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| Image courtesy of tower.com |
"Oh who are the people in your neighbourhood?
In your neighbourhood?
In your neighbourhood?
Say who are the people in your neighbourhood?
The people that you meet each day
Well they're the people that you meet
When you're walking down the street
They're the people that you meet each day"
(Written by Jeff Moss 1969 - Sesame Street)
Ahh! Well that song certainly brings back many childhood
memories. I spent countless mornings and
afternoons faithfully watching good old Sesame Street. For some reason it was also the song that
came to mind as I recalled my recent weekend in Sydney, where I had the opportunity meet with
some locals. Considering I know quite a
few people that live in the area who have been online friends for many years, I
was eager to arrange a hook-up with some of my Beauty Heaven advocates and
fellow bloggers. Meeting the girls turned
out to be the highlight of my weekend away! :)
Because I live in the sticks (think rural, FNQ), located in
the small farming community of Innisfail, I always miss the benefits that come
with living in a big city, the kind of things that you just can’t do living in
a small town. I am not the jealous type,
but on many occasions, my already green eye’s often become even greeeeener with
envy as I read about the city girls (the Sydneysiders in particular) meeting up
for recreational days out, being invited to various PR events or just joining
forces with other likeminded girlfriends on groupie style shopping expeditions. At times it feels like I am an alien from another planet, coz living up here is just so isolating! >-) So, when my itinerary for the Sydney International Spa and Beauty Expo weekend arrived, revealing four hours to kill
between checking out of my motel at the Novotel Rockford Darling Harbour and departing
for the airport to catch my return flight home, I pondered the possibility of
arranging a meet-up with some of my online buddies. :-?
I posted my thoughts of a meet up on Facebook, which sparked
a bit of interest from my cohort of beauty aficionado comrades, however, unfortunately
there were beauties that had already planned holidays, or had no access to
babysitters etc, the usual dilemmas that arise when planning any type of
get-together. Nevertheless, as it turned
out, three girlfriends confirmed that they were available to venture into Darling Harbour on Sunday and spend a few hours catching
up. In addition, another friend and
blogger that I conjointly met on the Beauty Heaven website as regular participants on their Forum, who wasn’t able to
make it into the city for our Sunday meet, just so happened to be attending the
expo on Saturday as well, so we swapped numbers and decided to purposely
bump into each other while there. Yippee!!! I’m so excited, as plans were in place and it
dawned on me that it was actually going to happen; I mean we had all talked
about meeting each other one in person day, but now it was finally a reality,
whoop, whoop YAY! <:-P
I’m literally doing a
happy dance. \:D/ Yeah boi, bring it on…..Sydney here I come!
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| View from window Darling Harbour Motel |
After jetting into Sydney
late on Friday night and making way to the Novotel Rockford Darling Harbour,
my temporary abode for the weekend, I offloaded off my luggage and made a mad
dash down the street to grab a bite to eat.
My eyes lit up as the city came to life at night, the beats were pumping
from nearby live music venues as people scattered the streets with an appetite
for activity. As enticing as it was to
stay and enjoy the entertaining nightlife, I was exhausted and needed to crash
ASAP to manage just over four hours shut eye before the big day I had ahead. Awoken by the ‘wake-up-call’ I requested at
5.45 am, I got out of bed looking like something the cat had dragged in, EEK. :-O I bee-lined for the shower with my Evo Soap DodgerBody Wash to spark my senses with the refreshing, uplifting natural aroma,
which is an instant reviver and a great way to energise me for the new day. I quickly washed my hair with my GoldwellDualsenses Ultra Volume Shampoo and Conditioner, that I fortunately had in
travel sized versions, then prepped my skin using the Alpha-H Clear Skin Kit, which accompanied
me to Sydney for convenience. I
love travel-sized products when going away, so much better than overloading my
suitcase with all the products I normally incorporate into my Serious Skin Care
regime, and not to mention the hoards of other beauty products I use on a daily
basis LOL :))
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| Sarah, The Science of Beauty |
Anyway, I made it to the breakfast briefing on time and then
spent hours trawling around the stands at the expo. Come mid-morning, it was time for my highly
anticipated social engagement, where I was able to meet the first of my
welcoming girlfriends, Sarah from The Science of Beauty. We met up in the lounge but ended up wandering over to the designated café seating area to grab a drink. Finding an empty table, we sat down and chatted like a couple of excited school girls. I don’t know about you guys but to
me, it’s kind of funny when you meet your online friends in person, coz they don't exactly resemble the image etched in my head that they look like, LOL. :)) Even though I have seen Sarah’s profile
photo more than enough times, but she just didn't mirror the radiant, blushing young bride looking
perfect for her wedding day, doh! #-o I
knew she wasn’t going to come waltzing down one of the isles in her wedding
dress or anything, bwahahaha =)) But I think I envisioned her face and hair to
have frozen in time and still exactly like that, haha. :D Anyway, Sarah was
gorgeous and I enjoyed meeting her in the flesh. It felt like I was catching up with an old
friend, as we practically new each other anyway, via emails, swaps, forums, blogs
and of course Facebook, so it wasn’t awkward like meeting a complete stranger
for the first time. I humbugged her for
a photo before we parted ways and, as always, Sarah was gracious enough to
oblige. :)
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| Image courtesy of The Meat & Wine Co |
That afternoon I attended a work conference,
followed by dinner at The Meat and Wine Co over-looking over the harbour and
afterward headed to the Capitol Theatre to take the enchanting ‘Supercalifragilistic
Musical’ production, Mary Poppins. The
magical extravaganza was spectacular, I might add, how talented are those
actors who sing with the most powerful voices and boy-oh-boy can they dance,
the choreography was brilliant! It’s
definitely a Broadway Musical that would appeal to anyone, even if you’re not
normally into that sort of thing, it’s absolutely mind-blowing! I eventually crawled into bed just after
midnight and was so relieved that checkout wasn’t until 11am the following
morning, phew. It’s finally, time for
some decent shuteye. I slept until 9am
then got up and got ready to rock and roll out of there and head off to meet
the girlfriends. My makeup was a neutral
look, which is not something I normally do, however my favourite bold pink
lipstick would have clashed with my outfit :-O (we can’t have that now can
we? LOL) [-X Here is a rundown of my natural-looking FOTD.
