Sarah Dairiki

As winter break is approaching and finals week is coming up, many students are stressed about how to study in order to perform successfully on their tests. Here are some tips on how to be calm, well rested, and ready for finals week. 1. Use Quizlet  - I started using Quizlet my junior year of high school, and I have used it ever since. I am now a freshman in college and I still use Quizlet for my classes. Quizlet is amazing; if you have a lot of terms you need to memorize, Quizlet is the perfect online website that will help you study those terms. Once you write in the terms and their definitions, there are a variety of options you can choose in order to study the terms, including a test, flashcards, etc. 2. Get lots of rest - Don't stay out late when you know you have a final the next day. Getting a lot of rest is beneficial if you want to perform well on a test. It does sound lame to go to sleep really early, but if you do so, your body will thank you. By going to sleep early...

A few days ago, I moved into my dorm room at the college I will be attending for the next four years. I had been anticipating this exact moment since I was a freshman in high school, and to have already gotten to this day is a dream. The time has gone so fast, and it seems like only yesterday I was starting my first day of high school. Now I am starting my first year at college.  Although I am only an hour away from home, I still feel like I am starting an entirely new life in a new location. Even though I do have friends from my high school who are also attending the same college as I am, I need to be social, make new friends, and become more outgoing. Move in day was very nerve wracking for me as well. I was the last one to move into my dorm room, and the unpacking process was not fun. Being surrounded by boxes upon boxes of clothes, room decorations, bedding, etc. does make you feel overwhelmed. However, having my parents there to help me along with my roommates made the whol...

In June, I went to the Allied Arts Guild with my cousin. A small complex featuring a cute little restaurant along with art studios and a beautiful garden to welcome you in, is unique in its own way. The perfect place to hold weddings because of its beautiful scenery, the Allied Arts Guild is worth a visit. The art shops featured here are completely unique in their own way, the shops ranging from professional paintings and photographs to handmade jewelry and vintage products. The gardens also are eye catching, and provide the best place to take pictures.  Overall, the Allied Arts Guild is definitely worth visiting if you live in the Bay Area. The shops and products on display are unlike any other, and the gardens and rows of flowers and nature are just admirable. And, if you do end up visiting, don't forget to soak in the beauty of the place, and take pictures!

Backyard Bowls, a little eatery located in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara is hot and trending right now, with its popular acai bowls bringing new and returning customers to its store. I recently discovered Backyard Bowls on my road trip to Santa Barbara with my parents. One of my friends who I am going to college with lives in Santa Barbara, and I distinctly remember him mentioning going to Backyard Bowls with his family as well. Luckily, the hotel that I stayed at in Santa Barbara, the Best Western plus Pepper Tree Inn, was right across from La Cumbre Plaza, where Backyard Bowls is located, thus making the access to the eatery very simple. I remember waking up in my hotel room to my parents telling me to get up because we were going to Backyard Bowls for breakfast. Hearing the name of the restaurant sparked the memory of my friend telling me that Backyard Bowls was delicious, thus making it easier for me to get out of bed and ready for the trek to the store. Once at Backyard Bowls,...

As usual, I am doing my monthly post of my favorite songs of 2015. Of course, some of the songs are going to be the same as previous months posts, but because I am constantly being introduced to new songs on Spotify, radio, youtube, etc. this list will contain tracks I haven't mentioned previously, as well as ones I have been loving for months. Hope you enjoy, and try taking a listen to any songs on this list that you may not have heard of! 1. She's Kinda Hot by 5 Seconds of Summer 2. Cool For The Summer by Demi Lovato 3. Marvin Gaye by Charlie Puth feat. Meghan Trainor 4. I Can't Feel My Face by The Weeknd 5. The Hills by The Weeknd 6. Trap Queen by Fetty Wrap 7. Dangerous by Big Data feat. Joywave 8. Skinny Love by Birdy 9. This Is Gospel by Panic! At The Disco 10. American Idiot by Green Day, and American Idiot cover by 5 Seconds of Summer

Although summer is quickly fading as kids, teenagers, and adults go back to school, the hot weather is continuing to stay, its presence unwavering. Because of this, I wanted to write one last post sharing my top 10 things to do in the summer or just when there is nice weather in case anyone wanted to take a look at the list and pick something to do from it. 1. Grab a few friends and drive down to the beach 2. Go with a group of friends to a local carnival, fair, etc. 3. Hit up the movie theater and see the latest release 4. Drive in your car with the windows down and music blasting, singing at the top of your lungs 5. Go shopping 6. Have a family barbecue 7. Go to a water park with friends 8. Go to a theme park with friends 9. Go to a concert featuring your favorite artist/band, etc. 10. Have Netflix marathons

Although we are only a mere few weeks away from starting school again, I hope that everyone has had a fantastic summer filled with happy memories and bonding moments. For me, this is probably the best summer I have ever had. I mean, every summer for me is great, but this one has been the most memorable. Although I haven't been able to go on vacation because I have spent my entire summer working at a frozen yogurt shop and volunteering at a medical foundation, I have still been able to hang out with my best friends, while making new friends as well. I am not very extroverted, preferring to stay inside and watch Netflix while everyone else is out late at night; however, this summer I have been becoming more social and less of an introvert. I have made so many new friends at the place where I work, and I have been spending a lot of time with them at work and outside of work, while making sure to cut out time for my high school friends as well. Because I am heading off to college in ...

