Venice - Day 5

To be honest, I just really didn't want to turn around. I assumed I was going in some sort of circle, but I kept thinking that even if I wasn't, I'd hit a hard right at some point and end up back at my hotel. Safe to say that didn't happen. (Confession: my favorite thing in the world to do is get LOST in new places.) I ended up passing family owned vineyards, riding along canals, abandoned farms, and eventually came to a construction site that I just knew would force me to turn around. Luckily a group of bikers I had been playing tag with decided to sneak through the site, and I quickly followed. I hit a highway and chose a direction, only to whip out my phone that was equipped with a slight map of the town and I noticed I was going in the wrong direction. *gasps for air* THEN I turned around and went straight until I realized I was entering my town from the opposite direction. I would have never known that had I not rode to what I now know was the very edge of town just days before. 

Head to TheMoniqueMichelle.com for more photos and the full story!

Venice - Day 4 //Murano

The day started with me taking a bike ride, like other days, but this time I went in the opposite direction. This time I decided to push my limits and explore. This quickly became my morning ritual, but on this day I had to turn around and head back to the hotel. It would be one of my last few days in Venice, and it was only right to spend it around the canals. Only once we arrived at the actual canals, a ferry to the small, colorful island of Murano was #1 on the itinerary. 

Head to TheMoniqueMichelle.com for more photos and details!

Canada - Day 3

This was the last full day in Canada where we just found an event for something to do. Luckily, it was Jerkfest 2014. Now I can give you some spiel straight from their website, or I can just say it was a festival centered around foods made with jerk seasoning. There was a play area for kids, a mini caribbean concert, and funnel cakes and ice cream trucks. You can't have a festival without funnel cakes and ICE CREAM Trucks!

Get the rest of this post only at TheMoniqueMichelle.com

SHOP TheMoniqueMichelle - Soft Launch

TheMoniqueMichelle.com

Hey Guys! I've been up to a little bit of everything lately. I just just JUST started my new job and have been getting situated with that AND I've been trying to revamp my site the way I originally intended for it to be....all while trying to touch base with you at least once a week. Once a week isn't hardly enough, I'll shoot for 3x. For some time now I've also been in the process of curating the perfect collection of pieces to make available to you. Most of my favorite bloggers are on the west coast, well actually all of them are. I vicariously live through them and their summer/fall-ish pieces all year round. I know fall is coming up but I want my pieces to still be cute and minimal, and when the chill hits outside, just throw on a jean or moto jacket to seal the outfit. I'm in a West Coast state of mind.

Having said all that...while I'm still curating this collection to perfection (rhyme unintended), I've made a couple pieces and accessories available for purchase! I've styled them with additional pieces from my closet, but you can even put them together and head out the door. Everything will ship within 3-5 business days (it'll be more like 2-3 but shhh don't tell anyone) and only within the United States. There is a flat shipping rate of $6. This is a soft roll out so trust me, more is coming very soon. If you have any questions click the CONTACT link and hit me up. 

XO- Monique

P.S. Here's a glimpse of my America the Beautiful, Floral Flag Tee ONLY AVAILABLE AT TheMoniqueMichelle.com

Canada - Day 2

After Niagara Falls we immediately drove to Toronto. I remember that as soon as we got to the city, we parked and found food. Actually, most of the time, if we were driving around, we were looking for food...and I'm okay with that.

Naturally, when we woke up in Toronto, the first place we went was to the.....lake. Ha, no food yet. We headed to Lakeshore Drive for one of the best views of Lake Ontario.

Check out TheMoniqueMichelle.com for more!

Costa Rica - Day 4

You ever have so much fun that you forget to document it? Well, my day was a mixture of that and being so busy focusing on the activities that I really didn't have time. This day started with zip lining above a gorgeous canopy.

Go to TheMoniqueMichelle.com to find out about my zip lining, hiking, horseback riding, and more!

Costa Rica - Day 3

When recently asked about my trip - well it was more so mentioned and I just oozed information - I think the best advice I gave was....DON'T BUY ANY TRIPS UNTIL YOU GET THERE. I am the ultimate planner and like to purchase all things (especially vacations) in quadruple advance...whatever that means. However, this time, I was more inclined to wait. The main reason was because when I found out where I would be staying, I automatically skipped off to some website like tripadvisor.com to see guest photos. One photo that stood out was of a billboard that was for the adventure booking office on the resort grounds. This is what caused me to WAIT. THIS is where I found and booked the Aquatour that consisted of snorkeling, fishing, a BBQ on a remote beach, and plain 'ol FUN. 

YOU HAVE TO go to TheMoniqueMichelle.com for the entire post and even more pictures. Also, as promised, is an excerpt from my travel journal. 

Costa Rica - Day 2

What can I say? Day 2 of Costa Rica, after what I'm just going to refer to as an entire day of traveling, was my relaxation day. Luckily for me, it turned out to be a FREE day in more ways than one. The hotel happened to have a small location where guests could book tours. It really came in handy as we made more than a couple visits to the office. The best part about it was that the tours/adventures/excursions all left right from the beach of the hotel. What worked out was that as we were looking into a couple excursions, we were told that a little later that day, probably within the hour, a boat was leaving from the island to go to another small beach about a 10 minutes ride away. Now, that 10 minutes definitely felt like a 20-25 minute ride, but I for one wasn't complaining because I enjoyed the ride and it was free. We ate breakfast and got packed to go.

