Black Friday Bargains

Black Friday is a phenomena that has been recently imported to Ireland from the USA. Obviously we don't celebrate Thanksgiving so we never did the big rush to start Christmas shopping after Thanksgiving. 

Some of the shops I visited were offering some Black Friday specials.  

Starbucks had a special where you topped up your card by €20 and received a free drink.  I was delighted to have my Grande Extra Shot Cafe Mocha con Pana on the house!

In Supervalu, Baileys was on special at €12 a bottle on Friday only. So I bought a bottle of that for over Christmas. I love a Baileys Coffee on cold days!

They also had 18 cans of Coke Zero for €5. I only bought 1 stack because they were heavy to carry to the car.  Wish I had got a trolley and I would have bought a few more.

I also bought a rake of candy canes (not a Black Friday special but very cheap at €1.50 a box) and a pair of lovely soft pyjamas to chill out in over Christmas (I'm planning lots of Duvet Days indulging in Netflix and catching up on some of the mountain of books that I have been attempting to get through).

So that was the extent of my Black Friday here in Ireland. How did you get on readers? Did you find any bargains?!

"Native Irish Dogs" by Shane McCoy

This Saturday a very special book is being launched.  It's a brilliant book and I consider it special because it was written by Ciaran's nephew Shane McCoy!  

Unfortunately we can't attend the launch (presumably Bones would have been welcome to attend too!) as we have another event on.  I am very disappointed about having to miss it but what can you do.....(it's actually the 2nd event I had to turn down on Saturday - normally my social life isn't this hectic but three events all coincided on this occasion).

I would have bought the book at the official launch but because I'm not going I visited Dubray Books in the Swan Centre and bought it there.  It was really nice to see it on display face out in the shop. I got very excited to see it for sale and I told the assistant that it was written by my husband's nephew.  He was very complimentary about the book and said that there should be a lot of interest in it as it was very nicely presented.

The book is full of marvelous pictures of dogs (photos are by Colin White) and is the perfect present for any dog lover this Christmas - it's available in all good book shops (€19.99 in Dubray) and also online.

It is really is a handsome hardback book. There are lots of things that I like about it.  The pictures are stunning - the dogs look magnificent.  The other thing I like is how the the name of the breeds are written in both English and Irish - nice touch! It's all in all a really well written informative book.  Well done to Shane!

Bernard Shaw Flea Market

After spending the morning in Starbucks on Waterloo Road we then went to the November Flea Market in the Bernard Show Pub. I had seen on Facebook that there was going to be a stall selling comics and vinyl all for 1 euro.  That's my kind of prices for records and it seems that it is a lot of people's prices because when I arrived at about 3pm there was only 3 records left.  

I bought the only one that I recognized which was "Push" by Bros. Wow did it bring back memories when I played it when I got home! 

Bros was made up of twins Matt & Luke Goss and Craig Logan. Listening to "When will I be famous" brought me right back to the late 1980's watching  Top of the Pops!

Book Launch

On Tuesday night I went to the launch of "Beasts and Gods" by Dr Roslyn Fuller.  I had originally planned on driving home and leaving my car and walking in to the city but the weather was so bad (it was windy and stormy) so I kept the car and parked in Setanta Car Park after picking Amy up from her office.  Roslyn Fuller is a fascinating lady and as well as looking forward to reading this book I look forward to seeing her in politics as she is going forward as an Independent Candidate in the next General Election in Ireland.

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  :-(