You see, sure, I live in Melbourne, but I actually live in the western suburbs – born and raised. I’m not a trendy east sider, I’ve only been to Chadstone like five times, and four of those were because I went to Monash University. Before 2009 I had only ever been to Chaddy once. Highpoint is my local shopping centre (mall) guys. That’s where we go to shop ‘big’ if we ceebs getting all the way to the city. I’ve been online shopping for quite a few years now, but I have to say, what I saw today impressed me. I might be going to actually try things on before I purchase them more often now. I guess you guys can take this post as some sort of window shopping adventure with me

Aaah, the early beginning of the day, in the car park. Dayum my hair is getting long! Too bad it doesn’t really seem to get much longer than this length =/

Um, my sister and I found this Level 1 1/2 very amusing. Reminded us both of platform 9 and 3/4 from Harry Potter xD My sister is wearing an American Apparel shirt, Motel Rocks jeans, Jeffrey Campbell shoes and is holding a Topshop bag.

Our first stop was this cute, quirky called Urban Attitude. I tried on a pair of nice sunglasses inside, but I’m not so certain they suit me. My sister bought a pair though, she is OBSESSED with sunglasses!

I’m actually not a MASSIVE fan of macaroons, but we decided to try two of these anyway. Cookies and Cream and New York Cheesecake. Both were quite good. Plus, doesn’t pretty much the entire universe like these?

Next we decided to check out Universal Store. I first noticed one of these stores during one of my trips to the Gold Coast. I remember thinking the store was pretty cool, and now there is one 20 minutes away from me!

I really liked that pink bag, so cute! My sister was a massive fan of the jumper with the wolf.

Ok, now THIS, I was surprised to see. FAT, on the west saaide?! No way! But great! My sister has never walked into Fat, however, somehow, seeing one at Highpoint made it more approachable, so we both went in and she liked what she saw.

I really liked this fountain they have on display in the store. It looks kinda cute and creepy simultaneously to me. The entire store is decorated really nicely actually

Ah, and man, those watches were really beautiful. Especially the peach coloured one, soooo nice.

I told you the store looked awesome! Was I right?

I think most people were quite impressed with this store – Super Glue. I believe it’s like a huge concept store created by Glue, have you guys ever heard of Glue? If so, what I just said will probably make more sense. Either way, it’s a nice store. With many nice items inside, it’s also quite large. It reminds me of the stores I was impressed by while I was on exchange in the U.S in 2010. I was truly impressed by this store dudes.

I mean, what a good idea, they appear to have in store tailoring services!

Um, I never expected that it would be possible for me to actually buy a Unif product near my house, I MEAN, WOW, THAT IS JUST…. SPECTACULARLY EXCELLENT! RIGHT?! RIGHT, RIIIIGHT?! Hhahhaahha, it’s 1.30AM right now, excuse my hyper activity, I’m fairly delirious atm. But no, anyway, soo much goodness in Super Glue. Unif, Ragged Priest, Stylestalker, Motel Rocks, there were loads of stunning prints, spikes galore. Speaking of spikes, how awesome and rad would that spiked clutch be as a make up bag?! Yeah, that’s what I would use it as, an amazing make up bag My make up bag right now is just… meh, so boring.

An entire wall dedicated to denim. Great for people like my sister who seriously adore their jeans. They also sell beautiful magazines, like Lula! That particular issue pictured looks, omg, INCREDIBLE.

Pictured up above are a pair of very nice shoes. Yup, I’m captain obvious, duh!

I tried on a Miss Selfridge dress at Super Glue, isn’t it cuuuute?! I wasn’t sure whether I should buy it though. AKJSKJHSKD, I wish I was rich sometimes T_T what do you lovely people think? Y/N?

I personally enjoyed this pretty design displayed in the new Nike store window.

Interesting window display at the new Bardot store.

A colourful setting for what is to soon be a GAP store I believe. Also a pair of great flatforms I found in the new Lipstick store. Apparently it’s the first stand alone Lipstick shoes store in Australia :O Ooh Highpoint, so special you are!

