#lessonlearnt

I had something happen to me on Friday which I felt constitutes a blog post on this site. You see, my sister and I got ourselves into a bit of a shit-storm (once you’ve read the rest of this post, please appreciate what a great pun ‘shit-storm is). 

It all started when my parents had asked my sister and I to walk our two dogs, Daisy and Rosie, upon our return home from uni. Like all students, we ventured off into our respective caves and began trawling the Internet on our computers, pretending we had a lot of assignments and were just generally too busy to walk them. “We’ll walk them at 5″ “We’ll walk them at 6″ “We’ll walk them at 7″.Eventually it got to 9.00pm and we decided that if we left it any later we’d never do it, and to punish us Mum might do something absolutely horrific like turning off the internet (*gasp*).

So we set off for our walk. We walked past the local corner store, which is run by a nice man who I’ve bought way too many Freddo Frogs off in my study breaks. It was when we were walking past this shop that my Spoodle, Daisy, decided to do a poo in the gutter. My sister and I made the fateful decision not to clean it up; a decision we’ll regret a lot 24 hours later. We ran off and continued our walk, not thinking twice about the poo that we left. 

Fast-forward 12 hours and I’m at uni. I put my phone in my bag for 10 minutes and when I fish it out to check the time, I literally have 11 missed calls from my sister. I call her back, nervous. Had something happened to Mum and Dad?

Nope, but her news was nevertheless grave. “So, we sorta got caught on CCTV footage by the store owner running away leaving the dog poo behind. He came marching to our front door to confront dad about it and left a hand-written letter for us two. Neighbours have found out and want us fined.” 

$%*&. 

I never thought my run-in with the law would involve me being caught on CCTV cameras letting my dog take a dump and running away and not picking it up. My parents have failed. I’m pretty much a thug now. 

Feeling sick, I went to my lecture. I thought I’d be able to take my mind off the Poo-gate Scandal of 2014, but that was hard when my parents wouldn’t stop calling me and leaving angry voicemails demanding me to apologise to the corner-store owner. Yepp, I had to face the music. 

My sister and I got home and headed up to the store. I got more nervous the closer we got. What do we say? Sorry our dog poo’d outside your store? Sorry we ran off, which you unfortunately had to witness on CCTV footage? I was thinking about all of these important questions, but kept getting distracted by the hilarious puns. Shit happens. Shit hit the fan. I need to apologise ‘n’ shit. What a shit day. 

I apologised (it was a bit of an anti-climax), and walking out I did a bit of a psycho dance on the street. I had learnt my lesson the hard way, and thankfully survived. I lived to tell the tale. 

HOLIDAYS

WOW.

WOW.

WOW.

My random list of things I have to write on here has gotten way out of hand. So, I figured the best way to fix the problem was to actually write about them on here so I can delete the sticky note on the side of my screen that is taking up way too much room.

Please excuse my absence. Yes, I am on holidays, but not technically on "holidays". The first semester of university has officially finished (well, two weeks ago), and BOY was I glad it wrapped up. It was a super stressful semester of uni, and it was the first time I actually struggled to maintain a balance. I had work three days a week, AWARD School and my usual load of uni, which meant that I rarely had any free time to do anything other than course work. Any time I had off was spent making my AWARD School portfolio the best it could be, and getting assignments in for uni. I am very proud to say that I got all assessments in without any extensions-I figured that you can't get extensions when you're in the real world of work, so why get into the habit of it at uni?

So with exams done, I don't have uni for a month. But ALAS! I have been working full-time. While I was unsure what working full-time would be like, especially seeing as though the vast majority of my friends are off vacationing in the European Summer, I have to say that it has actually been a lot of fun. So much better than only working two or three days a week. You get to settle in and make yourself at home, and get a lot more time to work on things which is sweet. What's more, the work I'm doing is super interesting so that makes full-time work no biggie. Oh, and you become bests with the old man who owns the cafe up the road from your work, who declares his love for your on a daily basis. Also, the cash moneys isn't to bad either!

 I've been doing a lot of things in my time off, of course. A lot of this stuff has to do with my wellbeing-I've been doing a bit of yoga here, bit of gym there, eating power balls from my local cafe and just relaxing (which is something that definitely took the back seat during last semester!).

Now that life update is complete, here are the things that I need to write on here and get out of my system:

1. I legit have the biggest girl crush on George Clooney's fiancé. International lawyer. Intellect. Best-selling author. Oxford. Amazing clothes. How can someone be that all round ah-mazing? Google her. Amal Alamuddin!

