The Third Birthday of The Random Life of Aveen!

Well, well, well. How time flies! 

I'm sitting in my room in Limerick typing this blog post. I'm going to the First Year Ball tonight, listening to The 1975's new album and looking out upon a sun drenched quad on campus.  

Three years ago, I started The Random Life of Aveen. I was nearly 16-and-a-half, (you can't forget that half, differentiation is vital!) I was in the middle of Transition Year, ironically struggling to transition to becoming a different person. I genuinely believe TRLOA helped influence this change in a positive manner. 

I sat down to type this post and thought of how my life is practically parallel to how it was when I was sixteen. I now understand that no person can ever be happy for every minute of their lives, but that we should give it our best effort to remain positive with regards to every aspect of our lives. When I was sixteen, I thought everyone was happy, except me. A couple of years in the real life has told me that we hide a lot of things, and more importantly, it's okay not to be 'happy' for every second of our lives. This is reality, reality is not perfect. 

I was unsure of who I was when I was sixteen. I had a rough idea of who I wanted to be. I wanted to try change the world - to make it a better place. I'm taking initial and tentative steps towards that goal. I'm studying to become a primary school teacher, something I could only dream about three years ago. 

I started this blog while on a 'low' which I tried to disguise by focusing on the positives in my life. The meaning behind my blog has changed more now to posting my thoughts, musings and updates of my life but we must always remember where we came from. I'm still eternally grateful that people read my blog. Last weekend I hit 70,000 page views, something I could only ever dream of three years ago. 

I realised I don't post as often as I used to - or as much as I would prefer. I check my stats when I can. I realised that my page views have stayed at quite a high level despite my inactivity. It's heart warming to see that you lovely readers haven't left and there's new readers reading my older posts, in particular posts regarding the Leaving Cert or the Gaeltacht. I may have moved on from the LC to third level, yet I find it lovely that there's still people reading those posts, hopefully gaining some support or guidance. 

Aveen x

''Show Them All You're Not The Ordinary Type''

Hey Everyone!

I am now officially on my Easter Holidays! Unfortunately for me, it won't be a time of relaxation as I have my Irish and German Orals (Speaking Exam) as soon as I'm back in school.

I'm taking the three weekends off, however I'll be studying for ten days (two school weeks so to speak) I'm also doing Easter Study as another way to motivate me. I'm glad I had two mock Irish orals during the week as I learnt all 20 sraithpictiur for them. As well as orals, I also have to finish  my Ag Science project which will be interesting!

Grace was 16 during the week so we all went out to celebrate. It was a brilliant night and resulted in some funny selfies being taken (Some are down below) I had forgotten how rowdy TY's were in comparison to Sixth Years. They were bursting with energy when all I wanted to do was sit and relax. Oh well.

Apart from swotting sraithpictiur (I wish I could literally hit them sometimes) and going to Grace's party, very little happened during the week. I have a feeling that from here on in until June, my life will be a little dull due to the immense amount of study I'll be doing. (Being a perfectionist is not fun) It was weird to do no homework or study whatsoever over Saturday and Sunday. When the Leaving Cert ends, I will have no idea what to do during my spare time (Probably scroll through Tumblr)

I've found myself scrawling in some of my notebooks which is so relaxing and helps relieve some of the stresses of exam preparation. I'm working on some other blog posts and even a YouTube video or two. Hopefully I can achieve everything I want to over Easter.

Grace and I !

Viv and I!

AwkwardSprinkles

When you're studying Sraithpictiur, anything seems funny.

Hello there! I didn't see you behind the stacks of books in my room!

How will you be spending your Easter holidays? 

Relaxing or cramming for two weeks like me?
Let me know in the comments!

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!
Aveen 

*Lyrics: Panic! At The Disco - Let's Kill Tonight

My 18th Birthday and Reflection

Hey Everyone!

So last Friday (September 26th) was my 18th birthday! I'd like to say thank you to all my friends and family for their lovely cards, gifts, text messages, Facebook messages, tweets and lots more, you are all so thoughtful and brilliant.

I was in school on my birthday, double Maths is always fun when you turn 18. *intense sarcasm* However the day simply flew by, before I knew it I was in Spleodar with some of my friends all speaking Irish. It was my first week in charge as a cinnire so I was a little uneasy about being 'i gceannas' but it all went well and I got good advice too. If you don't learn something new every day then you clearly didn't have a good day!

Afterwards at home we had cake (which was scrumptious!) and I opened present from my family and friends. (If you're wondering, gifts from my parents were opened when I woke that morning!) Mam and Dad gave me an Orla Kiely handbag and some small presents which I appreciated as much as the handbag, lip glosses are life. Down below are some of the presents I was given.

