Pride and Fear

I didn't get around to taking any pictures this weekend, it was one of those weekends where you feel like you are doing nothing but in actual fact you are quite busy!

Instead I thought I would share some some thoughts on the weekends events.

PRIDE

On Saturday my little brother ( well, he ain't that little at 20, and he is so tall!) left to go to the NSW Police Academy to begin his training to become a police officer. I am such a PROUD sister right now! One day , not too far from now, M will be a boy in blue.......nope sorry, I can't imagine it!

I even got a hug goodbye, I must say the shock nearly killed me. Goodluck M!

FEAR

T went out on the weekend with the boys. I was expecting a call from him at some ridiculous hour as I told him I would pick him. Well I received a call from his phone in the middle of the night, but it was not the call I was expecting. Instead, it was one of his friends telling me that T was in hospital after being king hit and he wasn't sure if he was alright. CUE HEART ATTACK! 

Long story short, T walked out of a pub, some stranger ran from across the other side of the street and knocked T out stone cold! Luckily the police were nearby and arrested the jerk whilst T was carted off in an ambulance. He has no recollection of the whole thing and woke up hours later in the hospital with no idea how he got there. It was a long night, but thankfully all his scans came back clear and no long term damage was done. He has a cut up mouth , some swelling and a sore neck but it could have been much worse.

I have heard enough horror stories in the media to know that all it takes is for someone to hit the ground the wrong way and that's it, it's all over. Terrifying.

I really think it would be challenging to be a young male and about on the weekend. Honestly, people seem to just want to pick fights with you if you are apparently looking at them the wrong way or just for the fun of it! Of course that's not to say you won't get beat up just because your a woman, but I feel people would be much more likely to step in for us!

What do you think?!

ETA: The stupid jerk has been charged with assault and grievous bodily harm! GOOOOOOD!

Something New...

I tried my hand at a short video today, be the first to witness the awkwardness of learning to speak to yourself in a empty room! Ha!

I thought I'd talk quickly about some things I am planning on carrying with me on the plane when I head overseas in two weeks. 

Hmm......way to show a weird place in the video YouTube!

Perhaps I'll be brave enough to attempt another video soon, let me know what you think!

I'm going out for tapas now, YUMMM! xx

24 Questions

I tagged myself in this quiz I saw on The Puzzle of Sandra's Life blog and thought it would be fun for a light and easy Friday post. 

So here goes!

1. Do you have a middle name?

Nope, neither does my dad, brother and sister. Has never bothered me!

2. What is/was your favourite subject in school?

Probably legal studies, although the teacher/class was so awful I would just read case studies from textbooks to keep myself entertained for two years ha ha. 

3. What's your favourite drink?

Fresh juices yummmmm.

4. Favourite songs at the moment?

Otis by Kanye West and Jay Z ( see post below) and Cinema by Benny Benassi. 

5. What would you name your children?

I love the names Elly and Malachy.

6. Do you participate in any sports?

No, I'm not really a team sport person but I do go to the gym. 

7. Favourite Book?

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. This is how I came to love the name Malachy.  

8. Favourite Colour?

Shades of green.

9. Favourite Animal?

Cats. I'm a cat lady through and through.

10. Favourite Perfume?

Chanel Coco Mademoiselle or Chance.

11. Favourite Holiday?

Probably summer holidays for Christmas/New Year because that's why I get a few weeks off work and get my yearly beach fix!

12. Have you graduated High School?

Yes, in 2007! Can't believe it has gone so quickly, back then I thought school would never end. 

13. Have you been out of the country?

Yes, to Fiji last year. 

14. Do you speak any other Languages?

Nope!

15. Do you have any siblings?

A 20 year old brother and an 18 year old sister. 

16. What's your favourite store?

Probably Sportsgirl or Lululemon at the moment. 

17. Favourite Restaurant?

At the moment Trevis at Norwest ( Modern Italian I guess) or Pilu at Pittwater ( Sardinian)

18. Do you like school?

Not really, I am pretty hopeless when it comes to being self motivated with uni work.

19. Favourite Youtubers?

Maru the Japanese cat hahahaa! I could spend hours watching random crap on Youtube, in fact I do so quite regularly. 

20. Favourite Movie?

Shawshank Redemption or The Kings Speech at the moment.

21. Favourite TV show?

I guess at the moment I love Dexter, Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, The Walking Dead, True Blood and The Vampire Diaries though I am horrible behind most of these at the moment.

22. PC or MAC?

Love my MAC, wish I could work on a MAC at work. 

23. What phone do you have?

iPhone 4 aka my extra limb. 

24. How tall are you?

Either 1.62 or 1.68 cm, I can't quite remember !

I also tag anyone who reads this and feels like sharing!

Have a great weekend!

What More Can I Say, We Killin' 'Em

Kanye West & Jay Z- Otis

Am so obsessed with this song. Obsessed with the album. Obsessed with these two in general. I honestly think I would die if I was ever in the room with the two of them. 

