Obsession: To dominate or preoccupy the thoughts, feelings, or desires of a person. Throughout my life I have discovered many different things and began to obsess over them to the point where they consumed most of my time. I constantly jump from 'hobby' to 'hobby' and I thought I'd share a few things that I've been obsessed with in chronological order from the time I first discovered it. I couldn't get everything down to a precise month, so I organized them by the grade I was in at the time. This is a very personal post so I hope you enjoy learning more about me.
1. Youtube~ 5th grade. I can't remember how I discovered Youtube, but I remember that I was shocked when I realized that the content was recently uploaded. The first person I found was Grav3yardgirl and I still watch all of her videos today. When I saw how many people were on Youtube I quickly discovered different accounts like Miranda Sings and Good Mythical Morning, both of which I still watch today. I became obsessed with this because of how vast the site was and how entertaining the videos were. This became a daily routine and I watch Youtube almost everyday now.
2. The beach~ 5th-6th grade. Every year we make a family trip up to Delaware or sometimes we go to Hilton Head or Charleston. In Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, there is a shop called Sea Finds that sells exotic shells from all over the world. I fell in love with how beautiful each shell was that every year I would get more to add to my collection. The beauty in the shells really made me fall in love with the beach and I wanted to go there every day. My whole room was decorated with a beach theme but this slowly went away as I got older.
3. Writing a book~ 5-6th grade. I loved writing since 1st grade and really wanted to make a career out of it when a children's book author came and spoke to us at school. I never really had the commitment to pursue writing until 5th grade. This was the year when I was thoroughly taught how to write well. I was so inspired that I began writing a book. I didn't have a specific plot or outcome in my head, I just started writing. I later decided I wanted to incorporate every genre into the book (which did not work) but I continued writing it though 6th grade and by 7th I stopped it all together.
4. Instructables~ 6th grade. I discovered this site because I was searching for a craft tutorial app. I found this one and when I saw that you could make your own tutorials for others to see, I was stoked. I began making several a day, and soon obsessed over it. I began winning a bunch of contests and prizes for my tutorials. I continue making Instructables to this day but not nearly as often. I am trying to continue it because of how much I've built it up, but I rarely put effort into it like I used to.
5. Nail art~ 6th grade. I feel like a lot of little girls love painting their nails with glitter and bright colors, so naturally, I wanted to make mine amazing. I would find different designs and sit down for an hour and a ton of colors and just paint my nails. I would make designs like the balloons from UP, a cow, a dream catcher, and many more. Later on, I didn't have enough time or motivation to sit down and paint my nails anymore so it ended quickly.
6. Acting~ 6th grade. I joined drama in 6th grade because all of my other friends were doing it and I thought it was cool. I wanted to be an actress so badly and thought I was extremely talented. I never got any of the big roles at my school, probably because I couldn't act for my life, but that didn't stop me from trying. I wanted to be the next Angelina Jolie, so I tried out at my church and school for every show or musical casting. In 8th grade I wanted to pursue journalism so I quit drama and started that instead.
7. Good Mythical Morning~ 6th grade. My brother showed me Good Mythical Morning (a Monday-Friday show on Youtube) and I fell in love with it. I thought Rhett and Link were hilarious and I became obsessed with the show. I still watch Good Mythical Morning everyday and have never gotten tired of it.
8. Boys~ 6-8th grade. This one had to be on here. I remember having huge crushes on tons of guys and trying to flirt with all of them as a young and inexperienced child. At the time it made no sense to me why I didn't have a boyfriend because 6th grade was when the 'pretty and popular girls' were getting asked out. I kind of tricked a boy into asking me out in 8th grade which I think is hilarious now. This was not as much of an obsession as the other things on this list, but I really wanted a boyfriend at this time. As I got older I just stopped caring and expanded my friend group instead.
9. Reading~ 7th grade. I started reading books like Magic Tree House and Nancy Drew when I was in Elementary School but really started loving to read in 7th grade. I always had a book with me and was reading in my free time. I think this was around the time I discovered Harry Potter and realized how amazing books were. It was my favorite thing to do for a while and I still always have a book that I'm reading today.
10. Knitting~ 7th grade. My mom inspired me to begin knitting when she grabbed her coffee cup and said it burned her. She saw a tutorial online for hand knit coffee sleeves. When she showed me the idea, I immediately taught myself how to knit from Youtube and my Grandma's old knitting supplies. My mom told her friends about how I was making cozie sleeves and they bought some from me. I decided to start working craft fairs and selling my cozies in the fall the same year. I got large orders and really made a big business out of it.
11. Making jewelry~ 7th grade. I started this because of an Instructable contest for jewelry. I bought jewelry wire and pliers to make lots of different tutorials. This hobby only lasted for a couple months because I quickly got bored with it and moved on to something else.
