Plant Life Balance
The rise of indoor plant culture and horticulture in general is one of the best things to come out of this year, so it’s an absolute delight when we discover things that help us to nurture and hone this eco-friendly obsession. Plant Life Balance is an amazing app that uses augmented reality to assess a room and recommend indoor plants that will suit it, meaning that you no longer have to ponder if that fiddle-leaf fig you’ve always wanted will actually look any good in that empty corner spot in your apartment. You can choose from more than 90 plants to drag, drop and resize into any room, and because the app is Australian (yasss) it will email you local Australian stockists of your chosen plants from nurseries closest to you.

Same-sex marriage bill passing the Senate
Despite the absolutely horrific process of the non-binding same-sex marriage postal vote survey (is that sentence not the most ridiculous thing?), it’s pretty heartwarming to see just how many people are fighting hard to make marriage equality happen. Following an overwhelming response to the affirmative in the survey, Wednesday November 29 saw the bill to legalise same-sex marriage pass through the Senate without any major changes. The bill goes to the House of Representatives next week for a final vote, so let’s keep everything crossed that the good news (and vibes) keep on coming. Get it done, Australia!
Image: Reuters

Festive celebrity merch
This is a bit of a double down situation because this week we caught wind of not one but two glorious celebrity Christmas merchandise lines. First cab off the rank is the mighty Beyoncé, whose holiday line has been released to a rapturous reception. Amongst crewneck sweaters exclaiming phrases like ‘Sis the season’ and ‘Have a thicc holiday’ are some quite tacky-looking onesies and such, but it’s Beyoncé so frankly she can do whatever she wants. Sleigh, mama! Next up to the seasonal merch plate is beloved 90s boy band *NSYNC and holy hell, this collection is really something else. There are puns, there are lots of gaudy illustrations and there are a slew of beautiful memories immortalised in a cotton-poly blend. Shut up and take our money, cheers.

Hottest 100 date change
There’s no skirting around the fact that January 26 isn’t a day for celebration for Aboriginal Australians, so it was a pretty raw deal that one of our country’s biggest and most beloved musical countdowns took place on that date every year. In a spectacular move, Triple J has shifted the Hottest 100 to January 27 after conducting a huge survey to see how the public felt about it. The majority agreed that the iconic musical democracy should be shifted so that all Australians could enjoy the day equally. Triple J, you’ve done a darn good thing.

Coca-Cola Raspberry
For those of us who really enjoy cracking an ice-cold Coke on a hot summer’s day, some exciting news has recently come about – Coca-Cola Raspberry has arrived, baby! Just in time for a sweltering December, soft drink giant Coca-Cola has announced the release of the limited edition flavour that combines the classic Coke taste we know and love with a refreshing raspberry splash. The company has previously released this flavour combo across the ditch in New Zealand back in 2005, much to the delight of those maverick renegades who are fond of mixing and matching their post-mix Coke flavours at self-serve machines. You can find Coca-Cola Raspberry in stores now, so go forth and try it.