10 Things about Me @ Sunday, September 30, 2012



1. Studying Events in Melbourne. From California, yes I do have an accent.
2. My first job was as a English/Maths middle school tutor, which I liked.
3. Often as social as Rapunzel in her tower, not a party person.
4. Love the camera (as a photographer) but not so much as a model.
5. Don’t like concerts, reality tv, parties – unless it’s a dinner party or ball.
6. Loves musical theatre, orchestras, dinner parties and big dresses.
7. I play piano & violin and sing – but never around people, I think I’m a little shy.
8. Secretly loves to cook, but never done it out of the classroom.
9. Used to want to be an elementary school art teacher, love art & craft.
10. Prefers lists and dot points over paragraphs





1. Wardrobe Styling & Interior Designs
2. Shopping – anything but Shoes
3. Professional Level Procrastinator
4. Art & Craft – no drawing though
5. Writing – Short Stories & Blogging
6. Musical Theatre & Costuming
7. Product Photography
8. Ballroom Dancing
9. Reading - mainly fiction





1. OCD Perfectionist & Highly Organized – I love iheartorganizing
2. Creative – except when it comes to drawing
3. Analysist - sometimes I tend to over-analyze
4. ISFJ & Capricorn
5. Eccentric - Ashley
6. Old Soul – my podiatrist
7. Curious & Caring – Hector
8. One Snobby Obnoxious R. B***h – most people my age and younger





- At the Beginning - Anastasia (by FOX)
- Bittersweet Symphony (Instrumental) - The Verve
- Your Song - Ewan McGregor
- Blood+ Grand Theme
- Tudors Theme - BBC
- Go the Distance - Michael Bolton
- You're Beautiful - Kenny G

*Not in any particular order*




1. Limited Edition/Special Barbie Dolls
2. Books – both fiction and not
3. Pictures of Pretty Things (10k so far)
4. Vintage Polly Pocket
5. Special Coins - limited editions and foreign
6. Cool Erasers





- Anything cookies ‘n’ cream
- Crème Caramel/Burlee
- Vietnamese Food
- Macarons
- Pizza





- Be who you are, say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Seuss
- If you are at a loss what to wear, try a fitted jacket and a straight skirt. It's nearly foolproof. - Betty Halbreich
- Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. - George Bernard Shaw
- In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different. - Coco Chanel





Rules: can’t a. wish for more wishes b. bring back the dead c. make anyone fall in love
1. Unlimited Riches/Optimal Health for All 
2. End Poverty
3. Saving the last one for a rainy day ;)





White Chicks – most watched DVD
Sweeney Todd





Scandalicious :P




Something's not the same... @ Sunday, September 30, 2012

I'm not sure why, but lately, for the past few week I haven't been into blogging/taking pictures as much as usual. Feeling a bit flat too, I think it's the amount of work, stresses from work due, maths fail and upcoming exams that's having this effect on me.

Two Weeks Ago...
About two weeks ago Emily & I went shopping, we bought jam. Blueberry for her, strawberry for me.
Disappointed to say the strawberry is nothing special, like average. I prefer St Dalfour.


For lunch I went for sushi, while she picked a dish I can't recall at Hanaichi, an interesting concept.
Hanaichi offers 5 different dishes, all at the same price in two sizes. *adds to wishlist*


Results of a Sunday spent procrastinating instead of studying.
C&E. Two gifts from Kikki K. Setting powder from Cosmetics Fragrance Direct.
I'll do a review on it, right after I take a picture and use it a few more times.


Last Week


Monday, I read about 'English (Pirate)' language setting on facebook, in the newspaper. XD


I don't quite understand it though, unlike jas.


I found the cake base.
Somehow it's going to be the cake topper (we're having a round cupcake tower with a cake to cut on top). The design I love, it's the one, found it on my fb feed unexpectedly, I've seen hundreds, possible a thousand cakes, but this is the one. I'd change the colour though, the petals would be red, not sure about the base. Maybe add glitter and a figurine of us on top. The texture of the cake, the fondant, would be pillow like, criss-cross, lattice.


