Miami: The Celebration

After loads of deliberation, six days before I was meant to travel I decided to head to MIA from FCO for a weekend! A total of 27 hours travel and three and a half days on the ground, I must say I have never made a better decision. If you do not have a friend that you love enough to do that for, I suggest you search for that person.

The highly anticipated weekend of #houseofratchet, a hash tag which is worth searching on twitter, was one without disappointment. I often try not to have expectations because I think it makes the good great and the bad not so bad, but I had very high expectations for a full weekend of friend fun and they were instantly surpassed from the first drink at Wet Willie’s, a South Beach institution.

The weekend was filled with a collection of artists, photographers, students, corporate Americans, teachers, entrepreneurs, lawyers and genuinely amazing people. I fell in love with so many strangers.

I landed at the airport around 9pm EST and was met by a friend from NYC at the gate as she also flew in for the festivities. I collected my baggage, went outside, phone calls were made and Elton was there, along with a special surprise guest. I am not sure I stopped smiling after that very moment. So much love.

One to never disappoint, after 15 hours of travel I came off of the plane in four inch heels ready for the bar and we headed straight to Wet Willie’s. There I met more of the guests of house of ratchet, drank my drink and laughed until my abs ached. Un-phased by the long travel and six hour time change, Thursday was a great night. Lots of mojitos, laughs and controversial moments.

Friday morning came swiftly and though we went to sleep around 5am, we were up by 7, changed into beach gear by 8:30 and in the ocean by 9. Just me and some of my favorites. By 10am we were drinking free mimosas on Ocean Drive and laughing until our cheeks hurt. I can’t get sarcasm like that anywhere else in the world and I loved every bit of it.

As more and more people arrived the ensuing fun became palpable. We checked into the house/villa/mansion (as you prefer) and the official weekend kicked off. There was loads of alcohol and ratchet punch (key ingredient was Everclear). There were family and friends, classmates and childhood friends. All major US cities were represented. We rented bikes, we talked to people on the street, we played beach volleyball and ogled at the scantily clad bodies on the beach. We had heart to hearts and parlor talk. We played Pokeno and “went” to church. Old friends reunited and strangers became friends. We slept on air mattresses and next to the pool. We sun bathed, we brunched, and we rode around Miami in a 15 passenger van.

Words alone cannot express the amazing energy that was present during the weekend so I will leave the pictures to do the rest of the talking. Thanks to my iPhone and Erik Umphery for the pictures. Hopefully Elton will release his soon!