Prophecy Girl Pins

It's always sad when you discover an indy company just as they are closing down. I found Prophecy Girl weeks before they closed down unfortunately. They sold a variety of nerdy clothing, patches and pins, no clothing in plus sizes, but patches and pins are something I am always after! With a name like Prophecy Girl, I went on the hunt for Buffy the Vampire Slayer inspired pins and I was not disappointed.

I grabbed 3 pins, first up was this Team Buffy pin. I love the detailing, the Scythe crossing behind the main design, a reference to the final season and Caleb and the Turok-Han, Mr Pointy the stake, and the Claddagh, a nod to Buffy's ring from Angel.

I then couldn't resist the counterpart Team Faith pin! (I wish they'd have a Kendra one too, would have loved that). This time the detailing includes Faith's tribal tattoo, and the knife the Major gets her that Buffy ultimately stabs her with. I put one on each side of my denim jacket. Teenage greebo me always thought Faith was 10x cooler than Buffy.

And lastly the Slay Every Day pin. This one features both Mr Pointy and Faith's knife, with the Scythe, Olaf the Troll God's hammer, and the famous Vampyr book Giles shows Buffy when he first arrives in Sunnydale to show her he knows who she is.

Most of my pins are feminist pins, or Pokemon themed pins, so I think these make a great addition to my jacket. I know Joss Whedon has turned out to be truly hideous, and that the show itself is problematic for so many reasons, but Buffy was the first time I had ever seen a girly girl kicking ass and being so strong and independent on tv, and I adored it. I loved Willow and how her nerdiness could save the day. I loved Faith's take no nonsense attitude. I loved Cordelia's story arc from stereotypical preppy prom queen to an essential part of the team (forgetting what Joss Whedon did to her in Angel because she did not deserve that!). I loved Tara's quiet soul and how she overcame her abusive family. I loved Kendra's desire to keep fighting even when she had lost her watcher. I even loved to hate the bad guys, Drusilla inspired teenage me to have a blindfolded porcelain doll on my bookshelf. 

If you see any Buffy pins, I'd love some more!

Much love,

Kitty xxxx

Punky Pins Seconds Haul

Every year Punky Pins do a massive warehouse seconds sale, and every year I leap on it and order a bunch of cuteness! I love what they do, they make a gorgeous mix of enamel pins, iron on patches and even some jewellery, but I am all about their namesake, the pins. As soon as they announce their seconds sale you have to be quick, stuff sells out quick! Here's what I managed to bag.

Anything spooky and cute is right up my street, so I had to get this double eyed kitty. The warehouse sale is mostly 'seconds', so pins Punky Pins don't consider up to scratch to sell full price, but they are often really hard to tell why it's a second. For example this kitty pin has a tiny mark in the white of the lower left eye and that's it!

I'm know for my love of succulents, they are all over our house, I had them in my wedding bouquet, and I have them tattooed on me! So I had to grab this one.

I couldn't resist this cute mermaid inspired pin. The purple glitter is so lovely, such attention to detail.

This little pretzel snake was too adorable to resist! I love the hot pink background contrasted with the black.

How could I not want a pin telling inspired by Cry Baby?

Moths are another thing I can never get enough of.  This is a pin I've had my eye on for a while so I could not resist when I saw it in the sale!

Unfortunately some of the pins I ordered in the sale were sold out by the time I checked out. Punky Pins kindly refunded my money for those and sent this little cutie as a 'sorry' gift.

Now, for my three absolute favourites that I got my mitts on...

I had to have this! A mix of horror movies and pastel is perfect for me, it's my fave genre!

I picked this one up because it kind of reminded me of the South Park episode 'Woodland Critters Christmas'. A little satanic deer!

And my absolute fave, this little bunny in the iconic Scream Ghostface mask was the first thing in my basket. I love it so much!! Spooky cute is everything.

Can you even tells what makes some of these seconds? Because I really struggled! Which is your fave?

Much love,

Kitty xxxx

The Coolest Denim Jacket Ever.

I have a bit of an obsession with denim jackets, I've got red denim, pale, black, dark blue, customised, vests, and I always find myself eyeing up more. I recently got my hands on the coolest denim jacket ever and while unfortunately you can't buy it looking exactly like mine (sorry in advance!), I had to share it.

