Q&A with Lou's World | Q&A Week

Hey guys! Today I have the privilege to share with you the third Q&A of Q&A Week with Lou from Lou's World! I have been reading Lou's blog since I joined Beau Bloggers which was about four months ago, I have genuinely loved every single one of Lou's posts! She is an amazing author and she has this amazing ability to pour her heart and soul into every single blog post. I had so much fun working with Lou, she is such a lovely person and I recommend her blog highly, there is honestly something for everybody!

1. Why do you blog?

I've always been somewhat of an introvert. As cheesy as it sounds, I blog to have a voice. I blog because I want people to care about what I have to say. And to voice my opinions on certain topics.

2. What, in your opinion, is the best thing about blogging?

Aside from the blogging friends that I've made, I would have to say, having ownership of something. Being able to post exactly what you want when you want to, which I love.

3. What is your favourite type of blog post to write?

I love rants and my 'Dear Diary' posts - literally just any posts when I pour my heart out and get really supportive comments from my viewers. However, I also love a good list!

4. What do you think is the most difficult thing about blogging?

For me, it's motivation and inspiration. Like, I'm currently in a creative slump, and it really shows on my blog! When I'm not motivated, my posts come out badly, and when I don't have an inspiration, I have nothing to blog about anyway.

5. If you could change something about your blogging experience so far, what would it be?

I would have found my niche early on. When I first started blogging, I did a few posts that I didn't like, because I thought that they'd make me popular - oh what a mistake that was! In fact, I'd erase most of the posts from my first year of blogging!

6. What is one piece of advice you would give to new bloggers?

Don't think you have to fit into a certain category. Blog about what you want to blog about and have as much fun as possible! If blogging isn't your full-time job, don't treat it like one.

7. How did you get interested in blogging?

Definitely from blogger/YouTubers like Zoella, Tanya Burr, Sprinkle of glitter etc, and when I saw that I could do what they do, I was thrilled!

I really enjoyed getting to know Lou better and I hope you have too, don't forget to go check out her blog if you haven't already.

xxx

Catherine

Clearing My Mind

Hey guys! I have been away for a little while, I know, I'm actually happy that I took a step away from technology and really cleared my mind by meditating and being mindful in general. I wanted to tell you more about this because I really do think it's important that everybody does this once in awhile.

I like to think that my mind is an inbox and each thought that pops into that inbox is an email. I have no delete button for these thoughts and, like emails, I feel guilty if I don't open these thoughts and act on these messages from my brain appropriately. I need to sort through my thoughts as often as possible, if I don't, I feel like everything in my life is busy and messy, even the simple, calm things. I had been pushing these thoughts aside due to overworking myself and trying to get everything done. I was stressed. Everything, like I said before, seemed out of order and busy. I carried on with the work I needed to do but in my spare time (that I would usually spend blogging, explaining my inactivity), I sorted through my thoughts and I'm still going. I really do think my mind is like an inbox, you spend a few hours (or weeks in terms of your mind) sorting through the emails (or thoughts) and when you are finished with the emails (thoughts), you can take a few moments to read the emails (think about the thoughts) as soon as they pop into your inbox (mind). I'm hoping to be at that stage soon, I think I'm getting close because because the work I have to do doesn't seem as stressful even though there is still a lot of it.

Thank you very much for reading my ramblings. Something I thought about when I was organising my mind was how grateful I'm for every single one of you. It's amazing how my thoughts reach you all the way in France or England or America or Germany or Russia or even here in New Zealand, I don't know where you are but I feel so lucky to have you as my friend. Never forget how happy you make me and so many other people. If you feel like leaving a cheeky little comment, tell me what country you come from even if I already know, I love that we can talk with oceans (or just land for my fellow New Zealanders lol) between us and it never fails to amaze me.

xxx

Catherine

What is Feminism? | Let's Talk About Feminism

Hey guys! I have been wanting to post about feminism for a while now but I really don't want to get anything wrong and offend people I may as well just do it though! I decided that I would do a little series about feminism with a few posts on different subjects so that I can really get into different subjects, I'm warning you now that there might be some rants in this series! So I thought that it would be logical to tell you all what feminism really is and destroy this idea of feminists being angry people that are always yelling and get rid of the idea that feminism is saying that women are better than men.

Feminism is the will for equality. I have honestly lost count of the amount of times I have told people (note how I say people and not just women) this and them reply "then I'm a feminist", at least one of you reading this had that reaction. Feminists aren't angry people that are always complaining, they are people who want equality and are willing to fight for it. I feel sorry for the people that just don't understand when I see anti-feminist groups and I always ask them if they know what a feminist is, they don't know the true meaning of course. I will admit that some people have turned their true feminism into a weird hate for men, that in itself is anti-feminism because feminism is equality and hating all people with male genitals is very unfair and definitely not equal. I, like all true feminists, will speak up if we see a problem where woman are above men, it's just that this happens less frequently because in our society, men are usually above women, which is ridiculous and just plain ARRRGGGHHHH!!!

