I had never been to any kind of fitness class before joining the gym this year. In fact I was rather terrified of going. While doing a trial to see if I wanted to join the gym and pay the weekly membership fee, I knew I wanted to see if I would feel comfortable participating in a variety of aspects of the gym, before I signed up.  Otherwise I knew the fee and contract wouldn't be worth it. 
I plucked up the courage and went to my first gym class, a 6am weights class. Which I loved! I now go to at least 3 of these classes a week and it makes up the majority of my exercise and time at the gym. 
Making the first step into a class is no small feat. 
So here are some things that I found helpful when going to a fitness class for the first time.

I don't get fired up about much stuff. I can probably count on one maybe two hands, topics that I am passionate enough about to actually argue with someone about. Because I am incredibly chill. You know those people who seriously just want to have a heated discussion about everything, they are just waiting for you to disagree?? Not me. If it's not important, I'll just nod along. I couldn't care less. 
Animals are right up the top of the short list of things I will passionately argue about. People that laugh or are indifferent to animal abuse. Oh they make my blood boil. I'm not a confrontational person at all. I will avoid confrontation endlessly. But don't you dare leave your dog in the car. 

How fun are blanket forts! I wrote a guide for Smoko Inc on how to build a great one! Including all the supplies you will need and how super easy it is. I put mine together in about half an hour. But the more time and effort you put into your blanket fort, the better it will be!

There's a handy and relatively new feature for iPhone, that not many people know about. It could literally save lives, or at least help you get your lost phone back. 
You can now activate an area in your phone, called a "Medical ID". That can be accessed even if your phone is locked. So if something happens to you, you're in an accident, you're unconscious or not physically able to communicate any important medical details about yourself, then this Medical ID is invaluable. 
If you have an iPhone, make sure you've updated it to at least ios 8.1 I believe is the earliest update to give you access to the medical ID. 
Find the app called Health. It's a white square with a little pink heart on it. If you haven't had a look at the Health app before, it has a lot of handy little features, such as being a pedometer, and tracking how many steps you do a day, and how far you have walked. You don't even have to turn this on, in fact it's already been recording your steps. 
The last little tab down the bottom on the far right, is an asterisk that says Medical ID, underneath.

Once you tap, "Create Medical ID" you come to a page with lots of options and spaces for you to fill out with any details you may want. 
You also need to have the Emergency Access "Show When Locked" option set to on. That's the most important part. 
I would recommend having a photo of yourself in the section too. Make sure it actually looks like you. This isn't for instagram, it's for being able to identify you in an emergency, and know that these are your medical details. 
I don't have any Medical conditions, notes, allergies or medications to add. But if you do, add them in. You could be struggling to breathe but unless people see that you have allergies to something you just came in contact with, they might have no idea. 
I don't know my blood type, I really need to find that out. But fill that in too. The emergency contact bit is really good to have. I have my partner Josh, who I live with and both my parents. They will also come in handy if I lose my phone. (and if some nice person wants to return it to me) they can call one of these people. 
The organ donor section is a yes/no. You should all be organ donors, not enough people put down that they want to be. But you'll be dead. You can't use them anymore, and someone out there could really benefit.
Weight and height, can be used to calculate things like the amount of medication that you are able to be given. Don't feel awkward. It's not for just anyone to look at. 

How to Access the Medical ID on iPhone
You have to have it switched on, like at the top of the middle iphone in the photo above.  Then when your phone lights up (by pushing the middle button or the power button) and it's still locked, you swipe to unlock and it comes to the passcode page. Don't try to unlock, down the very button on the left, it will say emergency which you all should already know takes you to an emergency call option. 
You should now see in the place of where it said Emergency, it will say Medical ID *.  You can now tap that, and view all of your medical details as well as call any of the emergency contacts all while the phone is still locked. 
This is seriously so so handy, and the more people who know about it the better. 
If anyone knows about anything similar to this on the Android or Windows phone, let me know and I will add it to this post. It could save lives!


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You may have heard of dry brushing before, but I'm bringing it up again because along with many other benefits, first and foremost it exfoliates your skin. Coming up into the warmer months is exactly when you want your skin to be looking it's best, and it'll need a little extra TLC after all those layers of warm clothes and lack of sunlight.

Why Dry Brush?

It makes your skin softer. Dry Brushing exfoliates away all of the dead skin chilling around on your body, so that your skin can regenerate and heal. Once you scour away all that ick, you're left with beautiful soft skin. Ready to be slathered in moisturiser or faux tan. 
Stimulate Your Lymphatic System & Improve Circulation. I sometimes get really sore arms and legs, which means that you can gently prod me in the shoulder and I will try not to wince, because it honestly seems ridiculous. Toxins build up in your system over time, and brushing in the correct direction directs all those toxins right out of your body, well in a matter of speaking. 
Help Reduce Cellulite. We've all got it. You've seen those bitchy magazine headlines, "OMG Scarlett Johansson has cellulite! Fire her from the Avengers!" I'm exaggerating but only slightly. We all have it but that doesn't mean it's pretty. Dry brushing on a regular basis is known to help budge those pesky fat pockets that make your legs all wrinkly. 

What to Use

Get yourself a natural bristles brush, one with synthetic fibres can cause damage to your skin. I got myself a Manicare Dry Bristle Brush from Priceline, as you can see I didn't get one with a handle, which probably would have been worthwhile getting. But I usually just get my partner to have a go at dry brushing my back in the areas I can't reach. The hand held one means I can hold it easier when I want to focus my brushing on problem areas. A dry brush with a handle is also available at Priceline. 
The body shop also currently has some great natural bristled brushes for only $12.95. Definitely worth a look at. If you want to dry brush your face, I recommend getting a smaller and softer brush to use on it. You shouldn't be using your body brush on your face, it's too rough.

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How to Dry Brush

• The best time to Dry Brush is right before you plan to have a shower or bath, so all of those icky dry skin cells you've just exfoliated, can go right down the drain. The morning is good too as a lot of people say they feel energised after dry brushing, so it's a good start to the day.
• Start at your feet and using long even upward strokes, brush from ankles to knees.
• You will always be brushing in the direction towards major lymph nodes in your body. Such as the underarms, groin and base of your neck.
• Circular motions are okay too, especially on areas you would like to focus on.
• Brush over your legs, your abdomen and butt. Spend a little extra time on the booty and upper thighs if you want to work on that cellulite. Always brushing upwards towards your heart.
• Brush your back, either with a brush that has a handle, by using contortionist skills or get someone to help you out.
• Brush up along the outside of your arms, then lift your arms up and brush downwards on the inside of them, and near your underarms.
• Finally brush your shoulders and chest, being careful with sensitive areas. 

Helpful Tips

Don't brush too hard. Your skin is going to go a bit red due to stimulation, but there is pinkish and then there is red raw. Calm down, that's not what dry brushing is about.  Avoid brushing sensitive areas, red patches, sunburn, open wounds or rashes. Hopefully that's pretty obvious.  After showing, give your body a good moisturising. I love using my Bondi Sands, Gradual Tanning Milk. Because then I'm moisturising, and tanning! Not even sponsored, I just love the stuff! Be consistent, it can take quite a bit of consistent daily brushing before you will see much of the magical benefits. Apart from the lovely soft and glowing skin. 

Have you ever dry brushed your skin? What did you think?

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I didn't really start working until I was out of school. I had a short lived career as an ice cream girl in High School, that paid around $50 a week, but I never exactly had access to any money to manage.  I know too well that when your first paychecks start rolling in you go a little nuts. 
Suddenly the whole world has opened up and you have access to so many things you didn't before. I could actually have a wardrobe of cute stuff! 

Saving Money

Saving money has generally come easy to me, not because I don't want to buy stuff, oh lordy I do. I want to buy all of the things, in fact at this very moment there's a 96% chance I have multiple tabs open to online stores. Because the world of online shopping is a magical and terrible one. 
Understandably you'll go a little cray at first, but start putting money away immediately. I know how boring, but I'm talking like $10. Ten measly dollars, if you absentmindedly put away even $10 a week, at the end of the year you've got over $500 to play with! You could even get yourself a little side hustle going to help boost your savings - from games that pay real money, to monetising your hobby, to blogging, there are so many options out there that you can get involved with.

