Vampirism Monday x White Women of the Scottish Highlands

This evening, I came across a Scottish myth that I had never read before! As Jen is Scottish herself, this myth is definitely a new favorite of mine. ♥ It's an extremely interesting myth and one I hope you will enjoy as much as I have.

This is the myth of the baobhan sith. 

Also known as the White Women of the Scottish Highlands. 

Like most Vampire mythology, the baobhan sith are gorgeous women. They lure their victims in with their beauty, seducing them. They wear green dresses and walk on deer hooves and though hair color isn't mentioned, while doing a search, I noticed that most artists depict the baobhan sith with golden hair.

  

During my search I found one mention of fanged biting, however most sources state that the baobhan sith instead use their razor sharp fingernails as a way of cutting open their victims and drinking their blood from their wounds. The baobhan sith are also active during the night, and cannot tolerate daylight.

These gorgeous vampire women dressed in green travel in a pack, and from what I have read, exclusively hunt men, especially young travelers. The Baobhan sith live and hunt in forests, and in other natural places outside of cities. Here is one specific story of the baobhan sith from Wikipedia.

There is a certain legend regarding the baobhan sith in which a group of young travelers stopped for the night in a small glade (or empty hut) in the Scottish Highlands. They built a fire and began to wish for the company of beautiful women. Four stunning women appeared and began to dance with the men. The dance, which started out for enjoyment, became harsh, and the women tore at the men and drew blood. One of the men ran from their shelter and hid between two horses. The strange women circled the horses but could not seem to cross to him. When dawn came they disappeared, and the man found his companions dead and drained of blood. It is thought that the baobhan sith could not cross to him because of the iron in the shoes of the horses.

One myth states that every year, the baobhan sith awaken and feed. Building a cairn over their graves may be a way of stopping them from waking. 

I hope you enjoyed this lovely Scottish myth, my fangtastic friends. 

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Currently

This Currently list is inspired by Danielle of Sometimes Sweet and I thought I would go a little prompt crazy and include a few of my own below the originals! Enjoy! I am...

Reading: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones and fanfiction, because fanfiction is one of my guilty pleasures. ♥
Wondering: about how I can improve my blog. I know that my header is perfect for me still, however I think that everything else could use a bit of a touch up minus possibly my background. I am also focusing on how I could make my "for profit" goal a reality without losing sight of who I am, and what this blog is really about. I write for me, for my friends, for fun, for sharing and for learning. However, I also have a little goal of making a profit, even a $20 a month one, by doing what I l-o-v-e. Everyone is different, and I know LnL will never have high priced ads, or content that I don't completely connect with.

Feeling thankful: for Jen, for her making me laugh so hard I can't breathe and for stormy weather, which has been rolling through. I am also feeling thankful for my mother-in-law, good food (see below), tonight's television and having amazing fur, feather and fin babies who have been adorable and extremely rambunctious. If any one of us stand up... for ANY reason... even for a second... Mau will steal our seat, and he's been stealing Wedge's as well. They've also been knocking over their kitty tree (which is around 3' high) with their chase one another game about three times a week. 

Eating: Last night's dinner was home-made tacos, so Jen made me one for lunch using the scrumptious leftovers we have in the fridge and for dinner we had individual meatloaves baked in a cupcake tray! SO good. Side dishes were Potatoes au Gratin (one of my favorites) and cinnamon apples. 

Watching: Game of Thrones tonight! Jen and I cannot wait. We love Sunday's for GoT alone. We recently watched - and finished - the entire first season of Legend of Korra and we highly recommend watching if you like animated series'. Even if you do not... give this one a try. If you haven't seen Avatar: The Last Airbender, you should watch that one first... But it's not necessary. It's one of mine and Jen's favorite series' of all time, though, so it's one I will forever recommend.  

Working on: finishing up a web design for a lovely friend of mine and sketching, sketching, sketching. No matter how much I have been drawing lately, nothing worthwhile is coming out of it and if I am honest, I do not even know what to draw. Feel free to leave me a prompt! 

Loving: Jen. ♥ Our babies. Our family, our friends. This Autumn like weather and a cup of warm, steamy tea. Pandora Online Radio, cleaning and feeling accomplished after doing so, warm showers with amazing smelling shampoo, conditioner and body wash and so much more. 

Now for my prompts! 

Drinking: well, I started writing this post while drinking a cup of Lipton's Vanilla Caramel Truffle tea and a few moments ago, after I finished that, I made Jen and I some Celestial Seasonings Tension Tamer tea which is in the process of cooling a little before I take my first sip. Mmmm.

Playing: Guild Wars 2, on my newest character who I named Isolde Thoth. She's a Guardian, and role-play wise I have her career as a Sell Sword.

