full and sleepy, all is right with the world

phew. so the week is technically over, but just yet beginning... 

thursday night, i went to a pilates class, then planned on going home to do nothingness... i showered, got in the car, and then justin texted: did i want to go to the miami new times best of 2009 event? miami new times is like the miami equivalent of the village voice- and the event was being held in the design district; tons of restaurants doing food samplings, open bars sponsored by various liquor companies, random art, etc. so while i initially said no, im too tired- a kelly clarkson song then came on the radio (i know, im ridiculous) and i thought: what the hell. youre only young once, youre only here now, take advantage of it. (a motto to live by, no matter where you are). so i turned onto the causeway, and headed over. it turned out to be a lot of fun- very crowded, but lots of yummy eats-- cupcakes, chocolates, mini burgers, crepes, salad, beef carpaccio, sushi rolls, scallops and shrimp... all for a mere $15 to support a charity! amazing!

friday though, i felt totally dead all day. i think in part it had to do with the week-- it started out so super early on monday taking ben to the airport, and then i was out late tuesday; wednesday rachel & i had movie night (bride wars + popcorn = amazing), and then thursday was food fest gorge-time... so i went up to the pool after work, fell asleep for an hour in the last moments of sun, and then settled down to watch 'girls just wanna have fun'. i hadnt really remembered that movie at all, but it was totally ridiculous and oddly enough got me way too awake and motivated so i tidied up the apt before putting myself to bed. 

yesterday morning i was up super early, to head to the gym (again) for a little run, abs class, and then latin dance w rachel & nicole. i love our saturdays! they are healthy yet fun and ridiculous and involve white wine at noon time, and huge salads, and exercise. its like i live some weird alternate life... we helped rachel pick out a dress for the evening-- she and adrian were having a party at their house to celebrate their engagement-- and then nicole came over for some pool time. it has been unbelievably hot recently: you can barely sit outside let alone move in the sun. right now its absolutely gorgeous outside, i just cant tell if itll make me feel sick to spend more time out there! anyway, nicole hung over for a while, we finished the sun, got ready for rachel's, and headed over early with some extra food items & to help her set up.  the night was a lot of fun, met lots of new people, did some toasts to the future-married-couple, ate tons of delicious things, drank lots of mojitos, wine and jameson, and then at about 1am once most of the party left, the 7 of us remaining headed out to 'bella rose', a newish bar (?) thats opened down on south beach, which is said to have no 'door drama'-- sure enough, we showed up in two cabs, spilled out each clutching a beer, and were ushered right in- with said beverages. we danced and danced and danced until us ladies could barely stand in our shoes, and then all headed home. 

this morning of course, my feet were still angry with me, and that feeing has not disapated with the day- they have blisters all over the bottoms, totally knocked up, one toenail is all purple again- sad little guys. despite my utter exhaustion all week, i still couldnt sleep late (! urgh being an adult) and was up at 9.30 and on the roof 15 minutes later... although i tried to go to the farmers market just now, its apparently closed for renovations, so instead of eating fresh veggies, i mowed some fish tacos and am now totally comatose while feeling guilty that im not on the beach. alas, what a rough life. also, i can barely inhale from my abs class yesterday- it hurts to move in any direction and my ribs hurt. patty, is this what you felt like? i literally thought i had swine flu when i woke up.

i almost forgot!!!

my dad is famous.

P: My 5 Minutes of Fame on My Alumni Website

Yes, yes, posts TK of my exploits at the Foundation Lounge, Tremont 647, the Museum o Science's Imax Theatre (to watch, of all things, My. stic In. Dia--a friend had free tickets, and it was surprisingly breathtaking). In the meantime, I thought I'd share a little linky link on Swarthmore's website, doing a round-up of Fulbright scholars: http://www.swarthmore.edu/x25905.xml.

Happy reading!

