Things We Love Thursday

Amazing illustrations from Brooke Weeber are also something we love!

Ell-Leigh Loves:

Harry Potter. More on that later.

Seeing Old Friends and being incredibly social all week: since last thursday, I've only had one night that I haven't spent doing something exciting with peeps over at my place or partying and doing exciting things in town.


Lauren Loves: 

Harry Potter - obviously. Very little else has been going on in my head this week except for harrypotterharrypotterharrypotterharrypotterHARRYPOTTER. It's been a particularly productive time.


This photo - from when Sophie and I went iceskating. Even though I was really bad at it and fell and hurt myself, it was such a fun evening. I found the photo on my camera when I was looking at the photos from Harry Potter, and I love how happy and wintery we both look.






This video:

   

which is ridiculous and makes me laugh. You should watch it after going to a mid-week midnight screening and eating an incredible amount of sugar (everything in this post is connected to Harry Potter, by the way).

Things We Love Thursday

Things Ell-Leigh Loves:
Crazy Sexy Awesome; As previously mentioned I'm back on Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Diet and it's doing me wonders! I'm feeling great, fresh, energised and slim. Last time I CSD'd I found that my sinus allergies cleared up a whole heap so I'm hoping that happens again this time, considering in the last few days I've gone through an entire box of tissues...

Reading and Writing and Ideas, oh my! Since starting The Writer's Tale by Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook my brain has been in serious writer mode, a mode which it hasn't seen much of recently, much to my dismay. However, all the discussion of writing and storytelling has bombarded me brain and I've once again been forced to place my pink moleskin notepad and a pencil beside my bed for late night idea scrawling.

Small things Ell-Leigh Loves: reading The Writer's Tale and reliving all my favourite moments from Dr Who series 4 (I'm such a Whovian right now), crisp capsicum in my dinner, grocery shopping (it makes me feel so grown up and responsible), watching Go Back Where You Came From on SBS (Raquel! God!), ZUMBA (yeah, did the 20min workout today, funtimes!)!

Things Lauren Loves:
Holidays Soon!: So, I don't actually get 'holidays', but since in both my jobs I work with school children, school holidays still provide me with a bit of a break. I switch to working mornings instead of afternoons and evenings and have weekends free. Hurrah for afternoons! To be honest, I've had a massive first half of the year, and while it's been great, I'm exhausted. I'm looking forward to the time resting, relaxing in my rocking chair with a blanket, some mulled wine and a good book.

Little things I love: haircut haircut haircut!, winning amazing free things at the hairdressers (like a tiny, cute, green speaker for my mp3 player), as Ell-Leigh: watching Go Back Where You Came From on SBS and being proud that it was made by people in my country (and terribly ashamed of what it says about my country at the same time), washing all my clothes and feeling like I have a new wardrobe, finding the perfect pair of pink jeans, committing to buy nothing new next month and curbing my spending, stocking up on icepacks and bandages for my poor sore knee (I'm trying to turn this one into a positive...shopping is fun even for medical supplies...?), planning delicious mulled wine for our party tomorrow night.

Awesome pink jeans!! Souce here.

Things We Love Thursday

click for source

Things Lauren Loved:

Planning my housemates’ BirGradDay Party: With one housemate having a birthday and another graduating university, it seemed an appropriate time to plan an amazing, celebratory, wintery party! Sometimes I think we don’t place enough importance on celebrating life’s milestones, because we get too busy or something else comes up or we don’t think people will be interested. There is no reason that I can see that turning twenty-two (you only get so many double digit ages!) and getting a degree isn’t cause for mass merriment!

Being food lovers ourselves, we’re always delighted to have an opportunity to feed people; chicken wings, cheesy garlic bread, cupcakes and mulled wine so far making up our menu for the evening. I’m also a bit of an organisation fiend, so was delighted to make up the facebook invitation page, especially when realising that we didn’t actually have any photos of the three of us together (for shame!) I would have to create my own (see below). Apart from all that, it will be nice to regroup after a very busy first half of the year for all of us, to spend time with friends and make plans for the rest of 2011.

