Give away at College Prep

Carly at College Prep is having a giveaway for this super cute planner for 2012 from Elle & Em

 The Inside!

 The Cover

I would definitely get a lot of use out of one of these. Head over to College Prep to enter. Or if you just want to go ahead and buy one yourself, get one from Elle & Em

Speaking of 2012, what are y'all most excited about for the new year?

Aussie Thanksgiving

This is my second Thanksgiving in Australia and this time it was much harder for me to be away from my family. Thanksgiving is very big in my family, it's an event everyone looks forward to all year. However, I did get to FaceTime with the whole clan and that made me really happy!

But, my Thanksgiving was still awesome! It was just Mr. Aussie and I but it was perfect. I spent the whole day making food:

 

WAY too much food for two people. Needless to say, we’ll be having leftovers for awhile!
And because it’s Thanksgiving, I am thankful for (in no particular order):
1. My family
2. Mr. Aussie
3. My friends
4. The fact that I’m in law school (I know, I’m insane. But I am very thankful for these kind of opportunities in my life.)
5. My dog
6. Just life in general.

Puppy Humor

source

I stumbled across these photos earlier and just found them beyond hilarious. There’s just something about funny pictures of animals that can really uplift your day! 

Hope everyone has a good Halloween Monday!

Viva Mexico!

Yea, I Google mapped directions from Mexico City to here. Just to illustrate how far away I am from Mexico. No, I don’t know kilometers either or what that is in miles. And why do I care about how far I am from Mexico do you ask? Two words: MEXICAN FOOD!

I love, love, love Mexican food. I am not exaggerating when I say I eat Mexican food on a weekly basis at home. In Atlanta, Mexican restaurants are about as common as a Starbucks. I’m also not even lying when I say on my high school graduation trip to Italy, I made my parents go to a Mexican restaurant one night because my craving was so bad. (Sidebar: it was so freaking good). Also, Mr. Aussie and I were talking the other day about Mexican food and realized that when we were in the US I took him to more Mexican restaurants than anything else. What can I say? I’m obsessed. But luckily, he’s now one of the few Australians to actually know what yummy Mexican food is.

I love Australia, but one downfall is the fact that it’s so far away from Mexico – very little Mexican food! I had tried Mexican here twice before Friday night and both times I was extremely dissatisfied. Don’t get me wrong, I am not judging on authenticity (I mean, we’re REALLY far from Mexico). If anything is as good as the proverbial Atlanta Mexican restaurant, I’d be happy. So, on Friday night, Mr. Aussie and I decided to try a Mexican restaurant here that we heard was pretty good. Holy Mexican jumping beans, it was! It wasn’t the best I ever had, but it was still pretty legit. I got a picture of it on my Blackberry, sorry about the quality. My only complaint was that the enchiladas didn’t have enchilada sauce on them. Just a bunch of cheese. But the tasty beef inside made it ok! The refried beans were DELISH and the rice was so yummy. So happy I found a Mexican restaurant!

 

I really wish I got a picture of the décor. It was HORRIBLE. About as tacky as you can get, worse than the restaurants at home that do the cheesy “Mexican” décor. A lot of the hangings on the wall actually looked more like Navajo Native American to me than Aztec. But whatever. And the waiter pronounced it “Kway-so”. It’s ok, I let it go. Oh, and to Mr. Aussie’s disappointment, there were no fajitas on the menu. So not perfect, but damn good enough to feed my cravings! 

Is there any cuisine that you just die for? Share my love of Mexican?

worth remembering

I honestly have never met anyone who doesn’t love the book, The Great Gatsby. Well one of my favorite quotes is from the very beginning of it. It’s just perfect and I think if more people remembered this then the world would be a kinder place.

"Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had"

Melbourne Cup Carnival

OK so I have an Aussie bucket list which I have mentioned before. One of my friends asked me if that means I am going to die in Australia so I want to get things done before that. Errrr…hopefully not. By Australia bucket list, I just mean that there’s a list of things I want to do in Australia before I move back to the US of A. So the “kicking of the bucket” is the move. The list grows nearly everyday but I’ll only really talk about the major ones. 

Melbourne Cup is a major one.

Amercain (heck yea) won in 2010

It happens every November and, don’t hate me, but in my opinion it’s bigger than the Kentucky Derby. The celebrations go for a few days and the whole country literally stops for the race day. I know it’s a public holiday in the state of Victoria (where Melbourne is) and I think everyone else just kind of hopes they can get off work for it. Nevertheless, there’s parties the ENTIRE week of it so you can always catch at least one. Then, to make it even better, the fashion for it is phenomenal. Needless to say, I am dying to attend it one day. 

Please, I wanna wear one too.

What’s an event you are dying to go to?

State Traditions

So I recently came across an AWESOME company called State Traditions. They make hats, shirts, polos, accessories with states as the logos and college colors!








Go check out the website. There’s awesome stuff for lots of states and they’re working on adding more if yours isn’t there yet. It’s perfect for gifts for your dad, brother, boyfriend or just for yourself!

Hunger Games

So I am behind on the times with this one I think, but just started the trilogy The Hunger Games last Sunday and I am already on the third book!




These books are seriously so good! Around 270 pages, easy to read, and a perfect escape from the real world if that’s what you’re looking for.

The books are narrated by a 16 year old named Katniss that lives in a country called Panem. Panem at one point was North America, but there seems to have been some kind of apocalyptic event that demolished it. There’s The Capitol and its now 12 Districts. There had been a rebellion at some point in history and now The Capitol hosts the Hunger Games every year to punish the people of the Districts for their rebellion and remind them of the Capitol’s power. Each district has to send a boy and girl to participate in the Games in which they all fight to the death until only one remains.

There’s a movie of it coming out in 2012, but the books are definitely worth reading.

Has anyone else read this addicting trilogy? What did you think?

Going Bananas

About 8 months ago there was this cyclone named Yasi that slammed against the state of Queensland in Australia. Cyclones happen, the damage wasn’t horrendous like many other natural disasters of this year, but it did wipe out the bananas. So, prices SKY ROCKETED. This was bad news bears for the farmers and the consumers like me who LOVE bananas.
So I am going to give you some of the things I love to do with bananas:

1. Just eat them as they are.

2. Banana bread. Love this recipe from Smitten Kitchen
                   
3. Banana and peanut butter sandwiches.

4. Banoffee Pie. Actually, I just realized where the name comes from because it’s BANanas and toFFEE. Ooooohhh. Anyways, I want to learn how to make it, they are AMAZING. Never even heard of it until I came to Aus, so I found an Australian recipe here
          
This might seem odd to have a post on something like bananas, but try going MONTHS without eating something you love and normally eat on a regular basis. It get’s to ya!
Is there anything special you make with bananas? I am always looking for new food ideas.

Tangles Smangles

So I have fine hair, but lots of it, and that equates to easily getting tangles. Seriously annoying. If you have the same problem, I have found a couple good products that I love. I used to use Aveda Damage Remedy which I loved because it got the tangles out easily and left my hair so soft:

But it costs a bloody fortune in Australia, so I ended up getting a new product which I absolutely LOVE. Moroccan Oil:

Its' a great little serum that you use very little of. It leaves my hair tangle free, soft and shiny. I definitely suggesting giving either of these a try! I am not sure which one I like better.

Beavers

When you prepare to go to law school, everyone tells you how hard it is and how it makes you want to kill yourself (oh yay! thanks for the pep talk folks). However, no one ever tells you that it finally clicks in your head that professors are PEOPLE! What?! Who even knew. I am not sure what I thought professors were before, but I did not think they were people. I go to law school in Australia so it's kind of  different. You can have an undergrad law degree to practice so most JD students are North American. Maybe the professors talk with us differently than they do with the undergrads, but holy freakin moly...they're people. And most of these realizations have circled around something inappropriate.

First example: It was the end of a tutorial (those are these small classes we have outside lecture to help reiterate what we're learning) and the professor (who is Swedish, with quite the Swedish accent) told a girl at the end of class, who had an Abercrombie shirt on, that he liked her moose. Well, with his Swedish accent, it did NOT sound like that. So she goes, "what did you say?" and he responds, "I like your moose, on your shirt." And she says, bright red in the face, "oh, I thought you said you like my boobs". Seriously, everyone in the room nearly died from laughing. The professor was BRIGHT red, laughing very hard, and said "maaaaaybe I should leave now".

Now, this semester, I just seem to have a strange man as my professor. From day one he's used laws involving cats as an example. But, no he does not call them cats, he calls them pussies. Enough said.

Then when we had our first tutorial, he went on a tangent about how much he likes beavers. Enough said.

Then when my friend was explaining that in 5 years she hopes to be working for a luxury brand in intellectual property rights, he responded with, "yea, you don't seem like a girl who likes beavers." WHAT THE HECK?! I nearly died. I couldn't even hold it in at all. I gave up. 

