My Summer Playlist 2016

Now that summer has finally started, we all have our favorite songs that we like to listen to wither we are at the beach, driving around, or just relaxing a playlist is essential. I have made a playlist with my favorite songs that I will definitely be listening to. Hope you guys like it, there is a link that has the playlist for these songs right HERE

1. Bang My Head by David Guetta ft Sia and Fetty Wap

2. Dark Necessities by Red Hot Chili Peppers

3. Don't Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers ft Daya

4. Tomorrow Never Comes by Zac Brown Band

5. Wild Things by Alessia Cara

6. I Took A Pill In Ibiza (Seeb Remix) by Mike Posner

7. Electric Love by BØRNS

8.  Work from Home by Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dolla $ign

9. Youth by Troye Sivan 

10. Church Bells by Carrie Underwood

11. Cake by The Ocean by DNCE

12. Bailando (Español) by Enrique Iglesias  ft. Descemer Bueno, Gente De Zona

13. Pillowtalk by ZAYN

14. Young and Wild by Zac Brown Band 

15. American Money (After Dark) by BØRNS

16. I Know What You Did Last Summer by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello

17. Wildfire by Zac Brown Band

18. History by One Direction 

19. Summertime by Kenny Chesney 

20. I'm Ready by AJR

These are just some of my favorite songs for the summer. Let me know what you think, and any other songs that you enjoy listening to this summer.

My New Adventure: Singapore Move

SURPRISE I AM MOVING TO SINGAPORE 

As you may know, I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and attend the University of Arkansas. However, my family has a tendency to move a lot. I have lived in Dallas, Texas for about 4 years now. Before Dallas, Texas I had lived in Oklahoma, Chicago, London, New Jersey, New York, and Peru. However, I am about to embark on the greatest adventure yet.

 I am moving to Singapore! 

And yes, I know Singapore is super far! It's also half way around the world! However, I will still be attending the University of Arkansas in the states. I have never been to Singapore, so this will be a completely new experience for me, but am excited. Here are some facts about Singapore, if you are not familiar with the country.

Singapore Facts 

• Geography: Singapore is an island located off the coast of southern Malaysia

• Language: In Singapore they have four different languages; English, Tamil, Malay, and Standard Mandarin

• Currency: They use a Singapore Dollar. The one I have in this picture is two Singapore dollars. Two Singapore Dollars is $1.45 in the United States. The person on the Singapore Bill is Yusof Ishak who was the first President of Singapore.  

• Flag: Singapore Flag was adopted in 1958, when they became self governed from the British Empire. 

• Video: Here is a video I found on YouTube that shows things about Singapore.

So I will keep you guys posted on all the things that happen in Singapore. Hope you learned some interesting facts about Singapore.

Things I've Learned in My Freshman Year of College

I can officially say that I am done with my freshman year of college. It was a long and hard road but I am glad I got that done and over with. Here are some things I learned in my freshman year of college that I wish someone would have told me.

• After a while cafeteria food sucks: Going into college, I was like cafeteria food won't be that bad I have eaten it all 12 years of school. Boy was I wrong! University of Arkansas has a Meal Trade where from 7-10pm you can eat at one of the fast food places on campus and it counts as a meal in your plan. But after the first semester I could not eat anymore Slims Chicken or Papa John's Pizza or Burger King. So i went to the cafeteria and they had such weird hours, and the food wasn't as great besides a couple things. 

• You are tired 95% of the time: I don't even know how this is possible, but in college I was always tired. Whether it was from staying up and studying, walking up and down hills for my classes, or 8am classes I was always tired. I would come home for christmas break and just sleep. I also learned that naps are good at the time, but bad in long term because you probably napped during your homework or study time. In the end, making you stay up late to finish and being tired the next day. 

• Don't do laundry Saturday or Sunday: Everyone does their laundry Saturday or Sunday, I would pick a time to do your laundry when you think nobody is in the dorms. Such as if you don't have a class till 1pm do it in the morning because once 3pm hits everyone will be doing laundry. Also, put a timer on your phone for when your laundry is done, don't be that person that leaves it in all day.

