MIA

My brother complains from time to time. The latest complaint is that I haven't blogged in a while. But I have an excuse. I've been MIA. Literally. I've been in Miami.

Chris and I joke around that sex is for poor people. We must be right, because since this recession hit I've been doing nothing but shopping for babies and going to baby showers. The latest victims of the recession are my brother Joey and sister-in-law Patty, and my old friends Ornit and Jordan (well, they're not that old). They are both expecting girls this summer (May/June), and both decided to have their baby showers in March. Two weekends ago was Patty's shower. It was a quick visit and for Miami the weather was very cold and windy. I flew down alone on Friday morning and came back on Sunday afternoon. It was a whirlwind of commuting, unpacking, shopping, mani/pedi, wrapping, primping, baby-showering, packing, and back at the airport. Patty had a beautiful shower at her family home in Kendall with killer food and games. I won both and got to take home prizes, which made me happy because I was tired and cranky. We snuck out had dinner at Joey's house with the family. Chris picked me up at the airport on Sunday and all I remember is crashing out on the guest room bed. I know I worked the following week, but I have no memory of it.

Patty & Me

Last Friday Chris joined me on my second trip to Miami, since he was on Spring Break (woo-h00!). This time we both stayed with Joey and Patty while they still have guest room furniture. This will soon be swapped out for nursery furniture. We had pretty much the worst flight ever coming in because we flew into Ft. Lauderdale and were expecting Ornit to pick us up with Lauren. It was a turbulent flight due to bad weather in FLL. We circled for 30 minutes before stopping in MIA to refuel. This was particular frustrating to us because Miami was our intended destination. We were not allowed off the plane, yet we could see Cory's office from our window. Three hours later we departed MIA for our 8 minute flight to FLL. Then we waited another 30 minutes for a gate. We were starved and exhausted. We had a meal with our friends then rented a car and drove down to Miami. Sunday was the baby shower in Delray Beach (almost 2 hours north of Miami), which was nice, and I got to spend the day with Lauren, which was a big treat for me since I hadn't seen her in two years. When I got back to Miami from the baby shower I met Chris with his folks and we went to a show to see Klaus' new band, and Chris joined them onstage for a few Agency songs. It was a lot of fun to see old friends. We had a brilliant visit with the family and did some fun tourist stuff. Monday we drove down to Islamorada for lunch with mom and Joey and on Tuesday we went to the Historical Museum of Southern Florida to see the Crime in Miami exhibit. I wondered if they had anything from the time my car got broken into on South Beach in 2002 or when I got mugged in Coconut Grove by a hobo in 1998, but no such luck. Apparently they had a lot on the Cocaine Wars in the 80's and another load of stuff on prohibition-era crimes with Al Capone and such. I got two birthday parties while we were there, one from the Druekes and another from my folks and went to Fox's Lounge with Klaus. We came back home on Wednesday, and again we were delayed by the airline. Amber picked us up at the airport and took us home where we found Margie and Jake. While we had a smashing good time during our break, we were relieved to be back home. I'm only now beginning to unpack. I start work again tomorrow and I don't know if I have any more clean clothes.

So tired of being on Jetblue

View of J&P's pool from a chaise lounge

Lauren, Ornit and me

Pier in Islamorada

Mom and me in Islamorada