2. A lot of you would probably be aware of this, but JK Rowling has an amazing series that she's published under a pseudonym of Robert Galbraith. It's detective fiction which I absolutely love-I always thought that one of the best things about Harry Potter was the clues/finding out the culprit drama, so when I found out that it was her behind this series I sprinted to the closest Big W (all books are about $10 cheaper there-fun fact), and finished the first book in two days. The second one has just come out-The Silkworm, which I just finished. So great! Definitely recommend them.

3. I've decided I want to support locally grown food production...so my sister and I have officially gotten a little plot of land at the local community garden! We're going to grow our own veggies and all dat. It's going to be fun-have our induction next Saturday! Totes official.

So, I'm lying in bed unable to walk because I did a few too many lunges at the gym yesterday with a medicine ball and didn't stretch (I'm really smart). I'm definitely having an early night because I'm (planning on) getting up at 5am for the FIFA grand final tomorrow! Know nothing about the rules of soccer but always love watching the games and pretending that I know all about it.

Hope you are all enjoying yourselves,

Chloe x

HELLO INTERNET WORLD

Okay. This is probably the longest I have ever retreated to my cave and have left this blog to fend for itself. This is not okay. Please accept my sincerest apologies (italics emphasises my distinct sorry-ness). 

I'd insert my usual 'I've been busy doing AWARD School' excuse...but IT'S FINISHED! If you're unaware of what AWARD School is, check out one of my recent posts. I have never worked so hard at something in my entire life, and it was such a surreal feeling handing in my final book. Kind of like giving away my baby that I had been looking after for three months. The graduation night is the 1st of July so that will be a lot of fun! You get to see the best of everyone's responses to the briefs we worked on, and they announce the top ten students which is exciting. To celebrate the end of ad school, I've posted below one of my all-time favourite ads which is the only ad ever to make me legitimately cry. Not just little tears, sobs. Enjoy. It's wonderful. And this isn't just my biased opinion, coming from an ad-girl. My sister (law student) thought it was amaze balls too. Watch it. I'm writing way too many short sentences.

I also survived the hardest unit of study I have ever done in my entire life. It's one of the compulsory units you have to complete to major in marketing at my university. Marketing Research. I dropped maths in year eleven, and this was pretty much all statistics. You can imagine the pain it caused me over the past five months, and the stress I have been under the past week as I tried to make that dusty out of date 'maths' section of my brain work once again. I had the exam today, ON A SATURDAY. AT NINE AM. Boy am I glad to be sitting here post-marketing research in my pink fluffy onesie watching Downton Abbey.

So much has been going on in my life-lots of potentially exciting things are in the works (fingers crossed). I'll write about it all later, but for now I must retreat back to my cave and study for my media law exam that is on Thursday. After that I am free as a bird until August! Wohoo.

Now watch the Skype ad. Now. Pronto.

Two ads that you'll all admit are amazing even if you despise ads and would rather grate your face than have to watch them

FORSTER

So it's currently the mid-semester break-the break that university gives us that tricks us into thinking we actually get a holiday, but really set 49503 major essays due for the first day back. But this break wasn't my usual study-all-day-drink-five-litres-of-coffee-sleep-repeat week. Instead, my whole family packed up and went to an absolutely gorgeous holiday house up in Forster to celebrate my beautiful Pop's 80th Birthday. It was so lovely being able to leave my books in a pile on my desk AT HOME and leave for the beach. Because it's Autumn, I packed warm clothes and couldn't be bothered digging out my bikini when the weather was meant to be cold, so I chucked in a disgusting old brown one piece that's about three sizes too small. Well, turns out the weather decided to be beautiful for the whole four days were were there, so I wore the one pair of shorts I packed and that cozzie every day! It was such an incredibly relaxing getaway, and Easter was a lot of fun (had eaten the majority of my chocolate by about 10.30am). I've posted some snaps from my time there at the end of this post!

When I got back, my boyfriend and I somehow scabbed four tickets to see Sydney Theatre Company's new play Perplex. Yes, another hectic event that we have gone to FOR FREE (see previous post about winning three double passes to Phoenix). I brought along two friends and BOY did we have a laugh! It is the most hilariously random play I have ever seen. You should all go and see it before its run ends! You are guaranteed to laugh until your cheeks hurt.

