LOVE WINS, LOVE ALWAYS WINS.

Yesterday was a huge day for all LGBT+ community in the United States. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of gay marriage to be legal in ALL states. When I heard this news I was so surprised and extremely happy, I mean think of how long everyone has been waiting for this... it's a basic HUMAN right and no matter your sexual orientation or gender, you are a human and we all deserve to be treated equally. It is kind of insane how it took this long for this law to pass. None the less, it has passed and it was a great day.

I saw posts all over twitter and Facebook and every social media you could think of. It was overwhelming and brought me to tears... I cannot even imagine how the community must feel. Love is love. Love will always win. I will never understand how some people think that being gay or transgender or asexual.. etc, is the worst thing on this planet and those people deserve to go to Hell. I mean, isn't God all about loving people? Accepting of people and forgiving, not judging. It truly makes me sad that some people can't see that love is just LOVE, no matter what gender is involved, it's a great connection between two people. Everyone deserves to have the right to marry the love of their life and I could not be more happy than those people in America, that have been waiting so long for this day. They are finally seen as equals in marriage rights and its wonderful.

The world still has a lot to work on for LGTB+ rights, Women's rights, as well as basic human rights in lots of countries! But every step towards a world full of love and acceptance, is something to celebrate. Congratulations to all of the people in the states that can now legally marry who they love!!! LOVE WINS.

Write Down & Always Keep Near You...

I came across this photo while I was scrolling through my tumblr dash and I really liked it. I'm all for doing things to help improve your day/life and things that make you feel more positive about yourself. Thought I would do this here, so lets give it a go!

3 Nice things people have said about you: 

(For this one I couldn't remember anything specific, so I decided to go ahead and ask some of my friends. They replied very generously so I'm gonna put just a bit more than 3)

1. I am very passionate about the things I love, specifically music.

2. I have a good sense of humour.

3. I'm not afraid to speak my mind.  

4. That I am selfless and care about the world a tremendous amount.

5. I'm a good friend. 

3 Nice things you've done for others:

1. Became vegetarian and working on being vegan. This is one of the nicest things I have done in my opinion because I am standing up for animals who don't have a voice and am trying my best not to contribute the downfall of our ecosystem and the slaughter of innocent beings.

2. My grandma has Alzheimer's and when she was still somewhat there, I would go visit her once a week. I stopped going so much because it got to the point where she wouldn't even speak to me or acknowledge me; I still went from time to time when I was in Canada.

3. If a friend needs me for something/really upset, most likely I will drop everything to try to help them. Now I can't always just drop everything but I definitely try my best to make my friend feel better, whether that be sending them silly photos or attempting to give good advice.

3 Good Memories:

1. Concerts. Hands down any concert I've been to I've been the happiest. The ones that stand out are the 1975 (Toronto & NYC show), Kodaline, Andrew McMahon (and Jack's Mannequin & Something Corporate), the Maine. 

2. Being at the Cliffs of Moher in Galway, Ireland. I have never felt more at peace and more at home than when I was there. It had always been a dream of mine to go to Europe and that moment when I was standing on the cliffs looking out to the ocean, it just felt so right. 

3. A snow day in grade 7 or 8. My two friends and I decided to have our own snow day and that day we decided to make a horror film. This wasn't unusual for us and I was the scary character that day... I was called "the Smudge". 

my soulmates ...

I'm sitting here at my laptop, browsing through tumblr as usual and I just got this sudden feeling of gratitude for the people in my life. Being here in New Zealand, I have met other people who are doing the same thing as me, being an aupair. Whenever I meet up with people I always ask them one question "so, do you miss your family and friends?" It has surprised me so much that I cannot remember more than one person saying they do. Most people say "meh, not really" or "I email them every couple weeks but I don't miss them." This shocked me so much because I am sitting here like "WOW. I miss my awesome family and my amazing friends" and it made me realize that not everyone is as lucky as I am and have amazing, supportive family and friends. Which truly makes me sad, I can't imagine that.

So I am going to do a little fun blogpost and just rave about all my friends and family because I am happy they are in my life.

I'm going to start off with my immediate family which consists of myself, my mum Jennifer, my dad Allan and my two sisters, Leah & Elyse. Now, we weren't always as close as we are now and we have definitely had our differences throughout the years but lately we have put all those things behind us and I don't think we have ever been in a better place than we are now. They are all so supportive and always there to listen to me. My parents will do just about anything to make us happy and are so kind. My sisters are my close friends and they understand my personality and how I am and accept it. Being away I have realized how much they mean to me, out of almost everyone I talk to my family the most, which I can say I honestly didn't expect that. 

