A little girl time in the 305
Tik Tok made me do it! Ok, so we had already been to Miami and although I loved it, I wanted to go somewhere different. And then one late night a TikTok binge led me to the best girls trip ever! Everything went absolutely perfectly! I booked the trip about two weeks prior when I found 39.00 flights on Spirit! We are pretty flexible so I booked right away and moved on to the details later. FLL is typically a cheaper airport to fly in to when visiting here and only about a 40 minute Uber ride to South Beach. If you are only planning to stay in South Beach and Downtown Miami, I would not rent a car. Parking is not easy anywhere in Miami.
I scoured the internet for days trying to find the perfect spot for us to stay inside of my budget. Some of the places in South Beach are absolutely ridiculous, so it took me a lot of research to meet my needs. My must have list. 1. Safety 2. Location 3. rooftop pool 4. Suite. I am not talking about a Penthouse suite, that is way fancy yall. But I would love to have a “suite” of some sort when traveling. We enjoy a good bit of down time, and I need living space. The ABAE HOTEL totally fit our needs. The Abae was close enough to walk to most places and only about a 15 minute walk to the beach. Last time I came here we stayed at BOULAN HOTEL and that one is on Ocean Drive so if your trip is more beach focused you may want give that one a try. Boulan’s reviews have gone down, but we had a great experience there. Both are 3 start hotels only because they don’t have a bar, restaurant, or room service. None of those are needed because there are bars and restaurants on every block! Miami has some of the cutest boutique hotels, personally I would not stay at a Hilton or Marriott here (although they are super nice) because something about boutique hotels excite me! I got the Corner Suite and it had a living area, with kitchen and separate bedroom. I forgot to take pictures, so you’ll have to check the link above. It was all we needed for us girls. The only complaint about my room is that my balcony was less than desirable. There are bigger balconies though, I just didn’t know any better.
We dropped off our bags and headed out for the day! Our first stop… Lincoln Rd. Lincoln Rd Mall is known for shopping. Everything from boutiques, to restaurants, to major retail stores, to specialty shops and even the dreaded Lululemon. My absolute favorite store was a place called Showfields. This store was super cool and also known as the most interesting store in the world. It is a place where local artists sell their own jewelry, soaps, robes, etc. Everything in there was high dollar, but the store had the coolest vibe, perfect photo ops and a Slide!! You slide from the second story down to the first, and I loved it!
Then we went back to the hotel to relax by the pool. The pool area was nice but small. Pretty skyline views. No bar though, but there is a Walgreens across the street so it was easy to get wine/beer. We relaxed here, and watched the evening storm roll through a bit till it was time to get ready for dinner. This Dinner was The #1 reason I even decided to book Miami.
Small Rooftop pool at the Boulan
THE VERSACE MANSION. As a true crime fan, I watched the Versace documentary and fell into a bit of a rabbit hole one night and have wanted to go there ever since. The last time I went to Miami, I didn’t even realize eating there was an option. But this time, I was not going to miss. Reservations for the mansion are a little difficult to get into. I booked the dinner reservation before I even booked the flight! We had a late one, 9:45 PM but I didn’t care at all. I stood in the exact spot where Gianni Versace died. Hahaha! For real though, I wanted me and the girls to get all fancied up and enjoy a beautiful dinner in South Beach and we did! The mansion is absolutely beautiful. You can actually spend the night there but it will cost you 2,000/night! We were seated pool side and the beautiful soft lighting, and cool music was the perfect touch! The truffle gnocchi was the best though!
Day 2: After a good nights rest, it was time to take on the day. We started off with brunch at The Little Hen. This is the #2 reason I came to Miami. I wanted to see this beautiful place that I have been drooling over on TikTok. The terrace was complete with fresh flowers everywhere, the adorable decor, of course the pink pancakes! Their specialty drink was a mixture of cotton candy and champagne. It was soooo yummy and I typically do not like cotton candy or any sweet drinks. I got their signature dish the rose petal pancakes and I could not shut up about them all day! Zoey got the chicken and waffles and Laiken got the French Toast. Everything was fantastic. If you like Tea, you should try the tea party! The Little Hen is a must eat brunch spot when you visit Miami! I cannot wait to go back!
After brunch, we hopped on over to the Miami Selfie Museum. I mean I do have teen girls, so of course that had to be an option! It was overpriced to me but not terrible. The girls enjoyed and got a few pics. We were there maybe 45 minutes tops, so I wouldn’t carve out a ton of time for it.
The next stop of the day….. The Design District. The design district is a whole area dedicated to all the fanciest stores. Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, Prada, Fendi, Gucci, Valentino, and Dior just to name a few! So I guess everyone knows that I am just a little bit boujie, and for some damn reason my kids took after me instead their dad. So imagine our excitement to see the #3 reason I came to Miami…THE DIOR CAFE. The cafe is on the third floor of Dior Store. It was so precious! Of course we took several pictures, had a 20.00 latte with CD branded on it, and went on our way…. all smiles. Side Note: It is easy to get caught up in the moment of the design district and talk yourself into a super expensive purse because you deserve it, and this is a once in a lifetime experience, blah blah blah. Don’t do it.
