Grooooooovyyyy baby!

Another great sight I came across on my walk today was this fabulously PINK car!

It is a Nissan Figaro which is a car made in 1991 but obviously made in a retro style.

Check out that interior!

Clever cafe name

Out for my lunchtime walk today and I spotted a little cafe with a funny name in the basement of a big old Georgian house.

I thought it was particularly funny because it is on the same road as St Stephen's church which is commonly known as the Pepper Cannister church or the Pepper Pot church.

Electricity costs 1956

My mother showed me a nice little bit of family history today.

When my nana was getting her house rewired the electrician found a little piece of paper tucked behind the fusebox.

The piece of paper is a "How to look after your nylons" pamphlet that used to be in packets of nylons (stockings!).

And on the other side is where my Granda (Fluskey) has recorded his electricity bills 1956 - 1957.

Chores

Weedkiller down in back yard.
Grass cut in front.
Chilli made for lunch for the week.

Time to relax now I think!

Later on, a shower and bed and I am all set for the week.

Room designs

Dear readers, be advised that over the next few weeks you will be reading a lot about my home decor project.  Already I am bored with it, so I hope it will not bore you too much - I find that after making the initial decisions I find everything else tedious.  

In particular I hate all the visits to stores and all the discussing with workmen and the scheduling of the work.  

I am very lucky though to have an architect/designer in the family - my brother in law is a partner in odkm Architects in Dublin so he is a great help.

Below are some very quick (5 minute) sketches he drew to give me ideas of how I should proceed (based on some of the furniture I have bought and some of the ideas I had).

Saturday super steak supper!

The Marks & Spencers Dine in for Two offer is on this weekend.

It's great value.

All this for €13.50!

Flat iron steak, chips & veg.

My steak - I like it rare.

As I said - I like it rare.

And still got room for dessert me thinks!

Credit union - into the 21st century!

As you might know from my previous post we are planning a big home decor job.  So in preparation for this (and all the money we'll be spending) I needed to move some of my savings from my credit union account to my regular banking account.

Credit Unions are very popular here in Ireland - according to this page 75% of the Irish population are credit union members.

Anyhoo I don't go into my credit union often (if ever), instead I just have a standing order for an automatic transfer into it every month.
So I went in and first thing I saw was a sign saying that if you wanted to withdraw over €1,500 in cash you need to give 3 days notice - that's okay I didn't mind getting a draft or a cheque.  However when I spoke with the girl at the counter she said I could do it by bank transfer and I'd have it in my account by Tuesday.  (Compared to Friday if I got a cheque).

So all good!  Three minutes later I was leaving the building all done and dusted.

Ikea trip!

I am planning a big home decor project.

I will take plenty of photos - before, during and after - but for the moment have a look at some of my purchases from Ikea this evening!

This cocktail table reminds me of a very beautiful piece by the very famous Irish designer Eileen Gray.

Here is a picture of her E1027 table which was designed in 1925.

1925!!

Stunning!  Completely timeless!

I made a funny! I made a funny!

I have invented a joke!

However, I fear it is a "local" joke that my international friends and followers may not get it.

So before I tell the joke let me give you a bit of a an Irish "lingo" lessson.

Here in Ireland we use a word to describe fun - craic.
So describing a night out you might say "it was good craic".  You might also say about something like "ah sure isn't it a bit of craic"
It's a commonly used word here in Ireland and everyone knows what it means.

Okay so the next bit is important for the joke!
It also can be used as a type of greeting/salutation
e.g. "What's the craic?"  Or "How's the craic" Or "Any craic"
A bit like "What's up" I guess.....

SO!

Here is the joke!

A duck walks into a bar.

"Any quack" says the bartender.

Well?! 

You get it?!

A shaving tip for the ladies - this will change your life!

Maybe this is a well known tip and y'all will be like "yeah Amy, been doing that for years, tell us something we don't know" but anyone I have shared it with (okay the ONE person - my twin sister) has tried it and been completely amazed and confirms it works for them.

 Soooo before I tell you the tip let me tell you the background for coming up with the idea... I was reading a discussion forum and some men were chatting about razors and blades they use etc. The reason I was reading it was because one thing that irks me is the cost of razor blades and shaving foam - I think they are expensive, and personally I always thing that ladies stuff seems more expensive than mens. Seems to me once it's packaged pink the prices goes up.

 Anyhoo in one of the discussions a man noted how he gets months longer out of his razors by rubbing them DOWN a pair of denim jeans. Apparently this cleans the blade (removes hairs that are still there after rinsing, plus it pparently keeps the blades sharp).

 This is what got me thinking. And got me trying out something new in the shower next time I shaved my legs

Here it is!
After every shaving stroke UP - i.e. from ankle to knee - rather than just rinsing off my blade and going for another stroke up, instead what I immediately do is stroke back DOWN.

 To explain better:
First stroke (up)
Handle is pointing up (i.e. you are pulling the razor up your leg)
Second stroke (down)
Handle is still pointing up but this time you just push the razor DOWN your leg. 

Does that make sense??

And basically I continue that around my whole leg. At the end of the whole up, dowm, up, down process I finally rinse my razor.

 The benefits: Speed!!!! It is sooooo quick to give you leg a shave over
Efficiency: it seems that pushing the razor down your leg clears the cut hairs better than rinsing. Strange eh!! Who'dve thunk it!

 Now, one pointer though: this only works if you shave your legs regularly. I find it so quick that I literally do the up, down, up, down process every shower or every second shower.
 I don't think this will be efficient on a heavy leg growth...but who knows, you could give it a try I guess.
But my suggestion would be is give your legs a good shave and then start my process during every shower from then on.

Okay so what are your thoughts??
Have you ever heard of this before?
Will you try it?

Let me know how you get on! 

Oh and btw, if the above is not clear and you have questions just let me know.
Or if you need some photo instructions, also just let me know!

Edit.
Ps. I also find this lifehack works best with a conditioner or a showergel or a shampoo...not with an expensive thick shaving foam.  So there you go!

Passport photos machine

I blogged a while back about needing a new driver's licence which I am only getting around to organising now.  Not being able to drive the car is really getting to me!

There is something cool about photo machines that really appeals to me.  

Considering the evolution of cameras (film to digital etc) over the last twenty years there has not been much change in the passport photo booth.

Though one change since I last used one is that they take euro notes now, instead of having to have all change! But they do not give change so you have to pay with exact amount e.g five euro note and one euro coin.

You get a chance to take three chances to take the photo and then you get to choose between the three at the end.

I thought my first photo was "fine".

I thought my second photo looked like I was drunk - look at my eyes and mouth all over to one side.

In my third photo my eyes were half closed.

So I chose the first photo.

Here is the end result.  They are "fine".  

I was afraid to smile - smiling is not allowed for passports and I was not sure if this applies to driver's licences also.

So there you go. 

Quick and easy, and all good except for a bold child coming up (twice!!!) and sticking her head under the curtain at me. She was about four so should've known better - particularly when I told her to go away. 

Seriously, who lets their kid do that???

Lovbacken table!!!!

These photos do not capture the fabulousness of my new occasion table from Ikea!

The Lovbacken table is a reproduction of an original three legged leaf table from 1956.  

Originally called the Lovet table, it was one of the first flat pack products which Ikea sold when the designer unscrewed the legs to pack it.  

I have been planning a new sitting room for my house (oh for only the last five years!!!) and this piece is going to play a big part in that design.

Edit (04/03/14). 

For better pictures of the table with my NEW interior decor check out the blog post here

London Day 3

Today we went on the bus - Enid and I had only used the underground which we found so simple and quick.

London Bridge in the background!

Kasey brought us to the fantastic Burough Market.  I hope the following photographs capture the atmosphere and the food!

We all chose something different to eat and each one was delicious.  I got tortellini with wild boar, Kasey a chorizo sandwich/burger and Enid noodles.

Enid & Kasey then had some watermelon for dessert.

We then pottered along Northbank and completely unplanned arrived at the Globe Theatre which of course is famous for it's association with Shakespeare.

How great is this!

We then arrived at the Tate Modern and went in for wander.  

It is an amazing space with some great displays.

Crossing over the Millennium Bridge with St Paul's Cathedral in front of us.

We had a great day in London but now it was time to nip home to have a shower and pack and head to the airport for our flight home.

We still had time for a quick drink and some nibbles in a local asian restaurant though :-)

We had an fantastic few days and I think you will agree from all the photographs we packed as much as we could in this small space of time.

Big thank you to Kasey for hosting us! (And Mo! lol) 

London Day 2

Up nice and early and on to the Tube with a cup of a coffee and a copy of the free Metro paper.  

Look at me like a local :-)

First stop was Covent Garden where the London Transport Museum is located.  Before going into the museum we enjoyed pottering around the lovely shops and the sights and sounds of Covent Garden

The next three photos are from the London Transport Museum.  Unfortunately I would not recommend this museum unless you have children.  I thought it was expensive - £15 - we only spent about an hour there. I also thought it was low on detail and information and also extremely extremely confusing to follow the route around the museum.  

There was a great exhibition of posters from the Underground over the years which was great but when we came out of the exhibition we found that we had missed a whole section of the museum which we had to go back to.

Some great full size old buses etc but not great information on each.

Overall very very disappointing :-(

Chinatown!

Just a small town girl :-)

Completely impromptu ,upon passing the Garrick Theatre, we decided to go to Rock of Ages!!!

We really landed on our feet: we chose "restricted viewing" seats which were the cheapest ticket available.  While the girl on the desk had explained to us what this mean...it transpired that it really was very restricted... Oh dear :-(

So one minute to show start time I ran out and asked could we just move up the back where there were empty seats.  The girl was very nice, although very straight "I told you about them!!!!!" (Me: I know! I know! But we just didn't know howwww bad).

So apparently, normally they charge you an additional "upgrade" charge but she kindly just gave us two unoccupied seats (in the middle) which we could take.

Score!

Seriously though: Thank you Garrick!!!!!

The show:

Amazing! Amazing! AMAZING!!!!!

I am still overwhelmed how brilliant it was.  Every single cast member was phenomenal. The production was superb. While every cast member was great special mention must go to the lead (Sherrie) - great singer and actress who captured the naievty of a "small town girl" and the wonderful Lonny/narrator who was just fantastic to watch and amazingly comedic.

Again: Thank you Garrick!!!

After another quick tube ride home to shower and change, and then we nipped back into to town to meet Kasey and her friends for cocktails in the Soho Hotel.

We then went to Burger & Lobster for dinner.  There are only 3 items on the menu; burger, whole lobster, lobster roll.  Kasey, 

Enid & I got one of each and shared which was great.

My order of preference was lobster roll, burger, whole lobster.

We then went to a nice cocktail bar/restaurant across the road where the barmen didn't mind me posing with the soda water bottle :-)