the "finally" bounty

i too woke up early this morning! i was first planning on going to a running group in hollywood, florida w other people training for the 1/2 marathon (except they are doing the ft lauderdale feb. version), but decided not to set my alarm. i still was up by 8.45, so decided to instead do my own run. i headed out in shorts and a tank top, naturally, but found a *cold* front had moved in. i.e., it was 65 degrees and windy. nonetheless, i braved on. it actually made the run better. for the first time, i brought a bottle of water with me, which i continued to metaphorically pat myself on the back about the whole time. the best part of the run, other than the beauty of the morning, the hot sun, cool breeze, and sparkling ocean, was that i was keeping pace with an older runner for the entire way back (about 4 miles back up the beach). sometimes he would get ahead, pass me, and then i would do the same to him. towards the end, he passed me again, turned to me and said, "great run!". to which i replied the same to him. it really started off the day on a lovely note. 

after some laziness, i tackled yet another supposed "farmers market". now now, you know, ive become bitter as the only farm products i ever see down here are grapefruits and lemons/limes, maybe papayas, mangoes, and guava. dont get me wrong, i love that stuff, but sometimes a girl just craves the bounty plenty of union square. so after getting momentarily lost, not being able to take any right turns for several blocks, etc, i finally got to the vagabond market. (read that to see a little crazy miami controversy behind it via the architecture). its a new flea market/farmers market at an old hotel in miami proper, where apparently frank sinatra used to hang. dont ask me. this city is full of that kind of crap. 

anyway, after being so franticized by the traffic and getting lost, i was so pleasantly surprised when i walked in and saw a handful (albeit a small handful) of vendors selling farm-fresh-local herbs, eggplant, string beans, lettuce, tomatoes (ALL organic- amazing!), fresh breads, pastries, empanadas (this is miami you know), flowers, and one guy selling top-notch argentinian organic beef.  i could barely believe my ears after getting some beautiful eggplants for $2 total, whereby the lady at the stand (she was an older lady who would have been naturally beautiful, but you could tell there was some workage done), handed over a bag of string beans gratis, since she said she didnt want them to go to waste. let me tell you, ive been to my fair share of f-markets, and this has never happened. then i met the tomato guy, who told me all about their natural goodness, where i got 4 farm-fresh beauties for $1. i mean.... where have these people been since sept. 15?? sad to say, the beef was all sold out, but theres always next weekend. below, some photogs of my bounty.

miami finally did me good.

i almost put this happy feeling into jeopardy, when i decided to try & hit up the forever-21 up in the aventura neighborhood, which, sadly, was in a mall. even worse? everyone was doing valet parking. i still dont get that. and there were no spots. i trolled around for about 10 minutes, worried the entire time that i was going to get hit since crazy parking lot drivers are really common. i finally managed to get inside the mall, where apparently, it was already december 25th. there was a christmas land, all christmas music playing, full of hundreds of people shopping. (do they know that its only nov. 16????).  finally i approached the meca of trashy low-cost fashion, and was so relieved- it was chock full of polyester goods that i could not refuse. i wont waste time discussing, but i must say-- forever 21 outside of ny is much less intimidating, crowded, loud or annoying, PLUS, they had a wholly-separate accessory store where i was able to purchase a hundred more crappy necklaces that i love, and knock-off raybans. i meannnnnnn, happiness is at an all time high over here. all i need is my own science themed bar, i tell you, and id be golden!!

this happiness then projected me right into mopping my entire apt. it is now squeaky clean, there is a pot of turkey-bean chili bubbling on the stove top, and my only regret is that weekends arent longer.  my eggplants say, goodnight sunday, and thank you.

xoxo