I Went To A Blog Conference!?

I am so excited right now I can't even describe to you how excited I am just using words. Like that is how excited I am. So If you read the title and you are confused because one, my age and two, I'm not a very popular blogger. Yes, I am 12 and my following is pretty small but I am very much telling the truth. I have talked about doing this multiple times on my blog this past month because I was so excited and now that it finally happened I'm still super happy. So pretty much what happened is one of my best friends moms emailed me and asked me if I wanted to go to this conference with her. She is a super cool cooking blogger (you can find her blog here) and so, of course, I said yes. I had never been to anything related to blogging before so I was basically freaking out the whole time.

This is actual footage of me during the conference. 

If you want to read about and see pictures of what I did and also some things I learned then feel free to keep reading (I would love if you did). If you want to watch what I did then I also vlogged the event and made a youtube video about it which you can find here.  Enough of my blabbering though. Let's get started!

Since the conference was so early in the morning (it started at 8) the night before I stayed over at my friend's house. I almost never have sleepovers so that was super fun. She taught me how to play a cool card game and we had dinner. Usual sleepover stuff. 

The next day though I had to wake up at like 6:30 which is when I wake up on a school day. Like seriously. Not cool.

When we arrived at the conference I was beyond excited. I was told that it would be in separate buildings but to my happy surprise, it wasn't because walking outside in Texas right now is a horrible idea.

For the first hour or so I just kind of walked around and also ate a lot of donut/muffin like things that were super delicious.

The place was like a warehouse and an art gallery so the different talks and everything were in the rooms and all along the walls was art that looked very cool.

They had a super cute dream board.

I tried to take a selfie and failed.

There were so many people!

                                     

So to start it off there were some journalists talking about a bunch of different things that were kind of interesting but also confusing. As part of the conference, they had a super cool Gen Z track with a bunch of different things for people my age. Most of the people weren't actually bloggers and more like kids of the bloggers but it was still super fun. 

The first one was by two super cool sisters talking about self-confidence. Their mom is a blogger and they have a book that they wrote at 9 and 10. Like mind blown. I met them and they were very cool.

After that, a cool person who I think is a health blogger/speaker/something online person did a cool talk on being healthy and eating rainbow foods and not food that was made in a lab. I think most of the other people thought it was boring but I thought it was interesting since I have been interested in stuff like that recently.

Then lunch because people get hungry.

We went to this cool pizza place where you choose your toppings so I got a mini pizza with some kind of sauce and tomatoes and sausage and I think arugula. Not that much stuff but it was super delicious.

Then we went back to the conference and the next thing I went to was about podcasting which was beyond cool.

The next session was about video PSA's which means public service announcement. It sounds super weird but an example would be the ice bucket challenge. So we split up into groups and made videos. My group did one on redefining feminism which I surprisingly didn't come up with.

I forgot what this was called but it is some kind of bread dessert thing and it was so good.

They had ice cream! 

After the little ice cream break, the next session was about virtual reality and 360 cameras.

It was so cool to look at!

They had these cameras that took 360 videos which means it can see all around you. It looks kind of like a tv remote weirdly. We went all around the conference and videotaped it and the outcome looked really awesome.

In the last session, the person talked about being you and your talents and how you can help the world. After that, I was kind of tired and exhausted so we drove back to my friend's house where my mom then picked me up.

I'm going to list some stuff I learned from the conference and maybe teach you guys something.

-You actually can make friends with someone older than you

-Creating and uploading a podcast is easier than it looks

-You need to know who your audience is

-Write everything down

-Things like phones and computers have changed almost everything 

-It's possible to write a book at 9 years old

-Always be clear about what you are saying

-Video editing can actually be kind of easy

-My vlogging skills are horrible

-Blogging is amazing

-Bloggers have things like engaging audiences and marketing down to a science

-I'm better at making friends when I'm not guarded 

-My phones battery life seems to be getting worse

-What a Video PSA is

-It can be easy to make a video if you have the right equipment 

-My phone has questionable video quality

-Blogging conferences are awesome 

-A lot of things you see online are some kind of ad

-I'm more outgoing than a lot of people think I am

-Try and you might succeed 

I'm bad at listing things like that. I can never remember. This was such a cool experience for me and I'm happy I could share it with you guys. :) If you liked this post make sure to follow my blog because then you can see more of my posts and it makes me super happy so there is that. What are your thoughts on this? Have you ever been to a conference? If so have you ever been to a blogging conference? If so was it awesome? Have you ever been to any blogging event? Do you have a blog (if so comment it down below)? Any thoughts on this post at all whatsoever? What is your favorite picture?

