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Blog, Dreams, life, Uncategorized

Santorini: you are beautiful 

slbernard21

I haven't traveled to as many places as I would like, however, of all the places I have been Santorini is my favorite. As the plane flew over the island and prepared for landing, I was instantly taken back. At this point, however,I wasn't  able to fully grasp the true beauty of the island. We grabbed our luggage from baggage and headed straight to the taxi zone. Still, I wasn't prepared for it's true beauty.
We drove up the mountain to our hotel, it was beautiful. We were ready to drop off our luggage and explore the island and all of its hidden beauty. Though, at 7 am our room was hardly ready as the entire island was sleeping and no one was checking out. We chatted with the receiptionist and she urged us to leave our luggage with her and explore the caldera.

The Caldere is a cauldron-like volcanic depression that collapsed after a volcanic eruption during the Minoan civilization. Long story short, this eurpution created the island.  When we first walked across the caldere, we were both stunned.  We've never seen anything like it. The view of the Aegean Sea, a view of other islands, and a view of the the entire coast of Santorini.  We walked to the  top untill we could go no further and with each step the view was simply amazing. 

Our first meal was grilled whole sea bass.  We wanted snapper but the restaurant was all out–bummer! For dinner we kept it simple with chicken and lamb Kaboobs.

The next day we took an ATV and found the city Karami.  It is located at the lowest level and home of the beautiful black sand beach.  Much to the surprises of my ignorance, the black sand beach was actually blacks rocks.  Walking on the beach was hot and very painful ! Even still, the beach and all its views was absolutely beautiful.

Our final day was a catch all.  We went back to Karami and this time tip toed into the cold Aegean Sea.  We then went on an adventure to try and find Oia. We followed all of the directions but unfortunately we couldn't find it and decided to go back to Thira and continue our adventure there.

One of the more surprising things about Santorini to me was the pizza.  The pizza was better than Italy and better than New York!

Last but certainly not least, the sunset in Thira was everything everyone said it would be plus so much more. For many reasons this is my favorite city and I'm excited to go back.


— Esqure in love.

Blog, life, Uncategorized

The Magical City of Athens 

slbernard21

This year I opened my birthday in Athens, Greece. I landed in this magical city on my born day, cheers to me!

To be completely frank, I initially used Athens as a layover for my true destination, Santorini. However, in true magical  form, Athens proved me wrong.  Powerful–it felt powerful to be in a city that has existed since 3000 BC. It felt powerful to take in a city that existed before God sent his only son to this earth. Athens is powerful. We visited the ancient city. We saw Acropolis, the Temple of Zeus, The Parthenon of Athens, and Panathenaic Stadium. I vividly remember growing up in school and learning about greek methodology and being intrigued.  Being in ancient Athens, I learned that to read about these monuments is  one thing but to experience them is something completely different.

I never really believed in greek methodology and I am not sure that I believe in it now. What I do know is that it took an intelligent group of people with unimaginable strength to have built these monuments over 5000 years ago without the technological tools that we are so reliant upon today.  Even when considering the modern day restoration efforts in Acropolis, one must wonder why it takes heavy machinery to restore monuments that were built with only hands.

As a former track athlete with olympic dreams, I had to visit the Panathenaic Stadium–the home of the first Olympic Games. I climbed to the top of the stadium stairs (I couldn’t feel my legs afterwards)  and the view was spectacular. I even took a stab at triple jump, and my shins obviously hated me afterwards.

— Esquire in Love ❤

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Do What You Want 2017. 

slbernard21

My best friend and I have come up with a theme for 2017.  We call it : do what you want 2017.  I’m a firm believer that most things in life should have a theme.  I think that themes are great motivators. For example, you use the theme to remind yourself what the goal is and what your purpose is.  This year, our theme is “do what you want”.  

Sometimes in life, well at least in my life, I get so focused on the idea of what I’m supposed to be doing instead of what I actually want to do. I think it’s easy for us, or at least me, to fall into this cookie cutter schedule of what I belive I should be doing to obtain some goal that I think I should achieve in some cookie cutter timeframe.  So I’ve dedicated this year, and of course the years to follow, to finally breaking free from what  I think should happen. So, “do what you want 2017” is about doing what I actually want to do, without consideration for what I think I ought to do.  

The key of course is balance. I’m not naive and this isn’t a movie. I still have responsibilities and career goals to be mindful of.  My hope is to find a balance between what I actually want to do and what I should/ need to do.  
I’ll figure it out. More to come loves.  ❤️. 

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From Haitian to Asian… in the kitchen 

slbernard21

Last night, I made homemade general tso chicken, fried vegetable rice, and shrimp egg rolls. Because I somewhat care about healthy alternatives I did not heat up my deep fryer. Instead I oven baked the chicken and shrimp egg rolls.  

