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Sunday, December 31, 2017

My Christmas Day 2017


Hey everyone!

Seeing as it was Christmas just this past Monday, I thought it would be nice to tell you how I spent mine.

I woke up at the ungodly hour of 6am; we were supposed to wake up at 5:30, so I guess that counts as a sleep in. I grabbed my bagful of presents that was hanging on my door and brought it out to the lounge room near the tree. We (me and my younger brother) dug through our bags to see what Santa had delivered to us. I received a rose gold light up ‘N’, a tiny little body wash from Bath and Body Works, a sonic face cleansing brush, a blue insulated water bottle, a green off the shoulder jumpsuit and strapless bra to go beneath it (which is not pictured because that’s weird), and an avalanche of chocolate money (which I ate while watching the others opening their presents, so no picture of that either).


After completely emptying our bags, it was on to tree presents. One from Mum and Dad and the other from Santa himself (even though we discovered the secret about eight years ago, we still get Santa presents). From Mum and Dad, I received a black Mimco pouch with a rose gold circle in the centre. It is really pretty, and I love it so much. From Santa, I received a Fenty Beauty Foundation brush, which feels really nice and soft on my hands. Now I just have to find a foundation to use it with…


After presents, it was time for Christmas breakfast. We had to go fast since we had to be out of the house before 8 o’clock, having to be at Christmas lunch by 8:30. Mum had served up some choc-chip waffles (by accident, she didn’t realise they were choc-chip when she bought them!) with strawberries cooked in maple syrup and topped with vanilla ice cream. Delicious! After breakfast was finished Mum announced, “We need to bang!” (to which I scoffed). I soon realised she meant the Christmas crackers. I won one of mine and lost the other. Inside the crackers were little tealight candles covered in glitter, a paper crown and a corny joke or two. We then hastily got ourselves ready, packed the presents and food into the car and we were off to Christmas lunch with Dad’s family.


We were a little bit early to Christmas lunch (well, we weren’t last to arrive, at least) and I had been sitting down for maybe 5 minutes when I started seeing some little sparkling lights in my eyes. A migraine. Who gets a migraine on Christmas? This girl. I immediately told Mum and she got up to find the Panadol. After a little while, the migraine went away and I felt that weird feeling you get after migraines, sort of a feeling of emptiness, I guess. Soon after that it was presents time! The first presents I received were from Grandma and Granddad, and they were Harry Potter: A History of Magic and a bucket of Honeycomb flavoured Maltesers. My next presents came from my Dad’s auntie (who I just call Auntie), and they were an umbrella (awesome since my last one broke), a purse with Paris on, and a bracelet and a bookmark inside the purse itself. From my Dad’s cousin (whose house we were at), I received a photo frame with a string in it to peg about four or so pictures to, which I will definitely utilise once I find a place on my wall to hang it. And finally, from my Dad’s other Auntie and Uncle, I received Harry Potter: A Journey Through the History of Magic.


After presents, it was time for lunch. There were a vast array of hot foods on offer (it was lucky that we ate inside in the air conditioning!). Onto my plate, I stacked some ham, Mum’s roasted baby carrots, some roast pumpkin and potato, roast chicken, and some cauliflower bake with melted cheese on the top. It was bloody delicious if I do say so myself. There was barely time to fit in dessert as well, which consisted of the most amazing pavlova you have ever seen. It even had chocolate shaved onto the top! Then we absolutely had to leave so we weren’t late for Christmas dinner with Mum’s family.


Once we had arrived at Grandma’s house, we were blissfully welcomed into the air conditioning (thank God, it was at least 30 degrees at the time). We sat around for a little while just cooling off in the air con before moving into the front room for the third round of presents that day. First, from my Auntie and Uncle I received rose gold headphones and a rose gold pouch for them to go in. From Grandma and Grandpa, I received a blue and white striped top and some denim shorts with a cute little belt. And finally, from my other Aunt and Uncle, I received a black flowery off the shoulder jumpsuit and a box of Maltesers (that I still haven’t opened yet).