I've lived in this townhouse for a short while now, and have only entertained an actual larger number of guest once, due to it being so cold. Our best area for entertaining would have to be the decked courtyard area out the back, and now that it's actually warming up a little we can actually think about entertaining for real. 
Here are some of my personal favourite tips for when you're entertaining outdoors.  I'm sure you don't exactly want to be embarrassed about entertaining people outdoors at your place, whether it's the style of just the general set up. It's not hard to get your courtyard or backyard into shape. 
Plants - I personally love plants, if you hadn't already guessed. They give any outdoor area a vibrant and fresh kind of vibe. Just make sure they're not too crazily overgrown or half dead when your guests come around. Give them some TLC beforehand, so they look their best. 
Outdoor Seating - I actually had people over just before we received that beautiful bench from the photo, but we have plenty of seating in the house already that we brought outside. Dining chairs, benches, and a random stool, all worked perfectly when we brought them outside for people to sit on and chat.
Decking - Okay okay not a requisite. But have you seen our courtyard before and after shots??? Gah! I mean how lovely and inviting does our courtyard look now that we have a deck. Exactly. If you're interested in having your own deck installed at your place, I'd check out Additions Building. If you've got a larger outdoor area, a Patio can be a addition to your backyard as it makes the area a lot easier to entertain in. 
Lighting - So you need legit lighting so you can see what you're doing when it gets dark, but then fairy lights or my favourite festoons are also amazing! They really help create an atmosphere that gets you in a party mood. Well I think my garden lights are cheerful!
Table Space - I've only just acquired a giant spool outside that can now be used as a table. It would have been super handy when we were entertaining as it's extra table space, for barbecuing and holding the cooked and raw ingredients. It looks really cool too. 
A Barbecue - I don't think your outdoor entertaining area is complete without a BBQ honestly. I'm not sure if that is mostly an Aussie thing?? We don't generally put shrimps on the barbie either guys, also we call them prawns. Ha. A good old Aussie Sausage Sizzle is what we're all about. (It's actually what my workplace is known for!) If you don't have one, what how are you even enteratining guests? With Pizza?? I guess pizza is okay too. 
 I had so much fun at our first house gathering. Because we're poor college kids, we asked everyone to bring a plate of food each, and we would supply a lot of the main stuff, sausages, salad, nibblies and some drinks too. 
Everyone was incredibly obliging! So lovely. We ended up with a lot of dip and nibblies, as well as pasta salad and side dishes. It was the best and made entertaining everyone so much cheaper and less stressful for us overall. 
Music is also an essential, we set up a spotify playlist that played through the tv, decide whether you want it loud enough to dance to, or as chilled background music, it's okay to mix it up throughout the night. 
I can not wait until it gets warmer and we will invite everyone over again! It will be a lot nicer with the warmer weather and when daylight savings starts!  Cya! xx

Do you entertain at your place? What's your outdoor area like?

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Hey guys, today I want to chat about something that I think is really cool. You may have heard of it before, (have you seen Inception?) or maybe you have no clue what it is at all. I'm going to be a brief as I can under each subheading, but if people want to know more about it after this post, then I can write up another one that's more in depth on certain points. 

Lucid Dreaming - What is it?

Lucid dreaming is dreaming whilst being aware of the dream. "Conscious" Dreaming. In a Lucid Dream, the dreamer knows that they are in fact asleep, and with that knowledge they can make choices and changes in the dream. It might sound a little farfetched but it's completely real, and once you master that, the possibilities are endless. 

Dream Journalling

So this is the most boring part, it requires quite a bit of commitment and practice to actually start having lucid dreams. But once you get the theory down, you'll be ready to give it a go. The first step is creating your very own dream journal, it can be handwritten or even typed up. Every morning when you wake up, write everything you can remember about your dream, down into your journal. 
This process is important as it helps you practice remembering your dreams, as well as spotting common dream themes that pop up a lot, which will help later when you need to start actually giving it a go. Try setting your alarm clock a bit earlier of a morning to give you more of a chance to write your dreams down. 

Reality Checks

These will be your best friend when you're trying to learn to lucid dream. The trick to doing them, is trying to make them habit, which means doing them when you definitely know you're awake. There are quite a few different ways to check your reality, and whether or not you're dreaming or not. My favourite and (mostly) no fail check, is holding your nose with your fingers and breathing through your nose. In waking life, it obviously doesn't work. But when done whilst dreaming, you can still breathe.
It's best to always know a few different reality checks, so that you can try others if one fails. Look at your hands, they will almost always be weird with possibly too many or too little fingers. Try to read something, it will be difficult, and it may not even be words just symbols. See if you can put your hand through a mirror. Seriously. 
Your brain is a tricky bugger, and will try and explain away your reality checks. One time I tried the holding my nose check and convinced myself that I just wasn't blocking my nose properly that's why I could still breathe. Practising these during waking hours is critical to doing it in dreams, ask yourself "Am I dreaming?" and then give a reality check a go. 
Even though you know you're awake now, the point is to remember to check when you are dreaming. Some people reality check every time they walk through a doorway. If something becomes enough of a habit, you will do it automatically in your dream. 

Hey I Think I'm Dreaming!

