Things That Make You Go Oooooo (September 2013)

Summer is most definitely over, this month has been a hard one to deal with after losing my baby James, getting sick and just how busy I've been I'm more than ready to go into hibernation for the winter, but I have to make myself stay positive it's time to start making plans for the year ahead and to go on new adventures so here are a few things that helped me stay upbeat this month.

♥ 5 Ways Your Brain Is Tricking You into Being Miserable - Misery is addictive and it's so easy to fall down that rabbit hole and so difficult to get out, happiness takes a lot of hard work but knowing those triggers is the first step to conquering them.

♥ How Success Spoiled and Saved David Bowie

♥ How to Deal with Change When Change is Hard - Taking care of your basic needs seems a simple one but when you're going through a period of change it can be hard to remember to take care of yourself, so sometimes a time out to watch a movie and have a nice cup of tea is all you need to help you deal.

♥ 10 Simple Things You Can Do Today That Will Make You Happier - These absolutely work, exercise is something I never thought I would enjoy but my daily workouts (even the small ones) make me feel so good!

♥ The 20 Big Questions in Science

♥ What the Hell Should You Do With Your Life? - Eat tacos all day? Well that sounds like a plan, I still have absolutely no idea what to do with my life but I'm learning I'm not the only one and slowly but surely I will get to a place where what I love is what I do.

♥  The Pursuit of Unhappiness - I'm definitely guilty of covering up my grief with activity instead of dealing with it and with all my spare time being dedicated to crafting for my shops have made it my mission to take some time out and complete one personal crafting project a month.

♥ Candid Thoughts On Modesty

♥ 20 Signs You Might Be Spending To Much Time On The Internet - The internet is serious business, yeah maybe we all should try and switch off from it a bit more...

♥ Why Your Favourite Childhood Toys Are In Fashion Again - I absolutely love this trend, I mean even Batman was a trend earlier this year and as strange as that is I kinda love it because it means I can find all sorts of awesome stuff to add to my geek wardrobe.

♥ Living With Less. A Lot Less

♥ 10 Not-So-True Lessons Learned From Friends - I've been kinda obsessed with Friends again after my visit to Central Perk with my friend Cally, so here is a list of the ridiculous stuff we "learned" from Friends... guess I won't be moving to NY and getting a pet monkey anytime soon

♥ What to do when Everything is Falling Apart - Some awesome advice here, it's important even through those darkest time to cling onto some hope things may be bad now but they do get better.

♥ One Man Designs And Wears The Costumes of Disney Princesses and Their Princes

♥ How To Get Shit Done When You Have Time At All - Great advice I definitely need to make notes on, I feel like lately I've been too busy to do anything!

♥ How to Do Anything - A great list here of well everything you can think of I'll definitely be trying several of these out.

♥ The Secrets Of Body Language: How To Up Your Personal Power, Decode Anyone, And Get Whatever You Want!

♥ The Simple Way to Really Get Things Done - Focus on one thing at a time is the golden rule sometimes multi-taking just doesn't work.

♥ D.I.Y. Hot Air Balloon Lanterns - This is such an adorable idea and so simple to, it'll bring an instant touch of happiness to any room.

♥ The Fine Line

♥ The Dangers of Staying Quiet: Learning to Ask For Help - If I've learned anything this month it's to not be ashamed and ask for help when you're in need, don't stay quiet talk to someone and I guarantee you'll feel much better.

Chai Tea & Bear Hugs

Cate

xoxo

Applecakes a la Game of Thrones

The Game of Thrones Cookbook is  probably one of my favourite cookbooks so far everything I've made from it has been a big success and these Applecakes are and I quote from my expert baker Nan "the best cakes you've ever made" and believe me that is pretty high praise!

Apple picking season is one of my favourite times of year, I have happy memories growing up and playing in apple tree in my Nan's garden, climbing up the branches to get that sweet juicy apple at the top, but unfortunately earlier this summer that tree was cut down due to disease which I was heartbroken about because it was my favourite tree and those apples were the best thing ever but my Nan let me chose a new one so I went with a variety of apples called Katy apples.

We didn't have a lot of apples this year but enough to make a few special things so I just had to try out another Game of Thrones recipe, these are the modern day version of Applecakes, I wasn't quite brave enough to try making dough yet although bread is definitely on my list of things to make this winter, but I could totally see these being one of Sansa's favourites.

The soft apple sponge and the crunchy, sweet topping compliment each other so well, it's not something that I've thought of doing before but it's definitely something I will be keeping in mind for future bakes, I honestly can't praise these enough they're definitely worth trying out and if you don't believe me then take it from my Nan BEST.CAKES.EVER!!

Apples & Lemons

Cate

xoxo

SDCC: Becoming Brienne & Taking the Iron Throne... again!

Game of Thrones tweeted out that they would have a special event happening during Comic Con so I decided to go check it out, I wasn't quite sure what was going on there and almost missed the building had I not spotted the people sitting outside sketching portraits.

There were four pictures you characters you could chose to get your face sketched on to Kraznys about to get blasted from a Dragon, Tormund Giantsbane climbing the wall, Beric Dondarrion fighting The Hound, and Brienne and the Bear, I of course chose my girl Brienne.

If you follow Game of Thrones on Instagram you'll know that they love their Funko figures so they had them on display for people to instagram and caption to win an iPad, I kept forgetting to do this or would miss the daily cut off time for entries so no iPad for me *sigh*

The Iron Throne was there for people to take photos on and as I'd already taken a pretty awesome photo on it in Belfast I wasn't going to bother but I thought what the hell I have time so lets have some fun, so I present to you THE QUEEN IN THE NORTH!!!

You could get your own house tee printed there for free which I thought was an awesome idea so I got one for me and went back later and got one for The Dad but after my visit on Friday the place got kinda busy so so I didn't manage to get anymore free tees but I did pick up this awesome Game of Thrones iPhone skin.

As well as free stuff they also had some sneak peaks of future Game of Thrones merchandise as well as the infamous Blackwater Bay game I sucked so badly at in Belfast but this time I got full marks so screw you Joffrey!

On our way to get more free swag from there on Sunday we noticed a familiar face getting interviewed outside SAMWELL TARLEY! This was my second random encounter with a Game of Thrones cast member and in the same area as last time, anyway he was kinda busy doing his thing but as we were going in and he was leaving I managed to poke my head around the door and give him a little wave and he recognised me and gave me a smile and a wave back.

So that was pretty much my whole Game of Thrones experience at Comic Con, I came, I saw and I godamn conquered! I still can't believe how lucky I was to meet these guys and I think I quite possibly have an even bigger obsession with the show. Comic Con was crazy but it was so much fun I only hope I can go again some time in the future and that it will be just as amazing a time as this years was.

Next time drunk fangirling at the Supernatural Nerd HQ panel

Bear Hugs & Swords

Cate

Inspirational Quotes #42

"You change your thoughts, you change your life."
- Oona Chaplin

SDCC: THE GAME OF THRONES SIGNING!!!

When I heard all my favourite characters were going to be at Comic Con this year I made it my mission to see them! After missing out twice on seeing Kit Harrington doing panels on Thursday and the queue for the Friday Game of Thrones panel already starting Thursday afternoon I thought I would try my luck at getting tickets for the signing...

I came, I saw, I CONQUERED, I still cannot believe how lucky I was to get into the signing there were only a few tickets left in the draw by the time it was my turn and I got a winning one! This was my number one goal of Comic Con and I never ever imagined that it would actually happen, I was so excited!

Between the 6:30am ticket drawing and the 4:45pm signing I had quite a lot of time to kill so after exploring the Exhibition Hall I decided to go find the Game of Thrones #JoinTheRealm exhibition, which I'll talk about later, after I found Violet I took a second trip there for more freebies and on our way back to the con we ran into a familiar face...

David Bradley how awesome is that!? AND he totally remembered me from our previous meeting "Of course you were the one who warned me about it all" he smiled at me "although I didn't quite realise it would be that bad, luckily I haven't received any death threats yet" he laughed. He's such a nice guy in real life I'm so happy he's finally playing a much loved character, I wished him luck for the Doctor Who panel he shook my hand and said "nice meeting you again" and then it was time for the signing.

As we were waiting to be let in Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs to take photos of the mass of people that had crowded around the booth to catch a glimpse of the cast, at that point I started to get really excited I was just moments away from meeting my favourite people from my favourite show ever!

Before I left I made some Direscarves to give to Kit (Jon Snow) and Richard (Robb "The King in the North" Stark" but even before we got into the signing security were all no personal items, you can't take videos or photos, you can't give them anything and keep the line moving so I came up with a Plan B and decided to wear the scarves then just quickly take them off to give to the boys.

As I worked my way around the signing table everyone noticed and complimented my scarves, I told Emilia (Daenerys) that I'd have to work on a dragon one for her and she got super excited and Esmé (Ros) said she would totally buy one off me which was sweet.

Kit noticed straight away they they were Ghost and Grey Wind then I told him I has actually made Ghost especially for him and could I give it to him and he looked so surprised and said yes please do and that it was amazing and he would treasure it forever.

Richard looked so happy when I gave him Grey Wind and I was over the moon that they actually liked them and that I finally got to give my Direscarves to their rightful owners it was just the best day ever!

Before I had to move Richard asked me if I was from England and when he said where I replied "THE NORTH!" which made him laugh and as it turns out I'm actually not too far away from a certain Samwell Tarley as I found out swiftly before I was booted out of the line that we actually went to the same university!

Special big hugs to Violet for taking all these awesome photos for me and although my time was brief it was so amazing to meet the cast and George, every single person I've met from Game of Thrones has been so kind and so friendly I feel really lucky and I hope one day we'll cross paths again, bring on the next Comic Con!

Next time more Game of Thrones fun at the #JoinTheRealm exhibition

Dreams & Direwolves

Cate

xoxo

9 Glorious Game of Thrones Inspired Tees

You guys probably already know I'm kinda obsessed with Game of Thrones and for a long time there was hardly any great Game of Thrones clothing about but now it has a HUGE fan following there are so many awesome designs available to buy that I had to share a handful of my favourites.

Mother of Dragons

Daenerys is not one my favourite characters (say what!?) but there is no denying her fierceness and if this design is one thing it's fierce! Dany looks like a true Khaleesi perched atop that dragon skull it's beautiful, I'm definitely "Team Wolf" but I would happily support "Team Dragon" wearing this.

Winter Has Come

I love this design so much I could not resist and bought it, the glow-in-the-dark details totally sold me and I love creeping around at night wearing this plus it features my two favourite things from Game of Thrones Jon Snow and Ghost ♥

Win or Die

A design that uses the house sigils in an inventive way is always going to be a winner in my book. Quite a lot of Game of Thrones designs can be dark so I love the use of colour in this one, how many different houses can you spot?

Ghost White Ale

There seems to be quite a few Game of Thrones beer label designs out there but this was one of the first that caught my eye because it features my favourite and most awesome Direwolf Ghost and even better the most badass sword ever Longclaw, if this was a real drink it would definitely be my favourite!

Khaleesi Heart Cream!

I just love those cute designs gone bad and this is has to be one of them, look how kawaii Daenerys is munching on her oooey gooey horse heart, this definitely appeals to both my cute and morbid side, I love it.

Throne Fighter

I saw a dude wearing this shirt at Comic Con so I had to look up where he got it from and I'm so glad I did as I found this amazing design which I love, not only does it feature Ghost it even has Syrio Forel on it I mean how could I not love it?

Iron or Gold

Seeing this for the first time you'd be forgiven for not noticing the Game of Thrones reference but I love the subtlety. This is such a  clever creative design taking traditional playing cards and mixing them with the house sigils to represent the war of the Kings (and Khaleesi), I'd love to get this printed or embroidered on a skirt of something.

Art Nouveau Game of Thrones

Art Nouveau designs are my weakness but what I love most about this one is that it features so many house sigils not just the the main houses of Stark, Lannister and Targaryen, even the Dothraki get a feature on this even though they don't really have an official house sigil.

Night's Watch Crows

Another one from Liquidsouldes but I seriously love his designs and would buy every single one if I could but I had to feature this one to as I love my Night's Watch boys, it's such a cool design that I'm tempted to paint it on my next leather jacket.

Dragons & Direwolves

Cate

xoxo