October...

Well, they do say Autumn is a time of change. I suppose it's nostalgia for the school timetable that makes it still feel like a time of new beginnings, freshly-sharpened pencils, and making plans for the year ahead. This October was definitely no exception, and managed to surpass even my usual frequency of ricocheting between highs and lows like a hyperactive pinball. 

There were times where I felt parts of myself, my positivity, my sanity, being chipped away, like a miniature dinosaur excavation...

The sale of my flat, my new home, dragged on and on and ON, and just when I thought it was done, my solicitor unearthed something so insurmountable that nothing could fix it. I cried in the work toilets made my peace with it, ate commiseratory cake, and started plotting a Plan B.... 

Then, one week later, it was (magically) All Fixed And Fine Again. Cue street parade, celebratory cake, apologetic tweets to those who'd offered help with Plan B etc. etc. 

It was only after I'd started packing, with my moving date mere days away, that the "Everything Is Awesome" message was found to have been sent in error. Apparently, there'd been a mix-up with my file (with the Lego Movie script, I can only assume) and things were Very Much Not Fine after all. So, it was time for a New Plan B*...

My New Plan took the form of an eagle renting a rather sexy little room (in the Brighton Laines no less!!), complete with leopard print wallpaper, five lovely housemates, and only one bathroom.... 

The location couldn't be more perfect (it's so close to my favourite Mexican restaurant that I practically shouted in my order on moving day), and I've finally been reunited with my stuff that's spent 11 months in storage. It was like Christmas, with more fairy lights. And, if nothing else, living here is going to give me a bladder of STEEL. 

My new bed - complete with an actual mattress(!!)
and WiFi access. HURRAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

Thankfully, gratefully, October was far from solely doom and gloom. In spite, or perhaps because, of feeling so stressed and helpless about the whole flat thing, I managed to fill every spare second (and millimetre of stomach) with the best things life can offer, including:

1. Cheesy carbs

Do you think it's a sign that your pizza is excessively huge when it needs THREE plastic table things in the box? (The third one is blocked by J's hand - I promise I can count to three) Or is the sign when one slice takes up an entire plate?

Seriously- the box on top is a normal 12" pizza...

2. Halloween Parties, by the (severed) handful. 
This year's festivities included a night out on the town, dressed as what most people guessed to be a "microwave kitten"... I wasn't.

The lack of rabbit ears probably didn't help (the bunches were the best I could do last-minute; especially as I'd drunk too much rum to be wielding scissors) but I maintain that my DIY-d tunic dress was OBVIOUSLY a boiler. 

The second outfit, for the Halloween special Boardgames Meet-Up, was marginally more obvious. A DIY-d checkerboard t-shirt, laddered tights, and half a dozen rubber snakes entwined round my limbs, hair, and waist...

I was going to share a photo here, but my Halloween 1 Hangover left me looking so ghoulish I would probably give you nightmares.

3. Pub roasts
Including a "sharing" roast - something I've never experienced before. I really wasn't sure how I felt about the whole thing, until my fellow roast-lover pointed out that they'd given me a double portion of cauliflower cheese because I wasn't going to eat any of the meat. Maybe they're not so bad after all...



4. Biro tattoos
Because what else are you going to do after eating your own weight in cauliflower cheese?!

[Comments below saying "DUNCAN - YOU HAVE TO GET THAT MANATEE TATTOO FOR REAL" would be very much appreciated]

5. Noodle Soup
Milliseconds after shifting the final box on Monday, I was struck down with a cold so brutal that it's basically kept me bed-bound for this whole week. On the plus side, my new bed is so pretty I don't mind living in it 24/7, and it's been the perfect excuse to cook up vast amounts of seriously scrumptious noodle soup with gyoza from my local** Asian supermarket. I've managed to get my packet-to-bowl technique down to under 6 minutes. In your face, Jamie Oliver.

What have you been up to lately? 

