Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

What to Do in Japan in the Springtime

Published on February 26, 2016February 25, 2016 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle6 Comments

I marked Japan off my bucket list a few years ago. I spent four glorious days in Tokyo. In those four days, I kept saying to myself, When can I come back? The people are kind, the city is pristine, and the residents take pride in their city. The mix of old world and modern strikes the perfect balance. I had only four days to explore the city, so on my next trip, I’m going to hit the following spots for sure and continue to fall in love with Japan.

Osaka, Japan

Osaka, Japan, is the second largest city in Japan, behind Tokyo, with 19 million residents. It is known as the food capital of Japan and manufactures the best sake in the world. In the springtime, Osaka holds the Osaka Asian Film Festival, where movie makers from all over Asia show their films in search of notoriety and distribution. Although Osaka is a modern city, I also want to check out the many shrines and temples. I love cherry blossoms, and the Osaka Castle houses an enormous cherry blossom garden. Spring is the perfect time to catch them in full bloom.

Osaka

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Kyoto, Japan

Whereas Osaka is the food capital, Kyoto, Japan, is known as the cultural capital. Not a modern city like other cities in Japan, Kyoto is more culturally significant to Japanese ancient history. The city houses over 20% of the most popular shrines, castles, and temples in all of Japan. In the spring, Kyoto holds a festival called Aoi Matsuri. The festival has been a tradition in Japan for over 1,000 years. The festival consists of a procession and the shrine rites. Another popular attraction in Kyoto is the Sagano Bamboo Forest. CNN called it one of the top places you need to see before you die. I can’t think of a better endorsement than that.

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Sapporo, Japan

When I visited Tokyo, I drank enough Sapporo to drown a fish. It’s one of my favorite beers, and even thought it’s no longer brewed in Sapporo, Japan, it originated there, and the company sponsors the city’s annual beer festival, which takes place in the summer. In the springtime, I would make a stop at Odori Park and check out the Sapporo Snow Festival. In 2016, it was the festival’s 66th year. Food stalls serve food and drinks from all regions of Japan, and the snow sculptures feature recent pop culture themes, such as Star Wars.

sapporo

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Fukuoka, Japan

My Japan adventure would end with a bit of literary history, Japanese style. Every spot I visit, I try to find a place to get inspired for my writing, and what better place for inspiration than the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine. The Umasake Clan built the shrine over the grave of Michizane, a gifted student who composed poems but was exiled by the Kyoto royal family to Fukuoka, Japan, in 905. Upon his death, the royal family mysteriously perished in a fire started by lightning striking the castle. Perhaps it was payback for the student’s exile. Later, the Fukuoka government named Michizane the god of literature. Now, how’s that for a story?

Fukuoka

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Hipmunk Hotels: Strange sites in San Luis Obispo, Carlsbad, Marina Del Ray, Monterey and Costa Mesa

Published on February 25, 2016 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle1 Comment

I stumbled upon some interesting, strange, and weird sites in my bucket list research, all in California. I haven’t ventured into California a lot, but with finding these crazy things, I have to move this state back to the top.

San Luis Obispo, California

San Luis Obispo, California is a small town, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Spanish Missionaries founded the city in 1772, making it one of America’s oldest communities. I want to check out the eccentric Madonna Inn, a stop on Season 14’s The Bachelor. Bubble Gum Alley is another strange spot. Since 1960, people have stuck their used chewing gum to the walls of the alley. Locals have made several attempts to clean it up, but people continue to visit and contribute to the collection.

obispo

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Carlsbad, California

Situated between Los Angeles and San Diego, Carlsbad, California is a quaint, but active seaside town. It’s home to the world famous La Costa Golf Resort and is the headquarters for several golf club manufactures such as Calloway and TaylorMade. If golf isn’t your thing, maybe Lego is. For the Star Wars geek in me, I have to check out the Star Wars Miniland at Legoland California with replicas of ships, figures, and people from the famous science fiction franchise.

carlsbad

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Marina Del Ray, California

Marina Del Ray, California is a unique attraction in itself. The unincorporated community houses the largest man-made marina in the world. It took from 1887 to 1965 to complete the construction of Marina Del Rey. A vision of real estate developer M.C. Wicks, he wanted the Marina to be a viable commercial harbor. With millions of visitors per year, many hotels, from budget to resorts, sprung up to support the thriving business.

