Hello everyone! Continuing on with Blogtober (blogging every day of October) i'm doing the Wanderlust Travel Tag. I thought it was quite a fun one with some interesting questions. :)

1. Where have you traveled to that you would love to travel again?
Europe. I've actually been three times, and even still there is so much more of it I would love to see. I just love how it's so easy to travel around and each different country has a completely unique culture.


2. You're leaving tomorrow, money is no object where are you going?
CANADA. I reallyyyy want to go to Canada, i've been obsessed with it lately. I follow a lot of Canadian photographers on Instagram and it just looks stunning. If I went i'd love to travel around the whole place, perhaps rent a car.

3. Preferred method of travel; planes, trains, or cars?
Trains! There's just something I love about trains, there's much more ease with them opposed to planes. Unfortunately living in Australia and being so far away I have no choice but to go places on planes (eek) but I like taking trains when I can because you get to the see the countryside. Plus I just hate airports haha, they're always so stressful.

4. Favourite travel website?
Does AirBnB count? I just love going on there and looking at places to stay, even if I don't any travel planned haha.

5. Where would you travel to just eat the food?
It's gotta be Italy. The land of pizza, spaghetti, arancini balls..it's carb loaded but so delicious.

6. Is there a place you would never go again?
Probably..Hong Kong? I didn't mind it but I didn't love it.

7. Can you recite your passport number from memory if asked?
Definitely not, I can't even remember the first number! Or does it start with a letter? Gosh, I have no clue.

8. Do you prefer the window, aisle, or middle seat?
Who would willingly choose the middle seat?! I prefer the window, always. You get to look out and watch what goes by, see the twinkling city lights as you land, and you have your own little space. The only downside is having to awkwardly ask people to get up when you need to go to the bathroom but I feel that's an okay trade off to have your own space.

9. Favourite travel memory?
There's SO MANY I could choose from. Still to this day I think what stands out most is my first time going to England. We caught the dreaded 24hour flight to London airport, caught a taxi to the house we houseswapped with (you can read about the experience here) and it was the most beautiful cottage covered in so much snow. I had never seen that much snow before. It was just a wonderful moment realizing we were going to spend the next 3 months living there.


10. What is your most ideal holiday?

Somewhere cold to escape to when it's the middle of Australian summer. It gets soo hot here and i'm not a summer person. Probably going somewhere I can see the snow and go snowboarding.

"Discussion is an exchange of knowledge, argument is an exchange of ignorance". - Robert Quillen

We live in a generation where more and more people have access to wide platforms for voicing their opinions. In prior decades, and without the comfort of the internet, people would resort to soap boxes and writing to newspapers to air out their thoughts on topics. These days there is an abundance of opportunities to get your thoughts out there - like Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. They're an easy way to reach a large amount of people which are also in a sense a safer way to voice opinions as you suffer less repercussions than if you were to stand in the street yelling out your views.

Due to the ease of expressing opinions online I believe people have become more intolerant of listening to other people.

Just the other week I was blocked by someone on Twitter. I kind of want to laugh at that statement as it's something I never thought would happen as I don't engage in speaking rudely or negatively to people online. This blogger tweeted saying how she thinks people are total snobs when they refer to their job as a proper or adult job. I replied to this jokingly saying how it made me feel bad as I occasionally refer to my job as an adult job only because I studied hard through university and my current work feels different to my uni jobs. This was met with a string of quite rude comments calling me a snob. I was a little taken back because, as I said, I never engage in being uncivil/mean to anyone online and was surprised someone would be unkind back? I tried to explain as nicely as I could how I never intend for it to be a demeaning statement and I think what everyone does in life is important as we all make the world go round. Gosh, I even added in a smiley face to sound friendly in case my original statement could be interpreted the slightest bit mean haha. Without much discussion or anything I was blocked. It just made me more disappointed than anything that we weren't able to enter into a civil discussion so I could hear why she felt that way and then also reiterate how my intentions were not to be snobby in the slightest. Well, I guess that's the internet for you.

In my opinion: discussion is power. We should never get stagnant listening to other points of views and hearing why people believe what they believe. I think it's important to hear what people have to say. In the past i've held certain views on topics only to have them completely changed when having a conversation with someone. One of my best friends (shout out to you Cherri!) comes from a different background to me and holds quite a lot of different views on topics to myself. I absolutely love chatting to her as we both have such civil conversations discussing soo many things. I love trying to understand her point of views and rationale, similarly she also likes trying to understand my views. Discussing doesn't mean you always have to agree with each other but it just means you're trying to absorb more knowledge and gain an understanding.

Unfortunately, the media is a very one sided thing and if you happen to have an opposing view to the alleged popular opinion of the day you face ridicule and an onslaught of horrible comments. This is probably why I never post my opinions online, because I know for talking about certain topics I could face a lot of backlash from people who don't have any intention of understanding where i'm coming from. It just shouldn't be that way. The best way for our society to grow is being able to have open conversation with one another which is free from judgement and argument.

I do think social media is good in many ways for acting as a forum for discussions but it's so important for us all to treat each other as HUMANS. It's the simple things like being respectful, not judging people, not throwing out hateful words, asking why someone feels a certain way.

In my life I think I strike a great balance of: working, catching up with friends, exercise (okay I only go for a few walks a week but that still counts right?) and being at home. As i'm naturally more introverted I cherish being a homebody and chilling around my house when I can. Sometimes i'll be productive and do some work and blog, but sometimes I just want to relax and find a new series to get into.

These are the shows I have binged over the last few months, all of which I have recommended to anyone and everyone in real life. You know a series is good when you find yourself bringing it up in conversation just so you can get someone else into it.

