Shark Fishing the Palm Beaches, Tips & Tricks!

Shark Fishing the Palm Beaches, Tips & Tricks!

TravelingLoveBug

Growing up so close to the water, or shall I say practically on the water has given me such a love and respect for the ocean. As beautiful as the deep blue is, it is a dangerous place, and must be respected. One of the very first lessons I ever learned from my dad was to listen to the signs the ocean sends you. Understand the warnings, stay away from the rip currents, and never push your comfort zone. Most importantly, respect the wild life, and NEVER liter. Throw back the fish you wont eat/ need. Always abide by the rules and regulations in regard to amounts and types of fish you can catch and keep.

South Florida is a magical place. As a native Floridian, I love my hometown. I love being on the water, and I love a good thrill. It is quite easy to find sharks in South Florida, and it is a thrilling experience all adventure seekers thrive off of. We can recreate our very own shark week at any given time throughout the year. The warm waters are a breeding ground for the scary  creature, and you can find them almost anywhere. Shark fishing can  be a very long and rigorous process. My husband and father fought long and hard for 45-60 minutes to pull in their first shark. As you can imagine, they are STRONG & MEAN. They will take your bait faster than you can think to give your rod the first tug.

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My LOVE/HATE relationship with Barcelona, Spain.

My LOVE/HATE relationship with Barcelona, Spain.

TravelingLoveBug

There is no doubt that Barcelona is an absolutely gorgeous city! I mean Gaudi did wonders to the culture, look and feel of the city. To be honest, I really did like my time there. However, when you visit so many other gorgeous cities in Europe (like Amsterdam, Paris, Santorini, Venice, for example) Barcelona (to me personally) falls short. Perhaps I would have liked it more if I visited the busy city prior to hitting up so many other places in Europe? In fact, I wouldn’t visit Barcelona again unless I went FOR FREE (if it’s free, it’s for me). It was unfortunately disappointing, and left us underwhelmed beyond belief. There are simply way too many beautiful places in the world I need to visit before I ever even think of going back to Barcelona.

5 things I absolutely LOVED about Barcelona (in no particular order):

1) The ARCHITECTURE

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2) Gaudi Gaudi Gaudi. Did I mention GAUDI? I mean did you see Parc Guell? 

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3. Barceloneta Beach 

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4. La Boqueria 

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5. FC Barcelona Futbol 

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5 things I absolutely HATED about Barcelona (in no particular order): 

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In a world full of hate, it is easy to find kindness.

In a world full of hate, it is easy to find kindness.

TravelingLoveBug

You hear it all the time, and I definitely wont be the first or last person to bring up what a sad time in history it is. With all of the darkness in the world, especially now, it’s hard to think love and kindness can be found in someone you do not know. A stranger, to be exact. We are all guilty of judging others. I unfortunately know I am, especially while traveling. It’s like you’re always second guessing yourself: Should I talk to that person? Will they like me? Are they nice? Will I be safe? Can they speak English? Can I say that one phrase I’ve been practicing well enough? Are they going to think I am a dumb American? These thoughts are normal, and a huge part of exploring abroad because traveling makes you vulnerable, and that is the beauty of it. 

Traveling also causes you to get lost… a lot…which I highly recommend. Get lost willingly and purposely, get so crazy lost, you have no choice but to ask a local, and THEN find your way!! AND while you’re finding your way, you’ll find yourself, which ends up being the absolute best part.

Sean and I have been awe struck at how many times complete strangers have shown kindness to us while traveling abroad. Whether we asked, or not.

During our first extended travel trekking through Europe, we found kindness in Paris, and then it happened again and again and again. 

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Where am I now? What does IT mean?

Where am I now? What does IT mean?

TravelingLoveBug

December 29, 2014: The last blog post published to this page. WOW! Where have I been, and who am I now?! Although highly embarrassed at the thought of how much time has passed since fulfilling my passion of creative life-style writing, I have been doing a lot of living. And by living, I mean getting married, changing my last name, traveling (I guess I wouldn’t be the Traveling Love Bug if I didn’t), and making it happen each and every day. Wait a second, what do I mean by it? IT means life, IT means loving, IT means laughing, laughing really hard until I pee my pants (yes, that’s happened before too, and no, I’m not ashamed), IT means cherishing every moment,  IT means taking in every day as if it were my last, and most of all, IT means slowing down and living for now. LIKE, RIGHT NOW, and that my friends, is what I have been up too.

Something special happens when I begin writing, and after re-vamping my page (you like?) and diving back into it, I have finally been able to put my finger on it. Reflection. Reflection happens when I begin writing. Why is this so important? If we don’t take time for ourselves to reflect, to be grateful, to re-imagine and dream, we don’t move forward.   It is so hard to stop and take a second to breathe it all in, relax and enjoy. When we do this, we allow our bodies to fill with gratitude, re-charge and most importantly, dream. I have so much gratitude for God, my husband, my family, my best friends, and most of all this beautiful life. I love taking time to reminisce and remind myself how incredibly thankful I am to be living this wonderful life.

Photo by: Daniel Lateulade
Phot by: Daniel Lateulade

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Reflections

Reflections

TravelingLoveBug

2014 was my best year yet. Reminiscing all of the good that came out of 2014 is such an incredible feeling. Although a little emotional saying goodbye, I know 2015 will be even better because it’ll be action packed and full of people I love! I think the year-end calls for a plethora of self reflection: What did I do that made my year so great? Who contributed to my happiness? Who didn’t? Why was I so happy? How can I keep this feeling going forever?

Having a deep understanding of what makes you tick on a personal level grounds you. It makes you take a step back and prioritize your life. If something or someone makes you happy, fill your life with them/it. If someone takes away from your best self, drop them and move on (no really….move on). If only life was that easy, right?

I am not crazy (well most of the times I am, but I have never met an awesome person who wasn’t completely crazy in their own way anyways). I know life knocks you out of the driver seat more times than not; however, if you know in your heart of hearts what makes you happy, and you follow it, you are destined for eternal greatness and everlasting happiness. It took me a little bit of time to figure that one out, but I have never been happier since realizing it, and when I say realizing it, I mean truly internalizing and living by it.

What am I most thankful for this year? 

Everyone I love is healthy, and for that I am eternally grateful.

As I reflect on 2014, and how special it was to me, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite pictures from each month this year, and the memory behind it. Read more →

West Coast Bucket List

West Coast Bucket List

TravelingLoveBug

SO when Sean and I decided on actually taking the plunge and moving to San Diego, we were thrilled at the thought of how many doors it could open for us both professionally and recreationally. When we got here, we couldn’t stop talking about how many weekend trips we wanted to take, and all of the places on the west coast that we really wanted to visit. Being in sales, we were always told to write it down and set some goals. However, writing your goals down only works if you truly believe in those goals, and actually want said goals to happen. When I do finally write things down, I look at the list, and think of it as my dream board. A couple weeks ago, I wrote a bucket list for us and I have had it sitting on our refrigerator for us to look at. Since writing it down and having it on my mind, we bought tickets through Sam’s Club to utilize the discount, and went to Disneyland (post to come soon) yesterday. The joy in writing a list is having the ability to cross things off of it. I really wanted to cross something off it, and I have always been a fan of Disney…so why the heck not?

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Here it is…our West Coast Bucket List!! Knowing us, we will be adding more and more as we go! I am sure of it.

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Feelin’ 25

Feelin’ 25

TravelingLoveBug

Birthday week ensues, and I must say 25 has been pretty great to me thus far. I don’t want to say I was nervous about turning 25, because I definitely wasn’t; however, if I am completely honest, I didn’t welcome 25 as I did 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24. Before November 10th, I was almost sad to say goodbye to my early 20s. I had the best early 20s anyone could ever imagine. I graduated from an amazing school where I met my fiance, and the world’s most perfect friends. I landed an amazing job that allowed me to travel a huge chunk of the world. I found my furbaby, Tucker and became a Furmama. I was given unconditional love and support from my parents and sister. I followed my dreams to California. I accomplished a lot, and I am damn proud of it! Thinking about leaving this wonderful time makes me a little sad.

Now before you go thinking I am completely nuts, and 25 is still so young, please hit your breaks! I know I have a world ahead of me, and I am so young, and I will accomplish a ton (I know this), but turning 25 was sentimental for a number of reasons. So many amazing things happened at 24. I am sad to say goodbye to 24 because 24 changed my life forever. It allowed me to officially agree on forever with my fiance, and that in itself made my year. PLUS, I really liked saying I was 24. It had a nice little ring to it! 🙂 Every year, not only on my birthday but on New Years Eve, I get sentimental because I loved the year prior. I always tell myself “if this is how 24 or 2013, for example was, next year will be 100x better. Every year that little saying has lived up to its promise, and has been beyond 100x better. I know 25 will bring me and my loved ones nothing but happiness, success, and love. 

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What it’s really like to drive cross country from Florida to California

What it’s really like to drive cross country from Florida to California

TravelingLoveBug

Wow! I can’t even believe it… Sean and I have been San Diegans for a whopping 13 days. We are FINALLY settled in, and our place is fabulous! More to come on our perfectly located condo in Cortez Hill, but if I can just say one thing, our view is on fire! Not only do we obsess over it on the reg, but the Tuck man is also in love. He has fully mastered the concept of city-living, people watching, and basking in the endless amounts of sunny yet perfectly breezy days.

Our road trip…oh the memories…it was LONG, fun, and full of Taylor Swift…Shake it off…Shake it off…only 36 more hours of driving to go! OH God. We enjoyed it.

I honestly cannot continue without giving the BIGGEST and BEST of props to my chauffeur of an amazing fiance, Sean. He drove 33 out of our 36-hour drive. Not only is he a keeper, but he is an angel sent from God to make our drive full of cabin fever or should I say “car fever” less daunting. But HEY, I offered to drive at least 3x each day. My gentlemanly fiance only let me drive when he mentally and physically needed a break. Somehow, he couldn’t seem to close his eyes and relax when I was driving…I dont understand? I am a GREAT driver! lol.

We segmented our drive over 4 days and 3 nights.

DAY ONE: West Palm Beach, Florida to New Orleans, Louisiana

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Ready, Set, DRIVE TO CALIFORNIA

Ready, Set, DRIVE TO CALIFORNIA

TravelingLoveBug

I can’t believe the day is finally here. Sean and I are up-rooting our Floridian lives, our precious little pup, and making the cross-country drive to California. About a year ago, Sean and I visited San Diego, and we knew instantly we had to live there. There comes a point in your life when something just clicks, you go from being a dreamer to a doer. Don’t get me wrong, I will always be a dreamer, but the most vital part of being a dreamer, is transforming those dreams into actions.

if-your-dreams-dont-scare-you-they-are-not-bigI have really taken the quote above to heart these days. It has become my new life mantra. As a little girl, I always dreamed of moving to California, and wow I am actually doing it. Sean and I have amazing things ahead of us, and the great thing about it is that it’s all new! I think that is what we love about it the most. We finally have the opportunity to really start a new chapter with new traditions together. We are building our dreams from the ground up, and of course it’s scary, and we will miss our family and friends so much, but he is home to me, and our new home is California. I couldn’t be more excited to build a new life with this incredible man by my side. WE ARE SO EXCITED. photo 1 (1)

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Santorini, Greece

Santorini, Greece

TravelingLoveBug

Santorini, Greece, I am almost…not quite…but almost at a loss of words for how unbelievably breathtaking this magical place is. I am NEVER at a loss of words, but when I think of this place I can only think of adjectives that describe its beauty; however, the words gorgeous, beautiful, amazing just don’t seem to do it justice. Everything about Greece is filled with character; however, in Santorini the mass amounts of character that spews from the alley ways and blue, wooden doors is remarkable. Sean and I have said multiple times that we wish we could teleport back. Why can’t I be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and click my Steve Madden sandals 3 times and be there?  Seriously if only we could! I think the world would take advantage of this however, but if I could only do it once in my lifetime, I would choose to go back to Santorini. Sean and I were lucky enough to meet two photographers on our cruise that were able to get off the cruise ship and take our engagement photos. They were so friendly and talented! We honestly felt like movie stars with their big silver reflector.

Overall, Santorini was just so wonderful. We had so much fun walking around Fira and Oia. From the moment the cruise ship anchored and we stepped out onto the outside terrace and looked up at the mountains formed by lava rock, we were in awe. All you could see were little white buildings spread across the mountains, and it was just so cool! There is no other way to describe it. It was just so much different than absolutely anything we had ever seen traveling. Once you tender ashore, you have the option to either take a donkey ride up the mountain or a cable car. Since we were doing our engagement pictures, we opted for the faster, and nicer smelling cable car ride, although hearing from others the donkey ride up was quite the experience! After the pictures, we explored the towns, had the best frozen mojitos ever, and enjoyed an amazing sunset dinner facing the caldera! Oh what I would do to make my way back there. 8621_Aleman-57 Read more →