welcoming the new year | 2016

Hellllooooooooooo!

After the great positive response I received from my new year post one year ago, I've decided to write up another new years resolution list! So, after looking back on my 2015 new years resolutions, I would say that I didn't achieve as much as I would have liked too.. T_T But hey! I did get to complete some like...

I've taken more pictures as I've got a better camera ^_^

Drawn more and tried different styles that I wouldn't normally draw in.

Passed that piano exam! Wow, that seemed like ages ago... and I've posted consistently on this blog! Woohoo! *celebrates*

But all in all, I could have completed every single one of them if I wasn't super lazy so... urgh why?

Here's a list of 16 resolutions I would like to achieve in 2016 in no particular order:

• Keep my succulent alive 
• Stop leaving everything until the last minute
• Stop being indecisive with everything
• Put on sunscreen (urgh the aussie sun)
• Read more books and complete my new goal on Goodreads!
• Even more art ^_^
• Put studies first!
• Stop procrastinating (which is the hardest thing to do T_T)
• Don't over think too much (I tend to do that way too much and that results in nothing making sense)
• Continue volunteering ^_^
• Grow taller (ha, I wish.) 
• Revise, revise, revise.
• Put up with my current laptop that's starting to deteriorate 
• Exercise regularly (which still probably will not happen...)
• Cut down on YouTube and tv shows and use that time more usefully
• Be organised!

Well, cheers to the new year! Let me know any of your resolutions or goals in the comments below and happy new year!

Have fun!

 ~ Judy x

15 moments from 2015

I was looking forward to 2015...

Why? Well

a) Fifteen is my lucky number (because)

b) I was born on the 15th (January)

c) I turned 15 on the 15th of 2015

d) All the factors of 15 are odd, and I love odd numbers (okay I'm a weird nerd, don't judge me! xD)

And I have to say, the year turned out marvellously (loads better than my terrible last year) :D

Now I'll share with you some moments from this year :)

1. I received a ukulele from my friend's for my birthday!!! Still love it as much as I did when I first got it :D

This photo was from last year, and that's actually Judy's ukulele xD

2. Getting my kitten. It's inexplicable, the feeling I had in the car ride home, holding onto a box containing that tiny little ball of fur.

3. Watching the musical Les Misérables, and sitting in that dark theatre, tears in eyes, squeezing the life out of my friend's arm next to me and letting the music and story wash over me.

(I had a photo to put here from after the musical, where the theatre was dark yet relatively empty and the stage showed 'Les Misérables' in an eerie green blue... but it was on my phone which I lost *cries*)

4. Visiting Canberra (Twice! Once with my school :D) and driving through my old town, and seeing all the places I had spent years expanding in my memory with imagination.

5. There wasn't exactly a defining moment for this, but realising that I'm very comfortable with using my camera and can fiddle with settings and know what is happening everywhere without really thinking about it.

6. Going overseas to China and realising the sheer enormity of the world and what it has to offer, and how incredible it is that there can be so many people, each with their own unique story.

7. Running a waffle stand at school!

8. Having three awesome kids at volunteering run up to me going "YELENA WE MISSED YOU!!!" and having a big group hug :D

9. Finding an old cockatiel chirping literally on our door step. Rest in piece, little guy :(

10. Getting bombarded at school with all sorts of career, university and degrees advice, and deciding on my goal.

11. Holding a picnic with my friends.

12. Changing uniform. Like most Aussie schools, we have to wear a uniform, and this term I had to change from the junior uniform of Year 7 to 10 to the senior one... which I like a lot better! :D

13. Waking up at 4 am to witness the sunset on the Gold Coast.

14. Making new friends :)

15. Posting on this blog (somewhat) consistently and surpassing 100 posts! ^_^

Here's a quick little montage of random video clips from my year to go along with this post. :)

Thanks to each and every one of you for reading our blog, whether you've stumbled upon this little corner of the internet a year ago, last month or even starting from this post- you're awesome! <3

As always, stay fabulous! :D

Lena xx

PS. Second post in two days!!! AMAZING :O New record! I wanted to get this up before the new year, and I posted this 4 minutes shy of New Year's Eve... excellent timing I must say *pats self on the back* I think Judy is doing her own little recap tomorrow (which is now in 2 minutes :O) so look forward to that :)
PPS. Sorry about that, my body is always exhausted by midnight (including my eyes which feel like they're swelling shut) but my mind is more alert, awake and talkative! Oh look, one minute left til New Year's Eve!
PPPS. IT'S NEW YEARS EVE!!! FAREWELL 2K15 :D

lego christmas trees, candy and almost free fruit

Ellooooooo :D

I wrote this an entire year ago and never posted it :o How time flies! It was during Christmas time, so I thought it would be relevant for it to be posted now xD

So on a random day in December last year I went to the city with a few friends, and I took a few snaps. Yes, ages ago, but thought someone out there might appreciate these photos anyway :)

Lego Christmas tree! In Pitt St, Sydney. Not the greatest photo, but the crowds were hard to fight xD

The jelly beans and the hard boiled sweets were for Christmas presents, the Wizz Fizz (which is sherbet powder) was randomly given to me for free (I remember feeling really sad in primary school when all the other kids had these and I had never had one! xD) and the lollipop for moi ^_^

Funky and cool looking artwork a building called the Galeries. Unfortunately it's not really a gallery :( Loved the use of ordinary little objects to create something special :D

When life attempts to give you free fruit but there aren't any, cry.

Finding a piece of the online world in real life feels good. #teaminternet Again, this is from December 2k14. I've actually started reading the second book recently and can't say it's very promising at the moment, but oh well. A friend gave this one to me as a present though which I really appreciate ^_^ ♥

I'm always late when I talk about things. I need better organisational skills.

Stay fabulous everyone!

Lena xx

OOTD // november grey skies, spring showers and DIY umbrella

As spring transitions into summer (it was flipping 40 degrees Celcius the other day o.o), there have still been a few overcast days of grey and rain.

The other day a friend, Aolei, and I went exploring around the city, and had an impromptu photoshoot in the on and off rain... we only had one umbrella between us, so one person kept getting drenched ._.

I tried a new kind of editing for these photos. Normally I go for a super bright, in your face, high contrasty kinda effect, but these have a much more muted, washed out, film look I think/hope.

Grey turtleneck sweater/cape top // unknown

Jeans // Target

Platform Chelsea boots // Lipstick Shoes

Umbrella // DIY/Daiso

Ring // markets

Here's my friend looking like a princess as always :P

Top and skirt // Gumboots

Boots // Hush Puppies

Ring // markets

We matched with the grey kind of accidentally. What a nice coincidence though, seeing as the sky and the buildings around us matched too! :D

Attempting to twirl around HAHA

As I'm always behind the camera, the few times I'm in front are very awkward and I spend them going "WHATDOIDOIDON'TKNOWWHATI'MDOINGARGHHHH"

Inspired by this super lovely and creative tutorial by Eat Your Teacup, I bought a clear umbrella from Daiso for $3.80 a few weeks back along with a pink and green paint markers. I simply doodle some weird looking flowers and leaves on the inside, attempting to cluster them towards the edges, and bam! Cute umbrella complete :)

I really want to go get another one so I can do a new design, but common sense is screaming in my ears that I don't need fifty umbrellas.

This was an attempt to get a cool reflection photo... f.t. my annoying hair.

Is it just me or would this photo perhaps fit within a sci-fi film? Maybe? *crosses fingers*

I was pleasantly surprised with this photo, seeing as I had no idea what Aolei was doing.

Thanks Aolei, for being the only person who is willing to let me boss them around and for doing crazy stuff in public for the sake of photos xD

We got these rings on the same day, with the fox being mine and the heart infinity hers. I've never really owned a ring before so that's something new. Funny story- she lost the ring on the same day (but someone found it for her so it was all good).

