As I mentioned, I finally talked some friends into coming to visit me in Miami.  Surprisingly for living in a tropical wonderland, we get very few visitors who aren't just passing through on their way somewhere or for something work-related.  Or that I flew out to watch our kids.   When each of my friends got in town and I took them out to all Miami has to offer they both said, "Wow, I can't believe I haven't been here before."  Yes, it's beautiful and the beaches are fantastic.  There's lots to do, cool things to see, and definitely more happening then say.... Provo, Utah.  (That was how I bribed them - it would be much more exciting to visit me on the beaches of Miami then when I live in Provo next year).   I do realize that my mmm, like 4 years of whining about hating Miami may have clouded my statements about how pretty it is or how awesome it is in the winter.

Calle Ocho. Cuban cigars. 

  

Out on the town for our next attempts at the club scene.

I gotta give it to them that they make some pretty cool venues.

Hit the beaches of course.

Meandered through the design district:

  

And even had our own version of "Who Wore it Best?" after trying on a dress we loved in some swanky store and then having the saleslady tell us they had just outfitted Gabrielle Union (Dwayne Wade's girlfriend) in that dress when the Miami Heat were honored at the White House. Sweet.

And checked out the Wynwood Art District (right by our house, but we didn't really discover it for a while because we always thought that area was ghetto (everywhere around it is) and so we never really knew how cool it was.  Urban art, grafitti "museum":

It was so much fun. Forever awesome friends, fun, and consumption of sun and good food.  Thanks to the hubby for letting me have a girls' weekend and stay out late partying even while still in my very own house.

Only hours after they flew out, another old friend flew in (for a conference of course but we still had time for fun together. Those epileptologists aren't known for their wild partying ways).  We ate more Haitian food than I ever needed to (Jeff served a mission speaking Haitian creole and wanted some good Haitian food - I wasn't sure that existed.  :)  We even got scolded and almost banned from entering a swanky hotel lobby because we didn't meet the dress code. (She let it slide this time.)

And hit, what seemed to me, one of the most beautiful beach days I've had here.  (Maybe it was the fact that I only had one child with me, now that I think about it.)

What's not to love?

You too could have had such an awesome vacation had you come to visit me in Miami.  :)