November 2016 Recap.

Hey guys. Long time no talk.

It's been well over a month since I've last blogged, filmed... I have had A LOT going on lately. Not just school this time, but family stuff. I've loved and lost and it's been a whirlwind of emotions that I'm just trying to grasp. I'm sorry for my absence and I know it's not fair to you guys, but please understand that at least THIS TIME, I am really struggling to handle everything that's been happening. I wish I could tell the whole story, but I'm just not ready or comfortable at the moment.

On a happy-ish note, I have lots of ideas for videos, I just have to get the energy to film. I'm also shooting a lot more now that it's the Christmas season! Snow has arrived in Canada and I'm loving the beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, with the good, comes the bad and that would be the weather. I'm bummed that my school rarely has snow days because I could use one right about now.

That's it for today.
Until next time.

Troye Sivan Concert // Suburbia Tour

November 8th, 2016. I had the most amazing time getting to see Troye Sivan LIVE in concert. His voice is absolutely beautiful. Currently in the "post-concert depression" stage.

Back story. I had bought tickets for his Blue Neighbourhood tour back in November 2015. That was a year ago. The concert was set for February. Unfortunately, Troye got sick and had to postpone his concert. It was announced that the new date was November 8th, 2016, and I was really bummed because he had later announced his Suburbia tour. And I haven't even gotten to see him for his Blue Neighbourhood tour yet!! My friend and I, and I'm sure over a hundred other people, waited a whole year for that one night and let me just say... it was WORTH the wait.

Day of the concert. My friend Kayla and I made our way to the concert venue shortly after school had finished. I was supposed to go to swim practice that day, but skipped (I did inform my coaches that I would be absent) because of the long commute. It took us over an hour to get there and so, we got there around 5:50pm. Sadly, Kayla and I made the mistake of being underdressed for the weather and not taking an umbrella with us. We waited outside for a good hour or so, being drenched in the rain, hoping we won't get hypothermia. Luckily, these two really sweet girls, who were standing behind us in the line, offered to share their umbrella with us so we wouldn't get sick. (Shoutout to those girls, who probably won't read this post, but still!) The concert opened with Dua Lipa, who we didn't know at first, but I recognized her when she performed "Blow Your Mind"! The whole time during the concert, we kept being pushed forward and eventually made our way to this "stripper pole" stand thing. And because we had nowhere to go, we kneeled down on the platform of the pole thing and our knees just couldn't survive the whole night.

I filmed clips of Troye's performance. I ended up cutting the clips down to around 10 seconds each and put it together to create this video.

15 going on 16!

Guys!!! I'm OFFICIALLY, FINALLY 16 YEARS OLD!!!!! It's crazy... I'll probably still tell people I'm 15 because I'll forget that I've finally reached my "mature age". I wanna be a kid again *insert crying emoji*!

I am finally old enough to ride on certain rides where they're like "You have to be 16 or older". And "You need a guardian 18 years of age or older to ride"... LIKE SERIOUSLY? I'M TURNING 16 NEXT MONTH. Haha, my summer '16 struggles.

This morning, of my birthday, a little past 12 am... my mom and sister came into my room to say happy birthday and to SURPRISE ME WITH THIS MACBOOK!!!!!!!!! I was actually shocked. I was in NO WAY expecting this, or any gift for that matter. On that note, I am eternally grateful to my family for giving me this sweet 16 gift! I still cannot believe it. I wish someone had recorded my reaction.
My parents usually ask me every year what I want for my birthday, but they didn't do that this year. For some reason, a sweet 16 gift from my parents never crossed my mind. I never thought about what I wanted or asking them for it. My parents were already paying for my sweet 16 birthday party this Saturday (disclaimer: my parents offered to pay for the party and everything. I haven't had a birthday party since I was 9 and they thought "why not?" since I only turn sixteen once XD). I felt really bad so I didn't expect anything more from them.
Seriously though. Last night, my mom and sister went to get something from the garage, and I assumed they were cleaning or moving in belongings (because we're helping to clear out my grandparent's home - we're selling the house, which is sad because that's my childhood home!). I also had to study for 2 tests I had today, Physics and Business (cries, on my birthday too). Haha, today also happened to be Photo Day at my school, and I LOOKED ROUGH. So they went down and just came in my room, I was so confused at first, but then when I heard the words "Happy Birthday" and turned around.... there my mom was with a birthday card on top of the MacBook box. First thing I said "Are you serious?!".

That morning, going to school, I went to my locker to find THIS!!!! My bestest friends decorated my locker. SERIOUSLY WHAT ARE WITH ALL THESE SURPRISES?! I was NOT expecting my locker to be decorated. In the past years, it's kind of a tradition for you to have your locker decorated if it was your birthday and I've never had mine decorated before. So this made the day 10x more special. I love you guys, there's too many people to list (also I don't know specifically everyone who contributed, apparently they had a group chat about this so haha). And my friend Connie was sent to keep my occupied?! I was suspicious when I went to talk to my friend Emily, and out of the corner of my eye I see Tammy checking up on me... I was really confused. BUT I JUST PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER AND BAM! <3

Tonight, for my ACTUAL birthday dinner (not my sweet 16 party), I went to a Texas grill restaurant I haven't gone to in ages! It was just me, my mom, my sister and my dad! Before going to the restaurant, we went to visit my grandma<3 I haven't seen her in weeks because I got sick and I was afraid I'd get her sick, since she isn't feeling to well either. We took a few photos and talked, since it's a tradition that every year on my birthday, we take a family photo all together!
Anyways, for dinner I had this DELICIOUS burger. Yes, I'm basic. Even on my 16th birthday haha XD My parents offered bubble tea afterwards, but I knew I had 2 quizzes to study for tomorrow :(

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! This was truly a memorable birthday. Not just because it's my 16th (SWEET 16), but the people I'm surrounded by makes it a whole lotta fun! :) <3

Don't Take Driving for Granted.

Long time no talk! I can't believe I keep doing this. I meant it when I said I wanted to blog more. This summer was so SHORT!!! I think it felt especially short because of the fact that I took summer school in July. That's why I made sure to spend most of my days out of the house in August because I wanted to make the most of the time I had left on break. Okay, I just wanted to express how I was feeling about summer ending because I'm sad to go back to school for junior year.
Anyways, the topic of today's post is to value life and "Don't Take Driving for Granted". I recently watched a video uploaded by SummerBreak and in the video, a girl (forgot her name, sorry) told her story, one by one, to each cast member of the popular web series, Summer Break. Her story was of her family's experience with drunk drivers. It's an absolutely tragic and heartbreaking story, and my heart goes out to her and her loved ones. Her story brought not only myself to tears, but the Summer Break cast as well. I remember in grade 7, I did a media project and I chose my topic to be "Drunk Driving". And it was crazy to find the information I did while researching. And it definitely made me question why some people would do this. One mistake. One small incident can create a tidal wave of an impact. I couldn't imagine losing my family like that.
Please, if you're going to drink, be SMART about it and take a cab home. Get a friend to drive you. But if you know you're going to drink, plan for someone to drive you home AHEAD of time. Don't make the mistake of driving under the influence of alcohol. I hope you all will take the time to watch the video, it's worth a listen.

2 Years on YouTube.

I'm ecstatic. Summer adventures begin NOW. I did my biology exam yesterday and I couldn't be happier. I'm finally done with summer school and can focus on YouTube and enjoying time with friends and family!!! If you guys didn't know, I took summer school this month for grade 11 Biology. I passed with a decent mark (by my standards). It's not what I hoped for, but it's still really good for me! This is just a quick update post. I also want to say HAPPY 2 YEAR YOUTUBE ANNIVERSARY to my subbies!!! Thank you guys so much for an amazing 2 years. It's crazy to see how I've grown as a YouTuber and a person. I'm excited to continue this journey with you all! Till next time (a.k.a. next blog post)...

PHOTOGRAPHY | Nature Park Shoot

Out of pure spontaneity, my friend Connie and I decided to go out and shoot. Here are a few of my favourite pictures from today.

UPDATE ON MY LIFE | Exams, Junior Year?!

Hello! LONG TIME NO TALK. Let's catch up on what's been going on.


Frisbee season is over! We lost the quarter final game, to a school that we should've beat. One of the guys on their team, which I assume is a handler, kept travelling but no one called it. So, they got away with so many throws that would've been a turnover if someone had said the guy was travelling. But it was a great first season on the team for me overall.


June 8th


Athletic Banquet 2016!!! I was long awaiting this day! What a great night. If you're wondering what I wore, I just wore a romper from Hollister. Obviously not very formal, but the theme of the banquet this year was a Luau! Hawaii vibes, amirite?!

As you may know, I was nominated for the MIP (most improved player) award on the swim team. Unfortunately, I didn't win. It went to a girl who I know worked really hard during the season as well. Part of me is happy for her, but the other part of me still wishes I got it.

June 9th


School is done! Minus exams, of course. Anyways, June 9th was my last day of school. And it's bittersweet. Obviously I'm so excited for summer!! Summer league, volunteering, summer school (which isn't fun but I'm doing biology so I won't have to during the school year), wonderland, and just so much more!


