When I can't bring myself to jeans, these beauties are my favourite thing. I picked them up in Melbourne last year, when I went down on a shopping/visiting family trip. After being there once I absolutely loveeee Melbourne. Anyway, I had the biggest struggles pairing something with the galaxy print. #firstworldproblems. But once again the white fuzzy jumper saves the day. I'm loving the white trend this Winter, it's so chic and literally goes with e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.
Now, parting words. I'm breaking up with you. It's not you, it's me. I just need space.
JUST KIDDING :) As everyone knows (and is counting down to) school holidays start THIS FRIDAY! I'm actually already on holidays #privateschoolperks but I know everyone finishes Friday, which is awesome. But, I'm going away next week to a camp, which I am ridiculously over excited about. The only down side is I'm headed to the land of 15 degrees. So, its been a past few days of stockpiling warm clothing! So, long story short, there will be no post on Tuesday. I'm planning a holiday themed post for the weekend, and I'm sure there will be much to report when I get back from camp!
Have a great last week of school! Also, don't forget to check out my Instagram @zolablog for all the latest adventures (wish I could put an emoji here. But I can't. And I hate myself every day because of it. Phone one, laptop 0.)
I think it is fair to say Wednesday night was an exciting one. I had my last meeting with my shortfilm club, which turned out to be an unexpectedly sentimental parting with odd editing software and over creative individuals. Then - I came home not only to State of Origin spam on every piece of social media I have, but also awesome shots from RUBY MAY'S EP LAUNCH.
The reason it is called an EP is because when I heard it I was like eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppp. Wow. That. Was. The. Lamest. Joke. Ever. But seriously the EP is called Wanderer, and its fab.
This little lady is this whole fusion of good vibes. She's totally indie, and perfect for those do nothing winter afternoons ahead. All of the tracks are just so free, and expressive. Listening to the lyrics now, this EP is a beautifully honest one, about life, love, and finding direction. If your into Florence and the Machine, or Missy Higgins, you have to get your hands (well, cursor...) on this EP!
Wanderer features five original tracks, written and recorded by Ruby May and her awesome band! The track titles are Start, Wanderer, Already, Places, and Up. I'm in love with this entire album at the moment, so its a pretty hard call, but I think my favourite track is Wanderer. Its got a rad drum snare thing going on. I'm also liking the cool piano chord thing in the chorus. (Obviously, I have the musical description abilities of Motzart and the iTunes reviewers combined.)
There's a preview of Wanderer below, which you can play over and over again as I have this week! The entire EP is available for download on the Ruby May website, for only $10. Or you can buy the songs individually for just $2 each. Score!
I'm going to be embeding this album into my sidebar shortly, if you'd like to do the same, and have Ruby May on your blog, the code is available on her website. I hope you guys love this as much as I do, let me know what you think by tweeting me, or directing me on Instagram @zolablog. Also, you can follow Ruby May on Instagram @rubymaymusic
OMIGOSH VIVID WAS SO AMAZING! I am super excited for this post, I seriously love Vivid more than I love my wifi. There's something about colour that I just love. One thing I'm not loving is this weather though, the city was cold the night I went to Vivid, like seriously c-o-l-d. Shivers.
I trekked in with my Dad, and my tripod. This is pretty much a yearly ritual now. One thing we didn't bring was an umbrella - not our best move... I was pretty happy with how these shots turned out though! I've just started experimenting with Manual settings on my Canon 600D, under the watchful eye of @rollinglittletrain and @_littleredfox
After some great photography, and the unforgettable Hot Chocolates in Circular Quay, I found myself in the Canon HQ. As a dedicated Canon gal, this was ridiculously awesome. The whole space was like a warehouse, decked out with cameras, mini-exhibitions, flashy printers and an entire wall of random selfies, naturally. I was able to print one of my shots on an eight colour printer, for free!! The print was such an awesome take home!
I'm already excited for Vivid next year! What did you think of this years festival?
I am writing today with extremely exciting news! I have my life back! Translation:
I have finally caught up all the seasons of Pretty Little Liars. It took me just over a year but my friends, today I can tell you that I have done it! I watched the premiere of Season 5 last night, which was
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! The show is so super complicated, there is a ridiculous number of characters - and shady characters at that. If you don't watch it, I think of it like teenage CSI. Basically this girl goes missing, and then there's 6 seasons of suspicions and blackmail and totally fictional non-sense-ical-ness.
But very very entertaining non-sense-ical-ness.
Anyway, back to the post. This outfit is pretty much my go to outfit at the moment. I just love a bit of animal print in Winter! Also, after 2 months I'm still wearing my Converse with pretty much every outfit... I'm not quite at the point where I give them a name, but I'm getting close!
Have a great Saturday night! Check back in for a new post on Tuesday!
This started with the intentions of being the worlds most unprofessional movie review, and as much as I would love to talk about the fabulous, and tragically fictional qualities of the most dreamy Augustus Waters, I think what should really be taken away from this moving picture masterpiece are the brutally honest messages about life and loss.
