Things That Make You Go Oooooo (August 2015)

August has ended and I'm another year older and maybe a little bit wiser this year although I'm still hoarding toys like a 4 year old! It's been a pretty chilled out month for me and I've really enjoyed it but I'm excited September is here because I'm off on my travels to... PALERMO! I'm so excited to get out of the country, enjoy some summer sunshine and take in all the sights, smells and sounds of a new place, YEY to new adventures!

♥ Did you know 400 million less animals were killed for meat last year because more people are becoming vegetarian, this is amazing news and it just proves that yes you really can make a difference!

♥ You Don’t Need Anyone’s Permission to Do What You Want to Do

♥ If you're looking to do something fun this weekend but all your mates are busy here are 5 things you can enjoy doing solo

♥ Here are 6 Top Tips For Tidying a Messy Room something which The Bat Cave is in dire need of!

♥ Starting your day off with Yoga is THE BEST just try it for 30 days I promise you won't regret it, thanks to Cuteek for the tip

♥ There's More To Life Than A Bunch of 'Likes'

♥ I love reading about life in other cultures so here are 4 things we can learn about happiness from around the world

♥ How To Boost Your Body Confidence

♥ 13 Tips To Make Your Blog Better

♥ Big things are happening so I'm taking a good luck at my finances and ways in which I can cut back so here's 11 Things You Can Quit To Get Financially Healthy

♥ The lesson is don't drink and buy but if you do please share your fail purchases online because some of these are just amazing!

♥ Why Geek Culture is a Culture

♥ Good news if you're anything like me and talk to yourself often you're not crazy you're a genius!

♥ Here are 10 things to add to your diet for great skin and they all happen to be delicious to

♥ 5 Reasons Why No One’s Reading Your Blog (And How to Fix Them)

♥ There's a Ned Flander's inspired metal band... Okilly Dokilly!

♥ 9 Simple Social Media Tips To Get More Traffic

♥ Mixing faith, fashion and fandom this is such a beautiful read.

♥ 9 Foreign Words That Should Be in Your Vocabulary

♥ Loved this read on Unleashing Your Inner Superhero it's exactly what I needed to hear!

Love & Popsicles

Cate

xoxo

5 Fandom Friday: Real Life Geeks Who Inspire Me

So I'm absolutely loving the topic this week as it's a chance for us to spread some love around the nerd community. It took me a while to really accept myself as a geek and in some ways it's still seen as a dirty word (definitely not by moi though!) but there are some awesome people in this community who have shown me that there is nothing wrong with loving the things you love and to really truly embrace yourself and be proud of who you are. I'm such a happier person now and no longer feel the need to hide my passions and part of that is down to these people and of course a super special shoutout to all my nerdy friends online and off who are beautiful, awesome and constantly inspiring me to live and love that nerd life.

Wil Wheaton & Felicia Day

I thought I'd talk about these two awesome geeks together because I pretty much adore them for the same reasons and also they make an amazing team! Both Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day embrace their quirks and their hobbies and passion and they also give a voice to the 'weird' kids giving us someone to relate to making us feel special. They also host some amazing nerdy events bringing the geek community together and they are totally unashamedly living the geek life something we all should aspire to.

Hayley Atwell

Because I obviously don't gush about her enough on this blog! The more I learn about this goofball the more I love her and the more she inspires me whether it's dubsmash wars or being a voice for feminism she always brings a light to my day and makes me want to be a better person.

Yaya Han

The queen of cosplay. I absolutely adore her costumes they're so beautiful and even better she's made her career cosplay, she's living the dream and it totally inspires me to get my butt into gear and star working hard towards my dream goals to.

Female Geek Bloggers

You bunch of awesome people, with your awesome blogs inspire me everyday to keep living and blogging that nerd life, I have to admit I did feel a bit lost in the blogging world for a time but since being a part of this amazing community of like minded people I really feel rejuvenated and inspired again so thanks everyone for the amazing support and keep up all the amazing work that you do xoxo

Check out #Fandom5 creators The Nerdy Girlie & Super Space Chick & join in on the Fandom Friday fun!

Love & Super Hugs

Cate

xoxo

Blogger Recognition Award

A huge thank you to Fangirls on the Road and Psycholo-geek for nominating me for the Blogger Recognition Reward being a part of this awesome blogging community is one of the most fun and rewarding things ever, so be sure to check our their awesome blogs and give them a follow.

