I feel like letting go, life goes on

I'm over the name of my blog. Lol. But I haven't been able to come up with one I like. I've also wondered about the direction of this blog as well.

Although, I wonder about the direction of the blog, I wonder where I will be able to put things like my reviews and mentions of movies I've watched like just yesterday, watched Friends With Benefits (I loved it, btw) and also my movie lists and challenges... so yeah, decisions, decisions.

I've been pretty busy with life in general. I've pretty much put down a pattern of work, going out, sleep interweaved with catching up on the internet world every now and then. For a few of the past weeks, I have worked 5/7 days but not the traditional Monday ~ Friday, unfortunately. I work Wednesday ~ Sundays at interesting/awkward times. Weekdays 2pm - 7pm and Weekends 11am - 4pm.

As well as working, I have been buying a heap of load of stuff. I need to stop. Mostly clothes which is mostly showcased here (at my Dresses n Bows fashion/beauty blog).

In other news, it's my birthday soon! Getting olderrr! ~_~ Having a joint birthday celebration on Friday with another friend who had her birthday yesterday (13 Sept) and most probably going out on Saturday and thinking of yum cha, but probably would want to rest Saturday morning/afternoon...

Will post up a real entry sometime. Probably my thoughts on Friends With Benefits. (it was REALLY good, btw)

Dresses & Bows!

I seem to blog more often (lately) here - Dresses and Bows, my fashion/beauty blog.

Dresses n Bows

Dresses n Bows

Dresses n Bows 

Dresses n Bows

Dresses n Bows 

Dresses n Bows  

Dresses n Bows

Visit for fashion and beauty goodness!

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this blog, I want to change the name and I guess decide what I want to do with it... guess find me at Dresses n Bows for the while being! 

Better with the lights off

I am like addicted to this song! Listening to it over and over again! >_< Also quite into the French version of Simple Plan's new song "Jet Lag" (that's not released in NZ yet :[) featuring Marie (Mai). There's also the English version featuring Natasha Bedingfield

  

I love both of the songs at the moment... in particularly the first one.

I'm not actually sure what else I was going to update about. Oh yes, another tv show I discovered while browsing the selection. Switched at Birth. I'm not exactly  sure why I keep watching it. I find Bay to be really annoying and her nasally voice annoys me. She reminds me of somebody else who has a similar voice and I think might even look similar to her, but I have temporarily forgotten the name! I really like Daphne though. I don't know (probably) if it's because of how she was brought up but, it kind of seemingly always  happens in these kind of situations. In that, the poor girl who was brought up in a not-so-wealthy environment is always nicer and more understanding and caring and well, just all-round nice pretty much! (I'm also sure there's a similar story like this out there in terms of another tv show I've seen before) Obviously, she's more easily relatable and Bay (although a very unique and nice name...) is just so irritating and you just feel like throwing things at the tv/her! Bay's mum is also quite annoying at times... actually, most of them probably at one time or another I don't like how they do things. But, I just can't stop watching!

Ooooh, and onto more TV talk! The past weekend I pretty much spent the whole weekend at my friend, P's house and... we ended up watching the whole season (of 6 episodes) of The Walking Dead. AMAZING stuff! I can't wait for the second season... also can't wait for the third season of Glee! Want to see how things pan out! I really recommend The Walking Dead... Switched at Birth.... not so much, if you've got some spare time, sure but... I think it's kind of been done before, but I think I am just interested to see how things develop on that show. It's not bad.... but I don't know if it's terribly good, either. I guess maybe should just watch and judge for yourself... there's also a whle list of other new TV shows that I want to watch that seem so so so good. I haven't actually dedicated that much time to TV in so long, always been out but now I... find myself at home and on the net (and yet I sometimes find it so difficult to set aside time to update this blog....)

Anyways, think that's enough for this week~ hope you enjoy the rest of your week =)

I'm the baddest baby in the atmosphere

I'm thinking of changing the name of this blog... I swear I should just keep a constant URL and just change the name whenever so the location remains constant.

But anyways! Been too long. I don't even know what I did during that time since my last update! I do know that i bought a lot of things like a ring which is kind of replacement of my old bow one which I lost.... I don't know where it went, sigh :(

I also think, because I had a dip in income for a week, this month was the lowest amount of money I spent...

Oh, I do know one constant thing in my life the past month: GLEE! Omg, I love that show! I don't know why I didn't start watching it earlier! It's amazing and so addictive! My favourite characters? Definitely Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jnr is SO HOT! o_o) and Brittany. And maybe Santana, too. Quinn (Dianna Agron) is really pretty. I love the way she dresses, or the costume department dresses her. I like Santana's wardrobe too! But definitely Quinn's. This should be going in my fashion blog.

I think that might be all for today. Under the cut is last month's spending summary. Tomorrow, or the next entry will be dedicated to the things I bought! :)

Yummm

A couple of nights ago, Saturday I believe, BF and I went out to dinner at Tusk Thai Restaurant on Dominion Road with a voucher I had bought. It was amazing and totally worth the $39 I paid for the four-course meal! I ordered a type of chicken soup and Yellow Curry while BF ordered the hot and spicy soup and some main fish dish that I forgot the name of. Forgot to take a pic of the menu and by the time I remembered, it was too late. Oh well. BF enjoyed it and though it was nice. I thought the same. Photos to follow...

Starters: spring rolls, chicken and chicken, I think again with peanut sauce (loved it all!!)