The picture I made in paint for BirGradDay...I was SO EXCITED.

Little Things I’ve Loved: Beach Day! – wearing knits all the time – extra long yoga classes – wonderful tingly peppermint tea – plans to go to the circus on the weekend! – finally getting a copy of one of my favourite books I Capture the Castle in the mail – making herby cheesy garlic bread – slow cooking everything and having the house smell so good when I come home in the evenings – imminent school holidays meaning a welcome change in work scheduling – my new raspberry pink slippers – rediscovering my love for Matchbox 20 – my new rocking chair!! – waking up warm and cosy in bed when it’s cold outside – icecream and cheesecake and croissants for breakfast when we feel like we deserve it.


Things Ell-Leigh Loved:


Giving my diet a Crazy Sexy Makeover, again. I did it once, and it was awesome. Why I stopped? Bread. Even bread ain't gonna stop me this time, and despite the increase in my grocery bill (cucumbers are expensive this time of year) I'm not compromising my health and energy anymore. I've been easing myself into it for the last week and I already feel ten times better, and my skin is clearing up and healing super fast. Miracle diet, I tells ya.

Watching movies. I have a great job where a lot of the work is getting in touch with people, which means I call them, usually during their lunch breaks or after they finish work, and then one or two days a week I hit the road and visit them with paperwork to sign, etc. This means on the days when I only have to call people I basically have all day except around lunchtime free to do whatever I like, and lately, that has been watch movies. As a movie-lover sometimes I feel as though, despite having seen more films than a lot of people I know, my movie knowledge is really limited and I don't have a strong enough grasp on the 'classics', so this week I've made an effort to not only re-watch some of my favourite films (Inglorious Basterds, The Royal Tenenbaums) but also to get my hands on some Hitchcock (Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo).

Little Things I've Loved: Shopping Spree at T2 - raw organic chocolate (drool) - looking forward to seeing X-Men First Class again - One month 'til Art Vs Science! and Harry Potter! Squeal! - having tea with Lauren yesterday - my cool new toothbrush (reward for brushing my teeth everyday for a month, go teeth!) - baby capsicums and the yummiest organic green beans - A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby (almost finished... Then onto Portia De Rossi's Unbearable Lightness), wtfrudoingjamesmcavoy.

Things We Love Thursday

Lauren Loves: 

This week, I’ve loved the way that things just seem to work out if you leave them alone. At work, my job involves a lot of scheduling. Often there’ll be days when I stress all morning about how I’ll sort out a scheduling mess, either self created or designed by the fates to test me to my organisational limits, and then at about 1pm someone will make a call, or I’ll remember a note from last week, or something will happen that means my schedule is all back to orderly without me having to do much at all. It’s rare that these situations don’t just figure themselves out without me. In a similar situation, I’ve recently taken on another job teaching a drama class on Saturday mornings. It’s brilliantly exciting, but also a bit nerve-wracking because we have a showcase in less than a month for which my energetic group of nine to twelve year olds and I have so far nothing to show. This morning, though, in the meditation part of yoga I had, and I kid you not, a full blown epiphany about the most fantastic way we can begin the performance, and now instead of feeling stressed I’m incredibly excited to get in on Saturday and begin work.

Tell me that this guy doesn't make you smile. Look at that tail!!

Little things that’ve made me cheery this week: getting into my bed late at night when it’s all warmed be a heat pack and reading with a steamy mug of tea – mint chocolate – the feeling of possibility when you’ve just bought the groceries and can eat anything you want – legitimately wearing boots, scarves and wintery clothes – making delicious flat bread pizzas – finishing Little Women – getting excited about seeing X Men on Friday night because of the amazing cast list of surprise and awesomeness – getting excited about dressing up for Harry Potter 7.2 in July – planning holidays and many other things besides.

Things Ell-Leigh loves:

Typing this up on her new acer android tablet! Please excuse any formatting weirdness that this may have caused, it may be gorgeous and a lot lighter and less bulky than a laptop, but it has its weird quirks.

