2 Easy Hairstyles | For School

Hello again! While looking through my poll I noticed that the "easy hairstyles" column had the most votes, so I decided to show you guys two easy hairstyles for school, or really any day during the week! These are personally two of my favorite hairstyles to do because they are quick, simple, and cute! I also recently cut off about eight inches of my hair, and I used to do these before I cut my hair so both of these hairstyles work for short and long hair. If you find this hard to follow, I recommend going onto YouTube and looking up hairstyles, because from watching many videos it helped me learn! If you interested in some more complicated hairstyles I recommend checking out CuteGirlsHairstyles, they have many cool hair tutorials that were really helpful to me when I practiced braiding. Anyway, let's get on into a couple of my favorite easy school hairstyles!

These are the two hairstyles I will be showing you how to do:

 This one is a double twist pinned towards the back, I am calling this one the "Double Twist Pullback."

Then this one is a french dutch braid into a half up half done, this one is a bit more challenging. I am calling this hairstyle "Dutch Braid Half up Half Down"

Double Twist Pullback

Items Needed: Brush, bobby pins, hairspray {optional}

Time Requirement: 3 minutes

Skill Level: Easy

1. Part your hair, you can have any part you would like I just prefer it slightly to the side
2. Pick up a small section of hair and split into 2 sections, then gradually add small chunks at a time at the front of your face. Keep doing this till you have the amount of hair you like.
3. Then pick up another section and tuck the twist underneath, last pin in place.
4. Repeat to the other side, and use a little hairspray to hold it all together

Dutch Braid Half up Half Down

Items Needed: Brush, bobby pins, hair elastics, comb for parting, and hairspray {optional}

Time Requirement: 10-15 minutes

Skill Level: Medium

1. Start by parting your hair much deeper on one side than the other, then part from your ear to the top, and secure the rest of your hair into a ponytail to keep it out of the way.
2. Pick up a small section to start your braid off, and gradually add hair to both sides after each stich of the braid. Braid underneath instead of on top, to get the illusion that it is "popping out" and not blending into your head. Then secure that with a smaller hair elastic.
3. Use your fingers to part the rest of your hair and add the braid in, then secure that with another elastic.
4. Brush through the rest of your hair, add a little hairspray or some bobby pins to fix any bumps, and you're finished!

I hope you enjoyed those hairstyles, and that this blog post was helpful! This was a ton of fun to make, and I completely recommend these for school, they don't take much time at all and they look really cute! I've worn these many times to school, and have received many compliments when wearing them :) Until next time!

~ Marea

What's in my Dance Bag!

Hello everybody, I hope you all are having a wonderful week! For this post, I am going to be showing you what's in my dance bag! This year I have been dancing a lot more, which is really fun, but that means I have to carry more things. I don't carry all of these things every time I go to dance, but these are some things that I think are important to keep in your dance bag!

To start I will be showing you my dance bag, I usually bring this one because it has my studio name on it, and it's a string bag which I like. I also keep this rad keychain my friend Mikelle got me from Paris :)

In my studio there is a water fountain, but I prefer to keep a water bottle in the studio all the time, that way I can get a drink whenever I need to. Sometimes I like to bring ice tea too, but mostly water! I also like to keep food, because I. love. food. I choose a peanut butter, chocolate chip bar which tastes pretty good! I usually bring some type of snack to keep going, usually some type of granola bar.

Next, I keep my uniform in my bag, for my jazz class we are required to wear one so I always keep that for class. Since they are leggings, I also like to keep a pair of shorts in my bag incase it gets hot. Usually black ones, but sometimes colored ones too. My shirt, is just this solid black top that is pretty tight, but fits nicely. You can't see in this picture but if on the other sides the straps go across my back.

Then of course my dance shoes! I have jazz shoes, which I'm not a huge fan of, but I have them for performing. I also have half soles, which are my favorite, they are extremely helpful when turning or working on technique. I have a leather pair and softer fabric pair which I got just recently. Then, I have toe undies which I use to use a lot, but now I prefer half soles. Lastly, I keep a pair of socks, just in case if I feel like wearing those one day. Plus they are very comfortable!

