~31st December~ Should all acquaintance be forgot...

Dear blog, 

A belated MERRY CHRISTMAS and an early Happy New Year to you all!

~23rd December~ A Marshmallow World in the Winter

Hi all,

Being as we are well into the festive preparation season, and I've been watching Christmassy cookery shows all day, I have decided to distract myself (and everyone else)  from my rumbling tummy with one of my most favourite things about Christmas: The Gingerbread House. 

As anyone knows me well can tell you, I love my desserts; making and eating, but the one project I've always, ALWAYS wanted to try was a gingerbread house because there's such a huge scope to work with, from the shape and the design of the house to the sweets used to adorn the house. They can be charming and romantic or they can be completely tounge-in-cheek and it's this gargantuan range that I wanted to share with you today. So, grab your apron and chef's hat and let's go!

~22nd December~ Merry Christmas Everyone ~

Dear blog,

I want to apologise for my lack of posting since I came back from the States. I know I promised to have my diary/notes ready for you to be written up when I came back, but first I had to catch with school work and then Christmas decided to creep up on me. 

Well, I've been off on Christmas Break for a couple of days now and I really should have done it then but I've either been too busy or too lazy... So yeah.

I'm really sorry about that and I'll do my best to upload my notes a day at a time. Promise :D

See you soon,

Katie

xx   

~November 25th~ Start Spreadin' The News, I'm Leaving Today...

Dear bloggy-blog,

I know I haven't posted much lately, but I think I'm about to make up for that over the next week.

The bags are packed, my gadgets are charged and I'm eagerly awaiting a bacon sandwich and a nice cuppa. 

But why all the excitement, you ask? What crazy scheme has Katie got herself into this time?

Well, dear blog, I'll tell you. I'm off on my first trip to America! New York to be precise (If you haven't guessed from the title...)

AND I'M EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And you're coming with me! Well, not YOU personally, bloggy-blog, cause you're kinda living in my rather valuable (read: stealable) laptop, but your paper and pen cousin is coming too. And there'll be pictures ^^

So I'll be hitting the road soon, and then the fun begins. Annoying my brother for three whole hours in the back seat of the car :D

I'll be seeing you soon bloggy-blog,

Katie

xx 

~November 8th~ Distant Melody

Today I came across this website when I was in search of Anastasia lyrics.

It's called Distant Melody, and it's home to lyrics from animated films of the 80's and 90's. Being a massive fan of the Nostalgia Critic I know the majority of the films by name only, but there are some with massive nostalgia factor for me. So, I thought I'd share a few of my personal favourites:

Thunderella's Song from 'Happily Ever After' - An 80's sequel to Disney's Snow White with the cheesiest of 80's cheesey soundtracks. 




Dreams to Dream from 'An American Tail 2' - I haven't seen this film yet, but I found this song on an AMV and I fell in love with it <3




Fight Song from 'Care Bears 2' - This. Will. Never. Leave. My. Head.




When Love Has Gone Away from some non-Disney version of Cinderella - I have fond memories of singing Cinderella's part into my TV remote :D




Whatever You Imagine from 'The Pagemaster' - Ah, the movie aimed at making kids want to read but only ever appealed to bookworms like me :D





Roll Back The Rock (To The Dawn Of Time) from 'We're Back: A Dinosaur Story' - Just plain awesomeness. 



Absolutely Green from 'A Troll in Central Park' - I just find it funny how close the ending of this movie is to the original ending of 'Little Shop of Horrors'

So yeah, this was pretty much my childhood :D

With oodles and oodles of Disney of top, of course.

I'm gonna do my homework now, 

Bye Bye,

Katie

xx

~31st October~ Boo!

From La Belle Patisserie!!

Unfortunately, I won't be going trick-or-treating with my buddies because my workload decided to catch up with me. Sad times. :(  

But I can show you guys my costume :D

Later. When I take the picture.

See you soon,

Katie

xx

  

~30th October~ Just wondering...

It's nearly half one in the morning and I'm wide awake, so I just pondered:


'Am I Night Owl or an Earlie Birdie?'


Only wondering because I just turned on an Owl City song of the same name...


Oh well, I'll leave that till morning, or y'know, later.


Night-night (Or is it Good Morning?),


Katie
xx

~29th October~ The Vitamin String Quartet

Dear Vitamin String Quartet,


I can't tell you how much classier you make me feel when I listen to 80's cheese and modern day pop :D


Yours forever,


Katie
xx

~27th October~ Welly Walks

Yesterday was so much fun!  ^ . ^

I went to Margam Country Park with a big gaggle of buddies; they wanted references for Graphics and I wanted an outing. Win / win situation, no?


I wore my favourite wellies which were perfect for all the puddle splashing I did. :D


I think a bit of childishness is the perfect remedy for all the stress I've been under.


There will more photos and videos ^^ As soon as everyone uploads them :D


Lots of love,


Katie
xx

~26th October~ A Different Introduction Meme

I know. I'm sorry, last meme I promise, but I'm really not happy about my introduction post so I'm redoing it with a meme lovingly stolen from my best friend, Smelly.

~Basics~

Real name: Katie Downey

Nickname: Hachi - (To close friends and the fling) and Kate (To Acquaintances) 

Blood Type: A, O or OA - Really not sure. 

Birthdate: 21st January

Home Town & Current location: Neath, Wales

Family: Loving parents and an annoyance of a little brother

Love: None yet. Very, very single 

Special Friends: Smelly, Debbie, Mandabutt and Sexypants 

Pets: Welsh Springer Spaniel - Tess

Language: English, French and a small amount of Japanese 

Ethnicity: Welsh, Irish

~ Favourite ~

Day: Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays

Month:  January, May, August, September and December

Season: Autumn

Style: Nerd chic, Sweet Lolita, Hime and 1950's Vintage 

Brand: Angelic Pretty

Perfume: 'Kate Moss' or Britney Spears' 'Fantasy'

Colours: Minty Green, Lilac, Cherry Red and Bubblegum Pink

Game: The Professor Layton Series and Cooking Mama

Hero: Misako Aoki

Flavour: Raspberry

Tea: Strong; with lots of milk and a sugar. And a sweet treat of course ♥

Food: Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough

Drink: Hot Chocolate, Hot Squash and Good Ol' Tea

Country: Japan and France

Subject: Art, History and Media Studies

Word: Cute or Eccentric

Part of day: Late Afternoon

Type of man: Tall, Cute and Nerdy and a Gentleman

Fruits: Apple, Raspberry and Blackerry

Animal: Cats, Ducks and Frogs

~Dislikes~

Day: Monday

Month: Rainy, miserable November

Season: Blistering hot Summer

Colours: Orange

Flavour: Green (I don't like green skittles) 

Food: Tomato, Raw Onions (Spring included) and Mexican food.  

Drink: Coffee

Country: Wales 

Subject: Physics

Part of day: Really late at night when there's no-one to talk to.

Type of man: Rude, Jealous, Sexist and Bossy

~Anime & Manga~ 

Anime: Card Captor Sakura, Princess Tutu, Ouran High School Host Club, Momotte! Lollipop and Sailor Moon 

Anime male character: Kyouya Ootori (Ouran)

Anime female character:  Ahiru (Princess Tutu)

Anime Genre: Magical Girl, Fantasy, Comedy

Manga I Am Currently Reading: Alice in the Country of Hearts, Black Bird, Ouran High School Host Club 

~Films & Literature~

Movie: Alice in Wonderland, Edward Scissorhands, The Little Mermaid, Swan Princess, Barbie Movies, Toy Story Series, Thumbelina, Phantom of the Opera (2004), Sweeney Todd, Enchanted, Anastasia

Movie genre: Romance, Comedy, Fantasy, Children's

Books: The Looking Glass Wars Trilogy, Noughts & Crosses Series, Harry Potter Series, Alice in Wonderland, The Tail of Emily Windsnap,  Anderson's Fairy Tales, Grimm's Fairy Tales and The Nutcracker.

Author: Lewis Carroll, Hans Christian Anderson and the Grimm brothers

Book Genre: Fantasy, Fairytales

~Music~

Music genre: J-pop, K-pop, Europop, Classical, Movie soundtracks, Broadway 

Favourite Band: The Vitamin String Quartet, Celtic Woman, Trading Yesterday 

Favourite vocalist: Thomas Bouchert (Graz production - Dracula), Cloe Agnew (Celtic Woman), Regina Specktor,  Mika

Favourite guitarist: -

Favourite bassist:  -

Favourite drummer: - 

Favourite songwriter/lyricist: P.I. Tchaikovsky

Favourite song: Currently 'Iris' by The Vitamin String Quartet (Originally by Goo Goo Dolls)

Phew, that took ages! But i'm much happier with this one :) 

You know more about me than my personal problems this time. And you really don't want to read about that, do you? 


I promise no more memes for a while. Cross my heart. 


Nighty night,


Katie
xx

~26th October~ I'm 90% Cute ^ . ^

AKA The Cuteness Survey.


Did I mention how bored I was?


Appearance:
[ ] = You have blue/green eyes.
[X] = You blush a lot.
[X] = You giggle.
[X] = You're quiet.
[X] = You say random silly things.
[X] = You have a baby face.
[X] = You wear a more down to earth style of clothing.
[X] = You don't wear halter tops or anything to showy.
[X] = Your under 5 feet 6 inches tall.

