Tag: personal

My Two-Year Bloggiversary!

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Hello friends!

So……. it happened again. For two years now, I’ve had my blog — and for two years, I missed my blog’s anniversary. (Although, I feel it’s important to add that I forgot I missed it last year, but remembered when I posted about my anniversary last year…… then went back to check what the exact day I started my blog was when I started this post and realized my mistake. Anyways, I digress).

These last two years have been, honestly, one hell of a rollercoaster. I started this blog right as I finished up what was supposed to be my final year of university, and well, we all know how that went. I could elaborate on the story all over again, but frankly, I’m tired of talking about it (and I’m sure you’re all tired of hearing it). All in all, I was really going through a rough time this time last year when I posted on my blog’s anniversary. While I made it out the other side, I don’t really know that it was all in one piece — a year later on, and I’m still kind of picking up the pieces from the last year and figuring out what it is I want to do next. (But seriously, after the last year we’ve all had, aren’t we all?).

This time last year, when I was thinking about what I wanted to share for my bloggiversary post, I decided to do a little “update” on my first-ever blog post, “10 Facts About Me“. I wanted to make something like this a tradition, but frankly — there really hasn’t been many changes to my original 10 Facts over the years, apart from their vibe being a little dated. They’re all more a less still true (save for my career goals), but they don’t really feel like they give a good summary of myself — to me, at least.

For that reason, this year, I wanted to start a new tradition — one that will hopefully stay a little more fresh year-to-year. Rather than updating my old 10 Facts post every year, I’ve decided to put together a little self-interview, Billie Eilish and Vanity Fair style — each year, I’ll update the same questions, and we’ll be able to see how my life has grown and changed since the previous year’s post!

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Honestly, I’m still in such a weird place in my life that it’s hard to even visualize where I’ll be a few months from now. I guess in five years I’ll hopefully be a little more settled, if nothing else.

What’s changed since last year?

So much and nothing at all. I’ve decided on a new career path (!!!) so I’m going into interior design. Somehow I feel I’ve come a long way from the last year, but at the same time nothing has really happened. Its hard to explain, I guess.

Favourite social media?

Instagram, I guess…… does it count if I keep on forgetting to check it for weeks on end? (I guess it’s still kind of new and exciting, though, since I’ve started up my Art Instagram recently).

Favourite blog post from the last year?

Hmmmm…. I have a few, I guess. If I had to narrow it down, then probably my FabFitFun Unboxing from last summer, or my first ColourPop Haul Unboxing — or, possibly, even the post I mention down in the next answer (no spoilers!).

Most successful blog post from the last year? What about of all time?

Obviously it’s kind of hard to determine a “most popular” blog post, because that really depends on the specific metric you choose — is it views? Comments? Overall reception? I kind of went for a mashup between the three, so I guess my most popular post from the last year would be my ColourPop x Animal Crossing Collection Unboxing! (Which, to be fair, was a personal favourite of mine considering my love of both ColourPop and Animal Crossing). Oddly enough, I guess my most popular post of all time has probably been my Glossier Haul Unboxing from back when I first started my blog — I’m not too sure why, but it consistently still gets a good number of views every single month without fail. I will say that I’m still pretty damn proud of my photography for that post — though I kind of hate the photos of myself (the apartment I stayed in that summer had terrible lighting and backgrounds, which really hindered my ability to even take a decent photo when I was looking my absolute best).

Favourite memory from the last year?

Getting to hang out with my cat all December long (mandatory cat tax included at the bottom of the post).

Something you hope to accomplish this year?

I’m hoping to do well in school, now that I’m going back for Interior Design. I’m also hoping to finally get my career a little more on track. As well, I’m hoping to be able to finally dedicate more time to my blog and artwork and see my hard work pay off … which is a lot of things, I guess! But here’s to hoping.

Something to cross off the bucket list this year?

I guess that really depends on the pandemic, sadly… I have a couple of places I’m really hoping to/have some non-concrete plans to travel to once the world opens back up (Japan, Italy, Greece… some of my top bucket list locations!) but it’s really hard to know whether or not that’s going to be able to happen.

Something from the last year that I’m proud of?

