King crab

Last night Bridget and I arrived in Siesta Key. The condo is awesome (Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Allemeier!) Bridget's fiance's parents let us stay in their condo at the bottom end of Siesta Key. It's a great beach getaway for sure. The condo faces Little Sarasota Bay on one side. Here's where we are:


I had a big crab dinner and stuffed myself. Bridget had scallops that looked fabulous. Today we were off to Siesta Key Beach, which has the SOFTEST, POWDERIEST sand - as if poured from the heavens above - and dove into the most luscious, salt-water bath EV-ER. We packed tasty sammiches and treats courtesy of good ole Publix; the gulls were envious. It was a PERFECT day with the warm sun beating down, a surprising but delightfully cool breeze in our hair and the sounds of little French boys frolicking on the shore. Note to self: Must convince Dave to buy additional beachfront property.

Miami city tour and GLAAD party

Hey everyone! Today Dave took us on a tour of Miami, specifically the downtown area, Coconut Grove, all along the shore of Miami beach, and Ocean Drive. We drove around in his white, convertible Mustang (the prize car from Design Star ;) and enjoyed a beautiful sunny day--even though it was frickin' hot. It's frickin' hot. And humid. And hot. We hit a cool arts and design district downtown, where all the high-end interior showrooms are, then drove through downtown, which is undergoing a lot of development. High-rises everywhere.

Coconut Grove is what I think of when I think of Miami. Besides the very appropriate name (so many coconut trees!), it's got tons of high-end Spanish-style houses and a lovely town square area. Jeff said that Coconut would have annexed itself from Miami were it not for City Hall being located there. The city hall is a funky little building; it served as Pan Am's seaplane terminal back in diz-ay.

(not my photo :)

Also around Coconut Grove is one of Madonna's summer houses on some exclusive road.

Ocean Drive is where all those art deco hotels are that you see in movies. Awesome old signage. Dave made a good point that the art deco there is a minimalist version--you don't see super intricate architecture of the period. Ocean Drive goes for almost 20 blocks. Most importantly, the Birdcage building is here!

(again, not my photo :)

You can also see the famous Star Island (home of Rosie, Gloria Estefan, P. Diddy) from the bridge over the bay. Talk about friggin' rich. I took some pics of that.

That evening we went to the GLAAD happy hour event at the Eden Roc hotel on South Beach. Cool hotel, had awesome interiors and pool party areas. Dave was TOO FUNNY on the way over there--we were joking that we really didn't feel like going and he had to psych himself into getting in the mood to host the thing. He ran through a gamut of 12-step emotions in only the way that Dave can; worrying about the likes of back sweat with Kathy nearly assuring him. Earlier we were all chilling in front of the tv, and Jeff kept riling up their dog Dozer, thoroughly frustrating Dave, who was trying to mellow out before the event. Finally he got up and Jeff said, "What do you have to chill out for?" and Dave said, "Because I have to be ON, bitch!" HAH.


Anyway, the GLAAD party was fun. Not super off the hook with tons of people, but fun nonetheless. They had an open ABSOLUT bar and hors d'oeuvres out the wing wang. Slider bars! Dave requested we never leave his side. We were called the entourage.

They had a raffle, for which Bridget and I bought $20 worth of tickets. Cockily, we both proclaimed that we would win. Usually I win raffles, so it wasn't a stretch to think I would win something. :) Sure enough they called one of our numbers. We won a dinner for two at a restaurant near Dave. FUN!


The only other "celebrity" in attendance was (a scruffy, overweight - who looked like he was wearing the Derelict line from Zoolander) Dan Renzi from Miami Real World. Apparently he was a catty bitch to Dave, and Dave went on a rant in the car, which I videotaped. Hysterical. We also met and talked with the dj for the night, who happens to be Pink's dj and was just on tour with her. Nice dude. I think he was trying to go out with us after. Denied! All in all a fun day and evening!

Finally, the beach...and sushi at Nobu!

Yesterday Bridget and I took a morning, nay, afternoon power walk along the beach. (Thanks to Bridge for being a good influence!) I donned my tennis shoes and we walked just down the road to the harbor.

Dave lives here:

It's called Bal Harbour, and it's at the north end of the beaches. Apparently Miami is thought of as having 2 areas, Miami proper and the beaches.

We went out and it was a blustery yet beautiful day (as I called it, "active"). The beach area is very private. There was a smattering of people, and some surfers out, as it was kind of swelling from the weather. We took off our shoes halfway through and walked through the water.




Bridget mentioned that all we needed were young surfers to massage our necks. Hah! The beach sand was smooth and chock full of salt and minerals--so therapeutic!! It sort of whet my appetite for the beaches to come. Yay!

Topping off the night was a walk down Lincoln Road, a main drag full of shops and al fresco dining. We got a couple stares walking down the street, and Dave got accosted by a rogue publicist who ran him down and gave him an invite to some event for tonight. After walking, we went down to the South Beach's Collins Ave. that has all the old and new fun hotels: the Delano, the Ritz, Gansevoort, Fontainebleu, the Shore Club. We went to Nobu at the Shore Club for dinner, and it was faboolous. Here is what we ate, from the menu:

yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno and cilantro
tai (snapper) with dry miso, green onion and some sort of garlic crisps
new style sashimi salmon (slightly seared)
rock shrimp with creamy spicy sauce
black cod with miso
tenderloin of beef with shitake and asparagus in a hot pot
and many, many lychee martinis.

It was to die for. Oh, the sashimi! The sashimi was heavenly and buttery. Wonderful and excellent hyper attentive service. We walked around the grounds after and it was super Miami-style. Outdoor beds, lanterns, gigantic pools, bungalows, and tropical breezes. We also went through some other hotel grounds--they all have insane party areas in the back b/c that's the draw. Pictures to come!

Miami, bitches

Just arrived in Miami! Dave pulled the fun card and sent a DRIVER to pick us up. It was pouring down rain in a most Florida way--palm trees were swaying in the tropical breeze and rain. Weather. I also took some footage of Dave showing us around his apartment a la "Cribs". His condo is insane. I'll post that somewhere soon. We stayed up until the wee hours (and I mean "wee") talking and laughing over old times. Somewhere in the middle of that we watched "Glee", "Top Chef", and some ultimate fighting thing. We also sang theme songs to 80's sitcoms. All in all, a typical slumber party with Dave and Bridget.

It's 5:30 in the morning and we're just getting to bed.

Testing, testing!

bk tour activated