Isn't it amazing?! It's a reference to my favourite film True Romance. I won this jacket in a competition hosted by the lush Olivia Campbell and Simply Be. To enter you had to share your personal rewritten rule that you would get written on the back of your very own custom denim jacket. If it wasn't glaringly obvious, I'm a massive nerd and I spent years feeling really uncool and worrying about what people thought of me. You're So Cool became a little personal mantra for me. I might not be cool in the traditional ways, but I am cool in that I'll be your designated driver and make sure everyone gets home safe after a night out. Or if you ever need someone to answer questions about Pokemon or Buffy at a pub quiz, I'm your gal.

Fans of the movie will no doubt point out that Alabama Worley doesn't actually use the apostrophe in you're, and writes youre on the napkin she writes on. I just couldn't do it though. Can you imagine how many people would tell me I'd written it wrong and try to correct it whilst I tried to point out that it was a quote from a film and was actually correct? I do not have the energy for such nonsense!

So this blog post isn't literally just photos of a custom jacket you can't actually buy, here is an amazing mermaid shell bag by Skinnydip London that er... you also can't buy anymore. I nabbed this in the ASOS sale for £7, I just had to have it! I love Skinnydip bags but I have to admit, they tend to fall apart relatively quickly. The zips and fastenings always seem to fall apart. They are only good for occasional use, and I tend to only buy them on sale because I know they won't last well.

You can buy an unpainted version of the jacket from Simply Be, it's their Distressed Western Denim Jacket. It's a cropped sort of style, and a small fit, I'd recommend sizing up. I got it in my usual size and there is absolutely no way I am getting it done up ever. It's fine wearing it open which is how I tend to wear denim jackets, but if you want to do it up size up once, maybe even twice if you are particularly busty.

I took these photos in 30 degree heat and melted shortly after. Do not recommend! This is also why there are no photos of my face because I was a sweaty mess. I am also wearing the exact same dress I wore in my last outfit post. It's warm and the dress is super comfy and easy to throw on, highly recommend!

Much love,

Kitty xxxx

The Friendship Break Up : Colourpop

The Friendship Break Up

Over the years, I've had some pretty spectacular ends to friendships. We talk a lot about how to get over the end of a relationship, how to deal with heart break and betrayal, but I often think that the end of a friendship can be far worse, yet we never really talk about it. A best friend is someone you've trusted your darkest thoughts to, who you turn to in times of needs, and who is there in the best times of your life, and when that suddenly ends, what do you do?

I can be brutal at the end of a friendship. I give second chances, sometimes even third, but sometimes the thing the other person does is so unforgivable that you just can't. I've ended 4 'best friend' type friendships over the years. One at 18 with the best friend I had all through school and college, and three in my early twenties. One of those I wrote about extensively, because it happened in the run up to said friend's wedding and ended when she threw me out of her bridal party (read about that here). The others ended with more of a fizzle, and they probably hurt the most, despite the lack of dramatic occurrence.

The end of a friendship is a different kind of heartbreak. It is unique to every friendship, it might hurt more of less depending on the length of time you've been friends, or why the friendship is ending. Know that it is OK to grieve the end of your friendship, you love your best friends, and it's a kind of heartbreak all of it's own. Processing the end of a friendship is much the same as processing the end of a relationship. It makes you question yourself, and your trust for those around you, and it's hard to let someone in so close again. Just because it isn't the loss of romantic love, it doesn't mean it isn't the end of a different kind of love.

I feel like I've ended far too many friendships over the years. To protect myself. Because I felt my trust was irreparably damaged. Because they revealed themselves to be someone I didn't know or understand. Or because they became someone that didn't understand me, or want to. Protecting yourself is OK! I wanted to share a few of the things I've learnt on how to help process the end of a friendship.

1) Removing a toxic person from your life is OK. Sometimes a person starts out as an amazing friend, and over time they begin to reveal their other self. The one who picks at you, who encourages your self doubt, who puts you down, who ignores you, uses you only when they need you, or questions your achievements. A friendship doesn't need to end with a bang, sometimes it ends with a painful murmur instead. If someone makes you feel bad who professes to love you and be your dearest friend, it's OK to move on.

