Joy, sunshine, and rain!

This past Labor Day weekend Hoor and I experienced a little piece of home when our dear friend Joy visited. We were so excited to host our very first guest after being here barely a month. Before Joy's arrival we came up with the perfect South Florida itinerary. When Joy touched down, rain clouds filled the sky promising heavy showers (ruining our planned beach day). We decided to grab some fish tacos for lunch and head home to show Joy our place. We kept a watchful eye on the weather radar in hopes that we would be able to make it to the beach.      

The clouds broke for a short period and we hopped in the car and headed to Hollywood Beach. As soon as we arrived it was pouring…. We decided to hang tight and enjoy some mojitos. The sun eventually came out and we were able to swim for an hour.

That evening we hit up Las Olas Boulevard for crepes, gelato and shopping.

 

We woke up early on Sunday and drove to Universal Studios in Orlando for “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!” I could hardly contain my excitement on the way up and I truly felt like a kid all over again. This was an experience that Harry Potter fans of all ages could appreciate.   

   

We rode HP themed roller coasters, drank butter beer and shopped for wands and robes (way too expensive for my liking)! After lunch at Three Broomsticks we went through Hogwarts castle and played a round of Quidditch (my favorite part of the day)! On our way out of Hogsmeade we stopped at Honeydukes and Zonkos. As we were making our way around the park it started to pour, again. We decided to leave and check out the Orlando Premium Outlets on our way home. We were overcome with joy when we found out that they were open until 9!

Monday morning we drove to Miami and went to South Beach. We couldn’t have asked for a better beach day. The sun was out and there wasn’t a rain cloud in sight, but there were many jellyfish in the water! We avoided getting stung and enjoyed the warm waters. Later the teenagers sitting in front of us at the beach swam out and found two starfish! I couldn’t believe all of the marine life we saw that day!

 


Listening to a live DJ and overlooking fancy cars on Ocean Drive, we enjoyed an amazing lunch at The Tides Hotel. It felt like our waiter was recommending salads only. Must be what all the skinny supermodels get while on South Beach. We stayed true to our Midwest roots and opted for grease and carbs, well at least Joy and I did! Hoor went with a salad, go figure!

After lunch we walked around Collins Avenue to shop and we visited The Kardashian’s store, Dash Miami. Other than the free mojitos at lunch this was the highlight of my day! The store was quite small and had cute and not-so-cute things that screamed Kardashian. There was a tank top I really liked, but I just couldn’t justify spending $80! I could have had a Gryffindor robe for that much! I decided I would buy a $10 bottle of water that had the three sisters on the label.

After all I needed a souvenir! At that moment Joy’s expression spoke louder than words. I quietly put the water bottle down and walked away and decided our picture in front of Dash would be a better souvenir.

 We are so excited to have our next visitor (my brother) this weekend! Until next time, dolls!