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Beyond The Border: Two Days in Belfast
Belfast, the second largest city on our beautiful green island and home to much conflict over the centuries. I took a couple of days away to this fabulous city where you’re guaranteed to have some fun! Situated 165km from Dublin, it’s just a two hour train ride on the Enterprise train which leaves you at Lanyon Station (formerly Belfast Central). The city centre is walking distance but if you show your train ticket to the driver, the bus into the heart of the city is free. I went with my Mum as we haven’t been away together in six years. We stayed at the Belfast Hampton by Hilton hotel on…
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To The Hosts: Let Tesco Help You Make The Perfect Christmas
It’s definitely starting to feel like.. C H R I S T M A S! The festive feeling kicked off for me earlier last month when I was invited to the Tesco Christmas Press Launch in 25 Fitzwilliam Place, hosted by the beautiful former Pussycat Doll, Kimberly Wyatt. Kimberly began the day with a cooking demo of her favourite holiday treats and the evening continued at the Fitzwilliam Place venue afterwards. When I say Tesco went all out, I mean they went ALL out! The door was dressed with a beautiful wreath, garlands and glistening lanterns and as you arrived the host and hostess welcomed you in, took your…
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Weight Loss: The mental switch to make it happen and the perpetual struggle, on a personal level.
A few months ago I posted a self motivational post on the blog Facebook page, I’d decided to start losing weight again. I have posted in the past and about my diet of choice, The Dukan Diet, a ketogenic diet based around French cooking. I am a self confessed carb’ lover and Italian food makes me want to weep at the thought, I love it! Bread, pasta, PIZZA even… How do Italian women stay so thin?!!! I was bullied in school for my weight too,I went to school in Galway and little did my classmates know, I had almost died one year from an issue caused by my thyroid and…
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Exciting Things Coming!
Exciting news! As you will have seen, I have introduced an etiquette tab in addition to growing topics in general! With my passion for party planning and playing hostess, I’m bringing in a party fashion tab! I will cover topics from weddings and equestrian events, parties and evening wear, covering shapes and cuts to suit all shapes of women. I’m really looking forward to this and looking forward to hearing your opinions and feedback! Lots of beautiful and exciting things in store! Watch this space as the first posts will arrive before the weekend!
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Wedding Guest Etiquette: What every guest should know..
Now wedding season is fast approaching, it’s time to start the first in my Etiquette series, on that theme. There are so many rules, unspoken or otherwise, for people to adhere to, that sometimes it gets a little…confusing?? The Invitation & RSVP: For an engaged couple, this can be rather an expensive side to the wedding, it’s not cheap to have invitations printed out and every bride wants to make an impression, after all, the invitation is the first taster of the wedding for the guests… Then there’s the cost of stamps, if you have 200 guests, that’s 200 postage stamps, and then there’s the included response cards which have…
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Halloumi Cheese – How to eat the stuff..
