Getting organised for Christmas

I have started my Christmas shopping. For my nephew and niece I got a Christmas jumper for each of them. I plan on giving the jumpers to them a little bit before Christmas so they can wear them in the lead up to Christmas. Perhaps there will be Christmas jumper day on their last day before school breaks up - is this a thing, I wonder? I think it probably is a thing - I am even organizing a Christmas jumper day in work!

One major job I need to organize for Christmas is my cards. Every year I pose Bones for my card and then get them printed up. I plan on doing this later on today. Of course, he is a rubbish model (you know the old adage "Never work with animals or children") so let's just say it's not an easy task. It takes many shots before I get near a somewhat usable picture.....or I could get lucky and the first one is a good one and I will just use that one and be done with it! 

I adored "Brooklyn"

Amy and I have been excitedly waiting for Brooklyn to be screened in Ireland.  We loved the book and when we saw it was being made in to a film we made plans months ago to go see it together.  

It came out last weekend but we went to see it this Friday along with Alice & Katie.  

What can I say!  It was brilliant......quite possibly better than the book.  Saoirse Ronan as the lead character of Eilis Lacey is quite phenomenal (I reckon she will definitely be a contender for an Oscar).  It's an Irish-American story set in 1952 and I think it will resonate with many, if you get a chance do go and see it!

I had a lovely evening but then switched on the TV when I came home and saw the horrific news of the terrorist attacks happening in Paris.  My thoughts are with the people of France today.

The drinks are on me!

My sister found this little gem of a drinks trolley for sale by a guy down a lane near her office in Dublin City near the historic Abbey Theatre. He is selling stuff from his garage every day from 12-3pm and she has bought things from him every now and again (including this chair). 

I am so happy that she encouraged me to buy this item - I think it looks perfect in my house and I was also very happy with the very reasonable price tag on it too!

Something else that was for sale was this Singer Futura 1000 sewing machine.  I was a little unconvinced whether this was a good buy but when I got home I cleaned it up and it grew on me.

The sewing machine can be lifted out and a wood panel can be put in to the space where the machine sits.  This means that the desk can be used for lots of other uses rather than just a sewing desk.

The desk/cabinet is marked as being made in France.

The machine was made in "West Germany" so it is certainly older than when the Berlin Wall came down. I would reckon it is from the 1970's. It can do lots of different stitches so I will have fun trying it out!

I carried it in from my car myself and also reattached the legs.  But I will need a hand to get it up to my studio so for the moment it sits in my hallway  :-(

The Red Cups are here!

It's the small things in life that make me happy. One of these things being the arrival of the Red Cups in Starbucks!

When I see the Red Cups come in I know that Christmas is on it's way. This year Amy and I enjoyed our first Red Cup together in Waterloo Starbucks where we had a Double Decaf Espresso con Pana.

This year the Red Cups are a Red to Cranberry ombre colour (check out pics from my blog of the 2013 version) and this in itself seems to have caused controversy. Some people are not happy with the plain cup with the ombre effect. Past cups have had additional drawing and decoration on them and this is missed by many people.

Personally I have no problem with the 2015 cup. For me, the Red Cup is all about the red colour and not a whole lot else. I couldn't tell you what type of doodles were on them in past years.

I certainly won't be boycotting Starbucks like lots of unhappy people all over the world just because the red cup doesn't have a snowflake on it!!

Another thing I've heard is that the unhappy people are saying their name is Merry Christmas when they give their order. Staff then write this on it and call out Merry Christmas when their drink is ready.  I kind of like this idea!

New chair, new glasses

I scored a new chair!!  From my sister Amy!

You can read all about where Amy got the chair here. Unfortunately it was too big for her bedroom when she got it home, so she offered it to me.  How lucky am I?!  I love it!

I also got these funky new glasses in All Rooms in the city. They were an incredible bargain - only 40 cents each!! 

And finally check out this picture I took the other morning before work. The corten panels of our house coordinate so well with the Autumn leaves on the trees. It made me happy to see the colours and put me in great form as I headed to work.

Dressing the table - Christmas Crockery

As I mentioned before we are staying home for Christmas for the first time in over 10 years.

We have been making plans to have a really chilled out holiday and catch up on lots of movies and just generally relax together.

I've always put up a tree every year but now that we will be home for Christmas Dinner I've been thinking about how to dress the table - and as such I bought some new china tableware in TK Maxx today.

The dinner plate is printed with a tree but the side plate is plain.  I think they are very old fashioned looking but very classic. I think I will be able to make a very nice table with them!

Below is some crockery that I got in the USA over the past few years.  I got the Santa plates in the Coca Cola factory in Atlanta, Georgia.  I missed my connection from Florida due to bad weather and got stuck their for 24 hours. With the flight leaving for Ireland at 8pm I visited the factory before heading to the airport for my flight home.

It was unseasonably warm today in Dublin with a temperature of 14 degrees and very bright and sunny.  It certainly didn't put me in the frame of mood for Christmas shopping.  However, after hearing that my twin sister was doing some shopping I went online and bought a few little things.  It's a start! I also see that the Christmas Craft market is on in Ranelagh Multi-D school shortly so I expect I will get a few more items at that....

Have you started your Christmas Shopping?  How are you getting on with it?!

Rounding Up - It just makes cents!

The Central Bank in Ireland is going to start phasing out 1 & 2 cents shortly. To this end, rounding up is also starting this week.

From now on, your total bill will be rounded up.  So if your total is €10.92 you will be charged €10.90.  While if your bill is €10.93 you will be charged €10.95.

So in essence you will win on the round down sometimes and lose on the round up sometimes but it will probably equal out over time....unless you manage to put €20.02 in to your petrol tank each time you are filling your car!  ;-)