taryn k.

taryn k.

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My name is Taryn. I'm in my twenties. I come from the land down under. I'm married. I work full time. I like pretty things. My favourite food is watermelon. I hate dancing. I like to talk. I tend to contradict myself. I hate snails. I like you for reading my blog.

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Email: here
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01 April 2012, 7:21 PM

another attempt at style while bump-ing

'Twas the first day of April today, and it was such a typical April day. Nice cool morning, perfect for snuggling up in bed with a cup of tea (and the man), lazy breakfast catching up on blogs & YouTube videos, warmed up slightly around lunch time (but not too warm) with a light sprinkling of rain, and now it's 7pm and cool enough to curl up in a fluffy, albeit short sleeved, dressing gown. Happy.

Today was my cousin's 21st birthday afternoon BBQ, so I had to dress myself and the burgeoning baby bump in something smart, but relaxed. I must admit, getting dressed in something other than sweats is getting increasingly difficult and I imagine I'll be saying goodbye to the heels soon!

Dress: Temt (XL singlet top, but I've been wearing it as a dress)

Pullover: Temt (this season)

Boots: Deena and Ozzy via Urban Outfitters

Necklace: Diva, years ago

Watch: ~~Urban Outfitters~~ Asos.com (July 2011)

Sideways Cross Bracelet & 'Love' Ring: Sportsgirl

Nails: Essie Ridge Filling Base Coat & Chi Chi Disco Diva on tips.

Bump: Grew it myself

What else can I talk about this lovely Sunday evening?

I went and saw The Hunger Games on opening night last week - I went in with no expectations and was quite happy with it. I thought the actual games themselves could've been a little more epic, but I suppose they did what they could with the PG rating. I felt that they didn't make the tributes innocent enough, if that makes sense. The careers were just a tad too hard-core. They almost made up for it at the end with Cato's desperate speech, but not quite. And I don't think they quite managed to show just how tough the games were. I didn't really feel that Katniss had that much of a rough time before the fire started, and I'm not sure they managed to properly portray Katniss's feelings towards Peeta, but ah well. That said, I think it was a very good book to movie adaptation. I'll definitely be getting it on DVD when it comes out.

I can't wait for my maternity leave to start. I'm finishing up in May, a month before my due date, so hopefully I get a couple of weeks to get organised and get a couple good sleeps in before she makes her debut. I bought some bits and pieces for my hospital bag on Saturday - fluffy socks and nursing bras - so I'm slowly getting organised. I'm on the 10 week countdown now!!

Looking forward to the short working week and the Easter weekend now - are you doing anything for the four day weekend? Not sure of my plans yet, but a couple of my close friends happen to have their birthdays this weekend, so it's not going to be all rest and relaxation I'm sure.

Happy April everyone!

Labels: Baby K, OOTD, Sportsgirl, Temt

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27 March 2012, 8:45 PM

Baby, baby, baby OH

I apologise in advance if this becomes a bit of a baby blog from here on in - the bump is getting so big now it's kinda beginning to consume my life (not that that is a bad thing). This past weekend was spent beginning to deck out the baby room, or nursery if you will, so I thought I'd show you some of the bits that I've done. I'm still working full time, so it's a bit slowly-slowly, but there's been a little bit of action.

First up, the tissue pompoms - you may notice that the look on my face is really quite ecstatic. This is mostly because I was ecstatic. I am by no means a crafty person; most things I attempt to make end up as a miserable fail, so I was so, so excited when the pompoms turned out how I wanted them. The messy bedroom is another pregnancy symptom FYI ;)

I've kept my body out of shot because I'm kind of not wearing any pants. Another pregnancy symptom.

I've made eight so far, a couple in each shade (white, pastel pink, hot pink, burgundy). I might end up doing a few in a soft grey as well since I'm planning on incorporating a little of that into the decor.

I started hanging them up yesterday, but gave up after the first four because it was quite late in the day and I was well and truly tuckered out by then. I'll resume with the rest next weekend, but you can sort of see what I'm trying to accomplish here.

If you'd like a tutorial or more information about how I did these, let me know and I'll do it when I make the grey ones. You can buy them premade on Etsy, but it's cheaper to make them and so amazingly easy. I've attached them to the ceiling with painters tape, in case you're interested, which I reccommend since it doesn't peel off the paint. The cot is a 'meat-safe' cot, which we got second hand, mainly because we have a cat and I'd rather not worry that she could jump in and smother the baby. It's not the prettiest, I know, but peace of mind isn't overrated.

