Adelaide

Fringe 2012: The LoveBirds

Hi! How has everyone’s week been so far? I’ve come down with some kind of cold, which seems strange to me because it is in the middle of summer (over 30 degrees Celsius here today!). 😦

Are any of my fellow Adelaidians attending Fringe shows this year? I like to see at least one or two shows every year! 🙂 I also love hanging out with friends in the Garden of Unearthly Delights. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Adelaide Fringe, here’s a recap of my take on it from last week:

“For those of you who are thinking “what?” the Adelaide Fringe is an international arts, comedy, and performance type festival. Like the Edinburgh Fringe. It is the best time of year to visit Adelaide as for approximately a month the city comes alive with a, hmm, I would say “classy carnival” atmosphere. (It only used to be held once every 2 years, but it became so popular it is now a yearly event, yaaaaay! ) Events are held all around the CBD but also in some of Adelaide’s park lands which are converted to what they call the “Garden of Unearthly Delights” (or just the “Garden” if you’re a local ). There you can eat and drink to your hearts’ content, check out impromptu acts as well as buy tickets to cabaret, comedy, magic and other shows being held in tents (but classy tents! ) within the Garden. There are also carnival rides… OK the more I try and describe this the stranger it sounds, check out the official site if you are interested to hear more over here: http://www.adelaidefringe.com.au/ “

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I was lucky to score tickets to see a cabaret performance on Friday night, called The LoveBirds*. I enjoy cabaret but had not read anything about this particular show, so was not sure what to expect! However I was very impressed and both R and I enjoyed it a lot!

The LoveBirds focuses on the stories of four LoveBirds enjoying a night of freedom. Rare, exotic and erotic creatures, they are ornately adorned in all sorts of feathers and sparkles – even the boys!

The story line was interesting, original, and funny. Costuming was excellent and I thought that each of the cast members had fantastic voices. The venue, the Spiegeltent, is always great but I thought the sound was a tad too loud at times. I’m not sure if this was due to me sitting towards the back, where additional speakers may have been placed.

I never really enjoy lining up for shows in the Garden of Unearthly Delights, as it is so crowded in the Garden, but the usher for this show was very professional and we were able to get into the venue easily. Here’s what the line looked like! (This is typical, however, for any show you go to see in the Garden.)

Don't fret! This shot includes a lot of people walking down the main path of the Garden (as the Spiegeltent is near the entrance). The line is at the far right of this picture.

I should also mention that this show was very interactive. The Birds interact directly with the audience which helps bring the show to life and makes it even more fun to watch! 🙂

In all I strongly recommend seeing The LoveBirds if you enjoy cabaret. If you are not familiar with cabaret, this is a good show to provide you with an introduction!

I would give The LoveBirds 5/5, or 5 tweets! 😉

To read more about their show visit the official Fringe webpage for The LoveBirds at http://www.gardenofunearthlydelights.com.au/event.asp?eventID=2536

Empties (January… a tad late!)

Howdy! 🙂

Well, it’s been a busy week! I would’ve like to have blog more than I did but I guess that couldn’t be helped. 😦 At the moment I am also in the process of moving my blog from wordpress.com (wordpress hosted) to wordpress.org (hosted on a non-wordpress server) which has taken a lot of time to research. When I do make the move I will be sure to let you all know; in any case the blog will always be accessible via http://abeautifulstory.net 🙂 (Advantages to having the site hosted elsewhere include that I can have a lot more freedom with how I run it and I have free reign with design, customisation, etc.)

When the new site is up and running I will be hosting another giveaway! 🙂

Do any of you run a wordpress.org site? If so I’m keen to hear any tips/tricks; I’m not the best at IT to something that may take some people 10 minutes could take me 30 LOL (technically challenged huh?!)!

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As promised, *mini drumroll*, this post is all about my January empties! There’s another product that I should’ve included in the photos, my usual perfume which is Estee Lauder’s “Beauty”. Lovely fresh fragrance but can’t seem to get it anywhere locally these days… and I used to be able to get it for a good price!

So as you can see it’s a pretty small Empties collection! 🙂 My thoughts on these products, from L – R, top to bottom:

Dove Heat Defence Therapy Heat Activated Protect & Shine Mist

Price: I got it for $4 AUD on sale but the usual retail price is around $8-9 AUD.

Where can I get it? Supermarkets and some chemists.

This one is a beauty. Smells good, leaves my hair feeling good, and it has a medium spraying range, meaning that you don’t drench your hair or get it on your face when only aiming it at a small section of hair! (Which has been an issue with the ones I’m currently using, reviews to come!) I didn’t realise how good this one was till I tried some others.

