Obsessions - Winning Things

So I have a bit of an obsession... with winning things. I'm not claiming to be this lucky person who's winning millions left right and centre (although apparently I have won millions in plenty of overseas lotteries and the cash is just waiting for me to claim it with my bank details). Even if I'm not always winning things I sure give it a go.

My first taste of competition victory came at a ripe young age when I won a No Doubt CD out of a TV Hits magazine. I didn't even get to see the CD for months as I was in Vietnam and it was shipped straight to Roxy's house, but it started off a thirst in me. Over the years I've won a few things including a phone, some dvds, some more CDs, vouchers I even won a Sony Blu-Ray player thanks to my ace guitar hero skills at a Sony product night. It isn't really even the prize that gets me excited, but it's knowing that out of everyone else I actually managed to win. It could have been my eloquent skills with 25 words or less or that fabulous photo I snapped that covers just what the competition is about, whatever the winning entry is it's just nice to know that you did something that someone else considers fab!

My latest quest you ask? The Sony Make.Believe Experience Competition. I got through to the second round through some fantastically worded entry and some lovely votes from my mum and all her friends and now I just have to try and up the views on this video I made that will hopefully impress the judges. I find myself becoming a whole new person when I'm involved in a competition, I'm not the happy loving person I am usually but instead I'm a bitter competitive person who tries to clutch at any available shred of victory she can!

Do you ever enter any comps? And have you ever got lucky!
What is the best thing you've won?
Do you ever sit in front of your computer for hours on Win-Free-Stuff writing 25 words or less over... and over... and over again?

Adios Amigos!

Beauty Review: I have fallen victim to the allure of dry shampoo. Now I'm involved in a raging love affair..

Sorry Rowan (my boyfriend) but it's true. I have been quietly getting it on with Mr. Batiste and honestly, it's been amazing.

What has spurred on this act of ultimate betrayal I hear you ask? Well, lately everyone in the beauty world keeps banging on about how wonderful dry shampoo is, so I decided I better give it a spray (ha!) and I've quickly come to realise why everyone is tres obsessed:

• First, my hair is quite fine (although I've got a bit of it) and at the moment it is a light/caramelly blonde. Its fineness teamed up with its light colour means that on the second day after a wash my hair is rocking the grease. Not Pretty. But if I use dry shampoo I can draw out the next wash to three days. It's wonderful and I can see a change in my hair - it's more shiny and soft (basically, more healthy).

• I've also found that dry shampoo is amazing for giving my hair extra 'oomph'. I simply lift up sections down the top of my hair, spray and viola! I have hair that is bodyluscious (although I do have to make sure to not apply too much down my 'part' because if I do, I'm in danger of looking like I've got a serious case of dandruff. Hot.)

• Okay, so it's winter here in the southern hemisphere (boo!) and I don't know about you but I am really struggling to get out of my warm, comfy bed in the mornings. My cold, dark and evil bathroom is not somewhere I enjoy visiting at 6am in the morning. So, even if I wanted to wash my hair every two days, it's simply not an option because I don't have time. Mr Batiste, is helping me spend an extra 20 minutes in bed in the mornings and for that, I will love him for eternity.

So there you have it. I am in love with dry shampoo. And if you are not, I seriously recommend that you go down to your local DJ's, Myers or Priceline and purchase (If you're not a happy couple yet I'm assuming that's because you haven't tried it). And if you're a sexy brunette...Never fear! There is dry shampoo designed especially you. All dark and stuff. Hooray!

Do you like dry shampoo?

How often do you wash your hair a week?

P.S I need to sincerely apologise to this blog. Oh boy, I have been neglecting it big time lately. But I do have an excuse, I've been busy undertaking an internship at the Sunday Mail and spending way too much time with Mr Batiste, obviously.

