The Beginning of an Affair

af·fair : a romantic or passionate attachment typically of limited duration...

Well, that's according to Webster, but to me, just remove the latter part of that definition and that's how I am using the word affair in the title of my blog. Traveling is definitely at the top of my list of "things I am most passionate about", just below God, my family, and my friends and I figured it was about time I start documenting. I'm not doing this out of vain conceit but as personal reflection of the things I have been blessed to do. My biggest fear is that one day I'll start to forget all of the things I have done and I'm hoping this blog will help remedy that fear and bring fond memories when, one day, I can't travel as much as I do now...

The History

So for starters, I would like to tell the story of how this love affair began...

It all started when I was crowned National Watermelon Queen (see embarrassing photo below).

Now that I got that out in the open - As the 2003 National Watermelon Queen, I represented the National Watermelon Association (we'll say NWA from now on). It was to date the best job I ever had! I loved every minute of "my reign"...ha! But honestly, that's what it felt like. The members of the NWA treated me like royalty. I was showered with gifts, dined in 5 star restaurants, stayed in great hotels, visited states all across the country and had members of the NWA everywhere I went to make sure I was taken care of. My chaperon turned into a great friend too, so I was lucky enough to do all of these things with someone I had so much fun with ~ Ms. Eleanor! She was great. I have to throw props to Ms. Wanda as well. She was my Texas Watermelon Queen chaperon and was the reason I even decided to compete on the national level. I love you Ms. Wanda and miss you often!

But I digress, as National Queen I was able to travel to 30 states across the country and was on the road 150 days that year. In a nutshell, my job was to promote watermelon everywhere I went. I spoke of the nutritional and economical values of the product via in-store promotions, radio and news shows, and festivals and parades. I lived the good life my senior year of college, that's for sure, in a very unconventional way!

Bottom line - all of this travel kinda got into my blood I guess. At the time it seemed pretty stressful and difficult to be on the road for weeks at a time with only a day or two in between trips, but then when it was over, I craved more.

Years later, I find myself here -- laying on my living room floor, Sex and the City in the background, drinking a glass of wine, playing around on Facebook looking at friend's recent trips, travels, playtime and wishing I was there!! Even though I just got back from New York, leave for Belize in 5 days, Puerto Rico in 15 and Paris in 30. An obsession? Maybe. A love? Without a doubt.

So, I would first like to (again for personal reasons) document my travels as National Queen...And then I'll probably have to skip forward 5 years to my most recent trips and go from there. :)

States visited from February 2003 to March 2004:

I'm actually pretty bummed right now because I have a diary of all of my travels as queen that I can't find anywhere. More details on my travels as queen when I find it! ;)

For now, I think I'll finish this glass of wine and brush up on my French. Bonsoir.