Maegan Mariee | Thoughts & Lifestyle

Weekly Summary | Friday

11/23/2018
By Maegan Mariee
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Getting Party Ready with Basic Invite | Review

11/15/2018
By Maegan Mariee
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I hate throwing parties.

There. I said it. I seriously dislike throwing parties. Why? Because I just can't focus on one thing long enough before I freak out over how many things I need to get together and get done before throwing my hands up and calling it quits.

One of my resolutions for the new year is going to be working on this. And I'm going to get a head start with the holidays. However, before we get to the merry time of the year, my mother's birthday is very close at hand. (As I'm writing this, it's today! Happy Birthday, Mum!)

I love personalizing things. While Basic Invite is mainly a website where you can pick and choose from thousands of birthday, holiday, and wedding invitations, they are so easy to customize that you can make them into anything you want, really. I turned this beautiful birthday invite into a simple and easy birthday card for my mum.

It was also super easy to make some lovely holiday cards! Basic Invite has really gorgeous foil options that you can use to give your invites a pop. The rose gold is my favorite, but you can also choose from gold and silver. They can also be raised or flat like the rest of the card. It really just depends on how fancy you want to be! I love the watercolor card I picked. I might not even give that one away!

As these invites are one hundred percent customizable, you can make whatever you can think of. The above was a Christmas card. The ones where you can put images of your family in and say something like, 'Happy Holidays! From, The Robinsons!' I used this design to make something cute for my husband with our wedding date on it. He loved it. 💘

If you own your own business, you can also find tons of business card designs on this site. Look at this really cool clear card! Honestly, if I needed to pass this around, I would have ordered a ton more. It's so different from any other business card I've seen and it would definitely get people to look twice!

I think my favorite part of this entire process was the amazing color options you could pick from. They have practically every color you could ever want and almost everything on every invite they have is up for changing. There are so many variations of the same invite that you could make! The envelopes all have tons of color options as well, so you don't just have to settle for a white or a cream to match that invite.
For the rest of the month, Basic Invite is offering 15% off with this coupon code: 15FF51
Party Invites | Birthday Invites | Adult Birthday Invites
Do yourself and your future parties a favor, use Basic Invite!

♥

*This post was kindly sponsored by Basic Invite. All thoughts and opinions are mine, as always*

Personal

Halloween Memories | BLOGTOBER 🍂☕🎃

10/31/2018
By Maegan Mariee
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books

Book Shelf Tour 2018 | BLOGTOBER 🍂☕🎃

10/30/2018
By Maegan Mariee
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Hiya! If you've been here for a while, you might remember my bookshelf tour of 2015. It was a simple, small bookshelf, so I broke it up into two posts. Today, I have another bookshelf and a lot more books. So I'm going to cut this short and dive right in!

Please ignore the dust and overall messiness of my shelves. I have a lot of overflow. All links are to posts where books are reviewed or briefly discussed.

My second bookshelf here is the original and looks similar to how it did in my first bookshelf tour. However, things have been moved around!

Bookshelf Two; Top Shelf
♥Harry Potter 2013 Edition Boxed Set | J.K. Rowling

Bookshelf Two; First Shelf
♥Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | J.K. Rowling
♥Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | J.K. Rowling (currently reading & missing from shelf)
♥Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | J.K. Rowling
♥Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | J.K. Rowling
♥Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | J.K. Rowling
♥Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince | J.K. Rowling
♥Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | J.K. Rowling
♥The Tales of Beedle the Bard | J.K. Rowling

♥Girl Online | Zoe Sugg
♥Girl Online: On Tour | Zoe Sugg
♥Girl Online: Going Solo | Zoe Sugg

♥The Hunger Games | Suzanne Collins
♥Catching Fire | Suzanne Collins
♥Mockingjay | Suzanne Collins

♥Holding Up the Universe | Jennifer Niven
♥The Fault in Our Stars | John Green

Bookshelf Two; Second Shelf
♥Divergent | Veronica Roth
♥Insurgent | Veronica Roth
♥Allegiant | Veronica Roth
♥Four | Veronica Roth

♥All the Bright Places | Jennifer Niven
♥Looking For Alaska | John Green ♥Work in Progress | Connor Franta
♥Unreasonable Hope | Chad Veach
♥The Anne Boleyn Collection | Claire Ridgway
♥The Hemptameron | Maurgerite de Navarre
♥Mademoiselle Boleyn | Robin Maxwell

