OK so I am officially starting to vlog. The concept terrifies me as I hate my voice on camera and I get all self conscious and stuff. But everyone else is doing it so I figured I’d give it a shot. I don’t know what else I’ll do apart from “Cara Rage” but I’m sure it will be pretty special ;)
Let me know what you think and give it the thumbs up on youtube if you’re so inclined (it will give me a HUGE boost to my confidence, I assure you).
About Ruby
My name is Cara (but you can call me Ruby) and I like the colour pink, swearing, fist shaking, daggy dancing and 90s RnB music. Often all at once. I live in Brisbane which is always warm and is famous for its zombies.
I've been listening to cheesy RnB jamz lately, like they're going out of fashion. HA! We all know that'll never happen!about 2 days agofrom webReplyRetweetFavorite
I am such a suburban cliché. Mowing the lawn and washing my car in a bikini. Whatever, prudes, it's bloody hot outside!about 3 days agofrom webReplyRetweetFavorite
What a sad day. A talented musician plagued with a deep sadness that prevented her from successfully fighting her battle with drugs and alcohol passed away at the tender age of 27. As Tammy said, “She sang the blues so well because she knew it so well”.
It saddens me that so many people think “Oh well, she was a drug addict, it’s no surprise really and I don’t feel bad for her”. In my opinion, people don’t choose to be come drug addicts, there is something inside them that makes them feel the need to kill themselves slowly with harmful substances. I’m sure she didn’t wake up one day and say “I am going to start doing drugs for a bit of a laugh so that it makes me extremely sick and ruins my career”. She was a tormented soul who couldn’t deal with the fame and the horrific paparazzi who hounded her ceaselessly. Her outlet was drinking and taking drugs and it eventually killed her.
She was so extremely talented and until the addictions ravaged her, she was a gorgeous young woman who had a bright future ahead of her. If only singing about her woes had been enough to get her through the dark times. I try not to look at the photos of her where she is emaciated and a shadow of her former self, because that was not who she was. Instead I look at her in happier times and listen to her music and think about what could have been had she had the strength to pull through.
Black Blindfold tank – By A is for Arsenic. I love sexy bondage imagery, what more can I say?
Pink Petal Zombie Unicorn dress – By hell Bunny. No shit guys, this is the dress of my dreams. I am buying it as soon as I get my tax refund and will probably wear it to death. DAMN!
Mysterious Mauve lipstick – By Dior. Maybe this makes me tacky, but I love purple lipstick but it’s always so plummy and dark. I saw this the other week and haven’t stopped thinking about it since (in other words, I’ll own it real soon).
Slytherin t-shirt – From Jay Jay’s. I am Gryffindor through and through but god I hate the colour red. I’m a bit wary of the idea of supporting Slytherins but at the same time I know they’re not all bad and in some cases can be total heroes. All of the Jay Jay’s Harry Ptter shirts are adorable, and will all probably find themselves being bought when I get paid next!
I have noticed an infuriating trend lately: inappropriate summer clothes being worn in winter. OK OK, Brisbane doesn’t exactly get to sub-zero temperatures during winter. In fact, on average we have crisp 13° which means it’s usually still quite warm in the sun. But it’s still winter, and when the seaon changes, it’s time to change with it and start wearing some season-appropriate clothing.
The main culprit? Denim hotpants. They are still being worn by so many girls and it is just not on. The other day I saw some teenagers wearing tiny denim hotpants (which I hate on principle, especially on underage kids) with jumpers and were very visibly freezing their arses off, because they were covered in goosebumps and hugging themselves in the cold wind. Girls, when it’s cold enough to put on a jumper an scarf, it’s cold enough to wear some real pants. Hot pants are to help you cool down in the heat by minimising how much skin is covered up. They are strictly a summer-only item of clothing. As I’ve already admitted, I am opposed to denim hot pants in general, I think they usually look tacky and are just fucking ugly a a whole. But I appeciate how good they must be to wear in summer whe I’m sweating half to death in my leggings/skirt combinations because I am too shy to show off much legs. But as soon as you decide to wear them out in public during the colder months, you’re basically shouting to the world “Hey, look at my nice legs, I am determined to show them off to everyone because I want attention at all times, even if it means dying of hypothermia for it”. T. A. C. K. Y. Don’t even get me started on the girls who war ugg boots with their shorts. if it’s cold enough or ugg boots, then it’s time to ditch the skimpy butt-coverings FOR GODSAKE.
