Tricks and Tips

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

A New Year & A New Look

Hi everyone!
I decided to embrace 2014 with a new look for my blog!! I hope you all like it. I thought the photograph was so sweet, so I naturally made it my background ;)

One of my New Years Resolutions is going to be to post more, and hopefully gain some followers!! I'm no longer going to use this blog as a secret diary, I'm going to be posting things of fashion, beauty, philosophy, travel, and pop culture. Maybe I'll even throw in a few videos of me bagpiping...who knows!

The possibilities for this blog are absolutely ENDLESS, and I'm so excited to experience them. I'll definitely need some tips and tricks, and I'm going to look to other blogs for advice/tips. (If you have ANY please comment them below). I can't wait to get started...I've been glued to my laptop all day, and I probably will be all night ;)

2014 is going to be great...I can just FEEL it. But I can never forget 2014. That was one of the best years of my life. I made a little flipagram below celebrating all my friends and the good times we've had. I have to go get ready for a party tonight, so happy new year everyone! I'm so excited to spend it with you :)

xx Meg

Saturday, December 28, 2013

2013 Awards!!!!

Hey everyone!!

Sadly, 2013 has come to a close. To be completely honest, I loved this year. It may have been the best year of my life (please don't take that as corny). Seriously. I made so many more friends, I got good grades, I got into area band and learned how to play the bagpipes....it was fantastic!!! There are so many wonderful things about 2013, so I thought I'd share. Here are the best of the best of everything 2013 (in my opinion of course)!!!

Most Influential Person
Now, I know I'm kind of cheating by putting down two people, but I just couldn't resist!! The two most influential people of 2013 were both ladies: Malala Yousafzai and Jennifer Lawrence. While Jen completely changed America's view on what is considered "beautiful", Malala fought for education for women, and was nearly killed in the process! Both are strong and powerful women and I admire them immensely. Below are videos of them both (Jennifer's Oscar acceptance speech and Malala at the United Nations Youth Assembly).

 
 
 
Best Band
Yes, I'm cheating again. :) Their EP hit iTunes back in 2012, and that was also when I discovered them after listening to their hit, "It's Time" in "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" soundtrack. Imagine Dragons absolutely DOMINATED the music world in 2013, and I'm sure they're going to continue. I personally love their song "On Top of the World", but "Radioactive" always manages to give me goose bumps. (Did anyone else know that it was featured in The Host trailer?? That was a damn good movie by the way.) They're so unique, their sound is always chilling, UGH I love them with a passion. Listen to them if you haven't already!! (And if you haven't, do you live under a rock or what?)

 



Best Movie
This was probably the hardest award to give out. I love movies with a burning passion. Seriously. Almost every single movie I see I obsess over until there's nothing left to obsess about. Maybe I'm crazy. I don't even know, but this year I am giving the award to "Now You See Me".
Oh. My. Lordy. Lord. This movie was fantastic!! If you haven't seen, WATCH IT IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE YOUR LIFE WILL NOT HAVE ANY MEANING UNTIL YOU DO. I have to admit though, there were so many movies I wanted to say. I mean, Catching Fire?? Iron Man?? The Conjuring?? Ugh they were fantastic. I don't know. Now You See Me really was magical. No pun intended. The trailer's below. :)



Best Book
Y'all are going to hate me. I haven't read that many books this year. I know! I know!! I'm disappointed too! (It's on my list of New Year's Resolutions. I got a huge list going of future reads!) Actually, that's probably a lie. I've probably read a ton and a half of books but just forgot that I read them. I did remember, however, that I read everything John Green save Paper Towns, and he is my absolute FAVORITE author and he is WONDERFUL and MAJESTIC and HE IS THE GOD OF YOUNG ADULT NOVELS. I read Looking For Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and The Fault in Our Stars (which they're making into a movie!!!)























Best Social Network
When it comes to uniqueness, hands down, my vote is Vine. Six seconds is the perfect amount of time for my attention span. I'm always on Vine, even though I typically don't post. The social network I have used the most is twitter. I tweet and tweet and tweet and tweet. It's a bit of an addiction. :) I just adore writing, and some of the little bits and pieces people write about fascinate me. Twitter, you are FANTASTIC :)


Best iPhone App
I'm a total music lover, so I have to give this award to Pandora. Seriously. I never knew there was so music modern Celtic music. ;)

Best iPhone Photography App
I use Afterlight for almost every single Instagram picture I post. It has thousands of filters, and light leaks to enhance your photos and make them shine. Here are a few of my Instagram pictures where I've used this wonderful app :)

 
 
 
 
 
 


















These are my awards so far :) Stay tuned for part 2!!!



~Meg
 
 
 
 

Saturday, December 21, 2013

The Family Fiasco

     It appears that even the holiday spirit cannot stop my family from fighting. Perhaps bickering is genetic and symptoms are easily triggered in moments of happiness and joy. It certainly would explain a lot. 