2) Remove them from all social media. It isn't healthy to keep them on your social feed, constantly seeing their face pop up, or their seemingly happy like that hasn't been affected the loss of you at all, it can be brutal. Remove them, and it'll make life easier I promise. I tend to block people too, so they don't pop up on mutual friends social feeds either, or even go so far as to mute their usernames on social media that lets me do that. Don't ever feel bad for blocking someone if it is better for your mental health, you have to take care of you first.

3) It's OK to grieve, for as long as you need. There are times I still wonder about the friendship I ended at 18 and hurt, because betrayal can sting 12 years later. It hurts when I have to interact with the friendship that fizzled because we have so many mutuals. I have to pretend it's OK and it's fine and that it doesn't hurt after several years to see them pretend like I was nothing to them. It's OK to mourn, to cry, to need to talk to someone, a professional if necessary, it's OK.

4) Ghosting is OK. Controversial I know! Don't feel like you have to tell your friend why you are cutting them out of your life. Sometimes they don't deserve your explanation or your time. I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this one, people don't like to be ghosted and they don't think it's appropriate behaviour, that you should be more 'grown up' than to ghost. But you know what, it's OK! Sometimes the best thing for yourself, the safest thing or the healthiest thing to do, is just ghost. I'm not ashamed to say I've done it. If you feel the only option to avoid a confrontation, or to avoid a scene, is to ghost, then ghost. You don't owe a toxic person your explanation or your time.

6) Remember that time and healing are not linear. You may be OK at first, for a few weeks or more even, and then it might hit you like a sudden wave. Healing and hurting are not things with a set path or route. There are ups and downs and backwards steps, and that's OK. The end of a friendship is a big deal, when you've known someone and trusted and loved them for a long time, it can be like losing a part of yourself. It's OK to be OK, and then not be again. Healing isn't a finish line you cross and stay across, it's more of a spiral full of loops.

Ending a friendship can be a really hard decision, or a really easy one. Know that you aren't the first to be in pain because of it, and that if you reach out there are others around you who know that pain too and can be there.

I've been there, several times. And it's OK. I have newer incredible friends, and friends who have been by my side for almost 20 years, who are a piece of my heart and soul at this point. (Yes Fal, I mean you if you're reading this). It gets easier I promise.

Much love,

Kitty

xxxxx

Colourpop : Facial Hair Remover

So... I Turned 30!

Hey blog. It's been a while! Some things have happened since I've been gone, one of the biggest being that I officially joined The 30 Club! On 12th February I turned 30, and it was awesome. I know a lot of people find turning 30 to be intimidating, but I have to admit that I didn't. My husband Stu is 13 years older than me, and in our circle of friends I'm basically the baby of the group, so 30 just didn't seem that big of a deal.

Now that I'm 30, things have changed somewhat. I've decided to tone down my wardrobe, stop wearing wild prints, and dye my hair back to a natural colour.....

Or not. I plan to carry on being the same old Kitty! I threw myself a massive party two days before my birthday. I last had a party for my 21st birthday. An ex threw it and eight people came. Those eight people included the barmaid and myself. It was an utterly miserable and lonely experience, and since then, I have to admit, I've been the birthday Scrooge. I've refused to have gatherings or parties for my birthday, but Stu gave me two choices. Organise your own party, or be thrown a surprise party, you're only 30 once. The idea of a surprise party is truly terrifying to me, so I organised my own instead.

My 30th birthday party left me feeling so very lucky and loved. Family and friends travelled from around the country to spend the evening with me, I was truly in awe. One of the best things about getting older has been turning my family into my friends, and my friends into my family.

Turning 30 has made me realise that my life might not be necessarily headed where teenage Kitty thought it would be, but that it is headed to exactly where it is meant to be. With my husband by my side, with incredible friends, with a wonderful family, and with a house full of furry critters to cuddle. I have a job I enjoy, and my chronic pain is well controlled. Comparing my life in my early twenties, to my life at 30, I couldn't be happier! Early twenties Kitty was in an awful relationship with a horrible man, had life wrecking undiagnosed chronic pain, lived in a tiny box flat and had no real friends nearby. 30 year old Kitty is married to the man of my dreams, has a diagnosis and a means of treatment that works, lives in a beautiful bungalow and has the sort of friends I can only dream of!

