Christmas and New Year Message from President Michael D. Higgins 2016

A Christmas message from the President of Ireland - my favourite president ever!

Dog pick up!

As I mentioned, after Basket Brigade, we browsed in town and did a little shopping.

After this Ciaran picked me up from the city.

He waited on Molesworth Street and when I got close to the car I saw this little friendly face in the car!

Basket Brigade 2016

It was an early start for a Sunday morning when I got up before 8am to pick up Amy and head to Croke Park for this year's Basket Brigade.

I had about 8 bags of food that all of my work colleagues had very kindly donated.

When we arrived everyone was hard at work wrapping boxes so we decided to unpack and sort all of the donated food.

Here we are with our best pal Alice who has been doing Basket Brigade with us for the past few years.  

The food is organised in to donated food and bought food.  

Each hamper gets a chicken, ham, fresh veg, tea, coffee, sugar, paper towels and a box of biscuits.

Then additional donated food is added - like pasta, sauce, breakfast cereal, canned food, etc.

Here are a batch of hampers all ready for delivery. Over 170 hampers were made in total!!

Amy's day was made when we got a pic with "Deco" (real name Dave!) from Fair City. She is a big fan!

Dave was a very nice guy and his support is very much appreciated along with the support that came from all other avenues too......Keith Duffy donated €1,000!

Afterwards we went to our usual spot after this event - Pitt Bros.

After great BBQ food we did a little Christmas shopping. 

What a great day and hopefully the hampers will help some families have a good Christmas 2016.

The tree is up - Christmas is here!!

I normally put my tree up at the beginning of December but this year I only got it up on the 10th.  So late for me but I had a few things on that I was occupied with so didn't have the opportunity until now to put it up.

It takes a fair length of time to put my tree up by the time I get it and all the trimmings down from the attic and then get all the decorations on to the tree. But worth the time it takes, I think!

 At the top of my tree I put a Barbie Doll that was given to me by my twin sister.

How amazing is this Barbie?!

After putting up the tree we ate a turkey dinner and watched "Nativity!" on Netflix.  

Christmas is really here in our house!

Alexis Bernstorff 2017 Collection

On Thursday night myself and my twin sister went to the launch of the Alexis Bernstorff 2017 knitwear collection launch. 

It was held in The Design House on Dawson Street which is an amazing place. It was a first time visit for both of us and we plan to visit again soon.

We enjoyed viewing the Alexxi Design Cardi Coats - check out the amazing colours on the website here.

Sunday Sketching

After breakfast we hung out in Starbucks on Waterloo Road.  I told Ciaran about a Gingerbread House competition that I was considering entering. The concept of the competition is to build an edible Mid Century Modern design house. For fun, I got Ciaran to sketch up a design for me.  But then I looked at the closing date and saw that it is only 3 days away......so no gingerbread MCM for me.

After coffee we went to Boots on Baggot Street and got out flu jab. A bit late in the Winter, but sure at least we will be protected for Christmas. Next year we must be organised and get the shot in September.

Hygge with Francis Brennan

We were long overdue a new quilt for our bed so I decided to buy one when I was in town about a week ago. I always wanted a feather duvet as I love the rustling sound they make and also I think they are warmer than a regular quilt.

I had been admiring the Francis Brennan Bed Collection in Dunnes Stores so I bit the bullet and bought a full set of his lace trim range duvet cover and sheet along with new pillows from Dunnes which included 2 feather ones and 4 man made fibre ones. 

Having a super king bed can cause difficulties when buying bedding here in Ireland (I used to buy a lot of duvet covers in the USA on my travels) but I was glad to find Super King in stock in Dunnes.

This afternoon I made up my bed with the new quilt, pillows and coverings. I then bought new pyjamas and a dressing gown so that I could cosy up and have some hygge in my bed tonight.  I sure am looking forward to it!

Here's Francis himself, meeting everyone as they enter Dunnes Stores Homewares in The Swan Centre.

There's my bed all smartly made up!

The packaging is very nice for this range and everything is packed in to a stylish grey bag and wrapped in tissue paper.

Francis Brennan, along with his brother John, owns and runs the 5 Star Park Hotel Kenmare so he knows his stuff about hotel quality bedding. His attention to detail is second to none and is evident from watching him on his TV show "At Your Service".  He is also such a nice man and I can attest to this personally as my twin sister and I had a chat with him when he we met him at his book signing - you can read all about that here!

My pyjamas are from Dunnes Stores also - the pyjamas are so comfortable and the dressing gown is soft and fluffy - definitely making me feel all hygge as I sit on the couch blogging in my new PJ's!

Edit -
When I went to bed on Saturday night, I remarked to Ciaran that I felt like I was sleeping in a hotel - the new duvet was that good!!
Then when we woke up on Sunday morning, Ciaran turned to me and said "Let's order room service"......he definitely had a hotel like sleep experience!!