Corpie challenge, MiMo street fair, another random night miami night

last Thursday was our corporate challenge! Ironic since i dont work for a corporation, but nonetheless; downtown miami upped the ante and had all these people running as part of the mercedes benz sponsored event. Like most corporate challenges ( not like i actually know anything here), the annoying walkers somehow get in the front, even though they should be in the back; people think they are super hardcore even though they are slow-running a 5k; and it requires much elbow-manueving and person-dodging. There were 5 of us running (i mean, there are only about three times that amount working here, so i guess thats good...), and i was able to stay with coworkers nicole & amanda as we tried to get out of the midst of the other 17,000 people in our way, bringing it in for a proud time on the clock of like 30 minutes, which was still unclear as to how fast we ran, since it was so non-racey that we didnt eve have time chips nor see a clock before we started. Either way, another shitty race t shirt to add to the pile. Post-race involved a stop at nicole’s husband’s company tent, where we downed some icey-cold miller light and a few chicken wings. (Note: there were company tents all over with food in them, and there were literally groups of people that had eaten and gone totally to town on food before even starting the "race." many of these people were overweight and or technically obese. Its one thing to encourage exercise. Its another to think youre being healthy bc you will slowly walk 3 miles with pre and post devouring food items. Oh, america). Then it was time to go home and drink some vodka sodas alone. The almost-end to a great week! (Dont worry, there was a healthy plentiful dinner of popcorn).

Friday night i similarly didnt want to do anything; i cant remember now if i was in a crank-funk or what, but had pilates Saturday morning at 9am so i didnt want to feel all crappy when my alarm started going off at 8am. Eeek. Without milk for the coffee. Alas, i made it in time to the first-ever reformer class: on Tuesday i had my private lesson on the medieval torture machine, and i must admit, i kind of loved it. It was like mat pilates but much more intense and focused on the muscles you should be using: you basically get on this thing and its got arm & leg straps and you use them as resistance (they’re hooked up to springs). All very cool. The class was super small- maybe 5 of us? - and was awesome, taught by a modern dancer of course. I left feeling so much more relaxed than i would have in any other exercise class, like, no judgments bc it was such a small studio and we were all so different. Who knew pilates could be enjoyable(ish)?

Although i was supposed to meet rachel for ballet & stretch class after that, i could barely lift my arms so i headed home, put on the bathing suit, and lay out by the pool for a few hours until it was time to get her from class. I know, i felt like her boyfriend, it was great: i showed up in my car, with an icey cold diet coke, and said, hi honey! It was kind of cute. Then we headed over to MiMo, the miami-modern art district, which is on biscayne (miami proper) btwn about 68·-75th street. There was a street-festival called "Cinco de MiMo," although of course, it had nothing to do with cinco de mayo. I meant to take pictures but then i didnt. Of course. It involved a random dog costume parade; way spaced-out vendors selling jewelry/art/clothing; two farmer’s markets; and a handful of restaurants that were having little ‘bites’ for sale.

We met up with justin & a friend, as well as nicole & tracy, and all walked along for a while engaging in white-wine out of plastic cups sold at these little bite-stands, until we realized we were all super hot, sweaty, and hungry– so we actually sat at a restaurant and got some lunch *and blood marys,* yes. Then we walked a little more; bought a ton of veggies from the alleged farmers (including some gorgeous cauliflower, yummm), and then parted ways. I took rachel home, and then just as i settled onto the couch to watch puppy porn on the animal channel, nicole called and invited me to a dinner that had been much debated earlier (was it on / wasnt it on) at a famousa cuban place on calle ocho called "versailles." (Although you would think its pronounced the french way, its not. Its more like ver-saill-es, including the ‘es’). Those crazy latins. So i hustled off the couch, without at all changing out of my bathing suit top and dress that i had been in all day of course, put on heels, and out the door. Turns out the much-debated dinner, by the time i arrived, had been cancelled again, so we found some other friends nearby at a small, hole in the wall, vietnamese place which was kind of stellar: this little older woman ran the joint and came over to take your order specifically. The bathroom was in an alley that you had to walk through to get to the kitch. I mean... amazing. The food was delish. And suddenly, it was 11pm.

Leaving the coral gables kids, i headed back to the beach, convinced ashley to go out, picked her up, and then we met justin & his friend larkin for drinks at bowlmor (random), then to the roof of the ganesvort (where kari nic & i had sunned last Saturday). It was beautiful up there: dark, windy, music, bar, etc. after that we attempted to go to their club downstairs, but ashley was in flippyflops, and justin in a t-shirt, and the door-man a douche, so we ended up at some nearby club that i was to call mogwai but i dont know if thats its name or what. Finally the night ended; i took justin & larkin home at about 4.30 and was home by 5, when i decided i needed to text kari & nic profusely to wish them good luck on the pittsburgh marathon. They of course, were just waking up, and i was just going to bed. I think the text-convos went on for like 25 minutes while i wished they were around for ihop, but instead i ate multitudes of saltine crackers and headed to sleep.

Yesterday then, i was lazy because, really, who goes to bed at 6am on Sunday morning? Apparently i do. I wasted some time reading on the beach, ran, and then had a furious effort at cooking and cleaning as if i were productive. Another lovely random weekend in miami, where i managed to not only drink in the middle of the day, but to also get tan. I mean, does it get much better?

xoxo