Final Post

To the the very few people who read my blog: 

Wow.

It has been a very long, stressful yet short school year. Throughout the year I started this blog as part of an English assignment. At first, I was actually pretty excited about creating a blog, and the idea of being able to design it how I wanted it. Through this process I learned that in fact in some ways I did enjoy blogging and other times when I didn't. Some days it became work that I didn't want to do but other days my blog became a place to vent where I could share my thoughts about certain topics that I might not discuss with friends/family.

As a result of my blogging journey I have grown in a couple of ways. One being that I do occasionally enjoy expressing my thoughts through this platform. I have enjoyed writing since I was young but never had a blog as a platform for my ideas. While I can enjoy blogging at times I have made the decision that I will most likely not continue to do so. I might post here and there, on certain experiences I have had but do not expect as frequent of posts as I have been doing. Without assignments to keep me on track to continuing to post I will most likely not have the motivation to continue. Honestly, it is not the writing that I don't want to do I just don't think my life interesting enough to write about. 

You change a lot in one day, let alone an entire year. I have grown a lot as a person even in the last year, but to be perfectly honest blogging was not a big part of that. I don't really have many thoughts about blogging except that I usually crammed 3 posts in about one night haha. 

Even though I didn't love blogging, it was definitely a positive experience. This blog will be good to look back on my first year of high school, and is almost like a reflection. I might laugh and think that this is totally silly, and ridiculous. Or cringe at my word choice and the topics I wrote about, or maybe even smile when I look back at this. Reguardless, I am glad I got the experience of writing on a regular basis through this platform. There were a lot of stressful nights of cramming all my work, but I did it.

It almost feels weird that I am saying "goodbye" to this blog and a part of me is sad even though close to no people read my blog... haha 

Photo: Taken by my camera's self timer

Well, thanks for a good time blog. 

Until next time.

~ Marea

Why Divergent is NOT just some Hunger Games Copy

Today I would like to talk about something that has been highly debated on the social media accounts that I follow. *If you do not care about either THG or Divergent series and think it's "stupid" or "clique" please do not keep reading.*

*sorry one is the book cover and one is the movie, I couldn't find a high quality image*

Image Courtesy of: playbuzz

This would be whether or not The Hunger Games or Divergent are the same or "similar." Today, I am going to be talking about why they are NOT the same, but how they are very much different stories. Whether or not you prefer one to the other, that is a matter of opinion. Everyone likes and dislikes different things, while I am a big fan of the Divergent Series, The Hunger Games is VERY different. Most people know what these both are, but if you don't know what either of these are click here for more in depth information about Divergent, and here for The Hunger Games.

To start I would like to acknowledge that there are both dystopian trilogy's narrated by young women, BUT the plots of these and the characters journeys are VERY different.

To start here are quick summaries of the books:

THG:
In the Hunger Games society they will pick a male and a female from each "district" and will place them in an arena to fight to the death, for simple their entertainment. Katniss's sister, Prim, is chosen to fight in the annual hunger games but Katniss volunteers to fight for her. There is also in a love triangle between Gale, the guy that takes care of her family, or Peeta who she seems to be falling for. She goes back and forth between the two. But *spoiler alert ahead* she ends up with Peeta. Personally, I felt like both Hunger Games and Catching Fire were basically the exact same but with a different ending. In catching fire it was another game, with Peeta and Katniss fighting for their lives. Mockingjay is the final book in the trilogy and more than one person has told me the book was too boring to finish. In the end, while there are many wars, violence, and cruelty Katniss and Peeta turn out all right. The two of them end up marrying for real and have a family.

Now onto Divergent...

 In Divergent, their society is divided up into "factions" as young teens are going into adulthood they will make the choice between staying with their family or leaving their home to a new faction, new people, and a whole new lifestyle. Before choosing your new faction, each teen will take a test that will help them make the decision of choosing their new faction. The test will offer a series of choices to be made which will then give you one result. Abnegation(selflessness), Amity(kindness), Erudite(Intelligence), Candor(Honesty), and Dauntless(Bravery.) This series follows a young girl named Tris who makes the decision to transfer into the warrior faction of bravery. This faction is called Dauntless, in this faction she learns to fight, train, and become a strong independent women. Unlike the Hunger Games, there is no love triangle in this series.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Now, to start I would like to address the whole messy love triangle in THG(The Hunger Games), Katniss's main focus is to stay alive but it is still very clear that she is struggling emotionally on who she really loves. While in Divergent, and to quote Veronica Roth, "Love triangles are great, but they're not just not a Tris thing. She's just so focused on what she wants."

