The Whys of it all

Over the past weekend, I was on the go. I had the opportunity to see some improv comedy, which was VERY cool. I also helped with an event called She Remembers. It was an event held in honor of Women's History Month (March) dedicated to HIV/AIDS awareness. The event consisted of a prayer vigil and panel discussion about the effect of HIV/AIDS is having on the black community.

Ever since I was in high school, I have been an advocate for educating people about HIV/AIDS. It started when I was a volunteer with the A.S.K. U.S. program at AID Atlanta. A.S.K. U.S. is the youth based education and outreach program. A.S.K. U.S. stands for Adolescents Seeking Knowledge Understanding Safer Sex. As a junior/senior in high school, I was very active in the A.S.K. U.S. program at AID Atlanta. I joined the program because a good friend of mine did it first and when she told me about it, it sounded very cool. I was (and still am) always looking for cool and different things to get involved with. Well I joined and went through the training and came out with a passion to educate as many people as possible about HIV/AIDS. Not only did I want to educate them about the disease and how to interact with people who have it but I also wanted to educate them about protecting themselves from the contracting the disease.

Over the weekend, I was asked by someone (thanks Jodine Dorce for the introspection!) why I was an advocate/volunteer for HIV/AIDS. I answered her question but later I realized that I never said why. I only explained how I became a volunteer. I have a friend that has told me the why is the most important thing to discover. Once you know the why, you'll truly understand the person. Well here is my Why.

When I was officially introduced to the severity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, I wasn't very sexually active. I was in high school and trying to figure out who I was as a person and how my sexuality fit into the whole scheme of things. I was dating and having boyfriends so sex was definitely around me. Two of my oldest friends had gotten pregnant at 17 and I knew of several other girls that had babies as well. I was definitely aware of sex but as far as I knew, the biggest ramification was pregnancy. Now that was enough to make me pause because I had absolutely no intention of having any kids while I was still a kid.

Then I learned about HIV/AIDS. I was floored at how this disease that was preventable and not passed through every day contact was spreading so quickly largely because of a lack of education and a stigma. It made very little sense to me how something as simple as using a condom could greatly reduce your chances of contracting this incurable disease but people weren't using them. I was saddened to learn that kids my age were contracting this disease because no one was talking to them about it and they didn't feel comfortable going to their parents. I totally understood and wanted very much to help.

As a part of A.S.K. U.S. we went out and did presentations and educational seminars for kids our age. We would do skits, presentations, demonstrations and question and answer sessions to educate them about safe sex, STD's and HIV/AIDS. We went to churches, community centers and other gatherings of our peers. We were trained how to deal with the questions we may get and how to educate with care. It was awesome. I became much more outgoing and extremely comfortable talking about sensitive subjects like sex, STD's, condoms and everything in between. I met some really cool kids of different backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses. Some of the kids in the program with me were gay, lesbian and bisexual and I learned to accept everyone for their differences and embrace them in spite of them.

It was a great time in my life and I shared it with two of my closest friends and one other classmate of mine. Going through that experience helped make me the person I am today. It also helped create the passion that I have for educating people about HIV/AIDS and safe sex. When I left Atlanta and traveled to Tallahassee for college, I took a big bag full of condoms with me. I created a tin o'pleasure that I kept full of condoms for anyone to stop by my room and use. I encouraged everyone I met to let me know if they needed condoms so I could get them for them.

I also did some volunteer work with Big Bend CARES, which was the HIV/AIDS organization in the Tallahassee area. So now that I'm back in Atlanta, I'm back at AID Atlanta. I've been doing mostly health fairs but now I am seeking other ways to get more involved.

So that is one of my Whys. Why am I am advocate for HIV/AIDS education? Read above.

My Seduction Style

So I need a brain break and one of my lovely friends emailed a test to see what your seduction style is. Here are my results:







Enjoy and take the quiz too. It's really cute and fun.

Fashion Week 2009-William Rast

Well I'm in New York for Fashion Week. I am working with Ground Crew (the same company I did Victoria's Secret for) as a dresser. Last night I worked the Tony Cohen show in the tents and I had the chance to attend the William Rast show. The Tony Cohen collection was really cute. It was a collection of lightweight dresses, slim fitting pants and interestingly cut shirts. Here's a link to the review of the collection by Women's Wear Daily: Tony Cohen Ready To Wear Collection-Fashion Week 2009

I got to dress the lovely Martha who was a pleasure to work with for my first show.




















