February Playlist

Hello!

For the past two months, I’ve been somewhat out of it. I haven’t wanted to blog at all, and for a time it was purely laziness on my part because I rush to get everything done during Blogmas and I don’t get to enjoy everything that makes the holidays exciting.

Just one little thing….

I’ve had this feeling for about three or four years now. I’ve wanted to stop blogging. There wasn’t anything wrong with my content or schedule, I think it’s me. Maybe it’s time to take a break from everything about Got Meghan’s Blog.

For now, though, I will only be on here every other month and publishing new posts within the last two weeks of each month. I may not even go on for six days, it just might be book reviews and playlists, sometimes you may see other stuff. It’ll be interesting how long this idea lasts, whether I continue blogging or not, I’ll always be around and on my social media too. You can find them on the right side of my site.

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Within the last two months I’ve listened to an array of albums.

In January, I was thoroughly obsessed with power/symphonic metal band Kamelot’s older records like Epica (2003) and Poetry for the Poisoned (2010) featuring original vocalist Roy Khan. I really love current leader Tommy Karevik’s voice, but I’ve never really given Roy’s voice a chance, so I started going through their past albums, which hasn’t seemed odd now that I’ve seen they are releasing a new album this year, called The Awakening in March, which sounds really cool, so I’m very excited about it!

The second band I was into, was Sleeping With Sirens. I watched the music video of “Let You Down” with Charlotte Sands and I really enjoyed it, and I’ve never been into male vocalists with a falsetto voice, but once I heard that song and then later on I heard the title track of their new album, “Complete Collapse” on SXM Octane, I decided to give it a chance one night where I couldn’t sleep, and I like it. My favorite was “Us” with Dorothy.

For February, I was pulled into two more albums. An old favorite of mine: Xandra, they are a symphonic metal based in The Netherlands, and they recently introduced their new singer, her name is Ambre, and she does both clean and harsh vocals on their album, “The Wonders Still Awaiting” and I actually love this album. Xandria’s been through a hard road, with everchanging vocalists, but I’m glad to see this band pushing through and releasing a brand-new album for their fans.

The final band I’ve been crazy for is I Prevail. Now I’ve liked certain songs from them in the last five years, like “Every Time You Leave” with Delaney Jane. And I heard their songs “Deep End” and “Body Bag” on Octane, and after getting out of the last three bands, I decided to give their album “TRUE POWER” a shot and again, I loved it! I like how you have the harder and up-beat songs at the front of the record and the ballads toward the end. Since they have two separate vocalists, I find this arrangement gives each person a place to showcases their talent fairly.

If you haven’t listened to any of these albums, I highly suggest you do so! I’ve included several songs in my January and February Spotify playlists. If you want to check out the January list, click here. Now, here are my Top 14 songs for this month, and this is your link for that playlist.

Special by Georgi Kay
Queen by Loren Gray
Brooklyn by MALINDA
Hold Me, Help Me by Halocene
Fantasy by Mariah Carey
Black Sheep by Dorothy
Ghetto Supastar (This Is What You Are) by Pras featuring Ol’ Dirity Bastard & Mya
Lost by Linkin Park
Beaver Cage by Butcher Babies
Get There First by Austin Snell
Drowning by Atreyu
Dead Reckoning by Pop Evil featuring Fit For A King
Bad Man by Disburted
The Reason by Hoobastank

As my final note, I wanted to talk to you about one of my favorite bands ever, Linkin Park releasing a new single called “Lost” for the 20th Anniversary for their second album Meteora, and it’s the first song that the band’s released in a long time. Since the passing of Chester Bennington, they’ve been somewhat quiet as a band. Mike Shinoda released a solo album a couple of years ago and it did very well, but all of the LP soldiers wonder how the band will continue and being able to put something like this little gem was beautiful. One thing I thought was interesting in the first time listening to it, was while Chester was doing the second verse, seemed to bring out some emotional feelings for Chester. Did you notice it too?

What were your favorite albums and/or songs for both January and February? Let me know in the cemments!

Royal Baby | A Sibling for August Brooksbank!

Hello everyone!

