Saturday 26 May 2012

Blowing my cash

Being organised is so expensive!!
I am so hungover today, it's horrible.
Yesterday I ran some errands as it was my day off. I had to buy some things at the chemist and it ended up costing me $135. Yikes. I also paid my phone bill and bought a dress...
I bought:

  • S. loads of Estelle*
  • Temaz
  • Zovirax, because I'm one of those lucky people.
  • Sml dry shampoo
  • Flight socks, because when I fly my legs resemble tree trunks. Totally worth the $30 I paid. It's ridiculous, one time my calves didn't fit into my jeans and I had to elevate those baby's for three days before the swelling went down. 
  • 30+ lip balm. 
  • A holder for my toothbrush. 
  •  and Four small containers. They will hold Moisturiser, Makeup remover, Body wash and cleanser. Don't worry I promise they are tiny!




Yesterday, I had to cash in all of our coins (remember here) in return for some American casholla! SO exciting! A week from Monday! I CAN NOT WAIT! Apologies for the small post, I am soooooo I'll ergh wine!! Alcohol is not my friend.

Tuesday 22 May 2012

Some minor changes

Some changes to our trip...

If we're besties on facebook you probably know that recently we had a hiccup with some domestic flights..... Such a kick in the face when you get an email saying your flight has been cancelled, indefinitely... At least our money got returned.
STILL, we had everything organised for the UK- Amsterdam leg. Originally, we had booked a flight from Birmingham (near where the rels live) to Amsterdam for like $80 each.
We had a few options...

  • Train... too many stops. We have already paid for accommodation in Amsterdam (because we thought the flights were booked). So we can't have a stop over in Belgium... the idea sounds nice but it's not going to work for us. 
  • Plane... too expensive. NOW, flights are going for like $200 AU EACH!!!! So that is out of the question.
  • Combined train and Ferry pass.. sounded PERFECT! Only the train station is too far from where we will be (2hr). Which means we would be getting a 2hr train, followed by another train, followed by an over night ferry, followed by another train into Amsterdam Centraal. 
  • OR.... Bus... (Megabus to be exact)... we chose this option. It costs us $40 each AU and we don't have to worry about swapping vehicles. The only thing is it is 16hrs via bus. Sucks. At least I will be armed with the precious Temaz. 
This will be us.... for 16 hours...

Also this week Gonz suggested we try couch surfing... I don't think I am the couch surfing kind of person... Has anyone done it? Or heard any horror stories?





Friday 18 May 2012

Packing One O One.

First of all, is anyone else loving Radical Face at the moment? I freakin' love him, can't stop listening to his song "Ghost Town". Gonzy showed it to me. He also does that song "Welcome Home" which is on an add at the moment.

It's great, do yourself a favour and listen to this. (I've been having trouble getting this link to work so you might just have to source it yourself :) )





So after my disaster attempt at packing the other day. I thought to myself (as you do) I wonder what google would say. You can literally ask google anything! My sister was telling me that one of her friends broke up with her bf and googled, "what to do when your boyfriend dumps you." See... proof......

Anyway I googled "how to pack your backpack" and I got onto a site called hostelbookers.com and they have an article that says "How to pack your backpack". Exact match, perfect. (Check it out here if you're interested.)
 It told me... "Bin the ‘jeans-for-best’, the ‘shoes-for-just-in-case’ and the ‘backup-hoody’. It’s time to strip the contents of your backpack down to the bare bones…"


 Right... like that's the easiest thing in the world to do.


 Anyway, after some tough love advice from some gf's on facebook and on here I came to conclusion that I NEED to take at least HALF of what I decided on. The way I did this... I tried on all of the outfits and decided what I would wear, and what I wouldn't. Once I had the clothes on it was much easier to picture! 


As you know I went to Chaddy the other day and found this great pair of shorts which mean I feel comfortable excluding the other few pairs as I will wear these non stop instead! They're Wrangler and they don't have stupid rips all over them. Love them. Plus they are a small size but they don't gape at the back like some other high wasted denim. 





Look here! You will be so impressed! Well if you're not... I am! I did a massive cull! I culled down half of my t-shirts. Took out one pair of heels. Ditched the denim jacket and the black blazer. Ditched like 3x pairs of shorts, a pair of jeans, a jumper... the list goes on. I have so many versatile outfits that I can mix/match and dress up/ dress down. Plus, my bag is so light! You can't really tell here, but there is so much room in the sides. I have packed everything in here, including shoes and makeup bag. Ditched straightener, hair dryer and have no hair care products :( 

Proof that my bag easily closes!


