Every Lesson Forms A New Scar, They Never Thought You'd Make It This Far..

Hey Everyone!

This week I finished Fifth Year and my Summer Exams! *Happy dance* So I won't be back in school until late August/early September to start Sixth Year, aka my last year in secondary school. I personally find typing that sentence both exhilarating and also quite, quite terrifying.

I finished up exams on Thursday at lunch time which was nice I have to say. Ever since I've basically stayed at home on Tumblr, tried to finish packing for my trip to the Gaeltacht (It's on Tuesday, my nerves are shot at this stage) and went to Costa two days in a row for a 'Last Supper' of a Costa drink.

I printed a map and directions to the Gaeltacht for my Mam and her first response was ''WAIT, YOU'RE ON AN ISLAND FOR THREE WEEKS?'' She also suggested that it's ''Next stop America from there'' So you can basically picture me being on an island speaking Irish, surrounded by bogs, sheep and stone walls  and being over an hour away from Galway city, this will be interesting!

If you're wondering if my blog will remain active for the duration of the trip, the answer is YES :) I have enlisted in the help of some lovely bloggers who have written guest posts on various topics which will all be posted sometime during the 3 weeks I'm away. I also have written some posts myself but I will be out of contact with the interwebs until June 25th.

Maybe an internet detox is what I need at the moment. After finishing Fifth Year I feel that I need to get away for a while, so many this will be 'killing two birds with the one stone' as it were. I feel that I'm, in a way, too connected to the internet and my thumb is on the pulse of the internet far too often. Once I wake up I check my emails, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. I check those websites continuously throughout the day. I think that a detox for three weeks would do no harm, but I will really, really miss blogging, tweeting my bloggers friends and just communicating with everyone. It's going to be hard to adjust but we're allowed to write letters over there which is good!

I honestly am not quite sure what else to say about this week. I basically spent the majority of it cramming, sleeping and panicking over exams, which is always a great way to spend your time. I subsequently spent the other half of the week just reblogging gif's of Dan & Phil and whatever else popped up on my dash.

my latest YouTube video!  Titled ''Negativity On The Internet'' If you liked it please give it a thumbs up or comment! 

Selfie with my Costa today

Sitting in The Sibling's Room 

''Aveen have you packed for the Gaeltacht?'' 

''Everything including the kitchen sink''

Sadly, this seems to be my last post until June 25th at the least. 

I can feel butterflies of nerves as I type these last few sentences as I really don't want to leave the blogging world for three weeks, but it'll be worth it and I will be coming back. 

'Till Then,

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless, I will miss all of you so much!

Slán Abhaile.

Aveen xx

**Lyrics: Taylor Swift ~ Eyes Open

You could be doing anything you dream of.. If you believe in the things that make you strong

Hey Everyone! 

So this week was an extremely quick week for me. As I sit here on a Sunday morning typing and listening to Maybe by Birdy (hence the title of today's post) I'm finding it difficult to recall what occurred this week, something which is quite unusual for me as I usually recall everything. 

We had a half day on Monday due to a staff in-service so I missed double religion and also English (yay, but I actually love English) The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so much so I even posted a photo on Instagram about the weather. The day was symbolic that maybe Spring was well and truly here, that the dark, rainy, squally and just generally miserable days in Winter were gone for another few months. 

On Wednesday after school were my parent-teacher meetings, where, as the title says, your parents meet your teachers to discuss you and how you're getting on so far. My parents came home and they were absolutely thrilled, not a single bad/negative comment had been said! -Breathes a sigh of relief- I was quite calm afterwards as I had been slightly concerned about what the teachers would say. 

Thursday truly flew by along with Friday. On Friday my Ag Science class went to a dairy farm at the top of the town (ironically past my house) so at around 9.45am we were driving past my house and all I wanted was to go back to bed, priorities. The farmer showed us around the farm and we all took countless photos. As my uncle has a farm, I'm no stranger to calves, cattle and bulls, but some of the more ''townie'' girls honestly couldn't handle it which was slightly hilarious. 

