Tatted Up

Ok. So I moved away to college, I’ve been working my ass off in all of my classes and I figure what the hell... I’ll get a tattoo to top off! I guess I wanted to be a little rebellious with a hint of spontaneity. I had been working on this one design for a few weeks by then and my mind was set. I was going to get it permanently stamped on the inside of my foot. As I walked into Roaring Ink Tattoo Shop, of course I got the glares from all the people covered head to toe in works of art and the coolest thing I had was a double belly button piercing… I quickly noticed a girl cringing in the chair as she was get a tattoo right in the middle of her right thigh. She promptly confronted me with her pain and asked if she could hold my hand while the artist completed some outlining. We struck up a conversation about my design and she reassured me that it was really cool and it wouldn’t hurt too much. JR was going to be doing my tattoo and as he placed the stencil on my foot it all began to feel real and that I was going to have this with until I day I die. It wasn’t to bad at first, but boy I tell you what! The pain was excruciating when he got to middle of my foot. About a half hour passed by and he was finally done! My creation was permanent, and all I could think about was what my mom was going to say… But I love it and wouldn’t change a thing! After all, it says “ You Only Live Once.”

Snow Bunny

My first time snow boarding was also my first ever seeing snow, so you can imagine how that goes. I started on the bunny slope with an instructor just to get the hang of things, and progressed from there. Next was the ski lift, if I could do that, I could basically conquer anything… I lost my balance more than a few times, but don’t you worry, the rock hard ice was there to break my fall. I finally was ready to hit the really slopes on my own with a few kids on my BMX team. So we hopped on the ski lift and away we went. While enjoying my ride it began to snow heavily I couldn’t even see the chair in front of me. Little did I know I was headed straight to the top of Snowshoe Mountain. We had missed my stops for the less qualified snow boarders and off to the double black diamond we went… Right off the lift was a steep drop and there goes my teammate zooming down the slope. I started off slow and gradually gained some confidence, but I also ate some snow along the way. My teammate was barely in my sight when I saw him do about lose control and do about five flips and come to a dead stop. Me, going as fast as I could, hmmm about the pace of your grandma trying to snowboard… I got to him and yelled to the skiers ahead to get help. He turned out to have broken his elbow and as the rescue crew left swiftly with him, I was left to tackle the rest of the mountain on my own. It wasn’t easy, but trust me, when I got back to flat ground I gave it one great, big, giant kiss!

Fake Lashes & Red Lip Stick

Well I would to say BMX has made me a pretty tough girl, and the crowd definitely doesn’t include and pageant queens… One day I was online buying tickets for the biggest fair in south Florida when I saw a link to enter into the Miss South Florida Fair Pageant. As spontaneous as I am I printed the forms out and send in my information with a picture included. A few days passed by and I got a phone call from a very nice lady telling me that they would like to come and audition for the pageant… She explained to me that there were several categories including swimwear, eveningwear, and a talent showcase, so I quickly thanked her, hung up, and ran to my mom to tell her the news. That whole next week I had been practices my chosen talent which where I was going to paint a picture, in a very short amount of time, for the audition. Three day before the audition I received another call from that very same lady, wanting to know how everything was going and what talent I was going to be performing. I happily told her of my plans, when she dropped the bomb. I could sing, dance, or play an instrument… Mind you, this was THREE days prior to auditions. Well I weighed out my abilities and I sure as hell wasn’t choreographing a dance in seventy-two hours, nor was I learning too play an instrument like I was in am orchestra or something… So singing it was. Have I ever sung in front of a crowd of any size? Of course not. Was I ready to blurt out my fave tune to a panel of judges? As ready as I’d ever be. I spent most of my remaining seventy-two hours in the shower singing obnoxiously making sure I could hit every note. D-Day was finally here; myself and fifty other girls were tagged with a number like cattle and corralled into a line until it was our turn. My turn approached very quickly and there I was standing in front of seven judges and forty-nine other girls, singing my heart out without a microphone or background music. A week later I received a letter in mail bluntly stating that I had MADE IT! Me and nineteen other girls were about to get really close, with endless nights of dance practice (for the opening number) and catwalk transitions. The openly night of the fair had finally arrived and it was our time to shine. We all looked so graceful on stage in our swimwear and eveningwear but it was like the Metropolitan Zoo behind the curtains. The talent portion swiftly arrived and there I was again, blinded by the spot light in front of seven judges, but this time, two thousand other people! I blared my song like I was back in my shower and suddenly it didn’t seem all that bad… Had I even had singing lessons like a lot of these other girls? No. Did I even know I could actually sing? Ha-ha… No. But hey, you only live once right?