My video that you should totally go check out.

July In Review

Hi! Hello! What's up? What's happening? Awesome. So I haven't been on this computer in literally more than a month. Plus, I haven't been online at all in I think 5 days and I haven't posted for 4 days (I had a scheduled post. I was trying to post a lot this summer and I half failed and half succeeded and it is literally almost August. I am starting school in a couple weeks. So my excuse this time was for the first two days I was on a road trip driving 10 hours each day with my grandparents. Such fun. Then the next day after we got back to my house (they were driving us back from their house) we were doing stuff all day and then I had a sleepover. The next day I had to wake up super early and do something all day which I will tell you about tomorrow. Boom. *insert funny boom gif that I can't find*I have actual excuses for not posting. Kind of. I just realized I am literally more consistent during the school year. I am so weird. So now to what the post is actually about. Because it is the end of the month I'm going to do my monthly round-up post the same thing as others I have done but with a different name. I think I like this title better.

 

-Brownies

-Seeing my sister catch a fish literally bigger than her

-More brownies

-Other desserts

-Spending time with my grandparents 

-Seeing family

-Eating ice cream

-How nice my grandmother is

-Having a sleepover

-Doing another thing related to blogging

-Getting a new necklace

-Going to two museums

-The 4th of July! 

-Hanging out with my aunt and two of my uncles one of whom I almost never see

-Exploring Charleston

-Beating people in board games

-Hanging out with friends

-Watching movies

-The Gender Games

-The Gender Secret

-The Gender Lie

-Warriors Don't Cry

Pretty much a little bit of a weirdly long series and I book I have to read for school. I'm not doing very well reading wise this summer. 

I want to use this gif even if I didn't read a lot. 

1. Dominican Republic

2. School Supplies Haul

3. A Post In Which Characters Fight To The Death

4. A Letter To My Future Self

5. Easy Blog Post Ideas To Post This Summer

If you want you can totally check those out and comment "future Nabila sent me".

-Eat lots of brownies (brownies are one of my favorite desserts and my grandmother is the best brownie maker in the entire world)

-Have fun at my grandparent's house (I will be staying at my dad's parents house for the next 3 weeks)

-Go tubing

-Go to a blogging thing I am not sure if I will be able to go to just yet

-Post everyday

-Get more comfortable when wearing a bathing suit

-Say sorry only when I really mean it

-Make a plan to hang out with friends

-Meet someone new

-At least start my summer reading for school ( I am way too behind)

I think I did pretty well. I completed most of my goals and the ones I didn't complete were kind of impossible.

-Finish my summer reading project

-Post at least 3 times a week

-Start school successfully

-Post a certain book tour post on time

-Write a back to school haul post 

-Email two people I met yesterday about an interview

-Do a collab post

-Try to be more healthy

-Sign up for student council if I can at school

-Just try to be nicer

-Eat fewer sweets and unhealthy things

-Be open to new ideas and people

-Hangout with friends 

-Post a youtube video

-Make a good first impression on my teachers

-Help my sister start middle school  

Bye! I need to start writing tomorrow's post and then start editing another thing and then have dinner and then read some stuff. I am weirdly busy for a kid in the summer. Comment down below what you guys did this month and what you are excited about for August. I would love to hear what the awesome people who read my blog are up too. Have an amazing day/night/morning/afternoon!

Everything Is Here For Reason

This photos has everything to do with this post. Everything.

This thought was actually sparked at a Walmart I went to recently. We were walking around and I was basically drooling at the school supplies because I love school supplies. I was noticing that a lot of the things said things like “Be Yourself” or something like that. The US is a very “you” country. There is a more scientific name for this that I can’t spell at the current moment but that's ok. What I mean by this is that we are very proud of ourselves and it matters what “you” do and less what a “team” does. I had like the best History Teacher in the entire world last year and he did a lesson on this and it was really cool. 

So this made me think of something my mom told me a couple years ago. I forgot exactly why but I remember it to this day. My mom is a pretty wise person. She was telling me how everything is made and created for a reason. Actually I remember now. I think I was complaining about cockroaches and how they didn’t do anything good. Sh explained to me that I was entirely wrong. In our homes they are just annoying but out in they wild they have a job just like every other living thing. What that job is I have forgotten and I’m not going to look it up because I admit I’m lazy.