♥Le Temps Viendra: Volume I | Sarah Morris
♥Le Temps Viendra: Volume II | Sarah Morris

♥Wolf Hall | Hilary Mantel
♥Bring Up the Bodies | Hilary Mantel

♥Love Letters from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn | Henry VIII
♥The Tudor Treasury | Elizabeth Norton
♥The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn | Robin Maxwell
♥The Autobiography of Henry VIII | Margaret George
♥The Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey | George Cavendish
♥Naked To Mine Enemies: The Life of Cardinal Wolsey | Charles W. Ferguson

Bookshelf Two; Third Shelf
♥Something Missing | Matthew Dicks
♥The Wild Things | Dave Eggers
♥Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter | Seth Grahame-Smith
♥Wuthering Heights | Emily Bronte
♥the perks of being a wallflower | Stephen Chbosky
♥The Boleyn Deceit | Laura Andersen
♥Henry VIII | William Shakespeare
♥Macbeth | William Shakespeare
♥Romeo and Juliet | William Shakespeare
♥Romeo and Juliet | William Shakespeare (yes, I have two copies)
♥Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl | Anne Frank
♥Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (UK 20th Anniversary Slytherin Edition)
♥Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (UK 20th Anniversary Slytherin Edition)

♥The Little Book of Hygge | Meik Wiking
♥Shakespeare's Works Volume 12 | William Shakespeare
♥Essays | Ralph Waldo Emerson
♥Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | Lewis Carroll (Camille Rose Garcia Illustration)
♥The Illustrated Jane Eyre | Charlotte Bronte

You can see my 2015 Bookshelf Tour here and here!

♥

lifestyle

Netflix/Hulu To Watch List | BLOGTOBER 🍂☕🎃

10/29/2018
By Maegan Mariee
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It's no secret that I have a TV watching problem.

And by problem I mean that I have a hard time just sitting down and watching something new. I have a habit of re-watching... well, everything. I mean, if it's not broken, don't fix it, right?

It's something I need to work on. And because it's a never-ending problem, my list of things to watch has grown. And it keeps growing as more things are getting released. Here's my current list. Which is bound to change. Gah.
Netflix

Knightfall - Yes! I started watching this and then had to stop because the History channel wants you to log in after a certain number of episodes. Very excited!
The Office - I want to know the jokes. I need to be in the know.
Friends - Don't judge me. Finished the first season. Six to go.
The Good Place - Watched the first episode. Pretty funny, must continue.
Supernatural - I'm curious and haven't started.
Empire Records - Looks interesting.
Hilda - Looks so cute! And I love cartoons.
Stranger Things - This is a maybe. I finished the first season, so I'm trying to decide if I want to jump into the second.
Ella Enchanted - Hm. I've seen this, but not in a long time. A re-watch, but I don't remember much.
Sons of Anarchy - This is emotional for me. I finished the first season a while ago. I'm still not emotionally prepared to continue. I may have gone and read the episode summaries for the next seasons. Yikes.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - First season down. Funny and light hearted show, must continue.
Lincoln - I like Abe Lincoln.
The Hollow - Recommended by a co-worker. Cartoon. Yes.
Young & Hungry - Not really sure about this one. Haven't started.
Mad Men - Sixties and designing? YES.
13 Reasons Why - Finished the first season and it really fucked me up. Not sure I want to dive in for a second round.
Versailles - I love getting historical recommendations.
Set It Up - Looks hilarious and I want to watch thiiiiiis.
Call the Midwife - Two seasons down. Love this show, just need to get back into it.
The Duchess - Again, historical.
Roman Empire - 🤷
Mindhunter - Watched the first episode. Was pretty good, but I need to really motivate myself to sit down and watch.
Alias Grace - Can't even remember what this is about, but it's on my list.
The Borgias - More historical shows.
To The Bone - Might be too emotional for me.
Anna Karenina - I wanted to read the book first, but it's leaving Netflix soon, so I need to watch this first.
Steel Magnolias - Don't remember why this is on there, but it's leaving soon, so must get to work on this.
The Magic Pill - ???
GBF - haha, this still looks cute
Friends From College - There's a good chance I might not get to this, but we'll see.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - Salem doesn't talk, I don't know how I'll like this.

Hulu

Vikings - I'm in season four. I really need to push myself to sit down and watch.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Started this and it's right up my alley.
The Handmaid's Tale - Again, want to read the book first.
The Last Man on Earth - Started this and need to finish.
Roseanne - This is actually on Amazon Prime, but I wanted to re-watch.
The Conners - And then I want to see where they're going with this after the whole Roseanne getting fired thing.

