Hey, guys! If you actually read this blog, you're totally awesome ^_^
Anyways, I thought I'd do a little post to give you guys updates (and because I really enjoy procrastinating on English homework, but we can just...forget about that little detail for now). School is going pretty well now. If you read my last post, you know that I had some schedule issues last week, but those have been totally resolved and everything is going really well (thank God!). Yeah, life is pretty busy now that I have homework and activities and AN ACTUAL SOCIAL LIFE and other things going on, but that's totally fine with me because I don't know what I would do if I didn't. Well, other than film. And edit. But eventually there's too much empty time to just do that, too...
ANYWAY, life in general is going pretty well for me right now (I hope it is for you guys too!). Next weekend will be a three-day weekend thanks to Labor Day (!!!), so I'll hopefully get in some filming time! I've started planning my Dolloween video, and I'm thinking about beginning the long process of filming it over the coming weekend. I know it's early, but if I don't start now, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to finish it in time XD
Also, I know a lot of you are probably wondering where my fifth AGMA assignment is.
And I'm sorry to disappoint you guys, but I'm not going to make it. AGMA is a great opportunity and everything, I know, but it just wasn't as much fun anymore. I love photography (A LOT!), but spending all my free time making photoshoots (and of the same doll!) wasn't so appealing to me anymore, especially considering the fact that I could instead spend that good time filming stop motions or other videos.
So I decided to drop out of AGMA. Not officially or anything, but I just didn't make my assignment, and I'll be eliminated from the competition. It was fun while it lasted, but now it's time for me to move on to something else.
So yeah...that's pretty much all I have for you guys. As for other YouTube-related news, I applied for a YouTube partnership and am now officially a YouTube partner, which is totally awesome and exciting for me.
I hope you guys are doing well! BeForever releases tomorrow (well, tonight at midnight, if you want to be technical about it). I'm really excited to see what's in store for the AG community, and I'll probably do a little post showing my personal opinion about the new items. Would you guys like to see something like that? Tell me in the comments if you do. :)
-Cristina
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
SCHOOL?!?!
Hi, guys! As much as I wish I could spend my entire life filming and editing videos, I simply cannot.
Especially now that school has started.
I'm honestly super bummed that summer ended. I know there are a whole bunch of people in this world who love school more than anything else in the entire existing world. I, however, am not one of them. Sure, school gives me something to do with my life (if it didn't exist, who knows where I'd be right now? I probably would've gone insane by this point in time. XD), it teaches me things (even if I'm not too keen on actually learning them), and it gives me a chance to meet and hang out with other people my age... But let's just say I'm a tad bit antisocial and awkward around actual humans. And there's a huge amount of work involved in school.
So much work that I wasn't able to make anything but photoshoots last school year.
I'm hoping to change that, though. I'm actually planning on dropping out of AGMA on YouTube simply because I don't want to use all my free time to make photoshoots when I could be using that time to film actual stopmotions. Stopmotions are quite a bit more fun to make, exciting to watch, and just satisfying in general. ;)
But anywho, school began yesterday, on August 18th, and is already in full swing.
Well, sort of.
I'm actually very stressed out and annoyed right now (that's probably the number one reason why I decided to write this rant) due to the insanity of school right now. A couple of days before it began, I had a bit of a mental breakdown at home, which led me to want to change a few of the classes on my school schedule. Currently, I'm still in the process of doing this. It's quite annoying too because I haven't received my new official schedule yet. That's been driving me crazy.
I hate not knowing things—not knowing what is going to happen to me. Thus, I absolutely hate being unsure of my classes and schedule and whatnot. Not know what classes I'm SUPPOSED to be in is truly a pain in the butt. Currently, I'm just going by my old schedule, but my classes and periods and teachers are all going to change when I get my new schedule, and not knowing where I'm technically SUPPOSED to be makes me extremely nervous, anxious, and (more than anything) stressed.
I don't know if you guys reading this, or if you even care, but I thought I would post this for my own good, just to make myself feel a little better and more confident.
Now to go do homework...for a class that I might not even be taking in two days... :/
Especially now that school has started.
I'm honestly super bummed that summer ended. I know there are a whole bunch of people in this world who love school more than anything else in the entire existing world. I, however, am not one of them. Sure, school gives me something to do with my life (if it didn't exist, who knows where I'd be right now? I probably would've gone insane by this point in time. XD), it teaches me things (even if I'm not too keen on actually learning them), and it gives me a chance to meet and hang out with other people my age... But let's just say I'm a tad bit antisocial and awkward around actual humans. And there's a huge amount of work involved in school.
So much work that I wasn't able to make anything but photoshoots last school year.
I'm hoping to change that, though. I'm actually planning on dropping out of AGMA on YouTube simply because I don't want to use all my free time to make photoshoots when I could be using that time to film actual stopmotions. Stopmotions are quite a bit more fun to make, exciting to watch, and just satisfying in general. ;)
But anywho, school began yesterday, on August 18th, and is already in full swing.
Well, sort of.
I'm actually very stressed out and annoyed right now (that's probably the number one reason why I decided to write this rant) due to the insanity of school right now. A couple of days before it began, I had a bit of a mental breakdown at home, which led me to want to change a few of the classes on my school schedule. Currently, I'm still in the process of doing this. It's quite annoying too because I haven't received my new official schedule yet. That's been driving me crazy.
I hate not knowing things—not knowing what is going to happen to me. Thus, I absolutely hate being unsure of my classes and schedule and whatnot. Not know what classes I'm SUPPOSED to be in is truly a pain in the butt. Currently, I'm just going by my old schedule, but my classes and periods and teachers are all going to change when I get my new schedule, and not knowing where I'm technically SUPPOSED to be makes me extremely nervous, anxious, and (more than anything) stressed.
I don't know if you guys reading this, or if you even care, but I thought I would post this for my own good, just to make myself feel a little better and more confident.
Now to go do homework...for a class that I might not even be taking in two days... :/
Friday, August 15, 2014
Meetup With Basilmentos!
While I was on vacation with my family a couple of weeks ago, I met up with Anna basilmentos! We had an amazing time meeting up, and I thought I'd make a little blog post about it for all of you.
A few weeks before we left on our trip, I told Anna that we would be going on vacation, and we realized that we would be in the same location at the same time during the trip. She suggested that we meet up somewhere, and we planned it from there. Honestly, I couldn't believe that I would be meeting the one and only Anna basilmentos. Again.
Technically, I had already met her. Back in March, she held a HUGE meetup at the AGP San Francisco. Almost 100 people showed up, including my sisters and me. It was truly an amazing experience to attend her big meetup, but it was crazy. There were so many people there to see her—so many that it was practically impossible to get a word in edgewise and speak to Anna myself. I still had a blast, but when Anna suggested meeting her again (without the crowd!), I couldn't resist. I mean, seriously, who WOULD resist?!
We decided to meet at a park in the area. She would bring her doll Julia, and I would bring my doll Ruby. My three younger sisters also came, although they weren't originally planning to stay with Anna and me while we hung out.
My family arrived at the park a little early to give ourselves a chance to look around and have lunch before Anna arrived. Then it was time to meet her. We all went to our planned meeting spot and waited. During that waiting time, I was so excited and nervous, I almost started shaking! It was crazy! Somehow I had managed to plan a meetup with Anna—it was a dream come true.
Then Anna arrived. She brought a backpack with all her supplies—Julia, her camera, and her tripod. She was going to bring a bag with some props as well, but she forgot the bag, which was fine with me because the meetup was still more than amazing.
We went out to take photos and film. Although it was initially going to be a meetup just with Anna and me, we decided to have my sisters help us and hang out with us as well. Anna was so welcoming of them! I totally wasn't expecting her to be kind and patient with the "unexpected guests" at the meetup, but she was. We stopped at all sorts of random places throughout the park to film little clips of our dolls. It was truly a great experience. Other people walking around noticed us filming too! Despite the few people who seemed to find it unusual, most people thought our stop motioning was actually pretty cool! Some people even stopped to take photos of it. At one point, Julia was sitting down on a little rock while we took a filming break, and a few people walked by just to photograph her as if she was part of an exhibit!
There were even a couple of people who wanted to know where they could find our videos, so we told them to check out basilmentos or sparkfireproductions on YouTube. Who knew you could get YouTube publicity just by filming in public?!
