2015 has been such an exciting and fast-paced year for me. Now that it's drawing to a close, it's nice to take the time to look back and remember the roller coaster of a ride it has been. First, I left home and moved to a different country, so I made sure to write a list of things to do before moving away   which included packing my whole life into 2 luggage bags which was so hard when I've got a ton of stuff!

I can't help but feature the beautiful purple jacaranda trees again. As I mentioned in my previous post, the flowers don't stay for very long and I couldn't resist taking another set of photos to bid them goodbye. These shots were taken last month. Spring has left, and summer (and the heat waves) has now arrived in Adelaide.

I had been wondering what these pretty purple trees were. I would be on the bus, grumpy in the morning, and these rows of purple trees that lined the streets would somehow make me feel so much lighter. "Pretty trees.. pretty, pretty trees," I would think. Such profound thoughts, eh?

This little German village is a popular destination for tourism and dining. Hahndorf Inn is where we always go for their selection of sausages. Make sure to go early or reserve a table because this place gets quite packed.

South Australia is known for its wine regions. So when my friends visited, I knew I had to take them on a wine tasting tour. I heard that Barossa is the best. Being a newbie to Adelaide myself, I was initially leaning towards booking with a tour group because there didn't seem to be much material on the internet about planning your own tour. But we decided to save money, go on an adventure and use technology to our benefit and planned our own Barossa trip. And now I get to share it with you!

We've been in Adelaide, Australia for approximately 4 months now. And I've made it a point to reflect from time to time by writing in my journal. I'm so grateful for all the blessings and prayers that have already been answered. Indeed, God is good. But I'll save the deep thoughts for my journal and share with you random thoughts about Adelaide, Australia from this newbie's point of view.

On this perfectly lazy, gloomy and cold day, I just couldn't be bothered to put on a feminine, dressy attire. It took enough energy to roll out of bed as it is. We all have our lazy days.

I am ever so slowly getting accustomed to the cold. Last month, I would have found this temperature freezing but now it's COLD (not freezing at least). Yes yes, while everyone else in the world is experiencing summer or spring, we are in the middle of autumn in Australia.

Since my style is more feminine and preppy, this is really as grunge as I can get. This style became a staple for me last month - back when it was still transitioning from really hot to a bit cold in Adelaide. I needed to be comfortable enough to run back and forth to uni while we were accomplishing things off our checklist of requirements. The long sleeved tops kept me warm when the wind decided to blow, but it was easy enough for me to take off when it got really hot too.

Plaid top - H&M, Iron Man Muscle Tee and High Waist Shorts - Forever 21, Sneakers - Rubi by Cotton On

The temperature has dropped and it is now nicely cool for my first autumn in Adelaide. Is it me or has everyone here been dressing up more now that it's autumn? Maybe there's something about layering that has got everyone more inspired to play with fashion. 

Say hello to my first autumn outfit post and coincidentally my first blog post featuring the streets of Adelaide.

Hey guys!

If you follow me on Instagram, then you'd already know by now - I'm engaged! Kenny proposed in the presence of our closest friends. And I'm so happy about being engaged to the love of my life. :)

It was perfect timing that the people from Anjolee.com got in touch. I got to browse their extensive collection of diamond eternity rings. 

As you guys know, I came to Australia to go back to Uni. Never in my life did I think that I'd go back to school at this age (totally normal for a lot of people, just didn't think I'd be one of those people). Lol.

Still, I can't help but be excited to go to a top 400 global university which is 10-20x more amazing than my previous university experience. So I thought I'd dress up the part of the school girl on the first day of class. After all, I won't be young forever.

In my last post, I mentioned how I bought my first pair of harem pants for the purpose of airport comfort. I styled it up the last time. But for today's post, it's an entirely different look that focuses on comfort more than anything else since I wore it when I traveled to Australia and spent about 16 hours on the plane.

Well here's an outfit you never hardly ever see me in. If you've been following me for a while then you'd know that my style leans on the feminine side. But since I've been on a journey of change this year, I thought it'd be fun to try something different for today's post.

Will you look at that, the month of March has arrived already. I've been in Australia for almost 3 weeks now. This week, classes at uni will officially begin. Years ago, I would never have imagined that I would be where I am now. But here I am, with a clean slate - a fresh new start. A month ago I was writing about how exciting and scary it was at the same time. But now, I say, it is exciting and CHALLENGING at the same time. And I'm just pumped up to accomplish everything I set out to do.

