Hey everyone! Recently (the summer of 2017), I visited Honolulu for a week with my family. It was my third time in Hawaii, with the previous two times when I was really young, so I really appreciated the vacation this time around. Needless to say, it was a great way to end my summer break before having to go back to school! For today's post, I thought it'd be nice to share a couple reasons why you should head down to Hawaii for your next vacation. I'm going to be talking about specifically Honolulu in the island of Oahu because it's the only island I've been to, all three times. Now, you can go to Hawaii whenever you want. It doesn't have to be during summer; you can go anytime! Hawaii is essentially warm year round, but I suggest going in the spring or summer. It's only a bit cooler in the winter, but honestly, it just feels right going during the hotter season. Let's start! 1. The beaches are amazing. I visited both Diamond Head Beach and Waikiki Beach during my trip. Both beaches are located extremely close to Sheraton Waikiki, the hotel I stayed at. Let me just say this: those beaches are gorgeous. It's so so relaxing, and a lot of Honolulu's beaches are located near hotels, so often times you'll hear fun music and smell the aroma of delicious food. 2. An abundance of water activities. There's so much you can do. You can snorkel and observe sea turtles; you can attend submarine tours; you can even go further than snorkeling and try out deep sea diving. I personally did the first two, although I snorkeled the second time I went to Hawaii. I actually had to stay away from water activities the first half of the trip because I had my lady problems and unfortunately I just can't bring myself to use a tampon (yikes). The submarine tour was fantastic. You really do get to see tons of aquatic animals, including the occasional shark and sea turtle. If you're not a big fan of the sea, there are always pools. I myself do prefer pools over beaches because I am not a big fan of the salty water getting in my eyes and my mouth, but then again, the ocean has naturally occurring waves that I love to play in. I also love building sand castles (okay, more like sand "structures" because I really can't make anything that resembles a castle) and just sitting on a beach chair and admiring the view. So beaches are kind of a win lose situation for me. More than often, I will spend the first half of a day lounging by the pool and swimming, and the second half, relaxing on the sand at the beach and occasionally entering the sea water. I like staying on the beach the latter part of the day because experiencing the sunsets and listening to the crashing sounds of the waves at the same time is literally paradise. 3. There is plenty of nightlife and land activities. Now, if you're just not a big fan of water in general, DON'T FEAR, because there's still so much to do on land. Although the general consensus when visiting Hawaii is that you're going to swim at some point, that's honestly not the case, because again, there's so many activities. When I was dealing with my lady problems the first half of my vacation, I thought that I would be bored out of my mind, because I couldn't enter the water. But I was pretty much proved wrong. You can hike to the top of the volcanic crater on Diamond Head Beach, attend a luau while celebrating culture and tradition, or even just go shopping at Hawaii's amazing shopping center complexes. When I was visiting, there was actually a street fair happening. My family and I spent about an hour exploring the fair and indulged in some delicious snacks. For example, we bought freshly squeezed lemonade at a stand. Here's a picture: There's a lot to do during the night as well. For example, street performances are a big thing! When my family and I would finish dinner, we would always walk back to the hotel instead of taking an Uber or taxi, so that we could experience the diverse performances. On one side of the street, there were people banging on drums, and on the other side, dancers showing off their coolest dance tricks and moves. Of course there are also a bunch of bars and nightclubs. I remember that when my brother and I would go to sleep around midnight, my mom and dad would leave and go downstairs to the bar conveniently located in the hotel lobby.
