Sunday, May 27, 2018

My Move to Whitewater, Wisconsin Pt. 2

My apologies for the long wait, I was getting my job life situated. Happy to be working again :) anyways back to the story....

Now the downside of living out there is 1. the health insurance isn't good, I got health insurance through the factory job and they basically covered nothing and I got billed close to $1,000 and it's still increasing with interest, like what! imagine the look on my face when I seen that especially coming from NY where you can get free insurance. 2. I was becoming socially depressed, yea I met people but they were more like work friends and the two girls I did become friends with, one of them left the job and became distant and the second one was only using me and when I realized that I cut her off. Then the guys I was meeting out there were just different then what I was used to and like many guys I've dealt with they just wanted to play games to which I was not having. 3. jobs, now yes my father and I was able to get a job within a week of moving out there but when I decided to leave the factory job (wasn't interested anymore and the work environment was like I was back in high school with all the gossiping) for the job my father was at which was an activity aide almost like a home health aide just a tad different, everything was good up until we got new staff and a new manager then my hours got cut which lead to less money and there were no other good jobs in that area, all the good jobs were like 1-2 hours away and there was only one car to share between two people (my father and I) so that wasn't an option. 4. food, omg nothing but fast food was surrounding us, basically forcing you to become a sack of potatoes lol. There were no Caribbean restaurants, like nobody out there knew what Oxtails were like what!!, no Spanish restaurants just Mexican (nothing wrong with that especially since they had this really good restaurant named Cozumel), the only market you can shop at in town is Walmart, the other markets like Aldi and Festival was again out of town so about a 1 hour drive, Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks again a 1 hour drive out of town smh now you see my struggle especially coming from NY where there are countless places to eat at and countless markets to choose from to grocery shop. 5. It's not a cultural diverse town whatsoever, surrounded by mostly Caucasian's and Mexican's with like a handful of African Americans and again it is a college town so also surrounded by a bunch of college students. 6. the weather.......don't let me get started on the weather, they have long brutally cold winters, it was my first time being in a state where the weather dropped to -18 yes you read that right -18!!!! and its funny because everybody out in Wisconsin swears its colder in NY like no my friend its really not lol. The snow last for what feels likes months even a little past winter and into spring and because its so cold out there the snow freezes sometimes, they even had a heavy hail storm once. The spring and summer, well when the weather finally catches up to the seasons the spring and summer are really nice out there except for 7. the insects, I really dislike certain insects you know the typical mosquitoes, roaches, spiders, any type of foreign weird insects lol and out there omg they have insects I never even knew about like box elder bugs, stink bugs (I've heard of them but never seen them), and other bugs I don't know the name of but the mosquitoes are the worse, they are vampires literally. In one summer I accumulated at least 30-50 mosquito bites all on both my legs and arms, it was crazy, I still have some of the scars.

Ok I think I'm done with all the negative things lol sorry I know its a lot and it would seem like I didn't have a positive time at all but there were good times.

Upside of living out there 1. scenery, I can't say that enough, its real beautiful out there especially when driving past all the beautiful farm animals, horses, cows, sheeps, goats etc. I got pictures but there aren't edited yet but once they are they will be uploaded on my Instagram and FB page so watch out for that. 2. I got to bond with my mother side of the family..well mm "bond" I bonded more with my older brother. I don't really get along with the rest of them. It was really great bonding with my brother because again I met him along with my mother and her side of the family for the first time when I was 16. In all honesty him and my new baby sister are the only ones I'll miss. 3. I learned how to ride a bike, yes before that I never knew how to ride a bike, I get excited telling people that I can finally ride a bike. I taught myself on my mothers bike with the support of my sister, and brother both forcing me to ride with them and telling me to keep trying even though they were low-key laughing at me lol. 4. car insurance, and apartments are cheap out there. My father and I found a two bedroom apartment for $725 and you know in NY a two bedroom apartment will run you a minimum of $1200. It was a nice apartment as well, I'll definitely miss that because now when I get the money again it will be a struggle to find an apartment out here unless I get lucky or get myself a roommate.

