#not so subtley plugs

[333near]

lil doodle for my click clack rp blog :) @godofstorytelling

[beautifultacozippergiant]

WOW!!! What a trip!

I had to go out of state for a family funeral. I had to be there for a couple of weeks to help clear the estate. The wife stayed behind to care for the fur babies. Thus, I was able to pack my gurl clothes and make-up (I went with grey colors and red lip gloss), just hoping for a chance to enjoy myself. Being a colder climate and staying in a hotel in the big city, I was able to wear a bra and panties every day. Even wore stockings or stockings and garter several days.

I enjoyed sleeping in my little lace and silk teddys too. It was 2 weeks of wonderful. I found a gay night club there. I had never been to one before, and the last Friday night I was in town. I decided to go all out and enjoy myself. No expectations, but just enjoy being the REAL me where nobody knew me.

Make-up, wig, matching bra and thong, breast forms, stockings and garter, knee hi boots with a 3" heel, a loose fitting blue silk blouse (open to mid tits), and a black pleated mini skirt (BARELY covered my ass when standing still. VERY risqué), black clutch purse, Channel purfume, and a silver plug with a pink jewel. I also wore a black leather waist length coat.

Walking out of the hotel at 9 p.m. as a full-blown woman was a first for me and VERY exhilarating.

I had to park 2 blocks away in a pay to park lot. Cars and people everywhere! This made my nerves stand on end because i would have to walk the well lit city streets to get to the club. Realizing my skirt was flitting and showing peeks of my ass when I walked away from my car only served to make me swish and sway even more. Feeling the chilly night air under my skirt only added to the excitement and start my clitty leaking. Arriving at the club about 9:30 p.m. I found it already packed. Beautiful men EVERYWHERE! There were a few CD's walking around too, which helped me feel more comfortable.

I danced with several men, grinding my ass on them or facing them, grinding their legs between mine. A couple of them reached under my skirt and grabbed me as while we danced. This only served to expose me even more and make my clitty leak happiness. One of them found my plug with his finger and played with it while we danced. This made my legs very weak, causing me to lean into him even more. His name was Brad.

Brad invited me to join his 3 friends at their table. They were a fun bunch of guys. All 4 (Brad, Travis, Alex, and Chad) were VERY Alpha. I would have never guessed them to be gay. They could've had any woman they wanted!

We talked for a while, laughing and flirting, then dancing with each of them. During a dance with Chad he asked me what I liked. What turned me on? I figured I may as well go all out, so I told him, "I enjoy being degraded, humiliated, exhibitionism, and just basically being treated like a submissive slut." He smiled and we finished our dance as Alex cut in.

After dancing with Alex I felt my drinks kicking in and had to go to the restroom. When I got back to the table, their mood had changed. Their looks were more "hungry", they were very free with their hands on my body, and Travis leaned into my left ear and said, "A fucking whore like you should be treated like one. So stop acting like a lady and be the cock loving slut your are!" As he reached in and opened another button on my blouse.

I almost fainted knowing Chad had divulged my answer to his questions to ALL of them!

I smiled at Travis, lowering my eyes to his bulge, and said "Yes Sir."

My blouse was open below my bra. Basically showing my tits and full bra with any movement. Being a loose fit it would easily lay open. I subtley pulled my blouse closed right as Brad took me out to dance. Dancing now was a chore. Trying to keep my blouse somewhat closed and enjoy Brad's advancements. Then it happened! While dancing, Brad pulls me in and gave me a deep kiss. I instantly put my arms around his neck. It felt SOOO heavenly. I felt him squeezing my bare ass cheeks while kissing me and KNOWING I was being seen as a fucking slut.

I felt another man press against me from behind. Travis had come out to join us. He put his hands on my waist as Brad moved his hands to my hips. My skirt having already been slid up by Brad, my bare ass cheeks were grinding on Travis' bulge. I leaned back into him to turn my head as he leaned in and started kissing me too. I thought I was going to cum right there!!! I could feel Brad caressing my chest and stomach as he worked his way down to my tucked clitty. My lace thong was soaked and I could feel my clitty juice starting to leak down my thighs. We danced several songs as they took turns being behind me.

We danced like this for a couple of songs and it wasn't until we headed back to the table that I realized my blouse had been unbuttoned to my waist! FUCK!!! I was on FULL display from the waist up. I scrambled to rebutton as we walked. When I got back to the table Alex looked me straight in the eyes with animalistic lust while he unbuttoned my blouse again he said, "this is how a pathetic fuck slut will be. If you want to close it? Get the fuck out of our table. Am I clear?"

