Ali... on basic skin care and makeup

 My Nan (my Dad's mum) has used Clinique products for as long as I can remember. She's always had there signature green packaged products in her neat bathroom for many years, always in a clear compartmentalized container.

My mum has also used Clinique, and now so do I. I opt for their basic 3 step routine, cleanse, tone and moisturise. My makeup routine has never been fussy and I have never opted for that 'caked on' look like some of my uni friends have gone for.

While I do have 'rosy' red cheeks, and now after a trip to Thailand, matching dark spots next to each of my eyes - I still don't wear caked on makeup. Just great foundation, sometimes a primer, easy eyeshadow, black eyeliner and some mascara and I'm done!

Here are a few of the basic which I love:

Clinique Almost Powder SPF15, Natio Gentle Facial Scrub, Benefit "10" Bronzer, The Body Shop Shimmer Cubes, Clinique Moisturizing Gloss, Lucas' Paw Paw Ointment, Clinique Redness Solutions Foundation.

Q:Which make up/skin care brands are your favourite? Which one's have been 'in your family' for years?

Currently: 17 December 2010

+photo taken on my iphone of my new brooch+

listening: Bon Jovi "The circle"

eating:Salad and chicken sandwhiches on Light Rye bread for lunch.

drinking: More green tea.

wearing:a black $10 dress from the opshop, my work shirt underneath with the sleeves rolled up, old Target black low heels and a pretty bird brooch my friend, Skye gave me for Christmas!

feeling:a little nervous, excited for new, fun and challengeing things in 2011.

weather:sunny right now, but storms hovering...

wanting:new runners to stop my calf pain when I run.

needing: a sleep in. :)

thinking:about my work Christmas party tonight.

enjoying: the summer sunshine and time spent with Brad.

wondering: what 2011 holds!

2010 - A year in review....

Goals, ambitions, hopes and dreams.

What were yours for 2010?

 I read my friend Amy's blog post last month on life lists. Lists of goals in particular.

And then she pointed me (and other readers) in the direction of other peoples list.

One in particular was Leah and her November goals, one thing in particular struck me:

"I often feel like I waste my free time: I spend a few hours at night watching tv or surfing the internet, and a week later my apartment is still a mess and I haven't done anything I would consider meaningful or productive".

OMG - so true!! So often I get home from the gym after being at work all day, cook dinner and catch up on TV while surfing the internet. So often hours go by before I have the chance to even think about doing some more meaningful.

This year I kept a 2010 Goal list, I also scrapbooked a page about it too! I wanted 2010 to be about achieving some goals, giving my self a purpose... not drifting along in life. I also set myself a word for 2010 (Ali Edwards style) "Purpose".

PURPOSE

"The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose"
Leider, Richard

My Goals list helped my to define the things in 2010 I wanted to achieve. Mind you these were quite large goals... And I tried to stick to most of them!

Let's see how I went:


SCRAPBOOKING: 52 layouts
 30 done, 22 to create.

FITNESS: Run a 10km fun run - complete

 Ran in the "Run Melbourne - Fun Run" - 10km on 18th July 2010. To read all about achieving my goal, read the blog post here.

FITNESS: To exercise at least 3 times a week
Check out how I'm going here.
As of 14 December - 24/56 weeks I didn't meet my target

LIFE: Make a new friend - complete

 I met Jayne playing indoor soccer earlier this year, we've been running together for the past few months once a week, enjoying Body Attack and more.

LIFE: Take a break! (Holiday) - complete

     * A girls trip to Daylesford happened in August - rinks, eating, relaxing, scrapbooking, shopping and spa time!
    * A 2 week adventure/relaxation holiday to Thailand in October.

WRITING: Write one reflective blog post a week
    * Not good - but have update blog sections to do so.
    * Established "He and She" monthly blog posts in September 2010.

