Felt Christmas Booties

This Christmas Shop is open in Brown Thomas!!  Yay!

I saw this Gisela Graham felt star among all the decorations.  It was cute but not worth the price they were charging.

Would you pay €10 for it???

When I got home I decided to make my own felt star for my tree.  

Hmmm.....I don't know if it was quite a success.  It's very homemade looking (and not in a good way!)

After making the star I decided to continue on making Christmas decorations (I was just in that kind of mood after visiting the Christmas shop).

Next up I made a set of teeny weeny Christmas Booties to hang on the tree.

How cute are these???

I have to say I really enjoyed making these and I will make a few more sets to give to friends as presents.  

If you want to make the booties, here are the instructions I pretty much followed (I made a few alterations - I sewed the snow flake using embroidery thread, rather than using fabric paint)

Visitor's Book

Do you have a visitor's book in your house?

We do!

I have to say, I do enjoy reading the comments of all that sign the book.

I think in years to come we will be glad to have a record of all who visited our house.

I must remember however to ask everyone to sign it!

What are your thoughts on this?  I suppose some people might think it is a little pretentious.  What do you think?!

1 cent cheque - Crazy bank transaction!!!

After closing a bank account it seems that there was a cent due to Ciaran.  So the bank very kindly posted it to him.

The stamp on the envelope cost 60 cents.  I think it costs 25 cents to write a cheque.  I presume there was also a cost to the bank for the two staff who had to sign the cheque.

Who would seriously think it makes business sense to write up this cheque and send it to an ex-customer??!!!

Seriously, have you ever seen anything as silly?!

Filming on Baggot Street

I was in a world of my own as I walked along Baggot Street this evening and very nearly walked on to a film set.  Luckily there was a staff member positioned at either end of where they were filming directing pedestrians around the area of the scene.

I have absolutely no idea what they were filming.  I don't think it was Love/Hate.  To me it looked like perhaps a sit com or drama of some sort.  Who knows?!  

Brazen Head - Dublin's oldest pub

We were taken for lunch in the Brazen Head by guests who we were hosting for the weekend. 

The Brazen Head is one of the oldest pubs in Ireland and was established in 1149!

The chowder was pronounced delicious.

Ciaran loved his Bacon and Cabbage which is seriously traditional Irish food.

I had liver pate with Cumberland sauce (which was a new one on me - it's made with red currants).

All in all a lovely lunch in a very tourist spot in Dublin.

Rock of Ages - Grand Canal Theatre

On Saturday night Amy, Katie and I went to see Rock of Ages in the Grand Canal Theatre.  

After an enjoyable dinner in Tribeca (3 rare burgers and 3 glasses of malbec!) we got a taxi down to the venue.

Look how close we were to the stage!!  3 rows from the front!

Rock of Ages was incredible!  Amy and I saw this show when we were in London and we absolutely loved it.  We said if it ever came to Dublin we could go see it.  And I can tell you we were not disappointed.

Noel Sullivan from the band Hear'Say starred as Drew.  Wow, what a singer! 

Along with Noel I think the cast were all super and I loved hearing all the '80's greats including"I want to know what love is", "Cherrie" and of course "Don't stop believing". 

A brilliant night in all and as I cycled back from the theatre on a Dublin Bike, I couldn't help but belt out "We built this city"!

After I left back the bike on Fitswilliam Square (no spaces left on Leeson Street Bridge) I then went and met Ciaran, and guests that were staying with us, in Birchills for a nightcap.  After an early start to this day to cook breakfasts for our guests I was ready for my bed when we got home at 1.30am!

Late Late Show - in the audience

I won tickets for Friday's Late Late Show and was delighted to attend with Amy, Kasey and Samantha (who traveled all the way from South Africa to attend!!!).

The girls called over to my house on the way to the studio and we got ready here and also had a little nibblie and a cocktail.

We were incredibly excited to be part of the Late Late Show audience and took every opportunity to take a picture in different parts of the TV studio.

When we arrived and checked in we were given our tickets and invited in for a wine reception.  We were also told that that the host wanted to meet us and that he thought the story of Sam flying over for the show was just great!

I did mention how excited we were didn't I?!

And here it is!  The famous Late Late Show set.

Guests who appeared on the show

Nidge from Love/Hate (Tom Vaughan Lawlor)

Michael Harding

Sharon Corr 

Katie Hopkins

Paul Carrack 

Mario Rosenstock

Just before the last part of the show as it went to the final ad break we were approached by the staff member who had checked us in and she told us that the host was going to approach us and tell the story of how Sam had traveled from South Africa to attend the show.  As the sound guy instructed Sam and I to stand up to be "mic-ed up" we balked!!  None of us wanted to be interviewed on live TV on the biggest show in Ireland!!  We were able to garble a confused "No we don't want to do this" and thankfully that was the end of that!  Seriously is this what she meant when we were told that "Ryan wants to meet you" when we had originally arrived???

After the show we went to the Green Room and met some of the guests and also host Ryan Tubridy.  Here we are pictured with author Michael Harding along with Ryan Tubridy.  We really enjoyed Michael Harding on the show and it was so great to chat to him and let him know that we were fans.

The day after I looked at the show on the Player to see if we could see any of us in the audience.  

And lookee here - there we are!

Amy is in the bottom right hand corner of this scene.