• Go to a teacher's office hours: This really important if you are in a class of 200 students, the teacher will never know who you are.Just go into your teacher's office hours to introduce yourself, it will help. Especially, if you need help on something going into my teacher's office hours helped me raise my essay grade from a B to an A. This will also help you if you are at a border line grade and the teacher sees that you come to class every day and went to their office hours, they might be nice enough to bump your grade up. 

• DO EXTRA CREDIT: This is probably the most important thing I have learned in my freshman year. I did so much extra credit, even when I didn't need to but let me tell you on the days that I didn't do so good on one of my papers or test that extra credit was there to balance me out. In my English class I was sitting at an 88% and I still had a paper to write, I ended up getting a B on my paper, but because I did that extra credit I ended up making an A on the paper. Which turned my 88% to an A in the class. 

• Getting a C in a class is okay: I am a perfectionist, I can deal with a couple of B's but to me a C is failing....Until i took Principles of Biology. I am an education major, so science isn't really my forte. This class however was a class that biology major had to take as their intro class, and as an education major you are required to take it. However, this class wasn't easy.. I studied so hard for these tests, went to all the tutoring sessions and was determined to get a B in the class. However that wasn't the case I ended up ending the class with a C with 2% from having a B which killed me. But after a while, I realized it was only one class. It was not going to determine whether I was going to be a good teacher or not. Getting a C is average, everyone is  either going to fail or have a C in a class it just happens... so its okay.

• Join Clubs: I know that college can be stressful at times, and you feel like you don't have time for anything. However, joining a club will help you get your mind off of things, and help you relax and have fun with friends for a bit. It is also great because you get to meet new people, and trust me, in college there is a club for everything, and if there is not make your own. I joined a club called Foundation of International Medical Relief for Children. We got to do bake sale's and went out for percentage nights. We also have a Go Fund Me, we are currently raising money for children in Uganda if you would like to donate. 

• Have some fun: Don't spend your time studying all day, go out and have some fun. My best memories with my friends are our late night iHop runs, concerts, going hiking up in the Ozark mountains, having chair races down the halls, football games, and basketball games. There are times when you just have to go out and enjoy yourself because your only going to be this young once. So go out and have some fun.

I hope this has helped you guys, and help you be a little more prepared for college because trust me I didn't know what I was walking into either.

A Wedding Toast To My Best Friend

Ladies and gentleman, friends, family, relatives, everyone who came out to witness this beautiful ceremony among these two wonderful people. For those who do not know me my name is Maria and I am the maid of honor. We are so happy to be here for this joyous occasion celebrating Tehya and Zach’s wedding.

I met Tehya my first year of college at the University of Arkansas. As a first year student not knowing many people I decided to do potluck and have a randomly assigned roommate. I honestly glad I did because then I would not have been able to meet one of my best friends. Tehya and I shared so many similar qualities it kind of scared me at first but then I loved it! Now Tehya has grown into an amazing woman. It is an honor to know the person she has become, and to have stood beside her on her special day as her bridesmaid and best friend. Tehya has always had a kind heart, brilliant mind, and always knows the right thing to say and do.

For as long as I have known her, the most important thing in her life has always been her family and her friends. She is an amazing friend - loyal, patient, generous, and kind. Tehya and Zach have an amazing bond together. I won’t go on too much about when they met, mostly because I wasn’t actually there, but I witnessed it through the eyes of Tehya when she told me the story. I could see it in her eyes she really loves Zach and that she was crazy about him. For a while Zach, I was a little jealous of you stealing my best friend, but as you become her husband I would like to pass on the best friend role to you. Because I know I won’t always be there for her when she needs me but you always will, and I know you will do you’re very best to protect her as I have. I cannot think of a better fit for my best friend then you. I hope you know you are a very lucky man to be able to have Tehya as your wife for the rest of your life. You look as happy today, as you did when I first meet you two in college.

Anyways, Tehya looks stunning tonight and Zach you look a little stunned. Therefore, here is some advice for you. Number one, she is always right. Number two, she loves food but she hates cantaloupes. Number three; never say no to a movie nights with her. Number four; always make your side of the bed because she is not going to do it for you. Finally, number five; love her with your whole heart.

