Spring/Summer To-Do List

The warm weather has been slowly creeping back over the past few weeks, and with Saturday’s temperature set to hit 30 degrees, I thought it would be a good time to start thinking about the things I want to achieve this summer. When I say the things I want to achieve, I don’t mean goals as such. These are more things that I want to make an effort to do, things I always think would be fun to do over the summer but never seem to get around to doing. So without further ado, here is a list of some of the fun things I want to try and do this summer –

– Buy a BBQ and an outdoor setting for the back yard
– Set up the outdoor area in the back yard
– Go for long drives on warm evenings
– Make iced tea to drink on the weekends
– Create a new cocktail recipe to drink on balmy summer evenings
– Swim as much as possible
– Go for walks along the beach
– Spend a weekend at Rottnest Island
– Go back down south to the family holiday home for a weekend
– Get a professional pedicure
– Perfect 3 new salad recipes
– Re-read ‘ All in the blue unclouded weather’ by Robin Klein
– Go for evening walks before (or after) dinner
– Work on perfecting a heat-free hairstyle for work
– Go to the Royal Show

Are there any traditions you try to do every summer, or any things you’d like to try and cross of a to-do list this year? Also, do you think Ben looks beach-fit in the above picture?

Thoughts of the week…

01) I feel like I am forever on the hunt for pretty desktop backgrounds for the three computers that I frequently use (oh, and my iPad and my iPhone). You’d be surprised at how hard it is to find a nice background, especially considering the endless resources that are available online. I always seem to have trouble finding stuff that I like, especially stuff that is free to download and readily available following a quick google search. During the week I stumbled across Design Love, and bookmarked it immediately.

02) Liv Tyler is apparently pregnant again! How exciting!

03) Taylor Swift’s album is available for pre-order (it’s due out on the 28th of October, I think I’ll wait for the release date), and she’s been all over the news this week because of comments she made during her Rolling Stone interview about a famous enemy she has. We all know it’s Katy Perry, and I kind of love it. She also tweeted a link to this video taken on the day of her Rolling Stone photoshoot. It’s lovely. Fun fact: the photographer from that shoot is Liv Tyler’s ex boyfriend. THE MORE YOU KNOW.

04) We went for a lovely drive in the country today, and had lunch in a little country town called York. It was nice to take some time to get away for the day. I loved seeing the wildflowers along the way, although it’s not technically wildflower season yet.

05) Anna Wintour did the 73 Vogue Questions interview, and it was just as awkward and stiff as I imagined it would be. It’s amazing how easy it is to spot the different between ‘performers’ (actors, etc) doing these interviews, and people who don’t put on a show for a living. I swear I saw Anna’s hand shaking at one point during the interview. Perhaps she is human after all? Also, how much does her office look like the one from The Devil Wears Prada. Ha.

06) Urban Rituelle are having a sale (up to 65% off), but hurry because it’s ending on Sunday! Use code BIRTHDAYSALE when placing your order. Happy shopping!

07) This is a really interesting article.

08) I am tempted to buy Ben a spider costume for Halloween in an attempt to recreate this prank.

09) The 29 realest Tumblr posts about being Australian.

10) This live emoji feed is very interesting. I feel sorry for the lesser-used emojis now.

The 50 Book Challenge (part 7)

Not A Drop To Drink by Mindy McGinnis (6/10) – This book popped up on Goodreads a few months ago and it seemed like something I’d like so I ordered a copy when I placed my Autumn/Winter haul. I ended up enjoying this book a lot more than I thought I would (granted it did seem like the kind of book I’d like, but I’ve been let down so often with YA books lately that I didn’t have high hopes). Knowing that this book is targeted at a Young Adult audience, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the female protagonist was strong, capable, and didn’t annoy me in the slightest. There was also a twist at the end that was atypical of standard young adult stories, so that was an unexpected surprise.

We Were Liars by E Lockhart (5/10) – This book was getting so much hype that I couldn’t resist picking up a copy for myself, and as soon as it arrived it jumped to the top of my to-read pile. This is one of those books that it’s best you go into knowing little to nothing about, so I won’t go into too much detail here. I will say that I enjoyed it a lot and I managed to shoot through it in a couple of days (mostly because I was so eager to figure out what was going on, and I couldn’t wait to get to the end). This would make a good little beach read this summer.

Black River by Dean Koontz (1/10) – I noticed I was 4 books behind in my 50 book challenge so I decided to download a short audio book to listen to and bump my tally a bit. I hadn’t read anything by Dean Koontz before ‘Intensity’ earlier this year (which coincidentally, is one of my favourite books) and this seemed interesting enough so I decided to give it a go. Yes this book was short, so that was good. It was terrible though, so I struggled to get through even the short amount of time it took to listen to it.

In The Blood by Lisa Unger (8/10) – This was another book that I purchased up after seeing it on a friends Goodreads ‘to-read’ list (noticing a trend here?) and it was the last of my autumn/winter haul that I picked up to read. I didn’t guess the surprise element to this story until the very end, which is somewhat rare for me. There were a lot of twists and turns along the way to keep me guessing, which I really enjoyed. This is another easy read that I managed to power through in a few days because I was so eager to reach the conclusion. If you like mystery/thriller books, this is definitely worth checking out.

Product Review: Dove Pure Care Dry Oil

It’s been quite a while since something has come along that is good enough to be welcomed into my daily hair-care routine. The Dove Pure Care Dry Oil has easily been my favourite product over the last few months, and I now use it in place of my all time favourite Kerastase Nectar Thermique (you guys know how much I L-O-V-E nectar thermique, so that should be an indication of how much I like this oil). It’s a medium-weight oil, so I tend to use one pump and distribute it evenly through the ends of my hair before blow drying. It does an amazing job at making my hair soft and shiny, helps reduce the frizz factor (even during the seemingly endless period of rainy days we’re experiencing lately), and smells divine (soft and sweet and slightly powdery). The scent doesn’t transfer to the hair once it’s dry so if you’re not a fan of fragranced products that linger, you’re in the clear. The price is reasonable in my opinion, as this will be a long-lasting product and will end up being great value for money if you use it as sparingly as I do. The Dove Pure Care Dry Oil retails for $19.99 AUD and is available for purchase from Priceline, Coles, Woolworths, and selected pharmacies throughout Australia (note: this product was provided for consideration for review).

Thoughts of the week…

01) We went to see ‘Into The Storm’ last night and it was so good to finally watch a weather-based disaster movie on the big screen again! Although the underlying plot was nowhere near as good as Twister (still one of my favourite movies), the special effects were great and as a whole I enjoyed it quite a lot.

02) Jimmy Fallon & Adam Levine played ‘Wheel of Musical Impressions‘ and it was great

03) A sober nightclub sounds right up my alley, to be honest.

04) Ben says hello.

05) News broke this week that Perth is getting 7-11, which means we’ll have ready access to Krispy Kreme and Slurpees. I don’t care much about Krispy Kremes (they’re nice, but nothing I’d line up for), but I’ve always wanted to participate in free Slurpee day. I guess now I’ll have my chance!

06) These Parks & Recreation Emojis are awesome. I would use the hell out of the Tom Haverford one. #treatyoself #withemojis

07) This woman is courageous and inspiring.

08) So I never actually got around to purchasing tickets to the Miley Cyrus concert later this year, but they price has been reduced to around $80, so I guess that’s a good thing… Now I just need to get off of my butt and organize some tickets.

09) We’re finished with season one and making our way through season two of House of Cards, and the season opener blew my mind. This show is definitely worth watching, if you haven’t already tuned in.

10) We decided to bite the bullet and plan another (very small) little getaway for the end of this year. It’s only for a weekend, but it should be a nice little break. After that there will probably be very few holidays until our trip to the USA at the end of next year. But that will be worth the wait!

September Goals

First of all, lets see how I did in August –

– Set up my new personal agenda
– Clean out the main hutch in the living room
– Finish organising my makeup collection
– Sort out my health insurance coverage
– Write a general plan for cleaning out the walk in wardrobe

Not a bad effort all up, and I finally managed to finish cleaning out my makeup collection, which had been a ‘work in progress’ for a few months now. I still haven’t sorted out my health insurance upgrade, but that’s mostly because I need to call them during working hours and I never get around to doing it. I’ll add it to the list again this month, and we’ll see how we go! Here is what I’m hoping to achieve in September:

– Organize a present for my BFF’s 30th birthday
– Sort out/upgrade my health insurance coverage
– Go to the Perth Royal Show
– Catch up on the 50 Book Challenge
– Start cleaning out the walk in wardrobe
– Get my health issues under control

I am 5(!) books behind in the 50 Book Challenge, so I’m making that a priority this month. How is everyone else doing with their goals? Has anyone finally managed to cross something off of their list after a few months of avoidance?