I am back for another royal baby post; I bet a lot of you out there were wondering when I’d want to discuss all of the possibilities for the Brooksbank family. Honestly, ever since the announcement came out, I had at least four stuck in my mind. I was going to wait until mid-April to say anything about it, but I really wanted to unleash my thoughts in a post, so I hope you are ready for it today!

When I wrote my first list for when Princess Eugenie was pregnant with August, I went with an artistic and literary style, and it looks like I had the right idea, as it is featured in the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio but August in itself can be a royal twist, as the majority of the Hanoverian royals, used “Augustus” (and “Augusta for girls!) before Queen Victoria and her descendants stopped using it in their children, except for the lines in Prussia, Germany, Lichtenstein, etc.

Every part of August’s name is honored by various family members between the former Princess of York and her common born husband Jack Brooksbank. So, when I started to come up with this list, I paid attention to their family trees, but I also wanted to include some things like their recent move to Portugal last year. What kind of names they would have been introduced there. My final objective was to stay in the lines I used when guessing for August too, so I added some interesting, but trendy British names as well.

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Algernon Christopher Stamp

I recently went through the couple’s family trees. While I was on it, I went back through Sarah Ferguson’s family, and found a few gems, especially Algernon. Algernon Ferguson was the Duchess of York’s grandfather. And like Augustus, it also fell out of favor in the last several years, however, I think it is due to make a comeback as it is so handsome and would go well with Jack’s middle names. I can’t be the only one who thinks August and Algernon as siblings wouldn’t be absolutely adorable, right?

Rafferty Charles Henry

Now let’s say they wanted a totally cute, but laidback type of first name instead. I think Rafferty would be a great gender-neutral contender. I first heard about it back in 2021, at the time I had found like five interesting “R” names, and this was definitely one of my favorites. You could use “Rafe” for a nickname as a child or “Ralph” for an adult sort of name instead, but I find it cute just the way it is.

As for the middle names, I had some issues coming up with anything that would rival to Algernon, but then I thought about the upcoming coronation of Eugene’s uncle, King Charles III. She is still asked to represent the King, Queen consort, and the rest of the Commonweath with her own patrons, so I feel like this would be a nice way to symbolize her love and support than to name her child after him. In the past, Princess Eugenie has had a good relationship with her cousin Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. We don’t know how she and Jack feel about his memoir “Spare” but then again, it isn’t any of our business either; so, they could also add Henry into the mix as well.

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When I was thinking about girl names, I was thoroughly surprised in the fact that I wasn’t pulled into the realm of female royal names. Don’t get me wrong, later on, I made up for it! Anyways, I was thinking of “Willa” at first as it’s not really high in the various charts, but once I started the collecting process that’s when it quickly disappeared from the lineup. Here is what I am thinking about now.

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Isabeau Victoria Helena

The name Isabeau is a very old name, but it has roots within the French royals with Isabeau of Bavaria who was the wife of King Charles VI of France in 1385. Isabeau is a great variation on the more popular Isabel/Isabella/Isobel, and since the princess has a goddaughter by the name of Lady Isabella Windsor, I didn’t think “Isabel” would be a great idea, but with this spelling, it feel like this could allow some of the older royal names like Isabeau to come into the 21st Century. I also thought this would be a great way to showcase her love for her grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth too.

Personally, I would love using “Beau” for a nickname would be lovely against her aunt Beatrice and of course older brother Augie.

Now since I used Jack’s middle names with Algernon, I thought it was only fair to lend Eugenie’s middle names with Isabeau and honestly, I find both to be very bold and regal with the additions of “Victoria” and “Helena” as they are driven by the former Duchess of York’s love of Queen Victoria. I really feel like it would be fitting to honor both of these great queens and familial favorites in the York women.

Phoebe Charlotte Beatriz

Okay, let’s get out of the sophisticated names for a minute and imagined the Brooksbank family using a fairly common name for their daughter. The name “Phoebe” was calling out to me a day after the announcement broke and I took it as a sign obviously. Phoebe is an adorable name and has become a favorite to many families lately and I absolutely love it! It’s not that popular with the US couples, but if the Princess would use it for her first daughter, I could see it being added onto the charts.

