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Merry New Year! 2012 is finally here and there is so much that I’d like to squeeze out of it, so I thought I’d share my goals with you, and I would love to hear your goals as well 🙂

Main Goals

♥ Develop my sense of style

When I was younger I had a pretty ‘interesting’ sense of style, I loved (and spent a lot of time) op shopping and putting together crazy outfits and would have a lot of fun wearing them. These days I tend to stick to a play-it-safe combo of jeans, teeshirt & converse shoes which, while comfortable, doesn’t totally showcase my best features or inspire much girly confidence. I plan to develop a killer selection of dresses and skirts that will allow me to try being a bit more feminine and fun with my style 🙂

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♥ Learn GHD waves / how to use a hair curler

I’ve never been able to create pretty wavy hair with a heat styling tool, this year I’d love to be able to mix that into my very limited hair styling repertoire!

♥ Work on my posture

Sitting at the computer for long periods of time means my posture needs some work, I plan to do lots of yoga and stretching, plus get regular massages to help keep my back and shoulders nice and relaxed.

♥ Find 2 new pairs of jeans I love

For some reason this is hard for me, I’m going to try and manifest some perfect jeans into my life this year! 😉

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♥ Go on a yoga retreat

I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now, head somewhere quiet for the weekend eat delicious wholesome food and practice a lot of yoga. This is the year!

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♥ Learn to swing dance

A few friends of mine swing dance, and they LOVE it! It looks like so much fun and I think taking up dancing again will be fantastic for my wellbeing and fitness.

♥ Be the best in my class at school

Given that I haven’t studied for about 10 years, I’m pretty nervous and incredibly excited about going back to school to study Public Relations. I am however very motivated to do well in the course and I aim to study my derriere off in order to achieve this goal.

♥ Spend time with one friend I haven’t seen for a while each week

This one is pretty self explanatory! I have so many fantastic people in my life, as I’m sure we all do, but sometimes it’s hard to find the time to catch up or easier to spend time with your ‘usual’ friends. This year I’m going to reach out to those I haven’t seen in a while and rekindle some friendship flames.

I have more, but those are the main ones! I would love to hear your goals for the year, or what you think of mine!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

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2011 – thank you. You constantly amazed me with the new and unique opportunities and good times that were frequently presented, here’s a tiny rundown of my year:

♥ Took a promotion at work, and from all accounts did pretty good in the new role
♥ Flew to Melbourne with my boy to see ‘The National’ for the first time and ate some amazing vegetarian food
♥ Viewed ‘Jimmy Eat World’ for the first time
♥ Took my first makeup masterclass
♥ Went along to a meditation course (didn’t quite finish it though, but held out for 4 weeks!)
♥ Took floor barre ballet classes for the first time
♥ Started as the Beauty Writer for X-Press magazine & contributor for eVoke magazine
♥ Began seeing a naturopath
♥ Met a lot of incredible people in the Perth beauty & wellness industry
♥ Made the decision to quit my job and return to study next year (!!)
♥ Began to organise the first Perth Online Beauty Media networking event
♥ Completed a 6 week photoshop course (highly recommended!)
♥ Did my first green smoothie demonstration @ Lululemon! Spreading that smoothie love.
♥ Began to overcome a deep seated fear

Tomorrow I’ll share with you my goals for the new year ahead!

I’d love to hear any of your years highlights though, so leave a comment below if you’d like to share! 🙂

I wish everyone a wonderful New Years Eve… see you in 2012! x

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! I hope you had an amazing time with family, friends or yourself, and that your wellbeing hasn’t suffered toooo much over the silly season 🙂

♥ Outdoor Cinema Picnics

Behold above, a little picnic feast that I took to go and see Crazy, Stupid, Love (Ryan Gosling anyone?) at the Moonlight Cinemas in Kings Park.

It’s such a gorgeous setup, all nature-y and very relaxing, hopefully I can get down there again sometime soon. The picnic feast included: pikelets with preservative free jam, pitted kalamata olives, fruit salad, raw apple juice (the BEST!) and my friend brought along banana bread, water crackers and apricots and cream cheese salad. Love me a healthy feast 🙂

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♥ Christmas (and amazing Christmas candles!)

