Friday Extra: The Mystery Of Insulting Yourself Online

Rookie

We have all done it. At least once in your life, you have written a Facebook status saying "I'm so ugly" or posted on tumblr "My life sucks". The usual results of writing something like this is a couple people complimenting the crap out of you reassuring you that you are gorgeous and you are the coolest person in the world.
You guys have heard me make fun of myself. I do it in about everything I write! The difference between the situation above and and my self depraving jokes is that my writing is for comedy purposes. I don't want to put myself above everyone and therefor I will jokingly write that I'm dumb or have no life. I don't actually mean the insults that I throw at myself but use them to put a smile on my reader's face. With these two very different topics getting mixed up for some people, I wanted to clear this whole thing up for you guys.
I was probably the worst sixth grader in the entire world. I would seriously go on Google Plus (it was cool back then), take a billion pictures of myself, write the caption above it saying "I am so ugly", then wait for everyone to tell me that I was the prettiest person they know and some other crap about how special I am. How did my friends put up with me? This right here is an example of attention seeking online. I didn't completely mean that I was ugly, I just wanted to be told I was pretty. There are many reasons for why people do this. My reasoning for calling myself ugly online to get compliments was because I was insecure of myself and needed just the temporary feeling of security from my friends. Another reason a person could feel the need to write insults towards themselves online is because they actually feel these things about themselves. Many people my age (give or take a couple years) are insecure and uncomfortable with themselves. We all know the feeling of wanting to be anyone but yourself. As my friend ARo puts it "Something that's cool about getting older is that the more you live inside your own skin, the easier it gets to just let that shit go and stop caring." a lot young teenagers I know including myself, aren't exactly the most comfortable with themselves and that can lead to insecurities. Come on, don't you enjoy being called amazing and beautiful? I have heard a few of my friends call these people "attention whores". My response to this is immediate anger. There are no words that I hate more than bitch, slut, and whore and when somebody would ever dare to call another person an attention whore, I immediately become defensive towards myself and others.

Tumblr

My style of writing is far from the putting yourself down for compliments way of writing. I will sometimes say that I'm a freak or have no life for comedy purposes. I hate sounding as if I'm above everyone else and through this form of writing, I can take myself down a couple notches while still putting a smile on my reader's faces.



Even though when a friend of yours says that they suck it can be annoying, you have to always keep at the back of your mind that this is just an insecurity of theirs. We all have to deal with each other's insecurities.
-Ann

Monthly Fashion Bible: June

We hit June! You know what that means! Sunny days, warm nights, and lightweight clothing! With me going off camp in a few weeks, most of my clothing for June is more causal and durable than the more high maintenance pieces I usually wear. So lets jump right into the third installment of "Monthly Fashion Bibles". You could also title this blog post "Ann Gets Lazy With Fashion"
Tops

Yes, I think we all know about my deep hatred for T-shirts but I've been dealing with them for the past couple days. Even though I can't stand wearing Ts I have been finding a couple pretty decent ones such as an old Ed Hardy I found in my closet. It's not the name written across the chest that I like. It;s the design. Even though it's hard, I like to find personality in the simple tops I wear and hope that somehow that'll make them interesting. To add some fun to this otherwise simple top, I'd tuck into a cute pair of shorts and add a cute pair of sneakers. It's casual and cute!
Bottoms
I have cleaned out my drawers of most of my jeans and stocked up on more shorts. My favorites are fun solid colors or just plain jean shorts. As cute as patterned ones are, they are a bitch to pair up with tops. I mean how many solid tops to do you own?
Shoes
My cat flats are still my go to shoes even though I am pretty exited about my new converse! As much as I hate wearing sneakers I am pretty freaking exited to walk around in these "Wonder Woman" sneakers. I prefer converse over other sneakers and running shoes for all though they aren't the most athletic shoes, they are way most unique and fun!
Accessories and Dresses
I didn't add in these two sections for this month I've been wanting to go for a more casual look now that slouchy summer is coming up. Even though these two are my favorite sections,I won't be wearing much of them.
Hope you have an awesome June!
-Ann