I think it’s important to remember that the royals love reusing certain names. The name “Edward” has been used twice within the Queen and Prince Philip’s younger children. The Duke of York (Eugenie’s father) was born as “Andrew Albert Christian Edward” and The Earl of Wessex and Forfar was named “Edward Antony Richard Louis.” Fast forward in time, and we have the similar situation with the name “Louis” when The Prince and Princess of Wales were naming their sons, their first is “George Alexander Louis” and youngest was given “Louis Arthur Charles.”

Another name was shared among cousins as both August Brooksbank and Princess Anne’s daughter Zara and her husband Michael Tindall named their son Lucas. They each have the name “Philip” as part of their middle names as The Duke of Edinburgh had died some months before the the birth of his great-grandsons.

I didn’t mean to spiral down like that, but I wanted to explain why it is somewhat popular for the newest generation of royal babies to be named after someone close to them. And with that being said I believe the name of “Charlotte” will be used as a middle name for the Brooksbank family. It is a very beloved name worldwide, and it’s definitely one of my ultimate favorites, but I thought it would be interesting to see it again amongst the lower branches of the royal family.

I read an article last year, about the Brooksbanks had moved to Portugal as Jack had been offered a job and the entire family went with him. So, I thought about honoring their new home and went with the Portuguese variation of Beatriz for Princess Beatrice. The York sisters are very close, so it was a no-brainer to not include it in the post. To be honest, I thought this way was unique compared to the other “Beatrix” as I believe this to be too popular, but then again August is also a favorite too, so I might be wrong with my assumptions anyway.

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I’ve written over 10 royal baby posts and honestly, I enjoy collecting a bunch of names and seeing how bad or good my guesses are at the end. I am usually wrong, but I keep coming back and creating these posts and I hope anybody that is a fan of the royals or in need of some inspiration for their child’s name, they can check out my other posts and have a hey day with them.

Even though it’s early, do you have any guesses bubbling to the surface? Are you focused on a certain family member or gender? Let me know all of your thoughts in the comments.

Monthly Favorites | Lovely Words

Hello!

In January, I talked about the fact that I’m keeping a reading journal for 2022, so I have a better way to keep up with what I’m getting into on a daily basis. I keep a note of everything from the number of books I read each month, how many pages I finish, and the days in every month as well. These things are perfectly normal of a regular bookworm, but I took a step further with adding my favorite words, affectionately titled “Lovely Words” as it was an innocent thing to include in my journal at the time. And then, it definitely grew into something I tend to focus a lot of my time because I really enjoy finding new words and looking up what they mean, especially if they are from other languages.

In my ‘Goodreads Reading Challenge’ post, I had shared a collage banner of all of the words that captured my attention during that first month, and it was interesting to see everyone’s comments about this section, but I felt bad for only discussing those 31 words, so when I came up with this series, I thought it would a great idea to include every word from the previous three months. So, I hope you enjoy this batch just as much as I do!

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I am arranging each month based on the colors they were given at the start of the year. I know I don’t mention it a lot but I technically have two journals, and for my habit tracker of how many days I actually read, is in a different color. For the most part, I’ve stuck to that color but unfortunately I don’t have an orange and can’t see the yellow very good so I have had to switch those colors around. I know it doesn’t really matter for you, but in case anyone was curious by the color changes with every month.

February:

One thing I do need to explain is, I may have finished three books in February, but I attempted to read about three others, which were The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Curse of Beauty by Lauren Lee Merriweather, and Disease and History by Frederick Cartwright. I include ALL of the words, even if I don’t complete the book itself, because honestly that would be too much work to remove them anyways.

daffiance, ensconce, malcontent, recalcitrance, thence, imbue, guardroom, simemet, disir, cuirass, jelling, lamentations, pastureland, petulant, portent, rebuttal, miscarriage, litany, lexicon, trellis, cornucopias, jessamine, compulation, verve, primrose, karanasi, epistle, spiles, consecration, abhors, paraffin, tesserae, sodden, dwarven, loquacious, precipice, hangerook, processional, and gothar.