So here, we are at their wedding night. They have finally made it after years of being together; their love grows stronger and stronger every day. High school sweethearts that defied the odds. From here on out they will be conquering every obstacle that comes at them. 

Today we do not only celebrating where they are right now, but also their beautiful future together. If everyone would raise their glass now and join me in congratulating the beautiful bride and handsome groom. Congratulations. I love you both, and wish you all the best. 

Things I've Learned From Gossip Girl

Every girl has seen the show Gossip Girl on the CW network. This show is every girls fantasy and dream to be living in New York City. I watched this show and fell in love with all the characters and i feel that there are lessons to be learned from this show. If you have not watched Gossip Girl drop what you are doing and go watch it. Anyway here are some things I have learned from Gossip Girl.
*spoilers*

Source

• Love is dysfunctional, hard, unexpected, stubborn, but also amazingly beautiful: There is a lot of couples in the show. The most famous is Chuck and Blair and both have had their fair share of mistakes, but in the end they love each other and fought through all odds. 

• "Fashion is the most powerful art their is"- Blair Waldorf : Blair Waldorf had one of the best clothing on the upper east side. I can agree that fashion is a work of art, you are the canvas and what you wear is what makes you special.

• Best friends are forever: Blair and Serena are the best of friends, they go through their ups and there down but in the end they are always by each other sides no matter what.  

• Scheming is a hobby: After watching the show I feel like Blair Waldorf is the queen of scheming. Blair had made it a hobby and she was very good at it. But I think we have all learned how to scheme because of Blair.

• The Upper East side is the place to be: When watching Gossip girl the upper east side, is what every girl imagine living, big city, lots of shopping, that is literally your goals as a woman to be able to marry a Chuck Bass or a Nathan Archibald and live on the Upper East side. 

• An outfit is incomplete without a headband: Blair had the most must stylish headbands and an outfit was not complete without them. Even now in the winter I wear cute headbands, and I love them.

I loved Gossip girl, I loved the ending and everything. These were just some things I took out of it, I hope you enjoyed them!

Top 5 Ways To Get Over A Breakup

Every girl has a relationship that they think will last forever, and then once it's over it is hard to pick up the pieces. Breakups are tough but so are we. We all have our own way of getting over someone, but just remember you deserve so much more. So here are some ways to get over a breakup..

1. Treat yourself: 

• Go out with your friends- Have a girls night out or go get lunch its nice to get out and just have some fun with friends. 
• Eat your favorite food - Go out and buy some chocolate or your favorite candy and favorite snacks or just go to your favorite restaurant. 
• Do something you love- If you enjoy drawing, go draw. If you enjoy taking pictures go do it. Don't let anything hold you back from doing something you love
• Go to a spa- Go get your nails done or go get a massage. Just relax, its nice to just treat yourself with a good spa day. Even if you just want to do your own pedicure or even your own face mask.
• Go for a nice walk- Enjoy the beauty of nature, and its nice to just get you thinking and clear your head. 
• Listen to your favorite music- Don't listen to breakup music it will just make you sad. Listen to upbeat music that makes you just want to dance and get up. Music that makes you happy is just a must to have on reply.

2. Time:
I'm not going to lie you don't just wake up one morning and you are suddenly over your ex. It will take some time to get over your ex, no matter how long you were together. This is something that everyone says "you just need time" and that's what you hate hearing no matter what, but its true!

3. Delete: 
As hard as it is you have to delete your ex from social media and your phone this is one of the hardest things to do. As much as you don't want to do it now, if you don't you will just want to text him or stalk all his social media to see if he has been hanging out with any girls. This will just make you feel worse. So just do it early it will help you out in the long run.

4. Write It Down: 
Write down your feelings on paper. This will help with getting your feelings out and not keep them from being bottled up. It can be a letter to your ex boyfriend, and you don't need to send it, or you can write it for yourself.

5. Remember You Are Worth More:

A year from now you are going to look back and laugh at this. Don't let a guy keep you down, you are stronger than that. Show him that you are better without him. You are worth so much more and he needs to realize that he lost something really special.

