I'm in Miami, bitch!

How the hell did I end up down here? I thought this to myself after my first trip to South Beach. Some friends and I were walking back to the beach from getting drinks at Starbucks when we saw a topless lady showering herself at the outside showers (you know, the ones that you use to wash off all the beach sand). Yes, I know South Beach is a topless beach, but for a 300 pound 40 year-old lady that you couldn't see her knees because her boobs were in the way? I think I threw up in my mouth at that time.

Well, my new Miami life all began in this magical place called Las Vegas. I was on vacation with two of my teammates and we were just returning back to the Barry Manilow Hotel (or the Hilton) from an awesome night(or early morning) of hanging out in VIP at LAX when my boss called. I decided it probably wouldn't be the greatest of ideas to answer the phone in my state of mind, so I decided to wait until later on after I got some sleep. Being on the New Stores Team, there is a time limit usually lasting a year, and me having been on the team for a year and a half, I knew my call was coming. I liked to think of my boss as being Ryan Seacrest and I, the American Idol contestant being told my journey ended here(which after I ending my phone conversation, I sang my last song, Boys to Men, End of the Road. Pretty sure I was still under the influence from the night's festivities.)

I was offered a position at our newest brand, Gilly Hicks(a bra and undies store by AnF) at Aventura Mall. I knew I would not be living in Tampa after the team. I had been living in Tampa for 6 years, and I needed a change. I had lived in my hometown of Frostproof my whole life, and when I moved to Tampa for college, I knew there was no moving back to my small town. I loved big cities. Not that Tampa is all that big, but it was just big enough for me to get used to living in a bigger and more populated place. I loved living in Tampa, but I needed to move on from my college life.

So, on the 1st of December, with the help of my parents, I loaded up the Trailblazer and started a new journey. A 3 hour journey that landed my nomad life to a life of normalcy and stability. At that point in time, I was ready for my new life. I was tired of eating out every single day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I was tired of waking up and forgetting where the hell I was. I was tired of getting up at 2:30am to make my 6am flight and then working until midnight. But mostly, I was just so damn tired.

Moving to Miami was the biggest adjustment of my life. Okay, maybe moving to Tampa after being sheltered in my 3,000 people town my whole life was a big adjustment, oh and traveling to a new place around the country every single week was even more of an adjustment. In Miami though, I had to adjust in so many ways. I had to adjust to living a normal life again. A normal life of going to the grocery store. Of cooking my own food again. Of paying rent and bills again. Of driving my own car and having to pay for my own gas. Of cleaning up after myself and not having clean towels and my bed made when I came home every night. Of working normal hours and actually getting more than 5-6 hours of sleep each night. Of being in a real running store and helping real customers in a bra store that I had no clue about the product I was trying to sell.

And then, there's Miami. Miami: America's melting pot. My mom warned me. She warned me of the tourists. Of the rudest people you'll ever meet. Of the bad drivers. Of the language barrier. Of sticking out like a sore thumb with my blonde hair and country accent. Of the grocery cart bumping. Of the skipping you in line. Of the non-existence of patience. I didn't listen. She has never lived there, so how did she know? Oh, but how mothers know EVERYTHING!

So, after moving down to this foreign place and getting settled in to my 22nd floor apartment, I knew my life was about to change. At first, I was pretty depressed. I missed traveling to new places every week with all the awesome friends I had made on my team. I missed people watching at airports and leaning against my window on the plane, watching the city I was about to encounter below me. I missed the excitement of new places, new people, new memories, new challenges awaiting me. I missed setting up perfect stores that I would not have to see getting destroyed by hoovering buzzard customers, picking at their clearance priced prey. I missed lobby cocktails(only 3!), racking up Hilton and airline points, and time warping back to Tampa. I missed my baller rock star type of life.

After living here for 7 months now, I think I have finally adjusted to my new life. I still get a little depressed at times and would do anything to be able to travel again, but thank God I had friends here and have made new ones along the way. They make my Miami life fun and every night out down here is a new adventure.



