Things that happen in the #TravelingNegus groupchat....
Sooooo, I planned a surprise bachelor party for Jason the weekend of July 21st. He has made A MILLION hints about wanting a surprise something of some sort. His co-worker had a surprise b-day party thrown by his wife and he KEPT bringing up how thoughtful it was.... I was like I get it, I get it lol. So.... I made it happen. It definitely was a labor of love. Anyone that has tried to organize an outing for a group of men knows my struggle. I started the planning process in March, so by the time July rolled around I was exhausted.
Since we opted not to have a bridal party I figured the "traditional" events surrounding getting married would be up in the air... I KNEW Jason wanted a bachelor party. I also knew he wouldn't plan one himself, or reach out to anyone about helping it or doing it for him. I figured not having one would definitely be something that he'd regret so I reached out to his friend Matt to help me. Matt went above and beyond and I am STILL trying to figure out a way that I can show my gratitude.
So let me breakdown the plan....
...As you all know if you've been following this blog the plan for me was to always head to NOLA for my bachelorette weekend. Welp, funds were low and debts were high and I realized that I couldn't fund a bachelor party for Jason, get to NOLA AND save for a wedding with a 200 person guest list so I fell on the sword and opted to turn my bachelorette party dreams into a solo dolo thing. I am a music festival enthusiast and the line up to FYF Fest was life changing. I NEEDED that in my life. I had already grown a bitter taste in my mouth about all the things I'd missed out on thus far for the sake of this wedding, I couldn't let this be yet another thing I wanted to do that couldn't. SOOOOOOOO I got the tickets, and because FYF holds down folks they even had a payment plan option. SCHWEET. So the plan was that I would be in LA for FYF Fest while Jason participates in all of the debauchery. SCORE!
He had friends flying in from all over so the plan was to get him to the AirBNB, so when he walked up all of the fellas would be there and surprise him... Getting him there was a chore because Jason works a lot or is always making plans at the last minute. I told him that there was a secret exhibit going on that I heard was cool and asked if he could meet me there for an hour or so for our date night.... he agreed and I gave him the address to the AirBNB. I didn't give many more details and surprisingly he didn't ask for more info which is very unlike him because he is known to annoy me by asking a million questions about everything. He had TWO other things planned that evening. A work BBQ and then going to the movies, but my biggest task was to get him to the AirBNB. Throughout all of this I was on the plane flying to LA, so thank the lordt for Wi-Fi because I was able to reach out to Matt and Jason and didn't have a four hour gap of time where I was not responsive. After Jason pushing me further and further back he FINALLY arrived at the AirBNB almost two hours later than I had requested he get there. Lordt, if EYE was actually waiting we all know I wouldn't have been happy....and his friends were getting bummed because they were all so anxious to surprise him. But when he got there Matt told me he went crazy and was legit surprised.... And that was honestly all that I needed :).
My weekend....
My phone died so I didn't even get to capture Solange, A Tribe Called Quest, Erykah Badu, Run the Jewels, Hannibal Buress, Bjork and so many more.... But man. This festival was EVERYTHING... and I got to check two things off my bucket list... I stayed in a hostel AND I surfed for the first time. All in all this solo trip was much needed for my mental health and I was so happy I did it! :)
29 Likes, 5 Comments - Meezy (@hurtmeezysoul) on Instagram: "Two years ago I came to this festival with @noalias16 and was pumped to see Frank. Back then he was..."
33 Likes, 3 Comments - Meezy (@hurtmeezysoul) on Instagram: "Girlfriend want to be like me, never/ You won't find a b*tch that's even better. #MissyElliott..."
38 Likes, 3 Comments - Meezy (@hurtmeezysoul) on Instagram: "😍 Anderson .Paak live. I swear every time is like the first time... #FYFFest #LosAngeles..."
#YonCON2017
I had the honor of surprising one of my dearest friends! We are taking our talents to Colombia to celebrate his 30th in June but that doesn't mean that we were not going to turn up during his actual birthday weekend! He was sooooo surprised. I was so happy that I got to make the trek from Chi to KC to celebrate him. Beyond grateful that I got the chance to show up for someone that has been there for me in so many capacities over the years; he has been there for my lowest lows... and my highest highs. A true constant in my adult life. I hope if anything this showed him how much he is loved and appreciated. SO MANY people showed up to honor him. It was so special. Shout out to his gf Camiel for making it happen. She is the real MVP.
**The snapchat above is a photo of him going around the room and personally thanking each and every person that came with a heartfelt personal story about their friendship. His filter was perfect!**
PS I road tripped from STL to KC with my best friend Richard and his wife to be. Below is a snapchat story of the horrible singing that I had to endure.... LONGEST. FOUR. HOURS. EVER.
This year's friend trip was to Greece! What started off as getting ONE yacht together filled with 9 of my closest friends ballooned into THREE boats and 32 people.... We started planning this October of 2015 and by WE I mean myself... By July of 2016 I officially hated almost everyone involved.... But I learned a VERY valuable lesson, to never plan something of this magnitude for the free. We sailed up and down the greek isles for 7 days and it was MAGICAL... THE YACHT WEEK did not disappoint! Spending seven days saling the Aegean Sea was a dream. Sadly on day 2 I found out that my grandma passed. It was extremely hard and only Jason knew. I didn't want to make the trip heavy emotionally for the others so I told him not to share it with anyone. I desperately needed the distraction, being away from my family during such a hard time was so difficult, but it helped being around the family that I was fortunate enough to be able to choose... My friends. Below are some pics I took... didn't go too crazy this time, I just wanted to enjoy the experience versus trying to document everything this go round.
Some of my favorite pics from the trip that I did not take....
Every year I plan a trip to do ratchet things with my closest friends.... For 2017, it proved to be somewhat challenging because I needed to be fiscally responsible because most of my money will be going to nuptials.... I settled on Colombia for many reasons but one of the main ones was how much bang you get for your buck. The $ is longgggggg in South America. :)
Chalky broke his overseas cherry with this trip. I planned it to the "t" and every second was spoken for. Iceland was beyond beautiful. I am convinced that this is one of those places that we will make the yearly family trip when Jason and I are married, washed, and with children. Iceland is just sooooo photogenic! It was such a joy to experience every type of landscape.... you could drive for an hour and see ice, green grass, black sand, and snow... It was just breathtaking. It was the great first international trip for LaFlore because it is very American friendly and there isn't the anxiety you feel when you are forced to try to communicate in a language that is not your native tongue. There was so much to do.... AND WE SAW THE NORTHERN LIGHTS! I must admit that I am extremely happy that we took a "northern lights" tour that gave us an idea of what to look for. When you google image you see these pictures of blue, purple and pink skies... But most times those are severely edited. The days that we got to experience the lights they were more subtle and less detectable by the naked eye, but they show up GREAT with the proper settings on your camera. This link was SOOOOO helpful. It gave you a forecast of how to likely you are to see the aurora borealis based on the day, how strong the activity is, and where is it most easiest to be viewed. We relied on it a lot and were lucky enough to see it four out of the six nights (we didn't get above a seven in terms of activity) that we were in Iceland!
Enough of the rambling.... Check out the pics below and a short video compilation of GoPro footage from the trip :)
![GOPR1030[1].JPG](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57aa247229687fc245f898ed/1481241706009-ME1MFN72SQAV7BIER6TQ/GOPR1030%5B1%5D.JPG)
