Tuesday 30 August 2011

Blu Ray Tuesday #1

I think Tuesdays are going to be movie review day, I'll let you in on what we watched, so you can feel like you are part of the gang in the coolest house :) We are like 'Friends', except there are three people living together and our other counterparts live so far away instead of across the hall.

The movie:

The menu: various McDonald's meals... plus McFlurries (my stomach is aching in protest... too much fat in one meal!)

I've spoken previously about boy roomie's inability to pick a decent movie and his subsequent ban from being allowed to pick movies by himself. I now join this illustrious group. All of us go to the movies quite a bit and all like different genres so it's hard to pick one that we all haven't seen and would like to. I tried to think outside the box... and failed.

The basic plot was this down and out guy randomly starts talking to another guy (Cuba Gooding Jr) in a bar. Cuba reveals that he's a hitman and Other Guy is all like "haha, whatever". Cuba offers to prove it to him and so Other Guy writes a hit list for Cuba to follow- as a joke. As the people on the list start to die, Other Guy realises that Cuba is actually a hitman and must stop him before he kills #1 on the hit list, Other Guy's wife. The police led by the Most Ineffective Detective Ever start to think that it's Other Guy going round killing everyone.

Girl roomie and I made up a WAY better storyline where Cuba is actually the crazy alter-ego of Other Guy. It was quite plausible until half way through the movie when people started interacting with Cuba.

It wasn't the worst movie but unfortunately it wasn't 'so bad, it's good' which is what I thought it would be.

Recommend? No.


Monday 29 August 2011

Another Post About School!

I'm sorry, I know I must sound like a broken record when I talk about school! Especially when most of my recent blog posts have been about it. But at the moment, this is pretty much all that is happening to me. I go to school, come home, do my assignments. Thank goodness tomorrow is Blu Ray Tuesday and I can have a night off. Which means that in order to have my night off, I'm going to push through the sleepy barrier and hopefully finish my gigantic assignment tonight.




(And yes, I do realise that I am wasting precious assignment time by being on blogger! But man, I need a break from writing about vaccinations and behavioural enrichment!!)


I decided that Monday might be my 'hair post' day. Today I went with something sort of new, two loose fishtail braids.






















Sunday 28 August 2011

Project 52: twelve

Yesterday I did an exciting and adventurous thing. I went on an expedition and met a friend from the internet! Danielle was one of the first people I met back in the day on Livejournal. I'm not quite sure how exactly we met but we both loved Jesus, Doctor Who and reading and it all sort of snowballed from there.

I've never met someone from the scary world of the internet before but you know what? It ended up being totally fine. I had a false alarm when I first walked into the shopping centre and a middle-aged brunette lady waved at me. I was like "um... wow, she looks really different in real life" and then I discovered that the lady was waving to someone behind me.

The only strange thing for me was technically I was meeting a person for the first time but I already knew them. So we kinda bypassed all the normal things that you'd talk about when meeting someone for the first time. It was kind of like it *should* have been the start of a friendship, but we were actually already in the middle of a friendship instead.

We discovered that we were both banned as children from watching a lot of TV so it's nice to know I'm not the only person in the world excluded from childhood TV nostalgia related conversations. We also both agree that men look better with a 1940s sidepart in their hair. The only downside to our friendship is that Danielle is not as keen on popcorn as me but we decided that we could look beyond that. Well, actually Danielle decided that we could look beyond that. I'm not so sure but I guess it means I don't have to share TOO much of my popcorn so I guess it's ok :)

The only bad thing was that I kept forgetting words because I was all excited and nervous but luckily Danielle is super articulate and knew which words I was forgetting and would supply me with them. A very good friend to have around! I look forward to our next meet up and am so happy that I have a new-ish friend in Brisbane!

Friday 26 August 2011

Insert Blog Title Here

My brain has left the building! I am frantically trying to finish this ginormous assignment on 'advice for specific animal care' (vaccinating a chicken, anyone??) and I have discovered if I work on one animal a night, I will be able to hand it in on time.

Unfortunately I procrastinate so it's taken me about four hours of half hearted writing what could have realistically taken me about an hour if I'd just sat down and written it all out. But I have read a million blogs and I'm all caught up. I have drunk an entire bottle of energy drink which I absolutely only ever do in emergencies (which this is) and so I am absolutely pumped full of caffeine. I am dancing in my chair to my Glee soundtrack and before that I had a little dance party in my bedroom to Usher's "Yeah". I don't think it's possible for me to listen to that song and *not* dance. And besides I have to burn off all that excess caffeine before I go to bed.

Work went really well this week (although I am doing a few hours tomorrow so who knows?!). My poor workmate Jess was sick, like really sick, so she's been away so we didn't get to have a crazy giggle fest like normal. BUT I was proud of my performance this week, I did good stuff. And with Jess being away, I had to do everything myself which was scary but I managed to get it all done. And I got to deal with my very first live chicken. We were examining its eye and I had to support her neck while she was in the oxygen mask under anaesthetic. Chickens' necks are so tiny and scrawny, I was petrified that I would accidentally wring its neck! The chicken is still alive so it's all good. I then had to help with its recovery from the anaesthetic, which was interesting. Like, I know that cats like to be tickled under the chin and dogs like to be scratched behind the ears but chickens..? I just stroked her back and hoped that that was a comforting way to wake up. I then had to hold her for an injection and she kept lifting her tail like she was going to shoot poop all over me, but she was a good girl and didn't do that! Good chicken! Maybe I am secretly a chicken whisperer??

And I have a super exciting Saturday planned. Bookstore visiting and movie watching with a new(ish) friend. Can't wait!

Wednesday 24 August 2011

A is for... Athena

Yeah, I'm getting all Greek mythology on yo ass! Athena is by far my most favouritest in the Greek pantheon of gods. She is heaps cool. Look at what she is the goddess of (according to wikipedia and verified by my memory)- wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, female arts, crafts, justice and skill.

I enjoy how her skills are all like epic fighting stuff... and then there's 'craft' stuck in the middle as if she was hoping we wouldn't notice :) She was also all about helping heroes to succeed and was always sneakily aiding heroes on quests.

And if that's not enough reason to love her, she's the patron goddess of one of my favourite cities in the world, Athens. It's horribly dirty and smelly and everyone else in the world seems to hate it but I adore it.

There's nothing like being in a city that is as alive as it was thousands of years ago. and where there is history on every street corner. I am also extremely biased because I have been obsessed with the Parthenon since forever so it was amazing to get to walk around the city and be able to look at it whenever I wanted.

This next picture is taken from Mars Hill, where Paul preached when he was hanging out in Athens back in Bible times (yep, I have an Ancient History degree and 'Bible times' is an actual historical era...). It looks out onto some of the places that have been preserved... and then the sprawling city takes over.

And there are hundreds of friendly stray dogs just roaming around for me to befriend. I spent a week there just buying bread from the sweet old men on the street corners, going to the park and sitting on the grass, eating my bread and hanging out with my new dog friends whilst reading a book. I loved this dog so much, I wish I could have taken him home as a souvenir!!! He just sat at my feet and every time I stopped rubbing his belly, he'd look so affronted :)

I loved Greece so much, can you guess what I'm going to do for the letter 'G'????

Tuesday 23 August 2011

I'm feeling a bit lost without my regular "Hair Posts". I don't really know what to say. I couldn't even come up with a suitable title for this post!!

I need a new strategy, and I know just the one. This is the one that I always suggest to my friends who are having trouble with coming up with blog posts. Start with the first letter of the alphabet and roll with it. So at least I have the next 26-ish blog posts sorted. Huzzah!!

I feel like I did so much today. I went to school- shocking, I know! Then in my lunch break I did my grocery shopping. I spent way more than I should because of stupid marketing. I have a rewards card with that supermarket and I know it's basically so that the supermarket can keep tabs on who buys what. All I get in return is a lousy 4 cents off petrol!! Anyway, today it was like my personal rewards card had come under scrutiny. Literally EVERYTHING I normally buy was on special, but it was the 'sneaky special' kind. Buy one, get the other one half price. Buy two, get one free. That kind of thing. And I fell for it!

I have a whole heap of new assignments dumped on me from yesterday. Yuck yuck yuck!! I don't think I'll be seeing the light of day for quite some time!! But I'm feeling positive about this. As boy roomie pointed out the other day (thanks to my fabulous wall calendar), only two and a bit months to go. I'm on the home straight!

Monday 22 August 2011

A little bit of this, a little bit of that!

Turns out when I missed school last Monday... the people that turned up for a half day were told to go home because the teacher was in a meeting and the other teacher was like "...yeah, I don't have anything to teach you". So, I didn't miss out on anything!

Which totally means that me playing hooky yet again on a Monday isn't so bad because it's like I only missed one day instead of two. Right??? Right?!?!?!?!

I was actually pretty productive today. I could almost pat myself on the back. We started a new class last week about radiography. All I know about it is 'x-rays' (and that's not even the right name for them!) and we got told we've got an assignment due in two weeks. Which is now next week. I finally had a look at it today and it's pretty easy. Just got to read a 104 PAGE GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT to get my answers. Oh dear! But it's nearly finished. Phew! Thank goodness I am a good skim reader :)

But I was much more productive yesterday when I made soup!! With dumplings!!! Yesterday I didn't even know what dumplings were but I made them nonetheless. I was so proud of myself, I am now a person who makes soup (that one time). It was an Irish Chicken Stew with Dumplings and the recipe can be found here further down the page. It was quite easy to tweak it and add stuff and take stuff out.
Also, a little callback to a blog post I did last week. Remember how I was obsessed with the Maroon 5 song 'Moves Like Jagger'? And I was hoping that if someone else got the song stuck in their head, it would get out of mine? Well, it worked... sort of. The person whose head the song got stuck in was my girl roomie!! She was walking around the house singing it ALL WEEKEND!! Haha, serves me right for making her watch the music video in the first place!

Saturday 20 August 2011

Ok, let's start again.

Right, well I had possibly the worst day yesterday at work! You know when you're already having a terrible day and then bad stuff happens?? That was me! I was having like the WORST midlife crisis and just feeling terrible about everything and thinking that I was the worst vet nurse in the world... and then my boss basically told me that I was the worst vet nurse in the world* (*not his actual words). To make matters worse, I started CRYING which is super embarrassing when you are nearly 26 and at work. And then I was embarrassed and angry that I was crying, which made me cry even more. And once the floodgates had opened, I couldn't stop crying. I had to run to the bathroom about three times that day and as soon as I even think about tears, I get all red and blotchy, so it was pretty obvious that I was miserable. Which makes for a great work atmosphere.

The situation definitely left me with a bad feeling in my stomach and I could still cry just thinking about it. It makes me not want to go back next week. But at least I don't have to work with Dwight K. Schrute. Although I wish I worked with Jim!



Although it did get better because once my boss left, the girls brought me cake :) And the vet that was on asked me to help out with a gross job because she knows I love gross things (yes, I'm weird, sorry!). She was like "If we're lucky, there will be pus". No pus :( but I did get blood dribbling down my arm. And then the dog shook its head (where the bleeding was coming from) and I felt all these droplets go on my face!! Eww!! When I went out of the room, I looked in the mirror and I had blood droplets all over my face which made me laugh.

AND, you know what?! It is the WEEKEND!!!!!!!! The sun is shining, it's a little chilly but that's good coz I get to wrap up which I love. My hair is in a messy plait which makes me feel bohemian and awesome. And right this very second, with no petic license at all, I got a text message from my friend from work hoping I was feeling better after yesterday. Isn't that nice?! And I am off to the movies this afternoon with my roomies and I will get a giant bucket of popcorn and because I went for a run this morning I won't beat myself up about it.

I read a post this morning which can be found here and it really rang true. I am going to try and choose to be happy.

Thursday 18 August 2011

My Most Recent Obsession

And it wasn't even my fault!

Last Thursday, my friend at work was complaining that she had that Maroon 5 song "Moves Like Jagger" stuck in her head. I was like "oh, yeah, I think I know the song". End of conversation. But then... the song got stuck in my head!

And then on Sunday, we started watching the TV show "The Voice", which has Adam Levine as a judge and I was reminded (again) with how attractive he was. Which made me listen to my old Maroon 5 albums. I'd forgotten how much I loved that band!

Which then lead me to remember that I hadn't actually seen the video for their new song "Moves Like Jagger". So then I watched it. And watched it. And watched it. When you see that the video has over five million hits, that's not five million different people- that's just how many times I personally have watched the video.

The song is so darn catchy and makes me happy and want to dance along every single time. Also Adam is shirtless for no apparent reason. I am not complaining.

So here for your enjoyment... I am passing along the obsession. I hope that if it gets stuck in someone else's head, then it will escape from my brain into their brain. The actual song starts around the one minute mark.

Wednesday 17 August 2011

101 in 1001 Part I

This is my list of 101 in 1001. Basically you have 1001 days to complete 101 things. I started it ooh... Friday, January 8, 2010 which means I finish on Tuesday, October 5, 2012. I started off with the best intentions for about six months and then life got in the way. It’s always been in the back of my mind so I thought I’d dust off the list and see how I’m doing with my life goals :)

1. Buy property - There is no way that this goal will happen in the time frame. I spent most of my savings on my nursing course and then the rest of my savings have gone towards 'living expenses’ because I made the decision that I would not work whilst I was studying.

