Treasures and Trinkets

My best friend's parents got back from an overseas cruise recently and today I took the kids over to see them for the first time since they got back. They gave me several lovely little souvenirs and I thought I'd share them on here.

I'm pretty sure its mandatory to bring keychains back from any overseas trip. I don't think customs will let you back in the country until they confirm you've returned with a sufficient amount of keychains to cover all of your loved ones. This was mine from Holland.

From Antwerp they brought back this lovely little charm bracelet. It features, an anchor, a sail ship or boat, a heart, the statue of Brabo, and what I think is the Cathedral of Our Lady.









In all the flurry of keeping track of the gifts being given to myself and my kids, I missed the story on this bangle. I think its from Israel, however I could be wrong. I'll check next time I see them! In any case its very cute. Also you can see my little skull guy poking out, he's not part of the bangle, but he does live on my favourite bracelet :)






One of my favourite souvenirs was this adorable little porcelain figure. I have a little kitty in this same style that I bought from a Turkish store in Melbourne a few years ago and I love it. So I was thrilled to get these cute little guys to match. This one is from Amsterdam.








From Egypt they brought me two souvenirs, the first being this Cleopatra headdress. I'm really not sporting the best hairstyle to wear this with, but its really cute and makes me want to have a flapper costume party lol. I think it would be a great accessory for that! (Also, as an aside, I think the headband curls are looking pretty good!)



The second gift from Egypt is also another favourite of mine. Its this gorgeous painting in the style of the ancient Egyptian artwork. It combines my love of kitties, ancient Egypt and GLITTER!





And finally, a bonus gift the my awesome best friend bought for me! For ages I've been wanting one of these shimmer sprays from The Body Shop, but I always felt I just couldn't justify spending the money on it. But she surprised me with one today ^_^ Now I can leave a magical cloud of pixie dust wherever I go! Thanks bunches Snow White!!! :3

If You Insist, Let's Talk About Sex

Have you ever heard the story of Snow White and Rose Red? Their story isn't as important to me as their characters. They were a pair of sisters who loved each other dearly, but were opposites in almost every way. They remind me very much of my best friend and I. We share many interests and agree on a lot of things, but we are just such different people, and frequently have rather heated discussions about life, the universe and everything.

Tonight we were chatting online while she watched Sex and the City, and apparently in this episode redhead and her boyfriend were discussing sexual partners. My best friend's reaction was "WTF Red head has slept with 42 people and her bf's number was more than 60, HOW IS THAT NORMAL lol"

A moving and thought-provoking quote from my dear friend

This got us onto the topic of sex, which is one of the many things we feel differently about. Compared to me, she's a prude; and compared to her, I'm a slut. She tends to only sleep with people she envisions having a future with, whereas I'm okay with sex simply for enjoyment's sake. I said that given the age of their characters, she's average 2-3 partners per year since the age of 20, which really isn't that much.

I think people should be free to sleep with as many people as they like without it being shocking or shameful. My thoughts are that someone who has been around and explored a lot of options is probably sexually healthier than someone who has only had one or two partners.Variety is the spice of life, and having numerous partners opens up more opportunities to explore yourself and experiment sexually. Personally, I have a pretty high sex drive, and I know that I'm happiest when I'm having that urge met. Having sexual desires and sating those desires is a healthy thing, and I'm tired of seeing sex represented in such skewed ways. I think that much of the world has a very warped view on sex. Its either being buried under the rug and not mentioned even in hushed tones, or its being thrown in our faces. I'm not exactly sure why sex can't be fairly represented for what it is rather than glorified or demonized. Sex is a healthy expression of attraction, its the uniting of two (or more) bodies for the purpose of pleasure and satisfaction. It can be a meaningful display of love and devotion, or a purely physical response to the most basic of needs.
In any case, I think that it should be treated as a positive and natural thing. There are many studies which suggest sex has many health and mood benefits, though more research needs to be done. But why should anyone feel they need be excluded from enjoying the benefits of sex. And yet, there are many people who would wish sex to be an extremely limiting experience, advocating for abstinence until marriage, filling people with guilt for giving the slightest heed to their biological urges. I find this attitude completely disgusting. While sex may not be mandatory on the list of requirements for survival, it certainly makes survival more enjoyable.

It saddens me to think of all the people stuck in sexually unsatisfying relationships, because they were discouraged from testing the waters before committing to someone, or because they discovered a certain fantasy or fetish and felt unable to talk openly with their partner about it. Without the taboos surrounding sex, more people would be able to find sexually compatible partners, and have happier, more satisfying relationships. Now I'm not saying you need to go jump into bed with the next person you see. I'm not encouraging recklessness or frivolousness. I'm simply saying that what happens between consenting individuals should be their own business, and not something of which they should be ashamed or for which they should be made to feel guilty.

I don't believe that every person who has had 50 partners must be extremely sexually healthy and happy, nor do I believe that every person who has had only one partner is deprived or frustrated. But logic would dictate that those who have had more partners have likely had a more diverse range of experiences, try new things, and find a partner who can push all of your buttons.

Now jumping to the other end of the scale, I can't even tell you how many times I see women's magazines with cover stories trying to teach women "how to please your man". Usually sandwiched between other eye-catchers about how to lose weight and what new beauty product I can't live without, some dolt is shoving their sex tips down my throat. And there's an overwhelming focus on satisfying men, not so much on increasing your own pleasure.

These writers seem to forget that sex is a two way street, and enjoyment for both parties is equally important. Rather than encouraging women to try various tricks given to them by some faceless nobody who writes for ridiculous, trashy magazines, people should be encouraged to talk openly about their likes and dislikes without fear of being judged. I've been in some wonderful sexually open partnerships. The kind where I could ask in the middle of sex "want to try this?" or spark up a conversation over dinner about fetishes. I never felt judged, and we gave each other plenty of room to express ourselves and find our comfort zones. Many women's magazines seem to be all about sexual liberation and female empowerment, but then they plaster the above kinds of stories on their cover, completely ignoring the wants of the woman in the bedroom. Perhaps they've confused empowerment with being a stepford wife, perfect in all ways, including sexually. Well bugger this. Meanwhile teens being taught "abstinence only" sex education while simultaneously being bombarded with hyper-sexualized media, society is CRAZY about sex.

Once I get started on a topic I could talk all day, but this has already been long-winded enough. At the end of the day, I don't understand why sex can't simply be treated like any other biological imperative. We like to go out to nice restaurants and enjoy the food we eat, its not necessary and could be considered needless and decadent, but no one seems to care when we relish in our food. But suddenly when we want to embrace our sexual urges all hell is going to break loose.

Lets all chill out and have a good, safe time ;)

- Rose Red

Red Lipstick and More Bikes

Seriously, I am so tired. Went shopping with the kids tonight to buy my oldest daughter her new bike. The majority of the assembly took about 2 hours, then we encountered a problem with the brakes. I won't bore you with the details, but after several more hours and countless expletives, she now has a working bike.
Again I didn't finish assemble until it was almost dark so unfortunately a family bike ride wasn't possible today. Its on the cards for tomorrow though.

Now, onto other fun things! The other day I decided to buy two cheap lipsticks, and some matching cheap lip liners and test them out. I've been looking for "the perfect red" on and off for years, but never found anything quite right. My taste has changed a little since I started my search and now I'm comfortable wearing brighter, more orangey reds than I would have been previously, so that has helped widen my options. Anyway, I thought I'd share my finds with you, because they really are great value for money for those not wanting to spend much.

First, the lip liners:

Essence lip liner - Femme Fatale

Brand: Essence
Shade: Femme Fatale
Cost: $1.95
I got this to match one of the shades of lipstick I bought, but tested it alone. I'm sure these aren't the best lip liners in the world, but they're great for the price. They applied nicely, not terribly creamy, but fine, obviously if you find it dry you can apply it over a lip balm. There was little to no feathering and it lasted well. I really liked the colour, especially when paired with lipstick.

Essence lip liner - Red Blush

Brand: Essence
Shade: Red Blush
Cost: $1.95
Much like Femme Fatale, its pretty damn good for 2 bucks. I've used quite a few Essence products now, including blush and nail polish, and they're decent. I really like my Essence blush, and the nail polishes tend to chip fairly quickly but they have a great range of colours for an awesome price. Back to the lip liner! It applies pretty well and has some staying power. Its a nice browny red colour.


Lipsticks:

Beauty Attitude - Racing Red

Brand: Beauty Attitude
Shade: Racing Red
Cost: $3.00
This lipstick looked quite bright in the tube, but came out a little bit darker than I expected. It applied quite smoothly. As far as longevity goes, this one rubbed off the fastest, but wearing it over a lip liner would probably go a long way toward helping it last longer. It goes pretty well with the Red Blush lip liner and should be modeled with duckface for best results!

Beauty Attitude - Dragon

Brand: Beauty Attitude
Shade: Dragon
Cost: $3.00
This was my favourite. I never used to be a fan of these sorts of shades, and when I first put it on, my immediate reaction was "whoa, that's bright!". After wearing it for a few minutes though I found I really liked it and it now lives in my handbag and is getting regular wear. It isn't very creamy or moisturizing, but that's easily fixed by applying balm first. Its has a nice matte finish and looks awesome with the Femme Fatale liner.

Gratuitous selfie
Dragon lipstick over Femme Fatale liner with a touch of gloss to finish

And some mess :)

Biiiiiiiiiiiiiicycle

So my Reid bicycle finally arrived. I'm really glad to have it after long weeks of waiting and numerous phone calls to find out what was going wrong, but overall I have to say I was underwhelmed.