That are some different ways to get over a break up. Remember that you are worth so much more, and don't need him to be happy. I hope these tips have helped you. (:

A Girl's Guide To Not Being Bored

Every girl experiences when they are so completely bored and have no clue what to do or where to begin doing something. I know I have, so here are some fun activities you can do by yourself or with your friends. 

• Go to the movies with your friends
• Watch the sunset 
• Read a book that is highly recommended
• Go to the mall with friends 
• Draw something
• Learn a new sport
• Cook something new
• Experiment with your makeup 
• Make your own jewelry
• Learn new hairstyles
• Redecorate your room
• Do a random DIY on Pinterest
• Take pictures of random things and make it beautiful
• Volunteer at a nursing home with friends
• Bake or cook something and hand it out to the homeless people
• Watch a documentary
• Watch a new YouTuber
• Make your own clothes 
• Start a Fundraiser
• Start a YouTube Channel
• Paint on a canvas
• Learn an instrument
• Go out and make a new friends
• Attend a yoga or zumba class
• Start your own blog
• Write heartfelt letters to friends and send them in the mail
• Write a book or short story
• Shadow someone in a career you are interested in
• Visit a university
• Have a girls night with your closest friends
• Try new foods
• Listen to new music

There are so many things you can do so you don't end up laying in bed all day wishing you did something. Hope it helped let me know what you liked to do, so your not bored.

My Favorite Spoken Word Prefomances

This is for all my poetry fanatics, spoken word is on stage performance where poets read out their poems like a story or over an issue. I enjoy watching spoken word because you can see the emotion in the person and you can really feel the passion they have for that topic. I want to share my favorite spoken word performances.

1) To This Day- Shane Koyczan: This spoken word was one of the very first that I listened to, and after this I fell in love. Shane does an amazing job telling a story, and making you feel beautiful, and strong. I promise this is a video worth watching. My favorite quote from this poem is:

"If you can't see anything beautiful about yourself, get a better mirror, look a little closer, stare a little longer. Because there's something inside you that made you keep trying despite everyone who ever told you to quit. You built a cast around your heart, and signed it yourself. You signed it "they were wrong"  

(Shane Koyczan)

2) Somewhere In America: While I was watching poetry slams I came across this one and it really opened my eyes. These three girls: Belissa Escobedo, Rhiannon McGavin, and Zariya Allen are part of a program called Get Lit that helps increase teen literacy through spoken word poetry.

"The teacher never fails, only you do. Every state in America, the greatest lessons are the ones you don't remember learning." (Get Lit) 

3) Rape Poems To End All Rape Poems: Justice Hehir, Lindsey Michelle Williams, Kate Thomas, and Michelle Williams from Rutger University expressed the topic of rape culture and their view on the topic. The poem starts off by addressing how they will preform "another rape poem" because they feel  there will be more rape poems until people will address and fix the problem. This poem speaks volume and gave me chills.

"Until no really means NO! Until rape means crime. Until woman means human. All these rape poems will continue until there is no damn material left" (Rutger University)

These are some of my favorite spoken word poems and I hope you like them too. If you have an spoken word favorites share them in the comments, I would love to see other people's favorites,

The Truth About Senior Year of High School

As my senior year of high school comes to a close I am excited and sad at the same time. You wait twelve years for that moment when you get to walk across that stage and receive your diploma. I remember even at an early age they would tell you the year you would graduate and put them on t-shirts. But that always seemed ages from now, but as senior year comes to an end that time finally comes. So since I am almost done with high school I feel as if I should  help students who are about to start their senior year of high school and share the truths of senior year.

1. First semester senior year is a struggle: Your classes may be a super easy, but there is still a lot of things that you have to worry about: getting the right ACT/SAT score, picking colleges you want to apply to, filling out college applications, college essays, teacher recommendation, and etc. School may be a blow off but trust me your stress level will be all over the place.