HEAD TO TheMoniqueMichelle.com for the full post, tons more pics, and a journal excerpt from my personal travel journal. 

Guanacaste, Costa Rica - Day 1

I know it's been a couple weeks, but trust me, I have been waiting to bring you this trip. I scooted off to Guanacaste, Costa Rica for a few days and it's safe to say, I had the time of my life. My mom keeps telling me how this has been my best trip, and hey, moms are ALWAYS right. How about we start with Day 1?

I still feel like I spent the entire day either in the sky, or in an airport. After two layovers and three separate flights, I actually arrived in Costa Rica. As I walked out of the airport, I was greeted with the night sky. The actual ride to my resort was the craziest journey because everything surrounding Liberia's airport seems so remote and deserted. Even in the daytime, I did not see as many people as I would see within a couple blocks radius here in D.C. As we rode to my final destination I sensed mountains surrounding me and was always either going deeper into the mountains or ascending up some dirt round. Then finally, I arrived here...

Jet on over to THEMONIQUEMICHELLE.COM to check out the full post and the stunning pictures that accompany it. HURRY!

Major Stack-age (hashtag NEW RULES)

It has to have been at least a year ago when stacking rings became the fad. Unlike many things, I hope that this one is here to stay. I have been wanting midi rings for months and months, but everyone was charging more than I was willing to pay. The way I look at it is, if I don't even wear jewelry aside from earrings, why on earth would I sell a finger to get a ring. Of course solid gold, luxurious diamond rings sound great, but when they're going to sit on my night stand only to collect dust and tarnish, eh I'll pass. After saying all of this, you must understand my excitement when I was shopping in H&M for some last minute pieces to take with me to Paris, and I see a pack of these rings for about 8 bucks. 

Head over to TheMoniqueMichelle.com for the rest of the post and a ton of pictures that showcase my #NEWRULES to ring stacking

*cue Empire State of Mind lyrics*

HURRY OVER TO TheMoniqueMichelle.com TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED ON MY BRIEF TRIP TO NYC AND WHAT I DID! CLICK THAT LINK NOW!!

Leather Pleated Skirt

Get the deets on what I wore for my 3rd day in Paris only at TheMoniqueMichelle.com !!

Paris, Day 3

As I sip my wine and write this...

          Unfortunately, I'm not in one of the many cute cafe's in Paris. I really just had to look through the pictures to remember this day, and it's crazy, this had to be one of the most eventful days of my entire stay. I'm seriously questioning how we packed so much into just a few hours, because I'm sure I slept in that day. Anyway, let me see here to start. Oh wait, it's all coming back to me. So we left the hotel this Monday afternoon planning to see Versailles. Once we got to the train station, we were alerted that the palace was closed on Mondays, so if you plan to visit one of the most beautiful palace's on earth, don't go on a Monday. Got it? Cool. Monday then became the perfect day to head the opposite way to the Louvre. After getting our wires crossed and missing a stop (? we still don't know for sure) we hopped off the train and walked back towards the Louvre...only to stumble on one of the most breathtaking sites we had planned to visit anyways... 

Go to TheMoniqueMichelle.com to get tons more photos and read the rest of this post!

TheMoniqueMichelle X The Wishi Diaries

So happy to announce my new fashion internship with Wishi. Check out "The Wishi Diaries" section of my site to find out exactly what it entails and stay in the loop!

Paris, Day 2 - Tradeshow Fever Pt. 2

 Capsule Capsule Capsule PARIS! We literally hopped in a cab - right after a brief, impromptu, mini-photoshoot of course - and jetted from Tranoi Homme Paris to the Capsule Show, and what we ran into was yet another beautiful venue to showcase fashion. I'll just slam you with a slideshow...

AHHHHHH DID I GET YA AGAIN? TheMoniqueMichelle.com is the only place the slideshow will be available. Click that link!

In the mean time, here are a couple pics...

Paris, Day 2 - Tradeshow Fever Pt. 1

       

   Hmmmm, where to start, where to start? Well, how about here...

I knew well before I actually made it to Paris that playtime would involve a little "werk". It was Paris Fashion Week for christ's sake. Even though all fashion/tradeshows during that time were for menswear, I couldn't resist schmoozing with designers and attending previews of Autumn Wear 2014 all in the name of TheMoniqueMichelle.com. Uh, hello, you're welcome? Enjoy the following slideshow of pretty much everything *smize* You are about to enter...TRANOI HOMME

JUST KIDDING: Head over to my site to check it out! TheMoniqueMichelle.com :)

Paris, Day 1

EXCERPT...

          Has it been forever? Nope, just almost a week. So...SURPRISE! I went to Paris *wide grin* and although I could have found time to blog, I chose not to. It didn't cost much to simply pay for an international phone plan to be able to stay connected, but I chose not to. It would have been nothing to take 3000 photos of every single thing, but, yep, you guessed it, I CHOSE NOT TO. Although I got several hundred (lol) it turned out to be way more than I wanted and even more than I needed. What I chose to do was enjoy the moment...each and every one. Yeah you'll still see everything through a camera lens, but I wanted to see it head on. I wanted to be in awe of something. I wanted my mental photos more than digital ones. I got them ;) So let's hop right into it...

Go the "Le Damn Blog" over at TheMoniqueMichelle.com to check out this full detailed post including photo captions, tons more photos, a gallery, where I stayed, and most importantly, what I did.