Life in Miami Beach…….

Holy moly, where to begin…..it’s been so long since I have posted and it feels like a lot has happened……busy times, lol…..Grab a cup of coffee or a glass a wine…..Let’s catch up.

First, hellooooo 2024!! Happy New Year to all of you! I simply cannot imagine how 2024 will be better than this past year. What a whirlwind of goodness & perfection 2023 provided me. A serious improvement from 2022 is a gigantic understatement!!

Boots spent 2 days with me in South Beach which was wonderful, as I arrived to some small issues at my new home(pictured above). Moms know best at making every situation better. We had a rainy day which allowed us time to hotel hop & explore the neighborhood. We enjoyed a nice lunch at The Fountain Blue hotel (she & my dad spent 1 night of their honeymoon) it has changed a lot, but was a nostalgic activity. We ate at a yummy family-owned italian hole in the wall for dinner, she had heard about from her seat-mate on the plane. It was delish! We loved it. I had to get back to my real life and start working after our holiday cruise break. I was ready! My mom flew back to AZ and my Miami Beach adventures began.

There is a nice We Work here, and as you may know…..a plethora of fancy hotel lobby’s for Dora to explore as my office. Boy do I thrive in a remote work life style! My NYE plans had a last minute change and I was going to end up being solo……as my life works out, I had a big surprise unfold. As I was getting a manicure my phone rang after I had posted on FB about my final chapter starting in Miami. One of my oldest friends from my teen years in AZ, David G and his 2 kids had just arrived for 1 week in South Beach for a NYE vacation at The W. David is awesome, extremely entertaining and his teenage kids who I have known since birth are a hoot. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. The 3 of them are loads of laughter. A constant non-stop comedy show. Their hotel is on my corner, I live in the heart of all the South Beach action, which I have decided is like Vegas by the ocean. I do love living 2 blocks from the beach, but would never choose to live here. The kind & generous Glassman family added me to their NYE dinner rez at STK, we spent all day at the hotels private beach area with chairs, cocktails, people watching, and hysterical conversations. I got all caught up on life with all of them……good times. We walked the streets after dinner and saw the fireworks display. It was a true party, lots of high energy everywhere.

I start my days with a 4-5 miles beach walk on the beautiful boardwalk path, normally walking to the end of the South Pointe Pier, passing the art-deco area with old hotels, cars, the Versace Mansion, so many different walks of life. The people watching here is off the charts……the clothing people wear and don’t wear is mind-blowing. One day I made it for the sunrise, pure beauty! There is always so much activity happening, a great way to start any day. I normally go home via walking the infamous Lincoln Rd. I’m grateful to my blog master, Marc for pushing me to rent the place Im staying. Being in the heart of everything has definitely made this experience be what the movies portray Miami. Its like from The Birdcage area…. Lol

The Setai is on the corner, with The Edition, The Ritz, & The 1 hotel nearby. I have solidified that New England is way more my vibe. Nevertheless this month will be unforgettable for sure. I have started to replenish stuff that was stolen from the car debacle. Took the drive North to The Aventura mall to replace my apple computer. I loved exploring this ultra fancy area…..driving up A1A beachfront Ave reminds me of the Vanilla Ice song. Ha ha! I pass The Four Season, St Regis, amongst so many other well known establishments as I drive thru Sunny Isles, SurfSide, Bal Harbor, and spend time in Aventura. The mall was fancy and I did a Target run in this more suburban area. David & Family were in town for the entire week, we got together a bit more, plus I had another visitor. My older sister, Terri has a college bestie from Chicago who is a dear family friend to all of us. Dana came to stay for 24 hours with me since she was visiting her parents in Boca for New Years. We did a long 4 mile beach walk early morning, then while I worked she hung with David and kids at the beach. I met up after work for a pool cocktail prior to her and I doing a happy hour and a night out. It was a quick visit, but SO much fun!

If any of you recall my ‘Meant to be in Miami’ post from almost 3 years ago exactly, there was a To be Cont’d mission. I was named after my father’s favorite aunt, my grandma Ruth’s sister named Lillian. She is where my “L” comes from, well dear Lillian is buried in Miami. On my last visit we didn’t know the cemetery where she was and after making SO many calls looking for her…..as I was on my way to the airport Lakeside Cemetery called to say they had found her in their records. I knew I would return to visit her, well last Sunday was the day. I drove 35 minutes in the rain…..and had a very meaningful visit with her…..it was truly so special to me. She died in 1968 and was only 69 years old, never married and had no children. Her headstone only read ‘beloved sister’. Im obsessed with the concept of birth/death…..a scorpio trait and had deep conversations with a few after my visit, thank you! ☺️ It had been many years since my first and only visit w/ my dad and 2 of the girls…..

