Solving Maria

Friday 15 July 2016

OOTW (Outfit of the week) Singapore edition

Good Evening,

Today I'm going to try something a little different. This may not be everyone's thing, but I thought it would be fun. If you hadn't noticed by the title this is a kind of fashion post about what I wore in singapore, whilst on a trip after my exams had ended.

Sunday

Shorts, Hat - H&M, Tee - AG, Bag - Ted Baker, Shoes - Schuh, Sunglasses - Dior

Monday

Top - Uniqlo, Shorts - Hollister, Sunglasses - Calvin Klein, Bag - Fossil

Monday Evening

Top - Topshop, Skirt - Marc Jacobs, Jewellery - Tiffany

Tuesday

Top - M&S, Shorts - Gap, Shoes - Schuh, Hat - H&M, Sunglasses - Dior

Wednesday

Top, Shorts - Abercrombie and Fitch, Shoes - Clarks, Bag - Fossil, Jewellery - Tiffany.

Thursday

Dress - Jack wills, Shoes - Dune, Bag - Ted baker, Sunglasses Dior

Friday

Top - Abercrombie and fitch, Skirt, Hat - H&M, Bag - Fossil, Shoes - Schuh, Sunglasses - Dior.

Saturday

Top - Armani Exchange, Shorts - Abercrombie and Fitch, Shoes - Dune, Bag - Fossil, Sunglasses - Calvin Klein

Well I hope you enjoyed it! Please let me know below. And don't worry their are more blogs about my stay in singapore on their way, so stay tuned.

Maria xx

Singapore

Sunday 10 July 2016

Summer escapade 2k16

Hello again,

Exams have finished and Summmer has began. And there is a lot going on. So here is a little heads up of what to expect in the upcoming months.

My summer you could say if kind of hectic, for starters I'm leaving Japan 😩. For which there will definitely be more blog content about. And at the end I've got exam results and university prep.

So if anyone is any good a math that's quite a while, and I've just said I'm quite busy. So busy with what exactly?

Well first of all I'm doing a little travelling before I head back to the UK. I am lucky enough to be visiting both Singapore and Australia through July, due to quite perfect timing if I say so my self. My mum is out there on business already. I can tell you now packing was a challenge, seeing as it's always scorching in Singapore however it's cold and wintery in Australia in July.

And if that wasn't nice, we've got to move all our stuff around the world again, as I'm moving back to the UK and my mum is moving to... You'll have to wait and see.

We've also decided that while our home in the UK is empty it is the perfect time to rennnovate and do all those jobs we have been putting off for years, as you naturally do. So I will be coordinating that.

So that's what's going on in my summer, but what I'm sure you want to know is what does that mean for you my blog readers and what the content is likely to be over the summer. Well as usual it is likely to be adhock, not in contrological order, but I really hope you enjoy it. As for the content; I plan to write about everything from Life in Japan and travelling to rennnovating and all the things in between.

Overall I think you all have a lot to look forward to, and so do I. I hope you enjoy.

Maria xx

Update

Thursday 7 July 2016

Birthday

Good afternoon or as they say in Japan; こんばんは,

It's that time of the year again, My birthday! Well it was recently you know me; terrible at writing posts on time.

This year I celebrated my 19th Birthday. As usual, or at least for the last 5 years, my birthday is during the exam period. Best luck ever, most years I actually have an exam or two on my day, so in comparison you could say that this year was a breeze. Even though for once it was relatively hot due to being in Japan rather than the UK, I would still not go as far as saying that.

As a result, for which has become tradition for me I have several birthdays before,on the day, and after. It almost becomes a birthday fortnight. As you know last year I had a Camping festival, this year I scaled it back a bit, although the quantity increased. This year I had 3 haha;

With my mum before - Day out In Tokyo
The actual day - Lazy pamper day and Dinner out
Party with friends after - Yoyogi Park

Day out in Tokyo

My mum was actually away on a business trip for my birthday so we celebrated the weekend prior. Seeing as it was coming towards the end of our stay in Japan, we decided to do a bit more exploring of Tokyo. Its a huge place, there is always things to see. This time we decided to go more as ladies of leisure rather than the frantic tourist. There was no rush out the door to get the earliest train, which was great if just for the fact that I LOVE my sleep.

Once we made our way into Tokyo we navigated ourselves to Tokyo Sky tree. Top tip for anyone that is visiting Japan or has a foreign passport: You can jump the huge queue to get up the tree. I felt kind of bad to begin with, but no matter how great the view is it's not worth 2+ hours wait. I say that but, I would recommend going, although it really is a weather permitting activity, If its cloudy its a waste of money. And remember you can always try the government office which is free.