When I first opened the box, it was a mess. I wish I'd taken a photo, but in my enthusiasm to get the bike assembled I didn't think to do so. The bike came in several pieces. The frame had the rear wheel attached, but the handle bars, front wheel, front mudguard, pedals, seat, and rear rack all needed to be fitted. It doesn't even sound like a big job, but the bike comes with no instructions, so looking at all these parts left me feeling a little overwhelmed. However, once I got the front wheels and handle bar on, everything else was much more straight forward, albeit fiddly at times. But all in all I managed to get it assembled without any major dramas.
I have zero experience assembling bikes so I'm definitely no expert, but I'd say this was a two person job. Technically its probably possible to do it alone, but there were so many times when having an extra set of hands was so incredibly helpful, especially when it required one person to hold whatever part in place and the other to screw it in.

There were quite a few problems along the way. One of the first things I noticed was that one of the spokes on the front wheel was extremely bent. I called up the Reid customer service team and they told me they would sent a new wheel right away. I've attached the bent one in the meantime as I don't think it will affect the structural integrity of the bike or make it unsafe to ride. The brown seat that it came with simply wouldn't tighten enough to stop it swiveling side to side. Fortunately I had ordered a black seat and that arrived shortly after the bike itself and I found the black one tightened up easily. Both the front and rear mudguard sit extremely askew. I've straightened them as much as I'm able but they simply refuse to sit straight over the wheels. There were numerous little nicks and chips in the paint, which was probably the most disappointing thing to me. When you buy anything new, at least part of the reason you choose to buy new rather than used is so you can have that perfect shiny thing all to yourself before it starts getting banged up and worn, so when I noticed the chips I was pretty sad. When I finally had the whole thing assembled and thought I was ready to go, I wheeled it across the room and heard a god-awful grinding. Upon inspection, I found that the chain guard was actually touching the chain. The metal is very light and easily manipulated, so simply bending the chain guard out in the relevant spot fixed that problem. Yay, off I go! What, more grinding? This time it was coming from the rear of the chain and wasn't as easy to spot the problem. I had to turn the bike upside down before finding a small piece of metal the clamped around the mudguard was the culprit. It was not sitting snug against the mudguard and was sticking out rubbing on the wheel. Again, this was thin metal and easily folded inward so it was sitting as it should be. This solved the issue of the awful noises and now the bike seems to run smoothly and quietly.

Some examples of the flaws in the paintwork and frame

SO, I finally have a bike! I haven't taken it for a proper test ride yet, as it was nearing dusk when I finally finished the assembly, but I think I'll take her out for a spin tomorrow. I did have a very brief ride across the yard, but there's literally only about 10 metres of space so it was just a roll along rather than an actual ride. I'm looking forward to taking it out though. Hopefully the weather tomorrow is accommodating. Overall I'm happy with it. There were some less than wonderful factors, but in their defense, I paid $200 for the bike. If I'd been willing to pay $400 or more I probably could have gotten something higher quality but I wanted a vintage style bike on a tight budget. I do think its really pretty and it felt comfy on my test roll. I guess I won't have a final verdict until after I've had a good ride, but it is a really cute bike for an awesome price. I also have to say, for all the hassles and delays in getting the order out to me, I still had some great experience with their customer service team. I still really wish I'd gotten a perfect paint job though!

One ruined manicure and 3 hours later... TA-DAAAAAAAAA

Her name is Betty :)

Headband Curls and No Bike!

 The tracking website which has the details for the delivery of my new bicycle had an ETA of today, so I was really hoping it would arrive. Around 8:30 this morning I called up the courier company and asked them if it was likely to arrive so I could make sure I was home. They told me their shipment from Adelaide was still being unloaded and took my details to call me when they were done unpacking.
By about 12 I was getting anxious. As I mentioned briefly before, there were a lot of problems trying to get my bike delivered, so I think I was justified in feeling nervous. I called them back again to find my bike is indeed there! However the address only lists my street number, and not the number of the unit I'm in. So delivery has been delayed another day :( But at least its in the right city now!

Last night I decided to try headband curls. When my hair is longer it changes its mind daily about whether to be straight or wavy, but I very much prefer it wavy. My hair is short at the moment however, and sits almost dead straight and I hate it. So I've been experimenting with various ways of curling my hair. It gets bleached and coloured a lot, so I try and keep heat off it wherever possible. Thus, I've been looking into heat-free curling methods.
Because my hair is layered, pin curls can be a bit of a pain, so I decided to try the headband curls and see how they went for me. They turned out alright. They certainly hold well, but I wasn't thrilled with the shape of them. I think that could probably be remedied though with either a different headband, or better rolling technique. Most of the tutorials I've seen have people with longer hair, so I took some pictures to share the process and result in case anyone was interested in seeing it in short hair.

