10 things I learned in Tuscany

On August 10, 2018August 10, 2018 By Emily WIn Motivation, Travels, WritingLeave a comment

Traveling is always an adventure, literally and figuratively. There is self discovery that always happens, and usually enlightenment to follow. Growing up a motto stuck with me which was ‘Knowledge is Power’ and this is pure truth. As I’m growing and experiencing(and gaining knowledge) it’s very apparent that it’s always better to talk about things you know, and listen to those who talk about things you don’t.

On that note, here are 10 things I learned on my trip to Italy in 2018(no order in specific)!

1. How to live out of my suitcase when going to a different hotel every day – it can be easy, but make sure you have plenty of space for dirty laundry!

2. ‘Legs’ in a wine glass demonstrate the amount of alcohol content in the wine(difference between a 12% wine and a 14% wine) amongst other things, but we’ll get into wine posts on CaptivEATing

3. You can drive 140km/h safely on the autostrada – there are auto ticketing radars but, everyone’s going faster than you at 130kmph so more than likely you’ll be fine

4. Italians think I look like J.Lo

5. Make sure that no matter what, you ask if your living quarters have AC (!!!!!) – I can’t stress this enough, make sure you know exactly what kind of living situation you’ll be in before you get to your destination. Do you have AC? Do you have a kitchen? Do you have a shower? It may seem like all of these things would be listed but, sometimes they’re not! Just ask and there won’t be any surprises.

6. You can easily get lost driving 2 miles through the hills of Tuscany

7. Burrata is still my favorite of all time

8. The Alps are one of the most magnificent sights, even from the road

9. Traveling with strangers (in this case, being in a new place with new people for a solid 9 days) will open your heart and bring you to a new place, internally – one of the best things in life is sharing and learning from those around you. My dad used to say if you learn ONE thing a day, you’ve had a good day. I spent 9 days listening and partaking in French, Italian and German languages which all come kind of easily to me because of Spanish, however, languages require brain power, mine was tired after every day but it was beautiful being in touch with that part of my senses/brainwaves!

10. You can make progress with whatever you want if you really want to (speaking languages, for instance) – put your mind to it, you can do it.

Listen, absorb, learn, take it all in, be in the moment, be grateful, and live it up my friends!!!

Living, Loving, Growing

On January 27, 2018January 27, 2018 By Emily WIn Inspiration, Motivation, Travels, WritingLeave a comment

This past week was spent at the PGA Show in Orlando working a booth, and man, what a blessing it was to be there.

So many vendors, so many beautiful displays, and so so many people.

When you’re thrown into something you’re not used to doing, let’s be honest, it is a mental game. Either you let everything get to you and freak out in anticipation, or lock it up and own that shit.
In the last few months I’ve realized that I was letting fear get the best of me(even though most of the time I seem fearless) and I also re-realized that one thrives when one lets themselves. You’ve got a set of skills, use them.

This trip was exactly what was needed to get myself back together and remember that we can all do anything.

Life gets messy, we get laid off, we deal with emotional moments, but thats the beauty, isn’t it?
The rollercoaster.. The ups and downs..
Because when you feel that rush of excitement, that nervous energy, that means you care, and that is your soul telling you that its all going to be alright whether it works out or not.

You’re growing from living that moment.

You create your reality, my friends. You are in control of nothing and everything at the same time. And you will succeed in life if you let go and just breathe.

Do your thing.

It Never Rains in Aruba..

On November 6, 2016November 6, 2016 By Emily WIn Photography, Travels, WritingLeave a comment

“Aruba, Jamaica… Oooh, I want to take ya…”
Bet that’ll be stuck in your head for the rest of the day/night!

Family vacation in this beautiful place was wonderful. Hot, definitely hot, like 90 degrees hot, and windy (so you would think you wouldn’t feel as if you were melting..) but MAN that sun was intense! Perfect for getting a perfect tan. 🙂
I have to say that being a beached whale is one of my personal favorite things to do, and at the all-inclusive Divi Tamarijn the rooms are right on the sand and the cool ocean is literally four steps away. That, was the best part. We had some hiccups along the way, it started with my broken duffle bag the second I went to step out of my house.. Then we had the screaming child upstairs once we got to the Divi who we could hear the entire afternoon because of an open balcony door, and perhaps another one was the construction going on during our ‘relaxing vacation’.. And maaaaaybe another thing was that the food wasn’t as good as we were led to believe(it became a joke between us all that my food was going to come out the worst, which it did every, time!!!), BUT, as always, we found the silver lining along the way. That’s what my family does, we find the bright side.
We got to see awesome reefs, different fish than what we have here in Florida, we swam through some wrecks off shore and we got to experience a different culture with Indian and Dutch influence. We found an amazing little spot called “Westdeck” that was right on the water with the friendliest staff and extremely chill decor – it’s one of those places where you can bring your catch if you’ve gone fishing and they’ll cook it for you however you’d like. We also enjoyed dinner at LG Smith’s Steakhouse; my pork chop was the best thing I had eaten the entire vacation. Another cool thing we did was drive around the entire island, from top to bottom (it’s only 20 miles from the southernmost to the northernmost point, and only 6 miles wide!), laughing the entire ride to the stone bridge, the ostrich farm, the Lighthouse.. Great times.
Lots of inside jokes along the way, lots of memories made. I hadn’t traveled with my brother out of Florida in over 8 years so I was extremely grateful for that opportunity.
If you get a chance to vacation in Aruba, you should. There are plenty of markets to shop at for trinkets, plenty of beautiful views, a great Lighthouse to go to, along with friendly people and a pretty safe atmosphere.
These photos were taken with a waterproof Nikon CoolPix camera that I bought specifically for the trip. They came out better than I thought they would. Woo!