Bought myself some roses, before class, so photo-wise they weren't so great.
Last Friday I finally met my maths project partner (he's in another class, we met online), he's Irish. 
Relevance to the flowers? I bought the flowers on the same day.




Blogger forced me to update to their new design. It's a lot whiter. But the main difference to me, in terms of function is that crtl+s doesn't save the post I'm working on, and the save button is at the top of the page, and not bottom.

This Week

My ninja cookie cutters arrived! Looking forwards to using them in a few weeks.
Bought from ebay for $2, RRP $15, by Fred.


Emma, Beiste and Quinn are missing. Four new characters.

Glee is back :) online that is. I love Kate Hudson's Americano/Dance Again mash-up. Link. I'm a waltzer, but do sometimes do something different. Fast, frisky and passionate. Perhaps the tango with Austin. I don't mind if he reads this - just as long as it's after he's marked our project. :P  

This week I don't have classes, got two interview for Christmas Casual jobs. One was as a mall elf, I thought it went well, or at least alright, that feeling that you passed it on the day. Got a rejection email the next day. Guessing the other girls interviewed after me were more outgoing and bubbly - I'm only like that when drunk or high. Edit: I failed because compared to the other girls I had no experience.


Foundations, I'm trying out Clinque Matte & YSL's new Le Teint Touche Eclat.
I'm also testing a tinted primer by Laura Mercier.



Went to a workshop on procrastination, slightly surprised anyone came XD. Made a friend, which is quite difficult for me. We shall call him Marco, because he has a ferret. Anyone make the connection? :P Doubt anyone will, but it's all a part of the name game. Marco was in the army and he has no fear of heights, as a commando. I'm freaked out by heights to the point where I can't drive up and down hills, and CA is made up of them. He's studying business too :) I do think he's the only guy I've seen wearing earrings in both ears. He seems very nice.

Tuesday Night we went to see a double bill, refer to 'Foreplay in the Basement'. :P




On Thursday I had a group interview for "Forever 30", a fashion retail that recently revamped it's image (before it was an upper version of Millers) glad that I wasn't the only person who wore a suit :P One other lady wore one too, the rest were teenage-ish/college girls. Once again I failed to be bubbly, talkative. And most of the girls were quite dominating when it came to group questions. The structure was talk to the person next to you, introduce them to the room, sell an outfit you're given as a group, and then one-on-one/group questions. There's a lot of questions on teamwork, I was asked the advantages, which didn't go so well, as it isn't sport and I don't see the puzzle pieces fitting.

Afterwards I met up with Emily for a late lunch at La Porchetta in South Yarra. Emily had spaghetti while I had a "snack" really I did intend on it being a snack, but I didn't realize that the bowl of wedges would be huge, and for $7 you pay what you get. The main point of our afternoon was to visit Lux Bite, with my DSLR, which is rare as it rarely leaves my studio. But we were driving so I could bring it along, it takes amazing photos, but for everyday pictures, I prefer to take my mini as it's pocket size.

If you order pasta it comes with bread & butter, I love them, dense but soft.


What $7 of wedges looks like at La Porcheta... It's bigger than it looks, a snack for two.
Emily had spaghetti - it wasn't picture perfect, plate wasn't 'cleaned-up' and there was no green garnish, hence no close up.

Since Lux Bite is stunning, it deserves its own post. :P After a late lunch Emily unfortunately wasn't up for dessert. I didn't realized they had a caramel slice and had already chosen 'Endless Love' before we got there. Their desserts are almost $10 each, quite pricey, perhaps a once in a while treat. I loved endless love, it tastes as amazing as it sounds. The raspberries are fresh, the cream is amazing, and there's a canned lychee, but then again they hard to find in winter.