12. Paris~ 7th grade. When I was 11 or 12 I wanted to travel to Paris more than anything. I bought a Rosetta Stone kit for French (which I only opened about 5 times then realized how difficult learning a language was and gave up). I still wanted to travel to Paris so I bought a journal and planned to write about different things to do and places to visit while I was there. This quickly fizzled out because I realized how far fetched it was that I would actually be able to go there.
13. Sewing~ 7-8th grade. I found my Grandma's old sewing machine and suddenly wanted to start making things with it. I'm pretty sure that I first wanted to make clothing (which I never did) but made things that I found in tutorials online. I took a sewing class that summer and learned how to make a couple little things like a bag, tissue holder, and bathing suit cover-up. I found patterns and things to make online but soon fell out of love with it because of how time consuming it was.
14. Making videos~ 8th grade. After watching PewDiePie and seeing how he edited his videos, I was inspired to do the same. I used IMovie to make challenge videos with my friend Lauren in a segment we called "Momo and Kelly". Every time we got together, we would plan a video and film it on my iPod. This inspired me to want to be a film director, so I was constantly filming. I got a Youtube channel and soon, a lot of people from school found out about it which I partially regret because the videos were a little embarrassing!
15. Papercrafting~ 8th grade. I thought that making knick-knacks with glue, scissors, and paper was so cool that I perused this in my free time. I spent hours researching different templates and looking for things I wanted to make. I stopped making paper crafts because of how much time it took me to make one item.
16. Drawing~ 8th grade. I was very bored in the summer and watched a video of a girl drawing fashion models. I was in love with how beautiful fashion drawing was and started doing it myself. I took my sketch book with me everywhere and drew all the time. Being a perfectionist, I wanted to make every drawing realistic, so it took me and hour or two just for one drawing.
17. Macarons~ 8-9th grade. I took a French macaron class at Sur la Table and was absolutely shocked by how much work French macarons took to make, but I was intrigued. I bought supplies to make them and got to the point where I was doing a batch every weekend. I perfected my technique and experimented with different colors and flavors. I love how the perfect macaron is crisp on the outside and cake-like on the inside. I still make macarons for special events or parties today.
18. Violin~ 9th grade. I discovered Lindsey Stirling (an amazing techno-violinist) and wanted to be just like her. I begged my parents to let me start playing violin and even though it was a pricey investment, they agreed. I took lessons once a week and practiced constantly. It slowly started feeling like a chore and I wanted to do it less and less as time progressed. I still have the violin in my room and haven't opened it in so long and feel guilty whenever I see it, because of the money my parents have invested in it.
19. Exercising~ 9th grade. I wanted abs. That's it. I have done cross country since 6th grade and had to quit this year because of back, shin, knee, and general joint issues. I was already in pretty good shape, but I obsessively wanted to get a toned six pack. I would watch workout videos on Youtube and workout everyday. I kept myself in pretty good shape, but I didn't have much time or care after about 2 months.
20. Photography~ 9th grade. I love photography. I started doing photo shoots on my IPod with my friend, Christy. After I became more serious about photography, I bought a Canon Rebel T5 beginners kit off of Amazon and started taking pictures with it almost everyday. I still do photo shoots with my friends and have a lot of fun doing them.
21. Harry Potter~ 9th grade. I had read almost all of the Harry Potter books, watched all of the movies by 7th grade, and went to Universal Studios that Fall. We planned to go back in the summer of 2016 and I was so excited. About 2 or 3 months in advance of going, I was researching places to go and things I could purchase so that I could get the best experience and not miss anything. This is the point I really became obsessed with Harry Potter and it started being the only thing I could think about. I still love Harry Potter today and want to re-read the series as soon as I have more free time.
22. Suits (TV Show)~ 9th grade. This show is about lawyers in New York. It's kind of like a sleek drama so I really loved it when I first saw it. I soon started binge watching the past seasons on the weekends and I still watch every episode to this day.
23. Makeup~ 9th grade. I started obsessing over makeup when I saw all of the tutorials online that you could do. I got my first bottle of mascara in 6th grade after begging my mom. I slowly started getting new cosmetic items and practicing everyday. In 9th grade, I would spend about 20-30 minutes doing my whole look and on the weekends about an hour or longer.
24. Writing~ 10th grade. I started this blog in the summer and I try to write every weekend. I love writing and it is a great way for me to relax and de-stress. Whenever I finish a post, I get a huge sense of accomplishment, which is part of the reason I started it. I am obviously still keeping up this hobby and trying to write as often as I can.
25. Lush~ 10th grade. I always knew about Lush but never knew how amazing they were. You can read my post about Lush here for more details. I got a gift card for my birthday and planned a day to go to the mall the next day. The night before I started researching the items online and was overwhelmed by how many things were available. I spent almost 100$ on hair care and skincare items when I went for the first time. I went back about 3 or 4 more times and spent 20$ or 30$ each time. I use every item I bought everyday and I don't regret anything!
I loved traveling back and discovering parts of myself that I'd forgotten about. Thank you for reading and making it this far! I hope you learned something new about me and enjoyed reading this. Check out more of my blog posts here and subscribe!