Coffee Break, Uncategorized

Wanderlust: Land Tours

This year, my mom and I did  a walking tour of Italy, which is something very different for us. We typically do cruises, or we’re in one city for a little bit of time. We decided to travel with a group, Traveling Together, which was good for us because it meant someone else was doing the planning for us once we got there. The leader of the group Barbara Spohn was phenomenal at keeping everyone together, and planning all of the tours, buses, and cities that we went to.
We had a blast because we were able to see so many places, and do so many things while on our trip that we probably would not have planned otherwise, or would have known what to do. The tour group also planned how much time we spent places, which was good because some places we didn’t need to spend a lot of time there though we probably would have thought that we should.
The cons of the tour is that you’re always moving, and you’re constantly packing and unpacking. I also was not mentally prepared for all of the early mornings that were involved. I’m used to cruising, where I get up late, and then lounge around all day. This, we were constantly on the move, which is not a bad things because I definitely felt like I saw everything that I needed to see. Often times we were also given a lot of free time in each city so that we could enjoy it by ourselves and not necessarily with the whole group.
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Overall I enjoyed my time doing the tour. If I did it again, I would make sure that I wasn’t in school, an also be mentally prepared for the constant moving. I would definitely travel with Barbara and Jim again on Traveling Together tours. They are very organized and they get things done. Until next time
Keep Turning the Pages
90s Born Reader
Coffee Break, Uncategorized

Wanderlust: Carry On

As I might have mentioned before, I’m a bag lady. I have to have the perfect bag for any trip that I’m going on. Bringing the perfect bag(s) on the plane is no different.
While perusing Pinterest I stumbled on a bag by SoleSociety that I believe is just perfect for what I needed, and can be used for weekend trips in the future. The bag has a roomy interior portion, but isn’t too big. It’s also soft sided so it can be squished into tight places. The fun part is that the bag also has a bottom compartment that can carry another pair of shoes, clothes, makeup, whatever you want to be down there!
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Other than the perfect bag here are the other items I bring
  1. iPhone with charger
  2. Laptop with charger
  3. Important Documents (Passport, Wallet, and ID any tour tickets you planned ahead of time)
  4. Medications
  5. Camera
  6. Pens and Paper
  7. Gum
  8. Snacks
  9. Small blanket and eye mask
  10. Reading material
  11. Makeup (I like to keep this with me)
  12. Change of clothes (I always keep a spare just in case of lost luggage)
  13. Sunglasses
  14. Extra Items: wet Wipes, Tide-To-Go pen, Minimergency Kit, bobbie pins and hair ties, water bottle
On this particular trip through Italy, I had a lot of school work to do, so I also had my backpack filled with school work. I love my Northface backpack because even though it was filled it felt very light on my back.
Some of the items in the picture include a travel wallet, summer blanket, and passport cover all from MochiThings a really great website with a lot of nice travel things, and paper crafts!
What are some of your favorite carry on items? Until next time,
Keep turning the pages
90s Born Reader
Coffee Break, travel

Wanderlust: Camera Bag

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Now, I cannot say that I am a professional photographer, but I do love taking pictures. I’ve always had a weak spot when it comes to camera gear, and getting a new camera. There is definitely a shelf in my house with the evolution of cameras. When you’re not a professional photographer you don’t need to pack the world with you. You just need to pack the equipment you absolutely need.  Also don’t forget the bag! I take all of my equipment in a Kelly Moore bag, so I look good while I’m touring!
Let’s start with the easy stuff. Your phone!
Smartphone cameras these days have amazing lenses and definition, and apps that can enhance the already beautiful picture that you have taken. Also if you’re taking pictures with your phone you’ll always keep track of it, so that you can take more. With the cloud it’s even easier to save your pictures, and not worry about losing them. Having your phone makes for quick and easy pictures, and don’t be afraid to take a selfie!
On your phone you can also text, post, tweet, instagram, flickr, what ever you want to do with your picture, immediately! Creates for instant jealous from your friends and family as they watch you on vacation. Keep your phone handy and ready to snap those moments.
Next on board for me is my DSLR Nikon D3300 camera.
It is a DSLR, which means that it is not a point and shoot, and it does have interchangeable lenses. I love this camera because is newer, unlike my Rebel Xsi, and it is also a lot lighter for a DSL. It also has some awesome features including an external plug in that allows me to send my pictures from my camera to my smartphone.
For this particular trip we’re going to be doing a lot of walking and going to a lot of different types of places, so I am traveling with 2 extra lenses on top of the one that came with the camera. I’ve got my “nifty fifty” lens and my 18-250 lens for when we’re out with landscapes.
As I said I’m not a professional photographer by any means, but I do like to try and have the equipment I need to be able to bring home memories of this amazing trip! Until next time,
Keep Turning the Pages
90s Born Reader
Coffee Break, Uncategorized

Transformation Tuesday: Week 1

Hey everyone!!

