This past weekend, my husband and I took a quick weekend getaway to Miami for my 30th birthday.  My actual birthday is February 29th, making me a leap day baby.  So technically, I was celebrating my 7 1/2th birthday.  This is a terrible time of year for a birthday in my opinion because it is still in the dead of winter and everyone is beyond sick of the weather.  My younger sisters all had summer birthdays, and therefore were able to have huge pool parties.  Not I…always an indoor party for poor little me (my sisters are definitely going to be rolling their eyes as they read this!)

Before we went on a cruise 2 years ago, we stayed at the South Beach Marriott overnight before we embarked.  We really enjoyed our stay there and have always thought about going back.  My 30th/7.5 birthday seemed like the perfect opportunity.  We were able to fly directly to Ft. Lauderdale after a series of mishaps with Jet Blue.  Our plane getting into Boston was delayed an hour, the Jet Blue systems went down and they grounded all flights for an hour, and then a plane on the Ft. Lauderdale runway lost communications with air control and we had to suddenly avert our landing and circle again.  Fortunately, our dinner reservations were for pretty late….it’s Miami!

On Friday night, we had dinner at Nobu, a famous sushi chain.  It was really delicious food, but our meal got cut a bit short when our tables got cleared and we were given dessert menus (we had been planning on ordering a bit more sushi).  Afterwards, we hit up the Sky Bar which was outdoors and was very nicely decorated.  They also had gas lamps, which I parked under all night as it did get a bit cool.

The next morning, we grabbed brunch at a place right around the corner from our hotel called The Big Pink.  We hit up the beach after and we were pretty much the only people for the 4 hours we hung out there.  It was a bit windy and overcast, but we got occasional bursts of sun.  It was really relaxing to just read, talk with my husband, and watch the water.  One of my friends from college, who now lives about an hour from Miami, met us up in the afternoon and we grabbed drinks and apps at the hotel bar.  It started to downpour while we were there and the whole crowd watched in dismay (ok, slight amusement) as the wedding decorations set up in the area adjacent to the outdoor bar all blew over and fell into the hotel’s water fountain!

For dinner that night, I had done some researching on OpenTable and Yelp and decided to try out Wish.  The food was excellent and they had menus that actually lit up as you opened them.  The back garden was closed due to the weather, but we were still able to eat outside.  On Sunday morning, we woke up on the early side to sit out at the beach for an hour.  We then got ready, checked out of our room, and hit up the Sunday brunch downstairs.  Here is the view from the South Beach Marriott:

We then headed to the airport and we were back in Boston by 6.  It was definitely a very fun birthday and one I will always remember!

-m