Second, the society itself. Divergent's society is divided up into groups based off of traits they value such as bravery and kindness in THG is it split up into 13 different districts. In Allegiant the society has many more futuristic components than the Hunger Games.

Next, the basic plot line. In THG kids/adults can be chosen from their district to fight in a "game" till the death for simple entertainment. If you know Divergent at all that is not the case, it follows a young girl of her journey from the faction of Abnegation to Dauntless.

These are just a few of the MANY differences between THG and Divergent. While reading this I have probably said "Divergent and THG" wayyyyy too many times but here are a few websites I found that have even more reasons of why the two are not the same.

Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

Lastly - sorry if this post came off as intense, I got a little carried away haha ;)
~ Marea

"love. always. in all ways. - SW"

Over the last couple of months I have especially noticed how so many people take things for granted(myself included).

Something I noticed more so recently is some of the drama that has to do with the dance program at my school. I am not going to use names for any of the people (b/c don't get me wrong I still love all these girls), but many of them don't really appreciate the opportunity's we are given. In no way do I think the dance program at school is perfect but we still do get a lot than most students do. Especially the stage that we get to perform on is crazy big, and extremely professional. If the only thing you can think about is getting the "next best thing" or the "cuter costume" you will loose sight of what is right in front of you. We could all be a little more grateful (myself included) for the opportunities  and the community that we are surrounded in.

While I do realize that you cannot always be positive, and granted we are all allowed to have our bad days, or weeks but in the long run TRY to appreciate what you have. In no way am I even close to being perfect with this, but I swear I am trying. ;)

If you write down a list of things that  make you happy I can guarantee that at least 50% of them are the little things that truly make you happy. One book I really enjoyed recently (All the Bright Places) had a quote in it that reminds me of this, which is "The problem with people is they forget that most of the time it's the small things that count. Everyone's so busy waiting in the Waiting Place. If we stopped to remember that there's such thing as a Purina Tower and a view like this, we'd all be happier." I totally agree with this quote, and think that the point of this quote is so important.

Often, in society these days we are also constantly comparing ourselves. "She has prettier hair." "She is a better dancer." "She has cuter clothes." We get so caught up in these comparisons that when we look in the mirror you don't see you for you, you see who your not. YOU are enough, and the sooner you can realize that I'm the happier you will be :-)

Image Courtesy of: omaze

Like one of my favorite people says, "You do you, and I'll do me." If you know me personally you know who I'm talking about haha ;)

To be honest, I don't even know where I am going with this but there goes my inspirational post. I hope this made a somewhat amount of sense, I do realize my thoughts are all over the place but I tried my best. I hope this helped at least in some way and was a good reminder :)

Until next time...
~ Marea

All the Bright Places | Book Review

BOOKS!!! In the last few months, I have been really into books. At some points in grade school, I strongly disliked reading and refused to believe that there were no good books out there. Until about 6th grade I got a lot more into reading, and have been a book lover ever since. More recently, I have been reading a ton of books, and one of my favorites that I just finished is All the Bright Places.

Image Courtesy of: jenniferniven.com

All the Bright Places is a young adult coming of age novel written by Jennifer Niven. It takes place in Indiana, focusing on two characters, Finch, and Violet. They meet at the top of a bell tower, both fascinated by the idea of death. They end up being paired for a school project, and their relationship develops throughout.

I do not want to give away too much of the book, by telling you more about the plot but I can tell you some things on why I enjoyed it.

First, I really enjoyed that the novel switches point of view between the two main characters. It was interesting to read what each characters though process was. I have not read many books that switch consistently between the two characters, which I really enjoyed.

This book will also keep you hooked, I finished it in only a couple of days because I wanted to read until I finished it, definitely one of those books that you cannot put down. The plot is suspenseful and all the drama makes you want to find out more.

Of course with a boy and a girl main character, they are bound to fall in love... The love story between the two is really sweet and it really shows in the book how much they care about each other. Their relationship takes awhile to develop, which I actually enjoyed because it made it seem more realistic.

The ending is quite bittersweet, so be ready if you plan on reading this book :)) When finishing this book I actually read into the author and this story was based off of her own high school experience and her story was also quite moving. If you plan on reading this novel I recommend looking into the author, Jennifer Niven. Her story is really moving, and it helped me gain more knowledge on where some of the ideas came from for this book.