The soups: my chicken one (left) and BF's hot and spicy.

Mains: (from top) Pad thai noodles, fish main and vegetables

Yellow curry

Dessert: Deep fried bananas with a real nice rapsberry-swirled icecream and apples!

And, other random things... painted my nails again but only had it on for less than 24 hours due to having to remove it for work :(  It took me forever to test out nail polishes and find the right one... for some reason, I wasn't "feeling" or liking almost all of them, till this one. It's Katy Perry's OPI collections - The One That Got Away with Teenage Dream on top. I want to get the Katy Perry collection now or those ones....

So, one thing that I mastered with photography is the "ghostly" people/making people disappear trick. I was sitting at the traffic lights on Queen Street when I decided to pull my camera out and the photography lesson homework that I have been on since.... a very long time and mastered that... I now know how to do this! Evidence below. I'm sure there's a name to this technique but yes, I need to get moving with my photography course.. only got about another 8-9 months to get all 13 lessons completed! My course is with ProudPhotography, btw.. I think it has the same course content as The Photography Institute and there was a deal making it significantly cheaper than TPI.. it was about $90. Signed up about a year and a half ago.

 

 Mastered, I think. :)

Oh yes, and lastly HIGH TEA AT STAMFORD WITH Pamela tomorrow! (or today...) Can't wait! Definitely will take photos! ^^

there ain't no reason why you and me should be alone tonight

I admit I have been incredibly lazy.... quite a lot of stuff has happened since last time I updated... not getting jobs... working too much/taking on too much >_< and just general social-ness. And, just the sheer overwhelmingness of sorting through the photos and "screening" them and deciding which ones I want to upload here.. not sure if I do want to upload group pics or pics with my friends in them soo yeah, that doesn't really leave much. But I have found some. Most of them are up on Facebook if you're friends with me there. It was quite an amazing trip even though I've already been there... I guess I didn't really do much the last time that I was there... cos of being poor. :\ Taupo pics will come sometime this week! Below is what I've been up to the past few weeks...

Oh yes! I have been watching Glee! OMG! I didn't know what I've been missing! My favourite song so far that I have been listening to for quite a few times a day is this (It's My Life/Confessions mashup by the guys -- haha love the video, they're like so hyped up and happy,  love it! <3) and this (Halo/Walking on Sunshine mashup by the guys... they all look soo sunny, I love their outfits! Esp the headbands haha), the second one's not the best quality but it's alright. I need to find a discussion forum on Glee! Quite a few things I wanna discuss! >_<

Anyways, the past week or two (or three?) in photos....

Happy June!

As I have mentioned before somewhere/time in my blog, I love new months. It's always a good opportunity to start anew cos it's not like you can always get a new year so often.. But yes. I think I have been neglecting those financial posts and goals. Well, I think it's time to start anew! I have spent so much just because I have gotten a lot of money... well, hopefully not this month. I am expecting about a grand from tax returns and tomorrow a nice big pay unlike my normal ones because I worked out of town and got petrol and accommodation pay too.

Though, after saying that, I am going to be going away in a couple of days (3 to be exact). It's going to be wonderful. I will also be the only attached friend there... that should be fun. But hopefully won't be spending too much, another friend, TS didn't really want to spend over $80. Could be done, accommodation split between us all is about $47, maybe cheaper if more people come. We'll see. Definitely keep you posted.

So. The goals:

June Goals

1. Read 2 books.
2. Watch 15(+) movies.
3. Work 15(+) hours/week.
4. Save 20%/$40 each week.
5. One "splurge"/purchase a week (if/when paid).
6. Weekly blogging (on both blogs) & (private) journaling.
7. Three meals a day/decent wake ups (to do this = food blog)

Spendings Round-up!

I find it so difficult to classify things. I'm not sure if it's the perfectionist/Virgo in me but I want the categories to be super detailed.... then I wonder does it really need to be that detailed? My current categories (that I have listed for June onwards) are:

• Dining+Bars (with friends)
• Dining BF (with boyfriend)
• Homewares
• Monthly (expenses such as mobile top up, magazine purchase and car insurance but that is filed under car costs... what do you think, should it be filed under monthly or car costs?)
• Car Costs (purchases retlated to my car such as most recently jump start cables, maintenance, WOF, registration etc)
• Clothes+Grooming (beauty, clothes and the like purchases)
• Gifts
• Savings
• Groceries (purchases from the supermarket to make dinner and other things such as snacks and such)
• Dairy buys (purchases from the dairy, usually when I require money for the bus.... or like recently water from the service station. Should this just be under a combined "food+groceries" category? Justification for this is that I want to target my spendings and know exactly where to cut back/where I am buying foods from.... hmm)
• Biscuit (purchases related to my pet guinea pig, usually just vegetables, pellets, hay, check ups etc)
• Transport (fuel purchases and bus/train tickets)
• Socializing (I contemplated having this under entertainment but in the past I have had magazine purchases and also book buys under the entertainment category... socialising is things like karaoke, pool etc. Hmm. Advice?)
• Holidays (thought I ought to have a 'holidays' category...)
• Meals Out (breakfast, lunch and dinners that are purchased/had outside of the home... or should that also go under a combined "food+groceries" category?)
• Debts (very unusual but yeah, self-explanatory)

So that is how things are categorized from now on for me and well, how I categorize.. May summary under the cut.

