we are alone

Sweater: Kmart + DIY; Pants: Op Shop; Shirt: Op Shop; Shoes: Rubi; Bracelets: Lovisa, Sportsgirl

There has been a lot of cat themed clothes popping up on the internet. Again spending inordinate amount of money for a basic t-shirt with a cat face print is not how I roll, "let's DIY instead!" is how I roll. This was also a result of extreme procrastination during the swotvac period. You guys know how much I hate hand sewing, but I actually managed to hand sew this cat sweater, which took me a couple of hours, something that would have taken a couple of minutes with a sewing machine. Suffice to say, I was very relieved when the sewing part was over. I'm pretty happy with the result, and was very excited to wear it.
The pink pants are a little bright for me, I've only worn them a couple of times because for someone who doesn't like to be noticed, I love wearing bright clothing. Also, the pants a bit baggy, and I still have to sew them in to make them skinny, but I don't have a sewing machine and I'm definitely not hand sewing them. It's such a chore to wear jewelry, having to remind myself every morning to put something, and whenever I wear bangles, they always makes noise when I'm writing in lectures. There is also a no jewelry policy during simulation labs, so most days I forget.
Having gotten through my first week of uni, I miss holidays more than ever. Waking up early, going to lectures, seeing other people isn't my cup of tea, I mean I love what I'm studying, but it would so much nicer if I can do it in the comfort of my room. The first week was the light week, this week all my subjects start, so it's a pretty hectic schedule and I will continue to not study until swotvac.

I made my first tutorial for the cat sweater, it's not the greatest but I thought it may give some ideas for your own DIY projects, and I hope you guys have a sewing machine too!

LA, Pick Up The Phone

Cropped Sweater: Op Shop; Jeans: Random Shop in Footscray; Boots: Betts 

Another outfit from when I had the house to myself. The stripped jeans have been a trend this season, and I really wanted them, although the black and white ones. These types of jeans look much better when you have skinny long legs, and I don't have either, but I love food too much to care. It occurred to me how every new season, there would be something from the latest trends that I would want. The pinafore doesn't count because I wanted one ages ago! But now it's these stripped jeans and cut out boots, which I really want but cannot justify buying them. Cut-out boots look awesome, but quite impractical when you think about it: you'll get wet in the rain, it's much colder, and do you wear socks?? Anywho, I will probably buy them during the sales transitions from Winter to Summer. For now, I will wear normal boots. These Betts ones are very comfortable and have a reasonable heel to them, as you can see I've worn them a lot. I thought the jeans would make me appear taller, but I can't really see that, maybe because I cut them off at the ankles? And I'm in love with this cropped sweater, I got it at a Lifeline Warehouse Sale in the children's section. It was actually a good sunny day when I took these photos, which makes for much better photos. 

Overcast and Cloudy

Jacket: Op Shop; T-Shirt: Myer; Skirt: Op Shop; Socks: Factorie; Shoes: Op Shop 

The tutu skirt is something I struggled to style, I tried to dress it down so it wasn't such a girly outfit. Originally I was going to wear a black cropped tank, but then I realized I left it back in Melbourne. I actually loved wearing this skirt, it's so full and fluffy, quite dainty. While taking these outfit shots, it was an overcast day, so I had to constantly change the manual settings on the camera. I'm still not getting clear focused shots, it's obviously my fault, I really need someone to coach with the dslr. Oh yeah, I nearly had a heart attack because while I was adjusting the iron table that I used as a tripod, my camera slipped off, but I managed to catch my camera while it just touched the ground. So it did hit the ground but with less impact. It didn't seem to affect the camera or lens, so hopefully nothing internal is broke. My tripod is back in Melbourne, and its too heavy to bring up to the GC, sometimes I wished I had two of everything. 

I love having the house to myself, I love the freedom and not being stuck in my room all the time, also I can go outside and take these photos in a much better light! However it's a little scary to come home to an empty house when it's dark, I now make a note to leave a light on if I'm coming home late. My housemates are coming back this weekend, so this home alone act would be over soon. And my outfit posts will probably die, unless I have the house to myself again! 

