Lost in Austen

Lost in Austen!

It's no secret that I completely adore the world of Austen and wish to part of that world, even if it for the tiniest of seconds. To stroll along Pemberly with Mr Darcy or to going with the Dashwoods on Sir John Middleton's estate. The world of Austen is just so magical that I wish to be a part of it. It's too good to miss out on!

So imagine my surprise when I accidentally stumbled across the Lost in Austen DVDs in my mother's dvd cupboard (I had asked as I was showing my friend Becky the Carry On films!) After Becky had gone home and I had, had a bath, I watched Lost in Austen for the first time. 

IT WAS AMAZING

It's about Amanda Price, a woman from modern London, who trades places with Elizabeth Bennett and  enters plot of the novel of Pride and Prejudice through a portal in her bathroom, to join the Bennet family and affect events disastrously.

I love it to bits because it's like massive fanfiction come to life on screen!

Plus it pretty much describes the realities of modern day people trying to fit into regency times, well it describes me at least!

It's so funny because Amanda Price is so definite to keep to the plot of the story that things go wrong because Elizabeth isn't there. 

It's my favourite TV series of all time and no matter what people say it always will be! It's definitely worth a watch or two ;)

There and Back Again

Hello again, my little petit filous! I have been on quite the adventure, with these two lovely lasses:

I went to the big city!

 It was weird... I'm a small town gal and it was strange going to somewhere so big.

Our Journey started with a hour long car journey down the motorway! Though before we got to the motorway we had to stop, for some change, outside a garage.

It was boring... but I got skittles! Taste the rainbow :D

Anyway, we finally arrived on the motorway, all you Americans notice the side of the road we are driving on and the driver's side ;)

We passed a lot of countryside and a few beautiful houses as well 

See? Georgian! Lovely. 

We also had a Green Day sing-a-long!

I may or may not been too over-enuthastic about that...

Anayway! Then we arrived in the big city and went shopping :D 

No pictures here :P

PIZZA

I swear on my love for books that this was the greatest pizza I have ever tasted. 

We went to Pizza Hut for lunch because the queue for Nandos was to long.

I do not regret that decision.

This was the great waiter who took our orders.

The great waiter conversing with Robyn

NACHOS.

I'm addicted to these things. 

I could find anymore pictures of my journey, as Robyn and Natasha got mad at me for taking so many! (I took over 100) so they banned me from using the camera. Though I can say that it was a beautiful day and I enjoyed it immensely. I will go again (hopefully!)

                                    

                                                           Thank you for reading!

But it is good for you!

So this blog entry is more of a complaint and comparison one. You may be wondering about the title and why this post is called that. Well I shall tell you, it is all to do with reading. Yep, that's right. The topic of this post is reading. If you don't like books and loathe reading then please go away and only come back once your opinion of reading has changed!

Now the whole reason why I made this post was because I am hearing, to often, 'I hate reading.' 'Reading is bad for you!'

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA.

No.

Reading opens up the doors of our imagination, improves our vocabulary (from reading more advanced books), it allows us to travel to far off places without leaving our living room! Reading allows you do ANYTHING, within the limits of your IMAGINATION.

Gotta love reading.

So why do some people hate it?

I think it's because they view reading more as a punishment than a past time. I remember we were always forced to read in Primary School and half way through High School. See this was no problem for me because I love reading! However it was a problem for some other people in my class, including my friend Ellie. Ellie completely hates reading. She doesn't see the point in it. She claims it is meaningless and you could be doing better things to pass the time, e.g. watching TV. Now, I don't watch TV a lot and through it don't see the point in it. I would much rather prefer to become tightly wound with the characters, so it is as if I know them. I prefer to picture them in my own mind and picture their little quirks and habits, instead of having TV picture it for me.

Takes the fun out of it, you know?


In fact nobody in my friendship group (at school) seems to read, besides a few others and myself, and even then if they do read we all read different things! I mean you have Beth, who loves fan fiction, thriller books, comic books and all that sort of thing. Then there is Tash, who just reads whatever! She did manage to get through Anna Karenina, so kudos to her. Becky reads a lot to, I am just not sure what. There is me, who reads a lot a fantasy and sic-fi but is now drifting over to the classics (Yes I'm talking to you  Jess, Lainey and Catie. Thank you for making me read Sense and Sensibility. I only read it to see what the fuss was all about... Jane Austen is now one of my favourite authors ;_;) Finally, there is Kate. SHE IS A HUGE BOOKWORM. But she is not a bookworm for the classics, oh no. She is a bookworm for spiritual books and vampire stories - of which I don't like at all because I find them all the same and boring. Once you have read the Twilight Saga, you have read them all. Her and I are always getting into arguments over books.

I guess what I am trying to say is, just perceiver. Perceiver until you find a book, or an author that you grow massively fond of.

Good luck my little bookworms.

~ Catherine Out. ~ 

Growing Up.

So I was looking through my family's massive collection of photos, and I spotted myself in quite a few of them. For fun I thought I would compare a selection of photos on how much I have grown. So I gathered up these photos and was extremely surprised with how much I had changed physically.

Odd isn't it? 

We are always changing and growing. We will never stop! The human race never keeping still and progressing through time. Believe it or not you are too! You never look the same twice; each day you look a little older, a little different. To show this I thought I would share with you the photos I picked up.

Here we go!

Enjoy :)

Tiny Catherine with her cousin Marian! 

I am so plumb in this photo its unbelievable.

But then again I was a toddler.

Not sure how old I am here.

I maybe 5 or 6?

Still chubby but thinned down a little. 

Look at those chubby cheeks ^-^

Lets add me in a bridesmaid dress for the sake of it.

About 7 in this.

Gah!!! Look at those teeth *le hides*

This was taken in Monet's garden, in France.

His garden is absolutely gorgeous!

In Year Six when was this was taken.

I've changed quite a bit in between this photo and the first.

Ah! I have braces in this one! 

Straight teeth! Yay :)

This was taken in the Summer of 2012.

I had my hair cut just above my shoulders - what was I thinking?

Playing giant Jenga with my sister. 

I have nothing more to say.

                                    

This is the most recent photo of me with my hair plaits.

As you can see I have changed dramatically over the space of 14 years :)

Pssstttt Guys... Have ago at this yourself. Find a very young picture of you and compare it to one of your most recent photos. See how much you have changed ;)

Catherine out.

Art through the years.

No it is not art through the years in general, but my art - as I have progressed through this thing known as life. Anyway, I was looking through my deviantart gallery and I thought might slow the progress of how my art has gotten better. We will start at the beginning (my first ever drawing uploaded onto deviantart) and we will make it through to my latest drawing on deviantart.

Here we go:

First Drawing:

So this drawing is titled 'Daphne and Red BFFs' 

This was the first drawing I uploaded onto deviantart and I was so proud of it - at the age of eleven. 

Looking back now, it isn't very good and I am not fond of it. Yet there is something about the drawing that makes me smile whenever I look at it. Whether it be it reminds me of my bubbly personality back when I was 11 - portrayed through the drawing style. Or it is just on how bad it is, we will never know.

So this was the second drawing I did and it is of my favourite book series - when I was 11 - entitled 'The Sisters Grimm.' 

The characters in this are: (from left to right) Red, Daphne, Elvis, Sabrina and Puck (who is currently not on the picture)

I like this picture a little, mainly because it is a massive improvement from the first one.

This is just a copy of Red, stuck on a background I made for a competion.

I would call it art work but it is technically cheating because I just copy and pasted stuff from previous drawings. 

Yet I like it. I like it a lot. It is my first piece of digital art :)

Body great.

Head not so much.

Ah! Now I am very proud of this one.

My first dragon that I drew all by myself! 

Sure I copied the design from a photo I found on google images...

But everything else is by me! 

I thought this was lovely at the time...

Oh boy I was wrong, looking back on it now I can see that the shading wasn't done correctly and it is just a lot of scribble.

Though I thought it looked nice before it was scanned it.

And this is when the ponies start to kick it...

Oh, younger Catherine get out while you still can.

I see you are ignoring me younger Catherine. 

Ok you still are early on in this fandom.

BACK OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN.

Stop

Stop it.

YOUNGER CATHERINE STOP DRAWING THESE PONIES.

That's better.

That's actually quite good...

Wait. THAT TURTLE IS FROM THE MY LITTLE PONY SHOW!

What did I tell you?!

Oh now you're drawing OCs now?

Is that how it going to be huh?

Fine then.

Go draw ponies.

Don't come crying to me, younger Catherine, when you can't get out of the My Little Pony fandom and it starts to ruin your life, by you become a very shy person, can't get outside, it ruins your social life. 

But what would I know. It's not like I have spent a year trying to succeed in leaving the fandom - in which I eventually did succeed - and have spent the last year getting your life back on track.

You will thank me in a few months time when you take a break from EVERYTHING on the internet. Including ponies.

Right! Ignore all my warnings.

Leaving you alone now, younger Catherine

Bye.

...

...........

..................................

Okay, this one is quite good.

I am guessing these are your pony OCs, before you left the fandom?

Ah yes! I remember Sky High was yours and the two unicorns were her sisters, Harmony Hope and Amber Essence.

Your OC as a filly, and her mother Rowan Oak? 

Rowan looks nice but Sky not so much.

Why did I ever like ponies?!

Ah! Now I remember. This was the last drawing you did of My Little Pony, before you went into pony shut down mode, a.k.a leaving the fandom and the internet.

You did this with Kristina, took you two eight hours, if my memory serves me correct. 

Anyway moving swiftly on.

I am happy knowing you are about to leave the fandom after this drawing.

BREAK FROM THE INTERENT AND DEVIANTART FOR ABOUT 3 MONTHS.

BACK!!!

Now, we are back to my present self!

I drew this after viewing Adventure Time for the first time. 

I fell in love with the drawing style and decided to have ago on my own.

So I drew Georgie's, Kristina's and My OC - Lavender, Ivy and Tulia (from left to right)

They were brought up to present day, so this is what they would look like now.

I am very proud of this :)

                                     

                         

These next three were all drawn at the same time and two of the three were drawn for Kristina - as they are her Percy Jackson OC, Charlotte "Charlie" DeClairmont. The little balrog is Charlie's pet Castiel.

The blonde one is Annabelle Glaylin. She is my Percy Jackson OC and is the daughter of Apollo. She is also Irish and blurts out in Galiage with she gets flustered.

I am extremely happy with these drawings because it was the first time I have ever been to draw humans like that :)

                      

Me with my beautiful cats, drawn in Adventure Time Style! Very pleased with how this turned out :).

Last one!!

Last but certainly not least is my most recent drawing and it was for a one of my beautiful American Buddies. Jess :). 

                           M.         

This was drawn for Jess, on a very cheap program with a even cheaper stylist. It is my first piece of digital art I am actually proud of. I should be as well because it turned out gorgeously! Even though it was a bit of a challenge!

So we have come to the end of my journey through deviantart over two years.

There is more but I decided to go with the hand drawn stuff - to show the progress with my hand drawing since I was 11.

I hope you enjoyed this and I may do another one of these for my fanfiction account - which was set up, roughly, at the same time as my deviantart account was. 

So 11 year old Catherine writing fanfics for the sisters grimm fandom ^.^

Peace Out

~Cath

Tulia Puddifoot.

You can probably guess by the title on what I am going to talk about. Yes that's right! A character of mine, Tulia Puddifoot.

Tulia Puddifoot is my main roleplay character for Lord of the Rings, and has the most developed storyline out of all my Lord of the Rings original characters. So I guess that's why I use her the most and why she is my favourite.

I thought I might explain Tulia's storyline in Lord of the Rings and how I have extremely hard to keep it to the original trilogy - given all the possibilities, there were. Also, I romantically pair Tulia and Frodo together... Please don't be mad at me Tolkein! Let me explain. I have made Tulia's small storyline run along side Frodo's Storyline, the best I can. I am sorry Tolkein! Anyway her storyline is planned very delicately and I have taken an enmourous amount of care with it. In my opinion it works! Tulia's story line is basically between when Frodo is 33-50. Tolkein left a gap, in between those years. Which is great because it allows me to weave my way in, and add my own addition to the story, with out changing it in anyway possible :)

Tulia's Storyline:

(Jess, I apologise, as you have read a little of this before.)

Tulia Puddifoot, was born in 2977 S.A, and grew up and lived on a farm with her mother, father and older sister by eight years, in Stock, Eastfarthing, until the age of 5 1/2. At the age of 5 1/2, her mother took her away from the farm and a safer place (Hobbiton). This was because her father had been loosing money on the farm - roughly since Tulia was two - and had eventually lost it all to gambling, in a last desperate need for money, when Tulia was four. He resulted into drinking and became an alcoholic, her father would drink daily and was rarely seen without some ale. He was always down the pubs drinking and became very untrustworthy; he cheated on his wife a lot, with young hobbit lasses from around the Shire. 

One day when he came home from the pub, drunk, he started abusing his children. Tulia's mother tried to save her 5 year old daughter and her 13 year old teenage hobbit lass, but that ended up with her getting beaten up herself. After weeks of screams terror and this unbearable behaviour, from her husband. She took Tulia in the dead of night and took the child, to her husband's brother's house (Tulia's uncle and her mother's brother-in-law), in Hobbiton to get the child away from the domestic violence, she was recieving back at the farm.

Her Auntie and Uncle took her in, in a heart beat. Her Auntie, never being able to have children of her own, was overjoyed by the thought of raising one as her own. That's exactly what she did, she raised Tulia as if she was her own daughter. Tulia was extremely happy here and would often play with Russet Silverfold (1 and a half years older than Tulia, he was the son of her Uncle's next door neighbour - Arlo Silverfold.) Over time she forgot what her mother looked like and her father did. But not her sister, as she loved her deeply and found her the most hard to forget. This resulted in the child calling her Uncle and Aunt 'Mother and Father.' At occasional points - sometimes forgetting they were not her real  birth parents. She looked similar to her Uncle, he might of well of been her father, and she had her Auntie's green/hazel eyes. So in her eyes and eyes of the other hobbits, her auntie and uncle were her real parents.

She stayed with the kind couple, until she was 11, which is when Arlo Silverfold dies. So when Russet's father dies, Tulia's Auntie and Uncle take it upon themselves to look after little Russet, until he is old enough to move back into his hobbit hole, nextdoor. However, they once have room in their hobbit hole for one child, the hole being quite small because they are part of the poorer folk in Hobbiton. So, it is with a heavy heart that her fake parents, bid farewell to their adopted daughter. She left in a cart, on the same day Frodo arrived in Hobbiton. Tulia was nine years younger than Frodo, making him 21 when he came to Hobbiton - which is accurate to the book, also making Tulia 12 years old, at the time. The little hobbit lass left to go and stay with her cousins in Willowbottom. But over the years, she tended to bounce in between Pincup, Buckland and Willowbottom a lot, as she was growing up as a teenager. It is only when she is 21, did she return to her Aunt and Uncle's house for the Summer. By this time Russet had moved back into his hole; with him being 22 and able to look after himself.

This is when of course she met Frodo, who by now is 30. She got to know him well over the summer and was sad, when she had to leave for home, in Willowbottom. However, she worked her way around the problem and started to visit Hobbiton, more frequently. Slowly, as she got to know Frodo better, she visited him more often, making excuses to why she was in Hobbiton all the time. They usually consisted of 'I am helping Uncle, with things.' Or 'I miss my Uncle and Auntie dearly, whenever I am home, so I visited them whenever I can.' They get to know each other better and become good friends. It is only when they see each other at the Yule Ball, one cold winter, when Tulia was 26. They actually started to fall in love. But they were in skinny love and didn't admit their feelings for each other, even though they knew that they both fond of each other, greatly.

Before Frodo left the Shire, he kissed Tulia for the first time, and made her promise she would be fine. She said she would be and didn't know why he was worrying, thinking he was just moving back to Crickhollow. After he left, Tulia was devastated but kept going on as usual. She missed him greatly but tried not to let her feelings show. When the Shire was taken over, she was part of the rebel group, with Fatty, trying to get the Shire back from Saruman's control. However, it failed and she ended up in the Stock Holes. Where she ate very little and grew thinner by the day, from being a nice healthy hobbit before. 

By the time, Tulia and the rebels were released from the Stockholes, she was very very thin and pale. She couldn't walk properly and was tired all the time. You could see her bones through he skin, creating a bag of bones impression. But she soon got her act together, in the Battle of Bywater, and helped fight. She was still very weak and couldn't think well enough, her actions and reflexes were not sharp enough. This led to her downfall. She was one of the eleven hobbits that died in the Battle of Bywater. When Frodo discovered this, he was devastated and it was almost like he was ripped in half. He continued on to live in the Shire for another two years, but it wasn't the same, and he soon left for the undying lands. Claiming he could only heal when he found peace in the Undying lands. However he never did quite find peace and could heal because he had his heart broken and was still in mourning, after all those long years.

Tulia's Personality

She is basically like a big child, never quite grown up. She is very fond of the little things in life and is extremely curious. She has a innocent look to her and for the most part is quite innocent to. She laughs a lot and is a dreamer. She daydreams a lot of the time and loves children. She adores them. She is a bookworm and owns quite a big collection of books. She is friendly, a very bubbly character, curious, she can be funny and is a tad annoying at points. She's an oddball. Tulia does tend to breakdown when she experiences new things she doesn't understand or she finds challenging, and she gets into state of worry and frustration. She doesn't tend to give up on challenges easily, once they are set for her. She is quite quiet but can be loud and does worry a lot. 

Relatives - The Main Ones.

Maple Brandybuck - Tulia's Mother

Edwin "Eddy" Puddifoot - Tulia's Father

Linnea Puddifoot (married name Linnea Brown) - Tulia's Older Sister

Cedric Puddiffoot - Tulia's Uncle, who takes her in

Mae Puddifoot (maiden name Boffin) - Tulia's Aunt, who takes her in.

Tulia's Appearance:

Have a picture of a Frodo and Tulia!

She is a tall 3'2", and had chesnut coloured hair, as a young girl, but as She got older it turned a mousy brown colour - which is the current colour of her hair. It is curly when dry. Except when it is wet, it goes wavy, and stays like that until it dries - which takes a long time.

Her eyes have been changing all my life. They were a brilliant blue when she was first born but soon changed to a sea green colour, before darkening again and going to hazel; which is her current eye colour. She has had hazel eyes most of my life, having her eyes change colour when She was only a toddler.

Her skin tone is a calico,

She freckles going across my nose and around my cheeks, and She has rosy cheeks.