I think this is what a lot of people came to see. Man, it’s a big store. We spent quite a lot of time in there.

AAAH, I LOOOOVE SOCKS! Socks and tights, can’t get enough of these things! What about you guys, is anyone else just as in love with socks as I am? For reals, socks are under rated! ESPECIALLY IN MENSWEAR. Random, but true.

We were holding so much that a nice sales assistant came over and offered us the personal shopping option. So we had a room to ourselves to try clothes on. The stylist even set up outfits with the clothing we gave her. I’m so jealous of that lady, I would LOVE to be a personal stylist, ooh man, that’s like, one of my dream jobs.

I pretty much liked everything I tried on. I might go back and purchase those shorts and the top tomorrow. Hopefully they’re not sold out =/ eeeeek.

Mmm, delicious looking chocolate *drools*

My sister who is fortunately no where near as broke as me, bought so much. Crazy shopper girl. I on the other hand, was merely day dreaming about the Alannah Hill bag pictured, isn’t it beautiful? 0__0

We stopped to eat after a few hours, and I was feeling quite exhausted. As you can see in the photo above. We both noticed that our eyebrows weren’t looking that amazing, so decided to get them ‘fixed’. It hasn’t even been a year that I have been regularly getting my eyebrows waxed. After hearing a few horror stories, I was always too nervous and just thought it seemed pointless, especially because I have a fringe. Last May, on an impulse, I decided to get them done at Benefit Brow Bar, and I’ve been hooked ever since! They do such an amazing job at Benefit, your make up is fixed afterwards, and I’ve never had a bad experience. All the girls are so nice and are basically experts in their trade.

The online social media manager happened to be at the bar today, I mentioned that I was a blogger, she noticed I was taking photos, and decided to help me get some good shots. HOW NICE OF HER. I’ve been bluntly told, many times, to stop taking photos in various stores, so being embraced as a blogger by such a huge company was a nice change Like I said, the girls at Benefit are amazing.

The good shots included me sitting like some sort of royalty. HAHAHAHA, I did NOT expect this to happen, I felt kinda bad for the guys, I hope I wasn’t too heavy to lift. What an interesting job, being paid to walk around topless.

If you feel like having incredible looking eyebrows, try Benefit, you won’t be disappointed. My sister was hesitant at first too, but I talked her into it and now she would never go anywhere else.

We decided to check out David Jones, I mean, we had to.

I’ve always wanted a hat but have yet to buy one. There’s so many different options, I have no idea which option looks the best. I guess that is one downside to unlimited choice… how do you know what to choose?

More virtually unlimited choices!

Correna approaching funny looking Samsung dude. Hahahaha.

We ended our day by attending a Runway, showcasing Autumn styles by retailers at Highpoint. It was presented by Poppy Dinsey of WIWT.com fame. Her entire outfit was Forever New, I believe… I think, I hope I’m right! She seemed like such a natural presenting, I’d be soo nervous.

I took SOO MANY PHOTOGRAPHS, but I don’t want to keep you guys here till Christmas so I’ve condensed it to my favourite looks. That printed blazer above is stunning.

I adored this outfit!

My sister was a major fan of these dresses. I think the dress on the left is by Cue and Correna looves Cue.

I was feeling all the monochromatic suit style looks going on.

As you can see, I definitely wasn’t the only person taking photos.

Aah, the end of the day, like seven hours later. I was exhausted, I STILL AM EXHAUSTED. But, er, nice shapes huh? My dress is from topshop, tights are also from topshop and the shoes are agyness deyn x dr. marten.

Everybody loves receiving free items and I received plenty in this goody bag provided at the runway show.

Here it is. A McDonalds Sundae voucher is included, my boyfriend is going to like that!

My purchases. I really needed a bag that could fit my laptop and I couldn’t resist the socks. If I actually had money, I would have bought sooo much more. Because I am a compulsive shopaholic that can not be stopped. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed that tour of my day and my experience at Highpoint. If you’re in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne, go check it out guys… in fact, even if you live on the east side, it’s not that far away, I PROMISE. They did an excellent job, the architecture looks wonderful, there are so many nice stores, there seems to be something for everyone. Even a Chanel store coming soon. Fancy. Good night.