So another thing I got in whilst in Chadstone was a cute little gift from mum! I absoloutley LOVE Kikki K. She wanted to buy me a travel diary and a document wallet. When we got to KK the travel document wallets were a little bulky and big, precious space taker... so we decided to skip on that. I was after a plain notebook with plenty of space. We ended up getting a felt cover with an insert inside. What's great is you can buy refills of the paper so when I've filled it up I just squish the next booklet in. This is why we got the red book band! Great idea! This way when my diary is bulky and completely full the band will keep everything together. Cute Pen. Cuter mum. Thanks heaps mum if you're reading this, I love my present!

This picture is stuck upside down, so use your imagination.





I am feeling MUCH better! Thanks for all your packing advice and tips :)

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Who do I think I am?

Today is my day off, so naturally I have been running around trying to get everything done! So far I have dropped my car in for a service, been to the gym, the supermarket, done some cleaning and then I attempted to pack my bag.... attempted is exactly the right word to use... USELESS. I am a self confessed USELESS packer! I need some serious culling help! WHO do I think I am? I can not believe I thought I was going to take ALL of these things on a four month backpacking holiday! The worst bit is I am emotionally attached to everything I have decided on... I do not need it all but i can not possibly choose things to not take!



First of all, this is the best perfume ever. This is essential for me! ESSENTIAL!






My new Tigerlily bikini's... I can not remember the last time I went into a surf shop. But when I know I am heading into Summer and I see a sign that says 50% off bathers, I'm there. 


$60... bargain!

This pair was also $60. Thank you surf shop.



I also saw a 50% off sign at a local bathers store and of course I went in. These are last season Seafolly bottoms and a Jets top... together they cost me $60. Bargain hunter.



 The shoes I plan to take... 2x Jelly, 1x Nike, 1x Thongs, 1x Tony Bianco going out heels, 1x casual Funkis heels.

 The T-shirt collection... 3x Country Road, 1x Bonds exercise, 1x black long sleeve basic, 2x shirts, 4x basic Zara tops, 3x forever 21 tops, 2x cropped topshop singlets, 1x topshop singlet.


1x Topshop duffel coat, 1x Topshop black Blazer, 1x Zara Denim.


1x BCBG Bandage skirt, 1x leather panel topshop skirt, 1x general pants skirt.


2x casual jumpers, (1 is CR the other Kmart cheapy) I also want to take this bright blue one that I have on today, and maybe buy a black cardi (I am cringing).


I almost forgot my sparkle shorts and my high rise leopard shorts.


This is the only dress I have decided on at the moment.



Some leggings, Nudie Jeans, Topshop jeans and Leopard Top shop leggings.

Casual shorts, denim shorts, black sass and bide shorts and high rise moto cheeky shorts.






SEE I wasn't lying! I need help! I took a picture of my bag with a half attempted effort to pack my clothes into it... I won't show you the picture because I'm far too embarrassed! I am also far too embarrassed to admit the toiletries I was planning on taking... hair care products, sunscreens, makeup, dry shampoo, fake tan, moisturiser, hair oil and my straightener and hairdryer... Lord help me.



Tuesday 15 May 2012

A La Magic Hair Bun

Ahhhhh... a big bun for thin hair! Bless!
Tink Bun,
I have long hair and it goes into a bun no problem, however, my hair is pretty thin and my bun's lack seriously oomph! I got the idea after looking at pictures of my 21st where I dressed up as Tinkerbell, which came hand in hand with the big tink bun.


I searched in Hairhouse Warehouse and found exactly what I was looking for... for $14... mm. I got mine on ebay for $6 including postage. score.
Although mine is made of some mysterious material and resembles some sort of strawberry blonde it doesn't actually look that bad once it's on.

Although it's slightly off theme I thought I'd share it as technically it was a purchase to take overseas....
Excuse my fresh face and comfy clothes.

First of all... don't get scared by it's slightly off colour and hideous shine.





High Pony
High pony.
Add the magic bun





Spread your hair evenly over the bun

I dont know why I took this picture.

Evenly spread hair pieces in sections. 






Pin the sections using Bobbi Pins.


Pin the whole way around the magic bun until your hair covers it.


Finished.
Ohh La, nice big bun.


I'm loving my magic bun and I'm definitely taking it away for a quick fix hair do.


Friday 11 May 2012

Check out what the talented bf did.

It's official! I have the best boyfriend in the world.

