Quick Outfit + update on life!

Hi everyone!!  Long time no blog - I really must apologise for my extended absence from blogging, life just got crazy busy for me in January and February.  I was taking a summer subject at uni, working on the weekends, writing a research report for my summer subject, first aid volunteering, organising book donations for some recent graduates that are going to work in the Pacific for a few weeks, trying to fit in exercise (I ran my first ever 10km last week!!!!) and socialising and I just had no time to write any posts.

I'm back at uni now, as of yesterday, and it looks like this semester will be pretty full on (we're off campus on placements for six weeks, so for the six we do have on campus, the timetable is pretty full!  Six lectures a day sometimes!  Makes me feel like falling asleep just thinking about it haha!)  I think every uni student probably says this at the start of every semester, but I think this semester I will try to put in a big effort to try to improve my marks a little.  My marks are o.k. and I think I will graduate with honours, but at this stage I am still undecided as to where I want to go career wise so I'd like to have the option of pursuing post-grad study (probably a PhD), but I think my marks at the moment might not be good enough to get a scholarship.

Anyway, enough boring talk about uni...here is what I wore to uni today:

Cardi - Temt; Dress - Jay Jays; Footless tights - Target; Flats - Country Road

The dress was actually a playsuit/romper thing that I bought a while ago from Jay Jays.  I really liked the print, but disliked the idea of having to strip off completely to go the loo, so I pulled out the sewing machine and altered it into a dress!  I was quite proud of myself, haha!

The weather in Melbourne is so gloomy at the moment, hopefully there will be some more sunshine soon.  It was only about 16 degrees when I left the house this morning and I almost thought of taking a winter coat, but then I thought, no I'll look silly carrying a coat around on the first day of Autumn, but I think I nearly needed it!

Hopefully sometime this week, I'll cobble together a montage of recent purchases (although I'm trying really hard to save since I opened a uBank savings account, so there won't be all that many).

Thanks for reading!!!!

Zoo Trip

Hi everyone!

Some people voted in the poll thingy I had a while ago for me to do more posts about random/life related things so today I'm sharing some pictures of my recent trip to the zoo!  I went on the Monday after New Years Day.  In hindsight, I would not go again during school holidays - so many bratty kids (and normal behaved ones as well, haha!), but honestly there were kids throwing tantrums over the most simple things (going to the toilet, having a drink, tying a shoelace, putting on a hat/sunscreen etc).  I wonder how their parents get them to do more complex tasks, like going to the dentist or similar, if they go crazy over just having a drink of water.

Anyway, onto the animals!  I didn't get that many good pictures as it was quite crowded and we couldn't really get into a prime viewing position for a lot of the exhibits.

Gibbon - I love gibbons, they are probably my favourite monkey

Gorilla

Elephants

Giraffes

I took a heap more than this, but these are my favourites.  I didn't get a good picture of the new baby elephants as it was sleeping when we went past the elephants.  We went back later to see it in the barn though and I can assure you it is super cute!!!  We also saw the new baby orang utan (born on December 6th, less than a month old when we saw it!!!!!), I almost exploded from the cuteness!  I didn't really get any good pics though as I was photographing through the wire of the enclosure.  It was so tiny and adorable, just clinging tigtly to it's mother as she swung around the ropes and platforms of the enclosure.  The new orang utan enclosure is really nice though, much better than the old one.

Thanks for reading!

Xmas, New Year etc.

Hello everyone!!!  Long time no see!
Apologies for the lack of blogging over the last few weeks but uni placement, Xmas, work etc just took over my life!

I hope you all had a good Christmas.  Mine was nice and quiet, just with immediate family plus my grandma.  My family doesn't really go crazy for Christmas, just a nice lunch and small gifts for eachother.

Our Christmas tree

I got a new digital camera from my parents, a handbag from my sister and an iTunes voucher plus a refill for my Filofax diary from my brother.

Xmas presents

 On Boxing Day, I headed over to Doncaster after work but I didn't really see much that interested me.  I ended up just getting some underwear from Target, a tshirt from MNG, a bracelet from Mimco and some jeans (which weren't even on sale).  I went to Greensborough on Tuesday and picked up some tshirts at Rebel Sport which were 50% off (I got five tshirts for less than $55) and a dress from Dotti which was $30 marked down from $80.  Overall, I thought the sales were pretty "meh" and I think I probably found some better bargains in pre-Christmas sales rather than after.