Monterey, California

In Monterey, California, you’re just as likely to see a sea lion, harbor seal, and bat ray, as you’re to see people. I’m hoping to see one of the city’s famous residents, such as Clint Eastwood or Herman Edwards, a former NLF coach and player. It was also the home of John Steinbeck, who based his famous novel Cannery Row on the Cannery Row area in Monterey. I can’t wait to walk in his footsteps and absorb the city he loved. The many seaside hotels make it easy to enjoy the sites of Monterey.

Costa Mesa, California

Every year in the spring, Costa Mesa hosts the Orange County Fair, which started in 1890. Many hotels have cropped up in Costa Mesa to accommodate the millions of visitors each year. The fair has evolved over the years from a three-day festival with races and livestock exhibitions to a twenty-three day festival with big name performances, competitions, exhibits and rides. The bizarre culinary offerings are one of the most unique features of the fair. No where else could you get a Krispy Kreme Doughnut Sloppy Joe. I can’t wait to sample the offerings from the many food trucks that make Costa Mesa their home for the twenty-three day festival.

Costa Mesa

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Across the Hall by Kylie Walker – Book Blitz

Published on February 24, 2016February 22, 2016 by Sydney Aaliyah MichelleLeave a comment

Across the Hall
Kylie Walker
Publication date: February 24th 2016
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Jude Falken has just been released from prison on good behavior. He’s hot as hell, owns one of the largest fashion empires & has women coming and going day and night. A delivery girl that shows up at his loft leaves him intrigued.

She’s gorgeous, shy & totally off limits.

She’s his best friend’s little sister.

Jude knows better, he swore he wouldn’t go there.

After returning from a year long internship in Paris, Jillian Warren is back in her hometown of Manhattan and steering clear of men. Her new neighbor has her curious, wanting to know more. Her roommate & brother keeps telling her stay away but she can’t. As their worlds collide, Jillian soon finds out there is a darker side to Jude and she will soon be fighting her own emotions and memories of the one man she left in Paris. Her past will soon catch up with her. She will be forced to decide.

Big brother’s best friend or the hurtful memories of her past in Paris.

Goodreads / Amazon

EXCERPT:

Jillian sat down on his plush new sofa and said, “Your apartment is really nice. Did you decorate it yourself?”

He nodded. “I did. I’d much rather have what I like on the walls than what some decorator tells me I should have.”

“Me too,” she said, honestly. “You have a great eye for colors and space…what is it you do for a living?”

“I’m into fashion like you,” he said, taking a seat on the other side of her. He was less than three feet away now and she was alone in his apartment. That wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t keep picturing herself locking lips with him. She hoped that he couldn’t see her sweat as her internal temperature continued to rise. He didn’t say any more about his job so she said,

“So you bought the Galvan in Paris. Was that your first trip there?”

“No, I’ve been there a lot. I love it there…just the atmosphere and all of the culture.”

Jillian remembered saying that exact thing to Maddy a couple of weeks ago. She was realizing that she and Jude actually seemed to have a lot in common. “So do I,” she said. “I saw so many great art and fashion shows while I was there.”

“Did you get to be there for fashion week?”

“I did! I got to see a show at the Carrousel du Louvre!”

“I was at that one. It was great!”

Jillian found herself wishing she would have met him then. Maybe she would have never met the other man that she’d spent her summer with and left broken-hearted. They talked for half an hour about the fashions coming out this year and she asked him about his family.

“My father passed away a few years ago. It’s just me and my mom now. I’m an only child.”

“Oh, I’m not sure what I would have done without Ethan.”

“Where is that brother of ours?” he asked with a wink.

“He’s in Las Vegas…Sin City for three weeks.”

“Uh oh, look out!”

