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.

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

Time to Binge Read!

Bonjour my internet friends, 

This will be a combination of the fact that I have now so many books that I own and have not read and are to be read and I just finished reading Tyler Oakley's best selling novel. 

Do you ever have the problem of buying or receiving books and just putting them on the shelf to look pretty? That's my current problem. I have gotten a lot better as my to be read list has shortened over this past month but it's still hard as I am a book buying fiend. 

I love having books at my fingertips for whenever I need them (be it a debate about the order of the Chronicles of Narnia or who actually killed Voldemort in Deathly Hallows). It is such a wonderful idea to have, especially when the bookshelf begins to spill over and insists upon a new shelf be put in. 

I am a book lover forever and the fact that I have so many now (almost 200 I believe) is such a crazy thing to think of. I love it and am appalled at the same time. Where will all these books go when I move? (or we, depending which comes first.) 

Who knows, all I know is that this holiday season will be full of me reading in every spare moment to catch up. Hopefully my 'to be read' list will not exist when I am done. 

Now, Tyler Oakley created the masterful piece Binge. It is a memoir and written all the way up to very recently this year. 

Goodreads summarized it as: Pop culture phenomenon, social rights advocate, and the most prominent LGBTQ+ voice on YouTube, Tyler Oakley brings you his first collection of witty, personal, and hilarious essays written in the voice that’s earned him more than 10 million followers across social media.

It received a 4.51 star rating on their website as well. Pretty good Tyler. 

Now I am so glad I read this book and got more insight to Tyler as an actual person rather than a YouTube personality. I learned so much about him from page 1 to page 300. 

He was perfectly shady and slay-worthy throughout the entire novel and I am so glad we got to see the man behind the camera. He wrote of his eating disorders, moving to California, his first celebrity encoutners, and you can't help but cry, smile, and laugh all the way through. 


Binge is truly intriuging and I definitely enjoyed learning about Tyler (or should I say Matthew) in a new and exciting way. 

Love you Tyler. Keep making fabulous content and never stop being who you are because it inspires me. A wise person once told me to go meet my idols because sometimes they’ll be incredible. And it was you. Right after you finished filming for Ellen. And I want you to know how you feel about Ellen is how I feel about you. I am so glad we were able to meet at the Slumber Party Tour stop in Vancouver. Thank you for being so sweet. 



keep smiling beautifuls, 
Naddy xoxo

Re-Vamping The Blog

Bonjour my internet friends, 

I think it's time to rethink my point of the blog here. I haven't posted in ages and feel really bad! But as usual, Zoella gets me back and inspired thanks to the lovely Penny Porter. I read Girl Online: On Tour over the weekend and that made me rethink what I am trying to do here. 

A friend of mine gave me some advice for running this monstrosity. Have a theme and stick with it. So I now have decided on a theme! One of my passions has recently been rekindled. 

Books!

So now this (along with my instagram and possibly my youtube) will be book based. 

I am so excited to start on this new journey! 

I hope you all enjoy the new posts. 

Keep smiling beautifuls, 
Naddy xoxo

Books (Romance, Fantasy, Young Adult, The Works)

Bonjour my internet friends, 

I love books. Books are for reading. Reading is amazing. 

I have been a reader for years. I don't even remember starting, I just remember always reading. Nancy Drew, Junie B Jones, and Archie comics as a young reader. 

Believe me, I am a true internet kid. It is very hard to tear me away from the computer screen. Although, "There's a new episode of Once Upon A Time/Scream Queens/Modern Family/The Big Bang Theory on!" and "Get off the computer and do some homework! You don't have any? Go read a book!" will definitely help get me off my butt and onto another seat for another form of entertainment. 

The internet has helped me find other people who are in love with the fictional world. On Tumblr there are so many headcanons and fanart, I just love it. And on Instagram, it's the same. 

My only problem is when I get a really good book that I can't put down. Emphasis on 'can't put down.' 

I have stayed up until all hours to finish a book or series. And, this may seem weird but true, the bathroom is usually where this is done. 

I'll be reading on the toilet (please, I'm not the only one to do this) and the clock will start ticking and my butt will start to fall asleep so I'll finish up and sit on the toilet seat. But that gets uncomfortable after a while so I move to leaning against the bathroom door. Then I'll lean forward until I am laying on the bathroom floor. 

I am determined when I get close to the end of a novel. I have finished many of the Vampire Academy books this way. (I actually completed the series recently.) 

I love to read and if my 180 book collection doesn't give that away, I don't know what will. 

Books also include their authors and some of my favourite authors are JK Rowling, Rick Riordan, Veronica Roth, Suzanne Collins, Sarah Dessen, John Green, Rainbow Rowell, and many more. But specifically, my most favourite is Susane Colasanti. 

She is probably the absolute greatest. Her Young Adult Romance Fiction hooks me every time. (I cannot wait for the second City Love! I wrote a review here.) And I own 67% of all her books. As shown in that photo. 

And not only is she an amazing writer, she is great when she interacts with her fans on social media. 

The middle comment was on my photo of my bookshelf (first photo). The top comment and right Facebook post is for that photo of me on the stairs with her books. And finally, the tweet is about my review of City Love that I tweeted to her. 

I am just so happy that authors do these kinds of things for their fans. Especially when they stay up until 4AM to find out exactly if they fall in love or not. ;) 

Keep smiling beautifuls, 
Naddy xoxo

Autumn (Fashion, Drinks, School, and Much More)

 Bonjour my internet friends, 

“Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first September was crisp and golden as an apple.” 
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I love autumn. I was born in October. Halloween. Leaves falling. Amazing fashion. Hot chocolate. Tea. Reading. Fireplaces and bonfires. Thanksgiving. Movie nights. Crunchy leaves. The colours. Comfort foods. Candy corn. Autumn rain smell. Sweaters. Cinnamon. S'mores. Hay bale rides. Corn maze. Scarves. Ankle Boots. Leggings. Foggy breath in the morning. The crisp air. Raking leaves. Toques. Braids. New seasons of shows. EVERYTHING. 

That photo I have attached up there is from this last fall outside of Old Navy and seemed to look autumnal so I am using it because I can't find any other good autumn photos of mine. 

School just started and I am nervous and excited. It is so nice to be in class again and see all the people I haven't seen in two months. Going back to school is the sign that fall has started and it excites me. I have good classes and good teachers. 

Halloween should be good. I have plans to try to go as a Disney princess. Maybe, we'll see. My group was going to do a group costume of Alice in Wonderland but none of the guys are in anymore. I was going to be the Queen of Hearts. Princess Belle now? Or Rapunzel? We shall see. 

I am already jumping in to the fall fashion. If you go on my Tumblr and look through the tag, fall fashion, you will see exactly how much I love fall fashion. Boots, leggings, sweaters, jeans, comfy scarves, toques, just so much cozy love! 

What I am most excited for is sitting by our fireplace (on the tv) and reading a good book in my sweater and leggings drinking hot chocolate or tea listening to my 1989 record. 

Also, my birthday. I am so close to 16 I could almost taste it. 

I have some plans but I think I need to have a meeting with my family to discuss what I could do. Both for my family party and friends. 

This is going to be a good final few months of 2015. 

Here's to 2016 and chapters 9 and 10 of 12. 

keep smiling beautifuls, 
Naddy xoxo