Clubbing: Tips to know before you turn 18.

4am on a Saturday morning. Struggling to keep my eyes open while listening to the indian music pumping from the taxi radio as my feet scream with pain. The one memory which quickly springs to mind when I think of my eighteenth birthday.

Before my birthday, I thought I would be remembering, laughing, singing, dancing and too many colourful drinks. But as you read above, that is far from it. A few months on and I wish I knew then what I did now. Why did nobody give me these little hints that could have saved me a lot of disappointment.

Clubbing is expensive but you can lower the costs dramatically. On my birthday I only took $50 with me. What a mistake. BIG BIG mistake. I was broke at the time but I should have known better. Now, I take at least $100 at the lowest. 

Drink before you go out. Get a few of your friends together, finish doing your hair and make up while throwing back a four pack of midori, cruisers or a pulse. Maybe a few glasses of wine or a beer or two if you swing that way. Drink till you giggle, not till you are stumbling and slurring. You won't get let in.

Take a small clutch which is big enough to hold your phone, your cash and a few cards like your transport card, eftpos, id and maybe a medicare card. If your bag permits it, a tiny comb, mascara and a compact. Also slip in a few band aids and (eek horror) a tampon. 

Now to the shoes. Your feet by the end of the night most likely will ache. But if you really don't tolerate pain well, where cute flats or gorgeous wedges. The lower and thicker the heel, the less pain. But the more you wear that shoe out the more accustomed to it your foot grows. So go for a shopping day trip and wear them. Also, insert party feet. They are gel pads which slip onto the sole and back of your feet. Another trick of the trade is where the shoe rubs and gives you blisters, run vaseline. Right onto the shoe. It will stop all irritation. 

Fashion tape is your bestfriend. It is double sided tape which sticks your clothes which may reveal a bit to much to your skin.

Photo ready make up. Most foundations will reflect light due to the SPF, so when a photo is taken with a flash, you will end up looking white. So use a photo ready foundation and use plenty of concealer. Also use plenty of eye makeup as your eye make up will not look as dramatic in photos as it does in reality.

When in a club and buying a drink (in reality if your are looking good enough you will never have to buy your own drink), give the bartender a larger note like a $20, or a $50 as you most likely won't hear how much. Also, decide what you want before you go to the bar. There will be plenty of other people who know what they want and want it now.

Men. There will be the occasional sleezey male, who although they look horrible, will think they are gods gift to women. If one approaches you when you are dancing, simply turn your shoulder and continue dancing with friends. If he persists, simply smile and say politely, 'no thanks'. If he continues, move to the other side of the dance floor. If he still does not get it, tell security. You shouldn't have to put up with these men.

Also make sure you have enough money for a taxi home. There is nothing like being drunk and stuck god knows where. 

Well there you have it. Just a few tips that could save you some embarrassment and/or pain. 

Keep rockin'.

AccidentlySarah xx

University; How to prep. 1.

When I entered university (uni) I was only seventeen. So what did that mean? I normally the youngest in the class, could not go to any of the famous uni parties, couldn't hang out with my friends at the uni tavern and just in general, all I could do was study. But don't let me put you off uni if you are under eighteen.

It so far, (I am in my second year), has been the best time of my life. The people I have met, the things I have learnt, are just some things I will never forget. But I wish there were things I knew already. Which is why I am writing this entry. To help you prepare! Or if you are, or have been in uni, let you agree with me, or disagree, whatever.

BE ORGANISED! Really, it is the best advice I can give. Have everything ready and planned. And start doing this early. Start with your room. You will either still be living at home, in one of the 'dorms' or in off-campus living. Most likely you will not have a lot of room. I love shops like Typo, Ikea and Smiggle for organizing rooms and desktops.

Make sure you have a shelf and a desk. Even if they are tiny ones, they will help. In your bookshelf make sure you have one shelf dedicated to uni stuff. And also on your desk, allocate and area for uni stuff too. Keep all your uni things together, it does help in the long run. I will be putting up another blog of how how I set up my stuff, which is a work in progress at the moment. But what I am planning to do is use cute book dividers for my book shelf to split up each section. I don't have room for a desk but I am adding little containers where I slip in my exercise books into each shelf section easily and not get mixed up. Also have holders for your pens, pencils, scissors etc. The cuter dividers and holders and things you get, the more motivated you will be to keep it all neat. 

Organise your computer. Whether it be a laptop or a desktop, make sure it is as organised as kept organised as your room. Have a folder marked 'uni'. Inside that folder have 'Semester 1' or whatever semester it is, then have individual folders for each subject. You can also divide them into categories for, lectures, seminars, tutorials, assignments if necessary. Or if you are REALLY organised, by week. 

Keep your wardrobe organised. Some mornings you won't have time to search through your wardrobe for the perfect outfit, so organise it so it is split into categories. You can categorize them into whatever sections you want, but have separate sections for going out, uni, casual, etc. Also, buy a shoe rack. They do help heaps.

Keep healthy. I know this sounds like something you should already do but you really need to be prepared for how much time you won't have anymore. Organise a time when you can go to the gym or go for a jog. And load up on vitamins. Buy in bulk and just keep them somewhere you will remember to take them. And throughout the day keep a bottle of water and a small snack with you. Sometimes you won't have time to eat between classes, meetings etc. 

Save some money too. The amount of times at the start of each semester when I don't have enough money for textsbooks, happens to often. And these text books can cost a lot. The least I have ever spent on a brand new text book was around $48. 

Organise your timetable. Pin it to your wall. High light it. DO NOT LOSE IT! Make sure you have at least 2 paper copies and one of your computer. 

I wish I had done all of this stuff straight from my first semester, but I didn't. I must admit I was a little lost in the first few semester. I never realized how being organised can impact you. I will probably write a few more boring blogs about preparing for uni and what to do, but for now...

Stay happy,

AccidentlySarah xx

My First Post: What I'm About

I thought I would start off with a little big of an introduction of who I am, what I will be writing, etc, bla bla bla.

I'll start with my 'catch name' AccidentlySarah. Yes, I know, I spelt accidentally wrong. It was deliberate. The name came from a time when I was very accident prone, including my head making contact with a ceiling fan. Which lead to this nickname, which lead to me thinking why I don't I just spell accidentally wrong and make it a lil quirky. More me. Because I have always been quite well known for my spelling and correcting people. So, that's that.

Now, more about me without giving myself away too much. I am a journalist student, who also works as a waitress. You will no doubt get a flock of posts about both of those topics, but the whole purpose of this blog is so I can expand my talent. What I hope is talent.

To the blog; I will be writing about anything that I think is important, or even not important that I just feel like writing about. To start with I am just going to write a few throw outs and see if I get some responses. If not, I will keep going until I get a little bit of a 'following'. Please no stalking ;) .

So here it goes, and I hope to look back at this first blog and think, why was I worried no one would read these.

AccidentlySarah xx