*Please play this song in the background as you read this. I listened to it as I wrote this, and trust me, it makes my lame motivational rant sound much more wise. CLICK HERE FOR ME! *
Yesterday afternoon I went and saw TFIOS with some of the most fantastic individuals my school has to offer. I made a bet with myself before the movie that I wouldn't cry. I didn't, which surprised me as much as it did my friends. Normally in sad or scary movies you tell yourself 'this isn't real' but the thing is with this story is that is real. Cancer is real. Love is real. Loss is real. As it quotes in the movie, they all demand to be felt.
As you can see, ever since seeing the movie I've been trapped in this profound daze of supposed wisdom, which I might add is now accompanied by the slow and thought provoking TFIOS soundtrack, which I simply could not resist buying despite the illogical prices of iTunes and the even more frustrating 'Album Only' songs. That in mind, I thought I'd share my thoughts on this teenage tragedy.
The first thing I took away from this is that life is precious. It is also unexpected. That is what makes it beautiful. We all pretend like we know this, but we don't. We still spend days on end wasted on stupid things, regret, talking bad about other people, Instagram. *Cringe*. But it will all pass. This movie really just refreshed that for me. Life is precious. It can change in an instant. Every single person that is in your life right now is there for a reason, and they might not be there much longer. Granted, they might not have cancer. But people come and go all the time. I've had 2 friends move schools, a friend move country, and a friend moving states soon. I'm so lucky to have spent time with all of them, and yeah, their still alive and everything but its not the same. So, don't be afraid to live in the moment sometimes. Say what you feel, and don't hold back.
The second, is that there is always hope. Where there is fear, there is hope, because every action has an equal, and an opposite reaction. Hope is my favourite word in the english language, because it is a force that can be described with no other word than the word hope itself. Hope is one of those uncontainable things, contagious, and with exponential benefits. So, get a little hope in your life, because it can cure cancer.
Finally, I've learnt pretending you can relate to people will not help them. If anything, its insulting. If a friend comes to you with something, don't pretend you can relate, because most of the time you can't. Similarly, how do you discuss a book you've never read. Just let people know you're their for them. As this beautiful story shows, all you really need is love.
Theres my brain dump of wonderfully random poetic bliss. Remember, it's a good life Hazel Grace.
Oh, and before I go, heres something that made me crack up. In the background of this scene theres a road sign, it says Eaton Drive. Divergent fans represent :)
Raise your hand if you wish your feed
looked that little bit nicer. Yep. Me too.
You might’ve noticed I restarted my feed on
@zolablog a little while ago, and it really got me thinking – what makes me
want to follow other accounts? Well, usually it’s a beautiful feed. Trust me,
there is some feeds out there that are practically perfect in every way. Some
of my favourites are @alittlebirdyblog, @arainatasmin, @freshlypickked and
@vanillacraftblog (in order below)
I have a real love hate relationship with
these feeds, and the beauties that they belong to. See, their totally awesome
to look at, but they give me serious feed insecurity. Yes that’s a thing
now.If you don’t believe me... have you
ever deleted a photo just because it didn’t get a lot of likes? Pfft. I hear you!
Anyway, back to the point. How do we make
our feeds more beautiful? I thought I’d conduct a little Google investigation. Here’s
what I found.
1.For starters, you need
something to take a photo of. A good place to start is a flatlay, a
collage-sort-of-thing like this.
Photo credit: @emilyjaneblog
Make sure you’re
getting a good quality shot. Your phone camera should work fine, but if not try
changing the lighting. Natural lighting always looks best. To make your shot
look extra interesting, play around with different angles. The main ones are
aerial, oblique and ground. They are the names we use in Geography, not sure if it applies
here, but just go with it!
Oblique
Ground
Aerial
The second step of this process
is the editing. I personally find this really fun! You probably already have
some editing apps on your phone you can use. I mainly use VSCO Cam and Picsart,
and I know Afterlight is really popular as well.I know VSCO Cam and Picsart are both free,
and are available in most stores. Play around with different filters and effects
until you’re happy. Don’t go overboard with filters though! Also, don’t forget
to crop your photo into a square!
Now its time to post your
photo! If you’re going for likes, post your shot at a time that a lot of your
followers will be online. Its most likely that this is at night, when people
have spare time to check their feeds.
Add a cool caption to your
photo, and don’t be afraid to #hashtag it, because it will get you more likes. Post
often to keep your followers interested.
This last one is totally
optional, but I find it helpful. I’ve discovered this cool little site called Iconosquare
(previously Statigram). As the old name suggests, here you will find all sorts
of stats on your Instagram account. Itseasy to track which of your photos are the most popular, and when the
majority of your followers are active.
There’s my tips for beautifying your Instagram
feed! Have fun with your photos! Let me know if you take any awesome photos after reading this. You can contact me on Instagram direct. Also, be sure to follow me @zolablog, to keep up with my photos as well :)