With the mid-sem break ending on Monday, I've been trying to fit as much in as I can. Things include seeing my amazing little brother and his school marching band play in the ANZAC parade in Sydney City, seeing friends, watching the hectic Lego Movie and doing uni work in-between.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Chloe x

Lion King and other happenings.

Howdy. Long time no speak. [Insert my usual 'uni + AWARD School + working 2-3 days a week' excuse.] Thanks for understanding. Now onto my rant.

I always thought it was just the tradies along my route to my station-both at construction sites and ones driving past-that treated girls like pieces of meat. I literally cannot walk to the station with out one of these situations:
a) Honked by two cars with disgusting guys inside who slow down as they drive past and stare out their window
b) Walk past a construction site and have a group of guys just watch as I walk past like vultures from a tree and stay stuff in seedy voices like 'nothing like a nice big banana in the morning' (no joke-that's what one of the tradies working on the house next door to me said as I walked past with a banana one morning, and then proceeded to WINK)

My sister Phoebe and I have always wondered what response they want. Like do they expect us to bow at their feet thinking 'wow this guy is so smooth i just wanna kiss him'? Do they expect us to feel flattered to be given that sort of attention? I don't know, so I guess I'll just stick to telling them they're revolting! I don't want to generalise tradies, but from my experience I have never EVER walked past a construction site without some form of interaction like the ones above.

ANYWAY. What brought this up was this absolutely hilarious ad I saw online the other day. It plays on this whole issue but reverses it so it's absolutely hilarious. Give it a view.



I also saw the Lion King last week which was absolutely brilliant. The costumes, the music, the animals walking through the audience, the dancing-it was such a spectacle! So great. Also, I hadn't seen the Lion King before so it was great seeing what the actual story is!

Chloe x

Dem vibes.

Wow ho ho

Remember when I said that the first few weeks of the semester were going to be busy? Well BOY was busy an understatement. It's currently about 30 degrees outside and sunny, and I'm here chained to my desk getting through a pile of readings and thinking of a pitch for my feature article and catching up on lectures that I've missed and working on this week's AWARD School brief and updating this blog (it's been way too long!). However, I'm not complaining at all. I'm loving my uni subjects, my job and AWARD School. All are really challenging, but I'm feeling super lucky to have been given these awesome opportunities at this age. Also, studying media and advertising doesn't feel like work at all, and everything I get to do is a lot of fun so I'm extra lucky in that respect!

It's now 'funny story time'. When Phoenix announced that they were performing at Hordern Pavilion, Phoebe and I wanted to cry because it was only a couple of days after we got back from NYC so there was no way we'd be able to buy tickets due to absolute broke-ness. So, when Phoenix posted the heaven-sent message on their Facebook page saying that they had a competition where you could win a double pass to their show, we leaped at the opportunity (i.e. absolutely SPAMMED the living day lights out of the competition's email address). We entered from three different email accounts to increase the probability of us being selected (look how gud i em at maths). The winners were meant to be announced on the Monday, and the concert was on the Wednesday. Well, it got to Tuesday and we had accepted defeat…until Wednesday morning-the day of the concert-WHEN WE FOUND OUT WE HAD WON TWO DOUBLE PASSES! The concert was absolutely incredible-I was totally blown away by their amazingness. I was at the front of the mosh and Thomas Mars (the lead singer) literally crowd-surfed over the top of me and my boyfriend. Awesome. Experience. Also, the song that I have posted on here fifty bagillion times, 1901, went OFF! Such a fantastic night, and completely free. The best part of the story is when I was on the third email account two days after the concert and saw a new 'junk mail' message. I had also won a double pass on that email account and IT WENT TO JUNK MAIL SO I DIDN'T SEE IT. Hilarious. But hey, that's three double passes when we thought we were never going to be able to go. 2014 is already the best year ever, and it isn't even April.

Hope 2014 is going just as well for you guys!

Chloe x

I will now leave you with this amazingness that is a video.

Holiday + Semester 1 ramblings!

SO. I am officially home from my USA adventure. Well, I came back nearly a week ago but have been in zombie jetlag mode until now (three coffees down). I seriously had the most amazing time, and having worked every single day since uni finished at the start of November I needed nothing more than a big fat long escape out of the country!

I don't even know where to begin, apart from the fact that...uh...I HAD THE MOST AMAZING TIME! The flight over was brilliant-a half empty airbus meant that Phoebe and I got our own row each to lie down and sleep for the whole flight (take that, people who spent $6000 on First Class! Phoebe and I do life right). We arrived in LA and in a classic California moment I hopped off the plane (at LAX with a dream and a cardigan) and saw the Hollywood sign. Good start. We then got picked up by our mates and whisked away to Newport Beach where all our friends live (via an emergency lunch stop at In n Out burger). We stayed in Newport for a week, and it was the perfect opportunity to unwind-we'd sleep in, go shopping (hellooooo Fashion Island and South Coast Plaza), eat yummy food and just chill-something I hadn't really been able to do properly all holidays! Oh, and Disneyland didn't disappoint-we went on a school day so there were virtually NO QUES! As in I walked straight to the front of the que for the California Screaming. And the Tower of Terror. And the new Cars ride (which is the best ride I've ever been on). And every other ride. Other days I spent at Newport Beach and Laguna, both of which also never fail to disappoint. Can't wait to spend two months there at the end of the year! Then came time to say goodbye to LA and hello to NYC. It was a tad difficult coming from warm sunny California to -10 degrees NYC, but when I first walked off the plane into the snow I had just witnessed the classic flying into NYC at night scenery, so I didn't care at all!

I had super high hopes for NYC and the city blew every single expectation out of the water. Every single day was a highlight, whether it was wandering through Central Park in the snow, shopping up a storm on 5th Ave, eating Magnolia Bakery's cupcakes in West Village, eating super posh thai in Soho (at a kick-ass restaurant that has FREE-I repeat FREE entrees), hanging at the flea markets in Brooklyn, eating macaroons in the Upper East Side, sipping hot chocolate while sitting on the red stairs in Times Square, walking past the Humans of New York photographer, seeing Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in No Man's Land (and getting to chat with them in a special Q&A afterwards), soaking in the sun on the Brooklyn Bridge, being forced to stand up in a Harlem gospel church while the choir sings an epic 'Welcome song', dining at Gordon Ramsay's super insanely awesome restaurant next to Central Park for my 20th Birthday, getting into absolutely incredible speakeasy bars in Soho and TriBeCa without being carded (one of which had a free champagne bar in the female powder room), shopping in the four level H&M in Times Square that had a DJ and disco lights, visiting the 9/11 memorial which was both beautiful and moving, exploring the MET and frothing at every exhibition because I'm a history junkie, seeing Monet's Water Lillies and doing a sketching class, trying to master the subway (and ending up in Queens...), pondering life in Strawberry Fields, wandering along the Highline through the Meat Packing District, chilling and eating falafels in Greenwich village, meeting awesome Australians at the Toby's Estate cafe in Williamsburg, watching the sunset from the top of the Empire State, shovelling down burgers at the Shake Shack, mornings at Grand Central Station, ice skating in Bryant Park whilst Michael Buble was playing, meeting up with friends, getting late night dumplings, post-theatre walks through midtown...THE LIST GOES ON AND ON! I know after posting this I'll remember 50 million other things that I should have written! My biggest accomplishment was fitting all of my shopping in my two suitcases. It took a lot of brain and muscle power. A lot. Also, if any of you are heading to LA or NYC then drop me a line at chloeannabellesblog@gmail.com and I'll spam you with a list of addresses/shops/restaurants/bars etc etc!

So now I'm home in Sydney. Usually I feel super sad when an awesome holidays has ended, but I was really ready to come home and settle in for Semester 1 as a totes mature twenty year old. I feel very refreshed and motivated for what is going to be a kick-ass year. Also, I have some exciting news which is partially why I was so excited to come home-I GOT INTO AWARD SCHOOL! If you don't know what it is, read my last post before I left for overseas. It's a HUGE deal, and I am so insanely lucky to have gotten a place-it is so so SO tough to get into. People try out for years to get in and I got in at 19! It is A LOT of work, so I'm going to devote a lot of time and energy to it in order to smash it. I'll keep you posted on how it's all going-it starts next week!

Here's to what's shaping up to be an amazing 2014,

Chloe x

EMPIRE STATE OF MIND

Please excuse my month long absence. I have many reasons as to why I've been too busy for cyberspace for the month of Jan! Primarily the month just passed was spent house sitting an epic house on the water with an infinity pool, and working every single day of the week (including weekends) in preparation for my big USA trip that I leave for...TOMORROW AT 3PM! I am so excited because ever since uni finished for the year (at the beginning of November) I have been working non-stop saving and organising for this trip! I can finally leave and enjoy it. The flights are booked,  passport has arrived, ETSA approved and luggage packed! This paragraph has way too many exclamation marks! But I DON'T CARE 'CAUSE I AM ONE EXCITED GAL!