Not only did he save my life this week (I may, or may not be exaggerating)...
But seriously, I was eating and I forgot to chew ( how smart do I sound, give me a break I was stressed ) and swallowed this huge bit of meat... ergh... I kept swallowing and that motherf...er would not go down the hatch. I stood up and told my family to "Call and ambulance, I am choking!"... Gonz patted my back, meanwhile I'm freaking out, but do you think anyone got off the couch to call that ambulance? No! I personally, was about to call the MICA... Anyway... I am here today, I am alive... it's a miracle. Don't worry no ambulance was called, I recovered, funny that. Do you think I can claim this as a near death experience?

Moving on.... The other night we were hanging out to watch Biggest Loser Finale and had nothing to do. I was downloading music and complaining that everyone has such lovely heading artwork on their blogs! So what does he do? Starts drawing me one! It was so exciting!





Artwork in progress




THE RESULT


What do you think? I am absoloutley thrilled!

All drawn and designed by Gonz but special thanks to Fleur Harris for tidying it up on the computer.

Tuesday 8 May 2012

CRACKING IT

I went out the other night.
Blazer: Topshop
T-shirt: Country Road
Leather Pants: Subtitled
Necklace: Lovissa
So Gonz and I decided it was time to crack those money tins!
They were getting pretty heavy and we were getting very impatient. It was pretty exciting opening them because they stare you in the face every day.
The results... I lost. Gonzo had $318 and I had $240 or something. That means when we get to USA I already have two days of cash and won't need to take it out of my savings, Gonzo has nearly three! We have budgeted for $120 a day, including accommodation. But we have all our main transport booked and paid for, so they wont come out of our budget.
So far we've booked a greyhound (I'm scared) bus from LA - San Diego, a bus from San Diego to Vegas, a flight from Vegas to NYC (we still have to pay for our baggage though) and our Supa Shuttle transfer to and from NYC airport to our hostel. So we've done pretty well.
Don't worry we sanitised our hands after counting those dirty mofos.





Here's some pictures. Enjoy!

Giving it a shake and feeling hopeful!

Note my list of things to buy on the side.

Excited to start counting! There is $240 in there!

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Special Parcel

Look what arrived!

It's so exciting to finally get our Eurail passes! $1,330 (each) later but oh well. The whole time while we're in europe we have our main transport booked! We looked into other things like busabout, looks great but with eurail you just have a little more flexibility.

The Package


The tickets!

Our timetables, maps and info stuff


WOOHOO

Friday 4 May 2012

Exaclty one month to go.

Can you believe it! ONE MONTH TO GO! Today is the forth of May ( I refuse to say May the Forth be with you....) and we leave on June 4th. Although I won't admit it to Gonz I have already started planning my airport outfit and toyed with the idea of packing my bag... Just to see how much or little I am capable of packing.

Shoes still seem to be the object of concern... so far I have culled down to maybe six pairs....
This includes my:
Nike's (because I'm not going to get fat.....)
Thongs (so I don't get warts from hostel showers.)
2 Pairs of my new Jellybean sandals. (because they're really light.) Remember them here.
2 Pairs of heels, my casual ones and my going out ones. (Because I'm 5'2 and Gonz is 6'6...need I say more.)
I also plan on buying some Vans or Converse over there where they'll be cheaper... It's a bit excessive but I think I have good reason for all of them being included.

Some more exciting news...
We are awaiting the arrival of... OUR EURAIL passes!
$1370 each.... ouch. We purchased our tickets on Wednesday and they should be here by the ninth of May! You can imagine my excitement!  Here are the details for our Eurail Global Pass. But basically we get unlimited train travel for every day within the three months in Europe. Day trip anyone... don't mind if I do.

P.s. I googled airport outfits and someone has dedicated a whole blog to it! Check it here http://www.airportoutfits.com/


Did you pack everything Rachel Zoe?

Rosie Huntington Whiteley

Harper Beckham



Loving Whitney Port's outfit.

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Bobbi, my love.


Ahh Bobbi!
Bobbi is my ultimate savior when it comes to decorating my face. The makeup is to die for! Check out this lipstick! It's my fav at the moment and it's a relatively new shade so you shouldn't have trouble buying her. It has a matte finish and it lasts for hours! Seriously, after my big night of eating and drinking on Friday I didn't even reapply. Definitely worth investing in.
Excuse my shitty photo! Do you know how hard it was to take a picture of text and it not be blurry, my hand was shaking like crazy.