10 Years Time

Hello Everyone! 

Hope you are all well.

Today I am doing something a little different, I am turning a YouTube tag video in to a blog post. I wanted to make the 10 years time video, but feel like writing it out might be better for me. I could sit down and have a whole script planned out and memorized, but when I sit down in front of the camera that all goes away. I get distracted way to much to sit down and do a serious video, so I thought I would make it a blog post.

For those who don't know about the tag you pretty much explain where you hope to be in 10 years or what you think your life will be like in 10 years.

Life is one of the most unpredictable things so it is hard for me to sit and say this is where I will be in 10 years. Even just two years ago my life was on a different path than its on now. Two years ago I wanted to be a psychologist and get a PhD, I hated English and writing, I planned on going to a 4 year college, and I didn't plan on moving out until I was done with my masters degree.

I believe that the smallest thing can change your whole life.

If I wouldn't have met Daniel two years ago I would still be on that path. I wouldn't have gone to my local community college, and met the english professor who changed my mind about writing. I wouldn't have started this blog or my YouTube channel, and I wouldn't have started to write a book. I also wouldn't be planning on moving to a different country later this year.

With that said I can only say where I hope to be in 10 years. In 10 years I will be about to turn 29, so this is where I would like to be:

In 10 years time I hope to be married to Daniel and maybe thinking about starting a family. I hope to have a job that I love. I would hope that I would have published a book or two by then. I want to live in a nice apartment in a city I love surrounded by friends and loved ones. Lastly, I hope to be happy with where I am in life.

It will be interesting to be able to look back at this in 10 years and see where I am. If any of you want to do your own post or video I would love to see them! You can share them to my google+ profile that is attached to my blog.

I hope you all have a great rest of the week!
xoxo Makenna 

I Got A New Tattoo!

Hello everyone! 

I am now going to start greeting you at the beginning of every post because it just feels really weird that I don't. I only never did because after looking at other bloggers most of them don't greet their readers or talk to them on a one-on-one bases, so I thought was the thing to do, but now I am saying screw it! We are all friends here so I am going to treat you like a friend.

So how is everyone doing? OK? Great? Bad? If that is the case I hope you feel better soon! I am doing fairly well for someone who just had all four of there wisdom teeth removed yesterday (Friday). However, that is not what I am here to talk about, today I am going to tell you all about my newest tattoo I got about a month ago. If you watch my youtube videos or follow me on any social media website (which you can now follow me on Bloglovin by clicking here) then you may know that I took my last trip to Stockholm, Sweden before I move there in the next year, depends on if there government allows me, still waiting for the paper work to go through. Anyways (get back on track Makenna!), I was in Stockholm for two weeks before I had to go back to school and on the last week I got a new tattoo. I did know before traveling that I wanted to get my second tattoo done while I was there to make it even more meaning full, it will make more since after I explain what it is. (If you are interested in reading about my first tattoo then you can click here to be taken to that post.) The first week I went in Stockholm Classic Tattoos and asked them if I could get the three Swedish Crowns on my right pointer finger. This is what they look like if you didn't know, two crowns centered above one crown under them:

The tattoo artist who's name I don't remember at the moment told me that the crowns would not fit and at the most he could only do one crown. This was the second time I was turned down for this tattoo and was a bit pissed about it. The first was because I wasn't heavily tattooed, and then now this. "Well thats just great, I am never going to get this tattoo" I thought, but there was another design I had been thinking about getting. I had not though about it as long as I had about the crowns, but there was one reason shouting out in the back of my mind that just wouldn't let me say no. I was turned down when I walked in to get my first tattoo, which was supposed to be the crowns and ended up with the one I have now. As I stood in the shop arguing with myself weather or not to even get a tattoo after my idea had been turned down I made the rash decision to do so, and I pick one the one I have now, even though I had only though about getting it for about a month. For me when I make rash decisions like that they always have turned out to be the best decisions I make, so I did it again. 

For a second time I was standing in a tattoo shop with a rejected idea, so I picked my next best one. My second tattoo is three birds sitting on a tree branch, but not just any branch, the branch of my family on my family tree. Two of the  birds are larger, and are on either side of the small third bird. This is supposed to represent me with each parent on one side of me. The branch is also just as important; it has 10 leaves on two separated arms extending from the branch. There are 6 leaves on one and 4 on the other. The 6 stand for one person each in my immediate family: my grandmother (MawMaw), grandfather (PawPaw), uncle (David), aunt (Tammy), cousin (Sam), and my sister (Breanna). The 4 leave represent the pets that have been most important in my life: Zana, Noella, Sadie, and Dexter. Zana and Noella have both passed, Noella just this past Auguest while I was on my trip. She is the reason I got the leaves, at first I wanted the branch to be naked because my favorite time of year is fall/winter, but that all changed when I got the email about here passing. 

