November Favourites

Hey everyone!

I can’t believe we’re already at the end of November. It just flew by! As did the whole year, really. I’m so excited that its almost time for Christmas as well. I am very much looking forward to it. There haven’t been many new things that I have used and liked this month, but I’ve managed to compile a couple of things that I have loved throughout the month of November, so here we go!

First off, not having to go to university has been absolutely wonderful. I had no exams at the end of this semester, so I finished up as soon as my last assignment was submitted (which I did a day early so I could have an even earlier start to my holidays). I’ve had so much time this month – I mostly devoted it to doing nothing much at all – and it has been fantastic. I have had more time to devote to my blog, which I have done as best I can – the laziness just takes over sometimes. I have had to be patient with my friends as they still had exams up until this week, so we couldn’t always hang out when I wanted to, but now I’m housesitting with a bunch of them for two weeks! The lack of university has also meant that I have slept in nearly every day this month since I switched my alarm off almost four weeks ago. It has been absolute bliss not having to wake up early to catch the bus. The other week, I didn’t wake up until midday. Mum was really mad at me for wasting half the day, but I thought it was great. I did feel a little bit guilty, but honestly, I think it was my body saying, ‘hey, you missed out on some sleep back there, here you go,’ and I couldn’t be more thankful.

Another thing that I have been loving over this past month is that channel 9 have been doing a Harry Potter movie marathon over the past four weeks, one movie every Friday and Saturday night. I am extremely annoying to watch Harry Potter with – it’s not my fault I know the entire script – and my family are sending me death glares every couple of minutes when I recite each line word perfect. I really love Harry Potter, okay? My friends understand me, but it doesn’t seem that my family does, which is a bit of a shame, but oh well. The final one is airing tonight and I’m very excited. I can already hear you saying, ‘but you’ve seen it already a million times!’ but I don’t care. I love love love them all so much and I don’t care who knows it.

I haven’t really read any books or tried any new products this month, but I did get some new clothes recently, and my favourite is this red and white stripy top from Glassons. It feels really nice to wear, first of all, and it looks really nice with high waisted jeans (unfortunately on picture day my jeans were in the wash). The top is a little bit cropped, but not a lot of my tummy shows, which is fine by me. It sits really nicely on me and is very comfortable. I also got it in plain black, but I don’t wear that one as much. I like wearing light colours, not fading into the background with dark ones. It’s a really good quality top and I really like wearing it.

This month, quite spur of the moment, I decided to try my hand at learning French. So, I downloaded Duolingo on my phone and have been taking the lessons daily. So far I can say lots of basic phrases like ‘The apple is red’ and ‘The child is a girl’. I have learned that objects have genders – for example, a table is always female – and that singular and plural words often sound quite similar, which can be a bit annoying for someone trying to learn it. I have really enjoyed learning French so far and will continue my learning into the future. I would definitely recommend learning a language as well. It broadens your mind and allows you to understand people you wouldn’t have been able to before.

What have your favourite things this month? Did you like mine?

Love, Nicky x

Uncontrollable Laughter and Everything After

Hey everyone!

It has been a little while since I updated you on the goings-on in my life, so I thought that there was no better time to do so than now. The past couple of months have been full of ups and downs, twists and turns, and I’ve managed to make it out the other side (relatively) unscathed.

I just spent five minutes straight laughing at a cat video, so much so that tears were falling down my face. It was the funniest thing I’ve seen all day, all week actually. I really wish I could show you the video, but I don’t know how to save them from Instagram to my phone. Basically, there was a cat getting annoyed at their owner’s feet moving under a blanket. The cat was hissing at them, then leaned his head back and shook it like he was powering up and then went for the kill and bit down right on the owner’s foot. I showed all my family members and we were all pretty much in hysterics. I don’t think I’ve laughed like that in a very long time, so it was nice, especially that I could share it with my family.

In other news, I still haven’t got my final marks back from uni yet, which I really want because then I will know my current GPA. Last semester it was pretty bad, but I think I did better this time around so maybe it’s improved, even only slightly. There is a story I’ve written for one of my assessments at uni that I really wanna share with you all, but I want to edit it with the feedback from the markers, so there’s nothing I can do about that yet. Final marks and feedback aren’t due to come out until the first of December, so there’s a little bit more waiting to do on that front.

Speaking of coming out, the results of the same-sex marriage survey came out the other day and it was a resounding yes! I’m so happy that the majority Australia is so supportive of same-sex couples getting married and that we aren’t as bigoted and “ist” as people think we are. I voted yes, obviously, and I’m so happy that loads of other people did, too. Now, I know this doesn’t mean same-sex marriage is legal yet, but soon. It will happen soon. Frankly, it’s been embarrassing not having same-sex marriage legal when there are so many other places that it is legal, but now we’re on our way and I’m so excited.

Another thing to be excited about what's coming ever closer is Christmas! I am sooo pumped for Christmas. I still need to sort out an outfit for Christmas Day and a Christmas list itself, but Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year and I just can’t wait. I can’t wait for all the Christmas movies to come on the telly, singing Christmas songs and not being stared at as harshly as I would in, say, April, and for the house to be decorated in all things red, green and sparkly. Also, I’m going with my friends to a Dean Lewis concert in a little under three weeks’ time, and I’m mighty excited about that. One more thing, one of my friends’ parents are going on holiday for two weeks for their wedding anniversary and my friend has invited us to live at her house during that time. I haven’t asked Mum if I can go yet, but I’m sure she’ll say yes so shhhh it doesn’t matter.

Aaand that's all that's been happening in my life recently. I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it (and experiencing the things I wrote about).

