Box of Goodies!

A few weeks ago I ordered a whole bunch of stuff from Cotton On Group, they have several different retail stores which each focus on a different part of their range, but if you order online, everything gets sent together, which is an awesome way to save a bit of money on postage, especially when they do free shipping for orders over $50! They had 30% off all of their Typo range, so I bought a few canvas prints I've had my eye on, and they had 3 pairs of shoes for $10!!!! I bought a few pairs for myself and a couple for my oldest daughter who can now fit into grown up shoes.

I was so excited to get my order, the box was huge and full of goodies for MEEEEEEE (I have my Smeagol moments from time to time). I'd had a really long day and by the time I got home and opened it up, I was feeling ultra lazy, and as a result I really didn't get the best pictures of my haul, but its enough to give you an idea of the overall purchase hopefully!

Yes, there are duplicates of a couple of pairs of shoes, one in my size and one in my daughter's. She didn't know what shoes I was buying myself when she chose hers. What can I say, she must have great taste lol. The mint green poncho I bought for me but its rather tiny, so she ended up scoring that as well, and she loves it. She's been wearing it every night to lounge around the house before bed. I've yet to put my canvas prints on the wall. I'm still not 100% certain I'm going to keep my room layout as it is, and I'd like to be sure before I go hanging more pictures so I don't have to move them in 2 weeks time when I change my mind. I'm really eager to get them up though. I'll be sure and share pictures when that happens!

Time Flies

Where has the week gone??? Seriously, I can't believe its Thursday already. I've been keeping busy organising the house and a few other activities that seem to have made the week just disappear on me!

Yesterday I went on a tour of the CDU library as well as the NT Archives. They were arranged as part of a particular unit of the Cert III course I was doing last year, but I asked if I could tag along for interest's sake and my lecturer was happy for me to join in. I've visited the CDU library many times, but it was still interesting to have a guide to explain more about the library's inner workings. I also found out they take on casual workers as shelvers quite often, so that might be a foot in the door of the library industry for me! It was my first time visiting the Archives, in fact I didn't even know they existed until I began the course last year! It was super informative and a really great opportunity for me to find out more about another potential career path once my studies are finished. To be perfectly honest, I don't think a job like that is for me, they do amazing work and certain aspects of it are absolutely fascinating. But I don't think I possess the required patience to pore over paperwork for hours on end, especially when its a completely uninteresting topic like financial documents or something!

I really wanted to wear my Ikebana skirt from Modcloth (aka my favourite skirt ever), but I wanted to wear it with a different top than usual just to mix things up a bit. I had the hardest time trying to decide what to wear it with. I didn't really have any other tops that matched but thought I'd try layering it over a dress for something different.

Some combinations I was considering

I ended up going with the outfit on the top right, which is actually one way I imagined I'd wear the skirt when I first got it. I wasn't 100% happy with it for some reason. I can't quite put my finger on why. I think maybe the colour or style of the dress just doesn't feel delicate enough to go with the skirt. I wanted to wear my super long string of pearls, but it just wasn't working for me, so I changed to my trusty gold chain combo and felt a little more put together.

I don't know, I'm still kind of 'meh' on the outfit. I may give it another chance sometime and see how I feel about it then. It wasn't terrible, just not quite what I hoped it would be.

Hope everyone is well!

Too Tired for Titles!

I feel exhausted today! It's 6:30 pm and I'm feeling quite ready for bed. I honestly can't wait until I can go to sleep.

I've spent the past week (almost) unpacking, shifting and organising a whole big pile of my junk that has finally been sent up from NSW. I kind of didn't intend to stay here long term so I left loads of my stuff down there when I came up, but recently I finally bit the bullet and decided to bring it all up here and begin the tedious process of sorting it all out. A vast majority of the stuff is stowed away in a nearby self-storage facility and I've been steadily working my way through it, but some of the things I've found have made their way here, and as a result my house is a mess! A real proper mess. There are books and clothes and sheets and toys everywhere I look. I can't cope with clutter, it drives me batty, so my top priority is trying to find places for everything. I'm fighting an uphill battle I'm afraid and some tough decisions must be made as to what stays and what goes. Traditionally I've been quite the hoarder but I'm trying very hard to let things go, so wish me luck with that!

Today I had to do some shopping and take Ava to the vet to be desexed, microchipped and vaccinated. Everything went swimmingly though I brought her home and she immediately started chewing on the stitches! I had to take her right back to the vet to be fitted for a cone of shame and make sure she hadn't done any damage. She's quite unimpressed with the cone, but she's eating and drinking and playing and seems in good sorts.

I wore my blue spotty dress with a red belt and cardigan because it seemed like a bright colours sort of day. You may have seen it here before styled a little more neutrally.

Sorry the pic is blurry! It was a blurry picture sort of day too I suppose. My camera was having a little tantrum and wouldn't play nicely.

Twirly Dress Tuesday

Because, you know, everybody loves a little alliteration.

This is another from the last Modcloth order I received. I've worn it several times but haven't gotten around to photographing it. As with all my Hell Bunny dresses, its lovely to wear, and I do love a dress with pockets!

I'm so extremely tired today. I think I need an afternoon coffee before the kids get home from school else there may be bloodshed!  I'm trying to avoid napping because that will mean I stay up all night and I really need to try and normalize my sleep schedule. I'm always terrible during holidays, it only takes me a few days before I'm going to bed at 5 or 6am and waking up at midday! Once classes start again my sleep will be sorted out, but I'd rather become diurnal again beforehand so I don't have to sit through classes half asleep.

I spent some time yesterday making a floor plan of my bedroom with separate bits of paper for each of my pieces of furniture. I was trying to work out the best layout to maximize space. With my Mo Bird coming back to me I need to find somewhere to put his cage, and my bedroom is rather small. It took some shuffling but I think I've worked out the best way to put everything. I'm in no desperate rush to move things yet though. His cage should be here in about two and a half weeks, so I'll worry about it a little closer to then. I'm looking forward to it though. Along with his cage will be coming all of my other stuff I left in NSW when I came up here. Sorting it out is going to be a MASSIVE job, but I'll be glad to have a proper bed and more shelves and storage stuff for the house!

Bye Bye Baby!

So today is a happy day, but also a sad one. My baby sister is moving interstate to start university. I'm really happy for her and I'm sure she'll love her new city, but I'll also miss her terribly!

To farewell our darling girl, we went out for a family dinner together, our parents, my kiddies and our two other sisters. We went to a lovely little Thai restaurant I'd never even heard of in the city. It was all outdoor seating on a large covered balcony, fortunately the night wasn't very hot and was quite windy so we got a good breeze to keep us cool. The seating arrangement was on cushions around a low table, which was actually really comfortable and the atmosphere was very cozy and intimate despite being a fairly busy night.

Everything felt normal, like any other dinner together, until it came time to say goodbye. Its strange saying goodbye to her and not knowing when I'll see her next, knowing she's not going to live nearby anymore and I won't have infinite chances to spend time with her now. And I'll be honest, I've done my share of crying tonight!

It was a lovely night though and I'm so happy we all got to spend it together.

Dawn

I'm really NOT a morning person... at all. Getting me to wake up early is akin to drawing blood from a stone, except with more grumpiness. However every now and then I end up neglecting sleep entirely and staying up all night. I kind of love those nights because when morning comes I can actually appreciate the sights and sounds that make it such a cool time of day. This morning I happened to be in my living room reading when the sun started creeping up over the horizon. I had quite a nice view toward the sunrise from my balcony, and decided to take a few photos of it as well as the birds that were hanging around nearby and the general outlook over the neighbourhood. My suburb is brand new and still developing so there's a lot of empty lots and open space, also a lot of mud and construction equipment, but I think its beautiful all the same.

I'm not sure what kind of bird that is in the top right, some kind of kingfisher or something? There are loads of corellas that hang about but they were all either slightly too far away or moved too much, and some rainbow lorikeets which were far too quick, so I didn't get any good pictures of them unfortunately. Maybe some other day!

Hell Bunny!

I'm now onto book five of the Song of Ice and Fire series. I'm finally past what I've seen in the tv show for most of the characters, the only thing I can think of which hasn't been covered in the books so far is Theon's abduction, so maybe I'm going to read about that soon, or maybe its one of those things subject to artistic liberty in the tv series. I'm sure I'll find out! Its taken me three weeks to get this far so I'm a little worried about being able to complete the series before classes start in February, but I'll keep going and hope for lazy days in for the remainder of my holiday!

I haven't been going out much lately, budgetary restrictions keep me from doing much recreationally and school hasn't started back yet so I don't have classes to drag me out of the house. I did have a bit of a girls night in last night though. My best friend came over and my son was out with his dad so only my daughters were here. We watched As Told by Ginger, played a bit of Taboo and ate lots of snacks. It was a nice night, should do that sort of thing more often!

