Ranelagh House is up for an award!

Last chance to vote for our house in the Architizer + Awards

****Public Vote ends on the 21st of March****

Apologies for repeating this post but voting ends tomorrow so hopefully everyone who wishes to vote will get a chance to do so!

The Architizer Awards are a global architecture awards programme that receives entrants from over 100 countries.  Our house is up against residential buildings from countries such as Norway, Germany and Japan!

There is both a jury vote and also a public vote.  To vote for us you can click this link which will bring you to the category our house is in - as you hover over the picture of "Ranelagh House" it should let you vote through Facebook (quickest way).  Unfortunately it is not the easiest to vote as they do make you sign up, I presume in order to prevent voting fraud??

If you have a minute to spare I'd love you to vote for "Ranelagh House" and even more importantly please ask your friends to vote too!!  Thank you so much in advance!  ;-)

Although it would be a long shot for us to win the public vote (I'm sure we must be up against some very large architectural practises) - how amazing would it be for a house from Ireland to win. I will be on a campaign from now until the 21st of March to get all the votes I can for "Ranelagh House".  I look forward to the results on the 1st of April!

Early to bed, early to rise...

Normally I work shift and have two late starts a week.  For the past few weeks I have been working straight days and I have to say I miss my two lie ins!

I've been noticeably tireder getting up to go to work and when I get home I look forward to nothing more than kicking off my shoes and getting in to my cosy moccasin slippers - small pleasures in life and all that!!

What do you look forward to in the evening?

A great St. Patrick's Day!

We didn't go in to the City to see the parade live but here are scenes of it on television just before it started.  How great does the Liffey look from O'Connell Street.

On to the way to my twin sister's we had to pick my younger sister from Heuston Train Station.  It was tough to get to the station as so many streets were closed off to traffic. It was great to see so many people dressed in green walking in to the city to catch sight of the parade.

Our President Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabine being interviewed before the parade started.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin arrives in a carriage from the 1700's.

A 200 strong Marching Band from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Wow!

We went for dinner in my sister's house - she does great roasted veg!


Bones gets tired at these types of events as so many people are paying attention to him, giving him treats and petting him.


A great end to a Bank Holiday weekend but back to work tomorrow!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Ireland!

Yesterday we walked into Dublin city to the "Big Day Out" event in Merrion Square.  It was busy with lots going on for the weekend.

Bones wore his green hoodie.  On the back it says "Canine by birth, Irish by the grace of God".  

He got a lot of attention with lots of pets from children.

There was street performers,  vendors and a fun fair.  Great for families!

Later we went to a party in friends house.  I wore a green/gold colour dress to mark the date.

At the party there was a great sound system throughout the house. Here's a pic of all the songs lined up to play.  It was a fun night with lots of eating, drinking and dancing.  We chatted with lots of people and it was great to meet up with some that we hadn't seen in a long while.

Today it is looking like a gorgeous day.  The sun is shining and the parade is on at 1pm.  We won't be watching it live as we are going to dinner in my sisters but we may see it on the television.

Wherever you are in the world:  La Feile Phadraig Shona Dhuit!!!  (Translation: Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!)

St Patrick's Day 2014 #IrelandInspires

It's been an amazing St. Patrick's Weekend so far here in Ireland!

Ireland beat France yesterday to seize victory in the 6 Nations.  It was Brian O'Driscoll's final game playing for Ireland and I was so happy that he won.  I don't think we will ever see a player like him again.  

My sisters all watched the game from different locations but we texted each other throughout.  Katie was in Athlone, Co Roscommon where she lives and works for a large multi-national communcations/technology company.  Lydia watched the game in Zurich where she was on a layover - she works as Cabin Crew for an airline in the Middle East.  Amy would have liked to watch the match but she was enroute home from a snowboarding trip in Meribel, France.  


Later that night we had dinner in The Sussex which was very very good!  We really enjoyed the ambiance......from the minute we started walking up the characterful rickety old stairs I had a feeling it was going to be enjoyable.  We didn't have starters as we didn't feel ravenous - brown bread and butter was brought to us as we perused the menu so we nibbled on that.

We both ordered the fillet steak special with chips (fries).  I had mine with pepper sauce and Ciaran had his with "Sussex Butter"  - a wonderful herby melted butter.  Next time I will have the Sussex Butter too! We ordered out steaks rare and they were perfectly cooked.

All washed down with a bottle of red wine and finished with a shared Banana & Pecan brownie with vanilla ice cream.  The brownie was deliciously home made and the banana made it very moist.  Divine!

The Sussex is only a short walk away from our house and I think it could easily turn in to one of our favourite dining spots - we will be back!!

For photos of the Sussex Restaurant check out their Facebook page.

Hectic week!

Wow this week has been hectic with 10 hour work days for the last few days.  I've been so tired when I got home that I didn't even have the energy to read a single blog let alone write a blog post!

Anyhoo, 'tis the weekend now and even better it's a Bank Holiday weekend here in Ireland to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

To mark St. Patricks Day the Washington Post will be broadcasting a special celebration of Ireland.  Click here for more information - it could definitely be worth watching.  It will be streamed live in Ireland at 9pm and at 5pm in the United States of America.

We have a busy weekend ahead of us but right now I'm looking forward to a glass of wine with dinner!!

Hope you have a great weekend and do let me know if you attend any St. Patricks Parade!!

Men with moustaches

We watched the 1976 film "Lifeguard" starring Sam Elliott and his awesome moustache.

It's a thought provoking film and definitely worth a watch (available on Netflix) and has really held up well considering it is nearly 40 years old!!  It's filmed in Southern California on Torrance Beach.  Watching it made be want to feel sand between my toes.

Not a whole lot of men can get away with a moustache - along with Sam Elliott only Tom Selleck of Magnum P.I. fame springs to mind.

Can you think of anyone else who carries a moustache well?!