Ann's Note- June 2013

Hey Goobers!
Wow May was probably the most craziest month this year. Not only did I become a Jewish "adult" but one of the best shows on TV was cancelled. I am still mourning "The New Normal". Other than that tragedy, May has been a pretty great month. The month before the thing that about every student waits for. June! Now we're here. Crazy right? Everyone is moving up. My sister is going to middle school, the eighth graders are going to high school, and twelfth graders are leaving school. Even though the move from seventh grade to eighth is not exactly monumental, it is mental to think that in a little more than a year, I will be released from middle school. It's also weird to think about all the memories I made. Good and bad. Losing a couple friends, coming out with more, starting this blob. It's like a car that I'm buckled into and I can't stop from speeding ahead.
As I have said in about every single blog post this week, I am heartbroken to tell you guys that I will be leaving for a full month to go to my second home (camp). For the last couple months of June and first three weeks of July, I will not be posting any content. Which as sad as I am that I can't do what I love for a four weeks, I am ecstatic for camp and seeing all my friends that are like sisters and brothers to me. My fashion and style has been going more casual this month for as the school year ends, I become slouchier and slouchier. I will go back to my normal, crazy, clothing once the Summer ends and my energy is recharged.
I am exited for the posts coming out for I have outlined a couple different ones that I am all too exited to write and publish for you to see! With my music taste expanding and me discovering the coolest new people, my blogging ideas are growing bigger along with it. Along with my shopping addiction, I crazy about sharing my new ideas of fashion and style with you lovelies!

I wish I wish from the bottom of my heart that you have the best June possible. We are so close to Summer. Hang on, beautiful!
X
Ann

Read Me!
The gorgeous watercolors used in this note were done by the extremely talented Sinead. This girl is an extraordinary blogger and artist and when I checked out her blog, I instantly fell in love with these paintings. I loved them so much, that I sent her a message on Twitter asking her permission to use them. She ever so nicely wrote back telling me that it was totally fine to use her drawings. I would like to thank her SO much for letting me be able to share these stunning illustrations with you guys. I look up to her as an awesome blogging and fashion role model.
Even though every single one of these are fantastic, I would have to say this very one would have to be my favorite.:

 Sinead's Blog

Guilty Pleasures

It's those things that are just so embarrassing that telling people that you have actually listened to or worse enjoyed is just so nerve wracking. We all have guilty pleasures. I have guilty pleasures. Why the hell do you think they made that handy "Private Session" on Spotify? Yes, I am guilty of pressing the private session button a couple times a week for my Jedward, Austin Mahone, The Ready Set, Avril Lavigne, and R5 needs.
Instead of describing my true embarrassment for the music I listen to once in a while, I tried to go more in dept on why people find their own guilty pleasures embarrassing.

Rookie

Many people think about image. The clothes they wear, the things they do, the music they listen to. Its all a character. So how could you break a character like that if you are caught listening to something that is considered embarrassing for your image? Yes most of the music that I listen to breaks the character I portray. How can the sweet, nerdy girl listen to punk bands? Even though the bands I listen to aren't much of a secret, it can be embarrassing or just strange for someone to share the more alternative music they listen to. It's all inside of some one's comfort zone.
I have to admit, I don't find Austin Mahone's song "Say Something" to be total perfect music nor could I say that I actually think R5's "Want You Bad"'s lyrics are the best. Music like this is just plain catchy and I can't help but want to listen to it. I consider these people and bands to be my own guilty pleasures for I don't want my blog viewers or the people I know and see everyday to get the wrong idea of the music I listen to and enjoy. I exaggerate the thick line between the bands I listen to regularly and guilty pleasures for I find that bands like ALL CAPS and people like Alex Day to be a small part of me and make up a piece of who I am and describe my personality while The Ready Set is just something that I will listen to once and a while and embarrassingly dance to and I don't want others to be confused by that. \
I know this whole thing must be confusing. Why would I listen to music that I don't truly think is quality? Some songs and artists are just fun and even though I will cringe once and a while at an Austin Mahone song, I still dance along because the beat is catchy and the lyrics are easy to follow along with. I find that most people's guilty pleasures are guilty pleasures because it's out of their character and they don't want other's to get the wrong idea. Keep them.
-Ann
Play List
Yes, I did create a guilty pleasure play list. On this one, I included my own guilty pleasure bands and singers such as Austin Mahone, The Wanted, The Ready Set, R5, Jedward, The Jonas Brothers, and Justin Bieber. Who knows? Maybe they will become your new guilty pleasures or even your new favorite music.
Ann's Guilty Pleasures