Antipodes

Antipodes is a brand that is currently on my skin care radar. I've heard of it before but have never really paid attention until I had a chance to browse through Myer recently and it caught my eye. 

Antipodes is a New Zealand brand based on natural botanical ingredients with the added benefit of being certified organic. 

Let me just say, every single thing I tested smelt DIVINE!

Here are a few things I was especially fond of and quite possibly need in my life!

Avocado Pear Nourishing Night Cream  AU $56.00

A lovely rich and buttery cream featuring 100% pure avocado oil. I can just imagine slathering this on of a night time and waking up with beautifully soft skin.

Aura Manuka Honey Mask AU $51.00

This mask features natural manuka honey and is to be used as an intense moisture mask.  I imagine that  you could achieve similar results using plain old manuka honey on it's own but you wouldn't have the added bonus of more avocado oil, vanilla pod and mandarin would you?

Vanilla Pod Hydrating Day Cream AU $52.00

This smelt amazing, though I am a sucker for anything vanilla! Not too heavy, but not too light in texture either, just how I like my daily moisturisers. 

I am lusting badly. 

Have you tried any Antipodes products? If you have, hit me with your recommendations!

City 2 Surf 2011

Yesterday I entered my third City 2 Surf with a group of friends. The City 2 Surf is a annual fun run held in Sydney each year and is a 14km race from the heart of the city to the iconic Bondi Beach. For the last two years the weather had been absolutely stunning but it was very grey and a little rainy yesterday. Luckily we didn't get too wet at all.

85,000 people entered this year! The vibe is a lot of fun with people dressed up ( packs of Starship Troopers and Mario's for example!) and houses and businesses along the streets pumping music and shouting encouragement!

By the time my starting group went over the line, 10,000 people had already finished the whole race!

Even though we only walked it this year, it still felt great to cross the finish line.

Next year I'm going to run the whole thing, no if's and but's! I love fun runs!

A Sweet Saturday

I did something a little different today, I climbed the Harbour Bridge with T!

If you live in Sydney you've probably seen the little figures that are always climbing up the arch, well today I was one! I was worried I'd be doing it in the rain but luckily it was actually quite a nice day. 

OH I WILL CLIMB YOU!

It was pretty fun actually, and surprisingly not scary at all though I am not afraid of heights. The worst part was going up and down the few ladders to get to the arch walkway, banged my skins well and truly and have the bruises to prove it!

I think it's something you should do once if your in Sydney, the views were pretty spectacular. 

They say there is a sucker born every minute, well it must be true or why else would we have paid an exorbitant amount of money for an unflattering photo in a hideous jumpsuit, ha!

Yes, this is a photo of a photo. 

Afterwards we went up to the top of one of the pillons as we has some passes.

We live in a pretty great city, though walking around today I couldn't believe they ripped down such beautifully historic buildings and replaced them with what were essentially brown concrete cubicles. Oh the shame!

Anywho, after the climb we walked around The Rocks for a bit and popped into The Argyle for lunch. 

Despite this photo of shocking quality, the interior is fabulous. It looks like a great place for cocktails on the weekends!

Vodka soda with fresh lime, nectar of the gods!

They have a tapas menu so T ordered some onion rings (?!), and pork belly while I went for some potato dish and grilled polenta. 

I think I'll stick to the drinks next time. Potato dish was awful, half cold and tasted like it had been reheated thrice. 

I tried some port belly, also cold but acceptable. 

I love polenta dishes times a billion, this was OK but the 'salsa' that it came with turned out to be diced tomato. Needed SALSA!

I was pretty disappointed, especially because I could have had the magic that is GOZLEME instead! Who doesn't love gozleme, am I right?!

Never mind, all's well that ends well, and my day certainly ended well when I brought this rock candy which I am obsessed with, YUM!

Hope you all had an equally lovely Saturday. Did you notice I took photos of food in public?! I'm making progress!

Cheap Tricks

Thought I would do a quick post on some cheap little products that have helped make a marginal difference with my skin lately. 

First up, Vitamin E oil!

The skin under my eyes is shocking. Apart from the dark under eyes that was I was born cursed with, the skin around that area tends to get quite dry in winter and no amount of moistuiser seems to help much. As a result even thinking of applying concealer is a disaster as it settles into fine lines and looks awful. I've taken to applying some of this oil around the eye area ( not too close to eyes) each evening after cleansing/moisturising and have been waking up with noticeably plumped up and smoothed out skin. Winner!

Tea Tree Oil is my second cheap trick that's been helping out. As my skin type is quite oily and I am prone to blemishes I have been dabbing a bit of tea tree oil on spots at night and it has helped dry them up quicker. I would compare this to using benzac however I find that while it dries out spots it doesn't make my skin nearly as flaky as benzac tends to. 

Every now and then I steam my face before applying Dermalogica's Gentle Cream Exfoliant and I now add a few drops of this oil to the hot water for it's antiseptic properties.

So there you have it, sometimes it is the simple things that do the trick! Do you have any cheap tricks that work for you, I'd love to hear them!

