What’s behind the door?

‘ADULT MATERIAL BEING WORKED ON. DO NOT ENTER IF NUDITY OFFENDS YOU’.
What would you do if you saw this sign plastered to a door?
Would you enter? Would you run away? Would you do what I did and breeze on past it like you never even saw it?

I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to tell you exactly where I saw this sign; but I bet you can guess where (as I’m here 9-5.30pm most days of the week)! How intriguing!
How exciting! Well maybe not exciting as in I-just-received-that -Disney-Couture -bracelet--I’ve-been-crushing-on-for-Christmas exciting, but exciting as in maybe-a-few-boys-I-know-would-melt-away-if-I-told-them-what-I-knew-about-what-was-behind-that-door.

This is one of those things that I know you are just squirming in your seat about, like if I don’t tell you, you might stop reading my blog or you might convert to reading (cue horror music) Pink Is The New Blog! But I know deep down you know it’s totally not the new blog. But, come on, don’t change the subject, we’re trying to decipher what was behind that door.

Now, as I didn’t actually open the door I’m not sure exactly what was in that room but I can tell you this; I work in a company where it’s possible to be involved in nude photoshoots. Yes, you read that correctly, NUDE photoshoots. These photoshoots usually involve good looking women (some not so good looking). You also know I work in the wonderful world of magazines within the biggest publishing house of Australia. Basically you name the mag, I can totally get you a staff discounted subscription! So I guess this takes us to the ‘men’s lifestyle’ mag arena (just go with me here). We’ve got Zoo, Ralph, FHM, Men’s Style – yep, pretty cool huh? (if you happen to be a boy)
So really, ‘that sign’ may have had anything to do with any of the above magazines. But then again - maybe it didn’t?

Til next time,

Girl Next Door xx

P.S Door in picture is in no way associated with this story.

Rule # 5987 – how to really piss me off

I have a few pet peeves. I bet you do as well. I’ve just come from a workout at the gym and while I walked in there on my mobile phone the guy who worked there began to shove a flyer into my face yelling ‘get your friends a present they’ll never forget’. I looked the other way whilst still talking on my phone so as to make the guy realise that I was so not interested. Do you know what he did? He continued to shove the flyer into my face. I could not believe it. After getting over this annoying start to my workout I went about my 40 minute routine, hit the showers then made my way back through to the reception area where yet again another lady threw her arm out with a dreaded flyer, I looked at her and said ‘no, thanks’, and kept walking. After she replied with some smartass remark I was ropeable! I mean if I want a flyer I will take a flyer. If I want to get someone in my family a present from the gym exactly one week before Christmas I will. But I don’t need it shoved in my face at any given opportunity.

Not to mention walking around the city only to be bombarded on every second street corner with a CD or a brochure of some sort, then half way down the block there are millions upon millions of these brochures flying round the street, littering our city.
I hate to have a bitch right before Christmas but does anyone else agree with me?

Girl Next Door xox

When following your dreams means leaving everything you love behind….

We all know I love to do a bit of thinking. My 45-75 minute bus ride every morning and afternoon forces me to do this. The thought of change strikes my mind from time to time. In the past I have been known to leave the house absolutely ready for another day and by the time I arrive at work have actually talked myself out of working at that particular place; resigning 40 minutes into my day.
It’s not that the thought hadn’t crossed my mind every other day; it’s just that for some reason that particular bus ride made me realise that ‘today was the day’. Phrases and clichés were floating through my mind like bees on speed; ‘life’s too short to be unhappy’, ‘you only live once’….blah, blah, blah.

I never thought that someone else in the world would actually be having the same thoughts that I did. I opened up The Daily Tele this morning and on page 41 (the front page of the Sydney Confidential) I am told that MTV presenter Ms Lyndsey Rodrigues has made the big, fat move to the Big Apple (yes that’s New York) and totally taken her career to the next level. She’s hosting Total Request Live where she has already interviewed Will Smith (earlier today), Simple Plan and Wyclef Jean (not too sure of who he is) do you know how many viewers see that show every day, Oh only 93 million! Uummm can anyone say ‘Cool’! I remember when this chick first began on MTV, I was working at Girlfriend, and our entertainment editor Bec was interviewing her in the office. She was a total stunner and just had that ‘famous look’ about her, but no one had any idea who she was. Now she’s halfway around the world having just replaced Vanessa Minnillo (currently dating Nick Lachey). I mean WOW that is very cool indeed.

But as cool as it all seems - the glitz, the glamour, the early starts and the late nights….is it all worth it? Is a move for the sake of your career at all worth leaving everything you know and love behind? That’s the question that a lot of you will face in your life. It all sounds pretty straight forward and simple, but that one question is the hardest that you will ever have to answer.

Just so you know Lyndsey’s boyfriend is joining her in the U.S early next year. But what about her friends, her besties will be lost without her? Her family will miss her so much.

Can you see what I'm getting at with what my 'thoughts' were?

So you’ve got some homework for me tonight; what would you do? What would help you in determining the decision of a lifetime?

Girl Next Door xox

I wanna be a Victoria's Secret model!

Did everyone watch The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show last night on Channel 10 (Hosted by the gorgeous German-born Heidi Klum)?
I don’t know why I put myself through this torture each year but I just love watching those perfect models strut their stuff down the runway. The way they make the average girl feel is quite something, especially that Aussie-born and newly reformed Miranda Kerr - what a stunner (see pic below)!

As well as making me feel super great about myself these girls had me wanting to strut my stuff down the hallway and give a wink or blow a kiss to those who were watching (my boyfriend seemed to be the only one applauding my efforts). But seriously the way those fantastically fit girls walk down the runway has me so envious! So sexy and amazing, with bodies to die for and at the same time trying to carry a 20 kilo pair of wings - Wowzers!

Towards the end of the show; The Spice Girls graced the stage and wowed the audience with their first official come-back performance. Singing and dancing up a storm to ‘Stop’ (just quietly it sounded a hell of a lot like the recorded version).
As much as I love The Spice Girls I wouldn’t be surprised if they mimed that one.
But, in saying that it was an amazing performance and from the looks of things the Girls were very happy with themselves as well.
The glitz and glamour of the show was enough to keep me amused for the whole 60 minutes (and I think the lingerie was enough for my boy – Bless him!)

What did you think of the show? Do you think Victoria’s Secrets have some impressive shows?

Girl next Door xox

So this is Christmas….

…and it’s so close I can hear Santa’s sleigh bells ringing!

When I was younger I awoke late one Christmas Eve and could have sworn it was to the sound of bells. The sound was coming form my rooftop. Naturally I knew that Mr Claus was dropping off the items that my little brother, sister and I had waited all year to see. But the one thing that is so fresh in my mind I felt like I did it this morning is the ritual my family and I used to go through to put up the tree. The carols music we played whilst dad climbed up the step ladder into the roof to retrieve all the decorations. The fight me, my brother and sister had in who was going to put the angel on top of the tree – this went on for so long Dad had to lay down the law and get us to take turns each year.



We’d hang all the trinkets and tinsel on the tree and watch as it glistened back at us. The smell of the pine needles are what told me it was Christmas time. Smelling that exact smell today as dad dragged in the gorgeous tree took me back in time to the place where I got so excited each year. All the fond memories came rushing back to me. But this year it was different. My brother was at work and my sister was out shopping with friends so was no where to be seen. There was no music, no decoration snatching and definitively no argument on who was putting the angel on her home for the next 4 weeks. The only sound I could hear was mum instructing dad and I on which way the tree was slanting and how to get it in it’s upright position. It’s kinda sad that we’ve all grown up and don’t do those little things that mean’t so much to each of us together anymore. That one simple task of setting up ‘the tree’ each year was such a huge event and now has diminished into something that we’ll get around to doing when we have time……

I think these days my family and I appreciate Christmas for what it’s really for; catching up and spending time with the ones you love, your family.

And maybe if we be good Santa will drop by as usual on Chrissy Eve!

Til Next Time,

Girl Next Door xox

‘Like WOW!’

