Meredith’s Awkward Life S3E1

Wow, it’s hard to believe that we are here.

I still am trying to process that I am a junior in college.

This episode follows the day of the solar eclipse on August 21st, 2017. It was a bit of a crazy day.

Thank you for reading! Enjoy!

{Meredith}

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This episode starts with my morning shower. It was the second time I was showering in my first apartment. There had been a problem with the drain so my dad had stopped by and poured some stuff down it and it was working correctly. I was excited to shower without four inches of water at the bottom of the tub.

As I stepped into the shower, I realized that the knock-off bath bomb my mom had put in the shower was getting wet. She had placed it on the shelf made for a bar of soap. I picked it up and went to move it to the corner up by the spout where the spray of the shower wouldn’t reach it.

Suddenly as I leaned over, the next thing I knew I was laying in the tub. My elbows particularly my right one broke my fall for the most part but my backside and my neck weren’t feeling so hot neither. The shower curtain was in a disarray and a ceramic dish I had on my bathroom vanity had fallen, thankfully landing on my stomach. The knock-off bath bomb ended up on the opposite side of the bathroom on the floor.

I got up and took my shower, making sure to pop some Advil after I got out. I got dressed and after setting up my utilities, I headed to my job interview.

Pulling up to the building, I was a bit confused. It was a security building and ironically the area looked a bit sketchy. I didn’t get out of my car, but I double checked my emails with the company. I then came to realize that I was not at the correct address even though I had plugged it into the GPS, still haven’t figured out how that happened . I had fifteen minutes until my interview. I rerouted my GPS and as I drove I came to the realization that the company’s office space is in the middle of a downtown area. That meant I would have to deal with parking. I began to scour for a place. I made peace with the fact that parallel parking was a great possibility. I tried multiple times to get into a spot but realized that the cars in front and in back of the spot I was trying to use had went over their respective spaces and I wasn’t going to fit.

I turned the corner of the street and thank goodness there was a standard spot. I walked in and was in a bank lobby. Did I mention that it was 2:03 and my interview was at 2? A woman came over to me she must have been able to tell I was frazzled and confused. She brought me to a directory but a different entrance. But then we couldn’t find the company I was interviewing at. I looked through my emails again and they had mentioned the third floor.

I took the elevator to the third floor and inquired with the secretary and thankfully the company was there and she would let them know I was there. Sighing in relief, I went to go sit down. At that moment, I could feel that my blood sugar had decided to start to drop. I’m a type 1 diabetic if ya didn’t know. The secretary had offered me candy from her bowl and so I turned around and took a starburst. I didn’t have time to sit down before I was greeted by one of the people interviewing me. And I had stuck a whole starburst in my mouth.

I followed her to an office space and greeted the other person interviewing me. Me being me, I apologized for being late and having just stuffed a whole Starburst in my mouth.

Throughout the interview, I was in my opinion extremely chatty and due to my low blood sugar I was having a little difficulty controlling myself when it came to the spinny chairs. There were several times when I had to stop myself from twirling around as the interview was taking place.

Leaving, I figured it went pretty well or awful – I couldn’t exactly tell at the moment. Honestly, I was very surprised that they agreed to still see my after I arrived five minutes late to the interview.

Later that night, I decided that after the grueling day that I had, I decided that I deserved a relaxing night. I got some snacks, put on some comfy clothes and turned on my TV so I could watch some Netflix.

With the way I have my room set up in my apartment, I can lay across my bed and watch TV. For a visual, click here for a room tour! As I flopped down, my foot hit the wall. It hurt and I heard a crack. Cursing under my breath, I looked at my foot and sure enough, I had broken my big toe. The nail split down the middle, about half way.

I then spent the next 30 minutes on the phone with my mom who is a cosmetologist  and eventually I fixed it before I finally layed down. I watched an episode of Friends (or should it be F.R.I.E.N.D.S? I don’t know. . .) before falling asleep.

Room Tour: My First Apartment

Hello lovelies!

I moved into my first apartment this year! Yay adulting!

I thought I’d share with you how I set up my room! I will mention where things were purchased as much as possible! My apartment was mostly furnished so if I don’t mention a piece, it’s because it came with the room.

Disclaimer: sorry this has taken me awhile to upload but things have been a little crazy lately. . .

Thank you so much for reading! Enjoy!

