My Favourite Things #36

Kit Kat Gooey Caramel

These were my favourite chocolate bars in the world and then they had to go and stop making them. I was not happy to say the least. Since then I've been contended with just an ordinary Kit Kat until I saw them at the Supermarket.  Needless to say I was very happy, not even going to mention how many I've consumed so far...

 

Blue Sandstone Necklace

I just realised this was in the last My Favourite Things post but it's still one of my most favourite things I own so it deserves a second mention. Late last year Ellen and Tara from Shop Style Conquer opened a store which you can check out here with some gorgeous stone and crystal necklaces. Just looking through them all makes me want to get another necklace.

 

Design Life Podcast

Design Life is a show about design as well as side projects for motivated creators. The show is hosted by Charli  and Femke and each show approaches a different topic or issue.  While I'm not a designer I enjoy their discussions about side projects which make me think about mine (this blog) as well as the possibility of more. Every time I listen to an episode I'm inspired to do more and make better use my time.

 

Hope you all have a great weekend, I would love to know what are some of your favourite things at the moment.

 

Ashley xx

My Favourite Things #33

Passport

My passport finally came today and I'm really excited to have one. It's my first and I'm really fascinated with it.  Thanks to it being black and white I look very washed out in my photo, oh well.

 

Typo Diary

On Tuesday I went into Uni for an orientation thing and while I was there I thought I would go into Typo to see what diaries they had.  I was about to go for a blue/green one but then I saw this gorgeous peachy pink one, I love it.

 

Typo Letter

While I was there I saw these stick on letters. While I didn't need it I got one because it's pretty and I have no control. It's now stuck to my door.

 

Hope you all enjoyed this post and have an amazing weekend! Next week is the start of the first semester of uni, I'm a bit nervous but also looking forward to doing something that's not lounging around all day.

My Favourite Things #32

1 Day Beauty Deals

1 Day is an awesome website which has three different deals which last for one day.  Last week they had some beauty deals which I had to have a look at. I was so tempted to get a O.P.I set but ended up just getting one thing.  They had three Maybelline Volume Express Mascaras for $20 which I thought was a great deal as one is basically $20 anyway.  I needed a new mascara so now I've got some backups.

 

Love Tanya

This is Tanya's first book and I wasn't planning on getting it but when she started sharing images from the book I had to get it. The photo's are all gorgeous and I love how bright and pink the cover is.  The books a mix of everything; recipes, beauty tips, fashion tips and other things. I'm really excited to read it.

 

Getting out of the house

Uni hasn't started yet and over the break I've just been at home all of the time. Yesterday I ventured into uni to go to the library *yawn* but it was nice to have a change of scenery and just walk around the city.

 

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

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.

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!

My Favourite Things #28

Mirrou Elephant Dress

I completely forgot to include this in the post on Tuesday oops. But that just means I can include it in here and it is one of my favourite dresses I have even though it's a mission to try to get it on. 

 

So yeah, the top and bottom part look like separate sections but I love the effect. The design is cool, it has elephants as well as some other cool designs which I find hard to describe.  The straps at the back cross over and the back is open. This feature makes it impossible for me to put it on, I can't figure out where they're suppose to go, it took me at least 20 minutes to put it on once.

 

New Shoes

Yesterday I finally got to see Mockingjay, it was amazing, and saw it in the deluxe cinema with the comfy seats YUS.  Anyway afterwards we went shopping I we stumbled into Number One Shoes and I got myself a little pressie.

They're nothing fancy, just black slip on shoes which I can just wear anywhere because sometimes I'm lazy.

Vlogmas
Throughout December till Christmas numerous YouTube stars have been vlogging everyday which gives me quite a lot of viewing material to get through but I love them.  My favourites are Lily Pebbles, Tanya Burr, Zoella, Shaaanxo and Shop Style Conquer.

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

My Favourite Things #27

Auckland Art Gallery

Yesterday my friend and I paid a visit to the gallery as we both wanted to see the Light Show which is on at the moment.  It is AMAZING. I've always been fascinated with light and love how movement, water and illusion was incorporated to make the works come alive.

