Chin up buttercup!

1. me being a little silly :)   2. Chin up buttercup!   3. silly strikes again!  4. the state of my little arty corner  5. i love my new earrings <3  6. wish I could just float through the skies like this

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It's finally the weekend and I'll be leaving for Adelaide in less than 2 hours :) 

my dad wants to leave the house by 2am! So yeah, I'm still quite awake, even though I've been awake since 7am this morning (jeez louise!) Probably end up napping soon, so it's good I've got everything packed and ready! 

The reason why my family is heading down to Adelaide for a mini road trip is to personally invite our family members still living in Adelaide to my sister Thao and her fiance Loi's wedding this November! :) So it'll be great to see my auntie and cousins again! I'm a little bummed that my sister Anna won't be joining us! :( originally our trip was called off, so she got herself rostered for work this weekend. Sigh. Oh well, this was a very last minute decision for me. But I thought, why not? I need a break! (>_<) worked 7 days straight, and I'd say I'm going a little cuckoo. Sometimes before I fall asleep, I'd still have images and vague memories of serving customers flipping through my mind (=_=) nehhhh, lame! 

Anyway! To start off my weekend, I took my little brother and cousin to watch Johnny English Reborn! :D I drove too! Hehe, felt independent much? Now I can take the younger kids of the family to places without my parents knowing ^-^ sweet! Great movie, couldn't stop laughing :) it was definitely a nice way to relax after such a long week at work! 

On a side note, I'm missing my girlfriends, and I know they miss me too :( Can't wait to see everyone again next week for Alice's birthday picnic! 

I'm taking my dslr along for my Adelaide trip, so hopefully I'll have some nice snaps to post up next time I can blog :) yessire! Okay, time for me to take a little nap, goodnight everyone <3

Love, from Julie xox

P.S. Chin up buttercup! :) a little note for myself and for anyone else who's going through a hard time lately - whether it's with family or dealing with never ending uni work, just keep doing your best, there will be better days <3

I've just got to keep myself busy, so my mind doesn't go wandering off...

Shopping for labels, shopping for love

1. Lovisa earrings - currently loving the colour blue/green/gold :)

2. my high waisted pants <33 loving the colours

3. Dotti yellow cardigan, Sportsgirl brown knit & my vintage off white knit ~

4. the state of my room at the moment after coming home from shopping >.>

5. my 3rd item purchase from Lovisa - a pretty ring - buy 3, pay for 2! :)

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Yes! It was Chadstone's VIP night tonight, opens till 11pm but staying there for a couple of hours was enough for me. It was freaking chaotic, full of people looking for sales - hence is why I rarely go to VIP nights, but since I've been working so much lately, I needed a little break and spent some hard earned money on myself :) so lalala, I was able to find some great sales! 

My latest obsession with clothes is high waisted pants, and I was able to find some really nice ones tonight! My favourite one would be the ones from Forever New! I can't help but feel a little sophisticated wearing them with a simple white tee (^_^) BAM! I look like a woman! :D hahahaha. Maybe it's a little silly but I think that these pants make my curves look good (>_>) usually I'm quite self conscious but I love it how I'm comfortable with them now :) yay for lovehandles! hahaha doesn't mean I shouldn't exercise... I'm going to start jogging again, instead of napping when I get home from work :)

And my savings still exist :) 

I think I've done enough shopping lately for me to just settle down now and just clean up my closet. Time for some spring cleaning! Recently watched a story about hoarders on the TV news and yes, I don't want to become like that one day.. even though my room does look like it has the potential. Need to get rid of all the clutter I don't need anymore!

Anyway! I can't wait to go out so I can start wearing out these new babies! (>_<) I sure hope that'll be soon! Tired of wearing my work uniform all the time, want to have the chance to dress up and look like a real lady again! :D I wanna see my girlfriends again, it's been so long.. (>_____<) I miss them! I miss you Kimu! I miss you Cat! I miss you Sarah!!! *RAHHHHHHHHHHHH*

Okay, time for me to take my drugs and get ready for bed! (>.<) 

Love, from Julie xoxo

Untangle me please?

I'm so exhausted and frustrated sometimes from thinking about my work routine lately. I don't want to work 7 days a week. Nobody does. My body feels tired all the time, and time to sleep is never enough for me. Sigh. (-_-) Can't help but feel like I'm just tangled up in something I didn't sign up for. 

Laughter really is the best medicine

This is just a reminder for myself, and for anyone else. 

I need to remember this especially because lately, all I've been feeling is a lot of stress - from work, from family and other shizz - and that's not helping my flu whatsoever! I've noticed that even my breathing is stressed and sometimes it even cuts itself short, which means I'm making my heart work faster coz I'm making myself take more breaths and omg. Breathe. Julie. Breathe. 

