25 Before 25: Try Surfing

I’ve been quiet last week, mainly because I was busy playing tourist with my friends K&K. I had a great time bringing them places and trying new things. And one of those things was surfing!

I’ve wanted to try it for a while, considering I live by the sea and know several people who surf, it’s a bit of a joke that I had never tried until now! We went with Lahinch Surf Experience to rent our equipment (they also do lessons but since K&K can surf they said they’d teach me). And while they did a great job with that I unfortunately just couldn’t stand. No matter how hard I tried. And boy did I try. I did manage to stay on waves though and it was one of the greatest feelings! I can only imagine how much more intense it is standing up. It definitely makes me want to go again and hopefully I won’t leave it a long time before heading out again. Beware though, this really makes your arms ache the next day!

YouTube Pick of The Week

I decided to share some of my favourite YouTube videos at the moment, things that have tickled my fancy during the week!

First up is a video from Irish beauty blog What Katie Did. Katie shows us an easy way to get the Imelda May quiff, something I’ll definitely be trying out in the future!

TV3 show psychic readers from midnight and while I’d heard about them and saw some things on Twitter, I hadn’t heard of Flathan. Until I read this blog post from Beaut.ie. Flathan is a TREAT! Definitely worth watching some of his videos for his outfits alone.

Film of the week has got to be The Dark Knight Rises. This video I found when a friend posted it on Facebook, a cross between modern day Batman and 60s Robin. Brilliant!

Another hot topic these days is 50 Shades of Grey. You can’t look anywhere without seeing something about it! This video has some of the naughty bits included (and the writing is so bad that it’s hysterical). Word of warning though, potentially NSFW.

Recreating a Beyonce video is great but want to make it more interesting? Add a snuggie! This guy gets the video so so close to the original, you can watch a split screen of the two here.

And to round it off it’s a video of Micky Flanagan which came up in conversation when visiting my cousins in London.

Purple Rain

A post dedicated to my purple nails and purple hair!

During the week, Beaut.ie featured some new Rimmel nail polishes and I fell in love with Marshmallow Heaven. I knew I had to have it. So when I saw they were 2 for £4 in London I went ahead and picked up Marshmallow Heaven and Disco Ball.

Marshmallow Heaven in natural light with no flash

Marshmallow Heaven topped with Disco Ball (Natural,no flash)

Same as above with flash

Also I knocked off one of my 25 Before 25 by dying the ends of my hair purple! Of course though I didn’t get a proper picture before I washed it and it faded a bit. But I tried my best!

Ok, I really should have got a better picture and I probably should have gone with something like pink to help it pop a bit more, my bad!

Birthday Giveaway!

Sorry it’s taken so long to set up the giveaway I mentioned on my 2nd blogversary post. I blame the jet setting to London again!
Anyway, here’s the prize!

It’s a cookie set that comes with a recipe book and 6 cookie cutters.


So, to enter it couldn’t be easier! Simply leave a comment below telling me what dessert you’d like to see featured on here! Simples!
Also, feel free to hit the follow button above, because once I hit 50 followers there will be another give away (I’m just itching to give things away!). And share on Twitter too if you like.
Open world wide and closing time is Tuesday 31 July 23.59. Good luck!

It's closed! Only two people entered so I will send them both a set! Well done Behind Green Eyes and Cakes, Bakes and Other Bits! I will be posting out next week!

Happy 2nd Birthday Blog Post!

rare opal is 2 years old today! Yay! And on a Friday 13th too! Which means good luck for today right? And also an excuse to bake something! (Not that I need an excuse really). I’m very excited I’ve hit two years. It has been a bit of a rollercoaster but I do enjoy blogging. I still think I’m trying to find my groove but I think that will come with some more practice, so I’m not that bothered by it. I’m just enjoying what it is!

I wouldn’t still be blogging if it wasn’t for everyone who reads and comments, so I want to thank you! I love getting comments and knowing that people enjoy what I write. And I also want to thank all the other people on Twitter and the likes, the other bloggers who I’ve made friends with. I love having that community at my reach, one that’s full of kindness and fun. So thank you too! And hopefully in the next few days I will have my first give away sorted!