Then there are those obnoxious tops that have long sleeves and random cut outs everywhere. Is anyone a bit done wth them? I am, especialy because it reminds me of the days of those dreadful one-sleeved shirts from my nightmares. Having a long sleeved top implies the wearer needs to cover up to maintain a certain level of body warmth. By removing random areas of fabric, you’re causing the long-sleeved shirt to lose effectiveness and basically render it useless. Also, what’s with the long sleeved, backless tops/body suits? What are you, a friggen ballarina? I know that’s a bit rich coming from a girl who almost exclusively wears tutu’s, but at least tutu’s serve a purpose (ie hiding my butt under layers of lovely tulle) whereas as backless body suits make your arms warm, you back cold and makes it impossible to wear a bra, which for most women is a necessity. There is no shame in wearing a long sleeved top that is whole and complete. Having random cut outs in your short-sleeved tops and body suits makes a lot of sense when the weather is hot and you need to expel as much heat as possible, but no sense at all when you’re trying to keep warm in the middle of winter.
Now this is one I’m a bit uncertain about: socks with strappy, open-toed heels. In theory it’s repulsive but when worn well it doesn’t look all that bad. But it’s a pretty hard look to get away with and most of the girls I’ve seen wearing socks and heels have gotten it completely wrong. But since I am on a roll with what not to wear in winter, I have to say that wearing airy, strappy high heels in winter is a bad idea. Adding socks to the equation is just about as bad as the hot-pants-and-ugg-boots wearers and should probably just be avoided. Let’s face it it, it’s just an updated version of one of the most elemental fashion faux pas out there and only about 2% of the people you encounter while wearing this will get that it’s a new trend and won’t snigger behind your back. If you must wear socks with heels, you’re better off going with an enclosed shoe in my opinion (the brighter the better, of course).
There’s nothing wrong with covering up a bit now and then. If you live in Australia, particularly up here in Brisbane, you don’t get a chance to wear winter fashion for long. There is no shame in wearing jackets, long pants and thick stockings for couple of months of the year. Save the tiny shorts and midriff tops for summer where they belong and embrace winter fashion while you can!
Don’t worry, all, there are a few proper posts coming very soon. But I couldn’t let this gem go unnoticed. Everything in this video is amazing, anyone who disagrees has clearly had a full frontal lobotomy.
Guess who was in the newspaper today? It’s kind of funny how, after the Brisbane Harry Potter fan club ceased to exist a few years ago, we still get contacted to do interviews and appear in the local press. This is by far the best one yet as far as circulation and the fact the journalist didn’t misquote me to make me like a total moron (as has happened a number of times in the past). On the downside, they got my surname wrong :(
You can see the online version of the article here as I haven’t had a chance to scan the actual newspaper article. Meanwhile I am off to sulk and mope about the last movie (which I have already seen twice now) and finally finish off he final book so I can sob and wallow some more!
Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you’re bound to be aware that the final Harry Potter movie is coming out this week. If you also happen to read my blog regularly, then you may have noticed I have been MIA lately. These things are not just coincidence, I have been spending much of my spare time these last couple of weeks re-reading all seven books and re-watching the seven movies. Yes, I am a MASSIVE Harry Potter fan and I am not ashamed to admit it. I became a fan of the books back in 2000 after my mum bought the first three books (the fourth book, Goblet of Fire had only just come out at this stage) and spent the next two weeks gushing over them and begging me to read them. I figured it was some dumb fad and wouldn’t give in at first, but my mum was extremely persistent and so I decided to finally give them a go. And the rest, as they say, is history. I was obsessed almost immediately and devoured those books in no time. Shortly after I finished the fourth book, there was news that they were making the Philosopher’s Stone into a film. So for the next year I obsessed over these beloved books, and eagerly awaited the first film. I must have spent thousands on Harry Potter merchandise, in fact when I look back through photos at that time, I barely wore anything but my Harry Potter shirts. I bought ridiculous amount of collectibles off ebay and generally spent any time not at uni, obsessing over Harry and his magical world.
During my second year of Uni, I decided to start a Harry Potter fan club. I’d gotten inspiration from a local school that held weekly fan club meetings in the library and wanted something for adults to take part in, since I often got comments from other fans on my many shirts that I owned. I put up flyers around my uni and received a few emails from interested people. I even discovered a few people doing the same course as me were huge fans and quickly became good friends with them. The fan club was a pretty big deal back then, the first film had been a huge success and people were Potter mad everywhere you went. We got invited to the premiere of the second film at Movieworld and even got to meet Jason Isaacs, who plays Lucius Malfoy (he was here shooting Peter Pan at the time). I was on TV and in the paper all the time whenever a new film or book was released and lots of local book shops and libraries would get us to come act like characters and even hand out the new books. During my time living in the UK I saw the release of the Half Blood Prince (we lined up at Waterstones in Oxford Street for over 6 hours in a queue that ended up being about 10 blocks long and I’m now forever immortalised on getty images as a result) and the film release of the Goblet of Fire where I got to see all of the actors in the flesh and even got to shake the hand of Mark Williams.
And even after 11 years I am still a huge fan and find myself re-reading the books every year, I still finding them funny, sad, exciting and complete magic. I even have two Harry Potter tattoos (the dark mark and the Hogwarts crest) and still have ideas for others. I class myself as a Gryffindor and still have a rather vast collection of Harry Potter collectibles. I am a fan of the books first and foremost, but the films (even the 1st, 2nd and 4th ones which are pretty poor) hold a special place in my heart. I have gone through relentless teasing over the years for being such a big fan, and have even been called, stupid, childish, evil and a (god forbid) nerd for being so open about it. But it doesn’t matter, because I have helped so many other people discover the magic of Harry Potter over the years, and I feel that anyone who is so unwilling to give it a go is sad, boring and absolutely not worth any of my time. If you can’t give the most famous series of books a chance and feel the need to tease anyone who likes them, then I have nothing more to say to you. If however, you’re willing to give them a go, I promise you they will at the very least be a very enjoyable read. And at most they will be the greatest books you’ve ever committed yourself to and will undoubtedly become as big a fan as million of us Harry Potters geeks around the world!
So I am nervous and excited and even a little bit sad about seeing the final film at midnight tonight. While I will always love the books more than the movies, the last three films have actually been really good and this will be the end of an era for many of us. Personally it’s been eleven years but I have friends who have grown up with harry Potter since the first book came out back in 1997 so it really is a big deal to many people.So it is with pride that I will be wearing my Gryffindor uniform once again, not for the last time but at the last proper launch of something this big and official. I’ve made some terrific friends and had some incredible memories as a result of my love for Harry Potter and for that alone it has been totally worth it.
Share your Harry Potter memories or stories. I’d love to hear them!
Many apologies for the lack of updates lately. I have been ridiculously busy at work for EOFY which really took it out of me. Eight hours in front of a computer is pretty horrendous to me, since I’m usually up and down all day doing lots of different things so I kept away from my computer at home until now.
As you may have already guessed from the image, I have decided to take part in Dry July this year. It is, as described on the website “an online social community where an individual or team can sign up to the challenge of a month long sponsored abstinence from alcohol”. In other words you don’t drink any alcohol for the month of July and get people to sponsor you so that you end up raising money for cancer patients. It’s been happening since 2008 but I’ve never even considered taking part before. In fact it wasn’t until I woke up on a Friday morning feeling like complete arse because I’d had one celebratory drink with a friend who finally got a job she’d been after for months, that I decided it would be a good idea. One drink shouldn’t make you massively hungover, especially when it was cider, and one that I used to be able to drink plenty of without making myself too ill the next day to boot.
So I have set myself the challenge of not drinking for a whole month. I admit I am not a big drinker, in fact I go whole weeks without touching a drop. But I’ve also never made any effort not to drink. In fact I did once decide to lay off alcohol and treats for two weeks which I was hopeless at because I went to a Tupperware party that serves champagne cocktails and a ridiculous amount of cheese and I found I couldn not say “no” and ate and drank to my hearts content. That was the first weekend too, so I was destined to fail that time, apparently. I seem to have an inability to say no when it comes to drinking, even though I don’t do a lot of it, I can’t help but want a drink after a hard week or if I’m doing anything social. So this is going to be a massive challenge for me!
One thing I’ve found when I’ve told people I am doing Dry July is how badly they react. You would think I was giving up alcohol for a whole year, not just a month. So while I found myself having a bit of a freak out in the days leading up to this, I also realised it’s not that big a deal. It’s only alcohol, I don’t need it to live and all evidence indicates I am allergic to it in some way (or an ingredient found in most alcoholic drinks, anyway). I get the worst migraines imaginable after drinking most types of alcohol and it’s only getting worse as I get older. Alcohol also ruins the lives of many and costs a hell of a lot of money. I don’t need it and I’m a little bit ashamed of myself for worrying about not being able to have some for a mere 31 day period.
It’s only day 3 of this challenge and already I have done a lot to make the endeavour worthwhile. On the very first day I went to see Miami Horror live and while I probably would have had more fun if I’d been drinking (as I wouldn’t have been so easily distracted by all of the drunk people bumping into me all night), I still enjoyed the show and got home looking fresh-faced and filled with a nice, natural energy, as opposed to the alcohol-fueled crazy-Cara that so often pops her head out after a few too many drinks. I also spent this weekend in with my bf, cleaning the unit from top to bottom and reorganising the place so it looks twice as big as it did. I know I will save some money (from not buying alcohol as well as not having to buy so many pain killers) and since I have been on a huge diet and exercise kick lately, I will probably look and feel the best I’ve felt in years!
I’d love to get some donations, to help motivate me! All money raised goes to the Mater Adult Hospital to help cancer patients. Every little bit helps so please share the love :)
