Getting Out of the House

I'm horrible at planning/time management hence why I tend to do posts they day that they are to go live. Today I was stuck as to what to do, nothing seemed to inspire me and creatively I was at a low. I really wanted to share what I did yesterday, I filmed some short clips but I'm lazy and couldn't be bothered editing it today. That idea led me down a path in which I ended up here. Writing about how it's good to get out of the house, a mental health day, even if you're a social phobia introvert like me.

Birthday Gifts 2016

It was my birthday not that long ago so I thought I would share what I got. Posts like these are cool to look back on, especially since my memory is horrible.

YouTube Fitness

This year I kind of wanted to really focus on my fitness. Me and physical activity don't get along, I hated PE at school. The only physical sport I liked was swimming which I still do. I've been really wanting to get into Yoga so I thought the easiest way to start was through YouTube.

New Year 2016

Greetings! I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas which included eating too much and having a lifetime supply of chocolate which will only last until early January if you're lucky.

 

I did a New Years post last year so I'd thought I would continue the tradition. This post will be very similar to last years, I have the same goals (if that's what you want to call them) which I want to continue working on.

 

I still want to be less scared of opportunities and not stress about everything. I want to be able to say yes rather than over analyse and then not end up doing anything because I invent problems that might occur. 2016 will be a year of change for me and doing new things. I won't be studying so I have no real plan for the year. Job hunting is top on my list but I also still have the desire to learn; skills to help with this blog, languages and whatever else I feel like wanting to know more of.

 

2015 was stressful, especially during the last few weeks of uni where it was the first time ever that I almost reached breaking point. I wasn't feeling that great about how I did with my courses so I was super relieved that I passed everything.

 

 

I hope you all have a great New Years wherever you are in the world and are ready to embrace the new opportunities and experiences 2016 has for you. In keeping with doing new things in 2016 I'll be in Wellington in the New Year which is a first. The image above is a still from a video I took on my new camera. I was thinking of making a little vlog but I'm not sure how well it will turn out. Like I said trying new things

Ashley xx

 

Dreaming of Wanderlust

 

 

For the longest time I've had wanderlust, ie a strong desire to travel. This desire only increased when I went over to the Gold Coast in March and now that I have finished my degree and have no plans at all for next I find myself wanting to just get out of the country and explore.

'Dreaming of Wanderlust' is a little travel series which I thought would be cool to do where I write posts about countries and tours I really want to experience. Basically I'm creating a travel bucket list for myself.

One of the things I like to do is to go on travel websites and plan imaginary trips. It's fun but it also reminds me that I need money which entails me to have a job *sigh*. Like with anything these days it's much more easier and accessible to do things on apps. The website Webjet: Aus link here**, NZ link here**, which is great to look for flights/hotels/cruises etc, now has an app which allows you to window shop imaginary trips if you're anything like me.

 

 

 

The app is really easy to use which is great cause for me if something is too hard to figure out I just don't even bother. The screenshot above is of the flights section and as you can see there are separate sections for return, one way, multi city and you just add in all the other information. As you can see I played around with it pretending I'm gonna go to LA.

 

 

As well as flights you can also book hotels and hire cars. The app even has a flight tracker which is cool, you just put in the flight number or just search any flights between two destinations. Overall the app is simple to use and can aid you in your wanderlust daydreaming.

 

You can get the app from iTunes** as well as the Google Play Store** and it's free!! Yay for free things.

 

I would love to know what dream holidays you all want to have. Please tell me I'm not the only one who window shops flights. xx

 

**Sponsored Link/Post 

October Review - Hello Again

It's been a long while since I've written something that won't count towards a degree. I won't lie it's nice to not be having anxiety attacks wondering if an essay has a good enough argument and actually makes sense. Here's a fun fact for you all, I HATE reading my own writing. The thought of it actually makes me ill so editing is my form of hell.

This kind of sums up October for me.  Everything just came crashing down and it felt as though the weeks and hours were going so fast. Even while time was moving fast it felt as though it would never end. Thankfully it has and I never ever want to read anything on Rembrandt or Titian.

With that out of the way, HELLO! How are you? How's your October been? This post is my reintroduction into the blogging forum. I'm excited to do something creative, not just with arte della moda but in general. I don't know why but I'm just in the mood to do something, to be creative, be spontaneous.

So yeah, thanks for reading if you got this far xx 

Happy 2nd Birthday!!!

Things have been very stressful at the moment uni so there hasn't been much on the blogging front but I had to do a special post to celebrate art della moda's 2nd birthday!

Thanks to everyone that has read and commented on the blog, it means a lot to me :D

I promise once the semester is over blogging will resume.

xoxo

July Review

It's been a while since I've done one of these. The last few months have been so hectic that I haven't done much blogging let along reviewing it.  Anyway hopefully I'll be back on track.