 

We also wandered around the rest of the gallery as we hadn't been in a while, we had a play with the lego's, my creations ended up falling over and breaking :( We also had a fun time in what I think is more of the children's area buut it was the best.

 

Here's me playing with thee lights

 

New Dogs

Last Sunday my family ended up with two new dogs. It's been exciting having something new around the house but I don't think the cat will agree.

 

 

The Black Lab is Molly and the fluffy one (not sure what breed) is Buddy.  Buddy is more chill while Molly is more adventurous, she is always jumping over the fence so she has to get tied up.

 

Christmas Lights

Christmas is my favourite time of year, I just love the whole atmosphere and I especially love Christmas lights on houses. My Dad has put lights up on a tree and the fence at home, he really wants some icicle lights and an inflatable Santa, I think I likes Christmas as much as I do. 

 

I love houses that go all out for Christmas such as the ones we saw last night at Karaka. There are two houses which are lit up. The owners in one of the houses have a sleigh and they do rides for children. The other one is amazing, the lights are programmed to light up with music and there is a screen that has images on it relating to the song.

 

This is a video I took of it last year

 

Hope you all enjoyed this post and have a great weekend. On Sunday is the Christmas Brunch Club. I'm both excited and nervous to meet everybody so hopefully I won't be as socially awkward as I usually am.



My Favourite Things #26

Passing my courses

Ever since I finished my last exam I've been checking every so often to see if my grades are up.  Yesterday they were and I passed everything which means I now have my BA! It's weird to think that it's over, I still feel like I need to pick my classes for next year and that the end is a long way off. I've applied to do honours (I have no idea why) so yeah, I had nothing else to do and the classes sounded exciting.

Auckland Christmas Bloggers Brunch

So every month there is a bloggers brunch were bloggers have brunch obviously and just meet and talk about blogs and other stuff I guess, I've never been to one before.  For December there is a special Christmas brunch and I bit the bullet and bought a ticket! I'm nervous and excited at the same time. I've never met anybody in person, just through twitter, and I'm not the best in social situations so hopefully I won't be too terrified to talk to anyone.

 

1989 Polaroids

I kind of went a bit overboard when this album came out. I first got it on iTunes, listened to it and got obsessed with it. My obsession then went up a notch when I went out and bought the physical deluxe copy of the album.

 

 

These beauties are pretty much the only reason I got it.  They're just so cool. There is 13 in each packet and every album has a different set which is bad for me as I want all of them but can't justify buying heaps of albums *sigh*. I'm not sure what to do with them, I've seen people put them on their walls so maybe I'll do that so they're better appreciated. I now really want a polaroid camera so I can have a wall covered with photos.

 

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

My Favourite Things #25

New Skirts
Last Wednesday, Guy Fawkes night, my parents and I made a dash to The Warehouse because my sister wanted some fireworks. Anyway while they were looking at what was left I of course wandered over to the clothes and found these babies.

 

Lately I've been getting into skirts and now own a lot more than I did a couple of months ago.  They're just plain skater style skirts which I love and the best thing about them is that they were $10 each! So of course I got one in black and the other grey and I love them.

 

My Suitcase

I've mentioned before there is family trip planned to the Gold Coast which I am excited about.  Last month or so my Mum has started buying suitcases and one of them was for me!

 

 

I just get so excited when I look at it. It's blue, it has wheels and sometimes I just like to walk around with it which is not weird at all.

 

And of course the best thing about going overseas is duty free so I've been trawling Aelia Duty Free** and making an extensive wish list. I won't lie I've mainly been looking at the makeup and fragrance section with a little peep at the confectionary.  For a while now I've had my eye on Marc Jacob's fragrances especially the new Daisy Dream, it's on the top of my list.

 

Travelling is something I've always wanted to do. Europe, especially France and Italy are my two dream destinations so sometimes I like to look at travel websites such as Webjet.co.nz**  to see how much I would have to save. This then makes me sad and that I really need to get a job *sigh*

 

End of Exams

Yesterday was my last exam for the semester and hopefully forever! It feels good but weird not having to study, I've been at uni for the past four years and it doesn't quite seem real that if I pass everything I will have a degree. I eventually will have to think about next year, I went to a info session about post grad for Art History which for some reason made me really excited as before I was just over it. Hmm still not quite sure what to do.

