What I Got for my Birthday!

 

It was my birthday last week (they feel like they keep coming around quicker and quicker!) and I got so many cool gifts, I really wanted to share what I got! I love reading these types of posts, and they’re fun to look back on. My family and friends are way too generous, and I’m really grateful for everything I was given.

 

I got some new accessories for my camera – a new travel bag from Crumpler and a new lens. The camera bag will be perfect for travelling when I visit mum. It’s got enough room to stash my laptop, all my lenses, external flash and room to spare for cords The lens was a combined gift from J and his parents. It should be a great all-rounder lens to replace my kit lens; it’s got capabilities to go wide angle or super-zoom and its also macro. I can’t wait to get some more practice in with this one.



My dad got me a new PS4, which I am super thrilled about. Shoutout to the Bondi JBHIFI team for hooking me up. I ended up getting a deal they had with three games – I didn’t like two of the ones in there though, so they let me swap them out for ones I did want. I ended up getting Thief, Murdered: Soul Suspect, and Watch Dogs. My little bro got me the new COD … I’m really excited to play this online. He told me I can’t play with him though because I’ll ruin his stats… thanks little bro. My sister and her boyfriend were going to pre-order me the new Tomb Raider, but then realised there were quite a few games coming out soon, so they bought me an EB Games gift card instead so I can decide when they get released.
J also got me Simcity (which is OMG so fun) and GTA5 on PS3. I am kinda annoyed my birthday is right before I go back to uni, because I just want to spend all my time playing these games now haha.



My good friend S gave me a gift card and a mini ecoya candle in French Pear. This scent is so, so nice  I love it! I also got a gift card from work, which I totally wasn’t expecting and is so nice of them. I love getting gift cards because I can buy something I really want and know I’ll love. Choosing what to spend them on is hard though!



I also got some new clothing… J bought the cool batman villain tights for me from Movie World! We saw them when we went there in February, and I mentioned they were cool. So thoughtful to get something that you mentioned months ago you wanted. Unfortunately they’re in the smallest size (Which is really big on me) and the material is really, really thin so they’re see through. It sucks because they’re such an awesome print. I am thinking I will wear them to and from pole. The stretchiness means they’ll be good pants for stretching in, and if I’m wearing my pole shorts underneath the see-throughness isn’t really an issue. My mum gave me some money, and with that I bought the ‘Win or Die’ Black Milk tights that I’ve been lusting over for months.
My sister and her boyfriend also bought me a really gorgeous vegan leather jacket, and a two-toned tote bag. The jacket is a perfect fit for me (which can be tricky because my body shape is kind of all over the place). I was using them when I took these photos...so completely forgot to include them. I'll have to do an outfit post soon to show them off!

Where do you stand on gift cards for gifts? I always feel bad giving them out, but I love receiving them, so that really makes no sense.

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My Week in Pictures #55

 

The week started out well! I picked up this beautiful colouring book, full of black and white patterns. I like doing things when I'm watching mindless tv to unwind. Last winter it was attempting to knit, apparently this winter it's about colouring in. I also took some time out during the week to hand-write a letter to my pen pal. I've really been enjoying getting to meet a completely new person through writing! 

It was my birthday last week, and I had such a great couple of days. J went to so much effort to make sure I had an awesome day, and it was so much fun to just take a day off and hang out.

 

We started off at Pancakes on the Rocks at Darling Harbour. So, so nommy, and massive serving sizes. Neither J or I finished our meals, but man we tried hard. 

 

 I then took the opportunity to kick his butt at bowling. We walked to Broadway, both got remedial massages and I picked up my free birthday boost!

 

  

We ended our adventure at Din Tai Fung in World Square. I seriously love, love, love this place!

  

 

  

I've been spending a lot of my (scarce) free time playing Simcity. I never played the original games, and I can totally understand why it's such a successful game. It's so addicting. Even J has been getting involved and staying up until all hours of the morning looking after his city! 

 

On Friday night  I celebrated my birthday with my dad, brother, sister and her boyfriend, and J. We went to teppenyaki in Beverly Hills. I've been here so many times before, and the novelty of watching your food being cooked and then having it thrown at you never gets old. The food is actually really delicious, and the chefs are great entertainment. 

I'm sorry my blog posts have been so scarce the past couple of weeks. Uni work for my PLT has just ramped up, I'm working crazy hours and I've just gone back to uni for Spring session. Still trying to work out my schedule, and when I have free time to blog. I just want to let you guys know though that I have so many exciting posts planned, and so many exciting products to share with you all!

Thank you also to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! xx

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My Week in Pictures #28

It's been a tough two weeks here. Uni has been absolutely mental ... not only was everything due at once, but what was due was Hard. With a capital 'H'. It's all over now though (for a few weeks) and I'm really looking forward to having the coming week off. I want to get re-focussed on my blog, and myself, and spend more time doing what I enjoy.

Here's what I've been up to lately...

J bought me home 'Settlers of Catan' after I finished a horrible take home exam last Wednesday. I've wanted this game for the better part of a year, and it was such a nice surprise to come home to this. J bought it because I was anticipating friends coming over on Friday night to celebrate the end of mid-terms. But unfortunately plans changed. We ended up inviting his mate G over for a roast dinner and playing. SO MUCH FUN. I'm now constantly inviting people over to play haha.

Also caught up with one of my friends who used to work with me over Max Brenner. So good seeing her after about a month and catching up over delicious tea and hot chocolates.
I'm reading a new book; I've been on the hunt for this one for about a year and finally saw it in my unishop last week so snagged it up. I'm about 6 chapters in and loving it.

Bus stop Vogue. Funny story; the same morning I was reading this, I stopped into Coles on my way to work to pick up some breakfast. I was paying at the self-help cashier and one of the Coles' employees came up and yelled at me for not paying for the magazine! I was like "uhm I brought this in with me?" She said "NO I saw you bring it up to the register, you have to pay for it!!" I won the fight though with a simple "well...this magazine doesn't have a barcode on it, so it's not from your store" and I walked out. I love when I get the better hand in an argument and walk away graciously winning.
Also bought myself some new boots for winter. Retail really is therapy.

On Thursday was J and my anniversary. We went out to a Turkish restaurant in Newtown. I loved the decor of the place, really authentic and pretty. We chose to sit at the small tables with cushions, which later revealed itself as being a mistake. It was kind of impossible to get our long legs comfortable and poor J had to put up with my squirming for most of dinner. J ordered the meatballs, and I ordered some lamb cutlets. Unfortunately the rice from J's dish took longer than they expected to cook, and my lamb ended up slightly cold and way overcooked, which was a shame. The waiter was really lovely though, and we got some free dip for the extensive wait. J tried 'sour cherry juice', and I had a much-needed glass of wine.

What's your favourite board game? What's your best "winning an argument graciously" story?



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It's Been a While...

Just in case you were wondering where I've been lately, this post is to just quickly update you on that. 

Long story short, just after exams finished, my laptop has decided to slow down and completely stop. At the moment, I'm typing this from J's lappy, which I like a lot less, which doesn't have all my files on it, and which I find it harder to upload stuff from. 

Anyway, I have lots of posts planned (hopefully I will have a new lappy soon - especially since holidays are nearly over).  Beauty reviews, skincare reviews and general updates and posts. 

Until then, here's some snaps I've taken of what I've been up to. 

In the meantime, keep up with me on twitter and instagram.

         

1. Boston Legal and Logic Puzzles

2. Lots of PS3 - Dante's Inferno is a pretty good game and I completed it in 2 days. 

3. Game of Thrones - now completely up to date with this show. Sad that it's about 9 months until Season 3.

5. New T2. This one has an amazingly delicious liquorice and ginger taste to it. Spicy!

6. Parcels in the mail.  

7. Bird-themed accessories

8. Chinese Harry Potter!

9. Refereeing at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre.

10. Shin splints therapy

11. Favourite law kids

12. New fish! This one's called a lipstick tang. 

White & Nerdy

Grateful for Saturdays where I have nothing to do but play video games.

The last time I played FF13 was back in FEBRUARY.
Which is just atrocious.
So I spent countless hours yesterday playing. Which really, is just bliss considering I haven't wasted whole days away in many months.

Am off to Beth's 21st today yay!

Happy weekend all!!

xx

New Games!

These were all recently on sale at JBHIFI, and J, being the amazing boyfriend that he is, picked them up for me:

I have already played (and beaten!) these game on ps2, but these are on ps3! It is fun playing old games - very nostalgic!

 The sequel to Assassins Creed 2! I had just finished it when J bought me this, and it's great because this picks up EXACTLY where the last one finished, so yay! I love that it's got the beautiful cities of Italy and a bit of Italian thrown into the dialogue - makes me feel cultured. And I love that it's based partly on historical events.
Although, when I was studying Machiavelli's The Prince in politics, it was veryyyy tempting to keep playing this! (Machiavelli also makes an appearance in the game!)

And Battttyman! I have not yet played this one yet, because everything has been so hectic, but I'm excited to. It has had very good reviews.

Such a shame I'm not on holidays at the moment!!!!