I'm Back On YouTube & A Few Changes...

As you can probably tell from the title, I'm going to be filming YouTube videos again!

I'm really excited about filming again and even more so as me and Simon will be doing a lot more videos together. It's been two years since I last filmed for YouTube and I only stopped because the Movie Maker software I had available to me at the time to edit and upload my videos (on my little net-book), was so slow and it took so long to edit and upload videos, as well as failing every now and then, that I was getting frustrated and it wasn't as enjoyable any more. That is the main reason I started my blog, as it's a lot easier to write, double check everything and then publish a blog post than it is to go through all the steps of uploading a video. I take my hat off to those that film and publish videos every day. I'm sure they all have lives as well, which is why I find that I can't film a video to upload or write a blog post to publish every single day and sometimes not every single week, it just depends on what I'm doing and whether I have anything to write or film about. I don't like to blog or film just for the sake of it.

I'm going to be re-branding my main YouTube channel a little. My main YouTube channel is Gemsi2011 and I used to just upload beauty and fashion videos to this channel. I have a second channel called GemLivesLovesLaughs and that used to be where I uploaded cooking videos and vlogs. What I want to do is just have one main channel, that covers a range of subjects, like my blog. So I want to try and still film beauty and fashion videos, but there will also be travel, life, cooking and gaming videos on my one and only channel. These are all subjects that either I or both me and Simon have a passion for and so it will be nice to introduce a few new subjects to my channel. I am going to try and change my YouTube name and URL so that you recognise my channel as Gemsi - Gem. Simon is also going to be setting up his own channel, which will mainly consist of gaming videos and his will be called Gemsi - Si. This is something we've talked about and so it'll be nice to have our own little branded channels if we can. We are currently working together on the re-branding, so bare with us on this :).

You might be wondering what is going to happen to my second channel. My main channel has the most subscribers and so more of an audience to produce videos for. My second channel doesn't have that many subscribers or videos, as I only managed to upload a few before I stopped filming. However, they are still videos that I enjoyed making and that took time to make and upload, so I don't want to just delete them. The videos on my second channel are from two and three years ago, so they are some time ago but I am going to try and download them to my laptop and upload them to my main channel as a #throwbackthursday kind of thing. I will upload them one by one, either every Thursday or every other Thursday and they will probably be uploaded randomly with the title and description edited slightly so that people are aware, as well as us when we look back, that the videos are from two and three years ago.

I will probably also try to change my Google+ name and URL to match what I've said above, but I am not yet sure whether I will be doing the same for my email, blog, Twitter and Instagram. It would be lovely for everything to have the same name and URL but I'm not sure whether it might be a bit more of a disruption to my email, blog, Twitter and Instagram as they have all been active and current and I probably have links everywhere for them, whereas it's different with my YT channel, as I haven't filmed anything for over two years and my Google+ account is quite new, so I'd just update the links for those on my email signature, blog, Twitter and Instagram and I don't feel like it would have such a detrimental effect. We will see though, I'll keep you all updated along the way on anything I do change or update, keep an eye on my Twitter as I'll probably be mentioning things on there.

We uploaded a new travel vlog a few days ago, which you can check out below. We hope you like it! Please feel free to like, comment and subscribe if you do. It would mean the world to us :).

Thank you, as always, for your continued support! We are both looking forward to filming again and we hope you like what we or I produce :).

Thanks so much for reading!
Gem XxOo
Image courtesy of Day To Be You.

Mint Tea To Maori Tattoo by Carolina Veranen-Phillips...

I love a good book! I go through phases where I get into a book and don't want to put it down, then I might not read anything for a while once I've finished and then when I read again I'm like a born again bookworm and can't put a good book down. I love books like that though, that you literally don't even want to put down to go to the toilet!

In relation to books and films, I like reading and watching things that relate to real life, so something that is based on a true story, or actually is something that's happened and is told by the person/persons that experienced such thing(s).

One of the books I have recently finished is a travel book called 'Mint Tea To Maori Tattoo'. It is a book about a unique backpacking experience, taken by Carolina Veranen-Phillips. I love travelling, so was really keen to read this and find out about different places, different cultures, the adventures she got up to and how she adapted to different places. Once I got started, it didn't take me long to finish the book! The book is based on the fact that Carolina woke up one morning determined to change something in her life (I'm sure we all feel this now and again - well she actually went ahead and did an amazing thing!). She'd had enough of her monotonous daily routine and craved something else, something different and unusual. She thought about a trip around the world, where she would be able to discover the world's beauties, meet people from different cultures and learn more about where she fits into society. Her adventure takes her to the Middle East, Africa and Oceania.

