I'm in Miami, Beach! (Part 7)

This was my second time in Miami and my first time actually spending anytime snooping around it. For shame! Trillions of rappers wouldn’t name-drop it if it wasn’t worthy of it, so surely there are good things to be found here. Us ladies hopped into the rental and headed down (up, actually) to Bal Harbour (just miles from where the Canucks were practicing – squeeee!) where I wanted to drop some coin (surprise, surprise – can I pass this off as a late Christmas present for myself?) The mall itself was a sight to behold – surely one of the most beautiful I’ve been in.









For lunch, we dined al fresco at the mall’s Segafredo outpost.





Unfortunately the dining experience was ultimately upsetting, with our waiter bringing us not one, but two bottles of $8 water when all we asked for was water. $16 on water! He rebuffed our complaints with the statement that if we wanted tap water, we should have said regular water. Apparently simply saying water meant, “I want to spend $8 on a bottle of water”. Then he had the gall to automatically slap an 18% gratuity charge on the bill, which we did not end up paying. Lamest restaurant ever. Onwards to happier times – shopping.





I made the mistake of veering into the Hermes store.







Oh my! I seem to have wandered into a photoshoot.





After having enough hoity-toity to last us a while, we headed down into Miami Beach with no real plan, other than to absorb the south beach flair.

















And that was just one street.



We randomly happened upon Miami Ink. That was weird. It was just like a normal place except with people taking pictures of the storefront.













I did encounter some interesting things in Miami Beach…first off, there were these hideous belts that actually made their way to a storefront’s display.

I’m guessing…glam cowboy?

Then there was this guy practicing his karate moves and high-kicks by assaulting a poor palm tree along the boardwalk.



He surely had some sweet kicks and I was really intimidated. Sorry there’s no video. I didn’t want him to assault me and then I wind up on CSI Miami. Some crazy stuff goes down in Dade County.






I don’t know about you, but that’s the biggest beach I’ve ever seen.








Cars driving on the beach…is normal?









Once we finally decided to beat our way out of south beach, it was a hectic traffic situation that almost saw me willing to pull over and off myself. How frustrating! Worst traffic jam ever. But we eventually made it home and I decided to take pictures of my new purchase – my first Hermes scarf!




WHAT. They gave me last years’ ribbon? I’m so peeved. It’s January 8, 2012. Didn’t they get the memo? Sheesh.




Hand-rolled edges! Amazing. I became convinced that I needed an Hermes scarf after reading this post on one of my favourite blogs. Wahhh! I’m so weak.

Now, just to juxtapose that, we headed out for dinner to the cheapest fast-food restaurant nearby, Pollo Tropical. It was…interesting.





The next day was travel day. We ate lunch at Chili’s where we encountered some exuberant Canuck fans – all because of Marty’s cap.



They asked us if we were going to the game, which we sadly replied in the negative. Wahhh! And as we boarded the plane, the Canucks faced-off (in a losing game), and we headed back to the cold cockles of January in BC. Goodbye to the blue of the Caribbean! See you again…?

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Shyp (Part 6)

It’s weird how when I first get on a cruise ship, I’m like, “I have so much time to do ____.” And then, here we are, at the last full day on board and I’m lazy and didn’t do what I wanted. But there is always one thing I do make sure I do, and that’s eat.enough.for.everyone. Apparently the average person gains 10 lbs on a 7-day cruise. I don’t. Want to know how? I’m usually so poor that my cabin is on deck 1. And the food is on deck 8 or 9. That’s a heck of a lot of stairs. But it works. And then there was the chocoholic buffet.





I always go into it all worried that I’m going to overeat and then I actually start eating and bottom-out real quick. Too sweet, America.

The afternoon onboard was full of a lot of nothing (except the most exciting Canucks game of the season and the sports bar decided to be lame and not show it – WAHHHHH) and before we knew it, it was dinner, which we decided to enjoy in the dining room. It was real nice.










Does this sum it up? It should.


Practicing for playoffs. (sniff sniff)

Before the evening’s show, we headed back to our room to relax and drink the 1L of rum they brought to our room. Yay!




Uh-huh. We drank that rum.

The last night on board is always a little quiet and eerie because people are busy packing and hitting the hay early as we dock at some hideous hour.





Time rolled around for second supper, which for me means OD’ing on hot dogs loaded with sauerkraut.





There was a ghost showboat following our cruise ship each and every night of the cruise…it was always in the same spot in the water – far enough to not make out any discernable characteristics, but close enough to see that it wasn’t a cruise ship. You know, like the ghost showboats on Scooby Doo. Here is the best picture I got of it:


I think if we were just quiet enough, we could hear the organ playing…



After hitting the sack and waking up to disembarkation in droves, we took our time as we elected to self-debark. Apparently this means being the last off the boat. We finally got around to trying out the coffee from the gourmet shop and sitting on the promenade.







We finally managed to grab a taxi and roll our way back into the heart of Miami. We checked back into the hotel we stayed at before departure and we truly realized that our Christmas trip was coming to a close. This was so profound that Janelle even developed a face that displayed how she felt leaving the cruise behind:


”Sad cruise-ship face” – is what I call it.

So with dropping off our bags and picking up a rental, we were ready to check out the city. The men elected to stay behind and we ventured onwards…

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