Over The Weekend #60

Once again a disclaimer about the horrible quality of the following pictures

I am getting so frustrated with having to use a bad quality phone and camera

especially after using a fab quality camera and phone!

Looking forward to the sales to get myself a new I have my eye on a rose gold phone!

A very blurred picture but it sums up our Saturday night

We had our family Christmas night as my parents and a number of my family are going away for Christmas. We had a fun night catching up, swapping presents, eating, drinking, dancing and playing games. Oisìn was allowed to stay up a little later and had everyone laughing with the funny things he came out with! I took other pictures especially of when Oisìn put my Dad on the naughty chair after he said a swear word and the leg fell off the chair! Or when my Dad and Uncle played the After Eight challenge! The photos where worse  quality then these one and that's saying something!

This photo is of my Mam, me, Oisìn and Uncle Martin! 

Sunday was a very chill out day we watched Christmas movies for most of the day
We watched The Snowman cosy on the sofa. Later Paul's brother and girlfriend popped up to see Oisìn we ordered takeout and watched a movie
That was our lovely weekend before Christmas!

Our Favourite Christmas Ads 2016

One of the most magical and most anticipated things surrounding Christmas is the big stores TV ads.

This year most of them seem to fall a little short for me but there still a few gems this year

Here are our favourites;

6. Barbour~The Snowman & The Snowdog

This is one of Oisìn's favourites and while he hasn't actually seen
The Snowman or The Snowdog yet he is totally in love with this sweet ad
This is an updated version of Raymond Brigg's classic all it is missing is the
Walking in The Air theme to go with it.
It has made me realize that Oisìn is ready to watch The Snowman
Now I can't wait to snuggle up and watch it with him

5. John Lewis~Buster The Dog

This sweet offering from Christmas ad maestro John Lewis is about Buster and his love of jumping!
Looking at all the wildlife animals jumping around on a trampoline can't help but bring a smile to your face. Yet I think it's missing something and for me its not as good as previous years.

4. Waitrose~Coming Home

I personally like Waitrose offering more than it's sister company this year
Waitrose Christmas ad is a very cute story of a little Robin
and the little girl waiting on it to come home
It is filmed like a David Attenborough documentary with a sweet tear jerkier ending

3. Aldi~Kevin The Carrot

This is Oisìn's favourite ad this year he loves Kevin the carrot!
This is a tongue in cheek version of The Night Before Christmas.
It sees Kevin get through a maze of food until he ends up on Santa's sleigh
It's an original funny sweet ad and one of our all time favourites 

2. Marks & Spencer~Mrs Claus

This is one of the best offerings from any store this year
Directed by Tom Hooper this ad has Mrs Claus in the staring role when a young boy Jake
who is not often very nice to his older sister asks for Mrs Claus help to replace a pair of his sister's shoes. Mrs Claus is a very stylish woman with lots of high tech at her disposal, the ad itself is filmed beautifully. I like it because I can relate to being that older sister who has a little brother who drove her crazy growing up but had a heart of gold!

1. Salisbury's~The Greatest Gift

Once again Salisbury's has won in our house last year Mog The Cat captured our hearts
This year it's hard working Dad Dave who's time is escaping him, work is busy, commuting is a nightmare, he has lots of Christmas shopping to do and all he wants to really do is spend time with his family.
He makes toy versions of himself so that he can be with the ones he loves at Christmas time. The song is sung by James Corden who does a great job at narrating the struggling Dave.
Myself and Oisìn watched it first together when Oisìn snuggled into me and said that's my Daddy it brought tears to my eyes. For Oisìn I think the fact that Dave wears glasses like his Daddy's reading glasses, that made him think of his Dad. For me it was the fact the Paul like Dave works hard every day to give us the things we want and need, like Dave he struggles with busy work and commuting to and from it. Like Dave he would much rather be at home with us and for us the best present we get at Christmas time is his company and love.

What is your favourite  Christmas ad this year?

Over The Weekend #41-A Furey Family Wedding

Last weekend was a beautiful one as my sister in law Michelle got married to the man of her dreams

It was a beautiful weekend filled with love, happiness, family and of course music

Here are some of my favourite pictures from the weekend

My lovely friend came and done my hair and make up for the day

she done a great job and I felt a million dollars for the day

Oisìn looked so confident walking up the aisle for his Auntie

Who looked stunning and proud as her Father gave her away

The scenery was beautiful in Glendalough where the wedding was held

and Oisìn had a wonderful time running around with his Granddad and Uncle!

Music was a plenty as you can imagine

and we had a lovely time chatting to Uncle Finbar

The speeches had me laughing and in tears!

Such beautiful words from the heart

Oisìn was a little party animal and couldn't wait for the music to start

Most definitely the Furey blood in him!

The Irish Folk Legends that are The Furey Brothers 

Finbar, Eddie and George

Oisìn danced his little legs off

He even wanted to gate crash the first dance of the Bride and Groom!

After a couple more dances he fell asleep and the rest of the guests danced the night away

Michelle and John Paul it was a beautiful day, we will keep it safe in out hearts

and thank you for making Oisìn feel so happy!

The next day was also great craic with a BBQ, music and drinks

Oisìn called it Uncle Paul's second party and ran around having great fun

The adults listened to the beautiful Lonesome Boat Man played live by The Fureys

Jokes where told and craic was had!

It was a special, beautiful weekend with wonderful memories

Rathwood Santa Train

On Monday 30th November we went to our first ever trip

on the Rathwood Santa Train

It will not be our last!

We had an amazing time!

This is such a popular event that we booked it in November

It's an hour drive from where we live but it was so worth it

Firstly Oisín met with the elves!

