Photography - Flowers

Hey guys! I have really been getting into photography lately as I now gave a pretty good camera that was my Dad's. Today I went out in our garden and took some photos of flowers. I have been editing them and having a lot of fun! I am no expert at photography and I realize that I have over-edited some of these photos, I'm new at this! I hope you like the photos I have taken, I honestly give nature most of the credit but all of the following photos are captured (dramatic, I know) and edited by me. (I edited these photos on PicMonkey.)

I really love this picture! I think daisies are one of the flowers we take for granted but when you take a look, daisies are so beautiful.

I love this beautiful flower and the detail in the middle bit (I forgot the name).

I didn't edit this photo at all. I didn't feel the need to, nature is so beautiful alone.

I love this photo and it's my Mum's favourite flower photo I have taken so far.

I love the detail in the centre of this flower, it looks a bit like ink that bled and I love that!

This flower is so beautiful! I love way it's facing in this photo.

This flower is beautiful and it's in one of my Mum's favourite colours!

So that's it! My favourite probably has to be the first photo, of the daisy. I love how something so beautiful is all around us. I hope you liked these photos and this post! What is your favourite photo from today's post? Have a great day and I'll talk soon.

xxx

Catherine

YouTube Channel

Hey guys, it's Catherine! Today I want to talk about the YouTube channel that I have started! I will be posting my first video on the first on January! I want 2016 to be my year to really focus on blogging and get good at YouTube! I did have another YouTube channel but it was a bit of a mess and I hardly ever posted on it. Plus it had numbers in the title, bad idea Catherine.

I would like to say thanks to a few people who have helped me come to this decision.

First of all, thank you to Izzy K. You have been commenting on my posts and supporting me for a while and I really appreciate it, after I watched your YouTube video about Beau Bloggers, I joined and it was one of the best decisions I made for my blog. The reason that I am thanking your in this post about YouTube, is that you have inspired me to be a YouTuber (not that I can call myself one yet). You post awesome videos (and blog posts) that always make me laugh and I really look up to you. When you reached 1000 subscribers, I was like "I could do that" so I decided I would. You inspire me everyday, thank you. (Izzy K's blog and channel.)

Secondly, I would like to thank Rainbow-Rose Blossom. She is still one of my favourite bloggers and YouTubers and is also and inspiration to me. She went out of her comfort-zone and posted a video and that made me think hard about starting YouTube, thanks so much Rainbow. (Rainbow-Rose Blossom's blog and channel.)

Thanks to Melissa from The Ice Cream Hut. She is one of my best blogging friends and although she doesn't have a channel, we would always fantasize about starting YouTube channels. She has always supported me behind the scenes and she is the only one who I let see my posts before they are published! She is such a sweet person and a great friend. Thanks Melissa. (Melissa's blog.)

And most of all, I want to thank you. You are reading this and supporting me and even maybe subscribing to my YouTube channel (seamless haha). Whether you found my blog yesterday of you have been reading it from the beginning, you boost my confidence by reading my posts so thank you so much, it means more to me than you will ever know.

Sorry if I made anybody uncomfortable by thanking them, I was pretty dramatic. I am really tempted to make my first video live now but I am forcing myself to wait until New Years Day to post it as this would be my ideal day to start YouTube. I hope you guys are having a great day and I will talk soon, byeeeeeeeee!

xxx

Catherine

What I Got For Christmas 2015

Hey guys! Merry Christmas! Today was a great day for me, I got to spend time with my family and give and receive presents. Usually we open our stocking presents straight out of the stocking but this year we went on a treasure hunt for our presents, it was heaps of fun so we decided to make it a tradition. Today I am going to be showing you what I got for Christmas this year! I am not showing off or trying to make you jealous, I just want to show you what I got for Christmas. This is my place to talk about anything I want to and I don't want to have to be constantly filtering through what I write about, wondering if anybody will get offended. I know you won't turn Smiley Central into that kind of place so thanks. (Please note that any money will be New Zealand Dollars.)

Beauty Gifts

From my good friend Lynsey, I got a strawberry soap from The Body Shop, I also got a gold star and gold heart to go on the Christmas tree but I forgot to take a picture. The hairbrush is one of the gifts that my grandparents got me. The bow was on one of my gifts and I will be wearing it around my head like I was today.

