The sun, sea and sand II

The other thing about Miami is that almost everyone owns a trunk (the giant ones) or a Bentley. We've lost count of the numbers of these vehicles that pasts us by one find morning at Jerry's having breakfast of pancakes and what nots...

I love pancakes, American style! Its so soft and tasty with maple syrup or tiny dots of salted butter.. hehehehe... Then there's pretzels... Oo.... I miss Auntie Anne's pretzels at home. Funny I can't seem to find them here in Miami. And you should have seen the rows and choices of snacks, cookies, soft drinks etc they've got on their supermarket shelves!! Can fight with M'sian Giant or Carrefour anywhere! One thing that seems to be missing is the choice of yogurt. Well coming from an overflow of milk country, i.e. Switzerland, the choice seems really limited. May be US consumers aren't that adventurous on their yogurt choice?

Back to the trip. I did managed to do some shopping. Well not much since we've got only 1 luggage with us. We went to The Cross Stitch Station on our second day. This shop was supposed to be close on Mondays but Janet, the owner, was nice enough to let us in! THANKS A BUNCH JANET! I took my time (but not really my own sweet time as hubs was waiting!) browsing through her charts (there were so many!), kits, floss etc. I wanted to buy so much stuff but I kept reminding myself that I'm here to get what I need and there's just simply no space to get everything here! *sigh.... In the end I got some of The Gentle Art and Needle Necessities over dyed threads, a 28 count Zweigart rose fabric, some charms and charts from The Sweet Heart Tree (The Love Sampler), Forever In My Heart (Words to Love By) and a secret chart by JBW designs. I'm amazed this time at myself at not actually causing a meteoroid crater on my credit card!

Later on the second last day, we went deep sea fishing. There's a whole lot of difference between deep sea fishing here in the States and back home.... Here we're facing the Atlantic and back home we're basically on South China Sea. The vessel used was a fiberglass made boat that has the navigation area on top part of the boat. Back home I'm used to the solid type of vessel made out of wood, where passengers seat at almost the same level as the navigation area.

Going out of port to get the fishing spot was ok for me. BUT once they start casing out the lines, I'm starting to get sick. There was no anchor and so we're just drifting on choppy water. And it just so happens that today the sea a little bit more "agitated" than yesterday. So you can imagine the vessel rolling on waves and me (and the other passenger) turning green by the minute. In the end I puked in the sea....Good thing was I didn't have lunch or heavy breakfast. Otherwise it's much worst. As I was puking, I could imagine the disappointment on my dad's face and him saying "Still can not tahan after all the fishing trips ah?". Right after the puking scenarios (I had several of them), Carsten (hubs' colleague) and hubs caught their fish. That's after 1 and half hours of waiting and watching me puking! Well I can say at least it wasn't a disappointing (and disgusting) outing! But it was really tiring for me as I fell asleep while on our way back to the marina....

That night itself, we went out to Mango's, which is by the way a cool place. There you'll find hot servers, they'll take turn to dance on the bar! Seems like a lot to do; serving food and drinks, follow by the knowledge to dance well! There were a couple of hubs' colleague trying to dance with them, but they were too good....

Overall we had a great time in Miami. I just wish that I brought in an extra bag to stash!!

A trip to the sun, sea and sand I

ShannyKhoo
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Remember a song by Will Smith about Miami? Well, we just got back from there on Saturday. Was there for a 6 days, which I think was more than enough for the pocket!

We took the flight from Zurich at about noon or so and got there in the evening of Miami time. Couldn't sleep or rest much in the plane as it turns out we have 2 "monsters" sitting in front of us and a pretty angel behind us. The 2 in front was going on and on and on; Mommy look! He took my car, mommy! I'm hungry, Mommy! etc. Plus they decide to throw empty cups and plastic forks/knifes around, which happens to fall either behind (us) and the front passengers. Yes the kids are active and why are they that active? Coz mommy decides to give them Coke instead of water, that's why! It was really astonishing to know that some mommy didn't know about sugar rush effects of soda in kids and how kids get all kinds of bad teeth, gas and what nots from consuming sodas/sugary drinks. Here I promised myself, I WILL NOT GIVE SODAS/CAFFEINATED DRINKS TO MY KIDS BELOW THE AGE OF 8 FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER! I also will not let others, be it friends/family to let them have it, even if they'll say "a little its ok" or "just a taste, its alright no?".

