Weekends

Thursday was my first day back to work since my nan got really sick and passed away. My boss was so kind and understanding during what was a difficult, emotional period for me, and I am so grateful to work with such understanding people. On Friday night, my Dad took my brother, sister and I out to dinner. It was at the local RSL Club, but the food was just so amazing and the view at our tables was gorgeous!

I ordered the pesto penne chicken

 

It was absolutely delicious! And that picture really doesn't do it any justice. The serving sizes were so enourmous, I could only finish half of mine, and asked for the rest to take home for lunch the next day. 

Yesterday was the first Saturday I've worked since i was like ... 16. So it was a bit confusing to my body clock. I got to work a bit early thanks to no traffic being on the bus route like there usually is on a weekday. So to kill time (and feed my hungry stomach) I bought breakfast at one of the cafe's near work:

 

Cinnamon toast and a skim hazelnut latte!! Yum!!

Upon returning to work on Thursday, there were quite a few packages waiting for me to unwrap. I am so bad when it comes to online shopping, I really can't help myself. It doesn't help that it's so easy to find things so much cheaper in cyberspace than they are in stores. 

 

New logitech speakers. 

I've wanted decent speakers for so long, because try as my little lappy might, his speakers just aren't that amazing. I have had problems before with buying technology online (once I bought an ipod dock / alarm clock and the speaker quality was awful) but my mum had bought this at our old place a few years ago and my sister still uses them, so I already knew they were good.

 

More pop - tarts... they were $5 come on!! 

I like this flavour better than the choc chip one. They're a bit too sweet for breakfast though. I more have them as a snack later in the day.

Post-it note pack. Those are the pens that have the little tags come out of the top. These were so cheap I couldn't resist. And with uni right around the corner, why not?

And my most exciting purchase:

 

A proper electric frypan! I was so excited to cook with it. 

For my first meal I made pork chops in a dark plum sauce for J.

 

There was a lot of marinating and basting (Which I had to look up on wikipedia for instructions) involved.  But it was pretty nice (albeit a bit sweet) and turned out like this:

 

Again, picture doesn't do it much justice. But it did taste nice, and J liked it so that was good

Pining away...

As much as I love how effortless dressing for summer can be, I am dying for winter to come back around.
Right now I'm craving staying indoors all snuggly with a nice hot cup of herbal tea in exotic flavours from T2, wearing scarves and jackets, and boots and jeans, and layers, and comfort food and sitting in front of the heater :(

I find it so hard to eat in summer, because it's always so hot, everythign melts or is too filling, and doesn't taste as good as it does when the weather's a bit chillier.

Although I do love summer fruits - grapes and blueberries and mangoes and nectarines and cherries and pineapples, and apricots, oh my! That being said though, the fruit this season hasn't been that fantastic.

I have so much to blog about, but am going to wait until I get my camera back from my friend's house.
I haven't done an outfit post in FOREVER. Very soon I will do an entry that is mainly outfits I've worn over the last few days/weeks.
I'm also dying to go back to uni. My brother and sister start school again on Monday, and I'm so jealous. I have another month off, but my brain feels like it's turning to mush!! I really enjoy studying and reading and stressing about assignments. I must admit though, I do like being able to read books that aren't textbooks and not feel guilty.

Stylish Blogger Award

I was nominated for the stylish blogger award by what is forever!!
I feel honoured!!

So basically, I'm meant to write 7 interesting facts about myself, and then nominate 15 other bloggers. But I won't be doing that end part. Because I don't really even read 15 blogs, and those that I do follow have already been nominated!!

1. I have this morbid fascination with people who kill others.
I think it's because I could never do that to another person, and I like learning about how people are the way they are.
My boyfriend is a little scared that one day I'll turn into a serial killer, although I maintain this is so not true, and is a crazy thought. But it helps to keep him on my side.

2. I go to a university so far away that I commute 3 hours a day (there and back), 3/4 times a week.
Why don't I just live on campus? Well, it's expensive. I have a job in Sydney that I like. My boyfriend also lives in Sydney and I'm not really willing to try the whole long-distance thing. So why don't I go to a uni closer to home? I love the relaxed, laid-back atmosphere of Wollongong. I hate how uptight and pretentious people at Sydney Uni can be, just because they're at Sydney Uni. I love the friends I've made at my uni, (and it was soo easy to make friends), and I love the teachers, I love my course.
I don't know if I'm willing to risk losing it just so I can go to a potentially more "prestigious" university, that I may end up hating anyway.
So for the meantime, I'll deal with crashing at friend's houses and sleeping on trains like a homeless person.