Beauty Gifts Part Two

These were the beauty gifts from my stocking. The strawberry shaped container (middle left) is a hand cream and it smells so good! It's also really moisturising. The blue spray smells really nice, I'm really bad at explaining scents so I'm not even going to go there. The little lip balm is called Secret Santa and it has a little picture of a Santa on it. The flavour(?) is not specified but I think it's candy cane. I also got some red spotty nail sticker with one Santa nail sticker on each hand. I got a strawberry, guava and pineapple body wash, I used it last night and it is so nice! In the black jewellery are two pairs of earrings, one pair are dragonflies and the second pair are butterflies. The glass contain with the pink lid is a strawberries and cream spray that I am going to try out today! There are some cool little lip glosses that I will be trying out in the near future.

While we are on the subject of beauty, my sister dyed her hair black on Christmas Eve, her hair is naturally a mid-tone brown so this was a big change! She was worried that is was going to look ugly but it really suits her!

Writing Materials

In my stocking I got a breast cancer foundation notebook which I really like and it it supports a charity that I love. I got a some highlighters that you can see through which are really cool. I also got some pink post it notes in the shape of a love heart.

Candy

I got a giant lollipop that tastes so good, it's going to take me until next Christmas to eat! I also got some Lindt chocolate that the best chocolates ever! They have a crunchy shell on the outside and a creamy soft bit on the inside, yum!

I got an awesome yellow, grey and white chevron duvet cover that I love! I am currently in the process of redecorating my room and I'm having a lot of fun.

Games

For Christmas this year I got some family games. The Minion Game is like Ludo and my family played it and had heaps of fun and laughs. One of my sisters is very competitive so she was interesting to watch. I ended up winning the game. YAY!

T-Shirts

In my stocking I got a cool t-shirt that says keep it real, I really like it and I am going to be wearing it tomorrow. The second t-shirt say a pineapple a day keeps the worries away. I really like this t-shirt and I put it on as soon as I got it.

I also got some money from my Mum and Step-Dad! I will be doing a post of what I got with that money, watch out for it.

So that was what I got for Christmas! Thank you so much to all the people that got me something! And thank you reading this, you make me so happy. You're reading my posts and that makes me really happy, so thank you again, for reading, for commenting, for telling your friends, thank you.

xxx

Catherine

Honey & Cinnamon Face Mask Review

Hey guys! It's Christmas Eve! I am so excited for Christmas!!! I am really happy because I can give people gifts and see their faces light up! In this post I am reviewing a DIY face mask and giving you the recipe to try yourself! Today's post isn't extremely festive, but if you try this face mask you will smell like a festive candle. 

When I first put it on...

It doesn't take long to apply which is a plus. You do look like an ogre that just had a mud bath but it smells amazing. It can get slightly itchy but I think that's what happens with most face masks. I could really feel the mask moisturising my skin while it was on.

When I was taking it off...

I exfoliated my skin in the process of taking the face mask off, I just rubbed my face in circular motions while I rinsed it off. It did take quite a while to get off as the honey is quite sticky but I don't mind that.

Overall results...

I could not believe how soft my skin felt straight after taking this mask off! My skin was even, my pores weren't clogged up and my skin was just better overall! On top of that my face smelt amazing! Despite the face mask being slightly awkward to get off, I will definitely be using this mask again and I highly recommend  it to you! I have heard that some skin types are sensitive to cinnamon so I would apply this to a small patch of skin before using it, if the mask causes irritation, wash it off immediately. Test out nutmeg instead of the cinnamon, if you don't have nutmeg or it also causes irritation, you could just use honey. Honey is very moisturising and it is very beneficial to your skin alone.

Recipe

You will need:

2 - 2 1/2 Teaspoons of Honey

1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon

Method:

Mix together to create a paste and apply to face. Leave on for 15 - 25 minutes then rinse off.

Now you can try this mask out for yourself! I highly recommend it and I can't wait to review some more DIY hair and face masks for you guys! I hope you have the best Christmas ever and share the day with your loved ones. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight! Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

xxx

Catherine

4 Natural Hair & Face Masks Using Cinnamon

Hey guys! Today I am going to give you the recipes for 5 hair and face treatments using cinnamon, the other ingredients are ones you will probably find at home. Have fun trying these!

