SoBe Soiree

I turned 30 last Monday. To celebrate, I took a gang of thieves down to South Beach, my personal Mecca, to help ring in the new age bracket. The crew of highly-trained professionals:

Dave Bell, aka "Bro": Dave's stated goals for going on this trip: to hang out with me and to "get nice" each night he was in town. Dave, the trip MVP, has the most infectious laugh in laugh history and made almost a dozen phone calls within an hour of landing in Miami

Tena, aka "Signed and Sealed": Tena and I have been going dancing together now for almost 10 years. When I asked her about coming on this trip, she signed on almost immediately

Derwin, aka "Shape-Up": Derwin, who spends a fair amount of his time dating Tena, playing poker and attending to his always-sharp hair, is a SoBe rookie and has been known to, well, "hang out" pretty regularly. Derwin also had a belt casualty on this trip, so his profile shot is of a belt that "The Professional" lent to him halfway through the trip

Quan, aka "The Vet": Quan has been to South Beach a couple of times and is a professional club vet known to sample the local drinking establishment on occasion. Like Tena, I have been friends with Quan for what seems like forever, evidenced by the "you're number 1" hand signal

Gordon, aka "The Professional": Straight out of a Dockers commercial, Gordon seems to always have the right clothes on at the right time. Also a SoBe rookie, Gordon noted the local talent with extremely detailed, complex reactions like "Whoa!" and "You can wear that outside of your bedroom?"

Kristin, aka "Minxy": You know those print ads that Bacardi does, that lead with things like "Lawyer by day...Lawless by night"? That's Kristin in a nutshell, mild-mannered by day and wide-open after dark. As you can imagine, Kristin spent most of her time out of the room after dark!

Rob, aka "The Funnyman": Maybe the funniest guy I know, Rob is a laugh-by-numbers guy; because he tells so many jokes and is so funny most of the time, there are also the times where he tells you a joke that is met with blowing tumbleweed. It's pretty rare, though...and, in addition to being one of my best friends, he's a great addition to a group vacation

Colleen, aka "The Mastermind": The brains behind her union with Rob, Colleen stays mostly in the shadows in large groups, always adding that little extra something where necessary. She's also one of the best cooks I know and is in the 1% of the female population that plays in fantasy football leagues

Dan, aka "The Wildman": Dan can, does and will continue to talk to literally anyone he comes in contact with; he is the consummate chatter-upper. He's also good times socially, and even though I just met Dan last year we have become fast friends. It helps that, even though I'm straight, I might be in love with him

Rina, aka "The Lightning Rod": If you could major in Club Cube Dancing, Rina would have already earned her doctorate; I've never met anyone that might really have aspirations to dance on raised platforms in nightclubs professionally before Rina. As Rina went, so did our crew on the dance floor; no one could match her energy, but Dan's cousin always gave you another reason to get your booty-shakin' ass out there

We got to town on Friday night, the 14th...a night that I was pretty sure would be stone-cold chillin'. But, in reality...

SoBe Soiree, II

bellview--whole lotta zoomin'

SoBe Soiree