Going to the dentist? oddly enough, despite fearing yesterday's dental appointment with an unhealthy amount of dread, it turned out to be not so bad, and my new dentist is lovely.
 It's funny how terrible past experiences of something can make a simple task seem so awful, and this was definitely the case for me and my teeth. Boy do I have some dentist horror stories - but that's another story for another time.

Little things I love this week: hanging out with my family and my dog, getting closer to some real progress at work, sleeping in, big breakfasts, getting random creative ideas suddenly when doing the dishes, buying tickets to see Art Vs Science in July!

Things We Love Thursday

Source: They Roared Vintage

Lauren Loves: 

This song makes me chair dance in the most Thursday appropriate manner, and you just can’t beat seagulls with dodgem cars. 

Having Energy – A winning combination of going to bed early, making it back out of bed early to get to yoga or gym class, eating good food and getting my hands on some more lemons has landed me with lots of energy this week. I’m always amazed at just how productive I can be when I make the effort to look after myself and this week has definitely been a good example.

Little things I’ve loved: pastel post it notes and metallic rainbow paperclips, chicken pie for cold weather, watching the last three Oprah shows (ok so this is bittersweet…we’ll talk about it later), scoring a new (extra, I’m still keeping the old one) job that I’ve been working towards for a long time, planning a trip to Sydney to see my sister, watching the possum that lives nearby crawl onto my balcony to watch me while I sleep (in the cutest, most non creepy way), not shopping – I love not spending money and watching it grown in the bank account, lamb shanks and dreams of baking cinnamon scrolls.

Source: Thrill'd

Ell-Leigh Loves:
Working Towards and Getting Closer To My Goals: This week I've had Green Smoothies (although today's is pink because of all the raspberries!) for breakfast each day, and I've already eaten a whole container of spinach this week. I'm feeling healthier already, and am rather pleased with my choices. I've also been writing fiction (doesn't matter if it's good, matters that it exists) and flossing. The closer I get to reaching my goals, the closer I get to my self-set rewards, like catching up on Doctor Who, buying new T2 tea, and my slightly larger reward (for reaching a slightly larger goal, mind you) of buying a bike! YAY!


Little Things I've Loved: My New Power Album (and everyone else's too) Gaga's Born This Way, (I don't speak German, but I can if you like...!) Looking forward to Harry Potter! (while at the same time being scared of how much I'm going to cry in public), reading about what happens behind the scenes at 30 Rock cause I'm reading Bossypants by Tina Fey, This morning's deliciously tart mixed berry, avo, spinach and broccoli stem smoothie, daily meditation, "acting as if".

Things We Love Thursday

I don't know who Rita is, but I sure do wanna be like her.

Lauren Loves: 

Being Inspired: Things that have inspired me this week – the National Young Writers' Month event: In conversation with John Birmingham and Benjamin Law, which was pretty wonderful to see (a video of the night will be uploaded sometime soon) – Getting Organised: around me people everywhere are keeping schedules, rocking daily plans and ticking off to do lists, so I’ve decided to go full throttle ‘every minute is planned’ style organised…I’ll let you know the results – Reading wonderful books and articles – Travel Magazines – Budgets (you gotta earn it to spend it!) –  the generosity of others (see free fringe trim at awesome hairdresser).

Sloooowwww Cooking!: Last week I bought a slow cooker. This week I slow cook my way to glory. Because I and the girls I live with tip regularly from the busy to the crazy section of the organisational spectrum, it has become apparent over the last few weeks that something has to give and it looked like it might be cooking. We all love to cook and we all love to eat, but none of us has enough time to continue creating lavish meals every evening. The solution: the mighty and wonderful Slow Cooker of Awesome. Last night we ate a wonderfully warming lamb casserole (there are leftovers which will keep me in lunch for the rest of the week) and tonight it’s time to give Julie Goodwin’s Spaghetti Bolognese recipe a whirl, a household favourite when made on the stove top, which Julie assures us will taste even better slow cooked. Slow cooking is perfect for me because I don’t go to my ‘out of home’ job until the afternoon, so preparing a meal in the morning is easy as pie. Pie, which in fact, may just be our next slow cooked experiment! (Can you slow cook a pie?)