I think those are all the cons and pros, there are probably more but I just can't think of them right now lol sorry.

Now the reason for the move back to NY, well my father and I missed it a lot and we were both going through separate issues that lead us to the decision of moving back. Overall I'm happy to be back home, happy to be surrounded by my best friends, happy to to be surrounded by good food, and happy to be back with my grandma (fathers mother).

P.S. I have other blog post coming like since I started working again I started reading so I will be introducing a new blog series where I review the books I've read. Right now I'm reading a book called Midnight by Sister Soulja. I previously read her first novel The Coldest Winter Ever and boy that was a great read, kept me on my toes. If you like reading street literature as they call it then her books are perfect and I definitely recommend you reading them.

Hope you enjoyed my story :) Like/Share/Comment

Friday, May 18, 2018

My Move to Whitewater, Wisconsin Pt. 1

Background info:
Whitewater is a town located in Walworth (mostly) and Jefferson county in the U.S State of Wisconsin. Whitewater is the home of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. As of the 2016 census the population is 14,517. Whitewater was founded at the confluence of Whitewater Creek and Spring Brook, and named for the white sands in their beds. Whitewater was a New England Settlement. The original founders of Whitewater consisted entirely of settlers from New England. Whitewater has a council-management form of government, meaning its much like a publicly traded corporation, also meaning that under the form an elected governing body, usually a called council, board of aldermen, or similar title, is responsible for legislative functions such as establishing policy, passing local ordinances, voting appropriations, and developing an overall vision, similar to a corporate board of directors.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Now that we got all that boring background info out the way lol let's get into why I moved to Whitewater Wisconsin and how my experience of living out there was.

Majority of the time when people asked me why I decided to move from NY to WI I answered with "I didn't have a choice", now I say I didn't' have a choice because to me I kind of felt like I didn't. I was living with family (grandma, 2 cousins, uncle, aunt, dog, and myself) in NJ (yes I know why am I saying NY when I lived in NJ, I was born & raised in NY and even though I lived in NJ, NY is home and I also was commuting back & fourth for work) and before the move my uncle was splitting up with his wife (aunt through marriage) so everyone was basically moving out the house we were in, now usually I would just move wherever my grandma was moving but this time she kept saying how she wanted to live alone and so she gave me a deadline of a month to find my own place. For those who lived in NY or currently living in NY or even know of NY, you know how hard and expensive it can be nowadays to get your own apartment. I didn't have all the money and I definitely couldn't find an apartment, I was searching high & low even my father was helping me (before you ask, no I couldn't stay with my father because of other reasons) but unfortunetly I couldn't find anything so because I had family out in WI I decided "hey, why not", so I spoke to my father about it and because of the situation he was in we both decided to go for it. It was so last minute like we left the next week (this happened in December 2016). I told my job, my friends, and that was it we were gone.

My father and I took a bus out there which was hell omg! 24hr bus ride and remember we left in December so while traveling out there we drove into a blizzard out in Buffalo NY. I'm telling you my legs hurt and I got a butt sore smh never again will I travel by bus for that long. My father and I moved in with my mom and siblings. Little info, me and my mother don't have the greatest bond meaning I met her for the first time when I was 16 years old and the day we moved in was the second time going out there, now bonding with my fam was the second reason why I chose WI. The beginning of the move was nice, my father and I got a job within a week of being out there. My father and I both got a factory job (yes I said factory job) working at a place called Generac building generators, my father soon after got laid off but then got another job, me on the other hand I stayed with them for almost a year. It was a nice experience, different and exhausting but nice. I learned how to build a generator and test them. I'll insert a picture of what I was building down below. After a couple months my father and I brought a car, then problems started happening family wise and soon after my father and I got our own apartment. The town of Whitewater is nice, the scenery is beautiful, they have nice trail parks like this one I went to all the time called Nature land. We basically lived in the country, there were farms and open land everywhere so yea it was beautiful and at night omg! the stars were so bright (sorry don't have pictures of that). I do have pictures of Nature land and other areas so I will of course insert them below for you guys to see. Other places I visited within WI was Lake Geneva, Madison, Milwaukee, Fort Atkinson, Janesville, and Jefferson. Places I visited outside WI was Chicago, Illinois, and Missouri. I've been to the Six Flags in Chicago, Elkhorn County Fair, and a Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Game (it was a job outing with Generac).