There are 3 floors, the top you have to pay extra for, which is kind of annoying but I can understand. It also means that when you do get there it is a lot quieter than the other two floors. Another secret most people don't notice is to pay particular notice to the lifts.

We then went to the other side of Tokyo for some retail therapy and some architecture spotting in place called Omotesando. While I have been in Japan I bought a book of Modern architecture all over the country so I thought it was about time we visited some. We did a little shopping but nothing major, it was just nice to have a girly day in the city. We ended up getting back to Utsunomiya on the last train rather late.

Yoyogi Park

As I said my birthday is in the middle of exams so its sometimes quite challenging to organise my friends to celebrate my birthday. This year was particularly difficult due to it being the last year of A-Levels and I live quite a distance from everyone else. So much so that I had kinda given up. Luckily some of the friends I have in Tokyo weren't going to let that happen.

My birthdays is the middle of May which means there is always a week exam free due to May Half term, so one of my friends arranged for us all to meet in a park near Shibuya. It was nice to have someone else organise my birthday, not something I had experienced before but it was hassle free for me, all I had to do was turn up. Great!

We were really lucky that we had really good weather, my shoulders were a tad rosey at the end of the day. It was so nice to see everyone, that came, even the people that I hadn't met before. It was such a great day and everyone was so lovely, one of the guys I had never really met before made birthday panacotta. Super sweet, not the taste the texture. We chilled out, ate food, had a lot of laughs. So it was a great day, and i'm so thankful to everyone that came.

Well thats my birthday adventures, I hope you enjoyed reading what I got up to. See you soon.

Maria xx

Living in Japan

Sunday 3 July 2016

Japan Winter Sports Destination, yes really!

Why you should consider Japan when thinking of booking winter sport vacation.

Hey, I know what you are thinking; skiing, Maria it's summer.

It seems off topic I'm sure, but its winter somewhere and if you are the type of person to spend money on winter sports holidays, it's coming up to the time to book now. And if not, it'll be interesting I guarantee.

So... lets begin.

What do I mean by winter sports, I mean the usual skiing and snowboarding but also things like snowshoeing and all sorts of other things. All sorts of things you don't think about when I say Japan.

Let's play a little of the word association game -

I say Japan ..................You say: cherry blossom, monkeys in hot springs, matcha and Mount Fuji
I say Skiing ............... You say: The Alps, Canada, US

See! You don't think they match, but they do!

You know that Japan held the Olympics in 1998 so it is really not so far fetched thinking. As people become more interested in travelling further and experience more, why not explore Japan. (beautiful in both spring and winter).

This year after several very long years away from the fluffy white stuff because of family injuries it was time to hit the powdered white slopes once more. So I feel I have enough personal experience to inform you all. (I'll get on to my experiences soon too)

The first major bonus is that in the country there are several places for a fanatic to visit and it's not unreasonable to visit more than one mountain cluster in one holiday. It is relatively easy to travel between ski resorts, whether that be by plane, shinkansen or coach.

It's also really easy to go on impromptu trips, for as short as a day, on the slopes which would never be possible in the Alps. Its made even easier by the fact that you don't need to reserve anything usually. You can turn up on the day and hire the right equipment, even clothing which I think is really cool. Whether you live in Japan or your visiting it makes skiing very accessible.

My personal favourite is the Apres Ski. Nothing like the European version that spills over social media during the snowy months. Polar opposites actually. It's a lot more low key than raves at the bottom of the resort. As you may or may not know Japan is well known for its hot springs (onsens) and I can assure you that it is literally the best feeling after a day on the cold slopes to soak all the aching body parts, from the inevitable falling, in steaming natural water. When you're in the hot spring melting and relaxing after a packed day in the snow, I promise you that the nervousness/awkwardness of being naked is really not an issue that you think about. And I guarantee that you will have the best night's sleep whether your bed is western or futon.

Now for the technical stuff all you ski fanatics have been waiting for. The biggest questions when looking at winter holidays are about the conditions, slope difficulty, altitude and ski lift prices. Japan in generally quite mountainous, but they are not as high an altitude as the alps for example, which means skiing from the top to the bottom quite easily. That also means that you don't have to get a gondola up the slopes, it is more popular to get chair lifts. As we are talking ski lifts, I'll quickly mention the prices; which is comparison to others is rather in expensive, whether you buy a week pass or day passes. As with most resorts the difficulty is very varied, their colour scale is a little bit different than Europeans versions but it is easy to navigate.

For more information check out: http: www.snowjapan.com