Thursday 31 July 2014

Australia 2014 #3: Smocking Florals

floral smock dress target | grey long sleeve cropped top american apparel (link) | chelsea boots topshop (link) | watch casio via asos | nails sinful colors mint apple 

Australia has one shop which is honestly e v e r y t h i n g. It is everything. And it has everything. Target. The place is well and truly spot on. (Sorry, I had to...) Target is simply the home of everything and anything you could ever possibly need, with the minor exception of food. So all of the non-nutritional essentials. And that covers a lot - right?! It has set me up with a few new fab purchases as of late, including this seriously floral smock dress which was one of those risky ones when there's no tag and you bring it to the checkout anyway, praying that its price isn't too unreasonable and then discover to your delight that it's far cheaper than expected. Fourteen dollars this cost me. Fourteen Australian Dollars. That's £7.71 in Great British Pounds. Not too bad, eh? This brilliant discovery was utterly smocking (I'll stop now...) and has left me far more...colourful than usual. Target has had a positive influence on me. And hasn't had a negative one on my wallet. 

I'm about to go off with my family to see the AFL match at Patersons Stadium in Subi to see the Fremantle Dockers play against Melbourne-based club Carlton. We're all going to be smothered in a tonne of purple and feeling a hella lot of Western Australian pride. My mum was born in Fremantle so the place already has a spot in my heart. I've never been to a sports match live before, let alone watching a sport that isn't even broadcasted where I'm from. Nonetheless I'm seriously excited...go Dockers! 

How is summer/winter where you are?

Thalia
xxx
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Monday 28 July 2014

Australia 2014 #2: Siena's of Leederville

I mentioned in my previous post that when lunching in Leederville we chose to go to Siena’s of Leederville, an Italian restaurant with their own full-on established legit pizza oven. The words ‘pizza’ and ‘oven’ placed together makes me so happy. It’s not just ‘pizza’ cooked in an ‘oven’ They’re together. It’s real.
115 Oxford St, Leederville WA 6007
Scaloppine Marsala - panfried veal in a sweet marsala wine and cream sauce with salad and potatoes

Special: Mixed Grill

Pizza Dolce - leg halm and pineapple
Pizza Jojo - Italian sausage and leg ham
Cannelloni - spinach and ricotta filled tubular pasta served with salad
It was seriously wonderful to be able to catch up with my Grandparents - as we live on opposite sides of the world, spending time with eachother is a complete rarity and at this point I hadn't seen them in over five years. As they say though, distance (and food) makes the heart grow fonder, so Siena's ensured we got to catch up whilst accompanied by some hella good dishes. 

Overall I'd definitely recommend the place for a visit if you're ever in Perth - it's really close to central and is a two-minute walk from Leederville station. From there it's only one stop on Transperth to reach Perth Underground, the central shopping location. You can take a peek at the food menu here and in the time being, stare at the photos of the pizza in awe.

Thalia
xxx
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Saturday 26 July 2014

Australia 2014 #1: Leederville chillin'

So we made it to Perth unscathed. Well, pretty much. Sleep deprivation was a given. My brother well and truly “slept for England” despite being the lucky one with his numerous hours of sleep in the skies. A shower, nap and patience were what it took to overcome the jet lag, so nothing too strenuous. I’m getting used to the whole adding-in-sevens lifestyle, seeing as I am incapable of changing the time on my watch (and it has been that way for the past two years) so for now the time on my beloved Casio remains firmly in the BST time zone.

Meeting up with my Grandad and Nanna was a firm thing on our to do list upon reaching Perth, and seeing as they live in the Eastern suburbs, and we’re staying in the Northern suburbs, Leederville seemed like the perfect place to meet up. We lunched at Siena’s of Leederville, a fabulous Italian restaurant – but enough of that for now, I’ll be posting about the place seriously soon. Afterwards, my Mum, brother and I ventured around the area, popping into Urban Outfitters-style shops filled with records, cute maps, funny cards with beautiful typography, postcards and discounted labels such as Finders Keepers and Three Of Something.
something that reminded me of home.
the view of Perth city from the bridge to Leederville station.
So that’s all from Leederville: I really do hope we return here before leaving the city. Hopping into the city centre via the Transperth trains was a simple feat: 80 cents (40p) got me one stop along to the shopping heart of Perth city. The incredibly low price of the train really got me thinking – even using my 16+ Oyster card, which has a student rate, getting the train three stops to sixth form on a daily basis costs around £2.50. Let’s just take a moment to put that into perspective, please. It’s seriously hard to dislike the train system in this city when they’re that cheap, and are beautifully organised. (Note: the photo underneath sets my heart on fire. Nothing makes me smile like super organised and colour co-ordinated leaflets. It’s slightly worrying.)
Thalia
xxx
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Monday 21 July 2014

a day at the Warner Bros Studios

location: Warner Bros Studios, Watford, Hertfordshire

So these photos are from a school visit to the Harry Potter Studios a couple of weeks ago. Long story short: go. It doesn't matter if you're the biggest of all fanatics (because, if that's the case, you've probably already visited) or not the hugest of fans - I think anyone and everyone would enjoy a day out there. The part I loved the most was definitely relating the props to the movie it came from and remembering small details within the film, especially those that I previously did not consider to be overly important.The attention to detail by the crew who helped design and produce the props is honestly rather astonishing: every single wand box had been individually engraved – and there were thousands of ‘em. 