Spending Like It's Going Out of Fashion

Since getting paid last week. I have been spending like there's no tomorrow... >_< I think since pay day, I've bought:

• Dress from Pagani ($40)
  
• L'Oreal Paris Glam Shine 6 hour lip gloss ($28)
• Mink Feel Blanket and 2x pillows from Warehouse - cos I forgot  blanket+pillow when going down to Hamilton.. ($37.98 - $8 for pillow)  
• Car charger ($8.90 + shipping) ~ not really a big spend..
• HP Multifunction Printer ($56)
• Coat hangers, hand towels and a pair of pink flats from Warehouse($18) 

I will post up pictures hopefully sometime this week. 

Last weekend was a pretty sweet weekend with friends. I went down to Hamilton for work and three of my friends spontaneously and randomly decided to come down and visit me, pretty much lol. This was the night that I realized that there isn't much to do in Hamilton... it was a fun night. Ended up eating leftover chocolate custard in the car with bananas. It's really nice. I really do like Fairtrade bananas! I also ended up selling out of all the stock that was in the store over 2 days, that was meant to be for 3 days? It was great.

Went back up to Auckland on Saturday night since I sold out of the stock and so couldn't work the next day and saw friends again, ended up going on a random mini road trip to Matakana. There's nothing there. But we just ended up going to Orewa beach. Good random times!

Lastly, Sunday night, dinner with friends at a Chinese restaurant after work followed by Hulu Cat - pearl milk tea. Good end to the night :)

Sadly, don't have any photos.. but I think it's pretty much summed up. Ah, start of a new month soon! How the first six months went by so, incredibly fast! Where did it all go? I still haven't found a job, I'm thinking going to try harder this month onwards and actually look everyday or couple of days... wish me luck. I applied for a job at my current work, something more, a step up from what I do now, kinda.

Messy Dinners and Paydays

Payday yesterday was amazing. I got paid a grand for 17.5 hours of work! O_O I hope I have this job for a little while longer because that means I will possibly be able to get the phone I want sooner then I think, I hope :)

And then onto other things such as the dinner I had tonight and the movie I saw yesterday...

Tonight, kind of in celebration of my being paid, a lot BF and I went out to dinner at La Bocca restaurant in Parnell and dessert at The Chocolate Boutique (no photos from here unfortunately, but we had it to takeaway anyway). It was amazing! Hmmm.. okay maybe not amazing but the service from the waiter certainly was. Actually, it was quite amazing, really did enjoy the meal and the saffron risotto was good. So yeah a good night and dinner! :) That was followed by dessert at The Chocolate Boutique. It wasn't really amazing, but then I got to the bottom and it was amazing then. I really do like Chocolate Boutique! Had some really nice and yum looking chocolates but already had a few too many chocolates at home so resisted the temptation to buy any. Photos follow!

Gratin of pan fried king prawns with garlic, white wine, fresh and sun dried tomatoes on saffron risotto (source)

The end. Clean(ish) plate =)

And other photos from here and there. Speaking of photos, should really finish that photography course at Proud Photography! I think I'll save the movie review for another entry.

Wish You Were Here

The post in which I wonder about my employment future/a rant

My current job situation is like this: I am working part time/casual at a promotions company promoting mainly food products, I think this is called FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods)... but anyways, while also working part time at a educational union 5 days a week. Next week will be the week that I will have ever worked 7 days in a row and also on one day 8 hours... maybe I've done more than 8 hours once, but I guess since working at a bookshop about 5-6 years ago. Since then, I have not worked for more than 5 hours.

So, my dilemma is bundled with my wants of moving out into the city because to me it would just be so much more convenient but then at the same time would be costly, should I get just any job or should I be a bit more patient and put my wants aisde and only apply for jobs that are related to or in (i.e receptionist/administrator at a events company) my field of study (event management).

I've been having this dilemma for a while. There's a few jobs that I have seen that are not related to my field of study but is a job that "will do for now". So, yeah wondering if I should just get 'any' job for now... Although, on the other hand, I have seen this advertisement for a job in Wellington that is graduate/entry-level that I think will be perfect for me! So, I've definitely applied for that. Oh, on top of all that, I may be a Girl Guide Leader. I read up on the job description and seems that could really help in the future with securing an Events job, with the organizing and planning of activities. So, that would help, I think.

She Will Be Loved

(source)

Ok, I think it's time for an update. Last week was really fun. There was definitely a nice end to the week with celebratory drinks (and getting a little too tipsy from shots and a bar tab... :| ) with friends. Lovely end to the week. I also got called up last minute to work so it's even better that I will be getting paid in two week's time! ^^

As well as that, this week or more last week, scored a more stable job, if only on a temporary basis, doing menial tasks at an educational union. I like the work, not hard and getting paid, so not a lot to complain about and also it's half days so can do other stuff too like mystery shop :)

I also need to post and photograph outfits for my ThreeSixFiveWays blog.... and I also realized when I clicked on it, that the link was wrong :\ it's right now but I forgot one word in the link o_o I think I also need to finish it... :s I don't know if I will bother finishing it...

And then now I leave you with yummy photos of food and I hope other things too!

Bollero food. So goood >_<

GPK dinner. So good and worthwhile! 

 Easter gift and chocolates!

The best chocolate ever! <3 Guylian is so good!

Graduation Week!