At around midday we left the farm, just down the road is a petrol station who do what can only be described as the best breakfast rolls and salad rolls ever. As you can imagine, we begged our teacher to let us all have lunch there, which we did! (The other class was on the other bus and went straight back to school without going there hehe) So we all left with simply amazing rolls for lunch. (It's about less than a mile from my house so during the holidays my lovely Mam usually drives me up there to get lunch. Some of the lads even drive up there at lunchtime they love the place that much) 

We arrived back to school nearly half an hour after the other class so I was 25 minutes late for business. My teacher didn't mind as I explained we were later than was expected. (You're meant to tell your teachers in advance if you're not going to be in class due to any trips or GAA matches and whatnot) 

On Saturday I went back to badminton for the first time in I'd say three weeks! I've been given so much homework recently I haven't had any time to go. Needless to say I was really tired (10 am on a Saturday morning) but when we finished up, the weather was amazing. At 4pm I collected my two younger cousins and brought them to my house as their parents were gone to a wedding. 

We watched the Ireland vs France match, screaming with joy and nerves throughout the entire match. We jumped for joy when the final whistle blew (not going to lie, that referee had the most beautiful facial features ever) I got a little teary when Brian O'Driscoll (BOD) was interviewed and was the Man of The Match as it was his last game for Ireland (I also got emotional when Johnny Sexton was take off on a stretcher, I was just emotional throughout the match). A huge congratulations to the team for winning the Six Nations, the selfie they took was just fabulous! 

Enough with my rambling for this week! I posted a blog post yesterday about my blogs first birthday! I guess it was a really good day for Ireland yesterday, brilliant weather, Ireland winning the Six Nations.... and my blog turning one... haha. 

As I'm Irish and in a town somewhere in the South East of Ireland, I'm VERY excited for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow, I've loved the parade since I was a small child. I'll try take some photos of the parade, I'll also be wearing green of course. 

On a final note, happy birthday to the best Mammy in the world, my Mammy! It's her birthday today (the day before Paddy's Day, so you can probably guess that her name is related to that fact) I hope you have a lovely birthday and my brother and I won't annoy you too much today! :D 

Photos from my week!

''Aveen why are you posing with silage?'' It's for my Ag Science project for my Leaving Cert if you're wondering. 

Taking selfies in front of the silage, Ag Students.. 

I was in Tesco on Friday, it's clear they're fans like me! (I bought the DVD and watched the film with a bowl of popcorn on Friday night, heaven)

Another poster in the store! May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favour

Some cupcakes we had over the weekend, yum. 

A photo I posted on Instagram. Clear skies in Ireland? Is it the end of the world? ;)

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen xx

The Only Thing Embedded In My Mindset, Is How I'm Addicted To Progress..

Hey Everyone!

Lyrics: The Coronas ~ Addicted To Progress
Sorry for the later than usual blog post today, I was actually being sociable this weekend for once! *Shock horror*

This week was my second week back after Mid-Term, in reality it feels like two months. I'm utterly exhausted at the moment, I've actually no idea why I'm so tired. Everything seems to be so stressful and I keep wishing there was more hours in the day to either study or sleep.

It's honestly shocking how quickly time is flying by, in 3 months, I'll be sitting somewhere in Galway talking Irish. In September when I started Fifth Year, I felt that the year was going to last for ever and the Gaeltacht felt like an unreachable destination. With each passing day and week, it's edging ever closer in my mind.

Monday to Friday was literally a ''blink and you'll miss it'' type of week.But Pancake Tuesday was glorious, I'm definitely in love with lemon and sugar pancakes. I was extremely positive on Monday morning however this positivity evaporated by the end of the day. At the end of each day I was practically begging to go home, even the other students blocking my locker block would set me crazy. (I don't cope well with a lack of sleep as you can probably tell)

We had a maths test on Wednesday, which I had a number of sleepless nights over (Might as well be honest) Due to the classes abysmal performance, we were given another test on Friday which hopefully will be better. I've been having nightmares and weird dreams about maths nearly every night since Monday, it's been horrible! (Imagine maths equations like chasing you near cliffs and screaming to find the volume of random objects, yep)

On Friday evening was the last week of the Irish Club until September (It's Spleodar, can't say which one though, cos that's a little stalkerish) and my friends and I were sad that Spleodar was over as we loved talking in Irish, playing games, eating pizza and of course, gossiping as Gaeilge!