This award was created by Edge of Night, and these are the guidelines: 

♥ Select 15 other blogs you want to give the award to. Do some digging if you must! Find those blogs. You cannot nominate yourself or the person who has nominated you.

♥ Write a post to show off your award! Give a brief story of how your blog got started, and give a piece or two of advice to new bloggers. Thank whoever nominated you, and provide a link to their blog. List who you've nominated in the post. Make sure to also attach the award itself! (You can do this by right-clicking, saving, and uploading the image above).

♥ Comment on each blog and let them know you've nominated them. Provide a link to the award post you created.

♥ Provide a link to the original post on Edge of Night. That way, anyone can find the original guidelines and post if needed, and we can keep it from mutating and becoming confusing.


The Origins of Cateaclysmic

I've been blogging in some form or another online for over 10 years! I guess I really got into it during my LiveJournal days and because of it made some really great friends who inspired me to continue blogging and after a bit of messing around on blogspot I eventually created this site in 2009.

When I first started blogging I considered myself a fashion blogger and whilst that is something that still does interest me I'm happy now just to blog about everything and anything I love, this blog has evolved with me over the years and become a place I'm really proud and happy to be involved in.


Advice for New Bloggers

Whilst I may not have the "fame" and recognition of other bloggers in my circle I've come to realise that you do things for you. If you wanna blog go for it, just do it! Don't feel like you have to have a niche just write about what interests you and the rest will follow. If blogging starts to feel like a chore and something you don't enjoy then don't feel afraid to take a break or just stop it should always be something you enjoy, and don't worry about the pageviews!

Be sure to check out this sweet interview I did with my friend Cally all about blogging, crafting and living the geek life as well as my monthly "Things That Make You Go Oooooo" list which is always full of some great links and blogging advice.


My Nominations

After my previous Liebster and Dragon awards I'm running short on people to nominate so I'm breaking the rules and want you to instead link me to your blogs in the comments and then we can all check out each other and maybe find some new people to follow ♥

Love & Luck Dragons

Cate

xoxo

BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

It's officially August 22nd so that means it's my Birthday YAY! Because I wanted to share the love I thought I would giveaway one of my "Mystery Lucky Bags" and yep these are the big ones so they'll be full of cute goodies handmade by myself and if you can't wait to get one I'm still offering 20% off all purchases made in my Etsy Shop this month.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open from now until midnight on August 31st and I will post worldwide so get those entries in!

Thank you everyone for your support & birthday wishes you're all awesome

Love & Cake

Cate

xoxo

5 Fandom Friday: Crossovers That Would Cause My Heart to Explode

Welcome to another Fandom Friday brought to you buy The Nerdy Girly & Super Space Chick, this week we're talking about crossovers that would make our hearts explode which is an awesome title although I'm hoping not literal because ick! Also it's my birthday tomorrow so ya know "Studio People" if you want to announce any of these awesome ideas it would be not only the perfect time but the perfect birthday present...

SUPERWHOLOCK

Supernatural + Doctor Who + Sherlock I mean do I really have to explain how gosh darn freakin' awesome this would be, the world would be an awesome place if these shows joined forces to fight the good fight and rid the world of evil and just imagine all the witty banter it would be the most quotable show ever!

Jurassic World & Godzilla

I mentioned this in a previous Fandom 5 but I'm mentioning it again because it needs to happen and if Legendary want to throw in Pacific Rim that's all good with me.

Supergirl & The Flash

Just look at these two cuties I want them to team up already, I know Supergirl hasn't even started yet but I already love it after seeing the pilot and I know they've already said they won't crossover but my fangirl heart will keep the hope alive

All Star Female Superheroes

None of this DC vs Marvel business I want a big team up against a big bad where everyone loves and supports each other to kick serious ass. Ever since I heard about the Wonder Woman movie being WWII based I've been thinking what if Peggy was in this movie and how amazing they would be together also seeing these ladies together at the Women Who Kick Ass panel in SDCC has me thinking up all kinds of lady hero crossovers.

Disney x Game of Thrones

Firstly stop reading this and go check out these amazing pictures right now! Don't tell me you wouldn't want to see that movie, I know never in a million years would this happen but after seeing all that amazing artwork my mind is singing and I want it sooooo much!

Check out #Fandom5 creators The Nerdy Girly & Super Space Chick & join in on the Fandom Friday fun!

