Tanzania - Safari

Here, we go. First post about my trip...

After traveling for about 24 hours, I made it to the Dar Es Salaam airport in Tanzania. Karly and Christine had arrived a few hours before and were waiting for me. I got to use my brand new passport and get my first stamp and basically ran out to the girls and gave them giant hugs. Prior to arriving in Tanzania, I had been introduced to someone, Peter, who lived in Dar. He, his wife and I emailed back and forth and I asked them all sorts of questions, anything from currency, to transport, to hotel recommendations. They were truly a wealth of knowledge and I will forever be grateful.

Peter got me in touch with a driver, Clemens, who ended up driving us on a few different occasions and even took Christine and I on a driving tour of Dar on our last day after Karly headed home, super early in the morning.

Clemens was waiting for us at the airport to take us to our hotel. Peter told us to be very cautious of getting into 'just any taxi.' The first thing I noticed...Tanzanian drivers drive on the wrong side of the road! Let me tell you, when I got into the front seat of the car, on the wrong side, and we started driving, on the wrong side, I almost lost it! 

Anyway, we got to our hotel, hugged some more and passed right out. We had breakfast in the hotel and were getting picked up at 8am the next morning for our Safari at Mikumi National Park. Tony picked us up and we got on the road to the park.

Along the way, though, we had a bit of a detour. We were stopped about 2-3 hours into the drive by a group of men wearing suits and ties. We were told originally we were going to be stopped for about 10 minutes, which turned into over an hour. It was hot, so we all got out of the cars and the men all swarmed us to take selfies/pictures with us. The longer we waited, the more nervous I got. Fortunately, Karly has been living in Africa for a while and she said that this is pretty normal. I still didn't like it. Then, one of the men got into the car with us and drove with us to a nearby restaurant so we could eat and then we were delayed another 30-45 minutes more until whatever needed to be sorted, was sorted.

We finally made it to the park and got straight to animal sightings. We saw lots of different animals: zebras, impalas, wildebeest, warthogs, alligators, hippos, elephants, giraffes and even a lion. We drove up to this spot where other cars were stopped and saw this massive lion. He was so close to us, like, if he wanted to get up and jump he would have been in our car. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time.

We saw tons of wildlife, it was so beautiful. That night, wes stayed at the Tan-Swiss Hotel. There was a restaurant/bar there and the rooms were very comfortable. We woke up, had breakfast and headed back into the park for a morning drive to see more animals. I would definitely recommend this safari.

I'm Baaack!

Annnnd....I'm back. I took 25 days to tour the world (read: Africa, Spain, France and England).  My stepdad turned 60 last year and wanted to take the family on a big trip. Originally, we were going to go during Thanksgiving 2014 - on his birthday - but we couldn't get our act together so we postponed it to the summertime when my brothers were on summer holiday. So we got to planning. My family wanted to head over to Europe. I wanted to travel around Spain, but the birthday boy had other ideas in mind...so we added France to the itinerary.  My friend Karly is living in Lesotho, a landlocked country inside of South Africa, and another friend of mine, Christine, and I decided that we wanted to visit her this summer. We wanted to make it a holiday for her, so instead of me traveling to Lesotho, we decided on head to Tanzania and Zanzibar. I was able to convince my parents to go to Europe closer to the end of the summer so I could go to Africa and then meet my family in Europe. Get two trips out of my flight. And France was supposed to be my last stop. Then a friend of mine, Christie, who I met in Peru, emailed me and we decided that she was going to meet my family in France and then she asked me if I wanted to go back with her to London! So, I said: "why not?!" and added 4 more days onto my trip to include a visit with old Peru friends, a trip to the seaside and an Indian Wedding. So, here I am, 25 days later feeling like a whole new woman, full of new experiences and cultures adventures. It was truly the trip of a lifetime with old friends while making new friends. I can't wait to share! Get ready for a sh*t ton of pictures in the coming weeks! 

I am an extrovert

I saw this on facebook and laughed out loud at work. This is my life.

You can't help talking during movies. Headphones are your enemy. 
omg. yes.yes.yes.

