Back to School with M-L: Goals 2015!

          Hello everyone!

Today's post is something that I don't think has been done yet on the internet. I thought it'd be interesting, so let's try it out! For this post, I will be sharing some of my goals to achieve during the school year. See, sounds interesting, ehhh? I found that this would be cool to write, so that some of you guys will be motivated and somewhat inspired to create your own goals for yourself! I'll be writing my goals in a random order. Enjoy!

I will try to stop procrastinating! Or, I will try to decrease the amount of procrastination, at least... But really, procrastination is a really bad habit. And for some (me -_-), it's hard to break that habit, so we can't just magically stop doing it. We need to start slowly, slowly but surely. So keeping at it throughout the school year is good, especially with finals near the end of the school year. That is a goal I am determined to attain!

It kind of ties in with procrastination, but I will try to be more organized. Okay... not organized like, school organized, honestly I think I am a pretty organized student. But organized as in organized with my life. I will try to do my school work, actual work, go to my after school activities, but also balance that out with friends and leisure time. It's all about balance, so that's something I want to work out this upcoming school year.

I want to be more health conscious! And I want to exercise more than I do now. Because we go to school, our brains need to be in their tip top shape. We need to feed our brain good food. We need to treat our body, and mind, like a temple. And temples need to be strong and sturdy. To do that, we need to exercise! Eating clean and exercising more often is definitely on my list.

I don't really know how to word this exactly, but I want to be more motivated in doing school work, or any kind of work. Not necessarily get better grades, but I want to want to do my work, instead of sulking around when I'm doing it. I hope that made sense for some of y'all, haha. During class, sometimes we think it's boring, right? We all have those classes. This year however, I want to be excited for those lessons, to be excited to learn. Because when we want to learn, we retain more information, and instead of just memorizing the material to get it over with, you'll actually remember the information longer and understand it better. Think of it like a song. You like the song whenever you listen to it, right? So you want to learn the lyrics and when you do, you never forget it! We all have songs we listened to years and years ago, that when we listen to it to this day, we remember each and every word of it (High School Musical for me, haha!).

I want to be more of a social butterfly. I don't necessarily want to have more friends, because I already have good friends. Although, making a new friend or two outside of my friend circle wouldn't be so bad, =). I just want to be more out of my shell. Maybe participate a little more in class, or join in a conversation my friends might be having (I don't mean interrupt their conversations though, obviously). Maybe I'll join a club, or a school activity. But in all, I want to get out of my comfort zone from time to time.

I want to learn something new, outside of school. I've recently been into tennis, but I'm not taking classes, I'm just playing the sport for fun. But I want to learn more about the sport. So maybe during the school year, I'll learn more about tennis. I also want to learn different kinds of code!!! That should be fun, eh? It should be a fun thing to do when you have leisure time or you're bored, instead of spending (or wasting) most of your free time with social media, or YouTube.

I want to make a healthy breakfast, everyday. Now of course, there will be times when healthy, or breakfast, isn't on the radar when you're late for school, and then we have to opt with something less filling like an apple, or something small like a granola bar. But I want to make an effort to at least make something healthy and somewhat filling everyday.

Here is another goal related to health! I want to be more of an early riser than a night owl. I know for a lot of teens, we become night owls. If you are an early bird, I am so jealous of you. I want to change that throughout the school year. I feel like I could get more things done if I'm up earlier, especially when the sun is out longer, because I love the sun and the light it brings. I mean, for sure I won't wake up at six or seven everyday, and there will be days when I like sleeping in. But I want to wake up earlier than I do now, especially because it's summer, and a lot of us are used to sleeping in!

I want to take time every day just for myself and think. Think about anything. It could be in the morning, on the way to school, It could be in bed before we sleep. It could even be during class, if you dare yourself  =P. We can think of food, dogs, that special someone, haha. Anything! Think of something that makes you happy, and that makes you feel good. Think positive!

This may sound corny, very corny. I want to learn more about myself. School isn't always about education. It's about figuring you out. Who you are. What you like, or don't like. Your personality. Your dreams and wishes. Your lifetime goals. So for example, one thing I learnt about myself last year is that I can get pretty competitive (I'm an Aries, what can you expect? (; ). What's funny is that I realized this about myself last year. But you learn something everyday. So, be more observant about yourself this upcoming school year!


