Smile, You're in San Diego
November 24, 2024
Earlier this month I traveled to San Diego, California for my specialty's annual medical conference. Having been to SoCal before, I knew some of the places I wanted to re-visit in between lectures and presentations. It also helps to have family in the area :)
If you're planning to travel to San Diego, below is a list of my top five favorite spots.
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Top 5 highlights
1. Balboa Park
2. San Diego Zoo
The Zoo is located in Balboa park. We didn't get to visit it this trip but I do remember going years ago and loving it! They even have giant pandas. Although nothing compares to the zoos in Australia and New Zealand.
Photo credit: CBS8
2. La Jolla
This walkable cove has tons of great restaurants and boutique shops with beautiful ocean and coastline views. We went to George's At The Cove and ordered almost every seafood item on the menu.
3. Gaslamp Quarter
Known as the heart of San Diego, this downtown neighborhood is a great place for a night out with clubs, restaurants, dive-bars, and cocktail lounges. PS: no matter where you are, you cannot go wrong with Mexican food in San Diego!
4. Little Italy
5. The Marina
Our hotel was right on the marina with easy access to the boardwalk and beautiful views of the sunset. It made the perfect place for a morning or afternoon run. As an aside, another popular destination is the USS Midway - a historical naval aircraft carrier along the Navy Pier.
They do say west coast is the best coast and San Diego is just one more reason for why that is true! Have you been before? Leave a comment to let me know your favorite spots!White Coat Ceremony Keynote Address
September 13, 2024
Miss Virginia USA Recap
August 18, 2024
Finally recapping my experience competing for Miss Virginia USA and what an adventure it has been!
INTERVIEWS
The first day of Miss Virginia USA began with interviews featuring an incredible panel of judges. These interviews are only about two minutes long, which means you have to know who you are and why you are competing to your core in order to provide authentic, well-thought-out, CONCISE responses. The key is to answer the question directly, explain why with supporting remarks, and emphasize how the answer is important not just to you but to the judges, the audience, and the community at large. Think "KISSS" - Keep it Short, Sweet, and Simple.
During my interview, I spoke about my experiences as an Emergency Medical Technician, my platform Healthy Habits, my children’s book An Apple A Day, which teaches kids about preventing the spread of online misinformation, my sub-specialty of cancer rehabilitation, and my favorite: the koalas I met at a recent international medical conference I attended in Australia.
The day ended with a gala benefiting the Best Buddies charity featuring Miss USA and an Ashley Lauren Fashion Show as well as an Award Ceremony.
The best part is my friends and family got to attend as well.
PRELIMINARIES/FINALS
Miss USA is different from Miss America in that there is no talent component. Instead, it focuses more on stage presence, public speaking, elegance, and confidence. This part of the pageant includes a swimwear presentation as well as evening gown. Finals night also includes On Stage Question and of course, the crowning moment!
After trying on countless dresses, I fell head over heels for this Sherri Hill number. With its front cutout and one-shoulder long sleeve to balance the opposing slit, I felt absolutely REGAL.
I had so much fun putting my pageant walk training to the test on stage, something I've been preparing for all year. Let me just say, walking in a floor length gown with six inch heels is no joke!
While I didn’t win the crown, I did win the Miss Virginia USA Social Media Award for my online advocacy and platform Healthy Habits. I am so incredibly appreciative of this recognition. It is the first award I have ever received acknowledging all the time and energy I put into content creation and online advocacy. It means so much to me and I still cannot believe it. Hard work pays off and I cannot wait to continue growing and building my brand.
The highlight of the entire pageant weekend was sharing all of it with my friends and family who came out to cheer me on. And now I get to share it all with you readers!
Thank you to my friends and family for believing in me, to Orange Theory and Blogilates for helping me on my fitness journey, to The Bronze Collective, Axel Makeup Academy and my amazing hair/makeup artist Mirna Olivares as well as my sponsors Relax CVille and Cloud 9 for making me look and feel my best, to my coaches at Reigning Beauties, my photographer Reza, and to the FAVulous team of directors at The Fav Group who helped bring all of us pageant queens together.
Congratulations to all my pageant sisters and to our new Miss Virginia USA, Himanvi Panidepu, who absolutely SLAYED at this year's Miss USA. Excited to follow her journey promoting women in STEM while representing Virginia! And congratulations to our new Miss USA, Alma Cooper (Miss Michigan) - an army officer, data scientist, and Stanford graduate student. Best of luck competing for Miss Universe!
Of course, my journey doesn't stop here. I was recently featured in the QBN documentary Limitless on QueenBeauty.TV.
Limitless "explores the historical context...rule changes...and spirit of Miss USA as [we] break barriers and redefine what it means to be a true pageant queen." Available for streaming online now!
