Bali Playlist 2016 (JANUARY)

1. Dream Cave- Cloud Control
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-BIyo-UkUQ


2. Colours- Halsey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNt28Tx-cw0


3. Scar- Cloud Control
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzLYf366bVg

4. Gooey- Glass Animals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIA1XQnAv5s

5. Waves- Shallou
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmK6j6tN_1A

6. Avant Gardener- Courtney Barnett
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcnIhzaDTd0

7. Curveballs- The Wombats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXbn-pRpl_E

8. Stole the Show- Kygo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgfcToAjfdc

9. Breathe In- Japanese Wallpaper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td_sGb2CRMo

10. Kiss With a Fist- Florence and the Machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SmxVCM39j4

Elena, xxx

Passion

Passion, taints my sanity and changes my mindset, it warps my judgements so that I become spontaneous, sometimes irrational but free and intoxicated.

The feeling of infinite positive human energy. Likeminded people in a screaming,dancing singing mess. A joyous atmosphere and an endless passion. Happiness within friendships, happiness within new people and new connections, good music, a packed car and meaningful and genuine conversations. A virtuous feeling of insanity and defeat. A daze and disconnection from reality. No sense of time and responsibility. A feeling of indescribable bliss and comfort. A surge of vitality. 

I feel charged with inspiration and ambition. Ready to take on the world with an open mind and a realistic view of future hardships. 

Learnt, is the idea that emotions stretch beyond ordinary everyday life and prove to be so much deeper than a smile or a frown.

Elena, xx

Chet Faker, Pessimists and the Opera House

Listening to Chet Faker at the Opera House, with the Harbour Bridge in the background, post drinking a bottle of Rose' at Opera Bar was an insanely iconic, memorable and surreal moment. It's always the unplanned plans.... Before going, we ate copious amount of Thai food before getting dressed within 15 minutes, realising it was raining and being handed in a motherly fashion, unknowingly, an under sized leopard print raincoat in preparation for the predicted, torrential down-poor and then heading off on the train to Circular Quay. With arriving at 7.30pm for Chet's set starting at 9.30pm, our only option was to head to Opera Bar to buy an exceedingly expensive bottle of wine, knowing that our university student budgets and bank account would suffer, drinking or sculling or sipping it, throwing our heads back and looking towards the sky... 30 minutes later, the sunset was more beautiful than ever, we delved into deep conversation and strutted/slow danced/swayed our way into the forecourt. We lined up for the porta loos, twice... obviously and sat down in the mosh pit.

Chet Faker is a capturing guy, his voice and presence is warming and introspective and impersonally personal. I danced alot, reciting every lyric of No Diggity and Gold and 1989 and Talk is Cheap and let's be completely real just the whole Built of Glass and and Thinking in Textures, did my weird, iconically strange hand movements and moved my hips, regardless of the guy beside me complaining about the back up singer/dancers, Chet's lack of beard (justified complaint), stage effects and sound quality. But nonetheless, the night was made when Marcus Marr joined the stage for 'The Trouble With Us', confidently strutting their insane versatility for the packed out Opera House Forecourt. McDonalds, is regretfully a necessity after half a bottle of wine is consumed and this was no different to any other drunken adventure....

Elena, xx

6am

A trip to the beach is refreshing, it's cleansing, the most natural form of therapy in the world. It cleans wounds- spiritually, emotionally and mentally. It's dense with energy, a natural energy that is omnipotent, omnipresent.

When life gets ridiculously crazy and I get completely overwhelmed I always turn to a 6am beach trip. It's usually 'organised' spontaneously. I text Steph it goes along the lines of 'I need to go to the beach'. It's a way of saying 'my life is a mess, I'm currently a messy brain, a messy head and my bedroom is just as bad... help.' The forty minute drive is nearly as good as jumping in the water. It consists of a variety of music. You can take a pick from my 42 mix tapes that are permanently located in my glove box. There's one called 'probably don't listen to it' (this is usually one direction and taylor swift) or another called 'Elena's go to hippy, gypsy, happy disc' or 'ghetto times' which features beyonce and kanye and an assortment of R&B and rap. My favourite part is when we go through Oxford Falls, it's any person's dream home destination, located with a farmland like feeling but only a 10 minute drive to the beach and not to mention the view which looks out onto the ocean.

