*You wont get this unless you’ve seen Hot Tub Time Machine.

God, it’s been forever since I posted. Oops. But I got a netbook last weekend, for university, so now I have the ability to blog anywhere, even in lectures! But that would be Bad and Not Very Professional-Student of me, so I wont do that. Just when I got to cafes (like now), or the food court, or am hiding in a corner of the library ‘studying’.

Have you ever had a mochaccino with hazelnut syrup? You should; they’e great.

Last week was the first week back at uni after mid-semester break and I about died from it. I was so exhausted at the end of every night I couldn’t do anything else. Like blog, or even read my rss feeds! Tragic, really. This week has been a little less traumatic, probably because I’m not going to the gym because I Have A Very Busy Week (And Next Week Too), therefore I do not have time. So basically, I can still walk when I get home at 7 every night, and I don’t collapse in a snoring heap by 9.

In non-university news, on Tuesday my man thing and I celebrated our six-month anniverssary. We went to see Hot Tub Time Machine which was fairly amusing. We had some time to kill beforehand so we played in the arcade and Josh won me a little Tigger plushie that is reading a book! Aww ♥ After the movie we went to McDonalds. We weren’t originally going to get McDonalds but both of us neglected to realise the foodcourt by the cinema wouldn’t be open at that time of the evening. So Macca’s it was. They have these new family meal things, with enough food for four people, and you get it in a fancy red cardboard box. We got one of those meals (the Big Mac and Cheeseburger one) because Josh wanted the box. Seriously. (He didn’t keep it though, thankfully.)

Anyway, tomorrow is my 22nd birthday. I’m pretty excited actually! Josh and I are going to Rainbow’s End (an amusement park) for the day. I haven’t been in years and there’s a couple of new rides, so that should be fun. My goal is go on all the major rides, do the bumper cars and maybe bumper boats, and go-carts. I also want to get a hotdog (the on-a-stick variety) because I forgot how awesome they were until recently. They really are. Not good for my fat per centage, but it will be my birthday so I don’t care.

The lovely Rachel of Smile and Wave posted a ’10 Things’ type of survey on her blog, so I decided to fill it out for myself!

1. When do you feel happiest?

When I am experiencing minimal stress or feel I am dealing with stress well, when I’m with my wonderful boyfriend, when I’m with my nieces and nephews, when I’m being productive.

2. How do you take care of yourself?

Most importantly I try to deal with stress and any anxiety I am experiencing because both of those things, separately or together, are almost always the cause of bouts of depression I have. So, it’s super-important I make sure I’m feeling ok in those areas so that I don’t get too down. I also like to make sure I spend a little time every day doing something that relaxes me. Often that’s simply going online and reading blogs, seeing what my friends are up to, and so on.

3. Are you internally (by yourself) or externally (by others) motivated?

Usually internally, though a bit of outside help is sometimes needed! I definitely think having enthusiastic, positive and motivated people around you can help you to be more motivated.

4. What do you do for fun?

I love to make things and this year I’ve been quite crochet focussed. I also love going to the movies, going out to eat, and feeding my addiction to clothes, shoes and cosmetics. Be they pre-loved or new.

5. What intimidates you?

I find looking for jobs to be a bit intimidating at times, and new people (I can be a bit shy at first!).

6. What is something you’re proud of?

Being able to bounce back from disappointments and life’s knocks. I used to find it hard to do, but I’m so much better at it these days.

7. Finish this sentence. I never _____________.

I never used to think I was unorganised, but I have come to the realisation that my time-management definitely needs some work.

8. Favorite vacation spot.

I don’t have one. I think I need to go on more vacations.

9. Today is a (rate from 1 – 10).

5 — it’s not been the best of days, but it definitely could be worse.

10. Finish this sentence. If you knew me really well you’d know _____________.

That untidy and dirty spaces tend to make me a bit crabby. Tidy and clean spaces are very therapeutic for my mind!

I’ve developed quite a thing for nail polish over the last few months and today I added to my collection after raiding the Rimmel stand in Kmart. Not only is Rimmel cheap in comparison to other brands, but I actually find their varnishes pretty good quality. Generally better than the more expensive ones, in fact.

The beigey-bronze shade is #378 ‘Posh Trash’ and the orange is #050 ‘Tangerine Queen’. Of course I also had to pick up some eye shadow, too! Shade #004 ‘Smokey Blue’.

I got told off in Kmart by an employer for testing out the colours… Naughty of me because they didn’t actually have any testers, but I refuse to spend money on nail colour without knowing what it looks like on! Some colours end up being too sheer or whatever, which is very annoying. There should always be testers for that reason, otherwise you they will get annoying customers such as myself who will take the product back and demand a refund.