P

this too shall pass

its wednesday and i am regretting a few too many drinks at sandbar last night. cuban toast always seems like the best idea, but im trying to avoid it for as long as i can, instead mowing down on fruit salad & cereal. i know, the boring alternative. i even have a huge iced coffee here i can barely look at. sheesh.

last night before the theme turned into vodka-sodas and random convos, i went to david barton to try out a stretching & abs class, with all intentions of staying for pilates afterwards. classicly, as soon as i left work it started pouring, stopped, and then started again in south beach once i neared the parking lot for the gym. ah well. anyway i was really looking forward to this class & it was horrible. really horrible. the instructor was german, which ok, normally im fine with. but she was yelling the entire time. in a stretching class! ONE TWO THREE i mean, over and over and over. ANGRILY! it was scary. plus there was insane techno-dance music playing the whole time. this all for a class that is supposed to-- and i quote -- allow you to "[e]njoy a mix of yoga and fitness stretching with abdominal work. Slow down and enjoy this full body stretch class." what they really should have billed it as is: "Do you like an instructor who likes to show off how flexible she is without providing any modifications for those who cannot wrap their legs around their head? Speed up and painfully engage in gymnastic-like stretches made for 12 yr old girls while awkwardly hating Germany and German people for an hour." i tell you, i was kind of into the whole gym thing but that one class is starting to change my mind... needless to say, i could barely stand after that class so couldnt tolerate anything else other than a random meet up & dinner with justin (who happened to be *in* the class with me-- i just didnt know it at the time).

hey, at least they carry bumble & bumble hair products.

short remiss. back to work. just had to share that. and p.s., my arms still hurt from the "guns" class i took on monday, so at least there's that...

xoxo

red meat & intermittent rainstorms

Remember when we used to have those meat parties in high school where we would bbq and consume massive amounts of red meat? Thats kind of what this past week was like, minus me doing any cooking, and/or bbqing. I was lavishly fed ben’s homemade creations (steak with chimmicuri sauce in mojo marinade; steak sandwiches; lamb chops), gorged on argentinian beef at ‘la vaca gorda’ (‘the fat cow’) which was bigger than my head; ate more steak sandwiches at another random local argentinian place; it was like the adult miami version of those aforementioned parties.

la vaca gorda!

Tuesday night we decided to do drinks w the girls here & respective boyf/husbands at montys! Except... a serious rainstorm started right before we were supposed to meet up, so while ben & i were there on time (naturally), everyone else showed up about an hour later. Enough time has passed that im not longer cranky about this, but i still found it annoying– everyone here is always on miami time, which means they say they’ll be somewhere at 7, and you know they wont show until 7.45. I would have been fine with it under other circumstances, but the whole point of the happy hour (which none of them could actually partake in by the time they showed up) was for them to meet ben– and we didnt want to stay out that late, so it kind of left a sour taste (that– and they showed up with more random friends, who i didnt even know). Anyway, over it. It just made me thankful for other similar insane upper-east-coast friends who would get similarly antsy and/or pissed in such situations. Is it really that hard to text youre going to be late? Or ask if its ok to bring random friends to a small gathering? Or that post-work drinks mean exactly that – post work – and not three hours after?

Anyway, after that mingling episode, we grabbed takeout sush and laid low. Wednesday was another night of socializing– we had tickets to see ‘the hangover’ at a screening hosted by gen art (they do movie screenings, fashion stuff, shopping, art, etc). So we thought oh ok, lets grab dinner beforehand. We show up at 8oz, the burger place on south beach, at about 6.30. Everyone else runs late– which was actually fine, bc we ordered for them at about 6.45... except the food doesnt come out until about 7.35. And its overcooked; and the sides are all missing; and the waiter is oblivious; and we have to be at the movie at 8. Anyway we stuff our faces in a resentful manner and head to the theatre; buy popcorn; get twizzlers; and thats when ben realizes he lost his glasses. Sadness! After doing a preliminary sweep of the movie theater, we bust out; do the recreation-footsteps through the parking garage, back to 8oz; then back to the movie theater; then back to 8 oz. All the while i am taking little snacks from the popcorn though, so the entire hour wasnt wasted. After a fruitless search, we headed home where i convinced bg that a swim on the roof would make him feel better, so we went up for a night swim. Beautiful! Best idea ever. Then we rounded out the feel-goodness with a trip to the local latin american cafe/cafeteria, where we ordered and inhaled a ton of delicious cookies.

