Adorable viewing ahead!

I was born in the late 80's but growing up in the 90's introduced me to some awesome kids cartoons which I'm sure many people of my time can relate to. I wanted to share with you all some of my favourite shows I used to watch and love! In this post you will see the intro for each show and I bet that you won't be able to stop yourself from singing them :)
This is only part one of my nostalgic posts, there will be more to come. So for now, ENJOY!

My Little Pony

Who doesn't love My Little Pony, it's adorable!
They have even rebooted it and called it 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'

The Muppet Babies

The Muppets was such a popular program that they made a spin off cartoon called 'The Muppet Babies' where they make dreams come true...

 

Gummi Bears

The Gummi Bears fight evil and drink Gummiberry Juice. 

The Wuzzles

The Wuzzles are animals that are two animals blended together. 

They got up to all sorts of interesting adventures that were sometimes very funny.

Care Bears

Oh how we all love the Care bears. Such caring, friendly bears who taught us all so much!

 

 

 

Which cartoons did you love as a kid?

 

 

 

 

What's all the fuss about?

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1) by Stieg Larsson
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
465 pages
Buy it @ book depository

A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue.

It’s about the disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden . . . and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder.

It’s about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance . . . and about Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age—and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness to go with it—who assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, astonishing corruption in the highest echelons of Swedish industrialism—and an unexpected connection between themselves.

It’s a contagiously exciting, stunningly intelligent novel about society at its most hidden, and about the intimate lives of a brilliantly realized cast of characters, all of them forced to face the darker aspects of their world and of their own lives.

Review: So I have finally got around to reading, well listening to this. Way before the hype, a staff member I work with at the library told me I have to read this book because it's so good! So of course I gave it a go, only to have read about 50 pages and not understood a single thing. I found that the names confused me and it wasn't easy to read so I gave up. So now, I decided to get the Audiobook version to see if it was any better than reading. The first disc was boring and it didn't really make much sense to me but now that I've finished the book I can understand why that was part of the story.  And I'm so glad I did get it on Audio because I didn't have to worry too much about name pronunciation. One thing that annoyed me was how characters weren't always called by the first names - Larsson would swap from calling them their first name, then their last name. For example one minute he is calling Henrik Vangar - Henkrik and then later he's called Vangar. It got very confusing because it happened with most of the characters and I feel it's even more confusing because the names are Swedish, I think it would be different if they were common English names. I  know that sounds really terrible of me to say but it's the truth! The only character I really liked was Henrik Vangar, I thought he seemed like a cool old dude - I didn't feel anything for the other characters.

There are 17 discs for this Audiobook and the tenth disc didn't work! So I had to skip about 30 pages of the story, this was so frustrating because the story was just starting to get interesting. (Just so you're aware that was the tenth disc, so that's more than halfway when the book JUST starts to get interesting)

I don't feel the need to read or listen to the other books, instead I read the plots on wikipedia and I'm quite satisfied with that. In the end this book was OK. I don't know why it got so much hype, the mystery was interesting enough but I've read better mystery novels. Oh and a little side note, the main character Mikael Blomkvist has too much coffee and too much sex, he is anybodies! I can totally see why they picked Daniel Craig to play him in the American version of the movie. I am looking forward to seeing the movie version so I can compare them.

A huge warning for people who haven't read this and are thinking of giving it a go - there is a very graphic scene in it which I didn't think was all that necessary to the story but it was explained at the beginning that a high amount of women in Sweden get sexually assaulted so maybe it's common to have that sort of things in Swedish books...

On the cover: Wow what an awesome tattoo! I thought the story was all about a girl with a tattoo but it was more about an excessive coffee drinking journalist who likes women a little bit too much. Oh and What's that about over 1.5 million copies sold? Don't know why?

What I'm listening on Audio to next: Handle with care by Jodi Picoult

Have you read this and did you continue reading the others?

Market Day Tips

Market Day is an exciting day, but it can also be a nervous day too. I've attended quite a few markets now and I thought I'd give you some tips on how to make the day successful.

Markets aren't always held inside where it's nice & warm and the weather has no effect on your stall. So when setting up a stall outside you have to be aware of wind! Wind was my first issue I came across, I wasn't prepared for it and didn't bring anything to hold my tablecloth down. Thinking back now I feel very naive in not allowing for this problem, so I tell you now bring clips or weights to hold down your tablecloth!

In case of rain it's good to invest in a really good marque/gazebo. If you think you may be attending a lot of markets and they are outside then I would highly recommend buying one, it's a great investment. I bought mine from boating, camping & fishing which you can see it online here. My gazebo is easy to put up by myself but I've found that other stall holders are more than happy to give you a hand if you ask. You may even need to buy some sides for your gazebo so it keeps out the rain and wind. You can buy tarps and lots of hand clamps or you could buy the proper sides for this gazebo which are so easy to put up as it's made perfectly for your specific gazebo. I purchased my sides from a local Bunnings Warehouse, just make you buy the correct ones!

Another tip for having a market stall outside is that you should always wear something comfortable and warm because you're at the mercy of mother nature. So if you're not warm and comfortable then you will be miserable all day!

Important things to take with you to a market are: a pair of scissors, sticky tape, pen, paper, bottle of water and some snacks.

I hope these tips have been helpful and I'd love to hear any tips you may have during your experiences being a stall holder

Completely Spellbound

Spellbound (Hex Hall #3) by Rachel Hawkins
Rating: 4 out of 5
327 pages
Buy it @ book depository

Just as Sophie Mercer has come to accept her extraordinary magical powers as a demon, the Prodigium Council strips them away. Now Sophie is defenseless, alone, and at the mercy of her sworn enemies—the Brannicks, a family of warrior women who hunt down the Prodigium. Or at least that’s what Sophie thinks, until she makes a surprising discovery. The Brannicks know an epic war is coming, and they believe Sophie is the only one powerful enough to stop the world from ending. But without her magic, Sophie isn’t as confident.

Sophie’s bound for one hell of a ride—can she get her powers back before it’s too late?





Review: I'm sad that we're at the end of a fun & magical series. I can remember the feeling I had when I read 'Hex Hall' (the first in the series), it was amazement. I hadn't read anything like it, since then I have but you never forget your first. As always with a series there was a huge cliffhanger at the end of the second book and left you dying to find out what happened to everyone after the fire.

Sophie is back with lots of spunk and spunks in tow. As with SO many teenage series there's always a love triangle and this one is hard for me because I like both the guys involved. There's sweet Cal and funny boy Archer. Which one, which one?! I'll let you read to find out.

Some of my favourite characters are back and some new characters are introduced. The thing I love best about these books is the characters banter with each other. Sophie seems to make bad situations funny because of her comebacks and comments.

I was so upset at one stage towards the end but Hawkins seems to have made it all better in the end.
I decided to give this only 4 out of 5 stars because it wasn't as flawless as the previous two. I thought that it felt rushed and I hate to say it because I love this series, but after all this time wondering about why someone had created demons it was a tiny little let down to find out who was behind it all.

And finally I have to say thank you to Hawkins for writing this series, I have enjoyed reading about Sophie and the rest of the characters. *Sigh* there's no more, but I feel happy with the ending.

If you would like to read my review of Hex Hall click here and for my review of Demon Glass click here

On the cover: Is that Sophie on the front cover? I didn't even realise she looked like that. She's really pretty, no wonder she had two guys chasing her. I can't complain about this cover because I like it!

What I'm reading next: The traitor in the tunnel by Y.S. Lee

Do you have a favourite book series? 

Yummy Lolly Nails ~ Whimsical by Revlon

I love Revlon nail Polish and I've been wanting this one for ages but have never been able to find it in the shops. So I went to trusty eBay and found a fairly cheap one for sale.

Whimsical #430 is a very light blue jelly like nail polish which it is extremely sheer. It would be perfect for layering over nail polishes to give them that something extra. It has baby blue and pink hex glitter as well as smaller pink hex glitter pieces and even tinier iridescent blue glitter spread throughout.