I won't even get started on my professor who often made our pseudo clients transgender grandmas (affectionately known in class as the tranny granny). Or the professor who is a twenty something and almost died when I emphasized the "douche" pronunciation in fiduciary relationship.

They should put this is the informative books on law school. Just sayin.

What's the rush?

Disclaimer: Young twenty something newlyweds or soon to be newlyweds, please don't hate me. Just my opinion, but I am a firm believer of the "to each their own" and "whatever makes you happy" principles of life. So wise, huh? Mehhh.

Anyhoos. Sooo, what's this sudden common rush to get married? Sometimes I am just confused by the amount of people my age (and younger) that are married/engaged! For real, it's insane. It's 2011, I thought the average age of getting married was rising? Sure doesn't seem like it. I've got a couple theories why there has been a wedding boom:

1. The GFC - aka, the Global Financial Crisis. When I graduated from college there were like no jobs. Seriously. My super smart friends with awesome internships couldn't get nothin. I was just going to law school so I didn't have anything to worry about, right? Wrong. Everyone suddenly decided to go to law school suddenly. Stupid. Anyways, my point is, people weren't graduating with the security of having a job and knowing their life wasn't going to be a big black hole of suckiness after the best 4 years of their life. {Sidebar: I miss Clemson everyday}. So, what's a sure fire way to feel secure that life is going to hand you a big blue ribbon because you're a winner? Getting married! You know for sure there is going to be someone to hold your hand, help clip coupons and keep insecurities at bay.

2. Facebook - Is it just me or has the competition for who has the most ridiculous blackout pictures from the weekend been replaced with who has the most beautiful, cute and romantic engagement/wedding pictures? I'm just saying, I can't get on Facebook without my news feed blowing up with these pictures. And I am not even going to lie and say I don't sit there and judge every single aspect of a person's wedding and how mine will be better {betches love doing this}. When you're a young twenty something girl, it is easy to be overwhelmed by all these pictures and want it all too. So this is my second theory for this wedding frenzy; girls get hooked on other people's weddings like some kind of drug and that's all they want. I've been guilty of it, but then I remind myself: a wedding isn't just about the party, there's this thing called marriage after that {yikes!}.

So I have also come up with some reasons why this shouldn't be a rush, based on myself, of course:

1. I don't eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day. I associate that with the fact that I am immature, therefore, should not get married. Albeit this is very strange logic, BUT I have gotten myself up to 3 fruits and vegetables a day. SUCCESS.

2. I still get to be selfish. Yeah, I said it. I get to be selfish and get to focus on me and the career I want to have without really thinking about anyone else. Yes my Mister Aussie and I have been dating nearly 2 years and yes I consider him greatly when I think about my plans, but at the end of the day I'm still thinking mostly about ME. And there's nothing wrong with that.

3. I'm not giving up Thanksgiving and Christmas. Well, actually I don't get Thanksgiving because I live in Australia {womp womp}, but I don't have to give in and spend Christmas with anyone elses family because I am NOT married. I do what I want. A friend told me I shouldn't think like that because apparently Mister Aussie and I are a family now. Buhhh what? But we did have a good Xmas 2010 together! And yes we're playing in the snow on Christmas Day at an Alabama rest stop:

4. I have no shame in saying, I want a nice ring! And I want my fiancee to buy it himself. I actually know of people who "borrowed" money from their parents to get the ring, SERIOUSLY?! That just amazes me. If I were a dude, my parents would straight up laugh at me if I tried to pull that.

5. This has nothing to do with me, but, if your wedding album is something a long the lines of this: ~*~OuR wEdDiNg~*~ .....

Ironically, here's a couple wedding cakes I LOVE:

A Black & White Affair

Last weekend I had a much deserved night out with my friends at the Black & White Cocktail Affair put on by the Post Graduate Student Association at my university. It was a ridiculous fun night and much needed since we had all been working hard.  It was held at the Q1 building which is the tallest residential building in the world and the views were amazing.

Mister Aussie and I in the lobby.

He likes to ruin pictures with ridiculous smiles

One of my closest friends here and I

In a photobooth with my friends :)

Afterwards, we went and got yummy sangria at this awesome lounge bar.

Law school makes us all pretty unsocial because it is so full on, I seriously live for nights like this! We'll be on break in a month and I am so excited to actually be able to go out and do fun things with the awesome friends I've made here.

What are some things you love doing with your friends?

Surprise! Ruined.

So Mister Aussie and I are obsessed with trying to surprise each other big time when it comes to gifts. Then once we have figured out what the gift is we taunt the other with how awesome it is but no way can they have a hint about it. It's pretty absurd.

Well his birthday is coming up {August 3rd} and I had been thinking for AGES what would be a perfect gift. Being the twenty something guy he is, he kept saying he wanted an Xbox Kinect. That's where you don't need a remote at all, your body is the remote! Wooo cool new technology:

Then, we both saw a commercial for the Foo Fighters, along with Tenacious D, coming to play here. He nearly died with excitement but then dismissed it and said it would be too much money. But, in my head - DING - perfect gift!

But I still couldn't decide between the two of them and ended up bidding on a Kinect on ebay. After I bid, I knew instantly that I did not want to get him that and wanted to get the concert tickets instead. The ebay gods came through and I was outbid {happy dance}.

I did more research on the concert and found out how I could sign up to purchase pre-sale tickets. I was pumped because Mister Aussie was going to be beyond surprised and I was DEFINITELY going to get good tickets. After I purchased the tickets at exactly 1:00 on Friday when they went on pre-sale, I immediately started plotting how I would wrap them in a huge box to fool him.

BUT, wait...

One hour later I received a bbm from Mister Aussie, "wanna go to the foo fighters and tenacious d concert?" Oh come on, you have got to be kidding me! I replied "oh, uh, maybe...you thinking about buying them?" and he says "yea, about to put in the credit card details. it's been too long since I have heard live music."  Wahhhhh. So, had to tell him I had already purchased the tickets and why. 

Good news: He was definitely surprised. He didn't believe me at first.

Bad news: I didn't get to see his face. That's the best part of surprises!

Oh well, it's going to be an awesome time and can't wait {we have to wait awhile, December!}.

Stress, Stress, Stress

I stress.  A lot. Often times it's a little unnecessary and the rest of the times I am verging on neurotic going overboard. Some people might says it's because I'm a Pisces (I don't know, I just read it on a tweet) but I think it's just my borderline type A personality coming out to play. I think I have a little bit of a dual personality sometimes when it comes to that, sometimes I am beyond type B and then other times my type A is just screaming to get out.

My Mister Aussie, on the other hand, is pretty much the definition of type B. Ying and yang maybe? Going with the astrological theme I Googled what would be the compatibility of a Leo Man and Pisces Woman. Well the first sentence describe the Pisces Woman as being introverted. BEEP. WRONG. So moving on from that.

While my Mister Aussie has actually started to stress sometimes when it comes to school, it is still no way like I do. After living with him for awhile, I have finally realized how some of my stress habits are not healthy.

Here are some things I have started doing to help deal with everything. You might already do some of these things, but hopefully you'll get a new idea.

1. Making lists. I love making lists, I get to cross things off and feel accomplished. It also helps me get a better sense of what I need to get accomplished and when instead of just thinking a million things in my head in a disorganized way. I also love sticky notes and stick them all over my planner! These sticky notes are super cute!

 Lifeguard Press

2. This might sound extremely ridiculous, but breathing. As in, sit for a minute, close your eyes and just breathe.

3. I have started reading at night before going to bed. It helps get my mind on something else and wind down so I can actually go to sleep when my head hits the pillow. Right now I am reading The Hobbit. I've never read it and it was a deal with my Mister Aussie that I would read the Lord of the Rings books if he read Harry Potter.

4. Working out. Exercise helps your brain work better. I don't have a science degree and I haven't looked for a source to back that up, but just trust me? I know I've read it somewhere...can't hurt, right?

5. Listening to music. I walk a lot, nearly a mile to school. Listening to music while I walk helps me chill out and focus on something other than my stressful law classes.

6. Pack up my backpack/make my lunch BEFORE I go to bed in preparation for the next morning. Makes my day way less stressful.

What do you do to help manage stress?

Happy Birthday Cheerios!

Ok, fine, it was actually yesterday - but Cheerios turned 70! When I was little, I literally could not leave the house without a bag of cheerios. There are countless photos of me in my car seat eating them or asleep with my hand still in the bag. I didn't even eat Honey Nut Cheerios, just the original ones.

I still love Cheerios! However, of course, Australia does not have the Cheerios I have always known and loved. I am pretty Australia has only had them a couple years, but they are like 4 different kinds in one. They're good, but just not the same. Here's the box:

Just another little difference I have gotten used to by moving here. People always ask me what I miss about home and really is little things, like my Cheerios.

What was your favorite cereal as a kid?

