A perfectly peaceful evening

I was visiting my cousins down south last week, and the weather was strangely amazing. Like, over 20 degrees amazing. See that photo above? That’s obviously not 20 degrees. But that photo does have a story behind it!

It was a stunning day, and my cousin and I had just returned from a woodland walk. We decided to then go to the beach. And by we, I mean he decided and I didn’t want to say no to him. But when we got to the beach it was so crowded. Like, I felt like I couldn’t even breathe there were so many people on this tiny beach! I was also not expecting everyone to be practically half naked, so already I felt over dressed. I was wearing denim long shorts with a light shirt, so I was unintentionally covered up. Being at my cousins, I obviously didn’t know anyone else but him. However, it felt like he knew everybody. I felt awkward and honestly I did not want to be there. I was introduced to a few people, but they just seemed so. . . different from my own friends that I didn’t feel comfortable around any of them either. But being the good cousin that I am, I endured about an hour of this before my cousin finally got the hint.

That night, we went out for dinner. The restaurant was looking out over the beach, and it looked amazing. I asked my cousin did he want to go down after dinner and he, being the amazing cousin that he is, agreed. We walked down and sat on a wall. The only people on the beach were two couples, both with dogs. It was still quite warm out, so my cousin and I just sat on a wall looking out on the horizon. Just then, an elderly man appeared with a metal detecter. Yes, you read that right. He was our main source of entertainment. He was just the type of old man you’d want to hug. (And he told us he found a couple of euros). My cousin and I joked how we would throw our phones into the sand just so he could find them! (Obviously we didn’t! Hah). At one point, there were like 10 dogs on the beach. We talked to one dog owner (who let me play with her happy little puppy). Do you see that man standing in the photo? He came down with his dog and his cup of tea. Not takeaway tea or anything, like an actual mug with tea in it. He played fetch with his over hyper dog. We decided to name all the dogs. Our personal favourite was Bullet. Who ran after anything! We saw a car with a surfboard attached on the roof pull up. After they decided there were definitely no waves (clearly in the photo), they took out a couple of fishing rods and went fishing. A stray dog (named Daisy) came along, and we made friends with her.

It was like we visited a different place altogether, and I definitely liked the second one better. Although it wasn’t filled with girls in bikinis, my cousin quite enjoyed it too!
And that night we unintentionally matched outfits. #Twinning

The Leaving Cert Book Burning!

I had one of the most amazing nights last Saturday. I was invited to my friends house for a book burning, and I’ve never been happier. The group that was there wasn’t my usual friend group. I’ll spare you the long dramatic details, but this group accepted me with no questions asked, and I’ll always thank them for that.

So I arrived to her house, with a bunch of flowers and met the whole family. I was second there, with my friend (who’s always early). The other friend was in my other friend group, so I would be closest to her. This is getting fairly complicated. I’ll continue.
But you see, meeting her family was pretty cool, but I also MET HER KITTENS.
I made friends with this one. She’s called Moo.

After meeting the kittens and what not, we sat out at the pit waiting for the others to arrive. It was SO WARM and it was amazing just to finally relax! The rest of the group started to arrive and we chilled and talked for a bit. (That cat is called Vomit)

We then played garden games. And by games, I mean game. We basically played rounders/rugby/football all at the same time. . . very eventful. I regret wearing a dress. . .

We had food (curry woo) in the tent-like thing in the garden and listened to fairly funny 90’s pop music! One of the boys sister had made a cake for us! It was so cute! We were meant to put alcohol in it, and light it. . . but it didn’t exactly work. . . so we may or may not have used firelighters. . .

We finally got around to burning the books, and we burned until 2 o clock in the morning! It was a such a clear night, so the stars were amazing. We also called into a local radio station and got our names called out. We played more garden games, and had a lot of dmc’s (deep meaningful conversations) on the trampoline. It was perfection.

After that, we all went inside to watch a few movies, but at the end of the first hour, there was only 4 of us awake. That then dropped to myself and the hostess being the only ones awake. Instead of sleeping, we watched The Holy Grail, Kronks Movie, 21 and Over and Oliver and Co. Eventually everyone started to wake up and we had an Austin and Ally marathon!

But the night was perfection. I wouldn’t change one thing about it.

I bought a ukulele!

So after wanting a ukulele since last summer, I finally went and bought one today 😀
We got a good deal, and a family discount, with a free bag and two plecs so that was pretty freaking awesome. I was inspired originally by one of my favourite YouTubers, doddleoddle.