After working the Tony Cohen show, we went into the Lobby to wait for the William Rast show. We crowded in to wait for the show to start and I scanned the crowd for celebrities. I spotted Anothony Anderson, Miss J of American's Next Top Model, Aisha Tyler and Aubrey formerly of the group Danity Kane pretty quickly. It got more crowded so I stopped scanning and waited for the show. From what I've seen in the past the William Rast line is a fairly casual line but the clothes have a great fit and clean lines. I was excited to see what they would be offering for the fall.

I was disappointed. From the looks of it, they were going for a retro vibe but they chose to focus on denim with sparkly jackets, rhinestones and scarves. Unfortunately to me the line looked like the kind of stuff I've seen in stores like Kmart in the 90's. I didn't like the retro look of the clothes and overall the line wasn't overly exciting. In spite of that, it was cool to be there and I look forward to working Michael Kors tomorrow and possibly attending some more shows. Check out the pics and judge for yourself:




































































































Here's a review of the line from examiner.com: William Rast-Fashion Week 2009
Enjoy the pictures and check back for more Fashion Week coverage.

Atlanta Relationship Examiner: Happy National Condom Day: How to properly put on a condom

Atlanta Relationship Examiner: Happy National Condom Day: How to properly put on a condom

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Video Blog!

Hi there! Here's another video blog from me. I am working on stepping up my video game with a web cam so hopefully the shaky cam video will cease soon. Enjoy!

Great video by a single mom about Ann Coulter

While doing some research, I came across this great blog by a single mother. The blog is called Ms Single Mama and the website is www.mssinglemama.com. I found this blog both entertaining and informative. I was browsing through it when I came across a post that she'd written about Ann Coulter's book, Guilty. Well I'm not a follower of Ann Coulter but from what I've seen and read about her, she is very right wing in her views and she has no problem taking direct aim at specific people or groups. While I can't fault her for her beliefs, I can definitely fault her for her tactics. Ms Single Mama posted a video on CNN's website, www.ireport.com about some of the statistics that Ann Coulter is using to support her current attack on single mothers in her new book. This video was very well done and she made some great points. I wanted to share it with you. I'm not a single mother but before my mom and my stepdad got together, I was being raised by a single mother. Although that was a short time period in my life, I saw my mom do her thing with taking care of me and handling her business. I have so much respect for single mothers. Please take a moment to watch this video then visit her blog at www.mssinglemama.com.

Review of Notorious

Earlier today I took some time to check out the newly released movie about the great rapper, Notorious B.I.G. For those that aren't familiar, Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls was a rapper that came to glory in the late 90's and was killed at the age of 24 in 1997. He was the protege of Diddy (who was Puffy or Puff Daddy back then) and one of the early artists signed to Bad Boy Records.

Notorious starts in the 80's with Christopher Wallace (Biggie Smalls) as a kid in elementary school in the Bed stuy area of Brooklyn, NY. He is attending a private school and you can tell that his mom placed a lot of emphasis on education. The movie moves through his life and shows how he was lured into the street life becoming a drug dealer while in elementary school. By the time he was 17, he was making lots of money and living the high life. The movie goes on to chronicle how he was introduced to Diddy, who was working at Uptown Records at the time, and subsequently became known as one of the greatest rappers of all time at the ripe old age of 24.

I have never been a hard core hip hop fan. In fact, I gave away my copy of Biggie's first album, Ready to Die, because I just wasn't feeling it at the time. I do still have the copy of his second project, Life After Death, that I liked a lot more. In spite of me not being a hard core hip hop fan, I do work in the music industry and I have a lot of respect for hip hop. I am a fan of the way that some rappers are able to use words to create a picture. Biggie was very good at doing that. Initially he created vivid pictures of his life growing up in Brooklyn and being on the block. As he grew, he began to paint pictures of his life as a superstar recording artist, living the good life. I appreciate him for that.

The movie was really good. I think the actors all held their own and the guy playing Biggie, Jamal Woolard, really morphed into the late rapper. I could tell he really studied his movements, rap style, voice and even his different personas. As an artist, Christopher Wallace had to wear different faces. Jamal was able to successfully move between Christopher Wallace, Biggie Smalls and Notorious B.I.G. There were even times when I felt like I was looking at Biggie himself but not in an eerie way. Jamal did a wonderful tribute to a guy that was extremely multifaceted.

