Uncategorized

Level99 @ Natick Mall MA || Taiyaki NYC x Rilakkuma

~ samanthatran ~ Leave a comment

Can you resist a challenge? I can’t!

Take your friends and family along to tackle rooms and more at Level99 in Natick Mall (Massachusetts). It’s like an escape room but it exploded into a huge space and has not-so-mini challenge rooms. If you’ve been to Boda Borg in Boston (Malden), you’ll like this! I haven’t been to BB myself but my friends who have been told me it’s similar.

Our advice for a good time:

  • go with a group of 3-4 or more people (we had 6 and split up into 3&3 at times) it’s still fun even if you just go as 2 people though! 
  • use your “coins” to buy hints (pops up after scanning players in) or else you might be super confused when you enter some rooms. (the “coins” are already included with your ticket/wristband when you scan)
  • if a room you’re waiting for is occupied by another group, scan your wristbands for it to have you/your group queued up and ready to hit start shortly after the other group leaves
  • dress in clothes you can move around easily in, there are lots of physical challenges. I’d say sneakers are a must! There’s a bunch of fast-paced/grip-dependent stuff
Also who can resist this CUTE rilakkuma in dessert form!! There’s currently a collab at Taiyaki NYC (Boston) x Rilakkuma and of course we had to go! The line was about 30mins but still much better than their grand opening line, which I saw and passed on.

Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Glazy Susan Mochi Donuts, and NOLA Cajun Kitchen! || Things to do in MA

~ samanthatran ~ Leave a comment

This week’s vlog ft. Theresia! We went to Glazy Susan to get donuts for breakfast, wandered Tower Hill Botanic Garden, and ate yummy Cajun food at NOLA Cajun Kitchen. Hehe it was a very wholesome reunion if you watch until the end *__*

Glazy Susan’s donut menu for June included a few kinds of strawberry donuts so I basically had to order them all hehe. Unfortunately, if you want any of these flavors, it may not be available because the menu changes monthly but stay tuned for July!

If you stop by NOLA Cajun Kitchen for a meal, I recommend their seafood garlic noodles–medium spicy with your preferred choice of seafood! And their calamari basket (the cajun fries that come with it are so good too).

If you liked this post or vlog, please give it a thumbs up and stay tuned for more! 🙂

xx Sami

Scrapbook Flip-Through & Ideas for Memories & Traveling

~ samanthatran ~ Leave a comment

Hey guys, my goal is to document more memories by scrapbooking or memory journaling so here is how my scrapbook looks! Hope you enjoy this scrapbook flip-through and maybe gets some ideas and inspiration to document your year on paper 🙂

Most of my supplies are from Michael’s or other craft stores!

Honestly I don’t recommend the scrapbook I used because the wire is starting to be wonky but I LOVE the markers I used.

Metallic markers: https://amzn.to/3pRwzky

(as of 2021, I am now an amazon affiliate and if you use my link at no extra cost to you, I might earn from qualifying purchases)

VLOGMAS DAY 1 || Wrapping Presents & Christmas Tree Decor (my first!)

~ samanthatran ~ Leave a comment

After enjoying watching Vlogmas from other people for years, I decided to do my own! This year has been tough in one way or another for everyone and I’m going to try my best to push myself to create some wholesome content.

VLOGMAS 2020 here we come! I show you my cute gift wrap paper + Christmas tree decor while wrapping presents and watching a holiday movie on netflix.

This video wasn’t really planned but my next ones will be 🙂

Feel free to subscribe to come along for the adventure!

Mini xmas trees video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb3ALuv-myc

This is my first time doing vlogmas so even with everything going on this year I’m trying my best to find fun and safe holiday things to do. 

xx Sam

DIY Bathroom Makeover (Contact Paper) || How To

~ samanthatran ~ 2 Comments

Hey guys! Due to being home more often because of social distancing, I had the urge to redecorate and I tackled the bathroom first.

I updated the look of my bathroom vanity by using 2 types of contact paper and peel and stick backsplash tiles.

Hopefully this video inspires you to do it too! (Btw I totally did it the harder way because 1. it’s surrounding the sink & 2. I wanted to try to minimize the amount of seams, it’ll be much faster and easier if you just have a plain counter surfaces)

References:

– 4 Year Marble Contact Paper Experience & Removal

– How to contact paper cabinets via  @Tia Zamara 

I’m planning to keep the contact paper DIYs long-term or until I commit to a style to maybe permanently repaint/replace the countertop but for now, this is amazing enough.

Products used:

  • Grey/Bronze Wallpaper

    *edit: as of 2021 I am now an amazon affiliate and if you use my link at no extra cost to you, I might earn from qualifying purchases

*The video & this blog post are not sponsored by products used and all opinions are my own. Thanks!