So the studios have a massive thumbs up from me, and a definite recommendation to anyone visiting London or the wider region of Southern England.

I’m off to Australia this evening so I’m unsure when I’ll next have legit and established internet connection, so until then...be well. Hopefully I’ll manage to share something during my nine hour layover at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, and if not, I’ll speak to you from Aus!

Thalia
xxx
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Wednesday 16 July 2014

ever-green

My initial thoughts in regards to the fact that I'm travelling soon are overwhelmingly positive. Family, airports and Tim Tams (three things very close to my heart) all within a few weeks have me jumping for joy. Secondary thoughts express more concern than happiness though. How many nail polishes am I going to need? How on Earth am I going to pack for two seasons in one suitcase? Do I need six different navy tops? (answer: probably not...) All vital life questions, I know. But the thing that fills me with the most fear is the dreaded 100ml liquid restriction on planes. You obviously want to feel fresh whilst up in the air, although that's a given, really. Toiletries for me aren't just helpful in terms of cleanliness but in reassurance too: I want to know that if xyz etc goes down whilst I'm on that plane, I can hop off feeling (yet probably not looking) vibrant and completely unphased. I always hope that upon leaving the plane I don't smell like airplane food either, but as for my success rate reports on that you'll have to contact my family...

Anyway - back to the toiletries. Upon realising that my impending trip is nearing at a surprisingly quick rate, I rushed around my room and searched for minis that I've managed to accumulate over the past year or so. It's shocking how much you can find in terms of samples if you collect them in a neat place all together. The cleanser I won from a blog competition and the face wipes were handed to me by a lovely lady from the Simple team when they were having some advertising/showcase shindig slap bang in the middle of Waterloo station. The other bits, the moisturisers and the deodorant, only took a trip to Asda until they were mine. And what did I notice upon returning home? I'm undoubtedly going for the green vibes at the moment. It may be school house spirit, seeing as I've just had my very last Sports Day and have proudly donned various green accessories during my time at my current school. Alternatively, the other conclusion I've reached is Will Young's classic Evergreen has prompted me to buy this. The lyrics. Much power. Such genius. Very wow. I remember him being on my TV back on Pop Idol in 2001 (I was four at the time) and Evergreen was his hit and it was all very big and whatnot. So this blog title is for him. You, somehow, sparked my obsession for green toiletries. Thank you, Will.

I'm gonna take this moment, and make it last forever...
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Friday 11 July 2014

jersey, velvet and a bit of a catch up

location: Hyde Park, London

purple top dorothy perkins | purple velvet blazer primark | black Joni high waisted jeans topshop (link) | cut out buckle shoes h&m | watch casio via asos (link) | bag dorothy perkins | nails: beauty uk unnamed

So it has been five weeks. Five weeks since I wrote on here, five weeks since I declared my love for England (which I was being serious about by the way, I do love my home country a hella lot). I'm trying not to sound overly cliché when I say this but I feel as if recently, time has seriously been flying by - six months ago, I was counting down the days until I leave for Australia and now it's only ten days away. Not that I'm complaining, of course. I'm so damn excited to go back to my second home and see my family, a majority of whom I have not seen in five years. 

So what has happened in the past five weeks? I visited Harry Potter Studios which were incredible - the post on that is due on here soon. I've never been an absolute fanatic but I loved relating the props to the movies and taking a fair few photos. Taster days at local universities have also been on the cards and my verdict on those are as follows...

Goldsmiths: Great content, but the lecturer was sadly ninety minutes late. However, once she arrived she was really impressive - she seriously knew her stuff. I was  as awkward, shy and quiet as ever, which I'm blaming partly on how it was my first one and the sheer number of new people was a lil' overwhelming. The location is a weird one: despite being in South London (the side of London I live on), the commute was still an hour or so because New Cross is in an awkward area and there were multiple trains and confusing things going on around me. Note to self: wear a woolly cardigan on the London Overground next time because it must have been around 3 degrees in there. Seriously cold.  I'll apply but not prioritise it, if you know what I mean. 3rd or 4th on the list, yet still firmly on there.