 Ooooh, an exciting and happy week for all graduates that are graduating and going to get their degree in the form of a piece of paper declaring their hard work of the past 3+ years! A week filled with graduation photos with friends that are graduating and also with friends and family for graduates! :)

Even though I'm not graduating and getting my official piece of paper till August! D: So far away! :( But anyways, this post isn't about me, it's a post congratulating the graduates for 2011!  Let the celebrations begin! I know I'll be at one come Friday~ ^^

Happy Graduating!~

Image Source

Nearly The End

So some of you might know that over on ThreeSixFive my fashion blog, I have been doing the 30 for 30 Challenge. Good news is that it is nearly the end, only four more outfits! (if you're wondering why not three, its because one of the days I didn't wear an outfit cos of work)

For the past year I have struggled to complete a challange (ala Project 365) but I have finally, nearly done so! :D Quite happy and chuffed at myself for that =] I still want to complete a Project 365! So that is one thing off my list. Still got the book challenge and movies to go. Is 211 movies possible in one year? :\

What challenges/goals have you set yourself and completed?

That feeling of completion is amazing.... and I kind of inadvertently referred to Never Let Me Go.... I think I've seen that movie too many times.

IMDB Top 100 Movie List

(Or aka. More Moives To Watch List for My 211 Movies in 2011....)

Well. So far in my 22 years of existence, I have seen only 12% of this list. A little bit disappointing? I'm not sure of the word I'm after but, wow. I feel I want to watch them all again and get a fresh perspective.

To note, I have watched Inception about 3 times; enjoyed Leon: The Professional, it was a different movie to what I would usually watch; also enjoyed and liked The Departed (want it on DVD) and Spirited Away (own it on DVD~ =)), Inglorious Basterds was extremely graphic and although I must admit was an above average movie and despite the graphicness, I liked it. And, the rest are just mediocre and not worth mentioning.

This was taken from Cafe Chick at Tales from a Cafe Chick, who lives in New Zealand! I love finding New Zealand bloggers! ^^ Top 100 under the cut.

If I Were You

A little update... stopped doing the Project365... I think I forgot a day and then just canned it... I really do want to complete and partake in one... soo maybe next month. Sigh.

My 30 for 30 was  going well until... Friday I think. I have no idea what I did on Friday other than work and going back to Bf's after going back to the supermarket a second time cos I forgot to do something... u_u need to figure it out..

I've also given up (kinda, for the moment) on job searching... I know it's only early and I'm probably complaining about nothing but I think I need to upskill. I thought I was quite experienced in admin/office but well, maybe I'm aiming too high. I dunno, I just haven't looked at jobs on Seek or Trademe for a while. I have sent in a query about volunteering/being a Guide leader since I think (and hope) it could give me some experience in event/activity planning and also because I've personally participated in Guides myself.. I know I shouldn't give up from the rejections but, well I think I've taken a small break.

I want to get away for a bit and take a breather... but I have no money so maybe just take a break from furiously applying for jobs. I think I need to make a plan and start emailing companies. I'm also quite tempted to take a course in journalism or something. Something like marketing or PR.... there seems to be a lot of jobs going for graduates in these courses... I picked the wrong major(s).

Ok, that's enough ranting and updating.... until next time... hopefully it'll be less rant-y and sad.

There Are Just Some Things....

That probably isn't worth it.

Edit: I think I was too hasty. I got a call from the company and it's all sorted. Maybe I should have replied back. Live and learn.

Like this one mystery shop that I did on the weekend in which the targeted salesperson I was supposed to complete my mystery shop on but she left the store a couple of minutes after I entered the store... I emailed the person in charge at 12.55 pm and got a reply then realized that I made a mistake in the email I sent her saying that I entered the store at 12.58pm... which would have been impossible unless I went into the store after sent the email... she didn't pick up on this. I did only after re-reading the email and realizing my mistake. But then, I was composing a reply but then realized, what would be the point? What would I get out of this? It's not like I would be paid anyway since she left the store... so I guess live and learn. Better preparation next time. Just wanted to get this out instead of leaving inside.

Hopefully later today April goals will be posted up and oh, wish me luck for this urgent receptionist job I'm applying for! Hope everyone's Mondays are starting off on a good note!~

Bumper Crop Post!

Kudos to the person who knows where part of the title comes from. =)

Haven't updated in ages cos just been so busy and haven't had time.... or been kind of been procrastinating... >_<

March goal check-in.

March Goals

• Working 15 -25 hours a week: Only worked 30 hours all up and 20 of them was in one week =\
• $10 left in bank account: Nope. 
• Read 2 - 4 books: Didn't happen...
• 30 for 30 challenge - no spending on clothes: Was good up until the last week, when I needed to buy a white singlet... I think that's poor preparation, could have asked around if anybody had a white singlet... so, that ruined it. Also, didn't start the 30 for 30..
• Routine - Cleaning + moisturizing: Yes. For most of the days except when I was at BF's.
• One craft: No :(
• 8 - 10 movies: Yup, 8 movies all done!
• 3 lessons of photograpy completed: Nope... I had yet to do this one part of this assignment. But I did it yesterday.
• At least $400 altogether saved in both savings accounts: Didn't work that much so didn't save... at all. >_<

 March Financial Round-Up 
Below the cut... (I also apologize in advance for how the table following the pie chart sticks out! Next time, I will definitely be sure to make sure it's as small as possible....)

