Stains on White, Begone!

Hello everyone,

This will be a short and random post, but it's something I discovered about a week ago. Also, I need to show that I am still thinking about this blog haha.

So I practice Hapkido, which is a Korean martial art. Long story short I need to wear a white uniform (duh). As everyone would know, white uniforms need to be kept clean and stain-free. But... I accidentally kept on makeup when I was suiting up. And when I looked in the mirror, lo-and-behold a BB cream stain on the lapel of my uniform! I was going soon too, so I didn't have time to wash my uniform.
And then I figured, I use Bioderma to take off my makeup. So, if I rubbed some Bioderma on the stain, maybe it'll fade.

IT. WORKED.

I promise it was makeup-stain free and I was so amazed. So if you ever get a makeup stain on a light coloured shirt of yours, I totally recommend using Bioderma (if you have it) to remove it!

I'm not sure if it'll work with other makeup removers/miscellar water, but hey it's worth trying right?

Anyways, I was supposed to do be doing homework but I just felt compelled to write up this post. My break is over now, so I hope you took anything in from this post and until next time my dear folks!

Keep Smiling,
M-L

Third Time's a Charm

Hello everybody,

I guess fate decided that I should write today, at this time, so here goes another post.

If I recall correctly, my last post was about priorities and doing what you need for your best self. Well, I may be glad to say that so far I have been keeping my responsibilities in line. So, here is a quick little story that may inspire you. Or it might be just a little story to entertain you, but that is all up to you. I just feel like sharing something I'm happy about.

Last year, way back when, I took the test for my learner's permit. And I failed.

The thing is, and this I have learned now, I didn't study properly for this test. Maybe I didn't study hard enough, or I barely studied, or I just assumed it was easy and was being too cocky about the whole situation. Anyone of those choices could be true, or all of them, but it all led to the same result.

I spent a year throwing it off, because I didn't feel like opening that up during my school year since I had already a lot on my plate. But as I was tucking away that test every month, every day, it was only until too late that I realized that I was behind. At my age, I'm supposed to already have my actual driver's license, but yet I was still at the beginner stage. So, it was only until recently that I realized I needed to get my butt going.

I studied. I want to say I studied harder. I want to say that I studied a lot. But, it was probably the fear of failure that kept me on my toes in finally passing this test. I had done a solid week going over the rules of the road until I figured it was time for me to catch up to the rest of my peers. And at last I did pass the test.

I'm sharing this quick little story because I want every one of you to know that there are some events in life that you can climb back on. If you fail a road test, even though it's worth a sum of money, you can work harder than you did last time and prove your past self wrong. There aren't very many things that allow you to take second chances, so don't take them for granted and use them sparingly. I have learned this now.

I want to try my best to keep this blog alive. And even though I'm watering it every couple months, just know that I am still here, it's just that I'm trying to water myself too and keeping myself alive haha. In any case, I shall see you all next time.

Keep Smiling,
M-L

...? pt.2

Hello, once again everybody.

I know I haven't been keeping my word about staying on this blog. I've been on and off and lately I've been more off than I have been on. And for those who keep tabs on this blog, first off, wow, thank you for choosing to stay, and secondly, I apologize for having this on such a long pause. But I have come back, and it may be for a while, or this may be the last post I write, but whichever, I'm here to write again.

I'm not sure exactly what this post should be about, but I'll let the current take me for this one.

I have been struggling for some time in the way I'm living my life. I have to say, there is a great difference between last year and this year. So many things have changed, and I especially feel like I've changed.

I want to realize and come to the truth that my life has been going downhill, in terms of my academics and social life and just my well being in general. Why? I don't really know. I've lost motivation in what I want in life, and I have no ambition going for me. I have quit some of my extracurricular activities, and my grades are falling and I've been at home just doing plain nothing most of the time. And I repeat myself. Why?

There was someone who used to be in my life, who I let in my life, who was very special to me. And we did learn to know one another in a matter of a few months. Only a few months. And then, we became strangers. And it still makes me wonder, what exactly happened. And was this the reason why my life turned around?

I don't want to blame this person. I think it, but I could never. If anyone is to blame, it's me.

Do you know the saying, "it's never too late"? I do not believe that that is true. Time passes by too fast and the next thing you know, the time to do what you needed to do is gone.

I guess, what this post was mainly concentrated on is that... you should know to prioritize certain things in your life, so you have enough time to do things you need to do before it's too late. Because it will be too late. And what should be your number one priority, is yourself.

This is what I have for you all, and please take care. Until next time.

Keep Smiling
M-L

...

...Hello...it's me.

So... it has been quite a while, hasn't it? It's been five months, give or take a few days, since I have been on this blog. I'm getting a lot of mixed emotions right now. Bittersweet. And, coming back here after so long... where do I even start.

School has been rough- ROUGH- for me this year. There has been a big transition for me, and it's been really difficult to find the time to do the things I love, like write, read, play piano, start new hobbies, even cleaning my room finds a tiny spot in my schedule, aha. But I have a four day long weekend coming up, so I decided to come back here, and write a little update on my life. My oh-so busy life that I can't find time to write up a post.

But now I'm thinking, "Okay, but what do I write about?".

I want to write about something that I have realized. A revelation. Personal? Maybe so. But anyways heheh.....

I have noticed, that as a high school student, I have a lot of freedom. At least, I have a lot more freedom than before. You feel more independent as a person. You get around on your own, you're more responsible for your work, your teachers won't chase you for not completing your homework. During lunch, you can go out to eat (I have a strip mall, McDonald's, Subway, and a bubbletea café close to my school, yes) and after school you can decide to stay to study in your school's library, or your local public library.

BUT. For me, it can be a little different, and tricky. I do know that I have gained freedom, but to be honest, it's less than I would like to have. I wish I could go out more, rather than spend most of the time in my room. I would like to go out, until the sun sets and I don't have to worry about stressing over anything. And then, I realize that I have to earn it.

See, I'm still quite young. And even though people my age hang out with their friends until way past their bedtime, I still have to ask my folks for an extra hour. But it's always different for families. With my family, I have to earn my right to go out and enjoy myself with my friends. Earning this would mean like finishing my homework and get good marks, cleaning my room and house and whatnot.

In all, what I've been trying to say is, is that when it comes to something you really want, you should want to do whatever it takes to get it. For me, it would mean to gain more freedom by being more responsible in my life.

