27-07-2010

We are planning on going on holidays this summer. Well more ‘hoping’ than actual ‘planning’. The days off work are booked, three weeks from this Friday, but the actual holiday is not. We are hoping to get a bit of a deal if we go last minute. So we are waiting and hoping.

The only thing is, I have been checking online consistently and I think we may be out of luck! Last minute specials on all the late deal websites are coming in at 5 and 600 Euro for one week. That’s a bit of the charts is it not?

I would love to get away to somewhere that at least had stuff to do during the day, activities and some sight seeing. While I am content to lounge by the pool alternating between reading, sleeping and eating, the other half doesn’t take so well to the sun so obviously a holiday like this would not be ideal.

I have one place in mind that would appeal to both of us, Salou. I have been there twice before and had a phenomenal holiday on both occasions. There is so much to do, they have a fantastic water park nearby, Barcelona is only a bus journey away and they also have Portaventura, Europe’s largest theme park - trust me when I say an entire day is not enough time to get around everything in this place. Not to mention they have the usual holiday attractions, beach activities, snorkelling, shopping etc. Something like this would be ideal; we could mix lounging, sleeping, eating and reading by the pool together with activities and days out. The best of both.

If only something fairly reasonably priced would crop up. In the meantime if anyone knows of a great travel agent / website to get a great last minute deal, please let us know and we promise to send you a postcard!



26-07-2010

There is a well known phrase 'show me your friends and I will tell you what type of person you are' or something to that effect anyways. It's pretty spot on, your friends are the family you choose for yourself, those people around you, with whom you have no blood ties and yet you still opt to have them in your life. The people you trust with your life and your last dollar. I like to think I have done ok in choosing the people I want to share my life with.

The all share many similar traits, although some of my friends are as opposite as north and south, the key aspects are there. Sense of humour, integrity, loyalty, honesty to name but a few. You know, the things you hope to see in a person. Because of this very reason I consider myself to have a great bunch of people with whom I can share my life, the highs the lows and everything in between. For it is these things that I deem important in life.

Having faced a number of, let’s say difficult periods, in my life, I am wary, some might say a little closed off in that it takes a-lot for me to trust someone. That trust has to be earned. Because of this I am a firm believer in being honest and truthful. I have seen before how people can get hurt as lie after lie is spun, only serving to tangle everyone in a horrible web. Better off just being honest from the start. Less feelings get hurt that way.

I may be wary but I am lucky in that I have a great group of people that I can turn to when the preverbal dung hits the fan in whatever aspect, be it a crap day at the office, a tough day in my personal life or even if I have just gotten a bollocking when I didn’t deserve it. These people make it all a little more bearable. They listen, we laugh and then we move on. No better medicine than that.

That alone makes Monday a little easier to handle in my books :)



21-07-2010

Last night it rained. Down poured might be a more accurate description actually. We had just gotten into bed when the noise began, so loud we got up to look out the window. Huge drops of water hitting out patio with record breaking speed.

It wasn't so much drops of rain as sheets of water coming from the clouds above.

So, we opened the blinds in front of our double patio doors, and watched. While we watched we chatted, about moments like this before. We called them movie moments. You know, those moments in your life, the fantastic, the good, bad and soul destroying, those moments that stick with you forever, played out like the scene of a movie. Wrapped up in the duvet late last night watching the heavens open, it's one of mine. Some like I said, are great, so great in fact you wish you could just hit the pause button and stay in the moment for a bit longer, so great, that later in life, you wish you could rewind for just a little bit and relive it all over again.

Some are a little harder to endure as they work their way through your life, hardening your outer shell and creating what you will later refer to as 'character'. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. These moments are ones I personally wish there was a fast forward button for, a little button just to make it pass a little quicker, to get it over and done with. Or even an erase button, just to make it all go away, like it never happened.