Congrats! You've asked yourself, "Am I dreaming?" You've done one or two reality checks, and they have confirmed it. You're asleep! Woah calm down! Unfortunately it's pretty common for the first few times you realise you're dreaming, to accidentally wake yourself up, due to being well just pumped to finally have done it!
Take some deep breaths, and try to steady yourself. If you start to lose focus on the dream there are a few tricks you can try. Concentrate on your hands, just give them a good stare. Spin around, don't worry you won't get dizzy. But it can stabilise the dream. Grab onto something, like a light post, an elephant, whatever is around. Grass doesn't seem to work for some reason, so don't grab that. 
Shout that you are dreaming. "Increase lucidity!" It sounds dumb, but hey nobody's going to hear you.

Now What?

Go nuts! Do whatever you want to do. Take control of a nightmare, or of a recurring dream. Read this list of 101 Ideas for Lucid Dreams, or create your own! Find your spirit guide, talk to other dream characters and ask them questions. If you can imagine it, you can do it. 
It's also helpful to look into other methods of inducing Lucid Dreaming. I won't go into them today, but you can read about them in the links below. 
Any Questions?  I'll answer what I can! I've read soo much on this over the years, so I will help out any way I can. Most importantly,  DON'T GIVE UP! It can take quite a while before you actually have a lucid dream. But trust me, it will be worth it!

Keep Reading:

LD4All - Has been my favourite Lucid Dreaming website for years and years. They have so many guides as well as an amazing forum.  A Guide to Lucid Dreaming - Free People did a small article a while ago on Lucid Dreaming that is also helpful.






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Those who follow me on social media or you know follow me in real life, would definitely know that I have recently bought myself a beautiful vintage bike in mint. In fact it was one of my New Year's Resolutions to buy one. Tick! I'm adorable, okay well mostly I'm pretty cute. Which means that I could not be seen unless I also had the cutest bike ever to ride. 
So here are my super easy steps to help you also have a super cutie bicycle. 

The Bike 

I got my bicycle from Reid Cycles. For my Aussie Babes, this place is rad. They have stores all around Australia, but they have free bicycle shipping on their website, and 10 different types of Vintage ladies bicycles available. With 10+ colours to choose from you're sure to find a colour that you'll love. I always sort have had my heart set on a baby blue bike, but they're very common, and once I spied this beauty in Mint I knew I was done looking.

The Basket

I don't know about you but if I'm riding around I need to have some kind of stuff with me, and what if I rode to a store and bought some stuff? Where would I put it? I bought my basket at the same time as my bike from Reid's. There are so many different baskets to choose from as well as different colours again. I could also have chosen to have a basket on the back of my bike instead, but I went with the more traditional girly choice.  There is an option to add on a pretty basket liner but I didn't get one of these either. 

I knew that when I got a bike, I wanted to have flowers on the basket all pretty like. This lovely decoration only cost me $7. Can you believe it?? I went to Hot Dollar, a local junk store and spent ages trying to pick out the perfect faux flowers. I chose one with lots of leaves, flowers that weren't too over the top and also had a long stem which meant I could easily wrap and thread it through the basket. It only took about 5 minutes to do, and I am sooo happy. I mean how fun and pretty do they look? 

The Bell

I wouldn't have thought this was a very big deal, and it probably isn't. Unless you actually have a bell that is super lovely. The local markets are on today and this fantastic store Beep Bicycle Bells sells the absolute cutest hand painted bells. They had so many too choose from, (decisions are so tough!) and after ringing a bunch and picking quite a few up and inspecting them repeatedly I picked this adorable fox bell! With Josh's approval. I was way too keen to run home and install it onto my bike as you can see. 

If you don't feel inspired to buy your own bicycle now and make it all cute, then what is wrong with you?? Lovely weather is coming our way and there will be so many opportunities to take your cutie bicycle out for a spin! Or that's how I feel anyway!

I hope you enjoyed!

Do you have a bicycle? What have you done to personalise it?

Cya! xx



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One of my absolutely top pet peeves is losing something. I mean losing something out in the big wide world is absolutely devastating it's gone forever. How could you have been so stupid? How on earth did you lose that?? But losing something at home is a different feeling altogether. Pure confusion. Annoyance. Where on earth did you put it? You're sure you've checked everywhere, but you still don't have it. 
I want to be the best at finding things. I want my kids and partner to shout from upstairs that they can't find their "insert specific item" and I can holler back the exact location because I just know. Of course, I know! I'm the queen of finding things. 
Being a good finder is not just about luck, or having one of those beeps clicker things that beep until you find the item. No no no. That's almost cheating. Probably. So here are a few of my trade secrets to finding things that I've lost around the house. Including things that aren't really that lost in the first place.