Marshmallow Dreams~

I just baked half a dozen Mile High Marshmallow Cupcakes from the 200 Cupcakes book that BF got me for Christmas. This is the... third recipe, but second successful recipe... I think. They were nice. A little sweet but very cute and nice to look at! ^.^

I was also going to post up another pic of 'guess how much I spent' but... well forgot... =\ oops.

I also have a new favourite song, a NZ band nonetheless. It was very weird kinda how I discovered it, I was walking to uni on Monday and was at Upper Queen Street and heard that song playing from some speakers outside a barber place. Odd? A little. A Asian girl just randomly standing there....

Anyways, should be sleeping now. Lots to do tomorrow and hopefully will also have time to at the end of the day to post up my finances... I already know it's not good. Time to reassess and add new goals, tomorrow.

Karen Walker Love

I visited my friend, T today and omg I loved the Karen Walker heart ring that she got for her birthday from another friend... I actually loved it before I seen it, courtesy of this post on nzgirl.

So, in commemoration of that, some of my favourite things from the Karen Walker range I like and want...

Photo Credit: Walker and Hall

And, also I feel that these weekly updates aren't enough.... hmmm. But I just don't have anything to update with >_< Maybe the beginning of the Project365 will bring a weekly feature... hope you're all having a wonderful beginning to the week. I'm also tired of job searching! Getting a little  beaten down with the rejections... =\ any advice?

More

Tonight, I made dinner cos my mum wasn't home and decided to make instead of buying something premade. Decided on Tuna and Pasta bake but then because I didn't really like some of ingredients (one, the corn), I looked for more. My one turned out really nice. I actually just found one recipe, decided that I didn't really like it and just took a look at all of the recipes I found and just improvised and cooked how I wanted to cook everything and it turned out quite incredible, I think. Photo evidence below.





I also baked red velvet cupcakes and those turned out REEEALLY well as well! This could kind of count as having baked another recipe from my 200 Cupcakes recipe book that my BF got me for Christmas but... I didn't use that recipe because I didn't really want beetroot in it... I guess could have omitted it.. oh well. The ingredients for this recipe is a combination of a few different ones I found and then I used this recipe's method cos it was simpliest and used buttercream for the icing.  They were soft, moist and. Just. So. Incredible as well! Particularly with the chocolate buttercream icing I made with it... although the first try, I added too much water [first attempt was just icing + hot water + a little butter) and... then decided to try the buttercream one. =\ So, overall I think I did quite well in the baking and cooking department today :) AND the icing actually stays in tact/shape! I'm quite happy about that! ^.^



  This weekend was two of my friend's birthdays, BK and D. The night started off at Mexicali in which most of the girls had a frozen margarita with dinner and I surprisingly managed to finish most of my dinner! (That really amazed me, btw lol, probably because that was my first meal of the day....) After dinner, we went next door to the Mac Brew Bar and continued drinking, the cocktails were $9 instead of around $14.50! :D I had two, a apple mojitio and min chi. I really liked the latter, couldn't even taste the alcohol! Amazing! <3 Then later on around 2 or 3, went back to PS's house and played cards, hung around his place. Good night catcing and seeing friends. Oooh also got asked on behalf of my friend if this bartender was single, heh. Think I might have been a little tipsy.....

Anywho, Friday night saw me taking forever deciding what to do, was already out in the city but then it started POURING! So, that ruined my plans for the night, ended up hanging at V's place and had a really yummy dinner there! It was delicious~ heh XD then decided would go see a movie with P. We ended up seeing Never Let Me Go. Such a nice movie! It was the second time I had watched it so I knew exactly what was going to happen when... still so, so sad when I watched it a second time... wouldn't mind watching it, again!  Then went to play pool with PS and B and PS's friend and it was quite good. I enjoyed it a lot. After about 4 games with them, went to see some other friends whose plans were ruined by the rain but I saw that it wasn't really raining that much so decided to venture out.... but I was so wrong! It started up again.. ;__; but went out clubbing with friends from high school and another friend, CL and her friend T. Didn't really dance much which I was disappointed at and, also I am never going back to Globe! I liked the music before but.... after that night, NEVER! I got hit on by this awful guy and my friend didn't quite get the hint that I didn't want to be there anymore and yeah.... not a particularly fun night... got home around 3am. Only two redeeming part of the night was spending time with high school friends and the meal at Wendy's... the chicken bites are quite nice! ^^  That's my weekend. Sunday, I mystery shopped and watched Pretty Little Liars. I love that show! <3 I wish on blogger, that you could cut/hide some parts and not just from a certain point onwards.... =/

And on a random note, anybody want to take a guess at how much the below cost?

What I bought under the cut.

Forever With You

Crrent favourite song atm. Spent forever last night trying to find it! I'd only caught and remember this one line "I can see forever with you" and could not find it! Probably because there were no 'can' in the lyric... oops. But ended up finding it on Youtube when I typed it in! :)




Also watched a few trailers on Youtube as well today.. there are quite a few good movies coming out like Just Go With It, Friends With Benefits (yes, not out in NZ yet ;__; and I think Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake is better somehow than Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher...), The Roommate (not sure if I really want to see it... very intriguing) and Last Night. Ooh yes and Meskada!  A little thriller-y but intersting nonetheless. And also the NZ movies My Wedding and Other Secrets (in which I'm in as an extra) and Love Birds.

