Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka "Pure Imagination"

RIP Gene Wilder


Willy Wonka was always one of my favourite Christmas films as a child.
As an adult, I thought Gene Wilder was a creepily brilliant Wonka!

Kemp Gallery Exhibition - Pigsy

Ciaran is currently working towards an October date for his exhibition in the Kemp Gallery 

He aims to have about 10 pieces on show.

Some of his work is staggeringly large so he will probably only exhibit one large piece due to the available space. 

The exhibition will open in early October and will run for 6 weeks with his art work being available to buy online also.

Doing my civic duty!

Today was my day off (I'm working on Saturday this week) so I got up early and did a few chores, including buying a TV licence after receiving numerous reminder letters over the past while.  

I had been thinking of going and getting my nails done but after getting a call from my sister I went and met her in Starbucks for lunch.  

After lunch I decided to give blood instead of getting my nails done.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my iron level was high enough to donate as on my past few visits I was turned down.

The best thing about giving blood is that you get to eat sugary treats after the donation!

They even have Tayto Crisps!

Then when I got home I did my own nails! Not too bad I think....

Thursday Tray cake Meetup

Had a nice meetup with Cousin Kasey and Amy this evening.  We met in Amy's where she treated us to a slice of lovely brownie mousse cake. 

Then we took a little walk to the Stephen's Green Shopping Centre and had a browse in the household section of TK Maxx. 

Then Amy and I walked Kasey to Pearce Street Station.  And finally it was a cycle home for me!

What a nice weekend....

Amy invited us over for brunch on Saturday morning which was just lovely!

It was fairly rainy so we drove to Amy's (even though it is only a little bit away from us) and stopped off to get coffee in Starbucks.

When we arrived Amy had a delicious full Irish fry ready for us which we all heartily ate.

After brunch, Ciaran went to the RHA while Amy and I walked in to town.

We saw this great wedding car parked outside The Shelbourne Hotel - how awesome is it?!

Later in the evening, we went to Forest Avenue with friends.  The food was sensational and we had a lovely evening.  Unfortunately I didn't have my flash on so all my food photos came out really dark and are unusable for my blog.

Ciaran got up on 4am to watch the Conor McGregor fight. Unfortunately he couldn't get a live stream so he got back in to bed and went back asleep.

We then watched the fight at 11am and after happily seeing Conor win we went and got the makings of brekkie.

After that it was a fairly lazy Sunday here with both of us catching up a few small chores.

A nice low key weekend in all!

What I'm doing.....

What I'm reading....

"Spinster" by Katie Bolick - an excellent non-fiction read

What I'm watching......

"Love Child" an Australian series set in the 1960's

What I'm looking at.......

Lots of art in my living room

Quiz me!

I love quiz's!

In recent times, my family (different members each week) meet on Wednesday evening for the charity quiz in Wetherspoons which is in aid of Laura Lynn.  It is run more like a USA style trivia event where you can have a large team who all pay €2 to enter.....generally Irish table quiz set a limit on team size of about 4 or 5 people.

Amy and I arrived first so we nabbed a good table and had something to eat.

Last Wednesday we had a large team made up of myself, my twin sister, my cousin, two aunts, two uncles and my father!

And guess what?!  We came in second place!

Check out the big brains on this team!!

I wish I lived in the 1960's!

I adore mid century modern design and have tried to incorporate in to the design of my house which was created by my husband architect Ciaran McCoy. 

We have little touches around the house including a mid century bar cart, 1960's sewing machine and a G Plan sideboard.

I think I am looking somewhat Mid Century Modern in this mustard dress posed beside my sister's bar (the red chair adds to effect).

One of the biggest design nods to Mid Century Modern is our conversation pit which is modelled on Sam Stephenson's amazing conversation pit in his Leeson Street house.

All of the above brings me to tell you about a brilliant resource that I use online. I am a member of a Mid Century Modern group on Facebook.  It is run by DC Hillier who really knows his stuff!!

DC runs the excellent mcmdaily.com website. DC plans to take his website to the next level  and wants to turn his website in to a full time venture with more media based content.

In order to get this venture up and running he is crowd funding for his website.  By supporting him through donating to his crowd funding request you also have a chance to win a most amazing prize!!

Check this baby out....

It's a 1996 fully restored Clairtone Project G2 stereo which has a market value of $25,000!! 

I'm heading on to the crowdfunding kickstarter page now to support MCM Daily - click here if you would like to also!

We're going sailing in Greece!

A while back we got talking with friends about their past trips sailing around the Greek isles. It sounded amazing! 
We said we would love to go with them on their next trip and lo and behold we will be heading to Athens in September to meet up with them on one of the Greek islands depending on where they are at the point when we arrive.