After we were done filming, my parents bought ice cream for all of us. There was a place to purchase ice cream at the park, so Anna, my sisters, and I all got some. We went to sit in the grass below a beautiful tree and just talked while eating ice cream. It was such an amazing feeling. We got along so well, it was like we were actually long-time friends. When we were finished with our ice cream, we hung out some more and took doll photos together. My sister and I even got to play around with Julia's hair. She is a truly beautiful doll, and I'm definitely considering purchasing her for myself. ;)
We took quite a few doll photos and even some human photos with each other; then it was time for Anna to leave. We packed up our things and headed back to the park entrance to say goodbye.
Even after Anna had left and my family and I were still spending time at the park together, I felt a crazy sense of exhilaration spread throughout me. I suddenly didn't care if the other people at the park saw me with a doll (I had cared before Anna arrived, and I was nervous about taking Ruby out of my bag). I mean, what does it matter if other people know you like dolls? They're just dolls after all. If it makes you happy and it's not anything harmful, there is absolutely nothing to be worried or ashamed about. I couldn't stop smiling after Anna was gone. She was such an inspiration and an incredible person—she still is—and meeting her in person was absolutely wonderful.
I had an amazing time. <3
-Cristina
A few weeks before we left on our trip, I told Anna that we would be going on vacation, and we realized that we would be in the same location at the same time during the trip. She suggested that we meet up somewhere, and we planned it from there. Honestly, I couldn't believe that I would be meeting the one and only Anna basilmentos. Again.
Technically, I had already met her. Back in March, she held a HUGE meetup at the AGP San Francisco. Almost 100 people showed up, including my sisters and me. It was truly an amazing experience to attend her big meetup, but it was crazy. There were so many people there to see her—so many that it was practically impossible to get a word in edgewise and speak to Anna myself. I still had a blast, but when Anna suggested meeting her again (without the crowd!), I couldn't resist. I mean, seriously, who WOULD resist?!
We decided to meet at a park in the area. She would bring her doll Julia, and I would bring my doll Ruby. My three younger sisters also came, although they weren't originally planning to stay with Anna and me while we hung out.
My family arrived at the park a little early to give ourselves a chance to look around and have lunch before Anna arrived. Then it was time to meet her. We all went to our planned meeting spot and waited. During that waiting time, I was so excited and nervous, I almost started shaking! It was crazy! Somehow I had managed to plan a meetup with Anna—it was a dream come true.
Then Anna arrived. She brought a backpack with all her supplies—Julia, her camera, and her tripod. She was going to bring a bag with some props as well, but she forgot the bag, which was fine with me because the meetup was still more than amazing.
We went out to take photos and film. Although it was initially going to be a meetup just with Anna and me, we decided to have my sisters help us and hang out with us as well. Anna was so welcoming of them! I totally wasn't expecting her to be kind and patient with the "unexpected guests" at the meetup, but she was. We stopped at all sorts of random places throughout the park to film little clips of our dolls. It was truly a great experience. Other people walking around noticed us filming too! Despite the few people who seemed to find it unusual, most people thought our stop motioning was actually pretty cool! Some people even stopped to take photos of it. At one point, Julia was sitting down on a little rock while we took a filming break, and a few people walked by just to photograph her as if she was part of an exhibit!
There were even a couple of people who wanted to know where they could find our videos, so we told them to check out basilmentos or sparkfireproductions on YouTube. Who knew you could get YouTube publicity just by filming in public?!
After we were done filming, my parents bought ice cream for all of us. There was a place to purchase ice cream at the park, so Anna, my sisters, and I all got some. We went to sit in the grass below a beautiful tree and just talked while eating ice cream. It was such an amazing feeling. We got along so well, it was like we were actually long-time friends. When we were finished with our ice cream, we hung out some more and took doll photos together. My sister and I even got to play around with Julia's hair. She is a truly beautiful doll, and I'm definitely considering purchasing her for myself. ;)
We took quite a few doll photos and even some human photos with each other; then it was time for Anna to leave. We packed up our things and headed back to the park entrance to say goodbye.
Even after Anna had left and my family and I were still spending time at the park together, I felt a crazy sense of exhilaration spread throughout me. I suddenly didn't care if the other people at the park saw me with a doll (I had cared before Anna arrived, and I was nervous about taking Ruby out of my bag). I mean, what does it matter if other people know you like dolls? They're just dolls after all. If it makes you happy and it's not anything harmful, there is absolutely nothing to be worried or ashamed about. I couldn't stop smiling after Anna was gone. She was such an inspiration and an incredible person—she still is—and meeting her in person was absolutely wonderful.