Sunday Diary: Jedward and Fears Of The Grinch

Dear Blurg,

This week has been what you call a hot mess. Three post ideas. One was published. Two are works in progress meaning, things that I have to stare at until I finally delete them for I can't stand seeing drafts in my post list. So before I begin to talk about this week, I have something MAGICAL to show you guys.
So I was bored at home and scrolling through DFTBA.com because I have no better things to do (how about those 2 posts?!) and began playing around with the little music thingy about the search box and then saw the writing above the search thing. The exact words: "Looking for something specific?" with the word "looking" and being on DFTBA.com (cough cough John Green) I typed in "Alaska" just for laughs. To my surprise, under my words was the sentence "Is that you Pudge?" a Looking For Alaska reference. I am proud of John and Hank for thinking up that one. Big thanks to the Green brothers for giving me that entertainment. 

Jedward

Onto relevant topics, this week has been the most frustrating music wise. My speakers were jacked up to the point where the instrumental was blasting yet the lyrics were basically a whisper. No no that it is not the worst part. The only song I could almost hear was Jedward's "Give It Up" OK OK back story about Jedward being on my Spotfiy... I have my Jedward moments... Was this God's punishment to me for being an awful new Jewish adult? Why couldn't P.O.V work? You might be asking "Why the hell did you just not listen to music if you hate the song that's playing?" well my little clueless friend, I CANNOT BLOG WITHOUT MUSIC. 
Thursday was a half day and you know what that means! Instead of being social, I spent those two extra hours watching Doctor Who and blogging. Go Ann. I then went to sewing in which I made multiple mistakes with the bodice of my shirt. Reasons why Ann's a fail (yay!). My family then went to school in action night at my middle school in which I dissected a frog for people to gag at including myself. We walked past the science fair where we saw some sixth grader with a robot. I'm not kidding a robot. Overachiever much? Compared to my project last year...(a mess of glitter). We then went back to the house with my sister's friend Carly and they watched "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" I found my new biggest fear. The TV is in the same room as the computer and I knew I had to work on a new post so I put my headphones and tried to get Jedward to drown out the Grinch. That things is freaking scary. I would include a picture of this terrifying creature but that would require googling it and then having to look through thousands of pictures. As Alex Day once wrote, "No one understands me." 
Friday was a day off for the middle school while my sister's school still had classes. TV to myself! I had exhausted all my Doctor Who episodes in my DVR and had to turn to MTV. Awkward and True Life marathon for about a couple hours... Being lame, I got bored quickly and spent the rest of the time laying in my bed hoping to fall asleep. My mom got home a couple hours and out of sympathy for how pathetic I was, she got me out of bed and my pajamas to go thrift shopping. Where I was a total idiot and wore heels. HEELS. Whose terrible idea was that? Oh yeah me. I ended up getting only "a bit" (a ton) of clothing and having to turn down a gorgeous, long, homemade dress for the reason that I seriously had nowhere to wear it. 