Lately, it has been getting colder so I like to keep a pair of black sweats in my bag to put on afterwards. I also always keep some type of sweatshirt or hoodie in my bag so I don't get cold, the one I have is from Aeropostale.

Lastly, I keep some hair ties, bobby pins, and a mini hairbrush just in case my hair gets messy. Which usually it does, so these come in handy. Plus I'm always the type of person to looses their bobby pins frequently, so it's good to keep some extra. Anyone else the same way?

That is everything I keep in my dance bag! I hope you enjoyed this post, it was a lot of fun to do, and I appreciate anyone to anyone that takes time out of their day to read my blog. It's super cool to have people read about what I have to say, I would also like to mention that I will have one more blog post up in the next couple days! I have also noticed the more I write the more I enjoy it, although it is finals week at school I will make time for this blog! Anyone else feeling the pressure to get all your work done? I know I am.

Anyway, I am getting very off topic so I better go! Bye!
~ Marea

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes + Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting | DIY Halloween Treat

Hello Everybody! I got into a very fall like mood, and decided to bake some cupcakes! This week I am going to be showing you how to make some easy pumpkin spice cupcakes, with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. I used the website Allrecipes and followed most of the procedures there, but I changed a tiny bit of the ingredients, but they still turned out absolutely delicious! I completely recommend this recipe, it creates a delicious desert for the evening or even a sweet breakfast item! 

Ingredients for the cupcakes: 

 
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup milk

and of course the pumpkin puree! (1 cup)

Frosting Ingredients 

1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese

1/4 cup butter, softened

3 cups of confections sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon 

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This will make about 24 cupcakes, and as for the frosting I did one half of those ingredients because I'm not a huge frosting fan, but if you like a lot of frosting the above amounts are recommended.

Start by preheating your own to 375 degrees F, and line you cupcakes tin with liners. 

Then into a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Then set that aside. 

Next beat the white sugar, butter, and brown sugar into another mixing bowl until it is light and fluffy.

 This about the color it should look, after you beat together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.

 Add in the room temperature eggs one at a time.

 Lastly, add in the milk and pumpkin puree, and beat it together.

 The batter should look something similar to this:

Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 of the way up with the batter.

Bake them in the preheated over for about 20-25 minutes until they are golden brown at the top. Cool them for about 5 minutes, then place them onto a cooling rack. 

While the cupcakes are cooling, it't time to make the frosting! To start, beat together the softened butter and cream cheese. 

 Add in the sugar, then cinnamon, and vanilla extract.

Lastly, my favorite part is decorating them! I didn't do much with these cupcakes, but if you have fall/halloween sprinkles I recommend decorating them with those! I did some as more of a muffin with a tiny bit of frosting, and others with much more frosting! These delicious treats are good for parties, and they are really fun to make with friends! 

I hope you enjoyed this weeks blog post! I had a ton of fun making these cupcakes, and I totally recommend these. They taste absolutely incredible! Don't forget to store these into air tight containers, or put plastic wrap over the top of them.  These cupcakes totally remind me of the fall time, which is one of my favorite parts of the year. They are super festive, and if you added some sprinkles they would be even cuter! Unfortunately, I didn't have any fall sprinkles, so I just kept it simple. I also had an idea if you wanted to create these as more of a muffin style, you could add in some chocolate chips into the batter and not use any frosting. I have't tried it before, but pumpkin and chocolate definitely makes for a good combination. I also realized I'm not a big fan of pumpkin pie, but I absolutely love these cupcakes, they aren't too sweet and the frosting tastes super good with the cupcakes!

I also looking forward to some more halloween and fall related posts. I created a poll, and I would appreciate if you could vote of some of the options you would like to see in the future! If you want to see more baking posts I would love to make them too, maybe some Christmas cookies, or a layered cake! I have gotten more and more into baking recently, and found that I really enjoy doing it. 

Well, that's all for now, bye!

~ Marea