So these were some goals I'm setting for myself when I go back to school. I really hope you create some objectives for yourself, and actually accomplish them, because what feels better than to accomplish something, and be proud of it?! Think really deep about your ambitions and desires, and everyday, think of them and feel motivated to attain them! I hope I leave you thinking about that. Until next time my friends.

Keep Smiling,
M-L

Back to School with M-L: Versatile Clothing Items

          Hello everyone!

So I have kind of noticed that I don't really talk a lot about fashion here on the blog. Why? Well simply because I may or may not have spectacular fashion sense. I mean I think I do, but I always seem to wear pretty basic stuff. The clothes I buy are pretty cheap, so that means I can buy even more clothes! I can make a ton of different outfits because of the basic clothes I wear! And I want to share basic wardrobe staples with you, so that you know a little bit about my fashion taste, and you can get inspired for some new outfits when you go back to school!

I want to start off with this white shirt of mine, and it is one of my favourites! I wanted to give this shirt its own paragraph because that's how much I really like it..! The fabric is so thin and so so so soft, but surprisingly it hasn't been damaged in the dryer (didn't shrink either!), which is very very good. This is a three quarter sleeve shirt, so it's perfect for any kind of season. Because it's white, you can easily match it with anything; a pair of jeans or pants, you can tuck it in a skirt, and it'll work! I got this shirt at Sirens, I think, but you could easily buy a loose three quarter sleeve white shirt for pretty cheap.

I always wear jeans, which is basically a wardrobe necessity in everyone's closet. Dark wash, light wash, black, grey, acid wash, distressed, there are so many different styles! I mostly have blue jeans, and I have one that is black and one that is grey (originally black but the tint faded...). The blue jeans are from Old Navy, their jeans are very comfy. The black pair is from Forever 21, the lightest blue pair is from Gap, and the old black gone grey pair is from Children's Place (that still fits me, haha!) You can pretty much wear anything-ANYTHING- with jeans, which is why everybody has at least one pair. You can style it to have like a, "let loose" casual vibe, or to have a polished, urbane (learnt that word recently and wanted to throw that in to see if it works, haha) look.

Speaking of pants, every girl needs a pair of black leggings. They're so comfortable to lounge around it, and you can easily style it to have a "slept in" look or make yourself look more presentable. Most of my leggings are from Forever 21, but I only took a picture of one of them. Personally for me, I want to have a shirt that covers my butt when I wear leggings, so I have a few shirts (including the basic white shirt!!) that covers it, and it's good to go! Or you can easily tie a flannel shirt around your waist so it covers your behind. I don't do that, but one of my friends does it like that, and actually a few people like doing that to have a little something extra in their outfit. So leggings is something that can easily be styled, which is why I have a few pairs haha.

A hoodie is a must for me! I love hoodies especially because I live in a cold area. I personally like solid coloured hoodies because you can wear it with everything, but if you want one with a little more pizazz, there are a lot of hoodies that have designs on them. I have one hoodie with a panda on it, which I have owned for ever! And I have a lot of hoodies, so I only brought out a couple of them to show. The dark grey hoodie is from Bluenotes, the navy coloured one is from Lacoste, and the light blue with the 94 is from Old Navy! It's super easy to take on and off if you're too hot or too cold. Plus, it's super comfortable to wear during school. Yay for comfort!

A simple skater skirt can easily be styled, if the weather is a little warm and you want to dress up a little girly. The most versatile skirt is the basic black skater skirt, it really matches with anything and everything. And you can even wear black skater skirts any day of the year! Like, what?! The black skater skirt is from Forever 21, for super cheap! The denim skirt is from Brandy Melville, the black flower pattern one is from Wal-Mart (you NEVER would've thunk it, right?!), and the navy and flower pattern skirt was actually given to me, so I don't know where it's from. I really like these skirts because they're comfortable and you can easily style them.

Sweaters are so, so comfy especially during school. Depending on the style of the sweater, you can wear it with jeans, or leggings, or even a skirt! When the weather gets cold, you might wear sweaters all five days of the week. I have done that once... I recommend having at least one sweater that is a plain, solid white, or any colour so that you can easily style it. The white one I have is from either Bluenotes or Stitches, I'm not sure. The brown one with pretty patterns on them is from Forever 21. and it's a little cropped. The orange/salmon sweater with a panda on it is from Bluenotes, and this dark maroon sweater is from Costco!

