Favourites Friday #5

Welcome to another edition of it being Friday and me liking things. A few things have been happening since I lasted posted one of these - semester ended which means I've been on holiday for a month, and during that month I also had a birthday. I've been pretty happy and relaxed and have felt like I've been able to sit down and enjoy things. So here are the things that I have been loving:

1. Long Knitted Cardigans - It's winter down under, and I'm not a fan of freezing, so I've been digging into my pile of knits. I recently bought a long black knitted cardi from Bonds (that's unfortunately sold out), which I love. The above one is from ASOS, which I would love to own as well.

2. Books Kinokuniya Sydney - I've raved and raved about this frickin' book store a thousand times, and I'm gonna do it again because I've been there quite a bit recently. Every time I go I just don't want to leave. I actually think I could just curl up in a corner and live there. They house all my literature, comic and Japanese book needs. I'll be loving it till I'm dead.

3. Gold studs, of all kinds - I'm not a big flashy earring person, so naturally I own 5000 pairs of studs, especially now that I have more than one piercing in each ear. Gold has slowly become my favourite metal over the years. I just think it looks classy (and goes really well with black, the colour I wear the most, naturally). I get most of my studs from Lovisa because they're cheap and have some really nice designs to mix and match, but the above pairs are from ASOS and are similar to ones that I own.

4 - Parks & Recreation - Okay, so here is the part where I admit that this is the first time I've watched Parks & Rec (late again, I know). Parks & Rec is part of the Holy Trinity of shows that Michael Schur has worked on (the other two being The Office and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which are both incredible), so it's about time I saw it. It's so so funny, I've been laughing out loud a huge amount. I'm only up to the end of season 2, but I have a feeling that it won't take me long to finish the series.

5. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - For those of you that don't know, Skyward Sword is a game for the Wii that was released in 2011. I've recently finished it for the second time, and I'm still in awe of how beautiful it is. I love the Zelda series, but Skyward Sword is such a magical experience. It's one of the longest games in the series, so it takes some dedication, but it's also pretty addictive and will probably have you playing it for 6 hours a day, even the second time around.

6. Sephora Pomegranate Face Mask - I went to Sephora for the first time the other week as it only opened in Sydey recently, and I've been quite impressed. I have really terrible skin that breaks out constantly, but the morning after I used this mask, it looked calmer and brighter. I was actually kind of happy with it for once. So naturally I went back and bought more. I need a whole stash.

7. Walk the Moon's album Talking Is Hard - I think we've all heard (and jammed hard to) 'Shut Up and Dance', and with good reason because it's a really good song. I went and listened to the whole album and was not disappointed - every other song on it is just as good, some are maybe even possibly better. It's great listening for almost every situation.

I hope you've enjoyed reading my favourites and check out some of the things I've mentioned!

Till next time,

xx

Favourites Friday: Finals Procrastination Edition

I haven't done a Favourites Friday in a while, and that's because of FINALS! Yes, everyone's favourite thing. Also everyone's favourite time to procrastinate, myself included. So now that my exams are over and I'm free to live a stress-free life once again (mostly, I'm a language major, it never ends), I'm back with a (rather nerdy) list of things that I've been avoiding study with.

1. Florence + the Machine's album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
I've been a massive fan of Florence since just after the release of Lungs (which was like six years ago what), and I'm constantly impressed by every single one of her songs. Ceremonials was my favourite album for years, and now this new one is frickin' incredible. It makes me want dance in a field (you know the feeling). I keep finding time to just sit down and listen to it from beginning to end.

2. American Horror Story Season 1: Murder House
I've always been one to shy away from anything that could be labelled as "horror", despite the fact that I'm a reasonably logical person that doesn't scare very easily. I've always thought that I just wouldn't be able to handle it. I'd been hearing people talk about how good American Horror Story is, and I was craving something a little different, so my aversion from horror no longer stands. AHS isn't really scary at all, it's just very intriguingly...creepy. You want to keep watching so you can figure out what the hell is going on. No wonder everyone keeps raving about it.

3. Ouran High School Host Club Anime (桜蘭高校ホスト部)
I've been wanting to get into anime again recently, but it's a hard thing to do when there are hundreds of them. I started watching Ouran a while back in English and thought it was quite good, but only made it through a few episodes before I got busy and forgot about it. This time I'm watching it in Japanese (because it would practically be a crime for me not to), and I'm still enjoying it! The characters and plots are all a lot of fun, but you need some knowledge of tropes and anime to fully understand it (there is basically no fourth wall half the time).

4. Dan and Phil Games
If you've looked at the bottom few things on this list, you've probably figured out that I like video games. I also really like Dan and Phil. Put them together and BAM it's the ultimate form of entertainment. I literally binge watched the entirety of their Sims 4 series in one day. That's like, at least five hours of viewing. That's how good it is. You don't even have to like video games that much to enjoy this channel! Dan and Phil try to make it as entertaining and genuine as possible, so it's fun regardless.

5. Portal 2
I've played Portal 2 before. You've probably (definitely) heard of it and how good it is. So naturally my finals brain thought "let's do it again!". Portal 2 is just a really enjoyable few hours. It was easier for me this time, obviously, because I'd already completed it, but living the story again was a nice experience. (And the end credits are epic).

6. Muse's album Drones
So many albums have come out recently that I've not really had time to listen to but have anyway. Drones was so highly anticipated that I couldn't not take time out to listen to it, several times, in fact. The more I listen, the better it seems to get. It's such a political album, and every song captures you're attention in different ways. I feel like I've got my hands on a really significant work of art.

7. Mario Kart 7
(Nice numbering on my part, there.) You're probably thinking "Lauren, Mario Kart? Really? Of all the things you could be doing?" Yes, my friend. Because I am low-key addicted. There's something about getting aggressive towards babies driving karts in a physics-defying fashion that I love. Half of it is probably that I'm not half bad at it. I'll probably be playing every Mario Kart game that's released from now until my death. It's cathartic.

There we go! That's all the things I've been spending time doing over the past month or so. Now I'm off to do basically the same thing until uni goes back.

I hope that any of you that had finals got through them okay. (I'm sure you did).

xx