I started writing this blog like a week ago and then stopped because I just didn’t feel like writing. I started again the other day on the airplane but then decided that sleep was more important. I am now determined to finish what I started. This is about to be a complete DUMP of words and photos. It has been an absolutely insane 2 months. It hasn’t been bad… Just long. The last 1/2 of travel was the hardest because even though I had time off to “Chill” I couldn’t. Why? Because I didn’t have my own personal space to turn off. I was off but still surrounded by everything that wasn’t me. Oh well, thats just part of the job **shrugs** I got to see some really cool shit though. I can say that I really enjoyed this work trip.
Exhibits 1-5
Alright so I already wrote about Paris and the Antibes. We then drove like 6 hours from Antibes to some little magical beach town that was on the South West side of France and apparently it was like a hop skip and a jump from Spain. Don’t ask me where we were because I honestly have no idea. I know we were a stones throw from the water and a skip away from the largest sand dune in Europe. YAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL.** catch every bit of this here Texas Drawl** That damn sand dune was an adventure in itself. OH MAH GAH!!!! It was the coolest thing EVER and something that I can knock off the ole bucket list even though it wasn’t even on the list. You could use the stairs to go to the top or just walk the actual dune. We were towing a kid with us so we took the stairs. Can we say killer Cardio??? Then you made it to the top and at the very bottom was a beach. It was also 3000000 million degrees outside so my black ass was COOKING FOR REAL!!!
So we made it to the top and took a few pics as you can see above and then it was time to walk back down. Now I am not a person who is scared of heights but as I started walking down I looked out and was like… WHERE THE FUCK is the bottom???!??!?!?! All I saw was edge and NOTHING ELSE!!! Look y’all… My little chocolate life flashed before my eyes and I was NOT about to go out like that. I walked right back up to where I started and found the stairs to make my way down. Walking back up that sand dune( THE SAND… not the stairs) took EVERYTHING I had because I felt like I was traveling but not moving. I knew I was walking but it just felt like I was staying in one spot because the sand was sucking all of my steps. One of the hardest walks Ive done. GEEEEEZZZZZ! Would I do it again. ABSO-FREAKIN-LUTELY!!!!!
This magical city that the dune was located in was also the place where I took the huge step of going full speed ahead with my children’s book series. I found an illustrator and was able to map everything out with her and it as so amazing sharing energy with her. It was nice to brainstorm with someone who totally understood what I was saying and knew how important it was for me to have a black woman create with me. Representaion matters to me and I want every little black girl out there to feel represented in the books that I create. I never want them to feel like they are just a supporting cast or not good enough. My illustrator was ablate capture everything that I was describing from skin tone, to hair texture and color, to different styles … EVERYTHING. I can not tell you how exciting that was. I am still excited!! I will be able to share more about the process as it begins to unfold a bit more. Right now everything is still rough.
Alright so we left the unknown city and drove another two hours to a place called Biarritz. Yooooooo… It was like Paris was picked up and dropped on a beach with a sprinkle of Cali vibe. It was super chill there. Farmers market every day. Fruit was amazing… even the ole grocery store fruit was out of this world. It was such a freaking walkable place. Speaking of walking let me just slip in here that every freakin day I cleared over 8 miles… A DAY!!!! Ya girl was GETTIN IT IN!!!!!! My legs and waist line are headed in the right direction. Ok back to regular programming. This place was GORGEOUS!!!! the massive rock formations in the water. HELL THE WATER itself was magical!!! The water was so freaking blue and the waves were MASSIVE!!! There was this weird level of peace and chaos all at the same time.
While there, my boss was like “There is cool bridge that goes over the water. It’s kind of scary but you should check it out.” Ok telling me that it’s “kind of scary” translate to “I DARE YOU… I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU” and whoooooo am I to turn down a dare??? I’ve done some stupid shit in my life; so walking over a big ass bridge seemed like NOTHING!! Not only did I walk the bridge but I climbed the rocks to sit on the very tippy top of the formation. I don’t think we were supposed to climb it but sometimes I like to test my boundaries.
Y’all I was gone for 2 months!!!! I had two months of work in another country where I was able to explore the people and places that surrounded me. I also enjoyed just spending time by myself sitting in my room or just finding a random place to be just a little bit weird. Exbits 1,2,3,4 and 5
It is ok to be outside of your zone. Sometimes you tend to learn a little bit more about yourself. I like stepping outside of my zone but not for too long. I like to refer to myself as an adventure homebody. I like to go out and try crazy stuff or run crazy races, or go on hike in the middle of nowhere. It’s just that at the end of it all I need to be able to go back home so I can chill and recharge. After a good recharge, I can go back out and find another adventure. Covid is recking havoc on my adventure side. I’m learning to find different ways to have adventures. That can mean learning a new skill, a new stitch for crocheting or new meditation. I have two adventure goals for 40. I want to learn how to skateboard and I want to learn how to drive stick shift. I’ve been researching different skateboards for beginners and I think I am going to get a long board. I will keep you posted on how all of this plays out.
OK DUMP TIME IS OVER AND I NEED A NAP because my body is still on France Beach Time.
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