I decided to put three coats over a white nail polish & pink nailpolish as you can see in the above picture.
I think this would look really pretty over a baby blue nail polish which I might try another time.
The amount of glitter you get each coat is quite good and it's easy to move around the glitter with the brush.

I named these my Lolly nails because they look so edible and sweet don't they? Overall I do like this polish and I think it will be a favorite of mine.

Do you have a favorite Revlon color?

Books I'm pining for ~ Halloween style!

"Books I'm pining for" is a feature for new and old books that I want to read. But being so close to Halloween I thought I would share some spooky reads that I'm looking forward to. Enjoy! *Evil laugh*

Hemlock Grove: A Novel by Brian McGreevy
Released: March 2012
An exhilarating reinvention of the gothic novel, inspired by the iconic characters of our greatest myths and nightmares.


The body of a young girl is found mangled and murdered in the woods of Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania, in the shadow of the abandoned Godfrey Steel mill. A manhunt ensues—though the authorities aren’t sure if it’s a man they should be looking for.

Some suspect an escapee from the White Tower, a foreboding biotech facility owned by the Godfrey family—their personal fortune and the local economy having moved on from Pittsburgh steel—where, if rumors are true, biological experiments of the most unethical kind take place. Others turn to Peter Rumancek, a Gypsy trailer-trash kid who has told impressionable high school classmates that he’s a werewolf. Or perhaps it’s Roman, the son of the late JR Godfrey, who rules the adolescent social scene with the casual arrogance of a cold-blooded aristocrat, his superior status unquestioned despite his decidedly freakish sister, Shelley, whose monstrous medical conditions belie a sweet intelligence, and his otherworldly control freak of a mother, Olivia.

At once a riveting mystery and a fascinating revelation of the grotesque and the darkness in us all, Hemlock Grove has the architecture and energy to become a classic in its own right—and Brian McGreevy the talent and ambition to enthrall us for years to come.

Spook's Blood (The Last Apprentice/Wardstone Chronicles #10) 
by Joseph Delaney
Released: June 2012

Time is running out for Thomas Ward. His final battle against the Fiend is drawing near, and the Spook's apprentice has never felt more alone in his task. Isolated and afraid, the Fiend is set to send the greatest of his servants against him - Siscoi, a Vampire God more ferocious than anything he has yet faced. Tom must risk his life to prevent the evil beast from entering this world, even as he learns that the final destruction of the Fiend may involve a sacrifice more terrible than he can imagine...

Seed by Ania Ahlborn
Released: June 2011

Fans of Stephen King, Jack Kilborn, and Blake Crouch… prepare to meet the Devil.

In the vine-twisted swamps of Louisiana, the shadows have teeth.

Jack Winter has spent his entire life running from something no one else can see. His childhood is his darkest secret, but after a near fatal accident along a deserted road, the darkness he was sure he’d escaped rears its ugly head… and smiles.

But this time, he isn’t the only one who sees the soulless eyes of his past. This time, his six-year-old daughter Charlie leans into his ear and whispers: Daddy, I saw it too.

And then she begins to change.

Faced with reliving the nightmares of his childhood, Jack watches his daughter spiral into the shadows that had nearly consumed him twenty years before.

But Charlie isn’t the only one who’s changing.

Jack never outran the darkness. It’s been with him all along.

And it’s hungrier than ever.

A new breed of dark fiction: the subtlety of Seed will haunt you, and the end will wickedly satisfy.

Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough
Released: April 2011

Beware of Long Lankin, that lives in the moss. . . .When Cora and her younger sister, Mimi, are sent to stay with their elderly aunt in the isolated village of Byers Guerdon, they receive a less than warm welcome. Auntie Ida is eccentric and rigid, and the girls are desperate to go back to London. But what they don't know is that their aunt's life was devastated the last time two young sisters were at Guerdon Hall, and she is determined to protect her nieces from an evil that has lain hidden for years. Along with Roger and Peter, two village boys, Cora must uncover the horrifying truth that has held Bryers Guerdon in its dark grip for centuries -- before it's too late for little Mimi. Riveting and intensely atmospheric, this stunning debut will hold readers in its spell long after the last page is turned.

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter
Released: September 2012

She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.
I'd tell my sister no.
I'd never beg my mother to talk to my dad.
I'd zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.
Or, barring all of that, I'd hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.
I'd tell them I love them.
I wish... Yeah, I wish.

The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle
Released: September 2012

Katie is on the verge of her Rumspringa, the time in Amish life when teenagers can get a taste of the real world. But the real world comes to her in this dystopian tale with a philosophical bent. Rumors of massive unrest on the “Outside” abound. Something murderous is out there. Amish elders make a rule: No one goes outside, and no outsiders come in. But when Katie finds a gravely injured young man, she can’t leave him to die. She smuggles him into her family’s barn—at what cost to her community? The suspense of this vividly told, truly horrific thriller will keep the pages turning.

Two and Twenty Dark Tales: Dark Retellings of Mother Goose Rhymes by Many Authors
Released: October 2012

In this anthology, 20 authors explore the dark and hidden meanings behind some of the most beloved Mother Goose nursery rhymes through short story retellings. The dark twists on classic tales range from exploring whether Jack truly fell or if Jill pushed him instead to why Humpty Dumpty, fragile and alone, sat atop so high of a wall. The authors include Nina Berry, Sarwat Chadda, Leigh Fallon, Gretchen McNeil, and Suzanne Young.

Dead River by Cyn Balog
Released: April 2013

My friends and I are spending prom weekend at a remote wooded cabin on the Dead. The Dead River.

I thought it was going to be just us.

I was wrong. 
Nothing is what it seems in this creepy paranormal thriller by Cyn Balog.

What books are you pining for?

Kooky Kreatures - Halloween Nails

Halloween is a week away and I thought I should do some Halloween inspired nails. I saw these nails on Instagram and they were so adorable I had to give them a go.

I didn't take any photos to show how I did this manicure because it was dark and the photos wouldn't have turned out that well.

If you're interested in knowing how I did this manicure here is a step by step written tutorial.

Materials you will need to achieve this manicure:

• White nail polish
• Green nail polish
• Black 2 way pen, white 2 way pen, red 2 way pen OR using a dotting pen/tooth pick for details and those three nail polish colors.

Thumb Finger "Frankenstein": Step 1 - Paint your nail green.
Step 2 - Using your black 2 way pen or dotting pen/toothpick draw the hair, eyebrows & eyes.
Step 3 - Using your white 2 way pen or dotting pen/toothpick put white dots in for the eyes.

Pointer Finger "Ghost": Step 1 - Paint your nail white.
Step 2 - Using your black 2 way pen or dotting pen/toothpick draw the black circles for eyes & kidney shaped mouth.
Step 3 -  Using your white 2 way pen or dotting pen/toothpick put white dots in for the eyes.

Middle Finger "Vampire": Step 1 - Paint your nail white.
Step 2 - Using your black 2 way pen or dotting pen/toothpick draw the black circle for eyes, eye brows and hair.
Step 3 -  Using your white 2 way pen or dotting pen/toothpick put white dots in for the eyes.

Ring Finger "Zombie": Step 1 - Paint your nail brown.
Step 2 - Using your black 2 way pen or dotting pen/toothpick draw the black circle for eyes and a scar along the top.
Step 3 - Using your red 2 way pen or dotting pen/toothpick draw the blood dribble from the top of the head.
Step 4 - Using your white 2 way pen or dotting pen/toothpick put white dots in for the eyes.
Step 5 - Using your black 2 way pen or dotting pen/toothpick put tiny dots in the white circles.

Pinky Finger "Mummy": Step 1 - Paint your nail white.
Step 2 - Using your black 2 way pen or dotting pen/toothpick draw the lines in a way that looks like mummy wrapping.
Step 3 - Using your red 2 way pen or dotting pen/toothpick draw the circles for eyes.
Step 4 - Using your white 2 way pen or dotting pen/toothpick put white dots in for the eyes.

It was fairly simple to do this manicure and I love the outcome. My nails are super cute!

Which one is your favourite?