One thing I look forward to is in 2017 this book has plans to become a film! I am ecstatic about this novel becoming a movie, and I really hope that it does stay true to the book.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot and made me realize to really treasure each and every moment, and as Theodore Finch would say, "The problem with people is they forget that most of the time it's the small things that count. Everyone's so busy waiting in the Waiting Place. If we stopped to remember that there's such thing as a Purina Tower and a view like this, we'd all be happier."

Happy reading :)
- Marea

I MET SHAILENE WOODLEY???!!!!

Yes, you did read the title correctly. I MET SHAILENE WOODLEY. Now I actually feel like I can believe that dreams do come true. I dreamed for over 4 years that I could meet Shailene Woodley and on the evening of March 19th it happened.

For years, I would see Instagram pictures of Shai with all these fans, and I always got so jealous of those people. But after all that waiting I finally got the chance to meet her. 

That same morning I was just checking my Instagram feed, something I usually do. Now I would say about 90% of the accounts I follow are Divergent related so I’m usually pretty up-to-date on everything that’s going on. I saw a couple people posting pictures saying that Shailene Woodley was in Salt Lake City, Utah. The second I saw this I jumped with excitement and wanted to find out if I could meet her. While doing some research I found out she was here to volunteer to speak at these Bernie Sander’s events, she was here to participate in four different events. I scrolled through all of them and realized that you had to RSVP to these because the space was limited. The one I was planning on going to didn’t work out, but then I discovered there was one more in the evening. Since this was a little over an hour a way I wasn’t sure if I could go, but I decided to ask my parents anyway. I knew that the opportunity to meet Shailene Woodley would probably not come again so I was determined to find a way to get there. After the anticipation, my parents agreed to it, knowing that this meant a lot to me. 

The rest of the day pretty much felt like 239084 years because I mean, SHAILENE WOODLEY. My best friend, who also understands my obsession with Divergent was on and off about being able to go. In the end, it all worked out and we were both able to go.

We arrived right at 7, just when it was about to start. It was in this large library, it was pretty much this empty room with only about 30 people in it. When we first got there Shailene wasn’t there, which I was actually relieved about because I wanted to gather my thoughts before meeting my favorite human ever. Now it is about 7:06, this other guy who was speaking at the event told us she would be here in about 20 minutes. Then the real anticipation began…

To be honest, none of it felt real until I saw her with my very own eyes. When she first walked in I was in total shock. SHAILENE WOODLEY WAS STANDING 2 FEET AWAY. She is in all of my favorite movies, and she is standing RIGHT THERE. At this point my heart was racing SO fast, my palms were sweaty, and my hands were shaking.

Then some people talked and then SHE talked. Every word she said was inspiring. After she spoke for about 5 minutes, she just started to talk to different people and took photos. I didn't want to be pushy so I waited for others to go first. THEN I GOT A PHOTOGRAPH. Definitely the most surreal thing I have ever experienced, and best moment of my life. Shai is even prettier in person and all the rumors of her being so nice, THEY ARE TRUE! She is so sweet, and she even had a conversation with my parents. LIKE WHATTTTTTTT. To top it off, she even signed my Allegiant book.

Image Courtesy of: My Dad

It's probably safe to say that was the best weekend of my life so far. Hope you all had a great weekend as well, until next time.

As Shai would say, "You do you" :)

- Marea

BEST MONTH | ALLEGIANT MOVIE REVIEW

*Non Spoiler Review*
*All opinions are my own*

After the long, painful of March just waiting and waiting for this movie. It is FINALLY March 17th/18th.

*Just an FYI this is more like me fangirling about the entire experience more so than a review.*

On the evening of Thursday March 17th, I got to see Allegiant which is the third installment of The Divergent Series. I cannot even express to you how impressed I was with this film. I'm a huge fan of this series, and have been for years, so I was over the top ecstatic about seeing this movie.

I have been counting down to see this movie since last year and I did not leave the theatre disappointed. I loved every aspect of this movie, 10 out of 10 for sure. The sets were incredible, so detailed, I was mesmerized the entire time. The acting. The action. The romance GAHH. The Bureau set was SO COOL.