What’s been happening in your life lately? Are you as excited for Christmas as I am?

Love, Nicky x

3 Things University Taught Me

Hey everyone!

So far in my first week of my four months of holidays, I’ve managed to be rejected from the job I interviewed for, live without a deadline, unlike my exam-having friends, and not much else. Sure, I’ve been reading, but that’s about the most productive I’ve been. Oh, and I washed my hair this morning. That’s something, right? It’s nice to not have dirty, greasy hair. I definitely left it far too long between washes, but at least it’s clean now. From all my not-doing-anything, I haven’t been writing at all. I’ve not even come up with any ideas for any posts. I’m sitting here writing this, struggling to get words down. It’s like trying to fill out a 280-character tweet. It takes planning, effort, and absolute determination. But I will push through. I will. Today I wanna talk to you about what I’ve learned from my first year at uni, other than what my classes taught me.

First off, I learned that I am rubbish with time management and that I need to get better at it. There have been so many close calls when it comes to deadlines. I always made the deadline, but it was almost always down to the very last minute. Now, every morning, I write a to-do list, even if there is nothing I have due. I even put things down like ‘make bed’ and ‘eat’, because sometimes I forget. I find the to-do list insanely helpful with remaining on top of things. It doesn’t always work to get me to do work, but for the most part, it does its job well.

I have also learned that I’m not as rubbish as making friends as I thought. Sure, I don’t have their phone numbers or know where they live (that sounds a bit more ominous than I intended it to), but I know their names and can talk to them about uni and stuff. It’s nice to not feel so alone at uni, especially when the rest of your school friends go to different universities. I haven’t seen them since I last went to uni two weeks ago, but that’s okay, at least I’m not alone when I go there.

Another thing that university has unintentionally taught me is that I am better at things than I thought I would be. I never thought I’d be able to deal with all the assignments at university, especially because of my lacking time management skills (that I’m trying to improve). I think that I’ve proved to myself many times over that I can juggle six assignments at once, and get at least a passing grade on each of them. I’d thought before going into uni that I would drown in the massive workload, as everyone else stood on the boat, SS We’re Better Than You, watching and laughing at me sinking further and further under the waves of task sheets. Wow, that was an image. Don’t know where that came from. Anyway, I’ve learned that I can swim through the waves of assessments with a bit of difficulty, but considering I thought I’d drown, staying afloat is an achievement.

I guess you could say I’ve learned a lot in my first year of university, even if all of it wasn’t entirely intended. I did learn things that were set, obviously, but that wouldn’t make for an interesting post, now would it?

What have you learned about yourself this year? Do you go to uni as well?

Love, Nicky x

October Favourites

Hey lovelies!

I can’t believe it’s already November. This year has just flown by; how is there only two months left in 2017?! I submitted my last university assignment two days ago, so I am officially a free agent (yay!). I haven’t got all my marks back yet, but I’m sure I’ve done alright (at least enough to pass). Also, I had a job interview last Friday so I might be getting a job soon (squee!). I haven’t had many new favourites this month as I simply haven’t had time to go shopping, but I still found some new things that I already own to love.

I recently ran out of my face cleanser, so I dug through the bathroom cupboard to find another. I found the Garnier PureActive 3-in-1 and it works really well for me. It can be used in three separate ways: as a cleanser, as a scrub, and as a mask. In the mornings, I smear it all over my face and leave it there while I wash my body to give the mask time to work its magic. In the evenings, I use it as a normal cleanser since I don’t think you should really do more than one face mask a day. my skin has really thanked me for this. I have only gotten very few pimples since I’ve been using it and my skin feels smoother than it used to. It does promise to get rid of blackheads, and I still have quite a few of them on my nose, but I can use some pore strips for that. Overall, great cleanser!

Nintendo has very recently released a new mobile app called Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, where you go around catching fish and bugs, crafting furniture and setting up a campground for the animals that live there. I have been absolutely addicted to this game since I downloaded it two days ago. My phone says I have played it for a total of 5 hours and 6 minutes in the past 2 days. When I was little, I used to play Animal Crossing on my DS for hours and hours every day, so getting the app just seemed like a logical next step. I really enjoy playing it, even if there is no museum and very limited shops. Everything works seamlessly and has the same adorable art-style that made me fall in love with it in the first place.

Another one of my favourite things that has been happening this month is that my cat, Stanley, has been sleeping on my bed. I love watching him curl up at the end of my bed. He stays there for hours. When I’m sitting on my bed not paying attention to the rest of the room (probably on my phone) and I feel a little dip in the bed, I look around and he’s walking around finding a good spot to settle down. Right now, as I’m writing this, he’s laying down on my pillow, looking as relaxed as can be. He woke me up this morning and as soon as I lifted my head off the pillow, he began making himself comfortable on it. Today is sheets changing day, but I can’t move him; he looks so happy, but also he’ll hiss at me if I try to move him. I love him so much. He’s so cute.

My final favourite this month is finishing my first year of university. In my final week, I had five things due, three on one day, two on another. I managed to survive that week, getting everything in on time, so now I think I can do pretty much anything. I have enjoyed this year at uni, even with all the assessment struggles and speech nerves. I’ve made new friends and learnt new things about writing and about myself as a person. I’m really looking forward to my second year, but I’m very happy to have a four-month break in between. I’ll have a lot of time to read and write and relax and hang out with my friends (unless I get that job!) and not to mention Christmas!

That’s all my favourites for this month. I do hope you enjoyed this post.

What have you been loving this October? Do you like my favourites?

Love, Nicky x