Writing + Inspiration Playlist

Lately, I have been really enjoying making playlists and connecting with others on 8 Tracks. It's an awesome way to discover new music and new artists, and you feel great when you find that perfect playlist for the kind of mood you are currently in.

My favourite playlist that I have made so far is the 'Writing + Inspiration' one. The songs on this playlist are ones I have been listening to for years whenever I'm trying to write a story, or a poem, or anything. I find it helps me to concentrate, whilst also bringing in new ideas and inspirations (you never would have guessed that from the title, would you now?).

You should all go and check it out, even if you yourself don't like the playlist. Music is a way of life, and though we may not all like to admit it, we all love it in one way or another.

If any of you have accounts on 8 Tracks, let me know and I can check out your playlists!

An interview with Jacqui

My good friend Jacqui runs the blog Raspberry Tea and Cake and she recently went to Vietnam for a few weeks with her school. I talked to her the other day about her trip and her experiences over there, so read on!

S: So you've just been to Vietnam. How long were you over there for?

J: 17 days.

S: Cool. Was the flight very long?

J: Yes, it was! On the way over it was 8 hours and on the way back it was 10.

S: That sounds kinda awful, I hate long flights! Take us through an overview of what you did there.

J: We started off in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) and we did a bit of touristy stuff there. We went to the Cu Chi Tunnels which is where they fought the American War/Vietnam War.

We went to an orphanage there as well.

After that we went to the Mekong Delta where we visited an isolated village to build a house for the locals.

That was really good, though we didn't get to finish the house because the bricklaying took a long time and the cement had to dry.

Then after that we went up to Hoi An where we had [clothes and shoes] tailor made and had a look around. It was a beautiful city at night!

Then we went to Hue where we learnt about the history and the futile system. We went to a really interesting dinner where we dressed up as people [of the royal court]. We had an emperor and an empress, musicians and everything!
And then after that we went up to Hanoi where we learnt about politics and visited the embassy. We also did some shopping and went to the Hanoi Hilton Prison. Then we came back [to Australia].

S: That sounds like a great trip! What would you say was the best experience you had?
J: I reckon going to the village and building the house. And giving the presents to the kids at the village.

S: And how about the worst part?
J: I don't know! Quite likely the embassy.

S: Did anything unexpected happen while you were over there?
J: Actually, it did! While we were at the village, it was at night after a long day of work on the house, and we went to see the fireflies which were down the road a bit (because our group name was The Fireflies). One of the teachers stayed behind a bit and while we were all [watching the fireflies] she ran up to us. But what she didn't realise was that there was a bridge over a small ditch and a pool of water. So that teacher fell in the mud, rolled down into [the ditch] and then got out saying 'I fell in the ditch, I fell in the ditch!', laughing her head off.
We also saw a guy with a monkey on his back at the train station!

S: That's actually very funny! What were the best and worst things you got to eat?
J: I don't even know what to say for best, but worst can I say aeroplane food?

S: Yes, that's definitely a valid answer!
J: Everything was really nice.

S: I assume you would have done lots of shopping since that experience is so unique in Vietnam. What kinds of things did you buy?
J: Well I bought a lot of presents actually, as Steph knows! I had some dresses made, very nice, very nice dresses. I got some jewellery, some scarves, some shoes, all that kind of stuff.

S: You also would have had one of your first experiences of haggling with the shopkeepers. How did that go?
J: Bargaining was fun. It was hard at the start, but once you got the hang of it, it was really fun. You could always play the 'Ohh no, I'm a student, I don't have that much money!'.

There was one market in Hoi An where they had signs saying 'No pressure, no pushing', and then the [stallholders] would walk up to you, tap you on the back and go 'No pressure, no pushing!', which was kind of pressuring in itself.


S: Are there any other experiences or funny stories you have that you'd like to share?
J: A different teacher whilst at the village had bought a boomerang for the villagers and he was demonstrating how to use it to one of the locals who didn't speak much English. He explained by saying 'And you throw it...and you kill it...bang!'.
Jacqui waves her hands around in a demonstration as she explains.
And the other teacher fell in the swimming pool while we were playing ball on the eleventh floor. They were playing with a football and it didn't actually go over the edge!

