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. Read all about it here!

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!

Click here to read Ciaran's blog about our architectural tour of Carlo Scarpa sites.

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 clicking below:

Ciaran McCoy

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 :-) 

Sister Saturday!

After both working all day (Amy in college, me in work), Amy called over to my house for a chat and some nibblies with a cocktail. We had company for about an hour as a few of Ciaran's friends called in to see him on their way to the annual squash dinner.

I was looking forward to seeing Amy as she had got her hair done on Friday and I wanted to see it.

Looks great!

After listening to some records from a selection that Amy brought with her we then decided to get in to the hot tub. It was so good - the temperature was down about 0 degrees - just perfect to chill out in the warm water. We hung out and chatted there till about 10.30pm.
A fun night all in!

New Art - Deep Love!

I'm in love.....Deep Love......with our new art piece that has pride of place in our dining room!

It's by Artist ADW who was part of the "All Art is Theft" group exhibition with Pigsy in The Kemp Gallery, as well as having a solo exhibition "Born to Create" in The Kemp Gallery before Christmas.

To me it's very aquatic themed and a large version of this image was actually stencilled on to the hull of a massive rusting boat - click here to see this!

Let me know what you think of this artwork - I'd love to hear from you :-)