Carolina Veranen-Phillips (Image courtesy of Carolina Veranen-Phillips).

Image courtesy of Carolina Veranen-Phillips.

The main thing I like about the book is that instead of just telling you her daily routine and what she did each day whilst travelling, she also includes some history in there aswell, so it's quite educational. She doesn't make it boring either, it is really interesting stuff that she tells you. All the way through the book she comes across as a positive, happy person and has an amazing attitude that we as people, who sometimes take things for granted, can absorb. It really is an inspirational read and I feel a lot of people can learn a thing or two from her. From reading about the way she is, how she portrays herself, how she treats people, how she reacts etc you instantly get a feeling that she is a lovely person to be around and one that wouldn't suck all the energy out of you or ever make you feel bad.

Carolina's passport stamps from her travels! (Image courtesy of Carolina Veranen-Phillips).

I don't want to ruin everything in the book for you, just in case you decide to purchase it, but I do want to give you a few tasters regarding a few things that stood out for me within the book...

. A lucky escape in Tanzania; getting mugged on the beach.
. A funny stamp story.

There are also some things she says within the book that stood out to me, some were her own words and some were other quotes she had read which meant something to her. Here are a few of my favourites that I feel I can relate to...

'Life can either be accepted or changed. If it is not accepted, it must be changed. If it cannot be changed, then it must be accepted.'

'I don't have a religion any more. My personal life experience guided me towards having none. Experience and time showed me that I don't need to follow a book to tell me how I should live my life. I have common sense, integrity and moral standards. I use my experience, my feelings, what I hear and read to create my own life path. I know very well when I have done something right or something wrong and I take responsibility for it! I understand that everyone is not like me and I accept the difference. Some people need religion, while others don't. I don't.'

(When talking about the time she was sitting around a fire with her travel group, chatting and laughing when someone decided to raise his voice at her to get his point across). 'Why? Is that a good way to share your point of view? I thought, 'if you shout at me, how can I agree with what you are saying? Or even focus on what you are saying? I am just being bombarded with words?' I felt like this person had the need to 'win' the discussion. I am sure it made him feel better to shout at me! But why? Was he afraid of something? Of being less respected, maybe, if his idea was not accepted? Was it a fear of rejection? Was it over confidence or maybe a hidden lack of self confidence? I see discussion as an exchange of ideas, not a war. The important thing is to share ideas. It doesn't matter if people agree or don't agree with each other, as long as they are patient enough to hear what the other has to say. There is no winner or loser. It is simply an exchange of opinions where both ideas can be good and acceptable. Everybody is different, so we are bound to have different opinions. Aren't we?'

(When losing her passport and not being sure of where it was whilst trying to check into a backpackers (who asked to see her passport) and later realising she had left it at another backpackers place) 'It made me realise that it is not worth worrying about things. Worrying certainly does not help in solving a problem. It probably hinders the process. This experience emphasised for me the importance of trusting life; trusting that everything was going to be all right. Often, situations get better by themselves, without too much work, if we simply trust and stop worrying about it too much.'

'I find it hard to be around people who are quick to judge, who think less of you for no apparent reason and who think they have the answers to anything and know everything about everything. I find it simply too harmful and destructive to be with such people. I try to avoid those people and to protect myself against them. They are energy thieves, sucking my energy resources. The less I come across them, the healthier I feel.'

I could go on all day about this book, but before I basically end up re-writing the whole book in this review, I better stop, ha! I don't want to ruin everything for you anyway as I am aware that some people might just read this as my latest blog post, but some people might also search for this book and this review come up in search results, so like I said I wanted to give a taster, but not give everything away.

If you like a good read, a true read, an adventure read, a travel read, an inspirational read...I would definitely recommend this book!

Carolina Veranen-Phillips has her own website, where you can read more about her, purchase her book, find out news/events, contact her and read other readers comments about her book. You can also read a sample of her book.

Has anyone already got this book? If so, what do you think of it?

If you haven't got the book, does it sound like something you'd like to read?

Thanks for reading!
Gem XxOo