I’ve always had mixed feelings
about Florida, but that has never stopped me from going there. I would never
want to end up there because of the well-known fact that it is the migration
site of —how do I put this nicely?— the older generation. And there’s nothing
wrong with that! But at this time in my life I would prefer to be surrounded
by, I don’t know, people who are neither retired nor about to bite the dust
(one pro of being in college, ayo!). That being said, Floridians do age
gracefully, provided that they’ve been wearing hats, sunglasses, and sun screen
all their lives like none of us do on the beaches of Maryland. I mean how cute
are the boho chic outfit choices of Floridian mothers (I was told by my best
friend Katya that a dress I liked in Mizner Park was something a hippy mom
would wear, so I guess I can relate to these my fellow fashionistas :P). But I
digress. The OTHER reason Florida doesn’t excite me is because, to be honest if
you’re not in Miami or Orlando, it’s pretty boring. Sure, maybe there are some
other little pockets of activity like Del Ray and Key West, but all in all
there’s not much to do but bake in the sun.
The
Addison. That’s where we stay when we go to Florida. It’s my grandmother’s
condo in Boca Raton that we get to use because she rarely stays there. Whatever
fun thing you can do at this condominium complex and in the surrounding town was
exhausted by Katya and me. And there weren’t many. Okay let me rephrase that:
WE GET CREATIVE WHEN WE HAVE TO.
Fun things:
1. Got mani-pedis 2.4 miles away (see story later)
2. Watched Maleficent at iPic (the fanciest shmanciest movie
theater in town, complimentary valet next-door thank you very much)
3. Roamed around Nordstrom Rack
4. Bought nothing at Barnes and Noble
5. Got a large container of GUAC and other fresh snacks at
our local Whole Foods Supermarket (paid endorsement)
6. Watched a man eat a meal and dessert BY HIMSELF at Maxe’s
Grillee (now that I think about loneliness it feels like Grille needs an extra
“e”)
7. Eavesdropping on interesting people at two Starbucks
(yeah, when it comes to coffee houses, we get around)
8. Alternating between beach and poolside, listening to FUN
by Kyle and Stay High: Habits Remix by Tove Lo as our anthems and reading Bossypants (okay that very last part was
just me ;))
Do I want to expand on any of these
8 fabulous fun ways we spent our free time? You bet. (Am I adopting the writing
style of Tina Fey? I hope). I’d like to zero in on #1 and #7. First, yeah, we
went to a nail salon and it was interesting. This Asian dude tells us to have a
seat and he and his female coworker start engaging us in conversation (erm,
next time I will pick up a magazine thanks).
“Oh, sisters!!!!” the woman exclaims.
“No, we’re just best friends.”
“Oh yes, yes of
course best friends.”
They suddenly become very interested in how old we are.
“You look 13 and you
look 12.”
What the frick is this?? I don’t want to ever step foot into
a nail salon again!
“Yeah, you look better,” the woman said, gesturing to Katya.
Good thing I have a healthy sense of self-confidence and the
insight to know that the this wacko probably just didn’t know English and meant
to say “you look younger”.
Now for #7. This time we met some
funny people in Florida that didn’t insult us! And they were from New York! Imagine
that. So we go into this Starbucks and this New Yorker starts spouting out
every single word that brings out his accent. I mean, he hit on “dog,”
“daughter,” “coffee” and “Times Square” all within the same two sentences. And
he wasn’t even trying to make fun of himself! So needless to say this was a
great start. We discussed how ridiculous the price of coffee was and I
proceeded to order my pink cake pop J. Then, as I was
scooting over in line behind Katya, I noticed my friend and all three of these
people were cracking up. What was up? Then this woman from his crew leaned over
and audibly asked me, “don’t you think his shoes are horrible?” They were
pretty bad. They were like the ugly kind of Jesus sandals (no offense to our
Lord). I mean I have cute ones, but these were… Anyway, I said something like
“hey, I’m not one to judge” and “if they work for him, that’s good.” But as
usual, I don’t know if anyone heard me so Katya said “she’s speechless”. That
was a word that hurt in 2nd grade when someone used it to describe
me, but now it has become a source of laughter from a good anecdote.
Some words seem harmful when they really aren’t. And some
trips seem like they’re going to be boring when they really prove to be
awesome.
In the words of Selena Gomez: “everything is not what it
seems.”
(Katya left, me right)Godspeed people,
xo
Meg
