So one of the perks of being a full fledged fashion blogging intern is being able to comb the internet and drool over the designers and clothing that I one day hope to watch walking down the runway from my seat in the front row.

Anyways, I stumbled upon this little gem while researching today and fell in love. I don't know what it is, but it just speaks to me, so I felt the need to share:

"A woman's perfume tells more about her than her handwriting" -Christian Dior

We all know how much smells are apart of my life, you know with my super keen sense of smell and everything, so I couldn't help but completely 100% agree with this quote! You can tell so much about a person from their chosen scent.

Okay random time over, back to work.

smell ya later.

MAJOR updates

Well I'm sorry that I've been majorly dropping the ball with this account of my Australian life, I've been writing for my internship (2threads.com) and needless to say at the end of the day, I'm a little blogged out. But hello the past 2 weekends have been amazing, and I'm procrastinating so here is a breakdown. :)

2 weekends ago included my first ever wine tasting trip (I am in love, minus the dessert wine which made me want to gag a little bit). We got up at 7am--yikes after going out the night before--and got on our private bus off to the Hunter Valley. Let me tell you we could not have had a more beautiful day to go, it was sunny, green ah I die, beautiful. We hit 3 wineries, one organic one which was really cool, one where the guy was not happy with how giggly we were at the sexually innuendoes flowing out of his mouth (I have found other who share my 7th grade boy humor and I love it), and one where we made friends with the lady (she wants us to Facebook her) and sat outside sipping on wines with fun names like Cricket Pitch (all named after what the land was used for pre-grape growing, one was called cemetery or graveyard eww). But i left with a little bit of a headache--because as a college student being legally served I was most certainly not going to spit out the wine after gargling it, 2 bottles of delish wine and a little bit of sun. Mom, I am really turning into you, we have another wino in the fam. :)

After the wine tasting we went to another rugby game (hold the shock and awe tickets were free) at Olympic Park--HOLY beeegeezus that was the coolest place ever. I obviously pulled the tourist card and photographed anything and everything that could be of potential significance. I also reaffirmed my love for my new favorite food--the spinach and cheese Turkish "goz-leh-may" (we all know I cannot spell so that's the closest we're going to get). But seriously Google it, its so flipping good--someone learn how to make it on demand for when I get home and I will actually love you forever.

This weekend was another fabulous touristy weekend. Saturday was a trip to the zoo--MOST BEAUTIFUL ZOO I'VE EVER BEEN TO. It again was a beautiful day, and we got to take a ferry to the zoo, which we at first thought was ehh, but hello it turned into a 30 minute cruise around the harbor complete with a manly sounding woman acting as a tour guide over the loud speaker. After almost falling off the little "crew only" box I was standing on to take photos several times, we landed at the zoo. Then the day got better again with the free gondola ride up the super steep hill that gave us beautiful views of the Opera House, Harbor Bridge, city skyline and an aerial view into the elephant and monkey cages. Ah it was amazing. So we hauled ass around the zoo, finishing it in 3 hours (we didn't see the lions but over it you can see those in America). We saw kangaroos, elephants, koalas, tasmanian devil, monkeys (they even picked each other's butts for us, such a treat), giraffes (my favorite) and seals. BAH it was so cool. So needless to say we were exhausted after a day full of children's paradise animal world.

Sunday brought another fabulous tourist adventure with a 6 kilometer walk from Coogee to Bondi. Let me tell you, when you Google the walk it's called Bondi to Coogee for a reason (out entire walk was uphill, so you know that was so fun). But whatever, it was a great workout and a beyond beautiful view of 8-9 different beaches. Again, beautiful day, rocked my deeg Anchor Slash tank, holler. When we finally made it to our end point, we hunted down a market and poked around a little bit. I found this awesome low back summer dress perfect for my trip to Cairns in 2 weekends! Don't worry, it was on sale. :)

Okay well you're caught up on the exciting parts of the past few weeks. Weekdays are pretty much the same routine over and over, blog, gym, shower, dinner, movie, class. Sitting in class right now, my professor is this hilarious British man who says wildly inappropriate things on the reg (enter Professor Katz's twin). So back to pretending like I'm following his rambling. Counting down the moments to our break with my apple berry mineral water (apparently the equivalent to sparkling water).

love and kangas

a little bit of catch up

Hello all, so sorry I haven't written in awhile, but it's been very busy down here. So let me give you a little bit of a catch up on my life.

Friday: The best day in Sydney yet because I finally became employed! I am now the new intern writer for a fabulous website--2threads.com I will be writing around 20 posts a week so you can all read up on new Aussie fashion trends and finds I've discovered in my daily adventures to different markets and stores aka dream job hello, so more to come on that as I start writing tomorrow morning. After the interview we decided to go out to a swanky bar in the Central Business District, which was swarming with older businessmen (we found this out afterwards and slightly regretted going all the way there to just be packed in rubbing elbows with slightly creepy men, but we made the best of the super modern multi-story bar/club).

