LIVE BLOGGING: THE RACE FOR ED SHEERAN TICKETS

So this blog post is a little late, and it's going to continue into tomorrow because there are Ed Sheeran tickets going on sale at 8 AM and the first one hundred people in line get entered in a raffle to meet him and WHAT IF I MEET ED SHEERAN AND WE GET MARRIED OR AT THE VERY LEAST BECOME REALLY GOOD FRIENDS OR MAYBE JUST PEN PALS.

Anyways, I'm already anticipating the experience to be an interesting and exciting and potentially delirious experience. So I'm live blogging, a la my Harry Potter Marathon liveblog a couple of weeks ago.

We're gathering our things to leave soon, because we want to get there around midnight. I swear to god if I have to fight bitches for my spot in line I WILL FIGHT BITCHES.


I'm a little tired.

Anyways, we're gathering up some blankets and snacks, and things to keep us entertained. Maybe we'll make some friends to play games and watch movies with us...or MAYBE WE'LL JUST KEEP OUR FUN THINGS TO OURSELVES BECAUSE BITCHES ARE GOING DOWN.

Sorry. Here's something to soothe the moment:



CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES!!

UPDATE: 12:06 AM

We have made it to the Bob and it looks like we are in the first 100. I consider this a small victory.

I haven't decided if I'm here to make friends or not. It looks promising...but things could change at the drop of a hat.

GUYS I'M SO TIRED.

UPDATE: 12:39 AM

I'm all situated and its time for nap #1.

Good night friends.

UPDATE: 1:22 AM

Couldn't sleep so now we're watching a Cinderella Story!!

UPDATE: 2:12 AM

We have all moved underneath the pavilion at the sight of potential rain clouds. The line is looking a little squashed...but we are operating on the honor system. I SWEAR TO GOD IF ONE OF THESE BITCHES CUTS US IN LINE THEY ARE GOING DOWN.

Lizzy wants you all to know that she drank a monster.

To pass the time we started making rainbow loom bracelets.

GETTIN A LITTLE LOOPY NOW.

UPDATE: 2:46 AM

Just finished A Cinderella Story and made some new friends. Now it's community nap time zzzzzzzzZZZZ.

UPDATE: 3:43 AM

Napping didn't work out too well since there were some people who weren't exactly on the same page as the rest of us and couldn't get a handle on the giggling. Hmm.

I also couldn't sleep because I really had to pee. I had originally planned on not going at all during this whole thing because UGH port-a-potties are gross. But I sucked it up and went anyways and now I feel like I need a shower.

Most people are still sleeping. Very eventful stuff happening right now.

UPDATE: 5:47 AM

I managed to sleep on and off for about an hour, and somehow when I woke up it was so much colder. Maybe the rain cleared away the heat wave we've been having, which is fine by me...but I forgot to bring a sweatshirt! 

Some lady came to unlock the doors to the building and struggled to get in because of all the people blocking the doors. I'm hoping that they will start encouraging people to move back to the line we started with since I'm getting a little antsy about keeping my number in line! I want my free shirt, yo.

Also I used a port-a-potty for the second time in less than six hours and my bladder is glad but the rest of me died a little on the inside. Woof.

UPDATE: 6:20 AM

The sun is back. Why am I awake.

UPDATE: 7:19 AM

Oh shit. Some girls just confronted people for cutting.

AND NOW THE LINE HAS BEEN RECONCILED. ALL IS RIGHT IN GHE WORLD.

UPDATE: 8:25 AM

Mission accomplished. 

TIME FOR BED YAY

Last Vlog Tuesday: Summer Favorites

School just started up, and my free time is running a little low so my last vlog for the month of August is short and sweet.

Here's the blog post about July Favorites that I was referencing in the video.

Like I said in the video, I'm not sure if I'm going to continue vlogging regularly...but I'm not going to stop vlogging forever or anything. I think if things start to wind down, or get REALLY interesting then I will start back up again.

BACK TO SCHOOL: Anxiety Edition

So I am back at school, and things in my life are CERTAINLY more interesting in the past few days than they were at home. The semester hasn't officially started yet, but I'm already so so so busy. My friend, Aimee, and I had this idea to hold an event for all of the groups in the music department to socialize and recruit. It quickly turned into a larger-scale event than we originally anticipated, which is awesome, but also pretty stressful. At this point we've done most of the prep work, planning, and publicity, and all that's left is the setup...so I'm not necessarily anxious about that.  But...I'm super skeptical about the activity that I decided to provide for the ACDA table.