She laughed. “And that is as much of my brother’s exploits that I want to discuss.” She sat her empty glass down and stood up. “Thank you for the drink Jude, and the conversation. I should take off…”

“So soon?” He stood too and gave her a hot, smoldering look that ignited the fire in her belly.

She was suddenly burning up from the inside out. She had to go…or she wasn’t going to. She smiled and stepped past him. She felt him right behind her as she reached for the door handle.

“Jillian…” his voice was deep and sexy and she knew turning towards him was going to be a mistake…but she did it anyways. As soon as she did his lips met hers and he nudged her back against the wall. She parted her lips and he pressed one hand into the wall and wrapped the other around her waist and pulled her into his hard body as he let his warm, wet tongue snake into her mouth. The taste and the feel of him was intoxicating and before long her own hands were feeling the hard flesh of his back and sliding around to trace the outline of his chest muscles underneath his shirt. She felt him lifting her skirt up and something in her brain was telling her to stop him…but her body was in charge at the moment.

He touched the crotch of her thong and her body exploded in a gush of warm fluid and chills that ran up and down her spine. He rubbed her through her panties and she couldn’t bring herself to tell him to stop. It felt so good and she wanted him so bad…when his fingers slid underneath the elastic and made contact with her hot flesh, her head felt like it exploded. He slid the hand on the wall down and gripped her ass with it as he used his fingers to pleasure her.

The whole time his tongue wrestled with hers and explored every curve and crevice of her mouth. It didn’t take long before her body was shaking and she was crying out in ecstasy as the orgasm washed over her in wave after wave of pure bliss. Jude waited for her to stop shaking before pulling his hand back and moving his mouth over to the side of her face next to her ear, “I need to see you again,” he whispered in a strangled voice.

Jillian couldn’t stop shaking. She wasn’t even sure her legs would carry her across the hall. In a voice she hardly recognized she said, “I have to go.” She turned the door handle behind her and Jude took a step back and watched her go. The desire she saw on his face burned through her like a hot poker. Who the hell is this man?

Author Bio:

Subscribe to Kylie’s list here by copying and pasting in the url: http://bit.ly/1zUsi4l

A true Canadian at heart, although I love to travel anywhere warm.

I am a book addict, coffee addict, a wine addict and a writer!

Debut Series: SCARRED

All 6 parts are live!

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Deep Chicago Underground by Skye Warren – Book Blitz

Published on February 23, 2016February 22, 2016 by Sydney Aaliyah MichelleLeave a comment

I am a huge fan of Skye Warren. Talk about emotional writing. Check out th exceprt below and then buy the book. It’s going to be good. – Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

Deep
Skye Warren
(Chicago Underground, #7)
Publication date: February 23rd 2016
Genres: Adult, Romance

Dark. Powerful. Dangerous.

Philip Mason has all of Chicago under his thumb. Except me.

We met in a perfect storm of violence and lust. He saved me and then disappeared from my life. Now I pretend I never knew that kind of darkness. I focus on midterms and campus parties, as if they can wipe the slate clean.

Then he turns up outside my dorm room—wounded and barely conscious. He’s the head of a crime syndicate, a powerful man, but he needs me now. There are traitors in his midst.

I can help him, but I can’t fall for him.

Not again.

Goodreads / Amazon

EXCERPT:

It was dark outside, grown late, and I hadn’t eaten dinner yet. Somewhere out there, Philip was probably dining with crystal and expensive wine. Meanwhile I’d probably order a pizza with one of those coupons by the door.

A low sound raised the hair on my neck.

Oh God, I’m not alone.

My gaze swept over the small dorm room. From here I could see the tiny bedroom area and the kitchenette. I could see almost the entire space. Empty.

Maybe it was just one of my neighbors getting busy and—

The sound came again, louder. A shiver ran through me. It was coming from outside the room, but not from either side. It was coming from the door.

I crept over and looked out the peephole. An empty hallway bulged in the distorted lens.

Now I was doubting myself. Had I actually heard something? Maybe it had come from the dorm room across the hall. When I first moved here, it had been shortly after my “ordeal,” as my adoptive mother called it. I had jumped at every sound, both real and imagined, more traumatized by my brush with danger than I’d wanted to admit.