Katie xxx

*I know this should probably be "Plan C", but Plan B just sounds better. Although, come to think of it, Plan C kinda sounds like fancy. I might be coming round to it after all.

** Oh, Brighton - how I've missed you!

Six Things Sunday

Hello lovelies!

How are you?

It's been a while since I've done one of these lists, so here are six things I'm smiling about at the moment:

1. Halloween
Halloween is my favourite festivity (mostly because I love face paint. In case you hadn't noticed...) and, despite having yet to make any plans for partying this year, I'm still brainstorming potential costume options for Tom and I. 

I've been trying to persuade him to go as the Dothraki King and Queen from Game of Thrones with me, but he refuses to go topless in public. Boooo.

Ok, ok - mostly I just want to put Tom's
beard into a ponytail. Haha.

And check out these amazing carved pumpkins; I wish the UK had something like this!

Image source

2. New pretty jars
A few weeks ago Achica was offering free delivery on all orders, and after spotting they had some of my favourite fancy-pants jars for a mere £10 each I treated myself to the shapes I was missing from my collection.

I have no idea what I'm going to put in them yet (for some reason I keep thinking "lemons" - but who needs that many lemons?!) but I am very excited about the endless possibilities. Please excuse the crummy phone photo.

Any ideas what I can fill these with? Cookies? Sand? M&Ms?

3. Good food
Now the weather's turned colder, we've replaced BBQs with Sunday Roasts in our house and I've reverted to my winter level of cake consumption. Not because of greed, I hasten to add- it's for selfless environmental reasons. You see, me being fatter = feeling the cold less = waiting longer to put the heating on. I'm like a one-woman Greenpeace.

Check out this amazing cupcake one of my team made me at work. 
She's definitely getting full marks on her next appraisal...

4. Entertaining TV
I'm currently in the midst of my first cold of this winter, so I've been resting up with gallons of orange juice and feel very thankful there's plenty of good TV on at the moment to keep me entertained between naps on the sofa. I've recently been watching Nashville (and now want to be a country music singer when I grow up, in addition to seriously overusing the term y'all...), the Great British Bake Off and Downton Abbey, and found out yesterday that Made In Chelsea Season 6 starts airing tomorrow. EEEEEEEP!! 

Millie preparing to gouge Spencer's eyes out... Join the queue, girl.
[image from Reveal]

5. Good reads
I've sped through several excellent books recently, my favourites of which have been The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, and Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. 

The Night Circus is the most magical book I've read in a very long time. The story is captivating and enchanting, and Morgenstern's world is one I'd quite happily lose myself for ever. I've no doubt the film rights have already been snapped up (probably by Tim Burton) and I'm hoping any future cinematic versions are the visual feast that this gripping story deserves.

I found Eleanor & Park to be an utterly adorable read, even though the plot is far from sickly sweet and deals with much darker themes then just general teen angst. The characters are well rounded and identifiable - definitely the kind of kids I would want to smoosh the cheeks of if I met them in real life. I might've shed a tear or two at the end, but I'm not going to give away any spoilers. 

I would heartily recommend either book if you're feeling in need of a little escapism.

6. Competition winner! 
Congratulations to Anastasia from Girl Reviews Things for winning my 50,000 pageviews giveaway! I'll be posting out your prizes this week :)

What've you been enjoying doing recently? Wearing jumpers? Listening to Wagner? Watching Youtube videos of dancing monkeys?

Katie xxx

The Ghosts at the Feast

Boo!

Hope you all had a suitably spooktacular Halloween!

Halloween is (werewolf)hands down my favourite holiday. It involves sweets, face-paint, sweets and the opportunity for many, many puns- what's not to love?! So I decided that this year we'd host a fancy(dress)-pants Halloween Dinner Party.