I baked twice last night, baked some Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes from the book that my BF gave me for Christmas (200 Cupcakes from hamlyn) and they turned out... not as I expected. I halved the recipe and it was... not like other cupcake/muffin textures I experienced before.... next time I will be trying out the recipe in full and seeing if I get the same result. Also, on a side and related note, I need to get new piping gear. The (cheap) ones I got from $3 Japan are not cutting it... I tried to ice these cupcakes with an icing that I made (and also subsituted the 50g of milk chocolate for what I guesstimated to about the equivalent of melted chocolate buttons) didn't turn out good either. Similar to the first time I used the piping gear, the icing didn't stay in shape/outline... it just melted... :\ but it is nice, the icing and yeah.... Also, since the recipe/baking of the cupcakes took shorter than I expected (and also because they didn't turn out cute and cupcake-y), I decided to bake some cookies too and again altered the recipe, thinking that I could save on bowls and just mix the flour, sugar, butter and pretty much everything together (cos the prevous cupcake recipe pretty much told you to do that and thought would test it out)... didn't quite work.. looks okay and like my other cookies but the mixture didn't taste as divine and oh-so-amazing as last time... :( still alright though but yeah, won't be doing shortcuts next time!

I also remembered that I wanted to get some free business cards printed.... which one do you like best?

Cuteness and Dog Rules

I got directed to watch this video and that prompted to find out why you can't own slow loris (because they're a threatened species(... in Canada?) which led me to another video and that made me curious about the website in which the video was hosted on and found this!

The opening paragraph says that we can learn a lot from dogs because they only go after/fight for two things: love/a mate and food. I really agreed with it. I even do some of them already! Also, particularly agree with the first philosophy! I love joy rides... or rides/random drives in general~ ;]

Nothing much has been happening these past few days besides work, worked Thur - Sun, not as bad as a full-time worker, actually worked half of one of my FT friends after I complained that I worked too much this week! >_< but yeah, my hours are part-time hours. But, still feeling tired regardless.. Besides work, hung out with friends Friday night, just had a little cocktail night but not really and went to a friend's flat which was a brothel previously and tbh, I think I am quite innocent in that I didn't really comprehend much how the layout and style of the house were made with a brothel in mind.... which is good thing. That I'm innocent. I think. I guess good and bad, in a way. Also maybe should have taken photos.... Oh, yeah and went out Friday too and that was nice, hadn't been out in a while and think might have found a new favourite club!

Yeah, this is all. Hopefully, sometime next week I will have organised and taken pictures of all of my 30 for 30 outfits so far and have it posted up.... wondering if I should have a separate website for all this, in particular the 30 for 30 outfits... cos I do want to continue taking pictures of my outfits after the challenge has finished...

And, lastly I have a lot of tabs open on one Chrome window that I need to get through, it's all twitter accounts/websites I'm interested in following and such. Really interesting. It's all from Tee Twyford's twitter. She follows really interesting people.

Dog Rules/Philosophy below the cut...

Officially Finishing....

And other stuff like having a really bad memory and forgetting what I wore on Saturday (just 3 days ago)! ;___;

Remembering what I wore is for the 30 for 30 Challenge.... sigh! So disappointed at myself... kind of feel like starting over again next month.. I could just begin again next or this week but... it's just the fact I started and remember all my other outfits but this one. Yeah, also that I didn't take any pics cos I'm waiting on my new tripod which is hopefully better than the last one (its not a 'real' gorillapod, I don't think, I got it from Trademe) I got... I just couldn't get it sitting right, when I changed it so that the camera would be vertical, it was kind of hard and finally the little balls kept coming off if I moved it too much to the left or right! >_< So, yes hopefully I remembered right.

But anyways, onto the 'officially finishing' thing! Today, I completed the last thing I needed to do to finish my degree! I did my presentation and it went so much better than I imagined! It just kind of came naturally and my lecturer was really amazing in her feedback! Can pretty much say I rocked it and am now entering the temporary world of "looking for a job" then "the real working world"! Oh, I also figured out a way I can gain more events experience and also leadership experience, possibly! Going to look into it and hopefully it'll be good!

Yeah, other than those two things, nothing else has been happening much other than lunching with friends that I don't seem to see for ages on end! It was really nice catching up and all~ really wanted to see another friend while I was in Greenlane yesterday for my job interview - which went well, but was already a done deal in that I was just filling out paperwork and doing tests to determine my ability level, which btw, I also did really well, will post that up another time - but was really busy and needed to be in town for other things. My life.... but now that my degree is finished, just need to find a job and continuing my regular job from the previous year... is it just me or does other people dread going to work but then it turns out to be fine? I'm starting to think I'm allergic to work... I mean, just thinking about working 9-5 is making me feel funny... but I know that that is the world and my next step in life after uni.

Lost and Lessons Learned

One of the few pictures that was salvaged... an ornament that I'm not sure where I got/acquired that has been fixed after taking a big fall...

Somehow I lost all my files on my camera's memory card... :( I had taken lots of photos for 30 for 30 of the items of my clothes.... =\ don't even know how it happened nor can I get it back through Recuva... well some of them. Sigh.

