From San Diego to South Dakota

SD to SD

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve done any kind of blogging, or even social media-ing. But I have good reason, promise.

I’m sure as you see from the title there was a big move on my part. From San Diego to South Dakota, this born and raised So-Cal girl made the big move to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Why South Dakota you may ask? (Random is what I get from most people) Well, I got a job opportunity at their local news station in Sioux Falls!

And that is some serious big news, BIG dreamer news.

I graduated college about two years ago and I studied Broadcast Journalism for a solid 3 ½ years. I did everything from interning at news stations in San Diego, wrote for a local newspaper in town, produced my own 30-minute live newscast, and reported on so many amazing news stories.

Instead of pursing my degree right out of college, I decided to take on the full-time office job that could pay my bills and give me more work experience. While my last job gave me such great opportunities and I worked with some amazing people there, I was never fully satisfied.

It was time to face the fears of leaving family and friends and go into the mysterious world of Broadcast news. I took that scary leap and reached out to news stations and I got the job offer for a news station in South Dakota.

I won’t be reporting on camera just yet, but that won’t stop me from one day getting back into what I loved so much when I went to school.

My amazing boyfriend Alex was accepted to South Dakota State University and has made the move along with me and I couldn’t be happier. The transition was made that much smoother.

All I want to say is to honestly never give up on your dreams. I have been out of the broadcast news business for over two years, but that didn’t stop me from pursuing my dreams and making this my time to shine.

I’ve been scared, I’ve been rejected, but it all becomes worth it when you feel your life falling into place and when you feel like your dreams are fully coming true. I’m feeling at home, I feel like I belong. And I couldn’t be happier.

I do miss all my friends and family in California and the wind chill can really knock you down here in the mid-west, but when you are finally seeing that you’re on the right path to greatness everything just feels right.

My dreamer mentality will never fade and I will keep on reaching for the stars. And I hope you all keep dreaming and striving for the best because you can really surprise yourself and you too can make all your dreams come true.

Sioux Falls

Reporting from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Keep dreaming my family, friends and fellow travelers. Thanks for all the support and love <3

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That One Time in Amsterdam

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Oh, Amsterdam. People have all sorts of crazy stories from Amsterdam.

Now I won’t sugarcoat anything. Amsterdam was a crazy trip.

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It was also a one night trip and we weren’t truly able to experience everything that Amsterdam had to offer us. So we have every intention to go back to this wonderful canal city.

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All the stories you have heard about Amsterdam is pretty true. There are “coffee shops” in every corner and there is a red light district with girls dancing around in the window and are quite a liberal city compared to the American conservatives.

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And for those that don’t know, “Coffee Shops” are different from Cafe shops in the sense of you won’t really get coffee, but weed instead. So yes, marijuana is legal in Amsterdam and people buy and smoke it freely in Amsterdam. Granted you must stay within the confinement of the Coffee shop to enjoy your Mary Jane, but for all those wanting to legally smoke a joint, you are more than welcome to sit in a coffee shop and enjoy a puff of MaryJ to your pleasing.

Now that that’s out of the bag, on the other sense Amsterdam is truly a beautiful city. We experienced some rain while we were here so there were tons of umbrellas and gray skies. Also the city center, as soon as you got off Amsterdam Centraal is quite busy with construction. But I could still see the all the beauty that Amsterdam has to offer locals and tourist alike.

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It can get crowded and bicycles are everywhere so be careful of where you walk and when you walk. They are vicious bicyclers out there. And they are almost as scary as those driving in Europe.

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We didn’t really have a lot of time to spend in the city since our hotel was about 45 minutes away from the city town center and we were still recovering from our Paris trip and getting prepared for our next week in Italy. But from what we saw, Amsterdam is beautiful.

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Happy Chinese Lunar New Year!

Lunar New Year

That’s right, Happy Lunar New Year to all you wonderful people!

I have been reading on this Chinese New Year and it seems that it is the year of the Sheep / Goat / Ram. And since I was born on this particular year, I am a part of the lucky Lunar New Year!

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And since it’s supposed to be my lucky year, I have so many fun adventures awaiting my 2015 year. I’ve officially dubbed this as my boss lady year and I am ready to kick some butt in the world and make my wildest dreams come true.

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I have some moves in mind this year that I can’t wait to share once everything has been finalized, but it’s really my time to get off my bum and make life happen.

And I want to extend the invitation to having an amazing year not only to all my Homie sheep/ goat/ rams out there, but to every Chinese zodiac animal out there to make 2015 your year. Just go out and do something you never would’ve done in your wildest dreams, like skydive or even travel to different state or country for the first time. Just go out and do it. We all have many years to live, but why wait. Just do it now and see how life will unfold for you. And hey if it doesn’t work out, then at least you tried. Plus success comes after failing and I’m ready for both.

