Blog Relaunch | The Start of Live, Laugh, Create!!!

It's finally here!!! The official relaunch/redesign of my blog, formerly allixx4, which is now Live, Laugh, Create! 💭🙊

(Do you guys like my new blog header? I designed it myself!😊)

When I first created my blog, I put little to no thought into the name of my blog and my initial thought was "oh, well my YouTube channel name is allixx4...". As I began to follow more blogs and became inspired to document my experiences more, I kept looking at my blog name and I didn't like it. It didn't scream... me, it was a just a screen name. If you guys remember my old blog header, under the text "ALLIXX4", I put "Live, Laugh, Create" in a smaller font. I always felt like that was my motto. I love living in the moment and enjoying what's here, right in front of us. And I love expressing myself through different creative outlets, like YouTube, my blog, social media, art, etc. Who knows, maybe there's a better blog name out there. But right now, this is what fits me and my personality. 

With the new name and design (kind of), is a new blog address/link!!! Unfortunately, the subdomain "livelaughcreate" was taken, so my new blog link is livelaughandcreate.blogspot.com! Don't forget the "and"!!!

NEW BLOG... NEW CONTENT?

There won't be a huge change in the content I will be posting here, but I definitely want to improve on my posting schedule. Being a high school junior puts me (and I'm sure a lot of young student bloggers as well) at a disadvantage. If you're my age and you're keeping up with your posting schedule, great job! Props to you!! But I'm involved in many extra curricular clubs and sports at my school, which is my fault, I put myself in this stressful situation. This means that my free time is LIMITED. I'll try my best, but please understand when I don't end up posting for a while.

I hope you guys like the change in my blog! New year, new beginnings right? This wasn't so much of a "relaunch" or a "redesign" as the main layout of my blog is still the name. However, I did change my blog name, link, some of the fonts for certain links/post titles. Small details... but I'm happy with this change. 😙

Goodbye 2016... Hello 2017👋🏻 | NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Another year for new beginnings.

The pictures you see above are ones that my friend Connie and I actually took on January 1st, 2017. We've made it a small tradition to go out, in the freezing cold may I add, and take pictures. Afterwards, we'd grab bubble tea from our favourite bubble tea place and talk for a bit.

So sorry, I forgot to make a post saying Merry Christmas to all of you!!! I hope you guys had an amazing time with friends and family over the holidays! But, I did post a video on What I Got For Christmas 2016! Check it out😊

I know that a lot of people have said that 2016 was a bad year, me included. For the most part, 2016 was filled with bad experiences and memories that I wish I could let go of. But I also had my highs, like turning 16, and winning regionals with my swim team for the second year in a row! I won't be able to forget what happened last year, but I want to look forward to what's in store for the new year. We've said our goodbyes to 2016, and welcomed 2017! Which means... new year's resolutions!

MY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS for 2017:

• Get in the habit of sleeping earlier and waking up on time!
• Go for my G1/driver's license
• Get a boyfriend? (we'll see...😏)
• Read more
• Discover my passion for the future... meaning, narrow down what I want to study in post-secondary education! 
• Grow as a photographer by trying out new shooting techniques, going to new locations
• Be creative, don't do what everyone else is doing!
• Be a better listener, and try to see things from others' perspectives
• Take time to myself, relax and just step away from the chaos, even if it's just for a minute
• Avoid distractions and focus on getting work done (go to the library to study, etc.)
• Work out when I'm supposed to! 
• Take time to show my appreciation for friends or family
• Blog more!!! Document and share my experiences!

Those are just a few of my new year's resolutions. Of course there's a lot more, but those are the only ones that I can think of right now. I want to stick to these goals and I'm going to look back on this post as a constant reminder of my progress!

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.

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:

 

 

Exploring the City | PHOTOGRAPHY

Today, I spent my whole day with my friend Tammy and we decided to explore different parts of the city that we haven't seen. I took her to a few places I've been wanting to visit and we had a mini (not planned) photoshoot because I had my Canon camera with me to take pictures of the city. First we went to the mall to have lunch, then we made our way down this street where we stopped by a juicery and this alley with graffiti walls. We then headed to this popular location where we live to have our photoshoot and afterwards we enjoyed some ice cream from this popular ice cream bar. The line was so long, I'm pretty sure we waited 20 minutes just to order. But it was a really fun day today, and Tammy even said that we walked 7 miles (according to her phone which tracks the number of steps you take)!!


Tammy used to (or maybe she still does) take gymnastics, therefore she is much more flexible than I am, so she was my model. I'm really happy with how the pictures turned out, especially after editing. My favourite filter is the basic B&W because it adds a dramatic effect to the photograph. Here are some of the pictures I took of her:


 

 

 

 

                                                                                ^ this was a picture she took of me