Final Fiesta~Cancun Edition

 

Oh, where to even begin…

First off, this was the first bachelorette trip that I’ve been on where I’m actually a bridesmaid in the wedding! My childhood best friend Taylor has been with her fiance for TEN YEARS… (I know it’s insane) They’ve been dating since middle school and have both grown to become two of my closest and lifelong friends. Garrett finally popped the question after buying their first home together and getting their two little fur babies!

Once I found out that her bachelorette party would be in Cancun, Mexico, I knew it was going to be one hell of a trip… I began packing all of my cutest vacay outfits and preparing my liver for the all-inclusive resort that we were going to stay at. lol After a 4 1/2 hour flight, we finally made it to Mexico and were ready to party our booties off!

But, Rachelle’s super amazing luck happened and she got the worst bladder infection of her life as soon as she landed. I couldn’t hold my pee for the life of me and it was the most uncomfortable pain ever. (Sorry if that’s TMI) The whole bachelorette group had promised their significant others and family members that we wouldn’t leave the resort due to the recent spike in crime and homicides… (I know I was super sketched out traveling there)

Side Note:  Read this article Garrett (the fiance) sent us the day before we left…

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/08/22/cancun-horror-as-8-bodies-including-2-dismembered-in-bags-found-on-streets.html

With that being said, I couldn’t leave the resort to find a doctor/pharmacy to get medication. Nor, could I physically do that because I was in so much pain. I finally called my parents and asked them what I should do. They told me to call the resort’s doctor that they have on premise to see if they can come and examine me. Within 30 minutes of calling for a doctor, she showed up and saved my life. She had pain medication and an antibiotic delivered to the hotel within an hour and a half and I was good to go for the rest of the trip.

** high key pissed that all of that cost me $300, but I actually would’ve died without it lol

The rest of the trip was a breeze and was one of the best times I’ve had with the girls in a long time! Our days consisted of drinking lots of pina coladas and eating our hearts out at the different restaurants that they had. We had a cute little lingerie exchange and went out to the bars/club one of the nights and let’s just say that there is no better way to cure a hangover than sleeping by a pool in Mexico.

Although our trip was only 4 days, it was just enough time to relax and enjoy ourselves while having the time of our lives. I probably forgot to mention this, but we stayed at the Royalton Riviera all inclusive resort and it was an amazing experience! Their service was the best I’ve ever experienced and I 200% recommend staying there.

My boyfriend and I are heading to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico at the end of October, so stay tuned for our crazy fun trip that we have planned there!

Love Always,

Shell

~More Pictures~

Instagram Worthy L.A.

If you’ve ever been to Los Angeles, you know it’s a place where the creative juices flow and where one of a kind experiences can be found. Whether you’re into food, art, or music; there is something for everyone in L.A. I’ve been to L.A. a million times since it’s only an hour drive from my house, but every time I visit I always discover somewhere or something new. A couple of weeks ago, my boyfriend and I both took a Friday off of work and decided to visit some of the most Instagrammed places in L.A… Keep in mind that it takes AT LEAST an hour to get from place to place, so we did our best in the little time we had!

Our first stop was a trendy and very PINK coffee shop called Carrera Cafe. You might have seen this insta-famous coffee shop that is known for their latte art. What makes their cafe so unique, is the endless latte designs that they offer. You are able to send in a picture of your choice and they have a fancy latte design printer that can actually print a copy of your photo into the latte foam…. mind blowing I know… I thought I’d go with “Boss Lady,” while Andrew went with the classic Louis Vuitton pattern. Overall I’d give this cafe a 10/10 on the uniqueness scale and recommend that everyone goes and checks it out if they ever get a chance!

Across the street from Carrera Cafe is the famous PINK wall that everyone and their mothers have visited. It makes for a perfect backdrop to take pictures in front of with your trendy latte in hand. 😉 I even got Andrew to take a few in front of it!