My amazing Aunt and Uncle aka Jo & Steve. Now I do have other amazing aunts and uncles but I am so close with these two. They are some of the funniest people on the planet.. ex: their Facebook account for Mister Bear and they are just so fun to be around. I always think of them when I think of true love, just because they are so accepting of each other and whenever I am around they're just cute.. it's hard to explain. I love going to their house and having a nice hot tub and watching movies with them or hanging out and listening to youtube videos while getting drunk. They are so nice and supportive of me and I am grateful to be able to be so close with my aunt and uncle. 

Oh Nicole.. she is just a wonderful friend. We've been friends for almost ten years now and it all started off with taking the attendance to the office. She is so patient with me and has probably been by my side through everything. She always thinks of others first and thats one of the things I love about her. We have the type of friendship where we can just sit in the same room on our laptops and barely talk but it still is fun. I'm very glad she is in my life and cannot wait to go back home and see her! Love her x

Lacey is another person who has been my friend for years. For many years you would often find nicole, lacey and I together doing the most random stuff. We have definitely been through thick and thin and have our times where we're not super close but we always manage to come back to each other. We both have dealt with the same issues and most of the time can understand really well what the other person is going through. Thats what I love. She is an amazing person and a very talented volleyball player. Love her, oh and she's also a mermaid. 

Tessa... where do I begin? We met each other while we were in line for the 1975 in October of 2013. Who knew a year later we would basically be best friends? I mean we talk almost everyday and never seem to run out of things to say. We both just get things and are obsessed with most of the same stuff. Im so happy we met in line at the 1975 because we have become amazing friends and I am grateful to have her in my life and happy we both can rant to each other for DAYS and its always just all good. 

Devon... I love Devon so much. He is such a special person. Although he portrays himself to be a bit different on social media, I know the real Devon and he is amazing. No matter how sad I am, he can always put a smile on my face. He is so fun to be around and I don't know what I would do without him. We don't always have to talk a lot but we still know we're there for each other. 

Val <3 I first met Val properly when we were going away for a girls vacation with our friends. We instantly hit it off and have became really good friends ever since. We think the exact same way and we seem to always go through the same stuff and the same time. She is such a positive person and always inspiring me to be positive and happy and just live life the way I want to. I love her and her free spirit. 

Paige I haven't known for long either but as soon as Leah and her started hanging out, we became pretty good friends! Along with Val, Paige also is a very positive person and spreading good vibes. Whenever we're hanging out its always a good time and she reminds me not to worry so much about things. She has an amazing voice and a very talented person, awesome dancer. She pushes me to leave my comfort zone and most of the time, I appreciate it because I would have missed out on a lot of things if it weren't for her! 

Luc!! Even though we went to the same high school, we never were really friends during high school (such a shame). But we are friends now and I am so happy. Luc is such a nice guy and I feel like he doesn't have a mean bone in him! We always have a blast when we hangout and I love being in his presence. He is an amazing friend and I'm so happy we started to hangout last year. (Thanks Farina)

Farina... oh how I love her. We have been friends for a while now but clearly we never take pictures seeing as that one ^ is from 2008. Whenever I get around Farina, I get so hyper and happy and giggly. She is an amazing person and I'm so happy that we are friends because I would have hated to miss out on such an awesome friendship. She slays. YAAAS BITCH. 

Brittany is also one of Leah's friends but now my friend as well! We have actually experienced a lot together since we have been to NYC and Ireland this past year. Brittany is awesome and she has opened my eyes to a lot of things, which is one thing I love about her. She made me actually think about things and has educated me on subjects I wasn't that educated on before. She is very passionate and a good friend. I'm so happy she is in Sweden having the time of her life right now cause she deserves it!

Shauna is my friend who I met through Tessa. She, like Tessa, also loves a lot of the things I love. I think thats why we mesh so well together! Although I am not super close with her I still consider her a good friend and love talking to her about youtubers, boy bands and all that fun stuff. She is so funny and I'm happy that Tessa introduced me to her!