Nice Demete[r] You

~ samanthatran ~ Leave a comment

CS SERIES (12).pngThere are lots of “rules” we must follow in object-oriented software development and the article The Genius of the Law of Demeter by Javadevguy summarizes how they are useful. From what I put together, it seems like the Law of Demeter took abstract concepts and basically put them into a universal set of rules for Object-Oriented code.

I thought that the law of demeter must be a big deal if someone decided to sit down and write a lengthy blog post about it. This content ended up being interesting as it tried to convince readers why they should obey this “law.” The Law of Demeter basically paves the way for what users can do to a given method. It is kind of like considering the restrictions or possibilities based on the method. One of the takeaways I got from this is how there is a lot of focus on communication between two objects.

Sam CS (18)

The rules listed in the article are as follows–noting that it says “For all classes C, and for all methods M attached to C, all objects to which M sends a message must be”:

  1. self (this in Java)
  2. M’s argument objects
  3. Instance variable objects of C
  4. Objects created by M, or by functions or methods which M calls
  5. Objects in global variables (static fields in Java)

Another useful takeaway I got from this article came from observing the code examples Javadevguy included; how Rule #1 covers that any method can be called on the current object. I also noted when there would be an instance where the law would prohibit something is not “sending a message” to any already existing object that is held in instance variables of other classes.

This will affect the way I continue to do work as an Object-Oriented developer. I mean, in life when you learn there is a more useful or structured way to help you achieve more effective results, you would want to try or follow it, right? For my future use, I will acknowledge (like other blogs and articles) that the Law of Demeter is less of a law and only a suggestion or a guideline.

Overall, I would say that the content has helped further solidified my understanding of some Object-Oriented coding concepts. I agree with the content as it is trying to help people become better developers or better understand the Law of Demeter in general.

Article: https://javadevguy.wordpress.com/2017/05/14/the-genius-of-the-law-of-demeter/

To Stay In or Go Out?

~ samanthatran ~ Leave a comment

After going out for so many Saturdays in a row, it feels weird to come home from a Saturday afternoon of working and shopping to a night in lounging in comfy clothes for once. There’s probably a special german word for this feeling, I just don’t know how to google it.

go out?

I was asked to attend an event recently and I was given flashbacks to how I always reacted when I found out there was an event for me to attend. I mean, I want to go, but at the same time I don’t know if I really do, you know? The chart I just discovered (above, from @introvertdoodles) will help me figure out whether I should go to things now! I’m always saying “yes!” to things excitedly and then it takes up my entire calendar and now I am going to try and focus spending my energy more carefully.

An article titled “Both Introverts and Extraverts Get Exhausted from Too Much Socializing” caught my eye, and the author, Scott Kaufman mentions a research that concluded how “in general, when under stress, tired, or living in crowded circumstances, people often choose to be alone if they can.”

Every time I take a personality test or compared the sides, my results are definitely more extroverted than introverted because my energy comes from going out and about but I think I may have come to the point of getting burned out because of overloading this. It felt like so much was happening all at once like sensory overload combined with an inconsistent sleeping and eating schedule, I had almost no time for myself. I can’t wait to see what this year brings after being able to reflect on 2017 and trying to make changes.

Girlboss 2018

Baking Sunflower Cupcakes!

~ samanthatran ~ Leave a comment

Last week, I spent a few hours with friends in my kitchen baking and decorating cupcakes. I had expressed how much I missed making pretty cupcakes for school bake sales when I was in high school and we all wanted to bake again! Now that I’m in college, there are way less opportunities to host bake sales on campus…

Here is a video of how we made them and more:

These are also how our pictures turned out:

Sarah’s

IMG_9540

Kathy’s

IMG_4738.JPG

Nina’s

IMG_6749

Mine

Sunflower Cupcake

Red Robin, YUM & MORE

~ samanthatran ~ Leave a comment

To do list:

  • Attend today’s classes
  • Go out with Trang and Nina
  • Shop around for cute things
  • Ask Red Robin if they sell their special seasoning

Looks like I totally missed something on my to do list once again! There was a Groupon deal for a Red Robin near us today and we decided to go for it and I was given the perfect opportunity to ask about their seasoning but nope, I forgot.

I actually vlogged about it today and will probably be compiling it with tomorrow’s vlog because we made plans to hang out again; tomorrow’s goal is to get some thrifted finds.

Stores we hit up: Sephora, Nordstrom Rack, Barnes & Noble (or as Nina would call it, Barney’s and Noble’s)

Stay tuned to catch the vlog on my YouTube channel! 🙂