3. I'm totally digging ballerina buns at the moment.
I'm not sure if this is the result of all the Black Swan hype (excellent movie, by the way), but I'm loving this look. It's sleek and sophisticated and takes minimal effort.
But, I have really thin hair, and a bit of a complex about wearing my hair sleek off my face.
One day maybe I'll be game enough to post a photo and you can tell me whether it looks as bad as I think it does.

4. It's taken me over a week to write this post.
I haven't been able to think of anything interesting to write about myself. I'd write something down and be like ...well that's not really unknown and therefore not interesting for others to read. But then, some things that would be interesting I don't think I'm ready to disclose over the internet in such an anonymous fashion.

5. I'm very clumsy.
I don't think there's one day that goes by that I don't trip over / walk into something at least twice.
Usually I manage to come out unscathed, but sometimes I do get injured. I think it's because I have little feet considering how tall I am. Having a 'legitimate' reason sounds better than I just have no balance.

6. I hate confrontation.
I only recently discovered this about myself, because when I was younger I was quite feisty, and didn't mind the odd fight every now and again.
I'm not sure when or why this changed, but now I hate making people unhappy, and will avoid confrontation wherever possible. This isn't a good thing, because it means I'm usually miserable at the expense of making someone else who I don't even like happy.
So, I'm working on changing that, and getting better at expressing my feelings towards people.
It's not healthy to bottle things up.

7. I love magazines
You could almost say that I collect them. My regulars are: RUSSH, Shop til you drop, Frankie and Vogue Australia. Sometimes I'll splurge and buy International Vogue as well.

I did have a subscription to RUSSH for 2010, but it's now run out. I don't think I'll be renewing it.
The columnists who I used to love no longer write for them, and the price has gone up, but I think the quantity and quality of content has gone down, which is unfortunate.

Eulogies

This is the most difficult thing I've ever written.

Weekend

I thought I should do an outfit post since I haven't done one in a while:

I left my camera at my friend's place a few weekends ago, and haven't been able to retrieve it yet. As such, you'll have to put up with my shitty-quality webcam pictures.
I love these high waisted leather minkpink shorts. I paired them with this top I've had forever but never really worn before.
I'm going to try wearing the things I already own more often, rather than going out and always buying new things.

But speaking of buying. Today I got:

 

POP TARTS!!

New red bracelet.

Will be wearing this one to my nan's funeral on Tuesday.

Anyway. Not really in the mood to post heaps of stuff today.
Maybe next time.

Don't.

When things go wrong as they sometimes will, 

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill, 

When the funds are low, and the debts are high, 

And you want to smile but you have to sigh, 

When care is pressing you down a bit, 

Rest if you must, but don't you quit!

Shoes!

 

WANNT THESEEE

Queensland Flood Crisis

Image taken from BBC News

This is just so devastating.
If you can, I urge you to donate any spare change -
Click here to donate

It's horrible.
So many people have lost absolutely everything, with so little warning.
12 confirmed dead, so many more missing, with grave concerns for at least 9.

There is no other word to describe such devastation.

New Piercing!

Rook piercing!

Updates!

I have not blogged in what seems like forever!
Part of the reason for this is that I have not been in Sydney since Christmas Eve, and only got back on Monday. I don't even know where the last two days have gone...I honest-to-God thought today was Tuesday until like 5 minutes ago and I looked at my calendar... :/

So I kind of have a lot to update you on! I was going to write separate posts, but figured I may as well just write them all in the one. I promise there will be pictures to break up the text!

Christmas!
This year I spent Christmas with J's family in Canberra. We caught a bus from Central station on Christmas Eve, and arrived 4 hours later.
Since I wasn't seeing my own family for Christmas I visited them all on Christmas eve and the night before, and gave them all my presents.
Before I left, mum gave me this:

Lamp!