Saturday: Cue the rain ruining our entire weekend. We were planning on taking a girls trip to Manly Beach on the ferry and everything but of course, but the time we got to the ferry the clouds of doom discouraged our ticket purchase and lead to us eating in the single best food court I've ever seen in my entire life. This place was surrounded by Chanel and Gucci, crowded and resembled the food version of Epcot. I was bombarded with different choices, everything from dumplings to fresh fish, pasta to sandwiches, lebanese to mexican, all served on beautiful white ceramic plates--this place was AMAZING. So after my tortellini with pesto and mushrooms, side of exotic fruit salad (every fruit salad I've eaten here is the best freshest thing in America, or Australia nowadays) and then a dessert of hazelnut chocolate gelato, so in otehr words it was a super delicious lunch all found in a food court holler. After what seemed like the longest but greatest nap ever, it was time to roll out of bed and brave the rain for our vip front row seats to the Warataus rugby game. Now, let's just say that I am officially in love with professional rugby players and have never in my life felt smaller. These men were enormous! After the game (and by game I mean second half because we left late and got lost so we only made it for halftime and beyond which was enough for me considering it was pouring rain half the time) we ventured to the stadium bar for some cider (new favorite drink, as cheap as beer but fruity and girly enough for me to drink, especially the pear kind, one word-yumtown) and sing-a-longs with the one man band who conveniently played all popular American songs. As soon as he played Sweet Caroline we were out and ready to meet up with some members of the team (that's right thanks to one of the girls who works as a trainer we got to be high rollers for the night and chase some jerseys, too bad they all ended up being 27-30 with girlfriends/wives). Oh well, after some socializing and lots of walking in the monsoon it was time to go home, and I have never fallen asleep so fast in my entire life.

Sunday: Cue sports game #2--look at me go. We were attending an Aussie Rules Football game with a bunch of people from the program to cheer on the Sydney Swans. Again my bff pouring rain decided to join in the fun. Luckily we had giant umbrellas and cuddled under them to hide from the sheets of rain while we watched the 90 minutes of non-stop football/soccer/basketball action (still don't totally understand it but hey it was great). So needless to say after a long day of walking uphill and sitting in the rain a movie night was the best plan. We crashed our RA's room (he has a very large tv so it was perfection) and after attempting to do some pull ups we made popcorn and watched Due Date--if you haven't seen it, watch it so freaking funny.

Monday: Here we are today, Happy Birthday to the Queeny (thanks for the day off mum!) And yet again the damn rain ruined our plans. Instead of tripping to the zoo, walking Bondi to Coogee or going to Manly we finally left the rooms and ventured to Paddy's Market (my 3rd time since being here and I am actually addicted to the crowded mass of stalls and heaven). And after a new sweater, blouse and some fabulous souvenirs (stay tuned all you lucky ducks at home there is some good stuff coming home) the night ended with some sushi and spicy chicken, which wasn't amazing so I just ate the rice and sauce but holler it was good.

Okay tomorrow starts my fabulous Carrie Bradshaw-esque lifestyle of writing daily, sans sexual stories.

Love and frozen grapes and another movie night

Well as I sit at a small café right down the road from my apartment, I’m realizing that Sydney isn’t really that different from America. Sure there are the key differences, like high schools go to bars after school, its freezing in June, it costs $21 to do laundry, and the fact that its perfectly acceptable to order your own pitcher of sangria at 2pm (I may or may not have done that today, but only because it was way cheaper than a glass—hello bargain shopper right here, I also may have been secretly hoping someone would sit down and share it with me, you know my future Aussie husband, casual, but no dice). Anyways, today was yet another day basking in the glory that is unemployment in Sydney, I really just wish is was like 15 degrees warmer because then my butt would be planted on the beach, but of course no it’s winter and I’m sitting outside like an idiot (too embarrassed to haul my laptop and pitcher inside to warmer territories so I’m just bearing the 50 degree winds, which in Australia feel very cold even though I’m prepared in jeans and my new vintage leather jacket). So after a morning of frustrating laundry encounters (let me tell you I wasted $3 in the dryer thinking it was the washer—it should really be labeled—then I came down to switch the loads and one never actually started washing, which of course I figured out after realizing all my clothing was still very dry and full of pink lint from my Barbie bed), I decided to reward myself with an afternoon of people watching and sangria while working on Buzz business. (Of course right as I say people watching a super cute boy, who in Aussie is probs 17 but looks 25, walks by obviously having had a little to drink, goes to talk to my borderline hipster looking self (I know right weird, bought some fake glass, wearing black, hair is in a bun, but I ruin it with bright pink lipstick—a girl needs some color) but then is escorted by and diverted away from me by his very large lady friend. Oh well.

Well I am going to just continue to sit and let my fingers freeze off while I people watch and second hand smoke from the table next to me (best day ever!).

