MEEEHIIICCOOO!!

College Spring Break.  You get the picture.  Your typical stereotype.

All I can say is I went on a cruise with the most amazing people I have known for 4 years and couldn't have had it any better.  It was quite epic and I will never forget the memories!

On board: dance offs, relaxing with wind blown hair, jakes sexy leg competition, dinner every night - always looked forward to that seeing who makes it and who doesn't, listerine cocktails, poppers, gambling, apples to apples, DAN "tonights gonna be a goooddd nighhhttt" foaming at the mouth, me getting black listed from buying alcohol, tylers night moves, candy and john kelly dominating karaoke, abby had a little accident in the corner of the cafeteria,

Costa Maya:  All I can say is this day was roughhhh!  We get off the boat at 9 and go to Tequila Beach Club for 20 bucks... all you can eat and all you can drink.  Talk about a LONG, WILD day.  We ended purchasing way to many sombreros, pork rinds and cigars.  We took jet skis out over the legal limit, carley mutilated her toe, tyler loves 50 year women, robyn the water mule, abby loves mexikini men and was the last person to get back on the ship because she was too busy playing with monkeys and stray puppies.  I love my friends!

Cozumel:  We hired our own private driver for the day and we went EVERYWHERE!  Grocery store for roadies, ethnic lunch, walk around the flea market, tequila factory, mayan ruins, carlos and charlies, and more bars.  I loved this day... nothing was planned and we just went with the flow.  Life should be like this sometimes and stress free!!

Badass Crew!

On board!

360 degree waterfront views

The Girls in Costa Maya

The whole crew at Tequila Beach Club

Me with our boat in the back!

A night out on the ship!

My college friends will be close in my heart forever.  I have had the best memories with these people and will always have my back and support me no matter what, and they know I will do anything for them!

New York City Fashion Week!

Ben Massing asked me to to tag along to another very important event.  His launch party for Something Rebellious was during fashion week in the big apple and wanted me to wear and promote his line again at the party.  I jet setted to NYC for a day and night to check out Bryant Park's famous fashion week tents, roam the city and attend his launch party at Juliet later that evening.  I had a BLAST!

Just arriving in NYC

BIG apple!

Raegan and I in front of the entrance!

Ben and I ready to go to his launch party wearing his silk piece

Me and Raegan pregaming!

Me and my bessstt frieeendd Benny! Love you!

Spread in Tokion Magazine featuring Benjamin Jay's launch party :)

The best thing about traveling is you will always meet someone different and someone new that can expand your opportunities even more.  I met an amazing person who has helped me still to this day and he will always be such a great friend.  Always keep an open mind and be yourself :)

Art Basel Miami Beach

I was asked by my good friend Ben Massing (owner and fashion designer of clothing line Something Rebellious by Benjamin Jay) to tag along to Art Basel.  For those who do not know what this is...

"Art Basel Miami Beach is the most important art show in the United States, a cultural and social highlight for the Americas. As the sister event of Switzerland's Art Basel, the most prestigious art show worldwide for the past 40 years, Art Basel Miami Beach combines an international selection of top galleries with an exciting program of special exhibitions, parties and crossover events featuring music, film, architecture and design. Exhibition sites are located in the city's beautiful Art Deco District, within walking distance of the beach and many hotels."
source: http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/

This was a great opportunity to meet, mingle and network (one of my favorite things to do!)  We had a blast!  I got to wear and promote Ben's pieces in his spring 2010 collection, get into the best and most exclusive parties and clubs during this festival and meet the coolest people ever!

Wearing one of Benjamin Jay's new silk pieces

On top of the Gansevoort Hotel in another silk piece from Benjamin Jay at Surface Magazine's party

Me and Ben Massing at the Mandrion

Louis Lounge in the Gansevoort Hotel

@Louis

The crew at Le Baron (Florida Room in Miami turned into the most famous and exclusive club in Paris for the weekend!)

View sigh...

Gotta love Miami!  Overpriced drinks, bikinis, sunsets, big sunglasses, house music...

L.A. & Vegasssss

For winter break, there was no way I was going to waste it in Sarasota.  I jet setted to Los Angeles and Las Vegas for some adventures on the west coast .

I was in Las Vegas for a night to see one of my FAVORITE bands of all time – The Black Eyed Peas.  The performance was incredible, one of the best I’ve ever seen especially the night before New Years Eve!  We were in the front I could touch Fergie!

LA was fabulous, my jet set buddy Abigail (met me out there) and I decided to stay with our most inspirational friend Jackie who designs amazing jewelry and is the coolest person in the world.  She definitely showed us the best time.  We went out to Voyeur the first night, which is a celeb hot spot right now.  It’s a sick club; they have naked women crawling around nets attached to the ceiling and also dancing in cages and swinging on swings from he ceilings.  We get in and walk right through Eve’s cloud of smoke.  I go up and order a drink and Brody Jenner is standing right next to me, turn around and the rest of the hills cast is right there.  No big! 

