Friday 30 December 2016

It's Been Awhile


Bonjour my internet friends,

I find that I always end up crawling back to the blog after reading any of the Girl Online novels. What can I say? Zoella and Penny Porter inspire me! I really want to say I am very sorry for not updating you THE ENTIRE YEAR. I wrote two posts in January and then, gave up? More like, forgot. I actually have been so focused on the rest of my life, this was pushed down.

Let's see, this year I gained a few extra appendages; a new best friend, a boyfriend, and a phone.

I was in my aunt and uncle's Doctor Who themed wedding at the end of January.

I went to the Troye Sivan concert at the beginning of February and Melanie Martinez at the end (my Tumblr photos are linked).

I met my new best friend (known as A) at the Troye Sivan concert and ended up hanging out over spring break again in March. Seriously, we've been friends now for 10 months (I think that's quite the accomplishment) and the link will take to a Tumblr documentation of our friendship.

In April, I went to Camp Squeah as a leader for my junior youth group with one of my closest friends and our singular youth girl. (All the rest were boys.) I also got my braces off promptly afterwards, after ten months with them and now I have a permanent retainer on top and bottom (and perfect teeth, thanks Dad.)

In May, I went away on a trip with my AVID class to UBC: Okanagan and Thompson Rivers University. I also went to the island to visit my best friend A and their friends there.

June was full of wrap up and parties. Both Senior and Junior Youth finished for the year and we had our Leader Appreciation party barbecue. My youngest sister turned 10. I finished grade 11.

The beginning of July was sitting around and being lazy. Canada Day fireworks and then on the 22nd we had night sliding and the following Sunday, I left for camp. Shoutout to YES Camp for the best week of my life. (Here are a few photos I took to document it.)

August was spent as the first month of my new relationship with my boyfriend. I volunteered as a leader for a group of 8-10 year olds at my church day camp. I went to Playland with my youth group. And at the end of the month, as per usual, I went away to Lakeside Resort for the tenth year in a row (family vacation).

September was the month of being thrown back into school, my final year of high school. I started a course at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. We had our Grad Barbecue. I volunteered at a Youth Homelessness Concert and Fair Fundraiser for homeless youth in Langley.

I celebrated my 17th birthday in October and went to Vancouver for Halloween.

I cut my hair in November and celebrated a friends birthday with puppies as well as my mum, dad, brother, and sister's birthdays. I also had my grad cruise around the Vancouver Harbour. It was also my final year attending the Senior Youth Impact Retreat at Camp Squeah with some of my best friends.

In December, I went to Granville Island two days in a row for field trips and saw two different plays. I took a ferry boat across the harbour for one. I also celebrated Christmas with all my families.

Now it's December 30th, almost the end of the year. What a year. Doing this, I didn't realize how much of my experiences had only happened during 2016. I have been able to reflect on this year. Sure, I didn't read seventy books like I wanted to but I did read about fifty instead. Sure this year kind of sucked in the big picture, but for me personally, it wasn't all that bad.

Thank you to everyone for a crazy amazing year. Here's to many more.

Keep Smiling Beautifuls,
Naddy xoxo

One of my resolutions is to blog more. At the very least, once a month. And ideally, once a week.

Friday 1 January 2016

Hello 2016! Harry Lou Year!


Bonjour my internet friends,

Sorry, I mean happy new year. Darn Louis and Harry always on my mind!

There is this account on Twitter that I totally love called @rtyour2k15 where she tweets things that people have done in the year and you retweet it if you have. So here are a list of things that I have done this year, via 'Retweet your 2k15'.

  • went to a wedding 
  • cried a little over Made in the A.M. 
  • met Tyler Oakley (06/07) 
  • became confident with who I am
  • had a class with my favourite teacher (English 10/11 and AVID 10) 
  • stopped caring (for the most part) about what people think of me
  • spent time with family 
  • learned to love myself 
  • saw Shawn Mendes (08/01) 
  • found out more about myself 
  • met a youtuber (Tyler and Korey Kuhl) 
  • made new friends 
  • went to the 1989 tour (08/01) 
  • survived March 25, 2015 (RIP) 
  • started thinking positively 
  • stopped trying to be someone other than me
  • rekindled a friendship 
  • got inspired 
  • realized my self worth 
  • realized that being single is okay 
  • gained confidence 
  • finished a whole book series (Vampire Academy) 
  • saw a shooting star
  • realized your grades don’t measure your self worth
  • saw Vance Joy (08/01)
  • watched the sunrise/sunset
  • laughed until you cried
  • told someone you loved them
  • had a sweet sixteen
and finally, the most important one:
  • had a great year
Keep Smiling Beautifuls,
Naddy xoxo

PS these are some accomplishments that I came up with myself that rtyour2k15 didn't do.
  • joined a new school club (GSA)
  • discovered new music (Halsey, Melanie Martinez, Benny, Hailee Steinfeld, Hey Violet, and Rachel Platten)
  • passed all my tenth grade exams (English, Science, and Math)
  • read past my 50 book goal (62!)

Looking Back on 2015's Goals

Bonjour my internet friends,

So it is a new year. Two thousand a sixteen. Wow. It felt like just yesterday that we were wrapping up 2014 in a few blog post fashion.

Last year, I wrote about things I accomplished over the year very vaguely. Quite sparse and very few things along with my 'For 2015' goals. Let's see how much I improved with those goals.
  1.  learn to unapologetically say "no" 
  2. tell more stories 
  3. read. read. read. read. read. 
  4. write more. write about everything. 
  5. pick up your camera again
  6. stop slouching. keep your chin up. 
  7. don't give a shit what others think of you
  8. have more solo dance parties in your room 
  9. keep your skin moisturized 
  10. appreciate every square inch of your body 
  11. life in not a competition. stop treating it like on. 
  12. be patient. be thankful. 
I'd like to say, in at least some way, shape, or form I accomplished these things. 
  1. I started saying "no" without apologizing and not agreeing because I felt guilty. 
  2. I told so many stories and had a lot of fun listening to others. 
  3. I completely read sixty-two books this year, ending the year with two on the go. 
  4. I wrote as much as I could, whether it was just for school or for fun or late night observations. 
  5. I took a lot of pictures and actually not only picked up my old point and shoot camera but bought my first real camera. 
  6. I am still working on sitting and standing straight (even now I am slouching, oops). But figuratively, I think that I grew a bit of a backbone and kept my chin up and stood taller, I was the bigger person. 
  7. I started to realize that people's opinions about me don't matter and I shouldn't care because the only person who's opinion should matter is my own. 
  8. I have had countless dance parties in my room (and house when I'm alone or not), just jamming out and enjoying myself. And also getting a serious workout. 
  9. I have normally smooth skin but I tried my best to wash and moisturize my face more. 
  10. I love my body. It is the body I was given, and I am not always totally happy with it all the time. But I love it more than I ever have before. 
  11. I am still learning this. It's conditioned in us at such a young age that it's hard to get out of. But I am slowly learning and working hard towards my goals and realizing that just because two people are going for the same goal doesn't mean only one will win. 
  12. Another one that's still a work in progress. 
I am pretty proud of myself and how well this past year has gone. I can't wait for this next year and how it will go. Here's to 2015, so far the best year of my life. 

Keep Smiling Beautifuls, 
Naddy xoxo