Here's a few pictures from my travels with my team:


Mel, me and Joe in San Antonio, TX. At that point, Mel and I had worked 25 days straight. We definitely needed a night out, even if it was at a couple gay bars. Chris M. gave Joe and me a celebrity name of "Jella" because we were inseparable. Sucks that we're separated so far now :(


Kelly, me, Betzy, and Joy in TN. That openning was way harsh. I worked my longest shift: 8am-2am, and then again 8am-midnight just to get this store open! Loved this team though. The Southern Belles plus Kelly.

What's a hazmat? How do I know if I am driving a hazmat or not? And is Chevy Chase named after the town or is the town named after Chevy Chase? And who the hell is Jack Meoff? Good times in Maryland with Drew, Alex, and Amanda. The Baller Team.

Oh KevEv how I miss you! Shut the front door! Really? Did you really just go crop dusting?

AH VEGAS! Oh how I miss thee. Lobster for breakfast, who does that? And I only lost $4,000 of someone elses money, no biggie. Can't wait for our annual Vegas trip this year!

Who dreams about blogs? Only me...

I finally did it. I finally decided to start my own blog. This may seem weird, but writing a blog actually came to me in one of my crazy dreams. Which in the last book I read, it said that your best ideas come to you when you first awake. I guess this is why some people sleep with a notebook and pen on their nightstand. Maybe I should do that! Then again, if I can't even get up the 5th time my alarm goes off, what makes me think I'm going to lift my head, arms and hand to grab a pen and notebook and start writing some crazy ass idea down that I probably won't even be able to read when I'm conscious? Anyway, after I thought about this whole blog idea, I thought it would be beneficial in 2 ways:

1. For those of you that REALLY know me, you would know that I am a writer. Okay, well kind of a writer. I do love to write, don't get me wrong, but I mostly just have all ideas in that blonde head of mine. Those ideas could potentially be a New York Times Best Seller or win an Oscar one day! Maybe I'm getting a little carried away, but I really need to get these ideas that elude my brain out before I drive myself crazy. Or before I get into my old age(which is sooner than later) and forget them all. Now, I won't be writing my story ideas in my blog(wouldn't want anyone to steal my best sellers or win my Oscars now would I?) but I thought that if I at least write, it would get my writing juices flowing and I could maybe get those ideas written in Word Perfect or some kind of word processor that I might own on this ancient lap top.

2. I'm not a big blog reader, but I think I get the idea. People write about their lives, thoughts, feelings, experiences, post pictures, videos, yada yada yada. The blogs that I've mostly read are from newlyweds that document their first joyful years of married life, or couples experiencing crazy adventures of parenthood. I do love reading these blogs (especially reading about my man baby cousin Jackson!), but what about all the single folks out there? I'm sure there's a few million blogs out there about all the single people, I know I won't be the first or last singleton out there that writes a blog. But, I think I live a pretty interesting life. Yes, my life was far more exciting about a year ago when I was traveling and I probably should have documented all my travels then, but really, I didn't even have the time to call my own mother let alone write a blog. Which I am sure stories from my travels will be in some of my posts. Stories from my travels are a big part of my life and have shaped my life to what it is today. I mention old memories daily, from the lobby cocktails that ended in a snowball fight in the hotel parking lot in Boston, to watching the sunrise in Vegas while eating lobster for breakfast in a suite at the Wynn(okay, that was vacation, but it was with my teammates!) I'm sure stories from my past I will be writing about, but my life at the present is just as exciting(umm, okay, probably not, but I will do everything I can to make it sound like it!)

So, there you go! I hope you like what you read and I don't offend anyone. My mouth can be like a sailor sometimes, but I will try to censor myself as much as I can, at least for my mom's sake so she doesn't wash my mouth out with the Palmolive next time I see her!