Jumping into salt water is pure bliss. I've always felt this way. The ocean is a place where I can reconcile. A place where my thoughts can be forgotten and I can connect with something that is the closest thing I can find to magic. It makes me smile and beam with happiness.

In the sun, the water can sparkle and glisten. And the sunrise and the sunset... it's absolute magic.

Tata for now, Elena x

JANUARY FAVOURITES

After coming back from 6 weeks in Europe I have been rediscovering my favourite summer things. It's a little bit of a sweet assortment of many different items and bits and bobs from all over the shot.


COCONUTS
Thanks to my lovely little friend Madi, I can not go a week without consuming at least 2-3 coconuts... At our local fresh food grocer- Harris Farm- they happen to be $2-3 and they work well for a post-workout treat. They are most definitely my guilty pleasure and I will forever be in debt to Madi for introducing me.

BLENDER 
I use this everyday. I make juices, smoothies, icec-ream, treats etc etc and I luuurve it.

(Concoction pictured: 8-10 pitted dates, water- I always just shuck in however much I please, 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence and cacao powder on top and it tastes like a caramel/vanilla/DELICIOUS milkshake).

AND

I also love watermelon, ice, oranges, lime and a little bit of chilled water chucked into the blender. 

AND

I love 2 frozen bananas and a tad of water and ice all blended up into the thickest, yummiest, most delicious vegan ice-cream and (sometimes vanilla essence or cinnamon is good with it too).

WATERCOLOUR PAINT
I have gotten more and more back into watercolour painting and ink and pen drawings and I'm loving experimenting with different colours and textures and paper and pens, WEEEEEE.

(I'm kind of all over cheap, two dollar shop watercolours. If you find the right ones, most colours are reasonably pigmented and when you mess around and are a perfectionist like me, they are a much cheaper investment. If I'm feeling more adventurous then I'll jump straight into using my precious 'Windsor and Newton' watercolour paints). 

T2 TEAPOT AND GREEN TEA
For christmas, my bestest bud EVER gave me the sweetest little teapot from T2 and I absolutely adore it. I'm also becoming increasingly obsessed with green tea, especially home made iced green tea.

LINK to the same one here. 

FLOWY TOPS AND DRESSES AND CLOTHES
Summer is incredible in Sydney but the humidity is something that takes getting used to and it's given me a little shock since being back SO of course I've resorted to flowy tops, lace bralets, bikinis and dresses.

This dress is about 3 years old and I wear it at least 2 out of 7 days and I've broken and self sewed it together again twice now. It's from DISSH but I doubt you'll find it now.

Little Bralets... from COTTON ON BODY. For small boobs they are extremely wearable but for anything bigger than a B cup they would offer zero support. Nonetheless, they show some NIP but that doesn't both me... 

ORGANIC CHILDREN'S BUBBLE BATH
I actually discovered the day after we landed in Sydney, after my first gym session since getting back, I did the whole 'quick zip to the shops 5 minutes before it closes' and discovered this bubble bath too soothe my tragically underworked to quickly overworked 'muscles'. If you happen to have sensitive skin like me, it is extremely soft and doesn't create redness etc etc etc.

LINK IF YOU WISH: http://www.naturesorganics.com.au/our-brands/funtime

(In Australia, you can just find it at Woolworths or IGA or Coles- easy peasy).

I spilt this on my fking bedspread...

BODY BALANCE/YOGA
I cannot think of anything more fulfilling than a yoga class with a 5 minute relaxation/meditation/sleep at the end. And I am SO keen to try hot yoga in the very very near future.


BLACK RICE SUSHI
I eat sushi about 2 times a week and will now drive the extra 10 minutes to find black rice.

It should definitely be called purple rice sushi.

SLAM POETRY

Slam poetry is a new discovery of mine... My dad kind of introduced it to me a few months ago but my interest got buried beneath many other priorities. I now have a little bit more time and it's my 'I'm at home on a saturday night so i'll get caught up in the youtube black hole and vortex'. I watch it into the morning and it ignites in me, my passions and anger and new found interests. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuzKs6-vrtnTPHacAP5ywZQ

This channel has an assortment of incredible people reading their personal stories through the execution of slam poetry. 

ANYWAY.

Let me know if you enjoyed this, I enjoyed making it, it was quite fun.

TATA for now, 

Elena x.

