School Struggles

I had a pretty wretched start to my week! I've been so looking forward to classes starting up on Tuesday. I've spent much of the uni break being a bit of a hermit and looking forward to being back with my friends and having a regular schedule and purpose each day. Then I found out on Monday that I can't do the diploma classes due to financial issues. I'd been expecting to be covered by HECS (which is like our Australian version of a government student loan type thing) based on the information I was given at the end of last year, only to find that my course isn't eligible! And because I didn't plan on studying elsewhere, I missed the application deadlines for all of the traditional universities so I was unable to enroll in a Bachelor degree through them. I spent the morning a bit of a mess searching online for options and making phone calls. I found a university that has the course I need and I can apply for mid-year acceptance, which I will be pursuing. In the meantime I've enrolled in Open Universities Australia to do a few units toward a Bachelor so that I'm not sitting idle for months. I already feel like I've lost my routine and discipline and its only been 8 weeks. Imagine me after 6 months! Being enrolled in an entirely external course with classmates I'll never see and lecturers I won't know isn't the same. I really enjoyed actually attending classes and had a great relationship with the people there, but at least I'm still working toward the goal! And I'm trying to see the positive side too, by going straight into a bachelor it will save me a bit of time off the total length of my education, and by studying externally it opens up my options in terms of where I live and work and all of those sorts of things. Hopefully this all turns out for the best, wish me luck!

In WAY SUPER DOOPER BETTER NEWS:

I have a kitty!!!!

Ava

She came to me as a foster kitty through a local rescue group. Honestly I had every intention of caring for her only until a permanent home could be found, but she was just far too sweet and I didn't want to let her go. Her name is Ava and she's so beautiful. She falls asleep with me at night and wakes up with me in the morning and entertains me with her crazy kitty antics throughout the day. Its lovely to have constant purry furry company and I'm so glad she's staying!

Weekend Rundown

Yesterday I went to a classmate's house for a study session. We have some pretty full on units this term and are on pretty tight time constraints with assignments so we thought it would be a good idea to get together and pool our research and ideas. Corinna, Sam and I spent the afternoon working on our study materials and then had dinner together and got stuck into a few bottles of wine while chatting about life. I had a really great time, I'm glad to have made some new friends, I don't tend to venture outside my comfort zone too often so I don't meet new people much. Its nice to be pleasantly surprised by awesome people when I am in a new and different situation.

I'm feeling pretty disheartened about the weight loss situation. I've lost weight every week so far but in smaller and smaller amounts. I feel like I have SO much weight to lose to get to a healthy range that losing less than a kilo a week makes me feel like I'll never get there. I have decided though that I'm going to change my weigh in day to the middle of the week. I've been doing it on Sunday and if I go out to eat or have drinks or whatever its almost always on a Saturday, so I feel like Sunday is the worst day to weigh myself because I haven't had a chance to recover from the previous night. So I think I'll do it on Wednesday from now on. I've been exercising and eating well so I feel like the lack of weight loss this week is mostly due to the eating out and drinking I did yesterday.

I got a package from Forever New the other day which contained a bag that I've wanted for ages! I didn't want to pay $70 for it though so I waited until it went on sale. The bag is nice and big and functional and obviously really cute! I've been trying to build up by bag collection so I always have a handbag to suit the occasion. Until recently I'd really only have one bag at a time, using it until it needed replacing. Now that I'm wearing more pastels and lighter colours I needed more than just one black bag. So I've been looking for a large and a small bag in a neutral colour as well as a large and small in black. I now have both my neutral bags covered (this one being the larger one) so I have to keep my eye out now for black ones! I also bought two little pairs of fingerless lace gloves which are ever so pretty and I look forward to having an appropriate occasion to which to wear them.

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.

Parrrr-tay!

It was my daughter's birthday last week, and we had the ritual family dinner last Saturday, but due to my total lack of organisation and time just getting away from me in the weeks leading up to her birthday I decided to postpone her party with her friends until the following weekend, which is NOW. I'm proud to say I survived her birthday. It was not nearly as stressful or nightmarish as I imagined it would be lol. Don't get me wrong, I love kids, I do, I just love them a lot less when they're running around screaming. But it was great. We hosted it at an indoor play centre and for the most part the kids were occupied with running and sliding and climbing and jumping and left the grown ups to do boring stuff like drink iced coffees and talk. A super pleasant day for all I think.

I didn't get many photos because my friend was taking a heap with her good camera, and the few I did take came out pretty poorly. SO glad to be getting a new camera tomorrow, I only wish I could have bought it before the party! Better late than never I suppose.

Playgrounds, Procrastination and Pottermore

Today I had an awesome day out with my kiddies. I woke up over an hour late and rushed to get everyone ready. We met up with my friend Paul and his three little ones and let them loose at a local play center. They ran around like crazy for a couple of hours and then we headed out to get lunch. We got fish and chips from a shop around the corner and had an impromptu picnic in the park across the road, which involved some more running and swinging and climbing before it was time to go. They had a great time and haven't shut up all afternoon/night about when we're going to do it again! I'm so glad the kids all get along. I knew they would, they're all so adorable, but seeing them all running around together having fun made me super happy.

This evening I'm trying to get some work done on an assignment. It has me tearing my hair out, I swear. I've been working on it for hours and seriously have nothing done. It sounded incredibly easy but its proving quite frustrating finding all the information I need. I'm really tired, last night was another night of little sleep, so I'm thinking I might just have to give up for today and try it again in the morning. I feel a little defeated and deflated, but hopefully I have more luck tomorrow.