Do you where nail polish? What are some of your favourite brands and colours?

I hope you all had a very nice Thursday!

*It comes from here.

Today I hung out at the zoo with my eldest sister, her kids, and friends of theirs. I always love going to the zoo, and because we arrived fairly early we were there around feeding time, meaning we got to see many of the more elusive animals. Unfortunately I only had my phone’s camera and not my DSLR, so I decided not to snap any shots of the animals. Besides, even if I wanted too, the little rascal below wouldn’t let me put her down! I think she’s missed me. Usually I see her when I’m with my mum and my niece is very much a granny’s girl. I felt all special and needed, hehe.

The animal highlight for me today was probably the baby baboon, who was doing roly-polies on the grass, chasing adult baboons and generally being comical and kid-like. He (it was definitely a boy) was an awesome little dude! And with ears for miles.

We also did some resting by the elephant…

…where the boys climbed trees…

(My nephew is currently obsessed with Spiderman.)

…and so did Persia, with help. And yes, she has got her finger up her nose, the current fascination.

This one is nice and blurry because they were both over being on the elephant statue by the time I finished shooting a little video and snapped this.

So that has pretty much been my day. I did bake a cake in a mug, but the boyfriend didn’t have any cocoa powder so I improvised and turned it into a coffee cake. It came out a bit tough and dry, so perhaps I overcooked it and/or added a bit too much flour to sub the cocoa powder I didn’t have. I do want to try and find a nicer recipe though because it’s a neat idea and super-easy for those times you feel like a sweet baked treat but don’t want to slave over it for an hour. Or go to the shop, for that matter.

Today has been the best day I’ve had in several days! I think my hormonal issues are finally lifting (yay, no more epic mood swings!) and I feel much closer to my usual self. I did a great workout this morning and then finished up an assignment. In the grand scheme of things I didn’t do loads, but I did things that really help me feel even better about life. I’m definitely one of those people who need to be doing something productive to feel really good about myself/my life. I dislike feeling as though I haven’t achieved anything. Sometimes it can be simple things like a bit of cleaning or big things like assignments, long term goals and so on. Slowly, getting regular exercise is becoming a bigger part of feeling productive too. I’ve put it high on my priorities list and that is where it shall stay!

The only unfortunate thing was, when I was buying my sushi for lunch, a girl reached passed me in line (I was about third in line, so people were in front and behind me) to get a pair of chopsticks. The problem was that she was balancing her open sushi container on her ring binder, and there was so little room that, as she reached, I turned slightly and accidentally knocked the binder causing her sushi to fall off onto the floor. I felt bad, but also peeved because she could have said excuse me before reaching across and then I’d have had time to move out the way, while she wasn’t so close to me. Oh well. The sushi place gave her another meal for free, which was nice of them.

Lately I’ve been spending far too much time looking at my favourite sites with images of homes. Sweet Home Style is so full of great inspiration. Most of the houses featured are of styles that I quite like. Then of course there is the fabulous Saucy Dwellings. What I like about this one is that it’s generally the members posting photos of their own spaces, so they seem a bit more real. They are spaces that are lived in, that have to be functional for the people who inhabit them, etc. Plus, I’m insanely nosy and I love looking inside other people’s homes! It’s especially nice when they caption the images, explaining what’s what, why they did something, how they did it, and so on.

Of course, looking at all these homes only makes me insanely envious and want one of my own. I told Josh last night that I’d like a winning lotto ticket for my birthday.

I really hate the feeling of having so much to do that, even if you are working through the list, it never feels like anything is actually getting done. Does anyone else ever feel like that? Please tell me I am not alone! The mountain that is my schoolwork appears never-ending to me today and it’s definitely got me in a bit of a glum mood. I need to snap out of it, and I will, but the wave of anxiety over it hasn’t quite passed yet.

With the aim of helping me to practice written French, I’ve created a blog over at Blogspot just for that purpose. I haven’t begun posting in it yet because I only decided to do it yesterday, but I’m planning a few posts that should be up within the next couple of days. I think it’ll be a fun way for me to learn, and hopefully others will get something out of it too, because I’ll be explaining grammar rules, sharing vocabulary and maybe even interesting facts about French and France, as I learn them. I’ll be sure to post a link to the blog when there is actually stuff there to read.

