Pre Christmas Clean Up

My mother is awesome!

Friday she was over with Enid going through her wardrobe and this morning at 9am she came over to do mine.  I am trying to think of the word to describe her skills at wardrobe organising :-) It will come to me...but in the meantime take it from me she's got a real talent for it! 

 

So much so that this was the result. 1 big bag of rubbish for the bin. and 6 other bags of varying size packed full of clothes for donating to the charity shop.  This is on top of me giving away the same amount only about 3/4 months ago after a previous clear out assisted by Mam.

 

I decided I'd bring the bags straight to the charity shop as otherwise the bags would sit there 'til kingdom come.  Actually funnily enough, later on that evening I saw a cartoon on facebook "saying happy anniversary to the clothes for donating that have been sitting on the chair in the corner of my bedroom for a year now".   Ha! 

 

So to avoid that happening I loaded up my bike - probably looked a bit crazy, I really couldn't care less - and Mam and I walked (while I pushed my bike) from my place over to George's Street.  There are 3 charity shops literally beside each other but thankfully I didn't have to choose one over the others as only the St Vincent De Paul shop was open.

 

As we walked home for a quick coffee and some nibbles before Mam got her bus home we made a plan that we will do another clear out after Christms focussing on "stuff" (read junk!!!) rather than clothes.  I look forward to that, it will be good to do a declutter.

Teelings Whiskey - Launch of Revival IV

Earlier this week Enid and I went to a lovely event in Ely Chq where Teelings shared a sampling of their whiskeys and unveiled the fourth release of the Revival series - a really intriguing 15 year old single malt finished in Muscat caskets

 

 

While it wasn't a food and whiskey pairing night Teelings kindly laid on a fine spread of some beautiful cheese and charcuterie! 

 

Our host for the night was Teelings Brand Ambassador Kevin Hurley.  Kevin was entertaining and knowledgeable, and we learnt lots about each whiskey and the whiskey process and industry.  Did you know that whiskey distillers negotiate and buy their casks through a cask broker?!

 

A lovely addition to the night was award winning sommelier Julia Depouy who brought us through the notes of a lovely Muscat,  Do you remember I mentioned at the beginning of this post how the Revival was finished in a Muscat casket.  It was a wonderful fortified sweet floral wine and it nicely brought the night full circle.

 

The venue!

 

Special mention to Ely Chq of which I am a big fan.  It's a 200 year old cigar and tobacco warehouse converted to a wine bar and restaurant.  The vaulted caverns and old brickwork are visually stunning.  And since I was there last. they have done a small redesign adding in some booth areas which really suit the space.

 

It's all decorated for Chirstmas which was lovely! These photos really don't capture how atmospheric it looked.  It was really a great night all round.  And in other good news, between this night and a previous Paddy's whiskey event I am becoming quite the whiskey aficionado!

 



 

 

One night trip to the West

There's nothing like a trip outside Dublin to make your weekend stretch! 

Yesterday morning I got a bus to Galway to see my little sister Katie perform in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with her amateur dramatic musical society (the ClareGalway Society).  It was a great night!  I am completely biased of course but I thought Katie was wonderful as Mrs Potiphar and it was a wonderful production all round.

I came back today and honestly it feels like I was away for a few days and nights.  Galway is a special place and has that effect on you.  Particularly as it is feeling very Christmassy and festive at the moment.



And here I am with the woman of the hour after the show.  My mother took this photo and continuing the longstanding joke in our family about her photography skills there's her finger top left.  She is also famous for chopping heads off so actually we are lucky that this pic is semi decent at all!

Let's get Quizzical!

The time has rolled around for our annual big huge company Quiz night - the Ultimate Irish Life Quiz - in aid of our Staff Charities

 

Here is me wearing my purple Staff Charities committee member polo shirt.  I just adore this shirt!

 

The night was a great success - as it always is.  Our quizmaster is a brilliant MC who runs through the questions and answers at a nice pace. And a huge part of the night is his brilliant method of awarding extra points!  If you get up on a chair and sing a song this gets you ten or so points. If you can get everyone singing along with you then this could be worth as much as twenty.  And if you get boo-ed well that might be worth twenty or so also!

 

New for this year we arranged for pizzas to be delivered  - extra large, and one for every table! The novelty of a big load of pizzas arriving was great.  Plus from an organisational perspective this worked so much better than any other food option we have done in the past: in terms of service and quantity of food for everyone. I think this is something we will be doing again in the future as everyone really seemed happy with it

Here's just 25% of our the total pizza delivery so you can imagine what the full order looked like!

 

The red cups are here!

Sign that Christmas is Coming #1

Today I met my mam for a quick coffee at lunch.  We had a lovely chat about lots of great stuff.  Plus we were both excited to see that the Starbucks Christmas cup (aka the red cups) are here.  We did however discuss how we are disappointed that Starbucks do not use a recyclable  cup, and in fact how much waste in general Starbucks generate in just one transaction. 

Em I will say however.

Is it just me?  Or does this sleeve remind you of Give Blood ad or slogan??!:-)

 

Like this!

Chores, chores

Yesterday one of my radiators just stopped working. Like literally went kaput as I stood against it - it was freezing yesterday, and I had the heating up high, and was having a whale of a time leaning up against the rad while people watching out the window.  What a great Sunday lol!

 

So I figured first thing to do would be try bleeding the radiator.  I searched high and low for something to do it with.  I was thinking maybe an allen key, or better even a pliers.  Anyway (a) I don't possess any of these anymore - I really need to work on getting a basic tool kit together and (b) in my heart I knew I needed the proper utensil for it (a proper radiator key)

 

This little bad boy cost me the princely sum of €2.50 in a dodgy little huckster type hardware shop in Talbot Street.  To be fair in larger shops they wouldn't stock this type of thing so Talbot Street rocks for these kind of things.

As I walked to the hardware shop I saw this pub which gave me a good laugh. 

It's a long story, I won't go into the details but I was in this pub (it's verrrrry touristy) for drinks quite recently and had a really great night! 

It still makes me laugh however, thinking of  how twee and touristy it is - and let's not forget - it'sTalbot Street!!!! Dodgy!!!

Anyway, I digress,  The good news is that my heating is back working after bleeding the rad.  Good because it's cold at the moment.  And in other good news tomorrow I get to defrost my freezer with a hairdryer.  The good times just keep on coming!

This is 40

Key West 2017
What's there to say about the trip of a lifetime with my two best friends, to one of the best little islands in the whole world?? Enid and I know Alice 33 years, this holiday has been in the planning for 3 years...it's been worth the wait!
Great fishing, eating, drinking, singing (Alice), sunning, shopping, biking, chatting and laughing. Can't ask for more than that!

 

#onehumanfamily #thisis40