The Liebster Award!

Exciting news! I was nominated for the Liebster Award by Kelsey at Leather & Lipstick and Toni over at ClarkCouture (thanks again)! I was pretty ecstatic to see that I'd been nominated because I'd seen some of these awards floating around and I thought it was a pretty cool concept. Basically, it's an award given to bloggers with less than 200 followers and it's a great way for small blogs to get a chance in the spotlight. Also, liebster means "dearest" in German and that's pretty adorable.

Here are the rules of the Liebster Award:

• You must link back to the person who nominated you. 
• You must answer the 11 questions given to you by the person who nominated you. 
• After completing these questions you must nominate 5-11 bloggers and give them 11 questions of your choice to answer. (Must have less than 200 followers)
• You are not allowed to nominate the person who nominated you.
• Make sure you let the nominee's know that they have been nominated and provide a link to your post for them, so they are able to learn about it. 

Soooo, here are the answers to Toni's questions:

1) Do you have any pets? If so, what are they? I have a betta fish named Marco (you can see him in this post), who I've had for about a year. He's a pretty cool fish. There's also a neighborhood dog and cat that hang around our house quite a bit, but I don't know if you count those since they aren't technically ours.

2) What is your best childhood memory? That's a tough one! Umm...I think my whole childhood is kind of my best childhood memory, if that makes sense. I've been blessed with a fun, crazy family, so there were never many dull moments. 

3) If you only had 24 hours to live, what would you spend your time doing? Another hard one. I'd spend a good bit of time with my family and friends, and then I guess I'd give try to make as many people as possible happy. Like giving away my clothes/money/possessions to those who need it. Nothing crazy, like trying to do every single item on my bucket list like they do in those movie montages!

4) What is your biggest fashion must-have? Well, I'm not super fashion-savvy, so I'd have to say a pair of basic skinny jeans. You can dress them up or down, plus they can be pretty comfy, which is one of the main things I look for in clothes!

5) What was your biggest fashion/beauty/hair error as a child? Ohhhh, just one? I guess my worst fashion/beauty/hair-crime would have to be my hair from about 5th-8th grade. My hair is super thick and has these weird wavy curls, so I didn't really know how to do anything with it (I'm still trying to figure it out). I resorted to terrible buns and braids and it was a bad time. 

6) What is your favorite food? Definitely pizza. Especially when my mom makes it from scratch!
7) You have 60 seconds in your favorite store, what do you grab and why?  My favorite store is probably Hobby Lobby, so I'd probably try and grab a bunch of paint, paintbrushes, those fancy Micron pens, etc. etc. I loooove arts and crafts (I'm a small child at heart), so 60 seconds in Hobby Lobby would be amazing.
8) What inspired you to become a blogger? I've always loved writing. I had a few blogs when I was younger, but they were mainly just viewed by my mom (thanks, mom). I guess it was just a combined love for writing, design, and of course the Internet that made me want to start blogging for real. 
9) Do you have any tips for new bloggers? I'm still a new blogger myself, but I guess I'd say to not give up. It may be discouraging when nobody reads your posts or you aren't getting any feedback, but be patient and keep blogging! It'll come eventually.
10) Do you have any bad habits? Of course. I pop my knuckles a lot and I mess with my hair way too much.
11) If you could have a dinner party with 3 celebrity guests, who would you invite and why? Jennifer Lawrence would definitely get the first invite, because she seems like she would be really fun to hang out with. Next would be Pope Francis, because he's pretty awesome. And last but not least, I would probably invite John Green because he seems like a really cool person. It'd be a pretty great dinner party.

Here are my nominees:
Good Girl Gone Brum
Polka Dots and Whiskers
Lipgloss and Glitter Drops
Aicha Vienne
Lasi Locks

Aaaand here are my questions for the nominees:
1) If you could have any animal as a pet, what would it be and why?
2) What is your favorite TV show?
3) If you could have any job, regardless of money, to do for the rest of your life, what would it be?
4) What is your favorite past-time?
5) Are you a cat or dog person (or both)?
6) What is your favorite part of blogging?
7) If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
8) What is your favorite song/band?
9) Would you rather live by the beach or in the mountains?
10) What's your favorite blog?
11) What's the best book you've ever read?

Thanks again to Toni and Kelsey for the nominations and happy blogging!

Free Calendar!

Hey guys! I apologize for my lack of posting...again. But good news, band camp has ended so I now have more time to do nothing all day! Hooray! 

I've been wanting to make some sort of free download for a while now (because everyone loves free stuff), so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity with August right around the corner. So here's my calendar! I know it's nothing spectacular, but it'll be better next time, I promise. If you want to download my calendar, click the link below and download it and print it out and all that jazz. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>download here!<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I'd be pretty excited (and quite surprised) if you guys do download it, so let me know in the comments if you do! 

In other news, I've recently made a grab button that's on my left sidebar with an HTML code if you'd like your very own Teenage Digest button for your blog. Who wouldn't??

Songs of the Week

Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while since I've posted, band camp started last week and it goes from 9 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon! It doesn't really leave much time for anything other than showering, eating, and sleeping. But fear not! I'm here today to bring you the songs I've been loving for the past week or two.


1) Best Shot by Birdy and Jaymes Young (this is my favorite from the The Fault in Our Stars soundtrack, which is basically great all-around).
2) Cough Syrup by Young the Giant
3) All I Want by Kodaline (also from the TFIOS soundtrack)
4) Blew My Mind by Dresses
5) Love Runs Out by One Republic
6) Lost in My Mind by the Head and the Heart
7) Play With Fire by Vance Joy
8) White Teeth Teens by Lorde
9) Valarie by Mark Ronson ft. Amy Winehouse
10) Come on Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners

I have a weird, vast taste in music, so there should be a song for you here no matter your musical preference!

Let me know in the comments what you guys are listening to!

DIY Origami Light Boxes

I found these cute little origami boxes on Pinterest the other day, and I just had to try them. They're really easy to make and can add a little flair to any boring string of lights. After making a few of them, I decided to make a tutorial so you guys can make them, too!


1. Start with a square of colored paper. I used 1/4 of a piece of origami paper.
2. Fold it in half vertically and horizontally. Make sure to keep the colored part on the outside when you're folding.
3. Fold it in half diagonally, both ways.
4. Take the horizontal crease and fold it inwards (this is kind of hard to explain, but the picture should help).
5. You should have a triangle now.
6. Take the top flap of the triangle's side and fold it up so it lines up with the triangle's edge. Do this to the other side, and then flip and do it to those sides, too.
7. Your paper should now be a diamond shape.
8. Take the corners and fold them in until the tip is touching the center line. Do this to all sides.
9. Fold the bottom flaps up against the corners you just folded in.
10. Fold the flaps again, so they make a small triangle. Do this to all 4 flaps.
11. You should have a little pocket in the bottom of the corner you folded in step 8. Open up the pocket and tuck the flaps you just folded into it.
12. Do this to all 4 flaps.
13. Unfold your box so it's not flat.
14. Find the open end and blow into it to inflate.
15. Slip the end you blew into over a light bulb, and enjoy!

Sorry for my poor instructions. I'm pretty bad at explaining things. Oh well.

 If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I'll try to help!

Thoughts

source

These somewhat slow days of summer have allowed lots of time for me to do some thinking, mainly about my blog. When I first started the Teenage Digest (only about one or two months ago), I didn't really have any idea of what I wanted it to be. I like fashion and beauty and all that, but I'm not really an expert in those fields. I like DIY projects and crafts, but I don't want a blog based solely on those things. I like taking pictures, but I don't want photography to feel like a chore. I've been confused as to what I want out of my blog, how to gain readers, etc. etc. 

Then, when reading one of my all-time favorite blogs, Lauryn's Notebook, I came across a line that hit home:

"I'm simply here to document my teenage years and share my simple, undeterred love for writing."

That is exactly why I made this blog. To share about my life and interests and projects and to write. I should try to base my posts off of what I would like to read. My new goal for this blog is to simply do what makes me happy, and not stress out over silly things like followers or views. While it's nice to get feedback and everything, I'm content with my three-hundred-and-something views and my two comments. 

I just wanted to share those few thoughts with you, to maybe remind you of the joy that can come from blogging. 

Also, be sure to check out Lauryn's blog here. It's pretty great.
Hope you're all having a great day!

Where the Magic Happens

Hey guys! Please excuse my 11-day absence, I was away at the best church camp ever. But that's a story for another time. Anyway, I was thinking since I've already shown you guys my wall quote, I might as well take you on a full-blown room tour.

An almost-full view. I hope you guys enjoy this post because I cleaned my room just to be able to take these pictures.

 Meet Marco. I got him from Wal-Mart over a year ago, and we've been best friends ever since (he actually doesn't really like me...he flares up his gills every time I walk into the room). I'm convinced that Marco is the oldest Wal-Mart fish to ever exist. It's actually quite impressive.

My bed, featuring Burt the Pillow Pet and a painting inspired by the incredible Katie Daisy. She's great. Also, this is the first time in forever that I have actually made my bed. Yay for being irresponsible and sloppy!

 This is one of my favorite parts of my room. I bought an old film camera a few years ago at a junk shop, just because I liked the way it looked, and my grandpa saw it and brought me his collection of vintage cameras the next time he visited. They're pretty darn cool. You can see some other pictures of the cameras here, here, and here!

Next, we have one of my newest additions and pretty much the coolest thing ever, my record player. I had kind of been interested in getting one, but when I mentioned it to my family, they thought it would be a waste of money. So I decided against it. But a few months later when my birthday came, I was pretty surprised to unwrap this guy. It may be a little outdated, but I think music sounds so much better on a record player. I guess it wasn't such a waste of money after all!

My record collection thus far. I highly suggest all of these albums to anyone with ears.

A gif I made of my Amy Winehouse album because I thought it would look cool.
I was correct.

My desk, with the exciting new addition of a laptop! My brother won a new laptop from some scholarship program, so I got his old one. Before this, I had to use the computer in my parents' room for any blogging/tweeting/e-mailing I had to do, but I can do all of that in the comfort of my own bedroom at 2 in the morning now! In fact, I'm writing this very post at 12:07 a.m. with everyone else in the house sound asleep.

This is my whiteboard/corkboard with a monstrosity of drawings, pictures, notes, trinkets, etc. As you can probably tell, it does not get cleaned that often. 

This is the place I get ready for school and such, complete with inspirational quotes (my mom left me the bottom left one) and hair products. What more do you need?

Also, ignore the strange, falling-apart quote in the middle. I don't really know what happened there but I've been too lazy to fix it. 

Aaaaand, last but not least, my closet. Here you will find my notorious wall quote, a few drawings, and some free movie poster I got from the theater. Oh yeah, and a glow stick.

I hope you guys liked my room tour, even though it's not super cute and clean like all the other rooms in the blog world. Seriously, how do you guys do that?

If you want to leave a link to your own room tour in the comments, I'd love to check it out!