Rounding Up - It just makes cents!

The Central Bank in Ireland is going to start phasing out 1 & 2 cents shortly. To this end, rounding up is also starting this week.

From now on, your total bill will be rounded up.  So if your total is €10.92 you will be charged €10.90.  While if your bill is €10.93 you will be charged €10.95.

So in essence you will win on the round down sometimes and lose on the round up sometimes but it will probably equal out over time....unless you manage to put €20.02 in to your petrol tank each time you are filling your car!  ;-)

Ready for Winter - got the Flu Shot in the Pharmacy!

This year I made the decision to get vaccinated against the flu. We are both really busy in work so I felt that we really didn't need the hassle of getting the flu and having to take time off.

A few days ago I started looking on the Internet to see where we could get it. It seems that most pharmacies offer it which is very convenient. It is also fairly cheap with most places charging €20-€30.

I decided that we would get it on Saturday and after hanging out in Starbucks Waterloo Road for a bit we then headed to the nearest Boots on Baggot Street to see if the pharmacist was available to give it to us.

We arrived about 3pm and completed a questionnaire. After that the pharmacist brought us in separately to a consulting room and jabbed us in the arm. So quick and not really painful!

We needed to wait a little bit to see if we had a reaction to the injection and then were on our way.  All in it took less than 30 minutes in total.  And it only cost €20 each.  

Great to know that we are covered for the Winter!

Happy Retro Birthday!

Yesterday was Ciaran's birthday. I had originally thought of getting him a portable Bose Bluetooth speaker. However, I decided that something better was a Record Player.

But not just any Record Player. A retro looking Philips with a modern update being that you can play bluetooth through it. This is quite a nifty feature - we popped Spotify on and the sound quality through the speaker was excellent.

The new Philips OTT2000/12 is based on a 1965 Philips Record Player

Along with the turntable, there is also a CD player, a radio, a USB connection and of course the bluetooth facility.

Here it is all set up and working. The lid can also be closed when playing a record. At the moment we have all of two vinyls. A Talking Heads album and a Hits of the Sixties compilation record which cost me €2. I suggested to Ciaran that we head in to Tower Records to buy another album but he said no way is he buying new. He said he is only buying second hand and not spending any more than a few euro. What a hipster!

For info., I shopped around for the Record Player and found it was the cheapest in Harvey Norman.

Dublin: Take A Deep Breath

Check out this great video of all the things you can do in Dublin!


I had planned to do zip lining up the Dublin mountains before the end of Summer but never got round to it.  I may try do it this Autumn before the weather gets really cold.  We will see!

We have a big day tomorrow.  We are booked in to lunch at Amuse for Ciaran's birthday celebrations and then we have the New Zealand/France Rugby game. Should be a lot of fun.  

Dublin Morning

This morning was dark and cold.  Winter is certainly coming!

As I drove to work it was still quite dark.  The Conference Centre was lit up and could be made out in the grey light.

But to the right out in Dublin Bay, I could see light appearing. Quite stunning!

It then brightened up and turned in to a nice Autumnal Day :-)

Baby Booties - My latest project!

I borrowed this craft book from the library which was full of the most adorable little booties to make.

I decided to make these little grey felt ones.

I used leather elbow patches for the soles (this was not in the pattern)

The pattern called for a daisy embroidered on to the front but I found it too fiddly to do.......so I stitched on these cute little lamb buttons. I love them!
Once the blanket stitch was added it really finished the booties off.

These will be packaged up in cellophane and given to a couple who have just had a new baby.  

Modern Wife Exhibition

Amy, Kasey and I visited the Modern Wife Exhibition on the last day that it was on in the Print Museum on Hadleigh Road back in August. It was fairly interesting with lots of ephemera and paraphernalia that would have been common to many homes in the 1960's.

Presumably, many an Irish girl got a pink hairdryer from their boyfriend at Christmas!

There was a few books with dodgy titles like this one!!

Here's Kasey and Amy picking up tips on how to be good Irish wives......
Tip 1. Be prepared to have lots of children!!

"Why would I want to get dressed up"
Why to look good for your husband of course! ;-)

In fairness, I am a big fan of all things kitchy and retro and I found this exhibition to be informative - it was very enjoyable to have a good read and a laugh at how the Irish lived in the 1960's.

I am interested to see that there is an upcoming Modern Wife event in the Dun Laoghaire Lexicon on the 31st of October.  Hopefully Kasey & Amy will join me.  We will probably get the Dart out to Dun Laoghaire or as Bagatelle said we can hop on the 46A!

The above pic is of the Starbucks where this blog was written in the comfy confines on Waterloo Road which is my favourite Starbucks in my locality. It's roomy and there is always a spot with a power point plus it is nice and quiet!

Christmas Tree Napkin Fold

This is the way I plan to fold my napkins this Christmas - between now and then I need to source some nice green napkins.  My sister said to use paper napkins but I think I would prefer cloth.

I was full of nervous anxiety while waiting for the Irish French Rugby game yesterday so I went up to the studio and made this Autumnal Wreath for the front door.

