Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Design, Family, Fashion, ITV2, Laura de Barra, Switch ITV2 on October 30, 2012| 3 Comments »
My incredibly talented fashion designer sister Laura has had her drawings featured in an episode of Switch this evening on ITV2. I’m so proud!! Check out her designs below…
How good are they!? And where was I when God was handing out the artistic genes? Here are a few pics of her designs from the Edinburgh College of Art graduate fashion show, and I should also give her blog a shout out too! It’s mainly pictures of half naked women, but apparently that’s fashion! Love you Laur xx
Posted in Travel, tagged aviation, Christmas 0212, Family, Germany, Holiday ideas, Holidays, Ireland, koh phi phi, Narbonne, New years 2013, paris, Skiing, thailand adventure, train to paris, Travel on October 29, 2012| 1 Comment »
I have been bugging BF about this for months and we finally did it – our winter holiday is booked!! My original idea, *what I realllllly wanted to do*, was to go back to Thailand and spend Christmas and New Years on the white sandy beaches of Koh Phi Phi sipping cocktails. We travelled around Thailand for a few weeks in May and I have been dying to go back since. On the other hand BFs ideal trip is skiing…I have never been skiing and I am very reluctant to try it. BF thinks I’ll like it. I think that this will happen….
Unfortunately BF has student loans to pay off so he was not very enthused at the price of my Thailand adventure – £700 for flights alone. So I shrugged off my disappointment and decided to find something cheaper. My plan of an exotic holiday was quickly out the window when I realised that to fly anywhere warm in December would cost an arm and a leg. A European city adventure it would have to be! We decided to get an interrailing pass and try to fit in as many cities as we could in 2 weeks, finishing off at BFs parents house in the South of France. Best of all, BF can fit in some skiing while we are in France – and I can watch him do this while I drink wine with his parents 🙂
Here is our itinerary so far;
19th December – Fly to Cork to spend Christmas with my family
26th Dec– Fly from Cork to Belgium. Spend 2 days in both Bruges and Brussels
3oth Dec – Get the train to Amsterdam and ring in the new year here!
1st Jan – Hop on the train to Germany. We haven’t decided exactly where to go yet, I would love to go back to Munich but it’s just too far. Our options are Frankfurt, Manheim, Karlsruhe or Stuttgart I think.
4th Jan – Travel to Luxembourg for two days.
6th Jan – Get the train to Paris. This is the place I am most excited for as I have never been before. I’m planning my Parisian Chic outfits already!
8th Jan – Get the train to Tim’s parents in Narbonne and spend a 5 days there, flying home on the 13th.
There is so much to research and plan! Usually when I go away there is one person in the group that does all of the research and finds the places to go while I tend to just hand over money and enjoy myself. I don’t think BF or myself are really the best organisers in the world so I’m going to have to try to be that person. If anyone reading this has been to any of the places we’re planing to go to I would love to hear some suggestions or recommendations!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged edamame beans, Family, Flying, Healthy eats, Home, home to cork, restaurants, SK&P, Travel on October 18, 2012| 1 Comment »
I’m going home to Cork today until Monday, flying at 8pm so I have to get through work first..
For breakfast I had Special K &Philly at my desk. I was onthe early shift (8am, ugh!) this week so fortunately there was no one around to give me strange looks while I ate this…
I met Lynn for lunch in the canteen and had a yoghurt with a ready made chicken lunch from Marks & Spencer. It was just a grilled chicken breast with roasted veg, was pretty tasty! I decied to have a small lunch as we were planning to get some dinner in the airport. I love airports! Which is strange as I hate flying…
As predicted, we hit the alcohol almost immediately after we left work. This is our ‘snack’ onthe Stansted Express.
Tim finishing off the wine before we went through security…
For dinner, we ate at Yo Sushi!. This is the first place I actually enjoyed sushi. We ate here in preparation for out trip to Japan so that I would get a taste for Japanese food. I usually get cucumber or avocade maki but the maki selection was pretty poor so I went for vegetable noodle dish . This was a little bland to be honest, but it’s an airport so expectations should be low when ordering food. I also had miso soup and edamame beans with some fruit for dessert.
My Mom and Nick came to meet us at the airport then we got to go home and see Dexter (my dog!). We all stayed up drinking tea – well beer for the boys – and talking until quite late. By midnight I was shattered and just needed my bed. BF was a bit more wrecked than me and actually fell asleep whilst using his phone…. I am going to be in so much trouble if he sees this, but it’s so cute!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Family, London Markets, Montezumas, Nick, Shopping, Spitalfields, Thai eats on October 8, 2012| 1 Comment »
It was Nicks last day in London and I decided to show him around Spitalfield Market and Shoreditch as it was close to his train. I fell in love with Spitalfield Market when I came to London house hunting about 3 years ago. I still hope I can live there some day! We ate at Scarlet Dot, a Thai / Indian restaurant in the market. It was about 3pm and super quiet, but I assume that was due to the time of day. They had a good lunchtime offer of bento boxes for £9.95. I had the Thai box with garlic chicken which was delicious, chicken satay, prawn crackers, salad and some fruit. Nick got a veggie Indian box which looked quite good.
We took a stroll around the market and stopped at Montezuma’s – the most amazing chocolate shop in London. I bring pretty much everyone who visits me to this chocolate shop, we don’t have anything like it in Cork. The flavours they do are so random but they work, chilli & lime, sea salt, apple crumble, and even Eton mess chocolate?! After a bit of browsing in Urban Outfitters, and Nick explaining the story behind how Joy Division got their name (don’t google it, you’d rather not know) it was time to say goodbye!
