"Cause I'm the Wizard of Love and I got the magic wand. All those other girls are tempting, but I'm empty when you're gone"

Oh the Places I'll Go and the Places I've Been

North America :

UNITED STATES -

California - Los Angeles, San Francisco
Favorite Memory : The Chris Brown & Trey Songz concert at the Forum. When Trey was up there singing Bottoms Up and Nicki Minaj made a surprise entrance. I was in shock. Nicki is a Queen. Lucky to have experienced her live.

Delaware
Favorite Memory : I didn't actually do any site seeing in Deleware. I went to the gas station and had dinner at my parents friends house. I loved the table setting. There were candles, and all the plates and utensils matched. She even had cloth napkins beautifully folded in napkin rings. I would like to serve family meals like that at my future home.

Florida - Orlando (Disney World)
Favorite Memory : Seeing Cinderellas castle get bigger and bigger as we walked towards it. The safari ride we took in Animal Kingdom where they pretended that a poacher as approaching and the car got faster and faster. Hanging out in the pool outside the Hurby Fully Loaded Themed hotel with my family. Just the four of us. Swimming and enjoying the sun.

Illinois - Chicago
Favorite Memory : Navy Pier. I love that area. It's peaceful and there are all kinds of beautiful boats. We got there around sunset, so we got to see the city of chicago from the view of the ferris wheel.

Kansas - Lawrence, Topeka, Kansas City, Eudora, Desoto, Wichita, Elmdale
Favorite Memory: My entire life. I have made too many memories here to chose just one, so i'll give you my most recent one. I took a road trip to see Lil Wayne in concert. Our hotel room got upgraded to a penthouse sweet. My friend and I each got our own room and bathroom. Kitchen and living room. Multiple televisions. It was fabulous.

New York - New York City
Favorite Memory: Time Square. There is nothing in the entire world like it. So many people, so many sky scrapers, so many colors and languages being spoken. It's beautiful. Leaves me speechless every time I go.

New Jersey - Atlantic City, (city extremely close to NYC where our hotel was)
Favorite Memory : Swimming and having a picnic on the jersey shore with my mom, brother, cousins, and aunt and uncle. We spent the whole day there jumping waves and enjoying the water.

Maryland - Hyattsville, Columbia, Landover, and so many other cities I can't remember.
Favorite Memory : Once again, there are too many to count. Lets stick with the one in my head now. I'm currently trying to diet, and I miss food. A Georgetown cupcake would hit the spot right about now. So my afternoon with Neema in Georgetown in my favorite memory.

Massachusetts - Boston
Favorite Memory : I was extremely young, but i'll never forget going to this kiddy grocery store that had a ton of plastic foods and stuff and was the size of a real grocery store but had miniature carts and shelves. I got to push my cart and pick all these plastic materials that I wanted. They even had fake money to check out with. I'll never forget it.

Minnesota - Bloomington
Most Bitersweet Memory : My family friends were all in Minnesota for a friends wedding. All of us kids were so excited to see each other. We couldn't wait to get into the hotel pool. My parents asked me if I wanted to go to the mall or swim. It was a no brainer. I wanted to swim with friends. Turns out they weren't going to just any mall, they were going to the mall of America. I still have regrets.

Missouri - Kansas City, Columbia, St. Charles, St. Louis
Favorite Memories : Although I've been up the arch multiple times and done all the site seeing there, my favorite memories are afternoons with the Zanzibarian community. My favorite would be my second time being a flower girl. I got to wear a beautiful white dress and get my hair straightened for the first time. I felt like a princess.

Nebraska - Omaha
Favorite Memory : Cheesecake factory with my advisor and the line sister. We had equiste food and shared lots of laughs. I must admit it was my most boring trip ever though. I was in sorority meetings all weekend long and the "party" was a serious disappointment.

Oregon - Portland
Favorite Memory : Shopping at the outdoor mall. There is no sales tax in Oregon, so I bought way more than I usually would. I still see some of those outfits in my head today.