 If you have read the book series, many people have been skeptical about how close it would to the book. This movie was definitely closer to the book that the last one, but definitely had many changes. The changes seemed right, and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I don't recommend going into the movie thinking that it will be just like the book. Having reread the series just recently I remember pretty vividly what events happened in the book and the differences compared to the movie. There were differences, and similarities but they all worked well in the movie. I support all changes made in this movie. Overall the movie itself was incredible, the special effects were STUNNING and it was just an outstanding movie.

CAN WE JUST TAKE A MOMENT TO APPRECIATE THE FOURTRIS IN THIS MOVIE. It had more fourtris than Divergent and Insurgent combined. IT WAS SO GOOD GAHHHH. There was some conflict between the two characters which was sad, but I am glad that they included because there was actually quite some tension between the two characters in the books. I also really enjoyed how they showed what the two characters were doing separately, it made Four have more of a lead role than they did in Insurgent/Divergent.

Theo James. I don't even need to say anything, once you watch this movie you will understand.
He was just over the top amazing in this film. And of course, Shailene Woodley as always. I personally love both of these actors and I am so glad they play Tris and Four.

I plan to see it MANY MANY times in the theatre, and was very impressed and extremely overwhelmed with seeing it. I 100% recommend you see this movie, definitely one of the best movies I have ever seen and it probably my favorite of the three. It is now March 19th, and I have watched it 3 times and have not had enough. GO SEE IT IN THEATERS NOW!

Image Courtesy of: Fashiongonerogue

I also ordered this poster from Amazon, which looks gorgeous and I can't wait to see what it will look like with my others. Hope you enjoyed this review, until next time y'all...

Be Brave <4

- Marea  

 

ALLEGIANT!!!

I'M REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY EXCITED FOR MARCH 18TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you didn't know the Allegiant movie is coming out VERY VERY soon, and words cannot express the excitement and anticipation I am feeling for this movie. If you don't know what I am talking about... WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN??!!

For those of you who are not aware, Allegiant is the 3rd installment of the Divergent Series. The Divergent series started off as a book series which has been made into films. The first movie came out in 2014, and now they are about to release the 3rd movie. If you don't know what Divergent is about I suggest you read the books (btw they are AMAZING), but it basically follows a young girl who lives in a society where you are placed according to personality which are called factions. In this futuristic world, and once you turn 18 you can choose to stay where you have always grown up or transfer. The factions are Abnegation meaning selflessness, Dauntless meaning bravery, Candor - honesty, Erudite - intelligence, and Amity - kindness. Tris, a young girl makes the bold choice of transferring into Dauntless which is a warrior faction. There is so much more to this series, but I don't want to give away too much if you don't know what I am talking about.

Anyway... ALLEGIANT!!!! I'm am so ecstatic about this film I can hardly breathe when I think about it. This time I get to see with one of my best friends ever and I am SO excited. I have liked Divergent for years now and I got her too love it too, which makes me so happy! If you care to know, we plan to eat many peach rings, and bring four boxes of tissues, along with an oxygen tank. Yes, we do need all of those things. If you google "Theo James" I think you will understand where I am coming from, amiright ladies? ;) Also Shailene Woodley, who in my opinion is one of the most talented actors of 2016 plays a lead role. I also plan to purchase a poster to hang in my room, do any of you know where I can find some in stores?

Earlier today, I was purchasing my tickets and had a slight moment of complete panic. The tickets for the show time that I wanted to see was sold out. Luckily, I did purchase tickets for a later time. While doing this my hands were shaking with anticipation waiting to find out if I would be able to even get tickets at all. In the end, I ended up getting tickets for the movie, but that the process was terrifying.

Personally this film looks amazing reguardless if you have read the books, but I highly encourage you to if you haven't. The sets and the acting is all awesome and I am beyond excited for next week.

Image Courtesy of: Broadwayworld

Hope you all are having an amazing day, any of you seeing Allegiant next weekend?? XD

Be Brave.
- Marea <4

Another Ideal Reader?

I couldn't decide on who I wanted to write to for this post, so I decided to do both :)

Dear Shailene Woodley,

You are such an incredible human being, and I look up to you immensely. I have watched many of your interviews, and everything you say is so inspiring. I don't know you personally but you come across as such a kind, down to Earth person. I love your simple sense of style, and how you care so much for our planet.

I am not an actress myself, but I believe that you are so talented. Your performance in all the films I have seen you in are amazing. Your talks about self love and self respect are so inspiring, and I truly look up to you. You are such an awesome person, and of course actress, and I aspire to meet you someday.