That’s what I said when I opened up my Outlook this morning when I came into work. It was not the usual WOW that I say when I get an email from Whowhatweardaily.com confirming my sightings of the hottest pair of shoes I have EVER seen only to look down at the price and see that they are close to a 5 digit number. That’s right WOW. No, no today I opened my inbox and saw ‘Introducing Who What Wear TV’. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

That’s right, all you chicks out there who are currently looking at their screens blankly/excitedly thinking ‘As if, this chick is nutso’, you can damn straight think again. Coz this is possibly the greatest thing since Macro Wholefoods Markets opened at Mona Vale!

The 2 amazing women who founded Whowhatweardaily.com Katherine Power and Hilary Kerr will be hosting this tantalising show and each episode will show us how to get the look of a certain trend, the girls will explain exactly what this trend is so we can copy it any time we like! But wait there’s more.... the whole episode takes place in none other than the Who What Wear Daily fashion closet! OH. MI. GOD!! So if you got a kick out of getting the clothes delivered to your inbox, then you are about to be taken to a whole new shopping level!

Girl Next Door xx

For my beauty writing fans out there......

...here is another of my homework tasks from my course. And it's all yours to di-sect. Hope you enjoy!

Blemish free skin is just three steps away (but don’t think you won’t have to put in a bit of work to get there)

We could stand here and tell you to count to three and you’d have beautiful skin. But that would be too easy

You always seem to know when your due; not coz of your lack of concentration, or your ability to tolerate anyone (including your boss), or the fact that every time you get up and walk around you feel like you’ve been stabbed in the stomach, repeatedly. This one involves interrupting your perfect looking skin and planting a blemish right smack bang in the middle of your nose. Ooh and you forgot to mention that your boyfriend’s Christmas party is tomorrow night.

You’ve heard it all before - right? ‘Miracle ways to get rid of blemishes when you have your period’, ‘Pimple gone –overnight guaranteed’. We’re not going to promise you anything too unbelievable, but we will tell you that these products can be preventative to your monthly friend (the red dot kind) and if used correctly and regularly could actually decrease your luck in getting any kind of blemish at all. Pretty cool – huh?
The thing to remember with your skincare routine is you’ve got to keep at it. If you come home from a big night out and you can’t be bothered to remove your party make-up then don’t come crying to us. You’ll wake up a couple of days later with a blemish the size of The Eiffel Tower and we guarantee you’ll wonder why. Well we’re glad you asked, the answer to your question is simple; you let your guard down. For that split millisecond that you thought it would be fine to go to bed with a face reeking of 6-hours worth of dancing/drinking and the make up you applied 7 hours ago, well let’s just say it wasn’t ‘fine’. While you were sleeping your skin was trying to repair itself and in that process was shot down by an array of black liquid eyeliner, silver eyeshadow and remnants of the sweated amount of foundation (the rest melted into your skin) with a dash of fake tan in it. A big no-no.
So you see when that time of the month comes round and you ‘forgot’ to take your make up off 3 even 4 times you are automatically putting yourself at a 30-40% chance of getting a blemish when you least expect it. You could do this for the next 10 years of your life or you could repeat after us:
Rule One: At the beginning and end of EVERY, SINGLE day (this includes nights out!) wash your hands and remove your make-up, Try JASON Natural Products Satin Soap for Hands and Face, ($6.75) we like the summer-esque Mango flavour. Your skin will be beautifully cleansed and able to breathe as it repairs itself throughout your slumber.
Rule Two: Remove unwanted excess dirt and make-up with AcneRecovery Facewash, this soothing cleanser is specifically designed to target those nasty blemishes that creep up on us every month.
Rule Three: Put the moisture back into your beautifully cleansed skin with AcneRecovery Repair Lotion during the day and at nighttime try AcneRecovery Treatment Lotion, this one works in conjunction with your skin’s overnight repair system to make your skin smooth soft and the way you like it – not a blemish in sight! (The three-piece set is $99 and refills range from $21-$46)
Rule Four: Stare at your gorgeous, blemish-free face, breathe in, breathe out and give yourself a pat on the back! Well done!

Girl Next Door xx

Facebook – a revolution or an invasion of privacy?

This very thought has had me thinking lately. After deactivating my Facebook account for a couple of days I realised how much of an invasion it really is. I mean people adding you claiming to be from all walks of your personal life ‘You went to school with this person, ‘You hooked up with that person, ‘You met this one randomly’, ‘You worked with another one’. OK, so the majority of the people you know and are friends with are pretty legit, but what about the other 40 people that try and add you? Sure you went to school with them or you know them through a friend, but what the hell does that have to do with the price of fish? Have they spoken to you in the last 18 months? Do they know anything about your current life (without having looked you up on Facebook or Myspace?)? Would you call these people up to have a chat about what’s been happening in your life since primary school? Chances are you answered no to all the above, so what are we doing letting all these randoms back into our cyber-life? Beats me.
Sure it’s fun sharing photos and memories with those who you really want to, but me thinks you would probably have been in contact with these people from Day Dot.

What do you think about these networking type sites? Do you think they are an invasion of your privacy or somewhere good to catch up with long lost friends?

Girl Next Door xx

Sydney-siders see Posh step out to support her husband….or maybe not?

Beckham mayhem is sweeping through the streets of Sydney at the moment. The L.A Galaxy star and his team have flown into Sydney for a ‘friendly’ game between Sydney FC at Telstra Stadium tonight. Everywhere I look there is people trying to bend it like the famous soccer star, as well as a lady who looks very much like his famous popstar of a wife, Victoria Beckham (A.K.A Posh Spice).
Camilla Shadbolt - does this name ring a bell? Well, it shouldn't, this unknown woman not only looks uncannily like Victoria Beckham but is actually making a living out of it, I mean her, whatever.... Being mistaken for Posh at a young age Camilla decided to use this ‘gift’ to her advantage. "When I was about 14, people started saying I looked quite similar to her," she explains. “Then when I was about 17 I thought to myself, 'I could actually make a job out of this'." And as they say Camilla, the rest is history.

Camilla has even partaken in a reality TV show where her and her husband, a David Beckham impersonator (no really, I’m not having you on), rocked round California trying to score celebrity freebies. They experienced everything from the receiving of the freebies to the free photos, paparazzi that is. “The paparazzi were quite scary — chasing us around, hiding outside our hotel." I’m not sure if these two are totally deluded or just freakin’ crazy but hey, it looks like they’re having the time of their lives (I saw a snippet of them on the news last night being mobbed by Sydney-siders).
Look out for Camilla tonight at The Game between L.A Galaxy and Sydney FC, kick off is at 8.30pm AEST, channel TEN, not doubt you’ll mistake her for Posh! But don't be fooled!
Just for the record, I have my doubts that Posh is even in the country as she’d be a very busy Spice Girl right about now preparing for her first comeback concert for The Spice Girls, set for December 2nd (this Sunday).

Girl Next Door x

I don't want alot for Christmas....

…..all I want is this TDF Disney Couture Alice in Wonderland wrap bracelet from
miijo.com as seen on Nicole Richie and Li-Lo. It’s not that exxy and would make me as happy as Alice was when she had her first afternoon tea with the Mad Hatter!

Miijo is one of those gorgeous sites where you can find virtually any accessorie you’ve ever seen on any of your fave celebs – pretty cool, huh?

This site might be a little exxier than what your usual budget stretches to (after all you have just found what your fave celeb is currently sporting)! But don’t worry you can definitely add it to your Christmas wish list or happen to slip the link into your boyfriend’s inbox (as I may happen to do sometime today).

Til next time,

Girl next Door x

Just a quickie...

Do you notice anything different about Thoughts?
No? Didn't think so.