Hair Mask

You will need:
- The egg white from 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Method:
Mix to create a paste and apply through the length of the hair, massaging into the scalp. Leave on for 20 - 30 minutes and rinse off.

Face Mask
You will need:
- Half a teaspoon of honey
- Half a teaspoon of cinnamon
Method:
Mix to create a paste and apply to the face, leave on for 15 - 25 minutes and rinse off.

Hair Mask
You will need:
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of honey
Method:
Mix to create a paste and apply to hair. Leave in for 10 - 20 minutes then rinse off.

Burning Face Mask
You will need:
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon of honey
Method:
Apply to the face and leave on for 30 minutes. Rinse off.
Note: If you have sensitive skin I recommend adding more honey, adding water or leaving out the lemon juice altogether.

I hope you found some use for this post! I'm sorry if I have completely overloaded you with hair and face masks! Once you have found your favourite beauty mask, apply once or twice a week for great results! Have a great day and I'll talk soon.

xxx

Catherine

New Years Resolution

Hey guys! I know New Years Resolutions generally mean that you are not going to accomplish them or they're just plain impossible - like not eating chocolate for a whole year! But in 2016 I really want to work hard for my one and only New Years Resolution.

Surprise Giveaway!

Hey guys, I know I said that I was doing a Christmas post everyday but I have been extremely busy and I don't have many ideas for Christmas-related posts. I am still going to attempt to post everyday but the posts might not be related to Christmas. I have a surprise for you. (Again, all prices are in New Zealand Dollars.)

First I want to show you what I bought from a shop called Mitre 10 Mega, they were having a big sale and some things were over 80% off! I only got two things because it was mainly just light bulbs and drinking glasses. I got two of the same thing because I knew my friend would love it.

It says:

"Think left and thing right and think low and think high oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try" - Dr Seuss

You can't really see in the photo but it has mark and scratches that make it look cool and vintage. These were usually $40 each but I got them for just $2 a piece! I also found the perfect Christmas present but he was with me so it would be stupid to buy it that day. I'm really pleased with these pieces and I will get to hanging mine on my wall as soon as I can.

Okay, time for the surprise - I will be hosting a giveaway for a ukulele! I still need to do a lot of planning and surveying you guys but I am really excited to be giving back to my amazing readers! You have to understand that YOU WILL BE PAYING FOR THE SHIPPING. The reason for this is because I could end up paying hundreds of dollars in shipping and I am not prepared for that. I will talk to the winner about which country they live in and we will sort that out but for the most part you will be paying for the shipping. Listed below are some colours that the ukuleles come in aside from wood coloured, it would be a great help to me if you commented with the one you personally would prefer, I will also make a poll where you can vote for you favourite ukulele colour.

WHITE
PINK
YELLOW
BLUE

PURPLE

ORANGE

RED

Please comment your favourite colour and I will set up that poll.

I hope you are excited for the giveaway! I will post how to enter when I have more information. The winner will be kept private so that that person doesn't receive any hate, not that you guys would be mean but I don't want to risk it.

Thank you for reading and I will talk soon, byeeeeeeeeeee!

xxx

Catherine

Christmas In New Zealand Wonderland

Hey guys, I'm really sorry that yesterday's post went up today, I pressed publish, or at least thought I did. Anyway, the post didn't end up being published yesterday but I realized this morning and it did come out today. Okay, time for the new tradition - today's advent calendar chocolate...

A Candy Cane!

Christmas in New Zealand is different from the typical English or American Christmas. In New Zealand, the weather is usually sunny and bright. We have barbecues and the kids play together in a pool. As you may know by now, our Christmas isn't snowy like most Christmas cards and snow globes suggest. New Zealanders really like to point out that it's sunny here. We have pictures of Santa Claus in jandals (flip flops or thongs), a singlet and shorts drinking beer on a sunny day. Sometimes we even go as far to picture him at the beach! I really love New Zealand and I could imagine Christmas without the sun.

