Saturday 24 October 2015

The birth of Blanchardstown Towncentre - photos

I have captured some photos for posterity -  that are mounted on the wall in the Blanchardstown Towcentre (in a corridor leading to the bathrooms on the top floor near Dunnes). 
 
They are all taken from different angles so difficult to compare exactly but no doubt they are a great record of the genesis of the towncentre.
 
I remember well the excitement when the towncentre opened in 1998 and I think the photos are wonderful to have.
 
October 1994
 
September 1995
 
June 1996 
 
September 1998 
 
January 2002 
April 2005
 
May 2009
 
September 2010
This is a pic of the wider Dublin 15 area.  The towncentre is right up the top of the photo (probably about 1cm squared in total) 
 

Thursday 22 October 2015

Autumnal table dressing

 As well as visiting Ikea, Wetherspoons and going to see Back to the Future yesterday, I also dropped into mam to give her back a coat I had borrowed.
 
While there I admired her table dressing
 
How clever is this with all the chestnut tree conkers!  Very Autumnal! 

Wednesday 21 October 2015

Wetherspoon Blanchardstown review

Peri peri half roast chicken, mini corn on the cob, king prawns, vodka and diet coke.
 
For the princely sum of €13.75 (it was their special Wednesday Chicken Club deal) 
 
The good:
The food was very very nice in my opinion.  The peri peri was incredibly zingy and hot - tasted a little like Franks hot sauce. The king prawns were big and fat and juicy and sweet.
The price is right.
 
The bad:
I found the wifi a little slow.
 
 

Tuesday 20 October 2015

Lip balm review - Cymex cream

 Over the last few days my lips have been so so dry.  Hard to say what is causing it, could be just the weather, but could be that I am not drinking enough water either - I am trying to tackle that one but bleugh I hate plain water.
 
Anyhoo whatever it is my lips have never looked worse. 
I think they look like the little girl in The Exorcist.  (I was going to post a picture of her here, but considering I go out of my way to avoid horror films I don't really want a scary pic on my blog!)
 
I've been using a combination of Blistex and Chapstick over the last few days and while they have been good i.e. my lips aren't getting any worse, they aren't getting any better either...
 
So today I spoke with the pharmacist who recommended me Cymex.  It cost €7.30 which is twice the price of the Blistex but so worth it.  It's really creamy and moisturising - and Long Lasting - applied once, you can still feel it an hour later.
 
Blistex good.
*Cymex better.
 
*And Cymex sounds like it's made by Cyberdyne Systems which is very cool :-D  I love Terminator films :-)

Sunday 18 October 2015

Walking tour of Georgian Dublin

 I recently partook in a wonderful walking tour of some Georgian houses in Dublin.  It was organised by someone in work who has a contact in the Irish Georgian Society - my company is a patron/sponsor of the society.
We met at hq of the society which is within a Georgian building on South William Street beside Powerscourt.
 
We were brought into a large octagonal room which they are in the process of restoring back to its original use of a gallery/exhibition space (an octagonal room makes great sense for this)
 
How fantastic is this light opening and large hanging lamp
 
South William Street/Powerscourt shopping centre which is built within an old Georgian building.  I am divided about a building like this serving as a shopping space, but it is done well (if you are going to do it) and better then it being pulled down I suppose.
 
 
Here is our little tour group.  Dublin is looking lovely in Autumn.
We are all holding little blue bags which were given to us by the Georgian society, containing a booklet about the society, a bottle of a water and a snack.
 
While we did not go as far as Henrietta and Dominick Street (we stayed South side) we were given some information on them.
I have seen fine examples over there which I would like to visit some day.  Here is an interesting video to watch in the meantime!
 
Most Georgian buildings are very large and grand, but (to my mind anyway) quite plain i.e. very flat (and beautiful!) on the outside. In particular compared to these two buildings:
 
It is hard not to be impressed by the grandeur of Iveagh House.  Formerly the Guinness family's city abode, and now the Department of  Foreign Affairs.
 
And Dublin Mansion House where the Lord Mayor can reside for his/her tenure (the current Lord Mayor does not live there as it happens). 
 
We saw many more beautiful buildings and I really enjoyed the tour.
I hope you enjoyed the snippets of photos and info about Georgian Dublin I have posted here. 
And I hope you come visit and see wonderful Dublin for yourself some day!

Saturday 17 October 2015

New chair! New chair!

Before Open House (see my earlier blog today) I encountered a "mews sale" up a laneway beside the Abbey Theatre.  I literally came across it - walking past the Abbey, I look up a lane and see a sign for a garage sale.  This is not something you see in the centre of Dublin city very often!!!  So it got me very interested!!
 
I talked to the man who was running the sale.  He used to own the big large Georgian house at the front of the mews - reared his family there.  He also owned an antique shop out on the quays beside the house.  But now he just owns the shed out the back :-)
 
I spotted a cool Singer machine inbuilt into it's own desk/carrier which I think my twin sister Enid will be interested in.
 
Only fifty quid!
 
And me?!  Me, I found the cutest wicker chair....
 
...which came home on the train with me.
€20!
I was not leaving that baby behind!
 
At the moment it is sitting in a corner of the kitchen.  But I see it in my bedroom when I do it up.
 
It needs a small amount of work/retouching.  I may paint it...I am still undecided.
 
Another pic of it.  
 
Any thoughts on it??!!!!! 

Busaras Dublin - Open House 2015

 One of my favourite buildings in Dublin has always been the Bus Aras (Bus Station) building in Store Street.  I pass it to go to work every day and I have on occasions stared in enviously at people who get to go to work in this building every day.
 
Browsing the Open House listings today I saw Busaras listed so I immediately hopped on the train into town to go view.
 
While this building was originally only used by the bus company it is currently leased to a Government office (Department of Social Protection) and that is the part of the building we got to view.  
 
I have a lot of photos below so you less talking and more photos - and just a line about each if ok!
 
First up the lobby!
 
Beautiful wooden panelling around the lifts with a tiled wall on the right of it.
 
Mies van der Rohe, Exhibition Chairs in the waiting area.  Pretty posh for an Irish Government office but to be fair I think they were chosen correctly as they look impeccable in the setting of this building,

 
Very large brass knobs on the entrance door 
 
So up the lifts we went and stepped out of the lift straight onto one of the viewing foyers.
 
It is not an exaggeration to say that I literally gasped when I stepped out.
 
The combination of the beautiful roof over the viewing foyer which I admire from the ground every day.
 
With the incredible views. 
That's my work office there on the left of the pic!
 
From there we moved through these lovely wooden doors into the Staff Restaurant.
 
In the original design the intention of this was to be a restaurant for travellers.  On the right of the pic is a viewing foyer (outside) the full length of the building/restaurant.  The windows were framed lovely.
 
Another lovely door.  This leads out to the viewing foyer.
 
Such a pity the public don't get to use this.  See the nice inbuilt seating benches on the left.
 
Look up!
At regular intervals down the centre of the roof are beautiful mosaic tiled openings to let in light,
 
Have you ever seen anything like this? 
 
The beautiful windows framed some great views like pictures.
This is another one of my favourite buildings - Liberty Hall, Dublin (constructed between 1961-65) - note the cool roof on it too.
 
I love the original wood flooring.
Imagine how lucky the staff of this Government office are to eat here every day.
 
The serving hatches are not in use anymore (white boarded up) but they remain in place nevertheless.
 
As for this monstrosity!!!! 
Why bother with those modern mosaic tiling which look nothing like the original on the pillar on the right.  
Better just not to bother in my opinion.  
Plain white subway tiles would have been a better choice in my opinion. 
 
Out on to the stairs to walk down - where the beautiful Irish Connemara marble could not be missed.
 
More Connemara marble
 
Sorry, not a great pic but you can just about see the nice 1950's style stairs.
 
This sign was on each landing - noting the floor number you were on.
The irish sign translates as "if you have Irish (gaelic) speak it".  This is a Government office afterall...but at the same time, the style of the writing and phrasing does not look recent... 
 
This is the building from the outside.  The wood panelled lobby is just inside the doors, behind the parked cars.  The beautiful (patterned) foyer roof that I showed pics of up above is at the top.  This is the width of the building, the restaurant runs from the viewing foyer down the length of the building.
 
I loved it today.  The memory will remain with me for a long time. 

Thursday 15 October 2015

1st birthday of Jennifer Rothwell in Powerscourt

 Yesterday evening myself and cousin Kasey attended a lovely event in Powerscourt in town. It was an evening to celebrate the 1st birthday of Jennifer Rothwell in Powerscourt.
 
For those of you who follow my blog and my sisters blog you might recall that Enid and I went to opening of this store last year.  And that Enid has the most amazing Jennifer Rothwell hummingbird print dress - click hear to read all about it.
 
I adore Jennifer's silk dresses.  This is the lightest most beautiful silk and the print is incredible.
 
Both Kasey and I agreed that this jacket (Harry Clarke stained glass inspired) would go with lots of things in your wardrobe - jeans, leggings, little black dress.
 
This dress was GORGEOUS on Kasey!
 
Kasey felt a little uncomfortable because she wasn't sure if the lining was sitting right.  Jennifer, the designer, got right in there to fix it up for her.  So kind.  Jennifer mentioned that she can custom make the dress for your size.  Doesn't the back of this dress (the shape) look just as amazing as the front?? 
 
Now THIS was my absolute favourite.  Donegal tweed.  Felt light and soft but SO warm.  Doesn't it look beautiful??
 
Lovely ladies with their purchases.  I always love Jennifer Rothwell's bags!
 
This is the lovely designer.  She spoke really well, thanking everyone for coming and for supporting Irish design (90-95% of all items were made in Ireland).
 
It was a really nice evening with beautiful clothes.  The very best of luck for the next year of business to all in Powerscourt.