Weekend...

Still busy doing some moonlighting...I had hoped it would be all wrapped up by now but not quite there yet. Also, a very busy weekend with my parents visiting and staying with us for two nights. They leave this evening and whilst the weekend was hectic it was great to spend some time with them! Have a good week!

Up the mountains..

Went up the mountains for a forest walk yesterday. it was nice tho the weather wasn't great. We saw two beautiful deer and I tried to get a few shots of them tho I didn't have my "good" camera with me...they came out pretty well, considering!





Sadie peeping through the trees looking for B, very angelic like I think...proper "halo" affect going on here!

Long weekend....

Hello! Gosh, these last few months my posts have been fairly thin on the ground! My life has been kind of hectic since, well, pretty much the end of August and now that I have started back on the second and final year towards getting my Masters it’s going to be even more hectic! I really want to keep blogging but realise that I will only have time to post once/twice a week and now that I have made a decision on this I feel a bit better as it was verging on becoming a chore for me which is not the idea at all, at all!!

So, what have I been up to…..well, we had a long weekend here in Ireland last weekend and money being tight these days we finally took up my brother-in-law's offer for us to stay in his holiday home in Wexford (on the South East coast and known as the “sunny south east”). It’s kind of a “holiday village” and I had a lot of preconceptions about this and thought I would not like it BUT I was wrong and must now eat a rather large slice of humble pie. It is not at all what I had envisioned (heaps and heaps of holiday homes strewn together without much thought or planning, not well kept, over run with people renting for weekends not caring about the environment etc) so I was very pleasantly surprised to find a well-planned, well laid out green park land type scenario with lovely little cottages strategically placed so that all have a nice view and privacy…backing on to a beautiful links golf course with a lovely winding path through it for the residents to access the Clubhouse and also to reach the most gorgeous mile long beach…all two minutes from your door! The little “estate” is really well kept and there are tennis courts and a nice play area for kids…lots of nice green space everywhere. Also, it seems that most of the people visiting own the properties so they are really well cared for.

We had such a lovely weekend! We went for lots of walks on the beach which, as mentioned was just a stroll away. We took a few jaunts out in the car to some of the other beaches in the area and we were blessed with stunning weather….cannot believe we are having this weather at end of October (it's 18 degrees today)! We still lit a fire every evening tho…atmosphere you know!

Some pictures of the beach below…the woofers loved it!






Hope you had a lovely weekend and are enjoying your week :)

Saturday morning...

I made some brown soda bread for breakfast this morning...and what a morning...the weather here in Dublin is just beautiful - hurrah!! My parents are coming to visit and are taking us out for birthday lunch then we'll most likely go for a nice walk with the woofers :)





Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Windy wonderful...

A lovely relaxing weekend at last...a walk along the pier...the most gorgeous day...really windy, fresh and sunny. Into town later to buy the last book in the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson "The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest" ..light reading but enjoyable and just what I need right now!

Choppy waters..



Ruffled feathers..



Sea rescuers on practice run...



Then today, a walk in the woods near our house...









Hope you are enjoying your weekend :)

Anniversary weekend...

We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary this weekend and boy what a weekend it was! The weather was utterly glorious…just like what summer should have been…warm and sunny all day Saturday and Sunday…people couldn’t believe their luck! We got up early on Saturday and drove out to Dun Laoghaire harbour where there is a lovely walk along the pier…it was beautiful and really calm, people were out in their shorts and tees…everybody smiling. We bought a couple of 99s and then stopped off to buy some pink champagne on our way home!! We had a light lunch and then headed out early for a lovely, romantic dinner (Indian again – but why not, it’s our favourite restaurant and it is very nice, white linen tablecloths, nice tableware, great service – they always give us a complementary Irish Coffee too!). It was a lovely evening and what with the wine at dinner and champagne afterwards, we retired just a bit sozzled!

Still managed to get up early on Sunday and went for another walk by the sea, bought some nice food for lunch and lounged around in the garden reading the newspapers and our books. In the cool of the evening we headed out for another walk, this time to Pearse Park (closer to the mountains rather than on the coast) and enjoyed a nice stroll. Of course, I only remembered my camera when we went to Dun Laoghaire - I must be more diligent about that!

Oh, and we went to see Julie & Julia on Friday night with some friends…the boys weren’t too impressed but the girls liked it lots! All in all a great weekend!

Weekend, etc...

Have had a pretty crazy and stressful week…work related stuff…all a big fuzzy nightmare! This country is really winding me up right now and I would love to pack up and head to the South of France but hey, that’s not going to happen any time soon, so just have to keep the old chin up and try to stay positive!

I did have a lovely weekend however, very busy indeed…we were out with friends for yummilicious Indian food on Friday night, invited to dinner on Saturday night and then cooked dinner for my mother-in-law’s birthday on Sunday evening. Phew…

I’m really tired…actually, I haven’t really slept in about 3 months…any suggestions for getting rid of my insomnia? I go through phases and thankfully the last phase was about a year ago but it’s back with a vengeance and it makes me feel overallawful!

Anyway, moving on...here’s some Toast loveliness from the A/W 09 home collection…would love to be wrapped up and surrounded in all that cosiness!

The weekend...

Had a nice weekend and hope you did too. We got up early on Saturday and drove up to Belfast …we had made an appointment at the “Genius Bar” at the Apple store (still none in Dublin) for 12:40 and we arrived at 10:00 so had a little time to enjoy coffee and muffins and do a little shopping!! Was really surprised and delighted to find a Comptoir des Cotonniers concession in Victoria Square – I first came across this store in the south of France and bought a bunch of stuff. Of course, I was a lot more flush with cash back then and so, it was with great trepidation at my potential spend that I approached the counter to make my purchases…however, I have been putting a little aside for winter gear and that is what I used…I bought a gorgeous parka (granite colour - doesn't really show up well in my crappy photos!)…really cosy and snuggly, and a dress..I also bought a dress in the sale in Jigsaw..bargain! The lighter coloured dress is the one from Jigsaw. We then spent an hour sorting out all our Mac issues (it’s so great having this free service available!) and followed that up with a yummilicious Pizza at Pizza Express…my all time favourite pizza place..I had the Fiorentina…my mouth is watering thinking about it!






I forgot to bring my camera so no snaps of some of the beautiful old buildings in Belfast – sorry…next time! On Sunday, we lazed around watching TV and reading the newspapers - it turned into a bit of a “period drama” day, with “Sense and Sensibility” in the afternoon, “Becoming Jane” (the life of Jane Austen) last night and I recorded Wuthering Heights too. That was it and now it’s back to work on a miserable Monday..poo!!

Oh...and, we bought a Fret Saw along with some lovely walnut and birch woods…am planning a little project …will let you know more about that later.

Weekend treat...

I know a lot of people have posted about peonies recently but really, I don't think you can get enough of these pretties! I adore them and treated myself to two bunches from Grafton Street at the weekend...



Bit blurry, sorry!




And then...the flower stalls on Grafton Street...photos don't do them justice..