Mr Selfridge

As I mentioned yesterday the weather is awful here in Dublin. I felt like hibernating for the day.  So after brunch in The Farm on Leeson Street, I lit the stove and opened up Netflix to choose something to watch all day.

I happened upon Mr Selfridge and hunkered down for an afternoon binge watch.

It's a really enjoyable show and Jeremy Piven is excellent as the lead character.

As afternoon moved in to evening, I continued watching and poured myself a Baileys over ice. Most enjoyable!

My plans for the weekend....

It's a cold one here in Ireland, this weekend. My plans for the weekend consist of sitting in front of this stove

And listening to my new record. It's The Visitors by Abba. I got it in Tiger for €15 after seeing it for €22 in Tower Records.

This was a record that my twin sister and our best friend all enjoyed when we should have been studying but instead were listening to Alice's older sister's records.

Sitting in our living room is an interesting piece of Ciaran's work. It is the painting that was in the entrance way to his exhibition in The Kemp Gallery in October. Look at the top you can see the Kemp Gallery is written on the painting.  It's a unique piece to say the least!!

Sunday Brunch in M&S

On Saturday, Ciaran picked up a parcel for me that I had delivered through Parcel Motel.  There is a new Parcel Motel in the Esso Station on Sandford Road which is very convenient.

A few weeks ago I found Duck crackling in TK Maxx of all places. It is made by Wilding Snacks and I enjoyed it so much that I ordered two boxes online.

Here they are. The crackling is seriously tasty and I like the packaging!

Brunch on Sunday started with a breakfast cocktail in the best bar in town - in my sister's city centre pied a terre!

An espresso martini sets you up for the day!

 We then moved on to the M&S cafe.  The food options are fairly limited - it's all mainly carbs. But the ambience is nice and we enjoy sitting in a booth and whiling the time away.

When I got home Ciaran had a surprise. He had bought a piece of sculpture and he had collected it. 

Venice Trip!

We had been considering a big trip to the USA for holidays this year taking in Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water and some other architectural gems on both the east and west coast of the States. However, with me taking a trip to Key West with my friends (for a big birthday celebration) at the end of the year and the bad dollar rate we made the decision to go somewhere else this year and put the big USA trip on hold.

So then came the question of where to go.  We decided upon doing small city breaks instead of one big holiday. 

Ciaran has always wanted to go to Venice and even more so when he heard about the Peggy Guggenheim museum with its amazing collection of art.

My work colleague had been to Venice recently so I asked did they have a recommendation of where to stay. They recommended a small boutique hotel in a quiet area of Venice near to St. Mark's square. It's the Hotel Al Codega and I booked it through the hotel website as I got the best rate on their site as opposed to some of the hotel booking sites that I price checked.

In regards to flights, I chose to fly with Aer Lingus even though it would have been about 25% cheaper to fly with Ryanair.  The flight times are definitely better with Aer Lingus - the arrival time is mid day on our first day, while with Ryanair it would be a 6pm arrival. We are not going for a long time so this time is important.  With the Aer Lingus flight we will have got to our hotel by 2pm and will be straight out exploring Venice.  While the Ryanair flight would mean you'd just have time for dinner on your first day. It's definitely worth paying the extra cost on this occasion!  And to be honest I way prefer travelling with Aer Lingus than Ryanair.

The trip doesn't take place until the beginning of April so I have a bit of time to do a little research on what to visit and to also book tickets for certain attractions. Watch this space for a trip report on our return!

Competition time!

To celebrate my husband reaching 2,000 followers on his Twitter account he is holding a competition.

The first 3 people to contact him through the email on his website will receive one of these Christmas Art Ornaments.

Why not give it a go?!

His website is here ciaranmccoy.com 

La La Land - one of the best films ever!

Wow wow wow!  

What a film!

From the very start I knew I was going to enjoy La La Land. The opening scene was upbeat and uplifting and from there it just got better and better.

Emma Stone is a joy to watch and Ryan Gosling is broodingly engaging.

The songs, the costumes, the scenery - it's all so achingly gorgeous. And then the story on top is real and romantic and makes you want for a particular ending......but I'll say no more otherwise I'll give away the story.

What I will say is, do go and see this film!!





Having seen Jackie (disappointing) and Manchester by the Sea (a tough watch) I thought that La La Land would be the perfect antidote to both these films and I certainly wasn't wrong.

It was a lovely early morning trip to the cinema with my twin sister. It got us up and out on a Sunday morning with the only disappointing thing being that we came out of the theatre to a very rainy Dublin and had to cycle home in the cold rain.  But that was ok - we only had to cycle to the other side of the city to Amy's place and then a little further to my house!

Ciaran McCoy - Pigsy

My husband's new website has gone live!

You can check it out by going to www.pigsy.art 

It's filled with lots of lovely art - hope you enjoy abstract work in bright colours!

I'd love lots of people to visit his page so do feel free to share the link.....and also let me know what you think of his work in the comments below :-)