But if you think about it. She was right. This reminds me of science and the food chain. If only one species dies or grows bigger or smaller in some way the whole food chain changes and could stop working. It just won’t work. Humans are interesting though. I’m not sure what we do. Most of the time we just destroy other animals and ecosystems and other systems and lives. We really need to be more careful about that.

Even though humans to the environment are kind of failing, in our lives we are pretty important. I’m not sure if I totally believe this but I feel like we are all here for a reason. In the Hugo movie, which I watched recently, Hugo, the main character, talked about how in a machine there are no extra pieces. Everything is there for a reason. So if the world was a big machine he couldn’t have been and extra part and he had to be there for a reason. He was kind of sad but really smart little boy. 

Not everyone’s going to become president or a star or an internet sensation but you don’t have to be any of those things to make a difference. Any regular person can make a difference in the world. It could be becoming friends with someone who sad and literally saving a life. Or it could be just having a conversation with someone that makes them think about something that changes everything for them. It could be being a teacher and inspiring a student to pursue there dreams. It could also falling in love with someone and changing your and there lives forever. 

You know even pain is here for a reason, which is also something my mom said. As I have said before, I have a pretty cool mom. I have never experienced really bad pain like some people have so this is probably easier to say for me but it is true. This is the example my mom told me when I did not understand what she was saying one bit. She said that if your hand is on something hot you would probably pull away because you can feel the heat. Butttt what if you can’t feel it, you could burn your hand which could literally destroy your hand forever. 

A lot of people try to do things like lets say get a job or become friends with someone. Sometimes it is just luck because the world is not fair but thats not a very happy way to think about. Instead we can  think about it like Katy Perry once said in a pretty awesome song. One of the lines in her song Firework which is by the way amazing is this “Maybe a reason why all the doors are closed, so you can open one that leads you to a perfect road”. Not everyones life is going to be perfect because as I said not everything is fair but if you think like that you will be a million times happier. If something doesn’t work out it probably happened because that was not the right thing for you.

The only thing I haven’t found a reason for is mosquitos. Like seriously. Are they here to remind us how evil we are or something???? Because I can’t find another reason. They are just annoying little things that spread diseases and make it hard to go outside and bite you. This post was so calm and collected and then I had to say that. I regret nothing. Absolutelly nothing. 

And that was 831 words about an important topic. Kind of. I feel proud of myself. I’m also 12. Bet you didn’t guess that if you didn’t know me already. Boom! I am one of the nerdiest 12 years olds on the planet which you might disagree with but wait. I realized this the other day when I was legit having a conversation about discrimination and things like that over text with one of my friends the other day. And we were sending full on paragraphs to each other and it was a lot of fun. I’m not sure what type of nerd that is but it's a thing. Soooooo did you like this post? If you did I would absolutely love if you could maybe possibly follow my blog by pressing that follow button on the sidebar to the left of the screen. No but like seriously did you like this post? Should I do more deep think type posts like this? Did you agree/disagree with any of it? Any thoughts at all whatsoever? What is something someone has told you that has stuck with you to this day? What is your favorite song that has an inspiring message?

A Letter To My 10 Year Old Self

Hello peoples! This is my first scheduled post in like forever. I’m getting back on track. Hopefully.... Maybe... I don’t know. I will try which is better then not trying and yes I have heard that Yoda quote. So two days ago about a week ago I did a post that was a letter to my 8th grade/about to start high school self and I think some of you guys liked it. A couple peoples said it was a good idea and there was a lot of comments on it so why not do it again? Also not related to the post but all day today I have been walking around the house dancing and singing (in my head because reasons) and thinking how fun it would be to be in a musical and I don’t know why I’m telling you this but whatever. Now back to the post! So in this post I am going to do a little letter to my 10 year old self. I am 12 now so I would have been 10, 2 years ago. This might not seemed like a long time but I have changed a lot these past two years so it makes sense, ok. Don’t question me.

So hi Nabila, two years ago. So if you are 10 that means you are in......... Ummmmmm. 4th grade I think. Yeah. I’m pretty sure that's right. *nods head* 

So first congrats and getting through school so far. I mean it hasn’t really been that hard but you did take you first big standardized test which is a pretty big accomplishment I must say. Let me just say it gets harder. Like way harder. Like you won’t think your the smartest person in the world anymore harder. I think I might be going to hard on you. Sorry

So blog wise your blog kind of sucks. Like big time. I’m being harsh again. Sorry. Yeah I need to stop. But like seriously. Change your blog layout. It looks really bad.