Losing Something in the Bookshelf/Fridge/Pantry

Sometimes you just know something is there. You're staring into the pantry like a maniac, squinting and staring and waiting for the peanut butter jar to just jump out and hit you in the face. 
You know it's in there. Where the heck else would it be. It's not on the counter, and god knows no one is crazy enough to put it in the fridge. (not in this house buddy). But try as you might, you just can not see it! 
I know there's some sciencey explanation for this phenomena but that's not what this post is about. It's about finding the peanut butter that's in sitting right in front of you the whole time. So here are some tips. 
Take a step back, breathe in, breathe out. Look away from the shelf, turn around if you must or stare at the floor. Now visualise what it is you're looking for. This might seem dumb but you're at your wits end here. You need that peanutty goodness. You see it in your mind. That yellow lid, peanutty coloured jar and those smug bears on the label. 

I know they're watching me, judging.

Now look back into the space where you know you left your spread. See the item in your mind. Oh shit it was literally eye level straight in front of you the whole time, but somehow your mind basically forgot that was what you were actually looking for. You can thank me after you make a delicious sandwich. 

Losing an Item Somewhere in Your House

This is the big kahuna. The ultimate misplacement. Popular items include your car keys, wallet, hairbrush, phone, remote or unicorn night light. This is the action that is so incredibly annoying and makes you feel like an idiot once you do finally find said item. I'm (not) ashamed to say that I once sat on the floor and had a little cry after I was unable to find my hairbrush for 4 days. 
The majority of our most used items tend to have a particular zone that we keep them in. The zone could be an entire room, or a spot in many rooms, or just one place in one room. When said item leaves that zone, and can not be found in any other potential zones this is a moment for panic. 
Retracing Steps It doesn't matter what the item is, but if you've lost it before the first thing you want to do is retrace your steps.  For example, if I lost my phone, and I had just been sitting at the computer firstly I would look there. Often it's next to my keyboard, but I have been known to sit it on the bookshelf as I walk past. So I'd want to check these typical spots. As soon as I can rule out the study I can move on to where I was before that. Typically this will eventually lead you to your lost belonging.

Dumb Places I've Found it Before This is an important one. Sometimes items are just notoriously bad at getting lost. You sit them down absentmindedly and not just occasionally, all the time. In this case, you want to retrace your steps to all the dumb places you've ever found it before. 
For example, I've left my house/car keys in the front door. I couldn't find them anywhere and was actually reversing my car with the spare keys when I spotted them hanging from the lock. Low and behold I have now done this twice. So if my keys aren't on the bench or in my handbag, it's likely that I've done that again. 
I also often place my iPhone on my dresser in my bedroom as I walk past, but I can't see on top of it at first glance. So if I've left it there, I usually need to kind of stretch up in order to check if that is indeed where I've left it. Just the other day, I put my phone on a shelf in the closet and shut the door, and oh man I would have been searching for that one for a while, but luckily I received a phone call before I even realised I had lost it. 

Remember Your Train of Thought I know one time I pulled apart my closet and the laundry looking for one pair of track pants because where could they be and why aren't they in one of those places. 
Only to give up and find them later accidentally when I opened my pyjama drawer, remembering I had now dubbed them PJ pants as I folded and put them in that drawer. If you can remember what you were thinking last time you had that item, it's a sure way to find it again. I just pulled my elf makeup brushes out of my study drawer because I had put them there for future blog reasons. But amazingly I had remembered!
Most importantly, know your own logic. Cause I mean that doesn't make sense as a place to put makeup brushes but it sure as hell sounds like something I would do. 

Do a Systematic Search

The thought of losing something like your pink diamonds can be inconvenient and annoying- totally nerve-wracking! Retracing your steps might not even help, but stay calm.

Of course, it will be freaking that you've lost something important. However, you'll have a more challenging time if you're stressed out. Finding it hard to calm down? Calm down and take a few slow, deep breaths.

Then start looking at it where it should be. If you always keep your wallet in the basket at the door, that should be the first place to look. Do a slow, careful search. Throwing things around frantically and in panic will create a bigger mess.

If you miss the item on the usual spot, you can widen the search area. Check it a few inches from the spot and the surrounding area. Keep widening the search area systematically until you find your lost item.

If All Else Fails

You can always try tying all of the items you most commonly lose, to a piece or string attached to a belt that you wear. Sure you will look ridiculous, but at least you know where everything is! Just try not to lose the belt.  Cya! xx


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