Which leads onto why I wasn't on the interwebs on Saturday! All the Spleodar clubs went to Carlow for ''Slogadh Spleodar'' where we were in a parade all over Carlow all carrying balloons for Seachtain Na Gaeilge. Afterwards we had lunch and listened to an Irish band called ''Mo Hat Mo Gheansaí'' who were savage and played lots of songs in Irish (including one of my favourites, The Coronas, Heroes or Ghosts, link below to The Coronas singing it)

After Mo Hat Mo Gheansaí's performance (which had everyone up and dancing) We went to another very Irish place, Supermacs. I will admit now, I'd never been to Supermacs, mainly because it's not in my town (Niall Horan is obsessed with the place apparently!) The place was full of Spleodar students. Afterwards we began rehearsing for the Comórtas (Competition) where each club had their own song to sing and the best would be the winner.

*laughs really awkwardly* Our song was about Domino's pizza, honestly. The song was to tune of Waka Waka by Shakira. It was honestly hilarious singing about pizza ''Ni Mhaith Linn Glasraí'' ~ We Don't Like Vegetables, that was a line from the song! I'd post the actual lyrics but I'm laughing so hard thinking about us standing up on the stage singing the song about pizza, only in Spleodar! :)

Overall, it was an interesting week, full of plenty of ups and downs, but that's just the unpredictability of life. I try not to compare my ''behind-the scenes to someone else's highlight reel'' It may seem that bloggers have ''amazing lives'' (I have been told this by people) But in reality, I'm the quiet girl in the class who rarely speaks unless to say ''here'' when my name is called. People think I'm oozing with self confidence, it's the total opposite. I love writing, and this is my way of writing.

Photos from my week!

A random selfie, I'm still getting used to my glasses. 

Top and hoody are both Roxy. 

The place where most of life is now spent. ie, studying (Student-Dying)

I bought this months issue of Company magazine with Zoella on the cover! I've read most of it and it's absolutely brilliant. I loved Zoella's interview and photoshoot, the Grease t shirt was gorgeous.

A random selfie taken this morning. I feel as though my glasses make me look younger? Idk.

''Aveen your parent teacher meetings are on Wednesday'' *Fear in my eyes* 

First trip to Supermacs with malteser ice-cream. Half my OTP (Dantesers)

One of my favourite songs possibly ever, Heroes or Ghosts by The Coronas, in Irish! 

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless,

Aveen xx

A Book Review: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Hey Everyone!

I realised today that my blog is nearly a year old, yet I've never actually written a book review! This came as quite a shock to me seeing as reading books is how I spend most of my spare time. I decided to pick an interesting book which I read over Christmas. This book is Allegiant, the third book of the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth.

As I mentioned previously, Allegiant is the third and final book of the Divergent trilogy. The book (Allegiant) follows the protagonist Tris Prior after the faction system has been very much destroyed. Tris is offered the chance to leave and go explore ''past the fence'' into the unknown along with Tobias (Four) 

Tris believes she's ready and that she will find a new life outside the fence with Tobias. They explore outside the fence and are extremely alarmed by what they find and are told. 

I don't want to spoil too much of the book for anyone who hasn't read it, but, this may sound negative, I didn't find the book as enjoyable as Divergent and Insurgent! I felt that Allegiant was slightly rushed and the author Veronica Roth, was dead set on the particular ending she chose. I feel that she only wanted that particular ending and nothing, not even flaws in the story, was going to change that. 