Pennsylvania - Philadelphia
Washington DC
Washington State - Seattle, Renton, Kirland, Kent, Bellvue
West Virginia - Unknown city where Uncle Alex and Jennifer lived
Virginia - Fairfox and many other cities I have forgotten

CANADA
Ontario - Toronto, Stratford, Niagra Falls

Europe :

THE UNITED KINGDOM
England - London, North Hampton, Milton Keyes

FRANCE
Paris, Provonce

SPAIN
Barcelona, Costa Brava

Asia

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Dubai

OMAN
Moscat

Africa

TANZANIA
Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam

KENYA
Mombasa


People at work were having a conversation about their favorite places, and it got me thinking about all the places I have been. I am extremely proud of my travels. I know that I have been to more places than a majority of the people I know, and a majority of the people in Kansas. I'm blessed with parents who valued vacations and seeing new things. We went on a lot of adventures, and I can't wait to return the favor by taking them on many more someday.I get to go to Houston, Texas next month and I'm really looking forward to it. Texas will be another state to check of my list. After all these places and all these memories, you can see why I get kind of annoyed when people don't take my travel suggestions seriously.

It's also slightly annoying when friends want to vacation to places I've already been. I'm on a mission to see as many new places as possible. It is my hope and prayer that I am able to travel for my 21st birthday. It will be during finals week as always, so I think I want to go after Christmas. I'd like to celebrate the new year in a brand new place.

Appealing possibilities :

1. Las Vegas, Nevada
2. Miami, Florida
3. Atlanta, Georgia

A 21st birthday should be celebrated somewhere with good night life. I haven't been to any of those places, so it would be nice to bring in the new year and celebrate the beginning of my 21st year of life there. Hopefully I can get some loved ones to take this adventure with me.

Side Note : I'm too lazy to finish my favorite memories. I may come back and do it later.

Song of the Day: Cheerleader by Omi

Quote of the Day : “We travel, some of us forever, to seek other places, other lives, other souls.” – Anais Ninre

"Pretty, pretty please don't you ever ever feel like you're nothing. You are perfect to me."

In the midst of multiple discussions that have been sparked by Caitlyn Jenner this week, I saw this tweet.

"Kim got a fake ass. Y'all hate it. Kylie got fake lips. Y'all hate it. Bruce got a fake pussy. "slaaaaaay" Smh Dude"

I understand that the word choice used by this particular twitter user was extremely derogitory, but he has a point. Why are a majority of us happy for Caitlyn? Why am I happy for Caitlyn? Because she finally found joy. For 65 years, he was unahppy being the way he was born. She took a stand and decided to do someting about it. Why doesn't the same apply for women who choose to change parts of themselves. I have friends who are pro-LGBT changes and against Nicki Minaj's big fat ass, big big fat assss dun dun dun dun dun... you know the rest *Anaconda voice*. The friends who are against Nicki's behind or change in looks act as though the fact that her features are fake invalidate her beauty. But Caitlyn's beauty and entire gender is "fake" right? This tweet got me thinking. Why is there this double standard?

I recently read Toni Braxton's autobiography, and it gave me life. She is a women who has faced divorce, the birth of an autistic child, a lupus diagnosis, and a family that was completely dependent on her up until the reality show that gave everyone a source of income. Upon entering the music industry, she had to have surgery to fix her breathing and better her singing. Her employers at the time said it was the perfect time for her to get her nose fixed too. She went through a series of surgeries that made her nose thinner. It was done in multiple steps in order to fool the public. She also had a boob job, and said that this is common for all artists who are entering the industry. It helps give them the icon status they need to succeed. Is this wrong? Should we condemn her and her sisters for making these changes? Is it or is it not like Caitlyn Jenner's physical change?

I guess the validation for a sex change being more important than a lip injection is that sexuality is a far bigger matter than just not liking yourself. I would like to argue that Kylies lips, Kims butt, and Nicki's as well are a part of their sexuality as well. Nicki became this black sex symbol with her anaconda cover that had her in a thong. Kim pulls a lot of black man who like her what? Charming personality? Yes, that and her butt. Some of these changes the women made actually had a big effect on their sexuality. I think that if we're backing physical changes for the sake of happiness, it should apply to all people. All I'm saying is it's time my plastic surgery beauties got some acceptance for their choices as well. Should I choose to get the fat sucked out of my stomach and injected into my butt, I hope all of you who supported Caitlyn Jenner support my change as well.

