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Monday, June 2, 2014

My Week in Pictures #52


A couple of months ago I bought a shirt from Portmans for work, and it fell apart after the second time I wore it. Finally got around to taking it back and getting a refund and picked up this cute top instead! Obsessed with the neon, and the front zip. I haven't been very active lately, due to a shoulder injury, so needed the new motivation to get back into the gym. There were a few bike rides during my time off though...to and from the physio. 


After two weeks off from all physical activity, I eased into some yoga with some backbending practice. Super pleased with how my bridge is coming along! 


 

Went out to dinner with dad and some family friends during the week. A glass of wine, and the most delicious slow-cooked pork neck, pork belly and vegetables is the best way to end the week. 

 

J and I had some friends over last weekend. We cooked a roast, and provided entertainment in the form of Settlers of Catan. They very generously brought over this delicious Toblerone Cheesecake. 


Obsessed with this Ciate nail polish, in Main Stage. As well as looking good, it lasted almost an entire week on my nails before chipping. The above photo was after four whole days of wear!! 


It's the pointy end of the semester, which means lots of final assignments, and lots of studying before exams (which are in two weeks eep!) I've done a lot of work, but I feel like I have so much more to do. T2 tea keeping my belly warm, and making it that bit less horrible to study. 


And our capsicums were finally ready for harvest! Did you know the difference between a green and a red capsicum is just how long it's been on the vine? I know right, blew my mind too! 

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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Review: Muk Curl Stick


So my mum recently got married. And, for the wedding, her hairdresser/make up artist did her hair in a half-up, half-down style, with really pretty curls all over. In the few days leading up to the wedding, mum told me all about how the hair trial went, and that the hairdresser used the Muk curl stick, and how fantastic it was, and that she really wanted one.
There's a few things you need to know about this situation. My mother and I have pretty different hair. I was lucky enough to inherit the dry aspect of her hair, and not to inherit the curls, the frizz or the amount of it. So when something works in my mum's hair, that's a pretty damn good indication it will work for everyone else.


Look at all that pretty, pretty hair!
After seeing how gorgeous her hair looked at the wedding, I could not help it but buy her one for her birthday. And I may have also bought myself one. Because, you know. YOLO. Life's too short to not own amazing curling irons.
I bought it on sale from My Hair Care. They have free express shipping for orders over $50, so mum and I both got our orders within two days even though we live in different states. Winning.


The Muk curl stick is a clipless curling iron, with three titanium interchangeable barrels. The barrel sizes are 25mm, and two conical barrels, one at 25-19mm and a 25-13mm. Obviously, this is good because it's like getting three curling wands for the price of one! In the box there's some instructions, and a heatproof glove. 
I personally found the heatproof glove doesn't fit my long skinny fingers too well, so I tend to not use it. But I have also burnt my hand, so maybe don't take my advice on that one. 
The cord is a swivel, which is nice to stop tangles, and it's also super long so you don't feel tethered to the powerpoint. 


There's three heat settings (210C, 170C and 130C), and I personally just stick to using the 130C setting because my hair is damaged enough. There's a red 'on' button, and you use this button to cycle through the heat settings. Super duper easy. 
I found at first changing the barrels to be a little tricky. There's two release buttons, on opposite sides of each other on the curler body. To change the barrel, you hold these down, pull the barrel out. Then, you align the holes up with the one you're popping on to the curler body, and click it in. I found the pulling out part a little tricky, because it's quite secure on there. I was also scared of pulling too hard and breaking the clip or something. It does seem really sturdy though, and I found that holding down the release buttons and wiggling the barrel as I pull it out makes it come off easier. Just a tip. 