After all of this adventuring around, we worked up an appetite and found an amazing restaurant called Commissary. This restaurant is located on the roof of a hotel in a greenhouse. As soon as you walk in, you are completely surrounded by plants in this trendy glass room. The service was great and the food was unique to the restaurant. It is definitely a restaurant to add to your bucket list because I have never been to somewhere quite like it.

Now that we had some food in our belly and energy flowing through us, we decided to visit Beverly Hills and drive down Rodeo Drive to check out all of the high-end shops that they are known for. As we were driving around and figuring out where we should go next, we drove past The Beverly Hills Hotel and I immediately made Andrew pull over! I feel like this hotel is such a staple to Beverly Hills and you have to at least visit it once in your lifetime. Everything in this hotel is PINK and palm tree print. You feel like you’re in Barbie’s vacation dream hotel. I don’t know that I’d ever actually stay at this hotel, but it was cool to say that I’ve been there!

At this point in our day trip, we started to get pretty tired, so we decided to get one last treat in before we headed back to Orange County. We heard of this ice cream shop that is known for their trendy ice cream colors, flavors, and toppings, so we obv had to go! We stopped by BAE, which is located in Little Tokyo and decided to get a black and white swirled cone with gold flakes on it. To our surprise, the black ice cream was pineapple flavored which gave this treat a nice twist. After our late night indulgence, we decided to head home and call it a night.

There is SO MUCH to do and SO MANY places to visit in Los Angeles. You definitely can’t do all of L.A. in day…or a week.. or even a month, so stay tuned for our next visit to the city of Angels.

Love Always,

Shell

I QUIT!

Some of you may or may not know this, but I quit my job this past week. I’m sure some of you are wondering why… and if I have another job lined up.

The answer is no, I don’t have another job lined up. The reason behind this is because I have a different plan for myself and you’ll see exactly why. But for starters, I should probably tell you the reason to why I made this abrupt decision.

It’s about to get real personal FYI…

For the past couple of months, I’ve been struggling with major anxiety. I’ve always had general anxiety like most people do when it comes to money, jobs, relationships, and other life responsibilities. It didn’t really start to get bad up until a couple months ago. I experienced my first panic attack, which was a really scary experience, to say the least. This panic attack came on out of nowhere and I didn’t really have a reason to be having one. It was just my body’s way of reacting after dealing with a ton of stress for months on end. It freaked me out, but since I’ve always been so mentally tough, I just ignored it and decided to keep pushing through.

After constantly suppressing how I was feeling, it hit me like a bag of bricks and I completely broke down. I felt so out of control of my own body and I didn’t know what to do next. I attempted making appointments to see a therapist, but it was impossible with my work schedule. It came to the point, where I was crying every day after work for no particular reason. After seeing this happen day after day, I spent some time analyzing what the root of my anxiety was, and I found my answer. I wasn’t in the position I wanted to be at in work. I felt like I was losing my creative touch that I spent so many years embracing in school and I wanted to grow and learn exponentially as a young professional.

The day came and I called it quits. I worked for a really great company, but it just wasn’t the right fit for me and I wanted to pursue something bigger and greater for myself. It was such a relieving feeling to be able to do whatever I wanted without anyone telling me I couldn’t. What I’ve realized the past couple of days is that you have the power to create whatever kind of life you want. No one is standing in the way of it, except yourself.

Unhappy with your job?
Quit and find a new one that makes you look forward to getting up and going to work every single day.

Insecure about your body?
Start over and become the person you have always wanted to be. Change up your eating habits and be religious in the gym and you will see results.

Unhappy with your relationship?
End it or find a way for the both of you to work through whatever issue you may be having.

Not enough hours in the day?
I’m sorry, but we have the same amount of hours in a day as Beyonce so STOP MAKING EXCUSES! jk 😉

As humans, it is easy to get caught up in this thing called life. But in the end, you have the power to do ANYTHING you want. Your mind is such a powerful tool and you deserve to be happy in everything you do in life. The hardest part is getting started, so just do it (like NIKE would say) and create the life your future children and grandchildren would be proud of. I know I’m on the track to be doing so. Until next time..