June 10th


Literally the day after the last day of school, was my English exam. WHY. So sad, I had no time to finish my essay. It was supposed to be 500 words, but I'm pretty sure I wrote 100. My teacher supervisor wouldn't look in my direction as I was raising my hand to get a new piece of paper.


Fast forward to today, June 12th


My history exam is tomorrow!!!!! I have an exam every other day for the next 2 weeks. It's gonna be stressful, I'm going to die. And please pray for me. Thank god, my history class has a group chat and they made notes to share with the class. BLESS.


That's basically it. Until next time.

Downtown Shoot w/ Tammy & Connie!

Went on a spontaneous shoot with my two friends, Tammy and Connie. And here are some of the shots we took! This post is long overdue.

^ my two favourite shots of the day! Not gonna lie, I've recreated some pictures I've seen on Instagram. But for this shoot, I wanted to be original, rather than doing the same thing. I decided to go to a bridge that I saw a picture of on Instagram. We also shot at locations close to the bridge which is where we found the pretty patch of flowers. I love how that shot turned out. I had to bend down pretty low to get the CN tower in it, but I managed to do so!

We also saw this cool red structure, so we took pictures under it. Again, having to bend down really low to get the structure in it. I was using my 50mm 1.8, if you were wondering. What's great is that there were buildings in the background and it just set up the scene perfectly.

We risked our lives for this photo haha. We ran into the middle of the road during a red light and snapped the picture.

Don't my friends look like models?!

Snapped this gorgeous candid of my friend Connie!

DAILY INSPIRATION | Rewards Don't Come Without Risks

I rarely take risks. I overthink things too much and prefer to take the safe route. This year I took a big risk, in my opinion, and that was trying out for the Ultimate Frisbee team. I was hesitant trying out because my friend Connie tried out the previous year and didn't make it on the team. But I did actually want to be on the team. Last year, I only joined swim but I wanted to play other sports. I have not played Frisbee since gym class last year, and that's a long time because we played it earlier in the year. So trying out, I knew it wasn't going to be easy, I've seen my friends on the team and they're amazing. Tryouts came along and I couldn't flick, I could only throw backhand. First tryout, Connie forgot to bring her form so she sat out and I felt really awkward being by myself. Nonetheless, I had to try, I was already there. At the end of practice, we ran a few simulation games to see what it'd look like in a real game. I was paired with 2 guys who also were trying out for the first time and weren't on the team last year. We were going against 2 people on the junior team and a newbie as well. I was so proud of my team and I because we scored 2 points (that's 2 more than anyone else!) and I was able to defend the disc twice. After that, I kept practicing and managed to flick, decently. My good friend Cynthia (who's literally the best girl on the team) helped me out and said that I had improved a lot from day 1 of tryouts. That made me happy because it meant that I had an actual shot of making the team. Sure enough, I did make the team. And yesterday we had our first game of the season, which we won! I was in the 3rd line, which was the last, and we put up a fight. When we were on, the disc kept turning over between the teams and I was EXHAUSTED. When I got home, I could barely breathe, and I kept coughing. My legs are still sore, but I have to push through because I actually have a Frisbee tournament tomorrow. Wish me luck.


On the topic of "rewards don't come without risks", I can attest to that. As you may know, I am on the swim team at my school. I joined freshman year and made the best decision of returning this year as a sophomore. I don't know if I mentioned this, but my team, we're CITY CHAMPIONS! We won each division at regionals (Womens Overall, Mens Overall and Combined Overall). Sadly, I didn't qualify for cities. I thought I did, because my friends told me if I placed in the top 5 in my event, there would be a higher chance of me going. I placed 5th in the north region in my 100 meter backstroke event. Unfortunately, there were faster times in the other regions, which knocked me out of the running. Sorry, I trailed off a bit, anyways, back to the topic. I worked so hard during practices and tried my best at all of the meets. I still remember that moment at Regionals when I finished my first event, which was 50 freestyle. As I swam, I looked to my side and didn't see any of the other swimmers. At first, I assumed I was last, but when I finished and looked up to the scoreboard, my lane number was 1st. When I got out of the pool (which was a literal struggle), my coach had commended on my swim. I shaved off 2 seconds for my 50 free, and 5 seconds off of my 100 back seed time!!