Little Things I’ve Loved: reading Little Women and being reminded of how much my sister and I loved the movie when we were children, making plans to visit my sister in Sydney, seeing June and July book themselves up busy, picking my first ever ripe tomatoes to go into tonight’s slow cook spaghetti, understanding the ways in which to get future plans happening and knowing they’re achievable, donating to Ell’s Live Below the Line challenge, wearing cosy cardigans and drinking warm ‘sleepy’ tea before bed, finding friendly new blogs to read.

Ell-Leigh loves:

Normal things that seem so awesome when you're sick: Earlier this week my nose was running like a tap, and I just chalked it up to allergies. Alas, here I am now with a rather fierce cold, downing cold and flu tablets, cough drops and chugging Berrocca. Last night I actually managed to sleep through most of the night, which was amazing, although in most other situations this would just be normal. Similarly, breaking our Below the Line challenge to get some pumpkin soup would usually be rather lame, but was so necessary and down right amazing because I felt so very crap and pumpkin soup is one of the most comforting foods known to mankind. I wish we could have made it to the end of the week, but alas, the virus that is now bullying my cells had a different idea.

My new Filofax: On Tuesday my friend Georgie and I went for a bit of a shopping trip in the city and visited the soon to close (cry!) Borders, where I met my true love, my new red Personal size Filofax. I spent the afternoon hole punching bits and pieces to put inside, and writing inspiring quotes on matching red love heart post-its and putting them on Mondays. I feel so organised and stylish, yay!

Writing Down My Goals: On Sunday afternoon I spent a few hours working on figuring out my goals and how I'm going to achieve them. I used Gala Darling's Love and Sequins 5 "How to Set Amazing Goals" to help me set them and my new Kikki K Goals book:

...to document them all. I feel so motivated and inspired... Get your hands on a copy of chapter 5 of Love and Sequins, just do it. For reals. It's really, really brilliant.

Little things I'm Loving: seeing how many home remedies for cold and flu I can pack into one day, sleeping in and resting, not being as snotty as yesterday (tmi!), taking my cold and a few other crazy things that have happened this week as the universe testing to see if I'm serious about my goals, Angry Boys, eating Raw Vegan Choc-Mint Cheesecake made by Carrie On Raw (it's amazing! So minty!), daily affirmations and meditation.

Things We Love Thursday

French Elle, 1970

Things Ell-Leigh Loves:

Sleeping: after a big exciting holiday and a long, sleepless flight home, getting eight hours of sleep is heaven for a weary traveler. Despite Autumn having settled in bringing her cold breezes and less than tropical temperatures while I was away for the last two weeks and the fact that I'm yet to buy a doona for my bed, I still managed to sleep more or less like the dead, and it was lovely!

Being home: Being the total homebody that I am, I love arriving home after a trip away. Being away makes you appreciate the little things like being able to make a salad just the way you like it, not needing wifi to check your emails or having a new book to read nearby without having to buy a new one (although buying new ones are fun too!).

Realising that I've achieved a few of my goals for this year already: At the start of the year I made a list of NY resolutions. Move out (check), see lots of theatre (check), stop buying so much stuff (check) read lots (super check), get a steady well paying job (checkaroo). I've also shrunk a little, revamped my diet to be much much much healthier and I've hit the gym quite a bit. All this and it's only the start of May! I believe they call that winning.

Other things I love: Being Great Takes Time - So Take It, hunting through the internet to find advice about writing and activities and such (like this one) - suggestions are welcome! Washing and putting away all the clothes I bought in Hawaii, having phone signal again, catching up with friends, wearing in my new black glitter Toms, drinking green juice again, Chai seeds, My youngest sister pretending to be a Hawaiian Monk Seal! Peppermint tea from T2, delicious! Hyperbole and A Half's Simple Dog!

Seventeen Magazine, 1967

Things Lauren Loves: 

Being ridiculously busy: Business is next to Godliness, that's the saying isn't it? It is for my week, at least. Choosing to look on the bright side of being busy has allowed me to thrive under pressure, accomplish pretty phenomenal amounts of work and helped me enjoy what I was doing by keeping me in the moment. Can I write a blog, run a business, review music, grow tomatoes, go to the gym and watch every episode of Master Chef? You bet I can.