While we were in the process of planning, someone mentioned the idea of a dunk tank...and I really liked it, but we couldn't find a company with the right liability insurance to rent from. So I decided to set up a makeshift dunk tank station (name still pending), and I'm going to stand in a kiddie pool while people throw wet sponges at me.

.......it's pretty college.

I originally thought this would be hilarious and super fun, but now I'm starting to second guess myself. I keep having these fantasies of people walking right past the thing and looking at me like I'm a crazy person, or people openly telling me how lame the idea was, or people pelting sponges at me while I cry in the fetal position. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING.

I asked some professors if they would be interested in participating...but so far I have been met with the sound of crickets, and I DON'T BLAME THEM. There's no way to make "PLEASE GET HIT WITH WET SPONGES!" sound fun or glamourous. I'm worried that I should have gone for water balloons, but I didn't want to deal with the intense setup or the litter that water balloons create. I'm also worried that people will somehow think of me as the FAKE DUNK TANK LOSER GIRL for the rest of the year.

I know the feeling, kitty,

As stressed out as I am, I'm actually really excited about this event! I think we've done a really good job with the planning, especially considering all of the restrictions that come with hosting an event on campus. Hopefully everyone will appreciate all of the work we put in!

PACKING SUX

I could write a post about my friend Naomi's 21st birthday extravaganza that happened yesterday, or the fact that I'm leaving for school TOMORROW. But it's 11:29 and I haven't packed a single thing. This is how I've spent most of my night:

I've always been a highly motivated go-getter.

Soooo I'm gonna go ahead and take a rain check on this entry. Which I think should be allowed because it rained today!! RAIN CHECK.

Okay bye bye.

Cooking With Melanie: Soufflé Edition

I would consider myself a pretty adventurous cook. Like...I'm no master chef, but I'm definitely not afraid to try things. And when I am afraid to try things, I usually go ahead and do them anyways just to prove myself wrong. Sometimes it goes well...and sometimes it backfires.

I've had a couple of things on my kitchen try-it list, and making a soufflé was one of them. Last week I decided that I would record myself attempting to make a most-impressive soufflé. I got all excited, and went out and bought an overpriced soufflé dish (...which I used and returned DON'T JUDGE ME).

I even put it in my calendar as "Soufflé Day"

Look at that cocky little drawing. OH, SO NOW YOU'RE A CHEF AND AN ARTIST??  NICE TRY, MELANIE.

WELL SOMETIMES YOU SHOULDN'T GET TOO EXCITED ABOUT THINGS, BECAUSE THEN YOU MIGHT GET A LITTLE SLOPPY.

You might notice that for about two-thirds of the video, I prance around the kitchen like some Ina Garten wannabe, because I'm TOO DANG CONFIDENT IN THE KITCHEN. Like honestly, Melanie. Try some humility.

Well..it didn't fully rise, but at least it didn't collapse on itself.

Anyways, the soufflé actually turned out to be prrretty delicious. I used Ina Garten's Spinach and Cheddar Soufflé recipe , because I saw her make it on TV and told myself that it looked easy (WTF MELANIE). If I had kept the soufflé dish, I definitely would have made it again. And I still want to try and make a dessert soufflé one day...preferably one that rises. But I'll consider this one crossed off the list for now, until I can get my hands on a soufflé dish that doesn't cost a small fortune.

Harry Potter Marathon: Live Blogging

So today and tomorrow I'm marathoning all 8 Harry Potter movies with my friends, and I don't want to spend a big chunk of time blogging while my friends are here, so instead I will be LIVE BLOGGING the marathon!!  SO EXCITINGG.

I'll be checking in after every movie, so keep coming back every few hours for updates!  Or just read this whole thing on Monday after the marathon is over.  Whatever floatsyaboat.

8:20 PM-We're about halfway through the Chamber of Secrets and we've been at it for four hours.  Crazy!

Elise, Tori, and Alexis all got here first and we started watching the movie without Meredith, who got off of work late.

We spent some time eating McNuggets (Alexis brought SIXTY CHICKEN NUGGETS) and teasing the dog.  Somehow we managed to make it through forty nuggets between the four of us.

