Current Self

Dress: Sparkling Jewelry & Accessories; Shoes: Aldo; Sunglasses: Aldo

I slipped on this dress, a gift from my little sister, and it fit my body the way the perfect necklace softly hangs around your neck--gentle, light, and beautiful. But there was one apprehension...one qualm, if you will. It was an open back dress. All of my life, open back and I have kept our distance. When I pass by her in the stores, we avoid eye contact. However, for this photo shoot, I knew this dress would capture just the right amount of Cuba vibes I wanted to convey to you all. The capriciousness, the sweetness, the happiness. I returned from my second trip to Cuba a few days ago and still, my sun kissed skin, which is now peeling, begs for more sun, more dancing, and more fun. So for this shoot, I said the hell with it. I stepped out of my comfort zone. I mean, stepping out of my comfort zone is what I have been doing all summer so far anyway. To recapture some of the most significant events: I went on my first international trip with my mom (Cuba), I've been job hunting, I had my second job interview this summer just yesterday, and yes, these things are pretty discomforting at first. Especially being jobless (not for long!). If you know me, you know I'm a work-a-holic, and that I hate job interviews. So for this shoot, open-back and I set our differences aside. I mean, it's 2017! Time to live a little! No matter how flawed I've always imaged my back to be, how insecure it has made me, this was the perfect dress to capture my current self.

Sun Glasses: Aldo; Wallet: Boutique in Venice, Italy

Bethesda Park, to me, is the most romantic place in NYC...and not just because I noticed it in the film When in Rome! Its 19th century architecture, the beautiful arcade that divides the two grand stairs, the columns that remind me of Park Güell, the fountain that is reminiscent of the many fountains of Europe, and I, in the center of it all, in love with seeing and feeling the world. In my last post about Cuba I wrote about a specific day that I will never forget, but this time I'll leave you with how the country made me feel... can you tell already? :) 

I mean, there were days that weren't as easy as slipping into the perfect dress. The sun, at points, was so hot that I lost my appetite for days. One day I had just 3 bites of a bread and ham sandwich (a traditional Cuban sandwich) and the next day I had absolutely nothing at all. On the contrary, there were days where I felt full of life. Growing up I always walked to school blasting music in my headphones, feeling like I was in a movie, and in Cuba, without the headphones, I had very similar experiences. Except me, my mom and our friends walked around with our speaker blasting music and the people around us sang and danced along with us. It was nothing short of beautiful. In Cuba I was on a rollercoaster that only went up. Anyone recognize that quote?! 

Right before leaving to Cuba, actually, I was offered a job, so you could probably imagine the amount of zeal I carried with me on the flight there. However, things didn't go as planned, so I'm still interviewing (and optimistic), but as a really good friend usually tells me, there's a solution for everything. 

It's like when my mom and I stayed up all night that one day in Cuba! (Ok, I gave in, story time!!). We tried extending our trip literally the night before our flight. I did all I could to buy us new flights but none of my cards worked. After waiting until my bank opened at 7am and begging them to please fix whatever was going on with my cards, we were still out of luck. Nothing could be done. It was 8am, we were in the center of the city wearing the same clothes from the night before, and the taxi driver approached us. "You have 5 minutes and then I'm out of here," he said. Before we knew it we were embarking on out 4 hour-long trip back to the airport. 5 minutes after driving off, guess what the hell happened! The taxi driver made a wrong turn and it was as if the cops were anticipating for some fool to do just that because there they were, walking all macho-like to our car, ready to reprimand us for our mistake. We were pulled over for about an hour. We all looked at each other, partially nervous because holy!"$#%$% the Cuban police just took our passports, were we about to be detained in Cuba?! But with shy smiles in our eyes because there was a chance we would miss our flight. And... we did. When the cops returned our passports there was no way in hell we would make it to the airport on time. I mean, it was a 4 hour drive and leaving at 8 was already cutting it close. So the universe heard us... we didn't want to leave and we didn't. We stayed for four more days.

Mika

xxx

What's the most exciting thing you've done this summer?! Comment below!