"must bring" things for a trip

This topic is actually good for me as well because I always forget things even though I check my stuff over and over. Then, right after I leave home, I always always realize that I forgot something. Is it only me?
Alright, let's get started☆☆☆

1. Make-up : The 1st thing that came to my mind is Make-Up!! Very important. Very Very important. huh? guys, you can't understand me? I don't understand why make-up is sooo important for me neither, but it somehow does.（>ω<）（>Д<）（>∀<） ha
2. Summer dresses : It'll be humid & hot!! I am not gonna bring anything but dresses. (My plan for now)
3. Tooth brushes & tooth pastes : I always forget them, so I get new ones wherever I go. & there are too many opened tooth brushes & tooth pastes for me.. This is bad.
4. Sun glasses
5. Shoes : high heels, flip flops, and working out shoes. yeees, I am a girl. Shoes for everything.
6. Lap top : I want to blog from over there to share my vacation with yooou 

   (*´∀`*)人

7. Camera : This is a "must" item to be a tourist, right?
8. Passports : I can't go anywhere without them
9. VISA : I can't come back to USA without them. One time, I forgot to bring my VISA, and I had an extremely hard time coming back to the US. I was stuck in Vancouver, Canada. It was very sad (;^;) So, PEOPLE!! Don't forget your Passport and VISA!!!
10. Gifts
11. Beauty products : I am the age that people start to care about wrinkles, sun-shine, and many more things. *sigh* I miss my youth (-_-)
12. Money : money money money. It's very sad to say.. but money can buy this priceless trip and fun time (($ U $)) It is true!
13. Garfy : I'm going with him. He invited me to go together. The 2nd important stuff to bring. The 1st one is, of course, make-up. But.. look at him. How can I leave him here by himself? or How can I let him go by himself? His invitation was too cute to ignore.

I am blogging about where we are going ヽ(*゜∀゜*)ノ It will be up sometime soon.

So

Please give me a bit of time (*´･ω･)(･ω･｀*)

ちょっとまってね

What things do you bring when you go on a trip?
Am I forgetting anything? Let me know if I am forgetting something, Pleeeeeaaase (T^T)!

:)

14 favorite pictures (^^) 2013

Wow, the year is already half way over w(6o6)w!! Can you believe that? How was your 8 months of 2013? Mine was veeery good. New school, New place to live in, New friends, New diet... My new life started and I have been enjoying that ('▼') I started trying new things like going to a cake decoration class in Spanish, volunteering, and so on. Oh, I can't forget about Smile with Vivian!

 Of course, everything was not perfect. There were some problems, but I could have been staying positive. Staying positive is always very important for me to be an tough international student. hehe What is your important tip to stay tough?

As you may have already noticed, I have hundreds of pictures with/of Garfy. Why? Am I one of these girls who love to control their boyfriends and hate them for hanging out with others? hmmm, No. . . I would hate myself if I did that. Long story short, my previous host mother didn't allow me to hang out anybody but my boyfriend. She called me with "mean words" & told me that she would kick me out when I hung out with my friends. It was not very nice. + I was sad because I could feel that I was losing a lot of friends at the time. Only few friends have stayed with me. I thank them deeply from my heart. Garfy gave me tons of his time, so that I didn't need to feel lonely & could stay tough. He has been supporting and encouraging me to stay positive. I don't know what I can do without him. He is a very special person

So, I moved out now. (/・ω・)/ freedom!! these few of my important friends & new friends are suuuper suuuper awesome. They became our friends. (I don't have pictures of all of them.. sad!) I also met his best friends as well. His friends are veeery very cool. Like really, how did he find these wonderful people easily!? haha
It's really nice that we could hang out with them and share wonderful times together (*‘ω‘ *)(*‘ω‘ *)

Friends = My life, without friends = no life

Oh, how I love everybody in Oregon. It would be super hard to leave here (;_;) haha So back to my feedback of my life 2013, it's been very good with many many suppoers! Comments, Followers, Readers, Garfy, My friends,,, everybody helps me to have such a wonderful life here! Thank you!! Everything is new (^^) I miss my oldies, but I love my new life as well. hehe
It's so hard to pick 14 pictures & I am obsessed with cats now.. I had to picked one more. haha Sorry for this heavy post, amigos! I love you all and I hope your life has been wonderful as well ((*´ω｀*)ノ"

oh no, it's passed 12am, Cinderella. 

