10 Fun Date Ideas

Hey Guys,
I thought seeing as though it's so easy to get stuck in a rut, especially with date night/day I would write up a little list of some ideas that shake things up a bit to hopefully give you some ideas!

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1. Geocaching
For those who have never heard of Geocaching, it's basically a treasure hunt that has 'caches' hidden all over the world. You buy the app and then search for the geocaches near you, and follow the map/directions to find it. The actual geocaches can be anything really- I have found ones as big as army barrels and ones as small as a 5c coin. The fun is in finding them (and doing so discreetly because the rules of the hunt are to not let any "muggles" work out what you are doing) but if you do want to take something (they can be filled with all sorts of random stuff), you have to put something else in. It's really fun and there are a lot more around you than you think!

 The Barber Shop, Sydney. Image Soure

2. Secret/Hidden bars
A quick google search and I found an abundance of "secret" bars and even restaurants in Sydney alone so just do a bit of research and find some of the best ones around you. Some require a password, some hidden beneath ordinary shops and some in quiet alleys with no signage. I really enjoy the adventure of searching and when you are with your partner it only makes it better! Go out with a basic plan of which one/s you want to find and enjoy the night even if it doesn't go to plan (some of the best nights start with a foiled plan).

3. Picnic at a lookout
Food and a great view, how on earth could that go wrong!? Bonus points if you make the food at home together before setting out to find a location.

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4. Indoor Rock Climbing
It's reasonably cheap, gets you active, is challenging and is great for a rainy day. Maybe even follow up with frozen yogurt or ice-cream (I know, this kind of defeats the whole "get active" part but oh well).

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5. Drive-Ins
I did want to avoid the movies as an option but this is still mixing it up. Where I live there is actually a drive in cinema that has a 50s themed diner with it, so grab a burger and watch a movie. Bonus points if you have a ute and deck it out with pillows and doonas. I actually find that this is about 3 times cheaper than 'normal' cinemas too. If you don't have drive-ins then just try and find something a little out of the ordinary. Maybe a Beanbag Cinema? Gold Class? Get creative! Maybe even look at hiring a projector and set up a cinema in your own backyard with a sheet.

6. Creative/Art Day
Buy some cheap paints (kids poster paints are probably best considering you will likely get it on skin and need to wash it off) and some big sheets of paper and get to work. Painting in general is so relaxing so doing it with the person you love only makes it better. Even better, ditch the paint brushes and opt for your hands instead, getting messy is half the fun! Plus you will have an artwork as a keepsake which is nice.

7. Spa Night
Treat yo' selves! Pull out the face masks, moisturizer and a good movie and just chill out. I know this may seem kind of odd for some people and maybe this isn't the best for a first date but I assure you this is so much fun and really relaxing and any guy who tells you he doesn't enjoy a bit of a pamper is lying haha.

Amaze 'n' Place, Alstonville Image Source

8. Maze
I feel like there is something quite romantic about the whole setting and although I have yet to go to this one, it's on my summer bucket-list (thinking of doing a blog post with my bucket-list soon).

9. Restaurant Crawl
Start at one restaurant for entree, another one for main and another one for dessert. This probably works best in the city or somewhere you could walk to each place but it just adds a little something extra to the classic dinner date. Try and look for places that are known for that particular course and get a taste of 3 restaurants in one night!

10. Escape Room Puzzle Game
This one is actually best done as a double, triple or even quadruple date. Most cities have some type of escape room and they are basically like puzzle rooms where you have to solve problems in order to "complete" (and escape) the room. Similar to the maze- I have never done this myself but it is on my list and I've heard great things about it from other people.

Hopefully this little compilation has given you a couple of ideas to fill your weekend. Comment some of your best date ideas- I'd love to hear them! 

Caitie xx

Salted Caramel Thickshake // Recipe

I was out for afternoon tea with my grandparents the other week and ordered a 'Pink Salt Caramel Milkshake' and it was so delicious that I had to recreate it at home. In all honesty these measurements are kind of estimated considered I basically wing it each time but it seriously is so delicious! I really like the salt flavour so I add a fair bit of salt to mine but definitely tweak it to however you like yours!

What You Will Need:
(Makes about 2 large milkshakes)
1/4 Cup Caramel (I make my own- it's super easy, just google a recipe!)
4 Scoops Ice-Cream
2 Large Pinches Pink Himalayan Rock Salt
1 Handful Ice
1/2 Cup Milk

All you need to do is dump all the ingredients in a blender and blend until its all mixed up.

The consistency should be kind of like a McDonalds soft serve ice cream. Because the caramel hardens on the impact of the cold ice cream, it actually blends into shards which is really nice because you get caramel specks all through the thick shake.

Hopefully you recreate this and it turns out as yummy as mine!

Caitie x

What's In My Bag // Uni Backpack

Hey Guys,
I've been wanting to do a 'Whats in my bag' for quite a while  now but in all honesty I've been taking my backpack most places so I figured I could start off with 'Whats in my UNI bag' and then move onto my handbag when I use it more in the summer/during uni holidays. So here it is- what I tend to lug around with me to and from uni.

The Bag: I got the backpack from 'Equip' for about $30 I believe, it's not particularly good quality or anything but  it does the job.

Here's an overview of most of the things I keep:
-Notebooks
-Post-it Notes
-Pencil case (with pens/highlighter etc)
-iPad
-Earphones and Phone/iPad Charger
-External Hard drive
-Coins
-Paw Paw Cream
-Moisturizer
-Tissues
-Hair Ties and Bobby Pins
-Perfume Mini
-Hairbrush
-Vicks Inhaler
-Panadol
-Band-aids

Pencil Case- Kikki K
Notebooks- 'Ideas can happen anywhere' (Kikki K), Brown & White (Officeworks)- I tend to make most of my notes on my Ipad so I usually just keep a few small notebooks in my bag in case we need to write something on paper or to make notes for completely non-uni-related things.

Harddrive (JB Hi-fi)- I keep copies of all my uni documents on the one hard drive so I don't have to carry around my big heavy laptop and instead just plug my stuff into the uni computers. 
Coins-  Coins are always floating around the bottom of my bag and come in particularly handy when a chip craving hits and the vending machine is calling my name...
Ipad, Earphones, Charger (Apple)- I actually plug my earphones into my iPad whenever I am using it in a lecture because it feeds all possible sounds through the earphones instead of the speakers. Yep, I learnt this trick after the immense embarrassment of having my iPad start making noises REALLY LOUDLY and then glitch up thus not allowing me to escape the app. Okay, it was my fault for going into Facebook during a lecture but I didn't mean to click on a video so I was absolutely mortified when it started playing full volume and wouldn't stop.

These are the more 'toiletry/beauty' items in my bag and I usually keep this stuff the front pocket so I don't have too many little things in the big pocket, plus, am I the only one who finds hair covering absolutely everything when you don't separate the hairbrush? Most of it's pretty self explanatory except for maybe the inhaler, which I actually keep on my pretty much at all times to help with my anxiety. I'm hoping to do a post on some ways that I fight my anxiety and de-stress and I'll explain a bit more there so stay tuned!

That's pretty much all I keep in my bag, hope you enjoyed having a peek into what I take to uni!

-Caitie x

Color Tattoos, Powder and Nude Lipsticks // Priceline Haul

Another sale, another $50 spent on makeup. I always feel better about my slightly unnecessary spending if I tell myself that I can do a haul and make a blog post about it so here we are! Priceline had 50% off Maybelline as well as a 'Buy two, get one free' deal on Rimmel so I made use of the sales to stock up on a few more 'Color Tattoos', get my hands on the cult classic 'Stay Matte Powder' and try out some nude lipsticks from the new Kate Moss collection. 

Maybelline 'Color Tattoo Metal' Cream Eyeshadow $11.95 // $5.97 each

70 Barely Branded  //  45 Bold Gold  //  60 Silver Strike

I bought a colour tattoo eyeshadow a few months back and love the formula of it, although it rubs off quite easily until you wait for it to dry completely. These colours are so nice and a bargain when they're half price!

Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder $12.95

004 Sandstorm

I just had to pick up this classic after my usual setting powder decided to explode in my makeup bag and leave me with a very shiny face (and a very time consuming clean-up).

Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Moss Lipstick $12.95 each

45 Nude  //  42 Nude

 I am still desperately trying to find a nude lipstick that actually suits me and when I saw that there was a new collection in the Kate Moss lipsticks, I had to give them a try. So far 45 doesn't make me look like I'm lip-less so we might be onto a winner!

-Caitie x

Bondi Beach // Explore

On Sunday, Tiarney and I decided to go on a mini roadtrip (about an hour and a half away) to Bondi Beach for the afternoon. After taking a couple of wrong turns, we arrived and miraculously found 4 hours free parking right on the beach so we were stoked. We got out of the car and noticed some markets set up right next to the beach so we headed there first and wandered around, then set up for a picnic on the grass overlooking the beach. We wandered around for a while before heading back to the car.
We only then realized that we forgot to put a ticket on the windscreen so I was super relieved to find that I hadn't gotten a fine and literally 10 seconds after we jumped in the car, the ranger walked past checking the cars- talk about good timing!
Bondi is such a beautiful place and although it can be busy (especially on weekends), the people are friendly, the views are great and the general vibes are so nice. Hope you enjoy seeing a few photos from the day! x

We found a crepe stall and wanted to split one but I wanted homemade jam and Tiarney wanted nutella so we compromised and had both!

These necklaces were so gorgeous but they were about $80 each and therefore way out  of our budget.

We grabbed some lunch from a fish n chip shop and after sitting down and having seagulls steal our calamari and chips while we set up the blanket, the food was more than slightly disappointing and we really wished we found somewhere else to buy food.

Our first time trying deep fried mars bar! It looked gross and if the batter was nicer, it would have been quite yummy (although extremely rich)

I bought these cool reflective sunnies from the markets for $30

We may have had a bit of a selfie spree for a good 15 minutes

Walking along the graffiti lined path right next to the beach

People passing by were laughing at us while we took this photo haha

The gorgeous pools next to the sea

The sunset that we admired the whole way home

-Caitie x