Then for New Years I went to a pool party at a friends place.  Was quite nice and I got to see some high school people I haven't seen for a while.

I usually don't really keep New Year Resolutions, but here are mine anyway (maybe now they've been immortalised on the internet, I'll have more motivation to keep to them, haha!!):

1. Exercise a minimum of 3 times per week and download the bridge to 10k app and hopefully work my way up to 1 hour of jogging.  I'd also like to try some different types of exercise, maybe swimming or yoga or cycling.
 2. Reach my goal weight (2.1kg to go, hopefully should get there by March) and stay at or around my goal weight.
3. Eat healthier and continue to bring lunches from home rather than buying at work/uni (too expensive).
4. Build up a decent amount of savings. I bought my first car in August and have been broke ever since!
5. Find a graduate intern position (I think I am already on my way towards this....the hospital I did my placement at in December said they would like me to apply there for my pre-registration internship and I am seriously considering it!)
6. Maintain my current average mark at uni (or improve) so I can hopefully graduate with honours.
7. Go on a holiday (I haven't been out of Melbourne since Jan 2008).

Happy New Year to all of you!!

Dinner at Sebel Heritage + Outfit

Hello again,
My brother had his university graduation ceremony on Saturday, so we went out for dinner on Saturday night to celebrate.  It was a bit last minute so we ended up going to the Bella Restaurant at Sebel Heritage in Yarra Valley.  It was quite nice and fancy although I forgot to take pictures of my main (ricotta filled zuchini flowers with a tomato based sauce) and only got photos of desserts.

This is what I wore:

 

Dress - Forever New; Heart Stockings - Sportsgirl; Shoes - Siren; Bag - Etsy; Bracelet - Mimco

My brother and I both had a dark chocolate and pistachio fondant with vanilla icecream and honeycomb.  The fondant was nice and gooey in the middle, yum!

My sister had a strawberry romanoff with meringues.

Mum had a vanilla and lavendar panna cotta with caramelised nectarines.

Thanks for reading!

Work Wardrobe

Hi everyone,
I've mentioned previously that I'm doing a uni placement at the moment, at a hospital.  It is a bit of an adjustment going from my usual "uniform" of wearing jeans everyday to dressing for a office/business environment.  The hospital I'm at currently is more relaxed than the other hospital I've done a placement at, but I guess every workplace is different.

Anyway, here is a sampling of outfits I have worn so far.  As I'm not working full time yet, I don't really want to invest a whole lot in a work wardrobe so most of my work clothes are form Target or similar.  I think you can still dress nicely on a budget and I have found some great pieces in Target and the like for very reasonable prices.  I find Glassons is also a great place to look for affordable work wear.

Short sleeve knit: Valleygirl; Skirt: Target

Pink Ruffle Top: Tokito (Miss Shop in Myer); Black Pants: Bardot

Black Knit: Temt; Skirt: Target; Tights: Voodoo (from Myer)

Top: Sportsgirl; Skirt: Target

Thanks for reading and let me know if you are interested in seeing more Work Outfits from me!

NOTD: Ulta3 Black Plum + Weekend

Hi everyone, hope you've all had a great weekend!

Today's nails are Ulta3 Black Plum - a gorgeous vampy plum with metallic red shimmer!!  I know it's almost summer but the gloomy Melbourne weather we've been having lately is making me go for darker shades.  I promise I'll bust out some brighter ones once the weather picks up!

Ulta3 Black Plum Nail Polish

My weekend has been fairly boring: worked on Saturday, then picked my sister up from work and went to go vote.  I spent the rest of the day hanging around in exercise gear waiting for it to stop raining for long enough so I could go for a run, but it never did.  Today I slept in, went for a run, made a vanilla slice (no pics because the custard part didn't set properly so it was a bit of an oozing mess) and some scones for afternoon tea (which ended up being supper because people didn't arrive until 8.30).  One of my friends from high school is leaving for Malaysia and Vietnam on Wednesday (so jealous!!) so we all wanted to catch up before he leaves.