:)

15 recent random facts about Vivian

So, this is me.

oops... I am not as cute as this kitty (;_;) I wish I was though. bahaha

sorry, so this is me. Vivian (∩´∀｀)∩ HELLOOOO

1. An international student from Japan in the US
2. Studying Psychology, Communication, and Hotel Management
3. All the numbers that can describe me are getting bigger except my height & body parts. You know, the numbers like weight, length of my hair, size of my shoes, etc. (´▲｀)*sigh* I want the numbers to be smaller though. What can I do?
4. England is my dream place. I have always been loving anything from England although I have never been there and have never seen anybody from there in person. This must be some kinds of obsession!
5. I just slipped and felt down in the bathtub because I was doing...
   
   yes, laundry. Just like one of the theme from My neighbor Totoro. I was alone. My body hurts so badly. I'm glad that I survived. I thought this happens to only elder people... but I was totally wrong!! sorry! Bathtubs are dangerous! By the way, this picture is from "Totoro". This website answered your "?" about Japanese culture from the movie; Totoro! I thought it was super interesting!  
6. So, I have a bruise on my heel
7. I live in a tiny and gorgeous apartment If you have read my previous post, you might already have known. (if not, read more 'today is the day' It's a happy happy story!... of mine...) hehe
8. permit! a permit driver! This status will be changed pretty soon! I hated reading the manual book, so it took couple of days + almost 3 years of lazy days to finish reading it.
9. I think Oregon hipster fashion is wonderful! I will blog about this later, but I love it!
10. I got really shocked to know that most of my friends from elementary school are married or/and have kids. I thought the average age of marriage in Japan was 27-29ish... I was totally wrong!
11. I love Greek yogurt more than any other food!
12. My favorite American books are "Calvin and Hobbes." Have you read Calvin and Hobbes before? If you haven't, you should!!! I've been learning a lot from Calvin. He is a good boy. hehe
13. I have my dream house image. My dream house has a library like a library from Beauty and the Beast. The color is blue and white.
14. But I want to stay most of time in the tree house. (^^)
15. I love to do stuff in the last minutes. haha

I hope you get to know a little bit about me(+́・ω・+)

(; ･`д･´) did you think I am weird?

Then, I think you are right. hehe

It was very hard for me to come up with 15 of them... especially after 7th fact...
I would love to read 15 random facts about you all (^^)
leave a comment below, and I will talk with you tomorrow!

:)

Antique Haul

Hellooo, amigos.

Since I moved into this apartment, I have been shopping a lot for this new place. This apartment is very very tiny, old, and beautiful antique looking place that I am falling in love with. So, I often, VERY OFTEN, visit places to shop...  Antique shops.

My new addiction

Anyway, I have been trying to find my free time and visiting these shops as much as possible nowadays. Antique goods are super cute to look at, so I sometimes just stop by on the way home just for few minutes. I feel like I just used a time machine while I am looking at them. I know I live in 21 century though.. (-_-)

Of course, I have purchased some things from here and there.

1. Glasses

I really wanted to make tiny parfaits. I bet these are not for parfaits, but they are a good size for desserts. Because Oregon is super beautiful with nature, summer is the yummy season! I have been getting a lot of fruits and using them almost every day since. 

2. Coffee Pitcher

I am not really sure how to call this thing. Do you know? If you do, please leave a comment below (>_<)! I just fall in love with this item. Garfy doesn't drink coffee, so I don't have any chance to use it and to share my coffee with people yet. This is nearby a window and being super gorgeous right now.