4. Hawaii is a family friendly location. Aside from the adult attractions, Honolulu and Hawaii in general is very family friendly. Most hotels have pools dedicated to children and teens, decorated with lifesavers and waterslides. A pool / beach day is always relaxing and something fun to do with the kids. If you're traveling with children, Hawaii is the place to go if you're looking for a vacation to just wind down and breathe. And of course, Hawaii is known for its sea and marine life. Museums dedicated to this topic would be really fun to visit. Like I mentioned before, submarine tours or even boat rides would be cool as well. 5. The FOOD. The food and cuisine is of course something I most vividly remember from my trip. Now, I'm about to tell you my most favorite "food court" I have ever been too... Waikiki Yokocho. It's basically an underground complex filled with restaurants, all serving Japanese cuisine!! If you aren't a fan of Japanese food, then this complex is not for you. But, as an avid fan of ramen, udon, sushi, teppanyaki, curry, you name it, my family and I fell in love with this place, so much so that we returned almost every night for dinner, or even after dinner at another restaurant to grab a late night bite. We actually made it a goal to try all the ramen restaurants in the complex, and we almost fulfilled it! There were 4 restaurants and we ate 3 by the last day of our trip. Anyways, all the restaurants we tried out in the "food court" really did taste authentic to real Japanese food. I've been to Japan recently so I am legible to make this comparison. Needless to say, the food was amazing, and we would have eaten there more if we had discovered the area a tad bit earlier. Continuing the Japanese food trend, there was a stand alone restaurant just a few blocks away from Sheraton Waikiki called Marukame Udon. This is legit one of the best udon restaurants I have ever been to. It's so popular that there's always a line waiting outside of the restaurant. But a half hour wait is honestly so worth it. Besides the legendary Japanese food you can find in Honolulu, there's shaved ice stands, barbecue, and my favorite chocolate covered macadamia nuts. I can literally finish a box a day, although I try not to, thinking about all the sugar. But it's just so so good. If you go to Hawaii you'll notice a lot of "ABC Stores", like the ones you can find in Las Vegas. Basically, these stores sell everything that a tourist would want to buy, such as portable fans for those hot days, snacks and treats true to the culture of the area, key chains, T-shirts, and more. It's where I bought my chocolate covered macadamia nuts. To conclude, even if you don't like the water very much, you should still consider visiting, because of the amazing views and the abundance of off-water activities. You can enjoy the nature, the food, the nightlife, and much, much more. There's a lot more that I want to talk about and expand on, but I wanted to keep this as short as possible. But yeah, Hawaii is just awesome! Have a great day!
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Hey guys! I'm back with another award post! I love doing these awards so so much, because I get to answer some cool questions.
You guys know the drill. First off, thank you to Wendy Murphy of myorganiclifejourney.com/ for nominating me for this award. Wendy is an amazing, experienced blogger. She started blogging about a year and a half ago, so she's still quite new, but you really can't tell with her writing style and her posts in general, about topics ranging from travel experiences to delicious recipes. Overall, she blogs about healthy living which is an extremely important subject. Again, I'm so grateful that she nominated me. Go check her out! On to some rules!
Here are the questions I was asked:
And here are my answers!
Onto my nominees:
My questions for you:
And I'm done! For everyone who read this, I hope you enjoyed. And for my nominees, have fun with the questions! Happy Sunday! ...I would go back to the 1920s. I'm going to talk mostly about what went down in American history and why I would choose this decade to visit. Let's begin! The first thing that comes to mind when I think about this decade are the cultural revolutions. Black pride really emerged with the arrival of the Harlem Renaissance. This ethnic explosion dealing with African American art, music, and literature fueled black nationalism and spurred the creations of certain organizations. A good example would be UNIA. Led by Marcus Garvey, the organization served to promote racial pride and, more interestingly, the desire for an independent nation in Africa for the black community currently residing in America. Marcus Garvey was also the leader of a movement called Pan-Africanism and therefore wanted to separate African Americans from white American society, hence the other goal of his organization. He wanted to do something about the ever growing racism and discrimination white people constantly enforced on his people. He spread knowledge by creating his own newspaper source, and a shipping company, dedicated to transporting African Americans back to Africa. Before he could pursue this goal, though, he was indicted for mail fraud and was deported to Jamaica. Although I think that his goals were incredulous and would have never worked, I think this whole situation and more shows the growing black pride within America. Even though there was still a lot of discrimination against the group, I believe there was some progress made, when society as a whole accepted African American culture. A prime example was jazz music, smoothly integrated into American society. Some white people did want to stop racial violence towards ethnic groups. The NAACP was created for just that purpose. What's great, though, is that the founders were both white and black people. They worked together to found the organization and sought to relieve lynching and racism towards all diverse groups, but mostly they aimed towards African Americans. To travel back in time and to experience these changes in the communities would be life changing. I would have especially loved to visit the New York neighborhood of Harlem, where this incredible restructuring took place.