I've been loving my new dresses. They're all Hell Bunny, which is just such a great brand. They're not exactly cheap but the quality and design is worth it. If I could I'd buy 100 of their dresses and skirts without hesitation. They're definitely one of my favourite brands ever. Yesterday I wore their Leona dress which I absolutely adore. Its just gorgeous, like all their dresses, the print is beautiful, the skirt is full and voluminous and the fit is amazing. Their sizes go from XS to 4XL so they cater to a wide range of body types. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before that I can't find a website for them, but they do have a Facebook page where you can check out their most recent lines, and a google search is sure to bring up retailers that service your area if you'd like to own some of their clothing.

 

Peaches and Cream

I had a family birthday dinner to attend and I was dying to wear my new skirt. Its soooooooooooo (infinity) beautiful. The fabric feels gorgeous and silky and has just the right weight to it where it flutters in the breeze but won't blow away completely, and its such pretty colours. I wish I could buy 20 copies of it for when this one eventually wears out or gets damaged. My outfit made me think of peaches and cream and I felt equally delicate and delicious :D

So one of my favourite models Tess Munster (blog here and facebook page here) will be coming to Australia and doing makeup classes in Sydney and Melbourne. CURSE LIVING IN DARWIN!!! I'd have loved the chance to meet her. Nothing exciting ever happens here, its too far out of the way so whenever bands or plays or shows of whatever kind are touring they rarely come here. One day I'll get out of this damn town lol.

Baaaaaaaaack

Merry christmas! Happy new year! All that holiday nonsense! Yes, yes, I know I'm late. How was everyone's holiday season? Hope you all had a good time with friends and family wherever you are.

I've been busy moving house. I'm much happier here. The house is brand new and just feels so fresh and full opportunity.  I love my new room. It's small but I was able to get some new furniture and get some of my stuff out of storage to make it pretty. You may have noticed I'm a biiiiiiiit of a girly girl, but I'm also an overgrown child so I have stuffed toys and ponies and all the pretties that were in storage while I was living at the old place. It's very bright and airy, even at night, and I'm loving being in ultra-super-girl-mode.

I also FINALLY got my latest order from Modcloth. I ordered it back in November and it took aaaaaages getting here. I'm super happy with it though, my favourite order to date I'd say! I just picked them up yesterday afternoon and I can't wait to wear them. Everything fits really well and feels so nice on. I LOVE THEM ALL!!! The big question is: which do I wear first?! :)

So I hope everyone has had a great holiday period and that everyone is doing well now that the season's craziness is dying down. I've been super busy but now that the move is sorted out I can relax and enjoy the remainder of my holiday before going back to school in February. I'm looking forward to classes starting again, but at the same time I'm quite enjoying reading all night and sleeping half the day at the moment!

My favourite gift I received for christmas was a box set of the Song of Ice and Fire books. I've wanted to read them since I saw the first season of Game of Thrones but I never got around to buying myself the books and had loads of others to keep me occupied anyway. But now that I have them I'm addicted. I haven't had time to read them until last week, but I'm almost finished the second book and will probably be starting the third later today. I found the first book to be pretty faithful to the series as per my memory, but I feel like the second book has exercised a little more artistic liberty, although its possible I'm mis-remembering the series. I plan on watching it again though to refresh my memory. I'm looking forward to getting to the fourth book and beyond, I'm desperate to know what happens to some of the characters, although I'm equally terrified because these books do have a certain reputation! I'm sure everyone I'm most interested in will wind up dead far sooner than I'd like lol!

Hope everyone is well!

Rain, Libraries and Dinners Out

We had some wild weather here yesterday. A storm this time of year is not news, but this one brought sudden heavy wind and even hail in some suburbs which is very uncommon! There's a lot of bushland in my neighbourhood and today on my way out to dinner I saw loads of branches and even whole trees which had been brought down in yesterday's gale. A tree fell in the backyard of my friend's neighbour, fortunately the tree missed her yard, though their other neighbour was not so lucky and the falling tree destroyed their shed.