This post was very uh, "stream of consciousness"-y. But, take whatever you want from this post and what I think wanting your desires mean.

After all this, I hope you all have enjoyed this read after five months. I want to try to write more often, but with life, we never know when the next is going to be. But, I will be back.

Keep Smiling,
M-L

M-L's Hiatus Explained

OH MY GOODNESS. IT HAS BEEN WAY TOO LONG.

SO.

Hello, first of all. How have you all been doing???

I have not written anything here since March. And it's not that I have been extremely busy with like, school or anything of the sort. I mean I have, but the past few weeks have also been sort of... draining me. I have been feeling so unmotivated with everything I did, and I did not feel the want to write up a post. I do have a lot of things I want to write about, but the process of putting my thoughts onto the blog were not something I felt like doing. It wasn't just the blog though, I felt like that with everything going on in my life.

A bad habit has started for me. I began sleeping late on school nights. So obviously during school, I would feel so tired and just drained. And I think a lot of people noticed too... My attention span in class would not last long, and my concentration level dropped significantly. My grades didn't get bad or anything, which is a good thing, because I worked even harder to study and complete my assignments. But because I had to put even more work and time into my assignments than I should have needed to, I always felt so exhausted. That made a huge dent in my way of living. And why I always felt so... drained.

My school career, let's say, was not the only thing that was affected either. My afterschool activities, the academic enrichment program that I am enrolled in, Kumon, was so hard for me all of a sudden. Because I spent so much time on school work, I didn't have a lot of time to complete my Kumon homework either. And whenever I did do the work, my head would just hurt because the math I'm working on right now is insanely complicated for me. In the end I had a massive emotional and mental breakdown, and so my parents and I agreed to put me on a break of one month. And to be honest, a month is still too short for me but at least I have a break.

Track tryouts began a month ago, and I tried out for sprints and long jump. Sprints tryouts/practices are in the mornings at 7 am on Mondays and Wednesdays. You can imagine how tired I was every time I had to go to sprints. Staying up late at night and waking up earlier than you need to is the worse thing for me, but it became a habit. Especially having to run for an hour! I just wanted to lie down on the ground and just sleep.

As well, I have been preparing for a job! I was referred by a teacher at my school, to work at my city's annual festival over the summer. Even though it was easier to get the job offer because I had a referral, I was stressing out because I was afraid of not being ready in time. A few days ago I went to the interview, and I now have a summer job! Yay.

When I did have free time, I would just do whatever I wanted. Piano, Pinterest, journaling, anything that would make me relax. And it worked in a way, to calm me down with what I had going on in my life.

The point of this post, I guess, is that if you are feeling stressed, just stop for a bit, close your eyes, and take a deep breath. I was told that taking a break is much better than continuing whatever it is that is breaking you down. It's okay to have a break, but set a goal to get back on your feet and hit the ground running when you do.
Recently, I watched Annie, the musical live. I really enjoyed the show, but a song really caught my attention. I'm sure if you know Annie, you will know this song. But that song in a way changed the way I viewed my life. The lyrics were quite insightful and I'm sure that it will become a sort of mantra for me in the future.

So, after all that spiel, I sincerely hope you are all doing good! Also, take a break if you need to. I am really looking forward to continuing writing on the blog, and I hope you are too. Until next time folks.

Keep Smiling,
M-L

Spring Break Update 2016

OMG, it has been so long.

I've been quite busy this month what with school and clubs and such. Last Friday I had my Model UN Conference, and the days prior to the conference was super hectic. I needed to do last minute research, and prepare for the event. Yesterday, my school hosted a Citizenship Ceremony and boy was that hectic, especially the day before the actual event. I've also had a lot of tests these past couple weeks too...

But ow I'm on my spring break. One word to express my emotions right now. YESSSSSSSSS.

Now that I have a week off, plus one or two days, I can do what I've been wanting to do for a long while!..

But then, I realized, it's not really all about the free time, but the things I need to get done... Like, update. And ASAP.

I need to finish up volunteer hours for this program I'm a member of, ten hours before the end of April -_-... I also need to finish up my school volunteer hours, at least three hours for in-school hours, and five hours for community hours... I also need to do some job-hunting. Yup... I've got to get some stuff going!

I'm not sure how often I'll be able to write on the blog. I'm hoping that I can still keep things consistent, but I'm certain that I don't want to just quit.

So, this was a little update, a little word from a few weeks to prove that I am still on this blog haha. If you are on your spring break, then HAVE FUN and relax. If you are not on your break yet, keep pushing it and finish strong!!

Keep Smiling,
M-L

M-L's February Favourites of 2016

          It's been two weeks since I've put up a post on the blog, it's been awhile!! For this post, since it is the end of the month, I decided to write up a favourites post.

I'll start off with this rejuvenating shampoo from Herbal Essences. It's their "wild naturals" range, and I really like this! This has Turkey fig and cassia in it, and it smells insanely good oh my goodness. It has such a fresh scent, but it's also sweet. It's fruity overall. I already finished a bottle of this, the one in the picture is the one I just got, which is why it looks full if you were wondering. I held for... about a week and a half without this shampoo, and my hair was... *shiver*. Maybe it was the other shampoo I was using, but my hair was so flat all the time and it didn't feel as clean as I wanted it to be. I had to use this shampoo again!

I didn't think I'd like this but I surprisingly am enjoying it. It's the Aveeno body wash. I didn't think I would like this, because it was... really... natural? I think that's the word. It's fragrant-free, but even though it's not supposed to have a smell, I like how... it smells. Like does that make sense? You know what I mean? I like the natural smell of it, and I usually like it when my body washes are scented. It gives me good vibes in the shower lol. Anyways heheh... I also like the way it leaves my skin soft. This has oatmeal in it and so it's really gentle!

I've been really liking this Blistex lipbalm! It's the lip Medex one, so it's good for chapped lips, or any lip "issues" like cold sores. I find this really helpful for my lips, because they were getting pretty chapped due to the weather. When I put this on, I can feel it tingle and it makes me think that it's the ingredients doing its thing and making my lips all soft and stuff haha. And it smells really nice too! It has a warm, sweet scent, like vanilla. I use this every night, and in the morning my lips feel really good.