Work Clothes: Working in professional environment means that sometimes my 'regular' clothes just don't cut it and wearing your favourite clothes to work every day does indeed take away some of their magic. Wearing clothes that make me feel good plays a huge part in how competently I do my job by boosting my confidence and allowing me to 'feel adult', even if sometimes I very much feel as though I'm not! This week I had saved enough money to buy a few more work pieces and I've had fun showing them off and feeling all hoity toity in my money making outfits.

Master Chef!: Ok, so I'll admit it, I'm an extreme sucker for reality television and cooking shows. Combine the two and you've got me hooked. I'm so hooked, in fact, that even though this year I can't watch in the evenings I'm making up the episodes in the mornings after yoga, which is what I call dedication. My picks for winners this year (incredibly early picks that could go very wrong considering we're not even out of top 50 week yet) are Nick and Dani. Yay Nick and Dani!

Little Things I've Loved: Picking my first couple of home grown tomatoes - going to The Wombats' show tonight for free, ahem, to work - Working involving seeing The Wombats - Anticipating a great weekend of Women of Letters, Himalayan food and time to finally get organised - Wearing warm tights and cardigans and celebrating all the chilly weather - Making a Life List - Dreaming of and then discovering that such a thing as The Rory Gilmore Reading List actually exists. I now know what I'll be reading for oh, probably the next decade.


Both of today's images we love come from Cat Cruise.

Things We Love Thursday

Right now, I'm loving all things red and knitted (not to mention the site these come lovlies come from). Gloves, hats, blankets, socks...winter can bring it on! 

Just a quick one this week, not because we're both not drowning in things to love, but because we're just so busy with them all!

Lauren Loves:

A list of the little things that I love this week: multivitamins, cuddly blankets, tasty cheese and snappy crackers, letters from friends, boardgame nights, wardrobe purging, snoozy tea, library time, pretty hair, delicious salmon, easter chocolates and their sparkly wrappings, drinking water by the gallons and weekend anticipation.
Ell-Leigh Loves:
Some of things I'm loving right now (all the way from Hawaii!): shopping, shopping and shopping some more!, reading (Wicked right now, for those with an interest), eating out in wonderful new restaurants, discovering cracker vegetarian meals in a world sometimes not so vegetarian friendly.

And from both of us, to all our new followers, readers and commentors, we're loving you!

TILT: We're on holidays!

Another beautful illustration by Jaquie Oakley

My ‘M’ Themed Things That I Love:

Mojitos, Mai Tais and other various cocktails… Yes, even one served in a pineapple. Living the dream, people!
Maui and the other Hawaiian Islands I’ve been to so far. They’re beautiful, and it’s great to learn about the Hawaiian history and culture as I cruise along between ports.
Me Time, lazing in the sun by the pool, reading Juliet Naked by Nick Hornby and veging out at the all you can eat buffets.

Lauren’s Things That I Love:

Visiting somewhere new where you know no one and can do whatever you please.
Enjoying a holiday after you’ve worked hard to get there.
Eating deeeeeeelicious food all of the time.

Things We Love Thursday - Travel Edition!

 

We're going on holidays!! Tickets picture found at the lovely The Design Files.

 New travel goal: to eat pizza in as many countries as possible? Picture found at Black*Eiffel.

Things Lauren Loves About Travel: 

Packing! - I’m a list maker at heart and I started planning what I would take on my trip to Victoria weeks ago. Because it will be much colder there than it currently is here in Brisbane, I bought a couple of new winter dresses and shirts which I will be very excited to wear on the trip. Finally this week I’ve been able to start putting it all in the suitcase without seeming a bit obsessive.

New perspective – going to different places always helps me garner perspective on my life back home. It helps me see things with fresh eyes, rearrange my habits and kick behaviours that only hinder my life from being awesome to the curb.

