What is it about Christmas?

"A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together."

How very true.

It is a time when we tend to look back at the year we have had and draw on everything... good and bad. This year, I am ALL about the good.

Yesterday I went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park (London) with Gary and spent the day perusing the stalls, all full to the brim with the prettiest bits n' bobs. I was entering trinket-overload territory and loving every minute of it. As i'm still on the mend following last months' drama I think I was hobbling as opposed to walking toward the end of the night. All worth the pain though. A pit stop in the Manderin Oriental in Knightsbridge on the way home was very welcomed. I have a feeling we would have hit up Hestons' 'Dinner' restaurant as well if we weren't so stuffed from the market. Then it was home sweet home to watch a Christmas movie in bed, tucked up to the nines. What Christmas movie you ask? Die Hard of course.....

Such a fantastic day embracing he festive period and everything good about it. Needless to say, the company was without a shadow of a doubt the cherry on top. Well, that and the amazeballs Christmas bap I demolished at Winter Wonderland

Fear

I decided to learn this word for word when I was about 19. I was supposed to be studying for college exams at the time and I was having one of those days... getting nowhere fast. So to avoid the pang of guilt I would always get when dossing off from study, I thought i'd do something more productive....

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We must ask ourselves,
who am i to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people will not feel insecure around you.
We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not in just some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

- Nelson Mandela Inaugural speech 1994, original text by Marianne Williamson

Getting to know me

So... Last month saw me having to face quite a proverbial bump in the road of life. I spent a big portion of last month suffering with what I thought was IBS. It turned out to be something completely different, and unfortunately a little more serious. As a result I have been quite unwell, but am very happy to say that I am on the road to recovery.

I've been out of work (an invalid) since mid-late November and have been missing the unparalleled buzz of my professional life.. the daily madness of the office. I'm pretty sure it is addictive. As I have been given strict orders by doctors and the folks to rest up, it has left me quite limited in terms of how I can keep myself entertained. At the beginning I quickly became frustrated as I am a self confessed busy-body. I like it that way, and always will. But these last couple of weeks have enabled me to appreciate another side of life, of myself even.

You know the cliches, right? No one can love you if you don't love yourself, and who will enjoy your company if you don't enjoy your own? I can now safely say that I do enjoy my own company.... and my own cooking... and baking....!

There is two things I now know for sure -
1. In life, you will NEVER stop getting to know yourself.
2. The above is a good thing. Embrace it.

As you (void) may or may not know... I love my music. This time has certainly allowed me to spend more time listening to it, and discovering more new artists. Something I didn't see coming... A growing appreciation for "popular music", which I've never been too pushed on. The below is a song I can tell I will always enjoy. Let's see if you will too....

Home Sweet Home

So fingers, toes etc... (etc?) crossed that non of my current housemates come across this little outlet of mine, as I am about to have a little bit of a rant that may (will) shine an unflattering light on them...

I moved to London in November, so I have been here for nearly one year. And man, has it been one amazing year. I am lucky enough to have a job that I love, with a company that I am insanely proud to be part of. It is hard work. It is tough... Is it grueling every single day? Yes. Do I see this as a bad thing? No. Also, I have a cracking bunch of friends which allows life outside work to be rather fruitful.

Unfortunately for mem, when I first moved over I made the rookie mistake of rushing the house-hunting process and pretty much running with the first available flat I came across. The flat it self, lacks any sort of personality and has never felt like 'home' to me. The people I live with, are painfully ignorant individuals that couldn't hold a stimulating conversation if their lives depended on it. I tend to be a rather busy aul' be diring the week, and i'm rarley in the house at the weekend, and so I spend very little time with/around them. But it's only lately that I have realised, I bet that wouldn't be the case if I lived with people I could actually get along with.

Last week, after what can only be described as an absolute BALL ACHE of a new-home-hunt, I found my new place. It is a beautiful house (with a garden... yay) and i'm very happy to say that it has a real personality to it. The house mates (all three of them) seem really nice - easygoing, considerate, friendly and educated! I state this with a fair degree of confidence as I made a point of meeting them a few times before agreeing to move in.

It is so important, who you surround yourself with in life. Needless to say, those you live with.... no bloody exception.

As I was writing this one of my housemates arrived home, with four blokes (all total tossers) that he has clearly never met before tonight, and they are currently all sitting in the kitchen (that is littered with the crap that my dearest co-habiters haven't bothered to clean up after them) snorting their noses off and talking what I can safely bet my life on, is absolute trash.

I am a respectable human being.... GET ME OUT OF HERE.

Roll on moving day next week - I have no doubt this will substantial improvement to my life here in London Town.

B x

A Moment in Time

*A picture I took while over in NJ Shore this summer on vacation. Went exploring on my bike and came across this place. Needless ro say, I got snap happy*

There is something about photography that I think I will always appreciate more than any other art form... Yes people, that includes music, and food. My number one and two favourite things on this planet, respectively.

I guess it all depends on the individual, but whatever it is about being able to look back at an image, and instantly be transported back to exactly how you felt at that moment in time. What you were thinking and why. The camera somehow captures that, but only, if on some level, you want it to.

I think I have more photographs to my name than I do exhales (slight exaggeration but you get the idea), and I love the thought of knowing that, hopefully, I always will. i have said it before and I will say it again, No place is boring, if you've had a good night's sleep and a camera to hand.

There is this wonderful quote by photographer Ansel Williams - "There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer". I am inclined to agree.

Great Movie, Epic Soundtrack

"If I drive for you, you give me a time and a place. I give you a five-minute window, anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours no matter what. I don't sit in while you're running it down"

Based on the novel by James Sallis, Drive - Five Stars for you, Refn.

This is one of the best flicks i've seen in a while. Refn's style seems to be centered around drawing out key scenes to make a slow film more punctuated, and I think it works. Gosling's character, unnamed, is pared back and raw, that works too. I think he has a real knack for (as one film reviewer put it) "outwardly affectless, inwardly seething characters". We are no watching this gent turn into a major a-list movie star

The soundtrack, for me, is the cherry on top. I haven't been able to tear myself away from it this weekend. One song it particularly is likely to stay with me long after my unconventional crush on The Goss will - College feat. Electric Youth - A Real Hero.

Life IS what you make it

Life really is what you make it.



I watched Steve Jobs' commencement speech at the 2005 Stanford University Graduation again this evening, and I find it genuinely upsetting that such a truly beautiful mind is no longer with us.

Jobs speaks with such wisdom and insightfulness that I find it incredibly infectious. It makes me want to be better, to do better. It makes me feel like i'm not trying/working hard enough (no harm in that i think). From beginning to end, he incapsulates aspects of life that are so lost on so many of us, me included.

My favourite excerpt from this speech - "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Yes.

B

A Word I Like

I have no idea what it was that brought this thought about in my little round head… it’s been a busy week and so the root of this next waffle-bout has got lost in the masses.

Serendipity.

I adore this word.

I love how it sounds when I say it, I like typing it… Serendipity… I like hearing other people using it, I like reading it in a story.
Most of all though, I like thinking about things that are “serendipitous”.

Serendipity – A fortunate accident.

Some of the best things that have happened to me lately have been serendipitous.

That’s all on this, for now…

It's been a while

Moozic: William Fitzsimmons

Well it has....

I haven't gone near this thing in a while but this is my way of making sure that I don't leave it so long again until the next post/chest-off....

Way I see it, if I publicly declare that I plan on posting/ranting more often, I have to actually do it. Otherwise, I risk sounding and looking like a bit of a knob. We wouldn't want that now, would we. Think this thing is relatively well hidden.. and so maybe i'll wait a while before I actively direct people here.

Here goes............

B.

I predict this goes Viral!

High-larious.

Saw this go up on Republic of Telly last night. When I checked it our on YouTube it had 316 views... It has about 16,000 now.

Lyrics are very clever, and has to be said - It has a good little beat to it.

Up, up and away?

Wrote this on April 22 2011, between the hours of 2.30 and 3.50pm, on a plane from London Gatwick to Dublin.

Airports – Aren’t they just the most happening spots in the entire world? I mean, think about it… When someone makes a significant trip in his or her life, it usually involves an airport. Dramatic decisions – often made in an airport. Big soppy reunions – Airport, baby! Don't even get me started on thoose life-altering cavity searches... That said I’m not saying that every single Tom, Dick and Harriet that goes to the airport is about to embark an adventure that would put Indiana himself to shame. After all, I am the perfect example of that. Today, I am heading home to Dublin for the Easter break and I have nothing overly exciting lined up at all, at all – That said I think the airport is an uber interesting and thought provoking spot, particularly if like me, you are an avid people-watcher.

Who is he? Why does she look sad? What in God’s name is that person’s story???? I need to know!

A rude air hostess has told me (not asked) to close my laptop as we are about to land.

I'd best do what she demands.

Don't you just HATE rudies?

TO DO list!

Things to do while off work and back in Dublin -

1. Write blog posts

2. Write more blogposts

3. Bake a cake for my mother - Recent episode of Desperate Housewives has inspired me to go for an pineapple upside-down cake

4. Gym it up - Thanks to my pal Noel Cowman at MUGYM in Malahide, I have full access to the place while i'm home

5. Bring Reggie for walk / let Reggie bring me for a walk

6. Visit Nanny and bring slice of pineapple upside-down cake

7. Visit Maevo in work and go for lunch

8. Bring mom to the Happy Pear (my favourite place to go for lunch in Ireland)

9. Dye my hair blonde - brown is boring me

10. Read more docs on G.Bay Wikileaks via guardian.co.uk - insanely interesting

11. Clear out wardrobes in my 'old' room - hurts to say that....

12. Morning yog!

13. Pop-up restaurant / Cinema for special viewing of Heat with my very talented photographer friend, Johnny MacMillan

14. Master how to get more traffic to my blog

15. Roadtrip - Destination TBC

16. Think of more things to add to this list

David Beckham...Funny as hell...Who knew?