These days it’s in a white coloured bottle but otherwise seems to be the same product.

Beautiful rating: quality 5/5, value 5/5

*

Johnson’s face care daily essentials fragrance free facial cleansing wipes

Price: approx. $6 AUD for a pack of 25.

Where can I get it? most supermarkets and some chemists.

I find these to be very handy in removing my makeup, before cleansing at night time. Decent sized sheets, moist enough to remove your  makeup, and the skin is not left irritated or dry.

Remember that such wipes are not sufficient on their own as cleansers; you really should follow it up with a cleanser and toner. I made this mistake once and I paid for it – broke out! 😦

The only gripe I have with these is that they are quite expensive. I’m wondering if unscented baby wipes would do just as good a job!?

Beautiful rating: quality 5/5, value 3/5

*

Neutrogena Alcohol-Free Toner

Price: approx $10 AUD

Where can I get it? Most supermarkets and some chemists.

Since switching to an alcohol free toner my skin has felt much happier and less dry on my non t-zone areas. This toner does its job well and leaves my skin feeling refreshed. I’m now onto my 2nd bottle of this product and don’t see a need to switch brands in the future (no not even to a Thalgo toner! 😉 Now that is saying something! :)).

Beautiful rating: quality 5/5, value 5/5.

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I hope that you’ve enjoyed this post. 🙂 For those of you in Adelaide, enjoy the awesome Adelaide Fringe festival which is now ON! – I was lucky to receive a free pass to a cabaret show last night which was excellent and the Garden of Unearthly Delights was packed and buzzing. I will be posting a review of the show on the blog soon. 🙂

For those of you who are thinking “what?” the Adelaide Fringe is an international arts, comedy, and performance type festival. Like the Edinburgh Fringe. It is the best time of year to visit Adelaide as for approximately a month the city comes alive with a, hmm, I would say “classy carnival” atmosphere. (It only used to be held once every 2 years, but it became so popular it is now a yearly event, yaaaaay! :)) Events are held all around the CBD but also in some of Adelaide’s park lands which are converted to what they call the “Garden of Unearthly Delights” (or just the “Garden” if you’re a local ;)). There you can eat and drink to your hearts’ content, check out impromptu acts as well as buy tickets to cabaret, comedy, magic and other shows being held in tents (but classy tents! :)) within the Garden. There are also carnival rides… OK the more I try and describe this the stranger it sounds, check out the official site if you are interested to hear more 🙂 over here: http://www.adelaidefringe.com.au/

It’s a nice day for a ROMANIAN wedding…

Happy Sundayyyyyyyy 🙂

As promised, some pics and thoughts on the wedding I attended recently (a week ago, to be precise)!*

The Ceremony

The bride and her family are originally from Romania, and so the ceremony was held at a local Romanian Orthodox church. The wedding ceremony was very similar to other orthodox ceremonies that I have attended; the bride and groom each wear a crown, which is associated with particular blessings made upon the couple and sets them up as the “king and queen” of their newly created family. From the research that I have done there does not seem to be a specific reason for why/how that tradition came about! Additionally, the ceremony is extremely LONG – it was approx. 1.5 hours in duration and it was standing room only in the small church (so don’t wear super high heels like I did LOL!).

I found a website that provides an overview of various Romanian Orthodox wedding traditions for those who would like to read more about this: http://www.ehow.com/info_8682059_romanian-orthodox-wedding-traditions.html … it mentions additional meanings of the crowns as well as discussion of hand binding, which did not happen at the ceremony I attended.

The bride and groom looked great and the bridesmaids wore neutral coloured dresses that were quite nice.

The Reception

cute place markers... these contained sugared almonds 🙂

The reception was held at a resort hotel in West Lakes, a suburb which as the name suggests overlooks lakes! It was a very nice reception with nice food and great attention to detail. The cake was very pretty and designed by the bride; it was a marbled chocolate/vanilla cake with vanilla icing.

I thought these were nice too!

A bigger overview of the table setting:

What I wore

(My hair drove my crazy!!!
There were cyclonic like winds outside on the day which led to so/so hair! 😦 )

After some thought, I decided to go for a conservative but bright look. This meant that, as I was wearing a bright dress, I went for neutral and understated makeup; here I am with my boyfriend “R” (he’s suited up as he was one of the groomsmen!).

Face – NARS Firming Foundation in Deauxville (went for this one as it’s a sample I’ve been trying out!) + Prestige Skin Loving Minerals mineral powder in Light.

Eyes & Cheeks – Nutrimetics’ Marble Rouge in Jupiter (very versatile product this one…. have previously reviewed it here). Mascara – Nutrimetics’ Lash Lightening Mascara in Black (have also previously reviewed this one).

Lips – Prestige’s Lightshine Sheer Gloss Liner in Calla + Prestige’s Classic Lipstick in Sophia (also previously reviewed over here).

Nails – LOL after my experience with those “Kiss” nail stickers I decided to go for a simple and classic look with Cutex’s French Manicure polish in French Rose (fantastic bargain polish – got this for $2.99 at Priceline!) + some cute floral nail art stickers I bought from Morning Glory some time ago, as per below:

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I hope that you’ve enjoyed this post; I’m very open to any suggestions on how I can improve my writing/posts and topics to write about so feel free to contact me or “comment”! 🙂

This week I’ve got a Valentine’s Day, The Body Shop product review and an Empties (January) post planned… What do people have planned for Valentine’s Day this year??? 🙂

fundraising from a galaxy far far away…

Hi everyone how has your week been so far? I’ve been quite busy at work so looking forward to knock off (finishing) time tomorrow! 🙂

I forgot to mention this earlier – those of you in Australia will probably already be familiar with this awesome fundraising story, but others may not. Anyway, this guy was in Adelaide on the super hot day we had earlier this week and so I wanted to talk about him, his creative fundraising efforts, and the great charity he is supporting (please note I have no connection to the fundraiser or the charity concerned and am not receiving any form of compensation for this post). I think he is a truly inspirational person!

In 2011 Jacob French created a unique fundraising idea. He decided to do a “Trooper Trek” – to WALK from Perth to Sydney (which is a huge distance across a whole lot of desert!) – to raise funds for children’s charity the Starlight Children’s Foundation. To give you an ever better idea of how big a challenge this is, it is expected to take him 8 MONTHS. What was even more amazing about the challenge he set for himself was that he decided that he would do the walk in a Storm Trooper (Star Wars) outfit!

He has recently reached the (roughly) half way point (which was Adelaide) and continued with his walk across parts of the Tour Down Under race (which I mentioned earlier) so that he can veer towards Sydney.

Here is a video about Jacob and his efforts as well as a link to his fundraising page. So far he has almost raised $50 000 AUD.

All the best for successful completion of your Trek, Jacob! 🙂

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Who are people you find inspirational, and why?

*Road Safety Alert* – the Tour Down Under is starting soon!

image: http://chitanda.poznews.net

Happy Thursday everyone! 🙂

Now, I do intend to post about sleep today but – after hearing so much advertising on the radio on my way home from work – I felt the need to post about this first!

My home town, Adelaide, is in the midst of preparations for a massive international competitive cycling event – the Tour Down Under (click here to view the official site and learn more, if interested!). It officially starts on Sunday and takes riders through varied terrain around Adelaide and surrounds including the Adelaide Hills (very pretty area) and down by the ocean.

I’m all for exercise and healthy activities such as cycling, and the event is great for local tourism. However, I’m not a fan of the unexpected by-product this event produces reliably every year it is on – chaos on suburban roads…

What do I mean by this? I’m not talking about the race itself, as that is well organised and roads are blocked off to ensure the public’s vehicles don’t interfere. I’m talking about the phenomenon by which almost everyone who owns a bicycle in Adelaide, regardless of how long it’s been since they’ve been on it, decides to hop on, in their lycra, and clog main arterial roads riding to and from work in peak hour traffic, and on most weekends, during this event!

Unfortunately Adelaide drivers have a reputation in Australia as being the worst in Australia. Add tons of Adelaidian cyclists to the mix = chaos! People suddenly decide it’s okay to ride 3 or 4 abreast, outside of the designated bike lanes, and break other road rules, which can lead to dangerous situations with cars.

I drive my car to and from work on the days I work in the ‘burbs (2 days/week), and consider myself a responsible driver. I keep my eyes out for cyclists when I’m on the road and am careful. But it gets very frustrating when cyclists don’t obey road rules and cause or almost cause serious accidents.

Anyhow, I’ll end my rant here. The key message I want to send out is enjoy the Tour and getting back into bike riding but please do it safely and observe basic road rules!

With luv,
Sarah

PS. On another note, Adelaide’s annual German festival Schutzenfest is on tomorrow and Saturday – anyone going? It’s the largest German festival in the Southern Hemisphere, complete with all kinds of beer! (More info here.)