Thank you for reading, beautiful people, I am getting excited for Christmas and rubbing tinsel on my face (don't question it). Come back tomorrow for a festive, happy post. Byeeeeeeeeeeee!

xxx

Catherine

Christmas Photos

Hey guys! Happy December! I thought that we should kick off the month with some festive photos that make us excited for Christmas but first we have to check out my advent calendar and today's chocolate:

I got a Peppa Pig calendar because, well, why not?! It's sort of a tradition my family to get advent calendar that are made for smaller children and I think Peppa Pig is just so adorable! Now for today's chocolate 

A Wreath (I think)

Now are the photos I mentioned earlier:

 

I'm sorry that I didn't have many photos, Christmas photos get quite repetitive but I might do a part 2 if I find the photos.

Thank you for reading today's post, come back tomorrow for another festive post! I love you all and I will talk to you tomorrow. ♥

xxx

Catherine

Hi Again!

Hey guys! Recently I have had a break from the internet. I haven't been posting, reading blogs or watching YouTube, the only time I have really gone on the internet is to look up guitar tabs. I think I really needed some 'me' time, playing my instruments and writing songs.

I will be changing my blog URL to 

smileycentralinspiration.blogspot.com

That is what my blog is about and I need to change my URL so that is what I have decided on. I will keep reminding you in each post this year as I will be changing the URL at the start of next year.

We are going to celebrate our first Christmas together here at Smiley Central with me posting everyday day leading up to Christmas starting on the first of December - tomorrow! Each post will feature the advent calendar chocolate for the day. If I don't post it will be because I don't have internet or I am having technical difficulties (aka forgetting my Chromebook.)

I am going to work on those posts now and hope I don't get sucked into the Dan and Phil World. Talk to you tomorrow guys, byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

xxx

Catherine

Let's Chat!

Hey guys, I have a few things I want to chat about and instead of squeezing them into the outro of my next post, I decided to do a whole post just chatting. Stick around to the end for some cool news that involves you.

First of all I was very busy last week, I went to camp from Tuesday to Thursday. That was super fun, I went down the one of the longest hydroslides in the world and I went down I flying fox. I am scared of heights so activities like rock climbing and abseiling were a challenge but I had a lot of fun, it's funny how you end up enjoying the scary things the most. Me and my friend Lexie have concluded that it's because you get an adrenaline rush.

I have also been planning on changing my blog URL for quite some time, here are some ideas:

smileycentrallife.blogspot.com

smileycentralinspiration.blogspot.com

If you have any other ideas, please tell me in the comments. I would really like to hear you ideas.

The last thing is that you have a chance to guest post on my blog. If you email me HERE with your idea for the post so thst we can talk about it. I don't want you to put in a lot of effort writing a post and not have it posted anyway so I would prefer it if you could just email me the idea. I look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks for listening to my ramblings. Byeeeeeeeeeeee!

xxx

Catherine

#FindingYourself - Episode 5, Series 2 | Give Yourself Praise

It's easy to get caught up in pushing ourselves and forget to reward ourselves for achieving amazing things. We need to teach ourselves to praise ourselves, even over small achievements. At the start of the day or week, set yourself a goal, if you achieve it, reward yourself with a pleasureable activity. If you don't achieve your goal, don't beat yourself up, you can achieve tomorrow's goal.

xxx

Catherine

New Shoes

Hey guys! Yesterday I went to town with my Mum. We spent some time together and I also got three pair of shoes. We have been meaning to get some shoes for a few months and I am growing so fast that I can barely fit into my sneakers anymore. I have taken some pictures and I am ready to do one of my first beauty related posts. (All of the prices are in New Zealand Dollars)

Okay, I'm going to get the boring ones out of the way first. These are leather roman sandals for school. I got them from Number One Shoes. I think these are around the $25 - $35 mark.

These jandals are also from Number One Shoes and they were about $15. I love the strawberry print and little strawberry one the strap!

These jellies are also from Number One Shoes and they were $7 or $8! I have always wanted a pair of jellies but I keep forgetting to look for them. Now I have a pair that I got for a low price, YAY!

Got to go to bed now, byeeeeeee!

xxx

Catherine

#FindingYourself - Episode 4, Series 2 | Sorry

Sorry.

One word that can make a big difference. It can be hard to admit that you are wrong but you are not always going to be right.  When you mucked up or said something you didn't mean, apologize. Even if you think you are right, end the arguement and say sorry. Forget your pride. Being a good friend is more important. Be the bigger person and say sorry.

xxx

Catherine

Thank You and New Art

I haven't posted in over three weeks. Instead of saying sorry, I want to thank you. Thank you for sticking around and still commenting. Thank you for being so patient. Thank you for doing your best to understand what I'm going through. THANK YOU!

Yesterday I started drawing a character in my sketch pad. I was getting extremly frustrated with drawing her because the drawing is a close up of her face and I am not that great with faces but thanks to Pinterest tutorials, I did it. Today I inked her. WARNING: I accidentally gave her fake eyelashes when inking her, that was not the plan but I think it looks okay.

Here she is! She looks more bold in real life.

I like her but I don't know what to call her. If you have any ideas tell me in the comments section. I will literally take anything.

In other news I am going to TRY to post everyday. Yes, you heard right - EVERYDAY. If there is anyone that I will stop procrastinating for, it's you guys. I'm going to hurry up and post this before I delete this paragraph and change my mind! Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

xxx

Catherine

What is OCD? (And Me Rambling)

Hey guys! Blogging is sort of like therapy for me. You guys are the people that I come to when I'm sad, happy or have something to share that no-one else will listen to me ramble on about, I enjoying writing things down and I hope you don't mind all the emotional posts coming your way. Today post is going to be an updated version (from a girl who now knows a bit more about blogging) of one of my first posts explaining what OCD is. My OCD has gotten a lot worse under the stress so I'm just going to talk it out and hopefully educate some of my new readers.

OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. From a technical point of view it is very serious mental illness that causes "real" anxiety and even panic attacks for some but since OCD is a mental illness, it goes far beyond it's technical meaning. If you have OCD, you will completely understand me when I say that you become a slave for the voice inside your head. If it tells you to walk on and off a mat five times on each foot them you will do it because you have experienced all that anxiety that comes if you don't. If I, personally, don't carry out my order them I know that I will have another sleepless night where I worry about anything and everthing.

I don't really want to explain what OCD is because if I did them we would be here until Christmas! By the way are you excited for Christmas? I am! That subject changed fast! Thank you again for all of your support. Somebody at school talked to me about my Dad and I didn't know that she knew this blog existed! That was really nice because I now know that I am reaching a wider audience than I knew about. And that it's a small world. Thanks for reading and listening me ramble on in this outro once again! I love you guys, byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

xxx

Catherine

Pain and An Idea

Hey guys! I have been abandoning my blog for obvious reason but I'm not going to cut myself any more slack - I'm going to try to post everyday (or near it). Today's post is going to be about pain - mental and physical.

The number one thing to remember about pain is that it only lasts so long. It is an easy thing to forget when you are going though it but try to see the light at the end of thge tunnel - it is there even if it is distant and the dark is the only thing you have ever known, YOU WILL GET THROUGH. And I am always hear to listen and give advice, in fact I want to start a little email where you can send me your problems, would you like that idea? I don't mind how bad your problem is, I share a lot of things with you and I hope your comfortable doing the same. I can share my answer on this blog or privately, tell me which you would prefer. What do you think I should call the email? Tell me in the comments. You also ask for help using my twitter but only in 140 characters, feel welcome to tweet me with #SmileyCentralAdvice if your problem can fit in that amount of characters.

I have inherited a pretty good camera - the Nikon D3100 and I have filmed three or four inspirational videos. I tried to upload them and YouTube either said 400 minutes remaining or 2000 minutes remaining, I will try to upload them at school because we have been having WiFi problems. I'm not going to make any promises to you because I don't want to disappoint you but I am trying really hard to get those up, thanks for being patient.

I love you guys so much and I would just like to address the lovely people who left comments on my last post - thank you for the support, if feel like I'm not alone and I can talk to you all. I think I might do a post on how I'm feeling on one of the bad days. You guys have been so supportive, patient and understanding, thank you so much!

I love you!

xxx

Catherine

Posting Schedule

I know that I have literally just said that Smiley Central is going to be better but I have just found out that my dad has passed away so my posting schedule is going to be unpredictable. I am going to try to do the #FindingYourself episode but I'm sure you lovely readers will understand if don't.

Thank you for understanding.

xxx

Catherine

Smiley Central Is Changing . . .

#YOLO is going through a bit of re-branding, it has a new name that fits with the series much better:

#FindingYourself

I think it's better, but that is just the start of this re-branding!