WRITING: Grow my writing/research skills
    * Researched digital scrapbooking for article in 'Get Creative Magazine' March 2010.
    * July 2010 - Updated and revised my other blog, 'Scrapbook Insight', here I plan to blog more, interview scrapbookers, designers and artists.

FINANCE: Save $7000
I saved $2000 for my Thailand holiday.


Coming soon - my goals and 'one word' for 2011. :)

December Daily: Days 8 - 14

So I'm not behind in taking photos to document my December... Just uploading them to here I'm a little behind...

Day 8:

I uploaded new songs to my iphone - no not christmas ones; Bon Jovi "The Circle" and Bon Jovi "Greatest Hits" albums in preparation for his concert!

Although now I wish I had've [downloaded Christms carols]... and I also found out that my Altec Lansing ipod dock speakers aren't working! :(

 

 Day 9:

Today I finished 1/2 making my Christmas cards. Yes you read that right, I sewed around each of my 20 handmade cards using gold thread! Note to self: Next time buy the more expensive thread - yes it costs you more, but saves you in time by not having to re-thread your sewing machine!!

Day 10:

Today I made cute "To & From" tags for my Christmas presents! Easy-peasy with Kaisercraft's Kraft Tag pack, coordinating tag stamps and some 'to & from' greetings.

Day 11:

 Bon Jovi night! I went to see Bon Jovi @ Etihad stadium with my mum and some of her friends. We had the BEST night, listening to some awesome music and admiring Jon himself on the big screen!

Day 12:

 I've got my first two cards of the season!! They're now sitting on my mantle at home amongst the fairy lights and decorations!

Day 13:

I wrapped presents - and pretty much all of them! This year I went with plain gold paper, and a gold bauble/checkered paper with white decorated band or red, followed up with gold see-through ribbon and red curling ribbon with my tags!

Note: I wrapped with the aid of my trusty 'helper' to give me a hand, placing his finger where asked when I had to tie the curling ribbon!

Day 14:

    A busy day at work. Followed by bootcamp, some exciting news, chatting to much loved friends on the phone and admiring the agapanthus starting to bloom!

  

Q: How is your December shaping up? 

Summer loving.....

 Just a few things I'm loving right now.

As the weather warms up more and more... my mind starts wandering to a new summer wardrobe!! :)

bright neon colours. nautical stripes. navy. denim shorts (of course). classic black sandals.

TOP L-R: Asos Bandeau Dress, Forever 21 boatneck top, Jersey Swing Maxi Dress 

Body Con T-Shirt Dress  $129.00 AUD  WDR645C586

Jemma Crochet Ballet  $119.00 AUD  WOE00774

Printed Tank  $59.95 AUD  WTSB26C590

Crop Cargo Pant  $79.95 AUD  WSW297C491

Raia Chain Trim Thong  $99.00 AUD  WOE00766

Short Cargo Playsuit  $149.00 AUD  WDR680S536

Elia Waxy Cord Sandal  $69.95 AUD  WOE00767

Zip Detail Vest  $89.95 AUD  WJA358S535

Ruffle Detail Bikini  $79.95 AUD  WSM031E219

Alexa Buckle Detail Flat  $99.00 AUD  WOE00749

Jersey Swing Maxi Dress  $129.00 AUD  WDR707K542

Raia Chain Trim Thong  $99.00 AUD  WOE00766

Tie Dye Tank  $59.95 AUD  WTSB48K555

Roll Up Linen Short  $99.00 AUD$69.30 AUD  WST189S535

Raia Chain Trim Thong  $99.00 AUD  WOE00766

Roll Up Sleeve Tank  $49.95 AUD  WTSB43K491

Tie Dye Harem Sweat Pant  $79.95 AUD  WSW298K554

Tie Dyed Tote  $49.95 AUD  WTB00248

Raia Chain Trim Thong  $99.00 AUD  WOE00766

Embroidered Shirt  $129.00 AUD  WSHA88T521

Roll Up Short  $69.95 AUD$48.97 AUD  WST172AB07

Raia Chain Trim Thong  $99.00 AUD  WOE00766

Multi Stitch Kaftan  $129.00 AUD  WSH996T522

Soft Gathered Skirt  $99.00 AUD  WSK758S535

Raia Chain Trim Thong  $99.00 AUD  WOE00766

MIDDLE L-R:Mikoh swimwear Maldives & Lanai Separates, Lee Peggy singlet

BOTTOM L-R: Insight - Boyfriend blues short,Witner sandals 'Silvie"

Q:What's on your wardrobe list right now? Are you shopping for winter or summer?