For better or worse, these are the moments that stick with us, our movie moments. The best and worst of your life, summed up. Here are a few of mine, no real order, kind of just as they pop into my head:

Walking across the stage to pick up my certificate during my graduation
The view in winter time from the top of my hometown gazing out to the Mourne Mountains covered in snow
Taking the top of school marks for business studies during my A levels and the look of sheer pride on my mum's face as I collected my award
Stepping out of the subway on 7th avenue, in New York, looking up and seeing the Empire State building
Getting a phone call in Malaga to come home early for my granny's funeral
The flight home alone from Malaga
The last dance at my school formal
Catching sight of the other half as he stood nervously outside Stephen's Green to meet me for our first date
Sitting on a late evening in spring, on the wall, at the end of my road, surrounded by old friends, playing 40 40 and truth or dare
The first time I said 'I love you'
The first time I realised I had fallen out of it
Getting my A level results and crying with disappointment over my 2 A's and 1 B as I hugged my friend with happiness over her results which were the exact same. I always was a perfectionist
Sitting in the kitchen in our first apartment together, with the other half, surrounded by unpacked boxes and all our belongings, eating take away pizza, drinking beer and wondering which box had our dishes in it
Sitting in a classroom, in university, in second year, having got the news that I had lost someone very close to me and yet feeling guilty as I knew there were others out there who would miss him even more. The first real loss I had ever experienced, the first real loss I had ever had to deal with or try to help others to deal with
The three days that followed
Sitting in my back garden at home with my parents and my brother and sister on a sunny Sunday afternoon playing Jenga for hours and laughing so hard I almost cried
My first ever real interview, it was for Intel, I was the only person there who knew nobody and I left with one of the best friends you could ever ask for
Sitting outside a nightclub at home with two friends, wearing take away bags on our head, singing Disney songs
My second date with the other half when I finally got that first kiss
Sitting round a campfire on a beach in Kerry, underneath the stars playing gin - and the subsequent winning of the game
Dancing like a maniac in the living room with my mum and dad to Kid Rocks 'All Summer Long' one Friday night and laughing so much a neighbour popped in while passing by to see what all the commotion was about
Sitting on a wall in Belfast outside my house at 6am one morning with two of my oldest friends, drinking wine from a bottle and talking about how some day we would take over the world
The wedding day of two of my friends, childhood sweethearts
Sitting on a balcony, last summer, at 3am in the morning listening and watching the thunder and lightening

God I could go on and on, enough moments to take up all the space on this little corner of cyberspace. Anyone else got any interesting movie moments?





15-07-2010

Two weeks ago I baked my very first cupcake.

We were chilling out after dinner with the other half turned and said that he really really had a craving for cupcakes - you know the ones that are in every shop, piled high with icing, well those ones.

So a trip to the shop for cupcakes was suggested when I noticed he had googled how to make cupcakes. Turns out he had a craving for home baked cupcakes, ladies always find out the specifics before you agree to get your man something. So as I had unwittingly committed to baking cupcakes we went in search of ingredients and it tends to be a little bit more difficult for us that most as we have to avoid all things chocolate which isn’t easy when you are looking to bake a tasty treat. We settled on vanilla. Turns out it was a pretty good choice as after just under an hour we settled down, covered in flour, with sticky hands to eat the fruits of our labour. You can take my word for it, they were tasty.

So tasty that I decided to make more last night to take with us to the other halves parental home tonight when we pop out for dinner.

If you are a cupcake fan why not try them out, they are pretty easy to bake and a nice little treat. The recipe I have below makes about 12 cupcakes with some left over batter for licking the spoon and bowl - take one guess which one of us that was :P

Buns:

1/2 cup of plain flour
2/3 cup of granulated sugar
3 large eggs
Teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking power

Using a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light a fluffy then add in the eggs beating well, before adding the vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking powder.

On the slow speed setting add in the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat well.

Grease 12 bun cases and place on a bun tray before filling the cases with the batter. Bake for around 20 minutes at 170 degrees or until golden brown.

Vanilla Icing:

2 cups of icing sugar
1/2 cup of butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of milk

Cream the butter until smooth and then add the vanilla before beating a bit more. Slowly add in the sugar and beat well. Add the milk and continue to blend for 3-4 minutes until mixture is creamy and smooth.

Once the buns have completely cooked, add the icing and top with sprinkles if desired.