In the first episode, I said that each episode would be a challenge type thing and that I want you to complete one of the challenges per series but that isn't my aim with the second series, for this one I just want you to take into consideration what I am saying, I also usually have a statement or question at the end now, I think that that is how many series to come will work.

I want to have more episodes and I will have the time to write them in the holidays. Please tell me because I need to know what the people think!

_________________________________________________________________________________

This blog has many posts, some of them are not that great and some of them are amazing. The one thing that I have never really known about my blog is what catagory it falls under. I said in a recent #YOLO (or should I say #FindingYourself) I said that you should be who you want to be so I'm going to take my own advice and decide what direction I want to take this blog. I have the perfect catagory, you probably haven't heard of it because I made it up. It's called Perspective Improvement. That's the road that we are going down.

I am going to be adding in little snippets of things for the look of this blog and I might have a full re-design, I feel that we need a fresh start. I'm also going to be doing something I thought I would never do - delete and edit (get your screenshots now) some of the not-so-great posts from post marathons and from the days where I forced myself to post everyday even when I had no ideas for quality content.

I will be post twice a week and one of those posts will be a #FindingYourself episode. If I have an idea for quality content outside of my schedule and I have the time to post it then I will but I have decided to be more picky on what I publish.

I hope you're glad about the changes to this blog, I am excited to have a bigger and better blog. Here's to the future!

xxx

Catherine

#YOLO | Series 2 Episode 3 - Kind or Right?

When you have the choice between being kind and being right, which will you choose?

One the one hand, you can be right. But this leads to fights with the ones you love. If you continue to make this decision, you might lose the people you care about. But at least you are right and you have proven your point.

On the other hand you can be kind. You keep the peace with your loved ones. If you keep making this choice, the people you love may notice and thank you for it. You will feel good about yourself because you have been a good person.

Next time you need to make the decision between being right or kind, which will you choose?

xxx

Catherine

3 Hours in A&E

3 Hours in A&E. Fun.

I'm sorry the #YOLO episode was two days late, I have a few reasons for that. The first is that on Tuesday I completely forgot about publishing the episode, I played guitar for three hours instead. The second is what happened at gymnastics on Wednesday, this is going to be a long post . . .

Me in a wheelchair, waiting in A&E

I was jumping across to the tumbling track. One foot got onto it and the other got straight onto the corner. I was in shock so I maganged to walk over to the mat and then I realized I was in pain and I collaspsed on the  mat. I was crying really, really loud and all my gym friends were around me and then one of them told my teenage coach Hannah to come and she swore and ran over. Hannah yelled out for Jo (the main coach) and she came and touched my foot which really hurt, she asked me if I could wriggle my toes and I tried as hard as Icould but I couldn't. After awhile I could slightly move my little toes but I couldn't move my big toe and the bone leading up to my big toe was hurting a lot. The underside of my foot was really swollen. Jo said that she won't call my Mum because the lesson was going to be over in 10 minutes but of course my Mum got there in 20 minutes! Grace was coming too so she had to wait. One of the male coaches lifted me up (which really hurt) and carried me out to the car. I couldn't move my leg and I had my leg spread out along the back seat. As we were driving Grace home I was talking non-stop because it was distracting me from the pain then my Mum told me that sometimes it help to swear and she said that I should so I said the f word, my Mum was shocked because she had never heard me say that and she was expecting me to say a more mild word. I did feel good so I kept going (with more mild words) and then after awhile she told me to stop because it was strange to hear her little girl swearing. We dropped Grace off and me and Mum went back home, we asked my step-dad if I should go to hospital and I we did (only me and Mum). We got there at about 7 (at night) and I got a wheelchair and I had my foot up on the chair as you can see above. I was waiting until about 9:30, then I got an X-Ray of my foot and waited for the doctor to come. When she did she said it wasn't broken or anything but there will be a big bruise. I know that it's good that I got it checked out because it could have been broken and it's not good to mess around with growing bones but seriously, three hours of waiting to be told that you will have a big bruise, I could of told you that by looking at it the next day!

On another note, #YOLO is going through a rebrand because #YOLO isn't really suiting anymore, I'm also going add some things in the posts. I will be talking about this in my next post so get excited! Only two or three people know what the new name is.

xxx

Catherine

#YOLO | Series 2 Episode 2 - Fight Your Own Battles

(Sorry that this post is late, I will explain why in a future post, I hope you enjoy this one though! Sorry again!)

Never compare yourself to others because you are on a completely different journey. Never judge someone for what they do or say because they are fighting their own battles. Never call somebody underweight or overweight, mean or even too kind, if they are unhappy with those things then they are fighting with their heart and soul change them. You know what you want to change about yourself and you will be proud of yourself when you change those things. People everywhere are fighting their own battles, fight yours.

xxx

Catherine

Vanity or Self Love?

Hey guys, this is the post I promised awhile ago, let's go.

When you first love yourself, it is easy to think that you are vain. But if you can look yourself in the mirror and say "You look great!" or "I have a really nice smile!" then you are just loving yourself and that is natural and really great! You might be vain if you spend over 2 hours staring at yourself in the mirror. Self love is a wonderful thing because it gives you confidence and happiness.

I hope you enjoyed this post, if you did then you can comment telling me what you liked about it. Byeeeee!

xxx

Catherine

Detangling Hairbrush

Hey guys, I never thought I would go down the beauty/hair route but I have found something that I thought some of you might benefit from - A detangling brush. I first heard of detangling brushes through the Tangle Teezer. I also heard that they are very expensive but I went to my local chemist and saw this gem for only $3!

It's the same design as the Tangle Teezer, there are about 4 different lengths of spikes and the brush doesn't pull on your hair.

It's fast to use and it doesn't pull on your hair like most other brushes. It works very well and leaves me with silky, untangled hair!

xxx

Catherine

#YOLO | Series 2 Episode 1 - Be Who You Want To Be

Who are you? Who do you want to be?

In this world we can get so caught up in who we think we need to be but really we should be focusing on who we want to be. I guess we just want to stand out in this world of billions of people. You are going to change the world whether you like it or not. It's your choice how you will change it. You are making the world better by being happy, kind and maybe even inspiring. The people you look up to have something to say, but you only know that because they went ahead and said it. Be who you want to be and never change yourself to fit anybody else's mould of you.

I have my own songs to sing, so I'm going to do that, will you?

xxx

Catherine

The New #YOLO Episodes

Series 2 of #YOLO is going to be a bit different than Series 1, I'm going to make them shorter and more straight to the point because, although I love the old episodes, the were too love and I repeated points frequently. I am going to write the episodes in advance to make sure that they are high quality. Episode 1 will be posted on the first of September. I hope you're excited for the new episodes, I know I am!

xxx

Catherine

Guess Who's Back!

Me. Yep, I'm back, I haven't posted in a week because when I start a post recently, I can't seem to get into it, I don't know why but I think (hope) I'm back.

But this post isn't about me, it's about my good friend Nibbles! She has started blogging again! HERE is her blog if you would like to support her. She has re-designed her blog and I think it looks really cool but Emily, if you're reading, it's sorta hard to read the comments. When you go through a blog re-design, you have to spend a while fixing little things up. I'm really excited about Emily's return, I hope you are too!

Emily asked for people's help to make her blog bigger and better so I might do a post on that, giving everybody little tips. I'm also going to do a post called Vanity or Self Love? that is a big thing so it might take a while to write so stay in your seats!

I'm going to watch Zoella's new vlogs now, byeeeeeeeeee!

xxx

Catherine

Our Timeless Thoughts and Other Unrelated Stuff

Hey guys! I know that I have only missed a few days day of blogging but it feel like weeks! Today I want to talk to you about another blog. I made it with Melissa from The Ice Cream Hut and it's called Our Timeless Thoughts. I also wanted to chat to you about when Melissa came to my house and also just a general catch up, let's go!

On Our Timeless Thoughts we have one post by Melissa, it's a test post so it's pretty boring (I know Melissa won't mind me saying that) but today I am aiming to write a good introduction. I have also just realized that I really need to post on Smilin'Bloggers but Grace and I have abandoned our blog recently! The focus of Melissa and I's (I know, good England) blog is to have little chats about our obsevations of people and life, I'm looking forward to getting really into that blog.  Did I mention that this is my 100th post on this blog?! Aaaaaaaarrrhhhhhhhh!!!