S: I think that's all the questions I have for you today, thanks for joining me.
J: That's okay! Thanks for talking to me!

Jacqui and I had lunch together before spending a lovely afternoon catching up with each other.

You should check out Jacqui's blog Raspberry Tea and Cake. Let me know what your experiences have been with travelling.

Strawberry Chocolate Brownies

These brownies are fabulous and I don't really have anything else to say about them. They are simply just moist chocolatey deliciousness in brownie form.

Strawberry Chocolate Brownies

Adapted from My Little Afternoon Tea Book

Makes: about 20 pieces

Time: 45 minutes prep, 50 minutes cooking

Ingredients:

• 250 grams of chocolate for melting
• 200 grams of butter
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 a cup of self raising flour
• 1/4 cup of cocoa powder
• 250 grams of softened cream cheese
• 1/4 cup of caster sugar
• 130 grams of frozen strawberries
• 50 grams of white chocolate chips (optional)

Method:

Step 1. Start out by melting the chocolate and then leaving to cool slightly.

Step 2. Beat the butter and brown sugar until creamy.

Step 3. Add three of the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.

Step 4. Fold in the cocoa and flour. Then fold in the melted chocolate.

Step 5. In a separate bowl beat the cream cheese and caster sugar together.

Step 6. Add the final egg to the cream cheese mixture and beat it.

Step 7. Fold the strawberries and chocolate chips into the cream cheese mixture.

Step 8. Layer the two mixtures in a baking tin. To create a marble effect swirl a skewer through the tin once all mixture has been added.

Step 9. Bake for around 50 minutes at 170 degrees celsius.

These brownies taste best warm out of the oven, but will keep well for about 5 days. I hope you enjoy them, let me know what you think!

Organising My Art Supplies

I am just going to start this post out by saying that I have a lot of art supplies. I never knew how much I had actually accumulated until we moved house, and I realised that I had no logical place to keep all my supplies. It started out with a small table and some baskets, but I kept dumping clothes onto the table and this arrangement soon became messy and way too much effort to properly upkeep. So, the solution? Well, I am just lucky enough to have a dad who knows how to build things, so he built me a set of shelves (which I painted). They are absolutely brilliant, and even if you don't have any friends who are good with building things, then I'm sure ikea has a few units that will do the trick just fine.

Above is a full picture of my shelves. I'll go through each shelf in more detail below.

The very top of my unit is for all those little bits and pieces that don't fit into any other shelf - paintbrushes, index cards, water jar, drawing pencils, colour pencils, pencil setting spray, some incense and a few other things which you can see in the photo. Oddly, the contents of the magazine file actually has nothing to do with art. It's the place where I keep all the psychology journals that I have collected from uni over the past year, I just had nowhere else to keep them (no judgement please!).

The top shelf is for wool and fabric, and the second one is where I keep all my pencils, paints, pens, stamps, etc. I have organised my writing materials into different pencil cases so I know where to find everything.

I keep glue, staples and sticky tape in the little golden basket. And the green ribbon box is just for some of my fidget toys (hacky sacks, beanbags, slinky).

I use the third shelf for my cameras, microphones, and other little things I use in my art journals - such as stickers, images cut out from magazines.

I recently decided it would be a good idea to make these three boxes. I like to keep these things handy and well organised in case I ever have to get a receipt to return anything (or use them in my art journal), collecting little bits and bobs that I'm too lazy to put in the boxes for that kind of thing, and a business cards box which is actually very handy.

To make them I covered three cereal/biscuit boxes with paper and stuck it down. Nice and simple.

The bottom shelf is used for all my art books, magazines, journals, sketch books and (obviously) the laminator. That bag you can just see to the left side of the unit is where I keep all my coloured papers.

