friends!

perhaps somewhat out of routine in these last few days, ive been busy with-- (can you believe it)-- friends!

thursday morning i woke up feeling quite sick, but made myself go to work bc i had happy hour plans with two girls who work in the office next door. while i was pretty touch-and-go all day, by the time we got together, i was feeling much better. we had drinks on lincoln road, which is a pedestrian-street, no cars allowed, full of lots of outdoor seating, chain stores, and restaurants/bars. it probably sounds better than it actually is- i find it horribly annoying and full of european tourists most days, but i was happy to sit outside at this german beer hall and have a large stein of heffiweisen. (in my defense, it was nothing like zum scheinder-- i swear). the two ladies, rachael & ashley, were wonderful to hang out with - we laughed a ton, which is always a good sign- & we made plans to have a bake-out at rachael's on wednesday night, in anticpation for whatever cupcakes she had promised to bring for the forthcoming food week at work.

holiday decorations around the town

as you can tell, we dont have any actual trees, so the palm tree trunks are strung with lights.

friday night i got myself to bed super early so that i could tackle the holiday 10k at 7am on saturday (you can see me in a pink-shirt at the link in the third photo. ha!). thankfully it all worked out- although it was a schlep to get there (in the dark!), the sun finally came out a little before the race started. there was a fair amount of people, some running the 5k, others, the 10k. and we were off. i managed to keep pace with two other women: one right in front of me, and the other on my left. it definitely felt like i was pushing myself, but i had no music, and no way to know how well i was doing- unlike in central park for a 10k, here they didnt set up any kind of timing-devices to let you know your time- although i guess it was my own fault for thinking southern miami would be that focused. it was also surprisingly cold for miami- about 53 degrees when i was on my way there, although it did warm up so that it was a cool 62 or so once the race began. still, you should have seen these people all bundled up. no one is used to it here!

the race began, and i struggled my way through it sans ipod- and managed to come in 6th place in my age group at an 8.18 min/mile~pretty exciting. i wasnt expecting it, but was glad that i did it, for sure.

for the rest of the day, i was super exhausted, but made myself take a drive to hollywood, florida in search of a middle eastern shop. in reality, it was a long time, and a small store, but i was able to get a hunk of feta lopped off a larger piece, as well as some dolmas and eggplant in tomato sauce- just like sahadis. hooray!

on the way to hollywood

i spent the rest of the day mostly immobilized on the couch and in bed, watching a documentary about the cocaine trade in miami in the 70s&80s. it was very interesting, actually, although a little on the cheesey-side, in a weird way. everything is so 1980s, which is bizarre, since it was released in 2006. but it told this amazingly interesting story about how miami was this cocaine haven in the 70s, with tons of trafficing, murders, etc, rising to the height of it all in the 1980s. basically, the resulting miami of today is in part, because of all the money that flooded into the city during those times: people who made money off the trade, then invested in real estate and new hotels, new clubs, etc. pretty interesting.

after getting the history on, i took myself out for some more learning: to see alton brown speak at the adrienne arshst center, of food network (good eats & iron chef america) fame. he was hilarious, and it was a lot of fun, and everyone in the audience was laughing a ton. (we even got to see him cook some crepes suzette).

the adrienne arsht center

once that got out, i met up with rachael and a bunch of her girlfriends for "ladies night". i was late of course, since they had met much earlier in the night, but we all grabbed a long, leisurely dinner at a turkish restaurant down in south beach. the best part about this group of girls was that no one knew everyone at the table: it was almost like everyone had brought someone, so there was no cliquishness, and everyone was very receptive and friendly and chatty. rachael knew the owner of the restaurant, so he came over and said hello a few times, brought out shots for everyone (please, i shoved that thing into someone else's table space- no thanks), and then he arranged for all of the girls to go in his... hummer limo-- to the delano to go dancing.

at this point, it was almost 1am, so i decided to get myself home & into bed. pretty funny, pretty miami. for one of the first times since i got here, i finally felt like ok, yes, i will actually make friends. its taken a while, but i feel much better about it. everyone kept telling me that i was being silly and of course i would have friends, but its honestly difficult when youre new somewhere. one of the other girls and i were talking about how busy you can be when you have friends from high school or college in the same city- you always have things to do, so you dont pursue other friendships that much- youre always busy. and in a way, i think this is so true. its sad in a way, but nice now, to be able to take advantage of the time without a dense-web of friends & social obligations.

this morning an old friend who i went to summer camp (!!) with called, she was on her way back from a vacation in key west, and we met for brunch at the big pink diner in south beach. and, being that my internet has been spotty all weekend, i just got home and finally had reception, and thats where this story ends. its been a little gray outside today, but still in the low seventies, so ill take myself out for a run soon.

below are some pictures from around.

i love the pink sidewalks

i wanted to take a picture of the above building, near to my house, when the full moon was hovering above it thursday night, but i was sans camera. on my way home last night i snagged one anyway.

above is a strip of alton road, where i drive to & fro on the beach. whenever i look up at the palm trees, i am so amazed that this actually exists & that i actually live here.

hope you enjoyed the local taste. off for a run and to grab some ingredients for the forthcoming banana muffins.

xoxo