Relaxation – It’s been literally years since I’ve actually gone away on a relaxing holiday, if I don’t count going back home and staying with my family for Christmas. As well as partying hard (the reason I’m heading down is for my Aunt’s Hollywood Glamour themed 40^th), I’m planning on getting in lots of reading, food sampling, show seeing and generally living the good (slow) life. I’ve had to stop myself from pre-cramming the days with planned activities, instead I shall be attempting to go with the flow a little bit more.

Little travel things I’ve loved – the feeling of potential and excitement pulling out a big empty suitcase, printing out Melbourne maps and highlighting everywhere I’m going, dreaming about the deeelicious food I’ll be eating, making travel playlists, deciding which books to pack (books, I find, always set the tone of the holidays), getting organised at work so I can go away stress free, tidying my bedroom so it’s lovely to come back to, clearing my camera so I can take zillions of photos.

Things Ell-Leigh Loves About Travel:

Planning - I love sorting out all of the things I'm taking with me, and planning my hydration schedule (lots of water, coconut water and green juice!) so that I don't spend my first few days in Hawaii all dried up and feeling terrible. Packing is one of my favourite things to do, not only are you ensuring you have everything you need but it's a practice in appreciating the things you have that will go with you, and appreciating the journey you're about to take!

Shopping - Oh boy, I've waited so long for this holiday to come, not only because of the awesome sights I'll get to see, the beaches I'll get to lounge on and the cocktails I'll get to drink out of pineapples, but also because of the shopping. I haven't bought any new clothes for such a long time because I've been waiting until I get to go outlet shopping in Hawaii. And with the Aussie Dollar so strong against the Greenback, I can't see why not! New jeans and sunnies, here I come!

Little things I've loved this week (not necessarily travel related): Hanging out with my grandparents and chatting about gardening, noise cancelling earphones, neck pillows, my new tub of Ultrabalm from Lush which is so soft on the lips and smells faintly like rose petals, listening to 21 by Adele.

Posting will happen as normal while Ell-Leigh and I both jet set off to our destinations, and you can look forward to photos and tales of Hawaii and Melbourne fun times just as soon as we get back. While we’re gone we will also have a special guest writer, the lovely Kate Stark, contributing to some of the articles. Good friend and fantastic writer that she is, we couldn’t help ourselves from asking her to spread some of her talent around Easy Thrills Empty Pockets. Hooray for Kate, and a big, heartfelt thank you for helping us out!

Voila Kate! (this is not her actual face)

Things We Love Thursday

Picture by Kim Smith found here.

Ell-Leigh Loves

Documentaries: This week I've watched two docos, last week I watched another two, I think soon I may be "docu-ddicted". I love watching movies, but have always shied away from docos simply because the ones I'd seen had been Michael Moore films which I'm not particularly fond of... But the ones I've watched recently have been really brilliant. "The End of the Line" presents the shocking reality of the world's depleting fish stocks and it's repercussions. The cinematography is beautiful and it's narrated by Ted Danson (of Cheers, Becker and Bored to Death fame). The second was Food Inc, which was a mind-blowing film about how food gets to the supermarkets, and the plight of the American "farmer". Both really eye-opening.

Seeing the family: This weekend my family are heading up the coast to visit my Dad's side of the family for my Aunt's birthday party. I've been looking forward to it for weeks because we barely ever see my Dad's side of the family - quite understandably, they're a 6 hour drive away! Should be a lovely weekend!

Other things I love: my new water-bottle - no need to buy water anymore! Feeling creative and productive! Misfits - awesome show, and I'm loving the soundtracks! Reading! The Hungry Beast youtube channel! Face-masks and pampering!


Lauren Loves


Subscriptions: This week I happily received my first issue of The Lifted Brow in the mail, filled to the brim with readable goodness. I feel like magazine subscriptions are the ultimate luxury, and nothing beats the excited suspense of new issue week when you spend half the day running back out to the letter box to see if it has arrived yet.
 
Hard Work Paying Off: Remember when I told you about doing my first band interview for Life Music Media? Well, it’s published now!

