Okay, okay, I know. I am the worst blogger on earth. In
fact, I blog so seldom that I probably don’t even deserve the title of blogger.
Let me assure the 2.4 people who read this that it has not been without good
cause. 2014 has been a very interesting year for me so far and without a doubt
the busiest I’ve ever been. My life has been a whirlwind of long hours at work,
sleepless nights spent writing grad school papers, traveling as much as
possible and salvaging some form of a social life. Shame on me for not
documenting it all with a few blog posts here, because believe me there has
been some truly fabulous moments and great things to share! So here’s yet
another promise from me to do better. My goal will be to make time to pump out
at least one blog a week. I have so many exciting stories and experiences that
I’ve been wanting to share and some amazing products to review. I will be trying
my best to keep this updated more often!
So here’s a brief summary of what I’ve been up to for each
month so far in 2014…
January was a tough month, as I recovered from a severe allergic
reaction to an antibiotic I was given and then had a really hard time healing
from a very complicated wisdom tooth extraction surgery. However, the rest of
the year so far has truly made up for the hell I went through, so I’m totally
okay with it! I did however get to catch a couple great concerts, including two
of my favorite artists, Jay Z and Teedra Moses. So it wasn’t ALL a bad month….
In February, I went on the most amazing vacation ever. It
was something I’ve always wanted to do.
I spent 6 days in Puerto Rico, an island very special to me which I’ve
been to many times. This time, I wanted to go on an adventure that took me to
more than 12 cities and towns on the north, west and south coasts of the
incredible island, and even a few places in the mountains. I have always wanted
to go hiking on certain excursions and visit beaches I’ve heard a lot about. It
was the most exhilarating journey of my life. It was also great to do it on my
own, as I got to do a lot of reflecting and relaxing. I did visit my peoples while
there, but mostly it was a very peaceful trip spent doing and eating whatever I
wanted and going wherever I wanted. The conclusion I came to was that everyone
should take an adventurous vacation on their own. It’s a priceless and
life-changing experience.
Part two of this trip involved boarding my first cruise
ship, the Carnival Valor, which departed from San Juan, Puerto Rico and visited
5 islands in 7 days (St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St.
Maarten). It was incredible and I had the time of my life. I loved the
effortlessness of it all. You just wake up on a new island each day to explore,
you are fed well and treated like royalty, and you can totally relax and enjoy.
I fell in love with the staff on the ship, who made every moment
enjoyable and perfect. I enjoyed the pool, spa, live music and comedy shows on
the ship as well. They always had so much for us to do. Needless to say, I am totally sold on the
cruise deal. I plan to take many more in my lifetime! I particularly loved
Barbados, where I saw one of the most beautiful beaches of my life and
snorkeled with the huge turtles the island is famous for. We also got a
personal tour of the island from a local and learned a lot about Bajan
culture. I had another great time in St. Lucia, where we went on a tour of and
soaked in the boiling hot sulfur springs; and saw the world famous “Piton” mountains.
St. Maarten was also a highlight, with both the French and Dutch owning
different sides of the island and we visited a stunning beach on the French
side. The beaches on St. Thomas and St. Kitts were gorgeous as well. The whole
trip was filled with non-stop beauty, fun, sun and adventure. I truly enjoyed
every moment.
Then in March I saw another cool concert with my girl of a
rapper that’s finally getting a lot of recognition and rightfully so, Schoolboy
Q. It was an AWESOME show. Also, I took another long vacation in California for
11 days. I was so happy to visit many friends and family in Los Angeles, which
included Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Koreatown, Santa Monica, and so on. Of note
was the insane hike of the infamous Runyon Canyon, one of the most challenging
physical experiences of my life. The views of the entire city from the top were
worth every grueling second of pain. From there, my girlfriends and I went on a
road trip up the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco, something I finally
got to cross off my bucket list. The ride was gorgeous along the coast and we
got to stop in Monterrey to see Carmel beach. San Fran was a lot of fun,
despite the crappy weather during our stay there. Of course we caught a drag
show and checked out the famous gay neighborhood, Castro. We even got to
witness a crazy bar fight in some random Asian bar in a seedier area downtown. The
best part was going on a tour of 4 wineries in Napa Valley, yet another thing
on my bucket list and a total joy for a wine lover like myself. This is a city
I definitely have to go back to and explore more because we truly didn’t have
enough time. Next we drove an even longer journey to head back down south, this
time through the beautiful California mountains to lovely San Diego, a place I
truly fell in love with. Our hotel was amazing and we loved the pool, as well
as the nearby beaches. The nightlife was a highlight, where we met a lot of
cool people, especially some of the many sailors and Marines stationed nearby.
