"First Position"

My sister won tickets to a preview screening being held by The Strand Arcade of the ballet documentary First Position.

It follows the preparation and lives of a few young dancers in the lead up to the prestigious Youth America Grand Prix ballet competition in New York City. It is truly inspiring and makes me wish I continued with ballet as a child (as I've said on this blog before!).

My favourites are Miko, for her insane technique and perfect ballerina body, and Joan Sebastian for his sheer dedication, his family story and the emotion he shows in his dance.

Here are some cool pics of some of the dancers...

If you get the chance to see it, I strongly recommend it!

Real Techniques 20% off!

I got an email yesterday to say that iHerb has 20% off Real Techniques by Samantha Chapman until 1 May!

I'm going to make an order because I've been wanting to buy their cheapie Rose Hip Oil (only $5 for 30ml!) as a body moisturiser, rather than using my more expensive Trilogy version which I use on my face.

A few months back I was also excited to see they now stock e.l.f cosmetics so I don't need to find a way to order from the US via my American friends anymore :) Woo!

Don't forget you can use this discount code - RLN426 - to get $10 off your first order when over $40, or $5 if less. Plus shipping is only $4 flat rate now to Australia - so happy!

But now my make up ban starts...

Anzac Day

Anzac Day - Lest We Forget

Really, it shouldn't be a day of excitedly enjoying the public holiday, but a celebration of all that was sacrificed all those years ago.

This time last year, I celebrated Anzac Day by going to a special service in Westminster Abbey with a whole host of Australian and New Zealand expats. It was really sombre and beautiful (if a bit long) but in honour of this day, here are some pics from last year. Apologies for their dodgy-ness, photos weren't actually allowed inside!

Wordless Wednesdays: Kanye + Cartier = Love

This picture of Kayne has been on my computer since forever. Beautiful. 

Dove Real Beauty Sketches

A friend shared this with me this week and it is absolutely beautiful. I just had to share it! Enjoy!

Easter Show 2013

I really need to get better at posting about things as and when they happen right? But I get so busy doing cool fun things about the place that I don't get time to post. Catch 22, right there.

Anyway, a few weeks back I went to the Easter Show for the first time in 10 odd years which is crazy, I know. It was a fun day out! I mean it was hot, beautiful weather (perhaps a little too hot in the sun all day) and there is a lot of walking but that's because we wanted to see and do a lot of things.

We just had to stop by the CWA ladies and their scones. I love a good scone - it has to be one of my favourite baked goods not just because they're easy to make but because they're so hearty. And these did not disappoint!

One of my favourite sections is the cake decorating and arts. I'm sure most people had the same huh? reaction to this one.

And this was just so cute. I think any 1 year old would love this cake!

Now for a more random turn of events - the CBA stand was promoting Kaching and encouraging people to download the app so that they could spin a wheel and potentially win a prize. If you don't know about Kaching, its an app where you can easily transfer money from your CBA account just with a few clicks on your mobile phone. The friends I went to the show with actually regularly pay me back for things using Kaching so it was a very successful day out when we all won a iCarte phone case. Now I no longer use an iPhone 4, but I got the case for my mum :)

And now for some random pics - there was a parade on as I was walking to the food pavilion and there was someone dressed up as an emu. It was a 28 degree day! Poor thing.

And then in the seafood area there was someone dressed up as a prawn. The kids loved her!

We also went to see the animals but I was too busy oohing and ah-ing over their cuteness to get a good photo.

Did you go to the Easter Show this year?

Wordless Wednesdays: Paris Love

I'm being a sheep and copying a popular blog post - 'Wordless Wednesdays'. On random Wednesdays I'll share with you beautiful pics/photos I've fallen in love with.

As you know, I love photography and beautiful imagery, so it seemed about time I jumped on this bandwagon!

Paris <3 Floaty Eveningwear <3

One for the kitchen goddesses...

I love the Fine Dining Lovers website and blog, especially when they post awesome and cute infographics. This one has been one of my recent favourites, alongside the 'choosing the right type of pasta' and 'alcohol comparisons' ones.

I totally need to get back to my Baking Adventures, don't I? Click on the image to make it bigger :)

LustList

I'm going to start a new, hopefully regular, post label called LustList for all the things I'm lusting over lately. I know I have Shoe Watch which I don't get to post about as much (is it weird that I haven't seen any shoes lately that take my fancy?) but this is for everything else!

Anyway, I saw this Saint Laurent mini chain Y-Ligne pochette which has their signature Y clasp and I loooove the look of how practical it is. To be honest in the past I haven't loved their signature Y bags (not a big fan of the chyc cabas for some reason) but this pochette is amazing and even better than the standard clutch.

It comes in three colours and I love them all - I would of course get it in black but the inside looks so practical, plus add to that the detachable chain. Love. Plus the pink is beatiful!

At A$1420 on Saks, the price is steep, though I know it is probably much cheaper in Euros.

China Doll

China Doll always gets good reviews and so it seemed high time that I visited for myself to work out if it lived up to the hype. One part of its appeal is obviously its beautiful location on the Woolloomooloo finger wharfs and the day we went was a quintessentially beautiful Sydney day, warm weather, sun all round and no rain or wind. Love <3

These were the vegetarian dumplings - wrap them in the lettuce and dip! They were really fresh and fab actually. Anything with a good dipping sauce is a win in my books.

Drinks - always an important accompaniment to a meal! That's my passionfruit summer inspired mocktail which was delish - tasted like a frosty fruit actually. Yum yum!

We ordered the duck pancakes which were good, but not amazing. I don't think anything beats peking duck pancakes for me (especially when done properly, which is actually quite hard to find).

This dish was actually really awesome - flavourful sashimi on a hot summers day is one of my favourites.

And the view from the pub across the road. After lunch we went across the road to lap up the gorgeous summer weather which was sure to only last a few more weeks - so this is the view of the finger wharf. The hummer in the pic just dropped off a large group of girls (who seemed to be on a hens night adventure) all beautifully dressed in black with red feather boas. They actually looked fabulously coordinated!

So my verdict? It was a great day out with the food being tasty, service being good and the atmosphere obviously topping that off. While not wanting to say its 'overpriced' because its not ridiculously priced, asian is always one of those cuisines where you can get such great quality food for reasonable prices. So I suppose my point is, China Doll is good but not the most amazing asian food around given the price. Definitely somewhere I would return for an occasion like girls long lunch or something similar!

P.S These photos were all taken on my NEX - the kit lens isn't great for macro food pics but I'm learning quickly some tricks around it ;) Still not good enough for my liking but I've got some new lenses on the way to maybe help rectify that...post to come soon!

Strawberrynet purchases

A few weeks back I was feeling naughty and just wanted to buy some new make up (despite never needing anything new!). So I bought two items I had contemplated purchasing before...plus my sister had some good 'bonus' discount codes so it felt like a sign saying 'buy me buy me!'

Anyway the first is a Dior Lip Glow. I posted about a similar product a while back that looked awesome and I'd never bothered trying. Well this beauty seemed worth the buy if only for the cute packaging, and on Strawberry net it was at least $15 cheaper than in stores.

Its feels quite hydrating and almost has a bit of a 'zingy' feeling on your lips when you first put it on. I can imagine this will be good for the cooler months ahead. I am a faithful Kiehls #1 Lip Balm user, but this will be a nice non potted option.

The second item was a Chanel rouge allure lip glass in emoi which is a really pigmented pinky red colour. Its not quite a dark red, but it can be built up to that level if desired. I was lazy so didn't take any other pics, but this packaging must be the international/old packaging because when you buy it in Sydney stores its clear. I much prefer the elegant black barrel :)

Now I've decided my next make up purchase cannot be until the second half of the year because I have a holiday to save for! I can buy skincare, but no make up as I have tonnes of it already that I don't even use.

Life in Photos: March 2013

Oh my its already April and I never even got round to doing a Life in Photos March post! In fact I probably didn't even do a Feb one. Anyway, its already one month into Autumn, the weather is cooling down and I'm already depressed at the thought. But I have friends who are really good at trying to get out and about to do things so here are some pics of those things...

I went to Bitton Gourmet which is a really cute cafe that I quite like because its easy to get a table, service is great, every single item on the menu sounds amazing and the prices are decent. Not to mention it feels like you could sit there forever and they wouldn't hassle you out!

Here's the club sandwich I had, and then they were so lovely they were giving everyone mini creme brulees as we all finished our meals <3. Such a nice gesture and I love a good creme brulee so thumbs up from me!

Then I went to Soda Factory the other day which is one of the 'new' cool places around Sydney. Its quite popular for their $1 hot dogs on tightass tuesdays but I didn't go that day. Anyway I like the decor, the laidback feeling and the ability to just rock up have a meal/drink with a friend and chat the night away.

That's the $5 shake and $5 royale burger. Pretty delish and you can't go wrong with an easy $5 specials menu on Wednesdays.

Meanwhile, March also saw me eat at a few awesome fine dining locations so stay tuned for my posts about my visits to Quay, Movida, Universal and China Doll (I know right, thats a lot in one month!). Actually I lie, my trip to Universal was in late February, I just never got round to posting about it! Where is this year going?