Welcome Back My Cameria

I just had an emotional moment with my Camera this morning.
To tell this story, let's call my camera "Cameria" on this blog.

This story starts in back in 2012, Summer...
I met this girl, Cameria. She quickly became my best friend. We hung out all day long.
She gave me an opportunity called "photography" and showed me many different pictures and ideas of the world. We have been together ever since. She was such incredible and sensitive to the change of the world. However, I wasn't treating her nicely. I made her lose a thing to cover her eye. I made her hit on the ground, walls, and so on. Still, she was very patient with me and continued to show me the world.

In 2014, this horrible thing happened..
I was at a wedding with Cameria. We were spending a joyful time taking a lot of photos of my hermana's uncle and his wife at their wedding. However, Cameria got a little too tired to continue taking photos. Therefore, we decided to get some rest, and she got some energy charged!

As soon as she started feeling well, we got back to take some photos together without knowing she will never get food for next 9 months.

After couple days passed, Cameria started suffering hunger. Cameria had gotten weaker and weaker everyday. When we went to Canada together for our vacation, she finally passed away gradually.

Long Story Short,
I finally bought a charger and gave my Cameria a tons of food.

FINALLY,
This morning, I had an emotional meeting with my Cameria. (She got fully charged)

Did you cry? haha You may have realized that my photos' quality has been different past 9 months because of this incidence. I have been using my friends' camera & cell phone and Garfy's cell phone to take photos for Smile with Vivian. Therefore, it was hard for me to write blog as frequently as possible.
Now, I have my camera back! I will write more about my life in Oregon, United States. (Maybe I should write "Throw Back Thursday" posts to share photos in my Cameria) Also, I will be going on a trip with Saturday. I am very excited to take Cameria with me :D

I was pretty excited about getting my Cameria back, so I took some random photos today!

Not in New York yet...
- Pizza with my friend at Straight from New York -

Autumn is back

 - Salted Caramel Mocha from Starbucks -

Smile!

First Friday in Silverton

I went to First Friday events in Silverton with my friends. Silverton is one of the tiny and pretty towns in Oregon. Usually, the shops and restaurants close by 4pm. There are few people walking around whenever I visit the town. Last time I was there, a wild deer was walking around in the downtown. Can you believe that? (Well, in part of Nara prefecture in Japan, it is normal - read Nara blog post from HERE) Only one Asian shop represents a china town in Silverton. haha

Anyhow, the 1st Friday of every month is different. The shops open till 8pm. There are parades, car shows, and many more fun stuff going on. Many people hang around in Silverton. I wasn't used to see that much people in Silverton. haha

 My friend told me about a Barbie lady from Silverton. I don't know if you can see the barbies which she made in the photo below, but the lady makes barbies and sell them. Vampire barbies, Sorority barbies, Anorexic barbies, and so on. Her van is decorated with tons of barbie heads and sparkles. These barbie dolls are very unique, and I admire her creativity. But... they scare me whenever I take a look at her creation. If you decide to go to Silverton, Oregon, stop by! haha

Smile!
:)

School Office at Night

 ....... (^U^)

 Oh Hello, there!

 I am at a professor's office right now. I have been working as a research assistant for three professors during the summer & interviewing people who graduated from this university and have a job. Although I screwed up a bit with computer related work few times, it really is a great learning experience! Every time I have an interview, I can't tell you how much I get to learn because it's so much. Every time I have a new task, I learn so much as well!

I just finished a phone interview with a participant! hehe
This is the place where I do the phone interviews (professor's office at my university).  

 Even though the participants can't see me during the phone interviews, I tie my hair up every time. When I am done with the interview, I let my hair down to feel relaxed. haha When I tie my hair up, I feel awake... pump it up... fire myself up... (I didn't know how to say 気合を入れる in English). Anyway, I feel more confident and "awake"! Why do I do it? I took a class to learn how to interview a person, have practiced interviews, and did few interviews, yet I feel very nervous. This is why I tie my hair up and I have a water right next to me. hehe Do you have something that you do to overcome your nervousness?

The interview is done .. like 2+ hours ago.. but I am still here at her office. It's because.. I am waiting for my ride. It is super dark outside (it wasn't dark when I took these photos). My friend told me yesterday that "some people say Todd hall is haunted." Waaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!
Todd hall is the building which this office is in = I am in the Todd hall.
Todd hall is surely one of the oldest buildings on this campus, but I didn't want the information YESTERDAY!! Although I really love old buildings, I have a extremely huge fear for ghosts. It's really weird and creepy to be in a place like here where nobody is in & where I am so used to see a lot of students hanging around. Do you know what I mean?

Wish me luck to get out from here safely when my ride arrives!!
I gotta wait one more hour!
Waaaahhhh.... (T^T):..

Smile!

Outdoor Wedding: L&C

I thought I just wrote about a wedding. "Am I reading a same post?" No no!! Hold on, there! I was super lucky enough to attend to a wedding of one of Garfy's best friend from a high school. But I forgot to post this blog page, so it's been more than a month since that day. LOL

Then I thought that "Seriously, none of weddings is the same". The wedding was outside at a bride's parents' place. I was amazed to see how they turned the backyard into a gorgeous wedding place. In Japan, I don't think it's common to see a hand made wedding. Well, at least, I have never seen or heard such things like this. When I think of wedding, people pick one of the locations such as: churches, temples, and shrines in Japan. Then, they hire people to prepare for their ideal wedding. But, this wedding was nothing like I expected. Almost all of them were hand made. Signs, Photo booth, Presents of jam, Decorations, Flowers, and many more!! All the dishes were antique / pretty dishes, and every dish was different.

It was another gorgeous wedding that I luckily attended to. Garfy and I couldn't stop talking about how perfect the wedding was for at least 2 weeks after the wedding day.

Congratulations to beautiful bride gloom!!
Cheers to their happiness!

Smile

:)

Lazy Day

I know you guys have one of these days when you really don't wanna do anything. Anything means anything.. like Nothing Nothing. You should just relax and let the day pass you smoothly. I know I have these days way more often than I should. However, especially when you just finished huge exams or papers, don't you just wanna sit and relax for awhile? Yup, today was the day for me.

Skin Care

On my lazy day, I just use a toner from L'OCCITANE which is seriously my favorite toner ever + a moisturizer from Clinique. I heard it's better to use skin care products from one brand, but my skin doesn't really like any other products from Clinique & I recently found that skin care products from L'OCCITANE are really good for my skin. For now, I'm fine with these products. hehe

Make-up
I don't really go out on my lazy day, so I really don't wear make up. I try to have at least 1 day per week for No Make-up Day since wearing make-up is not really good for skin. If I really have to go out even on my No Make-up Day or lazy day, I go out without make-up or with minimal make-up. You can't really tell my make-up from this picture because of the light and camera, but I only do my eye brows and put fake eye lashes for these days.

Hair Care

Ahhh.. I am Okay with natural hair dryer for eco!!! (just let my hair dry without doing anything) BUT I wanna protect my hair and look goooood!! For these my selfish opinions about my hair, I use Jojoba oil. I wrote about this product before, click here to read more  → Ellips Hair Vitamin 

Fashion
When I have to go out, I wear jeans. I don't look good with jeans but I have them (for just in case hahaha), so I take advantage of lazy days to wear jeans. I usually wear one of my room-wear at home. Wait, I don't know if you guys call these clothes "room-wear." They aren't pajamas. They are clothes that I wear at home. When I get home or when I hang out at home, I wear them.. If you know what I am talking about, please let me know how you call these clothes in the comment below.
Activities

I usually take a bath and watch Youtube. Recently, I started watching Japanese game shows. I really believe that Japanese game shows are the weirdest but the best. If you can understand Japanese language & humor, please please please watch Japanese comedies. If not, I'm sorry. You're missing out. ahaha

Very sometimes, I do mini-games. I'm not good at playing games, so I like very simple and short games. BUT since I have a very addictive personality, I avoid playing games. haha Anyhow, the latest one which I play is 2048. You just need to add numbers in a fun way. So if you like simple and short games, I recommend you to try this ^^ (look, I won!) I can do it, so you can do it too!

This is my lazy day!
I love lazy days, but at the same time, I am kinda scared of lazy days.
I'm already a lazy person, so it's easy to be lazy... I am scared that I will have a lazy day every single day from now on. Oh, I don't want that I don't want that I don't want that. haha

What do you do on your lazy day?
Do you have any recommendations for me to try on my lazy day?

Talk to you soon,

Smile

:)

Wedding Day

Have you been to a wedding? Fortunately, believe it or not, I have been invited to attend weddings some times in the US. I get a bit emotional when my important people find a perfect match & get married. The other day, I went to my friend's BEAUTIFUL wedding. It's definitely NOT My Wedding. Sorry if I made you get excited or confused. m(_ _)m Anyhow, I was so excited for her more and more as the wedding date got closer, but I was also so sad that I had to miss a lot of it. In American culture, it is rude to be late for the wedding (same as Japanese culture). I asked her and other my friends what is the best thing I can do for her. My best friend said "She invited you. Which means that she obviously wants you to be there. It'll make her more sad if you don't show up than if you are late. It's rude, but at least, she knows that you care." ...What a word.. Although I felt really bad to get there really late, I am very grateful that I could congratulate her and celebrate one of her happiest moments of her life.
NOTE : I strongly recommend you to talk with the person who invites you at first about this issue. It is your dear friend's "the most important day."