Again, I lowering my eyes I answered, "Yes Sir, but I don't want to get in trouble and be told to leave."

He said, "Look around! Do you see anyone that gives a fuck? Do as you're told or leave."

The more we drank? The less I cared what others thought. At one point on the dance floor, Chad had my skirt over my waist, and my blouse was basically laid wide open. I remember feeling several hands rubbing my ass as we danced. At the table, the boys started taking turns making out with me, hands all over me, and degrading me as I rubbed their stiff cocks. I was in sissy heaven and my clitty was non-stop throbbing and leaking!!

About 1 a.m. I told them I had to go. I had stopped drinking about 11 so I could drive. Kissing each of them, and rubbing their dicks again as they groped me, I got up and adjusted my skirt and buttoned my blouse back to mid tit.

I was in such a euphoric state I think I floated out of the club, but I remember wanting to swish a little extra in case they were watching. Still crowded, I was also groped several times as I left. I waited until I got to the door to put my coat on.

It was COLD when I got outside and the wind had picked up too. Arms crossed I could feel my little skirt floating in the wind. Walking a bit faster, but still enjoying the wind keeping me on display, I headed to my car.

As I got a few cars away from mine I felt someone grab my arm. It was Travis. He pushed me back against the car next to us and grabbed my ass while kissing me. Wrapping my arms around his neck I returned the kiss as I moaned in his mouth. Then he pushed me down to my knees between the cars. HOLY FUCK his cock was already out and hard. It was BEAUTIFUL!! At least 7" and thick. Without thinking I took him as deep in my mouth as I could. I feverishley sucked and worshipped his cock. I could hear voices of people but it only served to turn me on even more. I found myself WANTING to seen as a cock slut.

Eyes closed and savoring his meat in my throat I felt something warm touch my face. It was Alex's cock on my cheek. Not as thick but just as long. That's when I noticed Chad and Brad standing there too. Alex removed my coat and laid it on the ground.

Travis pushed me to my coat and on my hands and knees. He pulled my panties to the side, removed my plug, spit on my fuckhole, and started pushing his cock inside me. At the same time Alex knelt in from of me and started fucking my throat.

My sissygasm started almost immediately!!! When Travis bottomed out and I felt his balls slapping against me I blacked out. When I "came back" I had cum sprayed on my ass and face. Then Chad started pressing his cock in my pussy and Brad fucking my throat. HOLY FUCK Chad was thick! Felt like a baseball bat spreading me open. He went slow...ish until I started moaning on Brad's dick. Then he royally fucked me.

Brad pulled out first and shot his load over my face before stuffing his dick back in my mouth and continued fucking my face with his half rigid cock. Chad pulled out and added his load to my ass, waist, and thighs. I've never seen a man cum so much. Brad then moved behind me and started fucking me as Travis put his half hard cock in my mouth. They fucked me relentlessly. When Travis was ready to cum he sat me up on Brad's dick. This buried him FULLY inside me and smeared the cum that was on my ass between us. Travis then ripped my blouse open before shooting his load on my neck and chest as I caressed his balls. Grinding on Brad, feeling the cum smear between us, and Travis shooting his load over me sent me into my biggest sissygasm EVER! Brad covered my mouth to keep me from screaming in ecstasy. This must have excited him to because I felt his cock erupt inside me. This only added to my already explosive orgasm!

A subsiding orgasm and barely able to breathe, I felt Brad removing my skirt. He wiped the cum off of himself and wiped the cum from his hand after covering my mouth. Handing it back to me as I could barely stand to put it on. Alex helped stabilize me as I put my skirt on and fixed my panties. I had cum running down my face and chest. I could feel cum leaking from my fuck hole, dripping from my ass and back, and running down my thighs and I could feel my skirt glued to my cum covered ass and back once i got it on as well. BUT, I wasn't cold... at all. Looking at my coat on the ground and it was splashed with cum too.

Seeing me look at it, Chad picked it up and smeared the cum on my jacket on my face. Making more of a mess of both my face and my coat.

They walked me to my car and I headed back to the hotel. Looking in the mirror before getting out of the car, I had NO idea how much cum was on my face. No hiding it now.

As I got out, I put my jacket on and walked in the hotel lobby to the elevator. It wasn't until I was back in my room, and saw myself in the mirror, I realized my skirt was smeared with cum, wet cum covering my stockings, and cum on my ass had glued my skirt to me exposing half way over my ass. It must have rode up when i slid into the drivers seat. The bottom half of my ass was showing the entire walk in. Including my lace panties in the front!!!!