Rather than being scared to get older, I took 30 as a chance to look back on my journey and how far I've come. And I discovered that I've come a long way and that I love the direction my life has taken. 30 has me feeling like everything is coming up Kitty. Sure life has it's issues and it's drama, but when I look at the big picture, all I can see is serendipity.

Much love, 

Kitty xxxx

Photos by Chris Waud of Go!Photo.

Autumn Favourites

It's been a while since I've written a favourites post, but I figured it was about time I shared some of my recent faves for autumn!

First up it has to be this lush Navabi dress that I blogged about in detail here. It's one of the softest and comfiest things I've ever owned and I love it.

Very good day!#pokemon #pokemongo #pokemongohalloween #duskull #shinyduskull #shinypokemon

A post shared by Kitty Morris (@kittyramblesalot) on Oct 27, 2017 at 8:38am PDT

October saw the release of the first ever generation III Pokemon in a PokemonGO Halloween event and I caught my first ever shiny Pokemon too! I'm so excited for the full release of gen III and I'm still playing as much as ever. I also managed to get invites to two EX-raids and caught two Mewtwos! 

I'm so lucky 💜 #love #luffs #husband #selfie #smile

A post shared by Kitty Morris (@kittyramblesalot) on Oct 14, 2017 at 12:54pm PDT

My best friend Fal got married! She doesn't have her official photos back yet so here's a sneaky selfie of me and my husband Stu. She also married a fantastic man called Stu, we take this whole best friends thing very seriously! I had the absolute honour of being a bridesmaid, I've attempted to be someone's bridesmaid before, which ended in total disaster (read about that mess here) and had such an awesome day. I cried almost constantly from when I woke up with total joy and love. Magic day!

These ASOS boots! ASOS have started selling up to a size UK10EEE in their women's range so you know I had to try them and I am obsessed with these boots. Glitter platform boots of my dreams!

My hair colour. So, believe it or not, I used La Riche Directions in Violet, and somehow ended up with teal hair. Thankfully I adore it, which is a good job, because blues and greens are so hard to strip out of hair!

Metallica @Metallica doing don't look back in anger at Manchester Arena. What a moment. pic.twitter.com/T6n10tHeUg

— Kitty Haunts A Lot🦇 (@kittyrambles) October 28, 2017

We saw Metallica! Back in April for my husband's birthday I went really OTT and got him Metallica tickets. He is a massive fan (this was his 16th time seeing them) and they were brilliant live. They did a really touching to the victims of the Manchester Arena attack which was fitting as it was at Manchester Arena.

My sweet old lady Patches 💜 pic.twitter.com/xZ70vb9vIe

— Kitty Haunts A Lot🦇 (@kittyrambles) October 20, 2017

And finally, in a weird thing I love about autumn, the cold, and how cuddlier it makes my cats! They all love exploring when it's warm, but now it's cold they are all loving being snuggled up with me and I love it. Nothing better than coming home to one cuddly pooch and three loving kitties!

What are your favourite things about autumn?

Much love, 

Kitty xxx

Michelle Hopewell Guest Post : I Have Carpal Tunnel

Michelle Hopewell's Anxiety Tips

For the first of my wonderful guest posts while I'm recovering from my surgery, here we have the amazing Michelle Hopewell and her tips for dealing with anxiety!

Right, let’s go for a show of hands on those of us who spend hours letting our anxiety kidnap us, throw us into the back of a DeLorean and travel back into time to the clock tour that got struck with lightening, i.e. every failed relationship, every time you tripped over, any argument you failed to properly articulate your point in, any time you have over anaylized, any time you've slipped into harmful old habits, thoughts and feelings and every time you’s basically failed at life. 

All of us? 

Just as I thought. 

Though lets be real, as awesome as time travel is, its hardly helping us grow and progress as people. Popping back and forth into the past stops being a helpful way of learning and starts becoming the biggest mental blocks we learn to erect in our own minds.  

