Things That Make You Go Oooooo (November 2014)

Can you believe Christmas is just a few weeks away, are you feeling festive spirit yet? November has been yet another crazy month to me but December is here and it's time to relax and have some fun. I'm starting to make plans for 2015 and setting myself some goals, I can't believe how fast this year has gone it's been crazy but anyway I hope you all enjoy this month's links.

♥ How To Deal With A Shit Week.

♥ Clothes Schmothes: 10 Things To Do in Your Underwear

♥ Get Unstuck: Stop Believing the Negative Stories You Tell Yourself

♥ Ten Ways To Get Over Blogger's Block

♥ 18 Things Women Shouldn’t Have To Justify

♥ 36 Totally valid excuses to NOT exercise

♥ You Are The Only Person Who Can Change Yourself

♥ The Smart Girl’s Guide to Money Management

♥ Are There Beauty Goodies Hiding in Your Trash or Compost Pile?

♥ The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Why it Pays To Be Kind

♥ How To Get Shit Done Even When You're Totally Unmotivated

♥ Keeping Up With Friends When You Lead Busy Lives

♥ Stop Resisting: Surrender to Your Body to Transform It and Your Life

♥ What Does Being Brave Mean To You?

♥ 12 Ways To Help A Sick Friend

♥ Everyone is Hot

♥ Beating the Winter Business Blues

♥ 20 Life Lessons We Learned From the ‘Lion King' On Its 20th Birthday

♥ Nutrition is NOT a Religion

♥ Little Hamster Bartenders Serving Tiny Food And Drinks

Love & Gingerbread Cookies

Cate

xoxo

Amphawa Floating Market

Amphawa is one of my favourite floating markets, the food there is just so delicious that I just can't help coming back and with it being only an hour away from Bangkok it's an easy trip to make in a day. A boat trip to visit the five temples is a must when you're at Amphawa but as I've blogged about that previously I'm just going to share with you some delicious photos of the market.

Everyday I wish I was back in Thailand, I miss the food (and my family) so much and although I know it's taken me a while to blog about everything I've still got lots more adventures to share with you including one of my highlights, a trip to a Dog Cafe!

Where do you wish you were right now?

Love & Noodles

Cate

xoxo

Belfast Film & Comic Con 2014

Over the past few years cons in the U.K. have got a lot bigger and a lot more frequent with new cons popping up in new places all the time. It's become more difficult (and expensive) for me to attend all of them but as Belfast Film & Comic Con was close to The Dad's birthday and on our half term break it came as the perfect excuse for a weekend trip there.

Being its first year it was a small con with only a few guests attending and unfortunately a few of them had to cancel but there were still awesome people such as Billy Boyd and Billie Piper in attendance. I only visited the con on Saturday and as Art Parkinson (Rickon Stark) was there that day I just had to make him his own Shaggydog so he could join the "Direscarf Club".

All the Stark (and Snow) boys now own their own Direwolf scarf made by me how cool is that? Now there's just Nymeria & Lady left to make. Art was such a sweet kid to and as the con wasn't too busy we actually had time to have a little chat to each other about our love for Arrow and other TV Superheroes.

Ser Barristan (Ian McElhinney) signed my Game of Thrones map and as I was dressed as Daenerys that day I couldn't resist getting a photoshoot done with him.

Then I met Game of Thrones artist Will Simpson and talked all things Game of Thrones, comics and places we should visit around Northern Ireland which I'll totally keep in mind for next time as I definitely want to do a Game of Thrones tour next time I'm over there.

He had some great prints for sale and I was tempted to get a Daenerys one seeing as I was dressed as her but of course I went for Jon Snow because you all know I'm a Stark at heart and I have a soft spot for the big white wolf.

There were some great photo ops around the con including this life-sized Jabba display which was awesome, a Gollum statue and a Jurassic Park set-up which I was hella tempted by but as you had to pay for photos I didn't bother and instead spent my money on comics...as usual! As this was its first year it wasn't too busy and I enjoyed getting the extra time to talk to the guests rather than being rushed though the queue, I was only there for a day but I had fun being Daenerys and who knows maybe I'll go back there next year.

Love & Dragon Hugs

Cate

xoxo

Inspirational Quotes #56

"You just have to go after what you want and if it doesn't want you back then so be it; it doesn't deserve you anyways."
- Nicole Richie

The London Tourist

London is not somewhere I visit too often so when I was there for London Film & Comic Con I decided it was finally time I do the tourist thing and visit some of the most popular sights down there. When you live in a country you never really think to go visit all the "tourist places", in fact the same is true for me when I go back to Thailand as I still haven't seen the Temple of Dawn or the Grand Palace which are possibly the most famous sights in Bangkok.

Back to London, I spent my morning visiting The National Gallery to see Van Gogh's infamous Sunflowers then it was out to Trafalgar Square to climb some bronze lions. I'll admit there was a slight fail in my plans as it was harder than I thought to climb up there, but I did get up there albeit not very elegantly, also as it was so sunny that day the lions were way too hot to touch let alone climb on!

 

 

As the horse guards are just down the street from Trafalgar Square I thought I'd go get another touristy snap with a guard, apparently when my mum first visited London and got a snap here one of the horses tried to bite her, luckily they weren't too bothered my my presence and I came out with all my fingers in tact.

 

Big Ben was just down the road so of course I couldn't miss out on another photo opportunity and also a bit of tourist shopping as I couldn't resist the kitsch allure of a Big Ben Pen. Then as all the walking and photo taking was making me hungry we went up to Convent Garden and devoured some burgers from Shake Shack, all in all a great day out in London although next time I think I need to take a trip to Buckingham Palace!

Do you have any local "tourist attractions" you've never visited? Let me know in the comments

Burgers & Big Red Buses

Cate

xoxo

Pumpkin Bread (Vegan & Gluten Free)

Autumn is turning into winter but I've still got a taste for all things pumpkin. My current favourite night-time treat has to be curing up on the sofa in a warm blanket with a cup of coffee and a slice of this, I've made this bread twice already this month as even my pumpkin hating friends were asking for seconds so here's the recipe and let's spread some pumpkin love.

Ingredients

• 1 cup gluten free flour
• 1 cup coconut flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
• 1/3 cup ground flax seed
• 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup pumpkin purée
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 cup coconut milk

♥  Preheat an oven to 180 then grease and line a loaf tin.

♥  In a bow mix together all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, flax seed & spice)

♥  Then add in the pumpkin purée, vanilla extract, syrup, oil and coconut milk and mix throughly.

♥  Once all the ingredients are mixed fold in the pumpkin seeds, if you want put a few to the side to sprinkle on top before baking.

♥  Spoon the batter evenly into the loaf tin & sprinkle a few pumpkin seeds on top.

♥  Place the loaf tin into the center of the oven and bake for 45 minutes until golden brown.

♥  Serve warm with a nice cuppa tea

Be sure to leave a comment if you bake it I'd love to know what you think

Good Luck

Cate

xoxo

#OOTD: Mother of Dragons

I am Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons and this is the most last minute, unplanned but fun cosplay I've done!

Daenerys wasn't really a character that I wanted to cosplay as but I absolutely adore her outfits in the show so much so I got this blue dress made in Thailand although I didn't really intend to wear it as cosplay but as our trip to Belfast Film & Comic Con was a late decision and I didn't have time to finish my current cosplay project I'd thought it was the perfect excuse to order myself a wig, make a necklace and go as the Mother of Dragons.

click for fullsize

The dragon tooth for my necklace is actually a Sabre-Tooth Tiger claw replica I bought from a museum a while back all I needed to do was I paint it gold and add a chain to make it look like Dany's necklace from the show, the only other little thing I would've done to the necklace if I had some more time is dry brush it to make it look a bit more aged.

There were loads of awesome cosplayers at Belfast Film & Comic Con and I loved that there were so many families doing group cosplays there, my favourite being Penguin and little Catwoman. I got lots of compliments on my outfit that I think I may have to wear this one again!

They'll be more photos & a full report of Belfast Film & Comic Con coming soon

Love & Dragons

Cate

xoxo