Usher live in Atlanta URXtour

My chica Tiffany & I went to see Usher URXtour Dec 9, 2014 at Philips Arena in Atlanta.   The show started off a lil slow cause sadly we weren’t really familiar with the opening artists.  Once Usher took the stage he made it very much worth the wait.  2 hours of nonstop awesomeness!!!  He even brought on a lot of kick ass Atlanta artists like Jermaine Dupri, Ludacris, Lil John, Geezy, T.I. and some newer acts that I can’t recall their names, but have heard my daughter listen to them lololol
 
Wanna hear some insignificant yet slightly awesome ish???  Jermaine Dupri and Ludacris both reposted the pic below and it totally made my night.  Just thought I would share that useless tidbit of info.
Jermaine Dupri, Usher, lil Jon, & Ludacris


T.I.
 

Let us take a moment to enjoy the favorite part of the show… the soft core porn, the no shirt, muscles flexing, sweat dripping, bow chica wow wow moment.  Amen Halleluiah

Stevie Wonder live in Atlanta 2014


How many artists can go on a solo tour and pack arenas based on the strength of ONE album?  I have been a Stevie Wonder fan all my life and never in a million years did I would get to see him live.  The show was nothing less than amazing. I went out and bought a medium camera about 4 hours before the event and sadly it did not have enough time to fully charge so my pix and video were limited.  Oh let me elaborate on medium camera, I have a small action camera, a large DSLR (not allowed in concerts), and my medium camera died during my trip to Barbados this summer.  I had to record some of the video on my camera phone, but I feel like I captured enough of the monumental event to enjoy the Good Vibrations for on and on and on.






Low cost vacay in the Florida Keys

Decided to take a quick, very low cost vacay for the Veterans Day Weekend.  The trip was practically free,  here is how I did it.  I signed up for the Capital One Venture card which gives you 2 reward points for every $1 you spend.  If you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months they give you  40,000 bonus points.  Spending $3k in 3 months is easy if you charge every single thing you can to the card (household utilities, grocery shopping, vehicle fuel, dining out, boozing, etc.).  They key is to only charge what you would normally spend and pay the card off in full, not acquire debt in the quest to get bonus points.    So that 40,000 plus the double points on the $3K I spent paid for my flight, car rental and hotel in Islamorada. 

Miami Hotel was paid for using Hilton points.  The key to getting free hotel stays is you gotta stay loyal to one hotel until you acquire enough points, then move over to another brand if you like (you can also convert air miles to hotel points if necessary).  Hilton give you 10 points for every dollar you spend, but if you sign up for their email distro list you will often get emails offering your double and triple the points, that means 30 points for every $1 you spend.  That makes getting free nights easy. 

 
Next is to score a low cost car,  because this trip extended into weekdays the car was higher than my usual weekend rentals.  Even using my favorite Avis discount code K817165 (which took $100 off the rental) renting from E-Z was cheaper.  2 things I must note when renting from E-Z: 1) They require a $200 deposit, but I don’t mind paying that to save some coins .  2) In order to get the best discount rate from E-Z you must start a reservation and then act like you are leaving the page  right before the reservation is complete.  You will then get a popup saying, “HEY WAIT, here is 10% off if you stay!”  BOOM!!!  

E-Z Don't Go, pop up box
Excursions for the trip were handled through Groupon.  Groupons purchased through American Air Shopping earns you 3 miles for every $$ you spend.  So you are saving money by purchasing a Groupon, you are earning airline miles for purchasing through AA shopping, and then of course I earned 2 points for every dollar on my Capital One Venture card.  Triple Win!!!  So I purchased a $20 Snorkeling trip in Key Largo and also an afternoon in The Florida Everglades for $13. 

Ok so let’s take it from the top.  Veterans Day (aka no work) was approaching so I decided to take a quick get away.  BRT weekend happens to be that weekend so that was perfect.  The only problem was that a very old friend was getting married on Ft. Benning , GA Saturday evening.  Went to the wedding, drove home to Atlanta that night, finished packing and was on a 7am flight to Miami Sunday morning.   

