Sleep the benefits

Image sourced from www.weheartit.com. 

On this wintery, cold June morning, I woke up sleepy, despite having over eight hours sleep. I rolled out of bed contemplating an early siesta at 9am - yeah, that kind of sleepy. All this time spent on thinking about lethargy and how nice it would be to crawl back into bed for just a few more hours caused me to question just how important sleep is for us.

OK, OK obviously without sleep we'd all trot around like the un-dead and, perhaps, tear our next-door neighbour's limbs off in an effort to soothe the hunger of needing some shut-eye (isn't what all those weird zombie movies are all about?). However, researchers in San Antonio, Texas have discovered that sleep can actually restore one's colour reception, sharpening the way in which we the view the world on a daily basis. Scientists have also found that sleep makes our memories stronger and assists with creativity.

So, it seems sleep is pretty important - not just in the way of trying to kick a headache or snooze off a few too many glasses of wine, but each night's slumber can also improve your quality of life. In a huge way.

Grammar hour

Image sourced from www.weheartit.com. 

Note to self: always carry around a spray-can for on-site grammar corrections.

Yes, the gym IS good for you

Image sourced from www.weheartit.com. 

Sometimes, we need to be reminded of the simple things in life which can make us happy, rather than focusing on what can do the opposite. 


While reading The Guardian's article Health clubs are not a con. Of course healthy lifestyles are good for you. I couldn't get over how simplistic, yet necessary this message is to communicate: exercise can make you happy. At times, we tend to forget fitness isn't just about weight-loss or sculpting a sweet set of abs (um ... what?); David Stalker suggests, "there are numerous lifestyle-related conditions that can be prevented or managed by being active. Looking at physical activity solely through an obesity-tinted lens ignores its physical, mental, social and emotional benefits".

So, while you may be enticed to take up a sword-fighting class at your local gym because you've heard it will work wonders on toning your arm muscles, take a step back and think about just how fun this class can be - and how good that is for your general well-being. 

Internet-ing

Image sourced from www.weheartit.com. 

During any spare moment, I either devour a magazine or internet. Like the word Google, internet-ing is now, well, for me, an adjective (I wonder if Anna Wintour would approve of my latest Urban Dictionary inspired term?). Well, while internet-ing this week, losing myself in links and pages extending from my go-to websites and blogs (like, Refinery29, Cut, Vulture, Pedestrian, The New York Times, The Guardian and The Sydney Morning Herald) I came across some facts I couldn't deter from mentioning on my blog.


1. Anna Wintour dislikes adjectives (!?)

2. Lady Gaga chews up record sales, as well as Letterman's notes


3. Zooey Deschanel has launched a new women-friendly website

Admittedly, fossicking the World Wide Web for stories ideas or inspiration calms me more than having a few hours free to paint my fingernails - which is a rarity, in itself! Geeky? Yes. Necessary? Completely.

THIS MODERN GLITCH

Image sourced from www.getmusic.com.au (where you may also read the album's review - hint, hint.)

WHEN I FIRST MET YOUR MA

Truly worth a listen.

THE WOMBATS (!!!)

Image sourced from www.weheartit.com. 

When I started reviewing music for Universal Music Australia (thanks to an UH-MAY-ZING friend of mine - you know who you are!), the first thing I did was jump on Google and search the release date of The Wombat's new album This Modern Glitch, in the hope of having the opportunity to be able to rattle off how much I L.O.V.E their music.

Well, it is my frickin' lucky day; my deadline for the review of this CD is this Friday. I can honestly say that a sick-day, infused with way too many nose-wiping moments and doses of flu-kicking meds, is made all the more better with good news and awesome tunes.

LC's Beauty Department

Image sourced from The Beauty Deprartment, via Refinery 29 and The Cut.

Whether it be watching repeats of The Hills or picking up the March issue of CLEO – did you know CLEO was the first Australian magazine to have LC as a cover girl? – I have enviously attempted to fault LC, coming up empty handed; she is just so frickin’ gorgeous! My jealousy focuses in on not only her Teen Vogue internship, but also extends as far as her perfect tresses – straight or curled –, her cat’s eye eye-liner technique, and her regular wear of black nail polish.

For those who share my beauty grudge against LC, unable to mimic her style without a little assistance, introducing The Beauty Department: the collaboration of Conrad and her makeup and hair stylists, offering their tips and tutorials to the World Wide Web on their new website, launching yesterday.

Image sourced from The Beauty Department.

As the old, cliché saying goes: ‘if you can't be her, join her.’ We’ll all be reality television material soon enough – and I’m talking The Hills, not Jersey Shore.

P is for Portman

Image sourced from www.weheartit.com.

Yeah, we all know Natalie Portman is kind of a big deal in Hollywood, correct? What with her Best Actress Award at the 83rd Academy Awards earlier this year for her role in Black Swan – and not to mention her unforgettable performances in my personal favourites, Garden State and Closer, Portman is, for lack of a better or more original phrase (it’s been a long week), kicking the Hollywood movie scene’s proverbial ass. Australia, too, recognises her world-wide success with both InStyle Australia (yay, Chloe!) and madison magazines, featuring the star on the cover of each of their May issues.

Although, it wasn’t the accolades or her flawless face plastering newsstands which caught my complete attention; yesterday I discovered Natalie Portman is a rapper. OK, so I am a little late in picking up on this bizarre fact. In 2008, getting ghetto-fab and armed with a trash mouth giving Andy Samberg’s genitals reason to be scared of her, Portman performed ‘Natalie’s Rap’ on Saturday Night Live. Drinking, excreting, fornicating – all defined using enough profanities to carry a successful conversation between two drunk sailors – Portman, within the rap, is (rightfully) described as a ‘bad-ass bitch’ – and despite how crass I am making this song out to be, it is absolutely hilarious. A+ for Portman.

Feeling creepy

Image sourced from www.weheartit.com.

OK, so probably not the most alluring title for a blog post, however, I just couldn’t describe my current state of obsession with a pair of Faster Pussycat’s in any other way. I saw a pair of creepers in a Vogue Australia shoot last year, fell in love, attempted to purchase a leopard print set, but my dollar-dry wallet had other plans: pay overdue car loan repayments, fill up car with petrol to turn that annoying orange light off, and pay back my brother the thirty-dollars I borrowed from him, possibly, the year before last.

My love for creepers has been inconveniently reignited, again thanks to Faster Pussycat, with their unisex shoes being showcased in an array of newspaper and magazine style sections and online websites like Elle.com. I think this calls for a sturdy piggybank which can only be pried open for creeper-related purposes only. And I’m not just talking about the shoes.

Serial eraser

Image sourced from www.weheartit.com.

When I get mad, I erase. I am known to tear my bedroom apart in search of memory bombs with the ability to detonate and take me back to the original source of anger in an instant. Usually this ritual is conducted when an ex-boyfriend has sent me over-board, frustrated past the point of deranged madness. OK, that is a slight exaggeration, but all you need to do is ask my boyfriend about my habit of destroying important mementos; on and off for just over seven-years, JH and I once exchanged a book of letters, which I, in what I can only describe as a heart-wrenchingly anger-fuelled fit, tossed into the trash. Error!

It was only this week I organised my entire email inbox, deleting anything remotely linked to people I no longer speak with – well, only one or two people, really. After hitting the ‘Empty Deleted Items’, I realised what I had done – and despite not needing these emails, there was no need to get rid of them as absent-mindedly as I did. Sure, bad things have happened. Relationships have been built form nothing, then have crumbled back into the dust they came from. Relics of the destruction once defining the connections I had with these people litter my bedroom – as well as my Outlook inbox! Although, without some of these small tokens, I guess I wouldn’t be able to appreciate what I have now and how lovely some of those friendships once were.  

BLOG OFF!

Image sourced from www.weheartit.com.

I get it: weblogs are a device employed by millions of users worldwide to express themselves online - usually, in a written or purely visual format. I mean, I am part of this community, blogging about nonsensical ideas and trivialities on a regular basis - and I love doing it!

To those who may have a blog-lem with the way others communicate within the blogosphere, here's a solution: you see content on a blog you aren't able to resonate with or offer a valid viewpoint on, don't read it. And better yet, don't sledge it. 

PUCKER UP!

Images care of the unbelievably talented and creative artist, Viridis Somino, via Refinery29 and Cakehead.

Loving ...

Images sourced from http://www.weheartit.com/, http://www.zimbio.com/, www.art8amby.com.

FATTY FOODS = FATAL!

Image sourced from http://www.weheartit.com/.

Since (attempting!) to adopt a super-health-freak lifestyle (well, sort of), I have felt rather drained and miserable; apparently it takes 21 to 28 days to break or make a habit and let me tell you, it has been an arduous journey to reach any sort of gratification.

Last night, I was physically punished for breaking my health-kick; whilst indulging in after-dinner ice-cream, I slipped down a set of stairs, totally nailing myself, and more importantly, losing my half-eaten gluttonous treat!

This post has been written to pay homage to the Hokey-Pokey Cornetto casualty - whose remains were tossed, broken and melted, in my garden by JH - as well as to notify those thinking of giving in to their sweet-tooth that if guilt doesn't deter them from visiting the McDonald's drive-thru while trying to kick bad food to the curb, some higher-power will! Morbid, I know!

Cool, huh?

Image/recipe sourced from www.weheartit.com.

WHAT THE?

Image sourced from www.weheartit.com.

The perfect Sunday

Image sourced from www.weheartit.com.

New York nostalgia

I can't eat. I can't sleep. My hands, shaking. My heart, pumping as crazily as a love-sick teen's upon seeing their ex, hand-in-hand, with their worst enemy. Yes, it happens! Spiralling downwards at a nauseatingly-fast pace, I am giving in to a disease that once you've caught, you can't shake. Wait. What? No, not it's not what you're thinking; I am suffering from the Travel Bug.

Image sourced from www.weheartit.com.

Viewing the travel photographs both taken by myself and others on Facebook has pushed me further down into a nostalgic pit, trapped and surrounded by memories of places seen and loved, ambitions of where to escape to next. What also plagues my thoughts - for an embarrassingly large part of each day - is one city in particular: I want to kiss it. Marry it. Embrace it. Share a cream-cheese covered bagel with it.

Image sourced from www.weheartit.com.

New York: I love you.

Jelly Beach

It seems apologies are handed out far too frequently on this blog; my lack of presence can be blamed on an insanely busy uni break, being chained to Gosford RSL club - my bad!

Now, it's a wet, overcast Saturday morning in February; my boyfriend has just left for Japan, I am without a fresh magazine to read, and can't be bothered to turn the kettle on - the perfect recipe for initiating a blog session! With the dreary weather kicking in - yet the humidity still manages to inconveniently hover over us! - I am reminded that the season of Summer, unfortunately, has an annual expiration date.

Summer, for Australians, brings hot, sticky Christmas', festivals packed with shirtless attendees (this may be viewed as a positive or negative characteristic of the Australian summer festival circuit), as well as days spent at the beach, followed by eating ice-cream in an air-conditioned house, nursing skin that, perhaps, got a little too sun-kissed. Summer is the smell of sunscreen, knotted buns situated on the tops of girls' heads, mangoes and cherries, and the smell of burning cash as wallets are left dry after endless parties and get-togethers across December and January.

I'm assuming you've heard the cliche saying: "all good things come to an end". Fortunately for us, there's no saying goodbye to Summer; we'll be back enjoying the stifling heat and trips to Jelly Beach in no time - we only have less than a year to wait!

FRANCO-FIED

Image sourced from www.weheartit.com.

James Franco is taking over the world. Yes, this quite a large claim, but it is certainly backed up with some solid evidence. Since graduating from Columbia University's MFA writing program and enrolling in a PhD  English program at Yale University - while, simultaneously, balancing an acting career and the production of his first book, Palo Alto - Franco has been named as host, accompanied by Anne Hathaway, of the 2011 Oscars to be held on the 27th of  February. Prestigious? Indeed.

However, Franco is still scoring brownie points by just having recently directed and starred in The Broken Tower: The Life of Hart Crane, based on the biography of a homosexual American poet of the 1920's, written by Paul Mariani - with a release date to be announced.

Sexified (yes, this is a legitimate word; ask Ke$ha and Urban Dictionary. Did I really just call on Ke$ha to bail me out of a textual dilemma?),  mystified, jaw-droppingly mesmorised, I have a feeling I may just be FRANCO-fied.

22

Image sourced from http://www.weheartit.com/.

During 2010, I was fortunate enough to spend my 21st birthday in Hollywood with my darling friend Kate, score some very important internships that will hopefully further my career, travel to Europe and China with my Dad, as well as decipher a problem that has been plaguing me for seven years - that's another blog post entry. Now it's 2011 - resolutions are out of the bag and so begins the struggle that is being strapped into the harness that may protect you from things like smoking or swearing too much, yet giving up these so-called luxuries can certainly prove to be difficult!

With the rolling-on of another year, along comes another birthday. Despite feeling a little down that I am adding an extra year onto my age (eeeep!), I am really looking forward to celebrating my birthday with my friends and seeing what 2011 has to offer - while attempting to kick old habits to the curb.