I've been really liking oranges this month!! Well, I like oranges in general, but I've been eating them more often these past few or several weeks, because it is or was flu season and I didn't want to get sick. I ate an orange almost everyday, or sometimes even twice a day. My family and I even eat it for dessert haha! Eat oranges guys, it's super healthy for y'all.

I have two movies I loved this month. The first one is Kung Fu Panda 3!! I watched it in theatres and it was so awesome and cute and funny and emotional and everything was just... AMAZING!! You may or may not know but I practice martial arts as well and so it was cool seeing how they incorporated that into a kids' movie. I love the humour that was in this movie, because there are some movies where the humour isn't my type of humour, but the funny scenes in Kung Fu Panda 3 made me LOL. Oh, and the music... man oh man... it sounded so nice and melodious!! That is a movie I would watch again!

My other favourite movie is Big Hero 6!!! It might be one of my all time favourite movie guys. Even though I've only watched it once. I will be watching it again, and again, and possibly again haha. I know the movie came out like what, last year? But I watched it a few weeks ago and I fell in love with it, just like that. I love the story line, and the message it sends out. And to be honest, I'd wish this movie became more popular than Frozen, heheh, because it's just as good. That's just my opinion. But it is beautiful and incredible movie. I LOVE BAYMAX AND HIRO SO MUCH! And the song, Immortals by Fall Out Boy? To die for. It suit the movie nicely. I am satisfied with my care! Heheh I had to write that, I had to!


Sooooo those were my favourites of the month! If you haven't checked these out the stuff I mentioned yet, go take a second and do that. Till next time!!

Keep Smiling,
M-L

Love Yourself

Happy Valentines Day y'all! So... are you taken bacon or single Pringle? ;) LOL LOL that's not the point of this post.

I wanted to write about... appearances but mostly about yeah, love, but self love. I was thinking though, should I do this? What if they don't like it or something like that? I am still going to write because this is for me and for those who might need a pick-me-up. Yes, this might be very cheesy/personal but I felt... inspired? to write a post about this and I want to talk about it.

Let me start off by talking a little bit about myself. I have acne, and compared to other teens out there, it's like, bad. I don't have a smartphone, and I don't have any social media accounts. Those three factors are the things I am the most self conscious about. I know you might think either "pff that's nothing" or "get a smartphone!" "get social media then!" "wash your face" but trust me, it's a lot harder in my circumstance.

Fortunately for me, I'm not being bullied by it. But, to be honest, I think the reason why no one is picking on me or whatever, is because I make it seem like I don't care and that it doesn't bother me. Even though I am being treated well and equally, there's still the thought at the back of my head that tells me that those people are aware of what I have and don't have. That thought creeps on me and it makes me go nuts.

So then what do I do? It's a question I've been asking myself for ever now.

A lot of the times, I answer myself to just keep my head up, and yeah, love myself. Because in the end, everything you're doing, saying, thinking, making, it's all for you. You might as well make the best of it. So be happy in your own skin, be yourself. I want to think that pitying yourself will not make things better, and nothing will happen. It will not lead you anywhere.

There are so many things to love about yourself, but when you're focused on comparing yourself to others, or when you're bringing yourself down because of what you think of yourself (how many times have I typed "yourself"), all you're doing is fogging up the rest of what makes you...you!

I believe that when you show off at least one unique quality you have, it overpowers everything else you have going on. It might be just me who thinks this, but it's based off of what I experienced. So, for me, I like to laugh a lot, and be, you know, amusing and witty and just simply be fun to be around. A lot of people at my school have noticed that I always seem to smile and/or laugh/joke around a lot, and they like it because it creates a warm, light, and fun vibe. And I like that about myself, so I try to show off that side of me more than anything else. It makes me feel better about myself, it makes me feel more confident.

I think this Valentine's Day, or whenever really, when you don't feel like yourself or when you're feeling bad about yourself, think of one unique quality of yours. It's different for everyone, but I think that when you feel certain about the one special thing you have that no one else has, everything else clears right up. And most importantly, just love yourself!

If you felt like this post was semi hard to understand, or if it was vague, the point of this is for me to spread the message of loving who you are, because there is no one else here that is like you. We all have our flaws-trust me I got plenty of 'em- but we also have amazing traits that makes us special. And we have that one unique something that no one else has, and when we show that off, it makes you the best you that you can be (I'm putting emphasis on you if you couldn't tell)!! You will feel good about yourself, and others around you will feel good too because they like the vibe you're sending out. When in doubt, just be a wonderful and unique human being.

I recently like, binged on Superwoman videos, like her older videos, and I came upon a certain one that I thought would be nice to share in this post. It's kind of similar to what this post is about. I love it because it's really funny and it's my kind of humour! It's a nice way to tie up this post.

Superwoman - Inner Beauty Make Up Tutorial

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Happy Valentine's Day folks, and until next time!

Keep Smiling,
M-L

M-L's Review on P.S. I Still Love You

          Omg! When was the last time I've done a REVIEW?! LIKE EVER?.. July 25th 2015 was the last time I wrote a review. The last time I wrote a book review was on July 5th 2015! And it's funny, because the book I'll be reviewing is the sequel of the last book I wrote about!! What magic is this lol.
*I forgot to mention this in my last Blast of Books post, so I figured I should show this in another post which is in this review.

This is P.S. I Still Love You and it's the sequel of To All the Boys I've Loved Before. It's also the last book of this...duology? 

*POTENTIAL SPOILER FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ TATBILB. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED*

So this book basically, literally picks up where TATBILB ended.  If y'all have read the first one, you'll know it ended with Lara Jean writing another letter and it ends with "Dear Peter...". 

Lara Jean and Peter never meant for this to happen. They never planned for it to. But now Lara Jean is learning about what it's really like to be with someone. And boy, she has a lot to learn from when it comes to being in a relationship. It's a real roller coaster, especially when a boy from her past is back in her life, and she's starting to have feelings for him too. Add in a frenemie, and you've got yourself P.S I Still Love You! I'm just kidding by the way, there's a lot more to it than that. 

I... *sigh*... I never thought I'd like these kinds of books, like the light and fuzzy and giddy and girly kind of books. BUT I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. THE FEELS.  IT'S TOO MUCH TO HANDLE. 