My run today was pretty good, I think I'm getting faster as I ran about 4.5km today (compared to around 4km when I first got to the half hour mark). I kept slowing down today though because it is hard rubbish collection in my suburb at the moment so I was slowing down to look at what people are throwing out - I saw an eliptical cross trainer a few days ago but it was gone today so I guess someone must've taken it.  My dad was going to throw out a microscope kit from the 70's or 80's that he found somewhere around the house.  Luckily, I intervened in time!!!  I know, I'm a huge nerd, haha!  I think the light globe is broken so I'll have to see if I can fix that so I can look at cool things under my vintage microscope!

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Don't forget to vote in my poll (if you haven't already) to let me know what you'd like to see more of on my blog.  You can pick as many options as you want.  I've noticed quite a few people are interested in these general life types updates so I will try to make more of those.  And remember, you can also email me suggestions too: thelovelygangster(at)gmail(dot)com.

NOTD: Ulta3 Wildberry + Uni placement

Today's nails are Ulta3 Wildberry, a dark grey creme.  This went on nicely and was opaque in two coats.  I think it is a nice alternative to black polish for times when you want a darker nail colour without looking too gothic.

Ulta3 Wildberry nail polish

In other news, as I mentioned in my neutral nails posts, I have started a uni placement (at a hospital) on Monday.  I have really enjoyed the first two days and am looking forward to the rest.  The only downer is that my last day will be Xmas eve, so no time to do Xmas shopping!!

All the staff are very friendly and there is quite a relaxed atmosphere - they even have casual dress every Friday, so I will try to post some Friday outfits.  My "work" wardrobe is fairly boring so I apologise for the lack of outfit/fashion related posts, but hopefully I will remember to take pics this Friday.

Thanks for reading!!

City Outing, Shopping, Daiso etc.

Hello everyone,
I had a dentist appointment in the city this morning so I hung around in the city afterwards to meet my sister after her exam.

I took the tram out to Abbortsford while I was waiting to have a look at Daiso, the recently opened Japanese "100 Yen" store - basically like a $2 discount store, except everything is from Japan.  I thought it would be awesome, but I was honestly a little disappointed.  In fairness to them, a lot of shelves were empty and they are expecting a shipment tomorrow so I will probably make up my mind when I go back tomorrow with my sister (tomorrow is her last exam so she wants to go back afterwards).  All I bought today was a pack of "infant cotton buds" - like normal cotton buds but smaller.  I plan to use these for cleaning up my nails after I paint them.  There were a lot of random things that I had no idea what they were for and couldn't work out from the pictures/diagrams.  Apart from that, there was a lot of stationary, homewares/storage, bathroom things etc.

Baby Cotton Buds from Daiso

Daiso Website 

After looking in Daiso, I decided to check out Tokuya, a similar Japanese discount store on Bourke St (next to the Target arcade).  It was pretty similar to Daiso, although a little bit smaller.  I bought a "vegetable organiser"...haha, this sounds so ridiculous.  From the picture on the label, I think you are supposed to use it for standing carrots, cucumbers etc. upright in the fridge....???  Anyway, I am going to use it for organising eyeliners, mascaras etc. as I currently have a glass chemistry beaker for this and while it looks cool, I think something plastic will be safer.

I have one section for shadesticks & jumbo pencils, one for brushes, one for eyeliners and one for mascaras and brow things

Top view so you can see the dividers

Then I met my sister and we shared a macaron and a mini cupcake at The Cupcake Family in QV.  I wanted to try almost all of the different cupcake flavours but we went with a mini peanut butter and chocolate cupcake and a mocha macaron.  The cupcake was nice, but I think the icing was just pure peanut butter - a bit sickly.  The macaron was also nice, but not as nice as the Lindt Cafe ones.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Mini Cupcake and Mocha Macaron

They had some cool looking "display" cupcakes in the window though, I guess these are examples for people who want customised cupcakes for birthdays and functions etc.  I thought the Tiffany and Chanel ones were cute!