I have really loved playing with this since I got it, and cannot recommend it enough. 
It heats up fast, although there is no beeping or flashing lights to tell you when it has heated up enough, which is one of my pet peeves with hair electricals. I have been dealing by hovering my hand over it until it feels hot. Apart from that, it is super easy to use. Like I mentioned, there's one button so there's not really any need for instructions. 
I love the variety of looks you can create with this. I've gone for defined curls, as above, and also looser curls / waves, as below. 
In the above photo, I used the 25-19mm barrel, and ran my fingers through after all the curls had cooled down. The photo above was taken about 7 hours after I first styled it. I lightly sprayed some hairspray over my whole head. 


I wore this hair look to work, without using any hairspray and it lasted the entire 6 hour shift, as well as lasting well into the night when I got home. I tie my hair up to sleep, and the curl definition was still there in the morning, even after I brushed through my hair.


I am just obsessed with these waves! 
For this look, I used the thickest, barrel at 25mm, and brushed through the curls with a paddle brush once the curls had cooled down.


And, just for reference, mum's hair in the photo at the top lasted all night long for the wedding. The curls hardly dropped at all (although quite a bit of hairspray was used). 

Have you used the muk curl stick? What are your thoughts?

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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

My Week in Pictures #43

Sorry this one is a day late

 

J built a new planter box for the backyard. We now have plenty of veggies growing away which is exciting. Rommy is back to his back-sitting ways.


My little brother stayed with us on Friday night. We played some Settlers of Catan, with the expansion pack he got me for Christmas

 

New sunnies arrived in the mail. 
Saw Hunger Games 2 at the IMAX. The IMAX is incredible; it's amazing seeing a film that huge and it's a lot easier to immerse yourself in it. The 2nd movie was a lot better than the first, and I really, really enjoyed it. 

 

Had my first pole class for the year, and finally managed to do the "Reverse Ayesha" (on the left). It took me about a year to get this one, due to limited shoulder flexibility from an old injury. Just goes to show what dedication and hard work can do!
Tried out the 'forearm grip Ayesha' as well for the first time. Not bad for a first timer, but still needs some work.


Had a Mexican themed night in Surry Hills with my mate Brad. Headed out to Tio's and then to El Loco. We went for a walk to Sydney Festival to find the jumping castle Stonehenge, but we were deterred by the massive line. We then decided to give Baxter's Inn a try, but again, the 25 minute line made us turn away. 

I leave my yoga mat out for less than 30 seconds and the cat makes himself at home on it. Does anyone else's cat do this? 


On Saturday, J and I went on an 'extreme boat ride' in Sydney Harbour. It was pretty fun, with the boat reaching high speeds. We went out past the Sydney Heads, around to The Gap, and past Bondi Beach.

The infamous Gap

Bondi Beach


It really was such a nice day, and even though we both applied a heap of sunscreen, we got patchy sunburn which sucked. 

What did you get up to in the past week?

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Thursday, January 2, 2014

Happy New Year!


Hello, hello 2014!! 

My oh my how the years fly by. 
2013 was a good year. Nothing bad, but nothing great either. 

I'm excited for everything 2014 has to offer.
This is the year that I graduate from my double degree at uni. 
I am so, so ready for this.


I'm hoping I can travel at the end of the year, with my bestie, Meg. 
I want to continue making my house a home, with J. 
I want to give uni one last push, and give it my all. 
I want to continue challenging myself at pole, and being the best person I can be, physically. 

And just generally, be a better version of myself in all aspects of my life.


I don't really have any major resolutions. 
I do have some goals though. 
I spent some time this afternoon coming up with some blog goals too. This year will be a good one for the blog, too. I'm going to get my butt into gear, stop making excuses and just do it. 
Just do the things I want to do, and the things I say I'll do.

I spent New Years Eve at my dad's, with my family. He has a view of Botany Bay from his backyard, and there was a spectacular 9pm fireworks show. All the photos from this post were taken last night. 
And my favourite photo of the night...


What did you get up to this NYE? Did you make resolutions for 2014? 