3. Over 100 years old Books

These are for Garfy. His belated birthday present (:_:)sorry He has some old old old books. I thought he would enjoy reading / having them. Look at the pages! Very aged! Surprisingly, books don't cost a lot. I would love to have a library in my future house, so this is a good news for me!

4. Plates

I don't know what to say. It's just beautiful. What I can say about these antique dishes is that "I wish I could use a time machine for just going shopping in the time era to get gorgeous dishes..." Do you agree? haha

5. Containers

I just really need containers. These were just good deals that I found there. Looking very cure with these beans, isn't it? 

My kitchen is getting gorgeous with these antique goods.

I am pretty happy about them (although I know I didn't need most of them, but .. oh well. what could I do?)

I have never seen or gone any antique shops in Japan..

but fortunately or unfortunately, Oregon seems to have them everywhere, like at least one shop per a town!!

Do you know any antique shops around your place?

You should visit there! It's fun, creepy sometimes. It's like a treasure hunt!
:)

Remember me?

Hellooo, amigos!! It's been a while since I posted my last blog post.

Do you still remember me? my blog? Smile with Vivian?

Just in case, I took a quick self-shot for my readers who almost or already forgot about me. "Hello!" 

Thank you for always checking my blog, every one!

I was very surprised and very happy to know that there are people who have been visiting "Smile with Vivian." A huge THANKS to all of my readers for giving me a huge SMILE ヾ(^∀^)ノ happyyy

So...

What have I been doing without blogging for a while?
I have been shopping, shopping, and shopping. I also have been working, walking, and walking.
I have been decorating the apartment, cooking, and so on!

My skin has been getting a lot of sunshine and getting really really dark day by day.

Then,

• I randomly saw some of my friends. They told me that they read my blog posts and complimented my blog.
• I read comments that you wrote on my blog posts. These comments were just some normal comments about what I wrote. But they brought my eyes some tears because I have never thought I would get some comments on my blog.
• My hermana told me "You are lazy!" because I told her that I hadn't updated anything lately.
• I saw some viewers visiting Smile with Vivian every day.

What am I doing?
"I need to blog! I want to share with my readers what my international life is like more and more!"

You guys woke me up again!

Thank you!

What have you been up too?

Well, my break is over. I am back to Smile with Vivian now( (●´ω｀●)
There are many things that I want to share with you guys. hehe
I'm going to do my best to write as often as possible, so.. Please come back to read my new updates!

I love you all!

Thank you for stopping by (*^-^*)
Hope you have wonderful days. Talk to you veeery soon♪
hugs

:)

Weird Questions?

Hellooo, amigos!

Since I came to the US, I got many many questions that I couldn't answer. It was mostly because of my lank of English skill at the beginning, and then, I just realized that it might be because "The Question is WEIRD!!" Apparently, Japan is known as Sushi, Samurai, Ninja, Geisha, and Anime. So that, I get many questions about these things.

Q. Have you seen Samurai?
No, I have not. I believe they don't exist any more. To be honest, I grew up with samurai movies and TV shows, so I am in love with "bushi do". If you meet a true / real Samurai in Japan, please leave a comment immediately to let me know.

Q. Do you eat sushi everyday?
No, I do not. I believe almost 100% Japanese don't eat sushi everyday. There are many more delicious food in Japan. Sushi is like a cake. (This is how I explain about sushi to people) haha We basically eat sushi at special occasions, and also, we eat it when we want to eat it.

Q. All the Japanese people have crazy hair, right? like huge hair. blue, red, green, purple, or..
ummm... No? Not all of us do. I really couldn't understand what the person wanted to say about the hair specifically. Only little / tiny amount of people do. I assume the person was talking about people in Shibuya or Harajyuku? maybe? These two cities are the fashion cities. People are very fashionable.. too fashionable. Even Japanese sometimes can't understand their fashion style, but they are incredibly unique and have great fashion sense. It's not too much to say that fashion trends start from here(^^) You may see the "crazy hair" in the cities, but it does NOT mean that everybody has the same "crazy hair."

