Life as of Late #6 - A Family Wedding, Green Day & Summer Time!

Hello Everyone! 

Here is another update on what I have been up to during the summer months. I had intended to blog at least once a fortnight this summer, however this ambition has sadly not materialised as I juggle my time between many things. Not to worry though, here's some photos of where I have been and what I have been doing! 

Went to my cousin Ashleigh's wedding!

My lovely cousin Ashleigh got married to Richie at the end of June! All my aunts, uncles and cousins were in attendance so it was a brilliant day for everyone. I was very surprised and delighted when I was asked to read the First Reading during the wedding ceremony and I also distributed Holy Communion as there was a large attendance. (I did a course in college late last year). The day itself was just wonderful and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves during the day and evening! 

Green Day in Kilmainham:

As you can tell from my excited face in these photos, I simply couldn't wait to see Green Day in Kilmainham! I travelled up with my brother to the venue. The rain was intense however we were well prepared with waterproof coats and boots we didn't mind getting mucky. The support act was Rancid who really got the crowd warmed up and ready for Green Day. 

Despite the weather, the band were so energetic, with Billie running around the stage, fuelled with adrenaline and excitement. The set list was superb, with a mixture of old songs such as 'Welcome to Paradise' and new songs from their latest album 'Revolution Radio' and iconic hits such as 'American Idiot' and 'Time of Your Life.' Overall, I think they played around 25 songs or more, all of which were just utterly surreal to watch live! It was a privilege to see the band live, as I've loved their music for years now. I will definitely go see them if they ever come back to Ireland! 

Got Tickets for Ed Sheeran in May 2018:

I managed to get tickets for Ed Sheeran in the Phoenix Park for May 2018! Despite waiting for several hours, I finally succeeded and got the tickets! I was in work, ran on my break just before 9 to ensure I was on my phone for when the tickets were released. My break was soon over and I had to go back to work, and I still hadn't gotten tickets. The infamous, 'sit tight' refresh page kept popping up, leaving me in hysterics. I accepted defeat and went back to work under a cloud of sadness. 

Later my Mam collected me and told me to get back on my phone, as there were still some tickets left! I went home to go on my laptop and managed to get a pair of tickets instantly! I've loved Ed's music ever since A-Team was released but through chance and bad luck, I've never actually gotten to see him live in concert so I am waiting in anticipation for May 2018! 

Finally ventured to 'Thirsty Thursday':

Myself and the girls finally organised ourselves and our rosters to go to the infamous 'Thirsty Thursdays' in Gorey! Several of the pubs/nightclubs do cheap deals on alcohol on Thursday nights in the summer months. Maeve and Iseabail came down from Dublin to have a well deserved night out and a catch up. It was a great night as we caught up with people from school who we hadn't seen in a while. 

Made last minute plans for a night out:

Have you ever been at home on a Saturday night around 10.30, on the sofa flicking through your phone, watching television and having a case of FOMO? Until one of your work friends texts saying to head out that is! This happened recently and after a quick spur of the moment decision, I found myself tearing through my wardrobe and make up bag to make myself look decent in less than 20 minutes! 

I had to forgo the fake tan but I still managed a full face of make up which I was delighted with. Town was quiet overall but it was a good night as I bumped into friends I hadn't seen in a while as they're a year or two younger and aren't in college yet! Next week is the August Bank Holiday weekend and I'll be going to the Market House Festival to catch up with my friends so expect a blog post on that soon! 

Overall, I'm keeping a fairly low profile this summer, I sold my ticket to Indiependence so I'll be staying at home and going to the Market House Festival instead. I've also started my driving lessons so I'm keeping myself busy with those! For more updates, follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat (links on the right hand side)

I hope you're all having a lovely relaxing summer filled with plenty of fun and frolics!

Talk soon! 

All The Voices In My Mind, Calling Out Across The Line...

Hey Everyone!

So this blog post is a few days late and in all honesty, I don't really have an excuse! Every day is melting seamlessly into another, leaving me in the lurch and thinking of all the things I could have finished in the past tense, instead of actually doing the work I wanted to do.

However, what matters now is that I'm actually progressing to finish the random things I've procrastinated for the past few days. During the summer months I seem to just 'lose the plot' as my routine is thrown out of sorts for a few months. I suppose you could call it having freedom but I think for a few blissful weeks I let it go to my head, resulting in a week or two of just thinking of what I could have achieved in that wasted time instead of progressing further to achieve anything.

I have a huge 'block' in my head about school. It's my last year in second-level education and I think my mind is in denial over this somewhat terrifying prospect. However let's be positive, there's still over a month of Summer holidays for me to procrastinate and enjoy! I'm planning another YouTube video soon as I recently made some purchases online (some of which arrived!) from Roxy and Hollister so I'll be doing a Mini-Haul soon and maybe another video or two that may contain a trace of Sprinkles or Awkwardness (Watch this space)

Down below are some random things I bought during the week. I was down the town with my friends and for the first time in probably 6 months bought KISS magazine. I started reading the magazine when I was around 10 or 11 but stopped at the start of this year, mainly as I felt I had outgrown the magazine and personally, enjoyed the previous editor's styles of writing and also choice of topics. (I'm so picky I know)

I also bought 'The Book Thief' on DVD. I read the book (and cried a little) earlier this year and heard rave reviews about the film. As of yet I've to finish watching the DVD but the half hour or so I saw was utterly excellent. I just need a quiet evening or afternoon to just sit down and watch it. I also bought some iTunes cards because well, music.

I also got my hair cut for the first time in like 3 months. I'm usually very good and get it cut once a month or every 6 weeks but with Summer exams and going to the Gaeltacht for 3 weeks, time seemed to melt away. Before I knew it my hair was extremely thick and bushy so I knew it was time to get my hair thinned and cut again so my hair is nice and styled again!

Last Thursday I went to the Chinese with some friends for Viv's birthday. We all had a great evening and had amazing milkshakes afterwards (it's tradition okay) Grace was there too but we were sitting at other sides of the extremely long table, ooops.

Photos from my week!

Some of the girls at Viv's birthday

Random selfie from Thursday after getting my hair done

Photo with Viv!

Wexford played against Waterford on Saturday so again I'm embracing being a Yellow Belly and wearing my jersey. Let's hope the match in Thurles will be good!

So that's about it from me, I'll hopefully be posting later on in the week. I'm also blogging on Collab Sunflower! Check out the collaboration blog, each week we have a different theme and it's just brilliant.
I'll be posting on Friday about  'A Momentous Memory'

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!
Aveen xx

*Lyrics: Ed Sheeran ~ Bloodstream 

The Summer Tag!

Hey Everyone!

So I was tagged by the lovely Guilianna Marie to do the Summer Tag! Here goes!

1. What's your favourite thing about Summer?

I love the general freedom of Summer. You're allowed (within reason) to do whatever you want for three months. There's nobody telling you how to spend your time like in school, your time is for you and you get to choose exactly how you spend those precious hours of freedom. By watching seasons of multiple tv shows on Netflix like me  

2. Do you have a favourite Summer drink?

During Summer I love to get frappé's from Costa, particularly the sticky toffee one, it's amazing. Water also cannot be underestimated, when you're dying of the heat, a gulp of ice-cold water is one of the best feelings ever.

3. Is there a location you like to go each Summer?

Not particularly, during Summer in the evenings sometimes my family and I go to the local seaside area near my town and like every year we go to the same chipper and get a bag of chips and just look at the sea. It sounds so simple but it's so nice and relaxing and it's the funny thing we do each summer.

4. Favourite look for Summer?

As I have a summer job it generally doesn't matter about my appearance, I have to wear a different set of clothes in work so I'm VERY casual on most days, just wearing jeans, Converse, t shirts and a hoodie. However if I'm going anywhere I do dress up more!

5. Dresses or skirts?

Dresses all the way!

6. Sandals or ballet pumps?

I prefer ballet pumps, but I rarely wear them. I wear Converse most of the time, they're my favourites!

7. Do you prefer your hair up or down for Summer?

For work, my hair is up but everywhere else my hair is down and straightened within an inch of its life!

8. Deep smokey eyes or bold lips?

I really like deep smokey eyes so we'll go for that!

9. Favourite perfume for Summer?

It's a perfume my godmother got for me! It's an Armani perfume and smells amazing!

10. Last but not least, favourite music for Summer? 

Looong list but... The 1975, Arctic Monkeys, Imagine Dragons, Ed Sheeran, P!ATD, 5SOS, Birdy and lots more! 

Phew! Thanks for reading, hope you liked my answers!

I tag:
Jane
Rachel
Gaby
Grace
And... YOU!

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!
Aveen xx

My Week & Back To School Horror

Hey Everyone!

Another week has come and gone, with it more exciting memories, procrastinating and sobbing over going back to school. Fun times. I need to chat to all you lovely readers about back to school and how it complicates my blog. First however I'm going to tell you about my week!

So it was my second last week of my summer job this week, I came home everyday with increasing pains in my legs! Ouch! So I rested after work most of this week, little or no socialising unfortunately. However, I treated myself to a limited edition Orla Kiely travel mug! Orla Kiely is an amazing Irish clothes designer, Kate Middleton and her Mum Carole, are very fond of her designs and have worn her outfits on several occasions. Once I heard she was releasing limited edition travel mugs I literally screamed with excitement. I have used mine a couple of times already (I was drinking hot chocolate from it earlier today editing my YouTube video for this week, the weather was miserable)

Leaving Cert results also came out in Ireland this week, so a huge well done to everyone who received their results, in particular my cousin Barry, you did brilliantly. A lad from my school also achieved the highest result  in the country! (9 A1's!) Once again congratulations Mark, best of luck in the future.

Again, on the subject of school, I'm starting Fifth Year on August 28th. What does mean to my blog and YouTube? Sadly, an awful lot. Fifth Year is the start of the Leaving Cert cycle so it will be hard work and study for me as I want to achieve the best possible results. The impact is that I will be blogging less as I will most likely be using my spare time for work and study sadly. I really don't want to reduce my blogging/YouTube time and presence, I don't want it to be this way, but I have to.

I want to achieve what I've dreamt and craved for, and that means I have to work hard in my school work. I will be popping up hopefully every week checking in on all of you, I'm just not guaranteeing it which really, honestly deeply saddens me. I've grown to love blogging to all of you all over the summer. It's amazing to think people all over the world are reading what I'm typing in my room in Ireland.

I felt I needed to tell you all in advance, also, I'm going to try finish the blogging challenge before I go back to school and also do some revision and my summer job in between. Fun times.

*****************The Link To My YouTube Video Is Here! ********************************

Playlist For This Blog:
Paramore ~ Still Into You
Paramore ~ Ain't It Fun
Paramore ~ Fast In My Car
Paramore ~ Now
Paramore ~ Grow Up
Ed Sheeran ~ A Team
Fall Out Boy ~ Thnks Fr Th Mmrs
The Script ~ Six Degrees Of Separation
The Coronas ~ Grace Don't Wait!
Panic! At The Disco ~ Let's Kill Tonight

My Orla Kiely travel mug set! (I was not paid to sponsor this, I was actually so excited when I got it, I had to feature it on my blog)

A photo of a badly parked van I took! Talk about parking in the middle of nowhere! 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless,

Aveen xx

Liebster Award!

Hey Everyone! I've just been nominated for the Liebster Award by the lovely Pam The Mad! (Link to her blog)

The rules are the following!

1. Link back to the person who nominated you 

2. Answer the 11 questions given to you by the nominee before you

3. Pick 11 bloggers with under 200 followers to be nominated

4. Come up with 11 questions for your nominees to answer

5. Notify your nominees

Pam set me the following questions! This will be an interesting read! 

1. Your favourite quote and why? My favourite quote at the moment is, ''Work for a cause, not for applause. Life life to express, not to impress. Don't strive to have your presence noticed, just make your presence felt.'' Another quote I love is ''Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've always imagined'' the second quote has been echoing in my head for days!

2. Growing up, who did you admire? I admired my Mam, and I still do! She's so lovely to everyone she meets and is always there to talk about anything. She always listens and give brilliant advice and guidance, I credit her with everything I have ever achieved, she always encourages me to the best person I can and I love her for that. 

3. What would you like to do after finishing school? I've been asked this several times in the past few days, after the Leaving Cert I want to become a primary school teacher! It's the only profession (apart from Law) I could ever see myself in. I've wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember, it has always been my ambition! I'd also love to travel, maybe live in a city like London and teach for a year there, it would be absolutely surreal. 

4. Talk about your favourite band/artist and why you like them. Pam, you pick the trickiest questions! I'll speak about my favourite band and artist! Favourite artist is definitely Taylor Swift, I've been listening to her music for nearly 5 years and I know the lyrics to all her songs! It started as escapism when I was younger, her world was a parallel to mine, and I quite liked that. My favourite album is Speak Now, in particular the song ''Mean'' she also says such quotable things! (On the inside of my diary I wrote ''people throw rocks at things that shine'' and I can really relate to that.

Another is Ed Sheeran, (ssh his granny lives near me!) his music is so poetic and beautiful. I just ADORE his music and him. He's in the music industry to be a musician, not to have a fancy show, it's just Ed and his guitar. 

My favourite band is probably The Coronas, they're an Irish band and I find their music quite catchy and comforting, they've translated some of their songs into Irish and I even learnt the Irish versions, it's really made learning Irish easier somehow. They seem like lovely lads in the band too, my cousin saw them live and they're nearly better live than on their album, genuine talent. 

5. The greatest compliment you've ever received and who gave it to you.

Since starting this blog I have received so many lovely messages from fellow bloggers via various social networking sites, I won't quote all of them but they've really brightened up my day whenever I read them, so thank you! In school we also had ''Tell Her Tuesdays'' and a couple of lads genuinely said nice things too. I've begun to try focusing on the positive after focusing on the negative for so incredibly long, there's no real compliments that stand out for me really, I remember several teachers telling me ''I had great potential to do great things'' and then people compliment my outfits occasionally too! 

6. The name of your first pet. This is really weird but, I never had any pets! My parents didn't really like pets around the house, I wasn't that fussed either to be honest. I have a horrendous fear of dogs anyway so I was happy not to have any. 

7. Do you like school? Yes, I actually do like school, I try my utmost best to work and be well behaved in school. One thing I don't like in school is how judgemental people can be, the prejudice that resides in the school is sickening. If you look different or act differently, you will instantly be judged and talked about. Do anything out of the ordinary and you're just plain weird. It's sad really. Apart from that, school is alright. 

8. An embarrassing memory. My entire life is an embarrassing memory! When I was reading 'The Fault In Our Stars' on the way from London to Dublin and started silently crying is a little cringey when I think back on it, especially when Emer and Eimear (yes, they spell it different ways) were sitting beside me, thinking ''What is wrong with her?'' then I showed them the book cover and they understood! 

9. The most important quality you feel a person should have. This is a tricky one but, loyalty. You should stay loyal and honest to your friends and family, always be there for them and also kindness, be good to people, it's a wonderful legacy to leave behind. To be known by others as someone who was kind to people, when they gained nothing from doing so, is a lovely thing in my eyes. 

10. Something that irritates you. How judgemental people are about mental health. I was in a group that promoted positive mental health last year and there is such a stigma attached to mental health it's terrible. If a person is diagnosed with depression or self harms, they need your help, they don't need you judging them and gossiping about their misfortune behind their back. I saw it with my own eyes how people react to mental health issues, if you've a broken arm you can tell anyone about it, if you mention you're feeling under the weather or ''It's a black dog day'' you're immediately thought to be attention seeking or self-centred which is horrible!

11. Who are your style icons? I don't really have any style icons to be honest! I love Taylor Swift's, Jennifer Lawrence's and Kate Middleton's outfits, but it doesn't necessarily mean I would wear them too. I read some fashion magazines and view what is deemed ''fashionable'' and if I like what I see, I would wear it. At the moment I'm obsessed with wearing coloured skinny jeans and light jumpers with my Vans or Converse. 

I nominate the following! *drum roll*

Maeve's Fashion

Don't Need Make Up To Cover Up

Dainty Sprinkles

and that's all I can think of! Oops..

The Questions Are The Following:

1. If were to talk to your 10 year old self, would they be proud of you?

2. How many languages do you know?

3. Would you ever go bald if it was in style? ie EVERYONE was doing it.

4. Favourite perfume?

5. Favourite YouTubers?

6. One thing you want to do before you die?

7. Favourite number and why?

8. What do you order at Starbucks?

9. One thing in your wardrobe/closet you can't live without?

10. What’s one thing most people probably don’t know about you?

11. How tall are you?

I apologise in advance for those questions, it's like 10 pm right now! 

Happy Blogging Everyone!

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless

Aveen xx

Ps, I will be posting my weekly update sometime this weekend, I'm not sure if I'll have time to post a video though! We'll see how everything plays out. x

Another Week Of Exciting Adventures!

Hey Everyone!

It's the end of another week! To be honest, this week absolutely flew by! One minute it was the Bank Holiday Monday, now it's Saturday. I guess time flies when you're having fun (and working) Just to let you all know, I only have TWO weeks of my summer job, then I'm back in school. It's scary how quickly my time was up there.

So, I've started to record/film a video every week which you can see here! My channel is called AwkwardAveen and I post videos about my week & life in general, it's the same as my blog but you have the opportunity to hear my voice, not just see words on a screen. I hope doing this will bring more life to my blog and more of an opportunity to connect to all of you. I'd love to know more bloggers.

LINK TO MY YOUTUBE VIDEO AAH!

On Friday night I took part in a teenage bloggers chat organised by Gaby, Jane and my friend Grace! It was a great success, we discussed the pro's and cons of being a teenage blogger and I met/tweeted some lovely fellow bloggers! It was a good way to unite all the Irish & UK bloggers. So a HUGE thank you to all you brilliant people.

As I've been feeling a little artistic (something which never happens) I also re-designed the cork board in my room, added some new photos and re-arranged the entire thing. I really like what I did with it, it describes my personality very well, obsessed with quotes, London, books, danisnotonfire, Converse, danisnotonfire. Oops did I say danisnotonfire twice? ;) Well I love it, it's right beside my mirror and right beside my door so it's the first thing you see once you walk into my room.

John Green book update! I FINISHED PAPER TOWNS. Repeat, AVEEN FINISHED PAPER TOWNS. I didn't enjoy it as much as The Fault In Our Stars and Looking for Alaska, it just didn't have that addictive trait those books possess. It was well written like all of his books, however just not my favourite. Next I'll be reading Will Grayson, Will Grayson and then I'll be reading Delirium which I'm quite excited about.

After work one day I went into my local supermarket and discovered my name on a Coke Zero bottle! It's a different spelling of my name (Aoibhinn) which I don't mind seeing as on my birth cert it's spelt ''Aoibhainne'' not Aveen! (Sssh, most people don't know that) so my name causes a lot of  controversy as there are so many ways to spell it (Aveen, Aoibhinn, Aoibheann, Aoibhainne) I still haven't quite forgiven my parents for spelling it Aoibhainne! I really like the spelling Aveen and Aoibheann the most I think. So I was thrilled with finding my name on a Coke bottle as most of my friends had long ago found their own names and I hadn't, until now! Muwahaha

My Mum also bought my One Direction gel pens! 1D are my guilty pleasure to listen to so I was thrilled! I also have an obsession with gel pens which spawns from my childhood when I had a tin full of them and I would arrange the pens into ''families'' based on what colour ink they had. I sound like such an OCD person right now. *hums One Direction*

Also, I'd like to say a special thank you to everyone reading my blog, yesterday I hit 5,000 page views! This means so much to me seeing as I only started properly blogging in around late March and I had literally no views so thank you all for sticking with my random updates of insanity! I really appreciate it x

Playlist for this blog:
(Basically Ed Sheeran's entire album titled +. I always listen to the album, it's so beautiful)
Jason Derulo ~ The Other Side
One Direction ~ Best Song Ever
Goo Goo Dolls ~ Iris
Aslan ~ This Is (I've always know the song but I heard it played on the tv this week and have been listening to the song for days)
ELO ~ Mr Blue Sky

The infamous Coke bottle! (Still haven't drank it!)

Before photo of my cork board! 

After Photo of my cork board!

Another After Photo!

Zoomed in photo of my corkboard, love it.

A photo of my wall beside my door. The painting was done by my granddad who sadly passed away a few years before I was born. It's of a local beach and surrounding area. I've been told it's from the 1960's or so. There's a funny story of how I came to possess the painting! :)

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen xx

Ps, I'll be posting a link to my latest video once it uploads! x