The next few days we spent being tourists, walking around Manhattan Beach, Hollywood and going to the Santa Monica pier.  The best night is when we went to Teddy’s and the Roosevelt hotel.  As we waited for Jackie’s friend standing outside I played a mini game of dice with the paparazzi.  We wait in line, McLovin is right in front of us and me and Abby instantly looked at each other and said, “we have GOT hang out with him!” screw all the other celebs!  We ended up wondering around trying to find him and danced the night away.  McLovin pointed at me and said to Abby, “this girl makes me wanna dance.”  So McLovin and me had a dance off and ended up raging all night.  He came back with us to our friends after party, can we say EPIC NIGHT?!  Gotta love LA LA  Land!

Manhattan Beach

Being a Tourist

Santa Monica Pier  (we're on the ferris wheel)

This IS McLovin lol

Nothing Is Real But Dreams And Love.

It’s senior year of college.  All I knew is one thing – live it up, go crazy, do whatever you want and travel, travel, travel because before we know it, the real world and life sets in and its my last chance to actually see the world when I’m young and without a career.  I definitely took up this opportunity and I never did sit still.

My first adventure of my senior year was traveling back to Europe, France to be exact, and the French Riviera to be even more exact.  Remember that guy I met in Prague on my backpacking adventure?  Turns out he wants me to come see him and flew me out to France. 

This trip was a fairytale memory.  A beautiful French man taking all around southern France, not bad at all.  I ate at delicious restaurants, walked around the beautiful beaches of Saint Raphael and Cannes, got a tattoo, and partied at the most exclusive, best nightclub in Monaco.

Nice, France!

Cannes, France <3

Canne Film Festival location

Where I got my tattoo "Rien de tel que le reve et l'amour" (nothing is real but dreams and love)

Le Karement (disco in Monte Carlo!)

My new friend Margaux at Le Karement

Saint Tropez! ahhh I want to live here!!!!

France is magnificent and by far my top 3 favorite countries, especially in the south.  Everything is so much more elegant and glamorous.  I always feel like I am in a movie when I am there.  Possible wedding option?

I am young and free; love can wait a few more years.  There are so many people out there I am waiting to meet and so many places to visit and see before I can ever settle. 

The two best things I have found out about the world:

1.     Single, free and independent

2.     Having no address or ties holding me back from the world.

3 Weeks, 3 Girls, 300 Bottles of Wine

Munich, Germany was our final destination.  The train ride there was hot and crowded and extremely miserable very hungover.  I wrote in our journal, conversed with other Americans and stared out the train window, listening to music and had some reflection time.  The song I listened to over and over again was "Caring is Creepy" by the Shins.  That song definitely changed me, it puts me in such a happy place and makes me feel giddy about the world.  We arrived in Munich and continued with our daily routine - finding our hostel, checking in, showering, grocery store trip to buy brie, salami, baguettes and wine and preparing for an evening out.  We hung out with locals, met many people traveling alone and shared our stories all night.  

From just the beginning of our backpacking trip to the end, it truly changed my life, my character and how I viewed the world and those surrounding it.  As a 21 year old girl, completely taken away from my comfort zone, this backpacking trip taught me so much about myself and life lessons. From cancelled trains, to being a broke college student, to being lost in large cities, to throwing out our entire itinerary the first day of arrival, to falling in love, to eating so much delicious foreign food, to sitting on a mountain overlooking Prague’s city picking apples off a tree for hours, through all the bad and the good, I relied on social survival skills to get through it all. No matter what happened, it was an experience and has shaped my personality today.

Sitting in a park in Zurich, just the beginning of our trip

For those that have never gotten the opportunity to travel, this whole blog should inspire you to!  It is such freedom not having an address and gives you such a thrill!  

 

Praha

loves,

Prague, Czech Republic. I loved, lived and learned. The train to Prague was one that I will never forget. Drunk Gothic Slovaks scaring the living shit out of me and the girls. I've never felt so scared or uncomfortable! I got hissed at, called a dark angel, got shown knives bigger than my torso, was shown pictures of bathrooms with blood everywhere, snakes and then he fell on top of us. There was a guardian angel traveling with us and saved us from the evilness and if I ever see him again (chances are never) I will thank him a million times!

Anyway, as usual, we had no idea how to get to our hostel - hours later we find it and we are in such a great location and have an entire apartment to ourselves... LOVE the exchange rate. Our neighbors were the craziest Italians ever - 8 of them. Our other neighbors were 2 Americans named John and Brian who were absolute geniuses. We all gathered for the evening and went on the Prague Pub Crawl (yes, this is our 3rd one). So much fun happened.

Crazy Italians - such a disaster lol

The next day was life changing.  Brian and John took us around Prague since it would take us hours to get to one place, they decided to be our own personal tour guides.  First things first, these guys are so smart and we had the most intense, deep and inspiring conversations.  We went on a small hike up a hill to see a breath taking view of the city of Prague.  We finally made it to the top, picked apples, reminisced, spill our guts out about life and realized how lucky we were to have an experience like so.  I literally felt on top of the world.  

Imagine .... 

After sitting for a few hours, Brian and John took us to the famous Prague Castle - oh baby that was gorgeous and the church was out of this world!  After we ate interesting food, bought absinthe and souvenirs for our wonderful, selfless families.

Life is so beautiful.

And onward we walk.....the future awaits us! 

Just Breatheee!

Our many nights in Prague pretty much blur and blend together.  One of the nights, the last night actually, I met a beautiful French man that eventually (in a later post for more stories) was in my life for a few months when I got back in the States.  We met at a 5 story club that had hundreds of people in it.  We chatted and exchanged numbers and facebooks.  He's now just a memory.  Life happens :)

Me, the beautiful Francesca and Fabio - Miss you we will meet again soon <3

Reflection should be apart of your daily routine.  I was out of my comfort zone and looking over the most beautiful sceneries can truly calm your soul.  It takes you to that happy place :)

My journey home is next!  Anndddd my travels throughout my senior year! :)

When In Roma!

My adventures continue onward to the land known for its delicious cuisines and the finest wines, the beginning of time, architecture, art and the most beautiful men known to mankind - Italy!!

Now, since my two friends and I were still with our Stetson friends we all decided to venture together.  Overnight train ride with about 15 of us = disaster!

This is the crew in the train station, missing a few travelers :)

We arrived early in the A.M., checked in our hotel where way too many of us in a room but still managed not to get kicked out.  We had a guided tour of the coliseum and the ancient city.  After this our crew was dead tired and we all wanted to rage that night.  

history <3

Raegan (my sorority kiddo) and me inside the Coliseum! (it was so hottttt)

Me, Rae, Coleman, Carley overlooking the ancient city - beautiful moment

The whole gang cooling off in a fountain!  Love you all!

We decided to take the whole gang out on the Spanish Steps bar crawl.  Waiting for it to start, Jennifer Lopez was in the one of the stores for an interview and all the italians were going crazy!  She looked elegant as usual!  The bar crawl was quittte the adventure, here is everyone on the way to the Spanish Steps.

The next day was one of the top three best days I had in Europe (The others were in Venice, Italy and Prague - will get to later on).  The day started off reunited with all our friends and the restaurant right next door to our hotel.  The owner of the restaurant loved us and brought out plates and plates and bottles of champagne - one right after another.  We all sat down for 3 hours and just talked about stories from the night before, our make-believe university we go to and random stories of all of us.  It was a great way to start off the day (kind of have to be there moments)!  

@ the restaurant next door - champagne toast to Europe and BEST friends

After our lovely meal, some of us split up.  The day consisted of me, sarah, carley, Italy (ian .. hes from italy and got us around) and coffers.  We decided to go to the Vatican only a short few steps from the longest line ever and they told us we weren't allowed in due to our inappropriate attire.  Shame on us.  We then said, "now what?"  Us girls trekked down a shopping street while the boys stopped at every other bar... how perfect?  The day turned out to be awesome, shopping and local bar hopping.  We ended up at the Trevi fountain and Pantheon which was absolutely epic dealing with drunk people.  

Me, Carley and Coleman in front of the Vatican!

Me and Carley inside the Pantheon

Italy, me, coleman and Carley in front of the Trevi Fountain (see mom I did go see the historical sights!!)

Our last night in Rome was pretty epic, Carley got to take a ride on a vespa with a beautiful Italian man (straight out of a movie) and I got violated by a man selling children's toys - we won't get into details.  Our next stop was Rimini, Italy and boy was that fun.  We relaxed on the beach and went to a HUGE party at night that was on the beach.  We drank 4 buckets, BUCKETS of long islands.

self explanatory.

We said our last good-bye's to our Stetson friends because this was the last time we would see them.  For us girls, our journey moves on without them :(.  We were now off to Venice, Italy.  Funny story we stopped a town outside of Venice and we thought we were there.... hmmm where was the water and gondolas?  A man asks... "So, you think you are in Venice?"  OOPSSS!  Finally we made it.  It was a relaxed day but OH so beautiful.  This is by far the most magical beautiful city I have ever been to.  There was one thing missing... a man to share this romantic scenery with.  I will definitely be coming back here with that special someone...

breath taking

Us girls have now been traveling for 2 weeks and we sure were exhausted.  We decided to take it easy and spend 4 nights in Czech Republic to gain so energy back.  At this point I have learned so much about myself and my surroundings.  I learned patience is key and to be empathetic with people.  Feel for them and be there for them 100% especially when not in your own element or comfort zone.  

Until next time! xo