Happy Friday people! I hope you had a great week and have fun plans for this weekend. I have clinical tonight, a CPR class tomorrow morning, and most importantly, a downtown beer fest tomorrow afternoon. I am bummed about the rain that is supposed to happen, but at least the weather will be cool enough for me to get my fall style on! What are your plans for this weekend?

Now lets talk about somethings from this week...

1) TGIT
First, can I just say that this was such an exciting week for television? At the beginning of the week, we had the Emmy Awards and then there have been so many season premieres since then! There has been so much chatter around me at home/school/on the internet about all of the Shonda Rhimes' premieres. However, I am feeling kind of left out that I only watch one out of three Shonda Rhimes' shows. I have been a Grey's Anatomy fan since middle school, but never started watching Scandal or How to Get Away With Murder (*collective gasp from the internet*). I know, I know...I am missing out, right?! After I am finished watching Friday Night Lights, I should probably catch up with Scandal. I have just been hesitant to in the past, because I don't like to watch shows on Netflix where the series isn't finished. Its hard to keep up with TV shows that are premiering new episodes every week! Are you a Scandal or HTGAWM fan? Maybe I could be convinced to put a pause to FNL and pick up one of the two...

2) Amy Schumer's Post Interview at the Emmy Awards
"I think we all know how I am celebrating later..." I know she can be crude, but I think she is just a riot! I love how genuine she seems to be, and is unapologetic for it! It was one of my favorite moments of the Emmys when she and Amy Poehler presented an award together...I wrote about more of my favorite moments of the Emmy Awards earlier in the week so check those out!

3) Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani Collab
I found out this week that Gwen Stefani collaborated with Urban Decay on a cosmetics line and I am too excited about it! Gwen Stefani has been one of my idols for such a long time...she is so fierce and just plain cool. I can't think of anyone better for UD to work with to create a line of makeup because Gwen has such a distinct look to her. Bold red lips and sharp, rocker eyes are what I am expecting from this collaboration!

"I've been a fan of Gwen's since we met in the early days of No Doubt and I'm so excited to announce our collaboration! We've created some amazing makeup together and I can't wait to share it with you. #UDxGwen @gwenstefani" - @udwende #Repost

A photo posted by Urban Decay Cosmetics (@urbandecaycosmetics) on Sep 18, 2015 at 12:58pm PDT

4) Mighty Mighty Bosstones Tickets
One of my favorite bands since middle school, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones (a mouthful of a name!), is playing in Boston in December & John and I got our tickets yesterday! We went to see them last year at the House of Blues in Boston and had an absolute blast. They are a ska band (basically rock/punk rock with brass instruments thrown in) and I can't wait to dance my butt off this year!

5) Some Pin-spiration...

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I hope you all have a great weekend!

Fall 2015 To-Do List

Happy First Day of Fall! 

I got a little to overzealous about today being the first day of fall and wore jeans and a fleece pullover to campus for a meeting...not realizing it was actually 75 degrees and sunny outside. I just want it to be sweater weather, okay?! I never really appreciated fall until I left Maine and went to Virginia for college. Since I have been gone, I understand how lucky I was to have beautiful falls in Maine. If this sounds a little bit like I am homesick to you, you're right...I just book flights home for Columbus Day weekend though so only two weeks until I am back! 

There is so much I want to do this fall, and since this is a relatively short season (only October and November, if you think about it!) I wanted to write it all down so I could make sure I got everything done that I wanted to.

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~Go apple picking and make an apple pie.

~ Blanket scarves. (Need I say more?)

~Watch as many Halloween-themed or scary movies as I can.

~Go for a walk where I can get a perfect view of the changing leaves.

~Rock the darker lip colors. (hello to dark cranberry and almost purples, am I right?!)

~Eat all of the candy corn.

~*Attempt* to make a warm apple cider cocktail. 

~Celebrate JMU homecoming with my best friends. 

Most of all, I want to try being more adventurous this fall. I posted the picture below on my Instagram the other day, and I truly believe what it says. Fall is the time for starting something new and changing and I feel like I could change to be a more adventurous person. So to do that, I want to try one thing that pushes me outside of my comfort zone. I am not exactly sure what that will be yet, but this new season upon us just has me feeling inspired! 

I'm ready for cozy sweaters, warm drinks and crisp weather 🍂🎃 #fall

A photo posted by Meghan Farrell (@mfarrelll14) on Sep 20, 2015 at 12:46pm PDT

What are you looking forward to this fall?

Also, thank you to Pinky for this awesome link up today! I can't wait to get even more excited about fall through reading everyone's posts about it!

