A Summary Of 2015

How crazy is it that tomorrow it's already 2016? Let's just let that sink in!

This is probably gonna be a long post so grab a cuppa and we'll get started. Before we move on to the new year let's take a moment to reflect upon the last year. Obviously, each year is completely different for everyone. So I can't really say whether or not 2015 was a good year overall, because I don't know how other people found it.

I personally had a rather good year. Despite stressing like crazy over my A Levels and other things, I did find time in between to do things I love and try new experiences. I've been working on my channel loads more than I expected too and I've really surprised myself with how much I've enjoyed making videos. I also had many wonderful experience such as going to more concerts than I've ever been to in a year and having a couple of day trips around the country here and there. 

Around the world, the news this year has been fairly mixed. There's been wonderful news such as the birth of Princess Charlotte and also disastrous news about things such as Paris a few weeks ago. But I think 2015 has taught us to keep being positive, no matter what obstacles life throws at us. 

And if you're a Directioner like me you will know it's been quite the year for One Direction. Half the things that were happening just hurt to watch including Louis' baby (?), Zayn leaving, the whole Naughty Boy thing. Well let's just say no more because I can't handle the emotions of it all anymore. 

Since reminiscing is one of my favourite things to do, I've kept a record of the exciting things that have happened to me. Some I have written about on my blog already (if so you can click on the purple writing to read more about it) and other's I'm mentioning for the first time. So here are the highlights of my year:

• January 1st- New Years- It honestly feels like yesterday that we were celebrating New Years eve, and now we're about to do it all over again. I love this time of the year because you really get to reflect on who you are as a person and how to better yourself. It's just so refreshing to feel like you're starting again with things. 

• January 2nd- Applied for the X-factor- I don't think I mentioned this one on here, but on the second of Jan this year we were sitting at the table with family friends when the topic of the X-factor came up. I decided there and then that I would apply (baring in mind I can't sing at all!) just for the lols. I decided not to go to the audition after all when my mum discouraged, strongly discouraged me from going.  

• January 14th- My 17th Birthday- I was honestly so spoiled this year for my birthday and I became the "dancing queen" as I turned 17. I still can't believe the wonderful day I had, and I truly think it was the best birthday I've ever had. 

Celebrating my birthday with my lovely friends in 6th form

• January 17th- Musical Bethan Gig- This year I met a youtuber I've been watching for a really long time, Bethan Leadley. I truly love her music and her videos and she was so lovely and hugged me like 5 time when I met her. Whilst we were there we also met Dodie Clark, who was just filled with personality and simply adorable. I had the most amazing day listening to beautiful music and meeting youtubers. 

Me and Bethan

Me and Dodie

• January 21st- Told My Mum About My Youtube Channel- It's completely crazy for me to think that this time last year, my family didn't really know about my channel. I was so nervous about telling my parents, because they really didn't get the whole youtube thing at all. But to my surprise my mum is so on board with it all and checks my youtube stats more often than I do!

• January 28th- My 1st Blogging Anniversary- Crazy times man! I've been blogging for well over a year. At first, I was expecting to only write one post and get bored of blogging straight away, but from the moment I hit "publish" for the first time I became addicted to blogging. 

• February 14th- Got My Seconds Pierced- Me and Georgie decided to get a second piercing done in our ear lobes. I think I've probably mentioned before that I love piercings so this was pretty exciting for me. And then we skyped whilst watching the film "teeth" on Netflix at the same time. It's so shockingly bad which just makes it even more fun to watch. 

• February 21st- Reached 10 Subscribers- This was a huge deal to me because I never thought that more than 10 people would ever watch my videos. It really started to hit me around 10 subs in that "wow people have actually watched what I'm doing". 

• March 17th- Told My Family About My Blog- I can't believe I waited over a year to tell my family about my blog, but it was just such a random hobby for me to have because I used to hate reading and writing. So I never really knew how to tell them that I do this but they enjoy what I post which is cool (or at least that's what they tell me!)

• March 28th- McBusted Concert- In case you didn't know, MCFLY AND BUSTED ARE THE BANDS OF MY CHILDHOOD! I literally cried when I found out I was seeing them live and the nostalgia from when I was about 5 hit me hard during their show. 

• April 1st- Started Driving- I hadn't officially started driving lessons, but this was the first day that my mum took me driving around a car park. Needless to say, I still need a bit of practice before I can take my test...

• April 28th- Olly Murs Concert- Exactly a month after seeing McBusted, I was heading off to the same arena to see Olly Murs. He's truly such an amazing performer and I 10/10 recommend him to anyone who wants to see a good show. 

