By Friday, all I wanted to do was sleep in. I got a little sun on the beach before the clouds rolled in, then got ready for the night ahead.
You know how it is: Plans are made, plans fall through, people flake… But I’ve found if you stay positive, something cool is sure to pop up! I made this new playlist on Spotify full of songs that make me feel beachy and let it run whenever I had some time to kill.
On Friday, Pedro referred me to his friend, Veronica Falcon, a lady concierge who wanted us to join her for the evening. After waiting around at The Regent Cocktail Club (one of my favorite hidden gems on South Beach) we finally met at the Plymouth Hotel for the Maxim Magazine party. It was a little disappointing, but there was open bar…
We grabbed dinner at the attached sushi restaurant before heading over to Rec Room, an old South Beach mainstay they’d closed down, but temporarily revived just for Art Basel. With a healthy buzz, Pedro, Veronica, and I started working up a sweat on the dance floor. Our final destination, however, was WALL where Paris Hilton was DJing that night. (I had no idea Paris Hilton was a DJ now, did you?) I will admit, I thought the concept a bit absurd, but I’ll digress…
We arrived at WALL just as Paris took the stage and the crowd swelled to get close to her. I’m not one to push to the front, but Veronica and Pedro are, so in we went. It was worth it because, not only was Paris a rather good DJ, but she looks fantastic and I was able to get some pretty great pictures of her (below.)
The next day I transitioned from a shared Airbnb on 23rd Street to my own luxurious room at the Royal Palm South Beach Miami Resort.
I had made plans to join my friends for the Main Art Basel show, but decided I was just too damn tired to spend another day walking around an art show. I wanted to save energy for the Miami nightlife anyway.
Instead, I took advantage of the gorgeous space and gigantic windows and had myself a sensual little selfie shoot (photos to come!)
Dinner with Friends at SUSHISAMBA
After they spent Saturday combing through the main Art Basel show Tiffany and some other friends met up with me for an eventful dinner at SUSHISAMBA on Lincoln Road before hitting the town for drinks and dancing.
We met a friend at Rec Room and went to Mr. Jones in the hopes of seeing Wiz Khalifa perform. By 3AM, he still hadn’t showed up, so we decided to cut our losses and call it a night.
Back to my hotel room on 15th and Collins by 3AM, we smoked a joint and ate fresh fruit before passing out mid-conversation – still a successful evening spent with the bestie in my book.
Brunch at The Edition
The next day, satisfied from the week’s adventures, we intended to adopt a more leisurely pace.
I woke up around 11:30AM and removed my ear plugs (they help me sleep!) to the sound of Tiffany giggling on the phone in the bathroom. Apparently she’s falling in love with a boy or something, ugh….
At the strong recommendation of a certain darling, we got ready for brunch at the Edition, deciding to take Lyft the 15 blocks there and walk back along the beach before laying out to get some sun.
Easy-peezy, right? Right, except for the last-minute invitation to a yacht party via my friends who work in blockchain and cryptocurrency…
Yacht Party via Crypto Castle Miami
Thankfully, we were right on schedule for this little development.
We cleaned up and got across the island just in time to get to the Crypto Castle and board an extravagant yacht party complete with all the fixings of a millennial dream boat: weed, feed, booze, beats, and beautiful brunettes!
Imagine our surprise when, thinking we didn’t know a soul at the party, a mutual friend of Tiffany and I’s boarded the yacht just before it took off.
Amanda is a personal fitness trainer that now lives in Chicago, so the chances of running into her there were truly astronomical!
The whole Art Basel week was just like that though: Magical in that I felt like a new woman, surrounded by old friends and a few new key connections, all set in beautiful, nostalgic South Beach.
I know now more than ever, South Beach will always have a piece of my heart.
We smoked and drank and cruised up and down the Venetian Causeway as the sun set on the water, it was absolutely incredible.
Back at the Crypto Castle, we disembarked and gathered around the heated swimming pool for a night swim.
It felt so good to let loose and jump in the pool – even if it was mid-December – That’s the kinda shit you can do in Miami Beach.
The whole strange, wild ride with the Crypto Castle wound down around 9PM, so we headed back to the hotel room and got ready for dinner.
Final Dinner at Havana
My nth Cuban sandwich at Havana was followed by a leisurely stroll down beautiful Espagnola Way, currently decked out in Christmas lights.
There, Tiffany and I rather serendipitously encountered an authentic Italian gelato spot, a throwback to our month-long trek through Europe in 2017.
We indulged, of course, and hugged good-bye.
Alone In South Beach
I was set to check out of my hotel on Monday morning, but my flight out of Miami wasn’t ’til 10PM. With no room, little energy, and time to kill in my favorite neighborhood, I decided to roll one last joint and start walking. With no particular destination in mind, except the vague desire to re-visit my old apartment on 7th & Michigan, I set out down Collins Ave with a pep in my step and that slight travel anxiety I get before every plane ride.
Coffee here, pastelitos there, I wandered and took pictures and rather enjoyed my own company for nearly 4 hours walking across the island to Alton Rd, through the residential neighborhoods, down all the way to South Pointe Park, then back up Collins and Washington Ave.
I used to go for runs through the neighborhood and take pictures of the coolest looking art deco houses and condos I could find, so I continued the tradition here. With that, I’ll end this post leaving you with lots of pretty visions from South Beach
xoxo