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

**Sponsored Link

My Favourite Things #24

Brush Egg

I bought this off complexions.co.nz and it arrived yesterday.  I heard quite a bit about it, it is suppose to help clean your makeup brushes. For me cleaning my brushes takes up a lot of time so I was interested in getting this to make it more easier.  You can get the egg in Mint or Pink, I obviously went for pink because I just don't enough things in pink. I'm excited to try it out.

 



 

Gaps between exams

Other than exams being completely done this is the next best thing.  This week has been very stressful and hectic.  I had an exam on Monday then one yesterday.  Unfortunately I was so stressed and anxious about the one on Monday that I kind of completely ignored studying for the other one. This meant after it was done I was cramming for the next two days, but I wasn't as stressed about this one. Maybe because the course was on Greek Tragedy and I am much better at remembering plots of stories/plays rather than names and dates.  Anyway my last one, Art History,is next Thursday so I've got some time to prepare.

 

Online Shopping

Lately I've been a little crazy with the shopping especially online.  So far I've bought stuff off of five different online websites and I've still got a list of other ones I want to shop.  I promised myself I'll only buy stuff after each exam to celebrate it being done. I had one yesterday which means today I shop! I really need to get some control.

 

Hope you all enjoyed this post! Hope you all have a great weekend :D

My Favourite Things #23

Popbasic Polka Dot Blouse

This finally arrived last week and is my most favourite piece of clothing ever.  I really like blouses, I think I need to get some more.  I just love how classic it looks, the black and the white polka dots. It would look great all dressed up with a skirt or dressed down with some jeans. Gotta love versatility. 

There is a Popbasic link along the sidebar at the bottom and if you click on it you'll get $15 credit to go towards one of their amazing collections!

 

Taylor Swift - 1989

I very rarely buy a whole album, usually I just do songs at a time which I know that I like.  However after hearing Shake it off, Welcome to New York and Out of the Woods I took the leap and got the whole album. I was not disappointed.  The whole album is amazing! At the moment the ones I listen to the most is Style, Wildest Dreams and New Romantics.  I already have the album digitally but I really want to get the hard copy as it comes with a series of polaroid's... yeah I'm definitely going to get it.

Lorde
Tomorrow is Lorde's concert in Auckland and I'm pretty excited, not as much as my sister, but still excited.  This this is the first time I'm seeing her live, I know it's going to be good so I'm really looking forward to it.  I am thinking of rocking her signature dark purple lip but not sure yet.

Hope you all enjoyed this post and have a great weekend and Halloween if you're into that. 

My Favourite Things #22

Last Week of Uni

Today is officially the last day of classes for the semester.  All that's left is exams and if all goes well I will have finally got my degree. It's a bit scary thinking about it especially when I'm not entirely sure on what I am doing next year but it's good to be finally done and having the sense of achieving something.

Tanya Burr Vlogs

Tanya vlogged everyday during September but it wasn't until the end of that month where I started watching them.  Since then I've been watching them over the last couple of weeks and on Monday I finished them.  It was a bit sad, it kind of became apart of my routine and now I don't know what to do with myself.  I especially enjoyed the ones with bits and pieces from London Fashion Week but I loved all of them.

New Taylor Swift Songs

I wasn't really the biggest Taylor Swift fan but I am obsessed with her new songs. It all started with Shake it off, which you can't help but dance to, and now it's Out of the Woods and Welcome to New York.  I love both songs.  Welcome to New York is very eighties and if possible makes me want to go to New York even more.  Overall my favourite would have to be Out of the Woods, I'm not quite sure why but I've had it on repeat for the last couple of days and am still not sick of it yet. 

Hope you all enjoyed this post and if your in New Zealand have a great Labour Weekend! :D

My Favourite Things #21

No more essays

Yesterday I handed in my last ever essay (hopefully) and it felt soooo good! It's getting close to the end of the semester and right now I'm kind of just over it all.  Essay's are the most painful thing ever and for some reason I just hate reading my own writing and I just can't stand editing. I've got an assignment and a test left to do then I'm all done apart from the exams at the end.  If I pass everything this semester I will have finally got my degree which is scary as I've been doing this for so long and I have no plans for what I'm going to do next.