I hope you have enjoyed this little post! Next time in the series, I'm going to talk about male feminists, I'm really looking forward to writing that post as I reading enjoyed writing this one! Did you know what feminism was before you read this? Are you a feminist? If not, tell me why, I would love to hear your views on this! Thanks for reading and I will see you very soon!

xxx

Catherine

Country Q&A Collab With Abi Kelly

Hey guys! I'm super excited to share with you, a collab with Abi Kelly from A Cuppa & A Half! This is part of Abi's collab series that she is doing this month. She has an absolutely wonderful blog and you can really see her personality shine through her posts, Abi is clearly a talented writer. I have gotten to know her better through arranging this collab and it's safe to say that she is a lovely person. Abi will be answering the questions I asked her on her blog, I look forward to reading that post as I haven't seen the answers yet. Until then, here is my part of the collab, great questions Abi!

If you could have one thing from the UK, what would it be?
Probably the ability to get in the car and drive down the road for a 10-20 minutes and find a Lush shop. I might be wrong by assuming that a Lush shop is never far away but from what I have heard from my English friends, it's true. In New Zealand we only have a few Lush shops (we are pretty much the same size as the UK) and I happen to be a 2 hour drive away from the closest Lush shop but I am lucky! I have never been even though I really want to! It's not just Lush, there are so many shops that the UK has that we all long for, there is one book shop chain in New Zealand, I love you Whitcoulls.

What is your favourite tradition in your country?
I'm assuming that Abi is talking about a tradition that comes from New Zealand or a tradition that only Kiwi's (people that come from New Zealand) celebrate. We don't really have anything amazing like tomato throwing parades but we do have something really cool that happens every year - Christmas In The Park! This happens (obviously) around Christmas, it's run by Coca Cola and it's basically a series of musical performances. It's completely free to go to which makes me get into the Christmas spirit of giving and not wanting money. I have never been to Christmas In The Park but I have watched it on TV almost every Christmas and I would love to go one year and tell you all about it. Fun Fact: There are no ads on TV in New Zealand on Christmas Day in New Zealand, that is the actual law here. Okay, I need to stop talking about Christmas now, it's March...

What is your favourite sweet?
In New Zealand we call "sweets" lollies, and we don't have a name like candy for lollies and chocolate, it's really funny seeing the little differences in language even though we both speak English. I honestly have so many favourite sweets (hehe, the novelty of saying that hasn't worn off yet) so here are just a few. I love milk bottles, they are about half the size of your finger and they are shaped like a milk bottle, surprise surprise, and they taste like creamy milk, All New Zealanders will feel my pain when I say the old milk bottles are so much better than the new ones. They turned a creamy, chewy lolly into a kind of very firm marshmallow and it DOESN'T WORK, if Pascall (the company that make milk bottles) is reading this, I'm disappointed in you and you work make a lot more money if you went back to the old milk bottles. (Rant complete.) I also love pineapple lumps (a chewy pineapple, well, lump covered in chocolate, it might sound unappealing but it totally works). Another one of my favourites is the giant strawberries you can get from the supermarket, they are so good! I am going to stop now because otherwise we will be here until Christmas!

If you could live anywhere in your country, where would it be?
I would probably live in Christchurch. I don't know if other countries were told about this but you might be familiar with the name Christchurch because of the murderous earthquakes that happened there about 4 or 5 years ago. 185 people were killed, several thousand people were injured and so many buildings collapsed. Even though so many people were injured or killed and so many building were destroyed and there are still aftershocks that can reach 5.0 magnitude, I still want to move there. The earthquakes have really brought the community together. They are honestly the most amazingly strong people. The people of Christchurch are rebuilding their town in the most beautiful way. They is a project going on where they paint things on the sides of buildings, it might sound like graffiti but the people have permission and these painting are things that deserve to be in museums! Here is my all time favourite piece.

All credit to imgur.com
Christchurch is right by the beach and one of our very few Lush shops is there haha.

What's the worst thing about your country?
This is actually quite a hard question to answer because I love my country so much, it's beautiful, people are friendly, it attracts tourists so I get to learn about different cultures and we were the first women to fight for and gain the right to vote (this makes me so proud to be a Kiwi) but they is one thing that gets on my nerves. We import nearly everything which means it's hella pricey! You go to buy something on Amazon, oh look, the shipping is four times the cost of the thing I want to buy. If I'm lucky enough to find what I want in a shop, it's just as expensive because of the shipping cost! This is really annoying but I'm actually happy that New Zealand is quite far away from big countries because it means we aren't often a target for attack or war even though, as part of the Commonwealth, we do have to fight in some wars.

I really enjoyed answering these questions, I hope you have enjoyed learning a little more about New Zealand that a guide book wouldn't tell you. Abi's part of the collab will will probably be up on her blog as you're reading this.

xxx

Catherine