Never Again (2)

I was back at another rally in remembrance of Savita Halappanavar and protesting in support of legislation change.

I feel so strongly about this case and the poor lady - the tragedy of what happened to Savita and her unborn baby, and the weaknesses in our legislation.

There is another rally on this coming Wednesday outside the Dail, where there will be a live feed from the debate about the issue inside the Dail.  I shall be attending this rally also.

Please read here for more information about this tragic case.

Never again.

Friendship (and wine) is always in fashion

I met with my friend Tara on Thursday evening for a glass of wine and dinner in her apartment in Ballsbridge.

Tara made the most fabulous pesto pasta dish - pesto bought from the deli counter of Donnybrook Fair.

As a birthday gift she had bought me a bottle of malbec which is my absolute favourite wine ever.

She also gave me the cutest "retro/vintage style" birthday card.

All in all it was a lovely evening.

Photo Shoot in LPA (my sister's house)

 

My twin sister and her husband have been renovating a derelict house for over a year now.  She has been blogging about the project since the very beginning so for any of you interested in that type of thing it makes for very interesting reading.  Click here to have a look at her blog.

 

Today is a big day for them!  They have been invited to appear in a UK interiors magazine talking about the build, and the photoshoot is taking place today. 

 

Below are some of the pics that Enid has sent me so far today.  The girl in the blue top is the stylist who is staging the house.  She told Enid that it is not actually a big job for today because they have already such a "strong look".  Enid was delighted to hear this - but really it should be such a surprise to her - her husband (Ciaran) has his own architects practice so if their house is not amazing there is no hope for any of the rest of us! 

 

Ciaran's practice is odkm Architects - he is the "M" - check out their website for design pics.

 

 

Stylist at work!  Painting of Bones in her hand (painted by Ciaran's dad)

Stylists "stylings" - that is Enid's first camera (Fisher Price) which the stylist found on a shelf and placed on the coffee table.

Photographer setting up. 

Note the book shelves in the background.  The stylist liked Enid's colour coding of her books.  Enid is a librarian so she could have shelved them using many different methods but she chose by colour, which is something that the late great Maeve Binchey also did (Enid did not know this before she chose to do this).

The stylist chose to place some of Enid's orange/yellow kitchen accessories on display.

Wet bar.

That is my blender on the counter over to the right!

 

 

If Enid sends me anymore photos I shall post them up. 

 

If you are interested in visiting this house and seeing it in the flesh an Open House event is planned in December.  Check out the odkm faceboook page and the event page for more information.

Never Again

 

Savita Halappanavar RIP

 

Never Again.

 

 

 



New Windows

 

We recently got our windows replaced in the house. 

 

In terms of design we literally replaced like with like i.e. brown windows with leading squares. 

 

But in terms of efficiency we replaced with much better.  We had got wooden, single glazing windows, these new ones are now pvc and double glazed.  The difference they make to the preservation of heat in the house is palpable.  So I am confident that we will see the difference in our utility bills this Winter.

 

Also, what is great is that they will not need any maintenance.  The wooden onces needed repainting every couple of years or so.

 

I am very happy with them!  We also got the exterior of the house painted at the same time.  So all in all the house looks reasonably smart in my opinion.



 

Old workplace

When I was about 20/21 I worked in a little magazine publishing company on Middle Abbey Street in Dublin - we were based in the three floors above the New York drycleaning store. 

 

The New York drycleaning company is a bit of an institution in Dublin - there for years - so a year or so ago I was very sad to hear there had been a fire in it which gutted the whole building.

 

As you can see from the photo below, NY moved into the shop to the left of their original building.  But the floors above, where the magazine company had been located are now boarded up.

 

 

Fashionable Nana - again!

Do you remember a couple of weeks ago that I blogged a pic of Nana and I wearing similar cardigans? 

 

Well last Sunday at dinner it turned out that Nana has the same style jacket as Katie, Enid & myself. 

 

Very funny!

 

Enid, Nana Fluskey, Katie, Amy

Night out in Dublin

As I mentioned in my "Birthday" post I was out on Friday night.

I sit very near the HR team in work so I have become very friendly with the two HR ladies.  A couple of weeks ago we had said we must do a few drinks after work so we put Friday in as a date.

We finished work at 5.30 and went across the road to our "local" pub Scruffy Murphy's. 

I was unsure about Scruffy's when I first moved to Mount Street, I missed my old local haunts down near Abbey Street, but I have grown to like it a little more.

From Scruffys we moved on to a beautiful little small restaurant on Dawson Street "Harry's Cafe" which has a very good early bird menu/deal - €60 for 2 people, starter, main & bottle of wine.

I had Chicken Liver Pate and Melba toast to start.

And had Roast Chicken breast with lemon & thyme mash for my main.

We shared a chocolate & hazelnut torte for dessert.

After dinner we went down to The Bailey for just one drink to finish off the night. 

So it was an early night - we all made our last bus/train.  However we have decided on our next night we are going to be crazy and stay out later - we are going to do Karaoke!!!!!

*As an aside, we were talking about working in my company years and years ago (the company has been around for over 70 years) and how back in the 1970/1980's the girls wore office coats.  We were laughing how HR was called Personnel so that is what I am going to call the two ladies (the Personnel Department) from now on in the office for a joke :-)