The gave him a special badge with his name on

Painted his face and Daddy's!!

Then they sang songs and Oisín got a pair of reindeer antlers

He then got to met Mrs Claus and Jack Frost

when all the children had to help bring back

the magic of Christmas Spirit

Oisín didn't understand alot of this but he

shouted and clapped along with the other children

One thing I didn't like was alot of the adults

took up seats so some children where left at

the back of the room

We then went on the train ride to met Santa Clause

It was just getting dark and all the twinkling lights where

coming on and Oisín loved this

The driver sang songs and we saw the real reindeer

We then came to Santa's log cabin

families where called individually to met the big man

We got a few minutes with Santa

Oisín was very cute and shook his hand

and asked him for a mo mo car!

Oisín was very happy with his Lego present from Santa!

We then walked back to the train

Oisín and Daddy walked back with Coco the elf!

Afterwards we got warm in the restaurant
where Oisín was giving a free hot chocolate
We all had lovely warming hot chocolates
to finish off an amazing day!

Its The Simple Things In Life

Its The Simple Things In Life Like.....

• Lighting a candle
• Reading a good book
• A nice cup of tea
• A funny film
• The cold side of the pillow
• A duvet day
• Cup of hot chocolate on a cold day
• Catching up with friends
• New fresh duvet bed covers
• Looking back on old photos
• Saying a little prayer
• Mammy's home cooked dinners
• Having a chat with the hubby at the end of the day
• Lighting a candle in church
• My Dad's advice
• Early nights
• Having Sunday's with the family
• Fresh early mornings
• Getting my hair done
• Have a drink with my Mammy in law
• Fresh flowers at home
• Getting our home all cosy
• Weekends
• Coffee in the mornings
• Downton Abbey
• Waking up at night and realising more time in bed
• Autumn

What are your favourite simple things in life?

Summer Fun - Final Part

Since Summer is coming to a close here are the last of our pictures from over the summer

The Tall Ships Dublin

Some pics of the Tall Ships here last weekend.

My Mam & I had a girlie day out last Sunday, we went into Dublin Docks to see the Tall Ships before they left Dublin. It was a really fun day out. We saw all the tall ships, and sailors!! Strolled through the craft stalls saw lots of pretty hand made things. Went to a fun fair, drank chilled white wine on a boat, listened to Irish music, watched Irish dancing, drank more wine, ate fresh oysters and overall had a lovely Mammy & daughter day out. Cant wait for the next one!

Our Summer To Do List - Update

I thought that since summer is drawing to a close I would update our summer to do list our list can be found here

 - Go on a tour of Guinness Store House - we done this and it was great fun see pic above!

- Go to the beach at least once this summer! - nope this hasn't happened yet not sure its going to this summer!

- For me to finally learn how to swim - haven't totally learned yet but I'm getting there!

- Vist Dublin Castle - done this it was really beautiful

- Have a picnic - nope but I have this planned for this weekend

- Use our badminton set lots!! - we have used them but not lots!

- Go on the Viking Splash Tour - we done this and the fun we had great way to see Dublin

- Have a weekend away in the country - no not yet =(

- Have afternoon tea in a posh hotel! - this was yummy and I want to do it again soon!

- Vist Kilmainham Jail - we haven't done this yet.

- To see a Dublin match in Croke Park - hoping to do this soon

- Vist The National Gallery - this was great to see all the fabulous art in Dublin

- Go on a tour of The Jameson Whiskey Distillery - this was a great tour plus free whiskey at the end!

- Have dinner at Marco Pierre White's- hoping to do this soon!

- See Phantom of the Opera in Dublin - this was great and read my review

So we are a little more than have way through our summer to do list, cant wait to finish the list! Have you do a summer to do list? Have you finished it yet?

Tourists at Home In Dublin!

Last week Paul had a week of work, sadly we were not going on any lovely holidays this year so we decided to do some tourist stuff around our hometown of Dublin. Paul had done a few of the things before but I was ashamed to say I had never done anything touristy at all around Dublin. It's funny because when you go aboard on holidays the first thing you do is all the touristy things but you don't do it as much in your own home!
So off we went to do our little list of places, we where lucky the sun shone all week and we had a great few days in Dublin. I fell in love with Dublin again and saw my home town with new eyes. I learned all kinds of stuff I didn't know, like where Oscar Wilde was born, how Irish whiskey is made different that other whiskey, and how Dublin got it's name. I saw beautiful things, like the grand canal, the many beautiful pieces of art in the national gallery, pieces of history in the national museum and the view of Dublin from Guinness's. I tasted yummy things like afternoon tea, corned beef dinner in one of the lovely pubs in Dublin, fresh fish and chips, and a lovely fresh pint of Guinness.
We didn't even manage to get to see all the places on our list, so hopefully we will get to do them again soon. Here is a few pictures of our week as tourists in our hometown sweet Dublin.




Dublin's City Hall



Inside City Hall



Paul In City Hall



Dublin's O'Connell Street




Yummy Afternoon Tea

 

Sand Statues In Dublin Castle



Statues Made Of Sand at Dublin Castle

 


Dublin Castle





Me At Jameson Whiskey

 



Drinking free whiskey at Jameson

All The Places we went to



Paul & Me on the Viking Tour



Christchurch in Dublin

 

Grand Canal

 

Old Boats at Grand Canal

 



At Guinness



Learning all about Arthur Guinness

 



Paul being his messing self!





Me enjoing my Guinness!




The view from the top of Guinness

 

Amazing view from Guinness



We really enjoyed our week of being tourists and will be doing it again soon.