Celebrity of the Week: Heidi Klum

Through sad news this week Heidi has been bought to the centre of attention having announced, and confirmed, her split with singer Seal after 7 years of marriage 4 kids. (those numbers are from memory - correct me if I'm wrong!) They, like Katy and Russel, seemed like a sweet, cute kooky couple that would defy the odds and stick it out - but I guess the average Joe can't really comprehend the pressures of maintaining their individual businesses, brands, jobs and of course their bloody kids - they must be ridiculously frantic, and all while looking flawless - I can't manage a single one of those things listed above.

Heidi's obviously completely flawless, hence why she's a Victoria's Secret model and recognised worldwide as a verified supermodel, I mean look at her. I always thought 'Project Runway' was one of the better, more inventive reality shows that showed more than just trashy talentless people and instead gave those with an utter passion and true talent in their field a shot at making it big. Not that Heidi brainstormed and came up with the whole show, but she was a great host for it and was good at being a cold bitch eliminating people. Loved it.

Old Habits Die Hard

After a stint of hyperactivity on this blog I was already dry, unmotivated and not wanting to write this blog. It's just really hard to write about an average day when literally nothing has happened particularly out of the ordinary, and try to make it something worth reading - but here's my best effort.

After staying up foolishly late last night (well not really, but I did go out on Saturday night and wasn't in bed until like 3.30am) to 12.30am, I was called at 9am to go to work this morning as someone was sick. So off to work I begrudgingly went, not that I didn't appreciate the money and all that - but it's a bit of a shock going from "Yay I have the day off tomorrow - sleep in, laziness, DVD's and the gym!" to "FML my hair looks like shit and I have no lunch!" But whatever - I made like $70 which'll pay off a few bills in Wellington I'm sure. Ugh the most expensive year ever ahead! Why does me writing "E-mail eatyouup@live.com, my literal e-mail, and offer me a fun job and pay me something decent for the best employee ever!" never elicit any response?

Apart from one infuriatingly impatient, snappy and rude woman and one of the more cringe worthy jokes I've ever heard told ("Are you from Australia?" "No" "Joey's are from Australia though") nothing of special interest really happened, hard to believe I'm sure. Am doing stock take for the next three nights in a row which'll be really adorable, though what actually IS adorable (sort of) is that my aunty is getting me to give her sleep-out a clean, and will pay me $25, for what is usually only an hour's week which I always like to as I can do it in my own pace and prove that I can be quite an efficient worker. The joy of being allowed headphones while working should never be overlooked.

Song of the Week: sweetbox - Read My Mind

Adding a new series of posts to my blog to ensure I keep it more active, which was on the down-low a New Year's resolution I decided to make. I was pretty lousy with it throughout 2011 and not that it really matters whether I update it frequently or not - but I have decided I'd like to keep it up to speed.

Anyway, so here we are: the first "Song of the Week", the 2nd weekly post I'll be writing along with "Celebrity of the Week" so I'll have to be up to speed. This week's song is by one of my all-time favourite singers, Jade Valerie, but from when she was in Sweetbox (from 2000-2007) in one of unfortunately few songs of hers that got a music video. This PV is simple, but Jade looks pretty and I'm just glad "Read My Mind" from the 2002 album 'Jade' actually got a video because I love this song a lot. I think I relate it to if I'm feeling misunderstood or ignored or whatever - to me the songs message is that of self-worth and admitting your faults and doing the best with what you have. Soppy, but that's just the way I was born. ;) Feel free to leave a comment with what you think of the song..

Celebrity of the Week: Michelle Williams

Michelle Williams first was drawn to my attention paying the crushingly tragic Elma in Ang Lee's 'Brokeback Mountain' which regardless of it's gay couple storyline, I'll forever protest it as simply a gay movie and if you've refrained from watching it for that reason you're missing out on what I swear is one of the most beautiful movies, cinematically, I've ever seen. Michelle has always somehow managed to remain out of the limelight despite being a certified A-List actress, confirmed after winning a 2012 Golden Globe for her performance in 'Take This Waltz' which I regrettably have yet to see.

A film project of hers I am truly excited to see is 'Oz: The Great and Powerful', a pre-quel to the flawless 'The Wizard of Oz' Judy Garland great. I mean Michelle, Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz in one movie? Yes please!! They are all playing witches and I mean - Rachel as a glamourous evil witch? I can't even wait.

The next big movie to bring recognition to Michelle's obvious great talent will be 'My Week With Marilyn' for which she's been nominated for a million different awards shows. Pretty keen to see that one too but I do think the whole Marilyn Monroe fetishism has gone quite far enough - yes she was a glamorous woman and epitomized beauty and style but she really wasn't that perfect and had plenty of problems and I'd like to think there were more actresses worthy of her iconic state, Michelle being one of them in the future I hope. Though her remarkable resemblance to the already infamous Twiggy will probably forever hinder the possibility of Michelle's adorable, pixie-like look becoming iconic in her own right.

The picture used above is the cover photo from her 2011 spread in 'Elle' magazine.