Listening to: well, while I was cleaning, I turned on Pandora which I haven't used in a while and I realized I had saved Disney (Children's) Radio and it's SO. GOOD. They play mostly Disney movie soundtrack tunes, which I highly prefer over some of the more... interesting... "popular" Disney singers. Give me Beauty and the Beast, or The Lion King, or Tangled... you get the idea. As far as YouTube, my last played song was Starships by Nicki Minaj. I love that song.

 
Wearing: a black t-shirt, black skinnies (and even a black bra, ah). I feel like this is all I ever wear, as in color wise. I have three pairs of jeans, one pair however is so high waisted that they're uncomfortable and the other pair is way too big. So the skinnies are really my only option, pants wise. T-shirt and shirt wise, however, I do have a few colors thrown in but nearly everything is black, or grey. My favorite colors are blue, purple and black and black t-shirts, shirts and blouses are easy to find. Grey is a color that really suits me. 

But I really want to experiment. SO, this coming week starting tomorrow will be Colorful Week and I plan on going through my dresser and the clean laundry and snagging every colorful t-shirt, shirt and blouse I own and I'll see what I can do. If they don't fit, or aren't my style, I end up with more room for thrift store finds. Score!  

Jewelry wise, I have on my engagement and wedding rings. They never leave my finger. ♥ 

Wanting: this amazing The Big Sipper Mug from ModCloth, ahhhh! After I drew my Tea Time Kitty that I posted here, I really wished that such a cup was real... So imagine my surprise when, the same day, ModCloth introduced a new product: Best Friends Fur-ever Mug! Eeee! I want both, so I can start my very own mug and cup collection!

Following: this amazing blog called Modern Girl Blitz! I love finding new bloggers that I can follow and hopefully befriend and Midge is an awesome blogger! 

Well, there you go, friends! My Currently list. If you post your own, please share!  

   

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52 Lists with Moorea Seal x Week 16

Good morning, friends! This morning I am catching up with Moorea's 52 Lists series and luckily I only have about four lists to catch up on... Three now! 52 Lists is an amazing, creative and soul searching series hosted by my sweet friend Moorea. You can jump in no matter which week we're currently on and start from the beginning, or go from the latest list. Interested? Click here!
 

I love sharing, so if you have a question about something I wrote on one of my lists, leave me a comment and I'll reply as soon as possible! You can also catch up on my past 52 Lists by clicking here. I'll be including both my graphic list and my text list for those of you who may be reading this without the use of visuals. This list is my favorite books, and I hope you enjoy! I am constantly reading, and I find new favorites easily. I have very specific tastes, however there are many stand alone books and series' that match those tastes well, so we'll see what favorites I add this year!

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Always by DM Yates
Amaranthine series by Joleene Naylor
The Odyssey by Homer
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
Elegantly Wasted by C. Elizabeth Vescio
Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull
Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
The Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A. N. Roquelaure
Fifty Shades Trilogy by E L James
Witch Blood by Emma Mills
The Golden Acorn by Catherine Cooper
The Adventures Of The Bailey School Kids series by Debbie Dadey and Marcia T. Jones
Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne and Sal Murdocca
Marni's Mirror by Cheryl Silva
Death Note manga by Tsugumi Ohba and  Takeshi Obata
Oh My Goddess! manga by Kosuke Fujishima and Carl Gustav Horn
Chibi Vampire manga by Yuna Kagesaki
Tokyo Mew Mew manga by Reiko Yoshida and Mia Ikumi

Non-Fiction

Solitary Witch by Silver RavenWolf
The Witches' Craft by Raven Grimassi
Witch School by Rev Don Lewis-Highcorrell
Vampyre Sanguinomicon by Father Sebastiaan
Buckland's Book of Spirit Communications by Raymond Buckland
Animal-Speak by Ted Andrews
The Art of Henna by Atif Toor
Crafting with Cat Hair by Kaori Tsutaya
Hello, Cupcake! by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson

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What I Wore x Green Earth Rosary from Soul Makes

Good afternoon, friends!

It's a rare "What I Wore" post! I love doing these, and this outfit was centered around one very special piece. A while back, I won a New Moon giveaway that Marissa of Moondaughter hosted! (I absolutely l-o-v-e Marissa's New Moon giveaways, every single one of them is amazing!) One of the gifts I won was $40 credit to Soul Makes, an amazing collaboration between MacK and Trevor. Since I could choose anything from their store, I chose the Green Earth Rosary, as it's one of the pieces I've had my eye on for quite a long time. I instantly knew the outfit I would center around my rosary, and here's that outfit.

I've been wearing this necklace SO MUCH and it's such wonderful quality. Thank you, Soul Makes! Thank you, Marissa! Y'all rock!

{Outfit Details: Shirt - birthday gift from my sisters, I believe from K-Mart • Pants - Skinny Kick denim pants from American Eagle • Boots - Haylon's (borrowed from Jen) from Blowfish Shoes • and of course, Necklace - from Soul Makes!}

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Tea Time

When I was a little girl, my parents loved drinking tea and they did so every night. Every cup was sweetened with sugar and often honey. Even more often, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice was added. For years, I was offered a sip and I never, ever could stand the taste of tea. For some reason, whenever I took a sip or suffered through half a cup, my throat would hurt. Even if the tea had cooled down before I started drinking 'tis.

When I was around fourteen or fifteen, Jen introduced me to the Lipton bottled Green Tea and even though 'tis wasn't hot, I did fall in love with the flavor. I told her that I really would l-o-v-e to start enjoying warm tea, and so one year she sent me a beautiful Japanese clay teapot with tea cups and saucers. (This sadly broke years ago while coming home from a seasonal job, sigh.) When I moved in with her, for my nineteenth birthday, she and I had a midnight tea party which included some Tazo Black Tea.

That was my first time, ever, enjoying the taste of tea and a few years later, I tried loose leaf tea and realized, okay, maybe I can tolerate tea. 

However, outside of the rare cup of Sleepytime Tea when I was exhausted and suffering through insomnia, I still didn't drink tea. Until...

 

Earlier this month, Jen began drinking some Earl Grey in the morning and evening, and she offered me a sip and 'tis was actually REALLY good. We had boxes, and boxes of teas because I love how all of the flavors sounded and the boxes were beautiful (...I'm a tea hoarder... I hoarded tea, without drinking tea, I realize this is pure craziness.) Anyway...  After Jen finished her box of Earl Grey, she asked if I could make her a cup of tea while she had her pipe and read A Game of Thrones, so I went downstairs and looked through what we had. One of the newer tea flavors I bought was Lipton's Peach Mango, so I made her that and while the tea was brewing, I realized I absolutely loved the smell!

I have a thing for Peach Mango flavored anything, so I made myself a cup and now... I am literally addicted. I've had SO much tea this last week or so, and I think part of the reason why is because I wasn't trying to go for what's popular, or trying hard to enjoy something I didn't like. I found a flavor I loved, and now that I've tried... many other flavors... I've found even more that I truly enjoy and now mine and Jen's nightly tea time is something we both LOVE and all because I sipped some of her fabulous Earl Grey! (I'm probably on my... fifth or so cup, right now.) I'm so glad I've found this new found love of tea. ♥     

 

So far I have tried black, white, green and herbal teas and I love them all. I haven't tried Chai tea yet, as I've had Chai coffee before and truly disliked the flavor. I also do not like milk/cream/etc. in my tea, just two Splenda. But, we'll see! Right now, my brands include Lipton, Celestial Seasonings, Yogi and Bigelow. I probably have tried Lipton the most, followed by Celestial Seasonings and by "most" I mean maybe five flavors. From Yogi and Bigelow, they're harder to find in the store so I've only had maybe three flavors of each brand. I definitely am looking forward to trying more flavors from each brand!

I've also heard wonderful stories of DAVIDsTEA and Teavana!!! Oh and I've tried Tazo before and I love their tea as well! My main tea drinking goal, right now, is trying more loose leaf teas as the few I tried in the past were SO packed with flavor; buying a tea infuser for Jen and I each and either a teapot or our own Keurig... Obviously, the latter is a future goal!

Here are some flavors I bought for us this afternoon...

Lipton Black Pearl, Lipton Green Tea White Mangosteen and Peach, and Celestial Seasonings' Tension Tamer which is an old favorite of ours! 

I hope you enjoyed this post, lovelies, and please share your own tea drinking adventures or your favorite brands and flavors! ♥

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Catching Up

This month has been a little out of whack. Mentally, I've been going up and down, up and down and I am not even sure if my Lamictal is working, however I've vowed that I'll stay on this medication for a while, AT LEAST until I see my psychiatrist again. I know Lamotrigine has worked for me in the past, and for Jen and for nearly everyone I know who is on medication.

Outside of mental health, since May 1st... Jen's computer broke down, and thankfully her parents were so very kind and bought her new hardware for her computer and all is well. ♥ Next, Jen's psychiatrist's office decided they were no longer taking Medicaid, and we owe them $240, which we won't have for a while, so we'll be paying $25 a month. The entire ordeal was extremely stressful, as we found this out AFTER we arrived and we placed many calls back and forth, between Medicaid and the clinic. 

Today, Jen had intake, which is what I went through back in... February? Possibly March? Anyway, she'll be seeing a therapist and psychiatrist from my clinic, which I love. But first, she went through intake which is basically an hour of being asked about her previous and current mental health. As we were leaving the parking lot, Jen's dad's car battery... stopped. For no reason. His car is about a year old. We waited about an hour for someone to arrive, to jump start the car. The ride home was scary, as we weren't sure if the battery would go out again, but all was well! 