Photos of my friend Jana who has been on this blog before. These are from New Years Eve. Wow, that seems like a while ago now.

haha, I love this gif of Reiss

Who else hates working in retail?

P.S I now have an instagram, you can follow me @sssssophie (that is 5 s’)

Before I get into this, may I just apologise for my absence of articulation and eloquent writing skills. I am by no means a decent writer, that is one of my greatest and most unfortunate flaws, I can NEVER express my thoughts through words in a way that does my thoughts any justice. In fact, compared to intelligent ladies like Bebe, Madeline, Arabelle and Meagan, amongst many many others, actually, most of the people I follow to be honest, I’m just another… well, I don’t even know. In my mind, I must come across as another naive, fairly ignorant idiot. My intelligence, or rather lack of, compared to brainy women like those who I have mentioned is, quite frankly, highly embarrassing. So yeah, please don’t think that I think I’m some high and mighty person who knows exactly what I’m talking about, because dude, for real, I actually feel humiliated when I consider my lack of knowledge. I’m going to attempt to explain how I feel and hopefully some of you might comprehend what it is that I am thinking. No one has to agree with me, it’s probably better if you don’t, huh?

This year, is an election year for Australia. September 14th is the date our current prime minister has set for us to all cast our votes and evict somebody out of the tribe. Oh… wait, sorry, this isn’t Survivor, mah bad. I already know who I’m going to vote for and it definitely isn’t going to be for the Liberal Party. For the American readers, the Liberal Party in Australia is the conservative right-wing party. I know it’s confusing, with a name suggesting liberty. In fact, there is no way in hell I will ever vote for the Liberal Party, I just do not agree with conservative values at all.

Seeing as the election is slowly approaching, I thought it might be a good idea to begin learning about political issues and economics and all that exciting stuff, and I’ve realised, that we live in a really, really fucked up world. I mean, I knew this before, but focusing on these issues has opened up my eyes to how unfair life truly is. For instance, why do third world countries even exist? How did we even allow that to happen? Why are first world countries faced with unnecessary medical problems caused by obesity due to over consumption? Why does a terrible meal at McDonalds cost less than a healthier alternative? Why are people dying of heart disease and strokes directly related to their poor health while people elsewhere are dying of starvation? I mean, why, WHY do we all allow this shit to happen?

Why are there people on the planet jet setting in their private jets, eating at the fanciest restaurants, and discussing the share market? While other people are born into dreadful conditions with absolutely no hope of ever breaking out, and living a half decent life. How is that fair? Why are some people perceived as better than others? We’re all of the same species. How can rich people in first world countries sit there and complain about how they lost a million dollars in their superannuation, when other humans, just like them, are forced to survive on merely a dollar per day? Or, I’m sorry, do people in third world countries not ‘work hard enough’ to survive? Because that is the sort of bull shit that I’ve been hearing a lot lately.

This relates directly to first world societies. There is an arrogant belief that those who are not rich, simply ‘didn’t work hard enough’. I struggle to comprehend that people actually believe this absolute garbage. You see the thing is, sure, some rich people did work hard to get where they are, but guess what? Just because you worked your ass off to be the owner of a successful company, doesn’t mean you’re not lucky, because, sorry to break it to you, but you’re exceptionally lucky. There are so many others who work incredibly hard, but don’t get the lucky breaks it requires to reach that level of unprecedented financial success. What blows my mind even more, are unbelievably wealthy people, who attack the ‘lower’ class. As if they have any idea what life is like on the bottom.