I had an amazing time. <3
-Cristina
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
2,000 SUBSCRIBERS!
Hello, everyone! I just wanted to thank you guys for 2,000 subscribers on YouTube and almost 5,000 followers on Instagram. The fact that I've achieved this is honestly pretty shocking. I remember when I first started my YouTube channel a year and a half ago. I had very few subscribers at the time, and would often watch the videos of more popular channels. I remember thinking that these channels were so amazing and "famous"—looking back, I realize that they had about the same amount of subscribers as I have now. Isn't that crazy?
At least I think it's crazy. It just feels pretty surreal. I know 2,000 isn't that many, especially compared to other YouTube channels. But it's definitely a pretty substantial amount.
And it's crazy to think that I have that substantial amount.
So thank you to everyone who supports me, whether you're subscribed or not. Thank you. <3
-Cristina
At least I think it's crazy. It just feels pretty surreal. I know 2,000 isn't that many, especially compared to other YouTube channels. But it's definitely a pretty substantial amount.
And it's crazy to think that I have that substantial amount.
So thank you to everyone who supports me, whether you're subscribed or not. Thank you. <3
-Cristina
Our Awesome Vacation!
I had such an awesome time going on vacation this summer! A couple of weeks ago, my family left on a road trip up to Vancouver, BC in Canada. Originally, we were going to take a plane there, but my parents didn't want to just because plane tickets are so expensive and for a big family like mine (6 people!), it wasn't really worth it, considering the fact that we could drive there if we wanted to. So we decided to take a long road trip there, stopping at different cities and attractions along the way.
We left our house on Friday, July 25 and drove for a few hours before coming to a mountain. We parked the car and took a short hike, walking up to a small waterfall! It was so fun! After staying by the waterfall for a little while and taking a few photos, we hiked back down, stopping along the way at a smaller waterfall with a large area for us to dip our feet in the water (and even go swimming if we wanted to! It was quite cold though, so we didn't swim XD). It was so relaxing and nice to cool down there. I took a whole bunch of photos of the water and the small plants nearby.
The next day, we went to the Boeing factory and museum near Seattle! It was so cool to see how the planes were made—they're huge!
We then went for a little walk around Lake Union in Seattle and ate dinner at a yummy seafood restaurant.
On Monday (the next day), we pretty much just explored Seattle. We walked through the streets and saw all the awesome architecture that the buildings had, went to Pike's Place Market and bought a few items, went to the waterfront and walked along the ocean, and took the monorail to see the Space Needle up close. We didn't actually end up going to the top of the Space Needle since the line was insanely long and we had more to see, but we did get to see it, which was more than amazing!
The next day, we took a ferry to Victoria, on Vancouver Island. I had never been on a ferry before, and honestly it was such an amazing experience. We were out in the middle of the ocean, with our car down below us! XD I took a whole bunch of photos on the ferry.
When we arrived in Victoria, we explored the city a little bit and ate dinner. Then we went to our hotel to go to sleep.
We spent the next few days on Vancouver Island, seeing all the beautiful sights. I wish we could have stayed longer. We mostly spent our days in Victoria itself, which is a truly beautiful city, but the island is also amazing.
On Friday (a week after we left!), we took another ferry to return to the mainland. This time, we traveled to Vancouver, our final destination. Vancouver is also gorgeous! It's amazing because although it is a city, it's extremely close to natural wildlife as well! The ocean is right next to it, along with forests. Canada is a wonderful place. ;)
On our first night in Vancouver, we walked through the downtown area on Robson Street. Our hotel was near downtown, so it was a short walk! We actually took an unexpected trip to the new American Girl store there. To be completely honest, I really wasn't expecting it to be so small. :O Like I knew it would be smaller than the average AG store in the US, but it was TINY! I did end up getting a pajama set though. ;) (I mean seriously, who can resist buying something from AG?!) After the AG store, we continued down the street and saw all the shops that were there.
The next day we went to Stanley Park in Vancouver. It's a beautiful section of the city filled with trees and open land, and it was amazing! I wish we had something like that where I live. ;) We went to the Vancouver Aquarium there as well.
