Spa Day

It's a Bank Holiday here in Ireland, so Amy & Katie called to me this morning for breakfast.  Afterwards we chilled out in the hot tub for ages.  The weather was so strange.  It was warm in the jacuzzi at first but then started to rain.  Then when we got out of the hot tub it was so hot!!  It was so hot that we stayed in our towels and sat out and chatted in the sun.  I then went and got some foot cream and body lotions.  It felt like a Day Spa.  So relaxing!  

What a lovely way to while away a few hours!

Would you believe a few hours later it was hail stoning??!!

For breakfast, I served these new to Supervalu rashers that were chosen by Amy (her married name is O'Neill so I think she got a kick out of them).  It was good bacon - meaty and tasty - I'll definitely buy them again.

This week - 30 years ago!!

It's incredible to think that on the 25th of May, thirty years ago(!), myself and my twin sister along with our thirty or so classmates made our First Holy Communion.

Our teacher was called Miss Murphy and at the time we were best friends with Alice, who, would you believe, is still our best friend!!


Our dresses cost £16 and were bought in BHS.  We had a plain veil with a floral headpiece.  After our communion our mother switched out the white sashes for blue sashes and we wore our dresses to parties and other events.  

Incredible to think that it was so long ago.......it certainly went fast!

Making History - Ireland votes YES for marriage equality

You may have seen that Ireland became the first country to vote by referendum on Marriage Equality for all on Friday, May  22nd 2015.  

The world's eyes were upon our little country and I am glad to say that the referendum was passed and by popular vote we said Yes to Same Sex Marriage.

Drinking coffee for charity

We called to Butler's for a coffee this morning before work.

The proceeds from all coffee and tea sold today is going to St Vincent De Paul.

It's a win win!

What I wore....

Wow, we had a busy weekend!

On Friday night I met Ciaran for a drink in his squash club and then on Satuday afternoon we went to a 50th Birthday Lunch.  This was followed by a few drinks in Birchalls which was then followed by an Engagement Party in the Schoolhouse.  We had a slowish start to Sunday with coffee in Butlers and then on to my niece's communion celebrations.

Here are pics of the outfits I wore (except for the shirt dress I wore on Friday night).

The two darker dresses are from Marks & Spencer while the green dress is Lilly Mae.

Making "No-Sew Bunting"

It's all about bunting in my house at the moment!

With all of my leftover fabric I decided to set about making homemade bunting.  I was looking for an easy way to do it so decided to make "No-Sew" bunting.

The first think to do is to cut bunting pennants with your pinking shears.

Using an eyelet pliers you put an eyelet into the two top corners of your bunting triangles.

 

For the bunting string I used "Ric Rac" trim - this stuff is great as the bumps stop the bunting pennants moving along the string.

 Here is my first competed length of bunting!

Bunting adds to any celebration and looks great in photos of kids parties, picnics - any event really!

I will be selling bunting at the Rockin' Road Festival - perhaps I will see you there!!

Canvassing for the Yes Vote

On Friday 22nd Ireland is holding a referendum to extend marriage to all citizens.  I have been promoting a Yes vote from my keyboard but decided the time was right to put myself out on the front line and get out and canvas doorsteps.  

The photo above is of the fantastic group of people that myself and my twin sister canvassed with.  We were a little nervous of how it all would be but we were paired up with some lovely experienced canvassers and we felt confident setting off!

Amy was paired up with a lady and I was matched with a friendly fellow.  We generally got positive responses and and, my canvassing buddy and I, only got shouted at by one man on his doorstep.  We covered Mount Symon and Portersgate Estates in Clonsilla with 400 houses being called to and a further batch of leaflets being delivered to houses that had no one home - it's certainly a case of many hands make light work!

If you are thinking of canvassing, I would say "Go for it"!  It's very interesting and you meet lots of nice people and it only take 2 hours of your time.  I am hoping to get back out on Tuesday evening.  I feel that it is a really worthwhile activity and hopefully all the hard work on the doorsteps will lead to a Yes for Equality next Friday.  It's just too important for it to  fail.

Click here for info on D15 future canvas news

What I'm watching...

What I'm watching....

I'm making my way through all the old Mad Men series in order to prep myself for the final season!

What I'm reading.....

Cotton Wool Kids by Stella O'Malley

What are you up to?!

Sure what else would go in a basket on a bike?!

We called to Ciaran's parents this morning and then afterwards dropped in to my parent's house.  They all admired Bone's short puppy cut and as we left my mam insisted we put him in to the basket on her bike for a picture.

Sure, what else would you put in a basket on a bike?!

Take That "Two times a charm"

When I left work on Thursday I knew I had a big weekend ahead but I didn't know how big it was going to turn out!

Here we are at the Take That concert in the 3 Arena on Friday.

What a night and what a show!!

 As you can see we were sitting in the rafters which was good for seeing the show as a whole.  We had such a good time, we danced and sang the while night.

We had such a good time that upon leaving the arena Amy and Alice went on to ticketmaster and bought tickets for the second concert the next night.

Which brought us to Saturday which found us outside the 3 Arena queuing up for early entry to the concert to get a good spot close to the stage at the barrier.

Here we are seated on our little stools which kept us off the ground and somewhat warmer than if we were sitting on the concrete.

We waited outside for about 3 hours or so and once we got in we met up with our younger sister Katie who had also snagged a ticket at the last minute.