You can see the character development when you read the story. Lara Jean's perspective and point of view changes a lot in the second book. It's a good change! She's gotten a lot more independent and responsible, but her personality is still the same. I feel like Lara Jean is a really good role model for girls. A lot of girls can be able to relate to her and her life. I find that really cool because it makes the story more real. The topics talked about in the book is what some teenage girls think, and when they know that someone else thinks that, it feels good that they're not the only ones. The way Lara Jean thinks is really how we girls think. 

The love story in the book though. Can I just say one thing. Goals. A relationship like Lara Jean's seems really real. Especially with Lara Jean's point of view on the matter, it seems so... REAL. That's the only thing I can say! It's just REAL, and that's really GOOD. That's all I have to say. 

So, to close this review, I have a final verdict. PRAISE FOR P.S. I STILL LOVE YOU. I recommend this to anyone who wants a light read, who wants to sigh over scenes in the book because it's just, goals. And in a discreet way, it teaches us a lot of things. I don't think you could get tired of this story.

I hope you all liked this review on P.S I Still Love you! Check this book out if you have the chance. 

Keep Smiling,

M-L

M-L's January Favourites of 2016

          Hello everyone!

It's the end of January, the first month of 2016... Now is a good opportunity to write a favourites post since it's the end of month! I have been liking some pretty neat stuff these past few weeks so I'm excited to share with you guys what they are.

This dry shampoo is pretty popular, it's the batiste dry shampoo. Just like any dry shampoo, it's supposed to make your hair appear cleaner by absorbing all the excess oils, making it nice and clean. A lot of the times formulas in dry shampoo make your hair sticky, or it leaves a white powder in your hair and white powder in my hair will not look pretty because my hair is dark. But this doesn't do that! It feels odd, because it feels like it's doing a good job, but yet it doesn't look like it until you really rub it in. At first the smell seemed weird to me, it didn't smell nice, you know, like an artificial sweet or fruity smell. But it did smell clean and fresh, which I didn't mind. I got used to the scent, and this is probably my favourite dry shampoo to use now. 

This is a face scrub, and it's Sukin's Revitalizing Facial Scrub. I'm not all that too familiar with the brand, but it's from Australia, ooh. I really like this face scrub! It's really gentle for a face scrub, like you could use this everyday. What I like most about it is that it really doesn't dry out your skin. Your skin feels a lot more softer and actually, it feels hydrated. The exfoliating granules are from bamboo and ground walnut which is pretty awesome. There is also aloe, chamomile, jojoba and rose hip oil which is always great. The scrub smells super good as well! It has such a raw, natural scent to it and it just feels so nice.

I actually got these earrings as an unexpected Christmas gift! I don't have a lot of... are they called hook earrings? Well I don't have that many of those kinds of earrings, I have studs. I actually have earrings similar to these, except they're studs and they don't have that metallic rim around the flower (basically I have the flower as a stud). But these are really nice! I am hooked on them (pun intended, get it?). It's actually something of my style. I like how I can wear really casual clothes and put these on and it won't put on like, a big show. It gives off a really sweet, soft vibe, but with the metallic rim around the rose it actually kind of off sets it with being casual. 

I've started writing in a new journal and I am loving it!! Actually the pen and journal were Christmas gifts as well which is really nice, because I love writing, especially in journals. The journal is so pretty! The colours are neutral, but just the words in gold and the black polka dots tie it all up into a nice ribbon. The pen itself writes well! It glides really smoothly and the design is SO pretty!! I love the blue. They don't look flashy which is what I really like, even with the accents. The designs are so simple and... dainty? oh I just love it.  

There are fruit gummies, and then there are Welch's. THEY ARE SO GOOD OH MY GOODNESS. I used to be obsessed with these fruit snacks when I was younger, especially the dark coloured one, was that blueberry or grape? I still don't know! But now I'm getting back to being obsessed with these. They're so delicious! No one is ever too old for these kinds of snacks, amiright??!!

I've always loved Ferrero Rochers. And around the holidays, these little balls of deliciousness become more popular, because of how elegant they look for its price, which is not that expensive. I really had to cut back on eating a lot of these, but there were so good!! Haha, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if they sell these year round, I've never noticed! It was always around the holiday season that I knew "Oh Ferrero Rochers will be out on display!", but hmm... does anyone know if they sell Ferrero Rochers 365 days a year?

I bought this during boxing day and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. It's an Abercrombie and Fitch shirt but I got this at Winners. It's a simple navy t-shirt, but I don't know, something about it makes me love it so much! Maybe it's the buttons, or the silver lining along the neck line, or that the bottom hem isn't straight, but like a scoop, or that the length of the sleeves are not too short nor too long, but it's probably my new favourite t-shirt now! The fabric is soft too, and oh it's just... love it, LOVE IT. 

I also got this shirt on boxing day at Winners! I didn't think I would pull this shirt off but actually I really like it! It's a sweet and girly piece of clothing, it's really nice. It's uh... a really long shirt that's really flowy, like a dress. I won't call it a dress though because it's too short to be one. I wear these with black leggings. The colour is kind of hard to tell. It's like, a light purple grey. It's actually a pretty colour. The sleeves are at a nice length! They're like, about 3/4 length which is what I really like. The only thing I don't like about the shirt is the neck line... it's a little too low for me, and because of how light the fabric is, it tends to move a lot... But other than that, this is now one of my favourite shirts ever!

So these were my favourites of the month of January! Wow, I can't believe another month has gone by. I'm hoping to write more favourites posts, but I have some ideas planned out for the blog which I'm hoping to get to in time. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed reading this post! Until next time folks.

Keep Smiling,

M-L

A Blast of Books #2

          Hello everyone! How are you all?

I figured, might as well read more books this new year! So I was looking through my bookcase, looking at some books. I bought new and second hand books a while back ago, and I haven't read them yet, or haven't finished them yet. It's been a while since I've shown y'all a blast of books, so today I am coming at you with one!

Okay, I'll admit... I bought this book over the summer. I haven't finished it yet... This is a French book, called Je ne sais plus pourquoi je t'aime, by Gabrielle Zevin. I'm starting to lose my French, so I bought this book online, in hopes that it will help keep my French fresh and all. This story is about a teenage girl who loses her memory from the moment she was twelve and older, after falling off the stairs. So, basically she recalls everything that happened before she was twelve, but after that, poof. All gone. I haven't finished this yet, haha. It's been a while since I've read a French book like this, so I'm taking it nice and slow. Also, I've been reading other books heheh.

