WHERE HAVE WE BEEN?!

We're back!

 My oh my has it been a while since we have made a post. We are truly, terribly sorry about that. Trust us when we say that over the past two months we have been thinking about this little 'ol blog and coming up with new ideas to make it bigger and better. It is just that our lives just got way too busy during the last weeks of semester that we couldn't fit in anything else but study, work and volunteering. 

However, have no fear! We finally made it to the end of the semester. I finished on Monday, and Claire finishes tonight. This means that we have four, glorious months to get this blog back up and running. We have plenty of exciting things planned, so stay tuned!

Before we get ready for our second year of Graceful and Claire, we need to catch you up on what we has kept us so busy while we were away.

Enjoy! I will see you again soon. 

(I promise)

The sun finally came out and this photo was taken just to commemorate that. 

We went to our first Uni Ball together! Unlike other student society balls where you actually dress all fancy like, us Arts students prefer to have fancy dress. The theme was 'Please Don't Stop the Music', which of course we took to mean *Mrs Darbus voice* 'Please Don't Stop the Musi-cal'. Taking advantage of our new hair colours, we dressed up as Elphaba and Glinda! Classic Grace and Claire.

Since we moved to Melbourne, we have decided to make it a tradition to see at least one ballet a year. Last year we saw the contemporary ballet Chroma (which was amazing!). This year we decided to go more traditional and see Sleeping Beauty with Miriam and Elektra. It was a truly beautiful night, and I am so glad we got to experience it with some of our closest friends.

Claire was Publicity Manager for a uni student production, which mean organisng the photoshoot and all other publicity. Emails on emails on emails.  
This was a behind-the-scenes shot she took while the Facebook cover photo was taken. 

This semester I started volunteering at an art gallery, and it has been one of the best things to happen this semester. I am extremely grateful for the experiences and connections I am gaining. Plus, the free pizza and wine leftover from the bar after an opening always goes down well. 

What a beautifully candid typical-uni-experience photo of Claire and her two friends working on a group assignment on the lawn. The photo is so typical it needed to be included. 

(Side note: I got glasses! Yep, over the weeks I could read my lectures less and less until it got to the point where it was ridiculous. I don't need to wear them all the time, but without my glasses my vision is analog, while with them I have HD vision. Who would have thought?!)

Oh my word, was this night a goody. As part of the Melbourne Festival, Flight Facilities and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performed together for a concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. It was our first event at the Bowl and it totally looked different from watching Carols by Candlelight every year. We have loved Flight Facilities for years since we discovered the RAC remix of Crave You and found out that the original was so totally our style. Also, the MSO has had a special place in our hearts since the days when we played musical instruments. Together, it was purely magical and atmospheric. It was hands down the best musical experience of my life so far. (Sorry Taylor Swift).

(such lovely faces)

Once again typical of Arts students, in week 12 the Arts Student Society at our Uni held a Week 12 Carnival. We spent an extended 2-hour lunch break standing in various lines to score as much free food as we could, and even took part in the face (or rather, hand) painting on offer. 

This photo was taken at opening night of the show Claire worked on! The guys is one of her good theatre friends, Peter, who is amazing and has helped keep her as sane as you can be when it comes to theatre. Looking fab.  

What is the point of finishing an essay if you cannot share it with everyone via your snapchat story? (Featuring my glasses I probably didn't need to be wearing to make me look smarter).

Not the best photo to document the experience, but in between Claire's show opening and swotvac, Claire volunteered at the Girls on Film Festival! If you know Claire personally or saw this post back in April, you will know that Claire is very passionate about women in film, television and theatre. Also, after her volunteer gig at the Melbourne International Film Festival in July, Claire has been hooked onto the film festival bug. So this opportunity was basically a dream come true. One of the says she volunteered was an event called Girl Germs which was kind of like a fete for young feminist babes. Two Riot Grrrl bands (the Girl Fridas and Miss Miss) played, there was lots of glitter, DIY badges, zine, derby girls, a nail art station, you name it. It was a magical experience. this photo is the merchandise table Claire was stationed at. 

At the start of swotvac we went home to visit the parents, watch The Great Australian Bake Off, and get our hair done. However, essays stop for no woman and with a week until Claire had two essays due and one not even started yet, we had to utilize every moment. Including trains and hairdresser appointments. (It was very productive)

Claire was nominated the a student theatre award for Excellent Offstage! She didn't win :( but she was the only publicity manager/assistant stage manager nominated, so it's basically a win.

Claire was also (on the same night) appointed to be an officer in the committee of her student theatre group for 2016! Yay Claire!

(Claire has been busy) 

Back in July/August, Claire submitted a piece calling out the lack of female representation in one of her cinema studies classes to the women's department magazine at Uni at last week it got published! How great is that illustration?

Halloween was this past weekend and what is more in the Halloween spirit than realising that you had absolutely no food while it was pouring rain outside and you don't have a car? So I donned my loved Bean Boots and trusty bright yellow IKEA umbrella (similar linked) and trekked down to the grocery store. We also ducked into the local video store to hire some festive family movies to watch while we wrote our essays.

Stay gold,

Grace.