Landlocked Mermaid

🎃Happy Hallowe'en🎃 And Happy All Saint's Day too. As we all know, this is my favourite time of year. We have reached peak Autumn - orange leaves on the ground and trees, not insufferably cold, etc - fuzzy socks are acceptable, and it's all feeling just a little bit spooky. I have already covered my costume , it just remains to be seen if it can survive being worn! Party is not until Saturday. Scoop the goop! Last year , I worked really hard on my trick or treat bags and ended up missing the entire thing thanks to work. It was annoying putting in all that hard work and not getting to enjoy the fruits of my labour. This year, I did not have this issue. I decided to go for a similar approach to making my bags as last year. I ordered in some paper bags, as my stock got used up last year between Christmas and my Grandad's funeral, this time going for some cute pinks ones, because why not. They came in a pack of about 100, so I figured fifty wa...

- Ursula from The Little Mermaid . It's Hallowe'en soon. Do you see where I am going with this? No? I'll be clear then, I am going as Ursula, badass sea witch, for Hallowe'en. Because, you know, she is scary to mermaids. Photo from a Buzzfeed article arguing that Ursula is actually a hero! I have been umming and aahhhing about my costume this year. I contemplated going as Rebecca Bunch from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend , as we have similar builds, hair, and wardrobe. But I figured that would mean I was just going as myself, effectively, just with a few more songs thrown in. While I love a good sing-song, I felt like there was something more creative I could do. And then it hit me. Ursula. She's badass, has a great villain song, and has a costume that shouldn't be too hard to replicate. I let Charis gut my wardrobe recently, so I have lots of fabrics to play with. I thought I still had a strap-less dress which I could just attached tentacles to, but...

Happy New Year! I hope you all have a happy and healthy 2019, full of adventure and fun! While I get my new schedule and posts in order, I am going to take this one last opportunity to look back on 2018. I think it's been a good start to the blog and I'm looking forward to aiming for bigger and better things! I thought it'd be fun to list my top five viewed posts.   5. The Waterbike Collective (posted 20/7) This was when I discovered the Say Yes More initiative and the YesTribe . All thanks to my partner being their hero, I got to find out about their Waterbike mission to pick up a million pieces of river litter, Yestival, and hopefully more of their future projects. Hughie in action on the bike. 4. Finding My Fins: Porth Ysgaden (posted 24/7)  One of the biggest things I have done this year is learning how to dive. This was my first sea dive, off the beautiful Welsh coast with SSAC.  I am looking forward to going on more trips ...

Happy Hallowe'en!! Today's blog is going to be short, sweet and full of pictures - I have worn myself out with all my Hallowe'en prep. I've had some great fun today, including an interlude at my mum's house to decorate spooky gingerbreadmen with my favourite shark experts. I've been melting chocolate, making spooky chocs with jelly surprises, sewing my plastic pollution outfit, pumpkin carving... all things Hallowe'eny! It's been almost plastic free, the chocolate came wrapped in plastic and the sweets had some plastic packaging. But all things considered, that is still drastically less than if I'd have just bought some Haribo mini bags. And mine is now in spooky shapes. I have definitely learned from my experience and plan to use it next year. It's mostly don't leave it all until the day before , as I ran out of time to do the gingerbread house - but hey! Christmas is coming. Anyway, I am done rambling. Here is a photo journey of ...

The Ideas I love this time of year. Hallowe'en is my favourite holiday. I am one of those people who will actively deny that Christmas is a thing until at least November 1st. And more than one year I have left my Hallowe'en decs up until December. It just reaches a point where there's no point taking them down without replacing them! Now, this holiday is a minefield for avoiding plastic pollution. The decorations are plastic. The pre-made costumes are plastic. The sweets are bite-sized and wrapped and wrapped and wrapped in plastic! It is a daunting amount of plastic which goes into Hallowe'en and I am glad I have a few months of experience with reduced plastic living, because otherwise this would be a headache. I don't have to worry about hosting a party this year, my sister has claimed that one. But I would like to do plastic free trick or treating, I will definitely be dressing up, and I want to deck the house in bats and ghouls! At this stage I ...