I wish I’d written about this gorgeous festive scented candle prior to Christmas so everyone could have run out and picked one up!

The White Christmas Candle by Palm Beach Collection smells in-cred-ible and I’ve been burning it non-stop since December 1. It’s a soy candle scented with orange, cinnamon and clove, with 80 hours burn-time and is guaranteed to melt the heart of even the most hardened grinch. Pictured above lighting up our $5 tree! The candle retails for $37.95.

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♥ Presents!

While giving presents is better than getting… getting is still pretty good! This Xmas I swooped a lot of awesome goodies, including:

♥ Super-cute brown vegan-leather bag with bow! I’m going to be rocking this hard next year when I go to school, it’s perfect for carrying a few books! From Herbivore Clothing (I don’t think they stock it anymore, but it’s a fantastic website for vegan goods)
♥ The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science – I’ve wanted to read this for a while now, it’s all about neuroplasticity and how the brain can change at any time to overcome previous limitations, such as depression, anxiety, and even strokes.
♥ 12 Month Frankie Magazine Subscription – yay! I will be knowledgeable on all things indie & cute for the next year.
♥ Organic chocolate covered macadamias.
♥ $60 voucher for Bodhi J Day Spa – this will be going towards a much needed massage 🙂
♥ Money towards a term worth of yoga classes.
♥ Oil burner + ‘study’ oil which I’ll need for next year!
♥ Some jewellery with stones that are useful for focusing on study. (not pictured)
♥ 2 different caffeine free teas and a really cute floral mug to drink them from!
♥ An Endota ‘Massage Magic’ value pack (thanks Endota!)
♥ A book on smoothies and juices (not pictured)
♥ A copy of Russh magazine (not pictured)
♥ Kit Cosmetics Cheek & Lip Tint (not pictured)

So I think it’s fair to say I cleaned up! Lots of wellness goodies in there too so I’m very pleased 🙂 I also gave some great gifts which were received with smiles and hugs, which was the best!

What did you get/give for christmas? Share your highlights below!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

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It’s time to announce the winners of our super, duper, ultra, mega, giveaway! We have 10 lucky winners who will each be taking home one of two fantastic prize packs, ‘Christmas Tweets‘ or ‘A Few of My Favourite Things‘ from our generous sponsors Lush!

And the lucky winners are…

♥ 1. Alexandra Zhu
♥ 2. Anneke de Rooij
♥ 3. Julie Wakely
♥ 4. Jenny B
♥ 5. Bekah Hocking
♥ 6. Natalie Brewer
♥ 7. Verity Wallace
♥ 8. Hayley White
♥ 9. Maria Adele
♥ 10. Amy Mitchell

Congratulations ladies! I will send you an email soon, please reply within 48 hours to claim your prize 🙂

Thank you to everyone who entered, we had a whopping 80 entries and I wish I could give you ALL a prize, but rest assured we’ve got many more fab competitions coming up in the next year, so stay tuned! 🙂

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

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Whales are pretty sweet. They’re beautiful, graceful sea wanderers and can even help us chill out (cue hippie whalesong CD). While Wellness WA is mostly concerned with the wellbeing of people, we also like to take care of our animal friends too. That’s why I wanted to share with you this great little product that Lush have brought out, the ‘Divine Whale‘ soap!

It contains uplifting essential oils of sweet orange and tangerine and all profits are donated to Sea Shepherd’s Operation Divine Wind campaign.

Sea Shepherd Australian Director, Jeff Hansen, says, “During the 1900s, the majority of soap was made from whale blubber, making the launch of Lush’s Divine Whale soap even more significant. Lush’s strict no animal testing policy and its dedication to creating ethical, sustainable cosmetics makes us proud to stand alongside them.”

♥ This ones for you guys x

Divine Whale Soap is just $4.95 (WHAT A BARGAIN!) with all profits donated to the Sea Shepherd Divine Wind campaign. Perfect as a chrissy gift for yourself, an eco-conscious friend and, of course, the whales.

Support some whales now so there will be plenty around in the future! Available online or in-store 🙂

What do you think of the Divine Whale soap? Are you keen to get your hands on some? I’m heading out to pick some up during the week!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo