Making Memories in Miami

It was a ladies weekend in Miami. Said ladies pictured above.

I mentioned we were celebrating Emily's combined 30th birthday and bachelorette party — so we all (her bridesmaids) decided to make the trip to Miami to celebrate. All 3 of these lovely ladies, except for me, lived in and went to school in Miami at one point or another. Adele, pictured to the left of me above is Emily's best girlfriend from college who still lives in Miami. Doris Glenn, pictured to the right of Emily is Emily's older sister and maid of honor. It was the recipe for a perfect weekend ahead...

We stayed on the beach at the Delano hotel which had amazing views like the one from our room below:

....and this one from the pool looking back at the hotel:

We walked the beach:

And saw the scenery:

One of the highlights from the trip I especially wanted to share here was one of the best dinners I've had at a new restaurant (ahem, Southern Table & Bar) called Yardbird that Adele introduced us to. I would no doubt recommend making Yardbird a stop on your list next time you are in Miami, if only for one of their cool handcrafted mason jar cocktails.

The decor of the place felt like walking into a little corner of Etsy filled with reclaimed wood and exposed brick walls, tractor seats, farm tables, jars of pickled goods, chalkboards, re-purposed industrial pendant lights and a giant mason jar chandelier in the front.

It's known for it's bourbon bar and signature cocktails:

All of the plates are for sharing — my absolute favorite from the evening was this incredible version of a BLT with fried green tomatoes topped with pimento cheese, a thick slab of pork belly bacon and finished with a little frisee lettuce garnish. I think I could eat these every day.

All in all, we got tons of pics of us girls together and made some hilarious memories we'll probably talk about the rest of our lives — the kind that only seem funny to you and make you laugh no matter how long ago it all happened.

I think one of the more hilarious parts of the weekend were the text messages Tim and I were sending back and forth. Every so often I'd shoot off a picture of the view from our hotel, the pool, or something else we were up to with a little caption of what was going on, then sort of forget about the phone for a while. Before I knew it, I'd get one of the funniest picture-texts back from Tim with random shots of him around the house saying things like "From the kitchen" or "Tim and Basil in the living room" — each one I got made me laugh harder and harder.

Just look at those little smirks on his face in those shots. Who thinks of this stuff? I got a good one in him, I tell you.

Then almost as quickly as I'd left for the weekend, I had to turn around and zip right on back to Virginia. Here's a shot from the Atlanta Airport where I connected each leg between Miami and Richmond:

It was great fun. Can't wait for the wedding in September.

Have you been to Miami? Have any favorite places or memories of your own?