*I'm not bragging by posting this blog post. I wouldn't call it a 'haul' like if I went shopping. Birthdays are different and I'm extremely grateful to all my family and friends for their cards and gifts, they're far too kind :)

On Saturday night I went to the Chinese with most of my friends and we all had a brilliant night filled with yummy food and of course, chocolate cake. I actually only took a few photos, which is very unusual for me, so they're down below too.

I must admit, it's slightly strange turning 18. In Ireland I am a fully fledged legal adult now and that's quite weird to think about and consider. The only ''adult'' thing I have done so far is buy some scratch cards, (with zero success) and walked around the alcohol section in Tesco thinking ''Muwahaha I don't feel awkward walking here now as I can legally buy anything I want.'' How weird indeed.

Photos From My Birthday!

Some of my birthday cards!

I adore this card my godmother made, I'm planning on framing it and hanging it on my bedroom wall.

The utterly gorgeous Orla Kiely bag my parents gave me, it's love. 

Taylor Swift perfume from my lovely cousins, thank you! :D 

Perfume from Grace. (I'm noticing a trend of perfume) Thank thee Grace! :D *Subtly wears it to school all week*

 A necklace from Topshop from Viv, thank you, it's so pretty. 

A bracelet my friend Emily gave me from Germany as she went on an exchange there and came back the day of my birthday! :) Thank you! :D

I bought myself another Orla Kiely bag after my birthday as they had special offers on them and well, you can never have enough handbags can you? ;)

A gorgeous notebook from Caítlín, thank you! :)  Notebooks are my life

My friend Robyn gave me this really pretty notebook which she covered herself. Thank you, it's so cute! :) 

Orla Kiely design. 

 

A take away coffee flask !

Saturday night!

Robyn & Maeve

Maeve & Caítlín 

Unfortunately I don't have many photos from my birthday dinner as I spent too much time chatting than taking photos. Yet I can't really complain about that either, it's nice living moments, not just capturing them on a camera. 

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless!

Aveen xx

Bubbles And Flashbacks

Hey Everyone!

This week was what can only be described as an insane week. Today of course is Sunday and it's rare when I can't recall the previous Monday and week.

I decided that this week I wouldn't use a song lyric as my blog post title, so I chose two things that have been quite prominent in my week this week, bubbles and flashbacks. That does sound slightly weird, however it is easily explained.

Bubbles. It was the lovely Grace's birthday on Wednesday and her birthday party on Friday. As a surprise, Chyan and I organised to bring in bubbles that day to surprise her! The bubbles were such a hit with everyone else that I was asked (forced is another adjective I'd use) to bring the bubbles to Grace's house on Friday. All seven of us spent a multitude of hours simply blowing bubbles in Grace's room. (Sorry about the floor)

We had a brilliant night so a huge thank you is in order for Grace! We all had a brilliant time, especially watching Gossip Girl and telling stories from my trip to Galway, sorry if I slightly traumatised you all about the time when I was pushed off one of the cliff edges..

Another thing that has been playing on my mind is, flashbacks. This one is slightly more difficult to describe in a few words or even paragraphs. This mainly occurred this week as I had to write an essay/speech for English about ''A speech we would give at our graduation from school'' The title really had me thinking.

We all have random flashbacks and recollections to our past, even something insignificant that happened earlier that day, I've noticed I've been having a lot of flashbacks, both positive and negative. I try to stop myself having flashbacks, especially at the horrid and dreaded hour of 4 am.

You may be wondering what my mind thinks of in my 'flashbacks' well, it's flashes of memories from my childhood and early years as a teenager really. One minute it could be a happy memory from age eleven, the next, a memory of crying in the playground as I'd been chased by girls in my class screaming profanities of how I'd never amount to anything.

But this is not what this blog post is about. As I wrote in the essay/speech, ''Don't let your past steal your future'' I'll let them wonder how I got this far, I'm wondering that myself, but I'm still travelling towards bigger and better things.

My Week In Photos

A random selfie before going to Grace's party 

With Aisling & Vivien !

'All of them' 

Selfie with Viv 

Casual selfie with Aisling

A 'very good' selfie with Grace

That's about it from me this week, check out my very first beauty haul here! 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen

Don't Tell Me Our Youth Is Running Out. It's Only Just Begun...

Hey Everyone!

Source: Tumblr

So this day last year, March 15 2013, I wrote my first official blog post as the author of ''The Random Life of Aveen'' Needless to say, my life seems completely different barely 365 days later.