March:

March as a whole was on another level when it came to reading in general. I managed to complete five books, but I also tried one other book and it was Waylon: Angel and Ruthless Reaper by Theodora Taylor. I did not make it very far with it and I’m pretty sure I did not include any words mentioned in this story. I collected 56 words in all with the others, so a part of me was happy as a clown at this accomplishment!

crug, lain, clowder, centurions, greaves, eldritch, aesir, dour, covart, plait, malcontents, rabble, affright, sheen, pittance, perpendicular, eaves, pommel, dephlane, stalwart, opalsent aloof, salk, seidhr, mirthful, entreat, pennents, somble, vista, thersals, herbcraft, batlements, abate, viste, nettled, sullen, magpielike, spattergroit, transpired, pactiturn, pallor, abussal, skiff, cumbersome, sneer, filligreed, font, spever, pourbiere, grouse, cloudberries, alms, subterfuge, verbena, knattleitir, cloven

PS: Can you tell I read two Viking fiction books or is it just me?

April:

This month I really wanted to finish every book I put in front of myself, but sometimes when I think I’m ready for something else, I end up changing my whole lineup, so with that being said, I attempted to read three romances These Three Words by Alexis Winter, Sexy Filthy Boss by Piper Rayne and Hitching the Cowboy by Kennedy Fox. I’d like to get back with the ones by Alexis and Kennedy because I love how these authors write their characters and couples, but we’ll have to see where in the log they will end up and I’ll definitely write a book review of the Kennedy Fox book as it goes with the bonus post I released over the weekend!

permance, trotting, impertinant, castanets, perambulater, repulsion, roil, Doha, skety, asronyeh, jebnah, ghadoh, adhen, nunu, queer, rapture, gaylingly, heliocentric, counterance, periphery, proviso, rhinophyma, sobriquet, bint, feign, a’arf, ma’amoul, tay’ebeh, khalo, accosts, bedragged, pantomime, caricature, dastardly, smarm, tutelage, chaste, Blomma, trove, frock, minuscule, jester, fawning, hap, debacle, evangelism, entrapped, entendre, omnipresent, sortileges, pedantic, cordinal, gore, woe, croup, prow, lament, sanguinary, revently, morrow, capitally, providence, menagerie, machinations, traipsing, leaflets, liaise, grobing, scantimonious, Veritaserum, simpered, leaves, berks, vying, niffler, lintel,

PS: I read about 18th Century ladies, a Syrian refugee, and Vikings jarls. I traveled a lot in April, thus the many unique words above.

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I think I will do like a mid-year review of my progress sometime this summer, because I’d like to compare it with whatever happens in the next six months. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get that one out for you, but I’ll figure out some way though!

How are your reading goals for 2022 going so far? Do you keep a book journal every year to keep track of everything like I am? If you are or have in the past, tell us something about your overall design or what you thought was most important to keep notice of during a single year!

Book Review: “The Best of Us” by Kennedy Fox

Hello!

One thing I wanted to do this year is limit the amount of romance books. I want to focus on other genres, but I saw the ladies of Kennedy Fox mentioned this one was free on Amazon last month, and I couldn’t help myself I had to get it before the opportunity disappeared. They were also in the process of releasing the fourth book of this series called “The Heart Of Us” so I figured I would check out the start of this collection.

I am still on the fence about it, mainly because I don’t really care for age-gap romances, but the snippets they shared on Instagram prior made me really happy, so we’ll have to see what comes out of this post. I’d still like to continue Travis and Viola‘s story of their Checkmate series, but these things take time apparently!

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What happens when the biggest blizzard of the year hits and you’re trapped in a cabin with your best friend’s brother? You take every opportunity to spend time together and make him fall in love with you.

The Best of Us is a best friend’s brother, opposites attract, and snowed-in together standalone romance.

taken from Goodreads.

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There were a lot of things I truly loved about this story. I mean besides the steamy sex scenes; it had a great and relatable plot amongst the characters. The main reason why I choose the word “relatable” is because everyone, especially Ryan, are coming out of the COVID-19 mess. He is a doctor who saw firsthand of what the virus did to his co-workers and patients. I thoroughly enjoyed Ryan as a whole, he was portrayed as a stoic person, but also showed a lot of emotion about his family and work. Whenever I read books like this, I am pulled towards the female character a lot of the time, but for this, I was fully on Team Ryan.

I want Kendall as much as she wants me, and the only thing coming between us is my insecurities.