Graphic tees are comfortable to wear as well, and they show a little character in them too. I mostly wear them with an open hoodie during the winter, or with a cardigan, or just on its own with a pair of jeans. The fabric is thin, so it's breathable. So, I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but I have a lot of panda tees, haha! And they're all from Bluenotes! The blue one with the heart and "Cali" is from Old Navy.

                                          

You gotta have a few cardigans up your sleeve (see what I did there?) during the school year. The whole look of cardigans in general make your outfit more put together. Depending on the cardigan you have, most of them have a thinner fabric than hoodies, so it's a little more breathable. But there are also super thick cardigans that are perfect for that slept in look, and obviously the winter months. Of course, I recommend having plain coloured cardigans so it's easier to style, but I really like the black and white striped cardigan, which I don't know where it's from because it was given to me. In the picture on the left, the white/cream is from Gap. The navy blue is also from Gap. The black one is from Old Navy! In the pictures on the right, I really don't remember where I got these cardigans from, honestly! The navy blue was given to me, and it's from France, heheh, so I really don't know.

The most basic long sleeve shirts you will ever own! These shirts can be so easy to style. You can wear them with jeans or skirts. You might not be able to wear a sweater over long sleeve shirts, because it might just be uncomfortable (for me it is). But if you don't own one yet, buy at least one because it's a staple in your wardrobe (I think it is anyways =P). The pink one is actually a little shorter on the sleeves than the others, but I still decided to include it in the picture. It's from Gap. I actually don't remember where I got the white shirt from, just to let you know. The light brown is from Bluenotes, or Sirens, or Stitches, I don't remember! The grey one is from Old Navy. The light blue shirt is from Gap.

I thought I should squeeze in one more! If you're in a super rush in the morning, it might be easy to slip into a dress, but it depends on the weather obviously. If the weather is warm or hot, wear a dress. This is a dress from Forever 21. I suggest getting a dress like this one because it doesn't have a zipper on the back first of all, so you don't have to deal with that. The fabric is thin and little stretchy, so it's comfortable. The sleeves aren't too short, they're actually the same as a regular tee. The length isn't too short nor too long, and it always give you more of a figure. And last but not least, it's so casual! Even though it's a dress, and it has flowers on it, seriously you can wear Converse with this! I have, at least.

The most important thing to consider is if it represents you. If you like the grungy look, go for that. If you really like skirts and flower crowns, wear it. It's school, and you want to show your personality through your clothes. I mean, you can kind of tell what my personality is like based on the clothes I showed you. I'm a very casual person that likes minimal stuff and who really likes pandas haha. And if you want to change your style once in a while, there's nothing stopping you. Who cares what others think of the clothes you wear? In the end, you won't see those people when you get older. You should just wear what you feel confident in. I hope this post inspired you a little bit for your back to school outfits. Till next time my darling friends!

Keep Smiling,
M-L
P.S. hope this wasn't too long for you all, I just realized how much I put in this post haha!!

Back to School with M-L: Essentials 2015

          Whassup y'all!

Today I am going at you with the first back to school post of the year, or second, since I wrote a post introducing back to school season. But whatever the case is, this post will be some things that you should consider having when it's back to school time. So, essentials! This post may or may not be long, so get something to eat or drink, and enjoy. =)

For me, personally, my number one thing I need when I'm at school, is gum ^-^. Or mints, both are two thumbs up! I cannot go a day without chewing gum or eating a mint, so I stock on many packs of the refreshing treats, and I carry them in my backpack, pencil case, lunch bag, you name it! Once, I even carried a pack of gum in the pocket of my jacket...=P. It's great if you feel like you have bad breath, or you need a little pick me up, or you need to concentrate during class! I chew gum and suck on some mints for those three reasons mostly. I know some schools don't allow you to chew gum, so there's also mints as another option! Fortunately for me, a lot of my teachers are cool, so I can chew gum in their class, as long as I don't disrupt others ;).

My number two! I always need this when I'm at school, and it's hand sanitizer! You're at school, and you know how dirty us students can get, am I right? Hand sanitizers don't get rid of the dirty bacteria completely, but it's better than having really dirty hands! I also keep sanitizing wipes with me as well, so I have hand sanitizer with a fresh smell, or a simple wipe with a refreshing feel. I always keep one in my lunch bag, backpack, pencil case, just like my gum and mints! I always prefer the fresher scents rather than like, the sickly sweet smell because then it'll just give me a headache. Some of my favourites from Bath and Body Works are the Fresh Picked Apples, the Aqua Blossom, the Wild Mango Mojito, and the Malibu Citrus. And another one of my favourites is the One Step hand sanitizer, with the cucumber melon smell! I recently got the Beautiful Day hand sanitizer from Bath and Body Works, and can we just take in the cuteness of the new packaging?!