 

This is another French book called Le ciel est partout, by Jandy Nelson. This book is originally in English, but it was translated in French by... Nathalie Peronny..? I got this book online, the same time I bought Je ne sais plus pourquoi je t'aime, but I haven't finished yet. I haven't even started it yet!! To be honest I'm not even sure what this is about. I think it's about a love story, and coming of age... I will read this though, I didn't buy it for nothing haha!

 

This book is I Swear, by Lane Davis. As you guys know, I'm trying to branch out to different types of books. This book is about bullying and suicide, which is surprising for me to read. I'm not into really deep, emotional books, I guess it depends though. But haha to be honest, I bought this book because it was on sale at my local bookstore (originally $20, but I bought it for $2!!). It seemed interesting because the synopsis sounded like it held like, a mystery vibe. I wanted to give it a try. I actually really liked it! So the book has points of views from... at least five people? And it revolves around the suicide of this girl that the five (ish?) people used to know. They all had some kind of relationship with the girl who committed suicide. And I guess, the story is about how those people are connected to her, whose name is Leslie by the way. It's really good, I spent like a whole afternoon reading it even though I was supposed to do homework and chores! 

 

I really didn't think I'd like a book like this, but actually this book was pretty good! It's an old book called Pretty Little Devils by Nancy Holder, that was published in like, 2006. Oh my goodness, it was published A DECADE AGO. But if I didn't read the time it was published, I would've assumed that it was at least 2010. And I noticed, teenagers have not changed at all! At least teenagers in books heheh. Technology is changing, but teenagers are still... teenagers. This book is about this clique called the Pretty Little Devils, or PLDs for short. They're very popular, and this girl Hazel, is starting to get noticed and liked by the clique, so much that she gets invited to join the group. And... then it really starts getting into a roller coaster ride! There are deaths and secrets and backstabbing and oh my gosh. I'll admit it, a lot of parts in the story made me like, cringe because it's such a cliche, or unrealistic. But, it was good. If you want to read a mystery/thriller/YA novel, check this one out. 

This was a fast read, it is Pretenders by Lisi Harrison. It's a book about the Phoenix Five, the five most popular kids in school? Or not necessarily the most popular, but they're the most successful/best students in the school we'll say. It's from the point of view of the five students, but it's what they wrote in their journals. It was really cool because you knew them, in a way, because of the way they write. The characters were all very different and had their own personalities and you could clearly see it in their writing. What I also like about the book is that the characters are connected, and they write about each other in their journal entries. I'm pretty sure there's a second book to this, one because the way this one ended is not a good ending, and two because I searched it up haha. I'm hoping to read the second book but I haven't found it yet...

 

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEH! NOW THIS BOOK IS MY KIND OF BOOK. This is the Complete Sherlock Holmes book aaaaaaaaaah! It has everything that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote for Sherlock Holmes, every story. This was originally pretty expensive, I think mainly because of the size (it's like, at least 4-5+ centimetres) but I managed to get it for half the price!! ... okay. I haven't finished it yet, barely made it through at least a quarter, but I'm trying out this reading/comprehension technique. I really want to indulge in every chapter there is and understand what I'm reading and write down questions I have for every chapter I finished. So that's why I'm taking my time reading this. But aaaaaaaaaah!!!!! I AM LOVING THIS. 

 

I have been eyeing this book for so long! This is White Space by Ilsa J. Bick. The author has also written The Ashes Trilogy, which I have and love. That's why I was thinking of buying this book, because the author is amazing. AND LOOK AT THE COVER THOUGH. It is so beautiful and magnificent. It's a pretty big book too, not as big as Sherlock Holmes, but, it's a thick one. So... I started reading this, however... it's so confusing to understand! I know that Ilsa J. Bick does not tell the story but show the story, but she does it in a way that you have to think about what is actually going on. You have to concentrate hard on the sentences. That's what I really liked about The Ashes Trilogy. But this novel is on a whole new level! I know the story is about this girl who can "jump" into stories and supposedly it's like, Inception and the Matrix and Inkheart and all that jazz...  here is a link to this book on Goodreads, heheh. 

SO! Wow, even though I didn't have this many books this time, I feel like I wrote a lot for each of them. I really hope this got you motivated to READ MORE!! Stories are amazing. Here is a quote I found and really liked:

and this!

because I'm sure you can all relate to this post, especially you guys my book lovers!!

So yes, I will definitely stop here now haha! Until next time my fellow book lovers.

Keep Smiling,

M-L

My Music Playlist #7

          Oh my gosh! It's been so long since I've put up a post on the blog!! I've missed it, and you guys so much!

Ooh, already the seventh music playlist here on the blog! I have some songs I've been loving a lot and that I want to share with you!


1. I've been really loving BTS, a kpop boy group, these past few months. They had an album back in April, I think? Somewhere around that time or something... It's called The Mood for Love. I love the entire album, so I just have to put the whole thing here. BTS's style is like, I really can't explain it. I want to say edgy, not polished-ish, it's powerful...? I feel like you'll understand it better if you listen to it.

BTS - The Mood for Love

Aaaaand, their newest album The Mood for Love Pt. 2 is also amazing! It's so powerful and wow... And again, you have to listen to it, just do it.

BTS - The Mood for Love Pt.2

2. Hello - Adele: Omg, this song though! It has been my jam ever since I first heard it. It sounds so powerful and I just like, feel so compelled to belt out every word of that song!! I'm pretty sure y'all have already heard this song, but if you haven't, YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO IT. I'm telling you, that music video has more than 900 million views for a reason.

Adele - Hello

3. Love Yourself - Justin Bieber: To be honest, I didn't think I'd like Justin Bieber's newest songs this much, but they are really catchy haha. This song was actually recommended to me by a friend, and I'd thought I'd check it out. And I really like it! It has a really nice and slow tempo, it's actually like, a pretty mellow song!

Love Yourself - Justin Bieber

4. Better When I'm Dancing - Meghan Trainor: I haven't watched The Peanuts movie, but I heard this song and I immediately fell in love with it!! It's such an upbeat song without having the tempo be so... like, super crazy, do you know what I mean? I could definitely see this song as sort of pick-me-up/motivational song. I just absolutely love it!

Better When I'm Dancing - Meghan Trainor


So these were some songs I've been loving recently!