Some people saw Biggie as simply a drug dealer turned rapper but he was also a man, son, father and friend. I think the movie humanized him. It did a great job of showing the different aspects of him as a person and making him more real. Before I saw the movie, I only saw him as a superstar that was taken away before he got to truly realize his talents and abilities. Now that I've seen the movie, I can better empathize with his family and friends. I got to a glimpse into his relationship with Diddy (Puffy) and how close they truly were as well as his tumultuous relationships with Faith and Lil Kim.

I recommend this movie to anyone. If you are a fan of hip hop, I definitely think you should check this out. If you are curious about the music industry and how things can go sometimes, you should check it out. In a nutshell, I give this movie four out of five stars. I wish the movie had focused on at least one of his relationships more and gone more into it. From what I saw, Biggie was fiercely loyal and loved hard. I would have liked to see that explored with at least one of the people closest to him. Overall, it was a good movie. Go check it out.

A sexy Marvin Gaye song

This is the song that is playing in the background on the commercial I posted earlier for the perfume, Jadore. I have to say that I stopped by the department store to smell Jadore because I was considering buying it. I did not like it. It smelled really flowery. I was disappointed because with that commercial, I figured it would smell more heady with musky undertones or a hint of sandalwood or something. A scent that's almost masculine but light enough to be a perfume. Nonetheless, I still love the commercial and one big reason is this song. Enjoy!

A New Year...and the adventures continue plus a video!

Happy New Year everyone! It's finally 2009 and things started off really nicely for me. I went to a friend's house and set off some fireworks to bring in the new year. Then we played a serious game of taboo for shots. It was the guys against the girls and we kicked the guys booties! They took a couple of shots while we only had to take one in a close heat in the final game. It was lots of fun and I felt good about going as I sleepily drove home.

After that a good friend of mine had a birthday party at her new apartment the following Saturday. We've known each other since 9th grade and have been close ever since 10th. She loves to have gatherings where everyone comes over, has some drinks, plays spades and chats about things. So that's what she did. She looked really cute and I'm very happy for her because she has two of the cutest little girls and while she was pregnant with her second, she lost her job. Now she has a new job and things are much more improved for her. Well since we went to high school together, her gatherings are often a mini high school reunion. Apparently we are some of the rare people that still actively keep in touch with people we went to high school with. I talk to so many people that may keep in touch with one or two people where we keep in touch with a large majority of our class along with people that were the class before and class after us.

Well this party was no different so the guests were a mix of her co-workers and her friends, some of which are from high school and others from elementary or both. Well one of her friends from both elementary school and high school came and she is six months pregnant. Well me and this lady weren't close in high school but we did cross paths occasionally. She was always very over the top in some of her antics and this has not changed. She came in with a small bottle of Patron Tequila in her purse that she claimed was for the birthday girl, but I have my suspicions. Then she proceeds to partake of the food (which was very cool because she is 6 months pregnant) and the drinks (which wasn't cool because she is 6 months pregnant). The funny thing is that I was disturbed but not overly surprised. Not necessarily because she is a destructive person (which I don't know her well enough to know) but because she has always been over the top. What I've noticed that the way people act in high school doesn't change a whole lot over time. If someone is considered an oddball (which I was), they will still be an oddball after high school. If someone is very over the top and extra (as she was), they will still be over the top and extra.

I actually doubt that she drinks very much because she has three other children and is in school to become a medical assistant. So I see that there is a responsible adult in there but that's not the image she chooses to display and I suppose that's ok. Now what I did find an issue with was a story she told about being arrested. Her being arrested wasn't that shocking because with traffic tickets and some of the over zealous police in Atlanta, it can happen. The bad thing was that when she was pulled over, they discovered she had a warrant in one county and arrested her for that. She proceeded to curse the arresting office out because they only arrested her for the one warrant rather than the FIVE warrants she had in another county. Several fouls occurred here. A mother of three has SIX outstanding warrants and when she escape arrest for FIVE of them, she CURSES out the officer because he arrests her for only one. I'm surprised she isn't still in jail today, goodness.

But then this raised a question with a friend of mine as we recapped the party afterward. Because we were slightly shocked and appalled at the whole situation, we wondered if we were bougie. So it inspired me to keep a running tally on examples of bougieness. I will save that blog for another day. So stay tuned and enjoy my first video. I'll be adding a video component to this blog so I hope you enjoy the upgrade.