• April 29th- 50 Followers On Bloglovin- I remember seeing that 50 people were reading my blog and I couldn't believe that people actually cared enough to follow. 

• June 5th- 5 Seconds Of Summer Concert- 5sos are one of those bands who are born performers. I think I speak on behalf of everyone there when I say they put on an incredible show. I also remember that this was the busiest, loudest concert I'd ever been to. 

• June 29th- 100 Subscribers- Around this time I started realizing that, wow, people really are watching the content that I post on the internet. I'm still not over the fact that over 100 people watch my videos. 

• July 4th- 50 Beau Bloggers- The wonderful blogging community that I'm a part of, reached 50 members. They are truly such amazing bloggers and new members are always welcome. I'm so proud to be part of such an amazing community of talented people :)

• July 8th- Met Sprinkle Of Glitter- I've been watching Louise for years so it was an absolute dream come true meeting her. She's gorgeous in real life too and Darcy was with her at her book signing and she was so adorable. 

• July 15th- 100 Followers On Bloglovin- I'm still so grateful for anyone that's following me and made it possible for me to have 100 followers!

• July 22nd- Germany Holiday- Every year me and my family go to visit more of my family in Germany. We spent 3 weeks there this year and had the most amazing time ever. 

• August 28th- Signed Network Deal With Outspeak- I was contacted by a youtube network who asked me to join them and I was absolutely honored too. They've honestly helped me when it comes to youtube questions I have. 

• August 29th- Got My First Dislike On A Video- You might be like Izzy why would you include this in your highlights post? Well I still find it hilarious because I clearly annoyed someone with my cheesy sense of humour, and I LOVE annoying people it's so fun! And I'm not gonna take it personally because I'm still pretty chuffed with the fact I almost made it 2 years on youtube without a dislike!

• October 11th- One Direction Vlog- This was one of the best concerts of my life and I still can't get over the fact it might be the last one of their's I'll see for a while :( They are just gorgeous human beings that deserve all the success they've had. 

• October 25th- The Amazing Tour Is Not On Fire- Me and two of my lovely friends when to see Dan and Phil live and their whole show was just hilarious. I look up to their videos like crazy so it was an honor seeing them in person. 

• November 8th- Radio 1 Teen Awards- I can't believe I had the life experience to spend the day in London whilst watching some of my favourite acts in the world perform/present. I'm glad I went this year because I'll never be allowed to go again because I'll be too old. 

• November 11th- 2nd Youtube Anniversary- Still can't believe I've been on youtube for 2 years, I still feel like a newbie with the whole thing. My experience on youtube has been 100x better than I thought it would be, and I thought being a youtuber would be amazing in the first place! 

• December 1st- Started Blogmas- Blogmas is one of my favourite times of year because I always have so many thoughts to pour out onto my blog during winter. It went by faster this year. 

• December 22nd- Reached 1000 subscribers- This is basically my dream come true, my dream has come true! I don't think I'll ever believe that it's happened and thank you so much for anyone that made it possible by subscribing :)

• December 25th- Christmas- This is my favourite day of the year and I never get over the wonderful celebrations of the day. I'm so eternally grateful that I've always been lucky enough to have great Christmases. 

• December 31st- New Years- Aaaaannnnd that brings us to today. The very last day of the year and that's absolutely crazy to say! I'm spending the day with my family, and the evening with a few of my friends. I'm already looking forward to the celebrations and to watching the London fireworks on TV!

So that was a summary of 2015 for me. I'm still not over how quickly it just flew by, but I'm glad I have made so many memories to look back on. I have no idea what 2016 awaits for me. Literally no idea since I have 0 plans for after I finish my A Levels. I should probably get thinking on what I'm gonna do but that's a problem for another day!

I hope that you all celebrate safely tonight and that you have the most wonderful evening. I also hope more than anything that 2016 treats you all well and that all your dreams and desires come true this year. The song of the day is Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift, because this year really has been beyond my wildest dreams! Happy new year to you all!

Izzy K xxx

My New Year's Resolutions

I can never quite get over how quickly a year goes by, and is it just me or do they seem to be getting faster and faster each time? It astonishes me that it's almost time to wave goodbye to 2015 and greet the new year. 

In my video I said that I didn't make any resolutions at the start of this year (shows that I made a conscious effort to do them right!) but as I'm typing this I realize that's not entirely true. In January I made a post called New Years Resolutions and then a few days later I posted another one few days later called More New Years Resolutions because I wanted to have even more. So basically I was entirely wrong by saying that I had none. Let's take a look at them and whether or not I achieved them: 

• Start a legging collection- I have actually managed to triple the number of leggings in my collection this year, something which I'm extremely proud of! I'm obsessed with this clothing item and wear it all the time. I have such a wide range in my collection now, including patterend ones, knitted ones, some with zips down the side, colourful ones, and my personal favourite; galaxy ones. 