Meredith showed up towards the end of the Sorcerer's Stone with HOMEMADE PUMPKIN JUICE.  O M G this stuff is so good.  We still have a little bit left, but probably not for long.  Mmmmm.

Since we've seen these first few movies so many times, we've been spending most of the time eating and chatting...though we did try our hands at speaking parseltongue.  Soon enough we'll be fluent...just like Voldy!

UPDATE: 9:26 PM

We just finished the Chamber of Secrets and can't afford to waste any time, so Prisoner of Azkaban is already running.  Over the course of the second movie, we decided that:

1.) Cat Hermione (Purrmione, if you will) was the worst visual representation of the movie.
2.) The Chamber of Secrets was the best visual representation in the movie.
3.) Young Tom Riddle is pretty hot (3 against 1, sorry Meredith) and yeah...if that's what Voldemort looked like, I totally would have become a Death Eater.

McNugget Status: There are about 15 nuggz left...all cold and soggy.  Yummmm.

MORE FUN TO COME.

UPDATE: 11:41 PM

Just finished Prisoner of Azkaban and have already started the fourth movie.  Tori asked me who my favorite Harry Potter character is and I had to spend a little bit of time diggin' deep down to figure it out.  I think the verdict was that my favorite character from the movies is Luna, but my favorite from the book is Ron.  I think.  It might change tomorrow.

The one thing we talked about being frustrating in the third movie is that for a really long time, not much happens...and then all of a sudden EVERYTHING HAPPENS.  Like boring boring boring OH WAIT YOU'RE A WEREWOLF...BUT THAT RAT IS A HUMAN...AND THE DOG IS A MURDERER WAIT NO HE'S NOT A MURDERER AAAAAND NOW WE'RE TIME TRAVELING.  It's too cray.

McNugget Status: Slightly fewer nuggos left...but they are still the same amount of gross as they were during the last movie.  Womp womp.

UPDATE: 1:57 AM

Dumblydore make sad speech.  I tired.

Zzzzzzzzzzz

UPDATE: 9:28 AM

Just popped in Order of the Phoenix, but not before making a quick run to Dunkin Donuts for some breakfast!

This is all of our least favorite movie...so we'll see how much of this one we actually pay attention to.

McNugget Status: We had like ten nuggles left which sat out overnight...oops.  But the dog ate all of them while were at Dunkin.  So WE SUCCESSFULLY FINISHED 60 NUGGLETS GO US!!!

UPDATE: 11:42 AM

We just finished Order of the Phoenix and started the sixth movie.

There is some SASSY FABULOUSNESS in movie numba five.  Mainly from Voldy and Dumblydore.  It almost makes up for all the angst.

We did manage to control ourselves by only rewinding to see this image of Voldy JUST ONCE:

BLAHHH.  Hehehe.

Last time we re-watched it for like a full half hour.  One re-watch is an accomplishment for us.  So proud.

UPDATE: 2:09 PM

We FINALLY MADE IT to the Deathly Hallows!!  Meredith and Alexis peace'd out early for work and errands, but both of them are planning to return before the afternoon is over.  And Brooke showed up!!  Meredith was glad to skip out on the sixth movie, since it's her least favorite...but Tori and I both love it.  Not sorryyyy

I decided that my patronus would be a pizza.  And then I ordered a pizza.  Mmmm.

UPDATE: 4:27 PM

DOBBY HAS NO MASTER.  DOBBY IS A FREE ELF.

UPDATE: 6:40 PM

WE DID IT.

Voldemort is dead, Harry Potter's kids are on the train to Hogwarts, all my friends have gone home, and all the food has been EATEN.

Tori and I managed to get through all eight movies without going insane, and we're pretty dang proud of ourselves for it.  Today we watched 9 and a half hours of movies, and yesterday we watched even more than that.  Is there some kind of award for sitting still that long?  There definitely should be.

WOOHOO AND ALL WAS WELL.

Favorite Places: Haddonfield

Every summer my friend Maggie and I go into Haddonfield for an afternoon to have some tea and go window shopping. This summer we almost thought we'd have to skip out, but managed to fit the excursion in just a week before Maggie goes back to UD early for band camp!

When we got to Haddonfield, which is right next to Cherry Hill--just a ten minute drive from Maggie's house, we headed for the Picket Fence on Kings Highway for some afternoon tea!