I spent a lot of time going back and forth between two different places on my body: my forearm right beneath the bend in my arm or on my back under my shoulder blade, but towards my side/rib area a bit more. I chose my forearm because I wanted to be able to see my family everyday, since I will be moving over 5000 miles away from home, I want to know that my family is always there no matter where I am. It is not just a symbol for me, but them as well. That I am not forgetting about them or trading them in for a new family, but that my life is taking me on the path less traveled by and I will never forget them or stop loving them.  

Here is a picture of the fantastic artist tattooing me: 

The whole process took less time than I thought it would. It took about a total of 40-45 minutes from the time I walked in to the door and out again. The tattoo part took only about 30 minutes compared to an hour and half to two hours for my first tattoo. My very lovely friend Nellie, who not only took time out of her day to take me to the shop, filmed/took photos the whole time. So now you can not only read about my experience, but you can also see it from start to finish if you would like. If not then you can skip the video and keep reading. 

It did hurt, but not as much as my foot. One thing that was different was I bled a lot more than my first tattoo not just during, but even after I was done and went home. This tattoo also hurt for a few days after, which was something I didn't experience the first time or even this time when I touched it up. It felt like my arm had been dangling off the bumper of a car and skid on the asphalt for a few miles. I could not unbend my arm due to the pain, and when the scabs grew I couldn't unbend my arm do to the fear of them ripping off. As gross as that sounds it is true; when you bend and unbend your arm your skin stretches and pulls, so when you have skin still healing it is not good to move it as much. The good news was I only had to deal with one week of discomfort before it healed, while even today my foot is still on its last leg of healing. This tattoo did also cost more ($220) than my first ($100), but it was well worth it. I am very happy with the final result and love it every more each day. Even my family has given me their blessing. I told no one in my family that I had got a new tattoo, nor that it was front and center on my arm. My mom was the first to know. I showed her in the car on our way home from the airport, although she wasn't to happy she understood why it was so important to me as have my other family members. I never really got the "your never going to get a job again!" lecture, until I brought it up with my grandparents. Lucky for me the industry I want to work in doesn't really care what ink you have on your skin, but the ink you can put on a page. I am 100% happy with my tattoo and love to show it off whenever I get the chance, which is a lot around here in Houston since it is STILL 90 something degrees everyday! Anyways, as much as I don't want to say it I must: this is probably going to be my last tattoo *awwws and booos*. I know, but I made a deal with Daniel that I would only get two since not only do I have to live with them the rest of my life, but so does he. This is what you do in relationships my friends, and it is called compromise. I do not hold anything against him for it either, I completely understand where he comes from and how much he had to give to be ok with the two I have now. 

Now the moment you have all been waiting for while I droned on, the final product! (without the redness of course)  

While I was there I also got my first tattoo fixed. As you may have read in my blog post about the first letter of the quote being not up to par. It was nothing that was done by the artist, but by my body: the ink was rejected on the bottom of the "L".  Here are before and after photos:
Before:

After: 

I would like to thank you so much for reading and watching, whether it is one person or a thousand it means the world to me. Thanks again and I will talk to you all again soon! 

xoxo, Gossip Girl 

Just Kidding! I just had to. I really do mean everything that I said though and if you have made it this far then THANK YOU so much again!! I know my post are long and I am sorry, but I can write what I feel/think better then I can speak them out loud. 