Don't read the next paragraph if you get grossed out easily :P

Bye the way, before you ask, my nails weren't fake xD My friends thought it was extremely gross, but I was trying to see how long my nails could grow without breaking, and I made it to a good half a centimetre before I had to cut them for work ._. 

She reminds me of a happy bear in this photo and I'm not sure why.

I saw the sign to this place called Anita while we were wandering around, and I recognised it from the wonderful aesthetic world of Instagram, so of course I had to go in ;D

It has gelato! I got Hersheys and Cheesecake as flavours, and Aolei got Kiwi Banana and Watermelon Mint.

Turns out the bottom left is a frozen yogurt booth, where they only have the plain flavour of it, but you get UNLIMITED toppings. I should try that next time.

Anywho, sorry this post was a day late! :(

Lately I've been feeling pretty bored and underwhelmed with life. Hopefully I'll get out of this funk and start being productive in preparation for CHRISTMAS BLOG POSTS :D

Question for y'all: what's your favourite ice cream flavour? :)

I love me some strawberry or cookies and cream <3

Stay fabulous!

Lena xx

Beijing , China (ii) - how to travel to school in style

Hello there! :)

This is the second post leading off from my first one and I'm just sharing with you some more photos from a stay in Beijing, China, from December/January 2014/15. (yes I'm very very slow at posting these heh)

In Sydney, bodies of water never freeze... unless it's an ice rink. But that's not exactly natural. So seeing a frozen lake is prETTY COOL FOR ME :D

Cute little trinkets <3

Look at that teeny weeny tower in the distance naww how cute

The amount of effort people put into painting buildings back in the day is just... I'd give up after one stroke xD

I get motion sickness on boats a bit :(

So this thing is basically a liquidy yogurt in a jar AND IT'S SO GOOD I think I had about 10x more servings of dairy that week than what is good for you :P The only annoying things about them are a) you have to drink it on the spot and give back the jar so they can reuse it (recycling is good people) and b) they're pretty much freezing cold in winter...

Again... EFFORT *O*

MIGHT OF MENTIONED THIS IN MY PREVIOUS POST, BUT SILHOUETTES ARE <3

Kind of random finding a hot dog in the middle of a tourist destination of China, the land of delicious Asian food. But hey, something about me is that I REALLY love tomato sauce, so always gotta load a lot of that sugary fat stuff on top of, well, everything :')

Firstly, this is what is equivelant to fast food in China, which is pretty funny. Yes, they still have Maccas and all those food chains though. Secondly, another thing about me that most people find weird (including my friends) is that I LOVE eel! And only this kind... sooooo good :'D It's also called unagi in Japanese and is THE BEST on sushi :P

Random little market place, which are pretty common. This is where all the fake stuff is sold xD

THIS THING IS SO YUMMY! It's hawthorn (a fruit) on a kebab stick and they kind of taste like mini apples to me heh. There's another type that's strawberries with the same type of hardened sugar around it and it's even better eeeeee <3

This was the cutest bakery I had ever been it, but I was too terrified to take photos in it. Seriously, the amount of times I've been told by a shop keeper to stop taking photos is embarrassingly too many T^T So generally, I avoid it... but always try to sneak in a shot when no one's looking if the shop is especially pretty. Which is pretty hard to do, seeing as my camera is kind of big and chunky whoops

When the graffiti on streets is kawaii :O

Admittedly, every time I look at this photo I burst out laughing. Because this, right here, is how you go to school in STYLE :P

Yet another random fact about me: I used to love bike riding but I cannot do it for my life any more :(

Yummy cookies and cream cake :D

As a sucker for souvenirs and weird looking things, I found this funky little coin pouch and had to get it because it's so funny looking eheheheeh xD

One of the contesters for the most intricately ornate instruments ever.

Koi fish are my favourite fish, they're so cute hehe :D But apparently they can bite your finger off O_O

Again, the yogurt <3

Bubble milk tea :D and yes, that is a Pusheen notebook in the background. And no, I don't think it's legit.

Question of the blog post! What countries have you been to? :D I've been to 5, two of which for a very short amount of time xD

Stay fabulous y'all :D

Lena xx