2. Stay in an ice hotel and see the Northern Lights - Not going to happen at all. Well, it would be awesome but I don’t think I could afford a kickarse holiday any time soon.

3. Run a 10k race and don’t finish last – I totally 100% bailed on this commitment. I have stopped running almost completely but once the weather warms up and I get my mojo back, I intend to get back into it.

4. Write to ten people I don’t keep in touch with anymore [0/10] I half wrote to two people but again, it fizzled out which doesn’t count

5. Get a job working with animals – I had NO idea how this one was going to come true when I wrote this list. Funny how life works out :)

6. Get my computer fixed - It actually was unfixable but I got all my pictures and stories off the hard drive which is really all I wanted.

7. Take boxing classes- I have very limited money at the mo, but I would still love to do this some time.

8. Read the whole Bible - Still ploughing through, I'm just starting Job (I started with the NT before moving to the OT).

9. Take a Bible class - I’m still interested in this but right now I really don’t have the time.

10. Get two people to donate blood instead of me [1/2] - I would love to donate blood, I think it's one of the greatest gifts you can give someone but unfortunately I lived in the UK during the 'Mad Cow' disease scare and therefore I apparently have Mad Cow disease and can't donate blood in Australia. I was so happy that I managed to get just one person to donate blood once, I would love to find someone else.

11. Continue with my tithing at the same rate - As stated before, I have zero monies but now that my work practice has started to pay me for my three hours on a Saturday, I can start up again.

12. Get Certificate III in Companion Animal Services - Cert 3?? I can’t believe how high I ended up shooting! I’m now doing a Cert IV in Veterinary Nursing which is miles above that other certificate that I originally wanted to do. It boggles me mind that like 18 months ago I had no idea what path my life was taking.

13. Go speed dating - I found out that this is super serious and quite expensive. Also because I would never actually follow up on any of those dates, I would feel bad going to an event like this. But I still think it would be fun!

14. Finish that necklace - I started this home made necklace probably five years ago... and it’s still in a paper bag in my top drawer. One of these days...

15. Go to roller derby tryouts - This is such a secret wish of mine, I have such a crush on that ‘culture’. I don’t know if I will ever do it but I do still keep tabs on when roller derby tryouts are.

16. Write 3 short stories that I’m proud of – I wrote one... that no one else seemed to like but I actually wrote a short story that I loved- in my own style. I haven’t been inspired by anything else yet but I am in a procrastinating mood. So who knows?

17. Make sushi - Done!

18. Have a fancy dress party for my 25th - Um... so my 25th birthday came and went. I wussed out as usual. I do however have grand plans for a Hawaiian themed party for this birthday and even if I do wuss out this time, my roomies love the idea so much that I know I won’t get out of holding this party :)

19. Buy myself an expensive piece of jewellery that I love, just because - I don’t know if I would 'waste’ money on myself anymore.

20. Go to a shooting range - Done and it was AWESOME!

21. Buy a “story” Wii game and complete it - I don’t have a Wii anymore. I did buy a game but I got frustrated when I couldn’t complete it at all!

22. Run a 5k race and don’t finish last - See goal 3

23. Drink milk every day for a week each month [1/33] - I drink tea a lot... I don’t add much milk but does that count?!

24. Get involved more online and make friends - Blogging has definitely introduced me to a lot of people and I do feel like I have more of a presence online.

25. Post on LJ at least once a week - Um... I no longer really use my LJ. I do post on blogger probably four times a week so that’s good.

26. Learn how to cook a roast chicken meal - I kind of feel like I completed this one... because I make a really good roast meal that was actually RE-requested by my roomies. Except I use a tofu loaf as the roast!

27. Take mum away on a mini break - I would still love to do this. But money.

28. Learn 10 Bible verses - Ooh, had totally forgotten about this one. Right, I have so many verses that I love... just gotta pick ten :)

29. Go on the catapult in Surfers Paradise - Haha, forgotten this one too!

30. Go out and get fun drunk and don’t come home until really late - I don’t even know if I’d still like to do this one?? I'm such a nanna!!!

31. Grow a sunflower - I started this but some stupid slugs ate them all!!!!!!!!!!!

32. Every two months or so, do something cultural that you wouldn’t normally do, see a play etc - I sort of do this randomly anyway. But it’s good to see it written down to remind me.

33. Sort out my ipod and BUY everything legally!!! - I probably won’t do this in the set timeframe as I intend to buy a laptop at the end of the year so will wait til then to properly sort out my iTunes as currently I have two computers that I use with different iTunes accounts. But I have stopped getting music the naughty way! It means I have much less music but I can feel better about it.

