USA Vacay!

I'm on holidays!

We left a dreary Ireland Saturday two weeks ago and my parents and I made our way to Miami. We flew through Atlanta and it took us about 9 hours to arrive in Miami where I had booked us in to the Miami Airport Hotel which is in concourse E - it's incredibly handy not having to leave the airport.

The next morning we were up early to get on the road to Key West. I had rented a Dodge SUV.  We needed it for the boot space as we each had a large suit case and a carry on.

On the way down we stopped in Cracker Barrel in Florida City for breakfast and then continued on our way.

When we arrived in KW we did a shop for essentials......I got red party cups!

I also found this tasty non-alcoholic Baileys coffee creamer for my morning coffee - we don't have this in Ireland. 

 

My parents have rented a fabulous cute conchy cottage that will be perfect for our family to holiday in - my sisters arrive at the weekend.

One of the first things we did was sort ourselves out with bikes - Ciaran, Dad and myself all bought a bike in Kmart. I am here for over 3 weeks so it makes sense.  

Keep an eye on this blog....my tales from my holiday to follow...... :-) 

The Plough and the Stars in the Abbey

Last Friday I went to The Plough and the Stars in the Abbey Theatre as a guest of my twin sister Amy. 
Thank you Amy - what a wonderful night!

It was a special event where we were treated to wine & delicious canapes and a tour of the back areas of the theatre before the play.

Yes they have the typical lighted theatre mirror in hair & makeup!

When The Plough and the Stars was first performed in The Abbey back in the 1920's there was riots.  After seeing the play I can understand why. It is terribly moving and sentiment towards the Easter Rising must have been very raw at this time.

I had a really enjoyable night and caught the bus home about 10.30pm as I was in work the next day. However, I got off the bus at Doheny & Nesbits and met my husband for the rest of the walk home which was lovely and reminded me why I love living so close to Dublin City and how it is a great safe walkable city - quite possibly the best little city in the world to live in!!

What's going on...

So you'll be glad to hear that my passport has been processed.

I received it promptly about 10 working days after I sent it in. I then went on the ESTA visa site last night and applied for my visa which was pretty much instantly approved.  Love the last line on the approval page where you get welcomed to the USA and are told to have a great trip!

In other news Amy and I went skating the other night. We had decided a while back to try roller derby and Amy was on the look out for a team that we could join in with. She saw on Facebook that the Boomtown Rollers were having "fresh meat" try outs on Tuesday nights so she messaged them to say we would be there.

Honestly I was petrified!! Even more so when we pulled up to the skate rink and saw all the girls with their skates and helmets at the door. I was so intimidated that I nearly hoped Amy would suggest we should turn around!!!

I needn't have been worried.....they were sooo nice!!! And unbelievably helpful. One guy helped us out the minute we got out on the rink and showed us lots of useful ways of falling without hurting ourselves - which as you can imagine was most useful! As we skated around, other experienced skaters asked how we were doing and gave us other hints....."bend your knees!!"

And the best thing was that at the end of the session there was even cake!! One of the girls had made little gluten free vegan chocolate cupcakes. Totally delish!

We are going back for more next Tuesday.....that's more skate action, not more cake......well hopefully cake too!  ;-)

I am off work today so I went to Rathmines to chill out with a cup of coffee and a read of a book.  After I finished the book I dropped it back to Rathmines Library and borrowed 2 more. 

I also got a new battery for my Michael Kors watch which stopped about a month ago. I'm glad to have it back on my wrist 

I then went to Dunnes and picked up the ingredients for meatballs and got them in my slow cooker - enough to feed us for the next few days which is convenient.

And now I'm going to go and get ready for an event in the Abbey Theatre this evening.  Amy snagged tickets to the final night of The Plough and the Stars with canapes and drinks beforehand....and afterwards we get to meet the cast!  I will report on this in a future blog......watch this space!

I got a "Lilly"!