On Sunday, we actually went hiking in a different part of the city. It was beautiful! There were trees covered with moss and a little pool of water where people were swimming in the forest! Then we made a nice little stop at a mall and did some shopping.
Monday was our last full day in Vancouver. That day, we went swimming at the beach and at a huge swimming pool! I never thought Vancouver would be as warm as it was, but believe it or not, the water there was WARM (or at least warmer than it is where I live, and I live in the United States. You'd think it would be warmer further south, but I guess not...?).
The next two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) were spent driving back home.
I hope this blog post wasn't too long. I had an amazing trip, and I thought it would be cool to share it with all of you through words and photos. My sister bluepastelsandpolkadots and I filmed a vlog of the trip together, which I'm in the process of editing right now! We each brought a doll on the trip with us (I brought Ruby MAG 23, and she brought Amanda MAG 37), and they'll be featured in the video!
Love you guys! <3
-Cristina
We left our house on Friday, July 25 and drove for a few hours before coming to a mountain. We parked the car and took a short hike, walking up to a small waterfall! It was so fun! After staying by the waterfall for a little while and taking a few photos, we hiked back down, stopping along the way at a smaller waterfall with a large area for us to dip our feet in the water (and even go swimming if we wanted to! It was quite cold though, so we didn't swim XD). It was so relaxing and nice to cool down there. I took a whole bunch of photos of the water and the small plants nearby.
After the little hiking excursion, we went back to the car and drove for a few more hours. We stopped in a small city in Oregon and slept at a hotel there. The next day, we drove more, stopping for lunch in Eugene, Oregon and for a snack in Portland. We walked around Portland for a little while to see the city.
Then we kept driving all the way until we reached Seattle, Washington, where we would stay for three nights. That night, we walked around a little bit in Seattle and ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe there. :)
On Monday (the next day), we pretty much just explored Seattle. We walked through the streets and saw all the awesome architecture that the buildings had, went to Pike's Place Market and bought a few items, went to the waterfront and walked along the ocean, and took the monorail to see the Space Needle up close. We didn't actually end up going to the top of the Space Needle since the line was insanely long and we had more to see, but we did get to see it, which was more than amazing!
The next day, we took a ferry to Victoria, on Vancouver Island. I had never been on a ferry before, and honestly it was such an amazing experience. We were out in the middle of the ocean, with our car down below us! XD I took a whole bunch of photos on the ferry.
We spent the next few days on Vancouver Island, seeing all the beautiful sights. I wish we could have stayed longer. We mostly spent our days in Victoria itself, which is a truly beautiful city, but the island is also amazing.
On Friday (a week after we left!), we took another ferry to return to the mainland. This time, we traveled to Vancouver, our final destination. Vancouver is also gorgeous! It's amazing because although it is a city, it's extremely close to natural wildlife as well! The ocean is right next to it, along with forests. Canada is a wonderful place. ;)
On our first night in Vancouver, we walked through the downtown area on Robson Street. Our hotel was near downtown, so it was a short walk! We actually took an unexpected trip to the new American Girl store there. To be completely honest, I really wasn't expecting it to be so small. :O Like I knew it would be smaller than the average AG store in the US, but it was TINY! I did end up getting a pajama set though. ;) (I mean seriously, who can resist buying something from AG?!) After the AG store, we continued down the street and saw all the shops that were there.
The next day we went to Stanley Park in Vancouver. It's a beautiful section of the city filled with trees and open land, and it was amazing! I wish we had something like that where I live. ;) We went to the Vancouver Aquarium there as well.
On Sunday, we actually went hiking in a different part of the city. It was beautiful! There were trees covered with moss and a little pool of water where people were swimming in the forest! Then we made a nice little stop at a mall and did some shopping.
I took a ton of awesome sunset photos when we were walking back to our hotel. The lighting over the city was absolutely gorgeous!
The next two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) were spent driving back home.
I hope this blog post wasn't too long. I had an amazing trip, and I thought it would be cool to share it with all of you through words and photos. My sister bluepastelsandpolkadots and I filmed a vlog of the trip together, which I'm in the process of editing right now! We each brought a doll on the trip with us (I brought Ruby MAG 23, and she brought Amanda MAG 37), and they'll be featured in the video!
Love you guys! <3
-Cristina
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