just got back from florida on Sunday. i LOVE it there. it's hot as hell down there with no rain, but it was soooo great. one of my best friends from college lives there so i went down for her birthday. so fun. this is the last year that she will be able to do what she wants as she is "with child" and she's due at the end of January. i can't believe she's going to be a mommy. it's so weird when your friends have their first kid. i'm so excited for her. they're going to be great parents.

so while i was there, we went to the beach (you have to), shopping, had a game night with her extended family and just kind of chilled. usually, she has 50 milion things she wants me to do with her, but this time we just relaxed and hung out. i loved it. and actually got a little teary eyed when i had to leave.

so that was good - i got some sun and cleared my mind a little. i needed that vacation. i was getting too caught up in myself here. and also being in miami and ft. lauderdale reminds me that i'm a normal girl, i weigh a normal amount and i'm just...normal. i could definitely have a worse life than i have. i complain alot (to myself) that i'm just not where i need to be financially, emotionally, etc. but really, i'm doing ok.

best moment from the beach: jenny and i are sitting on these beach chairs soaking up the sun and watching all of the people around us. we found this one little girl particularly interesting as she was trying to build sandcastles at the water's edge while the rest of her family was in the water playing and swimming. well, you could tell she was getting really frustrated about her sandcastle making as they just weren't standing up or when she'd lift the pail, the sand would tumble out into a shapeless mound. jenny and i were just on the verge of going over and giving her some pointers when she started digging this deep hole to get wetter sand. we were enthralled in this whole process for about a good 20 minutes. eventually, the girl gets wet enough sand, makes the perfect sandcastle and moves along to play with her family. about 5 minutes after she's abandoned her castle project, two guys around 20ish come walking by. they just reak of alcohol and bad attitudes. just as they really get their "i'm way too cool for this" stride, the biggest tool of them steps into the hole that the little girl dug. seriously, the funniest thing i've seen in a long time. he didn't fall completely, but enough that he had to brace himself with his hand (the one without the beer) and his friend had to jump out of the way. his friend, jenny and i had the best laugh about it. he kind of grinned it off and moved along. as his friend was laughing, he stopped close enough to us to hear us say, "we probably should have given them some kind of warning. i mean, she just dug it about 15 minutes ago..." the friend laughed a little harder, the guy that fell was not quite as amused. but we had a good solid laugh about it.

so funny. i think you had to be there...