Take this infuriating article for instance. Gina Rinehart is the richest person in Australia and the richest woman on the planet with an estimated fortune of A$29.17 billion. There is one main thing you should know about Gina, she inherited her wealth, her father, Lang Hancock, was an iron ore magnate. She didn’t ‘work hard’ for her wealth, she was just ‘lucky’ enough to be born into an incredibly wealthy family. I could become very, very successful if I had millions of dollars backing me too Gina I mean god, I could start an awesome fashion label, I could start my own design firm, I have loads of ideas, but err, it’s kind of difficult when you don’t have a shit load of money backing you up, and no matter how hard I work, I’m not going to accumulate that shit load of money any time soon. Gina thinks the Australian government should lower the minimum wage of $606.40 a week to ‘stimulate employment’. Erm, are you fucking kidding me Gina? You make a reported, 1 million dollars every 30 minutes and you want the minimum wage lowered? Why don’t you try living on $600 a week? Seriously, do you know how difficult that would be, let’s break it down here.

Most people would spend about $50 on petrol even with a small car, going to and from work, I believe a weekly myki pass is about $50 too. Food would cost at least $100, which is about $14 per day. God help anyone trying to pay off a mortgage on a wage like that, but say somebody is renting, most places, even small places cost at least $250 per week, then you have all the bills, let’s say that was roughly $50 a week. That’s $400, so you have a mere $206 left to, occasionally purchase clothing, toiletries etc. Then you somehow have to try and find a way to still save money and maybe have a life. Oh no wait, if you don’t earn much, you’re not allowed to have a life according to Gina. Because someone working 40 hours a week full time, should simply work more and somehow, they’ll make enough money to be well off. LAUGHING MY ASS OFF AT YOU GINA, SERIOUSLY, YOU ARE SO NAIVE, I DON’T KNOW IF I SHOULD LAUGH OR CRY. Why does she want the fucking minimum wage to be lowered anyway? So she can pay her workers less and make more for herself? Because you know, a net worth of billions of dollars isn’t quite enough. Fuck, is it possible to be anymore greedy?

I don’t like people like Gina, they make generalisations about most ‘poor’ people. Like they don’t work hard enough, they’re lazy, if they wanted to make more money, they could, simply by ‘working more’. I hate job snobbery, I hate the fact that we’re so judged by what we do for a living. If someone tells a group at a party that they own their own accounting firm, everyone will be all, “aah, ooh, how interesting, wow”. If somebody else announces that they clean public toilets for a living, they’ll probably get a very awkward, uncomfortable response. The truth is, one is not better than the other. The only reason they’re seen as such is because one occupation earns a lot more money than the other, and I’m beginning to wonder why.

A lot of upper class people seem to have this idea, that anybody can get to where they are, as long as they work hard. The thing is, that is so far from the truth. The truth is, that in the society we live in, it is not possible for every single person to get rich. It’s just not feasible. Who is going to work in restaurants catering for the upper class? Other rich people? Who is going to work as a maid cleaning a rich person’s house? Another rich person? I was reading a comment left by one very ignorant woman on an article I read. She stated that if people aren’t happy with their lives, they should merely “get a better education and a better job” Uh huh, like it’s that easy. What if all the maids on the planet decided they wanted to just ‘get better jobs’. Who the hell would clean houses for rich people? What if all the nurses decided that they wanted better jobs? Who the hell is going to look after you when your body is weak and you’re terribly ill? Why do certain occupations earn SO MUCH MORE than others?

It’s unfair. Without all these little people, society wouldn’t function correctly. Even if we all decided to take the advice of these all mighty, all knowing, success stories, there would be some of us who would get forced to work for a lower wage. If everybody  who works as a public cleaner, refused to work as a toilet cleaner and aspired to be a lawyer, imagine how unhygienic public toilets would become. If everybody who works as a garbage cleaner decided they wanted to pursue accounting, because it’s a ‘better’ job, imagine how dirty and disgusting everything would be. If I and all my co-workers refused to work on the shop floor and instead decided to aim for higher paying positions, who the hell would sell products to anybody? You see, even if EVERYONE tried, worked as much as is humanly possible and aimed to ‘get ahead’ in life, it would simply be impossible. We can’t all be rich, especially in the capitalist society we live in. So looking down on ‘poor’ people like they’re some disease in society is so ignorant and shows a lack of understanding of how the community runs.

I personally don’t think that such a wide wage disparity should exist. I don’t believe that a company with financial issues should be able to make 1000 of its workers redundant, yet give the CEO a one million dollar pay rise the following year. I don’t think it should be possible for someone to be making millions of dollars a year, while somebody else is struggling to feed themselves. It’s not fair, because that struggling person has to be in that position in order for the other person to be attending high tea at some expensive hotel every weekend. If even ONE human has to struggle for the rich to be SO rich, than that sort of financial success shouldn’t be possible. It just shouldn’t. Not one person is better than the other. Unless you know, you’re a murderer or something. In the end, WE ALL DIE, we all become nothing, no one is going to remember Gina Rinehart in 1000 years anymore than they remember me. I’m not better than the next person because I’m interested in style and they are not. I’m not better than my siblings because I have a degree and they don’t. I was simply born with the capacity to achieve in an academic environment, and they weren’t. It’s not better, it’s just different, it’s only perceived as ‘better’ because of the world we have created for ourselves. We have decided that certain attributes are more favourable than others. Making everyone competitive as hell, no wonder anxiety and depression are on the rise.

I don’t like the idea that I could eventually be in an Art Director position, potentially earning $110,000 a year while my sister could be a senior hair stylist, potentially earning $50,000 a year, why such a huge gap? I mean, hair stylists work long hours, they work hard, and people still complain that hairdressers are a ‘rip off’, a lot of people who make ‘good’ money say this too. Shit like that makes me sick. Speaking of ‘good’ things, why are wealthy families often referred to as a ‘good family’ I mean, what’s up with that? Is my family, ‘bad’ because we’re not loaded? It’s so tragic, that we all only ever live once, yet some of us have to struggle through our entire lives, never achieving and doing all the things we want to do, while others have seen and done everything, only to feel bored because apparently it can’t really get much better. How is that fair man, how?

How is it fair that rich people believe they should be taxed at the same rate as everybody else. I mean, what is wrong with some people? The human species is so greedy it’s not funny. Say somebody is making $55,000 per year before taxes. In Australia, I believe a wage like this would be seen as fairly below average, apparently the average is about $90 grand per annum. So, if a person making $55k a year is being taxed at a rate of 17% (I believe the taxation rate is actually higher than this, but I’m just estimating) their take home pay will be $45,600. Hm, not so great. Now, what if somebody was making $1 million per year. EVEN IF THEY WERE TAXED AT A RATE OF 90% THEY WOULD STILL  TAKE HOME $100K PER YEAR. Fuck, is $100,00 not enough for you? Seriously? I think I could live comfortably enough on that sort of money. Oh, but not if I wanted to have a private jet and shit, because come on, those are necessities in life. So to all the rich people complaining that they pay more taxes, srsly, STFU. If you hate paying the extra tax, why don’t you swap your wage for someone paying tax at a lower rate? No, don’t want to do that? I thought so.

It’s so tragic that I can sit here on my laptop, while there are children in other parts of the world rapidly deteriorating due to starvation. There are girls in poverty being sold like objects in underground sex slave industries, and there are other people, buying $20,000 dresses in a boutique.

The world is so messed up up. Come on dudes, how can we truly call ourselves evolved and modernised when we allow our fellow people to live in such unfathomable conditions?

I have so many images to add since the beginning of the hiatus. Ten is enough for one post though, right?

This is a message, to let you all know that DARK VICE will be having a hiatus indefinitely. I love blogging, I’ve been doing it since I was 13 years old, blogging and the internet and teaching myself web design and blah blah blah, is what got me into graphic design in the first place. But right now, it’s also in the way of me actually pursuing graphic design as a serious career. I’ve been blogging on Dark Vice for over a year now and it’s been great, but it’s also heavily distracted me from doing something a lot more important. Actually focusing on getting a design job. I’ve been out of University for an entire year now, and I’m still just a casual in retail. An old casual who is probably going to lose her job to people who are a lot younger and can therefore be paid a lot less. If I don’t stop and focus seriously on getting a design job, I feel like I might have a mental breakdown. It’s time to get real. Most people who were in my course have design jobs or internships now. All I have is a low paying, dead end job… and a blog, that’s it. I thought sticking with the blog might get me a few design work opportunities, and editing images for my posts is good for my creativity. But let’s face it, it’s not enough, it’s no where near enough and this blog is obviously not going to really help me get a job anytime soon.

I didn’t start Dark Vice to get a job through it, but I’m a motivated person. If I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it properly, which is why I put so much work into the images on this blog, why I think so hard about the topics I write, why I don’t just type about how trendy the 90s are right now, and I love this blog but I can’t survive through its existence. I need to shift my motivation to something that will actually help me achieve my goals in life. Like moving out of home, moving to another country, travelling, starting a clothing label with my prints. Money isn’t everything, but I need to make some of it to have a life.

I’ll be back, soon, I hope. It might take a few weeks, a month maybe, much more than a month, and I’d be procrastinating. I’m a speedy worker when I set myself deadlines, so I’ll be back soon and this time, I will actually have something proper to showcase to the world.

Thank you to my small group of followers who have left such kind and thoughtful comments. Thank you for the support during some of the darkest moments of my life last year. AAH, I’m getting teary just typing this. I’ve felt like a loser for the majority of my life, but you guys make me feel like… maybe, just maybe, I do belong somewhere.

Enjoy the holiday season

- Sophie.

P.S I’ll still update the FACEBOOK page occassionally, I mean, as if I’m not going to share my Black Friday purchases! You can always contact me through my Tumblr ask box, or my e-mail: dark-vice@hotmail.com and I’m obviously always free for design work. ^_~ 

THANKS for the birthday wishes I had a good birthday, best birthday EVERRRR actually. I’m so lucky, my boyfriend bought me an awesome, awesome gift. I posted the presents before I unwrapped them on the Facebook page, a few people seemed curious as to what I received. I want to share with you all, but I’ve been doing important stuff lately… like actually trying (I am a major procrastinator, I inherit that from the master of procrastination, my dad) to finish my folio so I’m not just stuck in a crappy casual job forever.

I think I’m going to attempt to make a video about the birthday gifts, the idea of sitting there and photographing each item individually is not very appealing. Hopefully I’m not too awkward (I will be) in front of a camera. No birthday images yet, first I thought I would quickly compile all the outfit photos I haven’t posted. The next post will be all lame and fuzzy.

About a month ago, I ‘modelled’ aka just stood there and was photographed by my friend for his Interior Architecture final Uni project. He compiled a bunch of interesting looking stuff, I was impressed as I literally have zero building skills.

Shoes I am wearing in the above image are from Etsy. DUDE, ETSY IS SO FUCKING GREAT!!! I’m a little late with the whole Etsy craze, I’ve been checking it out for a while now but only recently became heavily addicted. My cart has like 48 items inside it right now. I’ve been deleting clothes from my Topshop cart, while adding items to my Etsy cart instead. I made a pretty large order the other night, I’ll tell you more about it later, soo much good stuff, the seller is incredible. What are your favourite Etsy stores people?! TELL ME!!!!! Speaking of selling things, I listed a few items on my Ebay page dudes, almost all of them are brand new. I’ve lost weight during this lifestyle/food/exercise change, so a lot of my clothes (particularly skirts) are too big for me now. Check out my items here. THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

This is probably the biggest deal I have made of my birthday since I was like… 8 or something. I can’t help it, I’m hyper, I mean, I HAD A FREAKING CUPCAKE FOR BREAKFAST.

Since then I’ve opened some awesome presents thanks to my even more awesome Boyfriend and I’ve been preparing for Black Friday by browsing for shoes online and other things. Is anyone else excited? I’m off to get ready and leave now. HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND.

