Rachel's Communion

Rachel made her communion yesterday and today I went to Viv's to take photos of her photogenic daughter. She is such a great subject to photograph, eyes as big as saucers, gorgeous silky hair and bags of personality. My favourite photo was the 4th out of about 350 images, mind you I have loads to choose from :)


Hi grandad Michael (*waves), thanks for checking in every now and then, hopefully you enjoy the read! BTW (by the way) don't copy the image of Rachel, its too small for printing. I'll make sure you get a printed copy :)

The Party of All Parties!

The party was a sea of Black and Orange... I wonder why?! We were all there to celebrate the "Orange One's" birthday. They came from far and near to eat, drink and be very merry. It really is a reflection on Tigger and what a friend she is! We loves her and thinks she is the business~!

Thank you Tiggs and Family for making us soooo welcome! Happy 40th!

Please forgive me Annamarie, Jan and Ber! I couldn't help it.

Happy Birthday Tigger

Happy Birthday to the bounciest person I know! And from the phone call this morning she is still bouncing! Hope you have a great day babes, see you friday for your "surprise" birthday :)

Happy 69th Birthday Mum

Did we not celebrate your 70th last year? Mind you, you still look amazing no matter what age you are! Eve wanted to celebrate her birthday by chilling at the Radisson. What is the draw to this hotel? The Rain Spa and Wellness Clinic! OMG!!!!! I lurve the Relaxtion Suite and the treatments are amazing. We chilled for hours, imagine i sat and did nothing for hours... gosh did i need that. We stayed the night and had dinner in the hotel, talk about luxury! So much so I've booked the girls for my birthday in July :)

Buddy being dramatic after he saw the bill - hee hee! Such a poser!

Me with my new hair cut and necklace, we made these later on at the table, each of the girls picked out the stone they liked, which i picked up in Galway on friday :)

Lousie looking photogenic as usual! Love this girl and hope she feels better soon (*cough cough)

Johnny and Phil (aka the love birds) on a well deserved break - you've been working too hard!

Friday we had our Soiree at Viv's and the food was amazing, as ever I was in great company but i certainly had way too much to drink. I payed for it the next day having to be up early. Today Louise was volunteering at a fair in Clare doing face painting. I went along to see what was going on and ended up spending 4 hours painting kids faces besdie her, at opne stage there was a ques of about 20 kids (and their parents). It was all for the nursing home where the fair was on. It was such fun that I would love to do it again!
Before I head off this is a LO i did during the week. I "interviewed" Shona about her favourite food and it ended up being the funiest conversation. The silhouette is her profile, using a torch and a dark room. I love the photos (my little actress). Gosh she gives me great material to scrap!

First Exhibition

Just back in door from my first photo exhibition :) I was excited all day, couldn't wait to see my photos up and i have to say it was fantastic!!! I've really been bitten by the bug, I'm already planning my next collection!!!!! :) :) Ber, Mary, Phil, myself and of course others from our club had our exhibit in Watch House Cross library . The room is perfect for showing work! The following are just a few photos of the gang :)

Ber and her wonderful Photos:

Photographer from Limerick leader, Mary and Ber with some of work the background :)

Phil and his fantastic photographs :

Shona was with me and I'm hoping that the LL photographer got a nice photo of us two with her holding a photo of herself :) Here are 3 of my Photographs at the Exhibit:

Anyways off to my labba to dream about giving up the day job and becoming a full time artist!:) Ciao x

*lurve*

lookie what i treated myself to :) i lurve my iPod nano sooooo much, i've loaded up a few of my favourite albums and downloaded an audiobook too, you can even watch movies on it, how cool is that! I love using out walking and would recommend it to anyone who loves music! Another little treat for myself to celebrate 2 months smoke free. I can't believe it, not one ciggie but you know what, i knew the day i stopped that i would never smoke again. Boy is the mind a powerful thing.

Happy Easter :)

February - A Feast or a Famine?

Definitely a feast but boy am i looking forward to the famine in March!

Photo Club - Back at the begining of the month a few of us from the photo club decided to go out for the day to try and capture some photos... It really was a blast, plenty of fresh air, plenty of photos and alot of getting to know each other! We plan on doing plenty of these during the rest of the year :)


These are some of my favourite shots from the day:


Season - I was looking out my kitchen wondow one very frosty morning when i noticed this stunning web which up close actually looks like crystals. Its funny how you can see a photo op anywhere and everywhere! I love the colour combination of the frosty web against the blue of the swing. i even love the rusty bolt just about in shot.



Another UL shot, imagine about 2 weeks ago there were daffodils!!! I couldn't believe it, even with the frost there are signs of spring everywhere :)


Frosty Sunrise in Barcelona, I woke up to this view last week, amazing to be looking out your kitchen window one day and then upon a misty morning in Spain the next.


Crafteire - Another wonderful event! This year I met up with most of the crafty girls and met some new ones too (*Hi Girls*). I was teaching again this year (2 classes), and hope the girls learned a thing or two from them. The kits used were scrummy (supplied by Crafteire). I loved the classes I signed up to but I wish I could of taken all the classes as each one was wonderful!


The only photos I took at Crafteire were of Tigger and Bronwen, as ever Tiggs was orange and black and look at her hair, how cool is that - she is my biggest fan - LOL! And look at the beautiful young woman Bron is becoming! There are 5 or so photos I loved of the two of them but the orange strip is a real Tigger photo.



Ber and I stayed until Monday, taking the day off work :) Sunday night dinner was sooooo funny with Gertie, Noelle, Bron, Louise, Tigger, Donna, Izzy, Ber and I (Itchy what? Ewwww) I haven't laughed like that is aaaaages, we all had tears rolling down our face and aches in our tummy's! Roll on the next time we all meet up - Crafteire 2009!


On the way home on Monday, Ber and I got caught in a Blizzard, at times it was a little scary but we were the only mad people on the road, so even if we lost control we wouldn't of hit an other car for at least a mile, lol. We decided to check out Birr Castle - and to take a break (30 km in one hour). The photo below captures the wonderful blue sky that lasted about 20 mins before it got dull and grey again. The snow was so bright we nearly got snow blindness - hee hee. I love the direction of the tree, pointing to the seat, to me there is something magical about this photo.

Right that was most of Feb and little of March... There is a Soiree this weekend, Ray's Birthday, and hopefully after that there might be a little famine :) but not for too long hopefully just enough to catch my breath :)

Partee Photos

Parteeeee

OMG!!! What a laugh, i don't think i danced so much in my life - more like moshing. I drank like a fish {do fish drink?} and have no hang over, just still a little light headed :) Not smoking wasn't a problem, i just drank and danced more :) Ber asked me a few weeks ago to go to a fancy dressed party with her and i'm so glad i did. Chris the birthday boy was such a sweetie even getting a cake for Dana and Ber whose birthday it was too.

I dressed up as an "old devil called Love", I borrowed Shona's devil horns, and wrote on a red T. I'd recommend wearing devil horns any day, we started off in the White House and this guy came running over to me as asked "are you a horny devil"... i said "i am now" hee hee! Oh and a photographer from the paper took our photo...

We moved onto Scotts Bar which has a great venue downsatirs for a party. As you can see Ber was a cowgirl and I love the photo of her drinking the beer wearing the mustache, can't wait to scrap it :) Right off to flake out on the couch for the evening, need my energy for tomorrow as a gang of us from the photo club are heading out for the afternoon with our cameras. Ciao for now. x.

Look what i treated myself to....

i had my eye on a writing desk 3 months ago in Instore, when i went to buy it in the new year it was sold {*sniff sniff} but they promised me they had an identical make in their store in town.... so weeks later {today} i trotted off to town at lunch time to purchase this gorgeous writing desk :)
It is designed for computers, its got a hole at the back for all the wires so it looks nice and neat :) I've really hated looking at all the wires for the last 5 years and now i don't have to!!!! oh i'm so happy! And i'll have it paid for in 3 months with the money i used to spend on smokes :)

I lurves it soooooooooooo much :@)

the girls are back in town

and they are back for good!