And in other good news Ireland beat France yesterday.  This means that they meet Argentina in the Semi's and avoid the mighty All Blacks. However, I should mention that it was at a cost to a few of their players receiving some big blows and picking up some serious injuries.  Paul O'Connell spent the night in hospital and we will hear later today how long he will be out for.  It's looking like this is the end of his world cup. 

Harvey Norman Homeware & Christmas Merchandise

On my way home from work on Saturday, I called to Harvey Norman in Swords to buy Ciaran's birthday present.  His birthday is in a week so look out for a blog about that soon!

I can't remember the last time I set foot in a Harvey Normans and to be honest all I thought they sold was large furniture items.  I had found Ciaran's present online and they were selling it cheapest. They actually have a massive electrical department and sell everything from massive TV's to Nespresso Coffee Machines to iPads.

But what surprised me most was their homeware section. They have a very cute selection of lots of kitschy items.  

I really liked the look of this hipster mason jar lamp (which when I showed the pic to Ciaran he prickled his nose - par for the course as I can't buy anything for the house without his approval).  

They also had these fun brown paper lunch bags. These could be used for so much things but I think they'd be perfect if you were throwing an out door baby shower or hen party or something like this.

They also were also selling retro telephones in various colours. 

What do you think, do you like anything you see here?!

And then I discovered the Christmas Stock!!

So much lovely Christmas items!

I had picked a few Christmas Decorations but decided against them while waiting in line to pay.  Honestly, I don't know if I will have space on my Christmas Tree as I have been collecting decorations for about 20 years and have amassed quite the collection and the tree will be laden with them all. Add to this I have already bought a few new ones this year so probably best that I left these few!

 What I am going to focus on this year is the table decorations. This year we plan to be home for Christmas (for the first time in over 10 years, I think).  I will decorate the table about a week before Christmas so that I can enjoy it leading up to Christmas.

As you can guess, I adore Christmas but what I enjoy most is the simple things leading up to it. I love watching Christmas films with a nice Christmas candle burning while logs burn in the stove. 

Do tell me what your favourite thing about Christmas is, I'd love to know!

Leeson Park Avenue - For Sale

Another house has gone up for sale on Leeson Park Avenue.  This one is for auction and the details can be found here.

Otherwise if you are looking for something more unique you can always buy the old "Stella" Cinema in Rathmines which has also gone on sale for only half a million more.  You can see details here.

I blogged about Rathmines awhile back and put up a pic of the Stella.  You can read it here.

Here is the pic that I took back in 2014.  The building on the right is the old Stella Cinema.

Online Reviews

In today's news, there are reports of  an Irish cafe owner who responded to a negative review by posting the CCTV footage up online of the reviewer tucking in to her meal (which she then dissed).

I have fairly strong opinions on negative reviews.  Generally I think it is better to point out issues to the staff at the time of the meal rather than go home and post a negative review.  I think it's better to give the establishment the chance to rectify the situation at the time of the dissatisfaction.  However, if they don't do anything to fix the issue I think writing a negative review is fair enough.  

On the whole I think I write fair and measured reviews. Most of my reviews tend to be positive.  I also like to give places a second chance and will return to a place where I had a bad experience if my experience appears like it was an isolated incident.  After all, restaurants & cafes are run by humans and sure we can all make mistakes and have an off night from time to time for numerous reasons.  

As far as basing my decisions on whether to frequent somewhere or not I tend to be careful about giving weight to certain reviews.  I have noticed that some reviewers can be overly harsh, for example, I've noticed Americans in particular knocking hotels because there has been no air conditioning in bedrooms (see this one for example). While of course, being from Ireland, this would be the norm for me and I wouldn't even notice it and in fact it fairly standard for most older hotels in Europe to not have AC.

So over to you readers, do you have any thoughts on Online Reviews?

What I am reading....

As usual, I am in the middle of a few different books at one time. My main read at this time is "Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town" by Jon Krakauer. 

I have read and enjoyed a few others by Krakauer, including "Into the Wild" and "Into Thin Air".  Into the Wild was made in to a film starring Emille Hirsch while Into Thin Air loosely influenced the recently released movie "Everest". Everest is about one of the deadliest seasons on Everest in the 1990's - there were two books written about the season from the perspective of two different climbing teams. One of the team members being Jon Krakauer on Rob Hall's team. The other team was led by Russian Anatoli Boukreev who also wrote a book.  I've read Boukreev's book also - both are worth reading and it is interesting to see the two sides to what happened during this time and how the deaths occurred. 

The final book of Jon Krakauer's that I attempted to read was "Under the Banner of heaven".  Normally I enjoy reading books about the Latter Day Saints and Mormonism but I couldn't finish this book as it really did not hold me.

Back to "Missoula" which is pictured above. It's a shocking read. From the beginning it outlines a litany of rapes that have been carried out in the Missoula town area. Most of the rapes are carried out by the same type of young people (athletes and popular college kids) and in the same kind of way. Young women are invited to parties or dates and are plyed with alcohol until they are too intoxicated to give consent to sexual activity and are then sexually assaulted. Further to this they are then let down by the legal system along with a media reaction that does not support the victim but instead rallies around the accused.

It's a difficult book to get through and the subject matter is more than a little distressing in many parts. However, it is a title that I would recommend.