My direct flight from Nashville to Ft. Lauderdale landed very early Wednesday afternoon, which was wonderful (having a whole day to spend in Miami instead of traveling). We took a car to our hotel on Collins Ave. Staying in the art deco district on South Beach is a gamble, in my opinion, since you're paying a ton to stay at it during this time of year and all of the hotels are older and more run down than your typical hotel.


Last year we dealt with a tiny room, an elevator in the hotel that I was scared to go into half the week, and mold, mold, mold. Checking in this year was such a blessing. Our room was even smaller but no mold, no creepy elevators, and just an all-around great room. Already starting out to be a great week, we got settled in and went straight to my favorite place to eat in all of South Beach. La Sandwicherie is a sandwich shop on 14th and Collins. Hidden behind a gas station, you might have to look for it, but it's worth the walk. They make your sandwich while you wait, and while you watch. Their bread, toppings, and dressing makes my mouth water just thinking back on it. You can never go wrong with q piece a French bread with piles of prosciutto and fresh mozzarella. To die for is all I can say about their sandwiches, oh and cheap too.

After we ate and had a few drinks, we started what would be an insane week of music (what we were down there for) and hit the clubs. Our first stop was to check out one of my hometown favorites, Real Time Hand Motion (RTHM), at Divine on Lincoln Rd.

Rocking it as usual, we stayed till the end of their set and headed downtown. It was my idea to drag everyone I was with to the Downtown Riot party at Studio A. We were greeted at the door by the friendly door staff. I told them I was on the press list but turns out, I was not. Thankfully, the kind lady with Embrace let myself and the others I was with in for the misunderstanding. Not necessary, but was very much appreciated. We arrived half way into Annie Mac's set, which was rocking, so I assumed I made the right decision for the night. Sinden followed her and completely cleared the dance floor. We decided that we could not take anymore train wrecking so we left and walked down the road to probably my favorite club in Miami, Pawn Shop. The first face I saw outside of the door was Betty Kang of Plexi PR, which is always a blessing. She let us in and we were in for a long night with Danny T playing one of his infamous marathon sets. Five hours later we realized we had been awake over 24 hours and would not be able to last the entire week if we didn't get some rest. As we were leaving, there was a line of clubbers trying to get in, and that is always a funny sight.