Other things I love: perfect afternoon weather - finally getting to see and Never Let Me Go and Boy Girl Wall - quality housemate trashy tv time - strawberry cider - midday hot chocolates - buying special birthday presents for special people - catching up with old friends

Things We Love Thursday

 We love pretty pictures by talented artists like Jacqui Oakley, 

not just on Thursdays but all week round.

Ell-Leigh Loves:

• This week I've decided to try a few more of the recipes in the Crazy Sexy Diet book, and so far it's gone great! On Monday I had raw veggie "noodles" in a Thai inspired "peanut" sauce and yesterday I tried the Sweet Potato and Bean burgers - they were so good.

• Reading is on my list again this week, I hit the library yesterday and one of the books I took out that I've started reading is No Impact Man: Saving the Planet One Family at a Time by Colin Beavan, and so far it is a really interesting and entertaining read. I'm also about 100 pages from the end of Small Island by Andrea Levy, this book just keeps getting better! It's just such an interesting book.

• Watching movies is my third thing I've loved this week. Work has been really slow for me this week which has left me with plenty of spare time, so I spent Tuesday afternoon watching Dracula and Everything Is Illuminated, before I hit the video store and spent the evening watching Supersize Me for the first time... When I don't watch movies often I sometimes forget how much I love them!

 cake cake CAKE! 

(sourced from the impeccably pretty Hard to Remind, Impossible to Forget)

Lauren Loves

•  Hot Chocolate - Here in oz hot chocolate drinking weather is finally upon us again! After a ridiculously humid summer which made hot beverages seem a choice of the insane, autumn has brought with it drizzly days and cool(ish) breezes, and once again hot chocolate getting is at the top of my to do list. If all my drinks came with the hot chocolate cakes featured above, well then, that would just be heaven.

•  Lemon tree lemon tree lemon tree!! - Last week I mentioned how excited I am about growing tomatoes, you can only imagine how excited I am to be growing lemons! Given my history of going through a serious number of lemons, this bit of gardening should be an exercise in thriftiness as well as tastiness.

• Getting organised – I love to feel organised but, alas, I’m naturally not so good at it. I’m not a very visual perfectionist kind of person, so putting things away in their place isn’t always my first priority. I am a big planner and a big dreamer, however, and once the two combine I’m often left with a room that looks like it’s been mercilessly anti-robbed, where people have come in and dumped pointless stuff everywhere instead of taking any away. This week I’ve put my foot down, though, and have really begun getting everything together. Mercury being in retrograde and all, this isn’t the opportune time to let my organisation slip.

 

Things We Love Thursday

Lauren Loved

• I’ve mentioned before that I do a little volunteer writing for Life Music Media, and this week I did my first interview which excites me no end. It was an email interview, so it involved doing a little research, compiling some questions and emailing them to the band. Once they reply with answers I do a little editing, maybe put together a blurb for the beginning, and we’re all ready to publish. I’ve always secretly dreamed of becoming a Parkinson like figure, or even an Oprah (on her awesome interview days), and starting off in email format was a nice, relaxed first step.
• Growing tomatoes! To be honest, I don’t really like eating tomatoes as they are. But I have big plans for the babies growing on my balcony, mainly ideas like chutney and sun-drying and spaghetti bolognaise. At the moment they’re small and green and tiny and incredibly cute (for vegetables…I mean…for fruits!) and the way they get visibly bigger overnight is kind of like magic (can you tell I’ve never really gardened before?)
• Nail painting. I forget about my nails a lot, which makes the times that I remember them and paint them super exciting! At the moment they’re pink, but they’ve also been orangey-red this week, and there’s a planned transition soon to pastel-y green. 