My gaze snapped to my phone.

I could call my adoptive mother right now, but I knew she wouldn’t want to be bothered. I could call the building management, but I knew what would happen. The same thing that had happened last time I called them. They’d send my floor advisor to check on me. If there was anything scary in this hallway, she’d have to face it first.

And if there wasn’t anything scary, if it was my imagination again, the PTSD I didn’t want to acknowledge, well then everyone would know how fucked up I was inside.

No, I had to be overreacting. This was nothing. There was no one in the hallway. And even if there was, it would be some drunk guy, passed out on the wrong floor.

I’m a normal college student, I reminded myself. I’m not afraid of anything.

Both of those things were lies, I was neither normal nor brave, but at least I could send a drunk frat boy on his way.

I opened the door a crack. Nothing.

Relief filled me, and I opened the door wider.

A body slid inside, slumped over without the door to support him. A short scream escaped me before I caught myself.

He was wearing a three-piece suit stained with blood, his expression slack, eyes glassy with pain and delirium. Philip.

Oh God, he was hurt. Really badly hurt if he couldn’t stand up. Horribly hurt if he’d ever have come to me of all people. I didn’t have time to process the shock of it, of seeing him again. I had to get him out of sight. If he’d been injured like this, someone was after him. Someone would want to finish the job.

Author Bio:

Skye Warren is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of dark romance. Her books are raw, sexual and perversely tender.

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Hipmunk Hotels: Interesting Sites in Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, Dunwoody, Louisville and Baton Rouge

Published on February 22, 2016February 22, 2016 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle1 Comment

My bucket list is taking me back down south. I found a few small cities big time attractions I can’t wait to check out. A few sports highlights, adventure to a galaxy far, far away, a place to quench your thirst and a trip to the past to top it all off.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

My favorite genre to read and to write is sports romance. So any chance I get, I like to experience a sport spectacle. One of the best places to immerse yourself in college life is at the University of Alabama. Located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the Crimson Tide are loyal and enthusiastic fans. Stay at many of the hotels near campus and you can’t help but get caught up in the excitement of college football in this historic setting.

Photo provided by Robbie Faulkner via Trover.com

Huntsville, Alabama

I really, really, really wanted to go to space camp when I was a kid. After watching that movie, pilot school was in my future. I saw myself living on the International Space Station. The dream ended when I failed freshman science. Huntsville, Alabama is the home of Space Camp and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, the largest museum dedicated to the US space program. Every year thousands of kids descend on Huntsville and attend Space Camp. These future scientists get to learn first hand what it’s like to live and work as an astronaut without leaving earth. The Center houses replicates of some of the most iconic rockets in NASA history. With a Marriott hotel right on campus stay close to the action and explore the many exhibits and demos at the Center.

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Dunwoody, Georgia

Dunwoody, Georgia is a small suburb of Atlanta. As the birth place of Ryan Seacrest, Dunwoody is a laid back town with a historic vibe. Although discovered in the late 1800, it wasn’t incorporated into a city until 2008. You can check into a hotel on the square and walk to the many restaurants and bars in the area. I found a spot that is a must to experience, especially if you like beer. Moondog Growlers offers craft beer tastings daily and if you find one you like, pick up a Growler and fill it up from the tap to take home.

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Louisville, Kentucky

If baseball is your thing, a stop at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory in Louisville, Kentucky is a must. The museum has several interactive attractions and a perfect place to learn enough about baseball to impress the most rabid fan. Get your picture taken next to the largest steel bat in the world. Take a few swings in the batting cages and check out some of the great players and their bats from major league baseball.

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Baton Rouge, Louisiana

I would conclude my trip with a step into history, literally. At Louisiana State University, they have created the Rural Museum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The museum is known as one of the best outdoor museums in the world. The museum’s mission is to preserve the way of life in the south in the 18th and 19th century. The museum includes several free-standing structures from the time and many artifacts used in everyday life during this time period. There are hotels right on campus for you to stay and visit this and other cool attractions in this college/capital town.

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