I had a number of 'failed' blogs where I became bored and frustrated over my content and eventually abandoned said blogs. In March 2013, The Random Life of Aveen was born. I wasn't even sixteen and a half but I felt that my life had hit a immovable brick wall which I simply couldn't pass.

Blogging was an outlet for my frustrations and an opportunity to consider what I really wanted to do with my life, to show that my actions, thoughts and personality could make a difference to the world if I wanted it to. At the time, I felt that everything I did, was in vain, even waking up in the mornings could be a waste of time. Somehow, blogging helped me get through that phase. Writing a blog post every week and including photos gave me a purpose each week and this helped immensely.

Soon, my blog actually started getting a few hundred views, in May I got 1500 page views and I was so incredibly proud of myself. A small town girl who was always told she had ''potential'' after years of disbelief, was beginning to believe again.

Every small step was literally a milestone in my eyes. During the summer when I was working in my summer job, my views increased weekly, along with my esteem. It was like Maslow's motivation theory, The Hierachy of Needs.

Source: Google Images

For an awful long time, I was barely at 'love and belonging' I felt as though I didn't belong. In school, I pretty much stuck out like a sore thumb in a mass of people. In the past year however, I've become much closer to Self-Actualisation. Where you possess feelings of creativity, moral integrity, spontaneity, ways of problem solving and so much more. 

Writing about my life through The Random Life Of Aveen doesn't make me obnoxious, rude, vain or self obsessed. It's part of my steps to self actualization and understanding and accepting who I am, flaws and all. It may seem when reading my posts that I have ''an amazing life'' which so many people apparently believe. This. Is. Not. True. I have a student's life. I'm your average 17 year old Fifth Year student who worries constantly about homework, my grades, my future, college and everything in-between, I just happen to write about everything. 

Writing The Random Life of Aveen has opened so many avenues of opportunity which I never believed to be possible. My peers may talk behind my back about my blog, when in reality, I don't really care any more. What matters more is how you perceive yourself. 

The Random Life of Aveen is a year old now and I feel as though I could never part with my blog and all the lovely friends I've made through blogging. I hope this will be among the first of many milestones I experience here as a blogger, and I hope all you lovely readers will continue to join me on the roller coaster that is, the random life of Aveen. 

This was a little blog post about the first year of TRLOA, whether this is the first blog post of mine you've read, or the 50th, I can't thank you enough. It's strangely comforting to have people all over the world reading my thoughts and sentences. 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen xx

lyrics: Foxes ~ Youth

''You Don't Get To Choose If You Get Hurt In This World...But You Do Have Some Say In Who Hurts You. I Like My Choices.''

Hey Everyone!

IT'S OFFICIALLY FEBRUARY! *Happy dance* I honestly felt that January was possibly the longest month in existence. It seemed to drag on & on endlessly! At least now it's February so signs of Spring will begin to appear more prominently each day.

This week seemed to fly by! I can't believe I've been back in school for four weeks, it feels as though it's a lot longer. I didn't get as much homework this week thankfully (although some teachers did pile on the homework, but I finished it before the weekend) I have a feeling all my teachers are desperate for Mid-Term (I know I am)

I had an interesting week especially in business, when my teacher told us to write a fairytale about how ''Ireland had lots of money, what happened next?'' As I love writing, I got a little carried away and wrote over 2 A4 pages in small writing, in comparison to half a copy page that everyone else wrote. My teacher actually liked mine, got a copy of it and actually read it to other people (incl my old business teacher) My embarrassment was actually indescribable! (If you're wondering, I wrote a story using childish language (intentionally) about how the IMF put Ireland in the naughty corner..) Yep, *sighs* the things I do..

Today was an interesting day. I started the day on my uncle's farm tagging the calves. If you wondering what tagging is, it's when you put an identification tag in the calves ears (it's standard practice all over Ireland) so the calves history and identity is known if it was sold to another farmer or whatever. As I'm studying Ag Science, I have to do a project on dairy farming so it was an ample time to take photos!

Later on I went to a meeting with the Gaeltacht I'm going to during the summer. As it's my first Summer going, I had to go to an interview to assess my standard of Irish. Overall it went really well. I've been planning this for nearly a year now, it seems strange that it's less than six months away now!

During the week, you may know about The Fault In Our Stars trailer being released. I watched the trailer as soon it was released. It was absolutely amazing! I mean, I cried after watching it (I watched it again before writing this and I started sobbing) but I think the casting is so accurate and brilliant. I'm honestly looking forward to seeing the movie (ahem Ansel Elgort yes) and John Green cast Ansel and Shailene so they must accurately portray both Augustus and Hazel Grace. In honour of the book that destroyed my emotions, this blog post is titled after one of my favourite quotes from the book.

