Thursday, March 17, 2011
The Long & Short of It - Black Swan
Arthur Golden - I'm Still Angry
I'm browsing goodreads.com (and adding thousands of books to my to-read list - yay for relative unemployment!), and I'd like to know - is anyone else out there upset with Arthur Golden? I certainly am!
Haha oh boy, I must have read this at least 4 years ago. But friends, a literary grudge can be held like no other!
If you haven't read it, definitely do. It's really a wonderful book. Hence my hurt...
Stone Cold Failure & Shopping Addiction
Alright kids - a-post-a-day failed.
Failed miserably!
I had good intentions, but I let a few things get in my way: i.e. attempting to access the internet after school hours is marginally easier than getting water from a stone; I had recently discovered Asos.com and spent any time online with a window on Asos browsing through coats and some ugly overpriced bags; I was totally uni-student-on-holidays LAZY!
It is the second reason that really catches my attention though - the shopping thing. I read an article a few Sundays ago in my local paper (The Sunday Mail - getting a bad rep from every corner these days) about people that had changed their lives by doing something for a year. An example was Julie Powell of Julie & Julia fame, there was one lady/girl/lady-girl who wore the same dress for an entire year(theuniformproject.com - and may I say, woah. Have a look & get yoself some inspiration!) and in doing so raised enough money for 200 underpriviledged children to go to school. The article focussed on one woman in particular, who admitted to having a shopping addiction and had given up ALL shopping for 365 days.
I realised - I don't need these ridiculous things in my Asos shopping bag (I'm sorry Asos, you're wonderful, but I need to see other hobbies). I don't need a new dress for the party this weekend (I had actually been considering spending $70 AUD on getting a $40 dress to me for said party). I do not need to be shopping for a new dress for the next party I go to either!
... I will admit that I bought a fabulous skirt the other day. But! But! It was fifty per cent off! (Who pays $74 for a skirt anyway??)
So, here I am. I admit, I am not completely cured of all shopping. I feel like the next step toward that would be volunteering overseas and having the absolute shock of my life.
I'm definitely again on that inspired path again. I just need a little nudge every few days or so to remember to stay on it and not get so distracted by the lupins on the side of the road. (Lupins are these MAGNIFICIENT flowers in New Zealand that grow by the thousands on the side of the road).
So! I'm setting some new goals. I apologise, I'm probably going to keep doing this. I figure it's ok if I alter some of them if they really don't work, so long as I'm not just procrastinating in changing them.
Goals for 2011:
- Read 100 books by 2012 (holy crap)
- Do an international internship (I'm a dazzling PR graduate if anyone's interested :)
- Figure out something meaningful for this blog!
- Write an article for publication in print/online media... and get it published!
The book thing stems from my friend telling me how many books she read last year. If not for the extremely large fascinator adorned on my head, my eyes would have popped out of it. If I am to be serious about writing then I need to spend less time Asos-ing (sorry dude, you've been totally bagged in this post) and more time strainin' the ol' eyeballs!
Books read so far in 2011:
- It Had To Be You, Susan Elisabeth Phillips (awesome)
- Heaven, Texas, Susan Elisabeth Phillips
- Bet Me, Jenny Crusie
- Rose Madder, Stephen King (woah NELLY)
P.s. check out goodreads.com. Addictive!
Failed miserably!
I had good intentions, but I let a few things get in my way: i.e. attempting to access the internet after school hours is marginally easier than getting water from a stone; I had recently discovered Asos.com and spent any time online with a window on Asos browsing through coats and some ugly overpriced bags; I was totally uni-student-on-holidays LAZY!
It is the second reason that really catches my attention though - the shopping thing. I read an article a few Sundays ago in my local paper (The Sunday Mail - getting a bad rep from every corner these days) about people that had changed their lives by doing something for a year. An example was Julie Powell of Julie & Julia fame, there was one lady/girl/lady-girl who wore the same dress for an entire year(theuniformproject.com - and may I say, woah. Have a look & get yoself some inspiration!) and in doing so raised enough money for 200 underpriviledged children to go to school. The article focussed on one woman in particular, who admitted to having a shopping addiction and had given up ALL shopping for 365 days.
