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

Aggressive Seagulls and Shifty Cabbies

Yesterday, a group of friends and I went to the 18th Biennale of Sydney, considering it happened once every two years. We assumed since it was the last day of the exhibition that there wouldn't be as many people. But we were wrong. The ferry lines were super looooooooooooooooooooooooooong. As per usual, I overslept. Typical Anita. I set my alarm at 7am, so I could get ready and take the 9:02 train. Unfortunately, I woke up at 9am instead... I think next time I should set up multiple alarms.

So we got off at Circular Quay and to get to Cockatoo Island we had to take a ferry! It was really relaxing because we were at the front of the line and got to sit on the top deck! The sunshine + breeze + view of Sydney Harbour = chilled Sunday morning! And as if one bad thing led to another, because I woke up late: I wasn't able to charge both my phone or my iPod. Which meant I was only able to take a few photos before they both died. Luckily Maria, Jessica and Joanne came with their flashy cameras, so I'm sure they'll post the photos up eventually if you were interested in what the Biennale had to offer (even if it has ended)

The artworks were very interesting to say the least. Some were slightly peculiar and confusing, while others were eccentric, whimsical and truly inspiring! Although this wasn't part of any artwork, we did get to see one of nature's beautiful creations! Whilst I was staring out into the harbour, I noticed a family of seagulls perched on the other side of the ledge. There were the parents and two super fluffy and adorable seagull chicks!

We left the island at around 2:30 and due to the long ass ferry ride, we missed the train that we were meant to catch to get to tutor on time. We also missed the train after that because it was either food or tutor. And we chose food. No regrets there! We got to Liverpool at 4:20 ish and since we were absolutely exhausted Maria that genius suggested we take a taxi. I should've known not to trust that taxi driver because he didn't even know how to get to our destination and had to use his iPhone to locate it. So we got to tutor and guess how much he charged us. $15!!!!!! I don't even think he actually pressed the meter, because when we asked him, he paused and said "umm.... $15." I kid you not. I seriously wanted to ask him for a receipt, but we were late enough as it is and sadly, I ain't that great with confrontation. But next time, I won't be as stupid to get ripped off by a damn Indian taxi driver. Or any taxi driver for that matter.

Be prepared taxi drivers. I am ready for you!

diabetes in a bucket.

Otherwise known as a 9.3L of 7/11 slushee.
So after a rather unpleasant maths exam, Richard, Raymond, Lauren and I had the wild idea of buying some buckets from a dollar shop and abusing 7/11's generosity that was BYO Cup Day.
The first stop of our sweet sweet adventure was the bargain store at Ingleburn! Originally, we were only going to buy one bucket and share the slushee. But instead decided to buy 3 when we got there. And off we were, a bunch of school kids carrying black buckets to 7/11!
AND OMG YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED.
So we're waiting at the crossing right, across the road from 7/11, and these dumb bitchez in short shorts came up from behind us and ran across the effing road when the indicator turned green. And to make matters worse they took all the fliiping slushee so we had to wait for it to freeze again. aw hell no.
But anyways, we were just standing there waiting and these two guys rock up with some stupid Dora The Explorer bucket that was probably only a litre and uses the machine (we let them) and the dumbass gets the watered slushee all over the floor because his stupid vase was stupid.
But yeah, we finally got our slushee and Raymond being his primal self stuck his head into the bucket to drink it :)

After that we chilled at the park and took a lot of photos because it was the BEST DAY EVER! But it was so windy so half the time we were just protecting our bountiful supply of sugary goodness. Anyways, someone said they wanted food, namely KFC, so we trekked to KFC with our buckets and took more photos on the way there. Got to KFC bought the All Stars chicken meal thing and yeah. We stuffed ourselves until our pants/skirts almost burst. Thank goodness Raymond was in his trackies.

So that was basically our fun filled day! It was such an awesome experience with good company and good food :)

USYD!

This is the university for me. Granted I get into my course of course! But seriously, I wouldn't mind travelling to Redfern daily, because the adorable cafes and quaint little terraces are just "time to instagram everything" worthy. Thankfully, I refrained myself from doing so today because I have self control. Yes. Anita with self control. So today, I woke up at 7.30, regular school time, so it wasn't too hard (waking up and being punctual are not my strong points) and left the house at 8:20 to get to Cabramatta to buy pork rolls for lunch. Thank goodness I listened to Laurence's advice because the food there was bloody expensive!! Except the free popcorn from the university unions and societies. Such generous people! Due to my professional organising skills, we took the Bankstown line to Redfern. But it was only an extra 10 minute travel time and at least we get to spend more time together :D So we got to Redfern at 9.40 and from there we made our way to the university! The campus was ginormous and bustling with people. The rest of the day went like this:

• navigated my way to first lecture! surprisingly I didn't get lost!
• attended the mini Bachelor of Veterinary Science lecture and even stayed back an extra half an hour to ask questions and listen/absorb other people's questions
• checked out the art gallery (could not interpret the "art")
• met up with Atharva and visited the Lego Colosseum!
• met up with the rest of the group to walk around
• looked through one of those professional telescopes and saw the sun and sun spots
• made conversation with the guy (hooray for overcoming social awkwardness!!)
• identified micro-organisms through microscopes
• caught an insect with a pipette!
• had a health test (i'm healthy!)
• sat down on a bench and got approached my the uni photographer and asked Nazif, Alex, Atharva and I to pretend like we're looking at the map so he could photograph us
• made us squint into the sun so he could take more pictures
• told us that he was going to use this for next year's open day pamplets D:
• then he said some guy was going to come over and get us to sign a form of consent
• ATE LUNCH while listening to a guy MC with a comical voice
• Went to second lecture, Animal and Vet Bioscience. Seriously, the man was just droning on and on. Even he sounded out of breath! Almost fell asleep a few times ==''
• Walked to subway to meet up with the group
• Stopped at the silly putty stand to play with it...
• Continued my trek to subway
• got to subway and waited for the fatties to buy their food
• walked to the engineering place to make ice cream
• stole some balloons on the way
• watched the chemists make yellow strawberry flavoured ice-cream using liquid nitrogen
• ate the ice cream!
• made our way back to Redfern station
• stopped at the park to take photos
• Krishna gave a cute kid a balloon
• On the train ride home I sucked in some helium and it.was.awesome!!!

So that was my day :)

unhappy chappy 2

Two rant posts in the span of 20 minutes. (It was 20 minutes when I started writing this, as usual I got distracted...)
Don't judge me.
I have a lot of emotions.
I'm also pmsing.

Not lying about any of those. I can justify that I am indeed pms-ing because I nearly cried on the train today. This is all Yvonne's fault. Not because she almost made me cry, but because her tendencies to cry all day er'day has rubbed off onto me. Anyways, so today "someone" (I shall call you faggot  Mr X) approached me after class and asked "Are you trying out for SRC?" I replied that I was. He then continued with "Can you not?" I didn't quite understand what Mr X was trying to say, so I remained silent. He asked again "Can you not try out for SRC?" I asked him why. He said "You already tried out for school captain, can you not try out for SRC?"

I ignored his question.

And then he goes and asks my friend if she was trying for SRC, when she said no, he persisted to ask her why and encouraged her to try out. Weird? I know.

And to make matters worse, Mr X had the audacity to ask me to help him with his SRC application form.

Honestly, do you have no shame?

unhappy chappy.

There is quite a bit of tension/ drama happening amongst some of my friends recently. Too be honest, it has been quite exhausting. I'm trying to be as supportive as I can, listening to what they have to say and offering my personal advice, but some days it can get somewhat overwhelming. Some days they approach me when I'm in the middle of work or attempting to do work, and I'm not one to say 'no', so I drop everything and focus on their situation. I don't want to seem like i'm whining but this is the only place I can vent myself.

How did we let it get to this?

oh brother!

"What are you gonna do? Instagram it?" - Andrew
aka. the little brother.
aka. mr smart-ass.

This happened yesterday as I opened the door for him to come in and he told me the sky looked rather pretty. And he was right, I did rush out with my tiny camera (and by camera, I mean phone) sans shoes, (because nothing beats running onto concrete barefoot) and literally leaped over my fence. I don't even remember why I was so excited. But that adrenaline turned me into a gold-medal-worthy hurdlelist. Ok, according to my spell check "hurdlelist" isn't even a word.

I need to stop going off on tangents.

So anyways, the point of this post was to say that my adrenaline-fuelled brain compelled me to yell out "I'm going for a jog!!!" to my mum and sprint out the door.
She doesn't need to know that I was actually running around the neighborhood like a spastic, taking pictures of the cotton candy-like clouds and orange sunset, suffering momentary heart attacks because I unsuspectingly walked past a house with a rabid dog, given suspicious looks by people standing on their front lawn, given suspicious looks by stray cats, getting stalked by stray cats, and yelling at my camera because it wouldn't focus properly. And guess what? At that exact moment, the resident had turned into their drive way and got out of their car. So basically, they heard me talking to the tree outside of their house.
I also noticed that my neighborhood looks so different when you're not driving by in a car. Strange, really.

So if you don't have instagram! Here are some of the photographs in all their unedited glory! 

"how long are you even going for?" - Dad

Gotta love my Dad for being so involved in my life :L

But anyways, that seems to be the general questions parents are asking their children tonight. Mainly because some of us think that we're going to be camping in the wilderness somewhere with no food, shelter or clothes. Heck I'm just sitting there thinking "I haven't even started packing AT ALL..." I remember a few days ago I was so excited for camp and packing everything beforehand, but then I thought to myself "No. You have work to do, it can wait until Tuesday night!" And guess what, it's Tuesday night, almost Wednesday morning and my suitcase is still empty and there is a giant pile of stuff that I might/might not even need for this 3 days and 2 nights camp. Don't get me wrong, I'm suuuper excited, but right now I'm more tired and lazy than excited. And all I want to do is play the google doodle hurdle game and get less than 10 seconds!!! THAT IS MY GOAL~

https://www.google.com/doodles/hurdles-2012