Procrastination

I am seriously procrastinating finishing this client portfolio I have for my law of civil remedies class; so wanted to make a post about some of things I am dying to have right now. I am pretty much using all of this as motivation to get through the rest of this semester (and degree)!

Burberry

I just know this would look beautiful on my arm.

Krabi, Thailand

Seriously dying to do some traveling to the south pacific islands while I'm here.

Uluru, aka Ayers Rock

Going with my parents and my mister in September!

Tory Burch

I love these. They are beyond adorable and would go with everything I own I'm sure.

 One of my fabulous friends here can do cakes like this! I would LOVE to learn how and one day she is going to show me how she does it. Along the same lines, there are so many different cuisines I want to try cooking. My school schedule and budget hinders that a good bit, so looking forward to free time when I can really start cooking again!

I think you get the gist of the fact that I am ready to not be a poor law student anymore! I can't wait until both the mister and I have graduated and we get to start traveling and enjoying things together. He's only got two semesters left after this one, lucky duck, and then I have four! There's just so many things I want to accomplish and do in my life that I just get antsy. All this hard work will pay off one day though, right? Of course it will.

What are some of your dreams and motivations right now?

Being Green, and Cute

As I'm sure you know, the big thing these days is being green and cutting down on our own personal waste. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is by cutting down on your plastic use. However, no worries, there are tons of cute ways to do it with awesome reusable containers available.

Lilly Pulitzer

Lilly Pulitzer Re-usable Grocery Bag

I wish I drank coffee, because I love this Jonathan Adler coffee thermal mug!

Another perk - many places discount your coffee when you bring your own mug :)

 Starbucks is basically everywhere now, look for their collectors tumblers when you travel!

 

 

Of course the classic, Tervis Tumbler, that you can create yourself or shop tons of cute ones. They also sell lids and straws for the perfect on-the-go cup.

 

Last but not least, my favorite: the Camelbak Better Bottle. It's great for so many things, virtually indestructible and comes in so many colors!

Perspective: Everyone Needs It

Well, I've learned a lot from moving to another country but one thing that is major is perspective.

Perspective in regards to this side of the world's view on my home country.

Perspective in regards to being the one and only outsider.

Perspective in regards to being a foreigner. 

Perspective in regards to how BIG, yet how small, this world actually is.

There are fifty million reasons I am so glad that I decided to make this move, but the four perspectives above rank at the top of the list. I have moved to another country to go to school and hope to stay afterwards for a few years to start my career and an exciting new life; that basically makes me an immigrant. Maybe this is a weird thought in my head, but I think it sounds funny to be an immigrant when I already am from a country with countless freedoms and opportunities. However, here I am, an American in Australia worrying I won't be able to get a visa to stay after I graduate and worried I won't be able to live my dreams.

I hope this wasn't a too "heavy" of a post, but I think it's important everyone gets perspective at some point. I am not saying do something as drastic as move to another country, but it can be through something smaller like volunteering in a homeless shelter. Getting perspective helps use evaluate what is important in life and understand and empathize with other people.

What has given you perspective?

A Timeless Obsession: Watches.

It's only developed in the last year, don't know why it has taken me so long to reach this obsession destination, but I have become obsessed with watches! Nearly every time I am at the mall and often on the computer, I just peruse through watch after watch. Some I can only dream of gracing my wrist with, some are perfect for just an everyday accessory. So for this post I have picked out some of my favorite ones around right now.

I love this Anne Klein watch for its simple and timeless look. The $55 price tag makes it pretty awesome too.

I also love this Anne Klein watch; it's just so summery and at $75 it will make your wallet happy too.

This Lacoste watch is obviously more sporty/casual, but isn't the blue just fun? If you'd love a bright and casual watch for every day wear, $195 is not a bad price. It also comes in a fun pink and purple.

Love, love, love this Michael Kors one. I have a similar one by Fossil but I wouldn't mind this pretty thing too. At $225 it's not a bad pick if you're looking for a timely commitment.

I was drawn to this classic Philip Stein watch like a pigeon to a french fry. However, sadly, at $1,785 it's just a dream for me.

When my eyes first gazed upon this lovely MICHELE "Jetway" watch, I am fairly positive I felt my heart skip beat. I've learned you really can put a price on happiness, $1,995 + tax.

There are many more that I love, including this baby by Cartier, but I decided to not be so mean as to tease people with the beauty of a watch that costs as much as a car. Do you have a favorite watch you wear or any you are just dying to buy?