Welcome All!

I hope you all are having a wonderful week so far. If you're having an uneventful week like me, then you should try sitting down with a good book to read. Personally, I'm reading two books at the same time. The books are Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Pastoral by André Alexis.

 

Pastoral is a newer book since I have only been reading it for about two weeks now. The description on the back of the novel states, "The very first parish Father Christopher Pennant is assigned to is the rural town of Barrow. With more sheep than people, it is sleepily bucolic-too much Barrow Brew on Barrow Day is the rowdiest it gets. But things aren't so idyllic for Liz Denny, whose fiancé doesn't want to have to choose between Liz and his more worldly lover Jane. or for Father Pennant himself, whose faith is profoundly shaken by three 'miracles' he witnesses: a man walking on water, trained gypsy moths and a talking sheep," and it continues, "In this surprising and delightful new novel, the award winning André Alexis tackles fundamental questions of love and faith by bringing a modern sensibility and a new liveliness to an age-old genre, the pastoral."

 

People might be turned off by the religious aspects in the novel, but I have to say that it's more than that. I believe the book is focusing on the struggles surrounding the concept of faith. You could tell by the description when Liz's fiancé can't pick between being faithful to her or being faithful to his feelings about another woman.

 

Besides that, it's a very good book and you should check it out. I especially love the cover even through it was given to me taped up like this. I don't believe that a book should be treated this way because books are very precious in my opinion. 

 

On a final note, I'm currently writing down some favorite quotes/phrases as we speak so stay tuned for that in the next Book Chat. I will hopefully be publishing a "Pack with Me" blog post tomorrow since I'm moving into a dorm room on Sunday! If you haven't check out yesterday's post, then here's the link to Summer Edition: Spring Cleaning. Thank you all for visiting and I'll talk to you all later!

Welcome All!

At the moment, I am in the middle of cleaning out my entire room and I have only cleaned out my closet so far. Spring cleaning could sure be refreshing but very tedious as the same time. I wouldn't let the boring aspect of cleaning subdue the fact that I have to finish by Sunday. While cleaning, I realized that I could share some useful tips I've learned from my previous clean out sessions. I used to become pretty overwhelmed when cleaning so I began to do little things to deescalated the feeling of being surrounded by never-ending junk. I know someone might be going through the same feelings so I hope these simple tips can help anyone while cleaning.

1. Create A Pile or Two.

Yes, I would recommend creating piles but don't create too many. I would usually create two or three piles that are spread out. For example, one pile would be on the bed while another would be near my closet. I would also suggest labeling each pile if you have a hard time remembering which one is which or you could just memorize the purpose of each pile in your head.

2. Donate, Donate, Donate!

For me, I believe that not everything is trash so I usually have a donation pile. It's true that another person's trash is another person's treasure unless they really worn out the item itself. I just like the feeling of giving something semi-decent to someone who would appreciate it wholeheartedly.

3.  Divide the Room.

I always think it's a good idea to divide the room into various sections before you clean up. Once you do that, you work on each section at a time so there wouldn't be a gigantic mess. This is the most useful tip for me and keep this in mind every time I clean up.

4. Multiple Bags.

You must have multiple bags ready as you're cleaning up. You need a bag if you are either donating, picking up trash or storing away items. It would definitely be satisfying to haul the mess into a bag to make more room.

5. Save Little Activities For Last.

After everything is put away, I would usually wipe down various surfaces and replace dried out incenses. It would be best to do little tasks like these at the end to signify that you are finished cleaning.

On a final note, these tips are very simple and quite helpful. It's best to be a little organized even through you're creating a mess to get rid of unnecessary clutter. I hope you all enjoyed this post and find these tips useful. If you would like to read more posts, then check out yesterday's post called, "The Check-In: Summer Solstice". Thank you for visiting and I'll talk to you all tomorrow!

Welcome All!

It's true that summer has official begun and everybody is feeling the heat except for me. I'm technically still in school until 11:15 a.m. (Est. Time) which is pretty weird if you ask me. I don't understand why school has to last as long as it should have especially if we're coming back earlier than we did last year. The only reason why I went to school today is because I had to hand in a very important paper. I was too lazy to hand it in on Friday so I had to hand it in today. Besides school, there's a list of priorities I have to take care of and the stress is slowly piling up just thinking about the upcoming prepping I have to do.

You might be wondering, "Tamara, what ever do you mean?"

Well, I'm referring back to the scholarship I talked about in my second to last blog post (Check-In:New Beginnings). Not only am I going to talk about it in more detail, but there will be a series of upcoming posts related to the scholarship all week-long. There are plenty of things to do to get myself prepared for this temporary move so I thought it would be cool to share it with you all!

Details about the Scholarship

1. It's a Yale Summer Scholarship.
2. I will be staying on campus for a month (living, breathing, eating, and all lol).
3. I'm taking two college classes.
4. The first class is called, "Introduction to Cultural Anthropology" where we are introduce to the basics of Anthropology. 
5. The second class is called, "The Logic Of Dreams" where we study the meaning/theories behind dreams.
6. I'm doing a lot of activities throughout the month so expect a lot of blog posts in the future.

