glowbug

My friend Lily (and a few other friends from my high school) moved about 10 minutes from my house and we spent the weekend eating food (carbs mainly - I nearly vommed after tonight's gym session so I feel that this choice was justified), laughing about stupid things that would probably make zero sense to anyone else (I don't understand our humour at all but it's thoroughly entertaining), me hogging Alice's bird (I don't know what it's name is so I'll just call it Gandalf for now) AND taking these amazing photos! Ahh. I have missed doing this so much. I love photography and being styled up and having photos taken - it's so much fun and despite the majority of the photos being ridiculous outtakes that included me snorting from laughter, picking food from my teeth and running through a park under torrential rain, they turned out so beautifully. Lily's immensely talented and has a brilliant creative eye so I was really excited when she offered to take some photos for my blog. This is the first set - she used pretty little fairy lights to create the dreamy bokeh effect - I love how softly focussed it all is. And there are more photos to come - we did quite a few outfits and I'm really excited to share them all! 

Quick update on life too: everything's really good! I'm 21 years old now and feel much wiser and different to how I did at 20 (just kidding... still an idiot)!! I'm still getting used to the full-time work week  schedule and balancing it with gym, blogging (haha... yeah it's been over a month since my last post I know), social things, love life (my favourite part tbh - hi Max!!) and staying relatively well-rested. I mean, I think I have it in an okay balance at the moment? I've only cried (like, REALLY cried) twice in the last month I think (and no, we aren't counting tears of laughter in that because that would defeat my point). 

I am happy! Really happy with life, and feeling lucky and very very grateful for what I have and what I've achieved in the last few months :) I hope you're reading this from a good place too, whoever you are! 

snippets from mermaid beach & life

For some reason, I thought time would go slower for me now that I supposedly have my life together – alas, it is February 2nd already and I’ve been at my new job for a month and I’ll be a 21 year old in a matter of weeks. Weird to think of isn't it? I was only 12 years old when I did my first ever blog post on this platform - and now look where we are! Blogging took the back seat quite a lot last year despite my withdrawal from studies, so this year I’d really love to pay a bit more attention to this little hobby of mine and that started yesterday with a little “revamp” of the blog design in my lunch break.

If you’ve been a reader for a while you probably just choked on your cup of tea (or whatever it is you decide to down whilst you read about my….eventful existence!) because I tend to say similar things every blog post. But bear with me – this will be an honest effort to improve on something that really couldn’t get any worse (I am referring to my commitment here… or lack thereof with posting consistently on Avenue Maria).

I got my hair done again recently with Hair By Nina - she was absolutely incredible. Check out her website here. 

Fairy lights in my room keeping things as magical and as tumblr-aesthetic as possible... ha! 

Some outfits as of late. Did you know I love pink???

Since my last post a month ago, lots of things have happened. I’ve settled into my new job almost seamlessly and I really really do love it. My schedule is very structured and I feel like I’m living my best life because of it. Gazing into my wardrobe every morning at 7ish thinking about all the outfit opportunities I have is also a bonus, and you wouldn’t think this frame of mind could get any better but often my tummy is full of coffee and banana on toast so I guess it can. A new addition to the social aspect of life – in between going to the gym to die a painful (but rewarding) death in classes, catching up with friends and seeing my family, is the lovely boy who made a presence in my life very unexpectedly. I think that’s how lots of wonderful things happen in life – when you aren’t searching for them. The last two weeks we’ve been inseparable and despite his weird breakfast habits of mixing milk and yoghurt (yes Max, I'm exposing you), he has quickly become my “Liebling” – that’s German for "darling" I've come to know, which he speaks fluently (and beautifully), and any time spent away from him I seem to be counting down to when we see eachother next.

My friends and I decided to head to Mermaid Beach last weekend for some spontaneous "girl time". We went to the beach, the clubs and sat at the apartments laughing and enjoying eachother's company and it was absolutely lovely. 

Hopefully I'll have some other photos up taken with my actual camera soon - I haven't been home to see my little sister in ages, hence the lack of beautiful photography. Not many teens know how to work the canon like Tessie can! 

retrospective

You all know how I feel about New Year's Resolutions (based on previous posts over the years, however, upon reflection, I did indeed achieve a lot of what I wanted to over the course of 2017 and I find them to be quite positive (if you actually achieve and stick to them :P). Despite it being an extremely difficult year for me - and others - it was also equally rewarding and wonderful. A few highlights would have to have been:

- Buying my first car! Having this freedom is a feeling that one simply can't describe. I can go wherever, do whatever I want whenever I need to and I'm very lucky and grateful that I have a car to use under my name. 

- I lost about 17kg this year. I made huge changes to my lifestyle and despite the process being slow and frustrating at times, it has been wonderful to look back on the progress I have made to develop my fitness and my ability to really nourish my body with the right food. Keeping things in a balance is always important too though, and although I don't do it very often, there's nothing wrong with some brownies and chocolate here and there! 

- I dyed my hair blonde! This was something I never thought I would suit, but now I can't imagine my hair any other colour. I love it!

- Made some wonderful new friends, and left behind friendships too. A lot of my relationships came together and fell apart quite naturally throughout the year and despite being difficult at the time for a lot of the situations, I'm glad a lot of friendships/ romantic endeavours did come to an end. 

- Left my job at McDonald's! This was a recent thing actually! I've been working at McDonald's ever since I was 15 years old, and it's been a very rewarding experience for me. It prepared me so well for all areas of the hospitality and customer service industry and I think it's definitely one of the major reasons that I...

- FINALLY GOT A FULL TIME JOB! A wonderful, new job perfectly suited to my skill set and lifestyle. I am a Campaign/ Marketing Coordinating for a real estate agency and I absolutely love it. It's very similar to the work I did for this blog over the years so I feel very comfortable and although a little nervous still about all the newfound responsibility I have, I think I'll flourish very quickly. 

I'm honestly not sure what I would like to achieve specially in this new year. I just want to remain healthy and happy and safe, and I think that's the most important thing. Anything else will just be a wonderful bonus, ya know! 

What did you get up to on New Years this year? I had a wonderful NYE actually (had my first New Years kiss and it was every bit as perfect as the movies make it out to be!), and despite waking up a little woozy this morning from all the horrendous vanilla vodka we all consumed throughout the previous evening, I still made it to the gym this afternoon and cleaned my room so I feel rather accomplished. 2018 is off to a good start and I'm looking forward to what's around the corner for my 21st year on earth. I'll keep you posted!

 My NYE outfit that I (amazingly!) didn't trip over once in! What a miracle!

state of art

An update... of sorts. It's been over a month since I last made myself present here on the blog. I keep telling myself I'm going to be consistent and post but life simply gets in the way and I find it's been weeks since I last log in to my dear corner of the internet. In the weeks since we've spoken (and when I say spoken I am referring to the conversation being completely one sided and you reading what I have to say, as opposed to hearing it... unless you know me, then you'll perhaps know all of this pointless information already), I have:

Wearing a beautiful dress I borrowed from my friend Ella - it's vintage, pink and made of floaty chiffon fabric so naturally it was perfect for photographing in the neighbour's farm (most likely trespassing... whoops).

- Watched The Murder on the Orient Express, and my, what a film! What a story! What a twist. I saw it with my brother the other night after we gorged ourselves on burgers and waffles. It was a brilliantly done film and having not known the story beforehand, the ending was a thoroughly enjoyable surprise. Would highly recommend. - Dropped my phone in the toilet.. this happened this morning actually and it was just a brilliant start to my already stressful week ahead. To be honest, I have no idea what I'll do about it. I have a car service and tyres to pay for this week so the thought of paying for repairs is nauseating but, I've been in difficult situations before and managed to get through it so I guess I'll figure something out! In the meantime, it's bathing gingerly in 500 grams of jasmine rice I miraculously had in the pantry. I was going to eat it tomorrow night with curry, but drying out my phone is a bit more of a priority than me having an exciting oriental meal. 

- I saw Khalid live a few weeks ago in Brisbane and it was AMAZING. I've been a massive fan of him and his music since he first dropped the debut album earlier this year and the concert was amazing - he is such a darling. Despite my room mates and I being completely sober, surrounded by sweaty, half-dressed bodies all night and breathing in second-hand marijuana smoke in the moshpit, it was an exciting evening that I won't forget. It never fully sinks in; the surreal feeling of seeing an artist that you've spent months listening to during your happiest and saddest moments in the flesh. 

Aside from the above highlights - not much has happened really... I'm still making coffee every day for people (and hoping that it's enough to increase their quality of life, even just for a fleeting moment), going to gym classes (I love them... I have so much more energy now!) and looking for full time work. It's pretty frustrating - job hunting, I mean. I desperately want to find a full-time position so I have more financial stability and a routine but haven't had much luck thus far. If you, reading this, have any ideas, please let me know! Email is avenuemblog@gmail.com. 

Anyway, seeya for now! Hopefully it'll still be 2017 by the time I post next..ha.