Anyways. Watched two movies tonight to add to my list of movies so that makes it about 19 movies... still need another 32! Eeep...! Not sure if its possible to watch 211 movies in one year! (2011) But nothing is impossible, so I will try my best to! Tonight, I watched An Education and The Tooth Fairy. I already started watching the latter movie a few months back but got bored of it for some reason and for An Education, decided to start watching from the top, in alphabetical order but then skipped... a lot and decided to watch The Tooth Fairy after, lol.
I really enjoyed An Education. I had some idea of what it was about but was really surprised at how it turned out. Really liked it :) and The Tooth Fairy, not so much, it was nice and had its funny bits, but don't think will want to watch it again.
Oooh, and have a job interview tomorrow for a recruitment company! Wish me luck! Also have a busy day tomorrow. Tomorrow will see me do that one (or so) last thing for to complete my degree! I probably should have spent time on that instead of watching a movie... will do some work on it before bed and also make sure I have everything I need in order and organised/ready for tomorrow!

February Spending Summary

Before going into the monthly spending round up, just wanted to mention a few things like won a ticket to a free movie screening put on by AUSM - AUT's student movement and it was great. Really enjoyed the movie. The movie was The Adjustment Bureau and it has the perfect mix of romance and action. Or more, action than romance so the boys will probably enjoy it... not that I've seen The Bourne Identity, I kinda sense that its somewhat similar, but then they just add in the bureau and the girl.... I dunno, will let you know when I've watched the latter. 

Also, the other night, I baked the perfect 2 batches of chocolate chip cookies! This time, I used a teaspoon to scoop them and they are just SO crunchy! I love them and given a few away to friends and my mum. I want to make more! XD

And, since I did this on my LJ, thought would add it here too, in case you missed something or something catches your eye. February Summary:

• baked and spent about $100 more than I earnt
• made goals for March... more like a "monthly to-do" list.
• got into Pretty Little Liars.... still need to watch the pilot! I started watching/realized it was on one episode too late! (and also mused about the meaning of new months for me...)
• finished a book, Sloppy Firsts and watched four movies to add to my watched movies list.
• ate out at La Bruschetteria with a Spreets voucher. It was really nice! Def recommend it :)
• made my first dinner, enchiladas and hot chocolate submarino!

Then below under the cut is February's Spending Summary... I think after this month's tracking, I will set goals... after seeing if there are any themes.

More

More goals, but they're actually just structured around my main ones. They're more maybe a monthly 'to-do' list... cos who doesn't like ticking stuff off when complete? :]

If you can't see the picture, refer below the cut for the list.

A New Month

It's going to be a new month! And so means I will be starting my 30 for 30 Challenge soon! Gotta get it all ready and want to take individual pics of the  items of clothing but I'm not sure if I will be able to... we'll see.

I quite like new months, means that if you've made mistakes or want to start again, a new month is just there for you to do so. Although, could be said for days and weeks too... but I guess, for me anyway, it's just too short of a span of time and there's no really "distinguishable-ness" about days or weeks. Well, there is, the days of the week (i.e. Monday, Tuesday etc) but... there's no inclusion of a set of week and days?

Anyways. This month I hope to begin routines like moisterizing everyday cos I just felt itchy and possibly means my skin is dry, I put some moisterizer on it and it's fine now. As well as that, I also hope to get my online photography course done. And oooh! Tomorrow is the beginning of a new uni semester... feels sort of weird that kind of know a few people returning and I'm.... not. Probably will get used to that feeling, I guess for the while, I'm on an extended holiday. I applied for a bunch of jobs on Trademe and 2 SJS jobs. Trademe are mostly temp jobs since, I think I don't want to be tied down to one job although it would be good (read: stable income) but, what if I find a job that I want two or three weeks into the job? But then, I guess the same predicament can be found here... hmm.

Anyways! Onto other topics....

(source)

Pretty Little Liars! That show is good! (In my opinion) What's been happening on Sundays, since last week (when I found out that it was playing on TV2) is me coming home from work,  doing some stuff and then sitting down in the lounge with laptop and left over dips and crackers from work and enjoying the show! I love it, wish I hadn't missed the first episode.. been meaning to find the first episode online....

And lastly, will be posting my monthly spendings tomorrow night~ I will save the financial talk for tomorrow but in a spate of boredom, I discovered I spend more than I earn... D: 

Dark Day....

Just wanted to extend out my condolences and thoughts to the people and family and friends of Christchurch are  alright. This is just so sad and my heart breaks when I'm watching the visuals of the scenes after the earthquake. Just so awful.

Lots of love and hope for them. My heart goes out to them...

Next Step

The above picture has nothing to do with this post, just thought [and from this post onwards,] it would be nice to have something visually nice to look at it... kind of relates... with stuffed monkey working? But anyways...
I looked for jobs in admin tonight and found a few that I was qualified/experienced in.

Though, my dilemma is, should I look for a admin job at a company that is related to my field of study so I can level up/climb up the ladder/be in the know if any jobs are going within the company or just essentially get any admin job for the time being while also looking at relevant jobs? Cos the thing that I'm thinking about is that obviously, most of these jobs are full-time permanent and I am [already] feeling bad if I left pretty much as soon as I start [not literally, but even a month or two, that would be... not good =\]
I think I'm going to go have a talk with a careers counselor at uni, while I still can...

Finished.

I wish the title was referring to me being finished my degree. But it's pretty close. Just one more presentation in which I might wing.... hmm, maybe not.


Anyways, the title is referring to being finished my second book of the year... so, so far my goal for reading 17 books maybe going according to plan... well, actually it would be if I were to read 12 books, but I think I will be able to read another 5... actually, just started reading Pretty Little Liars before even being finished Sloppy Firsts.

I'm intrigued by Pretty Little Liars TV programme. Watched the second episode of the first season today. Really good, has the element of intrigue as I read on Lights MB... it has amped me up for what's coming up... so I'm thinking possibly Pretty Little Liars is going to be my third book, although I have another four books that I borrowed from the library to read before this time next month....