Stupid straight hair

Here's the 'before' pic. Please excuse the panda eyes and lack of makeup. As you can see my hair is quite straight and sits just on my shoulders. It had been freshly washed and I allowed it to air-dry.

Left side done

So, I only took a couple of pictures while I was putting it up. Its pretty easy though. You just slip the headband over your head  and begin looping the hair over and inward from where it sits below the headband. If you're not quite clear on what I mean, here's a Youtube tutorial that shows you exactly what to do. My only advice in addition to the method in the video is to bobby pin as you go. My shorter bits would try and escape when I was tucking in the next section, so bobby pins helped keep everything tucked in. Here's my head half done.

Ahhh, that's better

Oh no! Can't Seeeee!

So once I'd gone all the way around my head, I still had my shorter fringe bits out. I didn't think they were long enough to get a decent curl by tucking them around, so I just chose to pin curl that section. One roll did fine.

Rear view

Looking not at all ridiculous

So now I'm ready to sleep in it. I read a few different tutorials before going ahead with this to see what people recommend. Some people suggest only leaving it in for a few hours rather than sleeping on it (if possible) as the curls tend to be too much if left in overnight. I decided to try overnight mostly because I wouldn't have time to wait for it to set the following morning, but also because my hair tends to dislike doing what its told so I thought it could do with the extra time. I found the curl held all day without any problem, so people who have and easier time with their hair may find a few hours is plenty. I'd suggest giving both a try if you have the time. Just try whatever you can and see what works for you.

Oh god, what have I done?

Now, fast forward to the next morning! I did my makeup and stuff first because the headband was already keeping my hair out of the way, so I figured why not.
When I first took out all the pins and removed the headband, I had some very tight, kinked curls. They did not look very pretty!

Looking a bit like a clown wig lol

Fluff!

To the left is how my hair looked after loosening all the curls and giving my hair a brush through with my fingers.

To the right is the result of brushing it properly. I know it still looks weird, but I'm actually kind of fond of the fluffy curls.





I spritzed it with a little water to help tame the mane, and this is how it looked after the water, a little finger styling, and allowing it to relax for awhile. Although they didn't quite turn out the way I'd hoped, I think I can definitely improve it. I'm thinking next time I'll wrap my headband in t-shirt material to fill it out into a rounded shape, and also take more care with my technique to ensure the hair isn't kinking under the headband. I think I may also need some type of serum or styling something to put in my ends to help prevent frizz. There may be better curling methods out there, but I really love how quick and easy this is, so I'm going to keep working at it to try and perfect it.

Lazy Sunday

Didn't do much at all today. The weather was amazing and I had the best of intentions of taking the kids to the park. But alas, we did some cleaning and played some video games and the day quickly got away from us. But that's alright. Its school holidays at the moment so every day is freeeeeeeeeeeee. We should have a picnic while the weather is so pleasant.

My bike should be here tomorrow!!! I'm very excited. I ordered it almost three weeks ago from Reid Cycles and after several issues actually getting it to leave the warehouse, it should finally be arriving. I'm also very nervous as I haven't ridden in years, but I'm hoping I'll be able to get back in the swing of it very quickly. I should also be buying a bike for my oldest daughter who has very much outgrown her old one, so soon we should all be able to go out riding together. The weather has been so nice the past few weeks, every day my bike hasn't been here I've felt like I'm missing out.

My magnificent steed to be

In other news, the move that is planned for the end of the year may be moved forward. The house where I'm living at the moment I'm basically subletting. The person who holds the lease may be moving though so if that happens I'll need to be out of here a lot sooner than expected. 

I have mixed feelings about that prospect. On one hand moving will be exciting and I'm definitely looking forward to the change. But on the other hand I'm simply not prepared yet. I was expecting another six months to save and get organised, so if I have to move immediately its going to be a lot more stress than if I had the extra time. No use worrying about it now. I'll just have to wait and see how the situation pans out. I'll make do regardless :)

I'm not exactly sure what to write in this first entry.
My life has been a roller coaster for quite some time, but I'm feeling positive about the changes to come. There are a lot of things that need improving, but I'm now studying, working on losing weight, becoming healthier and happier, and planning a move to a place that doesn't drive me completely up the wall.

I'm currently living in Darwin. After a lifetime of moving around a lot I ended up settling (read stuck in) Darwin. It may be great for some people, but it certainly isn't my cup of tea. I spent a majority of my life in large cities and that's where I like to be. I'm still keeping my options open as to where exactly I'll go when I move, but right now Melbourne seems most likely.

I've seen some gorgeous blogs on here and elsewhere. It would be lovely to be half as successful as some of those that I admire, but in all likelihood this will be an exercise of catharsis and little more. But I'm okay with that. Having a trail of breadcrumbs to show my journey from A to B is a nice thought.