I hope that you guys enjoyed this post, and maybe it has inspired you to get some shelves for yourself, even if you don't have a whole heap of art supplies.

Thanks for reading!

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know what you're all thinking - 'We all know how to make chocolate chip cookies and you have even posted a recipe like this before. Why should we bother reading this post to learn how to make these ones?' Well my friends, I have an answer for you - these cookies are just about the fudgiest, most chocolatey cookies I have ever tasted in my life. My aunt taught me how to make them about six or seven years ago, so they are a treat that have been in my life for a little while now. If you don't try them at least once then you are truly missing out.

Makes: about 15 cookies

Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

1.5 cups of flour

3/4 cup of cocoa

180 grams of butter

150 grams of dark chocolate for melting

3 eggs

1.5 cups of brown sugar

Chocolate chips

Icing sugar for dusting

Method

Step 1. Mix together flour, cocoa and brown sugar and make a well in the centre.

Step 2. Melt dark chocolate and butter together.

Step 3. Crack the eggs into the well.

Step 4. Pour melted chocolates mixture into the well and mix until combined.

Step 5. Add the chocolate chips.

Step 6. Cook for 15 minutes at 180 degrees celsius.

Step 7. Leave to cool for a bit, then dust with icing sugar.

These cookies are best eaten on the day they are made as the inside will be soft and gooey. Let me know what you think of them!

Summer Holidays

The only good part about exams is being able to make plans for when they are finally over. I thought I would share with you all the things I plan to do over the summer because I am drowning in study right now and need something to look forward to!

Things I Will Do Once Exams Finish:

1. Beach Day

Since starting university my friends and I don't get to see each other very often, simply because we aren't at school together anymore and there is always someone who has an essay due the next day that they haven't started yet. So, this will be one of the first things we do to celebrate the end of first year. Barbecue, swimming, and just general catching up. Should be fun.

2. Christmas Shopping

I am really behind on this. And by really behind I mean I haven't got anything for anybody yet. I'm not very good at buying presents for people at christmas time. I think birthdays are easier, because you only have to focus on one person at a time, but at christmas you gotta get them all done at once!

3. Decorating

Also along the lines of shopping for christmas presents is decorating the house and setting up the tree. This is our first christmas we are spending at this house since we moved earlier in the year, so I am getting excited to figure out where the tree will go and what decorations we will put up around the place.

4. Try out new dance studios

This is just something that my friend and I have been meaning to do for a very long time (this entire year), and we just haven't found the time yet. There are a few we want to try out, but we just need to actually get off our butts and go.

5. Read more!

I ordered a few books a couple weeks ago and three out of the four have arrived, so hopefully I will be able to get around to reading them over the holidays. (10 points to the person who can guess what I'm studying based on the above photo! - the are all related in some way)

So that's about all I have planned at the moment. Let me know what you are going to be doing over the holidays!

Soundtracks

You probably don't know this about me, or maybe you do from reading the title of this post, but I am a huge sucker for soundtracks, especially those from fantasy movies. They are just so great for everything - background noise for studying, when doing art or writing, relaxing after a long day. As corny as it may sound, music has the power to do that - to change emotions, to make people feel things they never thought they would ever have to feel. I believe it is one of the most powerful mediums we have and this is so important. Anyway, enough of the cheesy ramble. There are some really beautiful ones out there, and I thought I would share some of my favourites with you today.

1. Maleficent

This movie came out earlier in the year and I think it is beautiful in so many ways. The soundtrack was composed by James Newton Howard and has some of my favourite pieces in it.

2. Torchwood (and also Doctor Who)

Ben Foster and Murray Gold are the geniuses behind these two soundtracks from two of my favourite tv shows. Listening to the music makes me want to cry, or laugh out loud whenever I listen to it, depending on where it was used in the shows. Definitely worth a listen.

3. Once Upon a Time

Before watching the show Once Upon a Time, I had not previously heard any of Mark Isham's work, but I cannot say I was disappointed.

