Wisdom of the House of Night Oracle Cards

I received a copy of the Wisdom of the House of Night Oracle Cards for review last week. They were created by P.C. Cast, one of the authors of the House of Night series, and Colette Baron-Reid, an author of several books about Tarot and oracle cards. There are 50 cards included, and a guide book. 

My first reaction was WOW! These are some gorgeous oracle cards. They have silver edging, and the illustration blew me away. One of the subtle things they did that I love was that the House of Night symbol was present somewhere on every card. 

The guidebook is 127 pages long. It contains a short story about the Oracle of Nyx, the purpose of the cards, some examples of ways to read the cards, and an interpretation of each card. For the cards, there is a short message from Nyx, then a longer explanation of the card and some words of wisdom about the subject on the card. 

Overall, this is a fantastic item, and worth the price tag! It's not only a fun way to work through your problems, it's also a beautiful collectible for a fan. I recommend these to both fans of Tarot/oracle cards and fans of the House of Night series.

Stuff Bea Likes #24: Thorlos Socks

This is a series from my separate blog, Stuff Bea Likes. I'm trying to simplify my life, and that includes my blogs! If you want to see any of my other entries(which include such awesomeness as Leonard Nimoy, Wil Wheaton, and 3 Musketeers Truffle bars), please head to Stuff Bea Likes.

I received a pair of Thorlo socks a couple of years ago through someone else's blog giveaway. I don't remember which blog, unfortunately! I am not a runner, so I didn't think much about them or wear them often. They were also a bright orange, and it's not a color I wear often.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago. Due to an excess of driving on a road trip in poor shoes, I developed plantar fasciitis. It's pretty painful, and it's the worst in the morning. It comes with a lot of heel pain, and there aren't any quick fixes. I've tried a lot of them. I've iced it, I've worn shoes nearly around the clock. It's hard for a barefoot oriented type person such as myself to wear shoes all. the. time. I've tried a couple of products meant to pad the heel. I've worn a night splint to keep it flexed during the night. I've gotten a measure of relief from these methods combined, but it wasn't until I put these puppies on that I was truly happy with the way my feet felt!

The padding in the heel is marvelous! It provided more support and cushion than any of the other products I've purchased. I sometimes end the day with residual heel pain, but not the day that I wore my Thorlos. I ended up wearing them two days in a row just to keep myself pain-free.

I bet they're awesome for runners, too! I don't think I'm going to take it up as a past-time in order to find out, though.