So now all that’s left to do is eat some cake!

Images from here, here and here.

BT Art Boxes

The British Telephone box. An icon really. It’s one of those ‘have to take’ photos tourists do when in London (along with a picture of Big Ben and Buckingham Palace). So I when I was wandering around Covent Garden I was curious as to what all the jazzed up and made over telephone boxes were about. Turns out it’s the BT Art Boxes, a project to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee as well as raising money for Child Line’s 25th anniversary by auctioning off the boxes. Here’s some of the pictures I took.

The last two were found at Trafalgar Square. There are loads more dotted around the city, click here to see them (you can also view by map to see what’s close to you). I’m a bit sad I didn’t know about them until I stumbled on them, otherwise I would have made more of an effort to find some more! Especially the one that has been made into a couch! And even though I’m back again in London next week, the exhibition ends on July 16th. So if you are around London before then, keep an eye out for them!

My Summer Playlist!

A few of my favourite songs this summer!

Azealia Banks Liquorice. Azealia Banks blew up over her with 212, which I do find catchy but I only heard Liquorice two nights ago and I instantly love it. It makes me want to dance! It reminds me of something, I can’t put my finger on it though!

I only first heard Do My Thing by Estelle and Janelle Monae last night but it’s so darn catchy! Two of my favourite artists so I would have been surprised if it disappointed. Luckily it doesn’t!

I still LOVE Maverick Sabre’s Let Me Go as much as I did last year but I am also enjoying Katy B’s Live Lounge version. It’s completely different but at the same time still has the essence of the original. (I’m willing to forgive the fact she doesn’t use the correct lyrics!).

Even though I had heard of Wallis Bird a few years ago, I never checked her out til now. I love Encore but this at the moment is my favourite of hers. A catchy little ditty!

Another Live Lounge one here! This time it’s JLS doing a cover of Labyrinth’s Earthquake with a little sample of Do It Like A Dude by Jessie J.

It failed to impressed me the night of the Eurovision but by the next day Euphoria by Loreen was stuck in my head. A great one for the club!

Another good one for a night out dancing! But then again, most of songs Calvin Harris does are!

I only just discovered Vitamin String Quartet the other week. They do string versions of loads of different music. I chose this one as it was the first I heard and I think it’s amazing!

Finally, I was loving this one during the Euros. We may never had had a chance to get out of the group stages but it’s still a cracking tune. And the Irish are fantastic fans!

What are your favourite songs of the summer? Let me know in the comments below!

New Year’s Resolutions Update!

Sorry I’ve been absent for a while. Despite having loads of ideas in my head I have a bad case of writers block! So I thought I’d try a post like this to try get the flow going again!

My last New Year’s Resolutions update was at the end of March so I’m due my ‘half way there’ post.

1. Be more healthy and exercise more

I wish I could say this has happened but not really! Well, since doing the Vegetarian for a Month challenge I’ve been eating more vegetables (still not huge fruit fan, despite having a major sweet tooth).

2. Get a job

Not yet but still trying!

3. Cook 12 new savoury/dinner

I’ve made 8 so far (as well as making old recipes as slow cooker versions).

4. Make 12 new sweet dishes

11! One more and I’m finished. All have worked out except one, my Coca Cola cake.

5. Finish reading all the books I’ve started (There’s about 20-30 of them).

Overall I’ve read 22 books, though four of those are cookbooks which I don’t tend to count so 18 books so far. Out of the 18,only 4 are books that had to be finished from 2011 or 2010. I’m so bad at that, I hear and want to read of so many awesome books so I tend to finish them before the books I’m reading. Here's my Goodbooks list for 2012 so far.

6. Watch 50 films I’ve never seen (while completing the A-Z list I started last year)

23 so far, so almost half way there. Which is good, as I find I slack the most with the film list. I haven’t finished the A-Z yet but that’s because I’m trying to knock off some of the IMDb Top 250 for my 25 Before 25.

7. Learn a new skill (as of yet I have not decided).

Still haven’t decided! Well, I’m leaning towards crochet, I’m just hoping to find someone who can show me it in person as I get super confused with videos and books!