We headed back to the room for a little down time before heading to the most over the top dinner of all dinners…..BARTON G’S. Many people had heard of Barton G’s, I had not. Which is the #4 reason I came to Miami, because I saw this over the top restaurant and I love over the top things! We sat down for dinner and I asked the waiter what their best drink was, and he said “Diamonds are forever” That’s a pretty extreme name for a lemon drop martini but ok I’ll bite…. Yall this drink! We ooooed and ahhhhed over it for a good 10 minutes before it stopped smoking and I was able to actually drink it. This restaurant has a whole below zero nitro-bar for drinks. I wanted to try them all but its literally 34.00 a drink so one it was! I must say though…. that was the best lemon drop martini I will ever have in my entire life. Every dish is extreme. We enjoyed watching the people all around us, trying to figure out what they ordered by looking at their prop.
The real treat was dessert. We went for this one because its what the kids and I truly wanted but when I tell you all the desserts were crazy. There is a cotton candy dessert about as tall as me and an ice cream cone bigger than my head! We went for the Dolla Dolla Bills, Yall. This was Smores type treat and a gold brick shell filled with vanilla bean ice cream. Holy moly…. we were in heaven and I don’t even like dessert.
Day 3 was a free day, I didn’t have a ton of plans besides wanting to go to the beach. We walked over the the Pink Taco which was a great choice if you are in the mood for Mexican! I got a frozen sangria inside of a pineapple and some carne asada tacos.
Call it good luck, call it great timing. But I requested an Uber and was on the lookout for a white town car that had arrived. Confused as I didn’t see it, the kids said…mom is has to be that limo. No way! Sure enough, the limo window rolled down and Nathan the Uber driver said Nikki? I mean what a pleasant surprise, we took a limo down to NIKKI BEACH!
We spent the day at NIKKI BEACH. Nikki Beach is a cool place, you can rent daybeds on the lawn, or chairs by the ocean and enjoy beach service and a close walk to the bar throughout the day. There is a restaurant there as well. Make a reservation! It has quirky and fun little signs everywhere and just an awesome spot to chill. I wish I could have gotten more pictures but it started storming on us and we had to leave.
I am so glad we decided to go through with our next stop. Superblue. This place was soooo cool. It is an art museum, but at the same time its an experience. You walk through one room which is a digital environment, another is a mirrored maze room, and then two more I can’t really explain. I have seen nothing like it! I will let the pictures speak for themselves, but I can’t explain it and give it any justice. Pictures do it no justice. You just have to see it for yourself. You do have to get your tickets prior because they do book up fast. I didn’t know when I booked but there is an add on experience you can do for 20.00 more and it looks like you are walking in the clouds. By the time I realized it, it was sold out, but I’ll definitely be back one day.
We had an hour or two to kill before dinner so we stopped by Casa Florida. The #5 reason I came to Miami. Casa Florida is not far from Superblue located more on the downtown side of Miami. This cute vintage restaurant is sitting in the middle of the neighborhood and is a house turned into a restaurant. There is a vintage bus outside that you can eat dinner in, but it was a little hot for me. I went for happy hour and had a Pinky (frozen rose). There is a ping pong table for the kids, and just like a lot of restaurants in Miami… a really cool vibe.
For dinner we went to Chotto Matte, The is a mixture of Japanese, and Peruvian food. I was worried that the kids would not find anything to eat there, but everything we got there was delicious. Laiken and I each got a chicken dish and Zoey got sushi. Taste wise, this was my favorite meal of them all. This place is decorated so cool, and with the DJ playing, this is everything you would expect in Miami.
Day 4 and our final day. We had to check out of our hotel for 11, but our flight wasn’t till 8:45 PM. I was not hauling around my luggage, and I really wanted to spend our day on the beach since the rain caught us the day before. There is a really cool thing called Resort Pass or Daycation. Depending on the resort the average price is 25 on weekdays 65 on weekends. This resort pass allowed us to hang at a resort all day and use all their amenities. We checked in at the Riu Miami. They stored all our luggage, we had chairs at the beach waiting for us, towels, access to the pool, restaurant, beach service, etc. It was well worth it for me to not have to worry about anything but changing and hopping in the Uber when it was time to go. These sites offer passes in all vacation areas in tons of states! Check them all if you ever want to do something like this. We had a beautiful day on the beach, And then the storm rolled in.
I cannot say enough amazing things about this trip with my girls. I hope they remember this one forever. I have had a few people tell me they were worried about me and the girls going alone, and I have to say… never for one second did I feel like we were unsafe. Last time we came to Miami we did the more touristy things, so if this is your first time definitely recommend the Thriller speed boat, the tour of star island, and renting a sailboat or Yacht if its a group and doable. Spend the day on the water. The Miami skyline is breathtaking. Quick Tip, If you don’t want your children to see topless women, or the smell weed on the beach, go for a private beach versus public. Make a reservation ahead for everything! Do not show up there and expect to wing it, because you will be disappointed! Make it weeks in advance if you can. Thanks for taking the time to read this blog, I hope your next trip to Miami is as awesome as mine!
LIVE A LIFE BY DESIGN, AND NOT DEFAULT – BOLD LAW