Sunday was the day of my baby shower, which my lovely sister hosted at my parents house. The day went really well and I had so much fun, and man, we got spoilt!

This is how our living room floor looked after I'd finished showing everything to Joe when I got home later that evening. Guess what gender the baby is, I dares ya.

My sister also bought me this Moses basket - I believe the stand in Gertie & Me (second-hand) and the basket itself was from Big W. In case you've not heard of them, Moses baskets are used as an alternative to the traditional bassinet. I just liked the sleek-ness of the basket - I'm not really a very 'frilly' person - and I like the fact that it will be easy to move around the house.

And lastly, I also managed to make it to Ikea this weekend. We didn't end up picking up any of the items I blogged about earlier, since they were quite different in reality, but we did make sure to bring home at least one flat-pack box.

In case I haven't mentioned it before, I am really quite the man in our household and Joe is kind of the woman. No gender stereotypes here in the house of K. I generally do all the handy work and Joe generally does the dishes. And I love it that way. So here I am, not being particularly attractive, assembling the exciting flat-packed Ikea chest of drawers.

And the finished product. Yay!

I plan on doing a proper nursery tour when I'm finished, but just thought I'd give you a little update. Let me know if this is a little on the boring side and I'll try and limit the baby posts - but like I said, there's not really a lot going on in my life besides the incubation at the moment.

Labels: Baby K

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17 March 2012, 11:12 AM

Pregnancy OOTD

As you will be able to tell by looking at the photos below, I've become quite a fair bit more pregnant since you last saw me. I'm just about at the 28 week mark now, so closer to the end than not! I've managed to get away with only buying one specifically maternity clothing item so far, jeans (which I love and are incredible), everything else has either been from my closet, or just purchased oversized from more inexpensive (ie. cheap) clothing stores like Temt.

I haven't managed to take any photos of said maternity ensembles so far because I've been terribly unorganised and it seems to take me quite a fair bit longer to get ready to head out the door.

But!

Last night I decided to get myself ready well in advance, mostly because I bought new leggings and shoes yesterday and wanted to blog about them.

Just so were clear, those are not my half marathon medals hanging on the mirror. And I clearly need to clean that mirror.

Top from Dotti - couple of years ago, but similar styles still around I'm sure
Leggings from Sportsgirl - I cant link directly to them, since the Sportsgirl site is a Flash based site, but they are the Panel Ponte leggings at Sportsgirl
Shoes from Miss Shop at Myer
Watch from Urban Outfitters - appears to be discontinued
Ring from Diva - a blatant ripoff of the YSL Arty ring and I love it
Nail Polish is Essie Bahama Mama - you can't really see it, but no doubt I'll so a post on it soon because I love it so.

I was so comfy in this outfit - we were just going to a casual BBQ at a friends house so there was no need for anything particularly fancy. Or heels. I have to say these leggings are fantastic. I know they're not of the 'cheap and cheerful' variety, but they are made of nice, thick, stretchy fabric so they feel like actual pants. The dreaded bum-cheeks visible through too-thin leggings tragedy will not fall upon me whilst wearing these babies. We've all seen that, and we all know, it ain't pretty.

They also have a jodhpur feel about them, due to the panelling across the thighs and calves, which I have found quite flattering. The waistband is also nice and thick, which is great because it doesn't cut into the hips and I imagine will hold everything in on a jelly-belly (which I'm bound to have in a few months after The Child Birth). Oh, and I have cuffed them up in case you were wondering. They are full length leggings, but I thought they complemented the shoes a little better being slightly cropped.

I'm also taking myself and the baby-bump to a 21st birthday party tonight - theme is Uniforms. I cannot think of a more difficult theme for a pregant lady...besides maybe a Pimps and Hoes party. I think I'm going to end up just wearing an AFL footy jersey, my maternity jeans and hopefully some kind of heels. Man, I'm going to look swell (well, maybe swollen would be a better term).

Catch yas!

Labels: Baby K, OOTD, Sportsgirl

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03 March 2012, 3:13 PM

The Nail Files #19

The weather is finally, finally cooling off and Autumn is beginning to show it's lovely face here in Australia. It actually dropped below 40 degrees (Celsius!) last week and my overheated, incubating body was incredibly thankful for it.

I thought I'd do a quick comparison post on a few of the deeper red shades I have in my collection. Obviously these are not all particularly similar in shade, but I do feel a little bit more vampy when I wear them, so I put them in the same mood-category.

OPI Vodka & Caviar, Essie Rockstar Skinny, Essie Sole Mate, Chi Chi Blood Drops and China Glaze Drastic

I even swatched! How professional of me! Same order as above.

All of these have three coats and no top-coat. I never ever where polish without a top coat, but I thought these looked shiny enough without it, so I skipped it. These are all creme finish, with the exception of Rockstar Skinny, which has a very subtle shimmer - I'm not a fan of any kind of shimmer or pearlescent sheen, but I'm actually fine with this one.

My favourite is definitely Drastic, which is also the newest addition to my collection. I wore it for about two weeks in a row, which is very unlike me.

I feel like deep red is such a classic colour that can go with any outfit and at any time of the year - it never seems to look out of place, if fine for work, great for play and manages to look both sophisticated and fun at the same time. I'm pretty sure I have more reds than any other colour in my collection.

What's your favourite go to nail polish colour?

Labels: Chi Chi, China Glaze, Essie, Nail Polish, OPI

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12 February 2012, 4:28 PM

Scandalous Hair Care Review/Whinge

A couple posts ago I mentioned I had been doing a lot of online shopping at a particular online store I had only recently discovered - at the time I had made several purchases, but I don't think I had received any of my packages so I didn't elaborate in case it wasn't worth mentioning. Well, they've been rolling in over the past couple of weeks and I have been able to use some of the items in said packages, so a bit of a review is in order.

The site is Ozsale.com.au (invite link, hope you don't mind), an online shopping club that hosts sales for all kinds of brands, both international and Australian based. You can find products for up to 75% off, as well as enjoy free shipping on selected sales. Categories include women's, men's and children's fashion; beauty, haircare, nailcare and fragrance; wine; home decor and kitchenware; children's toys and DVDS; manchester and many, many more. I've purchased goods from quite a few of these different categories and haven't been let down yet - fingers crossed I haven't spoken to soon, I have a couple of packages on the way. Sales generally last a few days and there are MANY going on a once - one frustrating feature I found is that since each sale is essentially run by an independent brand, you can't put products in your shopping cart from more than one sale at a time. This is the site's main downfall - you can't share shipping between sales. However, I have found shipping fees to be reasonable for the purchases I've made, so it's not too bad. Another shipping drawback is that you have to wait for each sale to end before they send your package. Wait times can be a few weeks, so I wouldn't recommend purchasing anything you want in a great hurry. That said, some sales ship out super quickly, I've had both long waiting times and short waiting times. Bit of a luck of the draw.

It also needs to be mentioned that this is an Australian site, so delivery is only domestic. However, there are ozsale cousins in New Zealand and some South East Asian countries as well if you want to check those out :)

After that long winded intro...onto the hauling/review.

The first major purchase I made was Scandalous Haircare, which I understand is a diffusion line by UK brand James Brown. I went a bit crazy since everything I purchased was only $4.95. Yes. That's right. Shipping was $12.50 all up, bringing the cost of each item to $7.00 delivered. I'm can't remember what the RRP was for the products, but my educated guess is well over the $10 mark.

I ordered the Big and Beautiful Volumising Shampoo & Conditioner, the Intensively Glossy Rescue Treatment, the Red Alert Heat Protection Spray, the Luminous Shine Finishing Spray and the Fabulously Flirty Dry Shampoo.

I will preface by saying I will not be repurchasing the shampoo, conditioner or the treatment. The other products are also doubtful.

In my opinion, the best thing about these products is the scent. I love it. I'm terrible at recognising and describing scents, but I'm gonna go with vanilla and something else (sorry) and it is absolutely divine. I would probably buy a perfume of this scent. If I had a decent sized tub, I would bathe in this scent. If I ever find a candle in this scent, I WILL BUY IT. You get the picture.

Now, the shampoo and conditioner do volumise as promised. I've been quite happy with the texture of my generally fine hair since I began using them about three weeks ago. They have definitely added that necessary bit of oompf needed to use a sea-salt spray and scrunch to create beachy waves. The problem I have is not with that at all. The problem I have is that the products are packed with glitter.

I will illustrate.

Sorry if that looks a bit dodgy.

But can you see the glitter? While most of the hair products I've used in the past do have a certain sheen to them, this is entirely different. After I got out of the shower I noticed there was glitter literally all over me. At first I couldn't work out what it was, but after another wash or two, it dawned on me. I thought that perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing - surely it could only mean my hair would look more shiny. This was until my mum was cutting my hair one day and asked me if I had sprayed glitter onto my head. And face. The answer was no, I am not in the habit of spraying glitter on my face/head. The glossing treatment also has this same problem. Obviously, rather than attempting to give the hair actual shine, to actually nourish the hair, the makers of this product decided they would just have us dump glitter on our heads. Ah well. I will continue to use these products up and therefore continue to look like a giant glitterball for another week or so. Then I'll have to find something new I suppose. Or it'll be back to the trusty Tresemme.

The other three products don't seem to have the same glitter-problem. I haven't actually had a chance to develop an opinion on the dry shampoo yet as I've been trying to use up my current can first (Tresemme again, if you're interested). The finishing spray is okay, a little on the glittery side (although not too bad) and it does tend to leave my hair slightly greasier than usual the following day (which I suppose is to be expected). I haven't really got an opinion about the heat protectant spray either - it seems to be an average heat protectant, nothing fancy, nothing rubbish. I do ofter wonder if heat protectants even actually do anything, but I like to think I'm being a good girl (halo and all) by using one, so will continue to do so.

So that's me for today. Sorry this was so long winded. Congratulations if you read this entire post. Feel free to eat a cookie in celebration.

PS. This is in no way a sponsored post. After re-reading I feel like it kind of sounds like one, so I just wanted to clear that up. If you click the invite link up above however, my account will be credited a $10 voucher when you make your first purchase. Anyone can use these links and invites, so feel free to pay it forward so to speak ;)

PPS. My apologies to those of you that enjoy looking like a glitterball. If that's your thing, all power to ya. I just can't pull it off like you can ;) You should probably buy this haircare range.

Labels: Hair, Online Shopping

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21 January 2012, 11:12 AM

Bit of nail chat, bit of interior chat

Trying the capture the sparkli-ness of Chi Chi's Disco Diva, but to no avail. Probably would help to use a real camera and not just my iPhone. You'll just have to trust me that this is the sparkliest mother I have ever seen.

It's a sparkle polish in a clear base with so awesome multicoloured glitter going on. It's also quite opaque - I did two coats to get a chock-a-block full of glitter nail. Worn as an accent over OPI's Skull and Glossbones, which is one of my absolute favourites, definitely the best from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection. I love the way it can look quite different depending on the lighting - indoors it looks a light grey, outdoors it takes on more of a beige-y tone. <3

The plan was to head out to ikea today to pick up some new organisational/storage furniture for around the house, but I've turned into a bit of a lazy bones so I don't think it's going to happen. I want to get these few bits -

Bedside table will be used as a telephone station - at the moment we've got everything piled haphazardly on our kitchen ledge and it just doesn't look pretty. Trolley will go in the main bathroom as extra storage - at the moment the cupboards are filled with out beach towels, but since that will be the baby's bathroom, we're gonna be needing some more space in there. I wish ikea would sort out their online ordering/delivery policy so you could sort it all out online rather than order it, have them ring you with a quote, pay over the phone, then get your goods. Surely if other online stores can do it, so should ikea. Wah wah.

Labels: Baby K, Blah blah blah, Chi Chi, Interiors, Nail Polish, OPI

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19 January 2012, 8:56 AM

i bought some stuff..

I'd like to start today's post with a bit of an announcement. In case you haven't worked it out yet, I'm pregnant! I'm about five months along now and yes, this is why I've been so sick and less inclined to post Outfit Of The Days. All is coming along nicely inside my ever-expanding womb, but I've not been having too much fun here on the outside. Although most of my all-day sickness has subsided in recent weeks, I'm still not feeling the best, hence the slacking in my blog posts. I'm sure you'll understand :)

Today, however, my husband managed to drag me off the couch and out to Perth for a spot of shopping. The main goal was to spend a David Jones gift voucher that was given to us as a wedding present almost two years ago. Which we did. I also managed to purchase a whole new maternity wardrobe and a few beauty products. Yay me!

I decided to film this haul rather than take a bunch of mediocre photos since I thought it would be a little more efficient. So below you will find my very first haul video. What excitement.

As promised in the video, here is a more detailed list of everything I purchased:

Charlie Brown Black Lover CB058919 (it's not faulty! found it online and it's meant to be like that!!) - $64.50 at David Jones marked down from $129 - available online
Bebe Baby Comforter - $9.95 - not available online

MAC Studio Sculpt Concealer in NW25 (I always fancied myself an NW25 girl, so I was quite pleased when that was the colour she matched me with) - $32 via David Jones RRP$36 - available online
Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Makeup in 03 Fresh Neutral - $50 - available online
The Body Shop Tea Tree Skin Clearing Cleanser - $17.95 - not available online, similar product available here
The Body Shop Tea Tree Skin Clearing Toner - $16.95 - available online
Typo Flask/Thermos - $12.95 - available online
Temt - all items $9.95 - not available online

All links are Australian where possible :) and all prices are in AUD. As stated in the video, most of this stuff was purchased using gift cards from our wedding and Christmas, so I didn't go as quite as crazy as it sounds.

I'm quite excited to try out my new "maternity wardrobe" so hopefully I remember to take some OOTD photos in the coming weeks. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I'll make sure to get back to you :)

Labels: Blah blah blah, Charlie Brown, Clinique, Fashion, Foundation, Hauls, MAC, Skin Care, Temt, The Body Shop

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14 January 2012, 2:39 PM

Brunette again...

Just a quick update since I finally remembered to take a photo of my new-old hair colour. I'll take some proper photos in the next few days, but I felt a bit silly since I was all "I'm gonna post aaall the time over the next couple of weeks" and then *silence*

About to run out and have a Saturday afternoon coffee with Joe and my friend Ruby, so all very casz. Spent the morning watching the final season of Friday Night Lights, just have a couple of episodes to go (yes, that's how awesome my Saturday night is going to be), then I'll have to find another show to move on to. Any suggestions?

Labels: Blah blah blah, Hair

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09 January 2012, 11:05 AM

Ramble

Shocking Taryn, just shocking.

I haven't blogged in almost a month and I really have no excuse, besides the regular old Christmas one, which I'm not going to use. I've actually got quite a few things to show you, since I've been doing a fair bit of online shopping (I've found a new sales website, which I'll tell you about in the next post or two), but I haven't felt the inclination to sit down and write.

Once again though, I am on annual leave from work - I know, I know, girl when are you not on annual leave?? - so as is my way, I will be blogging a bit more consistently for the next couple of weeks. Hell, you might even get a few tweets out of me ;)

The plan for today is to colour my hair. I suppose this means I'm over the ombre. I was looking through my old profile photos on facebook (how narcissistic of me) and decided that after a year and a half of having lighter hair it was time to go back to my roots, as they say. So a trip to Priceline is on the cards once I manage to drag myself out of bed. I'll be sure to take before and after shots *pinky swear* although my face has recently faced a bit of an apocalypse - ie. all hell has broken loose. You'll see what I mean.

Hmm, what else, what else?

This time last year I posted a bunch of resolutions of sorts. I just had a quick look back to see what they are and, lo and behold, I didn't accomplish any of them. I don't really have any this year. The main one I make every single year is to stop biting my nails, but since I did manage to break my habit in 2011 *cheers*, even though it wasn't an official resolution, I've got nothing.

Oh - I watched Juicystar07's "Boyfriend did my makeup" video last night. I don't generally watch her videos anymore because I don't find I ever really get anything out of them, so it was kind of a last resort, but it was hilarious. I am now inspired to get my husband to try his hand at doing my makeup, just out of curiosity. I might film it, I don't know. I'm not the most camera-friendly person, so it would probably just be awkward. He did get me a tripod for Christmas to encourage more blogging/vlogging. So that's a maybe.

Okay, that's enough rambling for one day. I guess I'd better get up and get my butt down to Priceline or I'm just going to procrastinate and I'll have another six months of caramel coloured hair.

Oh yeah! Happy new year!

Labels: Blah blah blah

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