Tissues! At this point, the order of the items I mention are completely random. Okay, personally for me, I barely use the tissues for me, but for other people who ask for it! I finish several packs of tissues during the school year because of my friends, haha. But when I'm having a little cold, and my nose is runny, I'll a pack some tissues in my pencil case so that I don't disrupt lessons when I get up to get a tissue, because that has happened before, heheh. It's perfect for emergencies, or little fix-me-ups. This particular design is by Kleenex. What I like about this design is that it's flatter than the bulky, smaller ones. This one might carry less tissues, but the size is more suitable for me.

My next essential is money! It's great for emergencies, like if you accidentally forgot your lunch at home, or even utensils. Maybe you need change for an unexpected bus ride, you never know! You can even help a friend out and offer a little change for them, if they need it! So it's great to keep a little amount of money in a little wallet. I keep my school money in this old little bag, so that it doesn't waste so much space in any of my bags, and so that no one steals it, because it looks a little bit gnarly, heheh.

I keep a whistle with me. Is that just me? But you how there are some key chains with the special whistle for emergencies? I don't have that, but I got an actual whistle on me instead! I walk home from school, so I always keep it in my backpack, just in case of any kind of emergency! 

For me, this is really optional, but keeping a little bottle of body lotion/hand cream is good. If you live in a cold area (cough cough, me...), or the weather is dry, there's a chance you'll get dry hands! Solution? Hand cream! At my school, there are actually some teachers who have hand creams on their desks for students! I recommend getting an unscented lotion, or one with a scent that won't annoy people too much. The one I bring is from Bath and Body Works, and it's the Wild Apple Daffodil. It's smells fruity sweet and refreshing, so it won't annoy others too much. But when in doubt, I recommend getting scents that smell more refreshing than anything else. 

I feel like I should add this to the list, even though this item might be unusual for some... but it's sunscreen! When you go back to school, it's still summer! The sun is still out there (depending on where you live), but even if it's cloudy, sun rays still penetrate through, so you need the protection. I know sunscreen is more of a summer essential, because hello, summer=sun, but for me, sunscreen is an all-time essential. Sometimes I even wear sunscreen during winter, hihi, and winter where I live can be pretty brutal. You just gotta cover up when you go out, and you'll have less risk of skin cancer, or sun burns. If this is too unconventional for some, then put on some sunscreen before going to school.

I think this should be an essential, even though I don't actually use it myself, heheh. I am determine to use it more often this year, and it is a planner! During the first day of school, teachers give you booklets of forms for your parents to sign! Well, it's like that at my school, at least. So bring a little planner, or at least a notebook, and write down all the forms the teachers give you, so that when you get home, you can scratch off every form your parents signed, and you'll be less stressed. I should've done this years ago, but now I finally realize how much easier it will be if I bring the planner/notebook! But don't just use the planner for that one day, try using it everyday, and looking at it everyday. 

Another essential of mine is a watch!! I never leave my house without some kind of clock, whether it be a wristwatch, or a necklace with a clock. Sometimes, or most of the time, I don't like looking up to look at the clock in the classroom, especially because sometimes I'm too far away from it, or it strains my neck. I like having my own clock. You can even check the time during lunch, so that you know how much time you have left before the bell rings. I really recommend investing in a watch, so that you have the time on you!

Band aids should be something you keep with you when you're at school. Even keeping one in your backpack may help you or anyone out. What if you accidentally fall, and you scrape your knee? What if? You don't want the bacteria to go in your wound, so keep some handy band aids with you! I remember one time in gym, we were doing high jumps in our track and field unit. I kept burning my elbow when I landed, and eventually there was only flesh, and it stung like cray. I didn't have a band aid at the time, so I had to ask my gym teacher, and the whole process was longer than if I had my own band aids. That's my little story in relevance with band aids, haha. I didn't include a picture of band aids, because I think we all know what they look like, right? =P

Cough drops, for when you're feeling under the weather! It's great if you don't feel so good at school, and you don't want to ask your teachers or the front office for cough drops, because you'll already have your own! You also don't want to disturb other students with your sniffling and coughing. I keep the Halls cough drops, most people do. A "stick" thing has just enough for when you need a little pick-me up. 