Today is also Harry Styles' birthday. As I have a cardboard cut-out of Harry, I decided to help him celebrate! Photos are down below, and I think Harry loved his tiny cake and candle.. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY)

With Harry and his cake/candle :)

Tagging calves.. as you do. 

''Are you trying to put the tags in my ear?!'' 

With Harry, HB!

Random selfie after the Gaeltacht meeting 

So that's it from me for now, 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen xx 

School, Othello, My 17th & Fangirling Over Benedict Cumberbatch

Hey Everyone!

So yet another week has come and passed and September is nearly at it's end. It's absolutely surreal how quickly 2013 is going by. I've officially been a 5th Year for just over a month, which is quite scary when I think of it. So now to tell all you lovely people about my somewhat crazy and erratic week!

  Nothing really eventful happened for the first part of the week, just the usual school things (homework., study, sleeping and reading too many books! One can never read too many books though) I did have a free double class on Wednesday and we were allowed go on the computers *gasps* You can obviously guess what websites I went on.. Twitter, Tumblr, Blogger and checked up on emails.

I have some advice for you all, NEVER EVER go on Tumblr on a school computer. It's actually dangerous, one second it could be a GIF of a cat, the next a scary terrifying image of danisnotonfire reading phanfiction with Phil (Yes, that actually popped up on my dash) The lads sitting beside me were literally terrified. I had earlier tweeted about going on Tumblr and the dangers of it, and they asked me what Tumblr was. . .

You lucky people, you don't know what Tumblr is. I did a horrendous job of explaining my life Tumblr and made the website out to be full of crazy fangirls who reblog gifs of their fandoms, ships and OTP's. Which I suppose is true, that's the area of Tumblr I navigate most of the time. However Tumblr is a good website, you're able to connect with people with familiar interests from all over the world and reblog gifs of your favourite people. (I just edited my Tumblr theme so I won't shut up about Tumblr at the moment sorry)

Thursday was good too for a number of reasons. You can probably guess, Thursday September 26th was my 17th birthday! So therefore I can drive a car yay, joking I'll keep reading books instead. That night with my English class and some other classes we went to the local cinema to see a live stream of a production of Othello. (Play written by Shakespeare) Overall I found it to be very good, the acting was good however some scene were dragged out for too long. The production and interval included lasted well over 3 hours so it finished at around 10.15pm on a school night yay.

Before the production started, there was a  presenter talking about other productions the theatre hosts, she listed various actors and actresses including Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston! I nearly squealed when I heard Benedict Cumberbatch because he is absolutely amazing (I am a Cumbercookie yes, if you're one too, let me know in the comments!)

As you can imagine the next morning was absolutely horrendous, I barely got six hours sleep. I walked into school and my friend Tara told me that I looked exhausted! Which was true, I had such dark circles underneath my eyes you could have seen them from the other side of the school! I'd also like to say a huge thank you to everyone who very kindly gave me a thoughtful card or gift. I really appreciate it and I love you all, also to everyone who emailed me, chatted to me on Facebook and tweeted me, THANK YOU. I had a great day and weekend, thank you x

I literally just re-designed my Tumblr theme (HTML coding is horrible, ew) which you can check out here
Also, you may have noticed I haven't posted any videos on my YouTube in a while, that's mainly because of the lack of time in my life right now. Videos, even basic ones like mine, take a long time to record, edit and publish onto YouTube. I had been hoping to have posted one by the end of September but obviously that's not going to happen. I've actually been thinking of more ideas since going back to school which I hope to film once I have more time on my hands.

In the meantime, check my Twitter for updates on what I'm up to, (mainly tweets about homework, rants and fandoms, if you're into that sorta thing) Also, book update! I just finished The Mortal Instruments, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (recommended by my friend Tara) and it was just excellent. I loved Cassandra Clare's writing style, the plot and character development were very good too, an excellent debut novel. I started City of Ashes, the second book in the series, Tara gave me the book as a gift for my birthday so THANK YOU.

I also went out on Saturday night with some friends, Tara, Mary, Grace from Dainty Sprinkles and Vivien to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. We all arrived at 7.30pm, we left at nearly 10.30, we all had a great time.

Some photos from my week.. 

Me with my City of Ashes book, halfway through it already, definitely recommend!

Books I got for my birthday, I am such a bookworm.. 

For all you beauty bloggers, here's one of the beauty presents I received which included the following products! (I also got Taylor Swift's new perfume) 

Vivi on Saturday night :) 

Grace & Viv giggling :)

Tara and I taking an awkward selfie 

Sideways group photo!

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen xx