OCTOBER
10/24/2023    an-afternoon-at-seaport-village-san-diego-ca.html

It’s been a couple years! While I was recently contemplating cancelling this blog page, I perused the different tabs and realized how much work I put into this and decided that I need to slow my roll and just get back into writing. I really do love writing and it helps me get my thoughts out as eloquently as possible since I tend to word vomit quite a bit *sigh*...

These last couple of years has been quite the adventure. I really got into making YouTube videos and I'm quite happy with how far I've come with editing (I knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING) and coming up with content. While it started out as a lifestyle channel, I realized my travel content far surpassed my other videos (well, other than my "How To Make a Cozy Bed" video that amassed over 22K views).

I was good with putting out weekly content (every Sunday) and some videos did great, some NOT so great. But that's okay...I simply post my videos for the pure joy of it. Sure I received some not-so-nice comments on occasion but I knew it came with the territory.

I don't know who actually watches my videos except for a handful of people whom I'd like to think are super supportive of this journey of mine - THANK YOU! I think anyone that isn't knowledgeable about content or digital creation knows first-hand how time consuming it is and what a full-time job it could truly be!

Anyway, along with being busy with YouTube, I also filmed a reality show with my family on the journey to bettering our relationship and communication while competing against another family in harsh conditions for - you guessed it - a cash prize! We filmed for Survivalists - a show that's kind of like Survivor but way less intense and made specifically for families.

Let me start by saying that it was the most vulnerable any of us has ever been and I have not cried so much (let's be real) ... most of us haven't cried so much in our entire lives. When you're hungry and tired, you're pretty much the truest form of yourself you could be...who cares if there are 10 cameras shoved in your face...the crew eventually become flies on the wall and seem to magically become part of the background.
If you're interested, you can watch our episode here on BYUTV's Survivalists Season 3, Episode 1 (filmed in April 2022, debuting January 2023). I may write about our experience further in a future entry:

www.byutv.org/9371ef4d-5601-4bb7-80a2-db6be4b2f2ae?utm_source=byub&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=share_2023&utm_content=Episode

This is all I have to say for now but I hope to submit more entries in the near future.  After all, writing is my first love!  Ciao and until my next post!  

~XOXO, Mari