City University London: WOW DAMN GOSH DAMN WOW. The facilities were incredible. So modern and up-to-speed. They knew their stuff. They are the place in England to study journalism though. And the location, Islington, was really simple to get to, even if it does require using the dreaded Northern line. Practical and hands on yet still academic at the same time (and the best balance between those two elements out of anywhere I've seen). The people were lovely too. Coincidence, I know. But they were great. Made a few friends ('woah', I imagine you thinking) so here's a lil' shoutout to Rachel, Rachel and Phoebe because you girls were fab. And a number of the boys there were cute too. Always a positive.The place really made me want to get 360 UCAS points (sidenote: an almost impossible feat) and confirmed it for me - I really want to study for a BA in Journalism.

London School of Economics: For the past year I've been umming and ahhing with the concept of Human Geography being a backup if I decided to not study journalism. I applied a few months ago (like I had to for City) and fortunately got a spot on the course and felt all fancy and clever for a bit. I rocked up trying my hardest to come across as a somewhat intellectual human being, taking in how incredible the lecture theatre and new student's union is and (shockingly) happily talking to other people....feeling confident for once. Out of all of the three tasters I went on, the people here were the nicest. Coincidence again, I know. I think it is because this one (and City, I should add) were very interactive whereas Goldsmiths was very sitty downy, learny and teachy. The people I met there were seriously lovely, and some of them quite attractive too. I didn't mind that at all, of course. The content itself was great, because it struck a great balance between being a tour of the place and having actual legit and interesting lectures. However, I won't apply there because a) it was in Geography, which I know I don't want to study since seeing the incredibleness that is Journalism at City and b) they said realistically, there is no point in applying if your predicted grades are not AAA. And in all fairness, mine are far closer to ABB/BBB than that (and quite frankly, I'm still satisfied with that). 

So what else has happened? I managed to catch up with my lovely friend Rhea who I used to go to school with back in Delhi. She visited London last year and since then we really put in effort to stay in contact, and I'm so glad we did. I helped her shop (a useful, transferable skill, in my humble opinion) through my trusty Arcadia staff card and she generously treated me to food and an AA top. the AA top will be basically plastered on me for the rest of time for a number of reasons: it's grey, a colour my wardrobe doesn't quite have enough of (who am I kidding...); has long sleeves which will be great in the perpetual British winters and most importantly, reminds me of a lovely day with a lovely friend of mine. We went to Westfields Stratford, which is probably my favourite place to shop in the UK, so I have nothing against travelling to the complete opposite side of the city to reach it. Even if the London emergency train changes mean that Mum has to drive me to our local underground station and leave me jogging running to catch the tube. Whilst there we bumped into Charlotte, a youtuber/blogger extraordinaire who happened to serve me in one of the shops. I pointed out that I loved her blog and later discovered that we both follow each other on Twitter. It's a small, digital world, eh?

Other than that I have been dragging myself through the last few weeks at sixth form which fortunately finishes next Friday - four and a half more school days, not that I'm counting or anything. I'm off to Aus on the 21st so packing is definitely happening right now and plans whilst in WA are being noted in my diary as I type. On my checklist is to return to Wanneroo Botanical Gardens because their mini golf is Queen and I've been there in my past two Aus visits, in '05 and '09. Additionally I'm hoping to see an AFL match, have a huge barbecue with my family and family friends and get lost in a maze of Tim Tams, Nutri Grain and Milo in Coles. I hit my savings target last week, equivalent to three months worth of work so for once I am financially on fiiiiiiiire and ready to hit Aus (note: Target) hard. After Aus I'm off to Thailand for ten days and will be trying my very hardest to document all of the good stuff throughout the month and elegantly shove it on 'ere. #AUSTHAILIA2014, I'm coming for ya. 

Do let me know what you've been up to these past few weeks and if you managed to read to the bottom of this post essay, thank you. You did good. I like you.

Thalia
xxx

P.S - It has come to my attention that I have said nothing at all about the outfit, which considering fashion/style is a primary focus of this blog I feel I should do a bit more of this. The blazer is a classic Primark sale find that cost all of a fiver...this shocks people every time I mention this fact. The jeans are black Joni's from Topshop which are comfy and sucky-inny but are definitely fading already, which is a bit of a shame. The top is one of the best items of clothing I found in India, simply because over there (circa 2009) they catered for children, up to say the ages of seven or eight, and adults. Needless to say this didn't help when I was twelve/thirteen and trying to shop. The colour is really unusual yet slides into my wardrobe colour palette effortlessly. That was a rather swish sentence but I'm sure you know what I mean. I love a good bit o' purple in my life. Refer to an old post here to understand what I mean. The cut out shoes from H&M look gorgeous but aren't great for walking in for long periods of time because they get a bit tight and uncomfortable but nonetheless they look rather cool. The quote "sacrifices for fashion" conveniently springs to mind. 

P.P.S - I realise the mashup 'Austhailia' sucks and looks a bit too much like my name to use on the regular. I plan on working on that.

P.P.P.S - You may or may not have realised but I fancied a bit of a change so swapped the sidebar to the left. 'To the left, to the left, everything you own in a box to the left....'

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