I woke up with the song in my head. On the way to the airport. On the flight. ” I throw my hands up in the air sometimes.” The drive to the hotel. Dance party for 1 in the hotel room.  The wedding. “Saying Ayo.” Driving to South Beach. On the beach. “Gotta let go.”  Dancing under the Palm trees and moon.  ”I wanna celebrate and live my life. Saying ayo. Baby, let’s go.”

Jess had never heard it. I made sure to sing out loud every so often so she could become well aquanited.  It became the theme song of our trip. Every good time, every what the heck did we just see, every wow moment.

Miami, it’s beautiful. If you saw my status updates on Facebook, South Beach is completely INSANE. People watching was at a whole new level.

It’s the first trip my best friend Jess and I have been on together in over 10 years. She recently started photography and I invited her to come along as my second shooter to Miami. She obliged, put up with all my wackyness and I think had a ittle fun too

Here are a few pictures. And in the final words of Taio Cruz…”we gon’ light it up (Miami that is) like it’s DYNAMITE!”

You would never know this picture was taken in a moving vehicle. Good job Jess. It’s exactly the moment I saw when I scared you half to death pointing like a wild woman and yelling to take a picture while I drove 25 miles per hour on a busy road.
Our boutique hotel in the heart of South Beach.

Our room was so cute!

Welcome to South Beach.

Breakfast on our last day. This coffee was so good I wouldn’t shut up about it. I even had the server find out what kind of roast it was. (It’s Lavazza 100% Arabic). Jess I just realized that the brand is printed on the cup!

I convinced Jess she should try it and she decided to order a cup for herself. Here she is with her first cup of coffee. Ever!

Our only picture together. We waited until we saw someone with a SLR camera (since it was all we had)  and asked him to take it.

I don’t think I saw this work out area empty once.

Downtown Miami. 

And a little photo shoot time

Okay. I died laughing when I saw this next picture. Here comes the lioness…

I tried to make up for it…

This is a Bayside Banyan tree. The interesting thing about these trees is that the roots acutally grow down from the branches. Once they hit the ground, they grow into trunks.

I thought I would be sly…Where’s Waldo?

It was 4 a.m. and my eyes were wide open. I had spent the week in LA and it was my last morning in the City of Angels. I even celebrated my last night by going to bed extra early so I wouldn’t be too thrown off by the time change and upcoming daylight savings hour loss. (I’m so cool it hurts) I had only slept 5 hours and I was sitting in bed…wide awake. No sign of sleep returning. pfft.

I turned on the television and the stations were flooded with breaking news about the earthquake in Japan. I watched the videos of turmoil that had taken place. A few minutes later the newscasters moved to other stories, covering Hawaii and a Tsunmai warning on the west coast. Moments passed and then an epiphany: I WAS ON THE WEST COAST.

Play.it.cool.Kelly…What can I do? Who can I call? Wait maybe I should find out more first? Tsunami warning? Like the big wave that floods everything? I want to go home! Where is my mom? Oh wait its 7:30 in Atlanta now, I bet I can call her! Mom?! There was an earthquake in Japan…AND I’M IN A TSUNAMI WARNING!!

We watched the news together, saw that evacuations had been issued for Hawaii, and sat patiently as the reports continued. Our fears were soon subsidized and we realized it would most likely equate to nothing more than rising tides on the beach. I went back to sleep and charged her to call me if she heard anything.

Hours later I was at the airport boarding my flight home.

I absolutely fell in love with Los Angeles and am completely convinced I will move here one day. I mean the weather is unbelievably perfect. The shopping is insane and there is so much to do.

Here are a few pictures from my trip.

Santa Monica. The night before the Tsunami hit.

For the Baby in all of us. The Getty Center. It’s amazing. And free. Would looove to do a photoshoot here. In fact, I’ll add it to my bucket list.

We don’t have plants like this in Georgia.

Sunset at the Getty Center.