Also you need to ask or give attribution if you are going to use photos from the internet. It is like a law. Just saying. It's a thing.

You very much have talents. You might not think so at the current moment but you do. You are a pretty cool person and you don’t have to be the best at anything.

Oh and be kind to your sisters. This something that I also need to tell myself but still its always good advice.

Reading is really really important. You’re just discovering this but it really is and reading will help in so many aspects of life.

Drama is always horrible but elementary school drama is even worse because it is fake. Like seriously. It’s entertaining but it can also get you in trouble.

Your friends and family love you and don’t ever take that for granted.

You are smart enough for all of those clubs you think you won’t get into. There’s no chance of getting in if you don’t at least try.

Right now you think the world is so small. You have yet to truly explore the world and the internet. You have only ever lived in one place and you have the same friends you had in kindergarden. The world is so big and wonderful and amazing. Try to learn.

I know there are a couple girls in your grade who aren’t every kind and might comment on your fashion sense and how you do your hair and it will get to you. DON’T LET IT. You are amazing and beautiful.

Do not try to be the boss of everyone. People will hate you for that and you should probably start working on it now. It is fine to be a leader but don’t tell people what to do

Also don’t label people. You have a habit of doing that and it can sometimes offend people even though you are not trying to be mean.

Just because you are going into 5th grade doesn’t mean you are better then any of the younger people at your school. It is not age that matters but the things you do and say.

You are gong to have a little conversation with a friend of yours where that friend says something extremely racist that’s not very kind and instead of not saying anything, say that they are wrong because they are. Like seriously.

You are going to try to become friends with a certain popular person because of this persons popularity and I want to tell you know that first it doesn’t work and second seriously. 

Just to crush your spirits early so that you don’t bet on it and lose I think 5 dollars you don’t get onto the student council. A certain other person gets on instead and really he’s better at it and you still have a good year so don’t be so annoyed about it.

Next year you will be in 5th grade and although there will be a couple downs it will absolutely be shadowed by all of the amazing things that happen to you. You have amazing times with your friends and you make some new ones. You are finally the oldest on campus. Make the most of it. 

After that you will be in 6th grade. Its pretty far away from you know but I know your scared of it and when it comes time you question the school you decided to go to. The school you chose? Yeah you absolutely love it and it isn’t so scary.

You are amazing and wonderful and you need to always always remember that.

I feel like I’m mean. Am I mean? I feel like all of the other posts that I read to get inspiration for this one were all love dove and sweet and I am over here acting like a really bossy person which is what I just said not to do. I really need to work on that. So what did you think of the post? I hope you liked it and if you did feel free to follow my blog by pressing that follow button to the left of this post. If you want to see my letter to my high school self you can go here if you want to check it out. How old are you (this sounds creepy but I want to know how old my readers are)? Should I do more posts like this (like when I am older)? What would you tell to your 10 year old self if you could? Are any of you guys 10 and if so what would you tell to your 12 year old self? Do you like open letter like this? How amazing are you? The correct answer is very amazing because one you are reading my blog and two lots of other reasons. Ok bye peoples! Have an amazing day/night/afternoon/morning!

Time- A Poem

So lovely :) 

Time is the culprit of everything. It changes appearances, wilts flowers, and brings life. We wish we could hold on forever, but that isn't how this cycle works. It takes away just as much as it gives. Sometimes, that is hard to understand. It causes pain, and even when it feels like it's the end of the world, nothing stops. The clock keeps ticking and soon, years pass by. In your heart, you can still feel a stain. A space that could never quite be filled. The chilly wind comes back, and I shiver. Even my jacket and your hands can't keep me warm. Red, orange, and yellow leaves drop by me and I seem to be living in a dream. Just for a moment then, my heart beat stops for just a second. I see a single brown leaf, and cup it with both hands. Night comes. Strangely, only one star seems to shine. It's been 30 years now. I still remember that stain in my heart that hasn't been completely filled, but I always think of everything I've lost. I can see it in my heart, all those faces, all that laughter, all those smiles. The first time I had grown up into something my parents could be proud of. Maybe, just maybe, it's not all over just yet. I'm happy just knowing that. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope that you enjoyed that poetry piece! It really means a lot to me because although I'm young and have yet to go over all these experiences, it just shows how the little things in life can make all the difference. You can always find a light in the darkness.