Now with that being said, it doesn’t mean Kendall wasn’t an awesome character. I admired her sense of humor but most importantly her strength while wanting to find herself outside of her family and focusing on her charity work.

It was interesting to see how these characters share their reasons why they do what they do and you as the reader find out they are more alike in ways neither one expected, and I was surprised I didn’t find it annoying or unrealistic once they got over that hump–no pun intended there!–and began to think there could be more for them as a couple.

If you haven’t read anything by Kennedy Fox, I definitely you should grab this book. If you think using the pandemic as a prop for this story is a bit weird, because honestly, I thought I wouldn’t be into it either, trust me when I say it makes sense to use it to show you another side of Ryan’s life as a doctor.

Have you read “The Best Of Us” yet? If you have, what were your thoughts about this story of Ryan and Kendall?

February Playlist

Happy Monday everyone!

The best way to describe February’s playlist is chaotic. I thought it would be similar to last month, but I was wrong. It has its own style. I discovered so much music this month that I’ve been both happy and stunned at the same time because the number of genres in it is so beautiful and I cannot wait to share it with you today.

At the beginning of the month, I was being pulled into my hard rock artists and I think I’ve had my foot holding the door to that genre the whole time. As I was traveling through pop and even epic country/rock music (which is SO ahh-mazing!) worlds I would literally make a circle back to enjoy some of my beloved tracks. I would love to share one artist or band every month, but I find it really challenging because I shuffle around so much.

And yes, I have been using the same banner I use on Instagram and Twitter as the playlist’s cover. I don’t know why I’m just doing it now, but it’s been fun coming up with different lettering to symbolize each month. Unfortunately, I can’t use the ones I made above, mainly because it is too large to fit, but since I also make the others, so thankfully I have the others!

I don’t have a general idea why I made January so gloomy, but it was just wanted for that banner. I knew for February, I wanted to go all out for Valentine’s Day, and I used the one color I hate with a passion: pink. I had to put some black in there because the hot pink was a little too strong to match with any other color on the app’s selections. I will (hopefully) continue to do this for the rest of the year and maybe it’ll attract some more people that cruise around on Spotify for more styled playlists.

Here is my Top 25 for the time being. Keep an eye and hear out on my blog’s Facebook and Instagram to see if I include any more songs. If you want to take the easy route, you can look into the entire playlist on Spotify as I’m always updating there as well!

Decode by Paramore
My Universe by Kurt Hugo Schneider featuring Alex Goot & First To Eleven
Feeling Good by Nina Simone
Man On A Mission by Oh The Larceny
Liar by Britney Spears
Your Call by Gaby Grace
Where Is Your Hero Now by Sami J. Laine x Epic Music World
Stabbing In The Dark by Ice Nine Kills
Sweere by Papa Roach featuring FEVER 333 & Sueco
Dirty Talk by Wynter Gordon
Stranger by Hilary Duff
Gold Trans Am by Kesha
Daddy AF by Slayyter
Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan
Weak by JoJo
Surface Pressure by Jessica Darrow
Back From The Dead by Halestorm
Cutting It Close by Rain City Drive
ABCDEFU by Gayle
Hallelujah by Underoath
Rest In Peace by Dorothy
Boyfriend by Dove Cameron
Tomorrow by Avril Lavigne
Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Cary Brothers
Yours by Ella Henderson

Before I let you go, I wanted to talk about the Super Bowl halftime show.

I’m not a fan of football by any means, but I enjoy watching the commercials and the halftimes shows. I always think they can be a hit or miss, and I always have some worries about what the artist would do. I did not know who was going to host until probably late November. I feel like we knew pretty early on who was going to play for the last few years, but once I heard about Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Eminem was going to be on stage, I was so pumped!

As you may know, I tend to listen to a lot of old school hip hop, and even though I wasn’t expecting to see 50 Cent there, I brought me back to my middle school days because I was a huge G Unit fan and if you didn’t know, I basically wanted to become the female, disabled version of Dr. Dre after graduating high school. So, the lineup (not so much into Kendrick Lamar, though I do respect him as an amazing record producer!) was everything to my mom and me. It was incredible to see these great artists of the 80’s through the mid 2000’s performing some of their fan’s favorites!

What were you listening to in the month of February? What did you think about the Halftime show? Who would you like to host next year?