And if you're interested in learning about competing in pageants, check out my blog post: How To Compete In Pageants
Down Under Diaries
July 7, 2024
One of the best parts of being a physician is attending medical conferences, where you get to learn about new practices, technologies, and scientific innovations in your specialty. This is especially true when those medical conferences occur all over the world. It just so happened that my top travel destination coincided with the location of this year's International Society for Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM) Symposium: Sydney, Australia.
Having never been before, I wanted to make the most of the trip and we decided to first vacation in Auckland, New Zealand before hopping over to the conference. End of May, beginning of June was the perfect time to go because it's technically "off-season" or winter down there but winter to them feels like late Spring/early Summer to us (around 60 to 70 degrees F) and the best part is no crowds!
It's hard to summarize the almost 3 week bucket list trip in one blog post so I'm going to list out my top 5 favorite things to do for each place. Of note, we only had time to visit the North Island in New Zealand so will have to return to see the South Island and write another post!
Before I get into the highlights though, here are some fun facts about New Zealand:
- It was the first country to establish minimum wage and give women the right to vote.
- The people refer to themselves as kiwis based on their native kiwi bird (more on this later).
- It is the first country to greet the morning in the world - because of the time difference, they are the farthest ahead in time.
- New Zealand is known for their medicinal Mānuka honey. Its anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-proliferating properties can help treat wound healing, pain relief, digestion issues, and more.
- It’s basically a second Hollywood - home to directors Peter Jackson (LOTR and The Hobbit) and James Cameron (Avatar), several popular movies and shows have been filmed here.
New Zealand Top 5 Highlights
1. Hobbiton - if you're a fan of the Lord of The Rings, whether the movies or the books, visiting the filming set of The Shire is a must.
You'll feel completely immersed in Middle Earth, visiting Bilbo and Frodo's home Bag End along with the Green Dragon Inn. You even get to tour inside one of the Hobbit holes. We booked our tour to include a visit to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves after as well.
2. Rotorua, Wai-O-Tapu, and Te Puia - New Zealand is a stunningly picturesque country known for its geothermal activity with geysers, mud pools, and hot springs. These places did not disappoint when it came to showing off just how beautiful and powerful Mother Earth can be, so much so pictures don't do it justice. But don't take it from me, you just have to visit for yourself.
3. War Memorial Museum - While the museum includes war tributes, it is more an eclectic mix of natural history, fine arts, and other culturally significant exhibits.
4. Auckland Zoo - We did not fly over halfway around the world to NOT see Kiwi birds. New Zealand's flightless ground dwelling Kiwi bird is nocturnal and rare to spot in the wild so we did the next best thing and went to the zoo. Fun fact, the kiwi fruit is named after the Kiwi bird because they are both small, brown, and fuzzy.
5. Sky Tower - The best way to see Auckland is from above and the best place to go above the city is The Sky Tower.
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| The picture above shows the Sky Tower to the left and a typical New Zealand rainbow to the right. |
Our last night in New Zealand, we had dinner at the top of the Sky Tower, with its revolving restaurant offering a 360 degree panoramic view of the city. 10/10 recommend.
Honorable Mention: a visit to Waiheke Island (we did a wine-tasting tour, which was excellent)
After leaving New Zealand, we flew to the land of Vegemite just in time to catch the Vivid Sydney Lights Festival (of note, this did make the city a lot more crowded than Auckland but it was incredible to see everything lit up so spectacularly). Fun fact about Australia: it was built by convicts!
We stayed in Darling Harbour but it was really easy to navigate to all the different places we wanted to visit since they have great public transit infrastructure.
Australia Top 5 Highlights
1. The Opera House - the iconic Sydney Opera House is a must see, whether for photos, to catch a show, sit at the bar, or just walk around (it also affords a great view of the Harbour Bridge and Circular Quay). It's as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside.
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| Featuring my new Cavana purse |
2. The Zoos - Both the Sydney Zoo and the Taronga Zoo are a YES in my book. Though if I had to pick one, it would definitely be the Sydney Zoo because they let you feed the kangaroos (including kangaroos with a joey in their pocket) and I had my first koala encounter there!
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| Can you spot the joey (baby koala)? |
Of note, the Taronga Zoo has a duck-billed platypus, which was really cool to see. We learned that while the platypus is a mammal, it actually lays eggs. Also their offspring are called puggles.
4. The Blue Mountains - Explore the Scenic World of Australia including the unique rock formations, rainforests, and mountains.
As a side note, the food was incredible in both New Zealand and Australia. And if you're wondering, yes, I did try Vegemite and no, it is not my preference.
But I did try "Fairy Floss" french toast, which was delicious (basically french toast topped with cotton candy).
Honorable Mention: If you have time, definitely tour The Rocks (we did a free walking tour), learn about the Aboriginal culture, and visit the beaches - we went to Manly Beach, which is known for its surfing. We also heard great things about Bondi beach though did not have time to check it out.
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