As you may already know, I've recently moved to Australia. And since autumn and winter is fast approaching, I have been on the hunt for cheap comforter sets. Perfect timing as I heard about Beddinginn and was able to do some browsing.

 

I was able to spot a lot of cheap comforter sets in queen and king sizes as well as cheap duvet covers and they come in amazing 3D prints! Check out my picks below:

1. Butterfly Print

http://www.beddinginn.com/product/Elegant-Pink-Flower-With-Butterfly-Print-4-Piece-Bedding-Sets-10689807.html

Ever since my pre-teen years, I've had this odd obsession with butterfly prints. They're just so pretty and now, in my 20s, I still love them! Just not in the overly done manner with way too many butterflies. So I love this print with a single blue butterfly amidst beautiful flowers. If you're a girly girl like me, then you'd love this too.

If you follow me on Instagram, then you'd know that my friends threw Kenny and I a surprise party. They invited us to our friend's "birthday party" so we even went to the event with a birthday gift in hand. Once we got there, they yelled "surprise!!!" complete with party poppers/confetti. It was such a sweet gesture and we definitely cried tears of joy that night. We have AWESOME friends!! They even had audio/visual presentations ready. Wish we didn't have to leave but life leads us to different roads sometimes.. One thing's for sure, our friends will forever be a part of us. :)

It's my last week in my beloved city and I have been incredibly busy. My schedule is just jam-packed right now as I make the most out of what little time I have left.

Fortunately, my friends and I got to sneak in one more adventure before I leave the country so here's one more travel post for the blog, featuring our wakeboard adventure at Papa Kit's, Lilo-an, Cebu, Philippines. This was on my bucketlist and I'm so glad I got to cross that off my list before leaving! 

I've been sandboarding (which was way more scary by the way. Check out the link to read more about it!) before but wakeboarding means that you're being dragged across the water.  I was honestly a bit scared as I had a minor surgical procedure done on my underarms a little over a month before but it seems that I had nothing to worry about. Since we were a group of beginners, the guides made sure to go easy on us and instructed us on what to do.

I've been wanting to try cookie shots after seeing some photos around Instagram but I couldn't find any accessible Cebu restaurants that offered them. So I was quite stoked to find that newly opened Pillows Hotel (located near Coco mall and HP, block next to Cebu Doctors' University Hospital back entrance) had them.

After dinner, my girlfriends and I drove over to the hotel and parked inside the hotel's small but convenient (no need to park on the side of the street) parking area, then walked inside to find their artsy little cafe and ordered what we went specifically for - cookie shots! Ahh, as I'm not much to drink a lot of alcohol, these are definitely my kind of shots!

Whether you're leaving for good, a year or two, or indefinitely, I'm sure you're thinking "How do I pack my life away?" Well that's what I was definitely thinking. Hold the drama for now. If you've accomplished all the things you need to do before leaving, you should now go through this checklist of what to pack!

Basic guideline is this thought here: I can only bring xx kg worth of luggage, I will be moving into an empty room/house and I will be on a tight budget once I get there.

Hey guys!

I was going to do part two of my leaving the country mini series on what to pack but I've been finding it difficult to pack so I'm postponing that post for next week.

Today's post will be an outfit post featuring www.zalora.com.ph. This dress from Something Borrowed was one of my first purchases along with my basic navy shirt dress that I wore HERE. With my minimalist, feminine but youthful style, the brand Something Borrowed became an immediate favorite. I would often browse the site to check out new items to fall in love with.

In the Philippines, it's a very common life goal to be able to leave for "greener pastures." Sad as it may be, the country's economy and status simply does not provide individuals with the highest standard - be it in education or employment. Don't get me wrong, I love this country (as evidenced by my travel posts) and Cebu will forever be home to me. But I do understand why people leave. Come February, this blog will be based elsewhere (stay tuned for that) as I pursue education in a different country. So I thought I'd do a "Leaving the Country" series to help others prepare as well. I was fortunate enough to have a year to get ready but for others, the opportunity could be more abrupt. When you're leaving the country for a long duration, it's natural to panic and think about the things you have to get done. So here are a few tips:

On New Year's Day, the boyfriend's family invited us to a spontaneous lunch out so I had to throw this outfit together within 2 minutes. I figured, although I'm not superstitious in any way, that I'd put on this red (always a lucky color for the Chinese) top with polka dots (believed to bring prosperity for the year if you wear it on New Year's Day) and pair it with something relaxed enough to walk around in the mall for the rest of the afternoon and for a simple dinner party at home afterwards. Added my most comfortable pair of sandals in gold for some sparkle. I'm all for positive things for 2015!