IM ENGAGED!

I have been in a relationship with my boyfriend, Ben, for about six years. We've known each other since we were 11, when his family moved to New Zealand from England. We weren't friends at first, in fact I think he found me a little annoying because I used to tease him and joked that he read the dictionary (which was only because he had to pretend to read one in a play put on by his group at camp). I dont think he even really knew my name, I was just 'that annoying girl'. Eventually we got a bit closer as 'friends' because he was in a group of guys that I was sorta friends with as well (I'd just got out of that 'I don't wanna talk to guys' stage of my early teens). After a few months of his guy friends and my girl friends joking that we 'liked' each other and that we should 'go out' we actually started to wonder "hmm.. maybe there could be something there?". And so, by the age of 14 we had started to have a 'thing' going on and by that I mean we texted, instant messaged on MSN and never talked to each other face to face because we all of a sudden went from being 'sorta friends' to too shy to even talk to each other cause we liked each other so much (cringe!).

We officially started dating as boyfriend/girlfriend on January 18th 2010 at the age of 15 and now its coming to the end of 2015 and after being together for almost six years we are engaged to be married on January 20th 2016.
Some people think 21 is too young to be married and think that young people don't know what they want or even what love is but I can honestly say that I know without a shadow of doubt that Ben is the 'one'. I've known Ben's the 'one' since we were 14 and hadn't even started dating (and talking face to face) yet and I couldn't be happier to start this new life with him. He makes me smile, laugh and  enjoy things that I never thought I'd enjoy. He annoys me, he frustrates me to no end and tickles me to death (I hate being tickled). He's smart, funny, honest, loyal, shy sometimes and other times he never shuts up. He is warm, great to cuddle, has a really good sense of style but still enjoys dressing like a bum too. I love everything about him, even his cute, grumpy face.

2015 Update

I haven't made a post on my blog since December.. sorry for my lack of effort (I say this mostly to myself because I set a goal to make more posts, but also to whoever reads my posts haha). I thought I'd start by making a post which is an update of the bigger things that happened with me this year and then make an announcement.

TRAVEL! I love to travel (as you can see from previous posts) and this year I went on two holidays. The more exciting of the two trips was to Australia.. now I've been to Australia three other times before this but I love it every time I go and this time it was a girls trip with My mum, sister and our family friend Marilyn. We stayed in Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast and we did all the usual tourist things like visiting all the themeparks, playing mini-golf, checking out the native wildlife, seeing a show at Dracula's (which can I just add was awesome!) and shopping at both the local markets and city centers. We also got to visit some long-time family friends of ours which was bonus!

My other trip was even closer to home. For the first time in my life I got to visit the South Island of New Zealand (I know, my own country and only just visiting the south now.. useless). As seen in a previous post I did a Tourism course at Weltec and for a class trip we got to go to Queenstown. On this trip we did plenty of tourist activities which included visiting a small nearby gold-panning town called Arrowtown, we went jet-boating, visited a glow-worm cave in Te Anau, went on a ferry trip through the Milford Sounds, took a helicopter ride (which I don't think I'll be doing again) and went luge-ing which is kinda like go carting except its not a little car and you go down the mountain, its hard to explain so look it up :)

In April this year I graduated from my Weltec Tourism course and got a level 3 and level 4 Tourism certificates as well as two certificates with City & Guilds. I was the only one of my class that decided to actually attend graduation and all up there were only 4 tourism students graduating (the other three were from another class). My family, which includes my parents, my sister and my boyfriend, all attended and our family friends Brian and Marilyn, who are like my second parents, came as well. 

I turned 21! And no.. it wasn't a major celebration resulting in a hangover the next day like most 21st parties seem to go. For my 21st I had all my closest friends, family friends and extended family over for a PG rated party and feast. My cousin Sarah made me an amazing cake and my dad cooked all the food (what champs!) The night ended with a couple friends staying over watching scary movies and tv shows all night which was the perfect ending. All this actually happened two days before my birthday and on my actual birthday I went out for lunch with one of my best friends and then a group of us went bowling that night. 

And now here are just a few more things that happened this year that I believe are worth mentioning.
1. My beautiful baby sister (although not a baby anymore) went to her school ball where she looked like a super gorgeous 50's movie star.
2. I changed my hair colour. I decided that I was bored with my dark locks and have been slowly going lighter since July this year thanks to NYX hair design.
3. and finally, I got to help celebrate the first birthday of little Harper who is the beautiful girl of Krystal, one of my longest time childhood best friends. It was a super cute fairy party with special guests Mickey and Minnie Mouse. This birthday party was extra special because it meant alot to Krystal and her family, who are currently going through a very hard time, and being able to have a whole day just for fun and celebrating this gorgeous little girl was a great way to just forget about all that for a while. 

And now you are all caught up on what's happened since December 2014 till now.. well except for one important thing, but you'll have to wait for the next post to find out what that is ;)

Say Hello to Summer

Its that time of the year again when the sun comes out, the water gets warmer, the nights get longer and memories are made... SUMMER! To be perfectly honest, I'm not really the kind of person that spends a lot their time outside and half the time I try my very hardest to avoid all contact with the sun by wearing big floppy hats, sunglasses and sticking to the shadows, and my friends have even gone as far as to call me a vampire more times than I can count, and honestly I'm pretty close with my pale skin, my preference to the night and my love of the colour black, but even I have to admit than when summer finally arrives, all my aversions to the sun disappear and I spend as much time as I can outside, "trying" to get a tan and enjoying the summer season. 

A couple weeks ago when the first day of December was supposed to mark the beginning of summer, I, as well as everybody else in New Zealand I'm sure, was beginning to get a little pessimistic and was beginning to think that maybe summer really doesn't exist here in little ol' NZ because the days were grey, dull, wet and cold, but then two days ago, the clouds began to depart from the sky, the pohutukawa trees began to bloom bright red and weather turned hot Hot HOT! 

With the arrival of Summer means the coming of Christmas! The most amazing time of the year when we get to spend time with our family and friends, giving gifts, eating yummy food and basking in the Kiwi Summer Christmas Sun. Anybody who isn't from this part of the world must find it extremely weird that our Christmas is in summer, but us kiwis are so used to it, we wouldn't really have it any other way (although between you and me, I wouldn't mind experiencing a winter Christmas at least once). Now, we've just gotta keep our fingers-crossed that the weather stays this nice for the rest of the summer months.

Classic Denim Day

 Spring has finally arrived! Away with the winter blue and in with all things spring. Even though technically spring had officially begun at the beginning of this month, weather in Wellington hasn't been all that good and we've only just started getting some decent weather... but, better late than never!

Today I went out on a lunch date with one of my girls, Mikayla, which was a much needed catch up as it has been a while since we've hung out together. Upon deciding what to wear, I noticed that the days weather looked really nice and but still seemed like it could be quite cool out of the sun so I dragged my blue denim jeans out of the bottom of my drawer and ironed my big, baggy, white shirt. With this ensemble, I paired with a nice pair of black pointed heals, a faux snakeskin clutch, white chain necklace and a black floppy sun hat. In all honesty, I felt this outfit was just pure classic.

I had an enjoyable afternoon having lunch and a good ol' chat with Mikayla for a few hours, and of course I had time afterwards to take some photos of today's outfit. Needless to say.. I will definitely be wearing this outfit again. 

New Beginnings

Taking a break from my 'fashion icons' posts, I thought I'd just talk about my new course which I started on Monday. First I'll just give a little bit of detail as to how I got there. At the beginning of the year, I applied to study at Victoria University in Wellington which has always been like my biggest educational goal since I was about 9 years old, I only wanted to go there because my older cousins who were living with us at the time were studying there and they seemed to enjoy it, but also getting older it just felt like the university I wanted to study at (other than overseas places, which would be awesome!). Anyway, off track, so I applied at Vic but... I was declined because I didnt quite meet the requirements. I got the email on the way to work one day and basically balled my eyes out because I felt like I'd failed at life already. But after a while I thought 'Hey, theres other options and theres always next year and I can try again'. And then one day, looking on the Weltec website I saw a 17 week course starting in July for Tourism and it took me a while to apply but finally I did after a few months, then exactly one month after sending in my application I got an acceptance email saying I had secured a place in the course and that I was all set to start Tourism in 18 days (basically cutting it close to the start date). I had an Orientation last week where I met a few girls from my class, found out a bit about the course and got my I.D and all that sorta stuff, ya know. Yesterday was my first official day as a student since finishing year 13 in 2012 and I was kinda nervous, as I'd never studied tourism before and I hadn't studied in over a year and I'll admit I was quite shaky my first day (had a bit of an anxiety attack - great...) but I made friends, including this wacky and basically just amazing girl whose already like my new BFF (haha) and we're already driving to school together and it's only been two days. My classmates are pretty cool, got to know more people today. My tutors are great, though I've still got one more to meet tomorrow. And so far, from what we've been told, this course sounds like a lot of fun, not to mention a class trip upto Rotorua for a 4 days in August, so that will be fun. I feel like this Tourism course is where I am meant to be. it leads to so many opportunities and although I'm not a huge believer in fate and destiny etc. I do somehow feel like I didnt get into Victoria University and found this Weltec course for a reason. I hope it all leads to where my life is supposed to go and hopefully I'll be smiling the whole way... CHEESEY!

Taylor Momsen

I've loved this girl since her debut as Little Jenny on 'Gossip Girl' but I have to say, the older she got and the more edgy she began to dress, I loved her even more. Taylor Momsen's looks are thrown together and effortless with their ' rocker chick meets fashion girl ' vibe. She is a big fan of dark eye make-up, bad girl details (such as; studs, rips and chains etc), the colour black and ripped jeans - basically anything that gives off that tough girl vibe. Taylor Momsen is tall, with her long legs and skinny frame emphasized by skin tight slips, thigh-high stockings, garter belts, homemade tee's and of course high heels. Standing out in Hollywood, Taylor is a definite 'It Girl'.

Ashley Madekwe

This 'Revenge' actress really knows how to turn heads and make fashion look easy. She manages to mix edgy and glamorous in a way that everything she wears looks fabulous and effortlessly chic; and her wardrobe is totally attainable! Ashley Madekwe runs an amazing blog with 'look of the day' type posts where she also shares with you exactly where you can buy each item and alot of the time her clothes are from TopShop, Asos and vintage stores.  Ashley is always stylish, even just by using very basic garments and putting them together in a rather fashionable way. This british bombshell has got serious style - the kind of style you want to steal.