The Cupcake Family

The Cupcake Family

Chanel and Tiffany inspired cupcakes

The Cupcake Family Website 

On our way back to Melbourne Central to get the train, we had a look in the Mooks store.  I bought a Paul Frank tshirt.  I'm not a huge fan of Paul Frank (I don't mind it, just not crazy about it), but I thought the print was cute.  And I don't have that many tshirts (I don't wear them all that often, but I think I'll need a few for summer).  That's my justification haha!  It's a bit crinkled from being folded up in a bag but it says "Maybe we just need more hugs!" - cute!!

Paul Frank tshirt

And I'm going back into the city tomorrow, haha!  Since starting this blog it seems like I go shopping every second day!  I promise this is not normal, it's only because I have a very short holidays (only two weeks, compared to normal three months of uni holidays) as I am starting a placement next Monday.

Thanks for reading!

NOTD: Ulta3 Watermelon + other random tidbits

Today's nails are Ulta3 Watermelon.  The name says it all, really - it is exactly the colour of watermelon!  Gorgeous colour which I predict will be on high rotation for me this summer.

With flash - this colour is a little lighter than this in person

This was two coats plus a topcoat.  It almost doesn't need the topcoat as it has a really nice sheen to it, but I just added the topcoat in the hopes that I will get an extra 1-2 days of wear out of it.

I had a really great sleep in this morning and in the afternoon went shopping at Westfield Doncaster to look for a dress for my mum to wear to her work Christmas party/my brother's uni graduation.  She didn't end up buying anything and neither did I.  I did try a nice fragrance in Myer - Ralph Lauren's Summer Romance.  I have the original version of Romance and I'm almost finished it, so perhaps I will put Summer Romance on my Christmas wishlist!

Also, I hopped on the scales this morning perparing for the worst (as this would be the first time weighing myself since before swot vac and exams started) and was surprised to find that I had lost 0.1kg, despite eating pretty badly (not junk food, but just snacking a lot throughout the day, especially on days where I stayed home all day) and doing pretty minimal amounts of exercise.  I'm not really counting 0.1kg as a loss, I was just shocked as I thought I would have gained at least 2kg.  Time to start cracking the whip again and get back into running as I'm only 3kgs away from my goal so it would be nice to reach it by the end of the year.

Thanks for reading!

Afternoon Tea

Yesterday, we had a few friends over to afternoon tea as a "mini" birthday celebration (due to almost everyone except me being bunkered down in study mode).  I baked a few treats for the afternoon tea (with my sister's new purple Kitchenaid mixer).

Left: Orange and almond cake, right: carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

I baked two of the carrot cakes and took the other one with me to the Whittlesea Show today as afternoon tea for the rest of the St John first aiders.  Saw many interesting things at the show.... including a Shetland pony dressed up as Spiderman (the actual horse was wearing a costume, as well as the kid riding it - who was very upset when the lady announcing the event mistakenly called him Superman, it was very cute!!!)  According to a horse riding friend, "dress up" equestrian events are not unusual, but I'd never seen anything like it!

Anyway, back to the afternoon tea, I often get compliments on my carrot cake and it has become my "go to" recipe if I have to bring something to share.  So here is the recipe (adapted from Donna Hay's Modern Classics):

 - Mix together 1&1/2 cups of brown sugar and 3/4 cup of vegetable oil or canola oil.  You could even use olive oil.
- Add three eggs.
- Add 1&1/2 cups sifted SR flour, 1 tsp bicarb soda (or substitue plain flour and baking powder if you don't have SR flour).
- Add 1 large tsp each of ginger and cinammon and 1/2 large tsp each of nutmeg and ground cloves.  I like to be generous with the spices, but you can adjust to your own taste.
- Add 3-4 medium sized peeled, washed and grated carrots.
- Bake at 180 degrees (celcius) for around 40 minutes (or until cooked) if you bake it in two loaf tins or around 60 minutes (or until cooked) if you bake it in a larger square tin.
- For the icing, I just mix together some cream cheese, cream and icing sugar.
- I like to sprikle pepitas on the top but we didn't have any.  You can also use chopped nuts (e.g. pecan) or you can add chopped nuts, sultanas etc. to the mixture before you bake it.  I tend to avoid adding nuts when cooking for a crowd due to allergies however I think they add some nice texture.

We also had macarons.  Unfortunately I can't take credit for these.