Love & Roses

Cate

xoxo

Lego Builds: Captain America & The Avenging Cycle

I've had this Lego set for over 2 years and it had been sitting in my nerd cupboard along with a few other awesome Lego sets waiting to be built for too long so I thought I would finally get it out and get it made and because I had such fun making my last Lego build video I thought I would do another one so be sure to let me know if you like it and I may do another Lego build video soon!

This set didn't take me long to build and I was kinda sad it was over so quickly but I do love Cap's Avenging Cycle it's so cute and makes a great addition to my Cap collection, Lego is so much fun to I definitely need to start getting all these awesome sets out of storage and start building them!

Let me know what your favourite Lego collection is & what should I make next

Love & Lego

Cate

xoxo

Inspirational Quotes #65

"I think prejudice is always going be there. We just have to trump it. We just have to keep on exposing it and trumping it and revealing it and naming it and making it clear and bringing it out into the light, out into the open to see it for what it really is. And then it really, truly has no power."
- Hayley Atwell

5 Fandom Friday: Favourite Fandom Phrases

Happy Fandom Friday! I took a week off last week so I hope you enjoyed my #GeekyTeeFriday post but I'm back on form with this week's #Fandom5 topic which is all about our fave fandom phrases. I quite often find myself quoting my fave fandoms even without realising it, I think conversations with me are basically me quoting various lines from movies and TV shows because I always get the "isn't that from a movie?" line from people so here are just a handful of phrases I like to quote on the regular...

Galaxy Quest is such a godamn awesome movie and this phase has been my mantra for the past 15 years, whenever I'm down I just say this to myself in my best Thermian voice and everything suddenly begins to feel bright again.

For the longest time I didn't even realise I was quoting Abed everytime I say this and I say this a lot so much so it's become my catchphrase now sorry Abed!

This can only be said in your best northern accent and yes I have a northern accent and yes people ask me to say this all the time and yes I love it!

There were tears in my eyes when I first watched this because Peggy is my everything! Do as Peggy says and know your value because anyone else's opinion doesn't really matter.

Ahhh Dean you say so many funny things but I think this will always be in my top Dean quotes of all time.

BONUS

Check out #Fandom5 creators The Nerdy Girly & Super Space Chick & join in on the Fandom Friday fun!

Love & Lizards

Cate

xoxo

Wishlist Wednesday: Happy Birthday to Me!

August is my birthday month and the perfect time to #TreatYoSelf so I thought it would be fun to share some of the adorable geeky things from my wishlist that I have found on my internet travels.

♥ Kotobukiya Bishoujo Zatanna - I have mad love for these figures, my Spider-Woman Kotobukiya is absolutely gorgeous so when I heard that they were making one of my absolute fave characters Zatanna I had to have it and isn't she gorgeous?

♥ Hello Kitty Simpsons Skirt - This has to be the most awesome collab! All the Springfielders in their cute Hello Kitty style is adorable I would definitely love to have this in my wardrobe

♥ Wonder Woman Barbie - Ok so this is an SDCC exclusive which is probably ridiculously inflated in price by now but it still doesn't stop me wanting it, I really love the costume and I need it...

♥ Spider-Gwen Cardigan - Ahh we live in a wonderful time that even the newest most awesome characters get their own line of clothing, I love the whole collection so much but this cardigan is my ultimate fave.

♥ Thor Sailor Dress - This dress is already sold out in Hot Topic stores but I still love it and after seeing photos of people rockin' it on Twitter & Tumblr I'm really kicking myself that I didn't get myself one.

♥ Mickey & Minnie Shoes - Syndrome Store has the coolest clothes and I often find myself browsing their site and these shoes are my current obsession, they're just super cute!

♥ Winter is Coming Brooch - Because I needed something GoT related and this would look really cute on my Direwolf jacket.

♥ Agent Carter Funko - My love in Funko form need I say more?

♥ Dean Loves Pie Stickers - Flowers crowns + Winchesters = Kawaii DESU DESU!!

♥ Lego Supergirl Keychain - I need to add her to my already awesome Lego Super DC Ladies Collection of Wonder Woman, Batgirl and Catwoman.

♥ Wall-e Groot Tee - The cutest thing I have ever seen 'nuff said!

What are some of your favourite geeky finds? Be sure to share in the comments.