On a completely different subject, something that makes me giggle is that a movie as awful as Twilight: New Moon (I still think Bella looks permanently constipated) can have at least two incredibly awesome songs on its soundtrack. ‘Rosilyn’ by Bon Iver & St. Vincent and ‘Meet Me on the Equinox’ by Death Cab For Cutie. A part of me is slightly repulsed those songs were asked to feature because I love the artists on their own and kind of wish they weren’t associated with such stupidity. But, don’t get me wrong, this is not something I think about often. In fact it was only just before that I realised both songs are on that soundtrack, and then the wave of nausea struck (ok, exaggerating here, ).

I’m going to be doing a little giveaway soon, so stay tuned!

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter weekend, hopefully with some time off from work/school! I definitely had a very enjoyable one and feel incredibly refreshed from it, apart from finally catching the cold that’s been going around. I spent the weekend, from Thursday evening until Monday afternoon, house-sitting for my brother and his partner. My boyfriend joined me on the Friday afternoon, but on Thursday night I had a sleepover with my four-year-old nephew, Romeo. He is awesome and we had loads of run watching cartoons in bed and eating popcorn. He thought it was brilliant that he got to watch Handy Manny right on bedtime, then Whinnie the Pooh. Handy Manny is actually a pretty cute kids show, and of course I can’t pass up Pooh Bear!

Friday morning Romeo and I awoke to discover one of the goldfish at my brother’s house had gotten its tail caught in the filter. I managed to free him but he was too injured and/or shocked and didn’t survive. I felt awful about it (duh – I was there less than 24 hours and already killed a fish!), but my brother said that it’s happened a couple of time before, so I didn’t feel it was quite so much my fault. Later in the morning Romeo went home and I chilled out watching a bit of TV before showering, and then Josh showed up.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out, watching TV, and then I made my first ever roast dinner, on my own. Roast beef with potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and gravy (made from scratch, I might add). It turned out pretty good, for a first attempt. I always hear about roasts being a super-easy meal to make, once you get the hang of it. I have so many fond memories of delicious roast dinners, including from when I was vegan (yeah, vegans can have yummy roasts too!), so perfecting them is something I really want to do. Possibly also because I have a huge soft spot (directly on my hips, I might add) for Yorkshire puddings and gravy. Nevermind anything else, just give me the puds and gravy! Hehe.

On Saturday Josh and I celebrated his birthday, which was actually not until Monday, but seeing as how he had to go home on Monday we decided it’d be easier to do it on the Saturday. Plus, we weren’t sure what would and wouldn’t be open on Eastern Sunday (not much, as it turns out). I took him to the movies, where we saw How To Train Your Dragon. It’s loosely based on some books Josh had read so he really wanted to go, and I gotta say, it was freakin’ awesome. I loved the storyline! It’s very different from the book, apparently, but Josh still reckons it was great. Plus, there are dragons, and they are cool. On a technical note, not that I know much about graphics, but I thought the animation was high quality. You know how back in the day you’d see animated movies and the characters’ hair looked totally…fake? Yeah well, the hair in this movie was fantastic. Obviously computer generated, but still worlds better than, say, Toy Story.

After the movie we went out for Indian food to Raviz. We ordered the banquet for two and got a yummy entree with samosas, chicken tikka, deep fried onion rings and seekh kebabs, plus dipping sauces (tamarind sauce is my fave). The main was a selection of meats: butter chicken, beef korma, rogan josh and vegetable of the day, with rice, two types of naan and sauces. It was a total feast and super yummy. I’m definitely planning on going back, but I’ll be leaving room for dessert.

Sunday was pretty chilled. I woke up sneezing though. Initially I thought it was just allergies, but by the late evening I was feeling pretty crappy. For lunch that day we went to my house for a family lunch. I stuffed myself full of just about everything and lived to regret it later on. I should have seen it as a warning sign because generally I want to eat loads when I have a cold. Josh and I were both pretty tired by early afternoon so we went back to my brother’s and I napped for a bit.

I didn’t have a great sleep that night and my throat was killing me throughout, so I woke up on Monday not the best. It was Josh’s birthday though, and we had to pack our things up for when my brother and his family got home later that day, so I banished feeling sick until later. Between chores we watched TV and cuddled and I sneezed and blew my nose a lot. I really hope I don’t give Josh this cold because he’s just got over one himself, really.

My goodness, this is a much longer post than I had planned! But I did want to document this weekend because I had such a lovely time. It was the beginning of my mid-semester break and I gave myself that weekend off completely from all university stuff. It was about recharging and spending quality time with my guy, celebrating his birthday and having fun, all of which I/we accomplished!

I shall leave you with a few photos of various things from the weekend. ♥

My niece Persia’s nickname is Rabbit (she used to bounce on her knees from a young age), so my mum got her this bunny puppet for Easter.

I picked up this dress from The Warehouse today. Love, love, love!

Close-up of the neckline. I love the pleats.