Last but not least, Jeremy! I met him in line for the Kodaline concert and when we both found out that we lived in Barrie, it was an amazing moment. We just started hanging out after the concert and always went for wings. He is one of a kind and crazy but a good kind of crazy. I can't wait to hangout with him when I am back in Canada because I am missing him! 

So that's it. Of course I have other amazing friends and family members but these people are my main go-to people. I think it's always important to tell the people in your life that you love, how much you love them and to do it often. You never know what may happen and it's always good to appreciate the people who are there for you. It's a great feeling knowing I have all these amazing people in my life. I don't think I could live without them! <3 Love you all xx

Lyndsay

Ireland... the love of my life.

Okay, so this post is a little late seeing as it's September and I went to Ireland back in May.. but I figure better late than never! I decided to go to Ireland last year because I have always wanted to go Europe and Ireland was at the top of my list for some unknown reason. I went with one of my good friends Brittany (find her here) and I was quite excited.

We decided to stay two weeks in Dublin so we could become familiar with the city and know our way around. Some people thought this was a bit too long to stay in one city but it was actually quite perfect. Nothing was rushed and we got to explore the city so much. We figured we should do a couple day trips to get to see more of Ireland than just Dublin. I am so happy we decided to do that because the places/cities we travelled to were absolutely beautiful. We decided to stay in a hostel but we chose to do a private room because we weren't keen on sharing a room with people for two weeks.

Outside of Isaacs Hostel 

For the first week we chose to explore the city and check out the different restaurants and pubs and sites to see. We saw the Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral, the infamous Temple bar, Trinity College, etc. We also decided to do a Pub Crawl, which we ended up liking so much we did it another two times during our stay! Here are some photos:

 Trinity College 

 Inside the Dublin Castle 

 Christ Church Cathedral 

 the BEST spaghetti carbonara I've ever had

Two musicians playing some songs during the Pub Crawl

The two day trips we decided to do were the Cliffs of Moher and Kilkenny & Wicklow day tour. Both of them were simply amazing and so beautiful. The Kilkenny & Wicklow day tour was breathtaking. We got to take a walk down to a beautiful lake where the fog made it look like we were in a fairytale, well actually the whole time we were in Wicklow I felt like I was in a fairytale. We walked through a forest and explored an old graveyard with lots of history and some very ancient buildings/churches that had been sitting there for hundreds of years decaying. 

 Wicklow Mountains 

 Walking through the forest

 the Graveyard and some remains of buildings/towers

Kilkenny Castle 

The Cliffs of Moher was just as magical and was totally worth getting up at 6am. I could just sit on the cliffs all day looking out into the sea, its truly breathtaking. As well as going to the cliffs, we went to Galway which is one of Ireland's other big cities. I fell in love with Galway instantly, the vibe I got there was unreal and I remember saying "I'm going to move here in a couple years" after walking around it for a few minutes. We got told lots of cool stories about the history of the city and then we got to walk around ourselves and found a nice pub to have some late lunch it. It was so amazing and I would recommend anyone who is going to Ireland to go to the Cliffs and Galway. 

Cliffs of Moher

the oldest street in Galway

Among other things we did, we also did the tour of the Guinness factory which I thought was really cool, I mean can you go to Ireland and not do the Guinness Storehouse tour? 

 Taking advantage of the free pint of Guinness you get at the end of the tour

Overall the trip was extremely satisfying and I am so happy I chose to go to Ireland and explore for a couple weeks. I know sometimes travelling is a bit difficult with money, especially going all the way to anywhere in the U.K or Ireland or Europe from Canada.. but I promise you, it is worth it to save up the money and go! I plan on exploring as much as that part of the world as I can because for some reason, it is just so intriguing. Below are just some random photos from the trip:

 St. Stephans Green Park

 The Pub Crawl with Brittany 

 An amazing place for tea and treats: Queen of Tarts 

Some friends I met during the trip

Body Positivity

For some reason, a lot of people think how we look is the most important thing in our lives. I personally think the media has a lot to do with this but also people around us. It's the first thing you notice about someone, how they look. But soon after meeting someone, you notice more things about a person.. the things that matter; like their personality and their favourite songs and their views on life. I think those things are way more important than someones appearance. Both men and women have body issues and it is a huge thing in our culture. People get shammed for being too thin but oh, you can't be too big..also you need muscle but not too much muscle. People have unrealistic expectations for themselves and sometimes for other people, which is totally unacceptable in my eyes.

