Life As Of Late #5

I wasn't too sure how to approach more regular blogging, however I feel that the best way to continue to produce blog posts is by describing what I have been doing lately! This blog post details from the June Bank Holiday Weekend until the present week. So here's some photographs and information about what antics I've been up to! 

Catching up with the girls 

The Bank Holiday weekends are a great time to catch up with friends and family. I generally always head on a night out during a bank holiday weekend; there's  a good crowd and if you're in your hometown, you're guaranteed to bump into friends you haven't seen in an age. 

I was lucky enough to hang out with two of my best friends from my secondary school days on one of the nights out. I find that as I'm in college in Limerick, it can be difficult to meet up and maintain contact with my friends from secondary school as the majority are in college in Dublin. This meant it was brilliant to see Caítlín and Maeve and have a good catch up, gossip and session. It was a great night, even the rain didn't dampen our spirits! 

What I'm Reading:

I always try to read a few pages every night before going asleep so my latest book choice is 'Night School' by Lee Child. The book is based around the fictional character of Jack Reacher (A character I wish was real!) and a case he is dealing with as part of the Military Police in the 90's. It's set during his time in the Army so it's a blast from the past sort of book, as other books by Lee Child are set after Reacher left the Army. I've read the majority of the Reacher books and I have enjoyed every single one of them so I hope this lives up to my high expectations! 

 What I'm Listening To: 

Like everyone else, I'm always looking for new material to listen to. I've been a fan of The Coronas and The Strypes for many years so I was only thrilled to hear that The Coronas were releasing a new album called 'Trust the Wire' and The Strypes are soon releasing an album called, 'Spitting Image.' I've been listening to new album from The Coronas and I'm enjoying every minute of it. I'm now waiting for the new album from The Strypes, although they've posted a couple of songs online in anticipation of the new album!

Visited Wells House for Afternoon Tea: 

My Mam and I visited Wells House, which is an old house near Ballyedmond in Wexford. We went for a tour of the House with some of my aunts and cousins. The guide for the tour was excellent and provided a lot of details about the history of the house and the ownership of the house throughout the centuries. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside the house but we all had an excellent time. 

We went for Afternoon Tea after the tea which was inside the house, we had delicious sandwiches, scones and cakes with lashings of tea and coffee, all of which was wonderfully tasty and fresh. My poor cousin was mortified ringing the bell for more coffee and tea for us all! Overall, it is a wonderful day, I'd like to go again soon to explore the gardens and other facilities at Wells House. 

Lunch at 'The Duck' at Marlfield House: 

To celebrate my parents' 26th wedding anniversary this week, the four of us went for an anniversary lunch on Sunday at The Duck restaurant. The Duck is located beside Marlfield House on the Courtown Road in Gorey Co. Wexford. The menu had a wonderful selection of starters, main courses and desserts. All of us thoroughly enjoyed our meal. As the weather was sunny, we decided to get coffee and sit outside on the terrace adjacent to the restaurant to relax. You might have seen my Instagram from the terrace in the sunshine! Overall, it was a lovely afternoon of relaxation and good food. 

So how have you been spending your summer holidays? Let me know in the comments or chat to me on snapchat or Twitter! 

Life As Of Late #2

I quite like the idea of writing an update on the last fortnight through a visual/photographic way. Once again, here is my Life As Of Late. 

Meeting Up With Old Friends And New Friends

At the beginning of the month, I went to the Gorey Market House Festival and met up with my friends from secondary school and was introduced to new friends. It was a brilliant weekend to say the least. 

 Dealing with Adulthood and Responsibilities

Upon realising it's my last few months as a teenager, I decided to try be an adult. As a result, I bought what I felt a lot of adults use - sellotape and also a laminator. Scary times. 

Designed an Emoji?

On Snapchat you can design yourself as an emoji. As an avid emoji user, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to send emojis of myself to my friends. Note, I got a little bit excited sending this snap. 

Read Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Also, cried)

As a massive Harry Potter fan, I just HAD to buy Harry Potter and The Cursed Child. I devoured the book during an afternoon. I might also post a review for those who haven't read it yet as it is quite interesting and different to the original seven books (this book is the script of the play in London).