Fashion: Kookai 50% Off Sale, Rad-elaide Chicks Go Wild

And I'm not kidding, Kookai's Adelaide store was going 'off-tap' on Wednesday (the sale start date). Luckily for me (or so I thought), I had prior warning of this sale (via a twitter update) so I got myself in town nice and early, handed up my last uni assignment for the semester (huzzah!) and had my money bits all counted and ready to go.

When I arrived at Kookai, at a rather modest hour (11:30ish), I realised I was not quite early enough. The place was packed with excited ladies of all ages; hoards of teens, young women and the more 'mature', but oh so elegant ladies, were already clawing through the bundles of discounted clothes and trawling through the sale racks. It was EPIC (sorry, I don't often drop the E-bomb, but this occasion really called for it).

Honestly, I was a little overwhelmed, but like the Kookai loving trooper I am, I pushed through, selected a few items of clothing and headed for the devilishly long snake that was the line for the change room. I thought I was in for a long wait, but truth be told, I was in and out within 10 minutes. To my absolute delight, everyone was exceptionally considerate of their fellow fashionistas and spent as little time as necessary trying on their selected clothes. It was a lovely feeling. The serious and competitive faces we all bestowed when entering the massively awesome sale were merely a facade, we really did look out for each other (unless there was only one item left and a crowd of angry, fashion hungry chicks all wanted it. Scary stuff.).

Anyway, I limited myself to one piece of clothing because, as of late, I've been doing my best to save my pennies. I've also made the rule that I can only purchase, if, and only if, that purchase is job savvy. That is, I'm only buying clothes that I can wear to work (I'm graduating at the end of the year so it is time to get myself ready for the real world). What did I buy then? A lovely, coloured printed dress, with a black base colour reduced from $130 to $60. Awesome! This little number is fabulous, in moi opinion. I can easily make it winter wearable (with the addition of back stockings, a black blazer and heels (of course!) but it is totally summer-esque as well. Yippeee!

Another day, another find....So, the next day I had to pop into town with my darling mother and noticed three things. First, yup, Kookai was still going absolutely nuts. Second, the new Wollies had just opened (please don't underestimate how exciting this is for all the uni students/townies)...


And to top it all off, I found a pair of RMK platforms in DJ's that I had thought were sold out, but no, they were in fact reduced from $140 big-ones, to $83. Holymotherofgawd...I was so happy that I considered breaking out in song right then and there. Here are the sexy puppies:


Do you like?
Are you crazily happy for me?
Do you have any sale stories (found a total bargain, got into a brawl, pulled some chicks hair out)?

Introducing This and That's Highway to Health

TASH: Don't you all just love Glee? If not... Really? Watch more and you will! That aside, getting physical is something that's been on our minds a lot over at This and That. Not just getting physical, but getting healthy. So as a tribute to this Glee and Olivia Newton-John mash up (not really) we've created what we like to call our Highway to Health. Tacky puns you ask? Why yes of course! Basically we're going to be spending out time eating better, exercising more and trying all that we can to keep ourselves glowing inside and out!

ROXY: So, what does the 'Highway to Health' Challenge (H2H Challenge) entail exactly? In short, Urban Remedy has inspired us to get healthier than we've ever been before. In an effort to do so, we are going to explore the healthy side of Adelaide. We want to find out where the best yoga studios are, which gym classes are awesome and why, if personal trainers are better to help you reach your peak fitness, where the yummiest and healthiest food is at and what beauty therapists can do to help us feel great. And of course, we'll be blogging about these experiences along the way - reviews about all the places we have visited, updates on all things Urban Remedy as well as some extra goodies (don't want to spoil the surprise but I'm talking video demonstrations...but shhhh, don't tell anyone!) will be uploaded every few days.