I have always liked shopping, but for the past few years I have been obsessed with it. Maybe not a shopaholic, but something close to that. Because I am heading off to college in the fall, I have spent a lot of time shopping with my parents, friends, or by myself for college gear. This type of gear entails shower accessories, makeup, footwear, clothing to wear daily, and much more. Because I have been spending so much time shopping, I wanted to share my favorite stores that I have visited a lot over the past few months for college clothing. 1. Victoria's Secret - I have always been a consistent shopper at this store, but I have been buying so many pairs of leggings, yoga pants, and v-neck t shirts from here recently. Victoria's Secret has a great selection sweatpants, leggings, sweatshirts, etc. that are attractive yet comfortable, which makes wearing them easy. I always find myself reaching for Victoria's Secret apparel, whether it's for underwear, leggings, sweatpan...

So I'm pretty sure I have done a Favorite Drinks At Starbucks  post a while ago, but I wanted to write a new one, as I have been trying out and loving a variety of drinks and food from Starbucks. Starbucks is my go to place for coffee, espresso, frappuccinos, etc. and I wanted to share my top 10 favorite drinks/foods with you all! 1. Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher 2.  Iced Caramel Macchiato 3. Skinny Vanilla Latte 4. Petite Vanilla Bean Scones 5. Caramel Frappuccino 6. Passion Tea Lemonade 7. Cool Lime Refresher 8. Evolution Fresh Greek Yogurt Parfait w/ Granola, Strawberry flavored 9. Java Chip Frappuccino 10. Caramel Macchiato (hot)

5 Seconds of Summer played a concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre on July 22, 2015 as part of their Rock Out With Your Socks Out tour (ROWYSO), and they literally rocked our socks off. The show lasted from 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm, and was the best 3 hour concert of my life. I mean, 3 hours of dancing, singing, and fangirling? I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world. The opening act for the band, Hey Violet, was incredible. They played for 30 minutes, and played their hit songs, including This Is Why, Sparks Fly,  and an incredible cover of Taylor Swift's Blank Space . Hey Violet was the perfect opening act for 5SOS, as they pumped up the crowd and got everyone on their feet, dancing and singing along. The level of screaming and fangirling was intense for Hey Violet, but when 5SOS ran onstage to play their first song End Up Here , the levels of screaming were insane! So insane I literally could not hear myself speak or think. Because my friend and I were sitting on the ...

Recently, I have been purchasing a lot of makeup products and adding them to my makeup collection to use for the summer, fall, winter, and basically all year round. As I've been buying more products, my makeup bag has been steadily filling and growing heavier, and because of all my new interests in different makeup products as well as continuing to buy old favorites, I thought I would do a "What's In My Makeup Bag" haul for you all to show you the makeup products I use and love the most. Face Products 1. Neutrogena visibly even BB cream (shade fair to light) - I have yet to use this BB cream, but my mother uses this daily, and is in love with it. She says that this BB cream is perfect for using daily as it doesn't cause breakouts or any irritation and is and non greasy. As a huge fan of Neutrogena products, I am sure I will love this BB cream just as much as I love their other products! 2. Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream 8 in 1 beauty balm skin perfector (sha...

Recently, I have been watching a lot of TV shows on a variety of websites, including Netflix, Hulu, ABC, etc. I have been continuing to watch shows I started months ago, while picking up new ones I heard about from friends, siblings, etc. Because I have so many shows that I have been picking up lately, I wanted to share my favorite TV shows that I have been loving the past few months and will continue loving far into 2015. 1. 90210 2. Arrested Development 3. Friends 4. Scrubs 5. So You Think You Can Dance 6. Dexter 7. Parks and Recreation 8. One Tree Hill 9. The Walking Dead 10. Parenthood

I recently graduated from high school as part of the class of 2015, and I am happy and sad at the same time. I am filled with joy because my four years of hard work have led to graduation and walking across the podium in front of the rest of my senior class to be handed my diploma, and sad because high school has been part of my life for 4 years and now that it's over, that door has closed. However, even though the high school door has closed, a new one has opened. And what is that new door that has opened you ask? College and the future. Because this post is called "Reflections From A High School Graduate," I am going to do just that: reflect. Reflect on my 4 years in high school and all the memories I have stored through those 4 years. First of all, I just want to put out there how fast high school goes by. I remember four years ago when I was a freshman, I was really nervous for the first day of high school, afraid to expand my social circle, participate in class, an...