And, just to say something about the book I just finished reading before moving on. I liked it! By the end anyway. I didn't really like it at the beginning, and was actually going to just read the first and not the rest, but now that I've finished reading it, I want to know what happens next! Left at a cliffhanger! So, yes will definitely be reading the rest. I also love the Marcus Flutie. He's so awesome and so awww-worthy at times!~

While also updating my books challenge thing, might do a little update about my 2011 movies challenge... unfortunately that's not going as swimmingly... I think I should be up to 24 movies by now...  but not. Although I have seen a few movies since then, 2 last week in fact! I enjoyed one and throughly hated the latter! I think I was going to update about that movie [Due Date, btw] but, didn't for some reason but yeah. Awful and annoying movie! Hated it, all throughout pretty much!! DX I liked Unstoppable though!

And now, time for some photos for some light relief! Made/melted chocolate and poured them into moulds for Valentine's Day for boyfriend! I do admit it was a very last minute idea, but great nonetheless! ^^ Also, celebrated our two-year anniversary last week too! =) Actually, nearly forgot what we did, lol but I think it was just a nice homecooked meal since he didn't want to go out due to crowds..

Dinner one night... potato and leek soup | Valentine's Day gift for the boyfriend ~ moulded choc hearts!

Also, was very due for a blog post! Also been thinking about reviewing goals monthly and maybe even making monthly goals.... to make it even more specific and cos you'll probably forget if it's just yearly goals.. also [my third also] can't wait for the next month to begin, even though I did want to do it this month starting last week but... forgot and stuff. Can't wait for next month so can do my first 30 for 30 Challenge! Maybe even 31 for 30... since there's 31 days in March. Think will take photos of the 30 items so I have a visual and cos then it'll be somewhat easy to document too :)

Overload

Tonight, went to La Bruschetteria at Elliot Stables with the boyfriend. It was real nice and different to anything I've ever eaten. I bought a voucher at Spreets and so saved some money... $24 to be exact. Then afterwards, just hung out with some friends at The Bluestone Room. Nice and breezy night~ :]

Blue Cheese, Ham, Mushrooms, tomatos; rocket, cream cheese and ham?; salami, capsicum, cheddar?

Antipasto.

This morning, got most of my co-op lit review and industry report completed, only have about the conclusions to go in each and then.... will be done with the written part and just have the oral presentation to do... and then it will be the 'real world'.... eep. This evening, had dinner with family and then hung out with some other people in the same group of friend's at DA's house. It was nice. Although, was scared that my car will be broken into since LL's car was the last time he was here... eek. But it was okay, cos got to park inside the gates~ ^^  Then tomorrow, after work, it's LL's birthday celebration tomorrow, kinda excited for some reason :D

Cause I never knew what I wanted till I looked into your eyes

This past weekend was spent in Hamilton for a friend's 21st and then the next day was spent catching up with friends. And then the following days were spent procrastinating, sleeping and finally doing some work for my last paper for uni.... forever..

So that's what I've been doing lately. Will also post up photos from the Project 265 I've started again... only missing a few days so will try and figure out what I did on those days and post them up... hopefully will be able to complete that this year. Still need to do that 30 for 30 challenge sometime...

Thought would post a little update since last week updated almost everyday! >_< I would also leave you with a very nice photo, but I'm too lazy to get off the bed and get my memory card... sorry.. hope everyone had a lovely beginning of week~

TwentyEleven Goals

Beginning February 4, 2011. I will also summarize monthly and see how I go... I don't think I did too well in January, so will begin again. Also, for my own conveneicne and possibly yours too, categorized by category.

1. Finish Photography course by the end of the year! [Hobbies]
      ~ Take more photos - better capture/document events/2011!   ~ Use the camera that goes everywhere~
2. Blog -regularly- at least twice a week! [Hobbies]
3. Craft at least once a month... [Hobbies]
      ~ Utilize that craft book purchased a couple of months ago
4. Develop other hobbies - reading, watching movies instead of internetting [Hobbies]   ~ ties in with book and movie challenges
          = 211 Movies in 2011
          = 17-27 [or more] books in 2011 ~ 1-2 books a month plus 5-2 more....
5. Be more punctual & keep and attend plans. [Personal]
6. 6-8 hours sleep [Personal]
7. Put more effort into appearance and clothes~ Especially *appearance* ~ fashion challenges/blog and photographic evidence! [Personal]
8. Gain weight.... tied into.....
   3 meals a day! - Record eatings from 7/02/11 [Health]
9. Be more money-wise. Have at least $10 left in everyday account [Finances]
10. Have $3,500 in long term savings and start a Emergency Fund with 3-6 months of pay in there at all times. [Finances]
11. Track finances [Finances]
12. Complete co-op by February 17. [Uni]   ~ Complete readings by February 8
       ~ Complete learning plan, industry report February 10
       ~ Literature Report completed by February 17, at the latest! 

Discovering The Amazement That is Photoshop....

So, I just discovered the amazingness that is photoshopping an image and how amazingly more awesome it is than of a regular-taken image!

Obviously, can tell which is photoshopped... used to think that photos should be kept in its original state but after playing around, some can definitely do with some photoshopping... and obviously also, I know that pretty much all those models and such are photoshopped and I guess all the other photos in magazines too..