En Route to Vacation

I am stressed out sitting at the airport waiting to catch a red-eye out of Sea-Tac Airport. Just three short hours ago I was frantically wrapping up a project at work, racing home to pack and fighting traffic on the way to the airport. Here I was finally getting a minute to catch my breath sitting exhausted in a crammed chair by the gate. Knowing myself and knowing I wasn’t in the best mood I turn to my beau and in my kindest voice possible asked if I could have 5 minutes to myself. Of course being the sweet angel that he always is he gives me a quick kiss and without a word walks away. Some time goes by as I gather my travel documents, my thoughts and organize my in flight materials when he returns. He slides a donut next to my side table and says, ‘I know you wanted some time to yourself but I just wanted to say something. I hope you eat, pray and love on this trip.’ I burst into laughter and that was the end of my bad mood.

I still laugh whenever I retell this story. Often times when we travel we will squeeze every minute possible to account for the time spent flying to our destination. This results in plenty of red-eyes after a full day of work. More often than not I’m usually the one stressed out because I tend to struggle with mentally checking out at work. To create a hard break, the time spent en route to vacation is used to help me relax, unwind and sleep as much as possible. When people ask me if I’m excited about an upcoming trip, I usually answer with, ‘not until i’ve boarded the plane’ and it’s so true. Combine the day I just had with my fear of flying it's so important to me to be as relaxed as possible while flying.

Here are a few of my favorite things I always need on board with me:



Sleep Mask & Ear Plugs // I love flying delta because they provide complimentary sleeping mask and ear plugs. They also provide you with 16 oz bottled water throughout the flight to keep you fully hydrated. I try to drink about four.

Glasses, Hair Band and Hair Tie // I pop my contacts out and put my glasses on before I fly knowing I will sleep throughout the majority of the flight. My hair has gotten so long and I hate having it in my face therefore the first I do is put it up in a bun and pull back the baby hair with a headband.



Hand Sanitizer // I picked up this habit of using hand sanitizer while working at the hospital. I always have it on me and I use it all the time especially before eating or touching my face.

Make Up Remover & Wipes // I learned about DHC Deep Cleansing Oil while in Japan and I love it. If time permits I will wash my face with this make up remover in the restroom before boarding the plane. It takes all your secrets off. Otherwise I use the yes to cucumber wipes gentle enough to not irritate my skin and it smells fresh.


I try to stay hydrated as much as possible with:

Avery Rose Water // after a clean face I use this moisturizing spray to hydrate and set my skin for some serious work (see below)

SK-II Essence // contains holy water or so I read but I believe miracles are sold separately.

SK-II Face Mask  // I will only put this mask on if I am sitting by a window seat after the lights are out to avoid embarrass my beau.

Skin, Inc Pure Deepsea Hydrating Mask // This is my back up hydrating mask if I'm too tired to deal with all the fuss of the sheet mask. My face absorbs this thing up so quickly it doesn't really do much for me. Tip: reuse the little sample jars from Sephora to eliminate taking up too much space in your carry on. Plus it's easy to toss out when you're done.

EOS lip balm // may not result in kissable lips for everyone but I love it

SK-II Moisturizer // magical and creamy! I would eat this jar if I could

SK-II Eye Cream // keep the attention on those sparkly gorgeous eyes

Caudalie Hand and Nail Cream // for soft and smooth hands to hold on to babe during turbulence

My skincare products are SK-II heavy and I definitely don't look like Jennifer Lopez after using La Mer but I love that my skin reacts well to it and doesn't break out.



Other miscellaneous things that are just as important:

Altoids // necessary for fresh breath when trying to kiss babe and flirting with the flight attendant for some free pretzels

Notepad and Pen // to jot down ideas, inspirations and thoughts because you never know when you'll have an epiphany!

A Book // not pictured is my kindle which holds all the stories one can dream of if the imagination is lacking

Happy travels and where to next?!