The plan so far is to fly in to Athens where we will spend one night. After visiting the Acropolis we will then get the train to the port of Piraeus where we will get a ferry to whichever island we are meeting our Captain and his First Mate!

Between planes, trains and ferries we didn't think our big suitcases would work for us. So at lunchtime in work yesterday I went to the shopping centre and bought us two rucksacks.  I only get 45 minutes for lunch so I had conveniently reserved the backpacks online so it was a quick transaction.  I think I shall use the red rucksack as it is lighter than the blue one. We intend to keep our luggage to a minimum - we plan to bring very little clothes with us. When we arrive in to Piraeus we will need to stock up on supplies to take on the boat - things like water, cheese, nuts & sliced meats......and essentials like vodka for while  out on the water!  

When I got home from work I cycled down to Herbert Park to meet Ciaran at The Big Grill festival.  What fun!

Ciaran's friend was doing a DJ set (he was so good!) and there was loads of great food and drinks stalls to choose from. We had a burger and Ciaran had a lot of beer.  It was a pretty cool event and really convenient - only a 5 minute cycle away from our house. I'd definitely go again next year.

A great Berlin museum....

A friend of mine was travelling to a wedding in Berlin recently. This got me thinking about a trip I took to Berlin and what I liked best about this city.

One of the things that I did was visit the DDR Museum. I thought it was fascinating. It was very interactive and really brought what it was like to live in East Germany to life.

Here's the link to their excellent website which gives you a really good idea of what the museum is like.

If you ever visit I highly recommend you visit this museum - particularly if you have children with you.

Book Swap on Facebook

I signed up for a Book Swap on Facebook.  It operates a little like a chain letter.  You send 1 book on to someone and then you get a load in return - they say 36 but I will wait and see.  I'm not really concerned how many I get back I just wanted to be involved to share books with others.

I sent a book to the UK today through the Book Depository (using a small credit I had on Paypal).

The book I chose to send was Judy Blume's "In the unlikely event". I hope the recipient likes it!

Busy Weekend with friends & family

I've had a busy week.  I'm doing a lot of yoga after work most evenings so am only getting home about 8.30pm.

Weekends are generally my time for catching up on things that I didn't get done during the week.  However, this weekend I had a lot on so of course I didn't get caught up on chores at all.

On Saturday, I went to Bikram in the morning and then met with Amy & Alice for lunch.  We went up to the RHA to check out the art which was nice!  We agreed that the small gallery was just enough culture for the day :-) 

From Amy's I then cycled down to the conference centre where there was a surprise birthday party for a work colleague on a boat docked up on the liffey.  It was great and I had an enjoyable cycle home about midnght even though it was very windy weather and I was wearing a very short skirt!

Then Sunday started out with more Bikram yoga with Amy.  After yoga I drove home, got my bike and cycled in to town. I then met my mother and two sisters and we went to Featherblade for lunch to mark my mother's birthday. Everyone had a very enjoyable lunch and we followed it with dessert in Amy's.

A lot of fun all in!

Ciaran painted all weekend while I was out carousing.  Here's his latest piece.....

Moving to the dark side!

I had a lovely evening with my twin sister in Rathmines.  We both cycled separately and then met in Starbucks. It was very chilled out. It's all a new experience for Amy who has moved from the Northside suburbs to an amazing apartment on the Southside (the dark side!)

I tell her she is ruined!

Click here to check out her new digs.


We got samples of coffee in Starbucks - Guatemalan blend.

We were both amazed when we came out of Starbucks - it was so mild.  It positively felt warm.........but it's bucketing rain now!

Being a tourist in your own town!

We had considered going away for the August Bank Holiday weekend. However, with the hassle of getting dog friendly accommodation we decided that we would stay in Dublin and instead book in to a few different restaurants and pretend we are tourists visiting Dublin.

We had a great weekend!

On Friday we did lunch in Bastible.  Saturday was dinner in Farmer Browns (the Bath Avenue one) and then Sunday was not lunch and not dinner (we got a 3.50pm reservation!) in Featherblade.

We both agreed the food was best in Featherblade but the atmosphere was best in Farmer Browns and the food was pretty good there too!  The food was great in Bastible too but we both said for some reason we wouldn't be rushing back.  But then maybe it is unfair to judge a restaurant on lunch service.

Bastible - we did the tasting menu

Salmon Poke to start in Featherblade

Farmer Browns - comfort food,done well.

The weather wasn't too bad for the weekend and we managed to not get rained on when we cycled around to the different restaurants over the last few days.