2012 Goals

Decided to write a more positive blog after Brandon noted I have a trend to write with a considerably obvious negative slant. I guess that's just my unfortunately gloomy outlook on life, but in the spirit of making a change and all that jazz here's a blog devoted to all the good I want to achieve this year. 

First of all, the same old goal everyone has every year, including myself, which I think I've done alright with for the last two years and that is for me to continue along the health and fitness pathway to achieving a great body and being my personal best. Cristiano Ronaldo (the male in the picture above) is pretty much the dream looks-wise and body-wise, and so he should be - he's an Armani model now! If I was to ever have a body of my choice, his would be it! Though let's be honest that is like 4-hours a day training, full-time sportsman type stuff so is never going to realistically happen with my budget, time constraints and motivation. However it's not bad to have some inspiration on my bad days and he's certainly someone to motivate you to getting to the gym. I included the picture of Megan Fox for female readers looking for some inspiration, which I know can often just make yourself feel more insecure but in the spirit of this blog look at her as aspirational. No one "just has" that body, she works for it (even if she's rich etc, she still works for it) and likewise with the body you want. If it wasn't a struggle it wouldn't be worth having.

Other goals are obviously study, which I guess is the most important path in my life right now. Heading back to Wellington to attend Victoria University for my 2nd year of studies, potentially only one more to go afterwards but it does seem likely I'll do an extra year. We'll see how things go. It's exorbitantly expensive and I'd be willing to bet the cost would outweigh the benefit, and it certainly outweighs it's utility. (god I wanted to throw an economic term in there - Brandon will tell me if its usage was correct or not) Studying media, film and Japanese this year - decided to drop theatre, so hopefully that goes well. I'm going to not be so slack and work harder and just generally stay on top of things. I struggle terribly with procrastination, so I'd really like to buckle down and pick up a better study-ethic as it's never been my fine-point.

Social life and relationships are also, obviously, an important part of the circle of life, and family obvz but that's pretty much spoken for, no huge dramas there. Will do my best to keep everyone happy in those fields by just generally making the effort, keeping up communication and trying to achieve a sense of balance by keeping myself organised. I will need to make sure things are planned and organised, especially flatting this year for the first time - so will have to liase with flatmates re: groceries, cooking, cleaning etc. God knows the costs and realities of this year but won't know until I get there 'til I'm honest. Not going to lie - I'm terribly excited. 2011 was a flawless year at Weir House that I would never have given up for anything, but 2012 is also showing a lot of promise. Bring it all on.

Broke as a Joke (and no one's laughing)

Even though I haven't worked that much over the holidays, the fact that the days have been so spread out makes it feel like I've never actually had a decent broke because it's always 2-3 days max until I work again, which I should be grateful for, and I am, but it's beginning to feel suspiciously like last year when I went off to uni feeling like I never really had a break since studying for exams. Anyway after working Friday, Sunday and Monday (today) I don't have to work until next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (I think) because I'll be doing stock take. Never done it before but I've been assured it's not terribly fun and that a load of on-the-doll no-hopers (if we're being hon) come along and help out, and still manage to muck things up. I guess it's not the most straight-forward thing in the world to just count but I mean, if they ask "do I count an empty box?" or something, obviously you don't. Ok, maybe not that straight forward - but still.

The annoying thing about work is that, regardless of having worked an f-tonne I still haven't made any truly substantial profits - and I've probably only spent about $100 max these holidays, honest! OK maybe more like $200 - but for like 2 months that's extremely little of me. Oh actually there was Christmas... fine, maybe $300. But that's it! Anyway the moral of the story that even though I'm young and a student and all that good "that's the way life goes" stuff - would it kill for someone to pay me a half-decent wage around here? I mean I know times are tough but sheesh - does anyone anywhere pay more than minimum wage? I know this is what everyone on minimum wage says about their job, and it's probably true, and maybe my job is a job anyone could do - but can "anyone" do it well? No, they can't, and I can tell you that after having worked with them. Working retail properly actually involves a true knowledge of people skills, product knowledge (and pretty varied and levels of specificity are usually required - customers think your stupid if you don't know every minute details of something) and it's embarrassing when you don't know but realistically - without having literally bought, tried and testing - how would you know?

Anyway that's my little groan for now but trying to have a bit of pride about your job when it's not exactly top-notch gets pretty tedious when there's no one putting a heck of a lot of pride in you. Then again, having said that my manager did tell me I've been doing well in the other store I work in (part of the same branch/company) so that was pretty much the first time anyone's ever said I've done a good job anywhere ever, well maybe not, but from what I can remember. I'm basically employee of the month.

The Wellington Job Dilemma

Out of my own interests, and to potentially benefit my luck in acquiring a cute job in Wellington this year,  I did a barista course on Thursday. It was only like two and a half hours but I, and three others, were taught by two pros at the Pomeroy's factory about where coffee originates, the different types and most importantly how to make them. We made expresso (short black), latte's and cappuccino's which were pretty cute and learnt how to froth the milk nicely and which machines to use etc. Obviously I'm not a pro but it was a fun course to do and I can probably make coffee better than a lot of people now so that's always cute. The downside of the course was that it was at like 4pm and I drank like 6 cups of coffee and slept barely a wink that night, so that was great.

I have to get a job in Wellington and although there's some cute cafe's and shops I'd ideally like to work at, I thin first-things-first is to enquire into a transfer to the Wellington Lambton Quay Living and Giving store. I mean I'm obviously perfect for the job, have been with the company for three years and I'd pretty much sell the shit out of that store. But seriously, it would be a very good and convenient job and if I could work Friday and/or Saturday's my life would pretty much be what some would refer to as "the dream".

Anyway - why I'm writing a blog at 10.45pm at night when I have to be up at 7.30am to go to work is a mystery beyond mysteries but lots on my mind re: Wellington this year. Thank god it's not as scary as this time last year when I was moving to Weir. I was dying, as you can obviously see/read by viewing my posts from around 19th Feb, 2011. I died.

Celebrity of the Week: Rihanna

I'm not usually a very big Rihanna fan but I think her latest album 'Talk That Talk' may have officially turned me once and for all. No one can deny her unstoppable song "We Found Love" which she, alongside with Calvin Harris, pretty much dominated all other summer anthems in New Zealand. I can't say I loved the video for the song, but many others apparently though it was pretty top-notch and then the 2nd single's video, "You Da One", wasn't that great either. Still - LOVE that song and surprised it's not been more of a hit. Guess it was released too soon after "We Found Love" while it was still going strong. Considering it's not that great of a song, it's success has pretty been crazy.

The next single "Talk That Talk" is a pretty good decision I reckon because it's a quality song, and I wouldn't be surprised if the album's still leaking songs off it a few months from now because there's plenty of good single-material songs stashed away. Highly recommended!

Organisation

Getting ready to move back to Wellington into the apartment me and three others have signed a lease for is proving to be quite a logistical nightmare. The worst part is I don't really know anything about the building or the actual flat, apart from that it's the top floor in the middle at the front - so we probably got the dream flat, but who knows. I keep calling it a flat, it's not, it's an "apartment", so I'm basically living in New York.

I need to somehow buy/find/get a bed, a desk and a chair and god knows what else into some 5th floor building which has one of the more dodgy looking alleyways ever as an entryway which is a tad awkward - but hopefully drug dealers won't be lingering around hawking off their goods on too many late-night occasions. The best thing about this new apartment is that it's new! It was an office building (for Studylink or something I think actually) but has/is being converted into apartments, and they sure managed to squeeze an f-load of them in, six apartments to a floor - and it's not a very big building so I'm not really expecting the Taj Mahal - but it'll be somewhere to live, and it's central, so whatever. Paying $170 a week is exhorbitant - I can't imagine wanting to continue paying that in 2013 - that's crazy money. A WEEK!!! I won't even buy a pair of shorts if they're over $30, but paying that much just to live? Well, I'd almost rather not.

Spending summer in Nelson has been encouraging to get back to Wellington, suck it up and pay the price and here's why: it's boring here. And that's literally it. Having a job has been cute as it helps the weeks pass by and I'm making some money and I shouldn't really be in poverty this year, though I haven't actually done the maths and worked out how much I can spend a week. Basically I'll just spend little and I should be ok, I have savings and emergency loans and things I can get so I won't actually endure poverty, though not being able to go out for coffees and lunch every day might just as well qualify as being in poverty anyway.

My parent's have just abandoned me for yet another weekend, they are obsessed with getting away from Nelson - they may as well just move. (well obviously they shouldn't, but they sure like their holidays) I guess I can't blame them for being active and doing stuff, not like I'd really be spending much time with them if they were here anyway. What are we going together? Sit around all day talking to each-other? Not very likely.

Working tomorrow and Monday so today's my only day off this weekend as I worked yesterday too, so going to hit "Publish" on this blog, go to the gym and then do god knows what.

My Fitness Enemy

Yesterday I talked about this website, My Fitness Pal, which although cute is driving me crazy! Yes I know I'm not fat, blah blah but I have some toning to do and part of toning is to shed excess fat and no matter what you say I have some and it's not "skin" or "muscle" so everybody that's ever lied to me can suck it and realize the truth because I realize it and then we can realize it together. Capice?

What this website has made me realize is that everything I eat is ridiculously calorie-ridden and even more alarmingly the fact that I am a hopeless glutton! Thing is, maybe it's just my weird 2008 anorexia (not really, well kinda maybe I don't really know) kicking back in but it does feel kind of right to eat less. 

The screenshot I posted above I took at the commencement of writing this, showing how much I've eaten, how many calories I've burned (it only registers cardio's calories though - I did weights and things today so... obviously that would've burnt a lot too) and how many I have left to eat. The day goes very slowly when you're hungry, but... I'M HUNGRY. And it's annoying. I've decided I'll have two eggs on two bits of toast and that should do me for dinner which, having calculated, leaves me with 200 calories which I'll probably use to eat some more crackers and hummus which I literally crave. I might give this diet another day to see how I go but then give it a miss because it's so time consuming and I can see myself getting very obsessed.

Edit: I gave up on this diet/website. Too obsessive and not enough food! Was hungry and weak-feeling all day, every day.