Halloumi Cheese always seems to be the black sheep of the cheese world, nobody seems quite the right way to use it. It’s rubbery non-melting texture makes it a bit of an odd ball.. A couple of years ago, I was at a friends house for pre-Christmas drinks Now this girl is like myself, loves to cook and make things and she made some fried Halloumi with Garlic, it was GORGEOUS! I have to say I LOVE Halloumi, I love it with a barbeque in the summer, warmed, charred with a coleslaw and salad and in the winter, mostly, I roast it with root vegetables…never thought of making it as…
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#BloggerConf 2015 at the Marker hotel
#BloggerConf 2015 -Blogger Conference Recently I attended the first ever #BloggerConf (Blogger Conference ) at The Marker Hotel, what a fabulous venue too I might add!! It was all organised by the wonderful Emma O’Farrell of EOF|media. Somebody has to congratulate this girl, because this is the best blogger event I have ever attended, rather than hearing all about the success of others, which is great to hear but I wanted more for my buck!! #Bloggerconf was essentially a finishing school for bloggers, literally everything you needed to know, whether you are an established blogger or just considering starting blog. Our MC for the afternoon was James Butler aka JUS…
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A Weekend in Edinburgh
Spending a Weekend in Edinburgh? I have just come back from an incredibly exciting long weekend in Edinburgh! My husband has spent the last seven years studying part time whilst working full time, for a degree with The Open University He graduated in Edinburgh with honors on October 24th, along with Actor, Alan Cumming, who received an honorary Degree! I’ve been to Edinburgh three times now, the first to attend a ‘Most Haunted Live’ event and the second, was a Christmas gift to Ryan, I knew he’d love it there and he did, (which is why he chose it as the location for the Graduation, and to show his parents…
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Days Out: Powerscourt House & Gardens
Great Irish Houses: Powerscourt House & Gardens “It was a mistake to think of houses, old houses, as being empty. They were filled with memories, with the faded echoes of voices. Drops of tears, drops of blood, the ring of laughter, the edge of tempers that had ebbed and flowed between the walls, into the walls, over the years. Wasn’t it, after all, a kind of life? And there were houses, he knew it, that breathed. They carried in their wood and stone, their brick and mortar a kind of ego that was nearly, very nearly, human.” ― Nora Roberts, Key of Knowledge” I’ve been writing a lot about old…
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Vanilla Pod’s Chicken Salad
One of my true favourite places to eat in Dublin, is the Vanilla Pod Eatery in Carrickmines, every day it’s hopping, from brunch until evening and caters for a wide range of appetites. Divided into two, there’s the Vanilla Pod Kitchen, in which resides a large wood fired oven for delicious pizza and breads and the Vanilla Pod Eatery which is delightfully decorated with bright colours, re-purposed wine crates rustic accessories and frames quotes from Julia Child. Vanilla Pod dishes are delightfully refreshing and their salads feel like they’ve nourished your soul, warm and comforting. I normally order Minestrone soup, with a little parmesan cheese, accompanied by a little…
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Hatch and Sons Brunch Review
I had never heard of Hatch and Sons until it appeared in my Twitter feed last week, it was in the Huffington Post’s Dublin’s 10 Best Breakfasts. I’m a real foodie and seeing as how we were heading into town the morning after the photo of that skillet caught my eye, I had to try it. The breakfast featured was the double baked eggs with brown soda bread, bacon, sausage and baked tomato. Ugh, I couldn’t get that image out of my head! It’s available all day too! We found Hatch and Sons, literally in the same building as The Little Museum, on the (St.Stephens) Green, just on the Corner…
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Longlisted for an award????
I’ve been dancing on air the past week, not only am I now a full time blogger (as of the end of the week) but I’ve made the Longlist for a blog award with Blog Awards Ireland, run by Ashville Media Group!! Firstly, a huge huge THANK YOU, to my fabulous readers, who thought I might be good enough to even be considered and register my blog on the Blog Awards Ireland website, I found out last week that I’ve gone through to be longlisted!!!!!!! *deep breath* I’m not being defeatist, but there are hundreds of longlisted blogs but to even get this far is utterly amazing! There are bloggers…
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Tourists in Our Own Town
Sometimes it’s nice to experience your city from the eyes of a tourist and step outside your everyday life for a change. At some point in your life, be it school or whatever, you will have visited local museums and landmarks and being so young, it would leave a memory but you wouldn’t have taken it all in like an adult. In my twenties, when I lived in Dublin, most weekends, I’d venture into the city and visit the National Gallery or the National History museum, I’ve always been obsessed with Ancient History. Anyway, Ryan and I had a day off together, he’s on two weeks annual leave, which I…
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Wells House, Gorey, Co.Wexford
I recently visited another one of Ireland’s historical houses, Well’s House in Gorey, Co.Wexford. We’re so incredibly lucky in this country, to have such magnificent period houses and estates that are all accessible to the public! When asking friends if they had head of Wells House, nobody had ever heard of it, is it something that the people of Wexford keep secret? I can see why. If you have young kids and need to entertain them in the most financially friendly way possible, THIS is the place to go! Firstly, it’s just €8 a car, no matter how many people are in it -or animals for that matter, you can…
A lifestyle blog by Sarah Cooke-O'Neill