Girl Next Door xx

Spice Girls Tour update…

I know, I know every time I bring up The Spice Girls I tease you by telling you that I’ll let you know when I know about when their tickets go on sale, dates of Australian tour, etc and every time I disappoint. But it’s not my fault! The girls have had an unbelievable response for tickets and have had to re-schedule the whole tour. So now I’m thinking their original date for the Sydney show has been pushed back….further into the year. At the moment my estimate for The Spice Girls return to Oz will be about mid-March 2008.
In the meantime I can let you in on some behind-the-scenes goss but you probably wouldn’t be interested in that boring stuff, would you? No? OK here goes:

Fact # 1: The Return of The Spice Girls Tour 2007/2008 officially commences on the 2nd of December 2007 in Vancouver (that’s next Sunday)!
Fact # 2: The Spice Girls performed last week at The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. It was the first time they’d performed together since 1998! Melanie C nearly fell over in shock and was fighting back the tears coz the crowd was cheering so loudly when they got on stage.
Fact # 3: Roberto Cavalli has designed all the costumes for the girl’s comeback tour. Word has it they look AMAZING!
Fact # 4: As well as all the usual Spice Girls merchandise being sold at the concerts there will also be ‘baby bits’ to buy. No doubt Bluebell (Geri’s baby girl) and Beau (Emma’s baby boy) will be parading around in the attire very soon.

That’s all for now folks but do stick around coz I promise you as soon as I hear anything about the tour in Oz I will be posting!

Til next time,

Girl Next Door xx

My love of writing

We all know how much I LOVE writing and how much I love learning new ways to improve my writing! The other night I went in search of a course that showed me just that. I searched far and wide and found a hell of a lot of courses - journalism courses, communications courses which I would LOVE to do but they’re all either full time (a no-go coz of work) or part time but on during the day (So not fair)! SO I typed ‘online writing courses’ into Google and up popped an informative site called mediabistro.com. It turns out these guys recruit and do a range of courses ONLINE(they're based in New York)! I had a look through and there it was staring staright back at me like a freshly opened perfume bottle….beauty writing and editing. I had found my calling.

Naturally I applied and as they say the rest is history. I’m half way through my first week and am loving it! It’s pretty amazing being in a ‘classroom’ with girls all over the world who are as passionate about writing as you are.

Anyway the point of my story is that I have completed my first homework task for the course and I wanted to share it with you and see what you thought of it. The idea was to come up with a story based on blue make-up for a July issue of a women's magazine, i.e Glamour or Allure. You know what to do. All opinions welcome!

Return of the Ice Queen

Bring out your inner Snow Queen with this season’s hottest trend. Ice eyes….

We know what you’re thinking, but no, it’s not hard to pull off this look. You’ve just got to know what to use and where to use it. First, say buh-bye to sweet pastels and he-llo to striking blues, shades as blue as the Antarctic Ocean.
Basecoat your eyelids with a light layer of shadow, try Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Glimpse in Antique Pearl ($13), this will keep the finished colour vibrant and fresh. To open up your eyes and bring out the Goddess in you, sweep with a light dusting of pale blue shadow try Laura Mercier Eye Colour Quad in Blue Sky ($38). Repeat with the cobalt blue shimmer, you can do as many splashing’s as you like (just don’t go too overboard). To finish, draw a light line along your lashes with a silver/shimmery eyeliner, we like Stila Convertible Eye Colour in Onyx ($20). Voila! Instant come-hither looks!

Girl Next Door x

Today’s adventure courtesy of XBOX 360

Monday morning rituals can be excruciatingly painful: get up, catch the bus to work, have my breakfast (yoghurt, muesli and fruit) and shimmy on down to a brunch with the gang from XBOX 360. Yep, it’s a hard life here in the world of magazines but someone’s gotta do it!

XBOX showcased an array of new games set for delivery into your local Myer, DJ’s or any good toy store and just in time to sit somewhere in between your new summer wardrobe and your new ipod Nano on your Christmas wish list.

What were these impressive games you ask? One in particular which I think you will be very interested in is the Scene it? Lights Camera Action, very appropriate if you are a fan of your movies and you know your Big Fat Greek Weddings from your Mean Girls. This game comes with four wireless sale-of-the-century type controllers (Big Button Controllers) and can take one up to four players – what a great party-starter!With more than 1800 trivia-style questions about your favourite movies you’ll never get bored with this game! And every time you turn your console back on the game ‘shuffles’ itself so as not to give you the same questions that you’ve received previously!
This one is rated PG and retails at $119.95, it hits Oz on the 27th of November.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is the game to have when the band you have planned to play at your party calls in sick. Or if you've ever dream’t of becoming a rockstar this is your time to shine. Strum along to The Killers, The Rolling Stones, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Pearl Jam, Muse and many more of your favourite rockbands. All you’ve gotta do is press the buttons in time to the music and voila, you’re on your way to becoming the next Guitar Hero!
This one retails for $169.95 and is available late November.

But don’t take my word for it, get your groove on and get into these fab-tabulous games – don’t have an XBOX? Then go steal one of your friend’s for the week. You’ll never look back!

Girl Next Door xx

Carefree Schmearfree

WARNING: Men who read past this point have been warned. You may be intrigued to keep reading. Not my fault so don't freak out when you get to the third sentence.

‘30 bands, 2 days, 1 pair of underwear’. We’ve all seen the ad on TV. While we’re eating our dinners and watching our fave US TV shows we, as women are invited to sample out the Carefree pads. These hygienically clean pads that we can change without having to change our underwear for 3 days (or so they say). Does anyone else find this disturbing? What in the world would make me decide to purchase the Carefree pads or tampons to wear to a two-day festival just because they could last me through one pair of undies for the entire two days? Why would I want to wear one pair of undies over two days anyway? They are the smallest item of clothing to pack and rolled up take up about 4cm x 4cm of space in my suitcase (and in that space I could fit 3 pairs). Not much when I’m worried about keeping myself clean over two whole days, is it?

For centuries women have been getting their periods. I’m not sure how women handled theirs 60, 70, even 40 years ago but I do know one thing for sure; today’s generation find it of the utter-most importance to be clean and tidy (ahem) at all times. Cue the Brazilian’s that 8 out of 10 women are receiving every 4-6 weeks. The endless array of tampons and pads we have available to us and the prize awarded to the company who can make tampons and pads look the prettiest. My current fave are the gorgeous and innovative Moxie tins. After using the tampons/panty liners you are left with a cute tin to put all your favourite knick-knacks in. But, what, you ask does this have to do with plain and simple cleanliness and hygiene?

With the growing trend of cleanliness, hygiene and feeling sexy getting stronger everyday for women around the world, the Brazilian will soon be something that the majority of the population subside to (if it hasn’t already). Whether you have a boyfriend or not, a Brazilian wax gives something back to a woman (as well as her boyfriend). She feels sexier than ever before and can wear skimpy underwear and bikinis at the drop of a hat, without having to worry about a ‘sneaky-peaky’ poking through. As new a development as it may seem to our generation, Brazilian waxing first came about in the late 80’s; it was introduced in New York by a group of Brazilian sisters. These sisters obviously felt the urge to be completely clean and tidy each and every day. I think this would have involved the daily changing of their underwear, don’t you agree?

Whether you get Brazilian’s or not the fact is all woman love attention to detail. I’m talking about detail to our bodies and detail to our tampon packaging. With the amazing colours and designs we can get these days I could honestly spend about an hour in the tampon aisle (as I’m usually shopping with my boyfriend, loitering in the tampon aisle is usually kept to a bare minimum). It’s quite distracting walking down that aisle, every company is screaming for our attention to keep clean, tidy and organised. Something that Carefree wishes us not to be.

I for one would not be caught dead in one pair of undies over two whole days at a music festival ESPECIALLY if I had my period. Coz that’s just downright gross.

Til next time,

Girl Next Door xx

Gluten free, dairy free and all organic Japanese restaurant!

Well didn't I think all my Christmases had come at once when my friend told me about this place?! Wafu located at 460 Cleveland St in Surry Hills is a sushi roll away from heaven! This authentic Japanese cuisine uses organic poultry and meat, is all gluten, wheat AND dairy free and uses unrefined sugars! No more yucky Teriyaki sauces with brown sugar and cheap soy sauce! I will be making several appearances at this place in the coming weeks!

Girl Next Door x

Wheat intolerances are the new black!

‘I swear everytime I have bread I feel so gross after it and so bloated! I think I’m going to stop having it purely coz it makes me feel so bad.’
This is something that I have heard a lot lately. I just walked past one of the offices in my building and one of the Cleo girls was screaming it down the hall way. Friends of mine are feeling crap because they’ve had a sandwich for lunch. But why do you suppose this is?

I am one person who has completely cut white and brown breads (plain flour and wholemeal flour) out of my diet. In other words I am allergic to wheat. Not allergic as in break-out in hives and my throat closes up, but allergic as in everytime I eat a wheat-touched product my face bloats up, my tummy bloats up and I just feel generally yucky. As women we all know that’s something that we’d rather avoid.

So how did I first come to terms with the no-wheat policy? I mean, I was addicted. I ate cereal for brekkie, wraps for lunch and pasta and bread for dinner. Not to mention the occasional sweet, ie cake, biscuits, etc. luckily when I found out I was allergic to wheat I had already started to wean myself off the stuff as it was making me feel so gross. After I knew what the problem was I set out to make my life a better one - minus the wheat. Although I’m not Celiac* I am borderline so it’s important I stay away from wheat as much as I can. I still have the odd bit of wheat here and there but only bite sized portions, as now that I have stopped having it, it’s even harder for me to have it again (if that makes sense).

As hard as it may seem to some of you to stay away from wheat it’s not hard at all! There are so many different options these days it’s almost better being allergic as I have so much more to choose from. There are heaps of other breads I can have if I really want as well. Like rice bread! As for the other cravings, i.e cake cravings there are so many places that sell gluten-free options I can have my cake and it too!
Marco Wholefoods Supermarkets are popping up everywhere and provide so many options for wheat intolerances.

So next time you have a sandwich or a wrap and you feel really gross after it, then I’d suggest heading down to your local Macro or health food shop and checking out the other options they have available.
You’ll feel better for it in the end and if you have break out problems on your face it could fix them up!

If you think you or someone else might be Celiac then consult your doctor. If you are Celiac then head to this site, celiac.com they have all different kinds of gluten-free foods and you can buy them online!

Girl Next Door xxx

*Celiac is a disease that affects many people, basically you can’t have ANY wheat products at all. Ever. Generally if one member in your family suffers from this disease then other members of your family will be more to likely to as well.

Teens and their vocab

We all know teens have their own way of speaking. The Teen Language, their Lingo, they use to communicate and keep adults out of the loop. Being 22 and having worked on a teen mag for nearly 4 years I’ve got the DL, I know my OMG’s from my TDF’s and I know when ATM should be used. I also know when to LOL.

But not all the latest ‘teen speak’ is classy. As I have a sister who is 15 and she has friend’s who are around the same age I tend to be ‘friends’ with a lot of them on myspace (apparently this generation haven’t ‘discovered’ facebook yet).
Keeping in mind a lot of my readers are teens I’m going to try and keep this as short and sweet as I can.

The thing I don’t understand is why this generation of teens think it’s cool to swear on the 'net. I mean, I have to take my hat off to anyone who uses a swear word from time to time. After all they are damn satisfying words (specially when you stub your toe, get a parking fine or find out your boyfriend’s been cheating on you) but when you’re on myspace posting bulletins and comments with the subject line as ‘f@#$ this’ and ‘f#@$#$@ c#$% that’ it gets really….. what’s the word I’m looking for here......un-classy? Rude? Really inappropriate?

Now don’t get me wrong I am no prude (as my boyfriend and friends close to me can assure you) but I just think that every time I log into my myspace page and I see these stupid bulletins with swear words typed in so bold you’d think it was going out of fashion, I kinda wanna give you all a smack on the bum. From now on when I see these bulletins I will simply delete you from my friends list. Aha that's right. Coz ATM I am not LOL and I am not a happy chappy.

Girl Next Door xx

P.S Enjoy your weekend!

Writer’s block sweeps through Hollywood

The writer’s of ALL our fave TV shows have officially gone on strike! That’s’ right, CSI, Las Vegas, Desperate Housewives, Heroes, Prison Break! You name the TV show and their writer’s have gone on strike in Hollywood.
The news has swept through Hollywood and fellow cast members who have been affected fear they will be out of a job for X amount of time.

Alot of the talk shows are based on promoting TV shows and films so they will stop as well. The Jay Leno Show for example will cease til further notice as there will be nothing for them to talk about. Our fave shows will be back next year but will just stop mid-season. For those of you who tuned into Prison Break last night (or those of you who are regular viewers) will know that the show wasn’t aired for two weeks we had to wait TWO WHOLE WEEKS to find out what happens next, that was absolute torture in itself but what if we have to wait 6 months, 8 months, 12 MONTHS to see what happens in the last couple of episodes of our other fave TV shows?
What does this mean for Australian TV? Our writer’s haven’t gone on strike does that mean we’ll be seeing 4 hours of Home and Away? 8 hours of Big Brother? They’ll have to be filling the airtime with other TV shows – won’t they? Maybe our old loved shows will be back? The O.C, The Nanny, Dawson’s Creek? Not to mention the Foxtel channels that rely heavily on the use of American TV shows to keep them going will have to resort to………(killer music cue)………Aussie soaps?!?! NOOOOOOOoooooooooo!

There is no set date on when this feud will end or be sorted out but the bulk of the problem is that the writer’s want more mula! They are sick of taking a back seat when the actors get all the fame and fortune. But really where would be without the writer’s of our fave TV shows? I for one know that I would be forever reading books to get that same high I get from watching my fave show. It’s like a drug addiction. But would it be the same, the same as seeing the cast members looking glam or not so glam in all their hotness and hot clothes? No way! Bring back the writer’s!!!!!!


What shows would you like to see be brought back in the writer’s strike?

Girl Next Door xx

Extra - The good stuff!

Ever had one of those mornings where you wake up and feel like you've forgotten something?
I had one of those this morning. I walked out of the house quite impressed with my new outfit and fresh spray tan when I suddenly realised, that I had forgotten to brush my teeth!
This usually is the one thing I NEVER forget. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I usually have my breakfast at home and today I decided to have my breakfast at work?
Maybe it’s coz it’s a yucky day today? Whatever the reason I still can’t believe it! And all I can say is Thank God for Extra!

Girl Next Door xx

Oops, they did it again!

You know how I was having a go at the really bad service I got at Sportsgirl a couple of weeks ago?
Well, it turns out that the shoes I bought have broken. Yes that's right the $99 I spent on my flat silver shoes with the major bling have fallen apart. One of the blings has fallen off! I can't...well actually I can believe it and I am going to walk in there at lunchtime and demand an exchange! And if I don't get it...let’s just say you'll be hearing about it. Let's just say NW (the biggest gossip mag in my building) will be hearing about it.

It's not that I don’t like Sportsgirl, but from the bad service to the brakeage of the merchandise I am so not impressed!

Why do these chain stores continue to put their prices up when their product is so crap! Everyone is wearing it and it’s not even good quality!
The funny thing is I keep going back for more. I keep going to spend my hard earned cashola on the stuff.

Can someone please explain to me why and how we keep paying these prices for such bad quality product? I saw a dress in Sportsgirl the other day for $300! $300! And then I saw two people in the street wearing it and it wasn’t even a nice/hot dress!

Leave me your thoughts….please!

Girl Next Door x

New Hosts of Big Brother 2008....

It's time to go.... Gretel Killeen and time to welcome in Big Brother 2008 and its fresh new hosts…...Kyle and Jackie O!

That's right, the duo of my fave Sydney (2DayFM) radio show have just signed onto Channel Ten's biggest reality TV show. They’ll be giving the series a fresh and new take, Jackie O says, "There will be alot of changes especially in the contestants", sounds very exciting and I for one will be watching it just to get a taste of what the pair will be like together on the Queensland stage.

There’s still a lot of speculation as to whether or not Gretel resigned or was booted from the network.

A big congratulations to Kyle and Jackie, both doing so well at the moment, they just keep getting bigger and bigger.

Girl Next Door xx

Fashion news straight from the world of the fashionista’s themselves!

That’s right guys today we have a special guest on Thoughts. Meet Miss Phoebe Rathmell, Junior Fashion Editor of Girlfriend Magazine (pictured right) and (I’m not going to lie to you) just happened to be my gorgeous bestie.

I know I don’t have much on here about fashion so I have called in the help of Phoebe (coz she is an absolute expert) to keep you guys (my gorgeous readers who I want to be up-to-date as much as possible) on the latest fashions this week.
Take it away Phoebe!


“Trends I'm loving this second...
Experimental nail polish, different shade a day (fluro, white, black etc)
Hair accessories... turbans, scarves, bling clips, trilbies
Sunnies from 60s, 70s, 80s
High waisted anything (I'm still so obsessed)

Trends I’m SO over…
Fluro
Big loud slogan tees (aghhhhh)
Coloured tights (only coz I can't pull them off)
Baby doll dresses (excuse me but is half the female population pregnant, cause they look it!)”

And I second all of that!
Thanks Miss Phoebe!
Have a beautiful weekend!
Girl Next Door xx

Macro hits the shores of Sydney’s Northern Beaches

I have been waiting for this moment for quite some time now. Macro the wholefoods specialises in every kind of organic product possible. If it’s quality you’re after, then this is the place to do your shopping. Fresh produce and products are slightly more exxy than your average Coles/Woolies but if you have the mula then go for it. If you don’t (I’ll put my hand up and admit that I don’t) then you should just try and get half-half. Get the produce like all meat, all poultry and beauty products from Macro, for quality.

For fresh produce get half at Macro, you want to get your fruits and vegies that grow above the ground (these ones will be more susceptible to being full off pesticides and chemicals), for example; apples, pears, strawberries, tomatoes (this is major - have you seen how big our average strawberries are getting these days? It is not normal!), and things that grow under ground or have skins on them and you peel them off to eat them) you should buy at your local green grocer’s. For example; carrots, beetroot, pumpkin, sweet potato, etc. Mark my words you will taste the difference especially in the tomatoes.

The new Macro in Mona Vale was scheduled to open this Sunday but it turns out they will be opening on Tuesday of next week (30th of October, ‘07).

Still not convinced this place is the bomb? To promote the store opening they will be having a lot of ‘in-store product testing’. Good enough for me! Also you have to try the organic popcorn (BOOST juice bars also stock this product) it comes in sea salt or if you’re in more of a sweet mood they have it with a bit of sugarcane on the top. SOOO good, just enough to get your tastebuds going! And totally healthy.

Let me know how you go!

Girl next Door xx

Today's Headlines

You know how I said to watch this spice, sorry space, for news on The Spice Girls? Well, here it is! Their first (new) single was released today and although it is a ballad and not quite what we all expected their first single (Headlines (Friendship never ends)) to be. My opinion? It is quite good. Not good as in, when you get home from work and your mum/boyfriend/significant other is cooking you your fave meal, but good as in, you’ve just found out that Britney has gone back into rehab. You’re satisfied but there’s still more to convince you it’s the best news you’ve heard all day. I think it’ll grow on us all coz come on, it is The Spice Girls we’re talking about here and these chicks don’t have comebacks tours everyday.

Speaking of The Spice Girls' comeback tour, there is still speculation as to how exactly we’re all getting tickets, but I'll keep you posted. Did I mention they are only coming to Sydney in Oz?

Anyways as soon as I find out what’s happening with it all I will let you know. In the meantime you can get addicted to their new song (fingers crossed they release a second single soon to make up for the disappointment of the first one) and keep me posted on any news you hear.


Lastly what is with this picture of Krystal from Big Bro (right) is it just me, or does she look waaayyy too plastic? It looks like she’s had work done on her entire face!! This is what happens when you become famous people, you morph into some strange creature that resembles E.T. Also just to clarify this chick is just 19 years old. 19!!!!!!!

Til next time,

Girl Next Door x

P.S I just checked The Spice Girls website and it seems you can buy tickets online now! that's right! The U.S.A's are on sale now and you can get them by clicking here. As for Oz watch this spice, I mean space!

Are you a health freak like moi?

As you know I am a little intolerant, allergic, whatever you want to call it to a lot of different foods. If you've forgotten or you’re a first time reader of thoughts I'll refresh your memory; wheat, gluten (found in wheat but when something says ‘gluten free’ it’s not always wheat free FYI), cocoa, soy, yellow food colouring (#102) and honey just to name a few.
Well didn’t I think my Christmases had all come at once when I discovered this little show? The Gluten Free & Allergy Show is being held on November 17th and 18th at Sydney Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour. I’ll see you there!
And for all you obsessive health freak foodies out there Kings Cross now holds their Organic Food & Farmers Markets every Saturday! Head on down to Fitzroy Gardens on Macleay Street for fresh, organic fruit, veg, poultry and much more. Don’t worry if you’ve got a hangover from Friday night, they have the best bacon and egg rolls money can buy!
Do you know of any organic markets anywhere in Sydney or Australia?
Leave me a comment and let me know which ones are your faves!

Girl Next Door xx

P.S Due to popular demand my A.K.A name is back and here to stay! Thanks for all your feedback!

That, just destroyed my buzz

It's always the way isn't?
You know, you're having a lovely morning, walking to the bus stop, the birds are chirping, the mother ducks are quacking with their long line of baby ducklings trailing behind them and the rabbits and the cockatoos are all frolicking together in the park (just in case you’re wondering if I walk through a zoo in the morning I actually live near a lake, with lots of wildlife).

It was going to be a gorgeous day and I was happily listening to Kyle & Jackie O, how I start my day most mornings. I hopped onto the bus and sat down feeling quite happy with myself that I’d scored a seat. I shifted the volume on my i-pod a little higher as the bus started to move. 5 minutes later, I was in my own world. Until the woman sitting next to me decided to start waving her hands around like there was a bomb about to explode. I turned to look at her and realised she was actually waving her hands at me. I pulled my headphones out and all she could say (well almost yell) was ‘Can you turn the volume down? They’re leaking!” Leaking?!?! What the hell is 'leaking' supposed to mean? I looked around me and saw that no, my head phones were not leaking they were merely up a little louder as I was in such a great mood, ‘was’ being the operative word here.
I grunted a ‘Sure, no worries’ to her as I sat there in absolute disgust. Was she serious? There’s a civil war happening, there’s people dying every 3 minutes of starvation and she wants me to turn my volume down?

It got me wondering, why are people on public transport so damn anal? I mean this woman obviously had a stick shoved....well she was obviously annoyed but I mean how dare she, she totally destroyed my buzz!

What if I was a tattooed up, 10 piercings on my body and black make up kinda gal, do you think she would have even thought about asking me to turn my i-pod down?
I think not.

Have you ever encountered an anal public transporter? Has someone destroyed your buzz by rudely asking you to do something that’s totally (not illegal) and in your nature to do?

Bella xx

P.S my A.K.A name, Girl Next Door will cease as of this blog. Readers of Thoughts, I'm Bella (the one who has been writing entertaining blog for you these past couple of months).

How much is that puppy in the window?

I went into a pet shop over the weekend (I was 'called in') by the cutest puppy I had ever seen. It was truly love at first sight.
When I walked in with my boyfriend and his mate they knew that there was no turning back. Standing and looking at the pup from outside the shop is one thing, but going into hold her is quite a decision. The little Pomeranian X Maltese was just a bundle of fluff waiting to be swept into a good home. I wanted so bad to just smuggle her into my bag and run out of there, Bionic Woman style. But unfortunately my current state of home isn't appropriate for a growing pup. In fact I spoke to someone the other day who had just bought a puppy with her boyfriend. They live together in a house but still it was bit of hassle having a pup there. "We want to get rid of him," she said, "I'll make sure I find him a good home but I just can't handle having a puppy right now, my boyfriend and I both work full time and we have to leave him at home all day by himself. I'd rather he be amused all day with a loving family than keeping him with us just because we 'want a puppy'. It’s just not practical right now. Just quietly it's like having a child."

