For the love of writing

Why blog?  This question seems to race across the back of my mind every time my fingers start typing away at a new post.  What's the point Madeline?  No one's going to care about what you write!  Won't having a blog come across as a little vain?  Phrases such as these seem to find themselves, snatched out of my subconsciousness and forced into the front of my mind.

Now, for starters I doubt many people do care about my blog and I would hate to think that I come across as vain for having one.  It's one of my biggest fears when it comes to posting on here.  My reasoning for writing a blog isn't because I'm hungry for recognition or I think everyone must be desperate to read exactly what I'm thinking at any given moment.  It's for the love of writing.  My love of writing.  I love writing.  I'm weird like that.  It's been one of those things I've stuck with, partially due to the occasional English Assignment which would force me to present some form of creative writing.  Everybody has something or a handful of somethings they're passionate about.

Another one of mine is music.  When I was little I used to love sitting at my Grandma's piano and making up little melodies.  Sometimes the notes I played with my left hand clashed with those I played with my right and sometimes they didn't. I didn't care that much.  Which ever the case was, clashing notes or no clashing notes, I was still making music.  That made me happy.

Blogging is my excuse to write.  It gets me writing on a regular basis.  I'm not one to sit with a notebook in my lap scribbling down stories for hours but I am one who will enjoy typing up a few paragraphs every once in a while.  It just works for me.  

I'm happy to say I have now settled my thoughts about blogging once and for all.  It doesn't matter if no one cares about my blog.  Even if I was the only one to ever view it, I'd be happy I kept it up?  Why?  For the love of writing, of course!

I know for myself, I need to continue to learn not to let my own thoughts box me in.  I may not be a great writer yet, but I can only improve from here.  I'm going to write and write and write because I love it.

-Madsyroo xx

Confessions of a Closet Narnia Fan

The kid within me is freaking out right now.  I just heard news via facebook that the new Narnia movie will be The Silver Chair.  I've been waiting years for this to happen.  As a nine year old I was a hard core Narnia nerd.  No joke!  My favourite book of course was none other than The Silver Chair. 

I had the whole series not just as books but on CD too (cheesy sound effects included).  I remember long journeys in the car, listening to a British voice drone on about Aslan and wardrobes.  I still have them to this day!

It wasn't enough for me to listen to the books or read the books, I had a Narnia themed room too.  I had a Narnia calender which I ripped the pictures out of and blu-tacked onto my wall once I was done using it.  I was obviously a decor expert.  

My obsession didn't end there.  No.  My tenth birthday was Narnia themed.  It was pretty legit.  I made TONS of paper snowflakes which my mum hung from the ceiling with string.  I had Narnia figurines all over my cake and all the kids at my party decorated home baked ginger bread houses.  I loved every moment of it!

Oh and on book day at my school who did I dress up as?  Susan!  Of course.

So as you can tell I was a pretty committed fan.  The key word there is was.  No, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy no longer adorn my walls and my previous fandom is not something I would proudly bring up in a day to day conversation but I was still pretty excited to hear about this movie.  I'm allowed to be a total nerd about something right? 

I was a little disappointed when I found out the silver chair movie won't actually be out until 2018.  So, when I'm like 20 or 21.  A LONG way away.  By then I'll probably be a broke student but I'll be sure to forge out a couple bucks to see this one in honour of my nine-year-old self.     

-Madsyroo xx

Pie hunting, etc.

Happy Sunday!  Before I get too far into this post I'm going to let you know I'm one of those sad people who loves planning WAY ahead.  I mean it's September and I'm already thinking about Thanksgiving, never mind Halloween of course.

Thanksgiving.  For those of you who don't know Thanksgiving is and American Holliday about giving thanks for Indians helping pilgrims and stuff but the main reason I enjoy Thanksgiving is the Thanksgiving meal itself and the FOOD!  Even just making the food.  

