I have yet to finish my laundry or even completely unpack my bags from my two months in Europe, but on Friday, it was already time to throw some flip-flops and a bikini into my carry-on and prepare for the next trip. Destination: Florida. Excitement level: sky high.
If you’ve hung around these parts for some time, you’ll know I have an unabashed love for the Sunshine State. After all, my parents have had a timeshare in Orlando since I was a tot, and we’ve spent many summers and long weekends lounging around Destin and the surrounding Gulf area of the Panhandle. I simply don’t think you can find more beautiful beaches or such varying shades of aquas anywhere in the continental United States. Why wouldn’t you want to vacation here?
But this time, there was a different agenda: the iHeartRadio Ultimate Pool Party. If I was feeling even remotely sorry for myself for missing that little ol’ bash Bonnaroo that takes place in my backyard every summer, that was all but forgotten during a 12-hour stretch of nonstop live music at the Fontainebleau.
And to add the level of awesomeness of the weekend, it turns out my longtime friend Angie, her sister Rachel and my blog pal Alex would all be there, as well, which was purely coincidental.
Let’s just say that SVV had no trouble at all jumping into the fray of Miami-bound women. You can tell the weekend was extremely hard on him.
We also got to meet Adam, another virtual friend I’ve had for years who blogs about hipster travel; he flew over from Berlin for the occasion and brought his equally adorable friend Denise as his +1.
On Friday night, we headed over to Bianca at the Delano for dinner then chilled out at the Fontainebleau for all the pre-concert events. The pool party officially kicked off at noon the next day, and while we had VIP passes and permission to roam around as we pleased, we stationed ourselves at the VISIT FLORIDA cabana all day and made ourselves quite comfy.
I mean, there was an ice chair and bar. In Miami. Mull that one over for a bit.
There was #LoveFL swag all over the place. And better yet, it was neon pink! I’m all about neon this summer (or anytime, really).
There were celebrities. Granted, I didn’t know who many of them were—several starred in new CW shows, as the network was one of the sponsors—but Miss USA 2011, Alyssa Campanella, also was spotted taking pics. And so was Scooby from How I Met Your Mother (otherwise known as Robbie Amell).
Jason DeRulo kicked off the day with a set, during which I realized I know a whole lot of Jason DeRulo songs, most of which I didn’t actually know were sung by Jason DeRulo.
After his performance, he was hanging out in the cabana next to ours, which might have been the weirdest part of the whole experience: the accessibility of the talent. Stars, they’re just like us!
All the daytime acts at the Ultimate Pool Party took place, well, you know, in the pool. Or rather on the stage at the end of the pool overlooking a sea of bodies.
Krewella was the second big act to play, and while I’d never heard of them before, I quickly became a fan. My fangirldom grew exponentially when I met them later that night, and they couldn’t have been sweeter and more likeable.
Iconapop also got up there and did their thing, and I really wanted to FaceTime all of my Enrichment Voyages friends into the concert—I tried, but no dice—as “I Don’t Care” was the anthem of our voyage.
We went back to our rooms to shower off the sunscreen and prepare for an all-nighter, which started with drinks in the lobby lounge and moved out onto the lawn for the evening entertainment beginning with Afrojack who we watched from our perch at La Cote.
Then, they brought out my fellow Tennessean, Ke$ha, and the place erupted.
Now, there are plenty of things Ke$ha said that I won’t repeat, and while at times I don’t necessarily agree with her whole image, I can’t help but admit that her music is catchy.
I’ve rocked out to many a Zumba and Dailey Method class to “Your Love Is My Drug.” (That said, I can’t imagine dedicating songs of certain profane topics to my mother. Yikes.)
Another Tennessee gal, Miley Cyrus, was also in the house as DJ. Alas, I didn’t get to sing along to “Party in the USA” and all I saw of her was this: a grainy yet unmistakable platinum mohawk.
But the closing act was who we were all most excited to see: Pitbull.
He was the perfect closer to the perfect summer concert. We didn’t actually stick around for his entire set either, as we’d finagled our way into the Fontainebleau’s exclusive club Liv and had to be in line by 11:30pm. But no worries: I ran straight into Pitbull in the club later that evening as I was coming out of the bathroom. Oh, Miami.
When the club got a little too packed around 1:30am, SVV and I decided to bail—early but admirable showing, I’d like to think, as we’d been up and going non-stop since 8am. This weekend proved to me that I’m not as lame as I might think I am. I mean, I can hang with the big college girls when I really want to. And so can that husband of mine.
And for all of you who think Florida is for retirees: Think again. This is not yo grandmama’s vacation destination.
Disclosure: Thanks to VISIT FLORIDA, Clear Channel and iHeartRadio for an awesome weekend! While we were official guests of the hosting parties, I assure you every last opinion is my own and that no one asked me to drink all the bourbon, rock out to all the artists and stay out way past my bedtime. That was all very much my own doing. OK, and I might blame these girls a little, too.