I started the change, hmm, probably like 2 and a half months ago now. It’s a slow process, that is for sure, especially if you’re literally starting from the beginning, like I did. I was extremely unfit. I never ever exercised, like ever. I find it immensely boring unfortunately, I really do wish I enjoyed it, it would make this whole thing a lot easier. For the last 11 or so weeks I have exercised every single day, and I have completely changed my eating habits. I no longer eat any white pasta, rice, bread (unless it’s a special occasion, like my birthday this Saturday) and I avoid potatoes and all the other main carbs. I’ve eaten pasta maybe three times, it was brown and a much smaller serving than I would usually eat. I still eat quite a lot, I can’t help it, I’ve always had a big appetite, but I eat very differently. For instance, for lunch, I used to eat a large bowl of white pasta or a bowl of white rice with curry and I always ate a shit load of cheese. Now I would eat a bowl of salad with some feta cheese and a piece of mock (vegetarian) chicken breast, or something like that. Considering I absolutely LOVE pasta and rice, the change wasn’t exactly that easy, but the longer you do it for, the less tempted you feel and I’ve learnt to enjoy vegetables a lot more. There is so much you can do with vegetables, it’s quite amazing.

I guess you have to find some sort of motivation to stick to a complete lifestyle change. For me it was mainly two things. One, I’ve always hated my body, well maybe not always. I didn’t really care as a child, but since about the age of 13, I just haven’t been happy with my appearance, ever. I’m only 5’0, carrying the extra weight and looking flabby when I saw myself in the mirror made me feel so stumpy. I just hated it and I’m still not entirely happy. I know this is probably more of a psychological issue, because I’m the smallest I’ve ever been at the moment, and I’m still not really satisfied. More so because I would like to look more toned I guess, but that takes a lot of hard work, which I realise and am willing to do work on now. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, I wanted to be healthier and fitter. I think the second reason is why I stuck to my plan this time. I mean, I’ve hated my body for nine years now, and every single time I tried to do something about it, I gave up. I really wanted to be healthy this time though, I’m becoming a lot more conscious about what I put inside my body these days. Now when I look at cakes and sweets, I think twice about actually eating them. I think about what was used to create these products and whether I actually want that stuff inside of me. Considering I have hypochondria, the cause of my horrible long episode of anxiety from August 2011 till May this year, I thought trying to be healthier might help my mind feel more at ease about how vulnerable my body really is to illness. It does help, for me at least.

In terms of exercise, at the start, I started with 40 sit ups, 40 lunges, 40 squats and 15 minutes on a bike machine per day. I did that for about 2 weeks, then I moved up to 20 minutes on the bike. After 2 more weeks of that, I would do 80 sit ups, 40 lunges, 40 squats, 10 push ups and 30 minutes on the bike machine, every day. After about 4-5 weeks of this, I decided it was time to finally start jogging. So last week, my dad and I started jogging. I’ve been about 4 times now, in the days in between or when I can’t, I go back to my bike machine routine. My dad and I go out for about 30 – 40 minutes each time. Today, I jogged for 10 minutes straight without stopping I would still definitely consider myself a beginner, so I obviously can’t jog the full 30 minutes yet, I power walk in between sets of jogging. Jogging for a full half an hour is probably going to take a while, but at least I’m trying right?

It’s a little difficult to avoid carbs when you’re a vegetarian, but it’s not impossible! You just have to be creative, I’ve realised that you don’t need carbs, especially white pasta and rice. Besides, there are carbs in carrots and most vegetables and fruit, so I know I receive enough energy. I use a lot of Quorn products, they’re quite good I also eat a lot of lentils, chickpeas and so many different vegetables. My boyfriend and I also discovered a few other things during this food adventure. Below are a few of my favourites.

The sesame snaps are delicious, they are not the most low calorie snack you could eat, but man, I love them. Plus, considering I used to eat a massive triple chocolate muffin like every single day when I was 17, I figure this is a pretty decent replacement for my usual chocolate fix. Sometimes, I really do want to eat actual chocolate though, and the Atkins Endulge bar is great I wouldn’t recommend eating it every single day, but it’s pretty decent. It’s not as good as Cadbury or anything, but for a healthier alternative, it’s pretty decent. I hear dark chocolate is great for you too, but I can not stomach the taste, ew >.< Yoplait’s forme vanilla yogurt is the best yogurt I have ever had. Which is pretty amusing, because most people note that it’s good for a healthy alternative, but not as nice. I disagree, I actually prefer this to the variety with more calories. I really like it. However, I grew up with a horrible selection of food. My mum was a terrible cook, and I was pretty much raised on meals consisting of plain rice, plain over cooked soggy pasta (no sauce), grilled un seasoned meat that was cooked for so long that it felt incredibly stiffed, fast food and frozen meals. As a result, I don’t mind eating food without a shit load of flavour. Vanilla yogurt is actually my favourite. I hate the extra stuff. Lastly, the Quorn mince, is excellent! It’s low in fat and carbs and very high in protein. I use this product so often because you can do so much to it. Sometimes I just fry it with onion and a few vegetables. My ethnicity is Greek, so there are a lot of meals I can still enjoy thanks to the Quorn mince, like Keftedes (yuuuuuum) and Gemistes aka Stuffed Vegetables. In fact, I made them myself for the first time tonight.

Usually these are full of rice and meat mince. I decided to stuff them with the Quorn mince, brown onions, carrots, capsicum, celery, spring onions, asparagus and cauliflower. I added my favourite type of tomato sauce, and damn… do they taste good! I can’t wait to eat them tomorrow. ANYHOW, SORRY TO BORE YOU ALL WITH MY DULL FOOD AND EXERCISE TALK. I’LL MOVE ON TO THE STYLE SHIT NOW.

After I did this to my hair about a month ago, my boyfriend and I went and wondered around Myer. Because hanging out in department stores is fun sometimes. I was trying on hats, and we were told off for taking photographs. Way to ruin our fun Myer! NO WONDER YOUR SALES ARE SO LOW.

I also decided to try a cocktail or the first time in mah life. It was uuh, bigger than my freaking head! I didn’t really like it to be honest, the only alcoholic drink I’ve ever tasted and enjoyed is Smirnoff Ice Red, and guess what? It’s packed with sugar of course. Ha. Good thing I drink very rarely.

Don’t know wassup with my expression here. These are the first pair of jeans I have willingly bought and wanted to wear for YEARS like, 5 or 6 years? I sold them on e-bay though, they were a little big for me. It’s cool though, I replaced them with an awesome pair of Unif leopard print high waisted skinny pants, I’m also planning to purchase a pair of Motel leopard print jeans, the print on them is a lot nicer than the print on the jeans I’m wearing in the image above this paragraph. Alright, 1535 words, I’m going to shut up now.

Okay then, now that the awkward postponed internet greeting has been dealt with, I shall get back to my regular blogging flow. Well, not quite yet. First, I’m going to congratulate the United States of America for electing Obama as the president once again. Thank you. I’ve been thinking about possibly moving to the U.S (specifically L.A) lately, and if Mitt Romney won… well, I would definitely have to reconsider.

Greeeaat, my left hand is currently falling asleep. How convenient, I have a feeling this is the result of typing and how cold my hands are at the moment. ANYWAY.

Speaking of American elections. I stumbled across this article about a bunch of ill informed American citizens who would like to move to Australia because Barack Obama will be the president for another term. I found it fucking hilarious. I was going to go on and on about why this idea is incredibly stupid, but I think this graphic I found sums it up quite well.

The whole education deal in the U.S freaks me out too. I’m going to be honest here, I don’t know much about how the system works. All I know is, when I was on exchange, my friend and I didn’t have to pay for tuition in Buffalo because our CSP (Commonwealth Supported Place) was covering the cost, as it usually would at Monash. For a semester the money was given to UB instead. We, as international students, didn’t have to pay tuition to attend an American University, but the local students had to pay, WTF?! No really, what is up with that? Lastly, most of us think the whole ‘right to bear arms’ crap is a pointless load of bullshit. I hate guns.