I had also been working super hard on my AWARD School application (if you don't know what it is give it a quickie Google). It's pretty much the kick-ass advertising course that any aspiring Don Draper wants to get into. It's super hard to get into-some people try out years in a row to get in-but I'm super happy with how my application turned out so either way trying out was a win as I can now add the ads I made into my portfolio! Speaking of advertising, the Superbowl is near (I actually get to the USA when it starts) which means...CHRISTMAS FOR ADVERTISING JUNKIES LIKE ME! My favourite ad by FAR is the Jaguar 'It's good to be bad' ad. Absolute. Top. Notch. I have watched it over fifteen times. I'll post it below!

So for now it's Bon Voyage! I'll be away until the 26th and will do a giant big fat post about my trip with way too many pictures. I'm also super excited to get back because it will only be a matter of days before uni goes back and I'm doing awesome subjects this semester. Wohoo! It has truly been an awesome holidays.

Adios,

Chloe x

TWENTY FOURTEEN

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOLKS! Hope you all had a fantastical New Years Eve, have made a list of your new years resolutions that you're totally going to see through, and have enjoyed the first few days of 2014.

My New Years Eve was very well spent, minus the fact that I worked for the majority of the day. That said, I was working with my BIFFL Eleni and we had a bottle of Moet in the fridge, so it wasn't all that bad. After work, we headed to my other BIFFL Beth's house with my BF Will where we drank Moet by the pool and did some psycho dancing to Titanium.  We then headed in to the city for the midnight fireworks, and when we got there BOY was the harbour packed! But alas, we pushed and shoved all the way to the Rocks until we got to a big barricade in front of a huge stair case leading to the part with the best view of the bridge. We settled for the view we had-which was super good anyway-and the countdown started and the fireworks set off and THE FIREWORKS WERE TO DIE FOR! So was my midnight kiss (thnx Will).

Then, while the fireworks were still going, we looked at the barricade and the security guy guarding it had his back to it while talking to another security guard. We made a run for it, knocked over a bin and leaped over the barricade, running down the staircase as fast we could. Eleni was convinced they were going to taser us (who says she watches too many crime shows?), and boy was it difficult running down those steep uneven stairs in CLOGS! It was so funny though-it legit felt like we were in a movie as we ran screaming with the security people shouting after us. We made it down the stairs, ran through an alley way and then we were confronted with the most EPIC view of the fireworks EVER! It was seriously so beautiful, and the fireworks finale was breath-taking. Initially I was sad saying goodbye to 2013 as it was the best year yet, but I already know that 2014 is going to beat it. I am taking amazing subjects at uni, have my dream job and I'm not even 20, am travelling more than I ever have in one year AND am surrounded my the most awesome and encouraging people I could ask for. What's not to like?

I have a theory that how you spend New Years Day sets the tone for the year. New Years Day 2014=huge success. Brunched at Beth's house (including cinnamon scrolls), swam at Bundeena and then saw Frozen for the second time. I would like to take this opportunity to say that Frozen (epic Disney musical) is the best movie I have ever seen and I encourage you all to watch it. Seriously. Go. Now. I then finished off the day using up a whole packet of Polaroid film and fell asleep watching Pretty Woman.

I have also spent some time thinking of some New Years Resolutions for 2014:
1. Keep up the progress that I set up in semester two last year (time management/job/good uni marks)
2. Fit and healthy (I know I say this every year, but seriously this year is the year. Getting a parasitical infection this year from being careless and drinking bad water was a tad of a wakeup call...)
3. Learn how to do a Rubix Cube and on 2015 New Years Eve do it in two minutes
5. Not to buy one pair of shoes from Rubi Shoes (I have a theory that how ever many dollars you spend on one of their shoes, that's how many days they last).
6. GET MY P-PLATES! I have had my L's for almost a year and am so determined to actually drive...had only done 20 minutes until 31/12/2013 when I decided to try and drive for an hour every day! Even drove to the coffee shop today. Nearly hit a cyclist, but got my coffee #priorities.

For now, I am saving for LA/NYC which I AM LEAVING FOR IN A MONTH TODAY! Passport is done (goodbye $238 xoxo), thermals purchased (hello snow xoxo) and suitcases organised! Getting seriously excited now-I have been listening to Empire State of Mind on repeat for the past week. Not cliche or anything.

Chloe x