After presents were done, final preparations were made for dinner before it was served to the masses. Despite having a massive lunch, I filled my plate entirely. I got some turkey, some potato salad, Mum’s ambrosia salad and watermelon salad, and some green salad that I mostly got solely for the avocado in it. I also managed to steal some of my cousin’s ham since she didn’t want any more. The whole time, I was battling a sudden head cold that I assume I got from being in and out of air conditioning all day. My nose was running, I was sneezing loads and my eyes were watering enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool (and lemme tell you, they aren’t small). After dinner, we went back inside and played some Jenga (it turns out that even when I try to cheat at it, I still lose) and had some pudding with custard and chocolate sauce.


Overall, despite my body fighting against me for most of it, I’d say I had a pretty good day.

How did you spend your Christmas?


Love, Nicky x

Saturday, December 23, 2017

The Christmas Tag


Hey everyone!

I thought that since Christmas is literally right around the corner that I would do a little Christmas tag to get everyone in the mood for the big day. I, of course, am already in the Christmas mood and am overly excited for it. Once the Christmas tree is up, decorations placed about the house, and lights strung along the front of the house, its hard not to feel at least a little bit Christmassy. So, on with the questions!

   1.       What is your favourite Christmas movie/s?

There are so so many Christmas movies, but my favourite ones are The Santa Clause (all three!), The Polar Express, and Elf. There weren’t any Christmas movies on TV this year – at least when I looked – but I have marathoned Harry Potter twice and although they’re not particularly Christmas movies, they make me happy and the Christmas scenes make me wish I could spend a Christmas at Hogwarts, but alas I never got my letter, so at home in Australia it is.

   2.       Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

We have always opened our presents on Christmas Day, in the morning. Sometimes we’ve had to get up super early because Dad had to leave for work (how rubbish is it to have to work on Christmas?), but we always do them in the morning. We have bags that hang from our doors (they’re like stockings but bigger) that get filled with little presents like books and pyjamas, and our main presents under the tree, one from Santa and one from Mum and Dad.

   3.       Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?

I don’t know if I have a favourite Christmas memory, but one that I do have that I like a lot is one year when Christmas was at my house I got Just Dance 3 on the Wii. After presents and dinner, we all got together in the living room and took turns in groups of four dancing like idiots and laughing a lot.

   4.       Favourite festive food?

I don’t know if it's festive, but every year my mum makes chocolate truffles and they are very good. I have at least five of those. Last year I had to be careful since I was wearing a white skirt. Another favourite is Ambrosia salad. It is technically a salad, but it is made up of mandarins, marshmallows and shredded coconut. I mostly just eat the marshmallows, but I still love it nonetheless.

   5.       Favourite Christmas gift?

Is it bad that I don’t really remember what I got for Christmas as a kid? One Christmas I do remember, I must’ve been twelve, I got my first ever phone. I was so happy that I finally had one that I accidentally broke it. I loaded too many apps onto it at once and it kinda crapped itself. Dad gave me a replacement hand-me-down phone for the two weeks it took to fix it, but after that, I took good care of it, like I do with all my technology nowadays.

   6.       Favourite Christmas scent?

Oooooh, that’s hard! It would have to be those Christmas spice candles, I reckon. Can’t get much better than that!

   7.       Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?

We always go visit either my Grandma or Great Aunt (on Mum’s side) for Christmas Eve nibblies and chats. I have kind of developed the tradition of always watching the Christmas Eve Carols on the TV. I’ve done it ever since I was little, and still do, even if no one watches them with me.

   8.       What tops your tree?

We have two trees, mostly because Mum buys way too many decorations to fit on the one tree that the excess goes on the other. Our main tree (the one the presents go under) has an angel atop it. I believe it may have been a wedding present, but I can’t be sure. I named her Christine and she watches over our present openings every year. Our second tree sits in the front room in front of a window so we can see it twinkling from outside. Atop it sits a red tree topper stick thing. I don’t really know how to describe it but it’s shiny, red, and has gold glitter on it around the base.

