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