I think it's just beautiful! It's funny, because none of the furniture in my bedroom match at all! I have white / cedar / red / black / purple! It's all over the place! Mainly though because it's all been for free or very cheap. One day when I can afford my own house I'll have matching furniture. Anyway, I digress.
So we caught the bus to Canberra on Christmas Eve.
It was strange spending Christmas with another family, and one that has proper, established traditions. When I was little my mum made sure that we always had a proper Christmas, but now that my siblings and I are older, it doesn't seem to matter that much to my parents.
But Christmas was fantastic.
I was having way too much of a good time though, so didn't take any pictures of their beautiful Christmas tree, or the amazing lunch that J's mum had cooked! Sorry!
We woke up, opened presents, hung out, had lunch, and then everyone had a little siesta! It's funny being that full up on food!

I was absolutely spoiled this year!
Some of my gifts:
From J:

(Image taken from Google)

A playstation 3 !!!
okay...so I already knew I was getting this. But that doesn't make it any less exciting!
Rather than haul it all the way to Canberra and back, J gave it to me when I got home from Qld on Monday.
But what was a surprise on the day was getting these games as well:

 Bayonetta and Final Fantasy XIII!
(I have now opened and played them both, but more on that in another post!)

J's parents also got me these for my shiny new toy as well:

Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead on blu-ray! (Sorry that picture's so blurry!)

I also got from J's parents:

Geraldine Brooks - People of the Book

Dragonfly necklace!

And some other things that I didn't take photos of - some scratchies (I won $5 woo!!), a little torch to put on my keychain.
His sister also bought me a pack from the Body Shop that had almond oil body wash and hand cream. Delicious!

My sister bought me some clothes, and my brother promised to make me chocolate truffles ... they haven't come yet though!

 

My best friend M gave me this hugeee vanilla candle (yum!) and this bracelet:

 

and a new make-up bag / case from Sportsgirl. But I think I will use it as a pencil case because it's too pretty for people to not see it. 

 And my flatmate bought me this fantastic book:

It's filled with images of grammatically incorrect signs ... hilarious!

My nan and my uncle D both gave me $50. And with that money I bought:

Tony Bianco - Canyon (black suede)

It feels so good to actually do something with the money people give me as presents. Usually I just put it aside and forget about it, and then when I do buy something I don't consciously think 'oh this is what x bought me'. I'm glad I did do that this time though!

There were some other things that I haven't taken pictures of, but honestly, I just can't believe how blessed I am to have such giving people in my life!

I'll share some photos I did take while I was in Canberra:

One of the days after Christmas we went down to Weston Park which is on the lake and had fish and chips at the yacht club. We went exploring the park area after, which is where I took this beautiful photo! There were lots of black swans in the water chasing us!

And since I'm such a cat lover, every other photo I took was of Tosca, the family cat.
(They actually also have a second cat, Dixie, but she's a bit of a nutter and wouldn't let me close enough to pat her let alone take a photo!)

 

 

 

New Years!

I was sadly not in Sydney this year for New Years.
Which was sad for a few reasons. Firstly, it was my first "adult" New Years, and I couldn't utilise my 18+ superpowers, and secondly, I missed out on all the fireworks (Was Sydney's even any good, I don't even know!)
I was in Queensland with my mum, her boyfriend, R, my brother and sister from the 29th to the 3rd of January. We were staying at my nan's place.
We only had a quiet new years - I stayed up with my mum, R and my brother and we played cards and had a few drinks (well...my brother didn't, since he's only 13).
Although it was only quiet, it was still nice, being able to spend that time with my family.
I try to make an effort to see my brother and sister and parents as often as possible since moving out, but it's so hard since we're all so busy. It was so nice to just chill and catch up with them. Because we're all wimps and had spent the whole day at Wet n Wild, we went to bed at 11pm, but since that was 12pm Sydney Daylight Savings Time, we figured we made it to the new year.

I'll share some pictures from Queensland, commenting briefly.
Mainly because I'm sick of typing and want to get back to watching dexter, and mainly because I'm sure nobody has even read this far:

Plane tickets

Park map from Wet 'n' Wild!

At the lagoon in Redcliffe:

My lovely sister.

That is me.

 A green tree frog we found in my nan's yard:

 

My mum is terrified of frogs and cane toads.  Even cute little froggies like this one!

I had to take a photo of this. It's from the in-flight manual on the airplane. No furby's allowed!

 

We went over to my Aunty E and Uncle D's place and swam around in their pool:

Yay for underwater cameras

  

This is my cousin M's dog, Chomp jumping into the water!