I’m not too sure, too be honest. I guess just surviving it all. Little victories still count as victories, too!

How am I feeling about the upcoming year?

Positive, I think. I don’t wanna jinx anything, but hopefully by this time next year life will have returned to normal. This last month has already been kind of brutal with how busy I’ve been, so I have a feeling adjusting back to “normal life” (whatever that’s even going to mean) is going to be kind of rough. But I have a semblance of a plan, a general idea of where I want to go (and, most importantly, an appointment to get my vaccine!!!) so, not to get ahead of myself, but I think things are starting to look up.

What would I tell myself from a year ago?

Thank you, all of you, for sticking with me over the last year. It’s been a rough one, for sure — between C*VID (lol), job hunting, burn out and learning to cope with everything that has happened in my life, it’s been one hell of a learning curve. It certainly hasn’t been an easy year for blogging, either — between my burnout hiatuses, inactivity and plain old writer’s block (hard to run a lifestyle blog when life is on hold, am I right?) it definitely wasn’t the stellar blogging year I was picturing back at the start of 2020. I’ve adjusted my expectations a little, and I’m trying to be easier on myself for the sake of my wellbeing and mental health. Slowly, I’m starting to feel a little more normal, and a little more ready to get back into it.

So, here’s to two years, and hopefully this next year is better than the last. We really never do know what life is going to throw at us — we can only know that with a little patience, we can find the strength to make it through. Here’s to a better year for all of us — I think we all deserve it!

Much love,

Meredith

(+ Cat tax, as promised)

Storytime: My Secret Beach Discovery In Phuket, Thailand!

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Unnamed Beach with Wild Dogs, Phuket, Thailand

Okay, this is going to be a bit of a different post for me, but I really wanted to share. This moment meant a whole lot to me, and while it may seem super irrelevant to you, I hope it can touch your heart too.

This story takes a bit of exposition, so bear with me. While my trip to South East Asia was mostly a first for me, I’ve actually been to Thailand before back in 2013. My family and I travelled with our close family friends to Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket New Years.

As well, my parents are rather familiar with Thailand — my parents once travelled there together before I was born, as well, my dad went there on a trip similar to mine when he was about my age with his brother.

One of my dad’s most favourite memories in the world is when he was in Phuket during his trip; he and his brother stumbled across an empty beach and spent the day there. This beach was an untouched sanctuary — tourism wasn’t as big in Thailand at the time, so they spent the entire day there without seeing a single other person, just enjoying this beach to themselves.

When we arrived in Phuket in 2013 (actually, I believe it was just after New Years, so 2014 at this point) my dad was so excited to be able to see the beach of one of his fondest memories again. He spent all kinds of time researching it, trying to figure out where it was — our resort was on the beach, so he figured it couldn’t be far. However, when his search turned up fruitless, he came to the conclusion that the beach he remembered must have been the one our resort was located on, and he was heartbroken. This beach was now fully developed and completely packed with tourists — one of those beaches where the entirety of it is lined with resorts and it’s hard to find a spot to even sit down amidst all the chaos. It was, understandably, of of the saddest I’ve ever seen my dad in my life. The empty beach from his young adulthood had been completely renovated into a tourist hotspot and had lost all of its magical charm from what he once knew.

Fast forward to 2019.

Upon finishing up with our time in Koh Phi Phi, Nylah and I jumped on our ferry back to Phuket with about 7 hours until we had to be at the airport, and no plan. It was going to be a long day, so we didn’t want to do anything crazy — we were thinking we’d just sit at the beach until it was time to head over. The ferry company offered shuttles from the harbour to almost anywhere you’d like, so we told them our situation and they recommended a beach close enough to the airport we could easily get there when we were ready to leave.

As we’re pulling up, I’m struck by how familiar it looks — its basically identical to the beach I stayed at 5 years prior. The shuttle bus driver drops us off and we set up camp for the day along the edge of the beach (in the shade of the palm trees as I, unfortunately, got rather sunburnt on the ferry ride over). The beach is completely empty, save for a pack of friendly but wild dogs that inhabited the area. It was beautiful.

