ignite 'n inspire

Inspired by Chantel’s story on a recent Ladylike video, I decided to record my story about how I overcame what some would say as a young girl’s worst mare. The story starts in grade 7, when puberty hit. Along with my friends, we went through a stage of bad fashion choices (graphic tees and ugly sweaters). Just like everybody else, I also had the persistent acne on the side of my temples and on my forehead. It would happen because I decided to eat two bowls of French fries and a couple bags of chips. However, the real problem began in grade 11, when I started having really persistent acne. Although I tried cutting back on dairy products/seafood/fried foods, acne just kept growing and growing. Here are some of my craziest acne-moments that are engrained into my head: -           As a member of the church drama club, we toured around several churches to give presentations. Before one particular church performance, the make-up artist refused to give me any makeup because it was going t

Continuing from my previous blog post: 6) Be ready for a dinner night-in. After an exhausting day of driving or exploring, your family may not want to take out their GPS and search for somewhere to eat. As long as you are prepared, that's okay. Make sure that you pack at least one meal-to-go (which may include instant noodles and bread w jam and canned food that can be heated with a microwave). That way, everyone can enjoy a simple meal and rest up for the next day. 7) Try to plan early. In my family, we start sharing trip ideas once March Break begins...we pool together possible city options and major attractions we want to visit. By starting to plan early, you give yourself time to research about unique attractions, compare prices, wait for special hotel deals and ask for everyone's opinion. During our road trip to New York City, my aunt (my partner in crime) and I were super glad we started planning early because in order to enter the 9/11 museum for free, we had to bo

For the past six years, I've had the privilege to plan vacations around Canada and the United States. As my siblings and cousins have been growing up, I've had the constant challenge of creating itineraries that is entertaining and accommodates to everybody's likes/dislikes! Here are some tips I've accumulated over the years: 1) Fun doesn't necessarily require A LOT of money! After deciding on which city your family wants to visit, start searching for the FREE activities at that city. Sometimes, museums may operate for free during certain hours. For example, in Washington D.C, the only thing we spent money was our subway pass! We literally spent all day hopping around free museums. In other cities, just roaming around the street, taking instagram pictures around the city can take up your entire day. During our visit to Boston, my family followed Boston's "Freedom Trail" and got to roam around most of the city without wasting a single cent! We got a u