Boston’s Newest Hot Spot-bartaco

July 11, 2019 · Leave a Comment

bartaco is Boston’s newest jumping eatery located in the seaport district. When I say jumping I’m telling no lies, the place is always full of excitement and people. Walking into the restaurant is like stepping into a beach side California eatery complete with upscale street food and refreshing drinks. The interior reminds me of a boat house with intricate woven basket light fixtures and comfy wooden chairs filled with guests chatting over tacos and house-made margaritas. It’s the perfect spot to sit down and hangout for lunch, dinner or just some casual drinks—you’ll instantly feel immersed in the exciting atmosphere.

bartaco aims to give guests a coastal comfy vibe. There’s literally something for guest of all ages and food pallets.bartaco features a full menu for kids, including four different child-friendly juice cocktails. Nothing beats enjoying your adult margarita on the patio while the kids sip on a nojito (mint + lime juice + club soda) also if you have a friend that’s vegetarian or vegan there’s so many yummy offerings for them to enjoy as well.

Some of my fav items on the menu are the plantains, fried fish taco, pork belly taco and chips and guacamole. Besides their extensive taco menu, bartaco also offers rice bowls, soups and salads. It’s basically every food lover’s dream under one roof.

I can’t forget to mention how every month they feature a new secret taco that’s not on the menu. It’s kinda cool playing a guessing game seeing what they will come up with next. So if you’re in the Boston seaport area check it out, or check the site to see if there is a location near you. bartaco is at the top of my list of places to check out when it comes to date night, girls night or a simple quick lunch.

Thanks For Stopping In

Vana B

That Christian Omeshun Love Part 2!

February 18, 2019 · Leave a Comment

Hey Everyone so Valentines Day just passed. I hope none of my single ladies let the day of love bring them down. For years, Valentine’s Day has been a holiday reserved exclusively for those in a serious relationship, dating or married, meaning those of us not spending the day with a significant other often felt like we were missing out.

However, if Valentine’s Day is a celebration of “LOVE” like they say, it seems only right that we should spend it with whoever we love doing what we enjoy – even if that’s not necessarily a romantic partner. It can be spending time with your self, a pet or even some close friends.

I don’t think anyone should let one made up holiday make them feel sad and depressed just because they don’t have a significant other. I rather spend the day surrounded by friends letting them know how much I love and appreciate the support they give me every day. Life is already hard as a woman and being a black woman it’s even harder. So this year I got to celebrate Valentines Day again decked out in a fabulous dress from Christina Omeshun .The founder A’Shontay Hubbard based out of a ATL makes custom made to dresses and outfits for women size 12-30+ ( Yesss to being size inclusive) I love that she caters to all body types in the plus size market whether big or small. My wonderful friend and fellow blogger Chardline gathered us all together to rock our custom made dresses to celebrate the joys of friendship and loving one another on Valentines Day.

The ladies and I all had fun feeling like goddess taking on the town. I loved being able to connect and chat with the ladies. Surrounding yourself with woman who support you and believe in you, tell you that you can achieve your dreams and that you are beautiful and intelligent, is invaluable. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of women to spend Valentines Day with. Now enough about that let’s get into these looks.

CO Velvet Sparkle Gown

CO Velvet Ruffle Flare Set

CO Reversible Sequin Dress

CO Iridescent Sequin Gown CO Kaftan Gown

CO Triple Ruffle Dress

21-Days Of Self Care Challenge To Start The New Year

January 5, 2019 · 2 Comments

Happy New Year !!!!! In honor of it being a new year, I wanted to challenge myself and hope you all will join me on this new journey of Self Care. Last year was a very emotional and stressful one for me, To be honest I heard 2018 was a pretty hard year for many. So I figured why not start the new year on a positive note of self-discovery. I want to focus on more self-care and get right with myself first.