Love Always,

Shell

 

Wild Fire

So, I know its been a hot minute since my last post and I totally had a different blog idea for this time around, but some things happen unexpectedly and this was too crazy to not share. Over this past weekend, I was out celebrating my sorority sister’s birthday in San Diego. We ended up renting this cute Airbnb with a bunch of friends in the downtown Gaslamp Quarter of S.D. We all made our way to Pacific Beach and hung out at some of the local rooftop bars, such as El Prez and Mavericks.

While I was out and about having drinks with friends, I had two missed facetime calls from my mom. She eventually facetimed my boyfriend Andrew and when he answered, my mom had her phone camera facing the canyon in our backyard and all you could see was SMOKE! I immediately jumped on the phone and my mom was freaking out telling us that a wildfire had started in the canyon. To give you a better mental image, our backyard backs up against a huge canyon, called Wood Canyon. It’s absolutely beautiful, but this canyon has perfect fire hazard conditions. There is a ton of dry brush and this day happened to be one of the first hot days we’ve had in a while… also the wind that day wasn’t helping at all.

At this moment I was a little concerned but saw that the firefighters responded very quickly and were already strategizing to put out the fire. There were helicopters dropping fire retardant and water to contain the blaze. I was wanting to head home, but there was no possible way I could drive with alcohol in my system and all access points to my neighborhood were blocked off anyway. I had to rely on my family sending picture and video updates. I tried to not think too much about it and not damper the mood of the birthday celebration we were having. I definitely put on a happy face to not take away any attention from the birthday girl… I was fine until an hour or two passed by and I had a ton of friends and neighbors texting me if my home and family was okay.

After receiving those texts and phone calls from friends, I tried getting ahold of my family members and no one was answering so it started to freak me out. The worst thing I could’ve done is check the news and sure enough, they were saying that the fire was rapidly spreading, and home and structures were threatened. There was 0% containment at this point. After an hour of not hearing from my family, I finally got a phone call from my mom and she said, “an officer came to our door, we have to evacuate now. What few things do you need me to grab from your room.” At that moment, I realized there was nothing of real value to me other than my family and animals being safe. I told her to grab my laptop, pillow I had from when I was a baby, and the dress that I’m wearing to an upcoming wedding.

Once I got off the phone with her, I left everyone at the bar and ran into the restroom so I could give myself a minute or two to cry out all of my worries. I knew everyone was going to be safe, but it still made me sad to think that the home I’ve had all my memories in, could be gone forever and there was nothing I could do about it. Once I let it all out, I pulled myself together and continued on with the birthday celebration. I felt guilty being down in San Diego partying, but my mom reassured me that everything would be okay and to enjoy my time down there because they had everything handled at home.

Long story short, after hours of the firefighters battling the fires, the evacuations were lifted and my family was able to return home. We are currently on day six of the fire and as of now, it is contained. I’m so beyond thankful and have a whole new respect for the men and women who saved the homes of many. I’ve always had a huge respect for our first responders, but until something happens to you personally then it completely changes your perspective and makes you even that much more grateful.

Facts about the Aliso Viejo Fire:
-Burned 175 acres
-No buildings were lost in the fire
-About 3,500 residents in Laguna Beach and Aliso Viejo were evacuated
-More than 500 personnel were working the Aliso Fire Department
-Three firefighters sustained non-life-threatening injuries
-Cause of the fire is still under investigation

Love Always,

Shell

Palm Springs

Living in Southern California gives you the ability to easily travel to one geographic region to another. Whether you want to take a trip to the beach, mountains, or desert; these options only take about an hour and half to get there! My best friend and I decided we wanted a change of scenery and drove out to the desert in Palm Springs.

Palm Springs is full of hidden gems that take inspiration from local artists and their laid back culture. I have seen many aesthetically pleasing photo spots all over Instagram, but never had the time to go explore myself. Seeing all these spots had sparked my interest, which is what made me take a spontaneous day-cation to this rat pack/Hollywood stars vacation spot.

