Back to School Haul

 I know it’s a bit early to start shopping for back to school supplies but I thought I’d start early this year since I usually don’t do it until the last minute when all the good stuff is gone.

I went to Target and Officeworks to get my goods and I have to say that this year there was quite a variety of options to choose from in terms of colours and patterns.

I wanted to go with a black and white them and tried to find marble contact paper or wrapping paper to cover my books with. Unfortunately the only thing that came close to what I wanted cost a lot more than what I was willing to spend on school supplies!

I found a guest post on Charlotte Russe’s blog by FashionLush on how to DIY wrapping paper and I adapted that to suit me. (Another post coming up soon on how to do that)

Officeworks

I found a white folder to hold my books when I’m taking them to and from Uni, I got 3 128-page notebooks with holes down the left side so they go into my folder easily, and lastly a pack of highlighters that aren’t the usually thick size, so they fit more easily in my pencil case.

Target

I was super excited to have a look and the back-to-school section because I’d already seen what some of my friends had bought here. I found a tonne of great stuff here with really cool designs that suited my minimalism style. I grabbed some liquid-paper which I’m also using for a DIY in a later post, and notebook pack with a fern printed A5 notebook that came with some pens and sticky-notes and a roll of blackboard adhesive.

I didn’t want to get too much stuff because I know that I won’t use everything and it’ll end up being a waste of money so I kept my shopping to a minimum. I’ve just started the minimalism challenge so I thought I’d keep that in mind when doing any shopping.

The 30-Day Minimalism Challenge

So I’ve finally decided to do the minimalist challenge. I’ve been interested in this for a while now, having seen how great its been for some of the people I follow. I feel like it's a good idea to do this now since I’m going back to school in a few months and am also moving into a bigger house with my family. I want to do the challenge to unclutter my life and my belongings so I only surround myself with what I need and what makes me feel happy.

Day 1

Stay offline for a whole day.

This is relatively easy for me at the moment as I feel like my social networks are filled with negative images or people who make me feel anxious about myself. I’m trying to surround myself with positive thoughts and feelings during the few months leading up to uni starting again this year, because obviously the year will be stressful enough with school work without my social anxiety getting in the way! Getting offline helps me disconnect from everything and I feel better when I’m not stressing about social networks.

Day 2

Meditate for 15 minutes

I decided to split up the meditation time between my morning and night. This morning after my shower I sat for 10 minutes and listened to an app recommended by a psychologist, Smiling Mind. This app lets you progress through different levels of meditation which focus on different things like breathing and sound. I found this really relaxing and made me ready for a busy day at work. Before I go to bed I’m planning on doing some more breathing mediation with the app to help me unwind and calm my mind so I can fall asleep easily since I have a busy day planned for tomorrow!

You can find the 30 day minimalism challenge here.

And the smiling mind app here.

Christmas Gift Guide: Reading Edition

As most of my family knows, I love reading. I've always loved it. I started school late because my family moved to Australia from Europe, and all the friend groups had already been formed so I turned to reading to pass the time during recess and lunch.

Recently, my tastes have turned to more non-fictional genres so I have about 50 autobiographies and how-to books on my Goodreads list.

These include:

Chloë Sevigny's self titled book

The Glitter Plan: How We Started Juicy Couture for $200 and Turned it into a Global Brand

How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are: Love, Style and Bad Habits

Pretty Honest

Eat Pretty: Nutrition For Beauty, Inside and Out

Tiffany's Table Manners For Teenagers

Classy: Exceptional Advice For the Extremely Modern Lady

It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be

*These images are not my own - they have been sourced from the Amazon website.

Festival Time!

So this year all my friends and I have got tickets to go to Stereosonic (a massive festival in Sydney).

Here is my quick guide to what to bring to ensure you have a fab day...

- Water! ( you can't always bring this inside, so make sure you grab a bottle as soon as you pass the gates)

- Sunscreen (you never know how the weather will turn out)

- Rain-jacket/Poncho (preferably an inexpensive one because you'll probably lose it)

- A hat of some sort (to protect your face and hide your sweaty hair at the end of the day)

- Your phone (to take photos and Snapchats of course!)

- A portable charger for you phone (because I can guarantee it will run out of battery)

- Your ticket (obviously)

- Your ID (most festivals are 18+ so you need to show this to get inside)

- Gum (food is expensive so we usually just bring loads of gum so we don't get hungry)

- Lipbalm (no one wants chapped lips at a festival)

- Make-up essentials (you don't want to being too much but I'd recommend bringing concealer, powder and mascara)

- A small bag

Trail Blazers

Yesterday I decided to make some time for myself and went bushwalking. The national park near my house has lots of really nice trails and I chose to follow the one which lead to some cascades. I only took a bottle of water and my phone (no headphones!!) so I could just relax with the sounds of nature around me. It took me 45 minutes to get to the cascades because I kept going down small tracks to take photos. To get there, I ended up having to wade through the river and get my feet! I did go too far along the track and in total the walk took my 2.5 hours… :(

I tracked my steps using the app 'Move' which tracks how many kilometres, minutes and steps you do as well as setting out a map of where you've been. 

I think going on walks is a great way for me to clear my head and reflect on things that have been troubling me lately. I like to do this at least once a month to make sure I don’t go crazy with all the drama in my life.

I’ve done this with my friends as well because who doesn’t love an adventure with their friends – we’ve found some pretty cool spots with waterfalls and caves!