Guest Post

Today I am guest posting at agirlandherblog whilst Carly is on a New York adventure! Check it out if you have time....

Lets catch up...

 - I am back to being a brunette, who said blondes have more fun? Spontaneously last Sunday after having enough of regrowth I decided it was time to go back to my natural color.
- My thesis application to the Ethics Committee was rejected. Luckily it wasn't a flat out rejection but I need to make amendments in order for it to be approved. More work....
- I have officially been going to the gym for a month, 5 times a week and managed to put on 2kgs...water weight, muscle? Not sure but its not exactly inspiring me to keep going.
- This weekend I have booked a family vacation to the Gold Coast for New Years and a girls weekend away in Melbourne in November. So many fun things to look forward to.
- I had a job interview on Thursday which went pretty well (however they are interviewing 300 people for 15 jobs) and have another one on Wednesday, starting to feel much more positive about career prospects next year.
- Am spending the rest of the weekend doing uni work and making a slideshow for my grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary. The weather is beautiful today, so might sneak a walk around the lake in.

Have a great weekend!

Bookclub ~The Book Thief~

The food at this book club was amazing, brownies and these delicious cookies that were mars bar and M & M flavored. I left in a sugar haze they were amazing. This month we read "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak and only two of us actually finished it which surprised me as I thought it was quite easy reading, possibly too easy. For a quick run down the Book Thief is narrated by death and follows the story of a young girl named Liesel who is living with her foster family in Nazi Germany.

The author made quite a simple story, interesting enough to keep me reading for the 400 odd pages which is not an easy task. I also enjoyed that it looked at Nazi Germany through the eyes of everyday citizens rather then from a Jewish or Nazi point of view. This offered a different point of view from other books that are written about this era. The characters were well formed and the more I read the more attactched I got to them.

Whilst the authors unique writing style did manage to keep me interested in what I feel is quite a simple storyline, i did feel myself yearning for a little complexity. And the end of the book didnt give me as much closure as I would have liked. When I first picked up the book I loved the idea of death as the narrator but I feel like more could have been done with it. Overall though I did enjoy the book, it was an easy read and something I was easily able to keep going back to. Have you read it? What did you like, dislike about it?

This months book is The Lovely Bones which I am not overally excited about after seeing the movie but hopefully the book is better.

A snail mail post

Stats

Watching: Australia's Next Top Model

Listening: To the man mowing the lawn outside

Preparing: to go to the gym for super circuit

Grateful: for the amazing response to this post. Thankyou so much!

Consuming: Chocolate Bullets and Tea

Planning: my weekend. BBQ's, election party and getting my hair done

Incomings...

A wonderful letter from Garci. Love the Baboshka doll tape!

From the gorgeous Micaela such a good letter. The envelope is perfect for me because of this post. And the handmade doily from her mum, perfection.

Postcard from Lauren, I love the rustic look of this postcard.

A postcard from Marianne's holiday.

Stationery swap package from Kelly. I have nearly used up everything I have received such a perfect package.

My latest order from Book Depository (so addicted to this site). I am loving the Hunger Games, I think I will be finished by the weekend.

Michelle was so sweet and not only sent me a lovely letter but included some Cav & Co envelopes as I told her how much I loved them but couldn't justify buying them on my student income. I don't think I will ever be able to let these go. Thanks Michelle!

Outgoings...

To Sharni in Melbs, not addressed yet as I have to double check her address.

This envelope is designed by Stella, one half of the wonderful designers at Frank & Dean.

I was lucky enough to get to test this envelope for free as a little trial run but you will be able to purchase it here.

A little experiment envelope off to Belen.

My swap package to Kelly.

Postcard to a postcrossing member who loves movies.

To the adorable Carly, I hope it arrives it was sent back to me twice.

To lovely Mary Grace.

To the wonderful Passion, since my last letter to her got lost in the mail :-(

There is a few other incomings from the past couple of days but I need to take photos, will post them soon.

Have a wonderful weekend, I am off to the gym.

Goodbye Sailor

Yesterday I headed to Garden Island in Sydney to farewell my sisters partner, James. James is in the Navy and is being deployed to the Middle East for 6 months as part of Operation SLIPPER which involves surveillance and anti -piracy operations. 

James has always been interested in my blog and pen pals and jokes that whilst his away he will be pen pal number 452 :-)

So I have a little favor to ask after being inspired by the lovely Micaela, if anyone is able to send James a card whilst his away it would make his day and mean a lot to me! Postage to James is free in Australia for anything under 2kgs and outside of Australia it is the standard postage for a card/letter to Australia. If you think you are able to send something please email me at timeaftertea@gmail.com

I love the thought of him getting a big pile of cards at the next mail call.

Women in prison

I often do not blog about my studies and work as I feel it is something that people will not be very interested in. Today though I realised what a huge part of me is taken up by work and study and how important to me it is and I want that to be reflected in my blog.

As you may know I am a law student and am starting my final semester on Monday, excited and very scared! For the past 6 months I have been working on my thesis so that hopefully in March I will be able to graduate with honours. I wanted to share my thesis with you so that you could see my interest in socio-legal problems and maybe learn something new about me.

In Australia the only state or territory that has Human Rights Legislation enacted is the ACT. My thesis looks at how this legislation impacts on women in prison in the ACT. To do this I have examined material on prisons throughout Australia and identified issues that effect female inmates. The issues are wide ranging, complex and inter-related. They range from drug and alcohol addiction, assualt histories, mental illness and self harm, visitation rights, punishment within the prison, rehabilitation, work and education oppurtunies and the list goes on. These issues will then be explored in the ACT prison to see if having legislation to protect human rights ammelirotes these issues for women.

In Australia the statistics about women prisoners is pretty terrifying and reflects as a society our inability to deal with the issues these women face. To give you a quick run down:
- 62% of incarcerated women are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol
- 73%  suffer from a mental illness including depression, anxiety disorders and personality disorders. Furthermore there is a high rate of self - harming behaviour including suicide attempts.
- 85% have suffered from sexual, physical or mental abuse during their childhood or as adults.
- 31% are indigenous which is highly disproportional considering the Indigenous population makes up 3% of Australia's overall population
- 50% are mothers of dependent children

The reason that this research is important to me is the oppurtunity the ACT has to make a change in the way women prisoners are treated and the issues that effect them are dealt with in the prison. It is important that the prison system realises the different gendered issues that women prisoners face in comparison to their male counterparts and that their prison experience reflects this. Rehabilitation is an important aspect of any inmates time in prison and reduces their liklihood of reoffending. Therefore rehabilitation has to be as effective as possible and take into account the many different aspects that effect women's offending behaviour.

In the event this post leads to a discussion please keep it respectful. If this is something your interested in I am more than happy to answer any questions (not that I am an expert but can try to answer questions to the best of my ability) and I hope that you have enjoyed learning a little about what I spend a large majority of my time doing.

Reference: Justice Action

~Wishlist~

Kikki K 2011 Diary

Is it sad that I have already picked my 2011 diary and its only August?

Mimco Sunglasses

Paris Laptop Sleeve

Modcloth Romper

I adore playsuits and really hope all my gyming gets me in one this summer.

Guest Post

Today I am guest posting at one of my favourite blogs Pugh's News.

If you would like to hear all about my time in London head on over there.

This was my first ever guest post and I just want to say a big thankyou to Erin for the oppurtunity!

How I would spend my last $10...

Fresh Flowers for my home

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Coffee and Cake whilst people watching in my favourite cafe.

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On a penguin classic, read whilst under a big tree in the park.

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Sharing a bottle of wine with friends.

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On a new nail polish to brighten my day.

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Hope your all having a lovely weekend and spoiling yourselves!

Procrastination Free Zone

Source

For the past couple of weeks I have been feeling really unmotivated and one thing I have found is the longer you feel unmotivated and do nothing about it the more unmotivated you get. I finally decided that I had to kick the winter blues, get off the lounge and get going. Here is some things that I found have really helped me be more productive this week.

- Plan out your week ahead of time. Make sure you actually write down time for exercise and running errands. Actually seeing it written down means you are more likely to do it.

- Write a to do list every night before bed for the next day. Categorise the different things on your list so that you dont waste time getting them done. For example do everything related to housework at the same time. Do the jobs you are dreading the most first and that way the list gets easier as you go along. Getting things crossed off the list feels like an accomplishment in itself.

- I am not a born athlete and struggle with making time to exercise even though I feel 100% better about myself after a workout. I have been leaving my gym clothes out ready to go each day and put them on and run off to the gym as soon as I get home from work so I dont have time to make excuses. I have also been carrying a drink bottle with me everywhere I go, being properly hydrated seems to make a big difference for my energy levels, otherwise I am left feeling larthagic.

- Stay away from the tv. Tv is the biggest time zapper for me, I turn it on, get interested and dont leave and hours can just run away. No tv until everything that needs to be done is done then I can zone out.

- I am a bit of an internet junkie and always have several browsers open whenever I jump on the computer which means anything non - internet related i.e. uni assignments take twice as long to do. Disconnecting the internet and just working on the assignment means I get things done twice as fast. This is one step that I am still working on... your lovely blogs, plus twitter and facebook have a magnetic pull.

- Last but not least, and easier said then done, dont let the weather dictate my mood or motivation. Yes its cold and yes I just want to snuggle under a doona in front of the heater but getting up and achieveing things is much more rewarding and when you do actually get to chill out it will be far more enjoyable.

How do you stay motivated and organised?

Knock and Come In

Thankyou so much for your response to The Time Traveler's Wife, I loved reading everyones opinions and have noted down all the book suggestions.

Just an incoming post today as there is quite a bit and I plan on working on the outgoing in the next couple of days and will update later in the week.

A letter from the lovely Caiti, love her little doodles "Come on Spike."

A gorgeous envie from the newly 21 year old Tillie.

A letter from Ria, I loved this stationery and it was a wonderful letter too. The stamps were also super cute, i think the teacher from Hey Arnold is on one of them, well it certainly looks like him.

A lovely little package from Jennifer, she sent the most gorgeous postcards and these are my favourites. She also wrote the accompanying letter with her typewriter which was terrific.

A great letter from Bianca from her new abode in Tassie.

From the gorgeous Grace, love the little Frankie badge.

Postcards from this week, the one in the top right is from my sister during her ski trip in NZ.

Some fun little links....

A lovely Frank and Dean giveaway on Rosa - May's blog.

A fun "Just because your lovely" swap on Gracie's blog.

Check back for outgoing later in the week. Oh and don't forget to check out the "Penpal Mailing List" if your looking for a new penpal, 5 new penpals were added in the last week.