I am participating in an event called a Cara Box Swap. For the swap you get matched with 2 ladies, one who you send a gift to and one who sends you a gift. The nice thing about it all is that you connect with and get to know new people and learn all about their lives.
The swap takes place every quarter and this is my first one so I am quite excited about getting to know the two lovely ladies I have been matched with, one who is in Spain and one who is in South Africa as well as selecting the gifts that I will be sending out.
The swap is primarily run through Instagram and I noticed the other day that the Cara Box account suggests weekly themes to help you get to know the ladies you have been matched with. This week’s is 5 things that you cannot live without and so I thought I would have a look and decide what my 5 things are.
Now the first 5 things that sprang to mind without much thought are (in no particularly order really as they are all equally important to me):
1) The Aussie
2) My amazingly supportive family
3) My amazingly supportive friends from the UK
4) My gorgeous dog Henry
5) My parents and brothers pets (Tilley, Tess, Kismet (craziest cat I have ever met), Tobey and Milley)
I figured that some of those people probably wouldn’t want their picture blown up for all to see on my blog although I will show you the animals again
As a result I decided to take a photo of the 5 things from my handbag that I cannot live without and explain a bit about them:
1) My iPhone and ipad – these are essentials (and I am a little addicted to them too I think) as they mean I can speak to my family and friends at home pretty much all of the time. We text, iMessage, FaceTime, Skype, What’s App and Facebook sometimes constantly (the Aussie once asked how often I text and message everyone via What’s app and told him he probably didn’t want to know!).
This technology means that being the 12,000 odd miles away from home doesn’t feel so bad for someone who is a bit of a homebody. It makes the distance acceptable until we can all be together.
As you will see my iPhone is a little bit sad looking though as it is well and truly smashed after I dropped it on the floor when using it as a torch to go to the bathroom at 5am in the morning.
2) Headphones – I love that their pink firstly, I don’t know what has happened but I find myself wearing pink more and more these days and also greens which never really appealed to me before. It must be the Aussie air or something.
I also love these headphones as they are the only ones I have bought that haven’t died in a month from being thrown in and out of my various bags so I can listen to music, talk to my family and friends via Facetime etc. I’m very anti social when I am out because if I am walking anywhere I plug the headphones in and just listen to my music.
Due to my love of listening to music these are an essential!
3) Sunglasses – I have pretty bad eye sight. I had an operation on my left eye when I was about 2 but I still have shocking eyesight (3D films etc just do not work for me for example). The Aussie drove home from my night out last night and I was shocked how bad my eyesight is without glasses in the dark.
In the end when I finally started driving I declared my terrible eyesight to the DVLA in the UK and so now have to legally drive with glasses which is fine but you need some good sunglasses in Australia. I used to have some practical but not very attractive looking sunglasses but just before I came here I found a super cheap glasses website and these glasses cost me about £50 with all the scratch resistant type stuff.
I would be lost without these glasses so they are essentials!
4) Hair Serum – a gift from my equally curly haired friend for my Birthday in November after I discovered the cost of buying some toiletry products in Australia.
My hair is very curly, tight ringlet curly if I don’t manage it well. I used to hate having curly hair and for a long time straightened it pretty much daily but then I discovered how to manage the curl and now quite like that I can go curly or straight if I like.
It’s so humid in Darwin at the moment due to the never ending wet season (I’d love some rain or for the dry season to actually start and drop the humidity a bit please!) that serum is essential. If I didn’t use it the curls would just get bigger and bigger and with a touch of frizz – not a pretty sight!
5) Mints – I toyed between mints and plasters as I am so clumsy always cutting myself or finding I have scratched a stupid mosquito bite so need a plaster but I decided mints are essential for obvious reasons!!!
So those are my 5 essentials, what are yours?