Since I just graduated from high school and am now in summer, I have had so much more time to watch different genres of movies, from horror to romantic comedies. I have a tendency to watch movies I love multiple times, so many times that I can practically recite every line and know exactly what is coming next along with when to become sad, happy, scared, etc. Although many people may think that watching the same movie over and over again is ridiculous, that is something I love to do. Because of this, I wanted to list my top 10 movies that I love so much that I could watch them multiple times. 1. The Fault In Our Stars (movie based off of the book) 2. The Hangover (all 3 movies) 3. 21 and 22 Jump Street 4. Finding Nemo 5. Sixteen Candles 6. 500 Days of Summer 7. Up 8. Love Actually 9. Blended 10. Titanic

My dad found this recipe online and because it looked delicious, we both tackled the recipe for dinner one night, with me cooking the soba (buckwheat) noodles and making the sauce, while my dad cut up all the vegetables and prepped all the other ingredients. After putting all the ingredients together and mixing the noodles in the sauce, we sampled our finished product. To my amazement, it was delicious! I had about 2-3 bowls of it for dinner, and because I was so obsessed with this recipe, I thought I would share it so you could make it as well. Ingredients: 1. 1/4 cup and 2 tbsp rice vinegar 2. 1 tsp white sugar 3. 2 tbsp minced ginger 4. 1 tbsp honey 5. 2 tbsp tamari 6. 2 tsp toasted sesame oil 7. 1/4 cup canola oil 8. 12 ounces buckwheat noodles 9. 1 carrot, grated 10. 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced 11. 1/4 english cucumber, grated 12. 3 green onions, thinly sliced 13. 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped 14. 2 tsp Sriracha Procedure: 1. Whisk the vinegar, sugar, ginge...

I have done two posts, one called "Spotify Lovin" and the other called "Spotify Lovin Part 2," which showed my favorite songs of that month from the famous and trending Spotify. Now, I am writing yet another post giving another update of songs and/or albums I have been obsessed with for the past few months. 1. Skinny Love and Not About Angels by Birdy 2. All I Want by Kodaline 3. Technicolour Beat and Livewire by Oh Wonder 4. Hey Mama (feat Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha, Afrojack) by David Guetta 5. Adele's album 21 6. Album Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die! by Panic! At The Disco 7. See You Again (feat Charlie Puth) by Wiz Khalifa 8. This Summer's Gonna Hurt Like A Motherf****r by Maroon 5 9. Bright by Echosmith 10. You Know You Like It by DJ Snake and AlunaGeorge

Going along with the salad recipe I posted last week, I wanted to share a recipe of a green drink/smoothie that my parents drink pretty much every morning. This green drink is going along with the whole kale and greens smoothie product that is trending right now, and this smoothie my parents make is so delicious that I had to share the recipe. Ingredients: 1. Lettuce 2. Kale or Spinach 3. Bundle of celery 4. 1 lemon, halved (only half of a lemon is used in this recipe) 5. 1 granny smith apple 6. 1 banana 7. 1 pear 8. Tap water 9. Vitamix blender or any large blender Procedure: 1. Wash and chop up multiple sticks of celery from the bundle or as many until you are satisfied. Do the same with the lettuce. Then put all of that into the blender and add in your un-chopped kale as well. Fill up your blender 3/4 of the way with greens. 2. Add enough water so it covers the majority of the greens. Then blend for 1 minute or until everything is mixed evenly and a liquid is present,...

Going along with the article I posted last week, "My Workout Routine," I wanted to continue that health topic by sharing the recipe I use for making salads. I try to eat salad at least every other day, as it makes me feel healthy and I feel good knowing that what I am consuming is good for me. So, here is the salad that I make and consume weekly. Ingredients: 1. Spinach, mixed greens, or kale 2. White mushrooms 3. Grape tomatoes 4. Baby carrots 5. One cucumber 6. One avocado 7. Pre-cooked chicken 8. One or two kiwis 9. Balsamic vinaigrette and olive oil (you can use a different dressing or no dressing as well) Procedure: 1. Wash the amount of greens that you are going to consume, dry them, and place them in your salad bowl. 2. Wash your mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, avocado, and kiwis. Using a cutting board and knife, slice the mushrooms, halve the tomatoes, slice the carrots, and slice your cucumber to a size you are satisfied with and add them to yo...

