Turning 25 feels surreal, like I feel 18 still you know? Things are starting to open up after the devastating pandemic, and the anticipation of real life coming back has hit. Imagining a club filled with people, no masks and no social distancing is music to my ears, so when my two gemini best friends proposed a Miami trip, I was ecstatic. I’m vaccinated and traveling was the first thing on my to-do list. And since I wanted to make sure we celebrated to the utmost, I booked a one-way in hopes of a fun opportunity presenting itself to adventure (and it surely did).
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Airport outfit by Alamour the Label
A little backstory on my BFFs, Sophia Gasca and Sohni Ahmed. We all became friends about two years ago at the cutest rooftop restaurant, Catch. It was our first girls night filled with yummy cocktails, sushi, wagyu and of course the hit cake and Catch quickly became our go-to girls night dinner spot. On that first boosy dinner we met, just like any LA conversation, I asked what their signs were. Not that it really mattered, but it’s always a perfect conversation starter and an ideal way in getting to know someone new. Sophia smiled, “I’m a Gemini.” Sohni and I looked at eachother. “Me too,” she said. I laughed and said “Same!”
Sophias birthday is June 6, Sohnis is June 19, and yes, no kidding, mine is June 19. We’ve been inseparable ever since.
Swan Restaurant birthday dinner
Flying to Miami together would only be our second girls trip, a Vegas bachelorette we did for Sohni back in February 2019 being the first. We are long overdue to put it simply. You can read all about our wild Vegas bachelorette adventures here. It was an extremely fun girls weekend and legendary bachelorette, so this was going to be nothing less. We had to celebrate the end of the pandemic, our friendship and of course Gemini season! We booked our iconic girls weekend for June 5, the night before Sophia’s birthday so that we could fly from LA, get dinner and ring in her birthday at midnight together.
We landed at 7pm with our suitcases filled with planned outfits for the weekend, tripods, portable lights and my camera (of course). We rushed from the airport, checked into the Setai, got ready in 30 minutes and landed at Swan for Sophia’s birthday evening. From hamachi sashimi and calamari, to short rib pasta and margarita pizza, we indulged on the yummiest dinner. Then, we surprised Sophia with a birthday assortment filled with ice cream, warm chocolate chip cookies, cake and a candle for her to make a wish. From there, we took shots at Cipriani, ate more cake, and made our way to E11even to celebrate some more. By 7am, we decided to make our way home to pace ourselves for the rest of the event filled weekend.
Hungover but happy, we woke up at 11am with no sleep cracking jokes about the night before. Slowly we made our way to the beach club, ordered watermelon juice, grilled cheese, fries and coconut water for the ultimate cure. A short nap later, we woke up to enjoy the next night at the best Italian restaurant, Carbone, for dinner and went out with friends afterwards.
On our last day, we went back to the Setai beach club during the afternoon and got drip IVs that came to us poolside to prepare us for one last celebration. The Logal Paul and Mayweather fight was in the evening, so we knew it would be a fun night. Cramming 30 excited girls into a party bus, we danced the entire way to the Hard Rock Stadium and took turns dancing in the middle. The traffic was unsurprisingly brutal, and one of the most hilarious moments of the whole trip was pulling off to a gas station to pee. Following the train of girls around the back of the gas station covered by some bushes, I thought we were walking to the bathroom. But as I turned the corner, there were half of the girls peppered in the grass with their pants around their ankles, peeing behind the gas station. I had to pee so bad that I joined them, squatted down with my bare butt to the building, relieved myself and walked back around the corner to the bus where we all pretended nothing happened. Iconic.
Relieved, our huge group finally pulled into the stadium and made our way to the suites for the the Logan Paul vs Mayweather fight, eating pizza, popcorn, and chicken tenders to wash it down with alcohol. It was a blast. We left the stadium to hit E11even one last time, dancing along to performances by G-Eazy and Swae Lee. Money around our feet, dancers everywhere you look and drinks in hand, we ended Miami with the best vibes and my best friends. I couldn’t have asked for more.
In the morning, Sohni jetted off to Berlin to reunite with her fiancé, while Sophia talked me into flying to New York with her to shoot with photographers and update our modeling portfolios. You know me; I’ll never turn down an opportunity to level up my career.
Photographers in New York are on a whole different level, not that LA photographers are bad, they are just different. LA is known for commercial style photography, beachside photoshoots and that relaxed So Cal, west coast living vibe, while the big apple is known for its high fashion, editorial style studio shoots. Everything is so different from the styling, to the makeup, to the final edits of the photos. Having a variety of images in your portfolio to showcase all of these different ways is so important as a model. And since I just chopped my hair off, it was a must.
Shot, styled and edited by Bryan Whitely
We made our way to New York for 3 days, with photoshoots lined up back-to-back. I wanted a fun opportunity to present itself, and I got it! Check out the amazing images I got for my book in New York.
Shot and edited by Nick Suarez, styled by Alex Hall
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