 Petted More Goats?!

On the Sunday of the Market House Festival, there were goats and other animals on the Main Street, along with several other attractions. Being me, I ran towards the goats and sheep to try feed and pet them. 

And petted sheep

Became obsessed with a new Snapchat filter

As you can tell, I spend too much time on Snapchat. But this is definitely one of my favourite filters to use when sending snaps. (Snapchat: AwkwardAveen)

Made an impulse purchase

I decided to buy a sandwich maker ''for college'' to make myself a tonne of toasties with. I'll be rolled out of my apartment in college next May I swear. 

Have you ever bought any random impulse purchases?

Let me know in the comments, tweet me or shoot me an email!

Aveen x

''I'm Trying To Be Somebody Else but Everybody Else is Taken''

I started my second semester back in January after a wonderful 5 weeks of Christmas holidays. The second week of the semester has ended and week 3 is approaching. In all honesty, it feels as if we never quite left for the length of time we did.

In my college, it was RAG week and if you're a college student you'll know exactly what antics we were all up to! The Student's Union opened a bar in the SU Lounge for the week which was brilliant, especially as there were wonderful performances by various acts, which I really enjoyed.

I realise it's been nearly a month since my last update. Instead of the over-sharing I once did on my blog, I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum where I share very little content that is to a degree, planned carefully. The title of this blog post comes from the song, 'Best Man' by The Strypes. The lyric has been reverberating in my head for a number of weeks, mainly because I can connect to those few syllables so well. I've been struggling with my own identity as of late. There's different versions of 'Aveen' floating around and I'm not quite sure which of the categories and identities is currently most applicable to me.

For several months I've questioned my identity, 'Who exactly am I?' has been a question plaguing my mind for a long time. During my secondary school years, I clung to my online identity. I felt that by adopting the persona of 'Awkward Aveen,' it might have made my days easier - which it both did and didn't. When that persona didn't quite work in my favour, I went to being determined, hard working but incredibly quiet for a lot of 2015.

Upon starting college, I was left with the dilemma of who exactly I wanted to be. It's still very much an issue I experience on a daily basis. I didn't want to be known solely by my musings on the internet (great thing is that many of my friends know, but it doesn't bother them, mainly due to my infrequency of updates) yet, for several years, the blog was an integral part of my life, giving me confidence to be a person I never thought I'd could be.

I did consider quitting blogging a number of times throughout my first semester. I wasn't gaining any satisfaction in blogging. I felt that I was typing to a brick wall and felt quite lonely in the blogging world. I'm planning on being more involved in the blogging world this year, as I miss the friends I made through writing online.

Please don't get me wrong, I still struggle with issues related to confidence (that's a story for another day my friends) but I think these are eased by blogging. It's viewed as attention seeking or narcissistic to write on a blogging platform by some -  yet for me it's not related to that at all. Blogging is therapeutic, typing on a keyboard allows me to clear my mind and prevent any negative emotions from building up. Last semester I complained about a lack of time which reduced my ability to create content. This semester I am determined to post on a more regular basis.

To document one's life I think is a wonderful concept. I've re-read over diaries I kept from my childhood and early teenage years and I desire to do the same with regards to my late teenage and early adult years. One must not be afraid of their emotions. Our feelings make us human, stronger, not weaker. That's something I really want to fully learn the value of.

Tuesday night in Crush with some of the girls, the camera quality the photographer used was amazing. 

Most of the girls I live with in college quite literally 'out in force'! 

An assortment of selfies with the girls!

I went to see Ardal O'Hanlon in one of the local hotels on Saturday night. It was a brilliant evening that I spent literally laughing my head off.

One of my Christmas presents was the first Jack Reacher book by Lee Child. My Mam is a massive fan and decided it was time I joined the obsession. I'm about to start the fourth book (there's 19 in the series) so I have lots of reading to do - exciting times. I'd definitely recommend reading the books, they're absolutely fantastic. 

Aveen xx

*Title of blog post: The Strypes - Best Man 

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

''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