Stop it Frodo

Saturday my parents went to a bat mitzvah and left Rachel and I at home. We spent our time doing three things: making club penguin accounts, playing club penguin, and going on neopets (I haven't been on in years) which I was WAY more exited about. I ended up naming all of my pets after youtubers: Emma Blackery, Charlie McDonnell, Alex Day, and Kristina Horner. I actually put hard work into creating them. Slow clap for Ann. Once my parents got back, we went to the extremely fancy mall to spend a Pandora gift card I'd gotten for my bat mitzvah. After looking through a catalog of adorable charms, I got a party dress in honor of this very blog (fashion). I think Pandora needs to make a charm of a girl with giant hair sitting in front of a computer with headphones to TRULY describe my blogging but this was good enough. Once we got back, I curled up with my mom's laptop and watched "50 First Dates" on projectfreetv.com. I am embarrassed to say I actually enjoyed an Adam Sandler movie. I then FINALLY finished a couple posts and the whole no music thing was running my Patience thin. This lead to about ten minutes of me beating up my speakers to make it work. Later on, my parents and I ended up watching "The Hobbit". Pretty mush day. Anyways, I remember my dad reading me this book back in about third grade but once the movie started I barely remembered anything except for two things: there we tow dwarfs named Fili and Kili. Nice job Ann. I found the entire movie a little distracting to the fact that Frodo Baggins who had about six lines and two minutes in the first scene was absolutely gorgeous and I spent the entire duration of the film hoping appear out of nowhere. But Kili was a little attractive and I could almost deal with Frodo not being in every single scene.

Today I spent my time reading through different blogs and found one of my new favorites: Peppermint Whiskers. Then scavenged through Tumblr for a total fangirl moment in which I found Dan tackling Phil. Is this how I spend my time? I then freaked out when Dan and Phil interviewed (my girlfriend) Perrie Edwards. I just realize dhow thirteen year old girl that sounded... I then went sneaker shopping. Whoo hoo. God I hate sneakers. I then reevaluated All Time Low's "Come One Come All" and realized that I found the song that describes me when I listen to Z100. Seriously that song is about killing a DJ all for the reason that his play list sucks. 
Play list 
"So go on and lock me up you better throw away that key before I find out where you broadcast from cause your play list is killing me."
-ATL
This week's play list is a bit different than most of my other Sunday Diary ones with artists such as Taylor Swift, and Luke Cutforth being added to the mix because even though I myself have been listening to them for forever, I though you guys would enjoy them now. I also put Lex Croucher's "Taking Back The Covers" music and a couple songs from Disney's "Tangled". There are also songs by R5 and The Ready Set for they are my guilty pleasure bands. Then the Pokemon theme song is just for laughs...
Sunday Diary 2
Life Scout Badges
I am EXTREMELY proud to say that I earned every single badge this week for childhood month!
Ride A Bike
The first time I ever rode a bike was in the summer before fifth grade. Before, I used to ride my Razor scooter EVERYWHERE. I seriously could ride that scooter at full speed. Anyways, one boring summer day, I found an old bike in our garage and kind of taught myself to ride. I don't regularly ride bicycles but if you sat me down on one, the chances of me falling on my face would be slim.



Skip Rope
I don't exactly remember the first time I ever skipped rope, but I am able to do it extremely fast and I used to have some crazy goal to do 100 skips...









Tree Climbing
My family and I used to go to this park right by the train station when I was little and there were these trees that were perfect trees for climbing. They were low to the ground but got higher as you climbed around the branches. My sister and I used to have races up them!




Trampolining
Back in fifth grade, when my family was trying to sell our house, we had a trampoline right in our backyard and we had the same one in our new yard for the Summer but had to take it down due to insurance issues. Meh. I am rather proud to say, I am capable of flipping on a trampoline!

Yo-yo
When I was in fourth grade, my dad went through a Yo-Yo phase in which he collected tons of yo-yos and I think even went to a convention... with so many of these laying around I taught myself to properly spin a yo-yo. 

Thrift Haul #1: Camp Edition

Back

With camp in 28 days at the moment, I need to trade my dresses, skirts, and silk tops in for t-shirt, durable tops, and shorts. Don't take me wrong. I love camp more than anything I just HATE the clothing that I have to wear there! I decided on going to my favorite thrift store "Unique" for some durable clothing for the Summer! With having found a couple cute pieces, I made a haul blog for you guys!
My Blue Tank

Most of the stuff I found at "Unique" were cropped. I don't usually like short clothing for I believe some things are meant to be covered but even though this tank is shorter than most of my tops, it was unique and would look good with a pair of jean shorts. The back is also a fun and summery touch that I like.