Endless Love
Lychee Ganache - Rose Cream -  Lychee & Raspberry



I have therapy on Fridays and sometimes like to stop by Ferguson Plarre.
If you sign up for their newsletter they often have specials, this fortnight's was $1 party pies.
They're 100% beef, no pork, and quite filling too.



Mother's friend has come to stay in our guest room for a week or two to renovate her place, she bought gifts.
Lucky guess, she bought C&E's Evelyn Rose, which I love, it's my favourite C&E scent. My brother got the blue set, Himalayan, which smells like green tea and something else. 


My sister got the red rose purse, which has a short strap and long one, to wear cross-body. 


This week I re-discovered that I love like to cook, I made Breakfast Burritos (sausage, hashbrown, scrambled eggs) which involved learning how to cook sausages and the eggs (hashbrown baked in the oven), made a week's worth of that, and now I feel a bit sick from the very processed food. Never making that again, I discovered I don't like hashbrowns that much. Other than the burritos I also made pancakes (now in the freezer) with banana and honey, chocolate truffles, which turned out wrong (too flat, I didn't have the tin), and blueberry friands. In making truffles I spent an hour chopping chocolate, it wasn't almost quite as tedious as I thought. The friands are amazing! And very easy to make, note that you need to melt the butter before you chuck it in. Going to have a recipe post for the blueberry friands.


Not sure if that was with natural lighting or not...

I started this post about a week ago, and as I'm still working on it I haven't published it yet. Still a bit down about computer issues (pictures = lag/freeze) going to get it checked out, right click to copy/paste/rename has died. Fortunately there's nothing wrong with the cameras. I wish there was a DSLR made as a mini I could take everywhere. Going to LuxBite with it has helped me get my "mojo" back, I love taking pictures.


Foreplay in the Basement @ Thursday, September 27, 2012

Reference to title, I'd rather not. Basements are unhygienic, places crawling with rats, and the lighting isn't particularly good for photography. But nevertheless we went to the basement for foreplay. Under the UniLodge building next to the Royal Dental Hospital, around the corner is a small path lending to a shed like shelter over stairs, ivy growing on the walls, follow the stairs and you'll get to the basement. It's not a place you could easily find, one of those places that you need to know where it is to find it. There are no signs suggesting what's in the basement. Google maps will direct you to UniLodge, and you'll think it's wrong, but it's not. You just need to know to go around the side. ;)

It's not a brothel, if that's what you're thinking. Foreplay at Good Time Studios. A coincidence really, the studio is a performance space, they do put on other plays, this one just just happened to be called 'Foreplay'. XD It's about a group of people talking about the sex industry (which I do believe is legal) prompted by a "scandal" of a councilman being seen/caught with his working girl.

The Cast

My favourite line was between the waitress and actor, about speed dating being about seeing how many people
he could alienate in an hour XD sounds like me.

It was very good, the set design was very interesting, most of the space was set up a cafe with the audience sitting around small tables, and there was an area set up like a waiting area at the doctor's, two rows of seats with a table with magazines, and then there's two corners set up as a simple office. The play took place around the space, at two cafes, two offices, the waiting room and a space in the middle. Not sure why the bed's there, but it isn't used. Another than in the end scene where the characters go psycho mode, screaming, running around and trashing the room. I like their use of space. And the lighting, the lighting design was done by a girl who went to our college, she's an amazing actor. There was a spotlight on the area where the scene played out, while the rest of the room was dim/in blackness.

The Space

As it was a double bill (two plays, one night, one space/stage) we also saw 'Behind the Bow' which was interesting. With music I hear the music and not often the words, hence subtitles are always on. Didn't really get it, but it was something about a girl who wanted to be famous and a bow that talks. Lucy, the main character is a very good singer and every note was in tune. :P Though I thought it was a bit random.



La Source Foot Smoother & Therapy




Perhaps that's not the best intro I could have done, but it does have the word 'feet' in it :P I think feet tend to be the most neglected part, when it comes to creams, lotions, exfoliating and moisturizing. How often do you use foot cream? I rare use it, even though it's on my nightstand. But I do use handcream before bed, and that has a different scent, and it's wrong to mix them. Fragrance free would be great, but C&E doesn't do that. It's a lux brand, and they aren't going to market to anything hyper-sensitive anytime soon. 

My latest feet product purchase was Crabtree & Evelyn's Foot Smoother & Extreme Foot Therapy from their La Source range, described as 'spa-scented', that's marketed to both females and males. This range is suitable to buy for the guy in your life, even for the guy that believes it's a threat to his masculinity. Fortunately my guy, le beau isn't that type of guy and would use moisturizers in tubes, as long as he doesn't have to carry it around with him. 


Onto the review: La Source Foot Smoother

Renew dry, rough feet with our revitalising Foot Smoother - a blend of fine pumice, shea butter, peppermint oil and marine extracts. Leaves feet smooth, soft and supple.

So what exactly is it? It's an exfoliator for your feet, think of a pumic stone, but mixed in with a cream. Not as affective, but much it feels much nicer, it's also scent which could be a plus/minus. For me as it's on my feet it doesn't really matter that I don't love the scent. The SA recommends using it weekly, as it could get messy I like to use it before I shower. Do note that it's not as affective if your feet are wet. It does make you feet nice, as a lux item, but isn't really an essential. If you have scary (cracked dry) feet it's better to use Eulactol Heel Balm as a treatment first. The bottom line: If you need a foot exfoliator that isn't as  scary as practically shaving skin off your heels this is the one. And it's current on sale, as C&E are re-doing the tube. 

La Source Extreme Foot Therapy

Experience Wonderfully Soft Feet With Our Moisturising Foot Remedy, Featuring A Blend Of Shea Butter, Sweet Almond Oil, And Jojoba Esters.   Enriched With Marine Extracts And Tocotrienol, A Potent Form Of Vitamin E.

The next step is to pat your feet dry and moisturize, going with La Source theme. C&E's foot cream is a similar consistency to their handcream, though perhaps a tiny bit more liquidy, and like their handcreams it also dries fast, and therefore is idea to use at your desk. It's a nice product, though initially did nothing, but after a fortnight or so of daily usage my feet did feel softer and more moisturizing. Recommended but you could do better, the best foot creme I've used is the Burt's Bees one, which is very thick and you'll need bed socks. 

For more pictures of the foot smoother and therapy, click here.       

Prices
We bought their 'Extreme Foot Therapy', from the C&E outlet for $13, on sale as they're discounting it, and creating a new version, and marketing that as the 'Ultra Moisturizing Foot Remedy'. Their foot smoother was $10 on sale (normally $20), available online, but not at all their stores. So basically we bought their feet kit for $23, which is normally $42. They also have the travel/KK gift size for $12, haven't seen it in their retail stores, but did see it at their outlet for $8.  


Skincare and Age @ Sunday, September 23, 2012

Recently since I've realized that I'm expected to wear make-up, heels and carry a handbag and not a bag, I've been feeling, well old. Older than usual, and Austin's presence makes me feel a little insecure about the way I look - and no one does that. He doesn't say anything or look at me funny, I can't explain it.  Any at some point it occurred to me perhaps I do need to use eyecream. I don't think I have baggy puffy eyes, shadows or crows feet, and as my skin is still recovering from my last skincare trial of a certain sunscreen, and so I won't be trying anything new for a while.

Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion/Gel

My doctor (who's a guy, knows almost nothing about skincare and loves sorbolene) will be happy to know that I have re-found my HG Moisturizer (and won't be "experimenting" with other lotions/creams), I say refound because I was hesitant in purchasing it in Australia as it's $75 for a 125ml/4.2oz bottle (that's as big as they get), while at Sephora's it's only $36 for 200ml/6.7oz bottle. Yes I have realized that Australia is expensive (though not as expensive as Europe) because of import taxes and lack of fresh berries you could buy boxes of - boxes, not puny punnets. And so if we have friends visiting/traveling to/from the USA I always ask them to get me something. On of the items of my list is Clinque's bestselling moisturizer, it's the best one I've tried, and I've tried a lot. This is the one. As my skin has multiple personalities I've ordered both the lotion and gel, as one's for dry skin (lotion) and the other for oily skin (the gel). If you happen to go past Myer or David Jones do ask for a sample, here's the voucher.


Olay Regenerist Anti-Aging Eye Roller

A question the lovely lady at YSL (DJ, Friday night) gets asked a lot is "At what age should we start using eyecream?" and her reply was in your late teens/20s, or asap if you're over that age. I don't use eye cream daily, as the one I was using doesn't do anything - or at least anything as far as I can tell. Looked up some reviews, and it seems the majority of users agree. Though the results for each person varies, what might overall be great you might be allergic to. My first eye cream was Olay Regenerist's Anti-Aging Eye Roller, which I received in a competition. As there are many products for every purpose it's hard to know what to choose, but as we have a friend going to the USA, I've asked her to get me a bunch of stuff from Clinque including their 'All About Eyes', and it's only $50 for 30ml, here it's $60 for 15ml. Looking forwards to reviewing it in a month or so. What eye cream do you use?


Current Status: Treading Water @ Thursday, September 20, 2012


Treading water, still on the verge of drowning in work though, with two projects due within the next few weeks and two presentations we haven't even looked at, and at least 16hrs of lectures to watch. And that's just work for college. Outside of homework and projects and getting sick again I have a few appointments, upcoming job interviews that need to be prepared for, events in Oct and gift baskets due at the end of Oct. And on top of that, the icing to the stress cake is exams, yes I know that they're 71 days away, two months and a bit. But I don't think I can remember everything! And the fact that there's one every day for a week isn't helping. Going to try to get one a week instead of the exam cram, but don't think I can.


DIY Honey Scrub @ Wednesday, September 19, 2012



Ingredients
- Table Salt (fine)
- Honey
- Manuka Honey
- Brown Sugar


Materials
- Container preferable with a lid
- Measuring Cups
- Tsp/tbl Spoon


Method
1. Place 3 tsp of sugar in the container
2. Add 3/4-1cup salt, 5tbs honey and 2tbs manuka honey
3. Mix to form a paste


Tips
- Warm up scrub by rubbing it in your hands before use.
- Store in the fridge for up to a fortnight.


Living in a Daydream @ Monday, September 17, 2012

The clop clopping noise that the horseshoes makes on the cemented streets on their tours around the city are heard echoing down the hall, and around the corner comes an elephant on skates. A slight to behold on a Monday afternoon in a city office building.

It's one of those rare, fevered days, the days that make you feel like you're dreaming, and yet awake. But not in a lucid dreaming sense, you are awake, but you feel as though it's a dream. One that you can't wake up from - unless you trot across the street for a cup of Starbucks.

Perhaps it's the heat, you know those strange rooms that are always hot, usually it's one of the science rooms, or a computer room that isn't in the basement. Perhaps not. It's always hot in here.

Or perhaps it's the heels, not even two inches, but wearing shoes with chopstick sized heels added with the temperature, high levels of stress and isolation (Austin aka mr little it, is the only person I've spoken to today, and I didn't want to talk to him) could make one feel like daydreaming. And yet it's not a daydream. I feel inspired to write, not the best moment with a major accounting project due in two days.

I know I'm not asleep, but awake, though perhaps I feel a little delusional. It's not really a dream, but I feel like it is, even though I haven't tried to fly (and for to the psychological health of others will not try to) and no one has tried to kill me - yet. Managed to do some stuff on access (with lots of help as always) though I think I'm slower than normal, which is pretty slow. On the way here I crossed the street and went up and down stairs, didn't trip or fall, though I do feel a bit wobbly with the chopstick heels. I sound like a horse and feel like an elephant on skates.