You performance in films is amazing but from watching your interviews, you seem like such a down to Earth person. Now, that term can be used as someone who is kind, caring, and open to everyone but you are both that and earthy. I thought it was incredible that you didn't even have you own cell phone and only one for work. It's 2016, and most teens are so consumed in their electronics that people can't even seem to have a normal conversation. I admire your love for nature, and have been doing my best to not be on my phone as much. I personally love film and making videos which usually ends up in a lot of screen time, but I am working at being more present. These days, the amount of screen time teens use is scary. Many times I walk into coffee shops, or restaurants and you don't even see two people having a conversation anymore. They will usually just sit on their phones in silence. I admit, I have and am one of those people but if I am with someone I always make sure to turn off my phone so that I can be present with that person.

                                                                                                      Image Courtesy: cosmopolitan
I watched your Ellen interview when it came out, and I was very impressed. You can fit all of your belongs in one single carry on suit case. To have the mentality of not being attached to very few materialistic items was incredible. I am not the type of person who is super attached to the things I own and go through my clothes, books, and other random stuff multiple times a year. But I don't know how I could fit everything I ever wanted in one carry on suitcase!

Last but not least, I wanted to thank you. Thank you for being such a role model. I am sure you have millions of fans, and I am one in that huge number, but I cannot express my gratitude and respect for you.

If you were to read my blog it would be the biggest honor, and would honestly be speechless. I admire your lifestyle, and am ecstatic for what projects you have in the future.

Thanks again,
~ Marea

My Ideal Reader?

Dear Neil Burger,

You are such a talented director, and your movie Divergent is amazing. I have so much respect for you some day hope to create a film as incredible as yours. Divergent has been my favorite books series for quite some time now, and when I watched this movie I was amazed. I admit, as much as I loved the Insurgent movie, I preferred the style of the Divergent one. I noticed that you did not direct the second film and could see a difference. I have seen the Divergent movie so many times, and I aspire to create a film like that some day. One that keeps people on the edge of their seat, waiting to see what happens next.

I love film, and you inspire me to take my time and put my best effort into my videos.  Not to mention you got to work with an incredibly talented group of actors, and the cast seemed to get along so well. Working on a movie set seems like such an incredible experience, and hope that some day I can create my own films.

Even though the film Divergent, came out in 2014 I still continue to watch it and it will always be my favorite. Being able to work on a set like the one you worked on, looked like such an incredible experience.                                    
                                                                                    Image Courtesy of: Popsugar   
                                                                           
I know that you, Neil Burger, will probably not see this blog post but if you were to read these words I would be so honored. Your work inspires me, and I cannot wait to learn more about the creative process that goes into making films. If I could meet you, I would love to learn more about the process. Although, I do make Youtube videos, it is minimal and is much different than working on a movie set. Your works of art are amazing, and I hope to see more of your works in the near future.

Thank you for inspiring me to continue to do my best always, your film Divergent is truly amazing.

~ Marea

2015 ⇨ 2016

2015 was definitely a challenging year for me personally, but it also had its highlights.

In this post I am mostly going to be talking about the highlights because I would much rather focus on the good things.

To start, I got to be reunited with my childhood friends in California 3 times last year. It was so awesome, and I grew a lot closer to them than ever before. Once in the summer, once for camping, and the 3rd time was Tahoe. All epic trips that I will not forgot.

Another highlight was growing close to one of my best friends, Alyssa. (I cringe typing her real name, she knows why;) In the past I never truly felt like I had one single person that I could always go to, I've had a number of friends I have been really close to but it was never just one person. Last year, and the year before, was the year that I felt like I had one really close friend. I am constantly laughing with Alyssa, we know all of each others secrets, and know everything about each other. We love and obsess over all the same things, I am so grateful to have someone like her in my life. Thank you so much jokey, JB, yoon, george, sam, fred, jeebs, jeebsie, jeebsieyoon, joke biffle, best friend. Yes I am aware we have lots of names hahaha!

                                          Photo taken by my cameras self timer!

