HEY, THOSE CHICKS WERE COOL

I was recently in Miami for a few days and bumped into the Oakley girls: Snowboarder, Gretchen Bleiler, surfers, Leilani Gryde and Sage Erickson, mountain biker, Katarina Nash, World Champion hurdler, Lolo Jones, golfer, Nikki Garrett and wakeboarder, Amber Wing. I already knew Leilani and Sage, but meeting the rest of the girls was a treat and a half, to say the least. Gretchen’s kind of a big deal and all, but she’s so friendly, adorable and totally down to earth. She just helped design her own line of Oakley outerwear, and if you’re into snowboarding, you’ll be all over it. And I always thought golf was so proper — but when I met Nikki, the image changed. Not that she’s improper, per se. She seemed quiet for an Aussie but at the same time, hilarious and a complete smart ass. Amber was in town from Australia, too, on her way to Orlando, where she explained is the place to be at this time of year for pro wakeboarders. She rents a place there with some of her wake friends and even keeps a car at another buddy’s house there when she’s back in Oz. She’s definitely a super cool redhead to hang out with.

Anyway, I ended up tagging along with the crew for a couple days and on my last night in town, I went out for sushi with them and then hit up the Florida Room at the Delano Hotel. They were there with their team manager, Leisl, so I was kind of crashing their team dinner, but it was worth it. Halfway through dinner and a few shot glasses of unfiltered sake, Leilani leaned over and told me that her bestie, Florida trouble maker, Connie Arias was secretly on her way down to crash in on the night as well. Sweet, I thought. You could be locked in a cardboard box and Connie wouldn’t fail to make it interesting. She’s one of the most entertaining girls I’ve ever met, which is almost an understatement. So off to the Florida Room where the Mojitos flowed like the Niagra (well, for me, at least) and I cut a rug with Amber, who danced and sang along so much for someone who was practically stone cold sober. (There’s something about an Australian chick singing along to American pop and hip-hop that’s just awesome.) Apparently, Nick Cannon was the DJ. (I didn’t know who that is, but Connie and her friend Antonea were kind of freaking out about it.)

I finally had to make myself leave, since I was catching a super early (and what would be kind of painful) flight home. But the rum hangover was totally worth it. Who doesn’t like to make a few new friends?