4. The Lord of the Rings (all three)

I don't think I need to say too much about this as I'm sure most of you will have either seen the movies, or heard people raving about them. The score for all three movies was written by Howard Shore.

5. Amelie

Amelie is a French film, but don't let that put you off watching it. We watched it in our media class in school and I must say I was hesitant, but excited as I'd been wanting to see it for a long time. The soundtrack for Amelie is unlike anything else on this list, but it has a unique style which matches the mood of the film completely. The music was composed by Yann Tiersen.

6. Inception

As with The Lord of the Rings, I'm sure most people have seen this film by now. If not, it is worth a watch so grab a copy of it next time you go shopping. The soundtrack is by the one and only Hans Zimmer, who cannot have escaped your listening to at some point or another.

Of course, I could go on for a much longer time about all the music and soundtracks I adore, however that would probably end up boring you to death. Maybe I will make another post on this topic one day in the future, so all my other favourites don't get left out.

Let me know if you've seen any of these movies/shows, and which soundtracks are your favourites!

DIY Craft: Maze Fidget Toy For Anxiety

This is another fairly easy craft for you to do. It is a good tool to have around so that you have something to fiddle with - whether it be helping with anxiety, kids motor skills, or preventing yourself from constantly snacking (yes that sounds silly, but it works).

All you need is a needle and thread (or sewing machine), two pieces of fabric, and a marble.

The first step is to cut the pieces of fabric to the same size. I usually find that between a 10x10 and 15x15 square works best.

Sew along three of the edges, then turn it inside out so that the stitches are on the inside.

Draw a maze pattern on one side of the fabric with pencil (it will wash out). Try and keep the lines about an inch apart from each other, otherwise the marble will not fit through.

Sew along the pencil lines, then put the marble inside. It's easier to do it this way round because sewing the maze pattern with the marble inside can be tricky.

Finally, fold over the edges of the fabric on the un-sewn side and sew it up.

And boom, you're done!

Let me know what you think of this craft, and how you use it in your life xx

Quick Tips: Stressed Out?

I am the type of person who gets stressed out a lot - over big and little things. The feeling of stress is never good as it can lead to procrastination, mental & physical health problems, and suffering relationships. I think everyone gets their fair share of stress over their lifetime, but it always seems to come unaware, even if you think you are prepared for it. Today I have decided to share with you some quick tips for when you feel stressed or under a lot of pressure.

Tip 1: Time out

Calling it 'time out' may feel somewhat childish, but it is a useful tip for cooling down, no matter your age. I know first hand how hard it can be to cut yourself some slack, however in my opinion it is vital in keeping your head above the water.
Time outs can involve anything that gets you away from your work or study. For example:

• Getting some exercise - not the most enjoyable activity for everyone, but well worth it afterwards.
• Making time to spend with family or friends - plan a weekly breakfast or lunch with someone. This way there is always something for you to look forward to.
• Relaxation techniques - or meditation, mindfulness, etc. Whatever you call it, it's a useful technique to master and practice even when you aren't feeling stressed.

There are plenty of other things you can do to take a time out, so make a list of them all and pull it out when you need some.

Tip 2: Manage & plan your time effectively

Don't take this pointer to mean 'plan your entire week out, down to the last second', because that would probably just induce more stress (however, in saying that, if you find it useful, then by all means feel free to!). All it means is that you should have a wall planner where you can write down due dates, exam times, etc. This makes it easy to see how much time you have left to do something, and you can easily figure out when it is a good time to start that assignment, or make notes to study for that exam.

Tip 3: Get enough sleep

   

This tip may seem mundane and obvious, but that doesn't make it any less important.

Tip 4: Talk to people

   
Your friends are your friends for a reason. Everyone feels stressed from time to time, so chances are whoever you talk to about it will have at least some idea of what you are going through. Talking to someone will help get the weight off your shoulders, and may even cheer you up in the process!

That's it from me for today, I hope you find these tips useful. If there's anything you'd like me to cover on 'Monthly Quick Tips' don't hesitate to drop me a note!