Even though we hit a few rough patches, I am so thankful for one of my best friends, Ariel. We have been friends for 10 years now, and we are still friends! We share a lot of the same passions and interests which I am so grateful for because when we get together we always have the best times. Thank you for being the peanut butter to my jelly, and sticking with me. I really appreciate it Little Monster <3

2015 was also the year I went to my first concert. I got to see Walk the Moon with my close friends, Mikelle. Although, I admit it was stressful with so many people it was totally worth the fun! We had such good laughs, and walk the moon was awesome live.

I also felt like I made a lot of good friends last year, and I am grateful for every single one. You know who you are :-) I feel like I have a really good group of friends, and I am so glad I have a nice group of people in my life I can count on. Thank you :))

2015 was the year I discovered my love for language. 2015 was the year I decided to take two languages instead of one, which might not seem like a big deal but it actually is quite the challenge. I am fortunate growing up already bilingual (with Japanese) all my life. And I am now taking sign language and Chinese and am absolutely loving both! Personally, I find it really interesting the origins of words and how to carry on a language in certain countries. Also learning the culture of a country and the language is very fascinating!

Those are just a few highlights of my 2015, hope you enjoyed! I hope you all had a great year, and that your 2016 will be even better.

- Marea

Christmas 2015

This post is WAYYYYYYY late, oops :/

Christmas is by far my favorite time of the year, the music, good food, warm drinks, the decorations, absolutely everything! Seriously, what's not to love about it?! I am personally a huge Christmas fan, and am one of those people that is counting down by no later than November 1st, if not earlier. I understand if you don't celebrate Christmas but I hope you are showing your holiday spirit somewhere! 2015's Christmas for me was a huge success but was also very different than all the previous years.

One thing I got a lot more into this year was Christmas movies! My family was never really into Christmas films until this year, we watched quite a few this year and I enjoyed it so much! One of my best friends is by far the biggest Christmas fan ever and finally got me into Christmas movies this year! One of my favorites I watched this year is called Santa Paws , I am sure you probably have all seen this before but I loved it! It was such a cute movie, and just put me in the Christmas spirit and made me feel so happy :) If you love puppies and Christmas this is definitely the movie for you!

                                                         Image Courtesy of: IMBD

This year was also different because my family didn't do advent calendars. Every year that I can remember we always buy chocolate advent calendars but this year we decided not to. Which was kinda sad, but the chocolate was never really good in them anyway haha. This coming Christmas my mom and I thought it would be a lot more fun if we could make our own!

Another thing that was different this year was that we had company! Almost every year my grandmother comes to visit us and we celebrate, but this year it was much more fun! My aunt and uncle drove out plus my cousin flew out with my grandma. I have to admit it got a bit crazy with all the people in our small house, but we managed, and it was a ton of fun.

Image courtesy of my camera's self timer

This year was the year of no photos in my family. Somehow we managed to not take any photos! We had a really hard time making our family Holiday card because of it! But by the end of the year, I was determined to get at least one good photo. My cousin, Owen, the youngest boy in the photo above, hates having his picture taken but this is the best one we got! 

Last but no least, one of my favorite memories of this Winter break was playing the board game Quelf with my family. If you ever get the chance to play this game I 100% recommend it, it's a ton of fun! It's an awesome game to play with a bunch of friends but also awesome for families!

In the end, this Christmas was definitely very different than previous years but it was a good change. I look forward to the years to come, and hope you all had an awesome holiday season.

- Marea

Adventures in Tahoe!

Wow, it has been awhile since I have written. Oops. Also - my blog is all over the place, and I need to fix it as soon as possible. :/

Anyways, I thought I would write a little bit about my trip to Tahoe this year!

Overall this trip was a major success, filled with lots of laughter, memories, and I got to be reunited with my childhood best friends. 10 kids, and 10 adults in one cabin was pretty crowded but was definitely one of the highlights of my year.

Most of these girls I have known since day 1 (literally) except for Mina, Saki, and Joe. Mina is the one in with the glasses at the top, Saki is in the background eating udon noodles haha, and little Joe is the adorable and only boy in the photo. The little boy in the photo, Joe, I had met before but not Mina and Saki. But I am really glad I got to hang out with them too, they were both really nice and we had such a good time. Also - my friend Momo, my brother, and Ken-chan did not get in the photo because they were either asleep, or else wear haha!The Tahoe trip was my Christmas present from my parents which I am so grateful for, it was loads of fun and maybe we can even go next year. ;)

 What was really nice about this trip was the fact that all of our parents are still really good friends and still keep in touch after all these years. All of our moms are Japanese and all of our dads are American, what a surprise! ;) Since my family moved to Utah, I have not gotten to hang out with these girls but when we do get to see each other we always make the best of it.