TOTAL SO FAR: 8

Innocence:
[X] = You're a virgin
[ ] = Just thinking of sexual things makes you blush.
[X] = Your idea of a date is really romantic.
[X] = You sleep with a stuffed animal. (Many)
[X] = You like to cuddle. 
[X] = You've never played the Nervous game.
[X] = You don't even know what the nervous game is.

TOTAL SO FAR: 14

Colors:
[x] = You like the color pink/light blue.
[x] = You tend to wear bright/girly colors.

TOTAL SO FAR: 16

Personality:
[X] = You can be ignorant/oblivious.
[X] = You'd consider yourself shy. (At first I'm a bit quiet but it depends on the situation.)
[X] = You like happy upbeat music.
[X] = You like "Cutesy" music. (If it's catchy but most of them get annoying after a while.)

TOTAL SO FAR: 20

What YOU think is cute:
[X] = You like small animals
[/] = You like babies a lot.
[X] = Small/mini versions of things make you go "Eeeee!"

TOTAL: 22.5

Multiply how many you got by 4
Repost as: "I'm ____% Cute"

~26th October~ Disorder Meme

Bored so I'm gonna do this.


ANOREXIA:
[X] You have dry skin.
[ ] You eat one meal.
[ ] You're very weak.
[ ] You hate yourself.
[X] You starve yourself. (I have done it once. Never again.)
[X] You have low self esteem.
[ ] You use laxatives.
[X] You need to be more skinny. (To fit into burando would be a dream come true) 
[X] People always say you're skinny, but you think you're fat. (See above note)
[ ] People think you are too skinny.
Total: 5/10

ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVE DISORDER:
[X] Your mind is all over the place.
[ ] You are hyper most of the time.
[ ] You barely pay attention to anything.
[ ] You can't cooperate well.
[ ] You talk all the time.
[ ] You need attention 24/7.
Total: 1/6

BIPOLAR DISORDER:
[X] You can act wild at times then the next day you are depressed.
[X] You are very irritable.
[ ] You are antisocial.
[ ] You have very high self esteem sometimes/ all the time.
[ ] You are abusing alcohol, drugs, or sex.
[ ] You have thought of or attempted suicide. 
Total: 2/6

BULIMIA:
[ ] You throw up all of your food.
[ ] You throw it up even when you don't feel sick.
[ ] You have no control over how you eat. 
[ ] You use laxatives.
[ ] You have overly exercised to where you almost fainted.
[X] You always say you are fat, when you aren't.
[ ] People think you're way too skinny.
Total: 1/7

CONDUCT DISORDER:
[ ] You are a bully.
[X] You threaten other people.
[ ] You often find yourself in fights.
[ ] You have used a weapon that could cause injury to others.
[ ] You are cruel to humans or animals.
[ ] You have raped or molested someone.
[ ] You destroyed property on purpose.
[ ] You always lie.
[ ] You stay out all night.
[ ] You have/tried to run away from home.
Total: 1/10

DEPRESSION:
[X] You are always sad. (It's been some dark days at the family household, recently)
[X] You find no hope in your future.
[ ] You no longer find excitement over the activities you used to love.
[X] You always find yourself around the house all day. (I haven't much of social life.)
[X] You have low self esteem.
[X] Everything bad that happens is always your fault. (It seems that way.)
[ ] You always seem to be weak or have physical features hurt.
[ ] You are failing school.
[ ] You have thought of or attempted suicide.
[ ] You have/tried or attempted suicide.
Total: 5/10

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER:
[ ] You have daily rituals. 
[X] You have disturbing thoughts or thoughts you hate. 
[X] You have to do a certain thing until it feels right.
[ ] You have to keep things in a certain order.
[ ] You have harmed yourself.
[X] You have to check some stuff over again.
Total: 3/6

POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER:
[X] You repeatedly have flashbacks of horrible moments or memories in your life.
[ ] You repeatedly have dreams of horrible moments or memories in your life.
[X] You sometimes think the event will happen again.
[ ] You can be/are antisocial.
[ ] You have lost interest in the things you used to love.
[X] You have not had a lot of sleep lately.
[ ] You worry about dying at a early age or dying at all.
[X] You act younger than your age. 
Total: 4/8

SCHIZOPHRENIA:
[X] You often have hallucinations.
[X] You have strange, unusual dreams or thoughts.
[X] You can be confused about reality and fantasy.
[X] You think people are always staring or talking about you. (Although, that's to be expected with my lifestyle)
[ ] You have extreme anxiety or fearfulness.
[ ] You do not take care of your hygiene like you should.
[ ] You are very shy.
[X] You often talk to yourself.
Total: 5/8


So I may have Schizophrenia, Anorexia, Depression, OCD, PTSD, or all of them. 


But I'll definitely be calling my shrink :/


See ya,


Katie
xx