Here’s how I did it: 

Ingredients for the eggs rolls:

1.  Cole slaw mix. I used one that came with carrots and other goodies. 

2.  Bean spouts. 

3.  Baby shrimp. 

4.  Seseme oil. 

Ingredients for the general tso chicken: 

1. Chicken breast

2.  I cheated on the sauce: I used a pre mix from publix. 

3. Two eggs for egg wash. 

4. Flour 

5. Plain breadcrumbs or smashed cornflakes

6. Salt and pepper to taste. 

7. Seseme oil.

8. Seseme seeds and green onions to garnish when done. 

9. Garlic. 

Ingredients for the vegetable fried rice: 

1. One cup of Rice. 

2. Two cups of water 

3. Japanese blend vegetables 

4. One Onion. 

5. Fried rice seasoning mix. 

6. Soy sauce 

7. Two eggs

8. Bean spouts 

9.  Seseme oil. 

Directions: let’s start with the rice.  First, Bring to boil two cups of water and mix in butter, salt, and pepper to taste. Once water is at a boil add in the rice.  Cook rice untill finished then remove from the stove and refrigerate untill ready. I left the rice in the fridge untill I finished with the egg rolls and chicken. Heat up a sauce pan with seseme oil and sauté the onion. Next add in the bean spouts then the vegetables. Set the mixture to the side and fry the eggs. Mix in the rice, vegetables, and fried eggs.  Season the mixture with the seasoning packet and soy sauce untill everything is evenly  coated.  

For the shimp egg rolls.  Sauté the Cole slaw mix, bean spouts, and shrimp using seseme oil. Take two tsp of the mixture and place in the center of the egg roll paper. Roll up the egg roll and butter the outside.  Do this untill you’ve filled the desired amount of egg rolls.  Bake at 400 degrees untill golden brown. 

For the chicken. After you’ve cleaned the chicken, chop up into small pieces. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Grab three small bowls. Fill one with flour, the other with egg wash, and the third with bread crumbs. Dip the chicken in flour, then egg wash, then bread crumbs. Place each finished chicken on a baking sheet. Bake the chicken at 450 degrees for about 15 -20 minutes. Heat a deep frying pan with seseme oil and sauté garlic.  Transfer the chicken to the deep frying pan.  Mix in the general tso sauce mix and stir untill each chicken is coated and a sauce mixture forms. Garnish with seseme seeds and green onions.  
Enjoy ! 
Hungry lawyer 😋

Blog, Uncategorized

NYE 2016: Bring it on 2017

slbernard21

This year I spent/ NYE in city that neither sleeps nor disappoints-New York City.  What is even more special is that I spent  NYE with the same person I entered year 2015 and year 2016 with. Being with him has taught me so many different things about myself, him, life, love, and careers.  That, however,  shall be reserved for a different post.

Much like every NYE I love to reflect on the past year and predict the upcoming year. I’m sure you all have seen the countless memes about how awful 2016 was. While I did have some downs in 2016, I certainly had a lot of ups. The negatives of 2016 defined me and the positives made me the happiest I’ve ever been.

The beginning of 2016 was particularly difficult. I went through and experienced a situation and an emotion that I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy (however deserving they may be). I will refrain from divulging into the details–at least for now.  This experience showed me the true powers of the heart and love. Love, actually, does conquer all. I think as a woman, it is important to differentiate when we act out of love verse when we act out of desperation. As a 27 year-old woman, I have been fortunate enough to have learned myself, to have understood myself, and to have loved myself. Because of this, I was able to differentiate between love and desperation.

In 2016, I developed the confidence to grow into my career. I walked into the courtroom with confidence and  spoke with conviction. I tried my first case as second chair and I was a natural. I won my Motion for Summary Judgement, I mediate and settled lawsuits, I was a real lawyer-so to speak. I no longer felt like that lost little girl in a profession dominated by men or rather the good ole boys club.

In 2016, I purchased my very first home. I did it on my own. This, I believe, was my very first act of adulting ( I know, I hate that word too). My home is beautiful, i decorated it in pintrest galore. I made it my own because it is my own.

In 2016, I traveled more. I went to Mexico, California, Las Vegas, D.C., New York, Atlanta. In 2017, the list will expand.

I am looking forward to 2017. As an adult, I’ve learned that although every year we may experience some negativity, we may hurt, we may be disappointed, those moments do not define us or our year. Those moments are temporary and only offer small snippets of our experience. When we choose to focus on these mishaps we start to feel as though  our year was terrible. It wasn’t, darling. Yes, things may not have gone how you imagined but so what? You may not have accomplished all of your goals, but you accomplished some of them, and that is what matters. The progression matters not the completion. So as I stated last year, this year and the years to follow will be about progression not perfection.

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Writer

slbernard21

I became a writer, or at least I believe I am, because I do not know any other way to express myself. I’m a lawyer. My job is to argue in front of judges, mediators, and sometimes my clients to convince them to agree with my understanding of law and facts. I am damn good at doing that, I like to call myself young Cochran. :).

When it comes to work, i am a verbal goddess. When it comes to voicing my opinions on social and political issues, I am very persuasive. I am engaging when it comes to casual talk. These are not my issues, I am able to fully express myself using carefully selected words.

When it comes down to matters of the heart, I forget how talented I am with words. My only real recourse in expressing my emotions is to put pen to paper. It is as if I become truly awakened when my finger tips begin to glide across the illuminated keypad. My mind is suddenly quite and my thoughts are sorted out.  I am writer, because it’s healthy for me.