09 February 2009

bienvenidos a miami

You think I could come to Miami without rockin this song- ha, get real....




Thank you, Will Smith... haha!!

Anyway, right now I am sitting in the Sleep Inn in good ol' Miami!! Yesterday we had our first event at a Miami Heat game.

It was a great first event. Although we did have a few kinks (as expected for me and matt both being first timers). We were a little behind with getting the site set-up and the crowd was not as responsive as we had hoped. Lauren is still with us so she helped a lot and another guy from the office, Norm came to Miami to help with our event also. It has been so wonderful to have them here to answer questions and give us feedback in order for our next event to run even more smoothly!

Here is what our event site looks like.

We were set up in front of the American Airlines Arena. Unfortunately we were not able to go in for the game. We were given suite tickets but couldn't use them because as we were packing up our trailer hitch lock broke! So we spent the second half of the game troubleshooting that problem. It's almost better that it did happen because we had a great crowd response after the game and any time something goes wrong we learn more about how to make it better next time!

Here was the crowd after the game.



Miami has really been a lot of fun!! It is so diverse and a great place to people watch. The culture here is so different. I feel like I am in South America. Everyone is so fun and flashy!
When we got here on Saturday we immediately drove to the beach. It was a little windy but still warm. There were a few cruise ships going out of the port! We drove around South Beach and there were so many things to look at.... clothing stores, restaurants, tattoo shops... everything! And there were so many AMAZING cars- Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys... it was very cool!

Me and Lauren at the beach!

Me and Matt

Me and Matt on the lifegaurd stand


Then we came back to our hotel, got ready and went back down to South Beach for dinner. We ate at a mexican restaurant that was really good! Then we walked around South Beach and went to a place called Ocean's Ten. It was very cool, right on Ocean Dr. They had a live band and as it got later they had a DJ!

I felt really bad for Matt because his dinner didn't sit too well... he got pretty sick. He still toughed it out and hung at Ocean's Ten. Really there's no way that he could not have fun with 'Shoeless Joe' dancing in front of us. Haha... 'Shoeless Joe' was this flamboyant guy that was dancing his little heart out, unfortunately the picture does not do his amazement justice! He kept smiling at us and dancing near. He made a few wardrobe changes through the night- sunglasses with head scarf (made from his sweater), shirt tucked in; no sunglasses with a neck scarf, shirt untucked, and many other variations with the props listed! It was glorious.

Shoeless Joe breakin it down


The Band at Ocean's Ten

The dancers and DJ at Ocean's Ten

Lauren, Me & Matt at Ocean's Ten

As I was walking around I couldn't help but think how much fun I would be having if Angelina was here. She would totally love Miami and Miami would love her too! Angel- we are taking a trip to Miami next year!!

South Beach is a happenin' place. It would be a great place for a girl's weekend or a bachelorette party. Next time I come down I am definitely staying at Deco Walk. It's a hostel on Ocean Drive, which is a perfect location, right in the middle of everything!! And I looked it up- only $20 a night!!! So if you come to South Beach you HAVE to stay there!!

So Miami has been a BLAST.... now on to Alabama :)

1 comment:

  1. It's a deal Natalee!!! When you are done with your tour we are planning our Miami Escape!!! And we'll salsa the night away!

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