I choose you!

This is my rabbit, Toto. 

He is 6 years old (which is equivalent to about 51 human years).

For Christmas he received a pikachu costume. He loves it (sometimes).

Santa baby

It's been a week and a half since our little Christmas Dinner (and the release of the ATARS) but better late than never right?

If you were wondering what I've been doing from then till now, the answer is... shopping. Aaaand of course watching my tv shows. I've FINALLY been able to catch up on Suits, Glee and Gossip Girl! yaay! I had a slight phase where I was actually too lazy to catch up on tv shows. Even though that's probably the least mentally challenging activity to do. So now you see why I haven't been blogging. One of my many 'holiday goals' was to edit this little video (it's a secret ;)) which I can assure you isn't a sex tape. And when I finally had some free time on my hands to accomplish this task, the stupid video editor program which was advertised as "making movies has never been easier!" literally made me want to punch my fist through the screen.
But enough about my laziness and hatred for video editing programs! Christmas dinner~~~~ ^_^

It was great.

Honestly, I didn't realise how much I missed everyone until that night. Something about everyone cramped  sitting together under the streamers and snowflakes handmade by Rekha and her little elves felt so cozy and special. "Santa" also crashed our party to deliver gifts to the nice girls and boys. Unfortunately, Danny hasn't uploaded the photos of the children sitting on Santa's lap yet, but in the meantime, enjoy these of Santa himself instead :)

P.S You can never be too old for musical chairs

Friday the 13th

Now I'm not one to believe in superstitions, but throw spooky Santa Claus displays, driving around aimlessly through a pitch black park, getting lost in Carramar and a haunted house into the mix and you'll have a bloody terrified Anita on your hands. 
Prior to that horrifying ordeal, Kimberly, 'Timone', Laurence, Danny and I satisfied the kids in us by admiring and frolicking around some houses that were fully decked out in christmas lights.

Ridin' Dirty

In the words of  Chamillionaire: "They see me rollin', they hatin'..." allow me to share with you my driving experience. There aren't any police vehicles "patrolling to catch me ridin' dirty" but there are a lot of ill-tempered, impatient and those that just downright refuse to indicate on the road. 

During my first ever driving lesson, I couldn't stop giggling to myself. I kid you not. I was driving down the street with my instructor next to me, giggling. Giggling at the fact that I was handling a vehicle (at 50km/h) and could potentially do some serious damage to other people, things, my driving instructor and myself. Maybe I was hyped up on adrenaline but I just couldn't control myself. 

And for some reason, my instructor decided I was ready to handle the highway. 
So there I was going at 70km/h down the road when just half an hour ago I was just learning how to steer the car and use the accelerator and brake. 

So far, I've had about 5 lessons and I'm on a 'honk' tally of: 2

       

GRILL'D

27/11/13

Free burgers. Enough said.

Not one to pass up such a generous offer, Renee, Laurence, Danny and I made our way to Parramatta in the 33 degrees heat to score some delicious burgers. 

I ordered the 'Simon Says' which had: grilled chicken breast, avocado, crispy trim bacon, salad, relish and herbed mayo.

And finally, my life mission of shopping at Daiso has been fulfilled!! Basically, EVERYTHING is $2.80. I'm not going to lie, all the cutesy wootsy Japanese stationery, make-up, kitchen equipment, cleaning equipment, gardening equipment and all these other (useless) knick-knacks sent a part of me into a frenzy. 

Luckily, I managed to walk out with 3 things: an apple shaped microfiber cleaning cloth, oil-blotting sheets and a floral makeup bag. 

Let me just say, that apple-shaped microfiber cleaning cloth is a godsend. After a month of putting off cleaning my room, I managed to clean every inch of dust-covered surface in about an hour. Something about that apple-shaped cloth just made busting dust so much more exciting. 

formalities

22/11/13

How ever many days, weeks or months of preparation to produce the perfect look for the perfect night, was washed away by one of this year's heaviest rainfalls. My spirits were definitely dampened as the combination of horrendous traffic jams and torrential rain forced me to get ready in 20 minutes and leap through puddles whilst trying not to ruin my dress and flashing everyone at the same time. On any ordinary day, my hand eye coordination is already embarrassing enough. So you can imagine how well I managed trying to keep my dress off the ground, clutch in my hand, and hair not looking like I'd walked through a hurricane (despite the hairdresser using about half a can of hairspray on it).

All in all, it was definitely a night that I'll always remember.

le macaron

24/11/13

Today was the annual 'shardy' get together.
'Shardy' was the group name Diana came up with in year 9, composed of the first letter of Sabrina, Helen, Anita (me), Renee, Diana and Yvonne (ironic that the founder of the group wasn't even there for this momentous occasion).

In a nutshell, we basically spent the day gossiping (as girls do), baking macarons, refusing to move from Helen's ridiculously comfortable couch, taking photos of the macarons and staring at them for a while because they were just too beautiful to eat!

Enjoy!

"Can I call you Miss 'Nita'?"

I'm no long unemployed! *happy dance*

Working with the year 5/6 kids today reminded me of what it was like to be a kid again. And also what the difference was between simple, compound and complex sentences. Teaching primary school kids isn't as easy as it sounds when you've 1) forgotten all the basics 2) become accustomed to just apply the steps rather than question why it's done that way. Does that make sense?

When you ask your student that, you secretly pray inside that they do because there's only so many ways for you to rephrase and simplify it further.

Another perk of being a "teacher" is that I can finally wear the clothes in my closet that are too "librarian-like" to wear out. You will see that majority of the clothes in my closet actually fall under that category.

Maybe this will give me an excuse (and expense) to indulge myself in more quirky-vintage prints and colours... 

Dress: Thrifted (Camilla and Marc) | Bag: Thrifted | Tights: Equip | Boots: Rubi Shoes

formal shopping

10/11/13

Just going to put it out there. Formal shopping is a downright drag. 

A few months ago I could not wait to get out of the house and start shopping for my formal dress. These days, the idea of spending hours upon hours furiously scouring the racks in search for a decent dress, makes me want to pull my eyeball out of its socket (not pretty). At times like these, I wish I was born a male. Honestly, it is so easy finding proper formal attire for the male species. For $300 or less you could have your shirt, trousers, jacket, tie and belt sorted. And if you have a parent with exceptional bargaining abilities, you may also walk out with formal shoes too.  Badabing badaboom. You're done. 

Somehow, us females have been cursed with the following predicament:

Perfect dress? None in your size.

Dress that fits? Unflattering colour.

Flattering colour and correct size? Costs an arm and a leg.

Cardigan: Jay Jays | Dress: Dotti | Bag: Cotton On | Boots: Payless Shoes

Bondi Beach

Beaches and I have a complicated love-hate relationship.

On one hand, I love the feeling of sand between my toes and lazying about in the warm sand in general. I love looking into the horizon and seeing where the sky meets the ocean. I love the sound of the waves rolling into the shore. I love that there is an endless supply of shirtless eye candy for me to "subtly" stare at (don't judge.)

On the other hand...
The combination of of sunburn, frolicking in freezing and dirty water, salt-water attacking your eyes, unwanted exposure of private body parts (from both your own and others), the threat of sharks/jellyfish/drowning/getting swept out to sea, eating sand-encrusted ice creams and the rank change rooms never fails to convince me that swimming is no-no. 

Summer in general is just not really my thing. A whole season of gut-wrenching, eyeball-melting, suffocating heat makes me want to move to the South Pole where I can be dressed in cozy layers and wrap knitted scarves around my neck. I love me some scarves <3 font="" nbsp="">

OUI OUI OUI!

translation: YES YES YES!

That's what a parisian student would've said on their first day of freedom.
Unfortunately, I'm about 16960km away from Paris. But that doesn't stop me from dressing like I belong on the streets of Paris, France.

Majority of what I'm wearing was thrifted, so I hope that inspires you to be have a dig through your local thrift stores and op shops because it is definitely worth it!

Top: Thrifted (Target) Skirt: Thrifted (Two Percent) Belt: Thrifted (Just Jeans) Bag: Thrifted Tights: Target Shoes: Rubi Shoes

Love, Anita

change.

Besides being stuck in a limbo between teenage and adulthood, post HSC or 'schoolies' is considered as somewhat the highlight of one's life. That's understandable seeing as we're literally given four months to do whatever on earth we want with all expenses paid, no questions asked. No. Questions. Asked. *cough cough*

During this period, I've decided to change myself for the better. Of course, this change isn't instantaneous. And it creeps up on us when we least expect it. I'm no philosopher, but changing yourself can be as simple as changing your perspective on things. Unless, some people find it hard to alter an existing perspective. In that case, I'm sorry, I ain't no Oprah.

What I'm trying to achieve with "The Summer Project" is to basically document these next four months and the journeys that I'll embark on. Whether it'd be physical or metaphysical. Ok, going to stop before it sounds like an english essay!

Anyways. the first step to my new lease on life was to learn to express myself more.

Whether that'd be through fashion, blogging or actually talking to people in real life (trust me, it needs to be done).

So hopefully, I will slowly gain the confidence to one day being the best version of myself I can possibly be!

The Summer Project is my new baby.

In a non-weird way of course.

Anita

rebellion.

You know when someone tells you to do one thing, and suddenly you have all this determination and will power to do the exact opposite? Like when there's a sign or an authoritative person that says 'DO NOT TOUCH' the object - and for some reason, your one and only goal in life is to touch that said object? And you won't ever feel satisfied until you've done so? Yeah, I tend to do that a lot...

From what I remember from year 10 psychology classes (which is barely anything), our subconscious consists of three aspects: the id, ego and superego. Basically, the 'id' is that little devil on your shoulder that whispers naughty things into your ear. And I don't mean that kind of naughty. Or maybe it does... I have no idea.

This information is probably incorrect by the way, so don't quote me on any of this haha