Just before the new year, I packed up the family and headed for a warmer climate… Miami! LA was brisk, to say the least. With rain being the forecast for the week ahead and with the kids off school, we decided to make the most of it. Funnily enough I had been to Florida a few times but had never been to Miami. I definitely have heard mixed reviews - some people I have spoken to love it and some people hate it. For me, I like to get out there and try something for myself to see if I like it.
I think for a lot of us the last two years have been very uncertain, and getting out and about again is my goal for 2022. With the light at the end of the tunnel for Covid - well hopefully, anyway - we can start to move forward, and that excites me to get back to what I was doing that was successful. I have definitely used Covid in some respects as an excuse to stop living in these past two years in some areas, but for this year I don’t want any excuses and want to expand again, responsibly of course. Don’t get me wrong, some of it has been warranted of course. But we do at some point need to move forward, and hopefully after 2 years this year is finally the year. This trip, as all trips tend to do in retrospect, allowed me to get out of my environment and see things that I perhaps wouldn’t have realized if I was in the comfort of my home environment in LA.
A few things struck me. I really love Miami for one and want to spend more time there and expand the company there and on the East coast for that matter. And I could see a store in Miami as a viable future option at some point. It also inspired some design ideas too, with a South Beach-inspired tee on the way. I also had the opportunity to re-connect with an old friend, Jimmy Butler, who was very welcoming to my family and really made us feel special. Sitting courtside for the first time was a fun experience that I was luckily able to share with my family, and getting to go back after the game and meet a few of the players was a buzz.
As with all trips we look for great food and coffee, and Miami definitely has this to offer. A few of our favorites from the trip was The Salty Donut in Wynwood, which actually had great donuts and great coffee, and Cecconi’s at Soho Beach House. After Miami, we headed to the Tampa Bay area and a new favorite coffee place called Bandit Coffee in St. Pete.
Along with that, we did a design meeting to go over the finishes for our new house in the area which was also a lot of fun. Having sold our house in LA, we decided to be bi-coastal in the near future - a dream I have had since moving here from Australia 10 years ago. Not a bad start I must say to 2022. I intend to live this year to the fullest and beyond and wish all our subscribers success in 2022 as well. Let’s make it what we want it to be!