And that's it for now! I seriously have some work ahead of me.

♥

Personal

Weekly Summary / Sunday | BLOGTOBER 🍂☕🎃

10/28/2018
By Maegan Mariee
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books

Rereading Harry Potter // The Sorcerer's Stone | BLOGTOBER 🍂☕🎃

10/27/2018
By Maegan Mariee
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"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."

Does anyone remember the very last Harry Potter movie premiere, when J.K. Rowling said;

Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.

I mean, yes, you teared up when she said it, when you heard it, but I never really thought going back to Hogwarts would bring so much back to me. This is going to be a seven (duh) part series on my blog where I re-read Harry Potter, annotate my old books, and relive everything that made me fall in love with this series when I was seven years old.

This is something I've tried in the past and only got up to GoF (Goblet of Fire for those of you that might not have read the series yet), so I'm hoping that this project here will keep me accountable.

Going into this, my favorite characters ever since I can remember have been Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Sirius Black, Fred Weasley, Oliver Wood, and Hagrid. I've had some soft spots for Dumbledore and Snape, so I'm interested to see if my mind will be changed by the time the series is over.

The following annotations are just funny quotes that I'd forgotten and some really hilarious descriptors that I'm not sure would have made the final print if they were being written today. The 90's were WILD.

Chapter 1, pg 11 // "It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs." - Albus Dumbledore

Chapter 1, pg 14 // ...he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. - Describing Hagrid. And let me just tell you, that this messed me up. How did I not remember this descriptor? Have we all forgotten this?

Chapter 2, pg 25 // Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump. - A scene where Harry recalls how he ended up on the roof of his school after running from Dudley and his friends. Seriously, Harry?

Chapter 2, pg 29 // He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. - Would it really have been so bad for him to grow up with a wizarding family, Dumbledore? Maybe one that would have promised to live in the muggle world to keep him away from everyone that would know him? Poor kid.

Chapter 3, pg 40 // ...trying to knock in a nail with a piece of fruitcake... - Uncle Vernon sealing up the mail slot. LOL.

Chapter 3, pg 41 // "No post on Sundays," ... "no damn letters today - " - Vernon Dursley - Surprise, Vernon. Hogwarts doesn't mess around.

Chapter 3, pg 43 // "Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" - Dudley Dursley

Chapter 5, pg 77 // In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him, slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length. - Our first Draco encounter!

Chapter 6, pg 92 // "I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?" - Fred Weasley

Chapter 6, pg 95 // "Harry Potter," chorused the twins. "Oh, him." said Harry. "I mean, yes, I am." - LOL get on then, Harry.

Chapter 6, pg 100 // "His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up." - Ron Weasley - Wormtail spotting!

Chapter 6, pg 105 // She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of brown bushy hair, and rather large front teeth. - Hermione! What a beautiful character.

Chapter 7, pg 123 // "...I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" - Albus Dumbledore - Yes, hi, why wasn't this in the movie?

Chapter 7, pg 128 // "Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!" - Albus Dumbledore

Chapter 7, pg 129 // "Peeves," Percy whispered to the first years. "A poltergeist." - I still wonder why they didn't include Peeves in the movies. However, I'm only slightly glad they didn't, once I read more LOL

Chapter 9, pg 150 // But Wood turned out to be a person, a burly fifth-year boy who came out of Flitwick's class looking confused. - Oliver! I love him.

Chapter 9, pg 162 // "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. ..."I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed - or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed." - Hermione Granger - Iconic.

Chapter 10, pg 170 // "I wouldn't be surprised if you turned out better than Charlie Weasley, and he could have played for England if he hadn't gone off chasing dragons." - Oliver Wood

Chapter 10, pg 171 // "You're saying it wrong. It's Wing-GAR-dium Levi-O-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long." - Hermione Granger I have the mnemonic spelling of Leviosa on my ankle. This is literally my quote LOL.

Chapter 10, pg 179 // But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.

Chapter 12, pg 200 // "My mom. I told her you didn't expect any presents and - oh no," he groaned, "she's made you a Weasley sweater." - Ron Weasley

Chapter 12, pg 203 // Up at the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet, and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him.

Chapter 12, pg 207 // Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. To think, if Harry could read backwards, he'd have known what the mirror did.