34. Write down everything I eat for two weeks [0/14] - I know I eat a lot of rubbish but I still haven’t done this!

35. Write down everything I spend for two weeks [14/14] - I did this. I spend a lot of money that I don’t need to!

36. Work out a budget and stick to it! – Since I have stopped working, I don’t really have a budget because I have no money anyway. But maybe... I should try and do this. Now I’m living out of home I have way more expenses.

37. Learn to juggle - oh yes, I still want to do this.

38. Look into becoming a Big Sister - I think I might look into this at the end of the year when I’m graduated and everything and I have a regular schedule once more. I love the idea of this so much!

39. Have an internet free day once a week – I would love to start doing this again. In fact, I NEED to do this!

40. Cut out bread/pasta/carbs for two weeks x 4 [0/4] - Ick, just looking at that makes me hungry! I think I can safely say that I will NEVER do that!

41. Read 20 “classics” [0/20] - I’m re-reading Jane Eyre, I don’t think that counts. The tally is still at zero. I just can’t be bothered to struggle through books. I have so little time to read at the moment, I just want to read stuff that I goes in one ear and out the other!

42. Watch 20 “classics” [4/20] - Um... haven’t done this. BUT I have watched more B-grade movies in recent times. That counts, right?!

43. Suck it up and write to Azelia for Katrina’s contact details - I still haven’t done this... I feel like it’s too late.

44. Buy a bridal magazine and pick out a dress - I FOUND MY DRESS!! So pretty. Just got the small matter of finding the boy :)

45. Have a fake hens night - I don’t think I would do this anymore :)

46. Actually put that Spanish CD onto my ipod and LISTEN to it - I did this and I realised that I will never learn Spanish!

47. Write an OTIS report - I don’t really go on that site anymore. It used to be cute and small and now it’s taken on a life of its own.

48. Become more involved with GodlyGals - This is a Christian girls forum that I used to be a part of. Not sure why but it went kaput.

49. Go along to one of those free library events - I nearly went to a free afternoon tea put on by my local library in order to celebrate the movie 'Jane Eyre’... but I had to work.

50. Enter competitions and don’t stop til you win a prize! - I won a 'Percy Jackson’ prize pack thanks to Reading Cinemas.

If you read that, thanks! Part II coming tomorrow.

Tuesday 16 August 2011

Project 52: eleven

I don't have a picture for this one but instead I'll try and create a picture with words.

We have a tradition in my house. Tuesdays are not called Tuesdays in my house. They are called Blu Ray Tuesdays.

We live near a small shopping complex which has a video/DVD/whatever store and a pizza store. Both have something going called "Cheap Tuesdays". This is amazing, $1 movies and cheap pizzas. It means we watch a movie and eat pizza every Tuesday. This is the kind of life you dream about when you're eight years old. And sometimes... we'll watch TWO movies! I know, the scandals that go down in this house! It's like an episode of a reality show on MTV with all this drama and edginess running around.

I love these times with my roomies. We all have differing taste in movies but we can usually find one or two DVDs that will keep us all happy. And if not happy, then we can at least jeer together at the characters onscreen.

Monday 15 August 2011

Monday & Not A Hair Post In Sight


... it feels odd. But it doesn't matter because I didn't go to school anyway. (For those of you who still want to know, I wore my hair in a messy bun. The first day back from my 'hair project' and I revert straight back to my old ways- did I learn nothing?!).

I decided to sort out my life instead. I put on my army green t-shirt and my dragon necklace and I meant business.

I was on a mission. Operation:Sort Laura's Life Out.

Not that much happened though.


I did all the things that normal people do on Sundays. I did my washing. I tidied up my desk. I colour co-ordinated my calendar.

Yellow= day off
Blue= assignment due
Green= exam
Pink= holidays :)
... and these are the ones I know about so far!


My desk got messy again from re-doing my assignments. And I hardly did any 'real' work.

BUT I played with Nilly so much today, she was in a really silly mood, it made me happy. And I drank copious amounts of tea and pretended I was Sherlock Holmes so that I would be smart and get some school work done. It didn't work very well as I kept getting distracted and wanted to watch the TV version of Sherlock Holmes instead of actually doing any work. But I resisted temptation.

In conclusion, I am glad I missed my half-day of school. I feel more normal again. Less likely to maim people. Education: 0, Sanity: 1

Sunday 14 August 2011

Project 52: ten

This desk is, quite frankly, disgusting.