(Image Source: Amazon)
This is exactly what I built and tested. I was on an assembly line but because I was so good and no I'm not being sarcastic or anything I really was that good, they moved me around so I learned it all, building, testing, and even taking it all apart replacing parts and rebuilding it.


Six Flags in Chicago (taken on phone)

Milwaukee Brewers Game (taken on phone)


Elkhorn County Fair (screen shot from a video I took on snapchat)

Ok so I realized that this post is fairly long and I'm not done with my story yet so I'm going to break it into two parts so stay tuned for pt. 2. Hope you enjoyed reading, have a good day :)




Sunday, May 13, 2018

Revamp

Hey guys, ugh I know I've been gone for so long but a lot has happened, you know life happened. I also know this is like my 2nd or 3rd time reappearing after being gone for some time but in all honesty there is always something going on that just strays me away, now I don't want to make a promise that I'll be back just incase life gets in the way again lol but I'm back for right now with lots of new content and things to share with you guys. So a little update, I moved out of NY and moved to a town called Whitewater in Wisconsin, yes I know what your going to ask, "Why Wisconsin?", well I will further explain all that in a separate blog post so stay tuned for that. I've also been working on my photography while out here, now I admit I did loose motivation to continue because of where I'm at and my laptop started giving me problems but I eventually got back in it. I've been learning my craft improving my editing skills and buying new equipment which I will also talk about in a separate blog post if you guys would like. This blog post is jus a "Hello, I'm back" update post and also letting you know what I have in store for my blog, matter a fact I'll just surprise you guys with what I have planned. Also got big news, I moved back to NY!!! I'm so excited to be back and it furthers new content and motivation.

The reason for the "Revamp" tittle is because I'm revamping myself as a whole, a brand, everything. I want to revamp my look, my social media accounts, photography, blog post, just everything and in between *wink wink hence blog name. I want to share the journey with you, might even start vlogging if that's what my fellow bloggers/readers would like to see but I know you guys don't want a boring vlog channel lol. Like I mentioned above I will fill you guys in on the next blog post. The move back to NY has me wanting to be different, have a different mindset and outlook on things, I want to be a better me and I want you all to join me on the journey to change and happiness :)

If you haven't already, follow me on all social sites:

IG @laiahavin (Photography)
      @lovemedifferently (Personal)
FB Page @laiahavinphotography
Snapchat @laiahcharming

Thursday, March 26, 2015

My Passion

Hello,

Like the tittle says, todays post is going to be about photography, mainly me becoming a photographer. If you don't already know my passion is photography and I absolutely love everything that has to do with it. I've recently found my motivation again and decided to really get serious about it by beginning to learn photoshop and lightroom (which I should have been learning but its never too late to start), I've also been watching videos on youtube and reading blogs about the tips and tricks of what it takes to be a professional photographer. I'm more of a landscape/nature, pet, children, and event photographer but in order to get their you have to start somewhere and I have to continue building my portfolio. Right now my portfolio as you can see by the few pictures I've uploaded consist of nature (flowers, insects etc.), pets (my cousins dog lol), events (pride parade even though I wasn't able to actually capture the parade), children (my baby cousin), and a little bit of people (my friends). I'm working with a Canon Rebel T3i with an 18-55mm lens soon hoping to upgrade either the camera first or the lens, I also need to get some other equipments. I've created an Instagram for my pictures, if your interested follow me @laiahavin. I'm also looking for work hopefully as being an assistant or doing an internship for a photographer so if you know anybody in the New York area feel free to let me know. I may not have the experience most photographers look for in an assistant but I am a hard worker, fast learner, and I'm organized with customer service experience. If you have any advice on getting started, equipment ideas, or how to create a good portfolio feel free to comment down below it will be greatly appreciated :)

Midnight (taken by me)

