A sunny day in Dublin and a Confession

A sunny day in Dublin by fromkate 

This morning looks promising. After (surprise, surprise) the wettest and coldest July in Ireland for 40 years, this Thursday  the skies seem to be defending themselves against all the complaints and have brought some much needed brightness to the streets. Rain is forecast for later, but at the moment it feels like it might not come and I have high hopes that picking up a bubble tea on my way into work and wearing open-toe sandals and sunglasses could be the order for the day. 

You might have noticed that the blog has been a little quiet over the past few weeks. To tell you the truth, I'm still finding my voice over here. It feels like there's so much to write about and so much that has already been said that I keep feeling a bit foggy about where I want to take this space, what I want to write about, what to engage with, what to draw attention to, and what to discuss. I don't want to try too hard to form a niche identity and impose it on this blog because I'm sure that (for me) that will feel forced and insincere, so I'm planning on flying by the seat of my pants for a while... and I really do hope that you'll stay around for the ride.

 

Tuesday Blues

A couple of Instagram photos from the last few days: (1) watching rowers glide down the Liffey on a rare sunny day, and (2) rocking my new, watermelon pink, skinny jeans.

I'm just back from a lovely few days away in the south of Ireland. The main reason for the trip was to go to the evening party for a wedding, but we ended up having so much unplanned fun once the wedding part was over. On Sunday we ate a lazy brunch of delicious french toast and played scrabble while the rain fell outside and we sat in a cosy beach house. Despite the many, many heavy showers, we braved the outdoors to visit a lighthouse, and explore a beautiful lake where I stroked a (non-poisonous) jellyfish, watched crabs and rock-fish fight over limpets and sucked the sugar from fuchsia flowers. Have you ever done that? it's addictive. Last night we headed back up to Dublin on the train where I got stuck into my next Victorian read - Dracula...scary business. When we got back we even splashed out on an Indian takeaway, but now I find myself with the Tuesday blues. It might be because I have no exciting plans in the immediate future to look forward to, and I'm also a little anxious as I might be moving soon (eep!) I'm curious; what do you do when you have the blues? I'm going to go for a run, chat on the phone with my Mum (she always says the right things), eat some of my favourite food (a big warm bowl of pasta) and watch the Marley documentary. Fingers crossed that does the trick for now! Hope you had a fun weekend.

Donegal Snaps

I'm excited to show you a few pictures from my weekend away on the west coast of Ireland. The weather was beautiful and the temps were soaring at 26C (for Ireland that's incredibly hot). I even bared my pale legs for the first time in about two years, it felt so liberating! The wedding was held in a small seaside village in the very north of Donegal, and the beach there was beautiful. The sea was all kinds of different blues and turquoises, and the sand was warm under my feet. The next day before heading back home I went up to Malin Head; the most northern point of Ireland (bottom photo). The landscape is exquisite, you feel like you're on top of the world up there, and on such a beautiful day it was a big treat to visit.

New Year Greetings

Image Credit

Hope your New Year's Eve was a champagne filled, glittery hatted, trumpet blowing affair. I caught up with friends, and we spent the countdown playing the post-it note party game where you have to guess the name stuck on your forehead. I was Germaine Greer! There was plenty of red wine, a few sips of fizz, and these homemade peppermint mocha cookies were delicious. I ate three in a row.