N.B: I'm taking a bit of a break over the next few days from the blog. I'll be back, posting regularly on the 6th January! xx

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Saturday, December 28, 2013

What I Got For Christmas... 2013

I (like I'm sure most people) love getting presents. I feel like people aren't willing to admit that for fear of coming off as selfish or whatever, but it's true! I also really love giving presents; I love picking out a gift that I know the person will really enjoy and appreciate, and I love seeing their face when they open it. (So much so that I made J film the reaction of his best friend G when he opened his gift from us because I wasn't going to be there to see it)

I love reading these posts, and to be honest I love writing them. I love sharing what I received and showing my appreciation for my friends' and family's generosity. I also love looking back each year at what I received the year before. 


I was well and truly spoilt this year, and received so many thoughtful gifts that I love and will use. 
My mum gave us some money, which we put towards getting theme park tickets for our visit to Queensland in February. I'm so excited for this trip, and now that everything is booked and paid for I'm even more excited! 


My Dad got us a de-humidifier! Which may seem like a really strange gift to get, but I'm honestly so happy and thankful for this. My sister really could not understand why I would want something like this and was convinced I would hate it because it's kind of boring, but I really, really love it. Our house is really old and doesn't have proper ventilation so it can get quite humid. We also have a really big fishtank which doesn't help matters. In winter, we would wake up every morning with condensation on our walls, and our bed sheets slightly damp. It really and truly sucked. So this is an awesome gift. We've already been using it, and it's making such a difference not only in the air but in my asthma as well - bonus! 

J got me a new, thicker yoga mat that came with its own bag which is awesome! There was nothing 'wrong' with the yoga mat I was previously using, but it was really thin which hurt my knees in certain poses. This one is 5mm so isn't super thick, and is still quite sticky. I travel quite a bit to pole with my mat, so the bag is a definite bonus. 


J also picked me up two new Sims expansions and the new Batman ps3 game. Coincidentally my hours at work go back to my normal 22 next week, so I'll have plenty of time to get stuck into these, yay! 


J also got me some coloured pencils, and a really adorable cat scarf (seriously...how cute is that print!!!)
I got a Sandy Santa from Lush from my bestie Meg, and J's mate G got me this awesome book "What I Wore Today". It's a collection of style shots from people's blogs from all over the world. I love books like this, and am excited to add this one to my collection.


Some other bits and pieces from Meg...really cute PJ shorts from Cotton On Body, and a 'corkcicle' - you stick it in the freezer and it keeps your wine cool! I've actually never seen anything like this before, I think it's fantastic 

Gifts from my siblings; my little brother got me an expansion for Settlers of Catan...I now own 2 so that's lots of fun. This one seems really complicated so I can't wait to learn and play it!


My sister got me this fantastic tea set from T2. I freaking love the mug it came with, because it's such a great colour and size. I love both pumping pomegranate and strawberries and cream (they taste really good mixed together as well!). I was actually smelling Luminous Rose in store the other day and thinking how interesting it smelled, so I'm smitten I actually received it! This one is an Earl Grey base, with rose flowers in it as well. I cannot wait to drink these all up! 



J's parents very generously got me an e-reader which is really exciting! I was always kind of hesitant to join the e-reader revolution but me oh my I am now wondering why I didn't do it earlier. I've been using it the past couple of days and cannot get over how much I love it and how excited it gets me to be reading (and considering I'm already always excited for a new book, that is seriously something!) 


And last but not least, a new bag from kikki.K, from J. I absolutely love this! It's premium leather, has space for my laptop and lots of compartments inside to keep everything organised. It also has a key hook which is amazing; I'm always losing my keys in my bag. I'm thinking I will do an updated 'What's in my bag post' early next year. 

I am so, so happy with everything I received this year. I feel like my family and friends know me so well to be able to get me gifts that I really, really love. I hope they equally love the gifts that I got them.

What did you get for Christmas this year? Feel free to leave your link in the comments below if you've written up a post - Like I said, I love reading these!

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