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Attempt at coming back

Hello,

Wow I have been gone for a couple months and I'm soo sorry about that, I abandoned you guys and again I'm sorry. Life just happened and I just wasn't in a good place mentally & physically but I'm okay now I guess, just slowly progressing and really working on myself and what I want to do in life. I recently moved to New Jersey (if you didn't know I was living in New York) because of personal & financial problems. I do miss New York & I try to go back as much as I can because of course I am a NYC girl and I love that city. I'm still into photography but since moving I haven't really been motivated and I just sort of became lazy which I'm not happy about at all but I'm working on it. I found a college out here that I'm excited about, I applied and now I'm just waiting to see if I get accepted and if I do I will further inform you guys. Other than that I've just been looking for work and really concentrating on what and where I want to be in the future and the steps I have to take to get their. I'm also trying to get over a cold I recently got so hopefully I will be able to get back to posting on here because I did miss it but I also have to work on finding entertaining things to post about other than photography, so bare with me. Hope you all are doing good, love you guys <3


Friday, October 31, 2014

My Summer Pt.8

Hello Everyone,

If you haven't seen my last post click here.

It has finally come to an end, this will be the last part of my summer recap. I enjoyed sharing my summer with you and hope you enjoyed it as well. These last couple of pictures I took was when I took my cousin out. We were looking for a specific park because they were having a show there but I got the wrong directions and ended up at Hudson River Park. It was both our first time at that park and it was beautiful, a must see if you haven't been already. After walking through the park we ended up at 34th st. and that's when I decided to really look up the directions and that's when I found it Riverbank State Park. They were having some sort of kiddie type of carnival it was cute, they had little rides, games, and a reptile show. I only have one picture from Riverbank State Park, I will be going back because it is beautiful. Overall it was a good day and my cousin enjoyed herself. Hope you enjoy :)

My cousin.
I absolutely love this picture <3
Love how vibrant the colors are. My favorite things to capture, flowers.


Happy that I caught the helicopter with the flag. Sort of reminds me of this video game called Grand Theft Auto.
Riverbank State Park.
Happy Halloween, be safe :)







Tuesday, October 21, 2014

My Summer Pt.7

Hello Everyone,

If you haven't seen my last post click here.

These next group of pictures I took were at Roosevelt Island. I decided one day instead of sitting home to go out and take pictures and that's when I decided to go out there. I wanted to go with my best friend because he never been before but he didn't want to so I went by myself, which wasn't a bad idea because it was relaxing and I got to really focus on my photography. I walked the whole Island. Theres a park near the Tramway with a beautiful scenery of flowers and green grass lol and then the other side is where the lighthouse is which is also beautiful. If you haven't been I suggest going it's beautiful especially the lighthouse. There are two ways of getting out there if you are not sure, you can take the F train to Roosevelt Island or take the tramway (goes over the water) located at 2nd Ave. between East 59th St. to East 60th St. in Manhattan. Hope you enjoy :)

The tramway


The trail to the little park.

The park with the beautiful scenery of grass & cool looking plants.

Taken up-close by accident but love how it came out.





They were all over the island.
The lighthouse <3
It's finally coming to an end, my last post Pt.8 will be up next week so stay tuned. Have a beautiful Tuesday :)














Sunday, October 12, 2014

My Summer Pt.6

Hello Everyone,

If you haven't seen my last post click here.

I was asked on a date by this guy I met during the summer. There was a reggae concert going on in Central Park so we both decided to attend. We entered Central Park through Columbus Circle and ran into some body painting and other beautiful sites. I did take more pictures then the ones I'm posting but these are the ones I liked the most. We weren't able to get into the concert because there was a long line and I was not going to wait on it so we decided to walk around. We ended up at TGI Friday's in Times Square, we then caught a movie (Lucy), and lastly we had ice cream at ColdStone. The date was great, unfortunately a couple months after that date we fell off and things just weren't working so we decided to just stop whatever it was we were doing. Hope you enjoy :)






P.S. Posting Pt.7 next week so stay tuned, have a good Sunday night :)