The reality is we need to stay in the present. If we spend most of our time being consumed with the past and things we don't actually have the power to control or change, than how are we meant to forge forward in the present and how are we meant to cease our futures? 

We spend so much time putting our energy and power into things that have already been. Moments that we should have long since grieved and let go of, instead of allowing room for the birthing of new things. 

Here are a few tips I use to stay in the present. 

1. Journal - I find that if I haven't closed a chapter on something, it continually rears its ugly head. Sometimes this can be in situations I have been in or relationships I have had, regardless of their definition. Waiting around for a person or a circumstance to provide that closure is not always helpful or possible. So I have found writing how I am feeling down helps me begin to untangle all of the things I need to process in order to provide myself with that closure. 

2. Gratitude - Sometimes its hard to think of things in a vast or global way. It makes whatever you're struggling with feel even more overwhelming. That's natural. So bring it down. Focus it in. What can you be thankful for? In the moment. Even if its the smallest thing. It doesn't have to big and it doesn't have to be mind blowing. Sometimes the only thing I can be thankful for is that my bus turns up when its meant to. 

3. Worry, but just not about yesterday - I'm starting to realise that telling myself or other people not to worry, doesn't mean that I wont worry. I think there's something in my nature that automatically has an affinity for this. So while I work on dismantling it altogether, I have to just accept the fact that I do worry, but I can limit the amount I'm doing. The reality of things are, even though we do our best to plan, anything could happen at any given moment, but I can't spend time worrying about the things that did happen or could. I have to focus on each day and doing my best to overcome any obstacle in that present moment. Take less off your plate and focus on the things that our worrying you right now. Then take those things and myth bust them one by one. 

4. Ask for help - If you're anything like me, you sometimes forget to ask for help. You think you can do it all by yourself, but that's not the truth. I raised to be a fiercely independent black woman, but I forget that a truly fierce and independent black women is successful when she knows when to ask for help and accept help. So don't try and do it all alone if you are struggling. Whatever form of help you need, find the right person or people to ask. We are stronger together than we are alone. 

5. Forgive - Yourself first and foremost. We've all got the ability to hold and grudge and surprisingly you would think that we would be able to hold it against people longer than ourselves, but that's not strictly true. Sometimes our inability to forgive someone else is wholly tied up in our inability to forgive ourselves. Whatever you think you did or are doing that doesn't measure up to an impossible standard you've created in your mind, discard it. Forgive yourself for all those years of finding new ways to dislike yourself, hurt yourself or others. Your body is so rooting for you and so in love with you that it past the need for apology, it simply wants to get on to the business of living. 

We can’t let ourselves be consumed by this nostalgic idea of how things used to be and we cannot let ourselves be defined by the pain of what has been. 

Set yourself free and focus on living for the joy of what time you have.

Follow Michelle at the following websites - 

http://michellehopewell.tumblr.com/

https://twitter.com/MichelleCHope

https://www.instagram.com/michellehopewell/

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome : Colourpop Haul

I Have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

For years I've had problems with my right hand, I put it down to it being the hand that held my camera weight, and to breaking it a few times in my younger days. Two years ago it began to be more of an issue, I'd do a photoshoot and barely be able to use my hand for days. I began strapping it up for shoots figuring it was just a strain that was overworked and cut down on my photoshoots. Gradually it began to hurt me all the time, and after some exploring, my doctor suspected I had carpal tunnel syndrome. I had expected to be told it was repetitive strain injury, so it was a shock. I was sent to for nerve conduction studies and was told I had moderate to severe carpal tunnel in my right hand. I was more shocked to be told I also had moderate carpal tunnel in my left hand!

The first step, was to wear a splint to support my hands. The NHS do not provide splints, so I researched some online and ended up buying them from Amazon. I had 'skin coloured' ones, in that ugly beige colour, but ultimately preferred black ones because they blended in with my clothes more. I wore them to sleep as recommended, and found that I basically got no relief. The damage was too far gone.