Holidayz Pt.2

As soon as I got home from Sydney, I went to Monisha's house the day after. It was exciting because I hadn't seen these people in a while! I had a doctor's appointment in the morning to get some blood tests done, when I got to the pathology clinic, the doctor had put the fasting blood test, when I hadn't fasted at all. So I was a bit annoyed because I really wanted to get my paper work done for uni. Anywho, finally arrived at Monisha's place, accidentally going on the Dandenong by pass, because I was in the wrong lane. As usual, we ate heaps and watched a movie called Bollywood Queen, which is hilarious and so awesome. I wished the movie had subtitles for the singing though. There were some moments in that movie that were just classic! It was James Mcavoy first lead role in a movie. Unfortunately I couldn't sleep over at Monisha's because I had a CPR course the next day. It felt incredibly weird to leaving her house so early (it was around 9.30pm), I haven't left her house this early since first year, I think.

Also I got my Forever Halloween package, which I had been anxiously waiting for ages! I'm so jealous of the 8132 tour happening in America at the moment. I keep hearing people's recounts of meeting The Maine, and the band guys are just so kind and genuine. I love how they are always nice and appreciative towards their fans, and they all seem very content and happy, and that makes me happy too. I cannot wait to see The Maine in September, I get to see them three times, hopefully, and maybe a little bit of airport stalking too! 

Before taking a CPR course, I went to get some coffee. The place was in the city, and I thought I was running late, so I quickly went into a less busy cafe to buy a soy cap. The cafe looked really nice so I thought the coffee would be decent. However, when I drank it, it was tasted quite bad. I don't know if the coffee was bad, or the soy milk was off, either way it didn't taste very nice. Although I did finish the whole thing because I hate wasting money. 

On Thursday, I meet up with Van and Jen to plan our American Trip, which at the time we were still unsure of whether it was happening or not. They both still needed to look for job/internships for next year, and would like have found one before going to America. I was trying very hard not to appear desperate and coerce them into going, although it's no secret that I've been wanting to go to America for a long time. We had burgers at Mr Burger, and it was delicious. There's not much variety on the menu, there's only three types of burgers but it was super crowded. Then we went for coffee at Brother Budan, and their coffee was amazing, it lived up to the reviews on the Urbanspoon! We finally had a list of cities we wanted to visit and the things that we wanted to do. I decided we should get a price quote at a travel agent. We went to Student Flights, and the guy told us that we had way too many cites for the time we wanted to spend in america. We decided to add an extra week to the trip to give more time. When he gave us the price for the return flights from LA, it was a lot more than I was expecting. 

Later that evening, my friends went on webjet and found flights that were $400 cheaper than what he had quoted! We were pretty annoyed and wonder his quotes were so expensive. Anywho, we made plans, and I made an itinerary, and found that if we extended the dates, the flights would be cheaper still. However, nothing had been booked, and I was still unsure about whether the trip was actually happening. 

But a week later, we all met up again , this time we had Michelle and Liz who decided to come on the trip as well. We got some price quotes, this time at the Student Flight outside of Melbourne Central, will a cool travel agent Ez. Coincidentally, he told us that there was a sale on USA flights that ended the next day. He was so awesome and very helpful! He asked us the price quotes we found online and then he actually found cheaper flights! We booked all our flights then, and I was super excited because OMGOSH IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING, I'M GOING TO AMERICA!!! Since then, we haved booked a couple hotels and tours. We are slowly making our way through the things we have to booked, but this is amazing. Why can't I fast forward to the end of the year? 

Oh yeah, I went upstairs in MC to find some Anberlin posters, but unfortunately they were way too high on the pole to reach, I hate it when they do that. How am I suppose to steal the posters when they're out of my reach?! Anywho, I got overly excited when I saw a Forever Halloween poster, I love The Maine so much, and I'm so glad I have a new poster of them.

It's been a while since I had a gathering at my place, so I decided to have one so I could cook for friends, because I like cooking for them but I don't get much of a chance being in the Gold Coast. I decided to go with something simple, open sandwiches and tuna and potato croquettes. Susan made some lovely scones as well. She brought some cream over, and we all took turns to hand whip the cream, it was my first time! It always good to be around friends, with our aimless chatter and lament over our (lack of) social life. Then we played cluedo, which was super fun and I won as well. For some reason, I would forget my strategy in the middle of the game and get confused. Thanh's Cluedo was a new version and it looked interesting, the characters had different names, and there were some different rooms, but the principle is the same, oh yeah there were also time cards, that if you draw the 8th card, you automatically lose. 

Then we played some band hero because that's our thing. We played on the projector so the "screen" was massive! For some reason, Taylor Swift's Love Story is a hard song to play, and we generally struggle to finish the song. My friends stayed for dinner as well, which I was surprised, most of them live on the other side of Melbourne, so it takes ages to get home via public transport. Susan told us she was going out afterwards, and we were surprised, mainly because it was sort of late, and generally don't go out at that time. She told us she was going to see a guy's friend movie collection, to which we started making inappropriate jokes like "How big is his movie collection?". Another reason why we're all single. We walked Susan out the bus stop, and it was very cold outside. When we got back, my brother called to get picked up at the station, so I thought it would be easier if I dropped my friends off as well. Then I realized that Susan was catching a bus to the station to catch the same train as Monisha and Sharline, and I was driving Sharline and Monisha. So as I was driving out to the station, I picked up Susan at the bus stop, luckily she hadn't gotten on the bus yet. It was funny because we didn't register that they were going to catch the same train, even though we had said it multiple times. Okay I didn't really explain that scenario properly, but it was funnier in the moment.

Finally, these holidays I got to catch up with Yen because it's been very very long, and I missed her terribly. It still hurts that I'm not in Bendigo, it was nice and comforting to be living with a best friend. For lunch, we went to the cheap turkish place on Elizabeth. Having just booked the US flights, I was running low on money. This place is so nice and really cheap as well, I had the chicken borek and Yen got the pumpkin one, all together for $5, and the servings were massive! Also they have gozleme for $6 which I still have yet to try. Then I wanted to buy some chocolate pretzels from the grocer on Bridge Road. We were obsessed with the Thomas Dux Grocer, last time we went, they had plenty of free samples of the food, which we made liveral use of. However when we went this time there weren't many samples at all and we were very sad. There were only bread tastings which were actually delicious but I couldn't afford it anyways. I ended up buying the chocolate pretzels and dried blueberries. We shopped along Bridge Road, I bought a navy velvet skirt and an Ipad cover from Cotton On. Yen spent so much on clothes, it wasn't even on sale! But she says she doesn't shop much anyways so this makes up for it. I on the other hand, buy way too many clothes from op shops and am struggling to fit everything in my wardrobe. I'm such a hoarder, and I can't seem to let pieces go even if I've only worn them once or not at all in some cases. It was awesome to spend time with Yen, I love her to bits and she makes me laugh (mainly I'm laughing at her =P) . I wish we would spend more time together, but spending time with friends is becoming increasingly harder, and it will only get harder, I guess until everyone has steady jobs, then we know people would be free on weekends. I'm just trying to make the most of the time I have with my friends for now. 

I didn't see my friends again, until the last friday before I went back. I had a catch up lunch with Roopa, which was nice because we still make the effort to see each other. I'm so happy she seems to be doing well in her course but not like I had doubt she would. Then I went with her to uni, and boy it's been so long I've been to Melbourne Uni. We went to the one of the tutorials room in the Med building, to which I saw Susan and some of her friends. I was amazed by the tutorial room, because it had the patient bed, bp monitors and other health related stuff, I thought that was cool. I've never been to that side of the med building. I hung around with them for a while before they had to go to prac, and I headed back into the city. 

I met up with Nug, and we went to Chadstone to watch Monsters University with Jen and Van. Nug got one those of beer hats from a purchase from the candy bar, and it looked hilarious on her! The movie was enjoyable, not as good as the first one but I liked it. I loved the references to the first movie. Then we went out for dinner at a dumplings place in Clayton, which was yummy. I was't supposed to eat too much because I was having dinner again at Monisha's place, but I couldn't help myself, the food was just too good. Afterwards, we headed to Monisha's place, where Susan and Thanh were already there. Then I had my second dinner. Okay, I'm having trouble recalling what we did, but we had an awesome rainbow cake that Mon made, which I screwed up in cutting. Then when we were settled on the floor, ready for bed, we were discussing how to talk to guys, especially good looking guys. Yeah, there weren't many helpful suggestions thrown around and we didn't settle on anything. I kinda don't have any guy friends which kinda suck, but I get so clammy and nervous when talking to any guy, like when a guy in lab started talking to me, I was freaking out inside. Anywho, we decided to make a radio movie, that would help us talk to guys, this probably wasn't the best idea that late in the night. Somehow this story went on for about 3 hours, and boy this story was epic. It included a Zac Efron look-a-like name Trevor Backswirl, a ukelele band, One Direction and most of all Nug's Scottish Accent! Boy that was the highlight of the night, we would always try to make Nug speak in her Scottish accent. There were many plot twists in the story and lots of laughing among us. Nug managed to record a chunk of the story so that would be fun to listen back in a few years, and think of how weird we were back then. Who am I kidding? We're probably going to get weirder as we get older, that seems to be the general pattern for the past couple of years. 

Susan commented on how much Thanh looked like Lane from Daria? 

Blood Red

The pinafore was something that I've been wanting for a while, ever since I saw Kirsten Dunst wear one a couple of years ago. I actually tried to replicate the one she wore before but it didn't turn out so well. Now thanks to the internet and youtube tutorials, my sewing skills are somewhat better. My mum's a semastress. but I generally don't ask her for help unless I'm really struggling at which point I give up anyways. I have a lot of unfinished products! However these pesky pinafores kept popping up, and are really on trend at the moment, not that I care about fashion trends. What attracts me to pinafores, is their childish qualities, because I love anything child-ish. I like looking like a little school kid, maybe in a vain attempt to look younger as well?
After looking up tutorials, I decided to make a pinafore in the red material that I purchased in the op shop for a very low price. I've been itching to have a crafty project because I haven't done much over the past year and it's nice to have another hobby other than the internet/tumblr.
This was the result, I'm pretty proud of it, because I actually finished it for starters. I would have liked the skirt to be fuller, the straps to be tighter and placed on the edges on the front piece, but it looks decent enough to worn in public. The best thing about this pinafore is that it costs less than $1 to make!
Also I was lucky to have the house to myself, so I took some outdoor shots, however there is not much sunlight coming in on the backyard, so lots of shade, and I apologize for having the light hit me in awkward places, but they are so much better than indoor shots! And I apologize for the out of focus-ness.

Holidays Part. 1

My holidays have finished, and it went by very quickly. It was three weeks short, because most of my friends have an extra two weeks. After the longest exam period ever, I really wanted some more time to relax and not think about uni. That's one of the things that I miss about my Melbourne friends, whenever I'm with them, I never have to worry about anything especially uni and grades. We have the best frivolous fun, and I love how we complain about our (non-existent) social life. Nonetheless, I've learnt that I'm not going to spend more than 8 weeks at time in the GC, I need a weekend back even if it's for a day or two.

I didn't take many photos over the holidays, so sorry if I'm rambling on too much as always. 

Tram Taking/ Picnic: 

I was home for a few days before I headed off to Sydney, and I wasn't waiting another week to see my friends. I caught up with Susan to have this "Tram Picnic" which eventually turned into just catching a random tram and finding a place to eat. We caught the 86 Bundoora Tram (I think), and enjoyed the sites along the way because we generally don't head up the northern suburbs. We went past LaTrobe Uni and ended up at the last stop at RMIT, where we decided to eat. Susan has bought some DIY burgers and salad, I contributed the cheese and snacks. I bought the Kettle sweet potato chips, which were really nice, but a little expensive. There was a sporting grass field where we sat on the sloping edge, the weather was awesome, nice and sunny. RMIT was surprisingly nice, there were interesting looking buildings, but we were a little scared to enter. There was a nice barbeque area with a pond (although it was dirty). We found the library, and pretended we were students. Upstairs in the library was the quiet area and there were rooms which were labelled "Absolutely quiet area", I thought that was funny and actually would come in handy. After the exploring, we went back into the city and got some gelati at the Spring Street Grocer. The assistant who served me got a bit excited and gave me so much in the tiny cup! There were many interesting flavours, but I think I settled on Goat's Curd with Berries, Yoghurt with Berries, and Chilli Salted Caramel. It was so good!!! Susan laughed at my facial expression when I tried the gelati. I really recommend that place, the gelati tastes amazing although it is a little more pricey than what you find on Lygon Street.