I was quite addicted to the book, I literally could not put it down, but I felt the ending could have been different. I did enjoy the dual perspective (Divergent & Insurgent had been written from Tris' point of view) whilst Allegiant was from both Tris' and Tobias' perspectives. 

For anyone who's read it, you may be asking ''Did Aveen cry reading the book?'' The answer is yes, that ending nearly destroyed my emotions! I was reading the book on Christmas Day and finished it at 11pm, subsequently by throwing the book against the wall (that's why it looks a little battered above) and crying my eyes out for a few hours afterwards. 

I wouldn't deter anyone from reading the trilogy, they're truly excellent books which are good for escapism whenever your own world is slightly tedious. I'd definitely recommend the trilogy to anyone who loves dystopian fantasy books such as The Hunger Games and Noughts & Crosses to name a few. 

On another note, I just uploaded a new YouTube video called ''How To Deal With Negative People'' This video is something different on my channel as I usually post somewhat comedic videos, so I would love to know your reaction and how you thought the video was. 

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless!
Aveen xx

The Kindest Words Get So Obscured..Between Your Thoughts On What They'll Say..

The Random Life Of Aveen in Photos
Lyrics from The Coronas ''Won't Leave You Alone''

Hey Everyone! 

As the saying goes, a picture tells a thousand words, so I decided to use that saying today to tell all you lovely people about what I've been doing the past few days. 

Photograph One is of my favourite necklace at the moment and a Roald Dahl quote in the background. I keep the necklace & quote on my corkboard because I always look there. The full quote is ''If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely'' It's a really pretty and eloquent quote which is simple to remember, but also quite effective and in way, truthful. 

Photograph Two is of Company Magazine which I bought at the weekend, I love it so far!

Photograph Three is of the current book I'm reading, Will Grayson, Will Grayson which is absolutely excellent so far, only a couple of pages in I was laughing! (A rare occurrence as I usually just cry at John Green books) 

Photograph Four is of one of my favourite mugs, my red Starbucks mug! It holds so much whether I want to drink water, milk or hot chocolate! As it's Mid-Term at the moment it's getting an awful lot of use!

Photograph Five is my homework/study pile including extra revision I'm doing myself. Overall many of my teachers were quite nice with the homework they gave out, but some (cough business and maths) are giving tests after Mid-Term, lovely. 

Photograph Six is my whiteboard and I've written the tasks I have to finish by the end of the week. The only written homework I have left is a summary of what I want to do for my RSR (project) in history and one or two maths questions! The rest is only revision so I hope it isn't too bad.. 

Photograph Seven is my headphones which I use with my laptop (and currently using as I type!) they're brilliant for when I'm editing videos too. 

Photograph Eight is where I've been since Friday, on my bed with a laptop, magazine, USB cables and headphones. It's a brilliant week. 

And finally Photograph Nine is of me (oh the vanity, not) I had an opticians appointment this morning and I have to get a stronger prescription (my eyesight has worsened, oops blame my genetics) so I picked a new pair of glasses and sunglasses! The optician said I'll have them by the end of the week so they'll hopefully debut in my weekly post on Saturday or Sunday! :)

I didn't include the photo of me watching the music video for the 'last' My Chemical Romance song ''Fake Your Death'' because it wasn't a nice sight (tissues were needed to dry my tears)

I'm also doing something really ''culchie'' tomorrow which you'll find out about later in the week! 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen xx

AwkwardSprinkles; A Day In The Life!

Hey Everyone!

So this is a special post dedicated to a Day In The Life Of AwkwardSprinkles featuring my real life & blogger friend DaintySprinkles!

As it's officially Mid-Term, we felt it was time for an AwkwardSprinkles day, this time at my gaff/house! Grace arrived at my house and we immediately went on laptops (how sociable we are) talking, gossiping, eating chocolate and just generally relaxing.

We decided to walk down the road to Tesco/Costa which is really near my house (First World Perks?) We were slightly concerned that we would bump into people we knew, which is something inevitable if you live in a small town in Ireland. We flicked through magazines and I bought Company magazine for the first time! I think Grace is trying to convert me into a Beauty and Fashion Blogger!