Q. Where do you put a sword in your house?
I couldn't help myself to say "WHAT!?" I had to ask the person to say the question couple more times. The person thought we still have samurai culture and all of us have samurai swords in our houses. Again, as I mentioned before, samurai unfortunately doesn't exist any more as far as I know. However, some people have Japanese swords in their houses. My family and I just don't own any.

Q. Do people do "seppuku" in Japan?
No, I really hope we don't do seppuku. You don't know what seppuku is? Click HERE to learn more about seppuku.

I personally enjoy these random stereotypical questions most of the time because it is interesting to know what "Japan" represents to people from other places.

Have you ever gotten any weird questions?

Like you can't help to say "uhhh.. what?"

:)

July 4th

Happy Independence Day, amigos!
What is the independence day? It is one of National holiday in the US. It's one of the historical day in the US. Since I am not good at explaining things, I recommend you to ask Wikipedia about Independence Day and American Revolutionary War. Wikipedia is really good at explaining all sorts of things in many different language! haha

How was your July 4th?

My 4th was very peaceful this year. I usually go out to enjoy the rides, events, foods, and fireworks with my Mexican family & friends. This year, Garfy and I were invited to a family potluck lunch / dinner. I brought a HUGE CAKE('ω')9. We had a very delicious meal with his family (*´▽｀*)happy!

Croquet
We went to play Croquet after that. My understanding of Croquet is that it's a fun yard game like a golf, but it doesn't take much space as a golf does. There are some hoops that we have to go through. hmmm... How can I explain this game? It's like playing a golf with 6-8 heavier and bigger balls in smaller space & hit them with hammers. Have you seen Antique gorgeous people playing a golf looking sport? It's that!! Okay, sorry, I tried (T-T )( T-T) here is Wiki for Croquet. I have never played that before + I am always (I will always be) bad at playing sports. I really didn't want Garfy to know my weakest points, so I had never played any sports in front of him. The time had arrived. Yes, I played. It was fun!!
of course, I was the last one to finish this game. haha 

 After that, Garfy & I went for a walk to see some fireworks, mini concerts, & rides for a little bit. My camera doesn't work at all after sun goes down, so I couldn't get any pictures there. I realized that I didn't get any pictures of myself. So here you go!

 July 4th is one of the biggest holidays in the US. In Japan, we can see fireworks everywhere through the summer as soon as the rainy season is over. If you want to see fireworks in the US, you have to visit the US on the July 4th! That's the day!
I had such a great holiday (´vωv`*)。ｏ０○
What did you do on the July 4th? Hope you all have a great 4th!!

:)

World Beat Festival

Hola, amigos!

Last Sunday, June 30th, Garfy and I went to World Beat Festival. A multicultural big event in Oregon! Have you ever visited the festival before? Many shops and little events represented many cultures from all over the world. It's just very interesting & fun♪ This year, World Beat Festival focused on mainly Japan. I heard that we could buy Soy Sauce Ice Cream there!!! I couldn't miss it!! Although Garfy was very sick, I asked him from my stomach (not my heart) to go to get the ice cream with me. A N D, Garfy is the kindEST person in the world (:ω:)

We got it. We got it. We got the soy sauce ice cream! ∩(´∀｀)∩☆∩(´∀｀)∩

Has anybody tried soy sauce ice cream before?

Vanilla ice cream × soy sauce. It actually tasted yum! Very rich taste. Surprisingly, Garfy really liked it!

 Bon dance (・ω・´) Of course, Garfy, our friend, and I joined to dance with them (+・ω・+́)ゞ Actually, I have never been to club or crazy home party with Garfy. So... this was my first time seeing him dancing. . him dancing Japanese traditional summer group dance. hmmm.. adorable (●-ω-●)/" My heart was like being a parent filming the kid performing a dance at sports' festival in kindergarten.

 It was very very hot & humid. I didn't put my sun block cream & my shoulder was a bit painful for a day or less. Don't forget putting "sun block cream" on your body, everybody! The Summer really has started ('U')

:)