I laid down on the bed to rest for a minute, reliving the night, and apparently fell asleep. When I woke at 8 a.m.? I was a dried cum glued mess!!! But totally worth it!!! I have NEVER felt more like a whore in my life! I would have never imagined me as a cum slut until a few years ago. Now? Dear God was I ever happy feeling their seed, lust, and aggression splashing all over me. But when Chad unexpectedly unloaded inside me? PURE ECSTACY!

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales (Comic) Reviews!: Happy Happy Valley!/Fight! (Issue #4)

My first look at the IDW Ducktales Comics! And for a comission by @weirdkev27​! Seriously he’s basically my boss at this point. If you’d like to comission your own comic or animation review just pm me or shoot me an ask to get my discord. Single stories for a comic are 3 bucks, single comic issues and single episodes of a show are 5 bucks with deals on multiple issues or episodes of a show. With my shameless plugging out of the way the stories themselves are:

Happy Happy Valley! (The Comissioned Story): The Main Cast sans Beakly end up stranded at a resort where everyone’s forced to be happy all the time. A classic trope with a twist ending you can’t predict.. mainly because it’s.. 

Fight!: The boys have a garage sale with stuff from the broom closet to raise money for Huey’s woodchuck trip. Naturally this quickly snowballs into a samurai fight to the death. 

Wonders, a full recap with spoilers, and extreme stupidity await bellow the cut. 

After a quick commission break for this week’s episode I’m back in the saddle and back into comics no less! It’s been exactly a year since I’ve done a single issue comic review. Oh sure I looked back on house of x, and will again next year, and I do want to cover Empyre at some point and some other comics, but I haven’t done a full recap of a single comic book in some time. But the first story of this issue  really, REALLY confused and infuriated Kev, and rightfully so, so I got the commission call, and of my own volition I’m doing the second story entirely for free. I just wanted to do both for completion’s sake and because when I did read this comic I remembered the stories not being very long so it gives me more to write anyway. And if your curious yes I would gladly review classic Don Rosa, Carl Barks or really any duck writer’s work on a story by story basis, it just works easier to do the Ducktales issues all in one since their both more recent and I don’t have to go back and do it later if, once i finish seasons 1 and 2 at some point in the distant future, I decide to do this series too as well as the Sound and Fury mini that was clearly used to offload stories they had left over. 

As for my experience with these comics I DID read them when they started out. .but quickly petered off and never even got around to this story, I remember reading page one but never read the rest of it. Part of it is I tend to flitter in and out of comics and part of it was the stories just weren’t that gripping, with the characters often feeling like flatter versions of the far more multi-layered one’s in the show proper and the stories being a bit too short to properly flesh things out like the show, especially since for some weird reason each issue has two stories instead of having one big story on occasion. They weren’t bad and there is a story or two I want to go back to like Lena and Webby being spies together, Fethry and Fenton have a story together apparently, we get an early look at Della, and there’s one where Bradford hints at them plotting against scrooge long before the show revealed it. There’s some interesting stuff I might look at eventually, I just have a LOT of show to get through too, and i’m not going to pidgenhole the entire series as bad or lackluster based on a few early issues.. or one story in this issue. But yeah i’ve held it off long enough.. let’s talk about 

Happy Happy Valley!

First off the titles for these are .. pretty lack luster. Their basically just what the stories are about.. Happy Happy Valley and a Fight, that’s.. about it. I didn’t realize just HOW awesome the show is at titles, making each sound like a thrilling and unique adventure which they usually are, until I got to here. It feels like IDW, and by extentsion disney, didn’t care what the stories were called and just wanted a comic out to tie into the show. Which bothers me when they put this on IDW, clearly having a release platform for disney works.. but didn’t bother to use it for their Darkwing Duck comic continuing from the original, the reprint of the BOOM! Studios comic, or the short lived Star VS Comic Deep Trouble, which I will be covering at some point as it was pretty good. Same with the Boom! Studio’s darkwing, I just want to watch more episodes before revisiting it. Point is the title isn’t great. The story is even less than that. 

