The 2012 Met Costume Institute Gala

One of my absolute favourite red carpet events is the annual Met Costume Institute Gala, held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This year's gala celebrated Prada and Elsa Schiaparelli, who together comprised the Costume Institute's new exhibition "Impossible Conversations."

Here are some of my favourite looks of the night, in no order.

Anna Wintour in Prada and Bee Schaffer in Erdem

Nina Dobrev in Donna Karan Atelier

Victoria Justice in McQueen

Kristen Stewart in Balenciaga (not a fan of the shoes, though)

Julianne Hough in Carolina Herrera

Scarlett Johansson in Dolce and Gabbana 

Dianna Agron in Carolina Herrera

January Jones in Versace

Emma Stone in Lanvin

Jessica Alba in Micheal Kors

Sofia Vergara in Marchesa

Karolina Kurkova in Rachel Zoe

Solange Knowles in Rachel Roy

The Met Costume Institute Gala is without a doubt my most favourite red carpet event ever. I remember looking through the photos for the first time back when I was about 11 or 12 and just being amazed. I hope to one day attend the gala and walk the red carpet in an amazing dress by an amazing designer.

[All images via Getty Images]

Sitting on top of the world

Today I was at my cousin's third birthday party. I was in a creative mood, so I decided to go for a chic-country style look. 

Top: Bardot

Skirt: Valleygirl

Shoes: Sarasota

Bag: Mulberry

Belt: Supré

Ring: Diva

Necklace: Tiffany & Co.

Silver bangle: handmade by me in DT

Sunglasses: Prada

I think this outfit looked very effortless and I definitely loved wearing it! Outfit posts will featuring on my blog a lot more from now on. Keep posted for more!

Term 2

I am currently halfway through Week Two of Term Two and I can certainly feel the pressure starting to escalate. Everyone says the step up from Year 10 to Year 11 is big, but I hardly noticed it last term. That's either because I wasn't getting a lot of homework, or, the more likely option, I just wasn't do my homework.

I have already been given three assessment tasks and they are all due in a few weeks, as well as one I had to do over the holidays, but didn't. I also have been getting more homework and this time I am actually doing it.

I got relatively good results in my exams that I did last term. All my results were relatively average. I aced Design & Technology and failed English, but I don't particular care because I was totally expecting worse than what I actually got. To quote from my favourite movie of all time, Clueless, "these grades are only a jumping up point", and that's exactly how I see them. Room for improvement, if you will.

I am not really the type to get stressed out over anything. School and exams don't stress me out as much as they should, but I'm glad they don't, because I don't think I'd cope well under pressure during exam week. However, the other day I was in some crazy OCD mood and I washed up all the dishes and saucepans that were in the sink. I turned on the dishwasher and then I cleaned every single surface in the kitchen with Ajax. Seriously, every marble bench top. I also cleaned the stove top completely. I just brushed it off as a weird OCD mood, but when I brought it up today to my friend in Year 12, she told me that it was an anxiety thing.

When I think about it, I can totally see where she's coming from. My workload has slowly been increasing and all my assessments are starting to freak me out a little bit. I really don't know how well I will cope with the HSC next year and the pressure I'll most likely put on myself to get a high ATAR. I just don't want to be so stressed that I freak out and have a total mental breakdown. All I can do is hope to be calm and focused, and work on creating a stress-free environment for myself.

I'm getting a headache just thinking about this! It's so crazy how stressful next year will be, but after that I will be free for a few months... and then I go to University, which could potentially stress me out even more!

Well, only time will tell....

Z is for Zoo

I don't know about you, but I love the zoo! I associate the zoo with so many happy memories, which is why I love going.

Taronga Zoo in Sydney is my most-visited zoo, seeing as I live in Sydney. It is always really fun to just walk around with a bunch of friends and enjoy the atmosphere. I like animals which is why zoos appeal to me. I especially love Leopards and Grizzly Bears, and seeing as though they aren't native animals here in Australia, the only place I can see them is at the zoo. I also like seeing the Koalas. I also love the animal shows they do daily. At Taronga, they do a seal show and a bird show. I have seen the bird show so many times that I know all the words, so the seal show would have be my favourite. If you ever find yourself at Taronga Zoo, I would highly recommend checking it out. The Gorilla and Elephant enclosures are pretty spectacular too.

All in all, I think that a trip to Taronga Zoo is a must when you visit Sydney.


And there you have it, I have officially finished the Blogging A-Z Challenge! Thank you for reading reading my posts and thank you for all your lovely comments! I really enjoyed reading them and I want to thank you all for taking the time to write them! Your support, encouragement and kind words are very much appreciated. It means so much to me! You guys are the best! Even though the challenge is over, my blog will still be active, so I would love for you guys to continue to pop over occasionally and tell me what you think about my posts!

All the best,

Y is for Youth

Born in 1995, I am a nineties kid through and through. Back then, childhood was a much simpler time. My generation climbed trees, rode bikes, played in parks and watched VCR's. We didn't have iPhones and iPods, like most kids do these days. It's quite sad to see how rapidly things have changed in my short lifetime.

Me and my twin sister, age 5

Me on my grandfather's boat, age 3

I love looking through all the photo albums from when I was younger. It reminds me of my very happy childhood. At the age of 16, most would consider me to still be in my childhood, but I personally think that my childhood is behind me. I am ready to grow up and move on to bigger and better things. And while I will occasionally lapse back into childish habits, I will never fully be a kid again. With that being said, I will always love Disney movies.

I am happy that I am at a new stage in my life. I'll be graduating from high school around October next year which is extremely daunting but also exciting. I feel like I am ready to go off into the big wide world and start living the life I have always dreamed of. Within the next eight years, I plan to have finished my two-year university course and be living in California or New York City, and possibly/hopefully be married to the man of my dreams.

X is for Xylophone

This is a random post because nothing stats with the letter X. Like actually. But not being one to bow down to defeat, I'll give it a shot. 


All I can think to do is post some fun facts about xylophones that you may not have previously known. 



- The oldest known xylophone dates as far back as 2000 B.C Pictures of xylophone-type instruments have been seen in various temple carvings.
- The xylophone was most popular from 1910 to 1940 when it regularly appeared on stage in vaudeville acts.

- The xylophone is a member of the percussion family. 
- The word "Xylophone" comes from the Greek words ξύλον — xylon, "wood" + φωνή —phonē, "sound, voice", meaning "wooden sound".
- The Xylophone was first used in Dance Macabre in 1874 by a french composer named Camille Saint-Saens.

- Xylophones and Marimbas are actually 2 different instruments.



Just as a disclaimer, all these facts have been gotten off the internet. I am not a huge advocate of the xylophone as it may appear. I'm just a blogger desperate to finish a post. 

W is for Wisdom

Since the majority of my posts in this challenge have been pretty light and fun, I think it's time to do a deeper, more philosophical post, even though I am no good at them! Well, here goes!

Wisdom is always a word I associate with smart people. I have always thought of wisdom to be purely based on one's mental capacity, and the fact that they are smarter than most people. However, when I looked it up, this is what I found:

This says that wisdom is not just based on brains- you must also be moral with good judgement, not just smart, in order to be wise. 

Another thing that is often associated with wisdom is age, but I personally don't really think you have to be old to be wise. With that being said, I don't think a five year old would be considered very wise people. The definition above mentions experience. To have wisdom, one must experience a multitude of things prior to becoming wise. Emotions, thoughts, feelings and so on must be experienced by a person in order for them to have wisdom.

If you don't make mistakes, you don't become wiser. It's as simple as that.

And that is my attempt at a philosophical post! I hope to have enlightened you in some way :)