Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

I've had a lovely day so far. When I woke up I was surprised by a lovely gift of sweets and perfume by my husband. 

"Chance" by Chanel - a lovely choice. And smells really nice too!

 And a velvet heart of Butler's chocolates! What a nice treat!

My sister and I had been admiring this particular box of chocs when we were in Butler's yesterday so I was delighted to receive this.

The selection inside is really good, a fantastic mix of Butler's chocolates.

After getting out of bed we went around to Starbucks on Waterloo Road. We were going to walk to the Leeson Street one, as we can sit out under heaters with the dog, but it started hail stoning when we were just about to set off.

When we got to Starbucks I ordered the Valentine's Special of a Triple Hot Chocolate, buy one get one free.

After we came home from Starbucks we opened the Hot Tub for the first time in months. We got a new deck in the courtyard and it was only finished up and ready to use on Friday. 

I'm so happy with the new deck. It's made from a composite material and the colour is called "Cape Cod". It's definitely got a New England feel to it. It's fresh and clean looking and best of all it is maintenance free!

It felt so good to be back in the Hot Tub and I think Valentine's Day was the perfect day to have it back working.

Brass Ironmongery - Before and After

We got a new front door fitted last week (pics to follow when it is painted). 

As well as getting the new door we planned on fitting new brass ironmongery to the door. I visited "Knobs & Knockers" in Dublin City in order to buy a new door knob, door knocker, letter box as the old ones on our front door were very badly tarnished after years of neglect.  See the picture on the red door - this is how our door knocker looked.

In the shop, I showed the old knocker and said I was looking for something similar. When the shop assistant saw it, he said I would be mad to replace it, that "it was an old Dublin knocker" and that he would give me the name of a company who would re-polish it.

So in the heel of the hunt, I bought a new bell, new numbers and a new postbox (we are not using the letter box for post to prevent draughts) from Knobs and Knockers. We then sent the knob, knocker and letter box off to be re-polished.

Look at the results!!

The company we used to polish the brass was James Healy Ltd in JFK Industrial Estate in Bluebell, Dublin 12. 

I'm glad to have a before and after picture as the difference is fairly substantial.

What I'm doing....

I'm listening to...Jimmy Buffett
In preparation for my upcoming trip to Key West. I have it playing in my car and my twin sister was delighted to hear it when I drove her to the train station after we were in Ikea yesterday. You can see what we bought in Ikea by reading Amy's blog post.

I'm reading...."Ireland Says Yes - the inside story of how the vote for marriage equality was won".
It's an excellent read and brought me right back to last May when the marriage referendum was passed in Ireland. Tears came to my eyes as I read the chapter about #hometovote.

This is a library copy but I may buy my own copy.

I'm hanging out with....Bono!

Amy and I visited the Little Museum of Dublin today. It's a little museum on Stephen's Green and is a worthwhile place to stop off at if you are visiting Dublin.

It's very cold here in Ireland so you can see that I am bundled up with a big scarf! And now I am at home chilling and staying in warm and dry out of the wind and rain that is raging outside. Bliss!

Spiralized Vegetable: A Low Carb Alternative to Pasta

I've been seeing recipes all over the net using spiralized courgettes as a low carb alternative to spaghetti. Along with the recipes I've seen websites selling gadgets that spiralize the courgette for you. 

It all looked a bit messy to me so I was happy to see ready prepared spiraled vegetables for sale in Dunnes Stories this evening. I'm sure this makes dinner prep far easier so I might try them some day.

There was a selection of spiralized vegetables including beetroot, courgette and sweet potato.  

Have you eaten vegetables like this? How were they - does the courgette make a good substitute for noodle?

Cinema Sunday: Spotlight

After getting up late we rushed to the cinema to see Spotlight. We arrived 20 minutes after the advertised start time so knew we had missed the trailers and possibly even the start of the film. Luckily, however, the last trailer was being shown as we entered the cinema and after one ad the film began. Perfect timing!

It's an incredible film. It's not overly sentimental or mawkish and focuses on the hard work of the journalists in the "Spotlight" Team in the Boston Globe.

There were two points when I was moved to tears. The first time when Mark Ruffalo had an outburst were he spoke passionately for about a minute -the mention of the victims made me tear up. Then at the end I was brought to tears when the places where abuse were listed at the end of the movie. The first name places were all in the USA but then the listing of worldwide locations started. I saw three places in Ireland listed but there may have been more that I missed. Horrific to see it on the big screen.

This is a must see film. Do let me know if you have seen in it or whether you will go.

I also felt it was ironic that we watched this film in a packed cinema at 11.30am on a Sunday morning. Twenty years ago, the audience would probably have been in Church and not in a cinema. I think this says a lot.

Rock of Ages Stage Costume

My younger sister is a member of a musical society that is performing "Rock of Ages" in March. 

She is an amazing singer and dancer and has been cast as a waitress in the show. For her costume she is wearing denim cutoff shorts and a vest top. I offered to make her a waitress's apron and set about doing it today.

I decided to hack a cloth bag to make the apron.

I cut the straps off the bag and resewed them on to use as the belt for the apron. I also sewed up the bag in half to make a short apron.

After lunch we went to Evans Art Supply shop to get some fabric paint and stencils. I also bought some jewel sequins.

Katie is performing as a waitress who works in the "Bourbon Room" so I stenciled the name of the bar on to the apron.

Finally I added the sequins. Large ones along the trim to look like metal studs. I then drew a bolt of lightning on the apron and filled it with tiny sequins and then outlined it in black fabric paint.

Here's the finished product (you can see my trusty glue gun in the bottom of the picture). Next time I post a pic of the apron will be when Katie is in full costume and ready to rock!!!

Wonderful Wednesday

I had a day off work yesterday which was wonderful. I went in to the city and sauntered around. I then decided to give blood after seeing my sister's blog. When I arrived at the Blood Donor Clinic was a lot of people waiting to donate as there had been a call out for blood donations due to a shortage after Christmas. I had to interview with the nurse as it had been over two years since my last donation (due to my iron being low). After the interview my iron level was tested to see if it was high enough for donation. Unfortunately, my iron level was again too low so not only I was unable to donate yesterday but my next donation was deferred for 6 months time. What a disappointment. 

After leaving the blood clinic I walked home and then went to the cinema to watch Creed. It was a good film but I wouldn't say it was a great film. Perfectly watchable and in fairness to Sylvester Stallone I thought he put in a good performance.

It was a lovely treat to have a day off midweek - I must do it again sometime!