The wedding was just so pretty. The theme was Hawaiian. All the decorations were handmade, creative, and lovely. I felt like I was in "3D Pinterest." I couldn't "pin" everything, so I took some pictures to share with you guys.

She is one of the loveliest people I have ever known in my life. You know, people say "she is gorgeous inside and out. She is really the one who is beautiful and gorgeous inside and out. I thought she was an Angel and had some wings on her back when she walked towards me to say hi. I know it sounds pretty ridiculous, but I hope this is describing you how sweet she is. I just wanted the world to know this^^

For the wedding, I was wearing..

Black cardigan - Banana Republic

Navy blue dress with flower - Lauren Conrad

(The Navy blue is my favorite color + A line dress is my favorite too. It has fuzzy flowers all over the dress. It's just so pretty! I fell in love with this dress immediately. So, it was a little pricey for me as a student, but I had to get it.. :'( sorry, wallet. haha)

Seriously, isn't a wedding almost a magical event?

On this Earth, in millions or billions of people, we meet a person. Then, the person falls in love with you! The person feels the same way about you as you feel about the person.. :O wow.. Then, we promise to love each other and be together for rest of our lives happily in front of all the other people.. WOW... like WOW!
I think Wedding is a magical event which also makes everybody fulfill with a lot of happiness and love.

What do you think?

Talk to you soon

smile

:)

What do you eat?

What do you eat?

People often ask me what I eat or sometimes ask me if I like food. What kind of question is that? Before I say anything, they already expect me to ONLY eat Sushi or some sorts of raw fish stuff everyday.

Vivian (Me) : "NO, I don't eat sushi everyday."

(If you are curious what other questions people have asked me, click - Weird Questions?)
They always seem very disappointed when their expectation doesn't match with what I said.

So, they always follow up with millions of questions.
I always get overwhelmed by "millions of follow-up questions"
Do you eat rice? salad? chicken? mushroom? pasta? ... (list goes on)...

I eat ...

Japanese food

Healthy food

Soup, Rice, Vegetable, Seafood...

German food

Festival food

Unique food

Canadian food

Cheesy food

Oily food

French Fries

Korean food
Hawaiian food

Sandwich, Fruits, Meat, Pasta

French food

Spanish food

Bread, Dairy stuff

Thai food

Vietnamese food

Indian food

Spicy food

Noodles, Mushrooms 

Mediterranean food

Mexican food

Vegetarian food

AND

MANY MORE Delicious Food from All over the World

I love both cooking and eating food. I'm waaaay far from a picky eater although there are foods that I can't eat or don't prefer eating. However, I always give it a try. I think it's unfair to say "I don't like it" before I actually taste the food. It is also really rude to people who made the produces and cooked for us. It's not good to be a picky eater in Japan. My grandma always told me that we need eat little bit of everything.

Also, I love trying authentic / unique / strange food. When I visit a different country, this is a "MUST DO" thing for me. So, I have tried some unique foods that some people get grossed out.

So, the answer to "what do I eat?" is basically...

"the same as what you eat + probably more delicious food that you haven't even tried" haha

My favorite American food is

New York Cheesecake!! haha

When you come to America, please give it a try ^^

If you know strange & delicious foods, please share!!

what it is, where I can try, how it tastes like... etc.

I would love to try that in the future :)

Talk to you soon

smile!

:)

International Women's Day

Happy International Women's Day!

To all of my beautiful readers

(source) 

I was volunteering today for a Fair Trade store and celebrating International women's day. I didn't know that international women's day was even existed until 2 years ago. How unfortunate is that? right?
I found a flier from Because I am a Girl . ca and thought it's very worth sharing with you.

Because I am a girl

Because I am a girl
I watch my brothers go to school while I stay home
Because I am a girl
I eat if there's food left over when everyone is done
Because I am a girl
I am the poorest of the poor

And yet...

Because I am a girl
I will share what I know
Because I am a girl
I am the heart of my community
Because I am a girl
I will pull my family out of poverty if you give me the chance
Because I am a girl
I will take what you invest in me and uplift everyone around me
Because I am a girl
I can change the world

This picture is me 3 years ago. I didn't have any other photos of me wearing traditional formal Japanese dress, so ... it's old, but there you go! I'm celebrating "international women's day" with you :D hehe

How was your international women's day?