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Meeting Samantha Brown – My Travel Idol

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Since it’s that time for the Travel & Adventure Expo in San Diego again. I wanted to share a moment that made my life so much more awesome. (I’m sure you already know, but check out the video below [Yes, that did rhyme])


(Please excuse the shake in my voice when I ask her a question, I was talking to my travel idol, you can only image all the nerves running in body)

So with that being said, I kept telling myself that 2014 was going to be my year (just like every other year is) and I truly made sure it was. I did some amazing things and accomplished so many awesome goals (Europe, job promotion, etc). Today, I want to share with everyone another great moment of my 2014 year.

I want to share a little story of one of the many reasons why I decided traveling was going to be one my life goals. It all starts with one person. Samantha Brown.

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St. Maarten, Philipsburg – Island #2

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To continue on with my Eastern Caribbean Cruise Getaway, our next stop is going to make you wish you were in that warm beach now.

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My next island adventure was at St. Maarten, Philipsburg. (And if you don’t remember, my last island adventure was at Puerto Rico).

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St. Maarten is a beautiful beach city. But it also has some fickle weather where it can rain one minute and have the sun shining high the next. But we were lucky to catch mostly the sun.

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Here you can see the clouds slightly forming into rain clouds.
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From our port we had to take a little boat to get to the main city. Once at the city it was shops, restaurants, and the most beautiful sandy white beach I had ever seen in my life at that point.

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We decided to walk around the city before going out by the beach. We found a little church and went inside. It was small, but dainty and had so much character to it.

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We went into shops and I ended up buying some souvenirs for my family here. One of them was a cute little green dress for my goddaughter.

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Around noon we decided to try some local food. And what’s more local than some jerk chicken and what the drink the Caribbean is known for: Rum.

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We saw this cute outside restaurant that had a grill going in both the front and the back and a bartender all right next to the beach. Safe to say, it was absolutely delicious and I ate that chicken right up. Oh how I wish I can go back and eat that chicken once again.

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After a few rounds of blended rum, it was time to hit the beach. This day we were actually able to relax by the beach and enjoy the sun and water. And of course that is exactly what I did. We rented out two chairs and an umbrella and I set out for the water.

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San Juan, Puerto Rico – My First Island Adventure

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Remember my Eastern Caribbean Diary series video? If you don’t, check it out here!

Well it’s time to start up that Getaway. Quite a few of you may be experiencing some extreme weather that has rain, snow and gloomy days, especially for those in the East Coast with your snow blizzard. I decided to bring some island fun to brighten those days!

Welcome to the first stop on my Eastern Caribbean Getaway!

Island #1: Puerto Rico.

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The first island we hit was San Juan, Puerto Rico and it is a beautiful island. And it is even more gorgeous when it’s the first piece of land you see after being on a cruise ship for 3 days straight.

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The island we were docking to was San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico. We had no real agenda for this day (or any of the island days really). So with such little time in the town we opted to just explore the city near the port station, which is known as Old San Juan.

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As soon as we got off the ship we were smacked with humidity, hot sticky humidity. My undone hair got frizzy within a second. But that didn’t stop me from seeing the beauty that San Juan had to offer.

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Old San Juan had such beautiful Spanish architecture as well as narrow cobblestone streets and then it is also surrounded by massive defensive stone walls and forts. It is a sight to behold.

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Many of the fort buildings were turned into government buildings as tourism started to boom. Like the building called the La Princessa used to be a municipal jail, but it has now become Puerto Rico Tourism Company building.

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And along the walkway of where the La Princessa stands, their Spanish markets are lined up for snacks of wonderful Puerto Rican delicacies.

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Lastly, we went full tourist by visiting the restaurant Señor Frog. But with such little time in Puerto Rico, it just meant for me visit it at another time with more time to actually explore and enjoy the town and go to an actual beach.

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All aboard! Hogwarts Express

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I don’t know why, but whenever the Christmas season comes along I always want to watch Harry Potter. And as you may have seen in my first European post, I’m kind of a Harry Potter geek. My 4th grade teacher read us the first chapter of the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone book and I was immediately hooked.

I’ve gone to midnight book releases, read one of those thick books in a day, re-read every book at least 3 times. I’ve gone to midnight showings of the movie and I even wrote my first ever Fan Fiction novel (the only novel I’ve ever written beginning to end) of a love story with Harry Potter characters on to a website called Quizzilla when I was in middle school (and since then I’ve loved writing fiction stories in my spare time and hope to one day publish a fiction book).

So yes, I am a big Harry Potter Geek. Capital H-P-G.

Since England is the main location of Harry Potter, I of course fell in love with London. All I ever wanted to be was a witch on my way to Hogwarts in London.

Well I got to live out my fantasy, even if it was for a brief moment.

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