Thoughts on the 2015 Emmy Awards

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Who watched the Emmy's last night? I am a huge fan of award shows... and as a self proclaimed movie and TV buff, I especially love the Academy Awards and the Emmy Awards. It would be my dream to get all dressed up and walk into a room that holds the most powerful and influential actors, directors, writers, and editors of the year. Lets not forget that the after-parties would be pretty sweet too (hello, haven't you seen pictures of the swag bags they give out?!)

Favorite Moments of the Emmys:

~Jane Lynch coming out on stage as the shaming nun from Game of Thrones. SHAME *bell rings*

~Amy Schumer and Amy Poehler presenting an award together.

~Jeffery Tambour dedicating his Emmy win to the transgender community.

~"I love funny women. I love powerful, funny women." - Julie-Louis Dreyfuss during her acceptance speech #YASSSS.

~"Its a fishing community off the coast of Europe"- James Corden referring to England.

~"Time as we know it could cease to exist, and Alex Trebrek would still be scolding librarians from  Ames, Iowa and passive aggressively insulting their hobbies." -John Oliver presenting the award for Limited Series or Movie Directing.

~Andy Samberg's singing in the "Emmys Can Kill" PSA.

~Frances McDormand ultra short acceptance speech...mostly because I cringe when the winners get the music played over their speeches to kick them off the stage.

~The Halloween Oreos I snacked on during the show...

~"This show fights for what we believe in"  + "This girl who gave me this sort of smoky eye" - My two favorite lines from Amy Schumer's acceptance speech of Best Variety Sketch Series

~HBD George RR Martin (why aren't you at home writing...I'm anxious awaiting whats happening next in GoT)

~Uzo Aduba's second consecutive win. So cool that last year she won in the comedy division, but this year's win was in the drama division...for the same character! "You let me be me!" (Not going to lie, I cried a little during her acceptance speech!)

~"These are just some of the characters...that I made up backstage"- Tina Fey, presenting the award for Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

~ Tracy Morgan presenting an award!

~Game of Thrones winning best Drama Series. It has a total of 83 Emmy nominations and I believe they deserve every single one of them. Does that make me sound like a nerd? P.S. Is Jon Snow alive?


Bummer Moments

~Bill Murray wasn't there to accept his award...I would have loved to hear his acceptance speech

~When they played clips of the season finales of the many shows that ended this year...Thank goodness I finished Sons of Anarchy last week because they played the most important clip of the show. Also, they did gave away what I am assuming is the ending of Mad Men. You'd think they wouldn't give away such big spoilers!

~Getting Oreo crumbs in my keyboard

~Jon Hamm's cryptic acceptance speech (anyone else think so?!)


I am now swayed into watching shows that I didn't know were so highly rated. Veep and Olive Kitteridge won so many awards and I am officially adding them to my "must watch" list. But they are both HBO shows, so I should have known that they were well-made! I also like how acceptance speeches are transforming into bringing more awareness about current issues, instead of just the winner spewing first names out with such pressure that I am sure the microphone is wet with spit after they are done. Overall, it was a good show, but just stressed me out because there is so much more TV that I need to watch...

What were your thoughts on the show if you watch? Also, leave a comment below if you know how to get the job of the girl who holds the award onstage...because I need that job.

Quick Question about Labor Day Weekend...

Tubing last weekend on the Shenandoah River! 

I've just been wondering...

Why do we call Labor Day weekend the "last weekend of the summer" when really, the last day of summer isn't until September 22nd? That gives us two more weekends of summer, which I plan on taking advantage of! I mean, I know for students school starting back up signals the end of summer...but what about all the people that aren't in school or don't have kids starting back into the school mode? If you don't have kids and aren't in school, do you still have two weeks of summer or is Labor Day Weekend the end of your summer? So many questions!

I hope you all are enjoying your weekend nonetheless, and please share whether or not your summer ends with this weekend! 

Monthly Favorites | August 2015

I haven't done a monthly favorites post since last OCTOBER! Almost a year...which is crazy because I love reading/watching other people's monthly favorites posts/video. I was super excited to do an August favorites post because I tried out a ton of new products and had a couple new ideas of what categories to include in my post!

Favorite Beauty

I bought these products towards the beginning of the month and they were quickly integrated into my beauty routine! The mascara and the foundation have been used every single day since I have bought them and I am obsessed. Also, I find myself wearing the silver powder as a mask about twice a week! I will probably have a more in depth review of these things coming up as a post later because they are well loved and I want to share!