{Meredith}

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When you first enter the room, there is the door to the closet immediately to the right.  On the wall beside the closet door, I put this storage bench. It’s tufted and I have two pillows with Eiffel Towers on them. I purchased them a year ago from Walmart. The bench is available at Macy’s. Above the bench I have a framed card one of my relatives gave me from my high school graduation. I liked it so much I decided to frame it. I may turn that wall into a gallery wall. Here is a close up of it.

Below is a view of my bedroom door so you can get a better idea of where everything is.

Here is a view from inside of the closet. My pop up hamper is from Bed Bath & Beyond.

I have my bed on the wall facing where I have my bench. The duvet and sheet set are from PB Teen. The map desk is from Meijer.

Here is another of the string of lights. I purchased them from Meijer.

Next to my bed, I put my mini fridge and on top I have my desk lamp. The mini fridge was purchased a year ago from Best Buy and the lamp from Staples forever ago. This photo also gives you a close up of the sheets and duvet!

As I previously mentioned, my apartment came with furniture – you had an option of having a shelf on top of the desk or it could be detached and basically be another table. I went with the latter. I put my TV on it along with some storage bins. I have it so that I can lay or sit on my bed and watch movies, Netflix, etc.

I got the cutest trash can at Meijer and it says Rubbish on it!

Next to the TV table I have my desk. I thought I’d put it up against the window to get some natural light. I brought my desk chair from home that’s super comfy. The door seen in the first picture leads to the bathroom you’ll see that in a second. I keep my large makeup mirror on my desk along with some school things.

My Aunt gave me this storage box, I have things like jewelry inside and  I place my everyday jewelry on top.

I have my planner from bando.com  on my desk as well. I love it so much, look out for a post all about planners with recommendations from myself as well as friends and family! If you are interested in my exact one, here is a direct link to it.

I purchased the bedazzled stapler at Meijer, the Hello Gorgeous block was a present from Cristina and the gold Effiel Tower was a gift from one of my relatives.

My windowsill ended up being the perfect place for my succulents! I have named all but on thus far; (from left to right:) Scarlett, Bermuda, _________ and Rhett.

On the wall between my TV table and desk I put up another card in a frame. It has a quote from one of my favorite books, Anne of the Island, which is part of the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery.

Next to the desk is the door to the bathroom. I went for a blue and green theme.

I bought the rugs, shower curtain, towels and bathroom accessories from Home Goods. I am completely in love with the Parisian street view of the shower curtain.

My Work Makeup

Hello lovelies!

Normally, I’m the type of girl who loves to switch things up when it comes to my makeup. But when I was working as a full-time intern, I adopted a minimal but polished look that I could do really quickly in the morning so I could catch some more zzzz’s.

Thank you so much for reading! Enjoy!

{Meredith}

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After moisturizing my face and under my eyes, I go in with a primer. I’ll admit, I used to be pretty skeptical of primers. I have really fallen in love with the NYX Angel Veil Primer. It helps smooth my skin and makes my makeup last longer so I don’t have to worry when working long hours or being out in the summer heat for long periods of time. I apply this on and around my nose and my cheeks, since this is where I feel I need it.

Next up is foundation. I apply the Revlon ColorStay for Normal to Dry Skin with a dampened sponge from Real Techniques. I spray it a couple of times with the Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe, Cucumber and Green Tea. Most of the time I’m in a rush so I just put one pump directly onto the flat area of the sponge and make several dots on my face before blending it out. That way I don’t have to go wash foundation off the back of my hand afterwards.

I’ve started doing my brows right after foundation. I brush them out and then define my arch and tail with the NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder with a small angled brush. I feather in the darker color at the start of my brows. I then further define the arch and tail with the NYX Micro Brow Pencil. I love how smooth and creamy the pencil is while at the same time not being overly waxy.

Wow can you tell that I really like NYX?

Concealer is up next. I apply the Maybelline Age Rewind Concealer in the brightening shade in the inner corner of my eyes I have a fair amount of discoloration there, under my eyes in an upside down triangle, in-between my brows, my chin and also around my brows. I blend all of that in with a mini Real Techniques sponge.

I set my under eyes, nose and chin with the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder with a Real Techniques Buffing Brush. I use the translucent shade so everything is still highlighted.

I apply the Milani Luminoso Blush with an Eco Tools Blush Brush. I go for a lighter application since it’s a more minimal look.

I keep the eyes fairly simple.

After I curl my eyelashes, I tightline with the Marc Jacobs retractible eyeliner in black. I got this as a birthday gift from Sephora and man do I love this stuff. I then go in with a medium line of liquid eyeliner on my top lash line, I’m still trying to find my favorite liquid eyeliner.

I then apply the Maybelline Lash Sensational Curvitude Mascara to my top and bottom lashes. I do about 2-3 coats on the top and a light coat on the bottom.

For lips, I keep it easy with some chapstick.

Meredith’s Awkward Life S2E10

The other day I was going to go hang out with my best friend Cristina. Neither of us had ate dinner yet so she had pizza and I was to pick up a bagged chopped salad on the way.

I pulled into my local grocery store and I noticed that there was a guy standing in front of an opened driver’s car door. As I parked I realized that there was some else sitting in the driver’s seat.

After they talked for a few seconds, next thing I know he reaches in and grabs her. He then proceeds to lean her against the door behind the driver’s seat.

At this point, I’m looking around frantically and trying to not vomit.

They then start making out.

I didn’t know what to do. It was an extremely weird situation.

I quickly grabbed my keys and wallet before bolting into the store. I hope maybe slamming my car door maybe broke them apart.

Like seriously I was just trying to get my salad!!!!

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Thanks for reading!

{Meredith}

Meredith’s Awkward Life S2E9

Hello lovelies!

Click here to find all episodes of Meredith’s Awkward Life!!

Thank you so much for reading; enjoy! I hope you can get a laugh at my expense!

{Meredith}

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I was at my local pharmacy. I needed to restock on vitamins, my mom and I take the same type so they go a bit quicker. I’m a bit impartial to gummy vitamins, we like the One A Day Women’s Multivitamin the name is ironic considering you’re supposed to take two a day but whatever that’s irrelevant to the story. We also both take a Biotin supplement also gummies obviously.

I also needed to pick up another of my daily moisturizer. The next few days are going to be a bit hectic with work and we are also hosting a grad party for my little brother this weekend so I figured I would get it out of the way when I knew I would still have enough for a couple of days.

But what I was getting doesn’t matter. . .

Anyways. . .

I went to go check out and the lone cashier was walking around near the front, so it took a second to get things started. As I approached the counter, I thought ‘Hmm, the cashier is kind of cute. Huh, he looks a little familiar but I can’t place him,’.

He then asks me if I have an account with the pharmacy, which I do, I go to grab my rewards card but before I can, he asks me for the phone number. I start rattling it off, trying to breeze through it since there are a few people behind me. I see his name tag and notice his unique name and come to the realization that I went to high school with this guy and we graduated in the same year. I’ve never spoke a word to him until his exchange. But we went to a smaller school so I knew of him and such. ‘Two years has done him good,’ I thought as he is ringing up my items.

Then of course my mind starts to wonder if he knows who I am/recognizes me. Of course I was wearing a partially stained jean jacket and wearing just tinted moisturizer basically and not gonna lie I was getting a bit oily.

He tells me my total and I get out the money. I wanted to pay in exact change but of course the coins are not coming out of my wallet. I awkwardly say that I’m having a little trouble getting out the penny. The change was 11 cents. I hand him the money and anxiously await being able to go home.

He hands me my receipt and then some change. We exchange some weird parting statements in unison. I’m puzzled but I make my way out the store. I figured I heard the total wrong, but then I check the receipt and it read that I had given 20 cents. I then feel bad and having run a cash register before when I was a barista, I knew how stressful it was when my drawer came up short.

I trudge back in and of course there’s a line. We awkwardly make eye contact as I enter.

Finally I get back to the register and tell him, but he didn’t understand. After explaining it after about three times, it registers hahahahaha pun unintended  and I hand him the change. Cue weird parting statements again.

[Fin]

Time Management & Staying Motivated

Time Management

Plan, Plan, Plan, Plan, PLAN:

You guessed it – this is a big one.

Planning helps make everything in your life easier.

Planning Ahead. . .

-Lay out your clothes and other thing you need for the following day, that way you won’t need to rush around in the morning.

-Make sure you set alarms for all of your important tasks.

-Keep track of all of your tasks, appointments and anything else you need to remember in either a planner or the calendar in your phone. It’s so much easier to be able to reference it than trying to keep track of it all in your mind.

• Later I will be posting a planner recommendations post closer to the upcoming school year.

Prioritize:

We all have our abundant to-do lists. They can often seem overwhelming – it can be hard to decipher what to do first. By prioritizing what you need to do can help you complete those to-do’s in the most effective way.

Many people want to wait to do the harder or bigger to-do or perhaps the task you really just don’t want to do, but it’s best to do that first. Whatever is going to be the hardest is going to take the most energy. As time goes on, our energy levels are going to decrease and essential you’ll become less and less motivated to do that hard task. A lot of the times, it’s going to get pushed further and further on the back burner.

Staying Motivated

It’s really easy to lose your attitude & motivation – I’ll be the first to admit it. What is important is that you realize this and what are the best ways for you to get it back.

You are Your Best Motivator:

Leaving yourself little notes giving yourself motivational statements can be a quick way to help you re-focus.

I know it sounds silly, but giving yourself pep talks in the mirror actually does help. I did them before I had interviews for potential internships.

Set goals:

Setting goals is an important factor in being successful and keeping yourself motivated. You need to set both long term and short term goals for yourself. Plan it out, it makes the bigger picture less daunting.

• Writing these down in your planner will help remind you of them!

Reward yourself:

When you reach those goals that you have set, treat yourself. You know yourself; what is going to encourage you to get things done? For me, it’s often times Netflix or Hulu. Now that I’m working full-time, I don’t have much free time and letting myself have a little me time is so rewarding. Find what works for you whether it be some retail therapy, ice cream, or something else in between but of course don’t go too crazy.

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Hello lovelies! Life has been a little crazy with starting my full-time internship. I’m still figuring things out (and implementing the tips for time management that I just talked about!).

Thank you for reading!

{Meredith}

Meredith’s Awkward Life S2E8

Hello lovelies!

My summer has just begun but of course that doesn’t stop the awkwardness!

Enjoy; thank you for reading!!

{Meredith}

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Driving. . .I’d say for the most part that I am a decent driver.

I’ve never been pulled over, let alone received a ticket in the almost four years that I have had my license *furiously knocks on wood*.

The other day, I went to my local mall because I needed to pick up a black dress shirt for my internship. This is the same mall that Margaret and I had our very interesting adventure at, you can read about that here.

I had to take the expressway there. Now, I take one every time that I go to the office for my internship, but I am not as familiar with the one that I had to take to get to the mall. Then I was stuck behind two super slow trucks and of course traffic was on the heavier side so I couldn’t pass anyone. I had plans later with Margaret actually, but it all turned out fine. But in the moment, I was worried about time of course.

Then I was at the light where I would turn right to enter the mall’s complex. It’s in the middle of a busier city and I’m not overly familiar with it. Does anyone else stress out about if you can make a right turn on red?

Anyway, I was not sure about it but I didn’t see a sign that said I couldn’t. . .but this city is notorious for people getting tickets. And well, I want to keep my no ticket streak alive.

So I just sat there and waited. I looked around and saw that the guy who was the first car in the left turn lane was looking at me. I could tell from the look on his face that he was definitely judging me.

*Goes into mall, manages to find a cute blouse at H&M on sale for $15*

Then it was time to head back home. The way that I had pulled into my parking spot made it so that if I pulled out and headed for the circle drive that would lead me out of the complex, I would technically be going out through an aisle that was meant to be entered into they all look the same but just have a yellow arrow on the road.

Normally, I would not go through a lane that had the wrong arrow but the mall was pretty empty and there wasn’t anyone that was driving around the circle drive. So I pull out and go to make my left turn when suddenly a car drives up and decides they want to enter in the lane that I am in. They didn’t chose the ones that were on either side of me that was all part of the same section of the mall’s parking lot. The woman in the car glares at me and I can see her getting pissed. Then of course, of course a car starts speeding down the other lane so it’s impossible for me to make my left turn. So I have to sit there and endure the intense glare of the woman. I guess that’s my Karma. . .

I quickly made my turn and headed home. And you guessed it: I got stuck behind another truck going 55 on the expressway.

Plans for Summer 2017

Hello lovelies!

Just posting a quick life update and how the blog is going to be running for the summer!

Enjoy; thank you for reading!

{Meredith}

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This summer, I will be interning with an advertising agency here in Michigan. I am so grateful for the opportunity! It’s a paid full time position and I expect to learn a lot.

By the time this is posted, I will  be at my orientation!!

I am still planning on having the blog active throughout the summer.

I’m sure there will be some episodes of season 2 of Meredith’s Awkward Life for you to enjoy, and I will probably have some hauls. I want to make some posts related to the internship as well. Work outfit and makeup ideas are what immediately come to mind. . .

I have Mondays off super exciting so I will have those days to have a little bit of free time where I can work on creating content for the blog. I’m also planning on taking a Zumba class on Monday nights!

Sophomore Year of College: In Review

It’s still hitting me that I am now halfway through with college. It’s honestly crazy.

It was an interesting and busy year. I spent a lot of time studying and at the library, and I am very proud of myself in my performance academically. I worked this year and also took on an assistant director position in a student organization along with my studies.

I am now officially enrolled in my minor which I am very excited about!

My freshman year, everything was new and there was a lot of adjusting. This year, I was a lot more comfortable and it was nice going back already having friends and knowing more so what to expect. Of course, you can not know everything – but I was more prepared.

I have discovered this year the best ways to study that work for me, which is something that is so important. My overall understanding and grades are a direct reflection of this.

I also learned the hard way that researching your professors if you can is so so so so important, I can not stress this enough. I took a science course this past semester laughing at my 16 year old self that thought I was done with science forever, no sweetie you’re going to need to take two lectures and a lab when you go off to college and it was horrible. The content was somewhat interesting but I had the worst professor. When I signed up for classes for the upcoming year, I read tons of reviews on each professor so I knew that I would be learning from one who I knew would work out well for me.

My roommate situation was so much better this year than last year *cringes*. Obviously you are never going to have a perfect roommate, but after the nightmare that I experienced last year. . .

This year, I was more confident and more comfortable in my own skin. I’m sure that it’s part of growing up and everything but my freshman year I was a lot of times, in my opinion, a bit too concerned with how I looked. There were many days, probably the majority or half I would say, that I went to class makeup free. I of course still love makeup and put it on when I want, but I’ve come to realize that sometimes I need more sleep and having that little extra time of sleep is more important. My freshman year, I wore a full face every single day. I’m talking foundation, contour, highlight, eyes, eyebrows – everything. Last summer when I was working everyday, I started doing lighter makeup for every day and that continued into the school year as well. There are special occasions where I will do a full glam look but I have no problem now going to class after just doing my skincare and my eyebrows they need to be tamed, as they’ve been growing in they have begun to become a bit more wild and then the next day doing a natural glam.

Overall, it’s been a year on improving myself – and I can’t see what I’m going to accomplish next.

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Thank you so much for reading!

{Meredith}

Meredith’s Awkward Life S2E7

Hello lovlies!

Sorry I have been a bit absent, but I’ve been slammed with exams/projects and my finals week will have started by the time this is posted.

As always, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

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The other weekend, I was home from school. My dad and I both needed to run some errands so we went together. While we were out, we were both pretty tired so we decided to get some coffee.

Don’t ask me why we settled on McDonald’s. . .it’s probably because it was the only place that served coffee nearby with a drive through. But their coffee isn’t actually that bad, and I’m a bit of a coffee snob. I used to be a barista remember? The drink that I ended up getting was not actually all that good, I would stick with the regular hot or iced with added cream and/or sugar. The frozen frappe I got had a bad ratio of sugar to coffee – but that is besides the point.

We go through the drive through and we pull up to the window to pay. As we stop, I realize that I know the cashier. Well, kind of know the cashier.

We all have those people that we follow mutually on Instagram but we don’t exactly know in real life. This guy, let’s called him Kyle, goes to the same university as me and yada yada. He’s from a neighboring town on mine where my dad and I happened to be running the bulk of our errands. He didn’t notice me so I tried to lean back a tad and look at my phone. But he ends up seeing me, although I couldn’t tell if he pieced together that we follow each other. I mean, not that I would really expect him to say anything. It’s not as if he’s going to say “here you so sir and hey you from Instagram!”

My dad then pulls up to the next one and commented as we were waiting for our drinks,”That’s one of the ones who they have to tell to smile and be nice to the customers,”. I awkwardly chuckle and my dad doesn’t notice the look on my face.