I realised - I don't need these ridiculous things in my Asos shopping bag (I'm sorry Asos, you're wonderful, but I need to see other hobbies). I don't need a new dress for the party this weekend (I had actually been considering spending $70 AUD on getting a $40 dress to me for said party). I do not need to be shopping for a new dress for the next party I go to either!
... I will admit that I bought a fabulous skirt the other day. But! But! It was fifty per cent off! (Who pays $74 for a skirt anyway??)
So, here I am. I admit, I am not completely cured of all shopping. I feel like the next step toward that would be volunteering overseas and having the absolute shock of my life.
I'm definitely again on that inspired path again. I just need a little nudge every few days or so to remember to stay on it and not get so distracted by the lupins on the side of the road. (Lupins are these MAGNIFICIENT flowers in New Zealand that grow by the thousands on the side of the road).
So! I'm setting some new goals. I apologise, I'm probably going to keep doing this. I figure it's ok if I alter some of them if they really don't work, so long as I'm not just procrastinating in changing them.
Goals for 2011:
- Read 100 books by 2012 (holy crap)
- Do an international internship (I'm a dazzling PR graduate if anyone's interested :)
- Figure out something meaningful for this blog!
- Write an article for publication in print/online media... and get it published!
The book thing stems from my friend telling me how many books she read last year. If not for the extremely large fascinator adorned on my head, my eyes would have popped out of it. If I am to be serious about writing then I need to spend less time Asos-ing (sorry dude, you've been totally bagged in this post) and more time strainin' the ol' eyeballs!
Books read so far in 2011:
- It Had To Be You, Susan Elisabeth Phillips (awesome)
- Heaven, Texas, Susan Elisabeth Phillips
- Bet Me, Jenny Crusie
- Rose Madder, Stephen King (woah NELLY)
P.s. check out goodreads.com. Addictive!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Also... I WANT THESE
Don't tell Buddha
GAH!
So dreamy, it's the new aviator jacket I've been mooning over ... but in FOOTWEAR FORM
The Long and Short of It: Value Yo Momma
Afternoon blogerinos!
Well here I am, day one of my self-imposed challenge and after a spot of procrastinating I stumbled upon a nugget of an idea.
It all started when I was feeling bad for being a bitch to my mum. I know, I know, horrible. There she is, giving me life and dinner and ironing & I'm being mad at her for something ridiculous. It got me thinking of the Amy Tan novel The Joy Luck Club. Aside from my mum having introduced me to the movie, and later the book (which I stole moments after her purchasing and read voraciously - again, Bitch Daughter haha), I always come out of it feeling like I should really value my mum better.
It got me thinking about the books I read and re-read. I re-read a lot, and there's a reason to it. So today marks my first The Long and Short of It. The Long will be an in-depth review (I suspect some of these will be in progress, like todays as I'm seriously in need of checking my eyesight), The Short will be short :)
Well here I am, day one of my self-imposed challenge and after a spot of procrastinating I stumbled upon a nugget of an idea.
It all started when I was feeling bad for being a bitch to my mum. I know, I know, horrible. There she is, giving me life and dinner and ironing & I'm being mad at her for something ridiculous. It got me thinking of the Amy Tan novel The Joy Luck Club. Aside from my mum having introduced me to the movie, and later the book (which I stole moments after her purchasing and read voraciously - again, Bitch Daughter haha), I always come out of it feeling like I should really value my mum better.
It got me thinking about the books I read and re-read. I re-read a lot, and there's a reason to it. So today marks my first The Long and Short of It. The Long will be an in-depth review (I suspect some of these will be in progress, like todays as I'm seriously in need of checking my eyesight), The Short will be short :)
The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan
The short of it: Read when you've had a fight with your mother, or if you miss them. Read for hope, for laughter and for joy.
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