Going for gold!

Close on two years ago I wrote a blog about changing from an iPhone to a HTC phone.

Today I'm writing about the change from the HTC to a Samsung.

For the past few weeks I had been considering breaking up with my phone as it was slowly starting to die. I was struggling to charge the phone without placing it in a position where the cable was slanted over to the side. Then I experienced a situation where the phone went from 20% to 0% battery as I took a photo.And after that I couldn't get it charged up higher than 30%.

It was time to get rid of it.

I visited the Vodafone shop in the Pavillions in Swords on my lunchbreak (45mins) and pretty much bought the first phone that was suggested to me.

I got to choose either a black or gold version and as I said out loud "Ah sure I'll go for gold" I knew it was a possible mistake and I possibly should have just picked the black!!

Any way here it is:

It's a Galaxy A5 and so far I am finding it very similar to my last one and I'm happy with the change!

Smart Sunday

Even though the clocks went forward last night we were up early as we had a chore to get done.

A few weeks ago, I blogged about our new car which we bought in Northern Ireland and as such were technically importing a car in to the Republic of Ireland. 

In order to get Irish plates and and Irish registration book, we needed to take the car to an NCT centre to have the car examined and then pay the vehicle registration tax that was due to the Irish government. This all needs to be done within 30 days of purchase.

I had made our appointment before we had even been up to Belfast to collect the car but even still we could only get one 2 weeks after buying the car.

Our appointment was for 11.30am and we were out of the NCT centre within half an hour or so and at that point we went straight to Halfords in Airside Retail Park to buy new registration plates which Ciaran straightaway fitted on the car.

 

The next thing we need to do is to pay our annual motor tax which we can do online from Tuesday onwards and then we will receive our log book in the post.

All has been quite smooth so far and I would have no issue buying in Northern Ireland again if the sterling rate is still in our favour.

Having a ball.....

Amy had been eyeing up a Lennon Courtney dress for awhile (see her blog here). She decided to buy it when she found it on sale for 50% off in Dunnes sale.

Then not long after buying the dress she received an invitation to an event which she then invited me to.

Here we are at the event;

And here is Amy in her stunning dress!

I wore a little Vera Wang number that I had in my wardrobe and had only worn to one event about 2 months ago.

It was a fun night and I was happy that Amy got to wear her new dress to it!

Green Day!

St Patrick's Day fell on Friday this year so it was a bank holiday weekend here in Ireland.

On Friday we booked in to Brioche for Brunch.

I like to wear green on St Patrick's Day so wore a green Ralph Lauren jumper that I received as a gift from American friends.

In Brioche, to start I had an espresso martini, along with my beef cheeks benedict.

 

After Brioche, we stopped off in Dillingers as were still a little peckish.

We shared a bowl of chilli cheese fries while I enjoyed a Vodka & Lemoncello cocktail.

On Saturday, we had been invited to a pre-rugby lunch so again I wore green.  This time it was a vintage green & black boucle jacket.

Amy met us for the rugby game and afterwards we went back again to Dillingers for dinner (it's becoming our go to place!)

We had wine with our dinner, but seeing all of the margarita glasses lined up like this made me wish I was a margarita drinker! 

What a fun weekend - I hope you had a great St Patrick's Weekend too!

Get Smart!

After much indecision we decided to trade in our old Smart for a new one (well when I say new, I mean new to us as we never buy brand new cars!)

After trying to find a decent Smart (at the right price) in the Republic of Ireland, but failing, we made the decision to drive to Belfast and buy in Northern Ireland. I had seen a nice Smart online in Liverpool so that could have been an option too. 

The drive to Belfast was rather slow because we didn't want to push the old car too hard. It should take 2 hours or so but we took a bit longer and also stopped for a coffee at our first petrol stop.

I had been to Mercedes Benz Belfast before but Ciaran was very impressed when we arrived. I was just in my element seeing all the Smarts!

I had been in conversation with a representative from Agnews for the past while and he had sourced a Smart that we were very happy with - Black, low mileage and 3 years old.

Buying in the United Kingdom means that we are importing the car in to Ireland. The next step in order to register the car and get Irish plates is to bring it to a test centre and then hand over a chunk of money to the Irish government.  Even still it is better value than buying a Smart in Ireland.

Our old red Smart was a Passion ForTwo while the new Smart is a Pulse. The passion had some extras such as a sun roof but I don't think we will miss that so much.

It was exciting to pick up the new Smart but I am sad to see this baby go. It served us well.....

 

Modern Art in Gormley's Art Gallery

Last weekend, Amy and I visited Gormley's Art Gallery to see the Contemporary Editions exhibition.

It's a stunning collection of modern, pop and street art.

It was great to see Warhols in Dublin.  The last time I saw a Warhol in Dublin was years ago at an exhibition in the IMMA where I saw his silver clouds which could probably be described as an installation more so than an art piece.

There were some spectacular pieces by Banksy (who I think is a ridiculously clever artist), Hirst, Bambi and Koons.

I probably was most disapointed by the Basquiat which I had been most keen to see. It was a print which I found to be soulless. 

In the montage of the pics above the last picture is obviously not one of the paintings in the Contemporary Editions exhibition.  It's a piece of work by Ciaran called "No space for nostalgia" and you can read all about it here.

Twin Life!

We noticed that Bones had a sore tooth the other day. He yelped when one of us petted him near his mouth.

I was off work today so I brought him to the vet.  When he was examined the vet suspected an abscess so she said she would put him under anaesthetic and check it out.

I then went off to town to meet my sister and mam for a coffee in my sisters regular Starbucks beside her work.

I got to Starbucks before the others so went to the counter to get my own coffee.  When I went to pay the guy at the til said it was free. When I asked why, he said it was because I found money yesterday and had handed it in. 
At this point, I had to tell him that I was a twin and that it must have been my twin who found the money.
He laughed so hard!
"Oh my god, twins! Ha!"
He gave me my coffee for free anyway!
It's great being a twin!!

Later I picked up Bones who was in surprisingly good form after getting two teeth extracted.  I guess he feels better with the bad teeth out!