Defining Luxury

I was in my mid twenties when I walked into Louis Vuitton and purchased my first ever designer handbag with a matching wallet as a gift to my grown-up self after signing a stellar job offer. I thought this was the ultimate luxury in life; to be able to afford purchasing an expensive designer hand bag. I was happy to be able to provide myself this experience but most of all I was so proud of myself. However in the next few weeks, these feeling would soon evaporate. The first time I took my handbag out I was constantly watching it; paranoid that it would get dirty with the contribution of my clumsiness. Then I started to receive too much attention from it which made me uncomfortable. However it was the time I saw my own reflection off a building that made me realize it just wasn’t me. It just looked loud and flashy to me. When I got home that day I cleaned my bag, placed it in its dust bag and threw it in the back of my closet. I would never carry this bag again but that’s not to say my search stopped then. I quickly moved onto designer shoes.

Over the years I really started to think about what is luxury. I thought I knew what luxury was but after purchasing a few luxury items I wanted so badly it just didn’t give me the satisfaction I was thinking it would. I was baffled.

Dictionary.com defines luxury as: a material object, service, etc., conducive to sumptuous living, usually a delicacy, elegance, or refinement of living rather than a necessity. Designer handbags and shoes fits right in, am I right???

Thankfully I’ve been given plenty of opportunities to clearly define what luxury means to me in the last few years. I believe the process started when I began to strip away the materialistic things in my life. I downsize my living space, my closet, my belongs and really face my consumerism lifestyle. From doing this I learned that my belongings were weighing me down and turning me into a slave. In fact, during this time I had just started dating my beau and I was working so much I hardly ever got to see him. All my hard work was going towards buying new clothes, shoes and things that really didn’t mean much to me and with the little free time I had I was spending it maintaining my things. I was miserable. It was only after getting rid of a majority of my things that I was able to determine my necessities and then defining my luxuries.

To me luxury is time and freedom. Being able to traveling for weeks with my beau is a luxury. Having a job I love that is flexible and allows me to work on my photography and travel is a luxury. Being able to be spontaneous with my weekends is a luxury.

Here’s the thing I’ve learned: luxury can be anything we want it to be and to be true to ourselves we have to start observing our own lives and really ask ourselves the question in order to make it meaningful to us. Because if we don’t we may end up settling for society’s definition and miss out on what truly brings us happiness. For some people luxury is a designer handbag or a sports car or a big house in the suburbs and although those may not be things that I would consider a luxury for myself, I think it’s completely acceptable if that’s what’s truly a luxury to you.

This last year I sold my handbag and my designer shoes for a fraction of their cost and spent that money splurging on an extra nice hotel, restaurant and experiences on my trip to Paris, a city I’ve always dreamt of seeing as a little girl. I don’t miss the things I sold but I do miss Paris and hope to return someday soon!

I encourage you to really think about what luxury means to you and define it for yourself. It will make a world of a difference.

Thoughts on Fear

I sit tense in my crammed seat peering outside of my window not noticing the tight grip I have on my beau's hand. He gives my hand a squeeze, "It's okay," he assures me, "It's just a little turbulence." I easy up on my grip, smile back at him and take a deep breath as I try to relax.

Typically I am shutter happy hogging the window casting dancing shadows onto my beau however when it comes to turbulence, I fall silent observing the scenery outside my window while I feel my fear. I am uncomfortable with my lack of control but I am most afraid of my complete vulnerability. I have nowhere to run nowhere to hide leaving me with no choice but to face it: to feel my fear and overcome it. I take another deep breathe as I think of all the memories I've built with my beau through our travels, all the God created beauty of this earth I've been blessed to witness and all the sparkling cities which were once only fantasies in my mind I've gotten to experience.  I would have never gotten the opportunity to see this beautiful world had I latch onto this fear of mine.

Often times if we can get past this moment the rewards waiting for us are completely worth it!

... But first we must allow ourselves to face our fears.