. Our friends travel to one location from North Carolina, Maryland, New York and New Jersey. This year's reunion was set in gorgeous Miami, Florida. My childhood friend's sister's fiance's family (yes...I'm sure you had to read that a few times to grasp the connection) has a huge condo right on Miami Beach and they offered it to us for a long weekend. I was shocked when we arrived -- the place was enormous and spotless and they even left us keys to their Prius!

This was the view from the balcony:

The first day was cloudy and chilly, so we made the most of our (rare) quality time together by whipping up some spicy Mexican food and catching up each others' lives.

We stopped by and wandered around the new Fontainebleau Hotel, which was a convenient six blocks from our home for the weekend. Even on a Sunday evening, the Blue Bar and LIV Nightclub were packed. What do these people do for a living? Nobody has to work on a Monday?

We headed to South Beach to explore for a day and, at the recommendation of my sister-in-law, we stopped by beachside bar "Wet Willie's" to check out the impressive selection of frozen drinks:

Such a great, relaxing trip. Over the course of the four days, I was able to catch up with old friends, explore a new city and complete an entire novel. What more can you ask for in a girls' getaway?