Okay, this is an additional essential, for girls! For yo' periods! Pads, and/or tampons if you wish. We girls all know that our periods come whenever they want, so we need to be prepared. Have one or two pads in your backpack just in case that time of the month comes unexpectedly, because if you don't, and your period comes, you need to walk with that, without protection. It's actually happened to one of my friends, and she didn't have a pad with her, so I helped her out with mine! But in brief, bring pads, or it's all bad news...


And there we have it! Here were my essentials to start off the school year with ease and confidence! I hope you enjoyed this post. What are some of your essentials?

Keep Smiling,
M-L

Back to School Season 2015!

          Well, it's back to school season.

To be honest, I don't know how I feel about back to school. There's a lot of people who don't want to go back to school, and then there's the other people are so, so excited to return to school, and to see their friends again. For me, I used to be so excited to go back to school, but now... I don't know!

A part of me is like, yay, I can't wait to go back! But then the other part doesn't want to go back to school, because I get clingy to summer... I get clingy to my home, my "sleeping in", the relaxation, just, everything about summer! So it's, it's complicated -_-.

However, whatever my opinion is on the back to school spectrum, I will begin the back to school posts! Hurrah! I am really excited to start them. I have a lot of ideas for the back to school posts, so stay tuned!

So, I guess this is it for now. I hope you are as excited as I am for back to school season!!

Keep Smiling,
M-L

"Foreign Food" Challenge!

           Hello everyone!

Today's post will be a kind of post I don't think I've ever done before. Well, it's actually food reviews on food that is not from the country where I live. So, it's the foreign food challenge! I only have the drinks and sweets that we tried. We also tried savoury stuff like fish chips, "ramen" chips, dried fish, that kind of stuff.

This is the Milkis Drink! I did a separate post on this drink recently on this blog, if you want to check that out. This drink is from Korea, and it's basically a milk and flavoured yogurt carbonated drink. And it tastes SO good! I've always wanted to try this after I discovered that my Hapkido teacher also drinks this, and Milkis was the first thing on my list. This was a thumbs up!

This is a sour apple or grape (I honestly couldn't really tell haha), gummy candy. I think this candy is from Japan, just like all of the other candy in this post. I always like to try sour candy, like War Heads and Super Lemon. I took this randomly, and boy am I glad I grabbed ths! This is probably my new favourite candy! I love how like, chewy it is! There's a coat of sour powder around the gummy, so it's not sour the whole time you have it in your mouth. I also like the fact that the bag is resealable!! So I think you should definitely give this a try.

This is like laffy taffy, except it's a lot chewier. It's called milky, because it's milk flavoured. I kid you not, there were only like, three our four ingredients in this candy! And the one actual ingredient for the flavour is condensed milk! It was really good. A little too chewy in my taste, but still really good. What I like about this is that it's sweet, but not too sweet!

This is called something like, High Concentrated Milk Candy in the strawberry flavour. I saw this, and I thought it looked pretty interesting so I grabbed it. It was okay, not my favourite, but it still tasted good. It's not a gummy candy, it's a... "hard" candy? Is that what it's called? I think so. Anyways! It was good, but not "Oh my gosh it's so good!" good. It tasted like strawberries, but it tasted like, sour... yeah...

When I saw this, I immediately snatched it. Because, this is LEMON PEEL CANDY. Um, yes, I would like to try this!! This is also a resealable bag which is so awesome! The lemon peel itself tastes a lot better than I thought it was going to be. There's a coating of sugar on the peel, so when you start chewing on it, you also chew on the sugar. It's sweet and lemon sour, which tastes good in my taste. I mean, it's still not really good like the sour green apple gummies, but it's still good.

The last thing we tried is another drink! It's a Ramune drink from Japan! What's interesting about this bottle is that you need to like, "release" the marble that is stuck on top of the bottle. I know it sounds weird, but you need to try it out for yourself to understand what I'm talking about! The drink is carbonated, and it's like regular soda. Cream soda, I think. It tastes good, and it's cool to drink from the bottle too! But my favourite fizzy drink is still Milkis, hihi.

So these were the foreign food I tried! You should try picking your own foreign food and do your own challenge. And if you want, try these treats out. They actually taste pretty good! I guess this is it for now, folks. See you later!

Keep Smiling,
M-L