Some of the best known literature arose during this time period as well. After WW1, many writers and artists were disillusioned with the American values, such as the American Dream. America had lost its innocence after the war and many people were unhappy with what the USA essentially was. Many of these writers and artists therefore moved to Paris to escape. There they found a lot of inspiration and they produced some of the most brilliant works. For instance, The Great Gatsby and The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway in 1926 and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925 are just a couple examples. So, adding to cultural and literary movements initiated and experienced by African Americans, white society also had an incredible literary revolution. To be the first generation to experience the new artwork and read the new style of poetry would be amazing. The flapper movement was stunning as well. During WWI, men went to fight in the war and therefore women had to replace them job-wise. This boosted morale and self-importance within women, because they were part of the war effort even though they weren't physically fighting in the war, and, more importantly, their contributions to the war were a factor to the gratification of women's suffrage. Women's suffrage had been a long, long battle, and they finally received the right to vote by Congress in 1920. After the war there was a sense of freedom and ability to break out of the social norms and also to express the individual any way they desired to, and women really embodied these feelings and, as you can say, "rebelled" against orthodox stereotypes and restrictions against women. Women were expected to stay home, take care of the family, stay loyal to her husband, and wear unshowy clothing, and of course, keep their long hair. I believe the flapper movement was most characterized as women "bobbing", or in other words, cutting short, their hair. Again, women were essentially exposed to new ideas and better ways of living, and therefore wanted to break free from the chains of conservative society. Besides the bobbing of the hair, women started to smoke, have casual sex with men, wore shorter skirts and heavier makeup, and showed their disdain for conventional behavior that was expected of them back then. They really were the opposite of what was acceptable of a woman. Which is what makes this movement so special. There may have been movements similar to the flapper movement before the 1920s, but there definitely wasn't any that was as big or influential in American society. Of course, there were anti-flappers of both genders who believed that women should stay in their roles, but a lot of women collaborated together and participated in the look. It was a statement - that they weren't going to stay silent anymore. They may have just been given the right to vote but there was still a long way to go, equality-wise, and of course women being objectified and stereotyped, all of these issues which are still prominent today. The 1920s were also the time period where America developed into the nation that is still what it is today. That's right - America became a consumer society. People were excited to buy all the new, stylish inventions, including the Ford automobile and upgraded kitchen appliances. Consumerism in the United States really were a product of all the economic prosperity they had in the 1920s. Technical advances, new creative ideas, and greater supply led to the production of objects that were attractive to the American eye, so much so that people were willing to go into debt, just to buy a Model T or a radio for entertainment purposes. American society changed from buying only what was necessary to buying what was desired. Of course, this idea of buying for recreation started around the Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century where production was made efficient and therefore more supply was created, but consumerism really started in this decade where more luxurious items were being produced. Again, in the 1920s there was a lot of racial tension but I believe that a lot of individuals banded together to try to solve the issue, and many other social problems. The collaboration of people from different groups was rare back then and would have been great to experience personally. America also adapted the consumerism ideology which greatly and positively affected the economy. Unfortunately, this period of social revolutions, reform, and cultural expansion came to an end with the start of the Great Depression in 1929. It had been a great run for the United States up to that point, where they really grew as a nation. Thanks for reading! Hey hey hey! Welcome back to another award post!
First of all, I was nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award a few weeks ago, and when I received the Twitter notification for this award, I was extremely, extremely happy! I had just finished and published my Liebster Award post, and I remember thinking how it was so much fun answering the questions provided to me and coming up with creative new questions. It was almost like a high, writing that post (LOL). When I was all done and my fun had ended, I was nominated for this different award and the post was something I looked forward to making when I had the time to sit down and actually get some work done. So here it is! I would like to thank Candace from thekelleylog.blogspot.com/ for nominating me. Go visit her blog! Candace is a new blogger with a lot of potential. She just started blogging this year in January but she's already exhibiting high professionalism and thoroughness, and I can't wait to see where she takes her blog. Here are the rules:
Here are the questions I was asked:
And here are my answers!
My nominees:
Your questions!
