Miami!

What a weekend! We had a *blast* in Miami this weekend. We got into South Beach around 5ish. After we explored the hotel a bit, we got ready to go out to Emeril's Miami Beach restaurant. Oh wow. WOW. I was totally impressed with this place. While it was pricey, it was totally worth it. The food was top notch. We ate so much, I'm surprised we were able to walk out. I had BBQ Shrimp with a Petite Rosemary Biscuit, Emeril's salad (which was some greens and spinach with goat cheese and garlic and some really yummy dressing), then for my main dish, I had BBQ Salmon with onion straws and diced potatoes. The BBQ sauce on this stuff was tasty! Chris had homemade andouille sausage on garlic bread, a caprese salad with the BEST fresh mozzarella cheese I've *ever* had, then for his main dish, he had fresh tuna with garlic green beans and baby potatoes. The tuna was unbelievably good! It was cooked perfect! (rare) For desert, (like we needed any after all that food) but I had banana cream pie with caramel and chocolate curls and Chris had a key lime tart with pineapple glaze. It was soooo good. The banana cream pie wasn't like normal cream pie. It had HUGE chunks of banana's in it. Totally yummy! We had a bottle of really good wine too. The whole dinner was just fabulous. I can't wait to go back! If you're heading to Miami, you must make reservations here. Trust me! Anyway, after dinner, we were so full and tired that we just walked back to our hotel and went to bed.

Saturday morning we got up and went down the beach. That was so nice. It felt great, though the water was a little chilly. After the beach, we were going to go to this Cuban place on Collins Ave. (a little ways from the hotel) but when we got back, we found that Tish & Jim and Paulette & Dan had gotten to the hotel. Sooo, we all went to the Cuban place. The mojitos were great! After lunch, we went to the Art Deco district and checked out the shops and stuff. Then, we went by Versace's house (where he was shot) We took a few pictures there, and by that time, it was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for the 'pre-wedding' dinner.

For that, we went to this Italian place called Paesano's. It was on Washington. They sent a limo to pick us up and when we got there, WOW. Another fab place to eat! Their mojitos were even better than the Cuban place. The food was authentic Italian and everything was totally fresh. It was nice. We had a great time! I had ordered a cake for Jim & Tish, and after dinner, when they brought it out, they totally did a great job. They were so surprised! The lady who was singing there also sang a song for them. All around it was a good dinner! After that, we headed over to Ocean Avenue and went to Mango's. That place is crazy. We had a good time but the mojitos there weren't very good at all. That was really my only complaint. The place was packed and everyone said it was a great place to hang. Anyway, we partied there for a while then headed back to the hotel.

Sunday was the wedding. It was so beautiful. Everything went so smoothly! The only mishap we had was that Tish almost forgot her shoes for her dress...and her maid of honor *could not fit into her dress*. Oh yes, I said it. The woman couldn't fit into her dress! Hello! How do you get a dressed altered and then not try it on to see if it fits!!! We ended up having to cut the liner out of the dress and we squeezed her in it..the only thing was...she couldn't sit down. hahaha But, that was just a minor detail. The day was about Tish. It was great! We had to leave right after the wedding since they got married on a ship. However, after we got off the boat, they told us that they thought all visitors had gotten off the ship. Uh, no. So anyway, there was a little confusion there, but nothing major.

After that, we hung out with Judd & Sissy (Jim's niece) for a while, then we went to sleep. We had to get up at 3:30am to catch our flight out of FLL. Let me just point out that 3:30am Miami time, is really 2:30am Missouri time. I am so tired right now. I am going to force myself to stay up until 10pm though. If not, I will have my sleep schedule messed up all week.

We took a *ton* of pictures. 353 to be exact. I'll have them up soon. Don't know when though.

While we were having a beer at a place on Ocean...a guy walked up to us selling a CD. He gave us his little schpell and he had a CD player with him so we could hear a few songs. Well, I ended up buying it and you know..it's not all that bad. It's called Duo Live 1st H.I.M.Pressions. Anyway, just thought I'd share that.

It's been a long day. I'm tired and thirsty. I'm about to go get a beer and watch the Soprano's..then finally, I'm going to bed. It's a new week, so if I can get my sleep schedule worked out, I'll post more this week.

Just a reminder (to Chris) to everyone that our 3rd wedding anniversary is on Wednesday. Woohoo! 3 long years. Don't forget...everyone!

Peace, Love & Good Food.