We open properly with our heroes.. all woken up from their beds in the middle of the night for an adventure. It’s not a bad start, though Louie weirdly starts in constantly about how Scrooge’s rich and can do this and that and Subtley dosen’t exist in this story does it?  Anyways, later, far away from Louie’s bed.. that’s the caption they go with and I love it, the Sunchaser suddenly stops working and Launchpad’s crashing skills come in handy, 

This isn’t a bad scene as Donald brings up good points and likely has his own “times he’s been nearly sacrificed tally” like Louie.. and Della likely also said “Della’s coming out on top!” when her total went into triple digits. Also  “When your rich you can even buy luck launchpad”

It just.. dosen’t fit Scrooge at all.. granted this issue hasn’t BEGUN to not fit Scrooge at all but let’s save that for the end. Anyways rather than hostile locals they find Gladys Seeya, good pun, an overly smiley woman whose eager to please and just wants everyone to be happy and has them carried because tired people aren’t happy. Yeah it’s suspcious as heck and a well worn trope, really nice place with a dark secret, to the point the series proper would parody it in the Mervana episode, and subvert it by having them turn out to just be very nice hippies who i’m still convinced had a three way with Donald... I mean he could use it, they were really nice, and Donald is probably very generous. That’s something you didn’t want to think about but now you have to and it’s there. If you GENUINELY think that’s bad, then you should hear about Goofy’s sex life. 

See way more horrifying. Now everyone’s miserable! Horay! Moving on, point is Donald had a mer-three way and this is a well worn trope, but it is used in an interesting way.. that’s entirely ruined by the stupid ending, but we’ll get to that.  Point is everyone is soon happy, given a buffet, all the food they can eat, and whatever they want. They just want you to be happy.. no secret plot here.. wink. Louie continues his annoying “Every rich person gets X” schtick which feels forced as hell and gets worse with every line and more obvious. It’s one of the weaknesses with this story. It’s basically the writers constantly elbowing you and saying GET IT.. YOU GET IT.. BEING HANDED EVERYTHING YOU WANT IS ANNOYING GET IT. YOU GET IT.  The problem is.. the Island’s moral dosen’t fit that. Kev  helped here as we discussed the issue once I finished it, as I hadn’t thought of it yet, but the valley isn’t about giving you everything you want.. it’s about just FORCING you to enjoy things. Sure you can be happy off some things like the food but when Donald politley declines to dance because he can’t, which tracks with his life in general, they basically all glare at him to do so. Later they basically force acvitites on them with the ducks only agreeing because clealry they worry about what might happen if they DON’T. Telling someone to smile or enjoy something dosen’t make them enjoy it it just makes them miserable. Problems are 1, the issue very clearly WANTS to have the other moral and 2) the series would do this kind of story MUCH better with “Mystery at McDuck Manor!”. That’s not on the writers fault, as this comic started right before the show premiered and this issue came out before said episode, but it really doesn’t help the show came along with the same exact moral of not forcing your idea of fun on someone else and did it WAY better. It’s the same message, the ducks being forced to endure something only one person thinks is fun, but delivered right and wrapped into a very clever and fun mystery. Honestly I might cover that one this week or sometime soon because it both fits the Halloween season and this issue if nothing else reminded me how good THAT episode is. 

But I’m stuck doing this issue. Naturally, and in one of the issues few clever moments, the Ducks try booking it out of there as soon as they can but find their raft gone, and a ring of sharks suddenly there that weren’t before, and Donald understandably doesn’t want to risk the kids lives with that. Thankfully Webby soon comes up with a plan using the activities, and uses a napkin to get it around. This bit.. is actually clever as they use the various bits to get a plan and even Huey has a really clever bit where he just leaves his hat and shirt behind to go looking for the generator, likely on Webby’s request, knowing his brothers can just play him once in a while to draw suspicion. Also apparently Huey wears a tank top under his shirt, which looks weird on him, as he’s not the sporty type, but does fit his “always prepared” mindset well so I like it.  Using Basket weaving and balloon decorating, they create a way out, and Webby ties up their host while everyone escapes. They nearly don’t fit out but luckily Donald contributes. And again i’ll give the story this: Donald does more in this one story than he got to do in the vast majority of season one.  So our heroes escape with other patrons begging them to take them with them and the stories apparently wrapped up. The generator Huey found was to show the sharks were just holograms which given the science in this world makes sense, as does it jamming the sunchaser. What doesn’t make sense, and what got me my three bucks for this review in the first place is this. I”m putting the full picture there both so you can let it sink in and to let you know, since most of you probably haven’t read this comic, that i’m not making this shit up, nor is it one of my jokes. This .. this is the actual twist for the comic. 

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

 This is probably the thrird dumbest line in comic book history. Before you ask the other two are

And why yes those are both from the series. And why no I will not be covering All Star Batman and Robin unless someone forces me too.  My point is WHAT THE FLYING HELL IS THIS.  I mean this makes NO sense on any level. For STARTERS one of Scrooge’s most well known traits, that’s part of his character in every version is that he doesn’t like to spend money. He will to MAKE MONEY and sometimes grumble about it but if he doesn’t. Even if season 1 had it dialed way back, he still reused his old teabags, charged extra on his in house vending machines and tried to get out of buying burritos for recently freed slaves. Being cheap is an iconic part of his character. Granted the series took out things from the comics and original like underpaying employees, barely paying Donald even though in the comics he supports three children, as well as barely paying those children, and refusing to donate to orphans, but still it’s not THAT so far removed that THIS is remotely in character! He had to either buy this old resort or have it renovated to keep up the ruse, pay for the creepy lady running it, pay for the other guests as actors because otherwise his hired minion KIDNAPPED people who were begging for escape, pay for the activities/escape supplies, and pay gyro to build the GIANT GENERATOR THAT BOTH PROJECTS SHARKS AND MAKES TECHNLOGY NOT WORK. While I do think Scrooge would gladly want to teach Louie a lesson, this is a lesson that at best costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not at least a million to pull off.  And that’s not even getting into how he forced everyone else to go with it, denied them a good night’s sleep and clearly told NONE of them. Beakly not being there actually makes more sense as she would’ve noped out of this horrible horrible idea and bonked him on the head for this. It makes no sense and it’s GROSSLY out of character. And while I’m used ot that from comics, writers often don’t give a shit about the characters their writing, I expect better from DISNEY when it comes to lisencing shit. They’ve done better. I’ve mentioned better and even SINCE this they’ve done better: Christos Gage’s Incredible’s Comics are excellent and I want to read more of them. And the previous run by mark waid is also suitably incredible, if now sadly no longer canon.  And even in this very ISSUE there’s a much better, if not amazing, story we’ll get to in a moment. I get disney’s greenlit weak tie in material before but this is ridiculously bad and shoddy. Shame on them, shame on the writer, and shame on this INCREDIBLY stupid story. We get an everybody laughs ending, who cares. we’re out. 

Final Thoughts for Happy Happy Valley: 

I don’t have much less to say about this story. This about sums it up. 

Fight! 

We open with a samurai.. though it quickly turns out to be Dewey with a mop on his head hitting Louie with a broom while saying Two Damage! Two Damage! and already in one scene this is so much better and feels so much more natural. Naturally this story has a different writer. The artist is different for both too, and the art is good on both though I do prefer the art for “Fight!” more as it’s a bit more expressive. Though it also benefits from having less characters to juggle so that probably helps.  The boys are having a Garage Sale, or Yard Sale as some call it. As a huge fan of Garage Sales, I’ve gotten tons of stuff from them over the years and good shit too like my G1 Snarl, or even just recently a three in one of the first three loud house Graphic Novels for a freaking quarter. You REALLY can’t beat that. It’s why I love these things. So this story already had my money. As for why, Huey needs money for the Junior Woodchuck Camping trip. How else is he going to hold hands iwth Violet and Boyd under a tree. Wait neither of them existed yet.  Damn. Well i’m retconning that in anyway. If they can retcon the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver not to be mutants, which If eel is getting undone VERY soon, or if not Hickman will use that well, I can retcon this to taking place in season 3. Plus i’ts all very wholesome and innocent... their only eleven. 

But yeah Scrooge in a nice moment if an off-screen one gave them the contents of the broom closet.. which is really just a bunch of old used up brooms, some buckets and other cleaning supplies. Probably stuff Beakly rarely uses or has long replaced and if not.. well he’ll have to pay for them himself won’t he. Unlike the above clusterfuck this.. feels entirely in character. Scrooge likely apricates that Huey is working hard to EARN the money for his trip and that his brothers are helping, especially Louie since he gets nothing out of this unless they go over what Huey needs. But also being Scrooge he still only gives them some old Junk.  But Louie, being louie easily scams a guy into paying 15 bucks for a broom. Still this is slow progress and if Huey wants to be with his poly relationship he’s gotta step it up. Luckily, and naturally given this is Scrooge’s closet, they find an old Samurai helmet, which Huey feels could be worth millions. granted...

But eh it’s going to a good cause, tiny children holding hands by campfires, and when has common decency EVER stopped Louie? Dewey though, wants to start a collection of war stuff.. starting with this. It’s part of why I LIKE the story better: not only does it have much better dialouge but it’s actually rooted in the characters instead of “One trait of Louie’s cranked up to 50 and drilled into our heads”. Huey is trying to earn money for the woodchucks, Dewey only wants something for petty reasons and Louie wants money. It feels like the actual characters and not just cutouts and makes me wnat to read more stories in the hopes of finding more like this.  Anyways naturally nothing Scrooge has in any of his storage areas of the mansion tha’ts ancient isn’t cursed, magical or really neat to look at, and the helmet comes to life as they fight over it, and the helmet clints to Dewey, who talks in a deep red voice calling himself Ronnith of the Twin Samurai. The name.. isn’t great but the concept is. Thankfully Huey knows what it is thanks to the guidebook. and just like the Donald bit last episode this one story gets the guidebook better than season 1 did a lot.  Turns out the twin samurai were two brothers who hated each other and always competed for their mothers affection.. their mother was also forced to sell her beautiful sculptures for next to nothing after their father left. Instead of going after him though they both blamed each other as teens when invaders struck and burned everything including their mom I guess down, and fought the rest of their days, and while Ronnith never settled things due to growing too old, his spirit, and his intense hate, went into his helmet which now curses any brothers who fight over it to fight with the looser turning into a statue. 