My twin sister messaged me to say that she had seen a Lilly Pulitzer dress for sale on a second hand designer for sale Facebook page and thought it would be perfect for me.

Lilly Pulitzer is not widely known in Ireland - I knew about her from Key West where the Key West Print Company used to make Lilly Pulitzer fabrics.

My twin sister snagged her own "Lilly" a few years ago at a yard sale in Key West. She tried it on a few days ago to see about bringing it on holidays to our upcoming Florida holiday but found it to be gaping at the back because she has lost so much weight!! Go Amy! 

After picking up my Lilly Pulitzer dress I altered her dress for her - here I am taking it in at the back.

Her dress has a print of card playing tigers in pink and green and is a halter neck shape.

The dress that I bought today (for the bargain price of €20) is yellow with a green koala print and is a shift dress shape.


It was quite strange experience buying a dress from a stranger on Facebook.  When we got to the sellers house she didn't bring us in to the house and so I changed in to the dress behind a fence in her garden!!  Her I am after trying it on outside - my face says it all!!

All a bit mad! I was happy to get myself a Lilly Pulitzer original but I don't know how many other people would try on a dress in a strangers garden!!

Let me know what you think of my new dress and the whole buying experience!

Sunday Morning Walk in Dublin

This morning we walked down to Mutt Ugly on Charlemont Street to book Bones in for a groom. It was a fairly cold morning but we made it home before it rained.

On Dartmouth Lane I saw this garage that still fixes cars but presumably stopped selling petrol a while back!

Dartmouth Lane leads out on to Dartmouth Square which is a beautiful little park surrounded by lots of graceful Victorian Redbrick houses. Click here to read the controversy that dogged the park a few years ago. I'd say the residents of the area are all glad that the park is now in the hands of Dublin City Council, Bones certainly is as he enjoys the amenities of the park regularly when he goes walking in the area!

On Friday I was in the Swan Centre and I popped in to Dubray Books for a browse. I did not plan on buying a book but I saw an interesting display of books from Apollo Classics billed as "The best books you've never read". 

I picked out "The man who loved children" by Christina Stead because I liked the Norman Rockwell picture on the cover. When I read the back I thought that it could be a good holiday read. I checked my library to see if they had a copy of it but they didn't so I bought it.....and I got a free Apollo Cloth bag too!

"The man who loved children" was originally published in 1940 but came to critical acclaim only when it was republished in 1965. Many think that it is an American novel but it was actually written and set in Australia originally.  Stead's publisher made her convert it to America for the American market.  It sounds fascinating!

I look forward to reading it and shall bring it with me on holidays to Florida next month. It's a fairly large tome I may be reading it for awhile!

What I'm reading/watching....

What I'm reading..

As well as being in the middle of "Rabbit at Rest" (a great American read) by John Updike, I borrowed this little book from the Library.

 It's a memoir called "But you did not come back" by Holocaust survivor Marceline Loridan-Ivens. On the front of the book Le Parisen is quoted as saying it is "One of the most beautiful books of the year....you will read it one sitting". Never a truer word was spoken.  It is a beautiful books and I read it in less than an hour (I did say it was very small!)

I found it unputdownable and I highly recommend you read this International bestseller.

What I'm watching....

I binge watched "Flaked" on Netflix (after the 4th season of House of Cards) and am now so sad because (1) I have nothing to watch now and (2) I also want to know where the story will go in Flaked and what will happen with Chip as he lives the hipster live in Hipsterville (otherwise known as Venice Beach!)

Starring Will Arnett as the main character it also stars Irish actress Ruth Kearney who looks like an upcoming star to me!

If you watch this show, do let me know what you think of it......

Blast from the Past

So this turned up on my Facebook feed after being tagged by someone I went to school with.


It's a video of the Glens entry for "Pride of the Parish" from 1987.







You may recognize two little girls at about 1.25 mins.  Or should I say "big girls".......what were we doing in a group with all the BABIES??!!