I'll try to put up more posts in the future, but this is what I have for now! I hope you enjoyed this post, and I especially hope you check out these songs if you haven't yet!

Keep Smiling,
M-L

Happy New Year 2016!

          HAPPY NEW YEAR! Oh my goodness, it's finally 2016. IT'S 2016. I don't know whether to be happy that a new year has come and that it's a perfect opportunity for new beginnings, or to be sad that another year has gone by and the world keeps spinning and time is flying by too fast to enjoy everything. Like, wow. 2016 y'all.

It's actually been awhile since I've written a post here. But since this is the first post of 2016, I don't know, I wanted it to be more of a like, chat, than anything else, you know? The thing is though, haha, I don't really know what to write about!

I hope everyone is happy and healthy, and that you're all surrounded with the people you love.

Do you guys have New Year resolutions for 2016? I need to think of mine, I haven't gotten to it yet. I feel very motivated to get it started though!

So, how did 2015 treat you? Good, bad, eh, don't know? For me, I'll say it was a good year. I mean, it sure was a roller coaster ride! But it's life, isn't it.

I've been asking some of my friends what their favourite thing was from 2015, and what they're looking forward to in 2016. Yes I know it's a really general question, but I just wanted to see how they would respond. Their responses were really insightful, it was cool! And then they would go "how about you?" and I'd be like UHHHHHH. I don't even know how to answer a question I asked!

So I've been thinking a little. In general, my favourite thing from 2015 was being able to be happy, or at least try to. I don't know, I found it satisfying that even throughout some hardships, I'd be able to at least try to smile. What I'm looking forward to in 2016? Lots of stuff!! I guess in a nutshell, I'm looking forward to being even more happy. For me, happiness is being successful, like getting good grades, and being a more responsible, independent person. It's being able to sort out my priorities so I'm not stressed or anything. And, it's just being with the special people in my life. And, yeah!

I'll stop here before I get too into it, and this post gets long.

Before I go, I want to ask you. What was your favourite thing from 2015? and What are you looking forward to in 2016? Feel free to leave an answer in the comment section, I'll be glad to read it =).

I hope 2016 will treat us all well!! May 2016 be an unforgettable year filled with positivity and joy. I wish you all a happy new year!!! =)

Keep Smiling,
M-L

Christmas Gifts

         Hello everyone,

How are y'all's Christmas shopping going? The malls are getting pretty hectic, and I guess that's the holiday season. It's fun though, what with all the decorations, the people deciding whether to buy that one thing for someone, the overall warmer atmosphere. Anyways I'm going off topic. I wanted to buy some gifts for my several of my friends. Then, some people asked me if those my friends were also buying gifts for me.

I don't mind giving them gifts, even if they don't get me anything. But then I thought, what if they do mind? What if they feel burdened of some sort, and they feel bad for not giving me anything? I don't want them to feel bad, but I still want to give them something. So, what do you do?

I guess it would depend on the person, right? And it would depend on the gift you got them. I don't know, to be honest. I already bought some of my friends presents, and now I'm a little lost. I know one of my friends' birthday is in January, so I can save the gift I got her for her birthday, if I feel like giving her a Christmas gift would be a bother. As for the rest, hmm... we'll see. I can easily save those presents for their birthdays...

What do you guys think? Would you buy a present for someone even if they felt bad or like, burdened?

Though this post was pretty short, I hope you enjoyed reading it!

Keep Smiling,
M-L

Empties #2

          After months and months and months, I think I have enough empty products to write up another empties post! I use my products very slowly, and I don't own a lot of products like those YouTubers, so that's why I do these posts like what, once every six months? Anyways, I've been wanting to try out new products so that I have more variety of stuff here on the blog. So little by little, I've been branching out of the stuff I'm comfortable with, like different deodorant, different lotions and such. Just a little update, so... yeah...

Do you ever smell something so much that when you smell it again after a long time, you just get a flood of memories before your eyes? You know what I mean? Well, that's what happened to me with this. This is the Bath and Body Works' Capris Seaside Citrus. Of course by the name, you can tell that this is a summer scent. It has such a fruity and refreshing smell. I wore this like everyday two summers ago, but then as you can imagine, I couldn't really use it until the next summer because of how summery it smelt. I used this up last summer. Seriously, when I smelled this again I was like "whoa the flashbacks". So, this is a little bittersweet for me... I still have the shimmer mist spray, but as for the lotion, it's gone. I mean, I enjoyed the scent, but it wasn't really like, "oh my gosh this is going to be my scent.".

This was the last Dove deodorant before I moved on to the Nivea one. Okay when I smell this again, there will be flashbacks galore, seriously! I've worn this deodorant for like a full year before switching to a new one. That's how much I loved it. And now that I'm writing this, I miss it! As much as I want to try out new products, this is one product that I just can't live without. I might be exaggerating, but I don't feel like I am. It has such a nice, warm like, almost musky scent. It works great too cause you could still smell even when you sweat like crae! Sigh... love that one.

I finished the Garnier Fructis' Moroccan Argan Oil for your hair. Another product that I love, and I have bought this again because the smell. The smell, guys. It's so warm and amazing and it has like, such a nutty scent. It works nicely too, it doesn't leave your hair and hands feeling oily because it's a pretty light oil, it just adds a nice shine and softness to your hair. Love this one so much!

I finished another Bath and Body Works' lotion, this is the one in Mango Melon Twist. This is also a summer scent, although it's a lot more... warmer and sweeter than the Capris Seaside Citrus one. I feel like you could easily wear this during spring too, maybe even during fall. This one smelled really good!.. But not good enough for me to repurchase it. I'm sad I finished this lotion though... It might be just me, but I feel like this lotion was more moisturizing than the other Capris Seaside Citrus lotion. Maybe it's due to the ingredients, but I found that this one made my skin softer and more moisturized. 

I finished the La Roche Posay sunscreen with SPF 60. I've used this sunscreen for a long time now. It's gotten to be like, my go-to sunscreen. It has a very liquid consistency like usual body sunscreen, so the formula of this one is better for my oily face since it's lighter liquid, and it won't be so thick and heavy on my face. The one problem that irritates me with the formula is that it leaves my hands feeling like, sticky and oily. What's weirdest is that it doesn't happen on my face, it's only on my fingers. I have to wash my hands afterwards to get rid of the residue that is left. Other than that though, I like this sunscreen very much. I have another one that I'm using right now as well.

Does this count as a product I finished up? I'll count it... I finished my Saje oil! I'm so sad..! This smelled so good I ugh, I just can't... It's so relaxing, and it just smelled plain good!! I mentioned this in my last favourites post, and it's here now! The scent of the oil is called Unwind, and it really does just the thing. Just take a long whiff of this and you'll be so zen sigh... I'm definitely going to buy this again. Aaaand, this could be a nice Christmas gift, eh? 

Don't know whether to consider this as an actual product that I've used up, because this is a sample. Eh whatever. So this was a sample of the Biore's charcoal cleanser. I really liked using this. It warms up when you massage it on your face, and when you wash everything off you just feel the most refreshing thing ever on your face I am not kidding. It's like magic guys. It's supposed to remove 2x of your like, blackheads and pores, and I don't know if I'm just seeing what I want to see, but when I look at my nose after I've rinsed the cleanser off, I feel like my nose is cleaner so I'm very satisfied with it! I would buy the actual bottle of this cleanser because I just love the refreshing feel of it!

I also don't know if these count as empties but Imma count it anyways! I finished these two Bath and Body Works' hand sanitizers, Wild Mango Mojito, and Malibu Citrus. These are, as you can tell by their names, also summer scents! I just can't help it, summer scents are the scents with the most refreshing feel to them and y'all know I love love love refreshing scents, anything refreshing at all! Both hand sanitizers smell so fruity it's amazing. You gotta love Bath and Body Works, especially the scents that are refreshing! Am I right or am I right?

These were about all of my empties that I've kept track of before throwing it away. This was a pretty lengthy post, but I hope you enjoyed reading it. Also, I should maybe come up with like, a standard rubric if something should be considered an empties product or not... Haha I'll see. Until next time my friends.

Keep Smiling,

M-L

M-L's November Favourites of 2015

          Hello everyone!

Wow, I can't believe November is ending... Time flies by so fast, oh my goodness! So, when was the last time I did a favourites post?.. Anyways, I have been really loving some stuff this month! I want to share with you what my favourites are this month so let's start.

I decided to pick out a different deodorant after I finished the usual Dove deodorant, the one with the pearl. It's a shocker because I love- love the Dove deodorant and I have always used that one until now. I just wanted to branch out and try out other products. So, after standing in the deodorant section for a good 5-8 minutes, I chose this one! This is the Nivea Energy Breeze deodorant/antiperspirant with lemongrass, ooh. The scent of this deodorant is so fresh and it smells so good! The Nivea one I have to say though doesn't work as well as the Dove one. There were times when I got worried that this deodorant wouldn't mask out my BO because, and I never felt worried when I had the Dove one on. But the smell kind of makes up for it, haha. 

This is the Face Shop's clear hair mist in cherry blossom. To be honest. I bought this mainly because it smells really really good. I didn't need a product for my hair, but this smelt too good not to pass out, and it was pretty cheap too. It smells sweet and flowery and refreshing but not overly fresh. The hair mist did make my hair significantly softer and may I say silky! I try to use the product sparingly but... it's too good and I can't help myself. I will definitely buy this again. If you see this in a Face Shop store, I highly recommend you smell this and see if you want to try it out. There are also different scents to choose from I'm pretty sure too, so give them a whiff and check them out!

This smells absolutely amaaaaaaazing. Oh my goodness. This is the Bath and Body Works' Paris French Daydream. I can't describe the smell, but it smells suuuuuper good. It smells so warm and sweet. That's kind of all I can say!

I've really been liking earrings these past few months! These really pretty purple roses among many other pairs of earrings that I've been adoring and wearing.  I don't know where these rose earrings are from though... but the earrings I have are from H&M and Forever 21. Here is a little story about me and earrings. So I used to always wear these little gold hoop earrings when I was younger and then I kind of randomly stopped wearing any earrings at all for a couple of years actually, until a while back when I wore earrings once, and now I really like the look of them and I wish I had more earrings to wear! It's a little random, but yeah..! 

I have also been loving necklaces lately! I wish I had more necklaces to choose from and wear, but this feather necklace is one of my absolute favourites. I got this last summer at a gift shop when I went on a road trip with my parents. I've had so many compliments on it!! I was actually pretty surprised by the amount of... fame, this necklace got. It's a necklace that you can wear everyday, but it's got this like, uumph that's make it more than just a casual necklace, you know what I mean? So gorgeous, I'm dying.

I honestly did not think I would like this, but turns out I do! These Cliff bars are very good, the chocolate almond fudge and the chocolate chip ones are my favourites! I can't decide which I like best because while the chocolate almond fudge is fudgier and softer, the chocolate chip has more of a chocolate taste, so these two are both equal in my book. To be honest, they do taste "healthy", but they have a surprising sweet kick to it. It's good if you're trying to cut back on sugar, but you're craving something sweet. Try these Cliff bars out if you haven't yet! 

My mom bought me this oil from Saje and it smells magnificent. It's the Unwind one, and oh, it just smells wonderful and it's so calming and just like the name, so unwinding. I have to say, I think they're a bit pricey, but I would buy it again, definitely. It's natural, and soothing and so... zen? Haha. It looks so cute in your room too!! They have a lot of scents to choose from in the store, and they sell diffusers as well as other products like lotions, soap, and different types of oils for different needs. I really recommend you check it out.

So these were my favourites of November, and for some of the months back heheh. I definitely should keep track of my favourites, because I forgot how fun it was to write about the stuff I've been loving!! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Until next time my friends!

Keep Smiling,

M-L

Study, Strive, Skilled #3

          I think it's about time I did another Triple S post, whattaya think? =)
This post won't be so long, I just wanted to share with a story and a little study tip that comes with it!

So, a couple weeks ago I had a social studies test. It was a big exam, the whole unit. To be honest, I feel like I studied enough to get a good mark and when I was doing my test I felt pretty confident, give or take a few stressful questions. But then my teacher said that we had to do a retake because we did so poorly on it!! She said that more than half of her two classes failed so we needed to retake the test. We got to know what our mark was. and I did pass, but my mark was "eh" and "-_-". I really could've gotten a better mark. So, I reviewed what I needed to know and understand for the retake to make sure I got even better results.

These, are tools, I guess you could call it, that helped me study! 