I saw somewhere how it seems like bigger girls can't post a photo without a caption along the lines of "proud of who I am" or some justification for posting the photo. How ridiculous is that?! That they feel like they have to justify that they are proud of their body whenever they post a photo of themselves just because they are bigger? I know this goes both ways (I am speaking mainly about women here) how some people insult others for being too thin. We just can't get it right, can we? We need to create a world where everyone has their own, different body and are happy with themselves. No one needs to bring down girls with a slimmer frame by saying "real girls have curves" and no one needs to call someone "fat and lazy" just because they are bigger. There are plenty of bigger girls out there who are perfectly healthy.

I myself, struggle with body issues. I used to workout like crazy and count every calorie but I enjoyed the way I looked. I wasn't too skinny and could do almost every workout. People told me I was starting to get crazy, so I toned it down.. just a bit too much. I started to not care about it and not exercise and eat like crap. So now I'm a lot heavier and probably really unhealthy. Im not happy with myself and I'm not happy with the way I look. But I know I should be focused on my health and not the way I look; my health should be the only thing that matters. I'm starting to be more body positive about myself and I am learning to accept myself. Yes I want to lose some pounds so I can fit into my clothes better and feel more confident, but I can't stop living life just because I don't like the way my body looks.

I wish everyone would just accept themselves and love themselves for who they are, regardless of how they look; along with myself.

Gratitude

One of my favourite YouTubers, Louise recently did a blog post about gratitude which you can find here. She mentioned how having gratitude for things in your life can hugely affect your mood and make you realize the stuff you are worrying about can be silly sometimes. Now that doesn't mean that your worries aren't insignificant but I must admit, sometimes I do worry about things I really shouldn't be worrying about and forget how great my life really is. I know I can't control the way I think and how I worry about some things and get quite anxious but I am going to listen to Louise and list of a few things I am grateful for in my life.

1. My family. While being away from my family and meeting many new people, I have realize that not everyone is super close with their family and have good relationships with their parents and siblings. I am very lucky that my family are like my best friends. I am so comfortable with my parents and my sisters and will talk to them everyday, whenever I don't talk to them, I miss them so much. They are always there for me and understanding for the most part. I am so thankful to have such a wonderful family. 

2. My friends. I don't have a whole ton of friends but that is my choice; I like to think of it has quality over quantity. The friends I do have mean the world to me and are amazing friends. They will listen to me rant and rant for hours about anything. They're so caring and remind me to be confident and always look on the bright side of things. 

3. One Tree Hill. One Tree Hill may be just another teen drama to you but for me, that show has taught me so much. Whenever I am upset or stressed out about life and have time I will always slide a One Tree Hill dvd into my laptop and watch a few episodes. The writer always seems to have a way with words and that show just makes me happy and makes me think about life, in a good way. It's also a bonus that the music on that show is incredible. 

As Louise said, those are some big things.. I do have other small things I am grateful for, such as: candles, books, music, tumblr.. tumblr always makes me feel a little less alone, being able to workout, and coffee. 

I think it's good to write a list every now and then of things you are grateful for. People often forget how good life really is and all the amazing things that they have but take for granted. 

is it all about the music?

Nowadays, it seems to be not about the music anymore... I feel like music is a very small aspect of the whole industry. It’s all about the person and interviews and their social media accounts. Before, when none of this was around, ALL it was, was the music. Musicians did some interviews but their lives didn’t revolve around them as much as they do now. Their listeners got to use their imagination of what the band was like and didn’t demand to know every single detail of their life. Now if a musician were to say, keep something a secret and the fans found out... theres a 99% chance they would be MAD. Mad at a person for wanting to keep something private.. it’s ridiculous. I remember someone commented on how John Mayer is a douchebag and they don’t like his music because of that..I mean how ridiculous is that? Whether you like him or not, he is an extememly talented musician..why would you let his “personality” or things you’ve heard of him interfere with his great music? John Bonham..people looked up to him as one of the best drummers in the world, well guess what..he was kind of an asshole! (still love him though and may he rest in peace). Personally I think music should stop being SO associated with the artists who create it and people should just listen to the music because they like it, not because the lead singer is hot. As well, people should still listen to music, even if the lead singer is an ass. I mean it's all about the lead singer, right? Obviously if the artist is nice, it's always a plus but make it about the music because thats all that really matters.