Australia Actually

It's literally been 2 months since i've posted anything, and tonight, i've decided to post about my cute little bedroom! haha. It may be tiny, but it's the little details about this room that make me happy. Take, for example, the colour of the wall. It used to be pink until I painted it into this muted, tranquil blue-turquoise colour. It is so gentle to the eye. I think i'm obsessed with this colour and i'll end up painting my future bedroom this colour too!

This wall-mounted desk is a huge space-saver. I used to have an ugly table here (which i'd constantly bump into cause the room is so small!!) but i'm so glad i've decided to get this one instead. The only downside is that it can get dirty pretty fast, especially if you're like me and get your hands dirty with makeup! haha.

Since it's such a pain in the butt to look for keys in the morning (mine are usually somewhere in the abyss of my backpack), I got this sticky thing at the Dollar store and put it right by the door! I make it a point to put place my keys here as soon as I get back to my room. 

Oh, and let's no forget about the TURD keychain. It is the cutest thing ever. Thanks Minah!!

One of the other things that makes me happy is this Rilakkuma bobblehead. He was supposed to go in my car but it made me so happy to see his little face around the room, so I kept him here instead! 

Another Ikea treasure. haha. This is right beside my desk, and it contains stuff that I usually need quick access to like my skincare products, current book that i'm reading, makeup brush set, etc. Again, i'm maximizing wall space but storing this here instead of piling it into a drawer.

But believe me, I do pile a lot of crap. I just try to minimize cluttering my public space :p

Merry Christmas & warm wishes to you who's reading this :) I can't believe another year has gone by. So many things have changed, but that's part of the beauty of life, right? It's so weird to see my family and friends grow: people leaving, people coming in. If there's anything i've learnt this year, it's that we need a strong foundation or network of people that we can count on through the years. I'm so blessed to have kept a handful of people on my side, even though sometimes I feel like I could do a better job of keeping in touch :p For so long now, i've been wanting to send mail to my friends in the Philippines. It's been eight years, and I still haven't sent a single one. I'm determined to do something about it in the coming year! And I wanna do a better job of keeping touch with friends here too :)

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree... i'm gonna miss how you add sparkle and glam to my living room!! 

Highlight of the night: Meeting 3-week old Luke for the first time. He is SO TINY. I tried to hold him, but I obviously have a specialty for making babies cry :'( Anyway, I was so excited to give him my gift which was a onesie that said "Best gift ever"!! I thought it was the cutest thing, him being a December baby and all :D

Merry Christmas from us to you! I love these people!

Mmmm delicious fruit cake from T&T!

Pizza, Turkey & Mash + Filipino food = Best of both worlds! This is how we roll :p

Goodnight guys!!! Hope you had a great Christmas this year <3

Love,

Chelsea

Good morning! I had the strangest urge to listen to Britney Spears this morning, and i'm talking about Britney from 1999 to 2003, because it brings back good memories of me and my old cassette player. I was a little bit sad for some reason, and I needed Britney to balance me out. Some days, it's Disney, some days, it's Britney. Anyway, first stop today was the bank! I took the chance to wear these waterproof boots that I got yesterday (from a brand called Sorel), and i'm so happy that I got them because my other boots were not meant for walking in snow and sludge. With these, I feel like I needn't be too careful and they'll be able to handle the harsh winter weather!

I drove to Chinook to do the last bit of my personal shopping, since I will be working on boxing day and won't have time to go then. I got myself a candle from Urban Outfitters called "Moon Sparkle" (which smells AH-mazing btw!!), a fleece hoodie from North Face, a $12 top/dress from Topshop, and another pair of Aritzia leggings. I tried to leave a.s.a.p so I could hang out with Jesse and his fam for a bit!

Awww. Tita assigned me a Christmas stocking too!!! I don't wanna be cheesy but it means the world to me that she'd even think of it. Super thoughtful gesture. I can see where he gets it from. <3

Sushi Mori with the parents and sister :)

We saw Star Wars!! I actually enjoyed it quite a lot! And i'm obviously a huge fan of kick-ass leading ladies. YASS. We need more strong female characters on screen!!! Keep 'em coming! 

