5x5 Q'S W/ CHANTELLE FROM FAT MUM SLIM!

Welcome to another edition of 5x5 Q's, this week we're chatting to Chantelle from Fat Mum Slim!
Q: What would you most like to accomplish in the future? There are lots of little things that I’d love to do in the future; travel, health, blogging, career, life, family. But generally speaking, I just want to live each and everyday of my life. To be grateful. To be content. And to spend lots of time with the ones I love, and live life without regret.


Q: What would you buy with a million dollars? Remember when a million dollars seemed like SO much money. Now houses are close to that much? Anyway… I’d buy us a pool, renovate a few things at home, and a trip to Disney World. Now to buy a lotto ticket…


Q: What is your favourite snack food? It changes all the time, but at the moment I’m addicted to Peckish Rice Crackers. Yum.


Q: What do you want to be when you grow up? Happy!


Q: What’s on your wish list? At the moment I’m dreaming of a new laptop, a new handbag and a block of dairy-free chocolate that actually tastes good.

Now, it's Chantelle's chance to ask me a few questions... 
Q: Do you think the world will be better or worse in 100 years time? Why? We've come so far in the past hundred years with technology, I think we can only improve for the better. It's easy to say, we're all doomed based on the sci-fi movies we all love to hate but I am going to take the positive route and say we'll be just fine :)

Q: What's the last thing you ate? I actually just had some chicken noodle soup as I'm recovering from a wisdom tooth extraction. It's much more painful than I expected and a numb jaw makes it impossible to eat anything other than soup!
Q: When someone pushes in, do you say something to them? Depends on the person and the mood I'm in, sometimes I'll be like... hey, buddy "insert serious face", other times it'll be an elderly person and I'll let it slide but it's kind've sad that we STILL have to remind people to have manners on a daily basis.

Q:  Have you ever been in an ambulance? I'm the exact opposite of accident prone. I've never had a broken bone and don't plan on ever adding it to my bucket list.

Q: Who owes you money? Nobody :) It was my new years resolution to stop lending money to frequent borrowers and now I'm much more happier. Although, I do owe a little bit of rent at the end of this month, haha!
Let me know if you'd also like to participate in 5x5 Q's!

5x5 Q's w/ Shirley from Shiirleyy's Bookshelf!

Welcome to another edition of 5x5 Q's, this week we're chatting to Shirley from Shiirleyy's Bookshelf!
Q: What's on your wish list? I’m desperate for Crash Into You by Katie McGarry to be released! So that’s definitely at the top of my wishlist. The Fiery Heart and Isla and the Happily Ever After are  both books I’m dying to read too. As for non-book items, a wallet  (the state of my current one is absolutely disastrous) and a Polaroid camera :D

Q: When have you felt most proud of yourself (& your blog)? During the two years I've been blogging, I guess the few times I felt most proud were:

  • The first time my review was tweeted by the publisher (not just RTed but the publisher actually composed a tweet specifically for my review. Also the first time my review was shared on FB by the publisher with a little comment
  • When my review was featured in the monthly newsletter for the publisher of the title
  • When I, along with my favourite Aussie bloggers were mentioned in Spirit by Brigid Kemmerer!
  • When I was given the opportunity to interview some of my favourite authors including Julie Kagwa, Katie McGarry and Brigid Kemmerer
  • When my reviews receive unexpectedly high number of views and when bloggers/readers comment on how they liked my review and are looking forward to reading the book

As for real life, I honestly can't think of any time when I've been most proud of myself (ahaha my life's pretty boring and I rarely challenge myself - I KNOW, THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE). But I guess when my ATAR was released (similar to SAT scores in the US) and I was accepted into UNSW I was pretty proud of myself.



Q: Where would you most like to travel? EVERYWHERE. AROUND THE WORLD. I’ll hopefully be going to Singapore this year & Thailand next year so YAY! I have relatives in the UK so I hope I’ll get to visit there very soon. USA, Canada, France, Italy…and basically the whole of EUROPE are countries/places I want to visit one day!


Q: How much time do you spend reading YA? When I first started blogging, I legit read YA EVERY SINGLE DAY- at school, during breaks, when I got home, before/after homework and after dinner. Last year, due to my HSC, I read less often but still read almost every day before I went to sleep. This year however, I’ve been reading YA a lot less often. I read on average, 3 days a week, just before I go to sleep. I know, it’s not a lot, but BLAME UNI!!

Q: Can you give us a little insight into your daily life? My life, as I said above is EXTREMELY BORING. I wake up (hopefully) at 7 to go to Uni on the days I have Uni. (If not, I can sleep in until like noon). I go to Uni, attend my lectures or tutorials, then hang out with friends during breaks. Sometimes I have work after Uni so I’ll go straight to work in the afternoon, or else I’ll find some friends to go home with. At home, I’ll be either doing my homework or watching TV shows – Revenge, PLL, Reign (yes, I’ve recently started watching it & am loving it!) etc. Then after dinner, I’ll be multitasking – I’ll be listening to Harry Potter  (the movies! Not audiobook!), attempting to do homework, and chatting to friends on Facebook. Anddddd I sleep at around 1. AND THAT’S MY LIFE.  
Now, it's Shirley's chance to ask me a few questions... 
Q: What made you decide to start blogging? In the early days, I wanted to start up a music blog but failed miserably. It wasn't until a few years later when my YA book habit took hold that I discovered Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf and a ton of other YA book blogs. From that point on my blog has grown immensely and also changed focus a few times, I'm still a huge fan of this format and look forward to creating much more interesting content in the future!


Q: What are some of your proudest moment - blogging and in life (I know I answered this, but I'm curious about your proudest moments, too)? Well, let's see... I distinctly remember the day I surpassed 666 followers but since Google Reader died none of that seems to matter anymore. There have been so many highs and lows that it is hard to really pinpoint any specific memory. As with Shirley, I am proud to say I got into uni and successfully completed the first year of study. I'm now awaiting a second year transfer offer and the wait is excruciating, I seriously have no idea what I'll do if I don't get in to my first choice :S

Q: Do you have a life motto? I struggled to even come up with a motto for my blog, so in short, no I don't have a life motto but I guess I do like Hakuna Matata and No Excuses. Although, I could never bring myself to say #YOLO, I hate that one so much!


Q:  Who are your inspirations? This answer literally changes daily, so I will point you to my pinterest board of lovelies. At the moment, I am really loving Ellie Goulding, Rebel Wilson, Zooey Deschanel and Alexa Chung. I'm also inspired on a daily basis by those bloggers who manage to create original content on a daily basis and keep me coming back day after day!

Q: What 2014 books are you most looking forward to? While I haven't exactly been keeping up with the latest new releases, I am really keen for:

  • Lena Dunham's essay collection, Not That Kind of Girl
  • The fourth instalment in The Wolves of Mercy Falls series, Sinner
  • The next book in the Anna and the French Kiss series (despite having a corny title, these books are actually really good!)
  • I also really liked The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight and can’t wait for the companion novel due out in April.
Let me know if you'd also like to participate in 5x5 Q's!

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