Winter Song

I ended my holidays with a week away with my family, followed by a weekend visiting a friend in Brisbane. My family and I went to Canberra for three nights and Culburra on the South Coast of NSW for another three nights. My week, including the weekend in Brisbane, can be summed up as follows:

lots of driving with six people in one car, veggie burgers, cute southern towns, bob evans in the cd player, triple j, black trench coat, beanie, cute cousins, pasta, mattress, winter cold, strepsils, cold and flu tablets, tea, markets, parliament house, choc-coated strawberries, thai, lookouts, picnics, museum, catching up with family, lots and lots of tea, chilly nights and warm mornings, tacos, americanisms, packing the trailer, lunch by the water, sea-saws, house on the cliff-side, sleeping in an attic come bedroom, vegan applie pie, vegan ice-cream, sunshine and ocean, gilmore girls, french film, a gorgeous puppy called babe, awkward cousin, more picnicing, kangaroo valley, peanut butter cups, lolly shops, pituresque towns, chai tea at the lookout, cute shops, news of my friend giving birth, comforting a good friend via telephone, whipped cream from a can, flight to brisbane, eclipse mints, party preparation, cupcake baking and decorating, omlettes, birthday picnic in the park, pink and blue balloons, pink champagne, veggie sausages, sponge cake, good company, stiry fry, sleeping on the couch, shopping, homeward bound flight.

Real world.

At the moment I'm doing a week of unpaid work experience at the local newspaper in my hometown.
It's been going pretty well so far! They've actually given me a lot to do which is nice. I thought I'd just be doing the coffee run/following people around! I've been doing phone interviews and lots of vox pops (voice of the people), which means lots of talking to people I don't know. I've also had to make lots of calls and book photographs in for certain jobs. I get to use their pretty Nikon camera when I go about the streets asking people at random certain questions of the day. It's surprising how many people don't want their picture to be in the paper! Today I interviewed a lady who has just turned 100! Amazing :)
They've given me the usual 'community' focused stories. For example I've written about the local CWA twice this week (including the lady whose fruit cake came first haha!). But I've also done a couple of 'harder' news stories like the YMCA youth parliament that's happening at the moment.
I'm pretty proud of myself. Today the editor in chief gave me a big wrap and many compliments which boosted my confidence a lot. This is a pretty great achievement for me. I usually don't deal with new situations very well (especially ones where I am put out of my comfort zone). So far four of my little articles have been published and I hope to have a nice collection by the end of the week.
I'm not used to the 9 til 5 business though (especially when it's unpaid). However, it's a great experience and will look pretty and shiny on my resume!
Life in the news room at this paper is pretty vibrant and alive. I can only imagine what it's like at the bigger papers. Those phones mustn't stop (considering ours pretty much don't either).
I will leave you with a totally unrelated picture of myself, taken by my brother, which I used for my 21st invitations earlier this year.

What I Wore.

I've never done one of these before, but I was pretty happy with this outfit so thought I might post it. This is what I wore to the races a couple of weeks ago. That's me on the left and my best friend Jess on the right. My black ballerina dress is from Glue (the brand is escaping me right now), my hat I bought on Ebay, my clutch was an Op Shop find, my shoes belong to Jess and my tights are just, well, tights. Jess's blazer is from Sportsgirl. As for her other items I'm unsure, but she does look pretty sweet hey! It was very sunny, hence our squinty eyes!