Any ways, the arrival was ok. Had to go through a long line of immigration check, a long wait for our 1 bag at the luggage collecting belt and finally a really quick taxi ride to the hotel by a really nice taxi driver. We stayed in The Shore Club hotel along Miami Beach area. The hotel was nice but really (REALLY) expensive for what it was. Thank goodness hubs company got special rates and we're only paying 1 of the 5 nights. Normal rates goes about USD500.- (or more) including taxes. We got lost looking for the room! It turns out that, we had to go thru a garden bar, then a bar/restaurant thing before getting to the lifts to get to the rooms... So weird... The corridor was really too cold due to air-conditioning (reminds me of Malaysia) and the room looks like a chic, up-scale hospital! It was white everything, except the flat screen TV, the cement like floors and some wooden towel hanging structure.

Once we got settled in, we decided to some dinner around the corner at Jerry's Famous Deli. As it turns out this place is open 24 hours a day, sort of like our mamak stall cum kopi-tiam lar! The deli was in this 30's or 40's style, where you find diner style seats but with also really cold air-conditioning. The food was good but just simply too huge a portion for us to finish. Drinks came in the size of half a littler! So after that, my wish to have a small slice of dessert came to a halt as I couldn't even finish my salad. But then again what's small to the Americans?

The next day we decide to walk about the beach area for a bit as it was cloudy and windy at the same time. The chances of swimming are pretty slim. The funny thing is that, after hearing so much about the obesity problem they have in the States, we didn't really find them fat here. But then again, Miami is a state where you'll find most common bikini clad women with long legs, and six pack chested men. Not to mention where plastics make people beautiful and it comes cheap too! After the beach, we took a cab near the outskirts of down town area and walked all over. Mind you its a lot of walking here. Everything is situated/placed far apart! Even crossing the roads, we had to walk really fast with them having at least 3 lanes on each side and the lights changes fast as well!

Well there's really nothing to shout about the day time scene here in Miami and plus its a public holiday (we found out later; Martin Luther King's day). We went to the touristy Bayside Market area which also a port where many fishing boats/yachts are docked. Then we walked all the way to Little Havana, which took us about 40 mins. According to the concierge, this area is mainly populated by Spanish/Caribbean community with speciality shops etc. But since its a public holiday, we didn't really get much out of it. But then again, Miami seems more people speaking Spanish than English! When we landed at the airport, it (Miami International Airport) seems like we're in Mexico or Barcelona. Its not that I've been to these places before, but what I imagined it to be.

More to come...

Its a waiting game...

I'm getting really impatient these past few weeks. Reason being:

• I can't wait to receive an exchange item from Emily from a stitching group I joined (NNC, Malaysia) organised by Margaret. And at the same time can't wait till my partner, Margaret receive hers. That way I could finally put up the pictures here, since its my very first exchange.
  
• Can't wait till this weekend for a little trip to Miami. Never been there, so I'm pretty excited about it. Been doing some summer outfit shopping, which is by the way difficult to do since we're winter now. And plus, with my new figure, I definitely have to get new clothes! Now I'm worried that my very nice (and sexy looking) Lee jeans will not fit me after the being preggers! EEIIKKKSSSS! So I'm promising myself now NOT to get too fat and join a gym club once my angel comes....
  
• The gyne check up again end of this month. I want to know how he/she is doing and a quick picture to show the family. Could feel it kicking and moving about inside, which is kinda of strange being a first time mum here.
  
• To go back home and see the family and friends I miss so much for the past year. I'm already counting down the days that past me by since before Christmas! The 1 person I would like to meet very much is my pretty niece, born last May and whom I'll like to get to know better than pictures sent over. I'm already buying pretty dresses for her! I just love dressing up little girls! Tie her hair and make her all cute and pretty like a princess..... Its just like playing dress up with dolls when we gals were little ourselves but this time for real.

You see, all of the above needs time to sort itself out. So at the mean time, what I can do is just wait till the time comes. Being impatient as one of my character, it is just frustrating for me to play time game as I can't sleep at night at times. Its may be I'm thinking too much then about what to do the next day, the following day or the next week even to fall asleep! So at the mean time, I'll just put up a pic of him/her while waiting for the next time to come...

Our little one at 13 weeks old, relaxing in mummy's tummy....