2. You secretly care somewhat about your grades: You probably already got accepted into college and everyone is saying "i don't care anymore" "wait we had homework?" "there is a test?" all those kinds of statements, Its true tho, you won't work as hard as you have your previous years but you still end up doing the homework to keep that high GPA. Even though you say you don't care, but deep down inside you do.

3. Its's true you meet people you wish you had meet freshman year:
Through your four years of high school you will meet  new people and they will come and go. Maybe you meet your best friends or your worst enemies. But you will end up meeting people that you wish you meet freshman year. My school has a event called Senior Picnic towards the last few weeks of school. We went to a ranch and all hung out and  I meet some really cool people that I wish I had meet earlier.

4. Prom isn't stupid: At first I decided I was not gonna go to prom and then my friends convinced me to go last minute. Me and my friends did not have dates but we made the most out of prom and it was something special that I will always remember. It really doesn't matter if u have a date or not, it's the attitude you have, so make it memorable.

5. You learn to take in each moment: As the day comes closer to graduation, you begin to start taking in those moments you have left because you are never gonna see most of these people after graduation. I remember during prom and senior picnic I would just looked around the room and saw how everyone was having fun and how I felt at that moment and let everything sink in.

6. Time Flies: You will never really feel like a senior. I feel like it was just yesterday and I was in sixth grade writing a letter to my future self as a senior. Time really does fly, and you just have to make every moment count.

Senior year has been my favorite part of my high school experience, and I will always remember it. I will always remember the Friday night lights and painting my parking spot and all these activities that the school planned. I just hope your senior year is as memorable as mine.

My Favorite Songs Of 2014

I love listening to music, and I am always open to different types of music. I decided to make a list of my favorites song of 2014. These songs I listened to during the year that I enjoyed and I hope so will you. These song are in no particular order I love them all!

My favorite songs of 2014 were...

1. Pentatonix- this is an a cappella group I am very fond of. There are have so many good songs: Say Something cover, Christmas to me, White Winter Hymnal, Mary, did you know, On my way home, Wizard of Ahh's, Radioactive cover, and so many more. I just didn't have one favorite I love all their songs.

2. Wrecking Balls by Christina Grimmie- This song was preformed on The Voice by Christina Grimmie. She had so much passion in the performance it gave me goosebumps. Before she was on The Voice she did YouTube videos and think she has an unique voice.

3. Joey - Doing It Wrong/Princess of China Mashup (feat. Jessi Smiles)- This song is a mash up of Doing it wrong by Drake and Princess of china by Coldplay. Joey and Jessi mashed it up together to make a beautiful slow song. There voices go so well together, and it became one of my favorite songs.

4. Let It Go - Frozen - Alex Boyé (Africanized Tribal Cover) Ft. One Voice Children's Choir- Everyone knows the movie Frozen and the song let it go. This is a cover with an Africanized twist to it. The music video as well does the song justice it is so beautiful as well as the voices that sang in it. It is very different than the original song and very catchy.

5. "Just A Dream" by Nelly - Sam Tsui & Christina Grimmie- This song is a cover and a duet by Sam Tsui and Christina Grimmie. This song is a perfect duet and the added piano parts make it perfect.

6. "Who You Are" - Jessie J - Anna Clendening Cover - This song is  a cover to Who You Are by  the Vine star Anna Clendening who was on Americas got talent as well.

7. Get Bright By Fellowship Creative & The Mix- This song has such a good message, and so fun to dance to. The voices are beautiful and the music video is just incredible. One of my favorites!

8. Story Of My Life (ft. Macy Kate, Tyler Ward and Kurt)- Everyone knows one direction, these three artist do a perfect cover to the One Direction song Story of my Life.

9. All I Want- Kodaline (Cover by Tiffany Stringer)- This artist is an up and coming artist, she was recently on American Idol and from Texas. This cover is one of my favorite songs of hers, and she has so much emotion into every word she sings. She is worth listening to!

10. Nick Jonas - Jealous (Gospel Version)- As much I love the regular Jealous, I am in love with the gospel version, there is so much soul in this song I love it. Nick hits a note in this song that he doesn't in the original and it really shows what he can do. I am in love!

These are some of my favorites songs of 2014 and I hope you take time to listen to them.