Florida Trip!

 
A few weeks back, I went to Orlando for the weekend for a conference. The conference was for the Society of Professional Journalists, and was called Excellence in Journalism, or EIJ. When registering for the conference, I also got free tickets for Disney World, which was extremely exciting. We went down to Orlando on Friday morning, and once we got there, we darted straight to the hotel.
 
Our hotel was beautiful, as you can tell from the picture above. (that was just the lobby.) When we got to the hotel, we settled in. Then, we registered for the conference. That night, we went to a club called B.B Kings, which was a great place to mingle with fellow journalists. I met some awesome people that went to an outstanding journalism school, and hung out with someone named Danielle that was in my chapter.
The next day was the longest day. In the morning, I went to two back to back workshops. Both of them were about technology in the field and how to use it in an effective way. I thought that was interesting, and both conferences were amazing. After the conferences, I headed down to lunch with our advisor and Danielle.
Some shots of the afternoon parade: 
 
 
After the conferences, we decided to go to Disney World to use our free passes. We took an Uber there, and decided to go to Magic Kingdom. We arrived just in time to see the afternoon parade, which was amazing.
 
Cinderella castle. 
After the parade, we wandered around Disney for a while and went one some rides. My personal favorite was the Teacup ride, which I think is a classic. However, my favorite had to be the Light Parade after dark. The light displays were amazing! If you ever go to Disney, I highly recommend that as a must see. It's simply beautiful, and my pictures don't do it justice!
Parade Pictures! 
 

 
After the light parade, my friends Monica and Anisa went to watch the fireworks, while I went to go pick up a few things with my friend Danielle. (my mom gave me a full-blown shopping list.) Then, the park closed and we went home. It was such an exhausting day, but it was worth it. We didn't get home until almost midnight.
 
So basic, but YOLO.
The next day, we enjoyed a few minutes by the pool before we packed to go home. Our flight was in the early afternoon, however, we still managed to make the most of it. Overall, it was an amazing weekend, and a great experience.

Feelin' Lucky

                                                               Something cool I saw there.
One of the perks about being 21 is finally being able to gamble! I've been talking about gambling for the past six months, and finally I was legally able to. So, the day after my birthday my mom and I headed to the casino. In our area, we have two casinos-Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. Since we really couldn't find anything to go to Foxwoods, we headed to Mohegan.
The trip took about an hour to get there, so I came armed with a book from my summer reading list. (review to be posted this week, I promise!) When we got there, I had to get a player card. Upon registering, I had received a bonus gift since it was my 21st birthday which was $15 worth of credit to redeem at the slots, and a free shot glass. (Which I still haven't used yet)
Then we decided to gamble a little bit, before heading to the Season's Buffet. The buffet in my opinion wasn't the greatest. Partially, because I couldn't find much food to eat that I could have without getting sick and because the food I did manage to eat wasn't very good. Needless to say, I was disappointed.
After the buffet, we decided to do some shopping. One of the stores we hit up was Tiffany and Co, where I planned to buy the double heart necklace in blue. The service was amazing. The lady there was extremely helpful, and very friendly. It made my first trip to Tiffany's amazing, and I was so happy. Once I picked the necklace out, my mom decided to buy it for me as a birthday present. Needless to say I was excited. While I was there I also saw the matching bracelet, but decided that it wouldn't be the best idea. We shopped a little bit more, where we picked up an elephant charm for my Pandora bracelet and two new CDs.

                                                     Tiffany's necklace.
After shopping, I still had some promo money left over on my card. My mom encouraged me to spend it, which I was a bit hesitant on doing. But, I decided to anyways.
And I'm glad I did, because I ended up winning a hundred dollars on a slot machine! I was so excited, so I kept on playing the last few dollars. I ended up not winning anymore, but hey a hundred dollars is a hundred dollars.
So then I decided to get the matching bracelet at Tiffany's. I figured it was a sign for me to get the matching bracelet. So, we decided to go back. I am so happy that I got the bracelet, because it's now one of my favorite places.
Overall, it was a great day full of Tiffany's and luck. If you plan to go to the casino, definately don't go to the buffet but go to Tiffany's. 

LA Day One-Venice Beach

                                                                Santa Monica sign
Hey everyone! As I'm writing this, I am currently trying to get adjusted to the eastern time zones. It's a bit confusing. For those of you who are new around here, I've spent five days in Los Angeles. The first day I spent in Venice Beach and Santa Monica. I went to the ACP conference, but we got to spent some of the time sight seeing.

                                          Left to Right: Monica, Jess, Jene, Me
As soon as we got off of the plane, my roommates (now friends) Monica, Jess, and Jene decided to go to Santa Monica beach because we wanted to see the beach. So, as soon as we got to our hotel room, we rented an uber car, and went.

Photo One: Pacific Ocean

Photo Two: Selfie with the Ocean, NBD.

As soon as we got there, we ran to the Pacific Ocean. It was so blue! Then we walked around. Santa Monica had a bunch of little shops, and then we went to the artsy Venice Beach. We ate dinner at a little cafe, and then watched the sunset.

Photo One: (L to R) Jess, Jene

Photo Two: (L to R) Me, Monica

On our way back, we went to this little coffee shop where they had delicious hot chocolate, and a warm cookie sundae. (all of my favorite things!) We then went back to our hotel, where we hung out by the pool for a while with the rest of our staff.

                                                     Sunset on Venice Beach
Day One was amazing! Come back for more of my California adventures!