Sun drenched

Summer's really starting to kick in - it's been super hot these past few days. On Sunday, we spent the afternoon at YY's new place, hanging around and taking photos (and of course, complaining of the heat).


This is my current favourite dress (I think I might've posted it before), even though the sleeves are quite badly cut and I can hardly move my arms in it. It has the nicest swishy skirt (not good for windy days though!). I've been meaning to show it off properly but I find it really hard to take outfit photos without someone to help. Thanks YY for being a dear and taking these/sending them over.


A couple of pictures I took of YY and the backyard (fun for me, since I don't have one - I live in a flat).




Here's another picture of me (thanks again to YY).

I've actually got a backlog of posts to make, because I've been going out a lot/buying things and not having enough time to edit and update. I really should stay home more often and save money for... EUROPE! We've bought the plane tickets and we're going to be there in late January/early February for 3 and a half weeks (a couple of days in Paris, a two week tour and a week in London). I really, really wanted to go in Christmas but the price of everything is just ridiculous at that time. I daresay I'll be ranting and raving talking about this a lot more in the next few months!

(Edible) bits and pieces

I've been on break for two weeks and I've only done two posts - pretty inexcusable! I have been leaving the house pretty often, with my camera in tow, but I don't end up taking enough pictures to warrant a whole post. I feel like our days/evenings out always centre around food (not ashamed!) so here's a bunch of food pictures for you.




In the last two weeks, I've been to the new IKEA (Tempe) twice. I'm not refurnishing my room, or even into homewares, but I love the food they have there. Like that pear drink (I just realised that earlier on I had "peach". It was an accident, I do know the difference!). The meatballs and mash are good but I liked the sausages they used to have better!


I've been introduced to Mad Mex, this Mexican chain fast food place that seems to be opening everywhere.



We also went to San Churro and shared the fondue for two... between three of us. It was pretty amazing.

Let's cross our fingers and hope I do better posts in the next couple of weeks, haha. As for other things... I've tweaked my About page (I feel pretty narcissistic for having one, but I love reading other people's About Me pages. If you've got one, I've probably read it) and Links (I'm thinking of categorising them somehow. I tried to do it by type of blog but it was too hard).

Edit: For some reason, a lot of people's posts aren't showing up on my Blogger dashboard, which is really annoying! I might start using Bloglovin' more now (right now I only use that for blogs I can't seem to follow with Blogger).

Sculpture by the sea

On Thursday, I went to check out Sculpture By The Sea with Alice and YY. It's an annual exhibition of sculptures along Bondi and Tamarama beaches. It wasn't the best weather to go in (I think I was grumbling about the drizzle the whole way through), and I didn't take many pictures because I didn't want my camera to get wet.

Practically deserted beach.

Alice and her camera.


Okay, I suppose you want to see some of the sculptures now? They're usually pretty large-scale ones and a lot of them are incorporated into the beach/coastline setting.

A giant tap.

This reminded us of Harry's patronus...

So it took me a while to work out what this skeleton is doing (fishing). It was huge, on a ladder overlooking the sea.

After this, we went on a long-winded search for gelato (don't ask) and ended up in Westfield Sydney.

Via del Corso has the prettiest desserts but they're so expensive you (well, poor students like us) have to split one. One sundae, three people. And, er, after this we decided we wanted something salty, so....

Charlie & Co. does pretty good chips.

Alice and YY then wanted to find a place they could drink their Duff beer (again, don't ask), so we hit up Hyde Park.


Before you ask: no, this is not typical Sydney spring weather.

So that's two overcast art-y posts for you in a row. It's meant to rain for the rest of this week... which is really pretty weird for this time of year. I haven't even (properly) been to the beach yet, hopefully the weather gets better. So far, in the week of holidays that have passed, apart from visiting various exhibitions (I don't usually go this often...), I've been working heaps, gone to the new IKEA twice, woken up at 3am to watch football and caught up on Downton Abbey.

Also I've changed the layout! I've been meaning to try doing a sidebar-only one. Maybe it's a bit awkward having (part of) a picture of me as the header, but I figured it fit the theme of the blog (the theme being "all about Jane"). And rollover it with your cursor! Surprise! (I think I have way too much fun with layouts, really).

Outpost

Mel, YY and I were in the city yesterday and decided to hit up Outpost. It's a street art exhibition on Cockatoo Island, one of the Sydney Harbour islands. It has a bunch of old, abandoned industrial sites, so it was the perfect setting. I'm not into street art, but I really enjoyed it. It's free (well, you have to pay for the ferry ticket), so if you're looking for something to do in Sydney, check it out!

The ferry ride over was fun (apart from the touch of nausea I got from the boat). We kept wondering what it'd be like to be rich enough to live in one of the houses on the harbour!

Paintings in Dogleg Tunnel.

I loved the use of the old warehouses, it was really atmospheric (fs) / T shirt exhibit (fs) / skull on a house (fs) /outdoor sculpture.

Warehouse (fs) / paintings (fs).

Bit of a gloomy day, really, but it was fitting.

After we got back to Circular Quay, we grabbed something to eat/drink at Hart's Pub (best chips) and went to the Guylian Cafe at The Rocks. Generally, we don't go to places like that because it's just so expensive, but I suppose we were in a bit of a splurging mood.

We shared the degustation plate, which means you get a little bit of everything. It was amazing, we were basically in a chocolate coma afterward. My favourites were the hazelnut ice cream and the dipping chocolate (which we proceeded to put on everything).

Then we caught fireworks (I'm not sure what they were for) as we walked to Circular Quay station. Best day!

   Some gifs to top the post off: hot chocolate/fireworks.

I finished my exams (relatively unscathed) on Monday, so I'm free for an entire 3 three and a half months now! I'm so pumped.

Almost there

One more exam to go... and I'm losing concentration (more than usual) because it's the last one. The hot and humid weather these past few days hasn't exactly been mind-sharpening either.

This is me jumping onto the satchels bandwagon. It's from ASOS Men's, and the only one I came across that's wide enough to fit my DSLR in its case (the Cambridge Stachel Company ones are are bit too narrow and stiff, I think. And, who are we kidding - I'm not too keen on dropping that much for a bag just yet). It was pretty cheap (especially with one of their evil, evil discount codes), and, unfortunately, looks/feels it. Maybe I should've splurged after all.

Possibly the most effective study aid.

Books I'm reading right now...

... and books I want to be reading. I've ordered a few more from Book Depository, looking forward to that!

I am so, so ready for the summer holidays. I'm definitely aiming for a "best summer ever" and I've also got some plans for this blog (not as exciting as it sounds). I'm expecting you guys to hold me to my word!

Snap happy

Look! A midweek update! I mentioned in the last post that I'd recently hopped onto the instagram bandwagon. I don't actually have an iPhone - I've got an iPod Touch, but it still works on it (I just have to be connected to the net to upload pictures). I didn't really understand the craze before I tried it, but I must say, I'm addicted. Here are some snapshots from the past week.

  
  
  
I like the freedom I get with it - my iPod's not bulky or inconvenient to take places (unlike my DSLR, as much as I love it) and much less conspicuous. When I'm shooting with my DSLR, I almost feel pressured to take a "perfect" pictures - in focus, not blurry, nicely composed, etc.; but it doesn't feel like it matters with instagram (probably because the filters make the picture look nicer than it really is, aha). For those of you who aren't fans, never fear - I'm probably not going to replace my usual photos with instagram ones. I'll probably just use it to do a fortnightly/monthly round-up sort of thing.

And, yes... I really should be studying right now.