I trawled the internet for exciting gruesome food ideas and pictures of creepy/adorable costumes (just look at this one!) and we eventually decided on a suitable sickening menu;

Appetisers; Eyeballs, Tongues and Used Plasters

Main; Cat Beef Pie, mashed intestines and baked brains

Pudding; excavate-your-own zombie biscuits and chocolate orange cupcakes (because they're scarily delicious). 

I added a competitive element by getting everyone to decorate their own zombie biscuit for a prize. There were some outstanding entries, although some perhaps a little too gruesome- even for Halloween (I'm looking at you Mr SkullsandPonies)

Mexican wrestler biscuit punching a zombie in the face. As you do. 

Tom and I took ages to choose our costumes, because his beard gave us very limited options. After deliberating between Chuck Noland and Wilson, or Jay and Silent Bob, we eventually settled on Tim the Enchanter and the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog from Monty Python's Holy Grail. 

And everyone else came dressed to impress too :)

Although my all-time favourite costumes were from Halloween four years ago;

L-R Amy Winehouse, Mrs Grinch, Evil Robot, Portrait of Dorian Gray, Chucky and Zombie Captain Birdseye.

If you fancy seeing more photos, Fran's put some up on her blog too :) Did you dress up this Halloween?

Katie xxx

P.S Another totally amazing thing happened yesterday too; I won(!) the HelloDODO first birthday giveaway! I couldn't believe it- and I'm so excited! :) And will of course share pics of my prize with you lovely lot. 

Super Stuff

Hello lovelies :)

Hope you're all having brilliant weekends! I wanted to share some of my latest discoveries with you, to try and banish the Sunday night blues...

I was recently introduced to the Rules of Tea Duelling, and can't wait to take part in one. Anyone fancy a challenge? 

My fabulously talented friend Lucy has opened an Etsy shop. I cannot stress enough how beautifully made Lucy's products are; she certainly doesn't subscribe to my "Bodge It Until It Looks Ok From Far Away" style of crafting.  Lucy's also got some gorgeous Halloween bunting up at the moment; perfect if you're planning to throw a scary soiree!

Lucy's spook-tacular Halloween bunting

I wish I had the space, money, and general piratical fabulousness to pull off this chair:

How fun are these cups? A ceramic version of the classic Heads, Bodies, Legs drawing game, in three different combinations of characters. 

I've just stumbled across Mellybee and fallen in love with everything in the shop. I'd definitely recommend checking the site out get some bargain Christmas presents in early. These are some of my favourite pieces:

I've mentioned how much I love Color Me Katie before, but particularly loved her recent post that included lots of stunning pictures of colour-coordinated toys. 

I'm a bit in love with the purple camel

This: 

And, last but definitely not least, I was seriously psyched to find out Tiger has opened a shop in Brighton!!! Eeep! I met up with two girlfriends yesterday specifically to go Tiger shopping, and we all went just a little bit crazy. It's like Paperchase, the homewares section of Ikea and Rice gave birth to a three-way baby.  

These are some of the goodies that I bought (afraid I can't show you all of them, because some of the things I bought are presents. This year I am determined to be Totally Prepared for Festivemas), and I think they were pretty bargainous too!

1. Black candles for my Halloween party - £1 for little one, £2 for big one
2. Extendible duster (owning one of these makes me far happier than it probably should) - £1
3. Adorable sewing tin - £2 (which I thought was a bargain anyway, and then I found out it was full of sewing equipment too! Pins, scissors, needles, thread, needle threader, unpicker, tape-measure, thimble...) 
4. Tiny ceramic-lid storage jars - 2 for £1. I have to admit they're a bit rubbish at sealing tightly shut, so probably wouldn't keep spices etc. very fresh, but they're perfect for storing buttons
5. Plastic toothpicks/cocktail sticks - £1
6. Beautiful pink size 6 crochet hook - £2. Tiger has loads of different colours and sizes, all £2. 
7. Wooden chopsticks - £2. 

What have you discovered recently that's made you smile? Please do share!

Katie xx