The trip also included lots of skiing, which I have to admit is not my favorite sport ever but since I was will friends which made it 10 times better.

All pictures were taken by my friends or me :)





I also managed to take about over 100 pictures maybe even 200, which I had to include because Tahoe is absolutely gorgeous! If you ever get the chance to go there I completely recommend it!




Another highlight of this epic trip was the food. If you have ever had Japanese food, you probably know that it tastes AMAZING. With 5 moms from Japan in a kitchen you are bound to get amazing food!  New Years was the biggest feast, filled with lots of traditional Japanese food, it is called Osechi. Osechi is a traditional Japanese meal that is eaten during New years.

We got to end the trip with an awesome tasting Ice Cream cake from Dairy Queen! My brothers birthday was the day we get back from Winter break and my mom and I thought it would be a lot more fun to have a small celebration with everyone together while in Tahoe. We choose an Oreo ice cream cake, which tasted incredible! If you like oreo's and ice cream this is definitely the cake for you, Dairy Queen also did an awesome job with the presentation!


Overall, the trip was incredible and was so much fun, I am so glad I got to spend my new years with so many of my family friends. I hope you all had an awesome new years/winter break!

Until next time,
- Marea

Story Time | A Squirrel in the Toilet?! PT. 2

If you are interested in the rest of this story here is part two:
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        Twenty minutes later I hear the key jiggle in the door knob, I see my dad walk through the doors, and we grab some paper towels just in case it drips onto the carpet, and run back to the bathroom. 

My dad takes the books off the toilet seat, then opens the lid to the toilet. He slowly brings the tongs towards the toilet bowl.  At this point the baby ground squirrel wasn’t moving much so it went pretty smoothly from there. Luckily, there was a sliding door that went outside from my parents room, so we put the squirrel down outside on the deck.

The squirrel was very wet, and the weather was freezing cold so we grabbed a blow dryer and to attempted to dry it off. He didn’t move much and we all felt sad for it. After awhile of drying it off outside in the cold winter evening, we turned off the dryer.

The four of us headed inside and every once in awhile checked on it, but it was still there.  After about an hour my friend left, and the next day we went outside to see if the squirrel was still there, sadly, it was still there and it died. We couldn’t leave it laying on the deck so my brother and I decided to burry it. We have a pretty big backyard, that’s actually very good for sledding so there was plenty of open space to bury it. My brother and I put on snow clothes and headed out in the cold. Put on many layers, grabbed a some disposable gloves, and the same pair of tongs we used earlier. Even though the squirrel was already dead, we still carefully picked up the squirrel. We used the tongs and picked it up. The front and end of the ground squirrel limped forward and backwards, while we walked to the area where we were going to burry it. Once we put it down, my brother, dad, and I all worked together to dig a deep whole through the snow into the ground. Once we finished that, we took the squirrel and gently placed it into the hole, we pushed the snow back over the hole and pressed the snow down. 

We all walked back up to the house, enjoyed a cup delicious Ghirardelli of hot chocolate, and chatted about the weird weekend we had. Although that weekend definitely made for a good story to tell my friends. Now, I’m not sure as to how the squirrel made it into my parents toilet in the very back of my house, but somehow it did! Although, my mom and I concluded that it must of ran through the garage and when my brother left the door open and it came through. Somehow, none of us managed to notice a baby squirrel in our house! And that is one memory I will never forget.

      Fast forward to two years later, my dad had mentioned that maybe the squirrel would have disintegrated into the ground so my brother and I rushed outside one summer to check and see. Grabbed the shovels, and dug into the ground, but the farther and farther we dug there was nothing there. To this day, I think that the squirrel must have disintegrated because no matter how far or how wide we dug we couldn’t find it. 

THE END

Here is another picture of a ground squirrel that made me laugh, haha :)

Image Courtesy of: Google

Sorry that my blog is so all over the place, I am still trying to figure some things out but I hope you enjoyed reading this! Hope you have a nice day!

Bye! ~ Marea

Story Time | A Squirrel in the Toilet?! PT. 1

Hello again, today I am going to be sharing probably the weirdest thing that has happened in my life. I decided to split this up into two parts because I don't want to drag it out to be too long, anyways enjoy.
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        This is for sure a memory that I will never forget. The day I found a ground squirrel in my toilet. Now I don’t know how this happened, and how the squirrel managed to make it into the toilet, but it did. 