BEACH ROAD TRIP WEEKEND - simply put, is a large group of people taking a road trip to party on the beach, night and day, for an entire weekend. The festivities consist of 6 uniquely themed all-inclusive (free drinks & food) parties across a 3-day span in the beautiful resort town of Islamorada in the upper Florida Keys. You pay 1 low price and get admission to all 6 parties.
Landed in Miami 9am, hop’d in my rental and drove 1 ½ hours south to Islamorada in the Florida Keys for the last day of the BRT weekend festivities.  This was a solo trip, but I knew I would see familiar faces Sunday because Caribbean people can’t resist a good time. 
First flight outta Dodge
First on the agenda was the DAY BREAK BREAKFAST PARTY. Didn’t really have breakfast, but the booze was free flowing. The DJs were cool, then the fan favorite One Drop Sound from Atlanta touched the stage and had us dancing nonstop, even when the rain passed through briefly (did someone say Wet Fete).  I wanted to go chillax by the beach after the fete, but exhaustion took over me and I got the nap of my life in. 
One Drop Sound


Next up was the evening all white fete DAYDREAMS WHITE SANDS.  All though all the BRT fetes were All Inclusive (meaning free food and drinks), I didn’t get to eat here either, but I did drink to my heart’s desire.  The time flew by and before I knew it the fete was over.  They had an after party, but that really isn’t even worth discussing.   The 3 day weekend pass for BRT was $200. I paid $75 for the Sunday pass.  I don’t know if I would enjoy an entire weekend of BRT, but it was an entertaining Sunday. 
DAYDREAMS WHITE SANDS
Monday morning I woke up bright an early and hit up Burger King for some gourmet breakfast, then went to sit by the water at my hotel with my road dawg  Lil Yellow Mustang.
Lil Yellow Mustang drove to Islamorada
Early afternoon I headed north to Key Largo to cash in my Groupon for 4 hours of snorkeling.  I’m not going to lie to you, this was my first time snorkeling and I didn’t really enjoy it.  That’s not to say I will never try it again.  Now I gotta say something about Pale People. I love Jagermeister, goldschlager, fireball whiskey drinking;  gung ho, grab the bull by the horns, cowabunga dude Pale People.  The Catamaran skipper told us that its Jelly Fish season, but to not panic and just swim away from any we encounter.  I get in the water and see 1 too many jelly fish and am like, “F*ck this sh*t, Im going to drink some beer on the catamaran."  The Pale People on the other hand are cool with occasionally being stunk and swimming with the jelly fish.  As we moved to our 2nd snorkeling location one of the Pale People told me to just gently push the jelly fish on their soft side.  UM NO!!!!  I got back in the water and after passing my 3rd jelly fish I got my ass back on the catamaran.  I will definitely try snorkeling again, preferably in the Caribbean where the water is clearer and hopefully not during jelly fish season. 




After snorkeling it was time for some grub, so I pull up American Air Dining to see where I could eat and earn some Airline miles at the same dayym  time.  5 air miles for every $$ spent at the restaurants on their list.   Not sure why I feel the need to say this, but for the record I do not eat sushi.  I had a Ginger salad and Beef fried rice. 

Ended Monday evening in Miami. I thought about hitting the town, but ended up partyn in my room with a juicy bottle of rum, some plantain chips and Mr. Bose.  Not gonna lie, it was a marvelous evening of some much needed Chill Time.  If you recall I really like The Grand by Hilton Doubletree, but I was cashing in Hilton Points and The Hilton Miami Downtown was 10,000 points less a night. I could however admire The Grand from my window. 
 
 

Started Tuesday with another gourmet breakfast from Burger King and then went to the Miami Beach Botanical Garden. I really wanted to visit the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, but it is closed on Tuesdays.  Vizcaya looks like some top notch sh*t, hope to get to visit one day.  The Botanical Garden wasn’t that impressive, but atleast it was free.  A quiet place to enjoy a morning beverage of a Jamaica Me Crazy wine cooler and rum.

 
Miami Botanical Garden
After I ran outta morning beverages, I relocated to South Beach with my traveling mimosa kit and Mr. Bose.  Nothing better than chillaxing on the beach with some chunes and booze free flowing!!!  I set up shop at the southernmost point of South Beach, twas quiet and peaceful.    I didn’t want to leave, but an afternoon in the Florida Everglades awaited
 
Drove about an hour to cash in my Groupon for a tour of the Everglades.  Somehow visiting the Everglades ended up on my bucket list.  I fly in/out/through Miami often and always glaze out the window at the Everglades and wonder what It’s like down there.  It was an amazing afternoon, the landscape and wildlife was breathtaking.  I definitely need to go back and spend more time there so I can venture further.


Tuesday evening was spent chillaxin back in Miami, downing my favoritest drink in life  Amaretto Pineapple from Fat Tuesday.  I slept like a mother beep’n champ Tuesday night cause as you saw I had a jam packed day.  And that folks was my version of a chillaxing solo getaway. 
 PS:  I've acquired a new point based credit card so I can start planning my next free get away.  Yeah that will drop my credit score a tad bit, but I don't plan on financing a car or house anytime soon. 

The Carnival Doctor of TriniJungleJuice Interview

 
 
So honored to be asked by the Carnival Doctor – Rhadi Bullard Ferguson Phd to give a quick interview about my carnival lifestyle for Trini Jungle Juice.  Rhadi is such a great guy, so easy to talk to.  I was just speaking extra freely that afterwards I worried that I came off as an arrogant mad oooman.
 
 
Rhadi asked if there was ever a time that I missed a carnival that I was supposed to attend and my answer was flat out NO!  Now there are circumstances that should have had me missing carnival, but I wasn’t going to let that happen, carnival is my life. 
1)      I am in school at Georgia State University and have been forever,  I have had to drop out because there were tests that conflicted with carnival and missing the tests would have caused me to fail the class.  Yes DROPPED school vs. skipping carnival. 
 
2)      When trying to decide on a wedding date my best friend picked the weekend of Miami carnival.  Her wedding was in Jamaica, I told her I would fly in wedding morning and fly out that very same night.  I wouldn’t dare ask her to change her wedding date, but 1 day away from carnival is all I can give her. She ended up picking another date. 
 
3)      My brother Paco said if his job ever told him that he couldn’t take leave for carnival he would quit his job.  His resume is a lot more impressive than mine so I don’t know if I could go as far as to immediately quit.  But I surely would start looking for a new job in hopes that I found something that would allow me to still attend carnival.   
Trini Jungle Juice.com
 

Rhadi Bullard Ferguson Phd
 

Myles Kingston Sadler - Little Bob Marley

Myles Kingston Sadler
I want to introduce you to a very extraordinary young man, Myles Kingston Sadler aka lil Bob Marley. 

Myles Kingston Sadler (born 19 December 2012 in Atlanta, GA) was born to a Haitian & Cuban mother and a Jamaican & American father.  His parents have a deep love of Caribbean music and Myles has been listening to Bob Marley since he was in the womb.  His hobbies include watching Barney, eating saltine crackers, touching things he is not supposed to touch, playing peak a boo with his little brother, and reenacting Bob Marley performances (as seen below).


Myles Kingston Sadler = Rudeboi from birth
Myles attended his first Marley concert before he was even born and he even got to meet Stephen Marley after the show (kinda sorta). Can you spot Myles under his momma's pink shirt???
 
 
Since taking his love of Bob Marley online, Myles has made lots of new friends that love Bob Marley as much as he does.  I invite you to follow the chronicles of Myles Kingston Sadler on Instagram at:
or
Hashtag: #MylesKingston

 
One Love
 
Being born & raised in Atlanta, he also loves the ATL Falcons