Two-er to the six-er, Monique ain't 25!

Monieezi turned 26 on July 10, this is a belated blog because I couldn't track down the pics to her big night until now. In typical Monique fashion, she met a rich guy in Vegas the weekend before who begged her to let him get her a Hummer limo for her birthday to let everyone cruise around in, and being the person that she is, she obliged.

And Monique has a new philosophy that she incorporates in every aspect of her life. It is called "fierce." It is also the name of our doubles tennis team; Team Fierce. Right now Monique is at a hip-hop dance class at her gym. Chances are she is being fierce as we speak.

Another great birthday is in the books for Monique. There will be many more to come. Happy birthday, Monieezi.

Look out of any window, any morning, any evening, any day. Maybe the sun is shining, birds are winging or rain is falling from a heavy sky

I woke up today and the sun was not out. I was relieved. Sometimes it's nice to not have the sun blasting through your windows and not have a cool breeze floating through the blinds in the morning. It was overcast. It felt like Chicago. It was refreshing.

Basically, when I wake up in the morning, especially on the weekends, I feel like I'm on vacation. It's a weird feeling and I tend to act differently due to that mindset. When you're on vacation, you're not part of the culture, you are just temporarily thrown into the mix. It's easy for everything to be a joke when you're on vacation, you don't have to take things seriously because you won't be around to deal with the ramifications, you can act however you want, you can just enjoy things for what they are because you know its temporary.

There comes a point in time, however, when you have to become part of the culture. You need to embrace the place, people, and lifestyle of where you live. Beverly Hills isn't exactly the easiest place to embrace when you are making 30k a year. It can be difficult to feel like you belong when you feel like you're on vacation every morning and you have to go outside and enjoy the day or else you are wasting precious vacation time.

I wonder how long it takes to immerse yourself in a culture and feel like you are a local and not a tourist. I'm sure it depends on where you are and how easy it is to fit in. 30k in Beverly Hills? Could be awhile. The vacation continues......

LA and Vegas

We are getting to the age when the opportunity to have your closest close by are few and far between. Last week I was fortunate enough to spend a full week with seven of my closest friends. It is rare to have a group of friends that you can truly call your brothers that you know have your back through thick and thin. That's something you can't take for granted.

We took California by storm. We traveled the mountains of Big Sur, the beaches of Malibu, the hills of Hollywood, and the superficial bubble of Newport Beach. And then we went to Vegas. The culmination of the week was a Pearl Jam concert on Thursday night. Great times, great friends, good stuff.