keep the good things going

These shots were taken while England was still basking in the heat of the Indian summer and I lost whole afternoons tooling around London town with my sun hat and camera.

I don't know how, but Autumn passed me by in the rustle of a leaf. I swore I had it, but before I could say "pumpkin spice latte", it was gone ;)

Now here I find myself staring at the ass end of November and the mercury has sunk to below 8°.  

 Frozen fingers and bottle-warmed beds are now the flavour of the day.

 I've got a thirst on for thick wooly tights, Christmas get-togethers, tree decorating with Vince Guaraldi band and much anticipated dustings of snow powder. Also I'm making mental notes to stock up on mulled wine and gingerbread ingredients and surviving the winter months via self-induced food coma!

The season is almost upon us, friends, and it has a habit of keeping things sweet and light.

 I hope yours is a happy one x

living heavy//travelling light

Hello again.

Excuse, if you will, the chorus of crickets that have consumed this blog these last few months.

Truth be told, I almost never made my way back here and even now it feels a little like I'm trying on an old dress that doesn't quite fit any more.

For a while there it seemed like life and it's wicked sense of humor had been pulling some of it's best moves to trip me up and send me out of step with the music. I let a few key events get the better of me until I literally stooped beneath the sad & sorry personal rain cloud I was totin'.

My bad run culminated in the death of my beloved Nana Kitty on Sunday who was, and will ever be, my hero. 

Coming back to Ireland for the funeral has slid all of my bad luck into a new perspective and I realize that any heart sickness I might feel now will somehow, over time, evolve into the footnote to a new, and happier, tale.

During a particularly rotten week when I was ready to crack some skulls my family whisked me away with them for a few days in Weymouth on the South coast of England. It's incredible what a dose of sea breeze, fresh, salty lungfuls of air and several rounds of tea and crab sandwiches can do for the bluest of the blues.

So here's to wiping the slate clean, picking myself up after yet another tumble, and finding comfort in old dresses.

surfs up!

Here are just a few iPhone shots I took during my road trip to Cornwall with Free People last weekend!

I kinda rued never getting my driver's license because the minute I saw the turquoise VW camper the girls had rented I wanted to hop behind the wheel and drive it straight into the sunset! What an awesome set of wheels!!

The trip was a total blast and I had such a great time making lots of memories, sunburnt noses and shoulders, and a few awesome new friends along the way.

Full guest post coming very soon over on the BLDG blog.

I'll keep you posted >.<

I'm so glad that you're here! Why not hitch your wagon to Stars in Jars?
>.<

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free people road trip

Let me see....spectacles, testicles, wallet+ watch.

Ok, I think I have everything >.<

No sooner have I arrived here in London and I'm hitting the road again!

I could have done cartwheels on the moon when this exciting opportunity came up a few weeks ago.

To celebrate their UK launch, clothing brand Free People are hosting a weekend long road trip to the pretty seaside town of Newquay in Cornwall... and they invited me to come down and cover the event for their blog!

Wild stories of VW camper vans, live music and beach yoga classes have my heart skipping beats and I'll probably burst with excitement on the train down there today. To even be asked is such a huge honour and I'm stoked that this brand are launching in my homeland~ I love losing myself in their collections, they always stir the wildness in me.

If you fancy following the fun in Cornwall this weekend you can do so on instagram: #fproadtrip

Back soon!

(with sand in my jorts probably ^.^)

sunday's child

At 4 months old our Jess is a detergent ball playin', gift wrap helpin', window washer watchin', growlin', teethin', toilet trainin', foot lickin' dose of love.

I've been a forever dog person, long, long before we ever even owned one (I was around 13 when we got our first Westie, Peppy), I've always had an affinity with dogs. 

I think it's because they are capable of displaying and responding to affection and me being a very tactile person, I just adore the love they are capable of giving.

And one look into those deep liquid brown eyes and you can have a whole conversation with your pooch. There's a wealth of understanding in those eyes of theirs, sounds strange but fellow dog owners will agree!

My ultimate breed of choice would be a British bulldog. Named Buddha.

Not that I over-plan or anything ^.^

Yesterday we had some family over to celebrate my Aunt's 80th birthday~ I love this snap of me with my Pops. His belly laugh is one of the best sounds in the world ^.^

I made my speciality dessert; a boozy Bailey's chocolate cheesecake for the event, a sinful indulgence which is made only on special occasions.

  My Mom and I definitely do not orchestrate special occasions just so we can make the cheesecake. Oh no.

I was over the moon when Artful Blogging magazine asked if they could use my blog header in their 'Banners We Love' feature in their Summer issue.

Today I'm reading it curled up with leftover cheesecake and good strong chai tea.