Cropped Floral Top
I'm not sure about camp and this one but how could I resist? I am absolutely in love with the vintage look of the tiny green and blue flowers that decorate this halter top. It goes down to about my belly button and I will probably end up wearing a cami under this top.

Basket Ball Shirt
Is it weird that I have an obsession with clothing with other people name's? So far I own a bracelet that my cousin gave me that says "Claudia", have my eye on a cheerleader jacket that used to belong to someone named Lydia, and now have a basketball jersey of some guy with the last name "Cifuni" and played on the New England "Firebirds". This shirt is way more sporty than I usually wear but how could I resist? Perk of thrift shopping: TONS of clothing with random names. Now that I really think of it, maybe it IS a little strange... just a little...





Fringe Eagle Shirt
I like this shirt for even though it is durable and easy to pair up with a junkie pair of jean shorts and still is interesting enough. I like the fun touch the fringe at the bottom adds and has a careless summer look. The design is also cute. This Summer, I have decided on living in jean shorts for patterned and multicolored bottoms are WAY too hard to find tops to go with! I mean, what is worst that a patterned shirt and patterned shorts?

Mountain Dew Shirt
This top is a bit of an irony. I absolutely hate Mountain Dew more than anything in the world and am instantly grossed out whenever I see someone drinking it! So why the hell not wear it across my chest? This has to be the junkiest shirt I own and am pretty OK with that. It's a perfect camp shirt for when I seriously do not feel like trying.
Floral Tank
More floral prints! Even though the picture to the side says something else, I plan on wearing this tank top tucked into a pair of jean shorts!  The blue and white print is cute and looks like something I'd like to make more clothing out of!
Ivy Romper
Another piece of clothing that I'm questioning whether I should bring to camp and if I do, I will wear it for fancy occasions. This one's fabric is more durable than my silky black and white romper that I got a couple weeks ago. I am absolutely in love with the big frills that cover the front!

Pink Tie Up Top
I will have to wear a spaghetti strap with this top for it is a little cropped and shows a little bit of stuff. I like the picnic table pattern and the light pink and white remind me of cotton candy! Again, I will be wearing jean shorts with this one.

Pink Checker Board Shorts
So I may have broken the rules on this one but I can't resist anything pink and black. In addition, guess what brand these are? ABBEY DAWN! Oh god, I LIVED in my buffalo check pants and black and white checkered ones back in sixth grade! I was SO exited when I found these beauties in between two over-sized pairs of elastic banded capris.

Strapless Dress
This dress is PERFECT for Shabbat nights at camp! I love how patriotic the colors are and the fabric is light weight enough for a Summer night!



Hope you liked this first haul blog post!
-Ann

Friday Extra: Inside Ann's Box

For almost two years now, I have been living in the same bedroom. Over these past two years, I have turned from eleven to twelve and now thirteen and the walls have gone from green to purple and grey. The Taylor Swift posters went to One Direction now to magazine clipping collages and two Twilight shrines. The bedspread has changed. The dresser has changed. I have changed.

My Bed
"This beds' an island made of feather down and I'm stuck here alone"
Wow. That's pretty lame that I am actually planning on writing a full paragraph on a bed. My entire room has an art deco thing going on and when I found this cute black and white bedspread, I was pretty exited. Is it sad that I'm exited about blankets?
My Closet

Mag clippings on the closet walls

The current state of my closet is a pile of clothing, scarves, bags, and random crap that I just stuffed in there when I decided that I was too lazy to actually put these objects when they are supposed to be (only to go looking for them a couple weeks later); Two years ago when my family moved I instantly claimed this room for the closet. It has a rack for hanging nice dresses and skirts and a little alcove on the inside which would have made the best club house in third grade. I have decorated ever inch of the walls with cute ads I've found in fashion magazines.
My Vanity
Toppled all on one table top I have, a giant nail polish bag, a big bag of makeup, a boom box, my lipstick box, my smaller bag of makeup that I wear normally, and a pile of magazine clippings that I plan on hanging on my walls. It is a comfortable mess.
My Dresser
My biggest mess. As much as I love this black and white Ikea dresser, you can barely see it under the hot mess of magazines, photos taken from bar and bat mitzvah, jewelry, wires, Cds, and random garbage that I can't seem to find the effort to toss out. Oh yeah, and my Justin Bieber alarm clock that my friend got me for my twelfth birthday. Another comfortable mess.
My Boards
I have this magnetic board (left) above my bed that I've decorated with a small picture that I made with letters I cut from magazines to spell "I am Fearless", two notes that camp friends gave to me, three photos my best friend Vivi and I took at the mall, Vivi's school I.D (she has mine), a post it that says "GLMR KLLS" and a couple cute words that I found in magazines. On my wire board (right) I have a feather boa that I got from my friend Kayla's bat mitzvah, a hand out to see Tim Gunn at my local high school, my bat mitzvah invitation, and a super sweet note from a camp friend. Every couple weeks I switch out my pictures for new ones and new ways to decorate them.
My Door Collages 
My biggest pride is the entrance door collage (right). I spent about a couple weeks to find the right content for this one and it really paid off. Some interesting pieces I have up are: a postcard from a friend, a note from my cousin, a couple pictures of me and my friends (Ann has friends?!) and a little bit of a Josh Hutcherson shrine. A little bit. I also have four more collages on the panels of my closet door. These took longer for the panels were slimmer and therefor I couldn't put many big posters up. Most of the stuff on the panel collages are things I cut out from fashion magazines and cute outfits I found on models.
Posters (and mini shrines)

Since I am moving up to the third floor bedroom this summer, I am hesitant to hang up more big posters. I have a small fashion collage on the wall by my bed (right) and an Edward Cullen poster surrounded by more fashion ads (left). Above my mirror, I have a Edward and Bella poster (more Twilight) and a little bit of a Louis Vuitton shrine(bottom right)Miu Miu and Betsy Johnson.

Johnson in there. On the door that connects to my parents bedroom, (its rarely ever used) I have taken down my major One Direction shrine and replaced it with different British and Irish singers! This is still a work in progress, but at the moment I have made a big Alex Day sign that has the lyrics to my favorite of his songs "Holding On", my favorite Chameleon Circuit song about my favorite Doctor Who episode "The Lodger", and my favorite Bribry song "Adventure Time" (bottom left).

My Bookshelf
Inside my closet, I have a small bookshelf in which I basically hold my a million and two books. Call me a nerd but I still don't understand why everyone all of a sudden says they don't read as if that's cool or something. Some of my favorites are my vast John Green library, my collection of Twilight and Harry Potter, "Its Kind of A Funny Story", and "The Vast Fields of Ordinary".

Well, that is the messy, disorganized, box I call my bedroom!  

-Ann 

The F Word

Tavi's Feminism Shirt

No I am NOT talking about what may first come to your head. By The "F Word" I refer to feminism. This idea of a blog post first came to my head when watching an episode of The Power Puff Girls with my sister. These little girls have a tough attitude and don't need help from any male roles. In fact, almost all the villains are men. This got me to thinking about other bad ass, no shit taking, women in TV and in our real world.
My first example is an obvious one. Tavi Gevinson! Tavi is one of the biggest feminists I have heard of and has always been a young activist. I admire her for being such a powerful person and writer even though her age is rather young.
Hello sweetie! River Song from Doctor Who is such a strong woman who doesn't rely on anyone. Not even the Doctor! I mean it takes serious power to have a dallec screaming "Mercy" (Ann is a nerd). Even though my true love is Amy Pond, River is such an amazing character for this show and is a relief from the other companions (as fabulous as they are) who rely on others and the Doctor for help. And have you seen her hair?
This amazing feminist character is less known and yet is probably the best super villain ever. With Powerpuff Girls being one of the most watched shows in my house, I have probably seen every single episode a million and one times. One of the best ones would definitely be one involving an awesome villain named Femme Fatal who robbed banks and refused to take anything but  Susan B. Anthony coins. Best thing ever? I think so.
-Ann