The trip 3 yrs ago had a lot of foreshadowing…..as that Miami trip was my first solo trip that I ever took and enjoyed alone. I had met so many friendly people, one being this local girl at a meditation/reiki beach circle. After having shared how I manifested that truly aligned trip which fascinated her, we got dinner together and exchanged life stories. Well you know me, chatty Laurie sue, I decided to reach out to her again while here on social media and we met up for happy hour. What a cool lady that she remembered me and is my new found friend.

Gloribel is gonna be a grandma for the first time in April, she is very spiritually connected and into all the same funky alternative modalities that Im into. She is a scorpio, did landmark, loves to travel, and lives life to its fullest. We had so much fun catching up and she showed me around a new area of Miami. She is on her way next week to Portugal to get trained in ice bath teaching and just returned from Greece. We shared travel tips, as I have just booked 4 days in Santorini and 2 in Athens w/Tracy for later this year. (I know pinch me- beyond blessed/grateful). Gloribel & I said bye after our 3 hour catch up. Unexpected and soooo fun!

I have been grocery shopping and cooking dinners, lunches, always breakfast at home. When no visitors are around, I do live like a local at home. My couch is comfy and I have been watching some Netflix, which is not my norm, but quite relaxing especially after a long work day on the computer & phone. Im loving my apartment building and slowly befriending my door man. The people in this building are not as friendly as NYC. I have had some work days at the We Work, some at home, and worked one day in the beautiful lobby of The Edition Hotel. Sooooo nice! For those not on FB, my second article from Jewdicious has published……Check it out here if interested, feeling so fortunate to be a part of this group of 18 other writers. Thankfully I have an incredible editor…. https://open.substack.com/pub/jewdicious/p/family-the-key-to-jewish-continuity?r=6a8q6&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Next up…..my cousin Jared, Elina, and Alex arrived from CT. Jared had a law conference and they stayed at the Fountain blue. I love all the visitors I have had everywhere I go. It’s truly crazy how perfect it keeps working out. I got to have some quality time with Elina & Alex while Jared worked and did spend some pool time all together. Alex is the sweetest and we have truly bonded, which means a lot to me. I enjoyed working from their hotel too and sharing some meals together.

On a solo weekend I signed up for a hop on hop off bus tour & a boat tour to see all the famous millionaire mansions of Miami from the water. I love to truly submerge myself into seeing every part of a city. My tour went by The design district, Wynwood Walls (unreal murals), The financial area of Brickell, and Little Havana- the cuban capital. The mansions we passed belonged to J- Lo, Antonio Banderas, Jackie Chan- whose home rents for $7 K a night, Ricki Martin’s home had a dome shape, the inventor of Viagra’s mansion was crazy, P- Diddy, and Enrique & Julio Iglesias have mansions next to each other, and the list goes on. Crazy $$$!! Most of them live on Star Island, yet on Fischer Island we learned is the most expensive zip code in the USA- here Oprah, Tiger Woods,, and Justin Bieber own properties to name a few. I was blown away how many famous people have residences in Miami. It was a true day of learning, 4 hours in all between both tours. I was happy to learn as I like to soak up the history of destinations I explore.

I hope this post isn’t too long….ha. Like my sister Terri says traveling with me feels like The Amazing Race. Next is my very special 3 hour visit with Marley, my pseudo niece. She is my sister, Jackie’s niece who I have known since birth. Marley is currently a professional dancer on the NCL ship and was docked in Miami. I was lucky enough to have a Saturday brunch with her and a little shopping day. We had so much fun together sharing travel adventure stories. She is such a ray of sunshine and it was a real treat to see her, I had seen her last when I was in NYC. 2 Marley moments on my digital nomad tour, lol. Then I continued a shopping day in Coral Gables and got to see the upscale Shops at Merrick Park.

Today being Sunday, I started with a beach walk where the Art Deco festival was going on…..the streets were filled with food, games, music, drinks, and an antique car show. The day was cloudy and windy. After a 9 mile walking day I decided to attend a movie, as The Miami Jewish Film Festival is going on for the next 10 days, I saw the cutest movie…if you can find it anywhere its worth it, called ‘Less Than Kosher”, a cute comedy. I came out to it down pouring rain. I opted to hang at The Ritz pool bar and watch the rain while chatting with some bartenders before heading home for the night. Phew……..all caught up. I hope you’re not exhausted.

There are only 2 weeks left before Dora returns to Arizona. I have one more visitor planned, SO excited for Stephanie’s arrival and all our plans. Stay tuned for one more fun-filled entry before I get to see most of you loyal DTG followers. As always thank you for engaging with me. Love you!

Dora aka Laurie Sue xoxo 😉