TASH: So why do this you ask? Well it sort of all leads back to some blogs we did a while back reviewing the Urban Remedy Juice Cleanses, they got us thinking a lot about what we do to keep ourselves healthy and what it is we're putting in our bodies. Sometimes it's not the best stuff (i.e. the other night I decided it would be a good idea to try ice cream mixed with peanut butter! good golly!) but in our defense, it's been a busy time for us lately, so we've slipped a little. We've both been glued to our computer screens (turning square eyed and what not) writing out our final university assignments for the semester. Fun? Think again. But now that we are finished up, we are determined to get back to (and even surpass) the sparkling balls of health that we were when we finished our Urban Remedy Juice Cleanses a few months ago.

ROXY: What does this mean for you? Well, what doesn't it mean for you would be the better question, methinks! Watch this space and you'll be given hot tips on where's best to eat and exercise. But wait, there's more. We can offer you 15% off Urban Remedy Juice Cleanses. 'WHHHHHAT?' I hear you ask. 'Pipe down please and let me finish,' I reply. The lovely Emma from Urban Remedy contacted us about helping her increase Urban Remedy's exposure around RAD-elaide and we were totes excited to help her out. So, as part of our H2H Challenge, we will be handing out 15% of brochures to all the venues we visit. Now, if you happen to desperately want a voucher (I would, if I were you), but you're not going to be visiting any of the venues that we've blogged about, just forward, erm, 28,485 schmackers to my account and we can sort something out..ha! I'm kidding, silly. Just comment us on our blog and we'll get you sorted.

So get involved! Let us know where we should go and what we should do! Challenge us! The more support we get the more we're going to be able to do and you never know it could mean more perks for you! ;)

Thoughts - Sex and the City 2 (In My Opinion)

(SATC the TV show)

So the other night I went and saw SATC 2 with my sisters (my two real sisters and my housemate Kirby who's pretty much been adopted by my family). I was filled with apprehension. Reviews were not kind I tell you! I thought I was about to get punched in the face with a whole load of racist jokes, musical sing-a-longs and so many bad lines: the worst bit was I knew my girls were better than that!

Truthfully I can't say I thought the movie was as bad as half of these reviews were making it out to be. It may have seemed a little patronising at times but it wasn't racist. It went for a little too long (I felt like I was in the cinema for 3 hours), lines weren't great and the laughs were cheap... BUT I think my main problem with the film was that it seemed that it was a film that was casting aside long time lovers of the television show just to appeal to new viewers who believed that the girls were only about high end fashion and sex!

That was my problem with the film. It didn't make me cry. I cried in Osmosis Jones for christ sake! Films make me cry! During the first SATC film I was in tears as soon as the opening credits began and that theme music started. That would have been hard in this film as we were only treated to about 3 seconds of the SATC music at the beginning, and instead of rolling credits with it... They played Rickie Lee! The characters all seemed like empty shells of themselves, becoming characatures of themselves so that newcommers could pick who they were. 

It also just made me angry the way that the girls/the film just fawned over popular culture. Miley Cyrus doesn't need to be in a Sex and the City film and neither does a tacky and tired dance number to All the Single Ladies (of which the only version I can appreciate is this). I admit it's a little hypocritical commenting on both of these inclusions when I'm endorsing a combination of both Disney star and Beyoncé... but while I may not be able to get over my love of the Jonas Brothers THE GIRLS ARE BETTER THAN THAT!

I started watching this show when I was 10 years old, and for 10 years it's been in important part of my life. I'd shut my eyes during the sex scenes and cringe whenever my parents would walk into the room but at the same time the movie taught me a lot about accepting myself and my body and my  and being able to feel comfortable and powerful, not despite being a woman, but because I was a woman. Sure they had amazing clothes and they lived in an amazing city and they had amazing sex, but that wasn't what made them who they were or what made them stick together. I think the film tried to emulate the bond that the girls had and tried to hone in on some of the things they've helped women accept, but I feel it fell very short of the mark. I'd probably watch it again and I'll probably buy in on DVD, but I know that if I need some advice about life or dating or if I need some guaranteed tears the film will stay on the shelf and I'll be pulling down that lovely box-set, season 1 through 6.