Sunday, August 22, 2010

I have some stalkers…

IMG_0620 

There seems to be an abundance of swallows around my house and I often look out my window to see twenty or so of them there, sitting along the roof. However, they are getting cheekier!

IMG_0622

IMG_0624

And not just one, but loads!

IMG_0632  

It’s like a scene for Hitchcock’s The Birds! But I love looking out and watching them. It reminds me of when I was 10 in Fourth Class, when my class and I got to take turns to watch birds outside the classroom window thanks to out teacher being a keen bird watcher.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Local Tourist Part 1

Kat from thedemuremuse.com hit the nail on the head when she commented being a ‘local tourist’ on my Staycation post. That is what I have spent a good chunk of this summer doing, exploring my local surroundings and tourist attractions. It’s always something you aim to do but never get around to. It’s such a shame too, cos when people ask you what there is to do when visiting, you can usually rattle off a number of different places of interest to visit. Which naturally leads to their next question ‘Is it any good?’ and the reply is usually I don’t know, I’ve never been/haven’t been there since I was a child.

One of the most popular tourist attractions in Ireland is The Cliffs of Moher in Co.Clare. I’ve been there a few times before and all recent enough. But when a friend said she wanted to a do a boat tour along the bottom of the Cliffs, I leapt at the chance!

We left from Liscannor Bay, after getting a deal on the price of tickets and set off in the speed boat. I was glad I wore my jacket, as there was a good breeze when out in the water! We were lucky that it wasn’t raining though I say it would have still looked as beautiful as it did. To see the Cliffs from a different perspective was amazing, they looked almost majestic.

IMG_3334 

One of the most exciting parts of the trip was seeing the caves used the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince film.

IMG_3339 

Hopefully you can see from the above photo the colour of the water. It was incredible, a gorgeous emerald green that I desperately tried to capture on picture but couldn’t truly capture the brilliance of no matter how many pictures I took.

Another thing I loved about this tour were all the birds! Millions of them, on the cliff side, in the air and in the water. We tried to sneak up on some puffins on the water but they were wise and flew away.

IMG_3353

The trip was well worth it and I was easily go back again, especially if it was sunset as I think that would be even more beautiful.

IMG_3348

Friday, August 20, 2010

Cupcakes!

My sister passed her Leaving Certificate exams with flying colours this week and to celebrate, I decided to bake some cupcakes (not that I needed an excuse!).
IMG_0646
In honour of her wanting to study French in college, I made them red, white and blue.
IMG_0650
Madeira Queen Cakes with Vanilla Buttercream Icing
Makes: Roughly 12
Ingredients:
100g Caster Sugar
100g Butter
2 Medium Eggs, lightly beaten
Vanilla Essence
150g Self Raising Flour
75g Butter
150g Icing Sugar
Food colours if desired
1. Preheat oven to 180°C
2. Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy
3. Add half egg mixture and half flour and beat in.
4. Add rest of egg mixture and 2 drops of vanilla essence. Add in food colouring if using.
5. Fold in rest of flour until fully folded in. Add to cupcake liners and bake in oven for 10-15 min, until golden brown and a skewer is dry when placed into the centre and removed.
To make buttercream icing, beat icing sugar and butter together until mixture comes together to a smooth consistency, add vanilla essence and beat to evenly distribute.
To ice, wait until buns are cooled and apply icing with a spatula or using a piping bag and star shaped tip. And enjoy!
IMG_0649

Friday, August 13, 2010

Staycation!

So I have been away for such a long time! And there’s a reason. I had planned to write up some posts last weekend but as a last minute surprise, my boyfriend decided to whisk me away on a weekend break! We went to Dungarven, Co. Waterford, where two of my college friends are from. We met up with them on Friday night and had a few drinks (some more than others so it seems!).

IMG_0457              View from hotel window

Saturday was a lazy day of relaxing. Luckily the weather was very nice! The day was spent shopping, visiting King John’s Castle and walking around the town.

IMG_0475  Dungarvan Harbour

Sunday was another beautiful day. We went to the beautiful Mahon Falls and walked about half way up.

IMG_0488                          Mahon Falls

I also dipped my toes into the water! Next we went to Cahir Castle, Co. Tipperary. I had been there many times travelling back to Kilkenny on a Sunday night last summer and the castle always intrigued me. We managed to tag onto a tour and hear the interesting facts about the castle. After that, we went to eat some food.

IMG_0532                    Cahir Castle

Last but not least we visited The Rock of Cashel. Contrary to what I previously believed, there is no rock or rock monument there that is The Rock of Cashel, but rather it is the rock on which the old round tower, cathedral and other buildings stand now. We managed again to tag along with another tour, which just tickled the history nerd in me pink!

IMG_0577               Cathedral and Round Tower

After a busy day of touring, we travelled the long journey home. I really enjoyed my ‘Staycation’, I thoroughly recommend it. I can’t wait to explore other areas in Ireland I’ve never been to before!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Cupcakey Crafts

It was a friend’s birthday yesterday and I decided that I would craft half of her present. A lovely of cupcakes just like me, there was no way I could resist crafting some cupcakey items!

It had been a while since I had crafted anything, so I was a bit afraid I would go wrong. Still I enjoyed it and hopefully I’ll continue doing some crafting! I’m a bit of a Jack of All Trades, Master of None when it comes to crafting, I like trying lots of different ones but there’s nothing I’m really great at.

Here’s what I made!

IMG_0225Cupcake Shot Glass

IMG_0226Cupcake Card

I made some other cards too. They’re not all perfect but I think they’re cute! I really wanted to keep the shot glass for myself (even though I rarely use them these days!).

Some pretty pictures!

One thing I love about summer (once the sun is shining) is that there are so many pretty things to photograph! Here are some pictures I took yesterday when I went for a walk.





New Hair: A Week Later


So true!

This is pretty much how I've felt since getting my hair cut. Ok, so I haven't really been crying that much but I have lamented the loss of my lovely locks! I should be used to it now, but I'm not. Though I'm slowly getting my head around it and it's not so shocking anymore when I glance into the mirror. I do like how my hair looks so much healthier but it just doesn't seem like my hair.

(Not sure who drew this, so I can't credit anyone! I came across it on a forum, so thank you to that poster for showing it to me)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...