Overall, this was yet another incredible trip that I will never forget.
In April, I got to see a really fun Rick Ross show to
celebrate one of my girlfriend’s birthdays. Also, I visited my favorite city
ever, the Big Apple, with a guy I was dating at the time. He asked me what my
dream date was, and I told him a weekend in NYC with shopping, fine dining, a
Broadway show and a museum, not expecting him to make it happen. Well he sure
did, and it was incredible in every way. A shopping spree at Saks 5th Avenue,
an unbelievably delicious meal at Del Friscos steakhouse, finally experiencing
Phantom of the Opera on Broadway (which I looooooved), and visiting the Museum
of Modern Art (MoMa) made this one of the most memorable and perfect weekends
of my life. Unfortunately, things did not work out with that individual. But I
will surely cherish the memories of that weekend for the rest of my life!
For Memorial Day weekend in May, I finally got to travel to
a city I’ve been dreaming of since I was a kid, New Orleans. This quickly
became my new 2nd favorite city, which says a lot. I travel pretty frequently
now but rarely do I visit a place that leaves such a mark on me. New Orleans is
simply magical. The history is incredible, especially the extremely dark and
disturbing parts we learned about during our “Ghost, Vampire, Voodoo and Witch”
tour of the French Quarter. My favorite parts were simply the old Spanish and
French architecture that I just could not get enough of, as well as the live
music on every corner and AMAZING Creole food. Of course I had bronchitis
during this trip but I made the most of it and enjoyed it to the fullest. We
also went on a tour of the very historical Treme neighborhood, which I was
psyched about after finishing all four seasons of the HBO series named after
this area, which documented the post-Katrina struggles faced. On the way, I
learned so much about not only the city of New Orleans, but also slavery and
jazz music, all of which truly left me in awe. It was wonderful, though quite
heavy to digest at times. We also toured the Garden District, the famous Louis
Armstrong cemetery and a few other areas/attractions. We did a really cool Jazz
Cruise, which included a delicious Creole meal during live music while sailing
the Mississippi River on a paddle wheeler boat. Oh and Bourbon Street was every
bit of crazy as it’s said to be and I loved it! Another cool adventure was the
Swamp Boat tour, where I actually held a live alligator. Yes, you read that
right. I couldn’t believe it. Finally, I couldn’t leave the Big Easy without
visiting an authentic voodoo shop, which actually left me in tears (in a good
way). This was a truly incredible trip. I loved everything about this city and
I already miss it terribly (especially the food!). 
During the month of June I go to see a really cool show I’ve
always wanted to, which is called “We Will Rock You” based on the music of the
legendary rock band, Queen (one of my all time favs). I was so impressed with
how they weaved all the popular Queen songs into the incredibly fun and entertaining
story line. A truly awesome experience and I absolutely adore live theatre! I
also visited NYC again with a close friend, which was a really enjoyable
getaway filled with good food and good laughs as always. Also, the biggest
event of this month was the news of my promotion at work, the result of truly
working my freaking butt off over the last two years so it was truly a blessing
to see it all pay off.
And although we’re only 13 days into the month of July, it’s
already been a great one. I spent an awesome Fourth of July with my family in
Virginia and we had a really nice cookout at the pool, followed by seeing the
awesome firework display in DC. That same weekend, some friends and I attended
the Jamaica Day Reggae Festival, which was filled with good reggae music and
good vibes. I also got to see the On the Run tour, which deserves its own blog
post (to follow). This was already a highlight of my year so far, which says a
lot! And in the coming weeks there’s even more to look forward to with my
birthday festivities and my next vacation in the coming week!
There was a lot of things I left out, but those were the biggest and more noteworthy events. After all this, I will still have 4 trips coming up, one of
them being my HUGE trip to Europe, as well the completion of my MBA degree and
final graduation! Also some pretty huge career news may be announced soon. So
lots going on and all of it’s positive and fabulous…so stay tuned! I must say
that I feel so extremely blessed and humbled to be able to live my dreams and
experience so much. To come from the background I came from and make it this
far is truly a testament that anyone can work hard and make their dreams a
reality. I especially love it when people tell me I inspire them to live life
to its fullest, and I have gotten this a LOT lately so it makes it all worth
it. It’s not easy balancing such a demanding job with a huge workload for
school and all this other stuff I do. But somehow I make it work and I love
every second of it. So this is why I must take the time to document this
incredible journey and exciting time in my life with this here blog. Even if no
one else reads it, it’s always nice to go back and read through months or years
later and see all the cool stuff I did….
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