We spent the weekend in Miami for my mother’s birthday and then immediately launched back into a packed workweek back in D.C. I wanted to jot a few notes about the weekend before I forget everything…
It was my first time back to Miami in almost five years, and a lot has changed. I’ll cover the Miami trip in greater detail in posts during the coming weeks, but here are some quick observations:
This week my boss cleared me to work remotely from anywhere that I wanted. (Previously, permission was only for California.)
After much hand-wringing, research, and getting advice from all of my friends, I finally created a spreadsheet because this is how I make life decisions.
Mitchell and I are not renewing the lease for our Lowertown apartment. He may purchase a house closer to his job, and my boss approved an out-of-state move for me.
He’s keeping Hugo, and I’m taking Gunter.
Gunter the Chiweenie, who is thrilled that it is no longer freezing in Minnesota.
My company specifically cleared me to move to California because we have offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California. I also have a lot of clients in both places.
Both San Francisco and Los Angeles seem insanely expensive. Do I overpay for a closet-apartment in a trendy area, or banish myself to the suburbs?
I’ll likely have to sign a lease based on pictures – what if I end up with another nightmare building? Will I end up in a terrible situation and wish that I kept my Minnesota lifestyle?
I took the red-eye to Miami and joined the mass of friends and relatives.
After making it Iowa City and Chicago Gay Pride, I decided to surprise my mother in Miami. I haven’t been back to Miami in two years and she was not expecting me to just arrive at her doorstep at 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning.
Miami is as pretty and crazy as I remember it. Breast implants, crazy cars, body builders and drag queens…
And palms. Lots of palms.
Working from my South Beach hotel was amazing and I’ve determined that working vacations need to be a part of my life.
I was exhausted and my liver hurt, so I spent the rest of the summer enjoying Minneapolis. I made a point of going to the lakes and parks about three times a week and it was amazing. Minnesota isn’t half bad during the summer.
At the beginning of August I began the epic move to Lowertown St. Paul.
It reminded me of that line from White Noise – “The more things I threw away, the more I found.” – I was just horrified by how much crap I own and ended up throwing a ton of it out.
Oh and yes, Ikea furniture is still horrible to put together. I had to have two friends help me with that bar stool. These are my first world problems.
I am so happy that I made the move to downtown St. Paul. This city is cute, historic, and I’m having a lot of fun.
I made some hard choices to make it possible, but the incredible opportunities I had to travel and network make me sure that I made the right decision.
I’m excited for fall and my new adventures in St. Paul.
Oh, and sleeping. I miss that.
Memorial Day Weekend in Miami is also Hip Hop Weekend. I think the official title is “Urban Beach Weekend” but it’s basically Black Mardi Gras. So you know my mom is on the beach for the hot mess people watching.
She texted this to me this morning:
She saw this car accident in downtown Miami while on her way to the beach. My guess is that the upside down car braked just a tad too hard.
Somehow no one was hurt. Mom says that everyone from the crash was standing on the side of the road, horrified.
Oh, and down the road there were naked zombies…sigh. Only in Miami.
What a year.
I started the year as a 3L law student living in a mouse infested apartment building in Whittier.
My weeks were hectic. I spent my time jetting between my last few classes, my internship in the suburbs, tax training, and a public defender clerkship in downtown St. Paul.
Things changed quickly when I secured a permanent position at my company and started working full-time in February. There were also drag shows, long nights at Jetset, and blizzards.
The snow melted and classes ended quietly. Pride came and went, I turned 25, and I finally moved out of my ghettotastic apartment.
Work got busy once I moved. Drag shows and dancing were exchanged for Netflix marathons. I was promoted at work and got good at making brownies and mojitos.
By the time of my Miami trip I was 20 pounds heavier than I was at the beginning of the year.
I took the love handles to Miami anyway, which was fairly epic.
I started personal training at LA Fitness again upon returning, so I was horribly sore once New Year’s Eve rolled around. I was one of the DDs for New Year’s despite the best attempts of some people in our group.
My goals for this year include working harder, spending more time on creative projects, and losing these 20 pounds. Hopefully my grueling morning workouts help me get there.
Ending the year plump and employed isn’t bad, but 2012 will be better.
It’s back to Minneapolis and goodbye to the warmth, palm trees and breast implants. Not a bad way to spend a week in December.
The fact that there were 2-4-1 Whiskey-Diets on the plane made the return to winter easier to bear.
Sure, I may have gone to a few underground hipster parties in college, but the Wynwood Arts District was nothing like this.
Palm trees, mutant ducks and Lake Osceola.
It was kind of a cool place to go to college.
Tader and I decided to spend Christmas week in warmer climates.
Renting a car was a little difficult. After haggling at the downtown Miami Avis we found our rental car parked in.
We eventually excised our rental and gave Tader a quick tour of Brickell.
We then spent some time on South Beach and happened upon the cutest puppy mill.
They are adorable, but I think I like my dogs better. Plus the entire place stunk of puppy piss.
We returned to South Beach later that evening and went to Twist, which was epic as ever. Twist is the massive gay bar in Miami. Never a cover, always a groove.
The next day we went to a hipster club in Miami’s design district called the Electric Pickle. They played the kind of house music you never hear in Minneapolis. The music was great, but not really danceable. It turned into a weird Sims-like line dance.
Oh, and we may have stolen a sign from Walgreens…
The night ended at Twist again. It’s a bad habit, but so fun. They have a beer-serving Burger King next door that’s open 24 hours, which is super convenient when you’re skipping out of a club at 5 a.m.
This is going to be a hilarious, expensive vacation.
What a lovely two weeks. Fall was extended this year so Minneapolis still has temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s. The colors are amazing and the morning dog walks have become sprawling two-hour events because it is so nice outside.
Club O-Zone was the only club within walking distance of the University of Miami during my freshman year. The club was in a semi-abandoned strip mall, right next to the Florida Department of Family Services, and yes, it was absolutely hilarious.
The university bought the strip mall, flipped it, and now a pack of luxury apartment buildings sits where I created some of the best memories of freshman and sophomore year. Good thing I took pictures.
I hung out with Jorde tonight. I keep a set of Miami-transplant friends in Minneapolis because they remind me that I am not, in fact, crazy. Call us snotty, but we don’t wear tennis shoes with dress pants, or eat at nightclubs.
The adjustment to Minneapolis was easier for me than it was for my Miami friends up here, mostly because I spent 12 years in Wichita. Although I do occasionally rock some Calle Ocho/Lincoln road tacky, like bright pink shirts.
And yes, there’s a blurry blackberry picture of that:
