Happiness is...

... Rounding up your friends in the park 
For a spontaneous picnic and game of rounders. One round robin text of "Grab a blanket, a bag of crisps, and a bottle of suncream*", and there we were running around the park like dogs let off their leashes. It was all fun and literal games until I full-on collided with one of them (we both dodged the same way while running at full speed. It was NOT pretty). Then it got serious for a minute because they thought I was dead. Then it went back to fun again. 

Oh, and my friend taught me how to hulahoop, at the grand old age of 28. Woop!

.... Stew in a storm
When the weather subsequently decided not to play ball, we chose not to either. Instead, we de-camped to a local pub to devour big bowls of steaming Polish stew and dumplings, curled up on Chesterfield sofas (us, not the dumplings. That would be weird). Thunderstorms don't get better than that.

... Ridiculous makeovers
I inherited a plastic bin from the previous inhabitant of my room, which was rather handy as I didn't own one at the time (ice-cream maker: yes. Bin: no. Priorities, people). After realising it was pretty much the only non-DIY-d thing on display, I decided that need to be rectified STAT...

The "before" bin. Snore.

One trip to Homesense later, and my bin was looking 18 kinds of fabulous. Ta da!

It's so ridiculous, throwing rubbish away has become instantly hilarious.

... It's pronounced "freet-za"
AKA, FREE PIZZA. Yes, that's right. FREE. PIZZA. A friend of mine somehow managed to get his jammy hands (not literally- I don't think he even likes jam that much) on 8 tickets to the opening party for Franco Manca's new Brighton restaurant. When he asked me if I wanted to go to a sourdough pizza restaurant for dinner where everything would be LITERALLY FREE, I nearly offered him my first born child. Ok, ok, I also offered to carry his. FREE. PIZZA. 

... NEON DINOSAUR THEMED CRAZY GOLF
And I thought my life had peaked at freeza.... There are no words. Thank you, thank you, Globalls (snigger) for bringing your magical presence into my life.

... Double mate dates at an ice-cream parlour
Like teenagers from the 1950's. Giggling and straw-sharing mandatory. 

So tell me - what have I missed? 

Katie xxx

*Oh, and a P.S. assuring them my phone hadn't been stolen, seeing as I was apparently texting them about sport... EURGH.

For my homies

I've been feeling extra warm and fuzzy of late, like my insides are wearing a fleecy onesie; a sensation caused by being infinitely grateful for my very own set of special snowflakes who...

1. Cook me dinner
If it wasn't for them, I'd probably forget what a kitchen even looks like. Their grub is better than any restaurant's; not just because it tastes of love (the most important ingredient of all, obvs) but due to the fantastic company I get to share it with. Putting the world to rights over homemade pesto is my idea of bliss. We don't do a bad brunch either: 

2. Make sure I don't miss YMCA
By smuggling me into the men's toilets because the women's queue is crazy long and we need to get back to the dancefloor STAT.

3. Provide the perfect hangover cure
Combining country walks (massive sunglasses a must)...

... Easter egg rolling and graveyard exploring...

...and a bunny biscuit from the local farmhouse, to be eaten while sitting on the Long Man of Wilmington's face....

Which still makes you snort-laugh, despite being the age of almost eight and twenty. 

4. Got me one step closer to completing my Bucket List
Which has only contained one item since I was 13: Go on The Crystal Maze. I have yet to buy tickets for the London one, but Handmade Mysteries' Exit Game was a fantastic replacement! I can think of much worse ways to spend a Wednesday night than with 5 of my favourite people, using torches, blacklights and our smarts to solving a series of clues to get a bottle of magic wine out of a wardrobe... 

5. Share those life-changing moments
Like the time you find The One(!!) in the chiller cabinet at the Co-op (who knew?!) and end up laughing so hysterically your face turns inside out and you literally cannot stop crying. 

6. Nurture my (not so) inner nerd
By inviting me to three-day-long role-playing festivals, breaking out card games in the pub, and hosting house parties with entertainment provided by their very own apps(!). Humdingers has improved my Friday nights for ever more. I truly adore my gang of charades-playing, dice-rolling, logic-puzzling people; even if they mercilessly force me to act out phrases like "Julia Roberts eating a hot dog". 

Katie xxx

The one with the Apocalypse

Aside from the film crew of the average Hollywood blockbuster, I can’t imagine many people get the chance to be a fly-on-the-wall during the apocalypse. After finding out via my local boardgames club that the world was soon to be attacked by an unknown threat that could potentially eradicate the entire human race, I knew I there was only one thing I could do; head to Duxford to watch 50 people try to save the world. 

After driving for two hours through a suitably ominous fog, I arrived at the Imperial War Museum to join a group of eager individuals complete with DIY-d military uniforms, homemade press-passes, hand-knitted microphones(!) and ten-gallon hats (Hi, Texas!). We were warmly welcomed by Jon and Sam (the masterminds behind the game) who outlined the concept for the day’s events, along with a cheery reminder that we were “all winners". At least until disaster struck….

Hand-knitted mic, complete with shiny silver threads <3

Each player was presented with a role-specific information pack, which ranged from corporate organisations to the FBI. These were supplemented by a live feed of news broadcasts, coming from both the in-game journalists and the moderators themselves, and updates via the dedicated site. I have to admit, when I spotted that the first news bulletin related to a “severe fog that has descended on our roads, which the CIA had labelled it as ‘suspicious’” I started to wonder whether the game was actually a genius double-bluff by actual supervillains capable of controlling the weather. 

The scene was set, with only 5 weeks to go until the next Presidential Election and the Republicans currently in power. The Government representatives were tasked to elect a Chair and a House Speaker, and the Republicans also had to choose their President and Vice President. I suggested using Rock, Paper, Scissors; but apparently that was inappropriate.

The newly-appointed President was immediately moved into the White House; AKA a corner table in the room populated by the Government. I wasn’t sure whether the subsequent apparition of huge bags of gummy sweets was for government bribes or a result of the first Presidential act, but it seemed like the start of a very sticky situation...

I should probably warn you at this point that my knowledge of the USA’s political system is based solely on watching House of Cards, so I was not best equipped to assess the parties’ individual tactics. However, what was immediately clear (without the need to Google “Which is the blue one?”... ahem) was how enthusiastically everyone had embraced their roles. Every table was in use for in-depth negotiations, with more furtive discussions taking place in the corridor outside and the adjoining breakout room (which housed “the rest of the world”, of course).

After setting up camp on the moderators’ table, I spent the first few hours flitting between various groups, to introduce myself as “non-game press” and assured them I wasn’t the antagonist (aka The Bad Guys). Pleas to the contrary were only moderately successful, as this was of course “exactly the kind of thing the antagonist would say”. I also realised that wearing my Space Dress might not have been the smartest move, as for some unknown reason some people concluded I must be working for NASA…(I wish).

After being saddened by the corporate reps rejecting my suggestion that giant Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups would be a more desirable apocalyptic commodity than bottled water*, I then discovered one of the best envelopes I’ve ever seen:



I followed this by going on a tea run, as everyone knows it’s impossible to overcome impending doom without a cuppa, and thankfully returned just in time to witness the Presidential Election; a “proper moment” (defined by Jon) which resulted in the Democrats taking over the White House with their own selection of snacks. 

Whilst the Democrats celebrated over lunch, I found myself completely captivated by how the game was organically evolving in response to requests for further information. The basic model incorporates the threats from the cream of cult disaster movies, which can then be enhanced using attendees’ speculations (depending on how awesome they are, of course). Essentially, a query about giant robots could result in the moderators choosing to deploy some giant robots.

Somewhat eerily, after talking to the Head of Defence, I created my own theory based on krakens; which subsequently turned out to be the actual pre-planned threat**!! Along with political assassinations, poisonous aphids, and genetically modified super-soldier conspiracies. Obviously.

As if all this wasn’t bad enough, midway through the afternoon the CIA discovered that one of the pharmaceutical companies had been acting as the antagonists, and was essentially personally responsible for releasing the Kraken.... The pantomime-worthy boo-ing that followed was a testament to how seriously everyone was taking this Kraken business. 

From that point on, disasters came thick and fast. Nuclear strikes failed to destroy them, oil reserves ran dry, and the Kentucky rep embraced alliterative insanity; declaring himself King of Kentucky and deciding to build a Seapark for the Kraken (rather adorably nicknamed "Karen" due to an earlier newsfeed typo). Despite all of this, the US somehow managed to overthrough the Krakens plural (who had been breeding like aquatic rabbits) and a cheer went up around the room after The President's closing speech.

I had a seriously brilliant time at the Megagame, regardless of the fact I wasn't even playing. I mean, it’s not every day that a girl gets to meet three US Presidents. Admittedly, one of them was actually a President from a previous Megagame who lost control of the US and subsequently committed suicide, but it seemed churlish to hold that against him. Because, it turns out, Megagames are pretty hardcore....

Katie xxx

*They eventually opted to sell hazmat suits, complete with the excellent strapline Be prepared for the worst at an affordable price for every American.

** I might have yelled “YES! KRAKENS!” and punched the air simultaneously. Might.

A rather magical weekend

Hey m'dears!

How have you been?

I felt so relaxed after my week off I was practically floating on a cartoon cloud. I did everything I'd hoped to do and so much more. I also ate an excessive number of carbohydrates, which I'm pretty sure is what people are referring to when they use the phrase "living the dream".

Me, enthusiastically slicing carbs. Hurrah!

My outing to London Zoo on Friday far exceeded my expectations (admittedly, I was mainly expecting to fall asleep in front of the monkeys). I don't know if it was the company (charming), the caffeine (delicious), or the animals (awesome) but I was still partying 23 hours after my 2am wake-up call. And by "partying" I mean "drinking pre-made mojitos in the park", because I'm all class.

Thankfully, being up that early gave me plenty of time to research hipster coffee haunts, and The Coffee Jar more than delivered in the form of totally kick-arse white chocolate and hazelnut cookies:

I spotted all kinds of weird and wonderful critters on our way round, topped off by being INCREDIBLY brave during the Spider Walk (i.e. being put in a room with a whole bunch of BLOODY MASSIVE SPIDERS who were completely free to move around and/or jump in your face, and managing not to cry). I definitely earned the ice-cream I scoffed afterwards, and I'm pretty sure shaking from fear burns calories too.

HUUUUUGE moth. These things were so vast we all thought they were fake. Nope.

The Lesser Striped Upside-Down Bird*

Couldn't spot this guy, so I assumed that he was hiding from fish school name-taunting bullies

Although, my favourite sight of the entire day had to be this:

As for last weekend, it was literally magical, because I got to attend a Harry Potter themed Hen Do. Most of the magic was organised (fantastically!) by the Hen's sister; including HP themed goody bags, surprise boxes of (gluten free) baked goods, and amazing activities- a delicious dinner, pottery painting, and drinking so many cocktails that some girls' stomachs decided to expelliarmus their contents. Does that make throwing up sound more or less gross!?

My contribution to the weekend's agenda was a Potter-themed Scavenger Hunt, taking the Hens on a tour of Worthing and creating a legitimate excuse for some Hen Do-themed hashtags. Double win.  

Each team had an illustrated list of things to find and photograph:

The pottery painting may well have been my favourite part of the weekend, and I think it's fair to say the owner of Art-Ful is my (much cooler) kindred spirit:

Batman, Lichtenstein, incredible fonts...

... AND FAKE DEER HEADS.

This was my super-sophisticated contribution; I can't wait to get this bad boy home and full of amaretto sours.

Finally, despite seeing ocarpis, glow-in-the-dark beetles, and a man who looked like Dumbledore over the weekend, the weirdest thing I spotted has to be just how freakily disproportionate my thumb is to, well, everything else in the world. How could I never have noticed that before?!?



Seriously- have you ever seen a bigger thumb (excluding foam ones at baseball games)?!

Katie xxx

* OK, OK I made that name up. I never said I was David Attenborough**.

** I wish I was David Attenborough.

(Road) Trippin'

S'up homies!

You're looking extra pretty today!  

I've been so super busy recently I've scarcely had time for second breakfasts! Obviously, I've made the time; a girl must stick to her priorities, after all. In the last few weeks I've been flat-hunting (aka snooping around other people's homes judging their colour scheme choices), eaten more chocolate than one human being should in a lifetime, wriggled my way into dozens of pretty dresses (trying on clothes counts as aerobic exercise, right?), and gone on a crazy road trip to visit friends in Exeter. I'm feeling exhausted just thinking about it. 

My Exeter adventures were surreal to say the least. I guess any roadtrip which starts with discovering The Service Station That Time Forgot sets a precedent for oddities in abundance. It was like a post-apocalyptic car boot sale. The items for sale included:

Metal fish...

Customisable teddy bears...

And 2013 diaries...

Excuse the blurriness; I was laughing too hard to focus. 

After that incredible start to the weekend, I also found...

Muffins From Outer Space

A tomb of Medieval bunk-beds. Can you imagine being cursed to spend eternity on the bottom bunk, while your buddy is on the top bunk with a girl?!

A serious collection of rubbers

Hitchcock's Dream Room

The world's weirdest salesman's sample

Tinned pigeon (just kidding)

The saddest/most excellent graffiti EVER

Awesome answers for Cards Against Humanity

Beautiful views

Fossils galore

A rather dashing light switch

And the most ironic sign placement I've ever seen

Exeter- you are ruddy brilliant.

What have you been up to recently? 

Katie xxx

P.S. I'm linking up to Hannah's #TWTWC, because she's a doll. 

A little TLC

Hey m'dears :)

How've you been? 

After several weeks of feeling as blue as a blue whale*, not to mention as whaley as a blue whale due to self-medicating my misery with a strict four-puddings-a-day diet, I'm glad to report that a weekend full of wholesome and happy activities has me feeling almost back to my usual cheery self. Hurrah!

This weekend was the perfect balance of nearly all my favourite things. Just in case any of you need to update your Big Book Of Katie's Favourite Things, I've written them down in a handy list. You're welcome.

1. Gluttony.
I realise it's a deadly sin, but so is Sloth - and I haven't been struck down by lightning yet despite spending 90% of my waking hours on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket, watching re-runs of Grand Designs. I'm going to keep chancing it.

This weekend's gluttony was courtesy of a cheeky meal deal from Waitrose which was launched to celebrate the holiday I refer to as "VD"; because it's like a disease**. 

£20 scored us two cheesy leek tartlets, two ribeye steaks, four fancy potato rosti, a huge cheesecake, a box of seriously good chocolates and a bottle of wine. Obviously, we didn't eat all of it on Friday night; as I'm pretty sure the Valentine's heart motif isn't meant to represent a heart attack. 

2. A clean house
My New Year's Resolutions are actually going pretty well. I've nailed the majority of the fancy alphabet (although currently wobble on I, N and Q when under pressure), and the house has maintained a reasonably clean and presentable state since 1 January. There are some areas we still need to tackle, but after single-handedly clearing out and re-organising the 6 million jars of chilli sauce and mustard in our fridge (thanks to my Condiment King boyfriend), I feel confident I can conquer Cleaning Everest.

3. De-cluttering
I find having a good old clear-out incredibly therapeutic (almost as much so as shopping for more stuff... *ahem*), so Saturday morning saw me staggering to the nearest charity shop under the weight of an unruly binbag of clothes, and a rucksack crammed with unused cookbooks and kitchenalia. I'm counting it as cheesecake-balancing cardio.

4. Rainy day games
When the weather took a turn for the worse, I opted to spend Saturday afternoon playing a few rounds of Bananagrams with my parents, using my cheap-as-chips magnetic Scrabble tiles. Needless to say, I didn't play the swearwords-only version I've previously played with friends. 

5. Cheering crafts
This DIY was one of my New Year's Resolutions, and I decided to combine my attempt with my own version of this shiny print by backing it with kitchen foil. It's now gracing our new picture ledge, and I thought it would act as a daily reminder to cheer up my face!

Please excuse the shoddy photo, but it seems to be dark whenever I'm home at the moment. Whether this is due to the actual weather, or the grey cartoon storm clouds constantly hovering over my head, is hard to say.

6. Shopping local
Sunday morning's food shopping trip included a sun-soaked wander around our local "farmers market"; aka, the carboot sale. I really enjoy being able to buy fresh fruit and veg direct from the growers; it's so much more personal than the supermarket, and often cheaper too!

7. Food with friends
On Sunday, Tom and I played host to our collective besties. Tom cooked a seriously awesome roast dinner, whilst I concentrated on the important things like chatting about houses, babies, work, and birthday party plans. Fran has hired me as her official Birthday Party Planner, in order to relieve the migraine-causing stress from her and give me the perfect excuse to buy a clipboard, label maker, and a headset a la Britney.

"Get me more balloons, STAT!!"
[image source]

8. Making plans
Fran and I also bought tickets for a couple of shows in Brighton's Sick! Festival; which is apparently "a new festival exploring the medical, mental and social challenges of life and death and how we survive them (or don’t)." I, for one, am rather intrigued....

9. A little treat
Having feasted my belly on delicious roast dinner, I spent Sunday afternoon feasting my eyes on the delights of a home decor magazine I'd bought as a treat, with an obligatory cuppa (obviously). The mag included a free ticket to the next Ideal Home Show, so I'm now deliberating whether to go again. Do any of you lovelies fancy joining me? 

What did you get up to this weekend?

Katie xxx

* The lowest point was nearly bursting into tears when I couldn't find the yoghurt I'd earmarked for my breakfast. I even j'accused Tom of stealing it, which is definitely not my proudest moment. Especially when I found it hiding on the top shelf behind the cheese. In my defence, it was a well fancy yoghurt.

** I did say almost back to cheery!

Six Things Sunday

Hello lovelies!

It's been quite a while since I've written a list on here, which I reckon needs to be remedied - STAT*. So, here are six things currently putting a spring in my step:

1. Freebies

Tom and I went for dinner with our besties (who also happen to be a couple. Sickening, isn't it?) on Friday- and were treated to an Asian feast of huuuuge spring rolls and Malaysian noodle soup. Yum. I also handed over Fran's belated birthday presents, all of which were (thankfully!) received with glee. That or Fran's seriously improved her "Present Face". 

Fran was midway through having a good ol' clear-out, and let me have a rummage through the bags destined for the car boot sale. There is NOTHING I love more than rummaging through other peoples' stuff (especially when I'm allowed to take some of it home!). I nabbed a gorgeous cookery book by the equally gorgeous Sophie Dahl, a rather less superb "literary" offering by Mr Boulle of Made In Chelsea fame (which, having since read it, will definitely be returning to a car boot bag), an adorable bow clip, two packs of polka-dot paper-chains, and a set of Scrabble! 

Then, during today's mooch around town, I found two crates full of "Free Stuff - Take Me!" outside someone's front door, including some vinyl records. Don't mind if I do. In case you're wondering, I'm sitting-down-dancing to Sussudio whilst writing this post. 

2. Finding a good hair dye

I tried using Perfect 10 home dye for the first time yesterday, and I'm 100% converted. They have some really lovely shades of blonde, and it only took me 30 minutes from putting on the gloves (which took longer than you'd think, because I'm a moron and spent aaaages trying to tear open the packet- only to have the gloves fall out of the other end. Turns out I'd been trying to force open the bottom of an open-topped packet. Duh.) to having freshly blow-dried hair. 

Please note, "blow-dried" might possibly be a slightly misleading term here, as I don't use a hairbrush etc. like hairdressers do; I just tip my head upside down and blast it whilst scruffing up my hair with my fingers. I do this for as long as it takes for me to start to feeling dizzy from all the blood rushing to my head, and then stop. 

New colour, modelled here with my new hair bow (thanks, Fran!). To be honest, I'm just glad it's not yellow!

3. Scrabble Board

This was very much a joint effort of the Johnsons; Tom's Dad very kindly agreed/offered/was too nice to decline the use of his skills and his special metal cutting tool to fit a sheet of scrap metal into the back of a frame I picked up at the local fleamarket. Tom put in the nail to hang it on yesterday, as I can't be trusted with hammering. It's awesome having it up on the wall, as it's been on my To Craft list for ages. 

I'm really looking forward to writing lots of sweet messages to each other with the magnetic Scrabble tiles, such as "I LOVE YOU, TOPSHOP GUY" and "WE NEED MORE GRAVY (STAT)".

4. Colourful grub

Summery food is so much prettier than winter food (where everything is the colour of gravy). Things I've scoffed this weekend include: 

Leftover home-made pasta sauce with sundried tomato and pesto pimped couscous.

Strawberry, raspberry and banana smoothie (with raspberries I'd picked from the garden 30 seconds previously. Win.). 

Watermelon salad, on my new parrot tray. 

5. Pottering

After a few weekends spent flitting about the country (/running round Edinburgh like a happy loon - more on that to follow), it's been really nice having a relaxing weekend at home catching up on chores and sitting in the garden, thanks to my Magic Suncream. 

Yesterday I tackled some of the overgrown bushes in front of our house; as getting to the front door was beginning to become a Sleeping Beauty-esque battle of epic proportions. The part where the Prince has to hack his way through lots of thorns to snog her, not the bit where everyone falls asleep for ages. At least, I don't think the postie has been snoozing in our flower bed... 

6. Summery smells

We had two loads of washing drying on the line today (which I loved because I got to use my incredible bird pegs that make me feel like Snow White), despite also firing up the BBQ for an afternoon of excessive snacking/Pimms. Yes, our bedding is going to smell like smoke, but I really don't care. Cut grass, warm rain, and BBQs/campfires are some of my favourite summery smells- and I'd much rather smell of those than fancy perfume any day. 

What are you enjoying at the moment? I'd love to hear! 

Katie xxx

* By the way, using the term "STAT" is a brilliant way to convince anyone you need to impress that you're actually a brain surgeon. As is walking backwards through doors holding your arms close to your chest with your hands pointing up and saying "Oh, sorry- force of habit".