So once I get home from work, I like to just relax and sit in my quiet room for a while. To kind of catch my breath back. Once I'm up and running again, I like to watch things that are funny or entertaining (like X-Factorrrrrrrr hahahaha) to get my mind off of things. Perhaps that's why I've become such a tv/movie junkie lately. Oh well. It's just because when something is really funny, you just gotta laugh - and in that moment, all you can think about is laughing - not your stress, your sorrows or your problems - and I don't know about you, but my heart feels kind of warm again after having a good laugh :) 

You know that saying

A day without laughter is a day wasted. 

So when you laugh, make it a big loud one till your heart is content! :D because other people are gonna feel better too when they hear good times happening. It's a nice feeling when you can make someone smile :)

***

Would have love to actually update my blog with what's been happening lately, but it's getting late now, and alas, I've got work again tomorrow (>.<) wish I actually had a weekend to enjoy and chill. Oh well! This only means I get to treat myself with some more shopping on V.I.P. night @ Chaddy! :D hehe maybe, if I'm not too tired to go! (dw Usher, I'll get back into saving :P) lalala, okay goodnight!

I've got to shake off this sickness >:( I hate feeling sick, and feeling useless. So I'm going to do everything I can to get better and start taking better care of myself once I'm up and running again. I don't want to disappoint anyone anymore.

Vintage Love Affair

My latest addition to 'Project Little Julie' :) pretty much expressing my love for vintage fashion lately. Couldn't help but just fall in love with the styles, the doily collars, the peter pan collars, the high waist skirts/pants ♥ I can't wait to be able to purchase one or two of them oversized knits :) I know it's spring now, but Melbourne weather is so unpredictable! Doesn't matter, I'll wear it anyway! 

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So not much has happened lately, but I've been busy, believe it or not (@_@) Well, it feels like I've been anyway! After a week at work (phew, another week over and out!) I just spent my Friday night watching some movies. Very chilled, best way to just relax after work. 

This morning, had to wake up extra early (for me on a Saturday) so that I can contribute with ideas for the house decorations for Thao and Loi's Wedding Tea Ceremony in the morning. Omg, there is so much to consider! Our rumpus room will be the main area, and that's going to go through a complete make over!!! Without me being informed, I am now the official house decorator according to Thao (-_-) Lol, thanks for asking man!! Oh well, it's going to be somewhat a challenge and it'll be fun :) 

Afterwards, went to yumcha for an early Father's Day celebration :) It was YUMMMMMM(cha) :D as per usual, walked out feeling like I was gonna explode (-_-) Had to drive home, because everyone was 'Yeahhhhhh Julie can drive homeeee! whooooo' 

Watched Green Lantern with Quang, and it was much more intriguing than I had expected! Was very exciting!! Ask Quang, and he'll tell you that I kept punching him during the movie, because I was so excited LOL Would love to have Green Lantern's super powers :) sad thing was that, yellow was the evil colour!! Whyyyy?? I love yellow man! And! Ryan Reynolds is such a hottie :) 

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Back home now, and I actually spent a good hour or so putting together a basic layout for my painting portfolio :) It'll be a while before I'll make it live for everyone to see, only because I still need to build up my painting collection for the portfolio! But it's exciting, and a little daring of me to even believe that people might actually like my work. Same way how I felt when I showed people my online multimedia portfolio (which showcases all of my uni work) - couldn't help but feel a little nervous of what people would think! 

*fingers crossed and hoping for the best* 

***

P.S. I miss seeing my friends :( so I really can't wait for next weekend when we have our drink gathering at Dantay's house! Won't be able to sleep over though, wish I could, but now the cafe is opened on weekends!! Far out! (>_<) But Kim suggested we go to South Melbourne markets the next morning, so I hope i'll be able to make it after work! :D

Wish List

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Sigh. They are all essential for me to liveeeeeeeee!!!! Hahaha just kidding.

It's the beginning of spring, and this afternoon was just lovely weather :) couldn't help but admire the beautiful sunshine while I was packing up the chairs into the cafe for closing time! Nothing to blog about, just wanted to say hello to September! :) be good to me yo! 

Meet my little Julie character :)

Hey guys! It's been a while since I've properly blogged about anything :) So if you're looking at my blog right now, you'd notice that I've changed the design (again) haha, but these are my own little paintings :) I'm starting to build a water colour/illustration portfolio online, and so I've created my own little character to represent myself :) If only I was this cute!! 