What I'm trying to get at here is that at my team dinner this year, the coaches decided to announce the nominees for awards (to be presented at the annual athletic banquet). There were 2 MIP awards (most improved player) and 2 MVP awards (most valuable player), both awards would go to one boy and one girl. 3 junior girls and 3 junior boys were nominated for the MIP awards, and 2 senior girls and 2 senior boys were nominated for the MVP awards. Amongst the junior girls that were nominated, I was surprised to find out that I was one of them. Haha, I wish someone would have recorded my reaction when they opened up the slide and my Facebook profile picture was on there!


If I didn't work hard and improve this year, I wouldn't be nominated for such a prestige award. I'm not trying to brag at all, but I'm proud enough to say that I do feel that I've improved a lot this year. Constantly, throughout the swim season, my coach would ask me to swim in the intermediate lane rather than the beginner lane. Also, he would ask me to step up and swim with the A team, instead of the B or C team, during relays. I'm so thankful to have received these opportunities that I was given, and am honoured to be nominated for female MIP.


Hope you enjoyed this daily dose of inspiration! XOXO Allison!

Film Day // Spring Photoshoot

Today I went out with my friend Tammy to film a video! Why? I HAVEN'T FILMED/UPLOADED IN FOREVER! Okay, well it's been a month. But that's a long time!! I filmed some clips for a spring look book! Anyways, I'm writing this post because I want to show you guys the photos we took while filming!

^ Tammy took some photos of me and I edited some of the few that were actually in focus!

 

UPDATE | I disappeared for a month.

Hello everybody. If you're wondering why I disappeared for a month, it's because I've been busy with school and extracurricular activities. Yes, I know, the typical school excuse. It's semi-true. Part of the reason why I haven't been posting videos is because I have NO VIDEO IDEAS. My mind is literally blank. I couldn't come up with a video idea for the longest time. As for my "school excuse", I technically have been busy with school. I recently applied for an executive position on Leadership Council, and I had to prepare for my interview. I ended up getting my desired position, which is so exciting!!! And I've been working on my science fair project with my partner. Next, I tried out for the Ultimate Frisbee team, and I made it! Haha, technically by default though, because they needed 12 girls on the team, and not many tried out. I'm practicing a lot, my friend said that I've improved a lot from the first day of tryouts, which is good.

I didn't have school on Friday, so my team decided to hold a practice, unbeknownst to my coach. One of the graduates from last year who previously played on the Frisbee team helps coach our team, and so he decided to host the practice to go over the proper formation in a game. The reason why we didn't tell our coach was because he didn't want the student coach to teach us this formation, he thought it would just make us students more confused.

That was basically a recap of my recent events, I'm going to film a green smoothie or smoothie bowl video soon, so look out for that!

XOXO Allison

A Big Change in my Life.

Goodbye Odyssey 2000-2016. Thank you for your 16 years of service. 

 

Today, my family got a new car, van to be exact. It was so sad this morning, having one last ride in our old car, reminiscing on the fond memories we've created in/with that car. We previously owned a Honda Odyssey, and today, we got the newest model of the Odyssey. The reason we got another Odyssey was mainly for my grandparents, but we are just leasing it for now. Our old Odyssey has been with us since I was born. My family bought it in 2000, my birth year, because I was going to be the new addition to the family. It's 2016. So, now that it has been around for 16 years, it's starting to wear out. Our car has been having several problems and it even makes a weird sound while we're driving (you can't even imagine the looks we get as we drive by pedestrians). 

 

You may be wondering why I am making a post dedicated to our old car, I mean, it's just a car right? But this car has been around for ALL MY LIFE. It's sad to say goodbye to a car that has been around during my most memorable moments. Driving to graduation, road trips to Pennsylvania, going camping, traveling to the airport... it's sentimental to me. 16 YEARS. Can you believe it? I'll never forget the naps I've had in that car, for me, it was probably the best time I've had in that car.

 

Here's our new Odyssey: 

My parents decided to get the same colour as our old van. Really, it's not that big of a change, but a larger change in the meaning of it. 

 

Change is CONSTANT. 

 

People move on, time flies... it's going to happen. We can't stop time. Time is precious, so use it wisely, and cherish the moments you have. 

 

On the subject of change being constant, it's always great to learn new things. My family and I are going to have to adapt to the changes of this new model. We're only used to the our old car, which was a really old model of the Odyssey. But now, we have to get with the times, and the new technology. 

 

Be open to change. I'm not gonna lie, this car is sentimental to me, so I wasn't too happy about the idea of getting a new car. But I know it's necessary in this case, and change isn't always good, understand that. But we should be open to the idea because it's going to happen, this is life, and we may not accept change for what it is, but we should make the most of it. 

I took some pictures on our last ride in the old car and our first ride in the brand new car! Here are the pictures: