Stirfry picspam

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I'm not feeling awfully well at the moment :(
So while I try and recover enjoy these photos of my Step Kitty :)

Kev has SO MANY CDS!

He's so cute :D

Pen Pals update

I joined Penpal world and currently have a couple of people who are interested in writing to me and I am interested in writing back to.

Just need to swap addresses now :)

Saturday Picspam - Food, kitties and pretty hair

Salad with Lettuce, mushrooms, carrot and tomatoes.

Lily :)

Broccoli and Cauliflower salad with paprika

 Crudettes and Hummus

"Always remember you are loved by someone" - Inspiring message I hid behind some pasta in my corner shop.

First attempt at a braided design in my hair, it need serious work, but hey at least my hair is long enough now :)

Lettuce wraps (before I wrapped them).

Half eaten lettuce wrap nom nom nom

First try at Fishtail braids, quite proud of this one :)

Fishtail braids from the front.

Friday Feature - Oral-B Pro-Expert

                                           

Reviews are my honest opinions 100% of the time, I point out both positive and negative aspects of the product. All of my reviews are based on personal opinions and experiences.

After being sent a mini tube of Oral-B Pro-Expert I decided to try it out for a week.

According to the leaflet that came with my product, Oral-B Pro-Expert "protects all the areas your dentist checks the most".

That is quite a claim, surely all toothpastes do this?
"That sounds like advertising spin to me" I thought, but resolved to keep an open mind.

Note to self, must learn to take better photos of my teeth...

The first thing I noticed last Monday when I started using Oral-B Pro-Expert was the bright blue colour and slightly gritty looking texture (I actually initially thought it was glittery!).

I was a little reluctant at first given how grainy it looked, but actually once I got brushing the graininess dissolved.

This toothpaste tastes quite nice, I'm very picky about how toothpaste tastes, I HATE overly minty toothpastes, they may smell nice but I don't like the feeling of having my tounge and gums burned out, none of this is a problem with this toothpaste though. It's very similar in flavour to the mouthwash that dentists use, so perhaps this is why they went for the dental angle in the advertising tag?

My teeth look a little whiter than in the before photo, but then the camera flash seems to have caught them more, over all I really don't think they are any whiter.

The leaflet that came with the toothpaste sample gives a tick list of the things it claims to do, and it's using this list that I've scored the product:

Protects against cavities:  Well I still don't have any so I guess it does indeed protects against cavities!

Gum disease: Again, I don't have gum disease!

Plaque: This is excellent for eliminating plaque, my teeth feel silky smooth all day!
Sensitivity :  I quite often have issues eating ice cream if it touches my front teeth, as my front teeth (yet bizzarely not my back teeth) are pretty sensitive. After a week of using this toothpaste I tried eating a bowl of ice cream and although it did still hurt my front teeth it didn't hurt as much as it usually did and I think with prolonged use this could dramatically reduce sensitivity.
Enamel: I'm not really sure how to test weather it has effected my tooth enamel without visiting a dentist :/ My teeth don't feel any harder or softer 0_o
Tartar: It pretty much eliminates tartar.
Whitening: As I said I don't really think my teeth are visibly any whiter, however it could be that this is something that has to build up over time, I only used the toothpaste for a week.
Breath: Breath has no smell at all, which to be honest I prefer to over-powering mintyness as it doesn't feel like I'm hiding anything.

Over all I enjoyed this product and I am very much considering getting it again when my regular toothpaste runs out :)
Final Score: 8/10

Lily

OH HAI THAR!

This is my grandma's new kitten Lily that I mentioned a few weeks ago, my grandma just put some photos of her on Facebook and said I could share the cuteness :)

She's an avid watcher of Frozen Planet :)

Looooooooooooooooooooong kitteh :D

I think she wants to be a mountain climber!

Cuteness :D

My Lolita Wardrobe

Rose Melody's Rosa Crucifix corset JSK  and Surface Spell's Cathedral Underbust JSK 

Cinderlla Story OP and JSK handmade by me.

Handmade, vintage, handmade, handmade

Surface Spell, second hand and the front one is adapted from a nightdress (I cut it down and crocheted my own lace)

Not really Lolita specific but I've worn these with Lolita co-ords before.

Second hand, vintage and Marks and Spencer

Corsets

Both Forever In Black

Customised Vintage blouse and Underground Nation bolero (I'm replacing the lace with crochet lace when I get a chance)

This cape is my pride and joy! This came from a shop in Edinburgh that sells Japanese imports, they have so much Nightmare Before Christmas and Hello Kitty stuff :D

Most of my socks are from Poundland

Bags and purses

Forever in Black x2, handmade by me, second hand x 2 and Forever in Black

Various hair accessories, some handmade, some Forever in Black, some Claire's Accessories and some Poundland.

Forever in Black (bought to match my JSK I made) and handmade bonnet

Various jewellery and accessories

The Black Gate Revisited

Back in this post I posted some photos from Tyne and Wear Museum's flickr of Black Gate and Newcastle Keep.

I said that the next chance I got I would pop over and take some newer photos to compare with both the Tyne and Wear Museum photos (from 1890), and my photos from 2006/7

In the photo on the left my mam is standing just about where the lady is standing in the old photograph.

You can't really see where the shop front was unless you're looking for it, I wasn't even aware there HAD been a shop front until I found the old photographs. 

It is possible to see into what I assume was at one point the interior of the shop through a gate at the side.

You can;t get in but you can peek through the bars.

There is something inside, written and framed, I have no idea what it says though as like I said you can't get in and see.

I assume it's something left over from when it was a museum.

More photos of Black Gate

Next we headed towards the ruined houses.

I was right about where the old photo was taken (although I was slightly out when I took mine), but I was wrong about the two houses in the photograph.

It turns out the one I thought was furthest away was actually the nearest house and the one I thought was the nearest is actually behind the archway and not even in the photo at all.

The furthest house is now a car park :(

Photos of the nearest house.

Next we went to the ruined house that doesn't feature in the old photo.

This was a little weird for me as I hadn't set foot in there since the group photo I included in the last entry was taken.

More photos of the second house

Next we explored near the ruined houses, I had never been along here before so it was quite interesting.

And a couple of pictures of the castle to finish with: