My Little Corner of the Internet

Well guys, it's the end of another year. And that means it's time for a reflective blog post.
I used to make these blog posts all the time back when I had Bebo. I used to blog about all the big things that happened that year and talk about what I hoped for the next year. I actually think it's a really good thing to do because I like looking back and seeing how far I've come.
This year in particular has been insane. So much has happened and I have no idea where to start with it.
I think I'm going to start chronologically and work my way from there because it seems like it makes the most sense.
So according to my Twitter, 2015 started off quite boring. I was pretty lazy. Which tends to happen when you are off school for Christmas. And even though you have a ton of work to do that's due for when you go back, you always leave it to the last minute. Luckily the work didn't seem to weigh me down too much as I still had time to tweet about it.

On top of trying to get through my a levels, I was also very distracted fandom-wise. Four words. Fifty Shades of Grey. For the first two months of the year I was busy trying to get as much information about the movie as possible. And I was freaking out at every glimpse of Jamie Dornan in a grey suit.
Unfortunately the movie was not all that I had hoped it would be. Yet I still enjoyed it for what it was. And I am still excited for the sequels, even though we will be waiting until 2017 to see Mr Grey again.





The start of 2015 is also when I started this blog! I have had many a blog in my life and I decided that this would be the one that I stuck with, for better or for worse. This would be the one I stuck with. I have taken many different directions with blogs before but I feel good about this one.
The only other blogs that I have had for more than a year are my Tumblr blogs, and while they are great I wanted a more serious blog to post to. One that I could look back on and read like a journal. And so this fabulous blog was born. Here's hoping we make it through another year here and I don't randomly change my mind and start a new one. *Fingers crossed*


2015 also saw the start of my love for Tanner Patrick. His cover of Love Me Like You Do was a related video on my YouTube and I clicked on it on a whim. Best decision I ever made. Since then I have been loving Tanner's music and have been an active part of his fandom since around March maybe the end of February. He's a talented musician and I would definitely recommend that everyone check him out.



In April, I was introduced to the show RuPaul's Drag Race and that opened me up to the world of drag queens. I have to say that I love it. I find it so fascinating and I enjoy the show a lot. Everything about it is just fabulous. From the drag queens themselves, to their amazing costumes, to the challenges, to the shady drama. It's all very entertaining and so much fun to watch. I also think it's interesting to learn about drag culture and how much people give up to do something that they love like drag. It's an amazing commitment, and I commend anyone who does it because it's amazing.
After that, school was stressful as we headed towards exam time and the end of an era. Officially leaving secondary school was a huge accomplishment this year. I didn't think I would make it haha. It's crazy to think I left school seven months ago. I don't even feel as if I really left. It just felt like the natural next step which was good.
If I had to say anything about my time at school I would say it was good. I know that it wasn't always that great. There were always stressful times and you didn't always get along with everybody in your class but overall I had a good school experience. I worked hard, got the grades I needed and made some amazing friends I know I'll have for life. And some really great memories but also some not so great ones. Like I said, it wasn't perfect but I had a good time there.


Once exams were over and I hung up uniform for good summer had officially started.
Over summer, I decided to put my focus on YouTube and begin posting videos on a regular basis. I aimed to post five videos a week, one for every weekday. It was a challenge, but I did enjoy posting regular content to my channel. I felt like I was being productive with my time rather than just sitting around playing Animal Crossing.


During the summer I also started watching two new TV shows, Orange is the New Black and Young and Hungry. Both really enjoyable shows. Both completely different. I'm really excited to see where they go with the new seasons.
Another big event that happened in June was that marriage equality was brought to the US as gay marriage was legalised in all fifty states. That was a really big step for the world and I couldn't be happier about it.


June was also the month where I turned 18. However, I don't feel any different than I did when I was any other age haha. Are we supposed to feel really different when we hit a big milestone age? I never have. I just feel the same, it's just that now I say I'm 18 when people ask me my age hahaha.