Talk to you soon,    

Makenna

Normal Things

For the past two weeks I took a break from social media to spend as much time with my boyfriend as possible. It was also finals week for my first summer semester, I am happy to say I passed US History part one! I also pasted US Government, but that wasn't really a surprise. I was having trouble in history and my teacher's teaching style just didn't fit with my learning style. I studied my ass off for that final and I still only did "ok" on it. Anyways I now am in the second summer semester and feel like I am doing much better in US History part 2. That's all I have really been doing: go to school, sometimes go to work, hang out with Daniel, watch Bones or Big Brother, and then do it all over again the next day. I was going to post sometime last week, but I never really went out and did anything fun or interesting. However, I did decided that my life is not were I want it to be and I am deciding to make some changes. The first thing I did was I finally applied to live in Sweden! (YAY!! way to take five years to apply, just kidding its only been a year, but still) Some times I really wish I could include emojis in my blogs just for more oomph, but I will spare all of you from that and just stick to writing. The second change I made in my life is I quit my job, well I turned in my two-weeks notice so I am technically still employed. I don't think I have ever mention it on here, but I work at a bra shop. I have been working for them for almost a year and as much as I like my pay and hours I don't want to spend my whole life hanging up bras. For the last month I just keep seeing new books I want to read, but I still have a whole series to get though first. I have realized that I would really like working in a book store, so I have started to look for a new job. I have had no success yet, but I have only just started so keep your fingers crossed. I really don't want to go to long with out a job since next year I will be moving, and I am trying to save as much money as possible. Those were really they only semi-interesting thing I have done the last two weeks. I wanted to write a post about getting my Warby Parker glasses and how the end product turned out but I haven't received them yet. Hopefully they will ship sometime this week. I am hoping they come in soon so I can make sure they are right before my next trip to Stockholm, so I will have them for the plane rides. I am really excited for this next trip over to Sweden because Daniel is moving into what will be our apartment this month and I will actually get to see and stay in it while I am there. I also might get to do some decorating, which I am really excited about. I have been watching way to much HGTV. However, I still have a whole month before visiting and it feels like time is moving way to slow. There isn't much more to talk about, but I will say I am loving Big Brother this season. I went into the show wanting Frankie to win, but now I wouldn't mind Donny winning he is the most adorable man on the planet. I hope they both get far and one of them wins. This season has started out great and I hope it gets even better.

Just A Thought Or Two

I'm getting a bit tired of people lately.
Let me explain, so far this past month I have been questioned many times about my life decisions. There are three main ones that have been the most popular topics amongst my family and friends; my tattoo, career path, and moving. I will only write briefly about my tattoo because I might extend on it in a later post if anybody is interested. A little over a month ago I got part of my favorite quote tattooed on the side of my foot, and I love it. The reason why I only got part of it (first 3 words to be exact) was because the quote was to long and the side of my foot was not. Anyways, the reason why its been such an interesting topic to others is not the fact that I have permanent ink in my foot, but what the tattoo means. Before I tell anyone I will tell them they will not understand the quote at all, but they insist so I tell them. I usually only get to the end of the quote before they nod there heads and say "ah ok" in the ok she is crazy voice. I don't even attempt to explain the personal meaning behind it because they get lost in the quote. I have even been asked why I got it in the first place if nobody can understand it. It doesn't irritate me when people ask what it means, but the way they react after I tell them comes of as rude. A tattoo is for nobody but yourself. It is yours, and it does not matter who understands it or who it has meaning to as long as it does for you. Also many people have told me I will regret it when I'm older, but I don't believe in regretting something that made me happy. The second topic has been what the hell am I going to do with my life. I recently changed my major from psychology to journalism, so frankly I have no idea. All I know is I like writing, but I don't want to be a journalist. Everyone I tell thinks I want to be a journalist, when I honestly think that would be the worst job for me and it would be the last one I would want to accept. It is to much of a high stress job for me, all I want is a degree in writing. Then the question becomes what do I want to write, well I couldn't tell you. I can tell you I would love to be a free lance writer and maybe even one day write a book, but who knows. The last topic of discussion has been where and when I am moving. One thing I haven't mentioned on here yet is that I have been in a long distance relationship for almost a year and half now. Well the first six months wasn't long distance, and when I say long distance I mean I live in the US and he lives in Sweden. It was the same old story of the girl falling in love with the foreign exchange student, but instead of it ending there it continues. We travel back and forth by flying on standby, which has pros and cons. We see each other every two to two and half months, and in fact I will be flying over there Tuesday but we will get into that at another time. As of now the main question has been who will be moving where and when. Everyone has been shocked to hear that it will be me moving there. As for me I am very excited to have a new home in a year. As you can imagine my family isn't to thrilled about this decision, but I know this is the right one for me. Its just one of those things I can feel deep in my bones that I belong there. This will be my fifth trip to Stockholm and I can honestly say it is my favorite place to be. Don't get me wrong I love my family and friends and hate to leave them, but I need to be somewhere where I am happy. Yes I love somethings about the US, but there are also somethings I don't agree with and as of now they out wight the positives. As they have always said the grass is greener on the other side. As much as my family loves me I wish they would stop trying to talk me out of my decision and just support them, be there for me when I do great things or fall flat on my face. Love and support is all I ask for. I will never forget them nor lose contact with them, and I will visit whenever I can, but I have to go. Life is supposed to be an adventure, and I am just choosing to start mine a bit early.