It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a proper vacation, mainly because this last year has been a bit of a whirlwind: a big job promotion, adjusting to a new nighttime work schedule and elevating the blog, both aesthetically and efficiency-wise. I’ve spent the past year trying to make “Shireen’s Favorite Things” look and sound better, all while trying to surround myself with more positive, loving and creative people.
While it’s been a time of tremendous personal and professional growth, it’s also been a time of hardcore sacrifice. I work most weekends, use vacation time for blog excursions and find myself researching and writing during my true downtime. It may sound a bit crazy (my co-workers actually refer to it as “fashion madness,”) but I like to call it – incredibly lucky. That’s because…
A few years ago, I spent all of my spare time in bed, sick (with Guillain-Barre’ Syndrome) and consequently, trying to get well. It was an impossibly sad time. I lost seconds, minutes, hours, weeks and months of precious time that I can never get back, not to mention a bit of my sanity and a lot of money (as I poured everything I had into finding answers and doctors who could heal me.) Truth of the matter is, there were simply no vacations or even talk of such frivolities; being ill and getting well was a full-time job. My life depended on it and I took it seriously.
After a few years of doctors, treatments and physical therapy, I rallied and miraculously recovered into a wiser, tougher, more compassionate and extremely different human being. If you’re a regular blog reader, you know the story and you know how my illness changed me and why the blog means so much to me: expressing my grief over the person I used to be and trying to fully understand the person I was becoming in my writing gave me solace and a sense of purpose.
As I grew well, the blog grew along with me (as I mentioned a few weeks ago in my last entry.) “Shireen’s Favorite Things” became what it was always meant to be: stories about people, places and things that could enlighten and enrich the mind, body and spirit. Okay, okay (I know my editor is rolling his eyes right about now,) what I mean is, sometimes the blog and the social media that works in tandem with it is simply about a fashionable collaboration you share with the world around you.
So, imagine my delight when James Woodley, photographer extraordinaire and my better half, recommended a true holiday. I laughed at the prospect. “Yeah, sure. I’ll go with you,” I told him point blank. I mean, why not? I was finally better, my job was great and the blog had never been so self sufficient. I chuckled when he told me he was looking into tickets to visit his homeland – England. I had been there so many times (for work) it seemed trite, but I humored him and smiled at his enthusiasm.
Read the rest of the blog at www.WSVN.com.
(Special thanks to Kore Boutique, Hollen & Jen’s Vintage Showroom, Carlos Marrero and Bungalow 33 Boutique.)
Twitter: @ShireenSandoval
IG: @ShireenSandoval
ssandoval@wsvn.com
www.shireensandoval.com
Photographer: James Woodley
Twitter: @BritFloridian
IG: @BritFloridian
www.James-Woodley.com
Styling/Co-Producer/Assist: Jackie Kay
blog ideas: Jackiekay211@yahoo.com
Editor: Matthew Auerbach
MattAuerbach@yahoo.com