My how things have changed

I know it's been a while since I've written. Life has swept me up in it's whirlwind. It's almost the end of 2008 and overall this year turned out ok for me. It wasn't always the easiest year and there were some challenges along the way but I'm coming out on the other side, wiser and more determined than ever.

Unfortunately I lost another classmate about a month ago. She passed away from a heart attack at the very young age of 30. It caught me off guard and I can only imagine how it affected her family. I'm just now realizing how sad it was and how glad I am that I got a chance to hang out with some of my classmates at a recent bowling outing.

Oddly enough, the people who attended the outing weren't people that I hung out with while we were in high school but it was cool to spend some time with them now that we're adults. It was equally cool and disturbing to see how many people are married and/or have kids. I was definitely in the minority being single and childless.

One thing I noticed is how everyone seemed to regress a bit the longer we were out. It always amazes me how certain people from my past tend to take me back to how I was at that point in time when we were close. It also amazes me to watch other people go back to that time when they're around me or someone else. I watched this happen with amusement this past weekend. I'm sure some of the regression could be attributed to the alcohol that was being drunk by virtually everyone but it was funny to watch nonetheless.

I even found myself regressing a bit because it felt a little odd to be sitting across from a gentleman that I might have spoken to on occasion but we didn't interact very often when we were in high school. We chatted it up fairly well and things were cool.

Then I ran into quite a few college associates at another event. It was cool to see those people as well but there was no regression on my part. In fact, I was ok with just saying hello and giving a hug then keeping things moving.

Overall this has been a weekend of short reunions for me, which I appreciate and enjoy for many reasons. The biggest one is that it shows me how far I've come and how much I've grown.

I'll see you again in 2009. Be on the lookout for some cool new developments with this blog as well.

Jadore Commercial

This is one of my favorite commercials. It's so sexy!

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show part 2

Last night the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show came on CBS. I was finally able to watch the show that I had worked backstage for. The show looked great! The ladies looked wonderful in their outfits and even Usher looked really good performing. It was a great production and I'm proud to have participated.

Here are some pics of the model that I helped dressed mainly. Her name is Izabel Goulart.





This was her first outfit. I really loved those shoes and her wings were cool too.

This was her second outfit. Cute, right? That feather head piece was interesting to put on but once it was on, it was fabulous!

Nice holiday greeting from our soon to be first family

Happy Holidays from the Obamas

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show!!!

Apparently my travels haven't ended for the year. This past weekend I had a wonderful opportunity. Last week, a friend of mine who works in the fashion and beauty industry as a publicist, stylist, image consultant, etc called me and asked if I was interested in working at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show this past Saturday. I knew she was going because she had told me about it and she works as a dresser in lots of fashion shows.

Well when she called me, my immediate response was a resounding yes. I have been wanting to get into more fashion show production work and this was a great opportunity to gain some experience. Plus, the show was being held in Miami and I don't need that much of an excuse to go down there. She called me Tuesday and early Thursday morning I hopped into my little Civic and got on the road to Miami. It's a 10 hour road trip that's definitely not for the faint of heart but I was excited to go.

When I got there, I got a bit lost making my way to the hotel where we were staying but it didn't matter too much. I was in Miami Beach and it was HOT! By hot, I mean hot in temperature. It felt like summer had never left. This was a bit disconcerting since it's November but I adjusted fairly quickly and put my air conditioning to use.

I found out that I didn't have to work until Saturday so I had an unauthorized vacation in Miami to enjoy. I got to the hotel and rested. Unfortunately I had caught a cold on Wednesday so I had to stop by the CVS and buy some cold medicine. I chilled in the room and waited for my three roommates to arrive/return. When everyone got there, we struck out for dinner. We ended up at this cute little restaurant with tables outside on South Beach. It was very chic and cute so we ordered some small meals and enjoyed being outside. Unfortunately other people enjoyed the outside by smoking cigars and cigarettes freely, which we are not used to because in New York (where my roomies are from) and Atlanta, smoking is prohibited a lots of places.

The next day, we had to go get our credentials for the fashion show and we had a prep meeting for the show. We also knew that there would be a grand opening party at the hotel where the show would be held and we wanted to go. We got dressed and headed out for the meeting and party. We were very unsuccessful at getting our credentials so we thought the party was a no go. We headed for the meeting. After the meeting we headed downstairs and discovered that we could "blend" into the party. So we blended.