I think this is what I looked like when he was getting on the train
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Borough Market, Camden, Family, Home-cooked eats, London Exploration, London Markets, Nick on October 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Started the day with a not so healthy veggie breakfast from the local cafe then took Nicky on a walk to Borough market followed by some sightseeing in Camden. I love the little stalls and boutiques in Camden, I can always find cute bags and accessories here! After we got home BF made us a dinner of baked salmon with baby potatoes and rocket salad…then it was off for a night on the town. We ended up in The Roxy, in Soho and didn’t get home until about 5am. Had a lovely midnight snack of Doritos on the way home!
I want this dress for my work Christmas party!
How cute is this little boy!?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged BF, Expensive eats, Family, London Exploration, Nick on October 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Has such an amazing weekend with my brother. We picked him up on Friday off the train at Liverpool Street and went for something to eat at Bishopsgate Kitchen by the station. We ducked in here because it was raining but got quite lucky as the food was amazing! I ordered sea bass with lentils and kale and shared a bottle of Merlot with BF. Nick had spinach and ricotta cannelloni which he said was nice, if a little too cheesy. BF forgot his EpiPen so he ordered the safest thing on the menu – a starter of beef carpaccio which got a thumbs up. The only downside was that it was so expensive! £70 for the three of us with no starter or dessert…eesh!!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Family, Home Baking, New eats, Unhealthy eats on August 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Breakfast: Oreo, raspberry, white chocolate cheesecake cupcake. My teeth hurt from the amount of sugar in these things. I cannot seem to get a good picture of them. Basically, they are mini cheesecakes but the base of each is a whole Oreo, then poured on top is a basic cheesecake mixture with chopped Oreos and raspberries. I melted some white chocolate and drizzled that over too.
Went to Tortilla, a mexican restaurant for lunch with BF. I walk past here most days on my way for food and always love the delicious smells wafting out, but I’ve never eaten there for one reason: Food Pressure. I suffer from this so badly…basically when I have to decide what I want to eat in a rush or in front of people I become a ball of indecision and generally end up eating nothing, or making the WORST decision. I waste so much money and food by just pointing to things I know I won’t eat. If I could just order my lunch online, where I have all the time in the world then I would be much happier, and richer too!
In Tortilla you join a (massive) queue and once you reach the servers it’s like a burrito production line – you tell each server what you would like in your burrito/salad, they add it and pass it to the next server for the next set of ingredients. I took the plunge today, mainly because it was that or Itsu veggie sushi for the third day running and I need some variety on this blog. I ordered a vegetarian salad bowl with guacamole, sour cream and tortilla chips. I would have gone for meat but food pressure kicked in, triggering my stammer, and vegetarian is a lot easier to say than chicken! Definitely not regretting my decision, it was so fresh & delicious, and filling too. It looks just like a lot of lettuce in the picture but there are a lot of other tasty things at the bottom. They also sell frozen margaritas, if it wasn’t considered unacceptable to drink tequila at lunchtime I would have been right on one of those bad boys….
I ate a fruit salad from Waitrose for dinner, fresh pineapple, pomegranate and grapes. Had planned to cook something but got home late and spent a few hours Skyping my two sisters. Love you guys!!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Boring eats, Exercise, Family, Irish eats on August 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »
I was just finishing my breakfast of a cup of pineapple with pomegranate tea and BF pointed out that I hadn’t taken a picture of it. Shoot! Then just finished my lunch of sushi and edamame from Itsu and once again realised I had forgotten. I need to write it on my hand or something. I blame my forgetfulness on lack of sleep. I’m feeling completely wiped out today, trying to get work done but I can’t wait to go home to bed as soon as I finish here. Going to wrap up with vogue and tea.
Chocolate helps..
Having a very emo day today. Being home for so long has made me crave more family time. It’s my big sister Laura’s 27th birthday today and missing her an awful lot. She’s off in the Big Apple at the moment laying the groundwork for her future fashion career. NY is too far away altogether if you ask me, she really should just come to me in London.
Went for a cycle with my housemate Lynn this evening. Just arrived home and and am having snack before bed. Yes bed. At 9. I’m so tired!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Awesome eats, BF, Family, Ireland, Irish eats on August 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Quite hungover after the red wine last night – not as bad as my mom who can’t remember how we got home… We decided to have a proper hangover breakfast. White pudding, fried egg, sausages, bread and a cup of tea. Perfect.
Spent the day in Kerry, went to Muckross house and Kenmare. BF wanted a traditional Irish experience so we tried our best to deliver…
Went to a very Irish pub in Kenmare for our dinner. To start I had pastry with goats cheese, sundried tomato and olive tapenade, and for main I had pan fried cod with pesto mash. Another new food choice, very pleased with myself! BF had a very long awaited beef & Guinness stew.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged BF, Family, Healthy eats, Home-cooked eats, Ireland on August 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Working from my dads house today. The weather is amazing!! Had lunch out the back garden with BF. We knocked up some vegetable couscous quickly and relaxed out in the back garden. So relaxed, apparently it’s 24 degrees in London today though. I always seem I leave when the sun comes out.
Went to an amazing BBQ in my aunts house last night. The food and wine were delicious! I had chicken with salad and rice, and garlic bread. For dessert we made ice cream sundaes with raspberry ripple ice cream, covered in melted mars bars and crushed Oreos. Amazing! Afterward my cousin got his guitar out and we had a singsong until the early hours. It’s nights like that that make me so sad I don’t live in Cork anymore. You can have the best friends and boyfriends in the world but there is no replacement for your family.
Snap My Food 