If you check out my social media page, you'll notice that I recently updated it. I really do enjoy documenting new experiences, as you can tell since I have a blog, so I decided to create a Snapchat account. It was in the spur of the moment, but I realized that I needed to do it.

On a final note, I will be publishing a blog post tomorrow about the joys of spring cleaning *cue the sarcasm* and other random tips to keep in mind when cleaning. If you would like to follow me on Snapchat, then head to my Social Media page. I hope you all have a wonderful day and I'll talk to you later!

Welcome All!

Throughout my high school years, I took an array of trips to different places in my local downtown area. Downtown is the best place to get food after school and hangout with school friends who are from different parts of Connecticut. By that, I'm referring to how my school consist of students from various parts of Connecticut so it's hard to have one spot to meet up. This is why Downtown is the best place to hang around and explore just for fun. Today I will be talking about a few places I visit regularly or have gone to for the first time!

Donut Crazy

Recently, I discovered this doughnut shop after leaving Urban Outfitters (another place I like to visit). It was a pretty random discovery and a little hidden which is common with most food places downtown. The decor inside of the shop was very chic, unique and suave. My friend and I knew that Donut Crazy would be our new hangout once we had set foot into the place.
The sign was the main thing that caught my attention. If you were wondering, that's me on the bottom right corner. Literally, I was eating a maple bacon doughnut with my back towards the camera. Now, the downside of Donut Crazy is that the doughnuts are very pricey. My maple bacon doughnut cost $3.00 but at the moment I didn't care since it was my first time eating this type of doughnut.

Welcome All!

Check-in: the act of reporting one's presence and registering, typically at an airport or hotel.

I thought the series's name would express how I would be updating you all on my life. The Google definition was on point but I wasn't expecting the airport/hotel part lol. Anyways, I created this series to talk about life-related things because I thought it would be a good time to start talking about what's been going on. It wouldn't be right to continue publishing fashion posts without an explanation. At the moment, a lot of great changes are happening in my life but first I'll explain the current events connected to some of my absences.


1. I took my two AP tests in the first week of May. My AP Literature test was on Tuesday and the AP Government test was on Wednesday. The weeks leading up to the tests were hectic because I was studying like a mad woman.

2. In Creative Writing, I was attending capstones for the last two weeks so I wasn't able to publish any posts during school time.

3. The test taking has made me very exhausted so I didn't have enough energy to type up a blog post.

Now, I would like to talk about a few changes and achievements that are happening. I've been writing essays while applying to a few programs. I'm happy to say I got accepted into my high school's National Honor Society. Let me tell you that I was running around for recommendations while studying for my AP tests (#multi-tasking).

Second, I applied for a scholarship a few months ago and I got accepted! I will release more details about the scholarship as soon as I get everything situated. I would definitely be having a lot of blog content in the next few months because parts of the scholarship takes place in the summer. If you would like more details about this scholarship, then please stay tuned!

Welcome All!

Recently, its been hard for me to get back into the habit of reading. My junior year of high school has gotten pretty hectic especially these last few weeks. I was able to read a few pages of a new book but was interrupted again by schoolwork. I'm currently reading a novel, A Tale For The Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki. The book has two point of views to match the story. Here's the little description from the Barnes and Noble website:

In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there’s only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates’ bullying. But before she ends it all, Nao first plans to document the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun who’s lived more than a century. A diary is Nao’s only solace—and will touch lives in ways she can scarcely imagine. Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox—possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami. As the mystery of its contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past, into Nao’s drama and her unknown fate, and forward into her own future.

Full of Ozeki’s signature humor and deeply engaged with the relationship between writer and reader, past and present, fact and fiction, quantum physics, history, and myth, A Tale for the Time Being is a brilliantly inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home.


The cover is the first thing that caught my eye. I didn't have enough time to take a picture of the book but I would definitely show you in a future post. Lets just say that it's very colorful and unique in its own way. Another thing that caught my attention was the description. The time gap between the two characters and the life of Nao seems very interesting. I'm curious about what her unknown fate is and the life of her great-grandmother.

From the first few pages, I would definitely recommend that people who are the ages 17 and older could read this book. There is no holding back when it comes to Nao's language which obviously fits her age group. Besides that, the book is already diving into the story itself which is a good thing. A majority of books take a while to get to the point and this is why people become uninterested after reading the first few pages. I'm glad that I'm starting off spring with a fresh read!

Welcome All!

Today, I am going to be reviewing The Body Shop's, Blue Corn 3-in-1 Deep Purifying Scrub Mask, that was mentioned in a haul from last year. I've been testing this out for months to build up my credibility for this review. All I could say is I know for sure that I have mixed feelings about this mask.

The jar holds about 4.2 oz (120 g) of product which is all you really need. For me, I haven't even seen the bottom of the container and I've been using this for months.