Until next time, which may be later depending on how bored I get in class...

and the follow up is closer than I thought, my wonderful day just ended in food poisoning pre-class AWESOME! major wompsicles

love and sangria

Surf Camp

Well let me first apologize for not responding to anyone's bbms/emails/facebook things all weekend I was in the middle of nowhere totally immersed in surfing life and I LOVED IT. Ah I am frothing (new Aussie surfing term obvs) from this weekend of surfing and chilling with Aussie's finest waves and bros. It was one of the best and most painful weekends of my entire life, but the squeaky bunk beds, my raspy voice and inability to walk or move my arms (or any other part of my body ) was totally worth it!

The weekend started on Friday, we left on a huge bus for the 2 hour adventure to 7 Mile Beach (which according to Surf Camp Australia is the best learn to surf beach holler). We got off the bus and as I lugged my obviously overpacked Vera Bradley duffle through a dark little trailer park, I couldn't help but to hope I was not actually staying in the typical scene from a bad horror movie. But no worries we stayed in these cute little cabins (and by little I mean tiny and by cute I mean janky cabins with creaky bunk beds, dirty looking sheets and a single space heater, apparently a surfer's paradise so I went with it.)

7am rolled around way faster than I remembered it did back in my WJ days, but I was up and eating corn flakes by 7:15 and in a damp super flattering wetsuit or "wettie" by 8am. Little did I know that surfing in the winter in Australia is actually cold (I know I know, winter is the key word in that but I had a happy misconception that Aussie cold is still Ohio warm, but was I so so wrong). After a long morning (2 hours feel like forever when you're surfing) of getting up and falling off my board we went back to the camp for lunch. Never in my life have I been so hungry for whatever they were willing to feed me. But after inhaling a bun, some biscuits and wrapping myself in my questionably bed bug infested blanket and sitting by the large heating unit they had outside I did not want to get back in my soggy wettie for round 2, but I did it anyways. That round was not as successful as the first, after carrying my long foam board that actually weighed a million pounds and was so thick that my stubby arms barely reached around it so I just struggle bussed it down the beach, my arms were not down for the push up part of the surfing process. Despite the coaches yelling "find your nipples!" (the oh so classy way of describing how to properly place your hands on your board before pushing up) my hands were finding more of the sand than anything else.

Day 1 ended on an exhausting but fin note at the little pub/fishermen's club/country club that was located a convenient 10 minute up hill walk away from the camp. We danced the night away, looking so obviously American it was amazing and apparently super entertaining for the locals that just watched us bop around like idiots to 80's classics, Cotten Eyed Joe and Soulja Boy (oh the mix of songs).

Day 2 and the final surf lesson started out rough, the wettie felt like an ice cube, I could barely move because we all now how in shape I am so obviously the day of physical activity was biting me in the butt, and walking on the sand was like walking in snow, holy hell it was cold. But at least I got a smaller and lighter board for the day (even if that meant more of me eating shit in the ocean, I was happy to carry the easier board). But to my surprise the smaller board's challenge turned out to be the most fun day of surfing ever. Even though I was only surfing on super tiny broken waves (hello they actually looked huge to me), I still got up and mastered somewhat the basics of surfing and improved tons!

The weekend ended at this lovely little bar called Scubar (I've mastered saying it with an Aussie ah at the end). We hungout with one of the instructors and his surfer bros aka my new husband goal. I will marry a surfer because I love all of them.

The weekend was amazing, this post doesn't do it justice but I have to go to class so I have to cut it short. More to come soon, if you're lucky I'll show you the videos they took of me in the super hot wetsuit surfing/falling.

More shopping

Well I officially have to much free time here in Sydney since I'm not interning yet and class is only Monday and Thursday night so that obviously means shopping. Today, after the 2 hour work out at my new gym (pause and admire that sentence for a second--I'm turning over a new leaf here, mainly because Aussies are not only not obese they are perfect size 0 so I need to try a little harder to fit in) I ventured out to one of the little markets. BAH it was a flea market fiesta in there, too bad they kept yelling at me for taking pictures (whoops! did it anyways). But I found some great deals on little souvenirs for all my loved ones at home (aka most likely if you take the time to read this, you're probably on my list to get a flea market party favor woohoo!). And of course I couldn't just buy things for others, I walked away with some new rings (girl always needs some big obnoxious rings) and sadly no new additions to my slacking gypsy bracelet collection (it will grow back to where it was, slowly but surely, until the my naked wrists will just have to deal).

But there were some of the strangest little gifts scattered among all the good stuff, like a real kangaroo paw (I think it was supposed to be used to a back scratcher but the one finger sticking up would have made a handy letter opener too), and a genuine kangaroo ball sack bottle opener (let's see what lucky reader at home will get that bad boy wrapped in a bow). BIZARRE.

Anyways here are some of the photos I snapped before having several shop owners yell at me--hello don't they know who I am, free American publicity (even if it is only to a 4 person audience).

THE BLOG WON'T LET ME UPLOAD RIGHT NOW SO JUST HOLD ON 10 SECONDS AND I'LL KEEP TRYING. (not that it really matters--you people are all sleeping right now anyways)

love and cheers