The first picture is a perfume stick, and the other is gum! The perfume stick is from an Asian brand,  I don't really know much about it sorry. It does smell really nice, sweet and floral with a little hint of citrus! The gum is lime flavoured and it tastes like... lime! 

I heard that smelling an unfamiliar scent, and/or eating unfamiliar tasting gum while you study helps you remember stuff when you take a test. I figured that this was a perfect time to try this method out because I was going to take the test again, and I would see how big of a difference it would make. So I studied while sniffing on my wrist, and chewing on the lime gum that I've never tried before. 

When I took the test again, I had my lime and gum and perfume bar ready. I chewed as much as I could to release the flavour out,  and I sniffed and sniffed on my wrist (now that I think about it, I might have looked a little weird doing that... whatever!). And actually, with the help of the perfume scent, I did recall a lot of stuff! I was amazed!

You know what was even more amazing? I got 25% higher on my second test. I know, I was so surprised and so satisfied, I almost didn't believe it!

I don't know if it's because I used two methods of "recalling info" and that interfered, but I found that using scent help me better than using taste to remembering and recalling information during a test. As much as I want gum to help me, because bringing gum to class is more normal than bringing that little perfume bar, it doesn't help me as much as the smell of the perfume.

Now that I know this sweet little trick works, at least for me, I'm definitely using this method more often. In fact, I have another big unit test coming up, and right now I'm munching on and smelling the ever delicious and citrus orange!

So I hope you found this post interesting! Will you try out this trick? Have you already tried it? How does it work for you? I will try out more study tips and "life hacks" for y'all and report back on my results! Until next time folks.

Keep Smiling,
M-L

Popular, You Wanna be Popular!

          Sorry I really couldn't help myself but put that as my title for this post! Sorrynotsorry lol, I love that song.

So from the title, haha, the most amazing title for this post, I want to talk about popularity. Or, I guess like, social groups/cliques at school. I found this a pretty interesting topic to talk about because if you are a student at school, or you watch movies that involve school, or even if you read teen/YA books, you'll almost always see the use of cliches and labels of students.

To be honest, I never really noticed social groups and cliques at my school until this year... Maybe I only saw it this year because I was always so clueless, or maybe I was too stubborn to accept the fact that every person at school has some kind of label on them. Now that I know that we have these "social groups", I start getting curious about where I am placed on the spectrum, or where I am on the "social hierarchy" at school.

I don't think I necessarily fit into a certain "crowd". You all know the cliches: the popular kids, the nerds, the geeky tumblr people, the athletes, the "goths and emos"... it can go on. I don't feel like I belong into any of the groups, but I'm sure that others think that I do.

Have you ever wondered what it felt like to be more "recognized" at school by other people? Do you ever wonder if you're popular? Do you think about how you are seen as by others?

To be honest, I have. I would think about why I'm not "popular", why and how I don't fit into that crowd, why we are kind of labelled in a way. How come we don't really like, intermix?

The same time I had this subject in mind, I had this like, talk/conversation with a friend of mine and one of my teachers. The subject of school popularity and social groups was brought up. It was really insightful. My teacher said that if we ever felt like, somewhat inferior to these "popular" kids, it's really easy to ignore that, and forget about the lines that divide us.

And... it kind of did work for me. I mean, thinking about popularity and social groups isn't necessarily bad, or a problem. It's just that it's not a priority, and it doesn't really matter. But now, even though I can still see the divided groups, I don't really worry about what my "label" is. It doesn't matter, right? To be honest, I think we're all the same. I'm friends with people from different groups and it's really fun to see how similar and different we are.

Anyways, this was a little rant/rambling about what I've been thinking about! What do you think about social groups/labels?

Keep Smiling,
M-L

Busy Busy Bee

          Long time no see!.. or write, haha. Hello everyone! How are you all? I hope you had a spooktacular Halloween. I hope school is well! I hope life has been good.

It's been a while since I've written and posted anything on the blog. I figured that I should write a little update about the stuff going on in my life.

I had some pretty busy weeks lately. I was supposed to put up my October favourites around this time but I didn't have time to upload pictures and write up my favourites. I could barely finish my extra math homework these past few weeks, and that was pretty stressful. I had my martial art classes, my after school clubs and service hours for school, I have a big English project to finish by tomorrow and I still need to study for a unit test coming up! Yes yes, I know I should be finishing my project and studying for my upcoming test, but I'm on a study break right now. Busy busy bee I am, haha. Just kidding, I know lots of people are busier than I am.

I know that I'm busier than usual, but I still really want to do some of my favourite leisure activities. I just started knitting a scarf, and I just bought a new book (The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, can you believe it?! Crossed that off my bucket list, yessss!)! I also want to watch the TV show that I'm starting to like, and write my stories (which isn't pretty a concrete storyline yet but I'm working on it lol), and write on this blog, and fold my laundry (we don't want it to wrinkle now do we?) while catching up on YouTube videos, and practice Hapkido, and have "me-time", and text my friends, and go on Pinterest and write in my journal! There's so much I want to do yet there's never enough time in the day to do everything...

So I learned something. Wow, I really need to work on time management. These past few weeks has been very hectic for me, and I realize now that it's because I'm not managing my time well enough. I'm not sorting out my priorities, especially. I haven't been keeping up with my planner, oops. I should probably update it, but I'm too busy to look over it hahaha! Sigh, just kidding.

I also realize that I'm pretty slow when it comes to finishing stuff. Like, I'll say that I'll go on Pinterest for 15 minutes but then I end up going on the app for like, 45 minutes instead. When I do my math homework, I finish the questions slower and I even copy the answers sometimes (-_-) because I'm wasting too much time. After my after school activities, sometimes I stay after just to keep hanging out with my friends, so I waste even more time!! Do you see what I mean? Do you see what I'm getting at? It's a problem...

Anyways, I figure, it's a new week this week. I'll try to reset everything, and start managing my time well enough. This week will be much more slower and "peaceful" though, so things should get back to normal and smooth. I'll have enough to do things I want to do, like catch up on my knitting and read my book, fold my laundry... I definitely need to try managing my time better. Maybe later I'll update you guys on how I managed to find a system that makes me seem "less busy", if you know what I mean.

So yeah, here's an update/new lesson of the day with M-L ^_^! Hopefully I'll find time to write on the blog..!

Keep Smiling,
M-L