It was a very interesting mix of people. It was definitely a star studded event. The appetizers were gourmet and the bar was open. We enjoyed a nice performance by Terrence Howard as we watched the celebs mingle. Like a big dork, I made a list of all of the celebs that I recognized and knew their names. Like to see it, here it goes:

Kim and Chloe Kardashian (Kim is so cute!)
Brody Jenner and Frankie (for those fans of The Hills)
Jessica Lowndes (Adrianna of the new 90210)
Martha Stewart
Russell Simmons
AJ (formerly of 106 and Park)
Terrence Howard (I also saw him after he performed...lovely man!)
Robin Thicke
Whitney from America's Next Top Model
Sophia Delgado (I think that's her last name)
A-rod (sans Madonna)
Brett (Heidi's former boss from The Hills. for those hard core Hills fans)
Enrique Murciano from Without a Trace (I'm a fan of the show)
Charro
Mariah Carey (she performed)

I'm not one to be star struck but it was very cool to see so many "familiar" faces. After Terrence Howard performed, we heard that Mariah Carey was going to be performing in another room. It was an even more exclusive party. We got in with one of the models that my friend knows. Once in, we were just in time to see Mariah Carey perform. I'd never seen her live and it was really cool. She sounds awesome in concert but I figured she would. Here are a few pics of her performing.

After she performed, we headed out. We hopped in a car to go get some rest for the next day. We got up Saturday and prepared to head out for the day. Since me and Amaris didn't have our credentials, we had to head to the hotel early to get them. After we ate a late lunch, we headed down to the Fontainebleu to get ready for the show. It only took 10 minutes for us to get our credentials after which we headed down to the fabulous lobby to enjoy some down time before the show. While we were headed into the lobby, we saw George Hamilton. He looked really orange in person.



At 5, we headed upstairs to get ready to work. When we were escorted backstage, I was excited. All of the models racks were set up, ready to go. I was assigned to assist another dresser with her model. It was cool because it was my first show and that made me feel comfortable. We dressed Izabel and she had two really cute costumes with extra pieces that were a bit complicated. After the first show, I realized that I would enjoy being a dresser for other shows. After the second show, it was all over. It was the most fun! I can't wait to check out the show when it airs, December 3 at 10pm EST on CBS.
The drive back was horrendous but I pushed through it and now I'm back home.

The President Elect of the United States of America is...

Barack Obama! It was the greatest feeling in the world to see a candidate that I wholly supported be elected into office. It was an awesome feeling to have been a part of the process in electing the first black president of the United States. I put together a collage of sorts to commemorate the occasion.

Whassup 2008

The whassup guys are back supporting Obama. This is funny even though it's not funny. Check it out.

More about Cabo...

Well after we walked around downtown Cabo, bought some souvenirs and were sexually harassed, we headed back to the resort to rest before we came back out later that night.

We made some friends on the resort and once we got dressed, we ran into them in the lobby. They were heading out so we all piled into the taxi and rode back into the city together. They were a pair of newlyweds on their honeymoons so they were feeling very festive. We went back to Cabo Wabo but this time it was open and the people were partying! We went in and had a shot of blue tequila. Yummy and smooth! Then we made our way to the dance floor. The music was a lot of old school from the 70's, 80's and early 90's. It was a very mixed crowd so that kind of music was perfect.

As we danced around, we were shocked to see one of our friends get into a scuffle with a gentleman and then with club security. It was crazy because the guy started things with our friend but our friend was the one removed from the club. We tried to talk to security but they were not hearing anything we had to say. After that, our friends hopped into a cab and said good bye for the evening. We decided to keep the party going and walked down to Squid Row. It was a much more stripped down club than Cabo Wabo. In comparison, I would say that Cabo Wabo was the nice, sexy spot and Squid Row was the college spot. It was like a spot that you would hit up every weekend in college. We had a blast!

The next day we decided to partake in some more water sports. Me and two of my friends went parasailing. It was so cool! If you've never been, you should definitely go. It was so peaceful floating above the boat and the water. Then as we headed back, the guy driving the speedboat let us take turns and control the speed. One of my friends tried to kill us by going extremely fast. I dove for the floor so that I wouldn't be thrown from the boat as we bounced violently in the waves. It was all so much fun though.