Naturally no one wants this but Dewey can’t get the helmet off and Ronnith possess him to destroy the guidebook.. though Huey explains it’s his “third backup copy” which.. yeah again like the tank top thing tracks. Ronnith then manifests armor on Louie and we get the image above.. which is really neat. With Ronnith forcing the two to fight each other, Huey searches for a way to stop it. And while he can’t find it he does figure it out and the solution is REALLY clever: Just as Ronnith’s about to kill Louie, with Dewey apologizing.. Huey blocks. And Ronnith is naturally confused and upon finding out there’s a THIRD brother, the curse dissipates and thus everything’s back to normal. And wrapping things up nicely a guy shows up to buy the helmet and while Dewey tries to just give it away Louie says it’s free with purchase of a bucket for 50 bucks so Huey has his money to go on his romantic camping trip.. though he does ask if hte guy has a brother.. best be safe.  Final thoughts on Fight!: It’s like night and day. While the previous story is stilted, has one of the worst endings in duck history and overall is just kind of bland outside of one or two moments this .. is really good. It doesn’t add much to the world or anything, but it’s a fun side story with a clever monster of the week and resolution, some great lines and some good art. This is what should’ve lead the issue, as the main story is again just dreadful. Overall i’d recommend checking this story out.. though maybe get in in trade instead as the A-Story here is really bad, but you can find both on comixology and this issues on comixlogy unlimited if you want to check it out along with a ton of other great comics. 

That does it for this review, if you liked this I do regular coverage of ducktales every week, I JUST COVERED THIS WEEK’S EPISODE YESTERDAY.  So check that out and until next time vote if you can and check your house for Gary Busey!

[fromafable]

How to Fill that Witchy Cup

I’ve been asked a lot lately how to keep the witchy vibes alive and well when you are busy with everything else in life. Whether it is kids, work, school, friends, or any other kind of time-consuming tasks that seem to take away from our time to connect with the universe, you need to keep that spiritual part of yourself alive and well.

Now, before I go into my own little tips for keeping your internal Witchy Cup full and accessible for you (which will immensely help with other stressors you encounter), I should add that these are not Earth-shattering tools and tips. They are simple things you can do every day, and they are fairly mundane. How did I figure them out? Through experience!! I am a student, business-owner, and mom to two little witchlets that take up all of my time. On top of that I have a house to take care of, and a husband that I do in fact want to spend time with (shocker, I know). These little activities are quick ways that have subtley helped me throughout the day WHILE I get things done. Seriously, efficient witch here.

Anyways, enough rambling! Here are a few things I do when I need that little release/boost of connection with my witchy self:

1. Light some candles.

I know this seems like a no-brainer, and it is!! Almost every witch (not all, as I have encountered witches that are afraid of having open flames around) feels a heck-of-a-lot better when candles are burning. This is not without reason! On the one hand, the glow given off by candlelight and the small flame is very soothing to our minds and bodies. It gives off a feeling of safety and warmth. Comfort and ease. When I light candles, it actively helps release the tension in my chest that is basically a constant.

The other reason for this, energetically speaking, is due to the FIRE. Fire is one of the basic elements that makes up this world, and it is known for its purification properties. Burning a candle in a room not only provides a source of light and comfort, it also helps purify the energy in its given space. It quite literally clears the air, so to speak. Especially when you use candles that have eco-friendly wicks, and ones that create less soot (shameless plug: soy candles in my shop have this kind of wick, and soy wax is known for creating little to no soot).

I have used candles in situations where the tension/emotion in my home was running high, and we were all crabby and mean toward one another. After a few minutes of candles burning, the house felt brand new! It will help clear your brain space a bit, as well, so this is my number one tip for filling your Witchy Cup. As a bonus, who doesn’t feel mystical with candles burning everywhere?!

2. If possible, open your windows!

This goes right along with clearing your area, and connecting with an element. Just like you could with candles! Now, this one is another one that is more of a home activity, as I imagine you can’t open windows in a cubicle or other office environment. However, the fresh air will help you feel renewed, and clear away any stagnant energy that might be clumping up in your area and making you feel a little overcrowded.