Ell-Leigh Loved

• Swimming - my apartment block has two pools, and lately it's been too hot not to utilize them! I never enjoyed swimming as a fitness activity, but lounging around in the cool water is so relaxing on a hot afternoon!
• Healing Quickly - It's Thursday and already I'm back in the ring after Monday night's bout of Flood Flu. Although I put Tuesday aside for recovery, by Wednesday I was back on my feet and today I was back at the gym. Usually I'm moping about for days when I get a tummy bug!
• Other awesome things that I love: Using long lost shower products you forgot you had - Getting organised - Finding Crazy-Sexy-options at nearby restaurants that aren't boring - Working Out - Novels that are so creative and beyond your understanding that is blows your mind - This tweet from Kristen Vangsness (@Vangsness):

Things We Love Thursday

Ell-Leigh Loves

• Crazy Sexy Life - although the detoxing has been less than fun, I think there is a bright shiny new me waiting round the corner cheering me on through it. I've got way more energy, plus eating all these fresh veggies is making my tummy feel great! 

• First Sushi Train Experience - loved it! (Although it's slightly less Crazy-Sexy-Friendly, what with all the white rice, but it was close and I've otherwise been doing really well.)

• My TomTom app - which has been helping me drive around my new, thus far unknown city. Really useful last night until my phone died - luckily I knew where I was going at that point though!

• 90's music - this week "Every Time You Cry" by Human Nature, featuring John Farhnam has made a huge comeback. Some would call that embarrassing, I just call it awesome.

• Gala Darlings 'How to Move to NYC' post! Oh God I want to live in NYC so bad right now!

Lauren Loves

• Raspberry coloured things! 

•  Domestic disasters (oven exploding) leading to happiness (new & shiny oven!)

• Clearing off my desktop – I’m a big clutterer of both real and non-real spaces, my computer desktop always taking the hit. This week I cleared off a trillion icons and sticky-notes, and boy oh boy does it look lovely.  

• Sweet red wine after dinner + mint choc chip ice cream cones. Together they make an unbeatable combination of happy.

On Japan –

Both Ell-Leigh and I have been incredibly saddened by the awful news coming out of Japan this week. Having visited Japan twice and studied Japanese language and culture for years, it’s hard to believe that there could be so much devastation in a place so peacefully beautiful in my memories. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Japanese people and everyone affected by the earthquakes and tsunami.

 

Things We Love Thursday

Things Ell-Leigh Loved

•  Juice! Having bought a juicer last Friday, I've indulged in a variety of exotic fruit and veg juices this week, even including cucumber, an ingredient mostly overlooked in my juice repetoire.
• Reading - Having a little extra time on my hands recently I've been able to get into the books I've been reading; both Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and The Family Law by Frankie writer Ben Law. Also, my copy of Kris Carr's book Crazy Sexy Diet arrived this afternoon, and I'm already four chapters in!
• Big Love - Yes, the tv show...I recently started watching the first season and it's blowing my mind. I don't think I could have three wives, it seems like way too much hard work! 

Things Lauren Loved

• Making amazing dream plans for the future, and then beginning to make them happen. 
• Haircut! - Seriously, getting my hair cut is probably on my top five list of favourite things to do ever, and so having a bob which needs regular trimming is an all out win situation for me. This particular time was really incredibly cheap too! Yay! 
• Cleaning my fish tank - Probably not the most obvious on the things I love list, but  cleaning out my fish's tank always makes me feel superbly on top of things and responsible. And it makes Godwin (the fish) happy, he swims around with so much more energy and pizazz.
• Exercise - I've recently began reattending yoga classes and am soon to purchase a three month pass to my gym so I can do other classes as well. Hurrah for fitness and energy!

Things We Love Thursday

Things Lauren Loved

• Planning parties, designing menus and drawing up guest lists
• Changing my calendar over to March and getting excited about the beginning of Autumn
• Colour coordinating my books, the prettiest of all procrastination
• Visiting home on weekends and seeing old, old friends in between family engagements
• The excitement of launching Easy Thrills Empty Pockets after we’ve been planning for so long!
• Going to the dentist only to be told that nothing needs doing, yay!

Things Ell-Leigh Loved      

• Candles that fill the entire apartment with a delicious scent of caramel and vanilla
• Watching the little plants on my balcony grow! … slowly.
• Going home to the parent’s house and spending some quality time with the puppy!
• Epic pampering sessions including face-masks, blackcurrant scented body scrubs and moisturising that leads you to exclaim, “I am the goddess of all that is lemon-scented!”
• Having the time to write, read and have a good time with friends.