Avoiding Work it Seems @ Monday, September 17, 2012

As I'm once again behind on posts, I don't really remember much of last week, other than being extra insecure and asking lots of Qs on Monday. Tuesday was out, like most weeks. Missed maths, both sessions on Wednesday and was late and didn't go to sus ops on Thursday. But I did finish my part of the sus ops project at 4am, and do all I could (till I ask for help) for the maths project. We also met and planned for the IT project, about 6-7 books were scanned.

Thursday

We went to a Priceline event, make-up demo, Emma was very interested, I thought it was meh. the fact of the life are slowly setting in for me, the fact that yes you do have to wear make-up every single day, wear heels that hurt and carry a bag that will give you back/neck/shoulder problems. How come guys can wear no make-up, flat shoes and carry bags?!

The entire point of the event - to me, was showbags! Emma corrects me, pointing out that unless we are at the musical and we get bags of stuff that's related to the show/event, then it's called a showbag. Otherwise it's known as a "goodie-bag", which sounds wrong to me, if anyone else is getting the 'Fun with Dick & Jane' reference. Those who came early got them for free, for those who came late they were sold for $5 each, one per person, though I did see some asians try to get more than one. XD 

It came with the Sept issue of Cleo.
Number of reads-worthy articles: one, on art&craft.

Price tag-able items.
The woman running the event said the bags are worth $100+. Me: O.o 

Nude by Nature - Tinted Moisturiser 50ml 25.00
Rimmel Lasting Finish Lemon Drop 6.00
Schick Hydro Silk 7.50
Manicare Glamnails Nail Art Pen 10.00
Manicare Disposable Mascara Wands 5.00
Models Prefer Kohl Pencil 9.00
Ardell Lash Starter Kit 105 13.00
Kiss - Everlasting French Nails 13.00

Total: 88.50

I do believe the bag is worth $100-ish. Never really knew how much make-up really costs, not being a consumer of it. Adding it all up how much do you think your current make-up product cost? I personally only use eye cream, moisturizer and a lot of lip balm at the moment. The eye cream I got from a promo (free), lip balms worth about $20 (the ones that live in my bag, pocket, drawer, bathroom, nightstand), and the moisturizer is currently a trial, though I have ordered the full sized one, as an import from the USA.


All things sampled sized.
Swisse makes a hand cream O.o

Group shot. Places everyone!

Thursday Dinner - Mad Mex
 Love their burritos, they're very healthy (minus the wrap) and filling.

On the train home an old lady sitting
opposite me was reading the bible and
muttering to herself. The teenage girl
beside her was reading 50 shades of
grey. XD

Friday

On Friday I got up early for an appointment, got back around 10am and crashed. Woke up at 2pm, running late. Met Freud for afternoon tea drinks and pancakes, in his side of town. Afterward much to his dislike we went shopping, and I found an amazing dress. Needless to say not much work was done - but I did send in a project before 9am the next morning.


Freud's Short Stack
- $0.00 -

Vienna Hot Chocolate 6.00

I love cream! But this hot chocolate isn't as good as the one my coffee machines makes, and the cream is straight from a can. Above homemade (w/o the machine) but below *enter name of cafe here.* Need to visit Walkers again sometime, I've forgotten what their hot chocs taste like.  Where do you go for hot chocolate? Other than Lindt/Koko.

Freud is an analyst, but unlike me with my analysis of thoughts and life in general, he specialises in people, studying psych to be a psychologist. He says I inspire him to spend, which is a big no no, as he's a scrooge, one of the worst, fine as a friend in college, but definitely not someone I'd want to share a house with. I don't understand why he's like that, he doesn't come from a disadvantaged background or anything. He says I'm a big spending, I consulted Jas who disagrees. Though a 3rd opinion, Fernando who never levels the house hence does not spend says "your frequency out weighs your smart buying purchases".


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