I also went on holiday with my friends in the summer. We rented a house for the week in Portrush and it was a lot of fun. I did manage to vlog a little bit when I was there and I got to spend some quality time with all of my friends before we went to university. It was very memorable and I'm sure we will be planning many more group holidays in the future.


The rest of the summer was spent playing Sims or working on YouTube. I still made the occasional plans with friends to keep in touch too. All of this was just a distraction from the approach of results day.
Results day was pretty nerve wracking. It's the moment when you find out if you are going to university or not. I tried to remain pretty calm about the whole thing but there was a tiny part of me that was worried that I didn't do as well as I thought I did.


Luckily I didn't have to worry much because I was able to get the results I needed to go to university.
That's when the real nerves started to kick in.
I was about to start the next chapter in my life. I was going to be in a new place with new people...I didn't even know if I would like my course.
Something else I knew that would really suck would be my friends leaving to go to university. I had went from spending everyday with them to never seeing them. It was an adjustment to say the least.
I was so happy that my transition from school to university was pretty smooth. Like I said, it felt like the next natural step for my life to go in. And I am so grateful for that. I know a lot of people that go to university because they were told to rather than that they wanted to and it doesn't always end up going so well. So if you are thinking about further education then it has to be your choice, someone else shouldn't be making the decision for you.


So for the past few months my life has been all about getting used to university and trying to make sure that I balance everything in my life again. Since starting university, my everyday life has changed dramatically and so I need to establish a new routine.
I have really enjoyed everything that university has been able to offer me so far. I have made some new friends, while still being able to keep in touch with my old ones. I find my course interesting and I am enjoying what I am learning. And I have been enjoying university nightlife.


Also during this time I was also trying to keep up with my TV shows. Most of them return after summer break in the autumn and so I always had to make time for them. In particular I have really been enjoying Nashville and The Vampire Diaries. I also decided to start watching Scream Queens this year as there is no more Glee to look forward to.
This year, my TV shows have really been on point. They have been so good lately that I really can't get enough of them. And I haven't even mentioned Pretty Little Liars in this post yet. Y'all know about how much I have been freaking out about Pretty Little Liars this year. It's been insane.


The latest TV show that I have gotten hooked on is 90210. I started to watch it just before Christmas and am almost finished with season 2. I wasn't sure what to think of it at the start but I have really gotten into it and am really enjoying it so I'm excited to see where that goes. I know the show is over now but I prefer to watch shows like that so I can binge-watch it all in one go. Waiting for new episodes of TV shows sucks.


And finally, the last big thing I can really think of that I have done this year is Vlogmas. If you don't know what Vlogmas is, it is when YouTubers vlog for 24 days leading up to Christmas from the 1st of December to Christmas Eve. It's actually not as easy as it looks to produce daily content like that. I was always staying up ridiculously late at night to make sure my vlogs were edited and uploaded for the appropriate times.
But I have to say it was definitely worth it. I really like vlogs because it's just another way to capture memories and look back on them. So I felt really accomplished about that because I thought that I was going to get through the first few days of Vlogmas and then quit.


So overall, it has been a successful and productive year for me. It's probably been one of the years in my life where I have experienced the most change. It hasn't always been plain sailing though, like everyone I have my ups and downs, good days and bad days. But I would say that the good definitely outweighed the bad this year.
I am definitely looking forward to next year and all that it will bring. I have no expectations at all other than I just need to keep doing my best and see what happens. And of course I will keep you all filled in on anything big that happens.
So thank you so much for reading, I hope you all had a wonderful 2015 and that 2016 will be equally as wonderful. Or if your 2015 wasn't so great that 2016 is your year and that it is so much better to you than last year. At the end of the day, I think the year is only as good as you can make it. Things might not always go your way but I think if you keep trying and don't give up then life can be amazing.
Happy New Year guys! Make it count!


~ Courtney x

Hey guys,
So I just wanted to make a quick little blog post to tell you that I am attempting Vlogmas this year!
If you don't know what Vlogmas is, it is the name that YouTubers give to their daily vlogs in December as they vlog from the 1st to the 24th December. And this year I have decided to try and take part.
I did attempt Vlogmas last year too, however it was not very exciting. I was so bogged down with school work that 99% of my vlog was me complaining about all the school work I had to do which is not fun.
Vlogmas vlogs are supposed to be festive and happy and so this year I really want to try and make my vlogs festive. So I hope that you guys will join me and get into the Christmas spirit because I really believe that this year I can pull off a really festive Vlogmas!
Earlier I uploaded Vlogmas day 1 to my YouTube channel so check it out below! (And don't forget to subscribe so you know when I post a new vlog!)

~ Courtney x

Hey guys,
So today I wanted to talk about balance. Mainly trying to find a way to balance your life so you aren't spending too much time on one thing.
I have always had a problem when it came to balancing in my life. Specifically when it came to balancing school work and slacking off and having fun. I either do too much school work and nothing else or I just do nothing for ages and then feel super lazy.
And since I have been at uni this hasn't gotten any easier. In fact, it's a lot harder than ever to maintain some sort of balance.
I'm sure you guys have all seen the photo of student life and all the things we have to balance:

It's kind of insane.
Lately, I have definitely spent a lot of time going out with friends and enjoying myself. Which is definitely a huge part of student life. You are finally old enough to drink and go to clubs and so it's exciting and new so you go out a lot.
Yet, on the other hand, you also have a lot more work to be doing and deadlines and assignments and it can be a lot sometimes.
And of course, there is budgeting money if you are living away from home and trying to manage adult responsibilities like cooking and cleaning and the problems that come with living with roommates.
It's such a crazy time in your life.
And so yes it has definitely been a huge adjustment for me. I definitely feel as though I am doing so much more than I was at secondary school. Especially in going out with friends but also with university work.
It's kind of crazy how exhausted you can be from just a couple of hours of class a day. Meanwhile when you were in secondary school you were doing six hours of school, five days a week but now it seems next to impossible to turn up to a 9 a.m lecture.
If anything I know that you will never find the perfect balance of life. You are always bound to spend too much time focusing on one aspect of your life to let the other parts of your life suffer. It happens. There's no stopping that.
But what you can do is realise there is an imbalance and work on trying to even things out again. And not to beat yourself up about it too much.
Lately for me I would say I have taken the time to overindulge in sleeping and socialising and have not paid as much attention to uni work as I know I should  have been doing. So since then I have been working hard to keep up the workload of uni. But at the same time I will still find time to go out and see my friends and spend time with them because that's an important part of life too.
You just have to find a happy medium that works for you and it might take a while to achieve but I think you can do it if you really try.
Unless it's about getting enough sleep because that's just something I have never been able to achieve haha. I sleep too much or I sleep too little there's never usually an in between. But again, I just need to work on that.
But other than that I'd say I have a good balance going on. I go out with friends about once a week and I attend all my classes and work on things when I need to. I also remember that is important not to overwork yourself. You can take a break from life every so often and not do anything.
I fully support those days that you just decide to take off and do nothing. It's a really nice way to spend the day, especially when you have been working really hard. So I definitely think it's important to have that time to yourself too.
I think that's all I really have to say on the topic. It's just been something I have been thinking about lately because I have really been struggling to find a good balance. Which is to be expected when going through big changes but I think I have found my happy medium again. And I hope that you guys reading find your balance. It just means you are living a more well-rounded life and that your life isn't always focused on one thing because there's so much more to life than that.
So yeah, I hope that you enjoyed reading this blog post. I wasn't really expecting to talk about it in a serious way but I guess I did. I mean it is important to have balance in your life rather than focus too much on one thing. Because life's too short for that.
Anyway, like I said I hope you enjoyed reading and I hope that you are able to find your "happy medium" in life :)
~ Courtney x