We also paid a trip to Costa to get hot chocolate. To my utter grief, they had run out of marshmallows but I still had cream so it was okay. We decided to walk back up to my house where we embarrassingly vlogged in the middle of the road (with many drivers staring but it doesn't matter!)

You may also be delighted to hear that we recorded YouTube videos! I'm in the process of editing my videos (I have three videos coming up, the AwkwardSprinkles video, The Bloopers/Vlogs & also The TMI Tag) We discussed various subjects including the crazy Irish weather, people coughing/sneezing in exams, general gossip/rambling and LOTS more. So check out our YouTube accounts for those! Part One of AwkwardSprinkles will be on my channel and the Part Two on Graces!

We also took outfit photos which you can see below, we used my tripod 'FredOrGeorge' (Weasley reference) and I was very awkward when posing for photos as you can tell from the photos below.  Overall we had a brilliant day and I think we were both very sad when Grace had to go home :(

Bloggers heaven; laptops, Costa, Company magazine, chocolate and Wi-Fi 

Today's day on my calendar

I bought Company magazine! 

I hope you enjoyed an insight into a Day In The Life Of AwkwardSprinkles! 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen xx

''Do I sound Irish? Or is it like I've just jumped off a tractor Irish?''

Hey Everyone!      

So it's the end of another week and I only have one more week in school until Mid-Term! (Cheers ecstatically) which means freedom from school! So this week was relatively interesting, maybe I should tell you about it? ;) 

Well we'll start off with the title of this blog post and it's meaning. If you read my Twitter & my tweets, you'll see that I was tweeting with the following lovely people; Grace of Dainty Sprinkles, Tolly of Tolly Dolly Posh, Kate from The Fashion Chain, Mia from TeenageBeautyBlog and Rachel of Oh Hey There Rachel! on Saturday night (last night!) which was absolutely ''savage'' and we all discussed stranger danger with strangers (irony at it's finest) due to the Internet Safety Group! 

Later on in the night, myself, Grace, Mia & Tolly decided to Google chat, which was um.. interesting. Apparently I overused the word ''savage'' which I use to say like 'epic' or 'brilliant' Overall though, we had a brilliant chat and it's great that the teenage blogging community can get together like that. It's hard to imagine that say ten years ago, the technology wasn't there to do things like that. It really makes me realise how lucky we are to have the ability to communicate via blogs, Twitter and other social networking sites. 

Also on Saturday, there was a storm/weather warning in place where I live so I went to take photos of the waves at the seaside 'town' near where I live (I always have bright ideas) Turns out however, there was a multitude of people there too, some with phones, some with camera's and tripods, everyone taking photos as the waves crashed against the pier. My Mam didn't let me stand too close to the waves (for obvious reasons) but it was utterly spectacular seeing the waves rolling towards us, getting slightly closer with each crash. I took literally tonnes of photos, and my favourites are down below. One in particular I love is the photo with the man standing literally metres away from the waves, I know he was risking his life, (And I was terrified he was going to jump in) but I love the photo as it shows how huge the waves actually were. It puts the waves into perspective in a way. 

Also, this week I read the book ''Switched'' by Amanda Hocking, if I have time I'll write a review in a separate blog post! (I finished it last night at around 1am which is always a bundle of laughs) and I think I'll read the next two books, Torn and Ascend if I have time. (If they cause emotional distress like most other books I read maybe warn me in advance, I cry at nearly every book so maybe it's just me) 

A shoutout to my annoying brother (who Grace, Tolly and Mia probably now know from the chat last night) for switching off the Wi-Fi when I was writing this blog post, cheers peasant!

ps. all photos below are mine and you can freely use them, but please notify/inform me :) 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen xx

If all goes to plan, I will be recording a YouTube video this afternoon! Watch this space! x

Photos Of The Coastline 

 

Beach near where I live .. (what's left of it..)