Exam Study Tips and Halloween Photo Diary

Hi

I haven't post anything for quite awhile and this is due to the excellent experience of Exam Time. Yes, I've been sitting at home trying to remember 6 months of study within a week. Some may read this and think that it would be easy to go over what you've already learnt within a week, that's heaps of time! and yes, it is a fair amount of time but it's also very difficult when you're sitting at home looking at books on statistics when you'd literally rather be doing... well.. anything else. Suddenly house chores become important and you're on your hands and knees scrubbing tiles which you haven't done since last exam period.

But not anymore! Because, I, the queen of procrastination (can you guess that I'm meant to be studying right now?) have some tips for you:

1. Start at least a few days before your exam and do little by little. Not only will your study time per day be shorter, but you'll remember more. Research shows that shorter bursts of study are much more effective than long, last minute cramming. Do Short bursts!

2. Give yourself something to look forward to after you've done a certain amount of study. I let myself have a bag of popcorn while watching youtube videos for the rest of the day after i re-watch two lectures. You may want to modify this, but whatever works!

3. If you start trying to read and you find yourself taking nothing in, do something else for five minutes (get the dishes out of the way) and come back to it. 

4. Get enough sleep. The main thing that can bring down someones ability to learn or do well is lack of sleep. Our brains don't function properly if we're sleep deprived. Even if it's the night before the exam, you're better off studying and then stopping in time for you to get at least 7 hours sleep. 

5. Cramming doesn't really work for anything but multiple choice tests. Your brain can only remember so much in a short amount of time. If you have options to jog your memory and you only have to look for an answer that feels familiar... it may help with multiple choice. but if you're doing essay or short answer exams... the earlier you start your study, the better. This also stands for multiple choice, but especially for essay or short answer. 

6. Relate concepts you need to remember to something familiar. For example,  catecholamines are a neurochemical associated with appetite which triggers hunger. I remember this because it has 'cat' at the start and cats are always wanting food and hungry. Ta Da, memory triggered!

But the main thing to take from this is, start early and study a few hours at a time. Also, remember to sleep and you're good!

NOW for those who may want to avoid study all together (me too) here is a little collage of what I've been up to over the last little while:

I've spent my time making halloween cupcakes, going out to dinner, watching people learn to surf and wishing I could swim at the beach and buying MAC make-up to try out. Needless to say, the MAC make-up was the most exciting. Trying out that 'Kylie Jenner - Whirl' colour!

I hope you've been well - I really need to get a posting schedule happening!

P.S. I'm trying out Bondi Sands new Liquid Gold tan tonight. Slightly terrified mixed with excited.

P.P.S. I'm obsessed with pintrest now. If you want to find me: @katieleeft 

Life Update & Some Cheeky Memes

Hi

I've been absent for a little while - Uni has gone back and everything has gotten busier than ever. Which is pretty darn' good. It's nice to have a lot going on, especially since some of it is pretty good! While there has been a few struggles with family members health and a few others things I would mostly like a place to share the good things that have been happening! 

Firstly I've been seeing a lot more of my friends lately. I can be quite a solitary person at times, I like to sit in my own little bubble at home but it's been absolutely lovely to be seeing people who I definitely don't see enough and laughing until I feel physically sick. Whether this be going out for dinner, seeing movies, planning trips or even just sitting on the couch in track pants watching reality tv shows. I'd forgotten how nice it is to just make time to be around people.

More good news - my little Toby pup finally got to take the cone of shame off his head. He's now able to pick up all his toys and throw them all around my room again (yaay). His foot is slowly getting better and tomorrow him and I are heading to my parents place for a weekend visit, which will be nice. My bed at their place is the most comfortable thing in the world so there's a 85% chance I'm just going to spend the whole time there napping.

Above are some silly internet/tv things that have been popping into my head and making me laugh as I go about my day to day life lately, so I thought I'd post them here. I keep pulling the McDonalds girl pose whenever I'm mildly annoyed at something and it's starting to become a problem. I look ridiculous.