I've been asked a few times about who designed my header, while I came up with the initial design I was helped by the lovely Savannah at Oh So Pretty to tweak it and bring it into fruition. I highly recommend her for anyone looking to design their own blog template~ she was wonderful to work with >.<

little family

Friday nights are for friends and food, bars that allow music requests, painting the boys lips with lipgloss and laughter.

Big, big belly laughs that spill tears from the eyes and hurt the stomach muscles.

We started at the coffee shop and moved on to a local haunt to celebrate two of our dear co-workers departure from our school. 

We had a strange diet of squid and sausage, beer from the tap and requests ranging from Christina Aguilera to The Kinks.

I love my sweet-spirited Noonas (sisters) so much~ and damn but aren't they gorgeous??!

the sunday slowdown

Is it almost Spring yet?

I have a hankering for flowering baby buds and warm window panes and

I'm tired of fending off colds that are coming for me left, front and back!

This morning I scooped up my book, pens and writing paper and escaped to the coziness of the coffee shop for a few hours of reading and writing therapy.

Works a charm on me every time.

My soul is craving some good outdoors time, but for now the snow and the frost have me running for cover every time I venture out of the apartment.

I have to remind myself the deeper we move in to February the closer we inch toward Spring and warm air and good changes.

When I think back to Spring last year, when I was home at my parents house in Ireland, taking long walks every day, spotting wild horses in the fields and taking photos of old churches, I realize now just how happy a time that was for me.

As much as there is a hermit in me (incidentally, The Hermit was one of the first cards I pulled at my Tarot reading) who loves the hibernation involved in Winter, there is another part of me that loves the freedom and call of the outdoors that Spring offers.

I hope that Old Man Winter is being sweet to you, he is a charming old wizard after all...but I am ready for a little bit of change ^^

the sunday slowdown

What to do on a cold and cloudy Sunday?

This morning we threw open the windows, pumped good psychedelic rock through our speakers and gave our little apartment a deep, hard clean.

It's such a good feeling to put your feet up at the end of a good soul-cleansing purge of dirt and dust bunnies!

Later at the hair salon I ended up cutting bangs on a whim.

Damn me and my whims, I always think bangs are a good idea at the time but I'm the worst at maintaining them and they inevitably end up being bobby-pinned to the side of my head.

This evening I blew the dust off my baking trays and made these sea salt chocolate chip cookies from Ambitious Kitchen.

Holy. Mama.

I want to track down whoever thought of pairing chocolate with sea salt and kiss them on the mouth and that's all I'm gonna say about that! 

I kind of got into my kitchen groove after that and decided to pull out the ginger and spice and everything nice and boil up a pot of spicy Indian Chai.

Right now the apartment is steeped in the rich smells of sweet and salty brown butter cookie dough and boiling cardamom.

Blissed.

I hope everyone had a warm, weird and wonderful weekend ^^

the sunday slowdown

The weekend shaped up to be a pretty good one ^^

The weekend was a birthday celebratin', snail mail writin', stationary buyin' kind of a weekend.

It was a music + reading friday, a curry + good company saturday and a pajama + pizza sunday.

My yoga membership expired a couple of weeks ago and my muscles have been really missing it.
This morning I did some lovely deep lower back stretches and managed to set free some little pockets of bad energy that had snuck in and were just hanging out back there...
So long!

I bought a set of darling vintage postage stamp stickers yesterday which set my idle hands into action today and I sat and wrote reams of letters and crafted a string letter with pizza and netflix and a sleepy boy by my side.

There's something so sweet about a Sunday's pace don't you think?

monday morning ear candy// tried + true

Sometimes there's only one remedy for when the mornings are gray and freezing, Christmas has been put away and the apartment has lost a bit of its former cheer and you've got a full day of energetic kids after a bad night's sleep to look forward to...

These are all my go-to songs on my i-pod~ most of them reside in the 'top 25 most played' section as they get circulated so often. Every one of these songs is guaranteed to snap me out of a mood rut, get my heart thumping and my lips moving and my toes tapping.

Won't you have a listen?

                                       

Another great remedy for the cold Monday morning blues is arriving at school early to find my order of Anais Nin's diary has arrived and having half an hour to myself to  pore over it with a hot chocolate ^^

that's the jingle bell rock

On Friday my beautiful Korean co-workers and I went out for a staff Christmas dinner and drinks. We ate delicious Korean BBQ pork with a side of merriment and cheer which ended up in an impromptu house party of sorts back in my apartment. 

We are usually too busy during our work days to stop and really get to know each other and it was so special being able to connect and get on so well with these people who I have worked side by side with these past 8 months.

Christmas just has this way of bringing people together, organised parties, last minute decision parties or parties for no good reason at all.

I cherish this time!