I’m down south for a few days and travelled this morning. We walked the ole cobble streets and went to the English Market for a stroll. Typical day in Cork, ya know boii?
My cousin is currently at his fathers house, so I’m all lonesome in his house til tomorrow at noon! But I have my ukulele…..which is pretty awesome….

I put it up on my snapchat today and like 8 people replied “Can you play it?”
…
What kind of a question is that?
Of course I can’t play it… I literally got it like five minutes ago.

The rest of my friends consisted of “Of course you did”, and “as you do” :’)

I’m going out this friday, but things are a bit dodge with some of my friends and ticket arrangements and although I’m not even in their year they’re trying to blame me and make me fix it but I’m seriously just considering shutting all communications off with them for a few days so things can breeze over. . . they always do. . .
I can’t wait til college. I can sleep the drama away.

But I have to get there first. And by the looks of things, I’ll be receiving my college offers while I’m on holidays with my cousins, uncles, and aunts. . . oh the joys.
Then again. . . sunny holidays!

In conclusion, I’m on my mid term break, I’m in Cork, and I just bought a ukulele.
Life ain’t all bad!

Recommendation of the Week #2

My recommendation this week is Beth Mota on Youtube!

I recently fell in love with Beth all over again the past few weeks. This video of her decorating her room for Christmas is adorable!
I’m so jealous because she’s stunning and has a fab personality and all I want to do is be her friend and do cute DIY’s together forever! SO you can follow her on twitter or whatever but make sure to check her out! I still can’t believe she has a clothing line at 19. I’m still so jealous.

5 effortless ways to be healthier

Upon looking on the internet for simple and efficient ways to make my self healthier, I could hardly find any one list that suited me. So I made one up.

1. Get rid of fizzy drinks. This was surprisingly easier than I once thought. I went from having a can a day for dinner to being revolted by the sugar in one sip. Since before summer I stopped drinking fizzy drinks because they never fully quenched my thirst, and Megan and Liz on YouTube told me to and I love them. Watch their fitness video here that originally inspired to get more healthy.

2. Drink Green Tea. I mean it. The one thing every list online has was to start drinking green tea. Although I tried it and it was horrible. But I made myself keep drinking it for a faster metabolism and after the third cup it wasn’t so bad. The smell now reminds me of watching tv shows (especially Charmed) because I started re-watching it the same time as I decided to have a daily dose of green tea. I was a huge drinker of ‘regular’ tea, but as long as it’s warm I’m still cosy. For the record I never took sugar in my tea.

3. Have a bottle of water next to your bed each morning. I’ve only started to do this recently and it’s done me wonders. I just have it next to me and as soon as my first alarm goes off I force myself to gulp down about ten gulps of water. (And yes, I’m one of those people who have to set many alarms each morning to get up. Don’t judge me.)

4. Stop nibbling. This is pretty self explanatory. I’m the kind of person who would have a packet of tortilla chips like half and hour after my dinner. Then obviously biscuits with my tea. Then I might see a chocolate bar so I’ll eat that and well basically it all builds up to be more food and I don’t even realise it. So I’ve stopped. Well, I’ve tried to. The tortilla chips are defiantly gone but I can’t stop goodies with my tea! I’m trying, I swear.

5. Swap foods. My parents have mostly done this for me so unless I’m comparing I don’t really notice. I can’t eat butter, it’s waaaay too salty for me. It’s only because I’ve never had butter, we’ve always had flora. The same goes for milk, we’ve always had slim milk and normal milk seems too creamy for me. Bread is also included in this as we’ve never ever ever had a white sliced pan in my house. Usually whole grain or soda bread but my mother would rather buy us bagels and wraps over buying a white sliced pan. I know, we’re that family. But I am  now glad of this years later. So I’ve tried doing it for myself. I’ve swapped ‘regular’ tea for green tea, crisps for cereal to munch, and digestive biscuits instead of oreos. I know there’s not that much of a, but I’m in a mindset to be healthier and well, it’s motivation, right?

Blogging Friends!

I think it’s adorable when I see different bloggers/ vloggers/ other internet users of the universe just talking and chatting to each other. You know, sharing interests, recommending people, sending each other cute packages etc.

But I can’t help but be extremely jealous of their friendship!

I’d love to have a virtual penfriend to keep in touch with on the other side of the world (or right at home! Fáilte chairde nua!)