I started working out consistently in order to build up stamina and get that daily exercise I was deprived of for 17 years of my life. Because I recently solidified what my workout routine is, I wanted to share it with you just in case you wanted to pick up some new workout exercises, or get inspiration for creating your own workout routine! 1. Stretching - Stretching is always step #1 for me. Stretching helps loosen up your muscles and prepare your body for a workout, which helps prevent possible injuries that could occur. Not stretching before exercising could possibly have a greater effect on your muscles since they have not been stretched out and loosened before performing whatever exercise you had in mind. 2. Running - I run a few times a week to switch up my workout routine. Running helps me build up stamina and provides me with exercise, and I run for 30 minutes. Running for 30 minutes ensures that I got the correct amount of exercise I needed that day and allows me to get b...

Because I will be graduating high school this year in June (yay!), I wanted to share some tips that I wished I knew when I went into high school for the first time four years ago. Whether you are in high school currently, went through high school already, or are about to enter your freshman year, here are some tips that I will give to you in order to live a successful life your four years through high school. 1. DO NOT PROCRASTINATE - this may seem very tempting, especially as you become a junior and senior (maybe even as a sophomore as well), since senioritis will start creeping up on you and trying to take over your life. Trust me though, DO NOT let senioritis take over and lead you to procrastinate on anything! Procrastinating, although it may be "in" right now is inevitable, and trust me, when you find yourself sitting at your computer bs'ing that 10 page research paper due the next day, you will not be in a good mood. So, try to not procrastinate for as long as pos...

I have been known to not drink enough water, whether at school, at home, or when out with family and friends. I have been this way for as long as I remember, and lately I have been constantly reminding myself to continuously drink water to refrain from becoming dehydrated. Because water alone isn't that appealing to me I turned to fruit-infused water, and that completely redefined my view on water. Now, I find myself drinking glasses and glasses of water! Fruit-infused water might be popular as of right now, but it just came onto my radar. Since I literally have to force myself to drink water and stay hydrated, having fruit-infused water makes the whole process so much easier for me. What I like to put in my water are a variety of fruits, whether it's strawberries, kiwis, lemons, limes, and even apples! I find that slicing up these fruits and plopping them into a glass of water provides a subtle flavor that makes the water taste amazing, and some fruits even contain detoxifyi...

I wrote a blog post about songs/artists/albums that I was obsessed with at the end of March of this year, and now that it has been about a month and we are finishing April 2015 strong, I wanted to write another post that is an update of the songs I have been loving. New friends I've made have introduced me to new songs/artists, and new playlists on Spotify that have popped up when I've browsed have led to me listening to a variety of new songs. So, here is my top 10 list. Enjoy! 1. Want to Want Me by Jason Derulo 2. Nobody Love by Tori Kelly 3. I Want You To Know by Zedd and Selena Gomez 4. Songs: Apartment, Cough Syrup, Mind Over Matter, Firelight, Eros, My Body by Young The Giant 5. Love Me Like You Do (From Fifty Shades of Grey ) by Ellie Goulding 6. Stitches by Shawn Mendes 7. No Good For You, Dear Future Husband, Like I'm Gonna Lose You by Meghan Trainor 8. Heartbeat Song by Kelly Clarkson 9. All of You by Betty Who 10. You Know You Like It by DJ Sn...

You know that term, "Go with your gut, as whatever your gut tells you is the right decision to make?" Well, I'm going through that phase as I am typing this. Since I am a senior in high school all I care about is college, finishing out the school year strong, and more college. I have been so stressed about making sure I make the right decisions when thinking about my future, and I have been stuck between so many options, and have therefore been relying on what my gut has been telling me in order to make those decisions. I feel like a lot of people go through this phase, whether it's deciding what college to attend in the fall, whether you should date your best guy/girl friend or not, or whether you should take a specific job or not, etc. And, what I am going to say is, go with what your gut is telling you; go with that internal voice inside you that is telling you to go a specific direction. I know saying Go with your gut because usually what your gut is telling y...

Because I am currently taking Digital Photography class I have taken a wide range of photos, from pictures of my friends to nature and the world outside of school. Because of that, I wanted to post some pictures I took that really stand out to me and provoke me to think deeper about the true meaning inside the picture.

From recently earning his Commercial Pilot License to becoming a professional aviation photographer and being published in multiple aviation publications, Menlo-Atherton senior Michael Mainiero has only just started to live his dream. Although Mainiero always had a passion for mechanical objects and hands on work, he became interested in planes at a fairly young age. “When I was 13 years old my mom and I visited [the Hiller Aviation Museum]. She found a brochure advertising a youth flying program run by the Experimental Aircraft Association. The program has volunteers who provide free flights for students ages 8 to seventeen, and I was able (with some "gentle" prodding and annoyance) to convince my mom to let me go up for a flight. I was hooked from that point on.” Mainiero has spent all of his free time with planes since that moment, flying whenever he can. Now as an eighteen year old, his most recent accomplishment has been earning his Commercial Pilot License (CPL...