Thursday was a night of cookery– lamb chops – and afterwards we went out to the fountainebleu for some post-drinks. It was still relatively early so the bar area in the lobby was pretty empty, and we got to cattily look at all the random, overly processed ladies who were waiting for men to buy them drinks (sure enough, one finally came over and supplied the four cake-makeup’ed, faux boobies, bleach-blondes with mojitos). After a drink & some champers, we headed poolside so that bg could check it out– and happened upon some new friends at the bar: one was a stylist, the other who knows; both were around 40, with kids; and somehow they kept telling me to try jay-z’s alcoholic beverage. Its pink for the ladies, blue for the gents. At some point, they learned of and became shocked by the fact that i live on the beach, and then of course conversation turned to fake boobs, and suddenly the stylist was reaching her hand under my left breast (braless, btw), and stuffing my dress with cocktail napkins to show me what a boob job could do for me. Total strangers, but totally miami. Then, either before or after that?, i was told to put on her shoes (huge 4 inch lucite) and strut. We somehow managed to get away from them (of course after they asked to be facebook friends) and laughed about it while laying on one of the beds by the pool. I dont know if its something about people being on vacation here, that makes them more apt to engage in random convos or actions like that, or if its just that its unique to miami itself– but i have had so many experiences like that one here. Its classic.

Friday! So get this. Its a gorgeous day, up until about 3pm when the skies literally open up: torrential, monsoon, makes me think "oh, so this is a hurricane." you cant see the two blocks to the ocean; you can’t see the causeway in the distance; you can barely see across the street; and the entire wide open sky is shocked with lightening every few seconds or so– i have never seen such a thing. We sit it out in nicole’s office eating twizzlers and marveling at it all. Finally, at about 6 (after hearing reports about flooding in south beach and hail), the rain lets up and we decide to flee. I was going to give rachel a ride home, so we head to biscayne blvd– only to be stuck in serious, unmovable traffic. Justin calls me & tells me, guess what, both causeways to south beach are closed. This causes rachel to evacuate the car and go to the gym instead of dealing, and i drive up to 79th street to get over. At this point, theres really no way of knowing how bad it is... but apparently the streets were so flooded in parts of sobe that people could not drive onto them, lest their cars float away. In fact, nicole’s car was parked in sobe (where her husband works), in 3 ft of water... basically killing the engine. Rachel’s apt building was totally kicked– the entire garage was flooded, with cars floating in it; and they had no power or water all weekend. Thankfully, i managed to escape the multiple lakes that developed on the way up to 79th street, and once i got over to my neighb, the waters had receeded– although benjamin took pictures of water gushing down the street, people walking knee deep in the thick of it. How utterly insane. Of course, of course, then the sun came out, so i went for a run on the beach, avoiding the larger puddles.

view of the streets from the entrance of my building

To close the randomness of the day, we went to ‘la vaca gorda’ for our huge argentinian steak, blood sausage, & a delicious bottle of malbec (see me very excited, above). After that, over to a friend of ben’s from college– who lived not that far. We drove over to savannah’s house, where she had a couple of other friends over, and drank cocktails she engineered for us (or rather, I drank one– cucumber, watermelon, mint and vodka, pulverized– and ben kept up with his weeklong obsession with rum on the rocks with lime). After playing the adult version of hackeysack (um, kicking a tennis ball around), checking out her gorgeous river-side water access, and listening to an impromtu jam session (can you tell they were all of the hippie nature?) we finally decided to call it a night.

Longest post ever, huh? Saturday we sucked up the sun while we could; got ben new glasses; saw the hangover (pretty funny, although not living up to my expectations after everyone’s rave review from Wednesday); and then out to really bad mexican food on south beach & a little bit of dancing at buck 15 before we were overcome with exhaustion. Sunday was pretty similar – sun while we could, a trip to sobe for travel books for the fall; reading of the paper; and, of course, a few drinks at sandbar while it poured. Once the rain stopped, we exchanged our empty glasses for to-go-cups, walked down along the beach while the sun set, and then had dinner at fifi’s- freshly local snapper, florida lobster, and ceviche- , along with more wine....

actual rooftop view! 

actual rooftop view of bay, downtown miami... all courtesy benjamin's iphone

The only downside? Getting up this morning at 5 to take ben to the airport, at the conclusion of his vacay here. Booface. I thought i actually might die of nausea, but it has subsided; now im just exhausted but compelled to go to the gym (got a week pass for the uber fancy david barton) and repent my red meat sins. A wonderful, long, packed, delicious week...

thunder & lightning!

June 1st marks the first official day of hurricane season here in miami. This means the streets become more and more flooded on a daily basis; in fact, half of the parking lot at work is inoperable because it is covered in water and when you drive out at the end of the day, you’re half a tire deep. This also means that moments of sunshine are relished, but quickly followed by usually unexpected dark clouds that move quickly and drench everything. Yesterday ben & i were on the roof of my building and noticed clouds gathering in the distance- you can look around 360 degrees at miami and see one spot with brilliant sun, while another area is covered with sheets of rain. Pretty amazing.

Ben is here visiting for the week! He gets to relish this bizarre weather, spend as much time as humanly possibly soaking up the sun, and then spending the rest of the time dashing indoors and/or hunting for the best cuban sandwich in town (we’ve yet to find it...). He got in Saturday & we had some lunch at shuckers; attempted to get key lime pie from joes– but the takeout stand is officially closed for summer and the restaurant only open for certain hours during dinner; and then headed home to rest for a bit before going to the MOCA (miami contemporary art museum)- where i’d actually never been! Of course he knew about some performance art going on there way in advance... Beforehand, i was asking him what i was supposed to expect, because honestly sometimes with performance art, you need a little background.... he couldnt really explain it, he said. There was no overarching theme or arsenal of ideas that id need to know to prepare. I mean, i was skeptical. But he was completely right - it was a group of 3 artists (im blanking on their group name?) - and they were on a stage; the performance involved a slideshow; singing and music; and audience participation! While the whole concept revolved around art theory (so ben tells me), it was completely accessible and fun to just be in the audience; we all sang together at one point, did different movements in another; and had a group meditation towards the end.

Afterwards, we headed to grab something to eat at joeys, the sole restaurant in the wynwood art district, and then over to a friend (annie’s) birthday at the vagabond, a club thats oddly enough in downtown miami... i had never been inside, but it was actually pretty cool - there was an amazing DJ playing beloved classics from the 80s and early 90s (anyone who can play belinda carlise, 'heaven is a place on a earth', and then vanilla ice, 'ice ice baby' gets a gold star in my book), and a random motley crew of bartenders: the blonde girl with cleavage, the guy with a serious foot-long-mohawk, and the emo/morrisey dude: "something for everyone," as ben noted. Plus, whenever the bartender tells you that they still have a free vodka special? I mean, how can you argue with that. We danced and chatted w friends, and then later, once they opened up the backyard, took a loop around where we privately made fun of the ridiculous smattering of douchebags (thankfully, though, the ratio here was much less than in many, many other places). Then, home.

Sunday there was a little sunshine action before the rain came; we brunched and then took a nice long walk on the beach in sobe; headed back up; i swam a few laps before the lightning came; and then we went to eat cuban food at the neighborhood spot. Otherwise, looking forward to our weeklong visit: plans coming up include a preview of "the hangover" (cant we all relate?) as a gen-art screening; drinks at montys with the girls; a much needed trip to matsuri sushi (the best random strip mall sushi ever); and ben’s attempt at making us cuban-themed steaks tonight... which makes me wonder: is this day over yet?

xoxoxo

oh AND!!! im also very elated to confirm that im making it to jessi’s maine-infused weekend in July! This will involve me somehow trekking to boston that Sunday with patty and staying up until my 7am flight back to florida, but hey. We’ve been through worse, havent we, p?

P: Other Running Links

So as I waste time in the Starbucks in BU's School of Management building, currently on my second decaf coffee, second piece of pastry, after having eaten breakfast and lunch, and having worked on only 2 paragraphs of my to-be 90 page thesis, I think about how much it sucks to not be able to get my work done, AND how I'm losing concentration as the weather is getting nicer, AND how I need to get my f-ing act together. I'm also still working out a Charlie horse I had in my left calf, after pointing and flexing my foot yesterday. It still f-ing hurts.

Anyway, beyond oggling T-shirts on urbanoutfitters.com and bikini bottoms at gap.com, I thought I'd send a link to Diane's friend Brian's running blog. In the latest posts, he chronicles the weekend adventures in Boston: http://trakmaniak.blogspot.com/ .

I hope I'll find the energy/strength/etc to get crackin' on my f-ing thesis. !@#$%%!!

Anyway, I'll l eave you with some spastic pictures of me from the Boston half marathon from Memorial Day wknd, and also a photo of Amy, Brian, and me from the Somerville Jingle bell run back in December.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm kind of dying in these photos.