Vlogs

Lately I've been really obsessed with vlogs all of a sudden.  There's heaps of them in my subscription box on YouTube and I just love watching other people's lives which are much more interesting than mine.  I have a lot of favourites including: Vivianna Does Makeup, Lily Pebbles, Essie Button, Zoella and Tanya Burr. Watching these videos are pretty much the highlight of my day and always put me in a good mood.

Return of awesome TV shows

It's that time of year where all the TV shows are starting back up again in the US and I'm soooo excited.  Once Upon a Time started back up earlier in the week and was so good! I've missed it so so much. As I'm writing this the Vampire Diaries are airing in the US and after that Reign.  These are another of my favourites shows and it's painful seeing all the tweets about the shows when I can't watch them and have no idea what is going on. 

 

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

My Favourite Things #20

The Illusionists 2.0

I mentioned last week I was going to the show and I really enjoyed it.  Unfortunately Mum got sick and couldn't come which was sad as she really wanted to go, my sister went with me instead as Dad thinks it's just all a con...  The show was amazing, it was part magic part comedy show and it blew my mind. I kind of wished I went more than once because I loved it that much.

 

Sam Smith covering Arctic Monkeys' 'Do I Wanna Know?'

When I saw Coup De Main Magazine tweet a link to this cover I clicked it straight away as what could be more perfect than this? I was right as soon I as I heard the first few seconds. Sam Smith's voice is amazing and coupled with one of my favourite Arctic Monkeys songs means that this cover is my new obsession and will be listening on repeat.

 

Having half the assignments as usual

Once again this is a little weird but is awesome. Usually you take four courses a semester and there are typically two pieces of internal work for each which adds up to eight all up.  This semester however I'm only taking three courses and two of them only have one piece of coursework. This can be a little daunting but at the same time I literally have half the work load I did last semester which good but not any less stressful.

 

Hope you all enjoyed this post and have a great weekend! Sorry about the randomness of my blogging I've had essays due in this week and the coming weeks so the blog will take a backseat for a while.

My Favourite Things #19

Stuff in the mail

I'm one of those people who always get excited when the mail has come and I love going out to the mailbox to get it even though there might not be anything for me (but you never know).  There was however a little something waiting for me when I checked the mail on Wednesday.

 

I mentioned last week I won a giveaway from Laura Loves Beauty Blog and it arrived in a pretty pink box! Inside were all the beauty goodies as well as some goodies to eat and there was also a sweet little card.  I'll do a post about what was in it next week.

 

Possible Holiday

My parents are selling a house that they rented and did up and my Dad said when the house is sold there's going to be a trip to the Gold Coast. I thought nothing of it as the house was on the market for a while and it looked like selling it was far off and also because my Dad has promised a trip to Australia ever since I passed NCEA Lvl 1 around six years ago so I wasn't sure he was that serious.  Fast forward like a week since I heard him say that and all of a sudden the house is almost sold, applications for passports are on the table and Mum and Dad are looking at accommodation online. I think this plan is actually serious. I'm really excited, it won't be till the middle of next year but it would be my first trip overseas and will be a nice break.

 

Taylor Swift - Shake it off

I know I'm not the only one that is obsessed with this song, it took me a couple of listens but now it's one of my favourite songs so much so I bought it and is now on my IPod.  I love to just listen to it when I'm feeling a little bla and it just puts me in a good mood and I can't help dancing and singing along to it.

 

Hope you all enjoyed this post! Tonight Mum and I are off to see the Illusionists 2.0 and I'm really excited. I really loved magic when I was younger and even got one those magic box sets from the Warehouse. I never got the hang of them though and just gave up eventually...

My Favourite Things #18

Winning Stuff

This week I found out I had won Laura Loves Beauty Blog's giveaway to celebrate her getting over 200 followers on Instagram.  Like I've said before I have a bad memory when it comes to things I've entered so once again I completely forgot I entered and was a great surprise when I won because I rarely win anything.  So yeah, that was my excitement for the week. 

 

Rimmel Apocalips

I have a feeling that I've mentioned this before a couple of times but I going to mentioned again because I love it so much.