Chapter 12, pg 213 // "The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. / It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. / However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, now knowing if what it shows is real or even possible." - Albus Dumbledore

Chapter 12, pg 214 // "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that." - Albus Dumbledore

Chapter 12, pg 214 // "One can never have enough socks." - Albus Dumbledore

Chapter 13, pg 218 // "You're worth twelve of Malfoy." - Harry Potter

Chapter 13, pg 219 // "I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading." "LIGHT?" - Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley

Chapter 13, pg 220 // "And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry," said Ron. "He's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty-five, is he?" - Ron Weasley

Chapter 13, pg 221 // Snap was so horrible to Harry. - yet he sometimes he had the horrible feeling that Snape could read minds.

Chapter 13, pg 227 // "It'll be gone by next Tuesday," said Ron. - Talking about Quirrell not giving in to Snape about the Stone.

Chapter 14, pg 234 // "Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life," Ron sighed. - LOL it's just getting started, Ron.

Chapter 15, pg 257 // "...I set myself against what is lurking in this forest, Bane, yes, with humans alongside me if I must." - Firenze - Bruh.

Chapter 16, pg 262 // In years to come, Harry would never quite remember how he had managed to get through his exams when he half expected Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any moment. - Definitely foreshadowing. But it's funny how small this moment compares to everything else he'll have to go through.

Chapter 16, pg 263 // The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows. - Why wasn't the squid in them movies? Did I miss it?

Chapter 16, pg 264 // "I'm not ill," said Harry. "I think it's a warning... it means danger's coming..." - LOL his spidey sense is tingling!

Chapter 16, pg 266 // "Well - yeah - how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep -" - LOL oh Hagrid.

Chapter 16, pg 278 // "Yeah," said Ron, "and lucky Harry doesn't lose his head in a crisis - 'there's no wood,' honestly." - Ron Weasley, after escaping Devil's Snare - Honestly, Ron had some gems, why did they give them all to Harry and Hermione?

Chapter 16, pg 287 // "Me!" said Hermione. "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery and - oh Harry - be careful!" - Hermione Granger

Chapter 17, pg 289 // "...All the other teachers thought Snape was trying to stop Gryffindor from winning, he did make himself unpopular... and what a waste of time, when after all that, I'm going to kill you tonight." - Quirrell

Chapter 17, pg 290 // "Oh, he does," said Quirrell casually, "heavens, yes. He was at Hogwarts with your father, didn't you know? They loathed each other. But he never wanted you dead." - Quirrell, talking about Snape hating Harry.

Chapter 17, pg 291 // "...There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it..." - Quirrell, explaining what Voldemort taught him.

Chapter 17, pg 296 // "...I believe your friends Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible for trying to send you a toilet seat. No doubt they thought it would amuse you. Madam Pomfrey, however, felt it might not be very hygienic, and confiscated it." - Albus Dumbledore - LOL I love the twins.

Chapter 17, pg 297 // "...After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure." - Albus Dumbledore

Chapter 17, pg 298 // "Call him Voldemort, Harry. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases the fear of the thing itself." - Albus Dumbledore

Chapter 17, pg 300 // "...And then, your father did something Snape could never forgive." "What?" "He saved his life." - Albus Dumbledore - Wait. Explain. I forgot this, what did he save him from? HELP!
Chapter 17, pg 300 // "...You see, the only one who wanted to find the Stone - find it, but not use it - would be able to get it." - Albus Dumbledore

Chapter 17, pg 304 // "Sent owls off ter all yer parents' old school friends, askin' fer photos... knew yeh didn' have any... d'yeh like it?" - Hagrid, giving Harry a photo album of his parents. SO CUTE.

Chapter 17, pg 309 // "They don't know we're not allowed to use magic at home. I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer..." - Harry Potter

This was such a blast to the past and I can't wait to get on to the second. As funny as some of the descriptors were, the story is still so solid. ♥

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Weekly Summary | Friday

Hello Lovelies!

Getting Party Ready with Basic Invite | Review

I hate throwing parties.

Halloween Memories | BLOGTOBER 🍂☕🎃

Book Shelf Tour 2018 | BLOGTOBER 🍂☕🎃

Netflix/Hulu To Watch List | BLOGTOBER 🍂☕🎃

It's no secret that I have a TV watching problem.

Weekly Summary / Sunday | BLOGTOBER 🍂☕🎃

Rereading Harry Potter // The Sorcerer's Stone | BLOGTOBER 🍂☕🎃

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."

Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.

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