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Girls Weekend: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

July 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment


Girls Weekend 2012: Fort Lauderdale.

Every once in a while its nice to plan a mini getaway with old friends. My friend Amy lives near Ft. Lauderdale, so she helped put together a fun weekend for us.

Storified by Corine Ingrassia · Mon, Jul 02 2012 05:57:39

Heading out to Ft. Lauderdale was a bit… complicated (pun intended).
Thunderstorms, fire at Atlantic City International Airport make for rough skies on East CoastATLANTIC CITY – Violent thunderstorms along the East Coast and a fire at an airport technical center in Atlantic City combined to wreak h…
Views from a delayed flight. At least it’s pretty. *le sigh* http://instagr.am/p/MMlPaKsT6j/Corine Ingrassia
Things got a little confusing with gate changes, delays and cancellations … and I mistakingly thought our flight was cancelled, when in reality it was flight before ours (that was at the same gate as ours, going to the same city- seriously, when does that ever happen??). 
Amy cancelled our hotel reservation, we were waiting on line for a refund when we received a text: ” Flight delayed til 11:45″.  What. A. Mess.
Girls wknd back on! http://instagr.am/p/MM3M6csT3E/Corine Ingrassia

THE HOTEL 

We arrived at Marriott’s BeachPlace Towers at 4am- exhausted!!
Marriott’s BeachPlace Towers (Fort Lauderdale, FL) – Hotel Reviews – TripAdvisorMarriott’s BeachPlace Towers, Fort Lauderdale: See 345 traveler reviews, 155 candid photos, and great deals for Marriott’s BeachPlace Tow…
Good morning Ft. Lauderdale! http://instagr.am/p/MOHu60MT22/Corine Ingrassia
I loved that Marriott’s BeachPlace Towers was so central to everything. In addition to staples, like CVS and Starbucks, Beach Place is filled with tons of restaurants and shops in walking distance.
Marriott’s BeachPlace is actually a vacation club. So all of the rooms are equipped with a full kitchen area including a refrigerator, microwave and toaster– which came in handy for us because we brought our own New York bagels with us.
Our room was a studio. It was clean and fairly large with a patio area overlooking the beach. The room had a Queen size bed (that was very comfy) and a pull out couch. The bedding for the pull out couch left something to be desired, with a scratchy wool blanket, but all in all I’d stay here again… just bring my own blankets for the pull out.

DAY 1

The first day in Fort Lauderdale, we had lunch at Lulu’s Bait Shack. 
Lulu’s Bait Shack100 Reviews of Lulu’s Bait Shack "This is a perfect "Let’s act like a tourist and not as if we live here," restaurant.. It is on the seco…
Lulu’s is a casual bar-food restaurant with a great view of the beach…. and quite possibly THE BEST fish tacos I’ve ever had. I wish I had snapped a pic but I was too busy inhaling them.
I believe my drink is having a wardrobe malfunction. http://instagr.am/p/MOdt56MT0W/Corine Ingrassia
After lunch we walked around Beach Place.
Like many vacation spots, some of the stores along Beach Place are tourist traps filled with seriously over priced merchandise.
One in particular had a whole rack of prom-type-gowns that besides their over all tackiness- looked tattered and worn. We found this hilarious, so channeling our 15 year old selves we tried them. We couldn’t resist.
Tacky gown dress room fun. http://instagr.am/p/MOzNjbsT2g/Corine Ingrassia

Beauty time!

Braids are not only on trend right now, they are also the perfect rainy weekend hairstyle- and rainy it was.
So our braid expert, Nina, tried a few different styles on us.
Braids by Neen. Her secret? The "thinggamabob" (@nparisi) http://instagr.am/p/MRICwssT5D/Corine Ingrassia
Corine Ingrassia
Prepping for the pool. http://instagr.am/p/MOSLytsT9K/Corine Ingrassia
Here are the must have beauty products I walked away adding to my list:
Amazon.com: Nature’s Way EfaGold Coconut Oil — 16 fl oz: Health & Personal CareI know this is a great product. My chiropractor puts it on her toast! You can also mix it with strawberry jam and use it on toast. It wor…
Amazon.com: RapidLash Eyelash Serum: Health & Personal CareI used this and the results were very dramatic. In just 3 weeks, my lashes were thicker and in 6 weeks they were much longer. For two mon…
Sephora: Phenomen’Eyes Waterproof Mascara : mascara-eyes-makeupshipping information Check the table below to find estimated delivery times for each shipping method.

DINNER

Saturday we planned a late dinner at YOLO. 
It was nice getting ready and being able to take our sweet time. We had no little people to get ready before ourselves, we had no husbands breathing down our back with time reminders (James is notorious for this … “15 minutes”… “10 minutes”…).
Say hello to my bestest & very 1st highschool friend, @sflaamycakes. I’m teaching her the art of the self po http://instagr.am/p/MPNWKcMT6s/Corine Ingrassia
Yolo165 Reviews of Yolo "Nice place, nice crowd, strong drinks. Unpretentious (compared to certain locales in Miami). People speak English."
Yolo had  a really great atmosphere both for a dinner and drinks. There was a long wait (70 minutes) so we had drinks at the bar while we waited. 
The jury is still out on the food. Some of us liked it, some of us didn’t. The truth is, by the time we were finally seated it was midnight and we were all too tired to eat. 
#YOLO http://instagr.am/p/MPwBJisTzb/Corine Ingrassia

DAY 2

Tropical Storm Debbie hit Ft. Lauderdale full force on Sunday. We woke up and were sure it was a full-on hurricane. 
Holy rainstorm batman! #florida http://instagr.am/p/MQ-J2VsTzN/Corine Ingrassia
With any hopes of hanging on the beach, shattered- Amy introduced us to her favorite store in Florida, Ross.  We spent hours in there scouring the dress racks. Each of us walked away with about 6 dresses each and spent under $100! 
.:: ROSS ::.The best brands, the latest fashions for family and home-all at 20% to 60% off department store prices Get advance notices on new store o…
One dress in particular we all fell in love with…..
..And this is what happens when 4 friends all fall in love with the same dress- lol http://instagr.am/p/MR0AknMT6i/Corine Ingrassia
This picture cracks me up because it reminds me of the SNL “Little Hands” skit….
SNL Will Ferrell Lawrence Welk skit with little handsfunbags68

L-INNER {Lunch/Dinner}

After shopping, the storm subsided and we were starved. We headed to Coconuts for some seafood! 
We were seated dockside, and the food was DELICIOUS. 
Coconuts213 Reviews of Coconuts "Couple important things to know: Mondays and Tuesdays are half off on all bottles of wine. EXCELLENT DEAL. Tuesd…
We all tried their bloody mary (which was the day drink of choice during the trip) with jalepeno vodka. It was spicy for sure!
The sticky chops and jumbalya were to die for. I’m talking pork fell right off the bone- good.
The crab below wasn’t quite the 2lbs they promised, but still good! 
Sorry, Mr Crab.Corine Ingrassia
For our last night, we headed out to a few of the near by lounges … and a karaoke bar. 
Last night’s self portrait class. @sflaamycakes @nparisi @tscuderoCorine Ingrassia
And just when it was time to leave…. Mr.Sun made an appearance.
Pssh! Whatev we didn’t need the sun to have fun. #girlswknd #goodbyeCorine Ingrassia
It was a perfect girls getaway, and I returned to the perfect welcome home…
Best welcome home ever.Corine Ingrassia

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