It's always weird celebrating Thanksgiving in Northern Ireland.  I've spent several Thanksgivings in school.  Doing tests and stuff seems to dampen the whole holiday spirit.  To most people here it's just like any other day.  Our family may not have a super traditional Thanksgiving but it's still special because almost everyone in the family pitches out with the food.  My younger sister makes to die for twice baked potatoes with bacon and last year my little brother helped make rolls.  Dad typically makes Turkey and the rest of the sides are prepared by Mom and Dad.  

My thing is to contribute to the meal by making pie.  Last year it was a Banoffee (which was a decent success) but I have not yet decided on this years pie so I'm scanning pinterest for a solution.  I like to go for pies that aren't super traditional.  

These are my pie suitability requirements:

1. It must have multiple flavours.

2. It must look really yummy in pictures.

3. It can't be a pie I've made before.

These are the contestants so far in my conquest for good pie from various baking blogs around the web...

1.Ricotta Chocolate Chip Pie

2. Lemon Blueberry Buttermilk Pie

3.  Rhubarb Apple Pie

So that's my pie planning, I think I'll need some advice from the family (They're all very harsh pie critics of course)  I'm not kidding, something tells me the whole rhubarb idea WOULD NOT go down well with most of the family but at least it would be a hit with my parents.  I think I should be able to come to a conclusion before Thanksgiving arrives

-Madsyroo xx

Tumbler Cozies and stuff like that...

School arrived a little while ago, which means I've been pretty busy but I also had time to whip up some tumbler cosies/sleeves.  You want to know why I love making them?  They're easy!  That and you don't need a pattern!

I was actually searching for a mug cosy pattern, when I stumbled upon an adorable tumbler cosy pattern and realised that would be a lot easier (I'm lazy when it comes to crocheting stuff).

Unfortunately my computer stopped working during the day but I managed to make some anyway.  I just chained as much as I needed around a Starbucks tumbler laying around in our house and double crocheted around until it was the height I wanted.  Later I got more creative, tried other yarns and added bows and faces.

Ta da!  I'm now selling them to raise money for the missions trip my youth group is going on next summer.  We're going somewhere in Europe, but we're not sure which country yet.  I can't wait!  I think I'll freak out.  It'll be my first foreign trip with out parents and travelling is one of my favourite things.

Anyways, that's one thing I've been up to lately.  Today at one point or another I'll probably sit down with a cup of tea, and make a few more while I'm watching some cheesy TV show.  Bye!

 -Madsyroo xx

New favourite 'do!

Hi!  Back to school we go.  Or for some of you, back to school we have gone.  Anyway, I thought I'd share with you my latest favourite hairstyle.  On school mornings, I have very little time to even look at my hair but this style is fast and takes little skill (Thank goodness!) I've been noticing more and more that simple plaited updos are really big right now.  I love plaited crowns! Even just from browsing teen vogue I found a picture of both Vanessa Hudgens and Maia Mitchell sporting them.

I've always loved braided updos.  When I was younger I used to have my mum french plait my hair around my head, somewhat like this.

Thankfully the following style is a little simpler.  I'm not good with French plaits!

I even tried it myself!

Ugh, I'm bad at selfies but there you go.  A fun hairstyle that won't take long.  Oh and by the way, I would advise using LOTS of bobby pins and possibly a bit of hairspray to help it stay.  Byebye!

Early mornings

Good morning!  Sorry in advance for the blurry pictures, I've been using my dad's old phone, so they're all a little blurry.  Anyway this morning was a very early morning.  Why was this morning so early?  Well, I rolled out of bed at around 6.25 and popped in the car (In my jammies) to drive with my grandparents to their bus stop.  They got a bus to the airport.  Goodbyes are tough.