Weekend Wrap Up

Have to say the weather was a little crappy in Sydney this weekend. Yeah yeah yeah I know it's still winter but when you get hit with a block of sunshine and warm weather you don't go back to accepting the rain and grey skies without putting up a fight!

T and I were meant to go on a picnic on Sunday but the weather wasn't great and we were kind of too lazy to prepare the actual picnic. We went for a drive to Hornsby to have a look at the shops and a bit of a scenic drive through the Galston Gorge instead.

This lookout would have been great if you actually see over the trees two metres in front of you! 

We parked the car and went for a little wander....

....and found a pretty gorgeous little creek and a walking trail. I'm going back very soon for a 6km walk, I'm on the lookout for new walking spots lately. 

The rest of my weekend was pretty average mostly consisting of boredom , way to much food and verrrrrrrry slow internet! Boo! I guess it balances out the very busy weekend I have coming up. Now to get through the working week.....

Did anyone do anything exciting on the weekend? Let me live through you!

Tick It Off

As I slowly loom closer to my 22nd birthday I feel I am perhaps more inclined to think about my interests and what kind of direction I would like my life to take.  I've been thinking a lot about what kind of things I can involve myself in to achieve a sense of growth and self exploration in my life.

Here are a few things I have been considering.

Volunteer:

I have wanted to start volunteering for the longest time, specifically with one organisation which I have an interest in starting a career with but it has proven to have the worst communication system in the history of the world so my efforts have been fruitless.

Instead, I recently started volunteering for a program called SAIL ( Sudanese Australian Integrated Learning) which provides free english as a second language tutoring to primary and secondary students. There is a growing Sudanese community in my local area, so a program of this type is extremely valuable. It's run on Saturday morning which means I don't have to schedule it around work and so far it has been a fantastic experience with some really great kids. It is run in both Sydney and Melbourne so if it sounds like something you'd be interested i suggest you check it out!

Attend adult ballet classes:

Have wanted to do this for a few years now but haven't been able to find anywhere close by to home/work. Now I have, I can't wait. I must add I am terribly nervous about the whole idea of dancing in front of a bunch of strangers, not under the influence of vodka sodas in the middle of a club . I thought it would be a great way to add to my physical activity and hopefully when I get the basics down pat, fun!

Get a tattoo:

OK I guess this doesn't really count but I have been Google imaging the shit out of tattoos this week so it is fresh on my mind, ha ha.

I'm considering I am doing this while I am in NYC, just to add to the thrill of getting my first tattoo by doing it on the other side of the world.

Travel:

I think I bang on enough about my upcoming trip ( 6 WEEKS TO GO!!!) that you'd all know I'm about to kick this goal off.

Figure out what I'm going to do with my life: 

Le sigh..... a work in progress!

I should add that this little blog has been fantastic, sometimes my brain feels so blergh and stale, it's great to come here and write about anything and everything and even better that you lovely people read it !

Have you got something you have always wanted to try? Or are you doing something at the moment which makes you HAPPPPPPPPY? I'd love to know!

Sweet Things

Have been struggling massively with crazy sugar cravings lately. It's killing my life and consuming me! 

I went home last night after the gym, and even though I could hardly be bothered I made myself a healthy dinner. Then the sugar cravings struck!!!

So I cut up some strawberries and sprinkled them with a little castor sugar and some caramelised balsamic vinegar. BEST EVER. You have to try it,  it's seriously soooooo good. 

Oh well, my arms nearly dropped off when I was beating the cream by hand so I guess that counts as exercise right? RIGHT?!?!

I'm feeling so below average lately. I'm tired all the fricken time despite a good nights sleep and am not happy with my progress at the gym. I plan on smashing more iron into my diet, giving sugar the kick and really working on improving my fitness before summer!

I ordered Jillian Michaels ( Biggest Loser USA) 30 Day Shred DVD and am waiting for it to arrive ( any time now JB HIFI!) , am hoping this gives me a kickstart to take it to the next level. 

HAPPPPPPPY FRIDAAAYYYY!!

Sephora Wish List

I've been spending a disproportionate amount of time scouring the Sephora website lately, both cursing the Australian mark up on beauty items ( and everything in general really!) as well as drooling over the things I will soon get my hands on.

Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Nectar US$39.00

I have wanted to try one of Bobbi Brown's shimmer bricks forever, they all look so damn pretty. I especially love this colour.

Too Faced Shadow Insurance US$18.00

While I love Urban Decays Priming Potion and will be repurchasing, I really want to try out Too Faced's version as it is able to be purchased in Australia. Oh, and I really just like trying new things. 

Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray US$23.00

Never will I give up my dream of achieving the perfect summer beach hair. The fact that all surf sprays I have previously tried have left my hair in a matted mess does not deter me from reaching my goal ha ha!

NARS Moni Body Glow II US$59.00

If you were reading my old blog posts last summer you would know that  bronzed and glowy skin is the aim of my game. I have wanted to try this for ages, but that $100.00 Mecca price tag has done a stellar job of putting it off. 

What products are you waiting to get your hands on ? Anything you've had your eye on for a while?