The Trip of a Lifetime

Firstly, I cannot believe that I haven't written in over a month. Wow. I have been very sociable and just haven't had much to blog about until this last week. The boy scene has been pretty normal...no more d!ck picks for me...
I have been planning a, pretty big, trip for the last 6 months and it is quickly approaching and turning into the trip of a lifetime. Now, as if my trip could have gotten any better, it did - last week!
I have kept in touch with, more than facebook stalking, a few people from my trip to Peru in 2013. Since Peru, I have been able to visit in person with one of the gals, Christie, from England, twice! She was living in AZ for about a month and I visited her there and she visited me in December/January 2014. When she visited CA,  I showed her around San Francisco, with a quick side trip to Napa. It was a fun visit and I am glad I was able to play tourist for a long weekend.
Christie texted me last week asking me about my summer plans and I told her about this amazing trip  that I have been planning and it dawned on me: I will be in her 'neck of the woods' so I should see if she can meet me for any part of the trip.
I brought up the idea, she checked with work and is now going to join me on the last leg of my trip. She then mentioned 'a cheeky jaunt to London,' which I responded, 'what the heck is that?! I want two!' I checked with my work and was able to extend my vacation about five days to accommodate yet another country! I just can't believe it!
So, as of today, I will be visiting at least eight cities, four countries and two continents all within 25 days. Someone pinch me! #AfroEuro trip here I come! (I guess now that I have added England to my itinerary, my new hashstag shall be #AfroEruoLand)

The One with the Thank Yous and Forgiveness

I am thinking about you today. Not because I miss you, not because I wish to see you, not because I can’t live without you; but, because today we would be celebrating an anniversary. On this day 4 years ago we vowed to love each other, through thick and thin, death do us part, to cherish each other forever - blah blah blah. We made these promises in front of our closest friends and family, for us and before God.

I would never wish for my experience with you, about you to be different. I would never wish that it hadn’t happened. I could never truly hate you because I once loved you, unconditionally and without question. And as I look back on this time and the decisions that we made, I wonder if it was real. I wonder if what we had was nothing more than convenience, comfort and companionship. I wonder if I should have listened to my gut when I felt that I was too young to be making such a big life decision. I wonder if I was blinded by love and just didn't want to see the red flags. And while I think those things, I remember how blissful everything was, how loved and cherished I felt, how pure and innocent what we had was, even if it was for a short time.

I am thinking about you today because I want to thank you. To thank you for realizing that what we had wasn’t working and it wasn’t going to work. To thank you for putting me out of the misery that I was living in every day but was too blind to see because I vowed to love you, always. I want to thank you for helping me realize what is most important to me, about myself and about a partner, and what not to settle for. I want to thank you for showing me that I deserve better.

I thank you and I forgive you. I forgive you for dragging me around and stringing me along. I forgive you for giving up on me, on us. I forgive you for making me feel like I wasn’t worth the fight. I forgive you because, after many hours of soul searching, with a professional and with my friends and family who should be professionals, I know that I am worth it.

I forgive you because I have, honestly, never been happier and I can honestly thank you from the bottom of my heart for forcing me to realize it.

Thank you.

The "Maybe" Guy

I am having a great time on a first date, I think we are on the same page and we are totally hitting it off. At the end of the date he gives me a hug and kisses me on the cheek (weird). And then he says to me, "We should definitely do this again sometimes, maybe." Maybe?! I say, "yes, I would really like that." He says, "yeah, maybe." Maybe, again?! Then he goes in for another hug and kisses me on the lips. Um...what's up with this "maybe" business? So then I walk to BART and he tells me to text him when I get there. 
I get to BART and I text him that I had a nice time and would like to see him again and he responds with, "thanks for the note, get home safe." Again, what? 
Later in the week he sends me a text thanking me for going out with him and wishing me a good week. Again, I say I had a nice time and that I hope to see him again. Nothing. The next day he says that he is going out of town and wants to see me the following weekend. Okay, cool.
We end up getting together for dinner and drinks. Date #2. We were having a great time, laughing and telling stories. At the end of the night he is walking me to the BART station and I asked him about the "maybe" comments from the first time we hung out. He sounded surprised and didn't remember that he said that and said that it could have been that he didn't think I wanted to get together again. And he said that it could have been that he was going on a big vacation and would be gone for a while. We talked about the "maybe" situation for a bit and he told me that he would call me when he returned from his trip.
He sent me a message later in the week and called me "kiddo." Who is this guy?! Morale of the story, it doesn't hurt to ask, even if it's weird.

Healthy Bod Squad

Since I started working at my last job and got a gym membership - I know, I am such an adult - I have been in desperate need of some workout ideas. I saw a trainer, I downloaded apps, I visited websites, but they all seemed to be the same exercises that I normally do. I also was having trouble finding workouts because of the surgery I had on my elbow and I was babying my arm and not doing anything with my upper body.

A few weeks ago, I had lasik and was off from exercising for about 3 weeks - I know, ick - and when I was able to start working out again I decided to get back into a full/total body workout and incorporate some upper body exercises. I started off by doing some lighter stuff and then moved into doing some of the classes at the gym. I was feeling great while being a little frustrated at myself for waiting so long to do this, since it wasn’t really bothering my arm.

In the beginning stages of this, the lovely friend Melissa from Real Nutritious Living reached out to me about this cool new program that she and her business partner were getting into: Bikini Body by Summer sponsored by The Healthy Bod Squad. I mean, the name itself is enticing, isn’t it? She asked me if I would try it out and write a post about it and, of course, agreed to it. We all need to spice up our exercise routines, right? Speaking of spices, these lovely ladies have also included detailed recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even snacks! 

I have officially been doing the workout for about 2 weeks now and I have been loving it. There is great variety with modifications, to make the exercises easier or more difficult. 

The workouts are split up between upper and lower body and what I love most about the different workouts is, besides that they are quick so I get a lot of bang for my buck, they also incorporate core strength and even some of them are full body routines. So, on leg day, I don’t feel like I am neglecting my upper body and vice versa and it is also a good source for incorporating some cardio, getting my heart pumping and getting a good sweat on. 

My favorite exercise, so far:

BURPEE JACK

*Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and arms at your sides. 

*Bending at the hips and knees, reach down to put your hands on the ground. 

*Once your hands reach the ground, extend your legs out behind you with a quick hop into a push-up position. 

*Once your legs have been extended out straight, spread them wide and then pull them back in. 

*Keeping your hands on the ground, reverse the leg drive motion to bring your feet back under you. 

*Jump hop, raising your hands above your head. 

Modification: To make this exercise easier, omit the jump at the end.

Variation: To make this exercise harder, add a pushup once hitting the ground before the jack.

Yes, I know that I am crazy to love that one, but I really felt it after and isn’t a post workout burn the best feeling ever?!

Anyway, I definitely recommend checking out The Healthy Bod Squad and hopping on the workout train. There are tons of great workout tips and healthier eating options - no diets, gimmicks or recipes that take up too much time. Since I am typically a healthy eater anyway, I am most excited about the variety of workouts to keep me engaged and wanting to go to the gym every day!

I hope you all join and when you do, let me know and we should start a fitness challenge! How fun would that be?!

**Disclaimer: I received the program for free, but all of the above thoughts are my own.

The D**K Pic Guy

Yes, you read that title right...
I had been harmlessly messaging with this guy in hinge, it was totally g-rated - about our weekends and his dog when he asked me for my number. I gave it to him thinking that we were going to make plans to meet in person. We texted a couple of times back and forth about my weekend when totally out of the blue he asked me if I liked to talk naughty and before I could respond he sent me a picture of his ding-a-ling! I almost died.

We have never even met and we hadn't even been talking for that long! What is wrong with people? Oh! And the best part is that it was like 4pm on a Monday....doesn't this dude have a job? Oh wait...you can see his desk and computer in the photo. I have been wondering if he took the picture when everyone was out getting the afternoon frapp from Starbucks.
My friend and I were coming up with all kinds of great responses: "Oh, I see you like small talk" or "I only date leftys," but I was worried he was going to harass me, so I decided to play it safe. I responded, (I will admit, I waited a bit to see if he would respond, he didn't) then I blocked his number.
I guess there is a first time for everything. Thank you for taking my "Dick Pic Virginity" bro....it wasn't even a nice-looking one....!