And yet it shows exactly where I am, literally and figuratively, in my life right now.

We have empty water bottles, a wine glass and a tea cup scattered around.

There's an open pack of lollies floating around. Now that I look at the photo, I can see that there are three.

There are stacks and stacks of paper- handwritten scrawls, photocopied sheets.

I couldn't leave my laptop screen up because then it would reveal that I am spending copious amounts of time reading Robin Hood fanfiction. (I have banned myself from facebook... but honestly that's not the main time waster in my life right now!).

I have two half done assignments to show for it. I need to step it up, big time.

And then amongst all this mess, there's two sunny flowers bravely trying to shine their brightness in the darkness. It reminds me that I need to focus on the calm, not the storm. I need to be the light, not the dark.

Friday 12 August 2011

Big Block of Emo Text

Saddest moment to date. We had to put down one of the loveliest dogs I've met at work. This dog apparently had a history of biting children and had been rehomed, I assume, to a family with no children. The dog again bit a child and so the original owners made the decision to have the dog put down. It also happened to be a breed that is seen by most people as a 'vicious' breed so I can understand their concern. I don't blame the owners because it is well within their rights to do this and I don't pretend to know all the story but oh... it made my heart hurt so badly.

The people didn't stay with the dog so he was brought out the back but he came BOUNDING through the door! He greeted each one of us, seemingly a real 'peoples dog' and he was filled with real joy. He also had the coolest name. He did not stop wagging his tail once and we, of course, made a big fuss over this guy which he loved. He snuffled in our hair as we played with him on the floor and whacked all of us with his giant tail because he was so busy wagging it.

Although it was hard, I was really proud of the way that he didn't suffer and that we did our job to the best of our ability- for ourselves, for the dog and for the owners. He came into a room, we played with him for a while, gave him love and attention and then cuddled him whilst the injection was given.

Although afterwards, it was very quiet for a while as all of us were very near to tears. So I went out and brought cake to make us feel better! Which always works.

Thursday 11 August 2011

The Time Traveller's Daughter

Um... so I just figured out my mum is a time traveller.

Pretty cool, right?! Do you like her cunning disguise? Here are my three pieces of evidence (because you only need three):

Number One
My mum gets confused easily and will forget stuff. This is either because a) her brain has been messed with due to constant to-ing and fro-ing through time OR b) she can't remember her actual supposed 'time line' so she just pretendes that she can't remember. Sneaky!

Number Two
After watching 'Captain America', I asked her if she liked the movie. She replied "I really enjoyed it because it reminded me of what life was like back then". To which I responded "It reminded you of what it was like living in 1940s America??" She just laughed. She wasn't even born then... therefore- Time Traveller.

Number Three
Upon seeing the ad for the movie 'Hot Tub Time Machine', she announced that she would like to see that movie because "I think it would be interesting to see what it was like in the 80s". What?!?!? Mum, what were *you* doing during the 80s? Were you gallivanting around in the Roman Empire? Having tea with Queen Victoria?

Is my love of history due to the fact that I was born in the 80s, therefore born whilst my mother was having epic time travelling adventures??

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Day 30: And I Cut All My Hair Off!


Ok, I kid, I kid. But this is good practice for short hair. Also, what is my t-shirt doing?

I just put my hair into a loose bun and pinned it underneath the loose hair.
I gotta admit that this style didn't hold very well. By the time I walked the 15 mins to school, it was all falling out. I kinda hoped that it looked like this:
Instead, it actually looked like this :
So that's it, guys! No more hair posts :( I still have a long way to go though before my hair is long enough to cut off. It'll be weird not obsessing over what style I'll put my hair into each school day. Might do a weekly hair post though. Don't want to lose my braiding skillz!

Monday 8 August 2011

Study Day Again

I am thoroughly stuck in a rut. I hate my study. I wish I could just go and work as a vet nurse and learn on the job. I hate having to go to school and do assignments, they are no fun! I find school life so boring, not to mention the science stuff ridiculously hard. Science stuff does not easily go into my brain!

Study makes me sad and then I came across this quote:
A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ. ~ John Steinbeck

So I started doing some major procrastinating and be warned because this post will blind you with ALL the pictures I post :) I was thinking about exactly where I would like to be instead and this is stemming off from a convo I had with a friend earlier this week.

I would much rather be in Scotland, where the scenery makes my heart ache in pleasant ways

I'll be living in a crofter's cottage, like this one

No wait, this one
Nope, this is my final answer
I will have lots and lots of cats and dogs. I will be crazy cat AND dog lady.


