Georgia Tech vs. Boston College Football in Dublin, Ireland

It was a wet and dull day in Dublin yesterday - but we didn't let it stop us having fun.


At the last minute we decided to go to the College Football Game in the Aviva Stadium.  


Boston College and Georgia Tech were playing their first game in Ireland and boy was it a spectacle.


To be honest, I found it so hard to concentrate on the game with everything else that was going on.


It was unlike anything else I've seen in Ireland, what with the bands, the dancers, the cheerleaders and the pyrotechnics.


There was also a fly-by planned but I think it was cancelled due to the bad weather.

We dressed for the weather and were mainly under roof for the game. 

Both bands were fantastic. The highlight for me was Boston College band playing Sweet Caroline.

We were sitting 7 rows from the front so had a great view.

   

A great game - well done to Georgia Tech!

Afterwards we went to Slatterys for a few before walking home. What a great day!

Come dancing she said!

Last weekend my twin sister invited me to come along to a ceili in The Grand Social with her on Wednesday evening.  

Honestly I felt so nervous!  I just didn't know what to expect.  I haven't ceili danced since I was a teenager (except for maybe a few drunken incidents - like the time I had the whole crowd on the roof of the La Concha Hotel in Key West doing some set dancing.....and by the whole crowd, I mean the whole crowd - I even had the barman dancing!).

So anyway I decided to give it a go......like what's the worst that could happen?!

As it turns out it wasn't quite a ceili but was in fact an Irish dancing lesson.  But the thing about Irish dancing is that it is a lot of fun and you can pick it up so quickly.  Everyone was dancing in no time at all.

I can quite honestly say that it was a lot of fun and I look forward to going back very soon.

There was live music and an instructor who did the count as we danced. It was all very organised and well worth going to if you are ever in Dublin City. 

As we say here in Ireland "Bain trial as" - Give it a go!

Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka "Pure Imagination"

RIP Gene Wilder


Willy Wonka was always one of my favourite Christmas films as a child.
As an adult, I thought Gene Wilder was a creepily brilliant Wonka!

Kemp Gallery Exhibition - Pigsy

Ciaran is currently working towards an October date for his exhibition in the Kemp Gallery 

He aims to have about 10 pieces on show.

Some of his work is staggeringly large so he will probably only exhibit one large piece due to the available space. 

The exhibition will open in early October and will run for 6 weeks with his art work being available to buy online also.

Doing my civic duty!

Today was my day off (I'm working on Saturday this week) so I got up early and did a few chores, including buying a TV licence after receiving numerous reminder letters over the past while.  

I had been thinking of going and getting my nails done but after getting a call from my sister I went and met her in Starbucks for lunch.  

After lunch I decided to give blood instead of getting my nails done.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my iron level was high enough to donate as on my past few visits I was turned down.

The best thing about giving blood is that you get to eat sugary treats after the donation!

They even have Tayto Crisps!

Then when I got home I did my own nails! Not too bad I think....

Thursday Tray cake Meetup

Had a nice meetup with Cousin Kasey and Amy this evening.  We met in Amy's where she treated us to a slice of lovely brownie mousse cake. 

Then we took a little walk to the Stephen's Green Shopping Centre and had a browse in the household section of TK Maxx. 

Then Amy and I walked Kasey to Pearce Street Station.  And finally it was a cycle home for me!

What a nice weekend....

Amy invited us over for brunch on Saturday morning which was just lovely!

It was fairly rainy so we drove to Amy's (even though it is only a little bit away from us) and stopped off to get coffee in Starbucks.

When we arrived Amy had a delicious full Irish fry ready for us which we all heartily ate.

After brunch, Ciaran went to the RHA while Amy and I walked in to town.

We saw this great wedding car parked outside The Shelbourne Hotel - how awesome is it?!

Later in the evening, we went to Forest Avenue with friends.  The food was sensational and we had a lovely evening.  Unfortunately I didn't have my flash on so all my food photos came out really dark and are unusable for my blog.

Ciaran got up on 4am to watch the Conor McGregor fight. Unfortunately he couldn't get a live stream so he got back in to bed and went back asleep.

We then watched the fight at 11am and after happily seeing Conor win we went and got the makings of brekkie.

After that it was a fairly lazy Sunday here with both of us catching up a few small chores.

A nice low key weekend in all!