Lastly, I've met some pretty great people recently. So here is to all the good things happening right now and hoping they continue. 

I hope you are well and that all good things come your way!

x

Goodbye Long Hair!

Hello, I am back!

The most interesting thing that has happened to be lately (apart from passing all my exams - yay!) is that I cut all my hair off. Goodbye lovely long hair and hello 3x shorter showers. I'm in a very love/hate relationship with my haircut at the moment. I cannot definitively decide if I like it, but it's been done now so I'm going to choose to like it!

before and after

Now I have new hair and one week of holidays left I've decided to give myself even more of a make over and have started back on the fake tan. In case you aren't aware I am legitimately the most pale person to ever walk the earth, I am translucent. Some people love being pale and that's excellent but of course because I am pale it's the 'the grass is always greener' situation and I've just always wished I was naturally tan. So I've taken it upon myself to spend forever sitting on the bathroom for with a tanning mitt every few days. I've been using Bondi Sands which is an Australian brand which I really like. It goes quite dark and doesn't go patchy or fade too fast like a lot of other tanners. It does have a tan smell to it, which is slightly coconut-like, but once you shower once it vanishes!

in dark because I go hard

The last attempt at making myself over is tending to my nails. Now I'm not allowed to have painted nails for work (I'm a Carer) but because I'm a rebel (Just kidding I have a few days off) I've gone all-out with this lovely purple-grey tone nail polish. I don't know where it's from because one of my clients gave it to me as a gift but it's called 'messed up' and I really like it. I find I look a little washed out with it when I'm pale but with a slight tan it looks excellent!

clearly it leaked all over my bag - joy

That's all from me for now, I hope you have, are having or have had a lovely weekend - see you soon!

x

Adorable Fashion Jewellery

Hi!

Today I got the most adorable package in the mail. To be fair, I shouldn't have been as excited as I was because I was the one who ordered it. But that was a while ago and I had forgotten about it so opening it up today felt like christmas. (The joy of online shopping!)

This is what I got: 

Now, I have never been too big on fashion jewellery. I've always had my 'real' jewellery and only really ever wore that. But recently I've been seeing people with the cutest little things that they switch around with different outfits and I think it adds something cute and exciting so I've started my own collection. The newest addition being this little owl bracelet which was about $3 on eBay. LOOK AT IT. It's perfection in bracelet form - the only problem being that I cannot do it up by myself because it's an awkward clasp. So I may got get as much wear out of this as I'd like to because I'm lonely and have no one around to help me do it up.

After desperately trying to put on the cute owl bracelet for about 5 minutes by myself and failing, I gave up and decided to dig out my other fashion jewellery that I like to wear (and that I can physically put on) and thought I would make a post about it!

This necklace is black and gold (Clearly) and will go with pretty much anything. This one and the leaf one below are the two necklaces I get the most wear out of. I like that it's not too ridiculously obnoxious and doesn't jingle when I walk (Lord knows I hate to stand out!)

Next up I have theeese gorgeous little earrings. As you can probably tell they're little bows and I think they're the cutest things I've ever seen. I'm not usually one for huge dangly earrings because I tend to get my hair stuck in them then it hurts when I try to pull it out (I'm graceful that way). So these were amazing, I don't think I'd ever use the little studs that come with them but hey, maybe if I had my ears done twice I would. Although that won't happen because having them done once was traumatic enough for me.

Lookie here we have a leaf/feather necklace (wait, which is it?!) . I love this so much. I'm not that sure why, I think it's pretty and delicate and almost whimsical. It's quite fine and a little harder to see in the photo but I can assure you it's adorable. It came in a pack of three with the two necklaces I will show below it but honestly I love it and wear it on it's own a lot.

These two here (top and bottom) came with the feather/leaf (I can't decide) necklace and while I like them I don't like them as much on their own. But when worn together (as they all descend perfectly in length order) they look really nice. I call them my 'filler necklaces'.

That is all of my teeny tiny collection (That I like - There are definitely things from when I was 15 that I would not show). As you can tell I generally go for gold jewellery, for some reason that's always been my personal favourite. But anything with animals can be pretty much guaranteed a spot in my new found collection. 

If you know of any online stores that do cute jewellery, let me know!

Hope you're well!

x

Photo Diary (Target Shooting and Pink Hair?!)

Hey Hey!

I thought for this post I may do a little photo diary/snapshot of the past week or so. I love seeing other people's posts like this (because I'm incredibly nosy that way) and thought I'd join in and do something similar just in case there's one other nosy person out there who may enjoy!

This weekend I grabbed my little dog Toby and we travelled three hours north of where I live to visit my parents for the weekend. Most of the weekend was spent doing more sentimental personal things with the family but on Sunday afternoon Dad and I drove out to a farm near by and did some target shooting. 

The day was absolutely beautiful and I managed to pretty much completely miss the target as it kept blowing over. Admittedly having to walk for ages to stand it up again then turn around and see it's been blown right back over does ruin the fun slightly. I have found that some people find this quite an odd thing to do, my Dad does some gun smithing so it's never been odd to me but I find it's not something that everyone takes part in. However, it is lots of fun, I definitely don't hurt animals and who doesn't want to pretend they have a machine gun even if it's only a 22? There is a video of this but I look like an absolute goober so I may pretend that doesn't exist!

The rest of my week has been filled with boring things such as work and exam study. I got my little Toby-Pup a toy box for all his toys and let me tell you: There is nothing cuter than seeing a little dog pick out a toy from a toy box to play with. Unfortunately Toby has a skin infection on his food at the moment so I'm having to jam antibiotics down his throat twice a day for two weeks. He is not loving me for it. Whenever I go to pat him he gets up and moves to the other side of my bed. A little rude if you ask me!

My last exam is on the 2nd of July (two days) and I am so terribly nervous but insanely excited for it to be over and done with so I can breath easily and not feel guilty whenever I'm doing something that isn't studying (which is most of the time including now). 

And last but certainly not least is something I've been tempted to try out with my hair. Which is this:

I've always wanted colourful hair but I've either not been allowed by my parents when I was 14 or I've been far too chicken to actually do it now that I'm 23. But this one washes out extremely fast and the ends of my hair are already lightened:

So I feel as if now may be the time to be the cool kid I always wanted to be and try it out - even if it is just for a day!

Maybe I'll dye my hair and eat pizza as a celebration when my exam is over? Wow. Look at me, living it up.

Slow down Katie, you crazy.

I hope you're well and if you too post any 'photo diary' kind of posts let me know so I can stalk you!

x

Brighten Your Day: Quotes and Kindness

Hi

So sometimes we can get a little glum, lose motivation or have our doubts about the genuine nature about those around us. It can (on occasion) only take something very small to ruin your day, or put you in a terrible mood. 

I am a huge believer in the importance of being kind, polite and showing understanding towards others. It takes absolutely nothing to use your manners, ask someone how are they or even just smile. Just doing something as simple as using your manners can turn someones day around. You will be surprised at the difference it will make to the people you're dealing with.

For this post I have compiled a few quotes that I have come across that I like, that motivate me or that I think are just some nice things to hear (or in this case read) on occasion.

~ “I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life – and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

~ “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” – Dalai Lama

~ “Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed.” – Dale Carnegie

~ “Be somebody who makes everyone feel like a somebody”

~ “Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.” – T.H. Thompson and John Watson

~ “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.” – Ronald Reagan

~ “You must do the things you think you cannot do” – Eleanor Roosevelt

~ "Your mood should not dictate your manners."

And please, please, please remember that bringing someone else down will not make you any happier. So whenever possible be kind and encourage people, not only when things are rough but when praise and appreciate their success too. It costs nothing and it may even make you feel a little happier also!

I don't own the lovely picture above and didn't crate any of the quotes used, where I have known who did I have written that next to the quote. For a few of them I didn't know.

I hope you are well, I hope people have been kind to you and I hope to see you around this blog again!

If you have any stories of perhaps participating in an act of kindness or receiving an act of kindness that you want to share - please do below! 

x