After all of that excitement, we decided that we would chill out for the rest of the trip. We relaxed for the rest of the day by the pool. The next day some of us got up and took the yoga class offered on the resort. It was a great way to wrap up the trip. We got a great stretch by the pool. One of the ladies also got a full body massage. After that we focused on relaxing and laid out by the pool with our books and study materials (yes some of us did study for various tests but who doesn't mind studying under the tropical sun in a swimsuit by a pool?).

The next day we had to be up at the crack of dawn (actually before the crack of dawn) because our flight left at 8:05am. Two of my friends had a later flight so they decided to revisit the clubs while the rest of us relaxed at the resort. Since I was starting to catch a cold, I knew it was best for me to take it easy. Also, the next day was one of the other ladies' birthday so we got her room decorated and did a corona toast while singing happy birthday.

The next morning we got up hella early and headed to the lobby to wait for our car to take us to the airport. We ran into our friends who had just gotten back from the club and were chillin by the bar chatting with some of our other resort friends. We said goodbye to them and left for the airport. I figured once we got there, things would be routine. I was wrong.

When we were headed to Cabo, we had to fill out these forms and get a tourist card. We got that card stamped as we entered the country along with our passports. Well we needed that card to leave the country. Unfortunately one of my friends had thrown hers away and didn't have it. To make matters worse, the immigration office didn't open until 7am and our flight was scheduled to start boarding at 7:20am. We weren't sure she would make it on the flight. Fortunately she came rushing in a few minutes before our flight started boarding and made it just in time.

It was one adventure after another but lots of fun. Now I'm done with my international travels for the year as I focus on work and my business. Pictures from Cabo in the next post. Come back now, ya hear!

fresh from the shores of Cabo!!

Now that I've finished my Italy trip description, I can tell you about my adventures in Cabo. It was a great 5 days. I got the chance to truly relax and release. I didn't sleep in too often because we had to wake up for breakfast but I did manage to take naps by the pool and on the beach. It was awesome!

I went to Cabo for my friend's birthday. She wanted to bring it in under a tropical sun and that's exactly what we did. We spent most of the time lounging by the pool so I got a chance to work on my tan (which I needed. I was starting to go back to my winter coloring, which is a few shades lighter than my summer coloring). So now I'm a lovely caramel brown, which I enjoy.

Back to the trip. The first day we arrived, we put on our swimsuits and promptly headed out to enjoy the lovely pool (I'll include pictures at the end). We wanted to take full advantage of the resort's activities so after laying out in the sun, we dressed for dinner. One of the entertainment staff told us they would be performing Les Miserables and we were intriguied. After dinner we headed to the stage to check it out.

It was quite interesting to see them lipsync the different broadway tunes. Apparently it was a mixture of hit broadway plays. It was odd to watch them lip sync because not all of the performers spoke English as a first language and it showed. We were so tired that we started dropping while trying to watch the show. Most of us headed to bed. Of course I was one of them.

The next day, we got up early to jog on the beach. As soon as we attempted to walk briskly on the coarse, deep sand, we realized that jogging would be out of the question. It was a workout just walking but we pressed on. After about 30 minutes of walking, we pushed on for another 15 minutes before we headed back to meet the other ladies for breakfast. I wasn't sure if I would be doing that again. We ate breakfast and then put on our swimsuits for a day of lounging around the pool. After a few hours of that, we lounged on the beach. It was wonderful.

The next day we headed into town to go to the marina to catch a boat that would take us on a tour of the Arcs, Pelican Island and Lover's Beach where we would go snorkeling. It was very cool riding the boat in the pretty, blue water. We saw some pelicans, sea lions and cool looking fish. Unfortunately the snorkeling didn't work so well for me. I couldn't navigate those darn flippers on my feet so well but it was fun trying even though I got a LOT of sand in my swimsuit bottom.

We walked around the town and were offered jewelry, candy, weed, cocaine and sexual favors. Those guys in Mexico were very open about what they had to offer. We were called "brown sugar" quite a few times as well. It was funny and kind of traumatizing at the same time. It didn't help that initially we were walking around in our swimsuits as we waited to dry off. My friend had her picture snapped on a camera phone while taking a shower in her bikini to rinse the sand off. Hopefully she doesn't end up on some girls gone wild in Mexico website. We walked around and bought some souvenirs before we headed back to the resort.