And I will live alone so that I won't be judged because I want to dress them up.

And maybe a horse. No, scratch that- a donkey.

I shall have some highland cows and I will plait their fringes so they look cute *and* it keeps the hair out of their eyes.
And maybe, just maybe, if he's lucky I will have a gorgeous Scotsman to accompany me.

It would also be super helpful to the fantasy if he was good with his hands. Hey, minds out of the gutter, I meant good at craft like things, like putting up shelves for all my books

or actually putting a roof onto my cottage, coz that might be nice.

Also whilst putting together this post, you might have guessed, I finally gave in to my Pinterest longings... does anyone have an invite for me???

Day 29: Braided Scarf

Today went from bad to worse, luckily just with my hairstyles. I had a super awesomely exciting hairstyle to try out- hair taping. It's a lovely Ye Olde Worlde hairstyle and I was so looking forward to making it work.
I got up super early to have enough time to do this hairstyle. So far, so good. I had to adapt it a little coz my hair isn't quite long enough to do this style properly.


And then the usual happened. Disaster struck!






I'm not quite sure what happened but the ribbon got tangled and I don't have eyes in the back of my head to see exactly where I was going wrong. I would still love to attempt this style but I will definitely need a wingman.







So I had to do something else. This was the style that I was originally planning to end on, it just got pushed forward a few days. I think it looks really nice and I got tons of comments on it.

Also I realised while looking at these photos, I am dressed as Superman today.


Sunday 7 August 2011

Project 52: nine

I'm pretty sure that the first clue you're a sociopath is when you torture small animals.


Nilly actually didn't mind it at first. Plus it was too much fun peering out into the garden, unsure where she was because of her size... and then you spot the bright yellow balloon :)

But then half an hour later, she came into my room and did this, so the balloon was removed.

It was a fun way to spend half an hour on a Sunday morning. Nilly's still my friend (she's cuddled up on the sofa next to me) so all's well that ends well. Yes, quoting Shakespeare is a great way to end a blog post!

Friday 5 August 2011

Work stories

I was so happy to be back at my old workplace. It felt like the first day back at school- nervous because I was afraid that I'd forget stuff, but excited at the same time to see everyone. Without getting too mushy, I really feel like I belong there. Jess and I spent far too much time just giggling once we were reunited! Two little peas in a pod.

Funny story, well, not funny if you're my bag. We were performing two surgeries at the same time today coz we had two vets on. I was helping with the castrate surgery and there was another surgery going on in the room behind me, which I can see through the glass windows. The other one was a lovely little situation involving anal glands, which are exactly where you would expect them to be. Often, especially with little dogs on a not good diet (such as simply tinned food), these anal glands get blocked up with this absolutely FOUL smelling secretion. If I remember correctly, the stuff in the glands is what makes dog poo smell so icky. The smell hangs around and makes you want to vomit. The vet was squeezing this dog's anal glands and normally, the nasty stuff just oozes out. In this particular instance, the secretion FLEW across the room and splashed ALL OVER MY BAG!!!!!

I literally just happened to turn around at the exact moment that it occurred. At first, I was like "haha, that stuff went everywhere"... and then I saw exactly where it went! We have a diseinfectant that we use in the clinic called F10 and I was just yelling at the other nurse "F10 my bag, F10 my bag!!". Everyone was laughing :) My bag doesn't smell funky or anything, thank goodness. I have been wanting to get a new bag for some time. I will definitely be using this as an excuse to justify spending money on a new bag!

Wednesday 3 August 2011

Day 28: In Which I Invent A New Hairstyle

As stated yesterday, I probably didn't invent this hairstyle and I'm sure one of you will know the actual name of it but I get to say I invented it because I came up with it yesterday by playing around with my hair. I feel like it needs a name of my own making but my brain is obviously tired from inventing hairstyles and can't come up with a name. Any takers?

I actually took another photo of it tonight so you could see that there are no visible bobby pins or hair ties in the hairstyle.
So here we go, my very first hair tutorial!

Step One- Pull your hair into a ponytail, can be high or low (first picture is of a higher ponytail) and then twist it into a bun and secure it with a hair tie.

Step Two- Kind of mash your hair in the bun to flatten it a little and try and pull it away from your head so it's not so tight.

Step Three- This is where the magic happens, you just roll your bun under and up. Ok, wow, I am NOT explaining this well- I guess this is why people post video tutorials. It might take a couple of goes before there is enough 'give' to be able to roll your bun underneath the loose hair. And then the bun is twisted and stuck, hidden underneath the rest of your hair and you have a seemingly fancy hairdo that takes all of two seconds!

Wow, I re-read all that and it was an embarrassing ramble. Let's see what the internet has to offer. Ok, well apparently someone else invented this look in middle school... whatever! But they have put much better instructions PLUS a video AND they don't use any hairties so I will totally give them some props and you can go here to read a much more conducive tutorial if you wanna try this look out for yourself :)

And in other news, look what arrived in the mail yesterday but I got to try it out today!
My headband from Jen!! Jen is going on a trip to Ethiopia to help victims of sex trafficking (she's super pretty AND saving the world- awesome combo!!) and she's doing a little fundraising to help get her there. The headbands come in different colours and it took me a while to choose which one I wanted :) I can vouch that they are really cute and you can go here to read more about Jen and her trip AND most importantly how to order a headband.

Tuesday 2 August 2011

My Study Day

My study day went awfully!! I did about zero per cent of study. BUT I did get to put my nursing skills into action. Here in Australia we have a delightful creature called the cane toad. Ugh, just googling them makes me go ew!

They look gross and they also secrete a harmful toxin on their skin. They were introduced to Australia and are such a pest. Not only because they eat food that should go to the natural wildlife or because they get eaten by the natural wildlife, who then die because of the poison but because our dogs and cats also eat them, get poisoned and then die.

I was watching 'Underworld' (not recommended... I love the idea of werewolves but I've yet to see a great CGI version of them!) and there was a climactic scene where a guy is changing into a werewolf. There is a pitiful growling that sounds absolutely pathetic, not the noise you would expect to come from a werewolf, when I realise it is coming from Nilly outside. I leap up from the sofa because I think she's spotted another creature that hangs around our garden, a blue tongue lizard.
I always have a heart attack when I see the one that hangs around our garden... and then I see its little stumpy legs and realise that it's not a snake and breathe a massive sigh of relief. They're quite shy things but if attacked, will put up a good fight. They have nasty bites, not poisonous but they've got really strong jaws.

Anyway, Nilly is standing guard on the patio, growling and thinking about descending the stairs to get at whatever she is growling at. I look and see that it is a giant cane toad. It was honestly about half the size of little Nilly! I scoop her up from the steps and feel her gums. The poison apparently feels very 'tacky' and coats the gums of animals that try to eat it. Her gums feel normal but I still rinse them thoroughly. I was so excited because I knew exactly what to do (but only because I knew Nilly was in no danger whatsoever!)

I came up with my last three hairstyles. Very exciting because I invented one of them! I'm pretty sure a quick google search would come up with thousands of hits of this style but I came up with it by myself. So I'm all prepared to go out with a bang!

Monday 1 August 2011

Day 27: Vive La French (Braid) Revolution!

I'm continually impressed with my French braiding skills! I've tried this style before in the past but it took me so long and it never looked very good. Since starting this hair challenge, I've gotten so much better at doing my own hair. This braid took me about five minutes, where it used to take me 15 minutes and I'd have to redo it about three times. I showed my mum my blog on the weekend, just the hair pictures and she was a little sad because she was like "I never was any good at doing your hair when you were little". But we decided that ultimately it was a good thing because it meant that I had to learn how to do my own hair. Lol, it only took until I was 25 before I learned how to do nice things to my hair! It really is just practice.

I was going to do some fancy things with my hair but I ran out of time. August 1st, I promised myself that I would get back into running. It's probably been about three months since I last went for a jog and ooh, it was hard getting out of bed this morning. Because the last time I went running, the weather was warm, I only had my running shorts with me and I felt so silly wearing them this morning as I ran through fields with mist on them. And by 'silly', I mean 'freezing'. When I got home, I could hardly use my hands to get the key into the lock to open the door as they were so cold!

And so because I went running (and by 'running', I mean 'shuffling along the street'), I had much less time to do my hair, plus I had to wash it, so I just went with a good old French braid. I can't believe I haven't done that before!! And I only have THREE more days of my hair posts. I have to make them good. I sort of know what I'm going to do for them, but I'm going to actually practice them to make them perfect :)

I have a day off from school tomorrow and I have so much organisation to do. My desk is an absolute mess, I have paper everywhere and I have been getting tension headaches probably twice a week since I've been back at school since the holidays. I need to get my life into order!!!!! Fingers crossed, I actually do that instead of sitting on facebook all day. Also, girl roomie was home sick today... and I don't think she will be well enough to go to work tomorrow either. We are terrible TV junkies together so I hope she doesn't lead me astray!