For some reason I didn't go back to sleep when I got back home as I had planned to.  After a summer full of sleeping in, this was one of my earliest starts yet.  Anyways I stayed up looking through blogs.  I do love reading through blogs.  As I looked trough various blogs on bloglovin, I stumbled upon some adorable blog, which I sadly can no longer find which had LOTS of pictures of tea.  I decided to be cool and make myself tea and take a picture of it.  Of course my mug is more like a bowl and isn't all pretty and vintage but whatever, same idea.

I'm actually cracking up, looking at this picture cause it looks like the pair of eyes on the cover of the novel are staring at the tea.  This is a novel I've been reading for the past few days.  This summer I've been reading WAY more than I normally do.  Before this summer, I thought maybe I didn't like reading but that all changed when I got a library card.  There's  a library right by my house and it's a nice walk over to it, so I go often enough.

 The book, I'm reading right now is (as you can see) called Ruby Redfort.  It's about a 13 year old girl who gets tracked by an agency and asked if she can code crack for them because she has highly advanced skills for her age.  It's by Lauren Child, the same lady who wrote Charlie and Lola.  Which is the cutest TV show ever.  Trust me, I've seen WAY to many TV shows aimed at young kids but that one I can bare, especially because of the beautiful wallpaper that adorns the walls of Charlie and Lola's house.  Isn't it beautiful?

The kids in it are adorable too, I love the art.  That's kids TV done well.  That's all for now.  I'll be chilling and reading my book.

Art Journalling, my belated summer project

Well, hey there!  Nice to see you again!  What's it been, days, weeks, a month or so?  Who's counting?  Anyway I am very excited to let you know that I have gotten round to some art journalling.  For you guys who don't know what that is ( by the way practically none of my friends do, so you're not alone ) , it's a journal in which you use not only words but images to express yourself.  Personally, I'm no big artist but that's what's fun, you don't have to be! I've decided my art journal is more of a cut stuff out, stick in ordeal, opposed to one that requires much real artistic skill.  Here are some examples of art journal pages I LOVE!

by Michel LaPoint Rydell

So fun and vibrant.  I love the way this piece incorporates pages of pre-printed text too.  

I can't seem to find the original source for this, so I apologize to whoever credit is owed but I love the camera collage on this page and I even attempted a collage in my own art journal, which is of course much less impressive and not worth looking at but I love being inspired by artists.

Again, I don't have a clue who to credit this beautiful journal page too.  Anyway, I love the list on this page and I have yet to recreate it in my own style.  I also adore the incorporation of the different shades of watercolour.  It really brightens the page.

By Donna Downey

These pages are fun because of all the colour and the phrase.  I have allready made several art journalling pages of my favourite quotes.  It's the perfect alternative, if you don't actually feel like writing about your day.  A few simple words against a colourful background can be very effective.

I've been wanted to start art journalling for a couple months now and didn't even think it would happen this summer until a few days ago.  I even had a pinterest board packed with inspiration for my non-existent art journal (quite sad really).  I'm definitely lacking in supplies but, hey art journals are about creativity right?  My grandma bought me a beautiful, blank paperblank journal a few days ago and I allready have several pages filled!  I'll admit, I'm slightly addicted.  I've been using simple things like my little sister's stamps, ink pad, stencil, crayons, my glue for the new school year (which I'm dreading!), pens, pencils and cut outs from magazines, catalogues and book pages I single-handedly prevented from being thrown in the dumpster. (My school's English department has an excess of  "well-worn" books)

The great thing is that there are countless tumblr pages and pinterest boards full of art journal tips, tutorials and inspiration.  If you don't go crazy buying supplies, it's actually a fairly inexpensive hobby.

Well, this is me saying goodbye, in my beautiful red, suede Mary Jane heels by the way!  Friends of the  family are having a wedding and I'm coming to the dance.  I decided to branch out and buy some heels (which I haven't worn in public since I was like 12 haha!) so this is me breaking them in!  I was wearing them with my jammies this morning.  Lets hope my fat little feet fit nicely into them by the night of the wedding. Bye!

-Madsyroo xx