Just food for thought.

Song of the day: Perfect by Pink

Quote of the day : "I think tolerance and acceptance and love is something that feeds every community". - Lady Gaga

"I can't change. Even if I tried. Even If I wanted to. My love. My love. My love. She keeps me warm."

Caitlyn Jenner. On June 1st, 2015 she broke the internet. I keep up with the Kardashians and I have from the VERY beginning. Back when Kim had a different face, and Kylie had no lips. She was a little 10 year old girl who liked to play stripper on her moms pole. Negativity aside, I love the Kardashians. I think there's a lot of beauty in the family. I like that there are so many of them and truly admire their sisterly bond. They're hardworking women who look flawless every day. I'm typing this at my job in my scrubs and unstraightened hair. Far from glamorous. I get to experience that side of life through them. Bruce has always been a footnote in the show. I found it quite annoying when he demanded to walk Khloe down the aisle even though he's not her biological father. I thought it was silly that he got upset about finding out about her engagement online. I felt bad for him when Kris wouldn't let him buy his toys. The entire storyline was : Bruce likes to golf and buy toy helicopters. That was all there was too him...until this year. At first I didn't believe that Bruce was really transitioning. The media makes up all kinds of lies about the Kardashians, but then I saw the picture of him with red nail polish on and realized it was serious.

I grew up in a christian household. As a young child, we watched my Best Friends Wedding. She had a gay best friend. I adored the movie and so did my mother, so we watched it together over and over and over again. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out. It has a young Cameron Diez and Julia Roberts. Beautiful scenes and great music. After watching the movie for the millionth time, I asked what gay meant. My Dad got angry and told me that I shouldn't be watching that kind of movie. He's always gone from zero to one hundred real quick, so my aunt interviened and then said : It's a bad word, sweety. Don't say that anymore. So until I finally made it to the world of public school, I had no idea what it meant. That and church shaped my initial outlook on the LGBT community. As I got older, one of my aunts actually got in a partnership. She didn't want me to know, but her partner told me. She wanted me to get emotional and ask questions, but I didn't really care. I still believe that same sex relationships are a sin. As a women of christinan faith, I can clearly read that homosexuality is not allowed. Just like sex with animals isn't allowed, premarital sex, lying, stealing, and the list goes on and on. There are lots of sins. But I have no write to dislike someone else, because of their sin of choice. I'm a sinner myself. I have even come to believe that if homosexuals know Jesus, they too can go to heaven. This is a big thing for me, because I struggled on my beliefs for a long time.

Back to Caitlyn. I missed the Diane Sawyer interview, because I had finals coming up. I did get to see the About Bruce special. It opened my eyes to so many different things I had never thought about it before. First, I truly understood what a transgender was. I was taught that being transgender doesn't necissarily mean that you had a sex change. I also learned the effects it can have on a family. The dad that they had known and loved all these years is just a memory now. There were so many tears. It truly felt like someone in the Kardashinan/Jenner family had died. Some of them got sad and other got angry. It was a lot for a family to go through. I truly felt for their family. Apparantly, a majority of them had known about Bruce having female tendancies for a long time. They just never knew how to approach him about it. I think he made the right decision for his life and that his family will come around and get used to the change.

My parents still believe that Bruce transitioned and is doing the show for attention. I believe what he said. That he's using his platform to help others who suffered through what he did. To be a leader and an example. They asked me if thats what I wanted to see people being lead to. Losing their gender. In all honesty, no. If I had a transgender child, I would love them with all my heart but it wouldn't be my wish for them. Just because it's SO hard. People judge you and treat you a certain way. They're rude and heartless. It makes life harder. Idk these are just some initial thoughts. The follow up is still to come.

Song of the day : Same love by Maclemore

Quote of the day:

"I'm not doing this to be interesting. I'm doing this to live." - Caitlyn Jenner