She + He: November

She + He: November

She + He celebrated a Cousin's beautiful Wedding

She started Boxing Bootcamp.

She + He returned from Thailand and struggled to get back into the 'daily grind'.

She learnt she needed new runners after a trip to the physio.

She got her very first tattoo.

She + He went to a house party and also partied in Geelong.

She caught up with her old housemate for coffee.

She baked Banana, Walnut and Date loaf (a new favourite recipe).

She felt very Merry and decorated the house for Christmas!

Every now and then She still struggles with painful thoughts.

She + He found themselves smiling and laughing more and arguing less.

Hi... and just a few quick questions

 Hi there!

Are you new to my blog? Welcome and thanks for visiting? Have you been here before?

I'd love to get to know all my little visitors that pop up in my Google analytics statistics...

I also wonder,what do you prefer reading about on my itty bitty blog here?

1. Daily life

2. Photography

3. Scrapbooking

4. Fitness

5. Home ideas/Interior Decor

6. Fashion/beauty

Thanks so much for stopping by!

December Daily: Day 4 - 7

Day 4:

Today I had bootcamp at 9am and relaxed for the morning. Then Brad and I went shopping for Christmas presents! We also went to the art supply store to get paper for Christmas cards and wrapping paper. We cleaned the yard, mowed, weeded and did the washing. We also had friends over for a BBQ and drinks, watching You Tube clips and laughing our arse's off!

Day 5:

A sleep in. Then I went to Melbourne to the Melbourne Design Market (at Federation Square) to buy some more Christmas presents. I was back in Geelong by 1pm. Brad and I had brunch at 63 Degrees.

We decided to head to the beautiful Queenscliff to the beach. We soaked up the sun, enjoyed the sea breeze and had a quick swim (well I couldn't because of my tattoo!)

I started making my Christmas cards today!

Day 6:

 Work. Busy day. I went to the gym after work and worked out using my gym program (a mix of weights and cardio).

Day 7:

A very busy day today. I'm working on a product catalogue and a million other things and had a crappy stressful day. I worked out all my stresses at Body Attack with Jayne and then headed to Boxing Bootcamp!

December Daily: Day 3

December Daily

Day 3:

I made these stockings a few weeks back using linen and vintage looking fabric! One for me and one for Brad!

December Daily: Day 2

December Daily, Day 2:

Today was a really busy day at work preparing our 2011 product catalogue. So it was nice after work to head to the hairdressers to get my hair done. I've gone blonde again! Something I haven't been for years! Boy it's different!

December Daily: my version

Some of you may have seen Ali Edward's 'December Daily' project - making a mini album to document your December.

Some people make albums, some mini albums, others document it in different ways.

I tried completing this project last year, but felt it was too time consuming and felt I didn't have 'enough' Christmas things to document my Christmas/December Daily album....

So instead I've decided to document my December 2010 in the form of a Daily photo. I've been wanting to complete a Daily photo project for quite sometime, so I thought this would be the perfect time to do it!

I'll be posting each day's photos onto my Flickr account as well as on here with a short snippet of what happened in my day (so I can scrapbook/digi scrapbook this one day!)

Day 1: Putting up the Christmas Tree!
This year we decided to opt out of putting up a Christmas tree, and our NEW house is a little 'cozy' for one. But I couldn't go without all together, so a little baby one was chosen!