 

Makeup.co.nz #002

There was a free shipping offer on, need I say more.

 

Life Update

Things were a little bit quiet on the blog so decided to do a little update.

 

Beauty Sale 2015

My Aunt brought me along to a massive sale again, bought the exact same things.

 

Killing Monica

Another book review courtesy of Hachette NZ.

 

Hope you all enjoyed this post xx

Life Update

Sooo I haven't been blogging, sorry. I kind of underestimated 1. How much 60hrs is, which is the amount of time I have to do for my placement and 2. How I'm a serial procrastinator and basically didn't do any work on my dissertation for the first half of the break.  I'm really bad at this.

I thought I would do a little life update post as it's something different and someone might find it interesting.

As I mentioned I'm doing a placement as part of my course throughout the semester break.  I am a 'Heritage & Research intern' at the Auckland Central Library and I've really been enjoying it.

As part of the placement I've been writing blog posts and editing Wikipedia pages.  With the Wikipedia pages I have just been copying information from previous blog posts on the Library's blog and adding it in and linking back to the library.  The blog posts are really interesting, I blog about items in the Sir George Grey Special Collections. There are a lot of cool stuff in there that you can look at.  I've done two blog posts; one on the 150th Anniversary of the publication of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the Rossdhu Book of Hours.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica 

 



It was amazing to physically see and handle these books.  The library has a first edition of 'Through the Looking Glass and what Alice saw there' as well as a copy of the original story before it became Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

 

Looking at the Rossdhu Book of Hours was really amazing. I had studied Books of Hours at uni and to actually see a book from the 15th century with my own eyes was surreal.  The books typically have actual gold leaf to decorate the pages which makes them sparkle in the light. 

 

So along with that I'm trying to get myself to write the draft of my dissertation. It's not going well, procrastination is something I can't fight *sigh*.  I also have a catalogue assignment to do as well and there's so much reading. I actually can't wait for the start of semester when I can be done with it.

 

Hope you all enjoyed this post! xx

Life: University Research Essay

For today's post I thought I'd might do something art related so I'm sharing what I'm working on at the moment for my big essay as that's the only thing I have on my mind at the moment.

 

I'm looking at the Poesie paintings that were commissioned by Philip II of Spain and done by Titian.

 

 

Danaë with a Nurse, 1553-54

 

 

Venus and Adonis, 1554

 

 

Diana and Actaeon, 1556-59

 

 

Diana and Callisto, 1556-59

 

 

Perseus and Andromeda, 1554-56

 

 

Rape of Europa, 1559-62

 

(Images from Web Gallery of Art)

 

It took me a while to come up with an angle that hadn't been done before. The most common angle is comparing the paintings to the poems of Ovid which the subject matter is derived from. Other avenues include looking at the paintings as visual poetry, tragedies and the iconography.

 

After much stress and panic I think I've settled into looking at the paintings as messengers of power.  They were for Philip II of Spain, son of Charles V the Holy Roman Emperor, and were commissioned not long before he was betrothed and married to Queen Mary I of England.  Portraits were usually used to show power but I've thought of a couple of ways in which these paintings convey Philip's power as King of both Spain and then England.

 

Hope you all enjoyed this post! This is pretty much what my life revolves around plus all the other assignments I have. At least they're pretty to look at. xx

Graduation Gifts

I graduated last Monday and before we left my Mum gave some graduation presents! Can you tell I was excited? :p

 

When I saw the Pandora bag I got excited but I of course opened the card first because that's just what you're suppose to do.

 

I got another ring, which I'm kinda loving at the moment. It's made of a series of infinity rings, it's silver apart from one that's gold. I love it. It's the wrong size so I haven't worn it yet.

 

I also got another charm for my bracelet.  My Mum is obsessed with owls so when I saw it I just thought she got it because it was a owl, then I realised it had a graduation cap on. It's so cute and is a nice addition.

 

Hope you all enjoyed this post! xoxo

 

 

Childhood Jobs

 

So last week my Uncle had a birthday party and while I was there I had this conversation with my young cousin.

 

Her: Do you go to college?

Me: Yeah, I go to university.

Her: Is that where you go when you want to learn what you want to do?

Me: Um, yep.

Her: What do you want to do?

Me: Um something to do with galleries and museums.

Her: Oh, that's big... I want to be a teacher

 

It was cute to hear that she wanted to be a teacher especially since her aunt, my cousin, is one.

 

It got me thinking about when I was young and all the jobs I wanted to do when I grew up. When I thought about it I realised I went from one direction to another.

 

The first job I can remember I wanted to do was to be a dentist. I have no clue where it came from especially at my Primary School there was a separate building for the dentist when they came and the students all called it the murder house.   I also don't like blood that much and people's mouths are disgusting so I have no idea what caused me to want to go into dentistry.

 

I was creative when I was younger and I would come up with little short stories as well as paint pictures. Calf Club was my favourite time of year as went spent most of the time doing our art which was to be judged.  When I started high school I knew I wanted to do something with art, maybe even become an artist. From I think Yr 12 I decided I wanted to do design and even thought of studying it at Uni.

 

In the middle of Yr 13 I did a complete 360 and just started to hate design, I realised that I wasn't very good at it. My love then went to Art History which I also took in Yr 13 and then majored in for my BA and now I'm studying it at Honours level.

 

I have a lot of interest that I want to pursue. Art History; working in a museum or gallery is one of them as well as tourism. My dream job would be working in a museum/gallery somewhere in Europe and being able to travel a lot.

Hope you all enjoyed this post! I'd love to know what you wanted to do when you were younger. It's interesting to see if you've stuck to it or completely changed.

Dealing with Stress



As far as I can remember I've been a very anxious person. I get anxious and stressed about many things; social situations and school/uni are probably the main two I deal with.  I just overthink and stress about everything, most of which is out of my control.  I'm no expert on how to deal with stress but I thought I would share how I deal with it.

 

I'm doing Honours at uni and like with my BA I procrastinate pretty much all of the time. I can't concentrate on work for long periods of time and end up spending hours on YouTube. Procrastination of course leads to less time to actually do work which means I have to rush and be stressed about it all. 

 

But sometimes procrastination can be good. It gives your mind a break from thinking about a certain thing and when you return you'll have fresh eyes to then figure out what you were doing.  Ever since uni started I've been trying to figure out the main argument of my big research essay. I've seen what's already been done but for the life of me I can't come up with something that hasn't been done already (though I think I've solved it now). 

 

On Sunday instead of hiding away in my room on my laptop I went out to watch my sister's football game. It was really good to get out of the house, outside and into a new environment. I gave me a chance to breath and not have to think about work.  Getting outside and going for a walk is great as well and it's exercise, good for your body and your brain. 

 

Like I mentioned before I like to escape stress by watching long amounts of YouTube, vlogs mostly as other people's lives seem more interesting than mine. 

 

Listening to music also helps, it takes my mind of everything and I just tend to sing along and dance. 

 

Binge watching TV shows is also something. I've recently started watching Charmed again from the beginning. Who remembers that show? I loved it when I was younger, think it was something to do with witches. Also Game of Thrones is finally back! God I've missed it.

 

And of course there's online shopping which isn't good for my bank balance but hey whatever makes you happy and for me there is nothing more exciting than getting presents in the mail.

 

Hope you all enjoyed this post! Like I said before this is how I deal with stress, you could do totally different things which is great.  P.S Some online shopping came today and I am supper happy!!!!

Gold Coast Memories

I warn you now this post is predominantly made up of photos.  These photos trigger memories of my trip to the Gold Cost, the places we'd been, the sights, the heat.  I had the best time; we mostly shopped, went to Sea World as well as Movie World and we came across a snake which we have now learned wasn't Australian and is now somewhere in the Gold Coast.  Anyway enjoy!

 

 

Where we stayed was an apartment building rather than a hotel. We were on the 26th floor (eeek! Mum did not like it at all) and had views of the ocean as well as the city.  On the city side we could see the trams and across the road there was a mini putt and two crazy rides. Pretty much every night we could hear screams from people on them.  I loved the view, especially at night when it was all lit up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you all enjoyed this post! xxx

My Favourite Things #31

Liner Note Kids Shirt

This T-Shirt brand is designed by NZ YouTuber Charli Marie who is now living in London.  I loved the designs so much I bought one before the cut off date.  As you can see I got 'High-Def Hopes and Dreams'. I just love the typography and the design of it, I know I'll be wearing it a lot.

 

Phone Case

On Boxing Day I checked out Ebay and found some cheap phones cases and bought one which turned up this week. Of course it's pink, it's a hard case so hopefully it will protect it but I very rarely drop my phone (hope I don't jinx it).

 

Disney Vlogs

Lately I've been watching a lot of YouTube mostly vlogs by Pixels and Pixie Dust which are two sisters from Auckland who are obsessed with Disney.  One of the sisters, Megan, is currently dong the Disney International College Program which is something I really want to do and have applied for (eek!) So I've been enjoying learning what it will be like.

 

Hope you all enjoyed this post and have an amazing weekend!

My Favourite Things #30

My Favourite Things is back for 2015!

Finding a new blog design

For a while now I've been wanting to give the blog a makeover.  I've been searching for designs, mostly on Esty, and there is so many to choose from! I know I want it to be simple and classic and not be too confusing.  Looking at the designs makes me more excited about blogging which is good.  I'm also thinking of changing the blog's name, I'm not sure yet.