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| Image Courtesy of sydney.com |
Sunday 14th August, 2011 - Sydney FOTD
Primer – Laura Mercier Foundation Primer
Foundation – gloMinerals Protective Liquid Foundations MatteII
Powder - gloMinerals Matte Finishing Powder
Illuminator – Benefit Girl Meets Pearl
Mascara – Benefit BADgirl Lash Mascara
Eyeliner – Revlon High Dimension Eyeliner in Gold Flash
Brows – NYX Auto Eyebrow Pencil in Brown
Lipliner – BECCA Lip Liner Pencil in Nude
Yes, actually, in case your wondering, I did mange to fit all that
makeup in my suitcase and I will fill you in on a little secret, shhh :-$ That was only
the half of it :"> Hmmm, I am renowned
for taking faaaaaaaarrrrr too much makeup with me when I go away and remember a
couple of years back I even had to pay extra to check my carry-on luggage in
because it was too heavy :-S oops, LOL.
After applying my makeup, I tended to my hair, which was super easy, whipping
out my Batiste Diva Dry Shampoo and my Redken Quick Dry 18 Instant FinishingSpray, I gave it a quick once over and slapped a hat on my head. At five minutes to 11 am, I managed to jam
everything back into my suitcase to take home, and despite only accumulating a Mini Haul at the expo, I still struggled to fit it in well enough to close it, oh,oh. :-L But, plonking myself on top of the case did the trick, where
I was able to manoeuvre the slider and force the zipper to close and the final
result was a suitcase that was nearly busting at the seams, oops. :">
8-| Note to one’s self, NOT SO MUCH MAKEUP next
time, haha, :D I must invest in some decent travel sized makeup just for the sole
purpose of going away, this was just ridiculous! :P
I got out of the motel with only seconds to spare and
immediately recognised one of my dearest mates, who like the others, I first
met on the Forum as members of the Beauty Heaven website. We regularly keep in contact, mostly on Facebook these days and also via email. Christine, was the first to arrive and had
walked from the train station to surprise me by waiting out the front of the
hotel. >:D<
Soon after, we met up with Su
from My Perfume Diaries, who I have become quite close friends with over the past few years,
regularly engaging in personal exchanges in addition to our
usual beauty nattering. ;) The last to
arrive was another beauty, Alice
who I have always admired after becoming firm friends, once again thanks to our love
of beauty and frequenting the Forum on Beauty Heaven, as well as connecting on
more casual terms via Facebook. Alice, who is also the author of Alice Jane in Newcastle, had me feeling super privy when I learned she was coming to the
city, considering she lives a 3-hour train trip away; I couldn’t believe she
came all that way just to meet me, so I was thrilled! ;;)
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| Clown in the Neighbourhood |
Once together, we ventured around in Haymarket, finding an
eatery in the Market City Shopping Centre, where we sat down for a meal and a
big fat chat, LOL :)) I naturally swamped
the girls, revealing my goody bag of products from my Mini Haul at the expo and showcased some photos that I had taken over the weekend, he,he. ;)) Afterward Su and I went browsing in the Cosmetics Fragrance Direct outlet, while Chris and Alice watched a table tennis
tournament they were filming in the centre court. I behaved myself whilst in the legion of all
those enticing beauty products, despite the temptation before me; I resisted
and only left with the one Rimmel Rich Moisture Cream Lipstick in Exquisite a
pretty, pink shade, so dibs to me again for my exquisite display of self-control, phew. #:-S
We made our way downstairs and roamed around Paddy’s Markets for the rest of the afternoon, where I got some
toys for the hard-heads (kids) back at home and some candy coated almonds (for
mwah). ;) I think I could have easily spent
up big there too, but instead, I was just happy to trawl around eying off all
the different stalls, especially whilst keeping with such great company. :)
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| L-R Su, Chris, Me and Alice |
The meet and greet ended with some happy snaps of us all
together, which came about when we roped some poor woman walking by into taking
for of us. I bet she wished she had of
walked in another direction at that point, as ambushed her with not one camera
and a couple of photos, but all our cameras and several shots, LOL. :)) Soon after, we bid our farewells. For me it would be at least another 12 months
before the possibility of seeing any of them again, however, as for my Sydney
friends, I’m sure they will all meet up again very soon, maybe even at IMATS,
this coming month?? %%-
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| Image courtesy of wifelysteps.com |
Overall, What a great weekend! =D> I had an awesome time and loved having
the chance to meet such amazing people, who all share the same interests as
me. It was a weekend to remember and one
that I will cherish for many years to come.
I certainly hope to meet them all again next time I am visiting in their
neighbourhood, along with some of my other online friends who couldn’t make it
this time round. It is great to have friends
online but even better when you meet them face to face. :) Oh who are the people in your neighbourhood? They're the people that you meet each day! :-h
Have you ever met any of your online buddies in person?
All images in this post are my own, apart from any generic images, which I have given credit to the source in the caption below each image.
