DIY Christmas Decorations!

Hi everyone! I'm back with another blog post! This time, I'm going to be showing you how to make a really cool Christmas/winter decoration! 

I'm going to be showing you how to create block letters that will hang on your wall.

You can chose any word that you want! I used winter because Christmas was too long and snow was too short but you can do whatever you want!

In the end, your final product should look a little something like this:

So to start of you're going to need; a few shoe boxes (I used 3), white paper, tape, a ruler and scissors!

Using a ruler, you are going to draw out the letter on the lid of the shoe box. Make sure to use as much of the lid as possible.

Cut out the letter but make sure you leave the the rim of the lid so that when you stick it to the wall, it sticks out.

Next, completely cover the letter with paper and stick it down with tape. Turn the letter over and cut around the edges, leaving 1 cm of space.

Fold over the edges and stick it down so that it creates a smooth look.

You are done one letter!

Continue this process until you have finished all the letters in the word you chose.

 Finally, stick it to your wall and decorate it!

That's all I have for today!

Until next time, 

Kat

Living for Today

Live in the moment.

It's far easier said than done.

I for one, know that I have some trouble with this, especially when I'm alone.

There are definitely times where I breath nothing but the air of now. But I also often feel as though my thoughts wander too far away from now. 

So what is 'The Now' and how do we live in it?

I guess I don't really know. 

I can say for certain that I know what it is when I am with my friends thinking about nothing but everything we're up to. But when I'm alone, I can't seem to live in the moment.

I think a lot. I constantly have new thoughts in my head. Sometimes so many thoughts that I can't focus on what is coming out of my mouth. 

Often times, these thoughts are about my past within the last year or so.  Random things that happened with the guys I've crushed on or dated, problems I've had with friends, people I'm missing. 

These thoughts often happen when I'm alone and have nothing to do. These thoughts happen when I'm not living in the now.  

I think that when we're alone, we think about our past interactions with other humans almost as a reflex. Mostly because we need to feel comforted that we aren't all alone. 

So maybe in order to live in the now, we need constant human interaction, or at least a lot of it. 

We also have to remember not to venture to far into the future either.

I often find myself getting really excited about an up coming event and disregarding everything that stands in the way of me and that event. 

I feel like we really shouldn't do this either. We shouldn't go through the motions of today just to get to tomorrow.

We should feel like we want to be doing what we're doing at this moment and if we feel like we don't want to be doing it, then why are we doing it at all?

Living in the now doesn't mean planning something so that one day you'll be happy. It means living your life the way you want to now because, it makes you happy. 

So give it a go and really try to live for today, not yesterday and not tomorrow.

Until next time, 

Kat

An Adventure in Another Book

Hi everyone! So I'm back today with a new post on why I love books!

I know, I know, it sounds really dumb.

But honestly! Books are my favourite thing ever! 

There is this quote in my school's library and it says, "Books are a discounted ticket to everywhere!"

I 100% believe that this is true! Never before in my life has a book not been there for me. Whenever I'm having a bad day, I can become a different person in a whole different place and just be okay. 

I LOVE getting lost in a book! I LOVE it when I can become the character and live their adventures!

Through books, I have lived, loved and lost SO much! If we think about it, books are incredible! They really are a discounted ticket to everywhere!

The most resent book I read was "Girl Online" by Zoe Sugg. 

I would recommend it to those of you who like books that are quite a light subject and nothing too crazy. 

If you have any book recommendations for me, let me know in the comments! I will most likely read whatever you tell me too!

I will hopefully be posting again soon!

Until next time, 

Kat

   

The Pressure to Be Sexy

***DISCLAIMER: I never said that men think this way of women but rather what society and the media portray women this way***

Hi everyone! So today I wanted to write about the pressures girls feel from society. 

To me, it seems as though girls are being pressured everyday to be 'sexy' and 'flawless' whether we know it consciously or subconsciously. The grossest part about this pressure is that it's all with one goal in mind; to get a guys attention.

In the media, we girls, are taught to think that we are not of any value unless a guy likes us and gives us their attention. And that in order to attain this guys attention we need to 'dress to impress' and have flawless this, flawless that. The pressure is unreal!

We are constantly being bombarded with images of what we should look like in order to achieve attention. 

We are told that if we don't get this kind of attention that we are 'unwanted' and 'unloved'.

So maybe no ad ever directly says these things but, they imply that you have a problem by giving you the solution.

No ad should ever have the right to tell us these kinds of things!

These ads tell us that our minds, thoughts and our dreams don't matter because if you can't be 'sexy' no one will ever love you!

It's completely disgusting! Treating women as though they are sex toys, not people! It makes me outraged people have the nerve to tell us what we should be! No one should ever be put down like that, just so that a product can sell!

What makes this worse, is that there are girls out there that swallow up everything these marketers tell them. They try to achieve this idea of being 'sexy' at age 13, so that they can get all the boys! And when they don't reach their goal, their value, in their minds, is belittled.

They take this pressure from the ads and carry it. It eats away at them from the inside and causes so many problems mentally. Whether it's a poor body image, a low self esteem, anxiety, an eating disorder or depression, it can be caused by all this pressure.

With the pressure of today's media and fashion, we are told that what men want, we will be. As if we are a sex toy that is supposed to be played with. 

We are people. NOT toys and not sexual objects that will carry out your every will. We are people with feelings and thoughts.

What should matter is our thoughts, how we perceive things, who we are and what are personality is. Everything else shouldn't matter because it's not what makes you, you. What makes you different from everyone else.

