Flea Market - Newmarket

I heard the Dublin Flea Market was on this Sunday so we called to it on the way to Ciaran's parents.

My first purchase was this great polaroid camera.  The girl who sold it to us said it worked but did say that the film was expensive (which it was!!)

There was lots of stalls outside and more inside.  Inside was where we came upon Kirk Modern and all their great mid century modern lovelies.  We were looking for a desk for our studio and were delighted to find the below desk.  It's from 1959 and looks like it has seen a lot of interesting times.  It's got great character and goes perfectly with my sewing table.

 


Ciaran has a real thing for lamps and when he saw this creation being sold by Kirk Modern (check out their website they have loads of really nice stuff) he couldn't resist buying it.  It's a funky looking thing - I like it!

We positioned it in our hallway as you enter the house on our sideboard.

 

 My sisters and I always received a Mandy Annual at Christmas so I couldn't resist taking a photo of this 1978 book and then texting the picture to them.  I think we all read this annual!







On the way to the other side of the city, I stopped at a camera shop and bought a film for my new camera.  At 35 euro for 8 photos the polaroid camera film cartridges are not cheap.  However, I decided to take one photo of Ciaran and his parents.  I really enjoyed the experience of taking the picture - the big clunky button on the side made you feel like you were really taking a photo.  Far more enjoyable and satisfying than using my phone!

Teeling Whiskey Distillery

We went for a saunter around Newmarket today and happened upon the newly built Teeling Whiskey Distillery.

It's an interesting looking building and has a big cafe as you enter. I just looked in to the entrance and saw that you can do a tour of the distillery which we will probably do some day.

It's a fairly large building and has some nice features such as the entrance door shaped like a whiskey barrel.  

I had a browse on their website and the have some cute products on sale too.

Jurassic World - go see it!

After reading this blog post that my sister wrote I was really looking forward to seeing Jurassic World.

So last Sunday, my two sisters and I planned a fun morning of hanging out in my hot tub and then going to see the movie at 2pm.

We booked tickets for the Rathmines Omniplex and because it was a nice day decided to walk to the cinema, setting off at about 1.30pm.

It was a 3D movie so I remembered to bring the 3D glasses that I had bought for San Andreas the week before.  I found a spare pair of 3D specs for Amy while I gave Katie the special ones we got on the opening night of "Oz" - they were crazy looking ones so Katie had to wait til the movie theatre went dark before she put them on!!

We really enjoyed the film.  It's everything that a Jurassic Dinosaur movie should be - scary, entertaining, funny, etc.  Oh and did I mention that the main actor Chris Pratt is not to hard on the eye too!!

If you have seen it, do let me know what you thought!

One thing we did notice in the film was the amount of product placement - look out for Chris Pratt's character drinking a bottle of coke and also Starbucks and Margaritaville getting a starring role.

The above pic is a bottle of diet coke that I had with my lunch today - it reminded me of the movie!

How to get a penpal in 1963!

Did you have a penpal when you were a child?  Do children still have penpals?!

Here's a cute story about how two girls ended up as a penpals. 

So in about 1963, an American Girl was looking for an Irish penpal.  Her father wrote to the Chief of Irish Police and asked could he help.  The policeman wrote to the Editor of one of the National Irish newspapers.

The editor of the paper duly published details of the American Girl and proposed that anyone interested in being her penpal should contact her.  

My aunt was one of the (presumably many) girls who responded to the penpal request and what would you know she was chosen to be the American girl's penpal.  

Even more remarkable than the above story is that 50 years later they are still in correspondence!!   How incredible is this story?!

My aunt went looking for the original newspaper article with the penpal request.  She trawled through papers in the National Library and she did find the article.  

She also found these two letters to the newspapers........perhaps they say something about Ireland in the 1960's?!

 

Homemade Bunting!

I love making Bunting!  It's so easy to make.

I especially like tropical bunting!  I bought this piece of tropical print fabric for a dollar or two in a yard sale on my last trip to Key West.  It's been hanging around my house for awhile so I decided to make bunting with it today.

I first ironed the fabric.  This is is wise to do as it makes it so much easier to work with.

After cutting out fabric triangles, I faced them to each other and sewed on two sides.  After turning in the right way I sewed a ribbon along the top (I chose orange as the yellow wasn't the right shade).

And here is the bunting strung up in my living room to show you what it looks like!

Click here to see my "No-Sew" Bunting.

Car trouble is no fun

My car wouldn't start up after I stopped at the shops on the way to work this morning.  Such a disaster.  I eventually got roadside assistance out at about 4pm.  They got it started and I drove it straight to my garage - they very kindly waited for me to arrive as they generally close at 5.30 but I only got there just before 6pm.  Guess I will be taking the train to work tomorrow as it needs a new starter motor

Road trip to Athlone!

 My younger sister works for a large telecommunications company that is based in Athlone which is about an hour and half away from Dublin.  She has lived there for awhile but I have never visited her there.  However, she moved to a new house recently so I decided it was time to go see where she lives!

The drive down was fine - it is all motorway.  The road was good but the weather was bad with it raining heavily a lot of the way.  By the time I got to Athlone it was turning in to a nice pleasant day which was great as I hoped Katie would take me out walking and show me the sights.

We had a great day.  We hung out for a bit - I brought my ukulele and so my sister tutored my for a bit.  She is a really talented musician and plays the piano really well along with the oboe, guitar and the ukulele.  She can pretty much play any instrument she throws her hand to!  By the end of my lesson she had me strumming way better than I have ever done.  

After a lovely lunch of rashers and eggs, we went walking up through the town.  Athlone is built on the Shannon River and is really picturesque.   Looking at the Shannon, brought back memories of the time I swam in it as part of a Triatholon team along with my husband and our friend Frank.  Ciaran was the runner while Frank did the cycle.

We took a wander around the Shopping Centre in Athlone where we went to a 9D movie which was like going on a Rollercoaster! Katie also pointed out the birthplace of John McCormick to me too. What a fun day!

After walking back to Katie's house (and passing the pitch where she plays tag rugby) we had another ukulele practice and then I set off back to Dublin about 5.30pm and got home at 7ish.  I hope to visit her again soon!