3. Take a moment for three deep breaths.

Hmm...it’s almost as if these tips are common ways to help with anxiety and other negative emotions! There’s a reason for it. A lot of these problems and feelings are caused by pent up energy and emotion that needs an outlet, or by an increase in negative thoughts that we are holding on to. A third cause is that we aren’t able to properly open the proper channels within ourselves, such as keeping our third eye free and clear, or our connection with the universe clean and stable. (That’s not to say there isn’t medical evidence to support conditions such as anxiety and depression, as someone with diagnosed severe depression, these are simply tools in the toolbox to help with the daily struggles of these very real conditions). Blocked chakras, stuffed down emotions, and pent-up energy are all common reasons for negative experiences and manifestations. Cleansing is a necessary part of life, witchy or no.

If possible, place your feet flat on the floor (you can do this sitting in a chair, standing), inhale to a count of three, hold for a moment, and release to a count of three. Hold for another moment before inhaling again, and repeat this process a few more times. If you can, close your eyes and shut out the world for a moment. Put your focus on your inner self for these three breaths, and release the outside world. You won’t be able to help the greater good for anyone else if you aren’t centered and stable within yourself. So take these few short moments to gain your footing again before trying to tackle any obstacles or problems within your day.

4. Take a minute to clean your space, and organize.

Alright, we have all been the person with the messy desk, the messy room, or other work space where the mess just builds up. For some people, this means they haven’t dusted or wiped their space down that day, for others it could be that they literally don’t have any room to work in because their space has been taken over by clutter.

Clutter acts as a physical representation of our minds, and our bodies. If you aren’t able to take the five minutes to pick up your space, in my opinion that only means you need it MORE. It’s similar to the idea that when you least want to meditate, you actually need it the most. It means that it has become an obstacle you are avoiding rather than working through. It will do wonders for you, and if you clean your work space, even just to the point where you feel even a little better and can exist in it, this gives you the chance to take a fresh look at what is troubling you. Once my desk is clean, I like to take a moment with my bullet journal (gasp! Witches have them too!), and lay out the problems in short on paper. By emptying my brain of trying to hold everything in it, I actually am given the chance to use some of that brain power and brain space to figure out solutions to my problems, and I can come back to the others later. They are written down in a safe place, and they aren’t going anywhere. Give yourself some outer as well as inner space to work things out!

5. JOURNAL.

Lovelies, I am a huge advocate of journaling. It is a ritual/work of magick in and of itself. I’ve been doing it as long as I can remember. A lot of people get turned off by it because they aren’t into sitting down and filling a whole page with words. Either they simply don’t have the patience, or they don’t feel comfortable expressing themselves that way. And to that I say:

That’s okay.

Seriously, I know most people think of diary pages filled with words upon words upon words, but journaling in essence is not about the words. It’s about the expression. Similar to how I mentioned in the previous suggestion, journaling is any possible way that you empty your brain of the clutter and put it into a safe space in front of you. I can’t tell you how many problems I have dealt with in this way. And, as soon as it is in front of you, I swear it’s like putting on glasses for the first time and seeing clearly! Things just seem to line up. Emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually, all things benefit from this kind of expression. That’s why bullet journaling has become such a craze as well! The idea behind it is giving yourself a space to hold what your brain is normally trying to juggle. (Sorry, tangent!)

I used to hate calling my notebooks I journaled in a journal or a diary. Because that’s not all they were! They weren’t just journal entries. I called them my “Thought Books” because they were the physical manifestation of whatever was in my brain that needed to be let out. Stories, songs, drawings, journal entries, poetry, doodles, scribbles, flowers and leaves from outside, and notes from friends that I cherished. These were all crucial parts of my life, my mind, and my understanding of the world that needed to be expressed in a safe space so I didn’t have to try and remember them forever without a reminder. Our brains are not perfect, even as wonderful as they are, and we will forget things. Write them down when you can, print pictures, and give yourself something to look back on so that your brain can keep working on new things. Healthy brain!

Expressing your inner thoughts and emotions, whether it be in writing, pictures, poetry, doodles, bullet points, scribbles, stickers, paint, color, or black and white, is like making a magickal mark on the world. In letting yourself breathe, and taking care of yourself, you help the greater good. Surprising and counter-intuitive, I know. But this is a deep truth about our world. Keeping yourself clear of energetic and mental clutter, as well as free of these negative emotions that clog up your spiritual pores and channels, helps the world. If everyone did this, I truly believe the world would be a happier place. So, I don’t care how you do it, witches. Journal. Fill a notebook with your innermost experiences, thoughts, and emotions. This is magick. Pure and simple. You will be amazed at the manifestation and power that comes along with doing this, as well as the spiritual experiences once you are once again open to the universe around us. Activities such as this are forms of ritual, magick, and meditation all on their own. Nothing is witchier than knowing yourself, and helping the greater good through helping yourself.