Yesterday I had my second day of work experience at the school library. It didn't feel quite as busy as last week, probably because I was focused on two main tasks for most of the day rather than skipping around as I was the previous week. I managed to finish compiling the list of books assigned a lexile number and I also finished checking the catalogue entries for a certain area of the library, making sure everything was accurate and up to date. The librarian suggested I organise an activity for the pre-schoolers to do during their library lessons, which is really exciting for me, but also a huge challenge as the kids are very young and I'm just not sure what I can do to for them which will be interesting and engaging but also quick and easy. I've got my thinking cap on for that one!

I went out to dinner tonight and had a really nice time. I ate a huge steak and enjoyed every bite. I was very tempted to get some dessert, but I had such a big dinner that I felt it would probably be overkill. I really hate having to think so much about what I'm eating, but obviously not thinking about it and just eating whatever I wanted did me no favours! I've let myself get to an unhealthy state, and I do feel good for being more conscientious, but when I go out for dinner I do sometimes wish I could just forget about being good! I decided to wear a dress tonight that I haven't worn in probably a couple of months. I don't even really know why I haven't worn it, probably just because I don't like the slip that I have to wear underneath, the dress is too sheer to go without one.

Happy Halloween!

I love halloween, but I really haven't had the time or money to plan much this year. I didn't even bother with costumes really because the kids were going to a disco at a play centre so they need to be able to run around and have fun without worrying about spoiling costumes. So we just used things we already had at home and had a very simple halloween.

I spent the day at the library hammering out assignments, then after the kids finished school got them showered and changed and went over to my best friend's place for an hour or so because her mum wanted to see the kids. They ate cake and got hyped up on candy and cake, then we went to the disco. It was packed with kids and parents and was super noisy. I actually get kind of flustered in situations like that, but it ended up not being too bad once I sat down and got settled. I even won a silent auction they had going! I bid on a t-shirt with a pikachu dressed as batman. Its super cute! I'll be giving it to my son once I go pick it up, I hope he loves it as much as I do!

Last Dress from Modcloth

So this is the final dress from the little lot that I bought from Modcloth. This one is also from Mikarose and its lovely. The fabric is quite sheer and I need to wear a slip under it, but that's alright. The seafoam green overlay is sooooo soft and extremely floaty. It was meant to come with a little sash, but it was forgotten, but it goes fine with the belt from my other dress anyway, so its all good!

I spent the day at the library today again. AGAIN I got given more assignments when I thought I was done! So cue extension of busy beaver mode. Was really hoping to relax a bit this week, but alas! I did get another assignment completed today though, so at least I'm getting through them. Today my bestest buddy accompanied me to the library, so there was plenty of shenanigans in between bouts of productivity.

Top: Bored... draw orks!
Left: My bestie takes only the sexiest photos of me; Right: bathroom selfies ftw

This morning when I took my rollers out my fringe was doing a nice little barrel roll thing. Anytime I've intentionally tried to roll my fringe it has failed miserably, so I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth ad just went with it. I put two bobby pins underneath to hold it and sprayed it with a generous amount of hairspray. It stayed in for the most part, but I did feel very self-conscious about it and had the urge to fuss with it all day. But hey, my hair was willing to let me almost do a faux fringe (bangs, whatever you want to call them) so we'll call it a win.

I've also decided I no longer like my glasses! I got them probably almost 2 years ago and at the time I wanted the biggest frames I could get. Now I feel like these just don't suit my face at all and I need something smaller and more feminine. But glasses are so damn expensive, so I doubt it will be something I can do in the immediate future. We'll see how things go though.

New Camera!!!

For about a million years I've wanted a dslr but for one reason or another I never got one. I used to be big into photography back in high school, just before the world went digital. Its been a long time since I played around with an slr and I've never used a digital one so it will take some getting used to. I played around with it a  little after class today taking pictures around the house and in the yard. I can't wait to take it out and get some nice pictures.

I haven't edited these in any way other than to fit them to the square frame

Using the 'miniature' setting

Left: Auto setting, Right: Miniature setting

And what would it be without a selfie. I tweaked the colours on this one to make it all blue-tinged

Beach Birthday

Last night we went to a dinner for my best friend's dad's birthday. The restaurant was right on the waterfront and had really pretty views across the beach and out to all the little boats floating in the harbour. We arrived a little late for the picture perfect sunset, but I got some nice photos nonetheless.

It was all outdoors and fortunately the weather was quite nice. A little warmer than I'd like, but at least not HOT. It was a pretty enjoyable night, other than the fact I barely got to talk to my best friend. There were lots of people so we were split up into two tables and she was seated at the other one. Still, had a nice night taking in the view and the food.