A Miami weekend!

Last weekend, I went to Miami to celebrate Katy's bachelorette party. It was 40 degrees warmer than was in Chicago.  It's a high of 47 degrees today and there's a windchill that makes it feel like the upper 30s. Katy's getting married in two weeks, on November 17th! We all arrived by Friday night, flying in from Boston, Chicago, and Baltimore. We stayed in a cute boutique hotel in Surfside, outside of Miami.It had a little kitchen that we made all our meals in. Saturday night, we had a mardi gras theme dinner and costumes! We ate King's Cake and dressed in green, yellow or purple with lots of mardi gras beads!  We went into Miami to a hip-hop dance club, called Buck 15. We heard awesome 80s and 90s music, including the Ghostbusters theme song, but the best part was our celebrity sighting! Shaquille O' Neal came to the club while were there! Katy gave him beads and I gave his girl friend some beads too. My beads, however, were incredibly tangled and when I tried to give a few to Shaq's friend, they all clumped together. So, Shaq, his girl friend and I spent 5 minutes untangling them together!!! When he finally separated them all, Shaq put them back over my head! I couldn't believe how nice he was, to help me with them all. I was going to give them all to him! 

We didn't get photos with him, but you can see his silhouette in the background here. 

With the exception of Heather, who caught a 6am flight, we woke up leisurely on Sunday to check out of our cute hotel. Fan and I got Serendipity frozen yogurt and saw Dexter's house on the way to the airport!It was a wonderful warm weekend but I'm really looking forward to Katy's wedding. I helped her with place cards this weekend and went with her to pick up her wedding dress!  I just picked up my eggplant Amsale bridesmaid dress and I'm so excited to dance in it! Source: amsale.com via Emily on Pinterest

Miami pictures coming soon!

I'm hoping to post pictures from Miami soon. I've been super busy this last month with applying for jobs, bridal showers, working long hours, and a quick weekend trip to Florida!! I announced to my work that I will be leaving and it feels so good. We will be moving back to Seattle at the beginning of the year! I love Chicago, but it will be nice to be closer to family again!

Last few days of vacation...

It's been a whirlwind of events since we returned from Michigan and we're traveling to St. Louis for Labor Day. Thus, this post will mostly be a photo drop.Lyra wasn't a huge fan of the family cabin and mostly stayed in the attic. On Thursday, it was overcast and raining so we explored the small towns of Northern Michigan.Mr. F and I checked out the Cherry Hut. It was super kitchsy and sugary but fun to try once!The menus reminded us to go to Gwen Frostic.I love their nature block prints!The printing presses were going while we were there too!This is how they wrap your purchases!Thursday afternoon was still stormy, so we read and played with the kitties, especially Lily.On Friday, we went to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park. 

We went swimming with Lee Lee, the wirehaired fox terrier in Lake Michigan,

and watched the sunset!Next up, I'll post about our week with our out-of-state cousins!

Outdoor Activities in Northern Michigan

Tuesday morning, we all went for tennis drills on the CSA beach courts.I forgot my sunglasses but I still got a good workout in my tennis skirt!After lunch, we went for a walk to Point Betsie and the lighthouse. It was fascinating to watch the fog come in. By the end of the walk, my hair looked liked I had a crown of raindrops and each of our eyebrows were glistening!The camera had trouble capturing the tiny crystals! 

Yesterday, the lake had warmed up more so we attempted swimming again. Mr. F was the only one brave enough to stay in longer than a few minutes. Lee Lee, the wirehair fox terrier, even go too cold doggy paddling.I got several great photos wading in the water. 

 Mr. F's sister and her fiance made a cosmic rock structure on the beach that looks very romantic.Mr. F found the ocean kayaks yesterday too!We had so much fun going along the Frankfort coastline.The water was extremely calm and clear too! We have to do a few eskimo rolls to get all the spiders out thought! It was a good way to cool off!We even saw  the remains of an old seawall, or dock, under water!It was a great way to spend the afternoon. I hope Lake Michigan is calm enough to take the kayaks out again later this week! [Today is stormy, so we're reading, blogging, sending postcards and running errands in town! Hopefully the winds bring in warmer water!]