The first place we stopped was the Moorten Botanical Garden and Cacterium. This was one of the coolest Gardens I’ve ever been to. You feel like you’re walking through a desert cactus jungle with giant Cacti everywhere you turn!

The next spot we visited wasn’t on our to-do list, but The Parker hotel has been a hotel I’ve been wanting to stay at for years, so I checked it out just for fun! Their moroccan inspired interior decorating was to die for and I enjoyed every second of it.

 

After the hotel, we decided to visit the infamous Pink Door. This door belongs to a private resident of Palm Springs, so I don’t recommend trespassing. The residents were exiting their home when we arrived, so we asked for permission to take a photo and they graciously said, “yes.” This door gives me MAJOR Barbie doll house vibes.

 

As we were on our way out to head back to SoCal, we spotted one last photo op and this was at The Saguaro hotel. This cute hotel was painted every color of the rainbow and was impossible for us to not stop and take some pictures!

Overall, It was an awesome day trip and I highly suggest you add these place to your bucket list when visiting Palm Springs! I’m planning on taking more day-cations in the near future, so stay tuned for my next destination. Until then… Enjoy 🙂

 

Love Always,

Shell

Summertime Sadness?

Hey Readers,

I know it has been a little bit since my last blog post, but I’m back and ready to write! This past month has been crazy busy with my last semester of college starting back up, getting ready for sorority recruitment, and working so I can afford life. I’ve barely had any time to myself, but here I am!

So today, I totally just realized that summer is actually over for me. According to meteorologists, the last day of summer for the northern hemisphere is August 31^st and for the southern hemisphere, it is February 28^th! This makes me so sad because my summer break completely flew by. Writing this post made me want to reminisce and look back on all the adventures I had this summer. Because I didn’t travel as much as I did last summer, it felt like I didn’t do a whole lot. BUT, looking back on the millions of photos I took, I realized that I had a summer like no other.

First and foremost, I spent the first two and a half months of summer 2017 in Alabama. As it is no surprise to many that I have a wonderful boyfriend by the name of Shane who lives there! As for some of you who don’t know me too well… I have a boyfriend! We’ve been doing long distance since the day we met and have been together for a little over a year. The most amount of time we had spent together was about 2-3 weeks max; so we wanted to take advantage of our last school break and have me live out there for a couple months.

With that being said, I found an internship at a marketing agency called Inner Spark Creative in Auburn, Alabama so I could get some professional experience while testing out the whole living together thing with my boyfriend. That was my first internship and I was as nervous as could be because I didn’t exactly know what my day to day job would be like as a public relations major. After getting over my nerves and interning at this agency, I learned A LOT. The main thing that I learned was that I 100%/absolutely/positively want to work with social media upon graduation.

As a millennial, we grew up with social media from the beginning of its developing stages and have watched it evolve and grow alongside with us. Although I know how to use every social media outlet, there was a lot more to it when it came to the business side of marketing. And concluding with that, this internship got me hooked and eager to start my professional career.

Now onto the relationship part of this post… Before I left to live in Alabama for the summer, I really did a lot of self-reflecting and analyzing of mine and Shane’s relationship. I told myself that living with him for 3 months is going to tell a lot about our relationship.

#1 Neither of us had ever lived with a significant other before

#2 We had never spent more than 3 weeks with each other, so 3 months together will tell a lot

#3 In the end, I told myself that this is either going to make us or break us

 

Fortunately, everything went as smooth as can be and made us a lot closer to each other in the end. He was the best roommate I could have ever asked for and is such an amazing guy to me. Whenever I felt homesick, he made sure I was okay and made me forget that I was two-thousand miles away.

I’m not sure where I’ll end up living after graduation, but all I know is that a long-distance relationship can work for anyone as long as both parties can give 200% into their relationship.

Love Always,

Shell

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