As our wedding approached last year, I began to panic. I had been so specific about what kind of flowers and bouquet I wanted, and here I was, hands in constant pain, how could I possibly hold my bouquet all day? I spoke to my doctor who decided it was time to try steroid injections in my right hand. The first couple worked great, I got a lot of relief from the pain and my hands worked better. I was able to hold my bouquet for the ceremony and photos before I needed to put it down. By the third injection, it was clear it wasn't going to be an option long term.

By the fourth injection, my doctor struggled to even get the injection into my nerve to give me the steroid treatment. In carpal tunnel your nerves become calcified and compressed, the pain spread and would shoot up my elbow. It's impact upon my daily life became more and more obvious. I cut down on how much I blog, because typing hurts. I switched from ordering pints of water in the pub (yes, I am that person) to having halves or using a straw, because I couldn't life a pint anymore. My hand forgets it is holding things, combined with my clumsiness this has led to lots of dropped and smashed things! I can only drive short distances because it hurts. By the evenings even giving my dog scritches hurts, so poor Ashen even misses out. I have to ask my husband Stu to open jars and bottles, or to carry heavy things for me. Washing my hair hurts, writing hurts, anything that uses my hands hurts.

Want to know a fun fact about carpal tunnel? Painkillers have absolutely no effect on it whatsoever. So there is nothing you can do to alleviate the pain. This is why today I am having the first of my two carpal tunnel surgeries. It's going to put me out of commission for a few weeks, so I have some fantastic guest posts lined up from bloggers I love. Once my right hand is healed, I'll be having my left hand done too. I'm excited to potentially have more use of my hands again, but I'm also realistic and know that my hands won't be how they used to be.

Wish me luck!

Much love,

Kitty xxxx

Colourpop Haul : Bralettes

Bralettes with Tutti Rouge's Rougette*

It's been around a good six months since I last wore a wired bra, and it's one of the best decisions I've made for myself. I wear bralettes or non-wired bras exclusively, and the comfort factor is real. I've never worn a bra that was truly comfortable, so bralettes were the way forward for me. So imagine my excitement when Tutti Rouge announced their new Rougette range, which included two bralettes!

Tutti Rouge very kindly sent me the Madison Bralette* to try out. It's available in up to a XXXL and a FF/G cup. I'm wearing the XXXL in the DDD/E/F cup, the last time I was measured for a bra I wore a 42E/44DD. Plus size bralettes, especially in larger bust sizes are a rarity, so I was thrilled to try this. Leopard print is an absolute favourite print of mine, especially combined with lace. It's a sexier style bralette which is a rare breed in itself, as usually they tend to be a little plainer and simpler. It retails for £15, which I think is an incredibly fair price. I've bought bralettes on the high street for around the same price, that have nowhere near the attention to detail this bralette has.

It has smooth satin cups, a thick black elastic band, lace trim and little gold heart details and hardware. The whole bra, including the elastic, is really soft. I like to wear clothes before I review them and wash them, and this looks exactly the same after a couple of washes. Cheaper lace tends to bobble easily, this isn't the case here at all. My amazing tiger paw necklace* is by Sugar & Vice by the way, I'm obsessed with it.

The bralette has a traditional bra fastening and adjustable straps. As you can see, I don't wear mine at the same lengths on each side, most people find they have one breast bigger than the other, my bigger breast is around 2 cup sizes bigger. I therefore tighten the strap on one side much more than the other. One advantage of a bralette in this sort of style is that it doesn't matter than there is such a size difference between my breasts, because the cups don't act like normal bra cups.

I did find the elastic rolled a little as the day wore on, but I could probably have done with a slightly bigger back size as the XXXL translates to a 42 back and I'm just on the cusp of the size. Overall I'm so pleased with this bralette, and am excited to see Tutti Rouge release more bralettes in fun styles!

Much love,

Kitty xxx

PS. Shout out to my husband for taking these photos and giving me antlers in that last shot.

PPS. This blog is a first for me. I've only reviewed lingerie once before on my blog and I've never taken what I consider to be 'proper' photos like this for it. So I hope I'm not too awkward!

*Denotes an item gifted to me for review purposes. In no way does this impact upon my opinions which are entirely my own.

Girly Grunge : Glitterati