The Liebster Award #2

Hey Everyone!

I was nominated by the lovely Niamh to do the Liebster Award for bloggers with 200 followers or less. This is my second time doing the Liebster Award so this will be fun!

The Rules are:

1. Write 11 facts about yourself

2. Answer the 11 questions given to you by the person who nominated you.

3. Nominate 11 bloggers

Eleven Facts About Me: 
1. My name is actually Aveen (it's Irish so it's hard to pronounce oops)
2. I live in Ireland
3. I started this blog in March 2013
4. I love reading books, I'd read anything and everything
5. I have an obsession with danisnotonfire and amazingphil, they're actually, in a way, my idols. I look up to them so much and their videos never cease to have me laughing.
6. I'm in Fifth Year in school so I've barely two years left in school *scared noise*
7. I have a Tumblr which I'm addicted to (link in the sidebar)
8. I love The 1975, Arctic Monkeys, Kodaline, Paramore, Fall Out Boy, The Killers & lots more bands, I've a diverse taste in music.
9. I've a fear of the dark, heights, spiders, dogs and a fear of failure (hard to describe the last one)
10. My favourite subject in school is either History, English, Business or Ag Science (I'm so nerdy I know)
11. I'm one of the biggest procrastinators you'll ever meet.

On to Niamh's questions!

1. Why did you start blogging?  I started blogging because I wanted to write about my life and keep a sort of online diary in a way, which included both my thoughts and also photos from every week. I like the idea of having a record of my teenage years. 
2. What is your favourite makeup brand? Despite being brilliant friends with lots of beauty and fashion bloggers, I don't actually wear any make up! (Please don't judge me hehe) I wear none in my photos or YouTube videos as I never had acne or anything which I wanted to cover up. 
3. What is your favourite shop? I love shopping in Roxy and Hollister, there's a local shop in the town where I live that sells brands like Roxy, Converse, Vans, Diesel, SuperDry and lots more, it's my favourite place!
4. Who inspired you to start blogging? My friend Grace of Dainty Sprinkles, I was in such awe of her blog posts, I thought it was the coolest thing ever! 
5. When did you start blogging? I started this blog in March 2013, I did have a blog in 2011 which I barely used until The Random Life Of Aveen came along, which I love as it expresses me well. 
6. Do you think that a domain name is important in a blog? Definitely, I changed all the names/links on my blog to ''The Random Life of Aveen'' some may know me as ''The Life of Me'' but I changed it fully to TRLOA. On other social networking sites such as Twitter, YouTube, Instagram & Tumblr I use the same username ''AwkwardAveen'' 
7. How do you take your pictures? I use my mobile phone occasionally (Samsung) and also my digital camera 
8. What type of post do you like writing the most? I love writing my weekly 'update' every Saturday afternoon, due to time restraints because of homework and study, I only get to write once a week and I look forward to it a lot!
9. What type of post do you not like writing the most? I only believe in writing what I want, and what I'd like to read so I never dislike writing any blog posts (I love writing, even in English!) There has been times where I dislike the tone or direction a blog post was going so I deleted it and started from scratch until I was 100% satisfied with the tone, message and direction of the post. 
10. How long have you been blogging? On this blog, nearly an entire year! I started this blog in a mentally, dark place and the regularity of blogging helped me overcome my issues and recover. I've practically made a full recovery in less than a year which is an absolute miracle. I put a lot of down to blogging as it also helped me realise my true friends in real life too. 
11. Would you consider starting a YouTube channel for your blog? Why? I actually already have one! I started a YouTube, 'AwkwardAveen' in the summer and YouTube have already offered me to apply to be a partner and monetization. In September I'm also taking an online course in the YouTube Creator Academy which I'm so excited for! 

So that's all the questions Niamh asked, I'm going to tag basically anyone who wants to do the Liebster Award! 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen x x

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

February Favourites!

Hey Everyone!

I decided to do something slightly different on my blog and discuss my favourites from February so far. This may be incredibly random but this is TRLOA after all ;) Let's begin!

I recently bought Company magazine and I have to say I loved it! I don't usually read fashion magazines but I really enjoyed this issue. I haven't been reading magazines the past couple of months because I grew out of KISS magazine (a brilliant Irish mag) as I had read the magazine since the age of 11 until 17!

My Harry Styles cardboard cut-out! I got this ''ironically'' for Christmas and Harry always makes me laugh (and scares my family when I put him in weird places ie their rooms)

Costa recently opened down the road from me, needless to say, I love it! Mam was going shopping so I went to Costa, yum. 

These books literally just arrived this morning! I'm an avid reader and obsessed with history in school (It's kind of my best subject academically too) I watched a tv series called Band Of Brothers so I got some books about it !  

A cat on the farm .. I love his/her colouring (the cat ran away when I walked up to it)

A selfie after going to the Mart (where livestock are sold) I went with the calves which were all sold so I was sad.. :(

I'm a culchie so I wear wellies. I've been wearing wellies more than my shoes this week.. 

My laptop, headphones, Costa and Wi-Fi, what more can you ask for? :) 

                             

 Source The Guardian.com
Arctic Monkeys at the BRITS awards last night. I adore their music and have been a fan for a long while. Congrats for sweeping the boards at the awards however I wasn't that impressed when Alex dropped the microphone. I felt his speech was very interesting but I thought it was slightly tasteless just dropping the mic like that. On the whole, I love their music and would love to see them when they come to Ireland in the summer! 

Source: Sugarscape.com
Again, talking about the BRIT awards, Dan Howell (danisnotonfire aka my idol) and Harry Styles of One Direction both wore the same Alexander McQueen shirt to the event last night! Dan along with Phil (amazingphil) hosted the livestream version of the awards on YouTube. I can't really decide who wore the shirt better, as they both decided to wear black blazers with the shirt! Let me know who you think wore it better and why! (I'm conflicted as I adore both Dan and Harry)

The 1975 ~ Girls
This is the song that's been stuck in my head for weeks! I have their self-titled album on repeat and I am just infatuated with their music (it started off with 'Chocolate' and subsequently escalated)

So they were my February Favourites! 

Expect another blog post at the weekend! :D

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless!

Aveen xx
google5026ed375685c730.html

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..)