Until next time, 

Kat 


    

Misconceptions about Feminism

Now, before you ask me "Kat, what are you doing????? Do you even know what feminism is????? It's SO bad!!!" I let you know that I do know what this word means and that in fact, this is something that I thoroughly believe ever single person on this planet should be!
However, we get people putting a bad name on Feminism by spreading false facts about it.
So to clear up a few of these misconceptions, I'll let you know about a few of them and what feminism really is.

1. ONLY FEMALES CAN BE FEMINISTS
Just because the word begins with a "Fe" does not mean that it's only something girls can be. In fact by saying that only girls can be feminists is actually quite controversial, as feminism is the search for gender equality. It is to benefit both men and women, not one over the other.

2. FEMINISTS HATE MEN
Again..., this is quite controversial. A feminist would believe that neither gender is better than the other, therefore they would not hate a specific gender. They may hate someone of the opposite gender but that would not imply that they hate them because of their gender.

3. FEMINISM ISN'T NEEDED IN NORTH AMERICA
So technically speaking, this one is right. I mean, all the laws point towards gender equality so, what's the problem, right? WRONG! Both men and women are still affected by gender inequality on a day to day basis. Society tells us that it is still not acceptable for men to wear skirts and dresses. It is still not acceptable for women to go topless. It is still not acceptable for men to show their feelings. It is still not acceptable for women to become a mechanical engineer because that is a 'boy' job. Toys in the store are still being labeled as 'Toys for boys; trucks, cars, Lego' and 'Toys for girls; Barbies, Princess', Faireies'. Girls are still expected to be sexy and guys are expected to always want to receive sex. That is how things are in North America. So maybe the law is fair but both men and women are being placed into separate categories and that is NOT okay!

So there you go, three of the misconceptions are cleared up! Trust me, if you talk to anyone who is a true feminist, they will say the same thing about each of the misconceptions!
I hoped you like my blog post this time around.
Until next time,
Kat   

6 Simple Ways to Make Your Life Better

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a super fun weekend and Halloween! Mine was CRAZY busy so I had no time to write another blog post until today!
Anyways, today's post is about how to change you life in small and simple ways. I find that my life tends to fall into a really structured routine once school starts and that can become boring pretty quickly. Some people enjoy this structure but I am definitely not one of those people.
So here are a few ways to improve your day to day life in small and simple ways.

1. Do something you've always wanted to do.

Take up a new sport, write a book, start a Youtube channel, create a work of art, make a new work out routine. The possibilities are endless. Find something new that suits your life style. It doesn't have to be crazy or out of this world. It can be something that you can do straight from home, it can be something done within your school or community.

2. Laugh/Smile more!

People are always telling me that they never see me without a smile on my face and that I am ALWAYS laughing. I would say that that is 99% true-we all have our bad days. Don't suppress a smile or a laugh when you want to. I recently went to my sister's grade 12 graduation and when the people got called up to receive their awards, not one of them smiled. I could tell that they were happy by the way they were walking and yet none of them smiled! Let yourself smile!!!! It's not disrespectful to smile when you are happy and when you're proud of something you've accomplished. And when someone cracks punny joke, just laugh! Laugh for the sake of laughing and that it makes you feel better! Life is to short to forget to laugh, so just laugh!  

3. Face your problems head on and ask for help when you need it.

Don't beat around the bush. Don't kid with yourself. You know what your problem is so, fix it. Don't let yourself soak in the sorrow of your own sadness. If you are going to through a tough time and need extra help, don't be afraid to ask for it! This doesn't have to be just about life problems, think about classroom problems. Lets say that you don't understand a math question very well and you are stuck on it, ask your teacher, that's what they're there for! I know plenty of people who have tons of questions that never got answered because they were never asked in the first place. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it.

4. Focus on the little things.

Not everyone's life is glorious at every single moment. I am a firm believer that everyone has a bunch of struggles with which they must deal with. Just because you can't see their problems doesn't mean they don't exist. So when you are going through a dark time in your life, find the smallest moments throughout your day that made you smile. Those are the moments that are worth living for. Once you add all these moments up you'll realize that you have a lot to live for. Stop thinking about your day in such a boring way. You did not just go to school, come home, do homework, and go to bed. You laughed on the bus ride to school about a joke your friend made, you finished your painting in art class (which you are very proud of), you passed notes in chemistry, you started reading a really good book, you finally started a conversation with that cute boy in math, you completed your homework quickly and you had a nice dinner with your family. So maybe this stuff doesn't happen every single day but find something like it!

5. Take a chance!

So maybe asking a boy to slow dance is something you would never do. But why not? What are they going to do, say no? If they do, they're just rude, turning down an innocent dance is not something people usually do. Most people think that a dance doesn't even mean anything! Take the chance and just as them to dance. If this person is a friend and you're really uncomfortable with being so formal and asking them to dance, just take their hand and pull them on to the dance floor. Not in a violent way but in a very gentle way so that if they're really uncomfortable with it, they can not go. However don't be afraid to give them a gentle pull if they try to resist, they might just need some encouragement. If they still don't want to, let them leave as they were never worth your time!

6. If the opportunity presents itself, take it!

Don't sit around at home watching Netflix while your friends are out at the mall or partying! Go with them! Even if your not the kind of person who usually goes out, give it a try! You may find that you enjoy the company of your friends more than the company of ice cream and a movie. If all your friends are going out to the dance, go to the dance and bust a move on the dance floor! However, if your friends are up to something that really doesn't float your boat, (like smoking something a little fishy) feel free to make it a movie night and just chill at home!

These are pretty simple ways to improve your day to day life. Some of them will be hard to do but once you do them, you won't look back! Remember that some of these things will be harder for you than it will be for your friend. I'm still learning to do some of these but I know that I'm well on my way to success, even in those areas that need work. Another thing, if you are truly put at discomfort, remember that saying no is okay when you need to!

Until next time!

Kat