Oh well, at least I have my lovely readers 🙂

Anywoo, Halloweens coming and I’m obsessed with DIY videos on YouTube! Feel free to leave one below in the comments, and hey, I might follow you for your fantabulous suggestions 😉

Have a lovely week friends! xox

YouTube taught me that Being Happy Is a Choice

You know those comments you see of people like:
“If it wasn’t for your videos I would have killed myself” or
“Thanks to you I bet cancer” or
“I’m your biggest fan and meeting you saved my life” ??

Well, I mightn’t go to those extremities but I will defiantly say  that YouTube ‘changed’ my life more so than ‘saved’ it. It was from ShayCarl that I first heard “Happiness is a choice“. I’ve always said it, and I’ll say it again. ShayCarl and The ShayTards started my YouTube journey. It made me realise that I’m not alone, nor will I ever be. So I made a list of which YouTuber taught me what in life.

1. ShayTards- See above.

2. Cimorelli– If you don’t know, these six sisters are YouTube rising stars basically. They have a huge family of which I’m extremely jealous of, and they all just seem to be down to earth people. But they’re also quite religious. I admired them for so much, and this just made me see my religion in a different way. They expressed their love for church in such a positive way that I was never used to. I always loathed the idea of mass or anything to do with it because it was completely boring to me. I was just never interested to hear what a droning old man has to say for an hour each week. From following their social medias they’ve just enlightened me in thinking that Religion and Church can be taught in a positive and likable way.

2. The SacconeJolys. This family makes me smile everyday at 6pm GMT. Their daughter Emilia is adorable. Like, if you haven’t seen her you’re missing out! With her chubby cheeks and their six dogs I really do see The SacconeJolys as a model family which I’d love to be part of. They even bring us on holidays once a year to Sorento in Italy. I love the three of them, and their six doggies (who have tweeted me, not to brag or anything). Jonathan also does healthy encouraging videos on his own channel. His comedy sketches are also hilarious to watch.

3. Albinwonderland. There is not enough words to describe my girlcrush on Angelina. She is amazing in every aspect. She expresses her views in such an educated way that it’s so powering to hear her talk. She’s also huge into cosplay! And when you live in Ireland, there’s no conventions like Comic Con in the country at all. But I follow her on every social media I can, and I just love to see her updates. She probably got ‘famous’ mainly for her bubblegum pink hair, but she’s so much more than that and I really do see her as an inspiration. I have a huge interest in feminism because of her. I didn’t really notice how much it’s needed until she opened my eyes.

4. The Reality Changers. These are just such a cute family. A father and his talented daughter originally started their fame, but the other daughter is just equally as important now. He literally came from nothing, and it’s so inspiring to watch their journey. I love the way he has raised his children. He’s definitely the father figure I want if I ever have children.

5. Charles and Alli Trippy. Aka CTFxC. Charles and Alli are a real life perfect relationship that I’d love to have. They’re amazing. Even though Charles had a brain tumour they still kept vlogging and the amount of support they got was unreal. They had a perfect wedding, and they’re just such a beautiful couple. Words cannot describe my affection for them.

6. HeyKayli. Kaylie is part of the ShayTards as mentioned above. She is ShayCarls sister in law, and she is just an amazing artsy person. But the reason I love her so much is because she openly discussed her eating disorder in a series online. I had followed her DIY channel for so long, and I had no idea she had suffered in the past from eating disorders. Her videos are inspirational to watch, and she has guests who knew her on too to discuss.

7. BriBry. One of the few Irish vloggers that have made a huge impact on the world. I first started watching his videos because they were based on ‘Things to do before you die.’ All his revenue from YouTube goes straight to charity. He had suffered from depression, and he video To People who are sad really changed me. I had a terrible day and this video made it all better. Watching it again had the same impact. Sure, he’s a hilarious comedian and got banned from Canada but he’s so just down to earth that you can’t help but fall in love with him.

8. Megan and Liz – Megan and Liz haven’t come from a rough past, or had a terrible school experience, but I love how even though they’re getting popular outside YouTube they never day a day for granted. See Megans Tumblr post here: >http://meganmckinleymace.tumblr.com/post/55413079559/late-night-early-morning<
They’re two beautiful twins who are so talented and so in tune with their fans. They come off as so genuine and I love them so much. Even if they’re off on American road trips they’re always chasing dreams and goals and are so determined that it’s inspiring to watch them grow as people.

