Moving Day

So today is moving day - seven years of Limerick and two years of that wonderful house.

Goodbye... Halloween Parties

Goodbye... Brew?

Goodbye... A jarful of Penguins

Goodbye... Manny in our spare room

Goodbye... movies projected onto the sitting room wall

Goodbye... en suite bathroom

Goodbye... wonderfully huge wardrobe

Goodbye... 20MB broadband

Goodbye... to so many memories

Internet relations between our router at home and my laptop are not particularly good so for now it is goodbye to you too. I'll be popping back into blog-land about once a week or so.

Hugs

Burning The Midnight Oil

I'm here in the office, working away on another chapter of my thesis, hoping to have something substantial to show my supervisors in the morning. 

Wish me luck.

I used to do all my best work late at night when I was slogging away through my Final Design Project. I think it was mainly because of the peace and quiet. I was never one of those students who had to have a stereo on in the background while studying for my Leaving Cert, or a set of headphones plugged in while in the library. In fact, most of the time, if you saw me with my headphones on it was just to block out some of the noise going on around me. 

Have you ever noticed that people are less likely to bother you if you have headphones on? 

Pretty Boy Friday

And to keep with my True Blood obsession Alexander Skarsgard will be today's Pretty Boy

Pretty Girl Friday

 

This weeks brings up a little closer to Season 4 of True Blood so in honor 

I give you Anna Paquin as today's Pretty Girl Friday 

 

Things I Love Thursday

Wind - Now I know that a lot of people, especially fashion bloggers, are not very fond of really windy days (all that blowing about makes it pretty hard to get good outfit shots). But to me there is no bigger delight than listening to the wind howl around the house while I'm curled up inside, working. Even when I have to head out to college I love taking my hair down out of it's ponytail and letting it blow about in the wind, feeling all wild and free.

Freckle-itious - If Beyonce can have her own word then I think it's only right that there is a word put out there to describe how gorgeous people look with freckles. Our fleeting moment with some sun a few weeks back has seen a surge in the reappearance of freckles on our Irish skin. My freckles almost completely disappear every winter and reappear with a vengeance once I go back out into the sun, and my freckles aren't just a cute smattering across my nose. Oh no, I am decorated with a sweep of freckles all down the left side of my face and across my left shoulder. There is nothing symmetrical about me. 

Honourable Mentions - when my dad calls over just to say hi and to see if he can help me move out some of my stuff early (it's an hour drive - love you dad), an ice cold can of 7up straight out of the fridge, re-reading my wish book, throwing out stuff that has no meaning to me anymore, lemon curd milkshakes, finally hand washing my studded green jumper and getting to wear it again, receiving wedding invitations in the post (complete with wedding stamps), reading 'The Girl Who played With Fire' and loving it, King of Skin from Lush - my skin feels amazing

Wednesday Wishes

Today my wish is going to be for...

... a happy and pleasant weekend spent with my family.

What's your wish this week?

The Post College Survival Kit

This morning, much to my surprise and delight, I found an email in my inbox from the wonderful and talented Sarah Von alerting me to the fact that I won a spot on the PCSK ecourse from a Freckled Nest giveaway that I had entered.

Woop woop. 

This couldn't have come at a better time. Right now I'm in the process of starting to write up my Masters thesis, moving back home to save on rent, applying for some sort of relevant job to my degree and research, and generally trying to get on with my life and become a grown up. I think I'm going to need all the help I can get.

Check out the press release for the course.

College teaches us a lot of important things  (keg stands! kafka! last-minute cramming!)  but it doesn't necessarily prepare us for real life.  Frustrated by the lack of real-world preparation she received at college, blogger Sarah Von decided to rectify this situation by creating an ecourse that would teach twenty-somethings all the things that college didn't.  Combining forces with uber-bloggers Sally McGraw, Alex Franzen, Sarah Storer and Marie Jacobs, the team crafted a course that explains 401k, leases, loan consolidation and quarter-life crises in comprehensible, engaging language.  Yes!  Such a thing is possible! 

The eight-week course covers six areas - Cash Money // Work It // Apt., Sweet, Apt. // Friends & Lovers // Style, Srsly // Existential Crisis Management // Post College Survival Story Interviews.  Students get 16 weeks of access to a private blog, a 60-page work book, a private message board, four Vokle webinars with the instructors and heaps of support.

A Fashion Classic #2

Three words... 

... black leather jacket

Everyone (and their mother) really should have this classic staple in their wardrobe. Toughen up a sweet and girlie outfit - check! Cover up a little on a chilly evening - check! Add some texture to an all black ensemble - check! Look like a rock star - check!

The off duty model wears it, the yummy mummy wears it, the rock chick wears it, everybody wears it... so if everybody is wearing it why should you? You're possibly thinking to yourself 'I'm not a sheep, I don't follow trends' but this is no trend. The black leather jacket has stood the test of time, from James Dean to Agyness Dean, and it is still going strong.

I will hold my hand up and admit that I am a late comer to the BLJ, mostly because I wouldn't buy a cheap one and I couldn't afford an expensive one, but I got lucky in this years January sales and snapped up the jacket below. If  you can just imagine this 'Jennifer' leather jacket in black you are onto a winner. I nabbed it from the most unlikely of places, Monsoon, and even though it was almost half off I nearly fainted at the price.
 

So, are you a BLJ girl or do you prefer a different classic cover up? Let me know.

Pretty Boy Friday

Like a fine wine... Leonard DiCaprio just gets better with age.

Just to note, any thing before Blood Diamond doesn't count in my Leo barometer. 

Pretty Girl Friday

Ever since I've watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon I've had a crush on Zhang Ziyi. 

What a stunning looking woman.

Fifty People, One Question - Ireland

This is a wonderful short film shot in Galway city as part of the Fifty People, One Question series. It really makes you think...

I'm not going to give away the question before you watch the clip below but my answer will be in the comments section over the next few days.

Things I Love Thursday

Sweet And Juicy - How can anyone resist fresh fruit when the weather gets warmer? Well... cause some of it doesn't taste nice, but the rest... it tastes amazing. Yes = apples, strawberries, any melon except watermelon, pears, bananas, pineapple, mango, rhubarb. Meh = plums, peaches, nectarines, blackberries. Nah = watermelon, raspberries, blueberries, kiwis, currants, citrus fruits. What are your favourites? Any recommendations for something new for me to try? 

Pretty Scents - I'm not harping on about being stuck at my desk all this week and grading exams I swear but this week I really appreciate having scented candles on my desk to make it all a little more pleasant. Even though I open the window from time to time the room still gets kinda stuffy but my Knackered Cow candles from Cowshed are really doing a wonderful job to keep me focused.  

Childhood Lost - My desk is right beside the window in my room. I can feel the sunshine on my back as I work. I can also listen to the rain when the day turns showery, but yesterday I spent most of the day listening to kids playing out on the street. Their yells and laughter was so soothing. It really brought back memories of my childhood and the games we used to play outside. I really think that the generations that have followed ours are missing out just a little because of how easily accessible digital entertainment and how often it is chosen over simple playing in the fresh air.

Honourable Mentions - Kimberley biscuits (thank you Raymy), friends who come home from college and make me tea just cause they saw a post on  Facebook, red glitter toenails (although I know that it will be a nightmare to get all the glitter off), seeing how long my hair is when it's straightened - almost half way down my back, thank you very much, still pinning away to my hearts content, THIS post from Pacing The Panic Room made me laugh out loud, I love HER hair and scarf so much, my first punnet of strawberries this season - so sweet and juicy, THIS video kept me entertained for quite a while - Nick Pitera is so talented