Laverton Market: 

Mum and I went here on a Saturday morning because she said that the market has grown a lot in the past couple of years and wanted to show me around. I haven't been to this market in ages, and last time I went there wasn't much of what I was interested in i.e. clothes and random knick knacks. There used to a lot of those dodgy copied movies and games, and hardware stuff. However it was very crowded when we got there! I love markets, but it's awkward looking through the stuff, because the moment I show interest, the attendant would immediately address me, and you guys know how I don't like social situations. I also find it uncomfortable to ask for prices, especially if you end up not buying the item. There was a stall, that had decent clothes where I ended buying a couple of items. I will have to do a mass post about the clothes I've acquired in the past month! But my mum was bargaining very low, which made me feel very bad. The guy was really nice, so I didn't mind paying a bit more, and I also always feel sorry for people. We eventually agreed on a price higher than my mum quoted which I didn't mind paying for, and he threw in a skirt for me. So I got about 5 decent items of clothes for $6, and I spent the next hour feeling guilty. But I guess that brought back memories when I was helping Susan with her fundraising stall, and we had to sell the good quality clothes for cheap because everyone keep bargaining with us (understandably it was a market). The best thing about markets is the food! I had a jam donut which wasn't as good as I expected and should have gotten the churros instead. Then I tried some of the gozleme, which was a little expensive, they didn't advertise their prices, but I wasn't expecting to pay $8 for one. I know a place in the city that sells them for $6 and they're yummy. However, the gozleme was delicious. And then I had some coffee which was surprisingly good, I had a soy cap. I'm obviously not a coffee expert, but I couldn't get over how nice it was. 

The Great Gatsby: 

I'm not going to try and attempt to write a movie review, but I'll say the movie was enjoyable. I've only read about a quarter of the novel, so I had no idea how the plot of the movie, I knew about Daisy and Gatsby but I didn't expect that their story made the bulk of the plot. I love the set decorations, everything was very extravagant and there were giant macarons! I still think Leo was way too old for Carey Mulligan, especially because she can have a young-ish face. 

I went with Thanh at Kino cinemas because it was cheap. That was the first time I went, and I didn't even realize they offered the movie in 3D. The cinema was a tad small but nice enough. 

Afterwards we went back to the Spring St Grocer for gelati. I chose the Mandarin sorbet which was nice but I wish I had something sweet to cut through the sourness. 

Sydney: 

My cousin's wedding is coming up very soon, and I went to Sydney for a week to help her out with the planning decorations. I didn't go out much during the stay, just heading out to buy supplies, but it was fun to help out with making the decorations. I also tagged along with them to visit a videographer, I was distracted the whole time by the slideshow of his work, it was amazing! However, they were way over budget so my cousin couldn't choose them. 

I went to see Man of Steel with my cousin and her group of friends, which freaked me out because another social situation, but luckily they didn't take much notice. The movie was alright, I spent half the movie deciding whether Amy and Henry had chemistry, and the other half admiring Henry's face. It was the very last scene that I decided they had some chemistry. 

My cousin took me to this craft warehouse, and it was a dream! They do wholesale trading with retail and had so many cool craft, decorations thingys etc. It was better than Spotlight! I loved it and wished I had more time to explore the whole place. I also finally found some red and white baker's twine for decent pricing. I've been searching for some for a very long time, I got so excited when I found them! 

There is a 24 hour Krispy Kremes in Sydney, and I forgot how much the donuts taste so good. If I didn't have to worry about my health, I would have eaten so many. It was my last night there, and we were with my other cousins too. We stopped at Krispy Kremes, and then decided to eat McDonalds afterwards, obviously not my healthiest moment, but I love fried food. 

The last day I went with my cousin to Bondi Junction, this was my first time. I wished we had enough time to visit Bondi beach though, because all my band guys hang out there (and yes not because it a famous tourist destination). It was really big, but I think was sort of separated into two buildings. 

It was sad to leave my cousin, because this was the last time I would see her before she gets married. Things will probably be a little different when she gets married, and she would be moving into her fiance's house. So I will probably have to wait to until get their own house before I visit Sydney, because I'm so awkward around my other family members.