   9.       As a kid what was the one (crazy, wild, extravagant) gift you always asked for but never received?

I don’t know if I ever actually asked for it, but my auntie always told me to ask Santa for a pony. Mum or someone would ask four-year-old me what I’d like for Christmas and apparently, she’d be sitting right near me whispering in my ear “A pony! A pony!”. I never did get a pony, but to be fair I never did put it on my list. I don’t think it would have mattered either way; Mum would never have let Santa deliver me a pony.

   10.   What is the best part about Christmas for you?

My favourite part of Christmas is definitely the food. Sure, seeing family is good, and gift giving and receiving is great and all, but Christmas breakfast, lunch and dinner are where it's at. The best part of the food, though, is the Christmas crackers – terrible jokes and the paper crowns everyone wears on their heads while eating is so good!

Are you as excited for Christmas as I am? Either way, have a great holiday season!


Love, Nicky x

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Christmas Wishes | Random


Hey everyone!

Welcome to the third and final instalment of my Christmas list this year! In this one, its everything that didn’t really fit into a category on its own, so I’ve lumped them all together and dubbed them ‘Random’. Most anything could be on this list, other than clothes, books and makeup, seeing as I usually have enough of those on my list to warrant their own category, and therefore post. Anyway, here’s the random assortment of items that made it to my Christmas list!


First off, which I put on my Christmas list almost every year, is a party sized bucket of Maltesers. It takes me about a week to eat through the entire bucket (mostly) by myself. I do intend to share, but nobody asks. Even when they do I give them, like, one or two. I am generous mostly, just not with Maltesers. They are truly the best snack food. I can sit in front of my laptop or on my phone for hours just munching away at the slowly emptying bucket. Sure, the bucket says party size, but some parties can be just one person, right?



The next thing on my list is a Harry Potter thing (Are you even surprised by this point? I’ve mentioned it in my last two or three posts now). I would really like a Harry Potter themed phone case, like a Marauders Map kind or a Hufflepuff kind (but Hufflepuff merch is particularly hard to find), but I really don’t mind as long as it’s Harry Potter related to be honest. The current phone case I have I received last Christmas, and its great and all, but the pattern is slowly being rubbed away by my fingers constantly touching it, particularly the area in the middle of the case. The plastic is also cracking in places from when I’ve dropped it or thrown it onto my bed with a bit too much gusto and it slides across my bed and lands on the floor just beyond the bed.


The third and final thing that made it on to the random assortment of items on my Christmas list is iTunes cards. I know, boring, right? But I really need them. At the moment I have about $3 left in iTunes credit, meaning that if any of my musicians release an album I will be able to buy about one song. I know for a fact that both Shawn Mendes and Dean Lewis are working on albums right at this very second and if I don’t have enough money to purchase their music, I might flip out, or scream, or faint, or all of the above. Can you tell I like music? Or am I being too modest? Maybe I should calm it down one or two notches…

Aaaaaaand that is the end of the random things on my Christmas list and thus the end of this Christmassy little series! I do hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

What random things are on your Christmas list? Do you like my list?


Love, Nicky x

Saturday, December 9, 2017

Christmas Wishes | Books


Hey everyone!

Welcome back to the second instalment in my Christmas Wishes series. This time we talk all things books! I have gotten back into reading in a big way this year and I can’t wait to share with you the books I would like to read next (after I’ve read the current ones on my bookshelf first!) once I receive them for Christmas.


The first book on my list was also on my birthday list and it is The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton. First of all, the cover is really pretty; the way the golden feather stands out against the blue background, just yes. This book tells the story of a girl named Ava who is quite normal except for the fact that she has bird wings. To find a place where she fits in and to understand herself better, she goes on a quest. I think the whole idea of the story sounds very interesting (I kinda wish I’d thought of it first!) and I would really like to read it to find out more about Ava.


The next book on my list also has a golden feather on the cover (I guess I have a thing for golden feathers on book covers) and was also on my birthday list. It is Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley. This book tells a story of a girl who has a strange lung condition that makes breathing very difficult. One day, she looked up into the sky and saw a ship and heard someone calling out her name. The world she sees is called Magonia and she finds up there that she can breathe and has some kind of powers as well. She finds out that Magonia and Earth are on the precipice of war and she must decide where her true loyalties lie: Earth, where she grew up, or Magonia, where she belongs.


Another book on my list is Incarnate by Jodi Meadows, which doesn’t have a feather on the cover, but it does feature a butterfly which is just as pretty, I think. This book has been on my list since last Christmas, and also was on this year’s birthday list, so I’ve been wanting this one for a little while now. It is about a girl who is a ‘new soul’. Everyone where she lives reincarnates when they die into a new person, but with the same soul. She is the first to have a completely new soul and she must find out why and whether she’ll be reincarnated once she dies.



The final two books on my list are both Harry Potter related (I told you there was a running theme of Harry Potter, didn’t I?). The first is A Journey Through the History of Magic and the second one is simply A History of Magic. As the massive Potterhead that I am, I would love to have both of these books, so I can know all there is to know about the wizarding world. A Journey Through the History of Magic looks at some of the original manuscripts of the books, the curriculum at Hogwarts, and much more. A History of Magic is the book of the exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Philosopher’s Stone, and contains artefacts from the British library, sketches and illustrations, as well as essays about the subjects of Hogwarts from experts in those fields.

Those are all the books on my Christmas list and I do hope you enjoyed this post. Next week is the final instalment of this series, so stay tuned!

What books do you want for Christmas? Do you like my list?


Love, Nicky x

Saturday, December 2, 2017

Christmas Wishes | Fashion and Beauty


Hey everyone!

Welcome to the first instalment of the series where I show you everything I want for Christmas. In this post, I will show you all of the beauty and fashion things I have on my list. There’s not as much stuff on my list this year. I'm not sure why, I just don’t. I guess there’s just not as many beauty and fashion things on the market that pique my interest, but I do have a couple of things so stay tuned.


The first thing on my list is a Mimco Lovely Medium Pouch. It is very pretty in its simplicity, being a shiny black material with a rose gold circle in the centre, and I wouldn’t mind getting it for Christmas. Every single one of the girls in my family has one, and I don’t really want to be left out of that, so I have to have one. I can use it like a clutch for when I go out, or like a coin purse to keep in my handbag all the time. It will be very useful and also pretty. Win-win!


Another fashion thing on my list is a summery, floral dress. I haven’t got anything specific about it that I want like fabric or shape, I would just like it to be flowery and flowy, so I can wear it in the summer months and not get too hot. I really like floral patterns and flowers in general, so a floral dress would be lovely. I have quite a few summery dresses, but none that have flowers on them, so I need to fix that.


The last of the fashion-y things on my list is a Harry Potter shirt. I really want one because I love Harry Potter a really lot and shirts are a good way of showing it. In particular, I would like it to be either a Marauder’s Map one or somehow Hufflepuff related, as that is the house I belong to (you’ll find that this is a theme throughout my entire list). I have recently rekindled my love and obsession with all things Harry Potter and think that a shirt of it would be a perfect fit (mind the pun).


Now, on to beauty things! The first of these is a Fenty Beauty Foundation Brush. I have heard that Fenty Beauty is really good quality, so I would really like to try it. I don’t wear makeup often enough to warrant asking for actual Fenty makeup, but having nice brushes is always a good thing, and better than the ones I have at the moment that are all old and falling apart a little bit.


Speaking of foundation brushes, I would also like something to go with the brush. It is The Body Shop’s Tea Tree Flawless BB Cream. I have run out of my current BB Cream and would like another to replace it. The shade matches my skin pretty perfectly and it doesn’t break me out (touch wood). I want to try getting back into wearing face makeup more often. Not every day, especially if I’m not going out, but more often than I have been. Mostly I just put on some concealer if anything at all. I feel like with a new BB Cream that it will get used and I will get used to wearing makeup more often.

That’s all my fashion and beauty related things on my Christmas list. I do hope you enjoyed this post and stay tuned because next week is the second instalment of this Christmas list series.

What fashion and beauty things do you want for Christmas? Do you like my list (so far)?


Love, Nicky x