Been endorsing in a lot of art medium and hardware lately! Bought myself an A3 Multi-function Centre (so I could use the A3 scanner with ease!) last week, which made me pretty much broke for the rest of last week! XD And this week, bought myself the Wacom Intuos4 Medium Drawing Tablet :) It's so sleek and sexy! I couldn't help but express my undying love for it every time I walk out of my room last night! Lmao, how silly! XD Been wanting to buy a Wacom for over a year now, so this is great :) 

Seriously so so so so pretty :) 

***

Anyway, so I've just been working full time lately at the cafe, hence my big spending habits.. but I'm so sick of work :( I'm tired of waking up so early and having to deal with ongoing customers with their damn coffee/brekkie orders so early in the morning! Haven't been able to sleep properly for the past couple of nights, last night I just woke up at 3am, thinking I had to go to work :( it's so silly man! Bleh.. just 2 more days and then it's the weekend again! :) 

Gotta hang in tight! It's not all for nothing :)

Love actually is all around

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion… love actually is all around." 

— Love Actually

Jeffrey Campbell Lita Platforms

Umm...I REALLY WANT TO BUY SOME! >:D

I'm definitely going to buy the mustard pair :) probably in the next couple of months! Rah rah rah! They're so pretty. Seriously love them!! Would love to buy the patchwork one, but haven't found a site with my size :( haha, man.. this is just my materialistic side shining through.. retail therapy <3

First discovered them from Willabelle from Pale Division a while back (here) - love her style :3 - and I kept seeing them on random tumblr posts. Couldn't help but fall in love with them! My friend Kim (aka Usher, who writes reviews! Check her out here) bought a pair recently too! Looked gorgeous when she wore them out to dinner a couple of weeks back! >.< It's a shame the heel was a lil dodgy on one of the shoes. But she did let me try them on and they were comfy :) :) Can't wait to own a pair!

Cute bunny ears and puppy eyes!

Just came back from my trip to Adelaide this morning! It was a very lovely trip, where I got spend some quality time with Aaron and catch up with some old friends whom I haven't seen for months or for over a year >.< makes me wish that my stay in Adelaide was longer because there are so many old friends that I'd like to catch up with every time I return.

Time always flies when you're happy. 

* * *

So I brought along all of my water colour things and sketch book to continue painting whenever I had nothing else to do and while Aaron was busy. :) I decided to give drawing animals a shot. I haven't really ever taken the time to sketch out animals before. I guess I've always found the idea a little scary, that maybe I wasn't good enough. I mean, I was never really good at drawing faces or human life forms, but I'm still trying. I guess I wanted to test out new waters when I decided to draw this cute little puppy (here), a photo which I found on tumblr again hehe! It was drawn at 10PM at night at Adelaide Uni, while I was waiting for Aaron to finish studying! :) Not bad for an extremely sleepy Julie!

The next night, while Aaron was 'studying' again haha, I started drawing this cute lil bunny (here) that's standing up right with its paws up! I was a little nervous when I wanted to started painting over my sketched lines of the bunny - only coz I must have spent a good 20 minutes or so making sure the bunny looks good with its lil furry lines and shading. But I was very careful with painting the shape of the bunny (you'll notice that I painted a black border around its fur for its outline), and trying to paint the delicate fur lines so it looks fluffy! hahaha :) I'm quite proud with how its eyes and ears turned out! You can imagine how excited I was to show Aaron once I was finished (^_^)

I forgot to take a 'before' photo of the sketched bunny before I started to paint over it >.< but I will from now on to show my process! :) 

I guess I've somewhat conquered my fear of drawing animals a bit, there's still plenty for me to learn and take into consideration when drawing life forms. I look back now, making comparisons to the original photo and what I painted - there are many differences like I made the bunny's butt too big haha, and the puppy's head is bigger than it's body - but I what I do like is that I added my own little style to it, and was able to recreate something real into something that lives on paper (if that made any sense!) I'm also working on drawing/painting this photo of this pretty girl and her lovely looking side profile :) (here) 

I <3 Water Colour Painting!

All wrapped up with love

Took out a couple of hours tonight to paint more with water colours. I feel very serene and easy going when I start to concentrate on sketching and painting, great way to relax after a full day at work today!

I decided to do a tonal painting today with just the colour black, allowing me to practice handling the brush strokes :) and also to practice my shadows and light colours - something I exercised a lot last year while I was completing 2D Design as a course (I got to draw naked people! Weeee!) I'm honestly not very good at shading with shadows with pencil, but I found it much easier to do so with the paint brush! How wonderful! :D

This was my end product, where I referenced a photo of the parcel found here.

Still need plenty of practice but I'm pretty happy with it! Quite proud of how my ribbon turned out! It wasn't even suppose to be black/grey haha! But it does give off a 3D feel, and I'm all smiles :) As you can maybe tell, I really like mixing the pinks/violets together <3 it's sooo purrrrrrrrrdy!