Okay, so now you might be thinking “What the heck, Lauren? These weren’t witchy tips at all!”

False. These tips are equally as witchy as putting on robes and performing a full ritual on the full moon with a coven.

Being witchy is about more than aesthetic, more than brewing potions and writing spells, divination, or wearing symbols of your faith and spirituality. It is about more than the right herbs, the right stones and gems, or the right words. It is about opening yourself to the universe, the elements, the divine around you and helping the world through your own understanding and application of these principles. Each of us has the power to attune ourselves to the energy and consciousness surrounding us, and help others to do the same by clearing our own inner space to hold others that have not seen how to do so. By keeping ourselves in balance, we hold a small part of the world in balance as well. Now, imagine if everyone did this! These tips are ways help you feel balanced and renewed. Fresh and aware of solutions that may have seemed impossible before. That, my lovelies, is witchcraft.

~Lauren

[studioet]

Connecting The Studio

The studio is connected to the house with a 75mm armoured cable leading to the consumer unit in The Studio which holds the various fuses for the different circuits (plugs, internal lights, external lights, radiator etc.)

I also had 2 ethernet cables laid at the same time which runs from the router in the house through to The Studio providing a fixed line cable solution for the internet connectivity. One 1 cable is connected. The second cable is there as a backup in case the first cable fails for some reason.

Providing fixed line internet through a direct cable was definitely the most fail-safe way of providing internet access ot the studio and it works a treat. However, I have a large number of devices in the Studio that rely on wireless connectivity (like all my smart spotlights) so I had to provide a solution for that also.

This choice was pretty simply. I run Eero (from Amazon) in the house and connecting an additional Eero wireless router in The Studio was the most logical and cost efficient way to get great wifi coverage and internet performance in the space.

The Eero is a small white box which can sit in your home (or be wall mounted) very subtley, with just a small white indicator light on the top. It's sylish and unobtrusive.

Eero works by in essence replacing the wifi capabilities of the router that is provided by your ISP. You plug one Eero unit into the router, disable the routers wifi and then setup Eero to provide the wifi. You can place additional Eero units around the house to extend the reach of the wifi network (they need to be in reach of the main unit) and you can even piggy back Eero's via fixed ethernet if you need to. And all the routers are managed from the Eero app which is easy to use and manage the network at home.

Note : If you plug your remote Eero into the Master Eero by your swithc the connection shown in the app would be like the "Hallway" device in the image above. Because my Remote Eero "The Studio" is actually plugged into my router, which in turn is plugged into the Master Eero, the unit shows that it is connected via wifi. I think is is an anomolie because I am getting the same speeds from The Studio as I do from my Master Eero when I run a speed test so I am not concerned.

My setup on a 35mbps download link and 8mbps upload link, with the Eero 5 system, performs perfectly for work video calls, streaming Netflix, Amazon Prime, gaming on PlayStation and Xbox, listening to Spotify etc. all without buffering or noticable network issues.

There are now 5 versions of eero on the market and they can all co-exist happily, although I'd recommend sticking with the same units unless you have a few 5 units and want to upgrade parts of your setup with faster units.

There's the Eero Wi-Fi 5 router system which I run and is the oldest of the 5 systems.

Each unit covers up to 140 sq.m on wifi, runs wireless speeds from up to 550mbps (single unit system) to 350 mbps (multi-unit setup). I find it ample for all my office and leisure needs on my 35mbps download and 8mbps upload internet connection.

As I said, there are 5 flavours of Eero system in total, designed to suit every budget and need.

In fact it's really quite confusing so this table should help identify what system would be best for your needs.

As you'd expect and can see, the more capable / faster systems are more expensive, but still offer choice value for money. You can mix and match systems so if you've invested in an older generation setup, you don't need to replace all the units just because you want a faster unit in your garden studio.

Post Edit : Never one to leave something uncovered I decided after all to plug the Eero from The Studio into the matser Eero in the home and sure enough the connection went from wireless to line connected and the speed being offered through the connection is now 1gbps. Obviuously the majority of my traffic comes from the internet so is limited to my broadband connection but I've decided to keep it configured this way as a future-proof in case we ever get a significant upgrade to our internet connectivity in these parts.