Love & Lemonade

Cate

xoxo

#GeekyTeeFriday: The Knight's Watch

It's another #GeekyTeeFriday and I just had to show off this awesome tee which mixes up 2 of my fave fandoms Batman and Game of Thrones! As soon as this tee popped up on Qwertee I had to get it, it's the perfect way to merge both my "Bat Wardrobe" and my "Thrones Wardrobe" also Samwell Tarly is on it and he's awesome.

In keeping with the "Snow" theme I actually call these glasses my Myrtle Snow's, funnily enough not that many people know I wear glasses including my family because most of the time I either wear contacts (the family don't even notice when I'm wearing my blue lenses) or go without but since I bought this pair I've been wearing them out a lot, I guess I'm falling into that nerd girl with glasses trope...

Be sure to join in on the #GeekyTeeFriday fun & show off your fave tees

Love & Direwolves

Cate

xoxo

#LFCC: The Game of Thrones Edition

London Comic Con is always full of some great Game of Thrones guests, last year I met some awesome people and this year I met even more awesome people, in all honestly I haven't met a single person from Game of Thrones I haven't liked they've all been so friendly and so much fun to talk to, I always try to sneakily get some info on the next season from them but they're good at keeping quiet although someone who shall remain nameless accidentally mentioned Kit Harrington being in the Belfast area so do with that information what you will...

Dorne is a new addition to the show so we got a couple Sand Snakes, Nymeria (Jessica Henwick) and Obara (Keisha Castle-Hughes) and a last minute addition of Doran Martell (Alexander Siddig) to the show who was such a nice guy and very excited about what's to come as am I because we're way beyond the books now and none of us has any idea what's going to happen next.

Sunday I dressed up as Daenerys (again!) because Iain Glen was going to be there and I thought I could get a cool photo with him and as I stepped up to the photoshoot he gave me a smile and an approving nod haha! Then I rushed off for a photoshoot with one of my favourite ladies ever Rose Leslie who I did meet very briefly at SDCC but never really got the chance to speak to. On my turn in the photoshoot she said how amazing I looked and how pretty my dress was, to which I replied how gorgeous she was and the result was this awesome photo of us, which is quite possibly my favourite Game of Thrones photo ever!

After meeting Rose in the photoshoot I then made my way upstairs to the Game of Thrones signings and get a few more signatures for my map of Westeros and of course I had to get myself an Ygritte Funko (even though I'm cutting down on my collection) because she's awesome and I love the little bow and arrow they gave her.

Will Simpson the Game of Thrones storyboard artist was also there so I got myself another beautiful print from him, he also remembered us from Belfast Comic Con and I asked him about Bangkok as I noticed him on the guest list for the last comic con they had there and he told us some amazing stories, I'm so happy Bangkok has a con now hopefully I'll be there to check it out next year.

Last stop on my Game of Thrones Comic Con experience was the talk which was attended by Daniel Portman (Podrick Payne), Finn Jones (Loras Tyrell), Keisha Castle-Hughes (Obara Sand) and Carice Van Houten (Melisandre) who unfortunately had to cancel the next day when I had my photoshoots because she was ill so I hope she felt better afterwards as it was kinda hellish and hot that day in the con. The cast was due to start filming on the Monday after the con and of course no matter how hard we tried we got nothing from them about what was to come apart from one word from the script "Game" haha thanks Pod! Daniel Portman is a funny guy and it definitely fuelled my want for an Adventures of Brienne and Pod spin-off. They're such a great cast and I'm so excited to see what's coming next season because for the 1st time ever we're totally clueless about what the heck is coming, it's kinda scary times but one thing is for sure is that these guys will totally do an excellent job of bringing these stories to life.

What are your hopes for the next season of Game of Thrones?

Love & Dragons

Cate

xoxo

Etsy Birthday Discount Code

August is my birthday month so to kick of the celebrations I thought I would offer 20% off all purchases* made in my Etsy Shop for the whole month YEY! All you need to do is enter the code below at checkout and your discount will automatically be applied

BIRTHDAY

As I say every year you don't have to buy me presents instead buy yourself one because the joy I get from each sale in my Etsy Shop and the knowledge that someone out there not only likes my creations but is wearing them is the best gift ever!

♥ Thank you so much for your support ♥

Love & Cookies

Cate

xoxo

* Psssst I have a bunch of these Marvel Kinder Egg Toys so if you make a purchase and you want one just leave a note with the one you want (and maybe a backup incase I run out of your 1st choice) in the comment box at checkout and I'll include it in you parcel as a gift.