So there are alot of things to take into consideration before purchasing a pet. I mean you've got to think about food, bowls, and toys. There goes all my hard earned cash, not to mention the time you have to spend in toilet training and trick training. Puppy School is a definite must as well and right now I really don't have the time to commit to that quality time. Puppies need a lot of TLC and although I would be fully prepared to give up all my spare time to nurse him into a beautiful dog it’s just not practical. My apartment being on the second floor would cause complications in toilet training her and taking her out every hour.

Oh well at least I know what puppy I want now. Pomeranian X Maltese = so cute.

Wonder if life would be easier if I could just walk into Louis Vuitton and choose the most exxy dog carrier there, Jessica Simpson style? Then I could take her everywhere with me. Work would love that!
Although when I was working at Girlfriend someone bought in their kitten and she just ran round the office all day. It was so cool.

What about you? Do you have a pet? Do you find it hard to take them for walks during the week and is general looking after quite hard?

Girl Next Door x

P.S This is my official 100th Post!
Thanks to everyone who has been reading Thoughts and all of you subscribers! Very exciting indeed!

Do you have a bestie? Do you want to star in your fave magazine?

Then you've come to the right place!

Has your friend been through something major, for example an eating disorder? A parental problem that has led them to moving out of home perhaps? Maybe they're addicted to drugs?
If you're between the age of 15-22 and you're interested (or you know someone who is) and you don't mind having your photo published in Girlfriend Magazine, then email me your name, email address and mobile number at bel.frizza@hotmail.com with Besties Story in the subject line.

Whether it happened to you yesterday, last week or last year I want to hear from you!

Thanks so much!!

Girl Next Door xx

In other celeb news...

Justin Timberlake, currently on his world tour, was performing earlier this week. Usually after Justin does a couple of songs he exits the stage for a bit of an intermission, Timbaland then gets on stage and keeps the crowd revved up while waiting for Justin’s return. During this time JT usually has just enough time to grab a drink, make a quick pit stop and then get back onto the stage. On this particular performance though JT was out for almost 45 minutes! “The fans were obviously getting annoyed” says Thoughts undercover spy, "They had no idea why he was taking so long to come back on stage".

Want to know what really happened? Apparently Justin was out in his dressing room with his latest flame Jessica Biel, let’s just say she showed him a good time for about half an hour, then once finished Justin walked out and announced to his road crew, “Well, that’s the best I’ve ever had!”
Go Jess and Justin!!

I just had to share that one!
Enjoy your weekend

Girl Next Door x

Talk of the town

Hot off the press this morning are the Madden twins Benji and Joel and their antics at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards.

Both the boys invited The Veronica's twins, Lisa and Jess to their dressing room before the show. Perhaps for a friendly chat and warm up of their voices before their performances? Maybe not. One of our spies over heard the Origliasso twins leaving their dressing room and whispering, "I can't believe he just hit on you".



As Mr Joel Madden is expecting his first child we've got our money on Benji, who was flying solo this time round to Oz. His usual accessory, ex-Bardot pop star Sophie Monk was nowhere to be seen.

Girl Next Door x

Funny coz it's true

My employer, ACP Magazines put a message of a different kind on our intranet this morning. Read about it at Sydney Morning Herald.
Pretty funny stuff. It even made it to the Nova news bulletin!

Girl next Door xx

Picky, me? Never!

Being allergic to alot of today's modern convenience foods I find it hard to eat out. Any of my friends can vouch for me being one severely picky eater.
But it's not my fault, really, I'm allergic to:
• Wheat
• Cocoa - yes cocoa!!! I am allergic to chocolate! can you believe it?
• Honey
• Soy - commonly known as 'pretty good for you' but not really. This stuff is sooo evil! Especially soy milk! Stay away! Want proof of this? Think about every time you eat sushi and you smother your roll in soy sauce. Now think about how you feel after, what do you crave? Sugar? Lollies? Chocolate perhaps? Yep, I thought so.
• Dairy
• The colour Yellow, yes no yellow jellies for moi.

As you can see it’s all about the gluten/wheat/soy free food for me. But before you get the violin out, I have to let you in on a little secret… it really isn’t that hard.
I’ll admit to you that before I found out I was allergic to everything I was a full-on wheat addict. No joke, I loved pizza, pasta, soy capps, chocolate, yellow lollies (esp. pineapples), cakes and biscuits. But I started to realise how ill I felt after I had consumed any of the above.

After having one too many soy capps one day and an innocent wrap for lunch I had hit rock bottom. I had to stop. So from that day on I cut down on all wheat, soy and chocolate and you know what? I actually felt OK, you could even go as far as saying that I felt good. I felt good about my body and who I was.

Then I discovered some cool places that I could go to eat where I could actually eat the food. I didn’t have to sit there anymore and watch my friends gorge themselves on food I couldn’t eat. Want to know what these places are? OK:

1. My local sushi train – local to work, in HOYTS on George St is Sushi Train. Trust me you haven’t eaten sushi til you’ve tried this stuff, minus the soy sauce of course!!
2. Macro Wholefoods – supermarket yes, but a lot of these have a café attached to them. Talk about amazing! And most things are organic!
3. IKU – Another wholefoods (organic) place, but take away! Yay I can now get take away for lunch at work!

Are you a fan of healthy food chains? And I don’t mean Subway. NEWSFLASH: Subway is SO not good for you.
If you are a fan let me know what you like and don’t like and if you’re allergic to anything.

So you see I’m not really that fussy...just allergic!

Did I mention I only eat organic meat and chicken?

Girl Next Door x

P.S the latest addition to the Macro family, Macro Wholefoods @ Mona Vale will be opening Tuesday 30th of October!

Service with a smile, is it too much to ask these days?

A Sunday morning in October that isn’t so nice, my bestie and I head down to our local mall for a spot of window shopping. I was also after a pair of new flats as the pair I have been shamelessly living in for the past 3 months took a turn for the worst the other day and sliced on me (by sliced I mean totally let me down, but that’s a whole other blog).
We wound our way round the various shops, Wittner, Target, Cue, Diva, Equip and Sportsgirl. Having previously worked at Sportsgirl I feel a certain love for many things there – a closeness to the product that gets me into a bit of trouble with my savings card. Sportsgirl’s latest offering ‘FROCKTOBER’ is a collection that speaks for itself and definitely sells itself without a second glance. The only thing I think needs a bit of a kick-up-the-butt (so to speak) is their current staff quota.



My bestie and I did a loop of the store, ‘cute’, ‘nah’, ‘whatever’, ‘yep’ and ‘I am obsessed’ are the phrases we use to assess each item. After pretty much ‘whatever-ing’ through most of the store (mostly coz of the price, one dress was $299 – hello, no one told me that money grows on trees these days, and let’s face it, Sportsgirl is not Bettina Liano!) we got to the accessories wall. A gorgeous pair of flats caught my eye; sliver with some major bling on the toes. I was in love! ‘OMG I have to try these on I am obsessed!!’ I look around to ask someone for a size, looking, looking – I catch a girl’s eye who I assume is working there (as she is standing in the change rooms taking clothes from the two exiting people – the only two people in the change rooms). ‘Umm excuse me’, I ask ‘can I grab these in a 7’. ‘Sure’ she replies minus the fake smile, actually minus any personality at all.

The girl comes back over with a shoebox in her hand and drops it at my feet.
I open the box to get the shoes out and by this time I am astonished at the lack of help this girl has given me. The shoes are all wrapped up in white tissue paper and haven’t been touched before…OK last time I checked, it’s your job when working in retail to take the shoes out of the box for the customer and unwrap them, then give to them to the customer to try on.
After trying on the flats and deciding they were the wrong size I looked up again to see if I could catch someone else’s eye to get another size, (the original girl was no where to be seen). Do you think there was anyone around at all? No. Apart from one girl at the register who clearly was not serving anyone. ‘Where is everyone who works here?’ I asked my bestie with extra loudness to make sure the girl at the register heard me. Finally, the original girl who was in the change rooms flutters out of nowhere and I have to ask her for another size. That’s right she didn’t even ask ‘How did the 7’s go’ or anything!

Not to bitch about Sportsgirl coz I love the place. Seriously. I am obsessed! But when they have girls like this working there on the weekend (which is the most busy and crucial time for chicks with their plastic cards) it really puts the product down in a bad way. Let’s just say I won’t be running back to that Sportsgirl store any time soon. Call me old-fashioned but when I’m shopping I want service with a smile as much as I want to purchase the item, coz for me it comes hand in hand. What about you? Does service affect what you buy? I’d love to know if it’s all just me.

Girl Next Door xx

The Spirit of Breast Cancer

October, National Breast Cancer month. Pink hair dryers, pink straightening irons, pink chocolate, pink biscuits, pink clothes, pink shoes and now... just when you thought they couldn't possibly make ANYTHING else pink, we bring you.. the pink airplane. Well I did search high and low for a pic for you but unfortunately was unsuccessful. Just so you know there is one out there, so when you see a pink object flying over you on the weekend, that's what it is...just flying domestically.

I have to say I am loving the spirit of us Aussies, getting behind every aspect of the breast cancer campaign. Only thing that kind of annoys me is that there are ALOT more cancers out there, apart from breast cancer. We're not as well educated about them as breast cancer which is a bit sad. While breast cancer affects alot of Australian and worldwide families and is responsible for 2,600 deaths every year (in Oz) there are also alot of other cancers that are responsible for affecting our loved ones. For example, bone cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer, throat cancer, lung cancer, etc. I'm not going to go into every single one right now but I think we must also spare a thought for those who are suffering any kind of cancer at all.

In the spirit of breast cancer month (October) which is now, why not invite your girlie pals over for a Pink Party and raise some much needed funds for a much needed cause. You can head down to your local Michel's Patisserie and purchase as many pink frosted cupcakes as you like, (and let me tell you they are yummy) coz I may have tried one or three - haha! They also have the cutest frosted pink ribbon on them (which is also extra tasty!)! Then you can head down to your local bottle-O and grab a couple of bottles of Pink champagne. When your down there (and while you're in the pink mood) why not pick up a new Bopo card (the new VISA for kids who want to have a credit card without having to mortgage your myspace profile for one), they come in pink too (pictured) head to for more details.


Please note: I do not work in advertising....just the creative department for advertising.

Enjoy the sunshine this weekend!

Girl Next Door xx

Big Day Out 2008 it's on its way

You know what my fave time of year is? Even more so than Christmas? Big Day out!!!!

Those of your who don't know me, BDO is something I start counting down the days from about now. Months of prep go into my outfit, how I'm getting there, who I'm going with. It's all quite an event for me and those around me. Just ask my boyfriend who has to deal with me jumping up and down during the last 2 weeks of counting down each morning when I get up.



Tickets go on sale October 10th, but if you're planning on getting some if you're not online by 9.30am I'd kiss your tickets goodbye as these days concerts and festivals sell out in a matter of minutes! It's actually quite ridiculous! Last year I didn't get a ticket to BDO. But you know where there's a will, there's a way and I ended up getting 2; one for my boy and one for me!

Wanna know the line up for this year? Rage Against The Machine (I'm not exactly sure who they are but my boyfriend assures me they're the best thing since Cold Chisel), Bjork will also be making her first appearance since 1994, one of the original brat packers, Grinspoon is back as hot as ever, Phil fresh out of rehab and looking pretty damn good. Then there's your standard Hilltop Hoods, Paul Kelly, Sarah Blasko, Faker, Midnight Juggernauts and Something With Numbers. More acts to come so watch this space! Are you keen yet? I am!! I so hope I get a ticket!!!

Peace out,

Girl Next Door xx

P.S Big Day Out is MA15+ only

The Glorious Grand Final

Just in case you didn't know...the NRL grand final is on this Sunday! And coz I live in The Northern Beaches and most days of the week I go for a morning jog, I like to pick up the paper on my way back into my apartment.

The Manly Daily has managed to have something everyday, that's right everyday this week featured on The Sea Eagles or should I say The Mighty Sea Eagles. Now, don't get me wrong I am totally getting into the spirit of grand finals but everyday, come on, it gets a bit overkill. So when I picked up the paper this morning and made my morning smoothie, flipped to the front page and saw that fine specimen of a man, Brett Stewart looking back at me (for the 5th time this week) I couldn't help but feel a little over it. Then I turned to page two. More footy supporters. Page 3, more footy. Page 4, more supporters this time Sarah Murdoch. WHOA! Hold it, Sarah Murdoch? The face of Bonds is wearing the maroon and white colours that I have been staring at for the past 3 minutes. This got me thinking, if Sarah Murdoch is getting into the whole mighty footy thing then why can't I?

When I spoke to my boyfriend about 15 minutes ago and he told me he'd bought a maroon ribbon to hang off his car (you know in the whole spirit of things) it made me realise that getting into the spirit of things is actually kinda fun. And you know what? Now that I think about it I am so looking forward to watching the grand final in the atmosphere of it all. But I guess I should put it out there that at this point in time The Sea Eagles are on $2.50 to win and The Melbourne Storms are on $1.50..

GO THE MIGHTY SEA EAGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you think I'm being a little overkill?

Have a great long weekend!

Love Girl Next Door xx

The Right Decision

How long it has been since I have checked with you! So sorry my dumplings!
And can you believe the long weekend is nearing us again?

What are you guys getting up to for the long weekend? Anything exciting? I am just so happy coz I am getting my hair done! It has been such a long time since I have got the colour retouched. It's just these days it's so hard for me to save extra cash to try and go. It just ends up being at the bottom of my to-do list. So because I haven't been for so long - I am torn! Brunette or blonde? Short or long? Foils or a tint? A head massage or the chair massage? Seriously how is a girl supposed to decide when there are all these options? And I'm the kind of person who is really hard at making decisions! For example when my boyfriend takes me out for dinner and I'm trying to decide between the chicken and the fish I have to go over in my mind the pros and the cons of why I would want either one (does anyone else do this?!?!) and then once I have decided, the waitress has typed my order into her electronic notepad which no doubt goes straight to the cooks electronic screen, I decide that I've made The Wrong Decision.

So I think I may need your help in deciding exactly what I will do with my hair to make sure I am making The Right Decision.

Have a look at these pics and let me know what you think - I'll need to know by tomorrow afternoon please!

Thanks y'all,

Girl Next Door xx

Missing Maddie - where is this bundle of joy?

Thanks for your comments. I Thought I'd push a few buttons with my 'I (don't) heart America' post. Good to hear you still love me though ; )

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on the toddler, Maddie going missing from her family holiday in Portugal? If you weren't tuned into The Kyle & Jackie-O show thismorning then you missed some interesting info.
Good friend of Kyle & Jackie, John Ryan used his lie detecting machine to read Maddie's mother and father. To determine whether or not they are being deceptive in their interviews. John came to the conclusion that Maddie's mother was being slightly deceptive in the way she was speaking but he thinks this deception is some how not related to the kidnapping of their daughter on May 3rd, 2007.

Kyle and Jackie then spoke with 'Irene' a well known Psychic who gave her thoughts on Maddie's whereabouts. "I feel Maddie was alive for 101 days," she says "The time after that she was not. I also feel there is another body near hers." As for Maddie's mother, Irene's chilling views re-enforce what John assumed after the voice-reading. "I feel she knows something, but is not speaking up. She definitely has something to hide but it may not have anything to do with Maddie's kidnapping".

I'm sure we'll hear alot more about this story in the coming days. I'll definitely keep you posted! In the meantime let me know what you think? Are Maddie's parents the masterminds behind her kidnapping? Are they hiding information they know about the kidnappers in order to protect their own lives? Or are they just sick and tired of worrying about where their daughter is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the last 4 months....

Girl Next Door xx

I (don't) heart America

Is anyone else over America Ferrera?
Her TV show Ugly Betty has been a total flop with my friends and considering most of my friends are in the mag industry, isn't that saying something?

We all LOVED The Devil Wears Prada with a capital L! We could all watch it til the cows come home. But the minute Ugly Betty came into our Sunday night viewing pleasure...well I guess you can put two and two together and see that it wasn't exact pleasure that took place when we watched the first episode.

The Ugly is the new Beautiful slogan that has been plastered into everyone's mind and don't get me wrong I FULLY agree and support it, but the show is just a bit too sad and trys waaay too hard to be Devil when it just ain't....show of hands to who agrees?

Glad I got that off my chest!

Girl next Door x

P.S Tomorrow I'll answer one of your many questinos to me. Keep them coming through!

Sex and the City Movie...

Now that I have your attention. The Sex and the City movie has already had so much exciting press, but the real excitedment can start for real now as they start shooting next week! WHOOOOOOOO!!! Those 4 girls wiull be back soon to give us the installments we've been waiting and praying for!
Watch this space for spoiler alerts!!

Girl Next Door x

Words of hope from someone who had lost everything

"When you are someone like me you realise that life is everything and you grab it with both hands and embrace it.

If there is something that you feel needs to be done, go and do it, and do it wholeheartedly because life is short.

People ask me how I can still be so happy with all this on my plate. But I have lived my life as a spark. I don't want to live a life where I am living until I am 100 and just flat boring.

I have always lived my life with compassion and passion. I have never been one to keep my silence about anything I have felt passionate about. ''

Melanoma is no joke. And I will keep championing this cause till the day I take my last breath."
The words of a girl who's life was destroyed at such a young age. You're probably heard by now that Clare Oliver passed away yesterday morning 4 years into her battle with cancer.

Someone who lived everyday like it was her last, she really had no choice. This gorgeous girl who had just finished her communications degree and had been just 3 weeks into her job at SBS. My heart goes out to her family and friends who have had to be living everyday in hell. Watching her slowly fade away.

And all because of those death machines they call 'solarium's'. I know SO many people who can't go two weeks without getting in touch with their bohemian side and hitting up the local tanning salon.

I really hope everyone learns from Clare's mistake and counts their days as a trophy. Solarium's should be burn't at the stake. Literally.

Take care all and remember to slip, slop, slap. Even when the sun isn't that hot you can still get burn't.

Gilr Next Door xx

P.S If you do have to be tanned (and let's face it we all love to look brown) then invest in a good faux tan. Something that's organic preferably and not going to be saoking into your skin with deadly chemicals. Basically if you can't eat what you're putting on your skin, then it ain't good for you. Spray tans better than baking in the sun too, but kept to a minimum, as they are generally very chemical based.

Can they really come back into our lives?

You know who I'm talking about. All those bands/singers who are suddenly making their 'comebacks'. Who do they think they are floating in and out of our lives quicker than Mark Holden can pull out a Touchdown?

"Backstreet's Back, Wanna Be, Baby One More Time, Oops I did it again, Say you'll be there." You must all recognise at least one of these songs? Sung to it, danced to it (you were too young to hit the town with your friends), so you just danced in your room with your hair brush bopping to the beats.... What, didn't everyone do that?

But what can these comebacks really offer to us? Us the listener, the people who buy their records and concert tickets?

Let's focus on The Spice Girls. They have announced their world tour starting at the end of the year (for tickets log onto ) and have assured us that it will be a night to remember for all, "We can't reveal too much, but we can say that it is going to be amazing!! We are so excited and can't wait to see you all." Their latest album Spice Girls: Greatest Hits is sure to hit the big time once again - but do you really think they deserve it?
The money, the fame - all over again?

Before you make that decision consider this. Growing up in a world without music, without platform shoes and without girl power.

The bitchiness, the fights, the fact that every time you got together with a group of friends you fought over which one of you was Baby Spice. What about when your world stopped just coz Geri Halliwell had announced her resignation from The Spice Girls?

Does it all remain a place to be reckoned with in your heart?
I mean think about what we would have stuck to the insides of our high school lockers if The Spice Girls weren't there to guide us through those dark days?

I know where my heart has lied for the past 10 years. And yes, they did leave us for a while, but the main thing is they did Wanna Be apart of our lives after all and now they're back Baby, One More Time.

Girl Next Door xx

Spread the Love, not War.....

My darling bloggettes,
Please don't post horrible things on my blog. If you don't like something then this is not somewhere to vent horrible things about other people. If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say it at all. I am here to help you out, but please respect me and others.

I'm all for love and hugs all round though. So keep all those coming through ; )
Virtual hugs and kisses for all.

Girl Next Door xxx

You heard it here first!

Congrats goes out to Gemma Crisp. One of my fellow Girlfrienders many moons ago. Gemma left Girlfriend where she was Beauty Editor and Features Editor. And has now been apoointed as Editor of Dolly Magazine.
Congrats Gemma, you really deserve it!

Enjoy your long weekend all!

Girl Next Door xx

The 411 on friends - Can you really hang out with a different group? Hint: Yes you can!

Dear Girl Next Door,
I have a main group of besties but then there's this girl Maddy, who I used to be besties with. Today my friends & I were at a netball game together and I started chatting to Maddy again for the first time in almost a year. She understood me so much more that my other friends. My current group of friends don’t like her though and I’m scared that they'll think I’m weird if I hang out with her. I want to but I don’t want my friends to be angry at me?
Georgie, 15

Well Georgie, friends of mine get upset with me if I even think about going out with anyone else on the weekend! No joke they’ll be pissed at me for the next week, if I mention I want to catch up with someone else! It really annoys me when I choose to do something else, or hang out with some of my other friends on the weekend, that they just can’t handle it. They get all protective of me thinking that I’m going to like them less or become ‘better’ friends with this other group. Most days when I get this annoyed I find myself thinking, Why is it such a crime to want to do what I want to do?
Same goes for you and Maddy – if you get along with her and like spending time with her – then go for it! No one can tell you what to do with your time or tell you who you can and can’t be friends with. If your friends have a problem with that send them my way!

Til next time,

Girl next Door xx

P.S Don’t forget you can email me with your probs!

P.P.S Thanks ACP Magazines for the pic!

One last thing before I leave you this weekend...

It's ONE SLEEP til SPRING!!!!!
WHHOOOO!!!!!

Girl Next Door xx

Myspace who? (Don't worry this is not another typical myspace/facebook post!)

Thanks so much for all your emails/comments I'll be featuring one of your probs and answer each week so stay tuned to see if yours makes the cut!

I'll let you in on a little secret...I used to hate Myspace. Absolutely detest it! I was so against it and wanted ntohing to do with it! Then one day my boyfriend came home and told me he'd set up his own Myspace! I was so jealous! I mean, he was getting access to networking with friends and he didn't even have to leave the house! He had something to keep him amused for those last 15 minutes on a Friday afternoon when you're so excited for the weekend all you think about is speaking to your friends to get G-ed up for it!

So, of course I had to be apart of this. I logged onto Myspace and typed in my name, my very unique name which turned to be already a member?!?! To this day I don't know how this happened but it obviously was my fate. So I joined up added some friends, had some friends add me. Everyday was like a contest how many people could I get to comment on my page? How many friends did I have? How many celebs. How many of my friends were online when I was? It was hard to keep up!

I was addicted. Logging on as soon as I dropped my bag down in the morning til it was time to leave at night. There was no denying it, Myspace was officially apart of my life.

Then one day I logged onto Myspace and I noticed that no one was online. Not a soul. Out of my whole 74 friends. No one was to be seen. It was like standing in the desert of the internet without a paddle.

I had no idea what to think. I got out my phone and rang my bestie, "Why aren't you online, I commented you ages ago?", "Bella, I'm on facebook - you should get it, it's the new Myspace!"
The new Myspace? But I'd just given into the craze and was well and truly addicted. Was it time to go Cold Turkey? Was it time to move onto Facebook, the new and improved way of networking?

Well, I wouldn't know. There's no way I'm giving into another networking/internet craze again. Ever. I'm too busy writing to people on Myspace about my blog!

Have a fab weekend!

Girl Next Door xx

P.S How HOT is my page (designed my by gorgeous boy!)