I have decided to finally kick myself in the butt and start losing weight. I have said that time and time again, but I have never actually done anything about it. The problem is that I have no accountability, and I no longer have any discipline. So, I have decided to track my progress on here to I guess keep me motivated and to help others be motivated too.
Let me start with the reason that I decided to lose weight. It’s not for a man, it’s not because anyone has called me fat. It’s because I’ve seen myself look and feel better. I know what it feels like for me to be in shape and not get tired walking up a set of stairs. I know what it feels like to be able to walk into Victoria Secret and buy the bra that I want instead of finding some crazy expensive stores that has bras in my size. I know what it feels like for me to be able to buy clothes and not feel like I have to always buy the largest size available because I’m not technically plus size either. Now, I’ve always been a curvy girl and I plan on keeping it that way. I love my curves, I just don’t like the 40lbs of excess my curves have put on.
To start I contacted my friend about getting on Herbalife. I’ve heard good things and bad things and seen the results. My complaints is how expensive it is!! They will tell you that it will help cut out grocery costs, and eating out costs, but for me it just took those budgets away from me.  The thing about Herbalife is that you have to replace two meals with shakes, tea, and pills and then what ever meal you choose needs to have healthy options. The goal is to also to
workout while doing it as well.
I’m going to try and post weekly about how it is going but for starter’s I’m weighing in at 200lbs and 39% body fat. I’m currently 5’8”, wear a size 12/32 in pants, a 36G bra, and a L top. Let’s see what happens. I have a trip to Italy and the fall and I plan on looking fabulous! Until next time,
Keep Turning the Pages
90s Born Reader
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Coffee Break, Uncategorized

#MedicLife: Natural Hair Probs

Working as a medic means working outside. It means checking off my truck outside, treating patients outside, walking to facilities…outside… Do you get my point? In the south the weather rarely ever knows that it wants to do, and working from morning to night means that I get all the weather changes. It starts off humid and dewy in the morning, gets really hot in the afternoons, and then starts to cool off again. My hair just can’t take it some days!!
I start off my day with beautiful curls, and then an hour into shift they are falling, and frizzing up, to turn into nothing. Thank you Georgia humidity, and moist mornings! I found these wonderful things on Instagram, and after contemplating how I would wear them, I finally got them!
Kurly Klips Hair Extension! They are the best! They are also really awesome because they match natural hair textures. The price did not really phase me because it was the same I would spend on the hair for a sew-in. Also I get to take them out as I please, and wash my hair and do what ever. They are also completely versatile, which is even better. I’ll add some pictures below, but definitely check these out as a low maintenance, protective style!
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It comes in this beautiful box protecting your new hair!
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Here you have the one section where you can feel and touch the hair with one of the two clip wefts, just in case you don’t like it you can return it.
The hair comes in 1 – 3 clip weft, start with that one on the bottom, 1 – 4clip weft, put that one along the widest part of your head, and then there are 5 – 2 clip wefts that help to add shape, and can help make parts in your hair.
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So excuse my hair, but this was me the day I got my clip ins. I had done curlformers a few days before, and some areas still had some soft curls in them other areas not so much, and were pretty straight. I think I had put a headband on earlier to just push everything back and out of my face. I worked a lot that week, didn’t have time to fix my hair hahahaha
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I was so excited about them I just threw them in my hair without doing anything to my hair! I watched so many YouTube videos before buying them it was ridiculous. I did exactly what the video said to do, section and clip, section and clip, and WAH-LA! Big hair! I already loved how easy was, how much it didn’t hurt, and how much I had already transformed
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Next up was trying them without my hair out at all, like how I would do for work. I flat twisted my hair real quick, and knotted the ends with the thought of letting the ends out just in case I wanted to wear a pony tail. Then I put the clips on top of the twists and used the reverse clip method at my part, so you can’t see the actual clips.
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I kept the front twists visible just so it looks like I twisted down the front. I pulled the right (my left side) forward a little bit so you can see how long the “Shoulder Chic Fro Collection” is on me.
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A few days later I let out my hair from the flat twists, fluffed it out and added some of the 2-clip wefts to my hair around the top. Make by Brittany Hervey in this last picture, check out her website http://www.bellanoel.com! Turns out my hair isn’t as long as I thought it is for these things. I would buy the “Bobcat Fro Collection” if I wanted to wear my hair out when it is really curly and tight. I would purchase another “Shoulder Chic Fro Collection” if I were going to hide my hair completely so that I would have more volume.
The cool things about the clips is that they come in and out super easy, and wash super easy. They also can do whatever your hair can do. For the last picture I actually washed and then two strand twisted them to give them a define curl. They can also be placed in curlformers as well, and straightened. You have all the options!! I definitely plan on buying more! Did I mention shipping was free and incredibly fast?! Until next time,
Keep turning the pages,
90s Born Reader