It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

It's definitely beginning to feel like Christmas.  On Thursday, I watched one of my favourite Christmas films "The Holiday".  It really made me feel a lot better after a bad day (don't ask!).  

Then on Friday I was finally able to get my Christmas tree up and decorated!

I'm very happy with it.....I don't think I could get a whole lot more on the tree.

And this year I had a new angel for the top.....a Holiday Barbie decked out in red - she goes perfectly with my mish mash of ornaments.

My twin sister sent me pictures of her tree and what a difference!

We both have Barbies at the top of the tree but that is where the similarity ends. My colours are generally red and green while Amy is all about white and silver. I like both trees!

Early start to see McGregor knock out Aldo

We got up at 5am this morning to see the main UFC event of McGregor v. Aldo.  I cooked sausages the night before so we had a tasty breakfast with tea and coffee.

Well would you believe it only took 13 seconds for McGregor to deliver a left punch that knocked out Aldo!! 

Fight over!

And so it was back to bed for us....happy that it was over and the Irish man was the world champion!

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?!