Lately, in Pictures #70

So it's Thursday, and these posts usually go up on a Monday. I'm usually a lot more organised than this. But as you'll see from the mountain of photos I have, I've been quite busy this past fortnight. 

My good friend, C had her hen's night over the June long weekend. We started out with high tea at the Sir Stamford, then went back to the Quay West hotel where we had a room with this incredible view...

We got to see the start of Vivid from our hotel room before we went out again - I only saw about half an hour of the opera house, but honestly it was a bit overwhelming compared to previous years. 

We then headed out to Subterranean Bar and Grill for dinner; their food was really, really good, and finished up the night with a male cabaret show at GPO Grand, before heading back to the hotel for Cards Against Humanity. The night was overall a lot of fun, and I think Mel, the Maid of Honour did a really good job organising everything! 

The next morning we headed to the Rocks for breakfast, at Le Pain Quotidien. This little cafe is in the old Rocks Police Station. I always appreciate a little historical architecture with my morning coffee. They serve giant bowls of coffee here, and their scrambled eggs are good. You have to pay extra for avocado and bacon though, so that's a slight annoyance. 

I then rushed from breakfast to the pole studio, where I took a two hour workshop with Anthony Khoury, former Olympic coach. I have so many drills to practice at home now. We finished up the class with some human pyramid-ing. 

Sunday night was games night, with a classic pork roast dinner, lots of crackling and Settlers of Catan! It's been a few months since we'e played Catan, as trivia nights have become our regular social gathering. Proud to say I won the game. People underestimate the power of sheep, and a trading harbour in that game. 

I had some allergy testing done at RPAH the other week - my hayfever has been wreaking havoc with me since the cooler change in Weather. While speaking to the doctor there, he suggested I see the dietician to work out what food intolerances I have that could be contributing to my asthma, eczema and IBS, and I was put on the Elimination Diet. This is a four week diet, where I can have no gluten, dairy, soy, salicylates, glutamates, amines, preservatives, colouring or basically flavour in any of my food. My body is still adjusting in terms of symptoms, and it's taken me a bit of getting used to in terms of food preparation, but I'm surprised how quickly my tastebuds adjusted. 

Last week I was lucky enough to have a three-day work week; J and I took Friday off work to see my friend Whit get married! 

We missed our train, and the next one would have gotten us there well after the ceremony finished, so we had to catch a taxi to the venue - $111.11 later, we arrived just in time to see Whit walk down the aisle! I then noticed, as I stepped out of the Taxi that I was wearing the same dress as the bridesmaids! We're all pretty good friends, so it was more funny, rather than drama. 

Bride looking like royalty

My bestie Meg, also the Maid of Honour. 

What have you been up to in the past fortnight? I have so much blogging to catch up on - both my own, and reading others! If you have any good posts you want to share, post them in the comments so I can check them out!

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June Goals

 

My dear readers, I am hesitant to put up this post because I have pretty much failed at my May goals. But I'll post it anyway, because part of my NY Resolution and keeping track of this all in such a public space holds me accountable. I feel rubbish about this post, so I will have to try harder during June. 

Let's review May's goals...

MAY GOALS

- Sell clothes from wardrobe clean-out

I am starting to think I will never achieve this. So I have decided to break this one down.

- Set a meal plan

I didn't quite achieve this, but for the past two weeks I have been planning out all my lunches for work. 

- Return to regular stretching

Absolute fail in the flexibility department, and my hips really feel it (especially since starting full-time work). 

- Revise my Chinese to send a letter to my penpal in Chinese

- Submit my audition tape for Pole Evolution 2015

We got a further two weeks to submit our auditions. I have been working super hard on my routine, and will cross this one off next week!

- Keep track of all spending transactions

Mostly.

- Save up to buy dress for weddings I'm attending in June

I bought two new skirts for work instead. Whoops. 

JUNE GOALS

- Take photos of clothes from wardrobe clean-out

- Stretch 5x a week.

- Revise my Chinese to send a letter to my pen-pal in Chinese

- Submit my audition tape for Pole Evolution 2015

-Buy a dress (and nude heels) for the two weddings I'm attending in June.

- Train pull-ups five times a week.

- Keep better track of my goals throughout the month; check in at least once a week. 

-  Keep to my blogging schedule!

Perhaps I'm being a bit ambitious with next month's goals. I've broken them up a little bit, so hopefully they'll be a little easier to achieve, with a bit of planning.

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Review: Revlon Ultra HD Lipsticks

 

It's no secret that I love Revlon's lipsticks, so I couldn't help but pick up some of their lippies from the 'Ultra HD Lipstick' range last time Priceline had their 40% off make-up sale. 

There's 20 shades in the collection, each named after a different flower. I decided on Rose, a natural pink, Azalea a bright cool pink, and Poinsettia, a red. 

These lipsticks are "revolutionary" because they are a wax-free, gel formula that leave your lips beautifully coated in colour without that "heavy" feeling you might get with other lipsticks. 

 

 

So first up; the packaging. these lipsticks are housed in a silver bottom with a clear, plastic cap. The 'bullet' part of the lipstick is cleanly cut in a slant. The most annoying part about the packaging is that the actual lipstick comes out just above the silver casing, which makes it way too easy to hit it when you're putting the plastic lid on. All three of my lipsticks have nicks taken out of them because of this.

 

Top row: nude lips, Rose. Bottom row:  Azalea, Poinsetta. 

I really like the colours of both Rose and Poinsetta, and think they're both quite work-appropriate. I'm still a bit uncertain about whether Azalea works with my skintone, but I think I like it. 

The texture of these is balmy, but not that moisturising. If you have dry lips, these will cling on to dry patches, so make sure you exfoliate and moisturise well before application. Each of the lipsticks I own are really pigmented, but they don't last that well and I find myself having to reapply often (after an hour, maybe two). You can forget about eating with these.

TL;DR? In a nutshell, these are nicely pigmented, although the colour doesn't last long and they are balmy, without actually being moisturising. 

These are honestly not worth the price that is being asked for them in AUD, and are a little bit of a letdown. Revlon have so many other amazing options for lips, that I would pass these up. 

4/10 do not recommend.

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My Week in Pictures #69

Perhaps the biggest event since the last time I wrote, is the hen's night of my good friend Whitney. 

Like I mentioned in my last one of these posts, everyone around me is getting married, so I will have a couple more of these types of events in the next few weeks. 

The night started at the Victoria Room at Darlinghurst, for High Tea. I had turkish apple, (delicious), and way too many miniature sandwiches and cakes. My attitude is they don't count if they're mini, so you can have, like, five times as many. 

We then adjourned back to the hotel room for homemade cocktails and homemade hens games. Highlights were Cards Against Humanity (always a winner), and Bra Pong. I was particularly talented at the latter. 

I didn't drink much at all, because I had a workshop the following day with pole superstar Evgeny Greshilov. Handstands and dynamic spins are just not achievable with a hangover. 

Has anyone else tried Cadbury's Vegemite creation? I had one row and was left underwhelmed. It wasn't as revolting as some made it out to be, yet it wasn't delicious either. I didn't hate it, but I don't think I'll finish off my block. Luckily for the curious, it was only $2.50 at my local supermarket, so not a huge loss. 

I have also loved this month's Elle magazine - featuring Nicole Trunfio on the cover, breastfeeding her baby boy Zion (such a cutie!) I love the cover, I loved the editorial shots, I loved the articles. On a whim I bought a subscription to this magazine a few month's ago and I have not regretted it at all. Every month I am happy. 

We also bought a bed last weekend which is making me super happy. It's crazy how much better you sleep when you're elevated off the floor. 

Bed shopping was not as stressful as I thought it would be; we had specific features in mind (low enough off the floor so we could use it as storage, wooden, double size) which made it a bit easier. In the end we went with this wooden one from The Sleeping Giant. It was also on sale, so that was a win! 

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