And "punch" (non-alcoholic due to P-plate drivers) - just some quartered strawberries, roughly chopped mint and lemonade.  Very simple but quite nice!

All in all, it has been a very busy last few days for me (exams, lunch, shopping and baking on Friday; work and entertaining on Saturday and then St John first aid volunteering all day today).  I am looking forward to a nice big sleep in.

Thanks for reading!

Passionflower + After Exams Shopping Fun

My last exam was on Friday morning so after the exams a few friends and I went into the city for lunch.  The original plan was to go home and then go out in the evening, but we all agreed we would be way too tired, having had fairly limited sleep the night before due to late night studying and stressing.

For lunch we just went to a little cafe in Degraves Street.  After lunch we walked up to Passionflower in Bourke Street.  Passionflower is an icecream/dessert cafe and it was freaking amazing!!  It seriously took us almost 20 minutes to decide what we wanted, there were just so many delicious options.  We were thinking about getting two things to share between the four of us but decided to go with "Chocolate Lush" which was like a tasting plate of all the different chocolate desserts: waffles, chocolate fondue with strawberries, tiramisu, chocolate crepes with chocolate mousse filling and three different flavours of chocolate icecream.  I took photos but the Bluetooth on my computer is not working so I can't get them off my phone so you'll just have to imagine a giant plate of chocolatey goodness.  They have a lot of quirky icecream flavours too like avocado, kumquat, black sesame, burnt orange etc.  I think I will be going back there a lot in the summer.

After dessert we decided to go shopping around the city for a bit as well.  We started off having a look at Stella McCartney in Target.  I wanted to have a look at the 7/8 pants as I thought they might be nice for work, but in person I wasn't really a fan.  Plus they were pretty long and I think, due to the turned up hem, I would have to cut them to take them up.  Maybe I'll go back and try them on if they go on sale.

Despite being extremely shopping deprived due to exams and being couped up at home studying (plus having done the Salvos "Buy Nothing New Month" during October), I only purchased five things (plus a magazine for my sister and a new purse for my nanna).

These are the things I purchased:

Denim Skirt from Just Jeans - image sourced from www.justjeans.com.au

T-shirt from Jeans West - image souced from www.jeanswest.com.au

Pleated cami top, also from Jeans West - image sourced from www.jeanswest.com.au

Two rings from Diva

I think the skirt will be a good length for me in summer as I am self conscious about my bare legs but this skirt is long enough (just above the knee) that I won't have to wear leggings underneath which will be good for hot days.  I also had a gift voucher for Just Jeans which was about to expire so it was good to be able to use that up.

I don't wear t-shirts very often but I really liked the print of the t-shirt that I bought.  Plus it is black (like around 80% of my wardrobe).  When I showed my sister the cami top she remarked "Yeah, it's nice, I think I've seen it in your wardrobe before," implying that I already have something exactly like it.  That is probably true, but I like wearing black, I think it suits me.

Thanks for reading!

Birthday Present - Mimco

Monday of this week was my 21st birthday.  I was unfortunate enough to have an exam on my birthday (and one the day after - thanks Monash!) so it was a fairly boring, study filled day, however it was brightened by the lovely gift I received from my super awesome twin sister!  As Faux Fuchsia would say, "Behold The Magnificance!":

Shiny!

And inside:

She knew I had had my eye on the mesh bracelets from Mimco for ages!  The matte black one is gorgeous and the iridescent one is super shiny (the photo doesn't do it justice).  The French champagne picolo was a nice surprise too!  I haven't drank it yet as I want to share it with my sister and I was in exam (i.e. no alcohol) mode since our birthday until yesterday (my last exam) and now she is starting to prepare for hers, so we will wait until after her exams and then drink it together!

The box it came in is really nice too, I think I will use it to store some of my jewellery as it will look nice on my bedside table.

It's hard to believe I am 21 now, I honestly don't really feel any different.  Perhaps that's because I didn't have a big, crazy 21st party like most people do.  It's just very difficult to organise that kind of thing at this time of year, especially seeing as our friends all go to different universities and very one is starting/finishing exams at different times.

Thank you for reading and a big thank you and hugs to my lovely sister as well! (If you are reading this....get back to work!!! Haha, she is supposed to be studying!)