Why Not Have A Miami Night....?

“I've apparently been the victim of growing up, which apparently happens to all of us at one point or another. It's been going on for quite some time now, without me knowing it. I've found that growing up can mean a lot of things. For me, it doesn't mean I should become somebody completely new and stop loving the things I used to love. It means I've just added more things to my list. Like for example, I'm still beyond obsessed with the winter season and I still start putting up strings of lights in September. I still love sparkles and grocery shopping and really old cats that are only nice to you half the time. I still love writing in my journal and wearing dresses all the time and staring at chandeliers. But some new things I've fallen in love with -- mismatched everything. Mismatched chairs, mismatched colors, mismatched personalities. I love spraying perfumes I used to wear when I was in high school. It brings me back to the days of trying to get a close parking spot at school, trying to get noticed by soccer players, and trying to figure out how to avoid doing or saying anything uncool, and wishing every minute of every day that one day maybe I'd get a chance to win a Grammy. Or something crazy and out of reach like that. ;) I love old buildings with the paint chipping off the walls and my dad's stories about college. I love the freedom of living alone, but I also love things that make me feel seven again. Back then naivety was the norm and skepticism was a foreign language, and I just think every once in a while you need fries and a chocolate milkshake and your mom. I love picking up a cookbook and closing my eyes and opening it to a random page, then attempting to make that recipe. I've loved my fans from the very first day, but they've said things and done things recently that make me feel like they're my friends -- more now than ever before. I'll never go a day without thinking about our memories together.” 

-Taylor Swift





Hey Gorgeous...,

I remember it like it was last night.  I can smell the salt water, feel the breeze on my skin. I can see the crowded room and hear T-Pain and Little Joc's  song Let Me Buy You A Drink transition  into Kiesha Cole and Diddy's Last Night. I tasted the Wet Willies Hurricane on my lips. I had plans to dance until the sun came up... I will remember that scene from my Miami night forever. That wasn't the only Miami night I have had, but it is the most special to me. Why? I shared it with people I had spent the last four years of my life with  wading through the waters of college life. That last Miami night marked the beginning of your grown up life. After that night we would all be going our separate ways. We would no longer have each other to lean on as we had before. Our Miami night resembled our college life. It was filled with laugher, astonishment, struggle, chaos, and true friendship. If it had been any other group of people I do not think I would have remembered that night as much....

I have always believed that one of the gifts of the old is there stories, there memories. I remember being a little girl and listening to all the stories my grandparents told me about my aunt, uncle, and my father. The memories they made were something I hold dear to my heart because they allowed me to have a little piece of the man I never got to know.  As I get older I realize the importance of making memories, and having experiences that you take with you forever. I look forward to the day when I can sit with my daughter and tell her everything that I learned along the way, first to prepare her, and second to pipe her curiosity of the world so that she forges a path that is greater than me.  From my Miami Nights memory,  I will encourage my daughter to cherish her relationships and the time she gets to have with those people because it doesn't last forever. One day your having the time of your life with the people that make life joyous and the next you could be pulling yourself up by your bootstraps! What memories are you going to share with your children? Better yet what memories are you going to make with your children?

Make a memory this week by doing something different, out of the ordinary. Share some of your memories this week with SheMogul Lifestyle on Instagram or twitter @shemogullifestyle.

Memories are lessons in disguise if you take the  time to see them for what they are!

Shameka