9. Emma Blackery. Emma may come off as a coke addicted video gaming weird hair type of gal, but if you’ve watched any of her videos all she wants to do is make people smile. Even if she has cereal thrown in her face, or vlogging in Feel Good 101. She knows what it’s like to be an outcast in school, or bullied for no reason, or feel depressed.

10. Shane Dawson. Most of you know Shane as the gay guy who dresses up as girls and makes hilarious but inappropriate YouTube videos. He is this exactly, but I know he’s way more than that. He had a rough past and YouTube saved him as much as he’s saved others. Even though he may be inappropriate, I love him. I love his vlogs and I’d hang with him anyday. He became successful on his own with only a camera, and is now one of the most popular YouTubers there is out there.

Maybe I’m a weirdo for these reasons, but noone has been there for me more than YouTube has, and these are only ten YouTubers. I’m currently subscribed to 715 YouTubers but I suppose these ten have changed my life for the better most. All of their videos get across the same message:
You are not, nor ever will be alone.
So you can say whatever you like about Teenagers spending too much time online, but the majority aren’t taking duck faced selfies on Facebook, they’re following their idols. Something that I know my parents will never understand, even though it’s a huge part of my life.

One of those weird days…

I just thought back to a time about two maybe three years ago when my whole family went down south to visit my cousins and I was dog sitting for my older cousin and his wife. (Who I love). They have two chihuahuas; Charlie and Molly. 

My cousin had told me that Molly (the white one) was feeling sick. She kept sneezing and blood would come out every now and again. So I, of course, took plenty of care of her. The next day we brought her to the vet to get examined. I went with my aunt, who didn’t really have an interest with the vet. I did though, it was during my ‘I’m going to be a vet’ stage. The vet said she might just simply have something stuck in her nostril. I forget what else happened but we all made it back to the house alive. Molly was still sneezing though.

That night, my cousins and I rented a movie and we were all in their living room watching it. Charlie and Molly were both sitting on my lap, and suddenly Molly woke up in a sneezing fit. Charlie obviously got annoyed and moved off my lap but Molly was just sneezing so much none of us had any idea what to do. But then, I saw something green sticking out of her tiny nose.  

I called my sister over and told her to pull it out. She complained before doing it, but I eventually got her to. It was a long piece of grass. Molly was sneezing because she had sniffed up a long piece of grass….. As soon as my sister took it out, she was instantly better. And then went back to sleep.

It was defiantly one of my weirdest days… But I’m obsessed with those dogs! I’m godmother to both 🙂 

My new bag!

Nothing too interesting about this post really….I just fell in love with this today and as you can see by my giraffe and unicorn key-rings, I did not hesitate to buy it!

Positive attitude equals positive outcomes! I hope…

So, I’m not gonna lie, I’ve had a pretty crap day. Nothing completely major happened, except for the beginning of the end (AKA My 5th year exams). And without any doubt, I failed my Higher Level English exam on Macbeth and Yeats, along with my Higher Level Project Maths exam. I didn’t study and I know I’m not going to get the mark. I ran out of time, I stressed out, I forgot the chronological order for things and I waffled so much in it I think I got syrup on it. I’m the kinda person who, like Macbeth, suppresses my feelings and my “false face” basically kept me through the day. I’m usually a VERY tolerable person, but if I’m trying to cram, and you’re trying to cram, and you ask me a question on your cramming while I’m cramming, there’s a high chance I will be snappy, and act like a complete cow to you- even if you’re one of my best friends. (Sorry). But then again, my best friend has learnt this long ago. She’s the type who studies aloud, where as I’m the total opposite. Anyway, brooding in a terrible mood when I came home, my parents weren’t as understanding as all I wanted to do was lie down in my room, but I had to wash up and change and I felt so drained already. Finally, my stressful day was over and I was now a slave to the internet. I got everything done that I needed to do, and I also got to finish editing one of my videos. Then we heard a knock on the door, it was our neighbor with their newborn baby Alan. And I thought to myself, how can I feel so glum and moody with a perfect little boy in my presence? So after they left, I went back online, and not only did Albinwonderland and Emma Blackery upload, but The SacconeJoly Puppies had tweeted my friend and I back! This dreary day has turned into a blissful night simply by just my way of thinking. Then again, I’m currently like a Zombie uploading this. My Transition Year friends are all on Summer holidays, and here I am. Sleepless, stressed out, and on the verge of a mental, physical, and emotional collapse.