The Weekly Lowdown

Ayeeee guys. Taking into account your feedback I'm going to do weekly wrap-ups of my life. Who knows these might be less frequent... Well to honest we both know this might happen. These wrap-ups will aim to have a bookish focus but also feature a bit of my personal life.

I'll do a monthly wrap-up with books I've read/reviewed, as well as other favourites I think but on a more higher level. These weekly posts will be where I get into some more detail - as I do best. Rambling ftw?

Since I didn't do a wrap-up for August I'll give a really brief rundown of what I did:

• I went to the Hachette YA Bloggers night hosted at the Hachette Sydney office. Debut author Sophie Hardcastle told us about her book Running Like China, which is a memoir about mental illness. We all got a copy of the book and had it signed by Sophie. Hachette also told us about their new upcoming releases (SIX OF CROWS and GLASS SWORD <3333). Then we had guest author Holly Black come out and do a talk which as fabulous. We got our books signed by Holly yay! Thanks so much Hachette for the great night + awesome goody bags. Excuse my face sorry guys.
• I finally had the time to update the walls in my room. I put up all the postcards my friends had sent me when they went on exchange or holidayed in Europe. Below these I put up a bunch of Polaroids of good times with friends. My wall is now a little less bare.
• Joy invited me to watch the movie adaption of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl which I really enjoyed... but thought ended a bit abruptly? Still a great movie though. She also gave me a copy of The Guy, the Girl, the Artist and His Ex which she got from her goody bag <3 

Now for the week!

I've gotten so much Queen of Shadows stuff in the past week or so. My hardback of QOS arrived in the mail and then my badge for the Maas Thirteen also arrived. This was a great idea on Rachel's part. Each of the Thirteen has a blog badge that Rachel made for us last year, but she made these into actual badges which Alexa sent out and it looks GREAT. Thank you lovely ladies. Then I got my TOG badges which was part of the QOS pre-order offer from Bloomsbury. I heart these badges so hard, my favourites are obviously Team Celaena and Team Chaol!

Working in the city means that I get to experience great things - one of those being one of my greatest loves - FOOD. If you follow my Instagram (@pixelski, shameless self-promotion) you'll know that I love posting pics of food (especially ice cream) almost as much as books. 

Koko Black - the Strand Arcade

I've heard people talk about this chocolate cafe for ages, and my colleagues go on about how it's even better than Lindt Cafe! They took me there one afternoon and I ordered the chocolate ice cream which was amazinggggggg. It was 2 scoops of Belgian chocolate ice cream and they also gave me hot molten chocolate on the side to pour over it. I was extremely impressed. The ice cream tasted really fresh (sometimes you get ice cream and you see the ice frozen on it which isn't as appealing) and it was so smooth! The consistency was quite thick, thicker than gelato and also didn't melt as quickly. And dayum that chocolate taste. Full on. The biscuit/wafer thing they added on top also tasted great - like caramel melted into a wafer/biscuit. Not for those without a sweet tooth though.

Sokyo Ramen Pop-up - the Star

Sokyo is a 2 hat restaurant in the Star and for a limited time, they've introduced a pop-up that sells ramen. I caught up with my high school friend Sam, yesterday and we went to give it a shot. Despite the massive line, it moved quickly and I got to admit, the ramen was totally worth the $16. I got the spicy option which was a tantan ramen (pork mince, spicy pork soup, some vegetables and slightly runny egg). The soup was quite spicy but tasted great - not too salty - and the vegetables complemented the thicker soup and spice nicely.

Outlet sale - Sheraton on Park

A workmate kindly told me about a Michael Kors/Kate Spade (and Jimmy Choo/Victoria's Secret) outlet sale that ran for like 3 days. I went after work yesterday and zomg it was packed with people. Not a fan of crowds so I was in and out of there as soon as possible. The sale was insane and I got a new MK tote, and I got my mum an MK wallet. I was so sad that most of the Kate Spade stuff had sold out :(

Cool story bro - not really

I had a lunch dilemma on Thursday after coming back from a lunch time meeting. For the first time in my life I thought I'd get a salad for lunch and be healthy. Sumo Salad were advertising their chargrilled meat + 2 salads option for $13 and I thought hey protein let's do it. BIGGEST RAGRET OF MY LIFE. The portion was insanely tiny, there were like 5 strips of chargrilled chicken in total and I ate the whole thing in like 3 bites. For $13. My stomach was still grumbling after and I ended up going to Maccas and getting a McNugget meal anyway. So I spent $20 instead of what could've been an $8 lunch if I'd just gone to Maccas in the first place. If refunds were an option, I'd have demanded one as soon as they handed me the box.

Lesson learnt: don't eat salads for lunch. They are a rip-off, don't fill you up and it don't even taste that great.

I did a little bookshelf re-organisation so I could see my Sarah J. Maas books on their own shelf!

Since I got my bonus (and pay rise woo) this week I decided to ditch the budgeting plans and go splurge on some books.

The latest volumes of Barajou no Kiss by Aya Shouoto (Kiss of the Rose Princess) came out and I just had to get as I'm collecting the series. I actually read the whole thing online so I know how the story pans out. The art is like no other and probably my favourite style. This is actually why I'll never really love a graphic novel/comic - I'm too in love with manga art style and compare them all to Aya Shouoto or Arina Tanemura's art.

I ordered this insanely beautiful edition of Peter Pan from Myer which arrived and it is SO beautiful on the inside.

From Kino I got Lair of Dreams, the sequel to The Diviners by Libba Bray. I adored The Diviners and the lush world-building. The Roaring Twenties. The luxury of the Jazz Age with flappers, speakeasies and Prohibition, Bray captured it all. I also picked up Kate Forsyth's The Beast's Garden which is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast in WWII. I love Beauty and the Beast retellings so I had to pick this one up. I read Briar Rose in Year 8 which is a similar premise and really liked that so I'm hoping this will be better. The latest volume of Saga by Fiona Staples and Brian Vaughan (volume 5) also came out and of course I needed that. I also got some of the Penguin Little Black Classics - Samuel Taylor Coleridge (another fact about me: I love Romanticism poetry) and Hans Christian Andersen.

Which is a bit weird because when I went to Dymocks I picked up the Barnes & Noble edition of Hans Christian Andersen's Classic Fairy Tales (what the shit Dymocks? I got this for $49.99 but it's $18 on B&N site). This is a new edition with the same stories inside as the purple cover edition but I love this cover so much more. Dymocks also had The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness for only $19.99. I've been wanting to get this for AGES because it's hardcover and beautiful and blue stained pages but also I've heard it's amazing. I still have no idea what it's about though.

Currently Reading: In the Afterlight (The Darkest Minds #3) by Alexandra Bracken

Recently Finished: After Daybreak (Darkness Before Dawn #3) by JA London

Listening To: Sun is Shining by Axwell & Ingrosso // Reality (and the Andromeda Remix) by Lost Frequencies feat. Janieck Devy
K-Pop: YeY by BEAST // and I've been listening to an old favourite, I Remember by Bang Yong Guk feat. Yoseob of BEAST