Favorite Memory

For John's birthday back in June, I bought us tickets to go see the Beach Boys play in downtown Portland on the waterfront! He is in love with the beachy and carefree vibe of their music, and I am in love with all music pre-2005...The concert was amazing and although I was nervous that they wouldn't sound like they used to, since they are getting up there in age, the Beach Boys were awesome performers. They whipped through almost 40 songs and I sang along to so many of them (as did everyone else in the audience!). This is one of my favorite memories of the summer because it was a beautiful night, we were right on the water and we were so happy to be enjoying such a classic American band! 

One of my all time favorite songs from The Beach Boys...they were great performers and are so lucky to have been doing what they love for so many years!

A video posted by Meghan Farrell (@mfarrelll14) on Aug 13, 2015 at 7:49pm PDT

Favorite Place

The beach! Although I didn't get to go as much as I would have liked (thanks to the rain on my off days), the beach was absolutely my happy place for the month of August. Whenever I went, I felt so relaxed and carefree and on those days I felt so much better about everything that was going on. 

Favorite Blogger/Vlogger

Jaclyn Hill videos played on my YouTube app nonstop through the month of August! She is such a talented makeup artist and hilarious as well. She just released a highlighter at Sephora and I just can't even imagine how surreal it must be for her to walk into the store and have her own product there. She is absolutely an inspiration for me because she is so positive with all things in her life and has achieved so much at a young age. 

What were some things you loved in the month of August?

Fall 2015 Fashion Picks

With fall approaching quickly, I have been gearing up my wardrobe for cozy fall nights that are perfect for warm sweaters and neutrals. Now, I haven't been great in the past about buying neutral colored clothing, because I just love wearing purples, greens and pinks...but lately I have just felt so chic in black, white, grey and tan clothing. I thought I would share some pieces from my top three favorite stores that I think would look fabulous this fall!

Long Time, No Talk.

HI THERE! Its been way too long and I apologize for the silence over here. As you could probably tell by the lack of posts this summer, I really had trouble with this blog. In the beginning of the summer, work picked up quickly and on my days off, I felt no motivation to sit at my computer and write. Then, after a few days of not writing, I would get frustrated with myself for not posting and this frustration dulled my motivation to write even more. This cycle continued for a few more weeks, and even though I thought about my blog a lot, I felt like I just couldn't bring myself to write. 

Then about halfway through the summer, one of my cats got sick and I spent a lot of time and energy focused on taking care of/worrying about him (thankfully, he is all better now.) This however started to get me feeling down in general. All I found myself doing was either working or sitting at home unoccupied. Since I worked in a hospital that had 12 hour shifts, I only worked 3 shifts a week (sometimes 4, if they needed extra help.) But most weeks, I had four days off. I would have dinners with John after he got out of work if I had the day off, and some days that I would be the only thing I really did. My brothers had a few baseball tournaments for a couple weeks this summer that kept them and my parents away so I was alone around my house a lot. During this time, I was lazy and didn't channel my energy into being productive and happy. Instead, I just let myself grow into this negative attitude that I just couldn't shake. I spent a lot of time feeling jealous that others were having a better summer than me and feeling guilty for not writing blog posts. I would read other blogs and scroll through Twitter and Instagram accounts and just be so jealous that I wasn't as funny/clever/photogenic/creative/outgoing as other people are. 

As we got further and further into summer, I told myself that I would just take a hiatus from my blog and let myself recharge and give myself a break from feeling guilty for not writing. I spent a lot of time thinking about blogging and I wondered if I should even come back to it. Just recently I have been able to shake the bad attitude and pick myself up from this slump and realize that this writing this blog does make me a happier person and I know that I feel better if I channel more of my energy into making this blog something that I can be really proud of. 

When I decided to continue, I told myself that I would start back here on this date because it is also the first day of the fall semester. Although I am sad to see the summer go, I am excited (and very ready!) for the new beginning that fall will bring. I read once that humans are actually happiest when they are busy, and as someone who has a tendency to be lazy, I need to work on making sure that I fill my time with plans and activities. Now don't get me totally wrong, I didn't stay inside my house all summer... I did see my friends, I had a few beach days and John and I had some really great dates. But I just felt like I could have done so much more. I should have been more ambitious and more of a go-getter. With this new season descending upon us quickly, I want to be on top of my game. I want to ace this final semester of college. I want to churn out some kick-ass content on this blog. Most of all, I just want to be happier and carry a more positive attitude with me! 

If you have stuck through this post, THANK YOU. I know it was a little all over the place, and it probably makes more sense to me than it does to you. Thats okay, though. Just know that you have helped me immensely by just being there, and for that, I am incredibly thankful. I feel lighter and happier knowing that these words have left my head. So lets all raise our glasses and cheers to new beginnings and being happy! 

Because you know my alter ego is Liz Lemon. 

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