Thanks for reading everyone! And to my nominees: have fun with this! Hey everyone! For today's post, as a little extension of my tips for studying post (if you haven't read it, here's the link: https://hellamel.weebly.com/blog/tips-for-studying) I thought it would be helpful to talk about some ways to keep a clean desk. In fact, one of my tips in that post was that maintaining an organized work space is key to being able to focus, but I didn't go into the details about how I go about it. Anyways, here are 5 tips that I recommend trying out for a tidy work area! 1. Keep a trash can near your desk. This is extremely important if you're like me and want to minimize how much you have to get up from your desk and move around. I always have stuff that needs to be thrown away - whether it be old papers, scraps, wrappers - and it's just helpful to have a trash can right there for immediate disposal. I keep my trash can right underneath my desk and I easily pull it out anytime I need to throw something away. This way, I will actually dispose of my garbage and not leave it lying on my table. All in all, this creates a better and fresher environment to work in. 2. Tons of eraser shavings everywhere? Use a sheet protector like one of these: This tip is also useful if you don't want pencil / pen marks to rub off on your desk, when you finish writing on one side of a paper and need to flip to the other side. I started using this technique when I first got my white desk. I noticed that my pencil marks would transfer to my desk every time I flipped to the other side of the paper, and since my desk was white, it was extremely noticeable. Later, I also realized that my sheet protector collected the majority of my eraser shavings. This was a neat surprise because without the sheet protector, eraser shavings would start piling up in random mounds on my desk, and I didn't want to simply swipe them off of my desk onto the floor. With the sheet protector, I can simply pick it up and toss the contents on top of it into a trash can. Once again, no mess = more productivity! You don't have to use a sheet protector. You can honestly use anything you'd like, so long as you are able to write on it and it can collect scraps. I just like to use a sheet protector because I can insert a decorated piece of paper into it. For example, here's my sheet protector + paper combo: I also like to switch out the paper occasionally for some diversity. I think that method provides a lot more creativity because you can have fun perhaps making your own design on a piece of paper to put into the clear film, or you can, like me, take some pre-designed paper, insert it into the clear film, and periodically switch out the papers. Obviously, you don’t need a clear film for that, but I personally like it because it gives my paper a glossy look, which in turn looks better on my desk. 3. Use organizers / holders for the smaller items on your desk. Got a lot of random writing utensils lying around? If you don't have a proper pencil holder or box, anything resembling one will work. For example, you could use mason jars, mugs, or even tupperware. Of course, feel free to add accessories to make it look cuter. A visually pleasing workspace makes me more motivated to study. I also have a lot of random small items on my desk. I have a box of Altoids, lotion, eye drops, and oil sheets, and I also have tons of paper clips and binder clips. I keep these items in this box with an attached cover I found in my house so that they weren't all over the place. For my loose paper clips and binder clips, I put them all in a cute jar: See what I mean? Everything just looks so much better when they're all grouped together, organized and neat, ready at my disposal. 4. Use coasters / trays when you bring drinks / snacks. I always bring drinks and food up to my desk and eat while I work. I cannot place my drink on my desk without a coaster, especially if the cup I'm using is made out of thin plastic or glass and porcelain, since water will bead up and leave a mess on my table. Yes, personally, coasters are very important to me. Here's the coaster I use. My mom got this for me when she visited Japan. Isn't it so adorable? For snacks that are a bit messier (for example, snacks with dip, or watery fruit), I suggest placing everything on a tray and then placing that tray onto your desk. With a tray, you also eliminate the need for coasters, as you can simply place your drink onto the tray itself, but most of the time I will only bring a drink up and will therefore not require a whole tray to carry it. These methods reduce the mess that ends up directly on the surface of your desk and makes it much easier to clean up afterwards.
5. Got a lot of random papers? Use a magazine file! This tip is especially useful if you want to hold all your papers in one place yet be able to easily access them whenever needed. Remember, grouping everything up in one place is key. You can place one directly on your desk and fill it up with important documents or reminders. What you put in there doesn't just have to be loose papers; it works just as well with the storage of notebooks, journals, planners, and other stationary as well. Those were my tips for keeping a clean area to work in! These strategies personally have worked really well and I hope they do for you as well. Have a great rest of your day! |
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