A few hours go by before it hits me — maybe THIS was the beach my dad had been looking for all those years ago. It looked so, so similar to the tourist beach, but there was absolutely no one else around. I quickly snapped a photo and sent it off to my family group chat — I figured even if it wasn’t the same beach, my dad would probably feel better seeing that there was still areas nearby that were untouched by development.

If you’ve stuck with me this long, this is where it gets pretty crazy. My dad instantly recognized the photo, and a few days later sent back a picture he dug up when I showed him the beach.

My Dad’s Photo Of The Beach, Phuket

Look familiar?

The Exact, Unedited, Photo I Sent My Family Of The Beach We Found

Not only did I manage to stumble upon the exact beach my dad had visited when he was my age, he set up camp in the exact same spot, and took the exact same photo as me, from the same angle. I’m sure it’s all just one crazy coincidence, but I can’t believe the odds. Not only does my dad’s beach still exist, but I ended up by chance spending the exact same day there years later on a similar trip of my own.

Anyways, I’m not really sure what the point is of the story, but I was so completely shocked and heart warmed by this whole thing that I thought I would share. My dad is so excited that this beach still exists, untouched, and just as empty as when he visited it himself when he was my age. Pretty happy ending to the story, which was crazy enough even without the fact that my dad had been so torn up over thinking this beach had been completely developed into a resort strip. If your curious about exactly which beach it is, message me — I’d rather not share it publicly for my own personal reasons.

I hope you all enjoyed this story, and that you found it as heart-warming and amazing as I did. There’s nothing I’d love more than to have brightened all your busy Thursday’s with this story, since it meant so much to me.

Lots of Love,

Meredith

Update: Blog Things!

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Hey friends!

For any of you who’ve been following me for a while, you may have noticed I’ve kept up a consistent blogging schedule of posting three times a week (crazy, I know!). When I first started this blog, I was SO excited to share every thought I had, completely unfiltered. Shortly after I started, I had a bit of a whirlwind two months of travelling and the content potential just kept coming — I felt like I couldn’t even keep up with how much I wanted to share.

However, since then, my life has slowed down in some ways and sped up in others. While my two months of jet-setting have come to a close, I have an insane month of completely upheaving my life ahead. Not only will I be moving into my brand new apartment, I’ll be searching for a career job and settling into my new downtown life — which is going to be a big change from living on campus for the last 5 years.

While, yes, I have been living on my own out in Vancouver since I was seventeen, there’s something about campus life and university that makes it all a little simpler than the real world. School schedules can be adjusted to your exact choosing, university campuses are set up with nearly everything you’d ever need, and all your friends live within blocks of you. It’s a time, I’ve found, that mistakes are meant to be made and learnt from. Not that this isn’t true for all stages of life (we never really stop learning, even when we leave educational institutions), but settling into “real world” adult life is certainly a little more serious and unforgiving than university is.

All that being said, I’m excited for it all — I cannot WAIT to move downtown and experience it. However, the adjustments I’m going to be making over the next month are going to be numerous. I have to deal with lots of exciting things — furnishing my apartment, finding new go-to’s for all my health, food and beauty needs, meeting potential roommates and more. However, there are countless more “serious” things I have to accomplish as well; I need to switch over my Ontario residency, find new doctors/optometrists/dentists etc, finally get my licence (yes, really), find myself a job …you get the point. It’s going to be a very hectic and transformative time for me.

Anyway, this is all just an incredibly long-winded way of letting you all know to avoid burn-out, I’m going to be limiting myself to two posts a week — My Tuesday Favourites, as well as a Sunday post of my choosing. I’m hoping this way, I can work on curating more quality content for you all, as well as making sure I don’t fall behind with posting content on schedule.

So, here’s to the next month! Fingers crossed I survive it all and make it out to October in one piece. I’ll be sure to keep you all updated, as well as sharing all my favourite beauty and skincare products and whatever posts each Sunday may hold. But for now, this is my last Thursday post.

Love you all, and thank you all so much for your support so far over the last few months! Every comment I receive from you guys means the world to me, I love knowing that my blogging is actually making an impact in people’s lives.

Stay tuned for this Sunday, when I share my latest Sephora haul with you guys!

Love y’all,

Meredith