So, I am a MAJOR Ellen DeGeneres fan. Every now-and-then I take to YouTube-opia and check out her latest guests. Today, I came across the below...

Now, I am a woman. Therefore it's already 99.65% likely that I want to be on this man a ridiculous amount. But dear god is it true what they say about funny men. An adonis-like body. A fantastic family man. A clean freak (I too am OCD). An insanely talented sportsman. As charitable as they come....and....he's got a massive...heart? Then you add in the funny?

David Beckham for Taoiseach..!

I LOVE WEARING COMEDY

www.hairybaby.com

Sooooooooo *said in my favourite mullygarbo accent*.........

I feel the urge to express my ever-strong love for this website. Not only do these guys know how to make us laugh through the medium of clothing (and I mean proper LOLing here), they also know exactly how to do it in a way that makes me want the designers/idea people at Hairybaby to be my friends. Pint? Anyone? No?....OK.

So with Christmas coming up and all, I cant think of one person on my pressie list that I couldn't buy for from this site. Bestie bird-mates, check! Bestie lad-mates, check! Four year old godson, check! 2month old newbie addition cutesome (not-so-hairy)baby cousin, check! The Papa bear, check. To Cool For School Nana, Check it up. Me? Check, check, check! I'm pretty sure that this gem is not a hidden one. Most people I have spoken to about Hairybaby have heard the good word already...

But so what...right? Maybe... at the berry least... Mr and Mrs Hairybaby will see my rant and invite me around for tae and biscuits.

NOM!

I l

My Favourite Poem

I'm not particularly into poetry... In fact, the only time i've really been exposed to it was during my Leaving Cert English class in school.

I do however, love to be inspired by the written word. I like to be inspired by just about anything mind you.

There is a poem I know. I know it very well. For whatever reason, this poem and I got along very well back in the day. I was reminded of it recently when having a random conversation (one of many) with a special Chum of mine.

It's By Robert Frost, and it's called Birches

This is my favourite excerpt from the poem -

I'd like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over.
May no fate willfully misunderstand me
And half grant what I wish and snatch me away
Not to return. Earth's the right place for love:
I don't know where it's likely to go better.
I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

My Favourite Poem

I'm not particularly into poetry... In fact, the only time i've really been exposed to it was during my Leaving Cert English class in school.

I do however, love to be inspired by the written word. I like to be inspired by just about anything mind you.

There is a poem I know. I know it very well. For whatever reason, this poem and I got along very well back in the day. I was reminded of it recently when having a random conversation (one of many) with a Chum of mine.

It's By Robert Frost, and it's called Birches

This is my favourite excerpt from the poem -

I'd like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over.
May no fate willfully misunderstand me
And half grant what I wish and snatch me away
Not to return. Earth's the right place for love:
I don't know where it's likely to go better.
I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

Procrastination a go go

It's a dangerous thing, procrastination. In it's simplest form it can f*ck a situation over in minutes... At its worst, it can make you feel so full of regret. I cannot stand the feeling of regret. Today (and the last few days in fact) has made me realise that it's not for me anymore.

--

Some things I have procrastinated with -

Sorting out car tax/insurance

Booking dentist appointments

Visiting my godson

Fixing the shelf in my wardrobe

Making many a phone call/sending many a text to change plans...always left till last minute...very ignorant of me.

Run a "pain in the face" errand

Sorting out my old CD collection

Making a photo album (and ACTUAL photo album...one I can hold...turn pages... hand write notes beside each picture)

Buying new running shoes

Buying a new holder for my iPod when I run (lost old one)

Getting my hair cut (properly)

Putting up posts on this blog

Bringing my folks out for dinner

Paying my phone bill (every single month without fail for 4 years)

Starting to save

Taking up new hobbies - Piano, Guitar, Hot Yoga, Kickboxing, Horse-riding, Dancing, Photography, Learning Spanish... I don't see why I can;t do all of these things.

Contacting a friend I haven't spoken to in some time

--

No more.

Rest In Peace My Beautiful Friend

A "rush of niceness" song...that will always and forever remind me of a very beautiful and rare person. Someone who I am so privileged to call my friend.

For you, with all of my Love.

See you on the other side.

Be Kind To Your Ears

I like making playlists. Here's my latest. Bit of this...bit of that...

I like to be kind to my ears. They put up with a lot of boll*x.