• Not get kicked out of sixth form- I'm gonna say this was successful because I didn't get kicked out. I'm not a rebellious person at all so I wouldn't get kicked out for bad behavior or anything, my 6th form just doesn't let you continue there if you don't get good enough grades the first year. Somehow I actually managed to pass all 5 of my AS subjects, although I did do a lot better in some than others. 

• Revise harder- Hells yeah I did this. My life has become nothing but revision. Not that it's paying off in anyway; I still know nothing for any of my subjects. 

• Make at least 12 videos this year- I have definitely achieved this. At first, I was planning on making 1 video a month, but I was enjoying it so much I increased it to 2 videos a month and then one video a week. 

• Blog every month- To my surprise I actually managed this too! Throughout this year I've already posted 85 posts on Izzy K and 40 on Izzy K: Reviews and More. 

• Tell someone about my youtube channel- Thinking about this is so weird, but at this time last year no one but a very small number of my friends knew about my channel. Not even my family knew. And now my family know and my mum is incredibly supportive. 

• Take more pictures- Overall I would class this as unsuccessful because I'm still as camera shy as last year. I did create an instagram account and I'm hoping to post on it more this year. 

• Enjoy the summer more- Even though I did do a few more things this summer, I wouldn't say I enjoyed the season itself. It was more the things I did during them if that makes sense. Summer is my least favourite season because I despise hot weather, but I think I did an ok job at making the most of it. 

• Be more spontaneous- I would say that I kinda managed to do this one this year. Sometimes, I do still like to stick to my own personal schedule and don't like it being interrupted. But I've also managed to surprise myself a couple of times, especially in terms of youtube. 

So there were last year's resolutions, now here's what I want to acheive in 2016:

1. Gain more confidence- My awkward shyness holds me back in basically everything. I find it extremely difficult to speak up in class, I have to ask everything 100 times because I never believe that what I'm doing is right, I do dance lessons but I'm awful at it because I can't do anything when anyone is looking at me, and my driving skills are a nightmare because I always feel like I'm doing things wrong. Basically, it would be a new life for me if I had the slightest bit of confidence so I'm looking at doing things out of my comfort zone so that I can build up my confidence.
2. Do well on my A Levels- A levels are never not on my mind and every minitue I spend not working on them I feel guilty. Yet this amount of work isn't really paying off so I need to find a way to work more effectively. My target grades for the end of this year are AABB but I'm really hoping to get an A* in German if that's possible. So I'm gonna lock myself away in my room, as usual, and work work work!
3. Be more active on social media- You might be like Izzy WTF but social media is extremely important to me. Firstly, it will really improve my confidence by really getting myself out there. Secondly, I really want a career in digital marketing/something social media-y so I really need the experience haha. 

My aims for this year are rather vague but still hard work to do. The song of the day is Love Yourself by Justin Bieber (but written by Ed Sheeran) because it's been one of my favourite songs this year. I'm hoping that 2016 is an absolutely wonderful year for everyone and that you have amazing New Years Celebrations. Are you making any resolutions this year, and if so what are they? Please let me know in the comments,

Izzy K xxx

1000 Subscribers Q&A

As I mentioned in my blogmas posts, on the 22nd of December I achieved my youtube dream of reaching 1000 subscribers and I literally can't believe it! I turned my computer on in the morning and went on youtube (that's the first thing I do every morning) and was expecting to see 900 and something subscribers like the day before. To my complete and utter surprise that's not what it said, the subscriber count was actually 1,000. It was that number exactly and it just looked so beautiful I could have cried! Ok not gonna lie, there were a few tears!

To show my appreciation to you guys, I decided to film my first ever Q&A to give you the chance to ask anything your heart desired. The video is extremely long, but that's only because I wanted to answer all the questions that were asked so that no one would feel left out. I hope you enjoy my first ever Q&A, and thanks for anyone who left a question :)

I hope you enjoy watching :)

I just want to say a huge gigantic thank you to absolutely every single person that's hit that subscribe button. Without you I wouldn't be writing this blog post or have made the Q&A video. You are all so lovely and supportive and I literally can't thank you enough but I'll give it a go anyway: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

Youtube honestly means the world to me and since I'm the shiest person in the world I never thought I'd ever have the guts to actually do it. The last 2 years have been the best 2 of my life because I've discovered that youtube is my favourite hobby. I literally revolve my whole life and schedule around filming and editing videos because it's my true passion in life. I know that I'm no where near as good as other youtubers out there, but I'm constantly looking to improve and gain new skills. I'm just so chuffed that I'll be able to share any new skills that I learn with 1000 people. 

I just hope that you continue to like the content that I post and that I make you happy that you took the time to watch my videos. I'm always looking for new things to do, new themes to talk about, and different ways to film videos to keep them as interesting as possible. Believe me when I say that I have loads of things up my sleeve and I will continue to surprise you if you keep watching. 

So thank you so much for making my wildest dreams come true, it still hasn't sunk in. I'm starting to realise that I do need to up my game with so many people watching, so I'm gonna work harder than ever now on my videos. The song of the day is Never Had A Dream Come True by S-Club 7. So for the billionth time this post and video, thank you so much :)

Izzy K xxx

BLOGMAS DAY 25: MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

So today is the 25th of December and we all know what that means, IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME! 

I hope you all had the most magical day, whether you do or don't celebrate Christmas. As I'm writing this post, I'm currently finishing off the last of my celebrations. My whole family is gathered around in the living room while we're watching one of our favourite films, National Lampoon's Christmas vacation. We haven't watched it in years and we forgot how funny it truly is and we're cracking up!

I had the most wonderful Christmas and it was definitely one of my favourites I've ever had. My sister woke me up at 6am sharp by kicking my bedroom door open and giving me the shock of my life. Then we started opening our wonderful presents and I couldn't be more grateful for them. I'm not going to list absolutely every thing because I really don't want it to come across like I'm boasting but my main present was my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge phone. 

I literally haven't been off it all day!  And my sister did something really unusual and actually got me a present, and a rather extravagant present at that. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that she brought me the Naked 2 palette! My parent's told me how much she spent on my present, so I spent the same amount on her, but I still can't live up to her present. I've been dreaming about owning one for years, especially Naked 2 because it works really well with brown eyes. So Smelly if you're reading (you're probably not) I just want to say thank you sooo much. 

And then we spent the rest of the day at my Aunt and Uncles house. My uncle cooked the most wonderful Christmas dinner and he even catered for mine and sister's awkward veggie requirements. We just had the most wonderful festive day and all felt truly spoiled. Without sounding too cheesy, it's times like this where I really how lucky we are. 

I just wanted to finish this blogmas post of with a bit of reflection. First of all, I can't believe it's been 25 days already. Writing these posts has flown by so quick and unlike last year, I actually managed to post something everyday up until Christmas day. And secondly I just want to say thank you for all your festive posts. Christmas is a time where the blogging community is incredibly festive and shares the Christmas spirit. I've truly enjoyed being inspired by all your posts this Season and if you took part in Blogmas/ wrote any sorts of posts this month, you did a great job! 

The song of the day is White Christmas because it's such a classic one. I hope everyone was able to feel the magic of Christmas and was completely and utterly satisfied with their day. I can't believe I'm saying this already, but thanks so much for reading my last Blogmas post of 2015,

Izzy K xxx

Blogmas Day 24: Christmas Eve!

Can anyone believe there's just one day left until Christmas? If I had to pick a day of the year that excites me the most, I would say Christmas eve. Probably even more than Christmas day itself because I know that when Christmas is over, so is the whole festive season.  There's just nothing else like going to sleep in the evening (or early A.M. in my case) and knowing that the next morning...

Is it just me or has the whole Christmas season gone so fast this year. I feel like I still have so many vlogmas videos to catch up on and loads of Christmas films to watch. As I'm writing this I'm actually watching High School Musical instead of a proper festive film but I couldn't resist watching it lol. 

Basically, I just can't believe how fast this winter season has gone and I feel like I want to do it all over again. I'm kinda gutted that I have to wait a whole year to go through it again, so I'm savoring the last few festive moments of this year!

How exciting is today though? I truly recommend you all sit at home, watch a Christmas film like Elf or the Polar express and have some hot chocolate. 

I hope you can all contain your excitement for tomorrow, aka one of the best days of the year. The song of the day is Merry Christmas Everyone by Slade because it's one of my all time favourite songs. Try not to stay up too late with excitement, but I know that's hard to do! Thanks for reading, 

Izzy K xxx

Blogmas Day 23: The Christmas Tag

Now I know that there are billions upon billions (well maybe not) of Christmas tags out there. It seems like every youtuber/blogger does a different one, so I did my research and found my favourite one. 

This video has really got me in the Christmas spirit and I'm feeling especially festive now that it's creeping closer to Christmas day. With that said happy Christmas Eve Eve. I hope you're all having a wonderful time of year, whether you celebrate Christmas yourself or not. 