Apologies for the poor quality photos below (I think I was rather excited when I took them!) but they give you an indication of how close to the stage we were.

There's Howard in full action!  

All it all was a weekend of Take That and fun with my sisters and best friend - great times!

Knee operation

Yesterday Ciaran was scheduled to get an op on his right knee.  He needed two tears to be repaired.  

I dropped him off to the Beacon Hospital at 6.30am and then went home.  The hospital then called about 10am to let me know that all went ok and he would be ready to be picked up about 11.30am.  

This was perfect timing as I had to drop the dog to the groomer on Clanbrasil Street and then make my way out to Sandymount.

When I arrived to collect him he was up and walking with the physio.  The canula was removed promptly and then we were on our way home.

Once home he set himself up on the couch with ice on his knee and netflix on the TV.  Keeping himself dosed with painkillers I think he was quite content to have a down day as he is generally always on the go!

Hopefully he will recover quickly and will be back on the squash court in no time at all.

 

 

 

I'm in ketosis!

I finally ordered Ketostix from Medipharm a few days ago and they arrived to my house today by courier.  

Ketostix are used to test for ketones in urine and for some reason they are difficult to get in high street chemists in Ireland. 

I tested immediately and I tested positive for ketones - nice one, I'm in ketosis and hopefully burning fat at this moment!!

 

Here I am working out in the "urban gym"!  

Best dinner ever!

After work today I met my sister for a walk (it was a lovely bright evening) in the Phoenix Park.

Afterwards we went our separate ways, she to catch the train home and I back in my car to drive back across the city.

When I got home I cooked myself a super supper of rib eye steak and fried eggs.  Incredibly tasty!  

What are you planning for your dinner?

Aerolatte Foamer

I adore a whipped up Bullet Proof Coffee everyday.  It can hard to get the right consistency........but not any more.

Look what my sister Katie bought me to make the perfect coffee - an awesome Aerolatte frother! 

I'm looking forward to whipping up a coffee.....actually I might have one right now :-)

Thanks Katie!

 

I went back to L'Occitane to get a tube of the foot cream that I used a sample of the other day.  It really is so good and I love the packaging.

 

Another bargain alert!

Lidl are selling real Canadian Maple Syrup for €3.99.  It's about double this price in most other places.  Of course I am off sugar so I won't be buying it but if you are looking for syrup you know where to get it at a great price.

Asador Haddington Road

 

 

 

It's a Bank Holiday here in Ireland so yesterday evening we visited Asador on Haddington Road (just off Baggot Street).
To start I had mackerel (so fresh and tasty) while Ciaran had wings which were covered in a sweet chilli sauce.  For main I had a rib eye steak cooked rare (it was perfect) and Ciaran had the burger (which had bad "bun-ability" - when the bun started breaking up I suggested he just eat it with a fork). After dinner we shared a cheese plate which had a blue, a smoked Gubeen and a Rocquefort.

I thought the food was good and I would certainly return.  Our only issue which was rectified satisfactorily was that a large family arrived at about the same time us.  All the adults sat at one table while all the children were placed at a table, a little bit away from the adults, right beside us!  The children were very young ranging from toddlers upwards and were particularly noisy.  We had to ask to be moved to a quiet table down near the kitchen - there was no way we could have enjoyed our meal with screaming and shouting children sitting beside us.  As we left the restaurant, the staff apologized to us once again as we collected our coats from them.  Personally I think the adults should have been told by management that it was not appropriate to abandon their children  and it was not allowed. As it happened the restaurant staff then ended up minding the children and I am sure there might have been complaints from other diners.  All in all it was very slack parenting and I'm sure the children wouldn't have been half as noisy if they had been supervised by an adult.  
What do you think readers?  Were we right to move table?

UPC Pay per View Fail: Mayweather versus Pacquiao

The scene was set yesterday for a great event.

I booked the Pacquiao v. Mayweather pay per view event with UPC at about 9.30am on Saturday morning.  I then invited friends over to join me to watch it at 3am.

I bought a spread of food and drinks for my guests and went to bed at 10.30pm planning to get up later for the fight.

So.......

We got up at 3am to discover that the pay per view channel was not working.  It was a fail.......

My sister and brother in law then knocked at the door (it was 3.30am by this point) and I had to tell them the bad news......another guest arrived then.  You can only imagine how embarrassed I was at this point!

After searching for it online with no success, Ciaran got on the phone to another friend to see if he was watching it and where he was.  

Thankfully this guy was fairly close by so we all piled in to my sisters car and "booted" it to Booterstown to watch the fight in two lad's (that we had never met) apartment!

Thankfully it all worked out in the end (not thanks to UPC who I will be calling tomorrow to discuss what happened) - it was a fight of the decade and it was really worth getting up in the middle of the night to watch.

However, to say I am unhappy with UPC is an understatement. Their customer service centre closed at 9pm yet the PPV event only started at midnight.  I would think that there should have been technical support for this PPV event for the whole time the event was on.  It's not good enough.

 

After the fight it was back home to my house where I cooked breakfast for everyone and then back to bed by 7.30am!

Update
On Sunday I contacted UPC through twitter.  They confirmed the order did not go through and then asked did they want to put the order through now!!  Seriously?!  

Today is Monday and I have currently been on hold to UPC for over 40 minutes (I am only ringing today as I didn't know they were open yesterday).  I also see on their Facebook Page that a lot of people ordered the PPV event and then it did not work for them either.