Talk to you later!

smile for gorgeous & strong women in the world

:)

Today is the day!!

Hola, amigos ╰(*´︶`*)╯

Today was the day!!

what day?

It's Friday, Friday ♪

Today was the day!!

what day?

It's on of the biggest days of my life☆

Today was the day!!

what day?

I'm finally moving out! I'm moving into the cutest apartment around here!

Sorry that I couldn't update posts this week. I was crazy busy from final exams and moving out!

Garfy.

I bet you guys have been like .. "huh? who is Garfy?" Well, I have really never talked about him, right? Long story short, our relationship has been a huge secret. I couldn't really talk about him until TODAY! He is such a kind, intelligent, brilliant, and perfect person (unlike me) who has been bringing sooooo much happiness into my life. He is my new roomie. Yes, we are moving in together. TADAAAA Some people are surprised to know about this & who he is. Are you surprised? (-u-)♪ I didn't tell him about this blog at all, so he might be surprised as well.

About a month ago, Garfy gave me an idea to move in together.

This picture is my favorite scene from The Vow. Gosh! I wished so much to be asked to move in with my future boyfriend like this scene when I watched it. Well, he eats blueberries, but of course, this didn't happen to me (T^T) I don't think he watched it, so I shouldn't really complain about it.

(this pic is from here) 

Why are we only expecting guys to be so creative and romantic? Why can't we be romantic since we learn a lot of tips from romantic movies? Stop complaining! Go girly!! bahaha So, I bought a vegetarian cookbook for him. I wrote on the book "can we cook these together? will you move in with me? yes or no" and gave it to him. I know it's super cheesy, but I love cheesy, really cheesy (*>U<*) He gave the book back. I found a circle on the Yes.

To be honest, I was really scared to live with him. I almost said NO to him. Why? 

1. Cohabitation has never worked out with me
2. A psychological research shows that couples who live together before their marriage, they are more likely to divorce / break up. 
3. I don't really have any confidence of myself to be a good roommate of his.

We have had a lot of communication before we decided to move in together. I am still scared but suuuper exited about this. More like... I am very excited to see how our future will be like (^^)(^^)  

I hope things will go wonderful with us like they have always been! I love you, Garfy!

This is one of the few pictures that we both look OK. haha

Our kindest friend took this picture for us

☆Thanks☆

:)

Why United States?

"Why did you choose to come to the US?"

I get this kind of questions all the time. I am sure other international students do too.
Everybody has different reasons to pick a country for his / her study abroad experience.

This is mine.

1. Interested in other languages

When I was about 5 years old, I saw two guys communicating with Japanese sign language. I couldn't stop looking at them. I thought "I have no idea what they are doing with hands, but they are communicating with silence. I know foreigners say 'bajsigdteiugruih' and they can communicate with whatever it is. If I master another language, 'bajsigdteiugruih' could make sense to me? I wanna talk with them..." I stared at the guys too long, and one of the guys flipped me off. As a 5 years-old girl, I didn't know what it meant. BUT I knew it was something bad sign because it hurt my heart so deeply. I know what it means now, and I still remember how painful it was in my heart. haha

2. Wanted to overcome English

Although I have been always interested in languages, it was a different story when it came to a subject. I almost failed high school because of English. I didn't understand WHY I had to study English for others (yes, the best excuse to avoid studying another language). After actually meeting people from all over the world, I changed my thought. I want to make international friends. I want to learn about them, their countries, their cultures, and their religions. I was frustrated that I couldn't talk with them well!!

3. Needed a change in my life

I was a hater once. I hated Japan. I hated my family's problems. I hated myself being a hater. I hated I couldn't do anything by myself because I was a spoiled child. I really thought I had to learn how to live by my own. I needed a change in my life.

4. No school for me in England

I am not gonna hide. I was originally planning to go to my dream country, England, to study. THEN, I found out that my GPA from my high school was waaay too low for universities in England. My adviser told me that there were many school for me in the US. I was like... "America?"　(=ﾟωﾟ)ﾉ

It was a time for me. High School Graduation.

I was 120% sure that "if I missed this change, I would never be able to go anywhere for a long time".

Then, I made an action.

I talked with my adviser secretly and got almost all the paper works done. After everything is almost done, I talked with my mother. She said NO. We had such a real and deep conversation for the first time in our life. I also talked with my father. He said YES. He promised to support me. After all, my mother finally said YES at almost the same time as my father said yes. I really thank my parents to be very supportive and to give me this opportunity. I couldn't go anywhere to study without my family.

My new life started.

Myself, My life, My friends... and many more
Everything changed.

How has my life changed? Well, it's another story (^^)
:)