 

Just a little inspiration from Pinterest

 

New Twitter follower

So yesterday Shaaanxo  asked her followers to tweet her their favourite video of hers (does that sound right?) So I did and then I checked Twitter and I was like OMG! SHE FOLLOWED ME!!! I was seriously freaking out but only internally, I was on the couch with my sister and Mum and they would have thought I was weird. So yeah, that was the highlight of day/week.

 

Buddy got a haircut

Our dog got a haircut today. I posted a photo on Facebook but I'll put it on here too as his cuteness just needs to be shared.  He's also very soft and looks 10 years younger.

 



Hope enjoyed this post and have an amazing weekend. My sister has a rugby tournament at the Mount tomorrow so I might go to that as I have nothing else to do.

Christmas Gifts 2014

Hey

I'd thought I would share what I got for Christmas as I'm always interested in what other people got for some reason.

Pretty most of what I got were chocolate/lollies and they're pretty much all gone now... I'll just mention the interesting stuff.

From the Parents..

Alarm Clock: I think my parents are trying to hint at something... Seriously though I do actually need this. During the holidays my sleeping cycle is just messed up, don't even want to say what time I woke up today.

Ring: This is one my favourite gifts. I just love bows and in the middle is a tiny diamond which my Mum had to mention as I never noticed it. It's just soooooo pretty.

Phone: This was my 'big/main' present. I put it on my list but I never thought I would get it so I was surprised.  My old phone was just annoying, it was old so it couldn't get any new updates and it was also pretty bulky and my thumbs were too big for the screen.

The award for the present I wasn't expecting but love the most is this, a new desk chair.  The photo is bad, it's more of a darker purple, but it's a purple chair! How cool.  Anyway for sure this is the present I will use the most, I'm even using it right now.

I also got some new pyjamas, earphones which I really needed as my others stopped working and my siblings and I got some Australian spending money for our trip which I am really excited about.

From the siblings..
My brother got me a ITunes voucher which was much needed. I wiped clean my IPod and put all my music back on. I've been meaning to do it for ages, feels good.

My sister's gift was really surprising but awesome.

How did she know!!! Seriously though how did she.  She's not really that interested in makeup, my Mum might have possibly told her but oh well it's awesome.

One's a matte and other is more glossy. 

The one on the right, the matte, is Showy Flamboyante and is a pretty pink shade and is perfect for summer days.

On the right is Vivacious Exuberante, a glossy pink red, a colour perfect for Christmas. I wore this on Christmas day and is what I'm wearing in my profile picture.

Hope you all enjoyed this post!

New Year

Hello again

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and ate too much food and chocolate. I know it's true for me, the Christmas ham will probably last all of January but not the chocolate with the way I'm going through it all.

 

Today is the last day of 2014. 2015 is a new beginning and it feels exciting have a fresh slate and to see what comes of it.  I'm particularly excited about my family's trip to the Gold Coast in March, my first overseas trip.

 

2014 was ok, I completed my degree (still can't believe I've finished) and I saw some amazing concerts; Justin Timberlake, Lorde and Katy Perry who was for sure the highlight out of all of them.  It was ok as everything is still basically the same, I'm sat in the same position as I was last year.

 

In 2015 I want to be less scared of opportunities and just do what makes me happy rather than what I'm expected to do if that makes any sense.  I'm very shy, socially awkward and I overthink everything which is not a great combo.  In 2015 I want to stress less and to just do things rather than overthink to the point were I don't do the things I want to do, that doesn't sound hard at all :/

 

Anyway I hope you all have a great New Years wherever you are in the world and are ready to embrace the new opportunities and experiences 2015 has for you.  

 

Ashley xx

 

My Favourite Things #29

Katy Perry
Literally just today I managed to get some tickets to Katy Perry that aren't that bad that I know of. Oh well, I'm going!!! I saw her when she last came to NZ way back in 2011, she was amazing and I am super excited for tomorrow night! :D

 A photo for you all because she's such a babe <3

 

Mirror

Last week I went a bit crazy on 1 Day, it's a website that has three different deals on anything and they last for 24 hrs. I bought three things, one was a Christmas pressie and the other two were for me oops. When I saw this mirror I knew I wanted it, I don't really have a good mirror on a stand and felt it was a necessity.

 

It is huge! It spins around and one of the mirror is magnified which is something to be weary of.

 

Gym Ball

I got this in the same sale as the mirror. I've always wanted one of these balls so when I saw it I went for it. 

 

 

It's so fun and squishy! So much fun that my sister keeps taking it and using it.

 

Hope you all enjoyed this post and have a great weekend!