Everyone has their "thing". Some it may be baking, reading a lot of books, photography, sports..mine happens to be music. Music is just my absolute passion and I love nothing more than discovering new bands and going to various concerts. I'm always making playlists for myself and friends, burning CD's for my car (yes i'm still a little oldschool, I love my mix CD's!), looking up what bands are touring soon, and trying to find new music.

This year there have been some absolutely fantastic albums released. The ones I were mainly excited for was Lana Del Rey, Asgeir, and Foster The People due to them being my favourite artists. I was also lucky enough to discover new artists with some were recommendations and some being just found at random. These ones mentioned in this post are the standouts, the ones I keep going back to and the ones I can't stop telling people about.

PARCELS - HIDEOUT EP

Now this isn't really going to be a proper life update but just a post to announce.....i'm going to be doing Blogtober! If you don't know Blogtober is basically where you post everyday for the month of October. I'm quite excited for this challenge and have a notebook full of ideas for various posts. I did my first post of the month yesterday (my Colourpop haul) and this is my second.

Today has been the cosiest day in a longgg time. Where I live (Queensland, Australia) has not had rain in ages to the point we're currently in a drought. Today I awoke to find the sky gloomy, the air cool, and the trees being embellished with many raindrops. It's currently 5pm and I haven't left the house all day. Suuure I probably should have gone to the shops to buy some food to do meal prep for my work lunches this week but I couldn't bring myself to get out of my comfy gear and become presentable. Not today, not today. So instead I have had many cups of earl grey tea, written up some blog posts to get ahead of the blogtober game, had a friend come over briefly for tea, and watched the latest season of Doctor Foster with my brother. *sighs* Isn't this the life? Unfortunately I have work tomorrow and as much as I love my job I also love rainy days so it's going to be a major struggle to get out of bed. Wish me luck.

Colourpop is quickly becoming one of my favourite makeup brands ever. It's super affordable and pretty much every product i've used by theirs I have LOVED (minus the ultra matte lips which are more drying than the sahara desert).

I did an order with my sister and my parcel finally arrived a few days ago. Honestly, nothing makes me become crazy like ordering stuff online. I check the tracking every five seconds!!

Would absolutely recommend Colourpop to anyone and everyone. When you purchase over $50 you get free shipping, and it's easy to get to the $50 as there's so much to buy.

Now aint this the most perfect palette if you've seen one?! It was only $16 too! I absolutely love the shade range in this, completely wearable featuring some gorgeous shimmer shades. My favourite shade of the bunch is the one on the bottom left, it's sooo pretty. As you can tell from the swatches above this palette is very pigmented. I don't even need to apply fix+ on the shimmer shades as they are so strong already without it. Can see myself using this non-stop.

Colourpop palettes usually sell out super quick but I just checked online and this is still in stock - so if you like the look of it then I think go for it cause you'll get a lot of use from it. Link here.

Aquarius was a wildly popular lippie stix from the Kathleen Lights collection that they asked her to come back and create it in all their lipstick formulations. As I was a huge fan of the Aquarius lippie stix I knew it would be worth buying the other formulations. The ultra satin lip is one of my favourite formulations of lipstick EVER as it's highly pigmented, non-drying, and lasts allll day. Only $6 too.

This is easily going to become something i'll go through tubes of because this shade is my perfect nude. It kinda reminds me of the Koko K lipkit by Kylie. Except this formula is waay nicer and not as drying.

Guys i've got the guilts. I haven't done a blog post in 12 days and...I feel baddd. in my defense the last few weeks have been super busy with work and going away for the weekend so there really hasn't been time to rustle anything together. Also I always like to post stuff that i'd want to read myself!

Last week my mum and I went for the weekend away in Melbourne for no particular reason, just to have a nice getaway. The past few months have been quite full on at work with so many learning curves so I was really needing a nice trip away to reset and treat myself. It was full of lots of shopping, drinking lots of wine and coffee, eating lots of cheese, and exploring around the city. My highlight would be either going to a Wallace & Grommet exhibition or seeing The Book of Mormon.

The Wallace & Grommet exhibition was sooo amazing. We weren't aware it was even on but saw a sign in the city promoting it so we had to go. I don't know about you guys but Wallace & Grommet was my childhood!! I think I have seen each episode hundreds of times. I felt like a little kid running around the exhibition excitedly. My favourite part was at the end where you got the chance to make your own plasticine characters to then make a little short animation - similar to what they do. Would definitely recommend you checking this out if you go to Melbourne, it's only $24 and worth it if you were a huge fan (like me!).
The Book of Mormon was hilarious. The easiest way to describe the humour is that it's South Park kinda humour. Very politically incorrect and offensive at times, but generally funny. I wouldn't recommend this to the faint hearted, if you don't like South Park or shows like The Inbetweeners then I don't think is gonna be your kinda thing. Absolutely loved it though.
A random cute coffee shop we discovered in Fitzroy after destroying two delicious croissants from Lune.
Also I went back to my favourite spot which is a cafe called Higher Ground (photo above with the huuuge pancake). It's the prettiest place with high ceilings, exposed brick, plants, friendly staff, and a killer menu. I mentioned this in my  Best Spots to Get Breakfast At in Melbourne post a few months back. The thing to order is the Ricotta Hotcake which apparently no one has ever finished. I tried, and only got 3/4 through which was a solid effort.
And lastly we went to Lui Bar which is a gorgeous bar 55 floors up and overlooks the city. It does great cocktails and is ultra classy. It's wildly popular so we had to wait awhile to get a seat next to the window but when we did it was all worth it. Maybe avoid going on a Saturday night like we did because it was very busy.