Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Cabo Pano

On March 12, 2015, I was unaware of how my life would be changed by an impromptu ‘adult spring break’ trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Only ten months after starting my first real job, I decided it was time for me to get out and do what I do best: travel and meet new people. Growing up, my mom traveled all over the states for her job and she would bring me with her as often as she could get me out of school. Traveling is second nature for me and it was time for me to get out of my comfort zone.

I live by the idea – work hard // play hard – and I had spent the previous ten months focused solely on my job and bettering myself for my future. I did work hard, and while I took days off here and there, I hadn’t left home since before I graduated college. So much has changed since I left college in such a short period of time. So many positive things have happened, but with that, some negatives too. I hadn’t taken a serious moment to think and realize how important it is to stop and smell the roses. Advertising is a fast paced, fast moving industry which fits perfectly with my personality and skill set, but what I had failed to acknowledge is the need for reflection and self actualization in the midst of chaos. Vacation and traveling to new places brings you to a place where you can find more about yourself, who you are, what you want, and what you are going to do to get it. I was fortunate to have numerous opportunities growing up to have these kind of experiences, but now that I am the only person in control of my life, I’ve found the importance in forcing yourself to get out of your zone for a bit in order to reconnect. Without further a due, here is the story of the most amazing trip I’ve experienced.

Nightlife

On our first night in Cabo, we hit the town. I was shocked that the bars/clubs were actually not half bad. I’ve visited other Mexican towns and cities but Cabo’s nightlife was similar to places I’ve been to in America. First we visited Pink Kitty, from there it was a back and forth between Vaquero, Mandala and El Squid Row. During the day, we hit Mango Deck where all the college spring breakers were partying. It was pretty sick. Not much elaboration needed here – go if you want to see how bad a$* of a time it is.

lastnight

The Boat

On our second day in Cabo we met someone who we now consider a dear friend – Saul! – who would offer us a nice private boat ride to the Arch (famous landmark in Cabo). What we didn’t know we would experience is seeing over a dozen mother whales with their babies breeching in and out of the water. It was incredible. Another exciting unexpected event was not one but two BIG fish caught. A 100 pound marlin and a 30 pound fish (I forget what it was called :P). That was a great experience for the guys on the boat. We drank, danced, swam, fished and had way too much fun for a total of six hours on the water. I would do anything to do it again. After we got off the boat, some of the group was able to eat the fish we caught. The rest of us (the singles) went to Mango Deck for some margs!
boat

the crew

The Beach/Hotel

Our hotel was all inclusive and let me just say I think I can speak for all of us that our workout regimens and diets pre-trip were completely destroyed during and post trip. But it was so worth it! The rooms were perfectly air conditioned, the pool with a swim up bar was right down the hall, and my favorite – the beach – was just beyond the pool. We played sand volleyball on the beach, threw a football closer to the water, and took TONS of GoPro footage in the water. It was pure bliss.

beach     beach volley

I could write a novel about this trip and will definitely add to this rendition, but for now I will leave it at this.

I LOVE CABO <3

whale

Call Me Tweet Me

hashtag

The Twitter revolution is upon us. Teens, pre-teens and young adults are doing it- twittering and tweeting all day long (yes-I like to call it twittering). All the hype caught the attention of many fortune 500 companies and popular television shows. Business owners are learning the benefit of using Twitter to raise brand awareness and generate leads. It’s become apparent that the value of the hashtag is higher than ever. #GetWithIt or #GetLost.

Twitter in a nutshell: born in 2006, the most current social media platform used to promote oneself or one’s business in 140 or less characters per tweet (message).

Personal Impact? I get the most current news before it’s ever aired on TV, written in a newspaper, or blogged about online. I prefer to follow the nationwide news networks such as The Associated Press @AP, @CNN, @FoxNews and CNN Breaking News @CNNbrk. I also follow local networks, such as @WFAAChannel8, @Fox4, @CBSDFW and @NBCDFW. I knew about the missing Malaysian airplane before Malaysia even knew it was missing. #Whoah (not really-but close).

I also use it to keep up with my Twitter-saavy friends who tweet about their Chipotle burritos, favorite song lyrics, today’s #OOTD (outfit of the day) or last weekend’s festivities. Sometimes I wish I had more time to tweet my daily activities. *Sigh*

Ever heard of live tweeting? That’s fun too:  you can tweet with real live celebrities while your favorite TV shows are on air. I have successfully done it and am proud to say Amy Yancey of AE’s Flipping Vegas and I tweet. Just because it was once doesn’t mean it won’t happen again. She follows me.