     It started off just a couple of days ago. I had returned home from a long day of fencing and work only to discover my mother's cousin Ila sitting down in my grandpa's and great aunt's apartment downstairs. My mom was very surprised to see her. I guess Ila had made an unexpected guest appearance. I ignored my mother's anger and shock and hugged Ila (I haven't seen the woman in ages) and then I headed upstairs to start my assignment for honors English that my teacher had sprung on us that morning. That's when the yelling started.

     I could hear the two of them through three flights of stairs. Their words were muffled nonetheless, but they were screaming their asses off at each other. I rolled my eyes and tried to concentrate, but it's extremely hard to compose a three page story about World War II that demonstrates irony with two 50-year-olds creating enough noise to rouse the neighbors. Their bickering went on for (no joke) 30 minutes until Ila decided to leave. Then my mother proceeded to scream at my mentally unstable Aunt Fran.

     Ila had come over (6 days before Christmas nonetheless) to invite my 90-something year old, crippled Aunt Fran to their house fro Christmas. Unknowingly, my Aunt Fran agreed to go, and my mother basically threw the world's largest hissy fit in an effort to secure my aunt's prescence at our table for Christmas Day. It didn't work. Currently, my aunt is going over to Ila's and my mother is red with anger if anyone so much as mentions Christmas.

     Even though she's being COMPLETELY dramatic, I understand where my mom is coming from. She has dedicated basically her entire life to serving Aunt Fran and making sure the woman is happy, healthy, and safe. That's a big deal. Ila, on the other hand, has not so much as lifted a finger in order to help Aunt Fran. She never visits, never calls, never even sends happy birthday cards in the mail. Ila really doesn't show up at all. She's not even close to being as big of a part of my Aunt Fran's life as my mom is, and it really pisses her off that Aunt Fran wanted to spend the holiday with Ila instead of with my mother and I. I don't blame my mother for being angry with Ila; my problem is that she's angry with Aunt Fran. 

     Aunt Fran is not mentally stable. At all. She forgets who she is, where she is, and who the people around her are. When Ila was leaving, she thought that I was leaving with them and told me to give her "one last kiss" because I wouldn't be seeing her for quite some time, even though I've been living with her for more than 5 years. Yes, she did agree with going to Ila's home for Christmas, but that doesn't give my mother the right to be pissed at her! Fran doesn't have a clue who anyone is, she can't make up her mind who she wants to spend Christmas with. 

     Fran sees my mother and I every single day. She NEVER gets to see Ila and Ila's family. Obviously, she's going to want to see the family members who haven't visited in a while. Also, before Aunt Fran moved in with us, she basically LIVED with Ila and Ila's family. She misses her old life, which is COMPLETELY understandable. Just because she chooses to spend Christmas with other family members doesn't mean she loves us any less. My mother can't wrap her head around that fact. She thinks my aunt is ungrateful, selfish, and rude, even though she's anything but. Honestly, the selfish one here is probably my mother. She needs to relax and let my aunt do what she wants. She doesn't have that many Christmases left. Plus, it's not like this was a brand-new plan. Aunt Fran spent last Christmas with Ila too! My mother should've seen this coming.

     I don't blame my Aunt Fran for wanting to not spend Christmas with us. When my Mom gets stressed, she turns into a full-blown bitch. She turns rude and selfish and doesn't stop complaining about everything from rude, ungrateful family members to the Republican Party. She's a jerk, and when Aunt Fran comes with us to places, all my mother does is complain about what a burden Aunt Fran is. If Aunt Fran doesn't want to be in such a negative environment, I don't blame her one bit. I don't want to be in it either. 

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Life in a Pressure Cooker

Life has certainly been rubbing me the wrong way. Between the paper cut inbetween my thumb and index finger and accidentally drinking orange juice after brushing my teeth this morning, I'm fairly sure that karma has decided to kick my patootie into next week. I'm not even sure what I did. Maybe I accidentally killed a ladybug in the third grade or something.

Life has been really stressful lately, but I guess I deserve it for bringing on so many activities. I'm last chair in area band (shut up. I'm grateful to be in), I'm attempting to get into states for DECA, and my coach is convinced that my sabre fencing is going to get my high school to go to states. There's a hell of a lot of pressure on me. I don't know what to do. I'm terrified of letting anyone down.

It's impossible to be perfect in absolutely everything you do. I'm not stupid; I'm well aware of this fact, but for some inexplicable reason my brain has not fully accepted the concept and is convinced that I will be able to defy the laws of the universe and be magnificent in everything that strikes my fancy. I don't know when my brain is going to get a wake up call, but I assume it's going to be soon, and I can tell that it's not going to be a pretty sight. I wish there were multiple megs so I could fully dedicate all of myself to everything I do and be somewhat perfect. Augustus Waters was so damn right. Life really isn't a wish granting factory.