I registered for Pottermore ages ago but at that stage there wasn't much going on there so I never used it and forgot my login details. A few days ago my friend said new features had been added and she'd been using it again, so I re-registered and have whittled away quite a few hours on there. Its fun and relaxing, and interesting! So on that note, I think its time for some Pottermore before bed.

Karaoke!!!

I really do love karaoke. We went again tonight and had loads of fun. There was a far-too-drunk young guy bothering everyone and making a fool of himself, but other than that the night was awesome. We used to go to karaoke every Wednesday as well, but we quit when the weather got too hot for sitting around outdoors, and just never got into the habit of going back when the weather cooled down again. So we're thinking we might start going again while temperature permits.

Just a short one tonight because I'm terribly tired and looking forward to sleep! I was really happy to get to wear one of my new outfits today, AND my magical Sportsgirl lipgloss that I bought the other day. Its the sparkliest thing in the world! It looks awesome over my Dragon lipstick. It doesn't show up as well as I'd like in photos, but in real life its just gorgeous. It has loads of glitter and lovely orange, gold and pink iridescent sheen. I'll take the time to get better photos of it sometime soon.

Clockwise from left: Shameless selfie; New shoes (love); Best pic I could get of the lipgloss;
Failed attempt at photographing my whole outfit

Colours and Compliments

Its such a nice feeling when strangers pay you a compliment, and even more when they actually want to take time to talk to you about it. I've been receiving a lot of compliments on my purple hair, and many people wanting to pull me aside and ask me if I do it myself and how its done. I tried getting some pictures of my hair in the sunlight, but we only get a tiny little patch of sun in our yard, so I was very restricted in where I could take photos from. I literally had to stand in one spot and not move to take all of these.

I'm loving red lipstick so much lately. I'm not sure if I've said it previously, but I was never brave enough to wear it before. I've tried wearing it a few times over the years and always felt overdressed and ridiculous. I'm not sure if its that red lipsticks seem much more commonly worn now, or if its a change in my perception of myself (probably a bit of both), but I'm wearing it every day. I can fast see it becoming an addiction as I've ordered a few more lipsticks online on the weekend! I blame Priceline for having irresistible bargains! I got an email today saying they've been dispatched and I'm super excited to receive them.

I went to karaoke on Saturday with a friend. We used to go every week (sometimes even twice weekly) but we haven't been in ages. We got there and our usual DJ guy wasn't there, which made us both a little sad. I'm not sure if he doesn't do that venue at all anymore or if he was just off for the night or something. But once we got past that initial disappointment, everything went well. We took our daughters with us and we all sang, it was so much fun. I think we both probably forgot how much fun we have there, but we're going to try and make it there more regularly again.

I have a friend who is moving up here next week. I'm really looking forward to it, he has three young kids too and its nice to be able to hang out with other parents. He and I were friends in high school, then lost touch for years, and coincidentally we were both living in Sydney later when we reconnected. I moved up here soon after that, so we haven't seen each other in awhile. His kids are absolutely adorable so I'm happy I'll get to fawn over them again. And it will be nice to have another friend in town.

Friday Fun

Last year I went a few times to a swing dancing group that met at a local club on Wednesday nights. I moved out of that area though and getting there is quite a hassle now so I haven't been in probably about a year. Last night they came to do a demonstration at the weekly markets near where I live, so I went along to watch and maybe join in. It was so much fun. I'm really not a good dancer, I get all tangled up in arms when it comes to doing spins and turns, but its fun and there were loads of other amateurs too so we all had a good laugh. I'd really like to start going again. I don't do much these days in terms of opportunities to meet new people so I feel like it would be a positive step for me. My kids also joined in at the end and had an awesome time, so I'd  love to take them along too. I think dancing is a dying art and I'd  love to help preserve it. Getting there is still a problem. I don't have my own car and the buses here are often full of people who smell like they're allergic to basic personal hygiene, but I'll try to work something out.
All of the regulars were remarking on how nice it was that I got all dressed up for the occasion. I thanked them and internally giggled to myself because I just showed up in the outfit I'd worn out shopping with my best friend. I wore the tablecloth skirt that I made with my spotty halter top that I haven't worn in ages due to lack of anything to wear it with.

Please excuse the blurriness of the full body pic.
Didn't realise it was blurry until I saw it on the big screen!

Speaking of red lipstick. While shopping today I went to Priceline to look at makeup, and they had 50% off all their Rimmel cosmetics. WOOT! I would have gone nuts but most of the things I liked were already sold out! I did buy a new red lipstick though. Its a really nice purpley red. The reds I have are all on the lighter side, so I wanted something darker for when the mood strikes. The shade is #120 - Cutting Edge. I had A look on Priceline's website and the swatch they have for it shows a bright fuschia, but its really quite a lot darker than their swatch would have you believe.

Rimmel Lasting Finish - #120 Cutting Edge

I've also dyed my hair again. I've done purple again, although I tried a different shade this time. It was meant to be much MUCH lighter than it actually turned out. I always go too dark! But I'm not too concerned as these sorts of dyes fade quickly, so in a week or so it will probably be something around the shade I wanted anyway. I didn't have a lot of time to dedicate to photos today so they're not the best.

Purple hair! And my new Rimmel lipstick ;)