Self-care is a word I heard being thrown around a lot pretty often, most frequently coming out of my own mouth to justify things I did. Let me go to $5 dollar Tuesday because ‘self-care’. I’m gonna buy the outfits because ‘self-care’. I’m eating the damn tacos because Hello hunny Treat ya self and “ self-care”

While reflecting my past year a few days ago, I thought about how I been dealing with all my stresses and emotions. If I was doing so much so-called “self-care”, then why didn’t I feel any better? Why did I not genuinely feel self-love? If I’m 100% honest, did I even know what the hell self-care meant?

To be quiet frank in my eyes, self-care just meant doing things I liked and kept me happy. To me, it was taking some time away from things that took work or effort, or things that were bothering me wherever possible.

I’ve spent many days alone indulging in retail therapy or taking myself on solo dates. All in the name of ‘self-care’, only to find that when I got home and crawled into bed, I felt just as awful as I did before. I had avoided my problems for a couple of hours, but my feelings and pain was still present.

I started thinking about what I been doing can’t be the ‘self-care’ people raved about. I was causing myself self-destruction. My “idea” of self-care was all wrong and needed to be fixed.

Self-care is about listening and being truthful with yourself, and sometimes doing things that take work. Like looking deep within, asking yourself uncomfortable questions about your character, analyzing bad habits or addictions. Self-care is about wanting to be better and taking care of ourselves on the simplest of levels. It’s not taking ourselves on a date to eat or shopping stores you like. To really work on me I decided to partake in a 21 Day Self Care Challenge made by my friend Shirley who goes by Timeless Essence on IG. I like the fact her challenge really pushes the limits on getting to know who I am and wanting to be better. I started the first day Jan 1st by unplugging from everything for an hour and writing my feelings down in my journal. I wanted to really dig in deep to the issues that brought me down this past year. I even cried matter fact I ugly cried a whole damn river lol (Thank goodness nobody was around to see that madness). Which by the way crying is perfectly okay, sometimes you gotta just let yourself feel whatever is bothering you.

After writing and crying, I must say I felt a lot better to get how I was feeling down on paper. The Second day I cooked a new recipe while listening to jazz and later wrote in my journal some small goals. I’m looking forward to what i’ll tap into next. The great part of this challenge is I’ll be able to look back in a few weeks and say wow this is how I was feeling then, but look at me now! I’ll add the challenge down below in case you want to join me on the journey to a better happier you. Here’s to really knowing what real “self –care” is and becoming more in touch with myself for 2019.

Happy New Year!!!!!

Love Vana

21 Days of Self -Care Challenge

5 Holiday Gift Ideas For The Adult Doing The Adulthood Thing

November 29, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Adulting is hard work. Cleaning, entertaining, ironing, Not having fast food every day and being on time for work isn’t easy… Adulting it’s not for the faint of heart. So I wanted to make it easier for those folks who never quite know what to ask for when it comes gifts on the holidays. It’s always during this time of year family and friends ask “what would you like?” Ahhhh man to be young again and say a Dollhouse or a game system. Well here’s a little help with 5 things that you just may need this holiday to take ya adulting NEXT LEVEL!!!! that’s right items you can make use of all year round and enjoy.

Air Fryer

I promise you mine is the best gift I could have ever gotten. I literally cook everything in it. Air fryers take away all the fatty oil and cut calories from anything you cook. I cook everything from french toast for breakfast to chicken for dinner. It’s great for that busy adult who want to cut cooking time in half.

Dish Set

A good dish set goes a long way. We can’t have you entertaining guest with paper plates all the time. Sometimes you wanna feel fancy and hear that clank and clack of a spoon on a cereal bowl. A good dish set really can make any dinner table feel super fancy.

Food Box Subscription

Sometimes being an adult were always rushing and never have time for a good healthy meal. A nice food box subscription like Hello Fresh or Plated provides pre-portioned meals for one to make depending on the size of the household. Nothing beats getting home having everything prepped and ready for a good meal after a busy day. Also what to cook for dinner is one less thing to stress about when you already have it waiting for you.