I must stop now and continue this story later...

My Italian getaway-Venice

As my whirlwind Italian tour came to a close, we had a chance to visit Venice. While in Milan, we hopped on a train and took the 2 hour trip to the city that floats. I'm not sure if that's an official thing but that's how I see Venice. It is literally built on the water, which is really cool.

When we arrived in Venice, we were greeted by our guide and given a walking tour of the city, which was the cutest city ever! It is filled with churches and water and cool shops. I wish that we had more time there because it was my second favorite city in Italy so far. We took a ride in the small canals on a gondola, which was cool aside from the smelly water. Check out the pics:

The lady in the picture is Bella Kim. She's also from Atlanta and we enjoyed the gondola ride along with four other bellas.

This was our gondola driver. He spoke very little English but he was really nice and attempted to be helpful and answer our questions.

After the gondola ride, we continued to walk around Venice and do a little shopping. We didn't have a lot of time so we had to walk swiftly back to the train depot so that we wouldn't be left in Venice. It was a fairly low key trip with some great sightseeing and cool shopping. We did have dinner at a lovely restaurant with great tasting food. I really plan on going back to Venice to spend more time...maybe during carnival.

My Italian getaway-Milan

After visiting (and falling in love with) Florence, I hopped on another motor coach and headed excitedly to Milan. I was excited because we would be there during Milan Fashion Week and I was imaging the city being filled with fashionistas and other fashion industry insiders attending shows in a tent much like they do in Bryant Park in New York.

No such luck. Fashion Week in Milan is very low key with the fashion shows being held in tucked away places like lofts and small clubs. I know this because I asked around. So nonetheless, I wanted to get out and enjoy the city of Milan.

The first day we arrived after stopping to do some outlet shopping outside of the city. The outlets were cool and the prices were ok but after the euro to dollar exchange, we really weren't saving that much money. It was cool to go though. If you are in Milan and want to do some shopping, I recommend checking out the outlets.

After we arrived, we decided to check out happy hour. It was really cool, especially since there were good drinks for a reasonable price and pretty good hors devours. Then we went to dinner and I had some of Milan's signature dish; risotto. It was pretty good. We enjoyed eating outside and a bottle of red wine before we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our trip to Venice in the morning (which I will discuss in the next blog). Me and my travel buddies decided not to go to the club with the other ladies. Here is a picture of me in the duomo.

Good times! We also did a walking tour of Milan where our tour guide showed us how the ride the subway (it was a bit confusing and we had to take a commuter train along with the subway) as well as some of the cool stuff to do in Milan. As she showed us around, we came across the first Prada store. I didn't go inside but I did take a picture of it. Like to see it, here it goes:

One day, when I have a Prada checkbook, I will return to the store and shop. Until then, I have this picture for my memories. Well the last day in Milan, we hit the town. We hopped on the commuter train and went into the city to really explore. We had heard that the canals were really cool to visit and had some good restaurants so we made that our first stop (after I found out the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit was sold out, I'm a fan). We went down to the canals but were a bit disappointed. They weren't all that sexy but we found a cute restaurant and I had some pizza with interesting cheese on it. It had a great flavor but wasn't the type of cheese you would immediately associate with pizza. I can't remember the name, though. Here are the canals.

After that, we headed back to the duomo and checked out some of the shops. We also made it a point to enjoy some gelato from this wonderful place called Grom. It was recommended to my travel buddy, Tiffani and it was well worth the recommendation. Plus it was the nicest gelato places that we'd visited. I also highly recommend Grom for anyone that is in Milan and looking to try some gelato. Great place to start. Here's a picture of the menu (in Italian of course.

Grom was lovely and had great gelato. But we were very tired so we hopped on the commuter train to head back to the hotel. We had to get in bed kind of early to be ready for the airport the next day. However, we were hungry when we got back to the hotel and there weren't many places nearby that were open. We did some scouting and after coming up empty, we resigned ourselves to have our last Italian meal be McDonald's in Milan. It was pretty good. I got a chicken sandwich that had a slightly Italian twist and the fries tasted exactly the same. I figured that a trip to McDonald's was a good way to end the trip anyway.

As I sleepily ate the McDonald's in our plush hotel lobby, I felt good about the trip. Everything turned out really good and even though Milan wasn't as fly as I thought, it is still a city I'd visit again.