I have one happy little woman, her best friends are back in Ireland for good. They left last June for Scotland and Shona was so upset. But at Christmas their daddy got a full contract with the college so they've decided to stay here! The girls spent the afternoon with us, crafting, playing twister, watching dvd's and eating pasta. We really all had a great time and looking forward to doing it again really soon :)

Tags

I'm not a big fan of tags, usually because as soon as i get to read the post the 10 people i want to tag have already been tagged twice or three times. So in honour of all the people who thought of me when tagging and for those i never acknowledged back, this is for you! You Rock (which i've made myself), you don't need to send it on, this is for you.


(If you want to send on this "you rock" please feel free!)

"You Rock" because you're kind, funny, thoughtful, creative. My life is much more colourful with you in it. Thank you for making a difference!

Annamarie

Audrey

Caroline

Carrie

Evonne

Gertie

Kate

Lainey

Neasa

Noelle

Tigger

Soiree Sisters (and brothers too!)

Well last night was our first SS&B2 and it went down a treat. The food was scrummy, wine delis, conersation hilarious and twister was really difficult after a feed, LOL. The idea behind the SS&B2 is to try something different so i prepared a Moroccan Lamb Stew, and i have to saty it was gorgeous! (this might have to do with the taste buds not been covered in nicotine). I think it was Ray who asked for the recipe (wine goggles) so i thought i'd share it with anyone who want to try it out. I loved it so much i made it again on sunday and have it forzen to have during the week. The main ingredients are Lamb, sweet potatoes, couscous and spices. Enjoy!

Moroccan Lamb Stew – serves 4-6
Ingredients
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds crushed
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds crushed
• 3-4 small dried chillies
• a small bunch of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
• 2 thumb-sized pieces of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds stew lamb
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into 2.5 cm/
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
• 2 tins of tomatoes
• 1 stick of cinnamon or ½ teaspoon crushed cinnamon
• 1 bay leaves
• a handful of dried apricots
• 285ml (½ pint) boiling water
• 350g/12oz couscous
• 1 large bunch of fresh coriander and a few leaves of mint
• 4 tablespoons creme fresh

In a large bowl mix your cumin, coriander with the dried chillies, rosemary, ginger and a pinch of salt and pepper, stirring in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Add Lamb and toss to coat with mixture

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add lamb to pot and sauté until brown on all sides, about 4 minutes per batch. Remove and leave to one side.

Add the sweet potato, onion and garlic to the pan fry your veg for about 4 minutes until the onions are slightly soft. Add your tomatoes, give the pan a shake and place the meat on top. Add 2 wineglasses of water, the cinnamon, bay leaves and dried apricots, and stew for 1 hour 30 minutes.

Pour the boiling water over the couscous and allow it to be absorbed. Then fork the couscous through, season with salt, pepper, a lug of olive oil, cover with tinfoil and place in the oven for 5 minutes to steam.

Roughly chop the fresh coriander and stir it through the couscous just before serving. Serve with creme fresh with chopped mint leaves.

i love cash

while on MSN with Tigger and Evonne i cranked up the volume and listened to Mr Cash, that mans velvet voice is amazing i could listen all night! You can hear the passion and the pain in 9inch nails song Hurt, wowzer!

Last week of Got Paint :(

I've really enjoyed Emily's class over on Big Picture Scrapbooking. The handouts and audio messages were great, I never got a chance to do the "chat" thing as it was always in the wee hours (being an american site). The last class is up *sniff sniff* i'm going to miss learning new techniques, especially to do with paint. Its really encouraged me to look at being creative from a different light. I love the painting and I'd love to just go mad with the paint but in a bigger scale.... like 6ft x 4ft (mind you i'd need a box to stand on - hee hee)

I really feel i've got paint :)

Day 3/4

Day 3: After Curves Ailis and I went food shopping, we were thinking something fresh and delis for supper. Salmon, baked potatoe and spinach.. yummy, oh and a small glass of vino :) After dinner as we were chatting Ailis pointed out that I was playing with my gloves... pulling at them, rolling them .... without thinking i was trying to keep my hands busy. it was so funny. next thing i knew i was wearing the gloves... i didn't even notice putting them on :) whatever was happening it was working!

Day 4: This week in work has been difficult, i was thinking today that i haven't smoked during a really stressful time. I didn't go to Curves today, my body was exhausted and needed a break! I had a lovely brown bread salmon sandwich at lunch and salmon with pasta for tea.... i think i'm all salmoned out, LOL.

Tonight Shona and i headed out for a walk and to buy the ingredients for saturday's nights dessert, then my little helper and i spent the next hour making the most unusual dessert. Can't wait to have a slice :) I'll post up the recipe after the weekend. As a treat tonight i soaked, scrubbed and lathered in cream the soles of my feet, ahhhhhhh bliss oh i'm so worth it!

Day 3

I think today has been a little easier!? Ok maybe not, I still have this feeling that my limbs are about to fall off, my stomach has constant knots, I feel I need to itch but can't find the scratch.... this has been the hardest thing I've ever done! But do you know what????...... I don't smoke! I'm a non-smoker!!!

Day 1: 24 hours of completley thinking about smoking (or not smoking). Went to Curves, drank loads of water & herbal tea, chewed chewing gum, went for a walk after tea, went to bed early and read a book about de-stressing (i used smoking to de-stress). Awake 5.30am... day 2....

Day 2: The cravings were a little more difficult to deal with today. Went to Curves again at lunch time, just to keep myself busy. Was up really late last night 2am, awake 6am.

Day 3: This morning I felt "wow! I don't even want a smoke, i'm not even thinking about smoking..." then i got out of bed! LOL! Eating rice cakes while I type... yuck its like airy cardboard. Anyways off to Curves after work, getting some ingredients to try for my experimantal food for the smoke free soiree on sasturday night.... I'm thinking tarts for the tarts, hee hee!!!

Scrap West Class

This week Scrap West we've tried something a little different. Each of the SW-ies is going to do a tutorial each week with full instructions!! This week was my little 8x8 LO called resolutions... and no photo! A great way to scrap lists!

The wooden wine box is my paint box and I decided last night that it too needed a little paint, so using techniques from Emily's Got Paint class, I began paint! Didn't know where to stop, hee hee! This was great fun!!! Nothing is safe now - mwhahahahahahaha!

Got Piant? 2

Week 2 of the Got Paint? class got off to a start last night, the techniques this week is using stamps and paints on your LO. I went a little (lmao) over board with the stamps last night but loved getting messy. I finding the class very liberating and was looking for inspiration to get back painting... I think I may have found it!!! The photo was taken on the 1st of Jan while out for a walk in UL. If you are ever over there check out the Living Bridge... it actually moves, so cool :)

Soiree Sisters (and brothers too!) is part of my new year resolution. The "gang" have decided to have a monthly get together. We take turn in hosting one of our drink & craic fueled evenings. We gotta try something new food wise (and drink wise if we're not driving), plenty of food, fun and laughter :)

Right, off for a little lunch and then get ready for the Scrap West class tonight.

Have a lovely weekend :)

We've had a ball!!! Mind you I'm glad to get back to the routine food and exercise wise - did too much of one and not enough of the other! LOL! Here's what we were up to on Christmas Day (thanks to Annamarie showing how to do the mosaic thingie over on Scrap West). We had a fantastic time at Lou's with all the gang :)

For the new year I've enrolled in a 4 week class called "Got Paint?" over on Big Picture Scrapbook. I used the first class for this weeks Scrap West theme called Reflections. It is the beginings of an Art Journal using paint techniques. I'm loving it and painted for 4 hours last night, its great being arty :)

Check out Scrap West next friday when we do something totally different..... what do you think about a class a week????

Have a great weekend darlinks!