Revamped Dunnes Stores in the Swan Centre

The Dunnes Stores in the Swan Centre (along with many other shops) had gone through an amazing revamp.

We called in today to find that the Clothes Section is open and airy and has an up market feel to it.

The supermarket is even better!  It's hip, cool and very up to date.

The first new part we discovered is a bakery and cafe with a seating area. Ciaran recognized Cafe Sol as he goes here for coffee since he moved to his new office.

The Butcher had an overhaul and is fairly funky. It's got a traditional market feel to it.

When we happened upon Sheridan's Cheese we were in heaven! It's a concession like Cafe Sol, I presume. We were kindly treated to samples of a few different blues and some cheddar which we then purchased. Along with this we bought some quince and just before we left the stand we had a little sample of a Gruyere. So nice! 

The selection of cheese was excellent and the staff were so friendly. We will be back!

Dunnes has been improved dramatically - I felt like I was shopping in America!

The changes that have taken place in the Swan Centre have really turned it in to a good shopping destination - we both agreed that our shopping experience in the Swan Centre this morning was brilliant!

I had written about the Popcorn shop before (see here). It has now opened and is super looking. I tried a sample of Caramel & Oreo Popcorn and it was so good!!! I think the popcorn shop actually could do well here (as the centre does have a cinema) and hope the business succeeds!

Kylie - Christmas Isn't Christmas 'Til You Get Here (Studio Video)

I've been listening to Christmas FM all week and this is the one song that is really sticking in my head.

When I first heard it I thought the voice was so familiar and then I realized it was Kylie Minogue!

I think it is a great song, really catchy!  What do you think?!

Brown bagging my Christmas Presents!

I started wrapping my Christmas Presents this evening.  A lot of my presents are very small (you know what they say - they best gifts come in small packages!) so I have been wrapping them in these Snowmen printed brown bags I got in Ikea.

The gift tags are by Helen James' Considered range for Dunnes Stores.

The seals for the "lunch bags" are also by Helen James.

I was originally going to use these brown bags (also from the Considered range) but I don't think they are festive enough for Christmas.

I'm happy how these little presents look.  Hopefully I can wrap my bigger gifts nicely too!

How are you sorted?  Have you started your wrapping yet?!

Love a library themed pressie!

Look what the lucky twins got from Cousin Kasey!!

These bags are so fantastic. Amy's is cat themed while mine is bookish......very apt!

 The tag on the book themed bag is a bookmark. Seriously clever!

I had been looking out for a nice new makeup bag as the current Victoria Secrets one I have is just a tad too small (see the pink bag below) but hadn't seen one I liked so I am delighted with this gift. I promptly filled it!

 

The bags are from Strand Bookstore which presumably Kasey visited on her last visit to New York. They are made in the USA (which I'd imagine is quite rare.....as we all know that most things are made in China these days....). As well as being well designed and interesting looking, they are really well crafted. 

From their website, the Strand Book Shop looks amazing!! If I ever go back to New York I will definitely visit :-)

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!