Flying High… Inside

Found in: Google Images

I’ve always been somewhat of a dare devil… And skydiving was the perfect challenge. They only thing standing in my way was my age. I was merely seventeen at the time and a year shy of being legally able to jump witlessly out of an airplane. Soooo… The next best alternative was to go inside! And indoor skydiving it was! I swear to you, is as serious as being two thousand feet up in the air. Half the day was spent inside of a classroom learning all the rules and regulations of sport, then we were fitted in our suits, to me, that looked like flying squirrels. And off we went to the turbo tunnel! I watched a few demonstrations, and then it was my turn. As soon as I entered the air tunnel my suit caught the blast and away I went! I soon got the hang of it and there I was suspended upside-down and all around, like a feather in the wind. The adrenaline running through my veins was insane and there is nothing else like floating up and down in mid-air. This trip was extremely crazy, and I guess that’s another thing to cross off the ol’ bucket list!

Ohh The Great Outdoors!

They say before you die you have to see Alaska… and boy I tell you what, it is so true! During the summer of 2007 I got to visit that very place. As ship sliced through the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean, the picturesque land became incredibly apparent. We docked between two glaciers and I got to observe Mother Nature at her finest, the water was so blue, the ice was so white, and the land was untouched. As our trip progress I got the chance the pan for gold, that to this day I still have… I was actually the one out of the entire group that collected the gold that was worth the most, and boy was I proud of my $17.68 appraisal! Next on our adventure was to hit the great Bearing Sea. You don’t know cold, until you’ve splashed your face with the lightly salted waters of that Sea for sure. My dad and I boarded Destiny and due west we went! It was and hour or two until we got our first nibble, I yanked the reel, and sure enough I caught the first salmon! I cranked it in and threw it on the deck of the boat as the tour guide gaffed it and everything… As another hour passed right on by I began to see a ring of bubbled develop around our boat, I asked the guide what it was and he and he gasped as he yelled, “wow!” He later informed us that they were great blue whales circled under water blowing bubble so they could confuse the fish in the ring and eat them… The sight got even more spectacular when the whales service not even ten feet from our boat! And since weren’t technically a “whale watcher tour boat” we didn’t have to obey the 50 yard distance limit, it was unbelievable! The whales continued to circle our boat for another thirty minutes and the audience of Whale Watcher boats had constructed. Ten more salmon completed our fishing trip and off they went to get processed and mailed back to good old Florida! Our next stop was Denali National Park, home of Mount McKinley. It is very rare that one can see the top of the mountain from the reserve because the cloud are constantly hiding it, but hey what do you know, they day we arrive we got to witness the entire mountain bright as day! It was breath taking! Later we hopped on some horses and headed up that very mountain to behold its beauty first hand. I said some prayers beneath my breathe as the guide explained to us that he was armed with a fully loaded shotgun just incase we happened to run into any bears… The next few days were devoted to travel through the great lands of Alaska and an incredible plane ride through the deep blue colored glaciers. Of course my family and me also did a little shopping and I even sent some wooden post card back home! A trip to the Yukon ended our Alaskan adventure and the extraordinary view said it all, the grace and gentle beauty of the great outdoors literally took my breath away and that was a trip I will never forget!

My Passion, My Love, My Life.

OK... So BMX isn't the daintiest thing a girl can do, but what can I say... It's my job. It all started about six years ago when I had an epiphany overnight, my dad and my brother both raced, and I wanted to join the crowd. The friends, the family, and the atmosphere all seemed so inviting and I was welcomed with open arms. Who would have known that I actually would have some talent on a bike and I stuck with it.  My dad has always been by my right by my side and he supports me in everything I do. My days gradually began to belong to the gym and the road doing sprints, and now six years later I'm a Professional. I first Pro race was actually just last weekend in Riverview, Florida at the USA BMX Track. Man was that an experience! The crowd watching every move you make and cheering your name, there's no other feeling that can be compared to it! With my adrenaline running high, the gate dropped and we were off! There is nowhere else I would rather be or nothing else I would rather do, this is my passion, my love, and my life. And hell… You only live once right?