Mattress

Now most adulters sleep on a terrible mattress or sometimes even simply sleep on a blow-up bed or futon. It’s time to get rid of that !!!!! Nothing is better than giving the gift of sleep. The great thing about investing in a mattress is it’s something you can enjoy for years to come. My Big Fig Mattress really is the gift that keeps on giving. Every morning I’m able to wake up without back pain and feel well rested. Yes, it may be pricey buying a new bed but think of you investing in sweet dreams of slumber.

Bill Payments

Not having to worry about a car note payment or a student loan payment is a huge stress lifted off your shoulders. Asking to have a bill paid lets you either invest your coins on your self or get ahead on other expenses. As responsible adults, we sometimes don’t always treat ourselves to what we really deserve. Having an expense-paid gives you the opportunity to take that trip you may have been putting off.

So when Granny or the parentals ask the big “What gift would you like?’ this year you can reference back to this little guide. Hope this helped show everyone what’s practical to ask for when trying to adult in today’s world. Lets have people invest in items you can enjoy for endless years to come even when the holiday season is over. Happy Adulting everyone!!!

HOTEL REVIEW: HARD ROCK HOTEL DAYTONA BEACH

October 16, 2018 · 2 Comments

Last weekend, I traveled to Daytona Beach Florida to attend my college’s homecoming at the Great Bethune Cookman University. This year, my friends and I just knew we had to make it back to our old stomping grounds to check out the city. If you ever watched the movie Drumline or Stomp The Yard then you would understand just how amazing attending an HBCU homecoming is. Homecoming was a great time of course but, It was my stay at The Hard Rock Hotel that made my 48 hours in Daytona a memorable experience as well. The hotel is located right on the beach side of Daytona right on the oceanfront. It was easily accessible to everything from the beach and nearby restaurants.

From the moment of arrival, I received total rock star royalty which stuck until departure. The valet staff was all so eager to meet guests needs, making my stay incredible. Back in the day, I remember the hotel’s current location being the Desert Inn which wasn’t the nicest looking hotel. The Hard Rock Hotel has totally stepped it up a notch and given Beachside a whole new upscale vibe.

Rooms

The hotel features 200 guest rooms and suites on site. All the guest rooms are named after a music album. I was super excited when I noticed my room was Beyonce’s Lemonade. ( I think that’s such a great touch, especially when I always forget my room number lol). I stayed in a Queen Ocean front view room which was very spacious and comfy. I love the fact upon check in they offer The Sound of Your Stay® program, which is an exclusive audio experience that puts the guests up close and personal with music. I got to select three genres of music which played in the background of my room (Who needs an iPod when you have a custom-made music list!). Having an ocean view room I was able to hear the ocean waves all day and night which was very relaxing. I also loved being able to see what was going on at the beach, pool, and restaurants from my balcony.

Amenities

The hotel features an endless list of amenities to guest such a renowned full-service Rock Spa® and Salon, A Rock Shop®, Body Rock® Fitness Center, Hard Rock Roxity Youth Club™ and 24/7 room service. The Hotel also includes the signature Sessions restaurant and bar, the open-air Wave Terrace bar and a beachfront pool with outdoor pool bar and grill. The pool area always had endless entertainment from a DJ spinning the latest tunes to a live band and singers at night. You seriously never need to leave the property with everything you need around you.

The Staff

The staff at Hard Rock all were extremely gracious. Everyone I spoke to had such a chill, down-to-earth spirit. From the manager on duty down to housekeeping, everyone was smiling and super pleasant. One woman at the front desk even helped me learn some new settings on my camera and taught me how to shoot better with my lens. The Hard Rock Hotel staff just made me feel really happy and at home during my stay.

Overall, My stay at The Hard Rock Hotel was very memorable and one I plan to do again. I love fun edgy hotels and this definitely lived up to my expectations. From the cool, fun staff to the amenities and location, The Hard Rock Hotel is worth it and surely will bring Daytona Beach tons of business.

Disclosure: Thanks so Much!!! to the staff at The Hard Rock Daytona Beach. I was guest at the Hard Rock Hotel Daytona Beach,As always all opinions are my very own. To book a stay make sure to check them out https://www.hardrockhoteldaytonabeach.com/