One late winter afternoon, about six years ago, my friend and I found a baby ground squirrel in the toilet. Here is how it all went down;

I remember the feeling of boredom I had that day. I called all the friends I could, and finally one of them answered with a yes. Luckily, she lived just a few houses down from me so it was walking distance.

At the time we were both very young so we mostly played with toys a lot, which at the time my friend and I thought was the funnest thing ever. After a few hours of that, I had to use the bathroom. I rushed to the restroom and opened the toilet seat…

  There it was. A small, brown ground squirrel laying sideways in the toilet bowl. Casually drinking the gross water, that my mom had just cleaned. At first I was speechless, finally after a moment of staring into the toilet I yell for my mom and my friend. When I yelled to my mom that there was something in the toilet, I could hear from the tone of my mom’s voice that she very confused. My friend and mom both rush into the room, and they both glance down at the toilet. The two of them speechless, by instinct my mom grabs the toilet seat and drops it shut. For the mean time, we kept the lid shut with a stack of books on top in case the squirrel tried to jump out. Then my mom grabs her phone and dials to call my dad. After a few rings my dad answers, and my mom tells us to go to the garage and grab the huge pair of tongs. <--- Literally like a giant pair of these, don't ask why we have a pair.

After rummaging through some of the junk in our garage finally I find the huge tongs my mom was talking about. They looked like a pair of salad prongs that were extremely long. The two of us rush back to the bathroom and my mom tells us we have to pick it up and get it outside onto the deck. The three of us discuss who should do it, but we made the decision to wait for my dad to get back. 

  I can imagine it was probably weird for my dad to leave his job to get a ground squirrel out of the toilet. But I guess that’s life! Unpredictable, random, and fun! This was definitely one of those weird experiences!

Check out my next post for PT. 2 of this weird experience!

This is pretty much what the squirrel looked like from what I can remember.

Image Courtesy of: Google

Pet Peeves | Rant

Hello, today I am going to be talking about things that annoy me, some worse than others. Let's get started:

1. When sand gets underneath your fingernails. I don't even need to explain this one, the un-comfort level of this makes me cringe.

2. When you are in the middle of FaceTime call and it constantly breaks up.

3. When I see people with greasy hair at school that it has started to part into chunks and it is darker, or if you can smell someones body odor near them. HYGIENE! Please shower, thank you!

4. People that do not cover their mouths when they sneeze or cough. It is just polite and I do not want to get sick.

5. When my socks get wet and you have to walk around with that wet sock in your shoe. EW.

6. People who do not wash their hands after they go to the bathroom, it's just plain gross.

7. When you genuinely care about someone and you ask what's wrong, and they reply with "nothing."

8. When someone is constantly copying you all the time, I don't mind with little things but after many many times it get's old.

9. TV commercials, does anyone really like those?

10. When you miss a call from someone and then call them back like 30 seconds to a minute later and they don't pick up.

11. For this one, I am a victim of doing this but it still bothers me. When people who say they can't do something without even trying, and they just refuse to do it completely.

12. People who stick their chewed gum in places, there are places to throw it away, don't stick your gum under tables.

13. When restaurants fill up your water right as your about to leave, that's one full cup of water wasted! Let's at least put some effort into saving our planet.

14. People who dress their pets, just leave the poor dog alone! 95% of the time the dog is already cute as it is, it doesn't need clothes.

15. People who blast music so loud out of their cars, and most of the time the music isn't even good. If your going to play your music that loud, at least play a good song.

16. Overused YouTube challenges, you know what I'm talking about. ;)

17. Last but certainly not least, when girls use the phrase "tumblr." I have seen quite a few girls make YouTube videos on "How to be Tumblr," I just don't get why so many girls are obsessed with being "tumblr," Be YOU! Sorry to end this on a cheesy note but please don't try to be someone your not, you do you! (Quote by the amazingly talented Shailene Woodley)

Example of my 17th pet peeve above. Image Courtesy of: Google

There are a few things that annoy me, I hope you can relate! Sorry that I am not doing the best to keep up with my blog on a weekly schedule, I will try my best to keep up! If your reading this, I appreciate the time you are taking to do so.
See ya next time, bye! ~ Marea
p.s. I would really appreciate if you could vote on my poll! Thanks :)

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