MIAMI

Being a Florida native you would think I would have taken a trip to Miami by now, but I hadn't until last week! The trip is usually around 6 hours long from Tampa, but I left from Orlando since that's where I spend most of my time/it's where my apartment is, and it ended up only being around 4 hours long.

I've never really had a reason to take the trip which is why I'd never been, but The 1975's only Florida stop was in Miami and that was more than enough reason to also book my very first AirBnb and make the journey down south.

I learned a lot of things in our 2 night stay in Miami..

Everything is expensive. (i.e. $30 for parking, $60 to sit on a beach chair in Miami Beach )

It's about 20 degrees hotter than the rest of Florida.

People will pay a lot of money for absolutely anything if they can show it off.

These realizations didn't stop us from having a good time though! I just have no desire to live in Miami, but it was nice to check it out and actually travel somewhere for the first time in a long time.
It was also an eye opening experience to figure out how AirBnb actually works, and I'm excited to book more trips in the future through the service.

      I feel like I'm constantly writing about how amazing The 1975 is, and how they blow me away every time I get the opportunity to see them live. I truly feel like I'm in a dream each time. I've seen them more than I've seen any other artist ( A whopping 3 times, I know, so crazy, so intense. ) and I'm not bored yet! They always leave me wanting more and I'm always looking forward to their return. And I WILL be attending their next show. The venue was actually across the street from our AirBnb, which was super convienient and super beautiful. If I go back to Miami it's only because the scenery is everything Florida should be, but fails at.

We visited Wynnwood, The Design District, two free museums (!!!), and Miami Beach for the rest of our brief stay, but we were ultimately too poor to really enjoy anything and just retreated back to our room and ate Mac&Cheese from CVS while watching CatFish. But at the end of the day it was a great trip. 👍

The Importance of Formation

One of my last assignments for the semester included writing an analysis of one of my favorite songs.  The only requirements asked for the song to be popular at some point in time and that it contain enough lyrics for a proper analysis. I have about at least a million favorite songs from a wide variety of different artists so it was hard to pick just one!
Beyonce's Formation World Tour came to Tampa Friday night and I wasn't in attendance. And my whole entire blog is named after one of her songs, so naturally I chose Beyonce and wrote my song about Formation to fill the little void in my heart, and to make writing the darn thing more bearable.

Note that this paper is a tiny bit on the longer side, and much longer than any regular blog post that I would put up. This is just one of the few papers that I had to write this semester that wasn't a total buzzkill so I thought I would share. Most of it is just lyrical analysis with just a bit of application in between and at the end. 

Some would argue that it is an artist’s responsibility to discuss and shed light on social issues through their work. Within the past decade the topic of police brutality has garnered America’s attention and the discussion of racial inequality and race relations has also become a front-runner for heated discussions. In a world where black lives are systematically and sometimes intentionally targeted it is important to empower black individuals to let them know that they do matter. It is also important to take pride in being black, and to let others know that black is just as beautiful as everyone else. Beyoncé’s ‘Formation’ does just that. Released in early 2016 and written by Khalif brown, Jordan Frost, Ashton Hogan, Michael Williams II, and Beyoncé Knowles and produced by Mike Will Made It and Puss, Formation is unapologetically black and celebrates embracing black culture while calling on black women to stick together. The song falls within the Bounce genre, which is a style of hip-hop that originated in New Orleans, where much of the song’s references and video stem from.

Back//Better

Like I've said before in many blog posts, I'm terrible at blogging. But hey, the first step to being good at something is to recognize that you suck, am I right?

Now that we've gotten the fact that I'm absolutely terrible with a capital T at blogging, let's get to blogging. So it's 2016, which I'm sure you're well aware of by now, and some things have actually happened, yay!

Let's start with the most recent, I turned 22 and got my very first tattoo on the same day. I've been wanting a tattoo for years and I just decided to go and get one because I actually had money and I'm not getting any younger, hello. I know that it's the first of many and I can't wait to get more. I'll save the explanation and reasoning behind my tattoo for a later post.
Second, spring break wasn't too long ago and it was probably the most epic spring break I've ever had. I saw Rihanna! Live in the flesh! Courtesy of my best friend who was visiting from out of town. Such an amazing early birthday gift, one that I'm not sure that I'll ever be able to repay to be honest.
I did a lot of adventuring during spring break as well. ( Well, local-adventuring) We paid a visit to Wekeiva Springs, checked out a local donut spot, and visited an incredibly large nursery full of beautiful succulents and cacti. The place was seriously huge.

The future freaks me out

***NOTE: This is a post that I wrote a few weeks ago. I've finished finals and I'm on break now, but these thoughts are still very fresh in my mind as we approach the end of the year. This is not something that I would typically post onto my blog, but I feel like it's necessary for some reason.


It's December, but surely you already knew that. 

I've finished two of my finals and I have two more to go. I also have two semesters of school left.  (Hopefully, if all goes as planned) Which I don't wanna talk about. Two people asked me about my plans for the near future today, and telling them "I don't wanna talk about it." wasn't exactly a good enough, or polite, answer. So I guess I'm typing my answer here.

I don't know. 

That's my answer. Honestly. I don't know what lies ahead in my future and I'm scared, beyond scared. I'm terrified. Growing up I was always told I could be whatever I wanted to be, and to follow my dreams and that those dreams would come to fruition if I worked hard enough; I'd be doing what I loved, and making money, everything would be magical, I would have a great circle of friends in a bright, brand new city and Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome would come waltzing into my life at any moment if I didn't pay love any attention. And maybe that does all happen, maybe it does. But there's no concrete way to tell if it will. I don't know what I'm doing! I don't even know if the plans I have now will be the plans I have in the next two months. I don't even know what the next sentence in this blog post is going to be. Will I have a blog six months from now? I really do hope so. But the future is just so questionable and up in the air and it's all very terrifying. 

I don't really know what I'm getting at with this post, just expressing my fear I guess. Or maybe it'll be something to look back on, or maybe it's my way of saying "Hey, if you're in school right now, and you have no idea what the hell you're doing, it's okay, I'm in that same, bleak, unsteady boat with you. Now lets get to paddling." 

Give Thanks

An obligatory (late) Thanksgiving post. It had to be done. 

Whenever the end of November rolls around I have to really stop and think about what's happened in the past year, I mean isn't that what everyone does? It's amazing how much you can fit into 365 days, and it's amazing how those 365 can completely change you as a person. I had a lot of big things planned for this year, and a lot of those things fell through. I also lost someone who was and forever will be a cornerstone in my life. And it created a huge shift within my family. 

But I'm thankful I even have the opportunity to pursue my plans and my dreams, and I'm thankful that I'm part of such a strong beautiful family, and I think that it's important to recognize that I'm truly blessed. I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving and a terrific break!

Also aren't my cookie skills on point? 

I didn't realize the frosting was actually dark blue!!! Everyone's mouth was stained after eating them, whoops.