Sincerely,

Saanvi

a girl whose only language is music, whose soul is made of words, and who is trying to live, laugh, and love life

Find more here at her personal blog.

A huge thanks to Nabila for letting me guest post <3

South Carolina Photo Diary // Catching A 45 Pound Fish, Pink Houses, And Most Importantly Brownies

Hi! What's up peoples? Having a good day? Maybe? Maybe not? I hope you are but if you are not that's ok too. Smile and make tomorow a good day. Soooooooo....... In my latest post I said I would explain why I have only posted two posts this week when I am supposed to post every day. So pretty much I am staying with my grandparents right now and they are incredibly awesome but that is not part of the story. So for a couple days we went down to this motorhome rv park type thing with a lake. I am not sure the actually name but you can like put your motorhome there and stay there for a specific time and you can have your boat and go fishing and it’s a thing. Anyway so we stayed there for a week and it was fun. The thing is the wifi and internet connection there is questionably as in there is none. I could have scheduled some posts kind of like what I did for when I went to the Dominican but I was lazy and I didn’t so overall it was my fault so sorry for anyone who was annoyed by that. So in this post I am going to show you guys some photos and tell you a little bit of what I have been doing while hanging out with my grandparents these past few weeks. I usually do these kind of wrap up posts after I arrive home but I have decided to do it today because I am leaving in a couple days and I don’t think we are going to do anything and I have no other posts ideas to be honest so let’s get started!

So the first week my dad stayed with us as well so that was fun and we went to this cool rock geology museum and all of the rocks were so beautiful. 

The 4th of July! We had fun and there were sparklers and it was awesome and if you want to find out more about that you can go to this post. 

Then for the weekend me and my sisters stayed with my aunt and uncle who live right by my grandparents. This is a picture of me when I was like two that I feel like I have to include because I was very much one of the cutest two year olds on the planet (don’t question me).

I got this bracelet made out of bottle caps for a dollar from a thrift shop we went to for a reason I now forget but I love the bracelet. 

Downtown Greenville.

I am a weird kid and some of my favorite games are risk and monopoly so when I found out that they owned a game of risk and that my uncle liked the game I kind of had to play and he for some reason agreed. It was mostly luck rolling wise, but I won and I was pretty happy about it. I’ve never won before mostly because no one has ever played a full game with me before but still.

More pictures of me when I was younger because it is needed.

We made strawberry shortcakes for dessert one of the days and although I think I ate it incorrectly it was amazing. It was almost amazing as the brownies my grandma makes.

And then I beat everyone in monopoly too. I was having a very good day.

The next day right before we left they took us to see the new despicable me movie and it was pretty good. If you want to see my review of it you can go here. 

As I said (I think) my grandparents are super into fishing so we went fishing a couple times.

Then as I said we went to the rv plac and it is right near Charelston so we explored that the first day we were there. My grandfather was in the air force so we visited a cool military base near Charleston and there were some planes on display. 

Him posing for a picture in front of a type of plane he used to fly.

This is the church my parents got married in. I had never seen it before but it is supposed to be really famous and beautiful and it was really pretty from what I could see.

The doors!

Walking near the ocean.

There was a pink house! And a green house! And a yellow house! And they were all old and pretty so I got my grandma to take a picture of me.

The lake near where we were staying was so pretty.

It seemed to go on forever.

Fanta is amazing ok. Don’t judge.

This is the 45 pound fish. Like it was almost bigger then my little sister which is who caught it (although my grandfather might helped). 

Ice cream! 

The boat.

A feather. There were a bunch of birds around but I sadly didn’t get any good pictures of them because they kept flying away from me. I feel like they didn’t like me.

I was trying to take a good picture but it looks really blurry. Comment down below if you notice how a lot of these picture just look a little bit off. I think I might have done something to my phone camera. 

The bird sitting in the tree.

My sister hates when I take pictures of her so I have to be sneaky but she is so pretty so I couldn’t help myself. I think this one turned out ok.

Sunset on the lake.

This post was kind of confusing and all over the place but I hoped you liked it. The next time I disappear I will make sure to say something first. So did you like this post? If you did I would love if you could follow my blog by pressing that follow button to the left of this post. Have you ever been fishing? What is your favorite thing you have done/you remember about your grandparents? Have you ever ridden on a boat? Have you ever been to a lake? Which picture in this post is your favorite? Should I do more posts like this? What is your favorite type of post on this blog? What kind of posts should I do more of? Are you already following my blog because if so you are awesome.