Smithfield Dublin, The Place To Be

Its not often that I am anywhere outside the main city center when I head up to the big shmoke but recently I find myself hanging around Smithfield more for various reasons. I was dragged along to a flea market in one of the big empty blocks that are right beside the luas stop and found lots of really lovely things to lust after and take photos of. I think retro and vintage are amazing and love that sort of stuff, but man things can have an unbelievable price tag! 

Some of the highlights of the day included spotting Dustin the turkey in a corner, seeing amazing funky lamps and revamped Mary and Joseph statues that I wanted so bad! I'm not religious in the slightest but they were so colourful and one was holding a banana! Le sigh, one day... 

Make sure and keep an eye out for pop up gallery's, hang outs and markets. You might stumble across something amazing like that perfect vintage dress you've been trying to find forever or just a cool place to spend the day with friends.

Just down the road from that I found my new favourite cafe in Dublin, Third Space. They have a great menu to choose from, a seriously chilled out atmosphere and nice staff. Theres book shelves that you can pick a book to read from or replace it with an old book you've read instead and take a new one home - cool idea! They had gorgeous candle lit lighting and theres even a space for small children to play and a chalk board to doodle on, so all mammies can breathe a sigh of relief that they aren't going to get 'dirty looks' if their children want to have a bit of a play about.  

I got a big pot of tea for €2 and a huge chocolate chip muffin for €2.20. One of my friends got the same and another had a lovely toastie cheese and ham sambo, I was jealous when I saw it! I'll be going back soon and wouldn't have a problem hiding in a corner with one of their books for an hour or two. You can find them on Facebook to get directions - happy hanging out!

To My Gran, Happy Birthday

Not my normal kind of post, but today marks a very special day. Today is my grans birthday. She is the lady I have been named after, shes helped to raise and mind me. She taught me how to bake and how to tie my shoe laces. Even at 21 she is still teaching me, god help the poor woman!

Like many people, I never properly take a moment to fully appreciate the friends and family that I'm so lucky to have in my life and my gran is a big part of me. We fight and argue, but bond over The LateLate Show and the price of rashers in Lidi. We disagree about how to cook them, but we make up for it by giving each other big hot cups of coffee. We can both natter for hours about the weather and if its good drying today or if its too cold for the flowers to grow. And we both love a good gossip and warm fluffy socks.

My gran isn't 21 anymore, but she is an amazing woman who never stops and never lets anything get in the way of what she wants to do. Anyone who walks into the kitchen is met with tea and all the cooking and baking she has done that day. She is the heart and soul of my family and everyone loves her. I just wanted to share with you her glass house. My gran loves all different types of plants and special interest in cacti. She has green fingers, unlike me! So here is her little garden, all the pots, chairs and doors she even painted herself. My gran has a creative touch that always amazes me and an eye for things you'd never think of, like turning the blocks (below) into flower pots - tumblr move over, grans in town!

Make sure and click on the photos to enlarge them to get a better look at all the little details she has added to the flowers

I doubt she will ever see this (and if she does there could be murder!) but I couldn't not share with you such a special lady and granny. Happy birthday gran x

The Catch Up

Hi, hello. Yes I am here. I haven't posted in a little while and I thought I'd have a bit of a catch up with you all. I think recently the best way to keep an nosy eye on what I'm up to is to follow me on Instagram as I've been most active there. 

You know, the world is a big scary place sometimes and it can be hard to get your head around it when your sat behind the safety of your computer screen blabbering away about a face mask or a new blog your loving at the moment. But I sat and thought about the people that are potentially reading this blog (or not!) and started comparing myself to other people. Next thing you know I'm curled up in bed rocking back and forth under the covers hoping I'll never again have to face the world. I'm not sure if its a type of anxiety, but whatever it is I'm not letting it get in the way any longer then it has. 

Heres a few things that have been happening lately that I've snapped and want to share with you all. Posts will be back to normal from today and I've lots of hauls, reviews and rambles I can't wait to share with you all! For example, I got a new tattoo!! I know, I'm overly excited about it. I dyed my hair a few colours and my Halloween giveaway is closed and a winner was picked by random selection by rafflecopter. 

Halloween bun that I made loads of with my gran/ Lush Sex Bomb bath bomb/ My not so scary Halloween make up (and dyed hair!)

Chocolate muffin on a really nice girly day out/ We caved the pumpkins!/ Dodie wanted a bath too 

 

I went to IKEA and got overexcited about the teddies/ Gran made yet even more buns/ My Halloween giveaway is over and won!

My blue, green, pink and prrple hair/ Paint your own Santa present that I bought/ Totally addicted to coffee again

See you sooner then you think x

Life Makes Me Happy

I share so much of my life with so many wonderful people, I'm really lucky to have them all. And so in this post I want to share with all of you what makes me happy in life. For one being able to blog about all the things I like and getting to talk to others because of it give me excited butterflies just thinking about it! Its strangly calming being able to make photo collages or spending ages thinking hard about how to tell you all about a product. 

Instead of going left to right, I'm going down in rows as its easier to follow! 

Row one: Onion rings that are to die for, genuinely have never had nicer ones. (post here) / My new flower tattoo is my latest piece and I'm delighted to finally have it. (post here) / A sneaky snap of myself and Stephen, no doubt giving out to the poor guy. / Nivea factor 50+ from one of the first hot days of summer, I went to the beach with friends and it was great. / Catness stretched out  asleep in the sun.

Row two: The lovely Stephen who is too cute! / Dodie in a rare moment of staying still long enough to photograph / Some beautiful flowers my mom gave my gran.

Row three: The side street Skinflint is on (post here) / My handmade birthday scarf (post here) / Andrew and me at my birthday dinner / Thomas driving looking posh / One of my most proud blog photos of late, all in line. (post here) 

Row four: My friend Siofra and her amazing hair / Feeding our pigeons in the sunshine / Some of my besties who came to my sisters wedding (post here) / Catness in her normal spot, taking up the whole couch! / Van, me and Stephen in Bobos (post here)

Row five: Me being a bit mad. My friends chinos were a cool turquoise colour  / Lush face mask that I really liked (post here) / 21st birthday balloons that my mom got for me (love her for the effort she put in)  / Me and Ciaran on a fo cow couch at my birthday dinner / blackberries I took some photos of on a walk near my house.

Thank you for all your support and reading my blog. If your new, welcome! As always ladies and gents, have a fab day x

Have you entered my Halloween giveaway yet?

The Wedding Party

I don't normally talk about my family here, but my sister getting married was kind of a big deal, and so I thought you would all like a sneaky look at a few snaps of the day. I'm not going to add in personal photos of my family, just because their not too happy about being on the internet (the big scary place that it is!) But here are some highlights, Enjoy :)

A lovely example to set all the children.. Not. Everyone had handed me gifts and wine to leave inside and this was the outcome! Again, some of my besties here. Side note, My top is from Asos, my shorts from Dunnes and the rest from the inner depths of the back of the wardrobe

Overall it was a beautiful and somewhat stressful day! The weather was perfect, everyone really enjoyed themselves and looked great. My sister, mother and grandmother really put in so much work and the results were amazing. When it got dark the wonderful day time flowers and colourful bunting was hidden but it turned into a wonderland of fairy lights and bright candles in jars. I can't believe we are all grown up now and I am the last one in the family to be free and single!