Things That Make You Go Oooooo (October 2018)

October is over and there's just 2 months left of 2018 and my crazy year is not over yet because there's even more adventures coming which I can't wait for, I just want to make the most of life as I can as I'm not getting any younger haha! It's Halloween today and I haven't had a moment to think how I'm going to celebrate tonight, so I think ice cream and a scary movie it is, enjoy this month's links.....

♥ How to Save Money While Living in the City

♥ Move Your Body, Calm Your Mind: 5 Practices That Help Ease Anxiety

♥ The One Trick You Need To Try For A Stress-Free Morning

♥ How To Be a Better Listener in 6 Steps

♥ Love in Translation

♥ How I Do My Nails

♥ 31 Things to Do When You're Having a Bad Day

♥ 25 Ways To Eliminate Toxins From Your System

♥ Getting Out Of Your Bad Mood

♥ I Tested 6 Bedtime Hacks Successful People Swear By

♥ How To Deal With Feeling Stuck

♥ Six Ways To Wake Up In A Better Mood

♥ An Open Letter to All the People Pleasers

♥ How To Bounce Back from Adrenal Burnout

♥ Is Your Anxiety Triggered By Hormonal Imbalance? Here's Exactly What To Do About It

♥ 5 Lies I've Stopped Telling Myself

♥ Step into Your Power and Manifest Your Dreams

♥ How I Learned to Make Friends With My Anxiety

♥ Plot Twist: Sleeping In on the Weekends Makes You Live Longer

♥ 3 Quick Tips For Staying Positive Even On A Terrible Day

Love & Matcha

Cate

xoxo

The Big Buddha & Po Lin Monastery - Lantau Island - Hong Kong

The Big Buddha is probably one of Hong Kong's most famous sights, on my first trip to Hong Kong we unfortunately couldn't visit due to bad weather so I was hoping on this trip I could finally take my mum there to see it and kept a close watch on the weather, the night before there was a storm so we were worried it be another trip we'd miss out seeing it but luckily the weather cleared up in the morning and we were able to take a cable car up there.

The cable care to the summit was a longer ride than I thought but a really enjoyable ride which gives you a great view of Hong Kong from above, some cable cars also have a glass bottom so you can see the view below but we just took a regular car, but when you reach the summit the journey doesn't end there it's still a walk to reach the Buddha through shops and restaurants and a tiring climb up 268 steps to reach the base, I was sweating by the time I reached the top but it was great exercise and totally worth seeing this massive creation up close.

Next door to the Big Buddha is Po Lin Monastery, a temple where the monks live. The atmosphere was very calm and peaceful there in complete contrast to the craziness of Hong Kong city, mostly tourists come visit pay their respects there and buy good luck charms.

I always enjoy visiting temples and shrines as they have a whole different atmosphere and beauty. In the past I've only had the chance to see the city areas of Hong Kong and not much of it's natural beauty so this was a whole new experience for me and it was nice to have a few quiet moments before returning to the hustle and bustle.

Po Lin Monastery also has a vegetarian cafeteria where you can buy all sorts or Chinese foods and desserts, I had already eaten a large breakfast so didn't try the food on offer but I just couldn't say no to trying some desserts, Chinese desserts are one of my absolute favourite things so I picked up a few dumplings to try and I had the best mango mochi of my life, seriously mangoes in Hong Kong always taste really good and this dumpling has fresh ones inside, I was almost tempted to buy a box to bring back to Thailand with me for everyone to try.

After exploring the religious area, we walked back to the cable car station and visited some of the shops to buy souvenirs to bring home for the family. Our first visit to Hong Kong we really wanted to take my grandmother to see the Buddha but unfortunately due to bad weather we couldn't go and now due to ill health she can no longer travel so didn't make this trip with us but we still made sure to pay our respects for her and buy her a good luck charm so she was there with us in spirit.

There's just so much of Hong Kong to see and my time there never seems to be long enough so I'm so happy after all these years we finally got the chance to visit and see The Big Buddha, it was definitely worth the wait and I would love to explore more of the area if I ever get the chance to go back to Hong Kong.

What places would you like to see in Hong Kong?

Love & Dumplings

Cate

xoxo

Rosegal Halloween Sale - Spooky Hoodie Wishlist

// Plus Size Halloween Theme Hoodie (Red Wine) //  Plus Size Spider Web Halloween Hoodie (Orange) //

// Halloween Galaxy Wolf Print Drawstring Hoodie //

Halloween is my favourite time of year and to celebrate I checked out the Rosegal Halloween Sale for some spooky hoodies and picked out a few of my favourites to share with you which I'm sure would not only be perfect to wear for Halloween but all year round whenever you're feeling in a spooky mood.

Be sure to take a look at the Rosegal Halloween Sale & let me know your fave items!

Love & Pumpkins

Cate

xoxo

When The Wendigo Met Hannibal - MCM Birmigham 2018 (Mads Mikkelsen)

Back in May when I visited the UK just a few days after my arrival I noticed that Mads Mikkelsen would be attending Comic Con and as a huge Fannibal I had to go meet him in person, he's such a great actor and Hannibal is one of my favourite series ever and I really enjoyed his recent appearances in the Marvel and Star wars Universe so this was an opportunity not to be missed. I'm writing this months later but my brain still can't process that I met him in person, it was all so quick but he was so charming and cool.

I had just a week to prepare for this con and nothing to wear, I knew that I wanted to dress "Hannibal Style" but had left most of my wardrobe back in Thailand, seriously I only had one pair of jeans and one skirt packed in my suitcase and a few jumpers I had left behind after my winter trip so I rushed out to H&M to check out the sale section and luckily found a few things I could use for a Wendigo outfit. I also rush ordered some black lenses which I ended up not being able to see properly out of but they really added to the look I was going for so I persisted. Luckily my antlers I made many years ago were still in tact and I found a Hannibal style tie I used as a belt to keep the jacket in place. Finally I added my rosary beads I got from my trip to Palermo (where Hannibal was filmed) to complete the look and although it wasn't perfect I was quite pleased at what I managed to put together and received some nice compliments from my fellow Fannibals.

Meeting Mads was just a complete blur, I was so nervous but it was very calm and so charming and signed my poster I got from Hannibal's first panel at San Diego Comic Con which he mentioned he was sad not to have been able to go to then afterwards I went to get a photo with him and completely forgot to take my flower crown out of my bag for him to wear, the picture is really embarrassing to you can see just how nervous I was but he of course looks dashing as ever!

After the blur of meeting Mads we decided to check out the rest of the con and it was surprisingly quiet compared to all the cons I've been to in the past and I ended up not buying anything which is really unusual for me but finally seeing Mads in person was just so amazing and brought back all my Fannibal feels, it was definitely one of the biggest highlights of my visit back to the UK and I'll never forget it.

Who would you love to meet from your favourite series?

Love & Antlers

Cate

xoxo

Vivienne Westwood Cafe - Hong Kong

Vivienne Westwood is one of my all time favourite designers, I just love her style and everything she stands for so when I found out there was a Vivienne Westwood cafe in Hong Kong I had to go and check it out for myself. Fashion and food are my two most favourite things so this was the perfect marriage of the things I love most.

The Vivienne Westwood Cafe is situated in Harbour City, Tsim Tsa Tsui next to the Vivienne Westwood store, it's only a small place but full of charm with the walls, cutlery and dinnerware all decorated in her signature prints. The menu offers a wide selection of teas and other drinks and some desserts, you can also enjoy a traditinal afternoon tea there, very British and very Westwood style!

If you've been following me for a while you might have seen my Vivienne Westwood bag which I actually received as a gift for my 20th birthday so it's very precious to me, the day we visited also happened to be my birthday and thus the birthday of my bag to so you could say it was a special visit for the both of us.

With it being my birthday I of course had to order myself a cake and I loved that this cake came adored in her signature orb made of white chocolate, the cake was really nice to strawberry and passionfruit flavoured on a bed of chocolate cripsies totally to my taste and I ate every crumb. I also ordered myself a rose, lychee soy milk tea as I wanted to try something different and it was really good to, maybe a little sweet for my liking but still delicious.

I'd love to come back and try the Afternoon Tea one day, but this was just a quick visit before going to watch the nightly light show and my trips to Hong Kong are always over so quickly but I know I'll come back one day as it's a great city! All in all it was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday and yes while it was a little pricey, birthdays only come once a year so it was totally worth it.

Who is your favourite fashion designer?

Love & Oolong

Cate

xoxo

Psssst if you want to see more awesome cafes from around the world you can click the button below, buy me a coffee, get treats & a shoutout on my next post

OCTOBER DOUBLE GIVEAWAY: Fox Scarf & GOT7 Postcards

October is here and because I got so busy last month and wasn't able to do all the giveaways I planned I thought I would do a double giveaway this month instead and hopefully offer a little something for everyone. You can enter both giveaways if both takes your interest however you can only win one so if you're lucky enough to get picked for both I will contact you asking which prize you prefer then select an addition winner for the other prize, so check out all the details below on how you can enter...

As autumn is here I wanted to giveaway a little something I made to celebrate the season, these fox scarves are the most popular design in my Etsy Shop and this particular design is already SOLD OUT and as they'll be no more re-stocks in my Etsy you'll be getting the absolute last one I'll ever make to keep you warm during these colder months.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To win this scarf just follow the instructions in the widget above for details on how to enter.

GOT7 is back with their new album Present:You and I celebrated by ordering 6.... So I have quite a few extras and duplicates, whilst I'm still waiting for some albums to arrive and organising trades, I wanted to giveaway this absolutely beautiful postcard set I had extras of which was exclusive to album pre-orders and if you win I'll also send you an exclusive code you can use on VLive to listen to one of the members thanks message.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you're a GOT7 fan be sure to check out the details in the widget above and enter!

Good Luck

Cate

xoxo