And, during all of this, Jen's anti-anxiety medication needs a refill and since she currently doesn't have a psychiatrist, she's stuck and we also do not have anymore shisha for our hookah, her second relaxation and my own. Finally, our wall hanging oil lamp shattered last night. What is happeningggg?! Luckily, despite all of this, we have each other, our babies, our family and friends. We have much that we're thankful for, and that is what we're focusing on.

Every night we have a LOT of tea, our new found beverage love, while Jen reads "A Game of Thrones" and has her pipe and I catch up on blogging, or gaming. It's a very relaxing ritual, and something we're enjoying so much. We're pretty much side by side, while we do this, so it's also something we do together even though we're focusing on different activities. Right now, we're doing just that, with the window open and cool wind blowing through, such a difference from the extreme Summer like temperature that Utah's been having.

Soon, I will be working on Moorea Seal's 52 Lists, and catching up with that and for now, I'll be reading blog posts and commenting and catching up with everything I've missed online. Have a lovely evening, or early morning, wherever you are. ♥ 

Also, a little shameless LnL promotion, I have a new 2 for 1 deal on my advertising page - along with previous choices, both size wise and type wise (swapping, etc.) I love advertising for you all, and the friendships that come with.    

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Vampirism Monday x Back With a Bite

Hello, my fangtastic friends. I haven't wrote a Vampirism Monday post in quite a while, which is actually a good thing, because many artists and crafters have been busy and I love seeing all of their new products on Etsy during my... hunt. Let's get started, shall we?

"Bite Me" Soap from Lippincott Soap Company. How absolutely delicious does this soap look?! The scents that infuse this soap sound amazing, they are: berry, cherry and vanilla. 

 Black Vampire Bat Studs from robbiesgirlshop. How precious are these? Definitely one of my more cutesy favorites, and I could see them adorning just about anyone's ears.

 Vampire Squid 8x10 from The Printed Vintage. Do you ever come across something, thinking "what the f..." followed by "I must have that!" That's what I thought when I found this print. There is something so absolutely charming about this vampire squid, and I want a print for our walls! 

   Leather "Vampire Edition" Journal from Booked Solid. If you know me, you know that I love journals and paper goods in general, and I especially love paper wrapped in leather. Toss in a little vampirism and... well, you have a new favorite product of mine! I absolutely LOVE that you can customize this journal with three initials. 

   Vampire Cat from EcoCycled. I love vampires, especially classical vampires in nice clothing and a handsome cape with striking features. I also love cats! This is a purrrrfect print for me. 

Elizabeth Bathory Gothic Brooch from Hecates Opium Jewellery. I once wrote an entire post on Countess Báthory when I first read the stories surrounding her. I'd absolutely love if I had this morbidly elegant brooch! It's quite beautiful, don't you agree?

Vampire Royalty Stainless Steel Coffin Flask from black persimmons. Perfect for holding a drop of... your favorite beverage! Though really, whether you store a sip in this gorgeous flask or just use 'tis for a royal decoration, it's absolutely stunning. 

  "The Countess of Banat" Hair Stick from HairJems. Every color goes with black, however black and red has been a favorite combination of mine ever since I was a little girl. I never went through a "goth" phase, because I've always been a bit of a Victorian goth and therefore, gothic jewelry, colors, etc. have been a part of my life since I was born. I also love royal jewelry, such as this. Definitely something a blood drinking Countess would wear, no?

     Dracula & Coffin Resin from Enchanted Maine. If someone handed me this Dracula when I was a little girl, I would have been extremely thrilled! If someone handed me this Dracula, now, I would also be extremely thrilled! When I first saw this Dracula and coffin, I thought 'tis was a toy. I clicked, and read more and realized he's actually a collectible. Either way, extremely thrilling! 

BLOOD Vampire Perfume from White Magick Alchemy. White Magick Alchemy is, without a doubt, one of my all time favorite stores ever. This Blood perfume is infused with "cherry and almond, bitten with forest honey, red amber, lemon, ginger and a blood drop of lavender. Blood is the life..." This scent sounds perfect.  

Strange Unknown Magazine from culPOPture. !!! This is a real magazine. This is a real magazine. This is a real magazine. THIS IS A REAL MAGAZINE! This Strange Unknown magazine is the #1 and was published in 1969 and I JUST CAN'T. Vampire articles, UFOs, witchcraft?! I'm sure every article in this magazine is a bit... silly... however, I really could care less. Every now and then, we all could use a trashy supernatural magazine.

I have many more products that I'll be sharing soon, however for now, I hope you've enjoyed all of my finds. When I first started Vampirism Monday, I truly did NOT think anyone would be interested minus Jen and I. How wrong I was! Thank you for your constant support. ♥

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