I Hate Valentine's Day

Bonjour my internet friends,

Happy Valentine's Day.

You might be confused, why is the title saying you hate v-day when you just wished us a happy day? Well, I can explain.

I am not a rude person. I am wishing you all a very happy Valentine's! But personally, I am not too fond of the holiday. Why should we have one day a year to remind our loved ones that we love them? We should do that every day!

I am going to be honest, I do not do that myself. The reminding my loved ones that I love them part. But I try really hard. I tell people I love them whenever I feel the need to and do little acts of kindness (like washing the dishes or making dinner for the family) and hugs, oh hugs are seriously great.

If you knew me, you'd know I am actually a hopeless romantic type. Hit me up with that amazing YA Romance novels (Jennifer E. Smith, Susane Colasanti, and Sarah Dessen among the favourites) and I am a happy girl. And then you'd be confused as to why I don't like V-Day, as the the most romantic day of the year.

As I explained earlier, it's because I believe you should show love all the time and not just on this one special day.

Besides, yes I am in a relationship but today isn't all that special for us as just two weeks ago we celebrated our six month anniversary. That seemed more of a big deal to us, so we went for all out for that than anything.

(By all out, I mean we posted long paragraph posts on instagram and then spent last Saturday cuddling and cooking/cleaning together. REALationship goals.)

My apathetic attitude towards V-day does not stop me from calling my boyfriend later today and then sitting down with a cup of hot chocolate and a young adult romance novel.

But that sounds like a typical evening for me, so it's nothing special really.

Happy Valentine's Day.

keep smiling beautifuls,
Naddy xoxo

Big Brother is Watching You

Bonjour my internet friends,

Last week I sat in my Biology class, reading the last two or three chapters of 1984 by George Orwell. My old and worn school copy in my hands for consumption (this edition published circa 2008).

That last Friday was not the day I had to finish the book, I was actually only required to read one chapter to recap for my table group. But I got ahead of myself and read the remaining chapters.

So that put me ahead in the class later on. Because myself and two of my classmates, were the only people to finish the book so we got a leg up. We were given the final assignment on Friday while the rest of the class has reading homework and gets the assignment on Monday.

We have been assigned to write a narrative connected to 1984 in some meaningful way. my teacher's words. So I began writing, and writing, and writing. I wrote for a few hours today. Ended with the beginning of my story, almost 2000 words down. Got to say, I am pretty proud!

I won't say much but I will say it is the world of 1984 set in 2017 Vancouver. So the terminology is similar in some aspects but different in others. It's told from the point of view of 17 year old Cleo Chen. She would be considered a prole in Orwell's 1984, but in mine they are called plebeian and aren't treated the same as the proles of Airstrip One.

I don't want to reveal too much but this is such a fun assignment as I seriously enjoyed reading 1984. It's an amazing novel and brings up themes that are terrifyingly still present today.

If you haven't read Orwell's classic tale, I recommend you do. Especially if you are a fan of the show Big Brother, like I was for a season.

Remember, Big Brother is watching you.

Keep Smiling Beautifuls,
Naddy xoxo

WAR IS PEACE.
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

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