trip recap :: miami weekend

Okay, so this wasn't a trip for me in the sense that I did not go anywhere ... but last weekend while John was skiing in Utah, I had two of my dearest friends from Colorado come to visit me. If you follow me on Instagram then you saw some of the fun unfolding, although our "girl's weekend in Miami" was a far cry from what most people imagine when those words are spoken. Here's what our version of a "girl's weekend in Miami" included...

Our weekend started on Friday, with a breakfast Acme Bakery. John and I had just discovered Acme the weekend previous, and after John proclaimed that his breakfast was, "the best he had ever had", I knew I had to take Emily and Jenny there {as I am sure John and I will be back there this weekend}.

After a breakfast of eggs benedict on a biscuit, quiche, and cinnamon toast {aka french toast}, we got blow outs at Blo, a blow dry bar in Midtown.

Photos from left to right, row by row: Emily at Acme taken by Jenny, sitting at Acme taken by me, Jenny holding a Blo me button taken by Jenny, and my blowout taken by me.

With our hairs coifed we headed to Aventura Mall, which I consider to be the best mall in the area. I am not a big mall shopper, but I had not been to a mall in a while so I enjoyed browsing and people-watching.

Photos from left to right, row by row: my preg reflection in the dressing room at Splendid taken by me, Jenny trying on a top at Splendid and Instagramming taken by me, a coffee break taken by Emily, and Scotch & Soda's gorgeous tent store.

While she was visiting, I gave Emily her birthday gift {more fun to give in person}. A little back story - my Mom had given me a gold "c" Alex Woo necklace and I plan to add a "j" and my baby's initial after baby comes. Emily is preg with twins (!!!) and already has three boys ... so needless to say getting her five initials now and two more later would be a lot of charms! Instead, I got her a "7" ... seven is considered lucky, it is the number of people in her little family {once her twins arrive}, and it has always been one of Em's favorite numbers anyway!

Photos from left to right: Emily's lucky 7 Alex Woo necklace taken by Emily and the three of us at dinner at Lulu's taken by Jenny

On Friday evening, we had dinner in my neighborhood at an outdoor, sidewalk cafe. Saturday morning meant a run for me and a walk for Mocha, and then brunch at YardBird Southern Table & Bar {another favorite breakfast/brunch place of mine and John's}. YardBird is a little more restaurant-y than Acme, which is more of a bakery. Both serve impeccable food. YardBird serves up brunch family style, so we ordered up a bunch of food ranging from chicken biscuits {shared}, kale salad {for me}, maple bacon donut {Jenny}, cup of cornbread {for Emily}, eggs and ham {shared}, watermelon with pepper and ming {shared}, and a savory waffle. Yes. A lot of food. Hence why we took home leftovers and I got to enjoy the eggs and ham for lunch the next day.


Photos from left to right, row by row: inside YardBird taken by Jenny, some of the spread as I dig in taken by Emily, Jenny's infamous maple bacon donut taken by me, and after the deluge of food taken by me

The rest of Saturday afternoon was spent doing a little sight-seeking on Miami Beach and the late afternoon was spent by the pool. Dinner was sushi at PubBelly, which Jenny dubbed her favorite meal of the trip. We were back at my home quite early since Emily and Jenny had a 6am flight the next morning, but that also meant we got to enjoy a little Chinese New Year's fireworks display that was being set off less than a block from my house.

Photos from left to right, row by row: Ocean Drive from the car taken by Jenny, at the pool with a Pretty by JL bracelet taken by Jenny, at dinner taken by Jenny, and the fireworks taken by Jenny

The girls flew out bright and early on Sunday morning. I enjoyed a Sunday morning run and then got all productive and got some work done including some wedding announcements for a friend {see a sneak peek here}. Needless to say, I was missing this guy as bad as it gets and was ecstatic to pick him up from the airport on Monday night.

All the photos in this post were fueled by our Instagram obession. You can follow me on Instagram here and you can see more of Emily's photos and Jenny's photos on there, too.