Over the last few day I have been having a SuperwomanVlogs marathon, I started at Day 1 and I am now on Day 13. I am telling you this because I have realized how easy these blog posts are compared to big YouTube videos. In a few of her videos she was scripting and filming her 300th video, it took her sleepless days and nights to create and seeing that happen has really put things into perspective. These posts are easy(ish most of the time) to make because you don't have to script them out or look good to make them, I am lying in bed in my cat onesie writing this!

Now tell you about my amazing experience with Melissa at my house. We were walking home (we only walk five - ten minutes together) then I just asked if Melissa wanted to come to my house for the first time so we organised it and she came! When we got there I showed her around and everything was normal then we decided to make the microwave brownie that I did a post on that you should definitely check out ;D. The brownie making started fatastically as we had no butter and had to Google "things that can replace butter in baking". The lists were full of things like prune puree, the only thing we might of had was canola oil. After about twenty minutes of searching we (Melissa) found the canola oil. We started baking, la de da de da, then out of nowhere the cocoa powder flew in the air, back-flipped and landed on the ground (I bumped it). We had to clean that up. Then we went back to baking, la de da de da, the canola oil attempts to do a back-flip on the bench but fails and leaves canola oil driping down the cupboards onto the floor . . . We cleaned that up but the floor was still slippery as we discovered when I asked Melissa to taste something. She came fast-walking along the floor then fell over. The funny thing about her falling over was that her facial expression stayed the same when she fell over, when she was down she rolled over laughing. She was literally ROFL-ing! So as I said earlier, the floor was still very slippery from the canola oil so I had the stupid idea to pour a whole glass of water on the floor, just in case Melissa and I had not done enough cleaning that day. Throughout the cleaning process we went through a cloth, all the paper towels, all the tissues and a roll of toilet paper. I bet Melissa really want's to come back to my house!

In other news, I am writing a novel! I don't have a publishing company yet but I will soon! I don't have a name for it yet but I'm thinking about calling it  Fighting Our Own Wars because it is set in a place where war is going on and you can guess the rest. I am up to Chapter One but I am really enjoying writing it. I will keep you posted (see what I did there) on that.

We have now reached the end of this longish post. Thank you for reading and I'll see you soon, byeeeeeeeee!

xxx

Catherine

Racism

Hey guys I don't know when this post is going to be publiushed but I really want to talk about racism. There are so many misunderstandings of racism so I want to talk about them.

First of all, here is the dictionary definition of racism:

1Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior:

a programme to combat racism

OR

1.1The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races:

theories of racism

I don't know if it is my classmates' age that is the problem or if it is the whole world now but some people say that it is racist to say that a pencil is black (?!). Black is a colour. If I asked to borrow a purple colouring pencil, would you care? Probably not. It is frustrating that so many people do not really know what racism is.

If you are one of the people that think the word black is racist then please watch THIS video, it might help you understand. The teacher in that video was racist, he harmed somebody because they were from a different race.

I feel so much better now that I have ranted and hopefully helped people! Thank you for reading and I'll see you tommorow, byeeeeeeeeeeeee!

xxx

Catherine

Absence of Posts

I apologize for the absence of posts this weekend. I have decided that I will not definitely post on weekends because I go to my friends' house and they don't always have WiFi. Today's post is just going to be an update of my life, let's go!

I have been sick and I didn't go to school on Friday. I read and slept all day. It was brilliant. In the weekend I went to my best friend's house for a night then I was supposed to go to my Dad's house, we went there but he wasn't there so I ended up going to my Mum's house. It turned out that my Dad was in hospital but he's fine now if you were wondering. I kind of like Mondays because they are my musical day. I have music extension for an hour at 2 then I have my guitar lessons so that's what I did today!

I have to go now so byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

xxx

Catherine

Surrealism Art

Hey guys! I'm feel really sick so I don't really feel like doing much writing so instead I'm going to show you some pictures of surrealism art. A lot of Salvador Dali's art will be featured in this post. WARNING: SOME OF THE FOLLOWING IMAGES MAY CREEP YOU OUT IF YOU ARE EASILY SCARED (now you can say that I didn't warn you). Now we can get going!

I hope you enjoyed looking at those pictures! I need to get to bed now (yes, it is around 7pm), goodnight! Byeeeeeeeeee!

xxx

Catherine