Here are the questions for the tag in case you quickly want to give it a go this year, or save it until next year:

1. What is your favourite Christmas film?
2. Have you ever had a White Christmas?
3. Where do you usually spend your holiday?
4. What is your favourite Christmas song?
5. Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve?
6. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
7. What holiday traditions are you looking forward to most this year?
8. Is your Christmas tree real or fake?
9. What is your all-time favourite holiday food/sweet treat?
10. Be honest: do you like giving gifts or receiving gifts better?
11. What is the best Christmas gift you've ever received?
12. What would be your dream place to visit for the holiday season?
13. Are you a pro-present wrapper, or do you fail miserably?
14. Most memorable Holiday moment?
15. What made you realize the truth about Santa?
16. Do you make New Years resolutions? Do you stick to them?
17. What makes the holidays special for you?

So thank you very much for watching and reading. The song of the day is Santa Tell Me by Ariana Grande and I'm currently jamming to it!

Izzy K xxx

Blogmas Day 22: Tis The Cold Season

Now I know what you're probably thinking, yes December is cold! But that's not really what this post is about. I hate to dampen the Christmas spirit but today's post will be a little bit of a rant. (But don't worry, there are a few happy things at the end of it).

Literally me right now lol!

First of all, my immune system seems to have failed me once again since I've come down with a cold. I get colds literally about once a month if not more, especially at this time of the year (hence why this is the cold season aaaaaaay see what I did there?!) I'm fully aware that colds are not the worst things in the world, but it's just annoying because I've had it from the first day of my Christmas holidays until now. And I was planning on being super productive these last few days and even film a couple of videos, but now I'm not really in the mood for it which is really annoying!

How I feel sitting at my desk

And that's lead me onto my second rant topic of the day; my holiday workload. I don't know why we even get given a holiday because I'm not gonna get much of a break during it. Like my teachers have said that over the holidays we should: 

• Read over all our work and make sure we fully understand everything (I don't understand anything at the moment so I'll have to spend hours doing that)
• Redo any essays that need 
• Read an entire book in German and then write essays on it (I'm not a huge reader so that should be fun)
• Do the mountains of homework they've pilled onto us
• Start revising for our mocks
• Oooooohhhh and of course finally we should relax and it will of course be our own faults if we come back in the new year not refreshed or ready to learn. 

So basically, I'm hella stressing out about the crazy amounts of work I have to do. Don't get me wrong, I've started it already but I'm in the mindset where I feel like even if I spent every hour of every day working I still wouldn't be prepared for my A Levels. 

And on top of that I'm expected to do other things this holiday since it's the Christmas holiday. I've been visiting friends and family, having to sort out things for uni, working on my driving lessons, and working on my blog/youtube channel. Like don't get me wrong I love doing all these things, I just don't have time to do them and it makes me feel really guilty when I do them instead of working. I just wish I could stop time, do all my work, and then carry on enjoying my holidays.

But aaaaanyway, let's move onto a more positive note shall we....

I CAN'T EXPLAIN HOW EXCITED I AM!

I found out the nicest news ever yesterday. My friends confirmed my already existing beliefs that they're the absolute best people in the world when they surprised me with TICKETS TO SEE TROYE SIVAN! When the tickets came out, I couldn't afford to buy any but my buddies, being the baes they are, chipped in to get me one. And if any of them are reading, like hi Georgie if you're reading, I'll pay you back asap. Thank you once again, seriously can't believe my luck to be surrounded with people as lovely as you. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH

And also I had the weirdest thing EVER happen to me which is why I'm saving it till last. So if you guys didn't know, my life long dream for youtube was to have 1k subscribers. I wasn't expecting to reach it within my first 2 years because I thought it would literally take me hundreds of years to get to that point. But then this morning I logged onto youtube and I saw it; the big 1000 SUBSCRIBERS! I could not believe my eyes and I just stood staring at the screen for about 10 minutes before telling my family! I'm gonna be writing a post about how grateful I am in my 1k subscriber Q&A that will be up towards the end of this week, but in the meantime I just want to say a MASSIVE thank you to anyone who's hit that subscribe button. You've literally made my dreams come true and I can't thank you enough. 

So this post was probably a huge mix of emotions. I hope you managed to get through the little ranty start to know that this post wasn't all doom and gloom. I've been feeling a range of emotions myself so I decided to document my thoughts in this daily post. The song of the day is Wild by TROYE FREAKING SIVAN because it's my favourite song by him. Thank you soooo much for reading, I promise tomorrow's post will start off a bit happier! 

Izzy K xxx