Travel- England (Week 1)

England. The queen, tea and flourishing green landscapes.

London day #1- 5th January 2015

- Euro star from Paris

- Oxford Circus

- Oxford Street

- Regent Street

- Leicester square

- Picadilly circus

- The Globe Theatre

- The Tate Modern Gallery

- The Millenium Bridge

- The tower bridge

- Convent gardens

- Somerset house

- The Shard

(13km walk)

London day #2- 6th January 2015

- Regents park

- Camden markets

- The British Museum

- Oxford Street shopping

London day #3- 7th January 2015

- Buckingham Palace

- Hyde Park

- House of Parliaments

- Westminster Abbey

- 1 Downing Street

- British Tate Gallery

- Harrods

- Oxford Street shopping 

London day #4- 8th January 2015

- Victoria and Albert Museum

- Portobello Road

- Portobello Markets

- Hyde Park

- Oxford Street Shopping

London day #5- 9th December 2015

- Brick lane

- St Pauls

- Portrait gallery

We are now on our last week of travelling, heading up the north of England to where my dad grew up in the Lakes District. I'm kind of looking forward to going home... Just the basic home comforts and our puppy.

Elena, x

4 Things I've Realised in 2014

This year has been an absolute whirlwind, as I've mention various times before and through hardships and failures and happiness and loss I've had a few imperative learning curves. I have incurred some major changes in my life and reflection and hindsight are wonderful things...here we go.

1. You can learn from loss.

I can't deny that loosing someone you love is one of the most hardest times in your life. Mourning and grief is universal and as the five psychological stages pass, you can realise that such a weary emotional and mentally straining process can turn into a positive lesson. I learnt a great deal of resilience. Resilience during the moments when it was too hard to talk, to write, to communicate. Resilience when everyday, a pile of emotional baggage was dumped onto an already impending heap. 

But I learnt a lesson, a personal coping mechanism that when life gets tough, it's gets easier when you become increasingly more positive and resilient. 

2. Being optimistic isn't as bad as people tell you it is.

Me, being self disciplined and planned and linear is not easy and I've always been told that is a terrible characteristic for a person to have... It requires a lot of self control, something that I lack in. I believe that when you go with the flow, when things are unplanned and full of spontaneity, you have the ability to live your life to the full extent. It allows you to do things naturally, you ignite yourself through the things you love and the things you incidentally find yourself passionate about. I feel energized. And I haven't embraced this characteristic until November 2014 and it's honestly created a lot more for me. I think people who know me personally can agree that sponteneity makes everything all that much more exciting. My life has its own energy, as does yours and when it is abused, we feel lost and feel the need for unesecary control. 

3. Meditation is powerful.

When the chaos and calamity of the real world gets too much, meditation has the ability to place me in a state of calm, stillness and consciousness whereby I can gain a sense of relaxation from being psychologically  and spiritually centered. I used to view it as a 'hippy- herby thing' and underestimated its power. With the recommendation from good friends when times got increasingly overwhelming, it worked, most of the time, to aid reasonable and relative  thinking. 

4. Spending time alone is a good thing.

I preach this most indefinitely. It is underestimated. The most advantageous way to think and reconsider and reevaluate. My favourite thing to do is to go surfing. To drive for an hour to Freshwater beach with my music blasting , to slip into my wetsuit, grab my board and paddle out the back. I find the water therapeutic... I find nature therapeutic but the water is my safe haven. And as much as I hate being the only girl surfing, I sit and wait for the perfect wave and I have some time to think. 

Minds change like the weather and I hope you'll remember one thing: today is never too late to create something brand new.

Elena, x

Travel- Venice

Venice is one of the most romantic and evocative places in the world, a priceless treasure...

Day #1- 30th December 2014

- Walk around

- San Marco

- Bisilica

Day #2- 31st December 2014

NEW YEARS EVE

- Murano Island

- Glass making exhibition

- Glass shopping

- Dinner at an Italian restaurant

- Gelato (at -3 degrees Celsius)

- Drinks and fireworks from Venetian apartment

Day #3- 1st January 2015

- Lido beach

- Peggy Guggenheim Gallery

-Leather shopping

Day #4- 2nd January 2015

- SHOPPING DAY

- Unknown gallery

- Artisan quarters

I loved Venice, so much and can't wait to return one day (preferably with the love of my life).

TATA for now, Elena x