Got home and opened a few presents, among them this delicious box of Lindt chocolates. They're gorgeous and decadent. I've been lusting after this box for a year now, and i've finally got my hands on it. *evil laugh*

How was your Christmas eve? Mine was honestly spent writing this blog and getting nostalgic with Britney Spears in the background. hahaha. I think i'm just gonna get ready for bed, turn on my fairy lights, and light up my moonsparkle candle and call it a night. Our family Christmas party is gonna be tomorrow and I can't wait to see my new baby nephew!!!

Xox,

Chelsea

Today was dedicated to tying up loose ends, and buying last minute gifts! As I mentioned before, Jesse and I had an agreement not to splurge on X-mas gifts this year, and we stuck to a $20 gift exchange. It was his time to pay up today :) YAAAAAS. We decided to meet up at Kensington to visit my favourite tea shop. As usual, I missed a few turns and got lost on the way! 

At Oolong tea house. The tea here is so much more potent than the famous brand I like to buy mugs from :p They were busy today too; people catching up for the holidays, or maybe even out on a date? It made me curious about how to tell whether two people just met that day or have known each other for years. 

Just met that day: Each person would try to look nice for their first date, even if it's freezing out. They will also try and carry less crap with them.

Known each other for years: Goes into the cafe looking harassed by the cold weather, heavy bags in tow...throws crap all over the table...

I reckon that's one way to tell :p

I picked Winter Dream & Pumpkin Spice Cream. They smell soooo delish. Can't wait to try them!!!

Had the cheeseburger with blue cheese at Burger 320. Mmmm... so tasty :)

Also had to stop by four other places after this...haha! At the end of the day, I finally bought everything I needed. Last thing to do tomorrow is to wrap up a few more gifts, then I'm done! 

Good night,

Chels

December 18, Friday: Excuse my hobo outfit. I just felt the strong urge to wear my comfiest clothes for the exam. I was quite hangry in this photo because I hadn't eaten for 6 hours at this point, and I also had to navigate downtown traffic in sh*tty, snowy weather. I usually avoid driving downtown. lol. However, it was definitely worth the drive because I got to see my friend Minah again!!

We ate at Sun's BBQ restaurant right up at centre street. The drive there was also horrendous. hahaha. Once in, the restaurant was like a JUNGLE. Let's just say that we were forced to sit in a corner and we encountered a few sour-faced waitresses. We were also so close to sharing a seat with 4 other people in a round table. Wow, that would've been massively awkward! However, the food was excellent and I would definitely come there again for the chow mein (my favourite chinese dish!). 

Afterwards, we went to Chinook so I could start my christmas shopping :) I had soooo much fun with this girl. I can't believe I only had half a day with her!! Everyday is so precious when you only get to see someone once or twice a year. I'll miss you! Take care in YEG <3 

December 19, Saturday: I had one hell of scary drive on my way to Chinook (again) after work today. It got me so scared that my mood became somber; and the only way to remedy it was to buy a coat and a sweater from Topshop. HEEHEE. Shopping = therapy. I met up with my friends for our yearly Santa pic, then we had dinner at Gaucho's afterwards. 

2008 VS 2015

Our group of friends have become so massive... we had a long table to ourselves. The food was soooo gooooood. But it was soooo expensiveeee. LOL. Here's a photo of Arianne, Rem, and I, otherwise known as the "Cholas". I had such a fun time with these two, and of course, the rest of the people we were chatting up with all night. Our yearly dinner is always something I look forward to :)

December 20, 2015: Another reunion today! We met up with my girlfriend Allyson over pho for lunch. It was her first time sitting down with Jesse and chatting up with him <3 It always makes me so happy when the boyfriend gets along with important people in my life, and vice versa :)

This was the dark-green, moss-coloured coat that I got from Topshop. Jesse got me the exact same one, but in caramel, for my birthday a month ago. I love it!

Two hours later, we were making ginger bread men at his friend Annky's house. The one on the left is Elvis, and the right one is supposed to be a construction guy. lol.

Jesse's artful depiction of Santa claus!

December 21, Monday: I'm exhausted, to say the least. Was able to wrap a few presents this morning, then I started feeling really sick.

So what I did was fix myself a little lunch, put on Disney short films from Netflix, bundled up in bed, and took a nap. I then went to work at 2 p.m. It was a nice, slow shift, thankfully.

Only 3 days til Christmas!!!