* * * 

I LOVE COLBIE CAILLAT!

No kidding! I've driven home from work listening to her a couple of times now in Jenny's car, and it's the best music to listen to when you're driving. BEST EVER! Especially after the hectic duties of work, her voice is so beautiful to listen to while you're chilling in the car! You should try it out! :D

Favourite songs atm by her: I Do, Brighter Than The Sun, Before I Let You Go 

(pretty much her whole new album 'All Of You' hehehehe)

“Some of this book—perhaps too much—has been about how I learned to do it. Much of it has been about how you can do it better. The rest of it—and perhaps the best of it—is a permission slip: you can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will. Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.”

—	Stephen King (On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft)

Closest thing to magic for me

I broke into my new water colour sketch book on Saturday night and decided to paint a photo of which I found on tumblr - a girl with her eyes closed (here) I started out lightly sketching out her facial features, keeping in mind that these lines will help me a lot when I start painting.

Once I got the feel of the brush, I started to delicately paint her eye lashes and I pretty much continued on - always referring back to the original photo, where it helps me to distinguish the shadows and crucial lines that make up her face. It's a black and white photo, but I decided to improvise with additional colours for her lips and cheeks, to really bring her to life, and it turned out better than I expected! :)

As you can see, I continued to just play with the colours as I started painting little purple/violet flowers in place of her hair! It was so much fun mixing the colours purple, violet, blue etc all together and see what they become once they touch the paper :)

I'm pretty proud of what I did so far for this painting (^_^) the great thing about water colour painting is that I can easily go back to painting more to an oldie, as the colours are so delicate, gentle if you want it to be, and vibrant and bright too if you choose! I love it! :D I couldn't help but spend the rest of the night, till 2a.m. just playing with the colours.

I believe this is new love affair of mine is here to stay...


Uploaded some more of my water colour paintings on Facebook :) (link)

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face….You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”  
- Eleanor Roosevelt

My new art station :)

Took some time to rearrange my desk so I can make some room for a little painting station! Now all my paint brushes are right where I can just easily access them and I can paint easily sitting at my table! :D How fancy! hahaha! This is me trying to feed my new hobby of painting with water colours :) So far I've just been painting with acrylic paints, and usually I just sit on the floor with the easel. Can you believe how tired your legs can get after a really long while of just sitting on the floor cross legged??

My first attempt of painting with water colours from last night :) 

I still have a long way to go with mastering how to mix beautiful colours together but it's a start! I seriously feel like it's magic when the water colour paints just burst into bright and vibrant colours when it touches water! BAM!


Definitely one of the closest things to magic <3


Spent a good hour or so collecting a whole load of water colour painting inspirations on tumblr <3 (click here)

Adelaide Flights Booked! :)

Last minute trip down to Adelaide has been booked and confirmed! I'll be heading back to my hometown next Wednesday afternoon at 5:30pm and I can't wait! Can't wait to see Aaron again and catch up with a couple of my friends. I told my mum and, as always, told me off for always wanting to return to Adelaide, for spending my money carelessly.. and yeah, it's always about the same things. I'm sorry mum, but this is my life. I know I might sound spoilt and stubborn, but I worked hard for this money in a job that you pretty much forced me to do. So I'm pretty sure I have every right to spend it however I like.

I'll just be staying 4 nights, where I'll be leaving Sunday morning at 9:30am (>.<) such a short trip but I'll make the most of it. Aaron says that we'll be cooking for the family to eat for a couple of nights! So that'll be interesting! :D I've already got this recipe from The Herald Sun on how to make bangers and mash! Yum, I seriously love mashed potatoes! The chef at the cafe makes the best, it's actually going to be on the menu tomorrrrrrrow! Even if I'm quite sick now, I'll be working tomorrow and treat myself to some mash (^_^)

$4 passport photos we took along Chapel Street last time Aaron came to visit :)

* * *

After I'll be meeting up with peeps from uni, whom I haven't seen for sooooo long! Pvan especially! I miss uni so much, and I know as much as I used to complain about it.. I miss dressing up and looking pretty (rare days when I do try haha) and going out. Felt independent somewhat haha. Now I just go to work, where I pretty much just roll out of bed and go to work haha :) Good stuff! Anyway, we'll be watching Captain America! *fingers crossed* it'll be a good one! I already made Aaron tell me how it goes lmao, so I know what happens. Oh well. :) I never let that ruin a good movie for me! If anything, it makes me anticipate it more because I understand what's going on!!

Sigh, okay, I should return to bed. These sniffles are being stubborn and I need a good rest for tomorrow! (>_<)

Goodnight and sweet dreams <3