Sunday Family Time

Met my two sisters and Mother in town today.  My younger sister travelled from Athlone (where she lives and work after recently graduating) to meet us.  After browsing in TK Maxx, Mam treated us all to a Chinese meal.  It was lovely food and great to take our time over and chat.

I walked home through St Stephens Green (a park in the centre of the city) which looked so nice.  I particularly liked these beds of tall wild flowers.  These beds are completely unlike the tidy well manicured beds to the centre of the park.

Above is a family feeding the ducks

A very pretty Autumn Scene

Girl's night out

Yesterday was a fun day.  I took the train from Pearce Station to my sisters house.i

I passed the now called Navan Road Parkway.  It was previously called Phoenix Park but was changed due to complaints from tourists getting off at this stop and finding themselves a long distance from the Phoenix Park and Dublin Zoo!  It was a tad misleading.

Amy served up a fantastic spread of lasagne, salad & coleslaw with rosemary potatoes and crinkle cut chips. Amy and I drank a Chilean Red while Alice drank white wine.

Drinks were served from Amy's upcycled bar which she did herself!!

After dinner & drinks we went in to the city.  We had tickets for "Maeve's House" which was written and performed by Eamon Morrissey.  It was an excellent play about the writer Maeve Brennan of the New Yorker - she being the "Long Winded Woman".  

All three of us thought the play was excellent, we really enjoyed it.

Alice and I above.  Amy and Alice below.

After the play we went on to the Vintage Cocktail Club on Crown Alley, Temple Bar.  This is another speakeasy-esque place, hidden away and hard to find.  We only found it because some girl heard us looking for it and called out to us and directed us to the dark small doorway.

We all ordered cocktails including our cousin Kasey and her friend Sam who we met in the VCC. Alice ordered a "Mary Pickford" and Amy had a rum based drink with molasses in it.  Alice and Any swapped cocktails!

My glass was greatly admired.  I had "The Chaser" which was Marmalade Vodka based.

Next bar was Amy's pick - a good choice of Dakota in South William Street.  We got a great big booth!

Another bar and another change of scene - this time to the very classy "Davy Byrnes" which I think features in James Joyce's Ulysses!

And after this it was home time!  Amy and Alice to the train with Amy's husband.  Me into a taxi for the short ride home.  But not home time for Kasey and Sam they stayed in town to continue the adventure....

Retain this!

About a week ago I was able to pick up my new retainers.  Wow what a difference!

My old retainers were the more traditional style with the metal bar and plate.  Look at the state of them - Eeeek!

My new retainers are far more sleek and seem more like a tooth guard.  They came in a cute pink box!

They are barely visible when wearing them

I generally find it difficult to sleep when not wearing my retainers so I worried that it would take me a few nights to get used to my new retainers.  It didn't!  I slept soundly the first night I put them in.  

I go back to the orthodontist in a few weeks to check that they are working out ok.  They seem fine so I wonder should I just give this a miss.

My new ortho now has my teeth on file so if I lose, break or want new retainers he will be able to make them up for me with ease!

Christmas is creeping in!

I'm prepping for Christmas and beginning to start making wreaths and a few more baubles.  Here's what I'm reading for inspiration....

It's a great book with lots of craft projects and also style & decorating tips.

I wonder what way I will dress my table?

This will be my first Christmas at home in Ireland for about 8 years!!!

We will hopefully order food from Marks and Spencer's 

There catalogue is out now - with a free bottle of wine if you put in your order (of over €80) before Mid November

Eatery 120 reopening?

A few months ago I wrote about the closure of Eatery 120.  The building that Eatery 120 was in looks like it is now being refurbished.  Is it reopening or will there be a new restaurant in its place??

Watch this space!!

Throwback Thursday

Here's a blast from the past - Ciaran and I at my Debs Ball (similar to the US Prom).  This was 17 years ago!  I think I look so different with my naturally brown hair - this was also before I got my braces to fix my slight over bite.

Wearing white to a traditional Debutantes Ball is the done thing so my twin sister and I both chose to wear white - we also chose to wear the same dress!!  I was glad we wore the same because it meant that no one compared which if us wore the nicer dress!

Open House 2013

Having enjoyed Open House last year, we set off to Open House 2013 with high hopes.  We had chosen to visit The Kiosk, at Leeson Street Bridge, which was built in 1929 by the then Dublin City Corporation.

Disappointingly the Architect who was supposed to be giving the guided tour never turned up!!!

The two volunteers who were stationed at The Kiosk were very helpful and they opened up the small back room of the teeny building which houses a power station.

Here are some photos of The Kiosk which formerly was a public toilet that had a telephone exchange at the front.  It is currently a coffee booth.

Here is the blurb from the Open House website.