YAY!!!!

xx, 

Chelsea

Sorry, no affirmation today, but here's a rant instead:

There's so many things that attribute to confidence, but today I'll use calmness as an example. I'm finding it quite hard to tame my nerves for an exam I'm having next week. I literally cannot make sense of the prof's powerpoints or thought pattern in general. It feels like she's stringing one subject after another, without really expanding on any one real topic. The readings have no direct relation to the powerpoints (I'm guessing she thinks they're important in some way?) I am incredibly frustrated about this because none of her notes have one singular theme, and they certainly have no flow. I am so mad. I really have to calm the f*ck down. 

WORST. PROF. EVER.

WORST. T.A. EVER.

I went on ratemyprof & found solace in the fact that a lot of people felt the same way about her. She teaches a 200-level class like it's a 400-level class, and after everyone pretty much shat bricks for the reflection paper and midterm because she graded really hard and provided no support nor detail, she had the audacity to tell us that we had to "work for it". 

I'm literally on the verge of flippin' a table here. No, erase that, I've flipped many-a-hypothetical-tables in my head at this point already. I think I'm calming down now. I haven't found a resolution, except to stop reading her damn powerpoints and attempt to read the book instead. At least the book will have coherence and will actually MAKE SENSE. 

At least this meme makes me laugh. 

Sorry you had to see this side of me; but i'm only human and I do get angry too. I really value honesty and i'd hate for my readers to only be getting one side of the story. I like to keep it real as much as I can!

Hope you still love me,

Chelsea

This affirmation is really contradictory of how I feel today, to be honest! Haha. I've been procrastinating studying for exams. It was only yesterday that lectures ended, and all I wanna do is detox my brain :( 

Oh well! Rome wasn't built in a day, right? It's hard now, but it'll be worth it in the end. Just like the "spending fast" that I talked about from Day 2.. trying to pay off a large sum from a little paycheck sometimes feels like things are moving at a glacial pace. Hahaha. It's only day 15 of the fast, but i'm feeling the repercussions like a drug addict. LOL. 

Anna, the inspiration behind the Spending Fast, recommends writing down a needs & wants list, and only spending on the essentials. She was able to pay off about $24,000 worth of debt within 15 months. If that's not worth it, I don't know what is :P 

No sunshine for us today! It was grey skies and snow when I left this afternoon. 

#Justcutethings! hehe

I know buying Timmies isn't an essential, but I had to have a mocha to cheer me up on this dark & gloomy day.

Xo,

Chelsea

[9:49 p.m.] I literally just came up with this idea after watching a few Vlogmas videos on YouTube. I got so inspired by Zoella's videos (her excitement is contagious!) that i've decided to do my little version of Vlogmas, but calling it "Blogmas" instead because i'm just gonna be writing on my blog instead of posting videos everyday for the month of December. 

If you're not familiar with the concept, the Urban Dictionary definition of Vlogmas is: A Christmas celebration that mainly Youtubers participate in by vlogging (or video blogging) everyday until Christmas. 

I've also decided to start doing the 30-Day affirmation challenge by Brian Tracy, and *lightbulb!* what better time to appreciate and reflect on life than Christmas time anyway? All of the titles i'll be using will correspond to the affirmation of the day.

So let's get started, i'm already late by a day! haha.

I have it all written down on my little whiteboard! :)

Yes, I understand it's a bit cheesy but it's been a while since i've done something like this.

My fairy lights <3

Reflecting on today's affirmation. Hmmm. This is a bit hard actually. haha. "I can do anything I put my mind to"... i'm trying to find an example from my life experience without having to bare my soul to the internet. lol. 

These past few months, I have set my mind to: doing great academically, paying off my tuition each semester (student loans can suck it), saving money on my TFSA, and even deciding to go on a "spending fast", which is a bit extreme, but I really need it to pay off my car loan. 

I guess "not baring my soul" just went out the window right there :p haha

I'm really happy at how dedicated and disciplined i've been (warning: i'm gonna be tooting my horn a lot through blogmas hahaha) with all the responsibilities i've had to face these past few months. Working five days a week, putting myself through university when I was on the verge of quitting, and actually rocking my first year in Communications studies. I've never done so well academically in my life (this might change as I enter my 400 level classes haha-- I hope not), and I just know that if I put my mind to it, i'll be able to make the best of my experience at UofC the second time around. 

I'm gonna be posting more photos for the next blog posts.

Have a great evening!

XO,

Chelsea