We picked a great day to walk around Haddonfield. It was sunny outside, with just the right amount of clouds.  Not too hot, not too cold, and a nice breeze blowing around!

The Picket Fence's tea room is separated from the store by a white picket fence, and it's painted to look like a garden scene. Some people say it's a bit much...but I think it's just right!

One of the things I love about the Picket Fence is their collection of teacups and saucers. I've been there too many times to count, but I've never used the same cup twice!  

Maggie is very excited about tea!

I ordered my favorite tea--ginger pear!

This tea room doesn't use tea bags!  Fun fact: when you use a tea bag, the tea leaves don't get to expand so their flavor doesn't get fully steeped. Here they pour the water over loose tea leaves in the teapot, and then when you pour the tea over a strainer placed on top of the cup! So fancy, and so much more flavorful. I only needed one cube of sugar for my tea!

I also ordered a scone because YUM.

Pinkies out!

Maggie told me that the signal for "I'm done with my tea" is to turn the cup upside down and place the spoon on top. I don't know if that's true...but I went with it! 

After tea time, we spent the rest of the afternoon window shopping down Kings Highway, and looking around some of Haddonfield's specialty shops.

Halloween stuff already?? Maybe Halloween comes early in Britain.

It looks like Hickory!!

I'm thinking of replacing my bedroom window with this stained glass vineyard themed one.

Roosters for Melissa.

I don't know if you can tell, but this bottle is GIANT.

This shop had a lot of bunnies.

We finished up window shopping, and stopped by the dinosaur statue (they found dinosaur fossils in Haddonfield and named the dinosaur after the town!) to pay our respects. And also to get to the cupcakery next door!

Indulgence Cupcakery specializes in these delicious miniature cupcakes. 

You would think that less cupcake means less excitement, but that is not so! Somehow they manage to make their cupcakes super moist, and their frosting light and flavorful. And there's always a little bit of filling in each cupcake to keep things interesting. SO GOOD.

I decided to get a mango cheesecake cupcake and a salted caramel chocolate cupcake. I think picking a favorite cupcake would have to be like picking a favorite child...only harder because I don't have children.

After nomming on our cupcakes we headed back to Cherry Hill and called it a day! I'm glad we waited until August to go into Haddonfield, because the weather was nice and mild. Such a lovely summer afernoon!

Vlog Tuesday: Room tour!

Okay okay yes, this is a little late, but the video took forever to load on Youtube!  Besides, I changed the timestamp to make it look like I posted this on a Tuesday.  So I didn't really miss my deadline.


As promised, I did a room tour as my vlog for today!



It's a little on the long side (16 minutes...yikes!!), but if you don't feel like sitting through the whole thing you can definitely feel free to skip around.  I got a little carried away talking about EACH AND EVERY PART OF THE ROOM in detail.  So maybe you'll appreciate it...or maybe you will hate it.  WHATEVER I DIDN'T DO IT FOR YOU.

Sorry.

Also try not to get motion sickness from my shaky-hand-Cloverfield-style camerawork.  I think that's why I had so much trouble getting the picture to focus.  Laaame.

For those of you who don't have time to watch the video, here is a panoramic photo of the finished room!

I finally mastered the panoramic feature on my phone's camera.

The reason why I decided to redo this room was because I am planning (*crosses fingers*) to move back home and find a job in the South Jersey area after graduation.  I feel like I'm taking a big risk by putting so many eggs in one basket (I mean...not ALL of the eggs), but this is where I feel at home...so this is the plan for now.  Who knows how I'll feel in a year, though.  Maybe I'll feel compelled to move far from home...or maybe my job search will just take me there whether I want it to or not.  I know that I can't really guarantee that I'll end up working/living in this area, but this room (along with the other benefits of living at home) are definitely incentive to try and stay.  I have a feeling that this upcoming year of blogging will be documenting some big life changes and some tough decisions.  With the completion of my room, I feel like summer is ending...and winter is coming*.  Yeah, I went there.


*I've been watching Game of Thrones a lot.  I'm halfway through the second season and it's only been a week. DON'T JUDGE ME.

Transformation Tuesday: DIY Projects

From now on, Transformation Tuesdays don't have to happen on Tuesdays.  Transformation Sunday just doesn't roll off the tongue the same way.  Get over it.


I am OFFICIALLY FINISHED with all of my DIY projects!  It only took me like...the entire summer.

If you need to refresh your memory, I wrote a post back in July about all of the projects I took on.  You can read that here.

I finished a few simple projects to incorporate more of the coral color into my room.  I bought these metal desk organizers that were originally white, and decided to spray paint them coral since my lamp was turquoise.  I also bought this awesome rotating earring stand from amazon that was originally copper, but I primed and then spray painted coral as well.  In the process I managed to also paint the back porch coral, but such is life.  I also went to Home Depot and bought a sample size of coral wall paint, and used that to make those three stenciled canvases.  They're on display above my bed, and it filled the empty space above my bed that was desperate for some wall art.

These are the finished bedside tables!  I'm really pleased with the way they turned out.  I bought a sample size of turquoise/aqua paint from Home Depot and used that for the turquoise drawer and the stenciling on the white drawer.  I didn't want either drawer to be too overwhelmed with their new colors, so I figured stenciling would diffuse the colors a bit.  I also got to use the stencil from the canvas.  To make the stencil fit the drawer, I just taped off a couple of sections.  Overall I think they balance out the white and the turquoise, and have a nice touch of symmetry.

Also, I think there is a lot to be said about what the simple change of a knob can do to the overall effect of a piece of furniture.  Seriously.  I can't stop changing the knobs on things.  I THINK I HAVE A PROBLEM.

The biggest pain-in-my-ass project that I took on was this chair that I got from Goodwill for $3.99.  I saw a lot of potential in this chair, and was really into the fact that it was a coat of paint away from vintage.  I just forgot about the fact that chairs don't magically go from crappy-thrift-store to vintage-makeover in one day.  This was a long and tedious process.

The first thing I did was remove the cushion, tighten up some of the screws to make the frame sturdier, and then sand it down.  I didn't get any of this process, but trust me...you're not missing anything glamorous.  I spent a couple of days priming, painting, and clear-coating the chair to get it to look like an intentional piece of furniture instead of just a makeshift desk chair.  I really love how the white turned out.  I think it suits the frame!

Counter-clocwise from the top right: Ew, ew, ew, FINALLY.

The next step was to prep the seat for some new upholstery.  This part was even less glamorous than the lest, yet somehow I managed to remember to take pictures.  As you can see, the yellow faux-crushed-velvet was quickly disposed of only to reveal...EVEN UGLIER FABRIC.  After I removed the final layer of dirty old upholstery (accompanied by a sad, flat, paper-thin layer of cushioning), I used the base of the seat to trace a new cushion out of this RANDOM FOAM LYING AROUND IN OUR ATTIC.  My dad somehow snagged this from some kind of furniture supply warehouse or something.  I don't know.  But it is super dense and supports my lil' tush and is much much MUCH better than the old cushion.

I'm sure my mom appreciated me using her very nice serrated knife to slice an inedible cushion for upholstery.

Since the block of foam was a little too thick and needed to be cut to size, I hacked away at it using a serrated bread knife.  I hear that carving knives work well, too.  

I probably could have skipped the step where I thinned out the cushion if I had bought a block of high-density foam that was the right size from Joann Fabrics, since it was only like $6.99  But $6.99 is still more expensive than free, so I went ahead and put in the extra effort.

Not pictured: my sweat and tears and anxiety.

The next thing I did was attempt to upholster the chair.  Unfortunately, I am a wimp and did not have the strength to use the staple gun while stretching the fabric out enough to tightly cover the chair.

My dad is a bit of a perfectionist.

So my dad stepped in and did the job waaaay better than I could.

`

I forgot to take a picture of the finished cushion all by itself, but here is a picture of it in the frame of the chair.  I think it looks awesome!  I am super in love with this coral damask fabric, which my mom ordered on fabric.com.  We're also going to use it for window treatments, but I'm not worrying about that right now!  I tried to use a part of the pattern that was less obvious, mostly because I couldn't cut too far into the fabric because we need it for curtains.  But I can't believe how good it looks!

It took me kind of a while to get the ball rolling, but the transformation is pretty amazing.  And I'm sitting on it right now as I'm writing this entry, and LET ME TELL YOU HOW HAPPY MY BUTT IS.  That old cushion was pretty sad.

Expect a room tour soon!  I'm FINALLY FINISHED with my room.  FINALLY.