Business Impact? The good news is, nearly any size business can use Twitter in the same way. Who wouldn’t want to join in on free brand awareness?  It isn’t hard to come to the realization that nearly every major brand has a Twitter handle. The possibilities are endless. Delta created a Twitter handle specifically for customer service. They answer questions and complaints from customers through tweets. McDonalds gives out free prizes through their twitter handle. That’s right- FREE! #OMG #SuperSizeMe Levi Strauss & Co. tweets about current sales and promotions going on in stores. Learn about upcoming sales at favorite clothing stores before anyone else! Need some humor in your life? Oreo uses their Twitter handle to tweet pictures of Oreos featuring funny messages throughout the day. Brand awareness at its finest. Note to self- don’t scroll through Twitter feed during mid-afternoon productivity lull.

But wait – there’s more! Now you can ADVERTISE on Twitter. Crazy, right? Wrong. The strategy is very similar to Facebook if not identical. You can target as broad or as narrow as you please. You pick your main goal whether it be profile views, site views, engagement, leads etc. Finally you decide whether you’d like Twitter to automatically optimize the campaign/budget for you – or if you know how – you can manually optimize. These days you can advertise practically anywhere online. Except Instagram. They still think they’re too cool for all that (unless you’re Disney or Fossil). We shall see if this changes.. LinkedIn has also started swimming in the advertising pool. This should take off pretty quickly as it is also set up in the same way as Facebook and Twitter. Back to the main topic.

How many people use Twitter these days? According to DMR (Digital Marketing Ramblings), there are approximately 255 million Twitter users as of April 2014. Facebook still has a remarkably larger amount of users, coming in at an estimated 1.28 billion users as of April 2014. Instagram has almost tied with Twitter: 200 million users as of March 2014. Another one you might be familiar with: Pinterest, which has 70 million users as of July 2013

Join the revolution. Follow the me at @MaryERobb 🙂

Cabo Wabo

arch

On March 12, 2015, I was unaware of how my life would be changed by an impromptu ‘adult spring break’ trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Only ten months after starting my first real job, I decided it was time for me to get out and do what I do best: travel and meet new people. Growing up, my mom traveled all over the states for her job and she would bring me with her as often as she could get me out of school. Traveling is second nature for me and it was time for me to get out of my comfort zone.

I live by the idea – work hard // play hard – and I had spent the previous ten months focused solely on my job and bettering myself for my future. I did work hard, and while I took days off here and there, I hadn’t left home since before I graduated college. So much has changed since I left college in such a short period of time. So many positive things have happened, but with that, some negatives too. I hadn’t taken a serious moment to think and realize how important it is to stop and smell the roses. Advertising is a fast paced, fast moving industry which fits perfectly with my personality and skill set, but what I had failed to acknowledge is the need for reflection and self actualization in the midst of chaos. Vacation and traveling to new places brings you to a place where you can find more about yourself, who you are, what you want, and what you are going to do to get it. I was fortunate to have numerous opportunities growing up to have these kind of experiences, but now that I am the only person in control of my life, I’ve found the importance in forcing yourself to get out of your zone for a bit in order to reconnect. Without further a due, here is the story of the most amazing trip I’ve experienced.

Nightlife

On our first night in Cabo, we hit the town. I was shocked that the bars/clubs were actually not half bad. I’ve visited other Mexican towns and cities but Cabo’s nightlife was similar to places I’ve been to in America. First we visited Pink Kitty, from there it was a back and forth between Vaquero, Mandala and El Squid Row. During the day, we hit Mango Deck where all the college spring breakers were partying. It was pretty sick. Not much elaboration needed here – go if you want to see how bad a$* of a time it is.

lastnight

The Boat

On our second day in Cabo we met someone who we now consider a dear friend – Saul! – who would offer us a nice private boat ride to the Arch (famous landmark in Cabo). What we didn’t know we would experience is seeing over a dozen mother whales with their babies breeching in and out of the water. It was incredible. Another exciting unexpected event was not one but two BIG fish caught. A 100 pound marlin and a 30 pound fish (I forget what it was called :P). That was a great experience for the guys on the boat. We drank, danced, swam, fished and had way too much fun for a total of six hours on the water. I would do anything to do it again. After we got off the boat, some of the group was able to eat the fish we caught. The rest of us (the singles) went to Mango Deck for some margs!
boat

the crew

The Beach/Hotel

Our hotel was all inclusive and let me just say I think I can speak for all of us that our workout regimens and diets pre-trip were completely destroyed during and post trip. But it was so worth it! The rooms were perfectly air conditioned, the pool with a swim up bar was right down the hall, and my favorite – the beach – was just beyond the pool. We played sand volleyball on the beach, threw a football closer to the water, and took TONS of GoPro footage in the water. It was pure bliss.

beachbeach volley

I could write a novel about this trip and will definitely add to this rendition, but for now I will leave it at this.

I LOVE CABO <3

whale hat