European Masters

Hey everyone! Yay another post from me! Stuff has been sort of crazy lately. Well actually kind of boring since it's uni holidays, but also kind of hectic and crazy... hmm... only one more week of uni holidays to go! Of course, I should be studying at the moment but I felt so bad about not posting in awhile I thought I would :D
Last week my friend had a whole bunch of people stay at this place his family has up past Bendigo, we stayed for a couple of days. Was pretty fun being out in the bush, climbing on rocks and making bonfires and the like. Haha... might put some photos up some time. But Daniel and I both got really sick on like last day and we have been sick since, sore throat and coughing and seriously blocked ears. Eurgh. Went to the doc and got some antibiotics but they don't seem to be working much yet :(

Sooo... I wore this outfit a couple of Sundays ago when Dan and I went to the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria) to see the Winter Masterpieces they have on at the moment, European Masters, 19th-20th century works from the Stadel Museum in Germany.
I am wearing a Sportsgirl dress, polka dot tights from Ebay, blazer from Savers, thrifted shoes, thrifted leather bag.
I bought the dress off ebay a little while ago. Seriously, I have seen that exact dress being sold on ebay around 5 separate times over the past few months! Is it really that unflattering or something? I definitely got it the cheapest though, the first few times I forgot to bid and missed out but one day I saw this and won it for about $7.50! The other times I've seen the dress won for over $15 :D I think I won it for cheap because the seller didn't upload a very flattering photo of the dress. Never underestimate the power of a clear photo :P

I am a huge fan of art and blockbuster exhibitions but I have to say that honestly the exhibition didn't impress me that much. I thought the exhibition was pretty sparse on the walls, and few paintings that really stood out to me. I don't know, the exhibition just didn't feel that cohesive to me, it sort of felt like I was just looking at a bunch of paintings in a row that didn't really tell a story of, for example the history of German painting or something. Even though I did have a good look at the works we went through the exhibition really quickly, probably around 1 and a half hours or less. Although to be fair I wasn't feeling 100% when I saw the exhibition, I was kind of tired and stressed out that day so maybe that had something to do with it. I did really like some of the paintings by Expressionist artist Max Beckmann, like this one- Die Synagogue, 1919.I did enjoy it as I love looking at all types of art but I wouldn't pay to see it again, not sure if it was worth the $18 (and that was concession price too!). Definitely not the best exhibition that the NGV has put on- and nothing compared to the Tim Burton exhibition on at ACMI right now! (but i'll save that for another post ;) ) Has anyone else seen the European Masters exhibition, if so what did you think?
The way they decorated the outside of the NGV for the exhibition:
Dan's eye through the paper bag... Thanks to him for taking my outfit pics.
Until next time,

A dedication

I'd like to dedicate this short post to a friend of my younger sister, Glenn Bourke, who was killed in the sky diving plane crash in New Zealand a few weeks ago.
He was a really friendly guy, only 18, someone who had his whole life ahead of him. It was his first time overseas and it was such a tragic end to a life. While I wasn't friends with him, this has been playing on my mind the last few weeks. The only way I knew him was through my younger sister and also through the couple of Rock Eisteddfods I participated in in high school. I just remember him as being this young, happy guy who everyone genuinely liked. So this post isn't much but my deepest sympathies for all those feeling the loss.
I'd also like to show you guys a video of our school's Rock Eisteddfod from 2007 (this was after I had graduated) when they won the Premier division in Victoria. Don't know how to embed it but here's the link.http://www.rockchallenge.com.au/videos/grc_player_brunswick.php It really was an amazing performance. Glenn is one of the guys in blue on stilts. Rest in Peace.

polka dots and flowy skirts :)

Why hello again... :) Hope you are all doing well!
So this is the 6th week of uni this semester. Which means there are 6 more weeks of classes until the semester is over. What?? It's just gone by so quickly. And being a slack Bachelor of Arts student, I haven't even had to hand in a single assignment so far. Well, I'm not doing a full load anyway but still!!
So, I think life is pretty good at the moment. My mood has been really up and down in the past couple of weeks but now that I think about things clearly, life is going quite well. I'm seeing my friends quite often now, I've been reading some good books recently and I think I will be able to get on top of uni stuff and actually hand things in on time :) Now just have to get a proper job!

I wore this outfit more than a few weeks ago for a friend's 21st birthday. The theme was that everyone had to wear something red. Very fun! My 21st birthday is coming up in December and I think I should start planning something! Everyone is planning their birthdays months in advance!! ahhh.
So I bought this skirt from Savers awhile ago for $8, thought it would be perfect to wear to the party! Love how flowy the material is. It's a nice full shape too. I'm wearing a dress underneath because i don't have any dressy black singlet tops!
Wearing: skirt from Savers, Princess Highway dress, polka dot tights from ebay, thrifted Target wedges, thrifted clutch, red hairbow.
A photo of me and three of my closest friends :D at the party:
So, one of the last books I read was The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. I Have to say that it is probably the most amazing book i've read in awhile! Can't believe I had only just gotten round to reading it recently. This was the cover of the copy I read.
You all probably know the story of Dorian Gray. As a young man, Dorian Gray becomes infatuated with a portrait of himself painted by his friend. Entranced by the words of the artist's friend Lord Henry Wotton, in a fit of impulsion he sells his soul by wishing out loud that the painting would grow old while he himself stays young and exactly the same. As the years pass, Dorian Gray's physical appearance remains unchanged as he delves into a world full of debauchery while the portrait of himself changes to reflect the age and the horrible disfigurement that each corruption has made on his soul.
I really did enjoy reading this, and was especially interested in the character of Lord Henry Wotton. His world view is very self indulgent and hedonistic, a critique of Victorian culture and high society at the turn of the century. He produces many memorable quotes including the famous line "there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." Other interesting ones are "The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it," "To me, beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances" and "It is better to be beautiful than to be good. But it is better to be good than to be ugly."
It is easy to understand why the book caused a bit of an uproar at the time, with people believing that this distorted views of conventional morality showed Wilde's apparent hedonism. At the end of the book there were also a number of appendixes which had a number of reviews which were actually published in magazines/newspapers after the story was first published. Some of them, especially the ones which were negative towards the story, were quite amusing.
It's definitely a must read. I just adore this quote which was written by Wilde and put at the preface of the book: "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written."

Hope you're having a lovely week :)