 

 

My one is in the shade 303 Apocaliptic (I think) and is a nice hot bright pink.  I really love the applicator, the tip can nicely outline my lips and it's also just feels nice to paint my lips with it.  This has pretty incredible lasting power and is an absolute nightmare to get off but what can you do.  I now want all their shades.

 

The high feeling you get when you've worked on a essay

This one is really weird but it's true, when I've made some progress on my essays I always get this buzz.  I don't know how to describe it, it's like a feeling of accomplishment and also relief knowing it will be a little bit less stressful the day before the due date.  I have two essays to do but I've been favouring one over the other because (1) There's more words to do (2) It's due the first Monday back and (3) I still have no idea what I'm writing about for the other one :/

 

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

 

My Favourite Things #17

Red Shoes
I got these shoes for my birthday which was back in March and I hadn't really worn them much as I thought they didn't really go with most of my clothes.  One day I decided to wear them and I swear they're one of the most comfiest shoes ever.  Usually after a day of walking around uni my feet start to feel sore but in these shoes I kind of feel like I'm walking on pillows. They're also soft on the outside and I always find myself stroking them... and of course they're pretty.

End of Semester half

Today is the last day of the first half of the semester and I am sooo happy.  I get to sleep in, not have to catch the train and walk around Auckland when I have nothing else to do.  I do have a couple of essay's I do need to work on but I can deal with it as long as I can stay in my pyjamas.

 

Shopping

Shopping and being able to take the stuff home just instantly makes me feel better.  Farmers were having a one day sale yesterday so my Mum and I went along.  My aunt was there as well and we all found some great stuff especially in the clearance section which was full of gems including a denim jacket which I may of got... Expect to see a post next week! 

 

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



My Favorite Things #16

Nivea Vitamin Shake Cranberry and Raspberry Lip Balm

I got this while at Rotorua, it was $2 at the Warehouse and was too good to pass up.  I mentioned in Monday's post how chapped my lips were so I really needed to get a good lip balm.  I really like it, I put some on whenever I feel my lips are too dry and I have noticed a bit of an improvement of the state of my lips, they're no longer disgusting especially in the morning.  It does smell fruity but not as good as the Strawberry one and the balm itself is pink with fused hints of white which I love, it's just pretty to look at.

 

Essie Button's Nordic Vlogs
Essie and her boyfriend Aslan recently went on a trip to Denmark and Norway and vlogged their trip.  I've been obsessed with these videos, I find it fascinating seeing and learning about different countries and what cool stuff there is to do.  Watching these definitely makes me want to go to Europe and just travel around. It would be cool/freaky to just drive to another country.  You can watch her amazing vlogs here, here as well as right here.

Bloodlines - Silver Shadows
I've mention how much I love the Bloodlines series before, you can see a brief summary of it here.  The latest book, Silver Shadows has recently come out and I got it as soon as I could.  I'm trying to take it slow and not read it all at once but I'm kind of failing, oh well.  The previous book didn't end so well for the characters so hopefully things get better for them, i.e Sydney and Adrian find each other and have a sort of happy ending. I might of read the last page of the book... I tend to do that a lot, I'm not patient in finding out how it all ends *sigh*.

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

My Favourite Things #15

Shaaanxo Vlogs

Shannon recently went on a Contiki trip with some other YouTube stars and this week she uploaded some vlogs about her trip. She went around Europe to a number of countries which is something I really really want to do.  I especially love the videos which included Italy, it's one of my dream destinations and would love to see the Colosseum and the Vatican some day.  You can see all of her vlogs of the trip here.

 

Vatican City - St Peter's Square

 

Trip to Rotorua

Tomorrow/today when your all reading this I will be on my way to Rotorua.  My sister is doing this Tough Girl and Guy challenge (I think that's it) for here P.E class so we're all going apart from my brother.  I am so excited, it's like a mini little break and Rotorua is one of my favourite places to visit.  I'll try to take some photos so I can blog about it next week.

 

Chocolate Sundae

Last night/at this very moment as I writing this on Thursday my sister just drove off to McDonalds and got dessert YUS! I always get a chocolate sundae, always have and always will. It's one of the most delicious things ever and I'm always sad when I've finished it.

 

Hope you enjoyed this post and have a great weekend :D