Oh Fairy Light

This makes me feel oh so warm and cosy! 

So... Fifteen Months Later?

I can't get over the fact I've been living in Ireland for 15 months now. Fifteen months. More than a year. WOW. I've truely loved it, but I've also hated it at times too. The kids are wonderful, but I've struggled to bond with the eldest from the start. He's just hard work, and a total Mummy's boy. I try my best though. 

Over the last year and a bit, I've done so much. I've learned how to surf, kissed the Balarney Stone, done St. Patricks Day in Dublin, and visited Galway to name just a few things. Obviously I've spent an awful lot of time with the children too and really saw them grow and learn. Tom was eight months old when I got here in August 2013, and he's a walking, talking, sassy 23 month old now. Lucy was barely 2, and now she's a 3-and-a-bit year old running the place. Jamie was 3 1/2, now he's nearly 5 and loving big boy school. 

Photos will probably sum up my experience so far, before I get back into the blogging swing of things. I've now been here so long that I need a project,  I need to have something to focus on in my afternoons off and something to do in the long dark winter evenings! 

Five Weeks In

Oh my goodness, what a few weeks I've had! I've been living in Ireland for five weeks now - five weeks which have absolutely FLOWN past. I am absolutely loving it over here, the family are amazing, the scenery is stunning, and I've started making friends. My transition and settling in have been so easy for me, which I thought might be the case - after having to settle in so often when I was back and fourth to university, you get used to it after a while! 

Sunday afternoon stroll. 

Easily impressed by the hay bales, you can tell I'm not a country kid! 

My three gorgeous babies. 

Out for a walk with the youngest two! 

Eldest's first day at nursery. 

Baby smiles! Flashing his new teeth! 

I LOVE it here

Irish Adventure

I decided recently to spend my gap year in Kildare, Ireland, as an au-pair to three little children. It seemed like such a fantastic idea at the time, and I've been so excited about it! I leave on Monday, and I'm nervous now. I'm sure it will be fine once I'm there, but right now, the thought of getting on that plane on Monday morning is turning me into a nervous wreck!

I went to visit two of my best friends in Sheffield at the weekend and had an absolute ball. I arrived on Friday night, and we just chilled, caught up and giggled about nothing (which is all that could be expected - we hadn't seen each other for what, two whole weeks?!) We went shopping in Meadowhall on Saturday, before running late for the night out that Emily had organised (it was supposed to start at 7 - we were still in Asda at 7:15, oopps!). We had a FANTASTIC night out, probably one of the best nights out I've had in a long time - no hassle or anything, just lots of laughs and drunken times! And to think that I'd never met any of those people (well, other than 2!) Sunday we spent lolling around on the sofa hungover (I never get hangovers!!) before I had to make the trek back to Scotland in the evening for my last week at home!

This week, I've said goodbye to a couple of colleagues that I won't see over the next few days, which was difficult enough - I think leaving for good on Thursday is going to be a lot harder than I thought it would be! I never thought it would be particularly easy, because I love my job, but I never thought that I'd think too much about it.

Hey ho - here's to the next year of my life, my Irish Adventure!

Whirlwind tour of London

The day after Michael Bublé, we had a few hours to spend in London, before Fee got her bus at 4:30pm and Emily, Nathen and I got our trains at 5pm. Fee had never visited London before, so we wanted to show her as much as possible of it in the time that we had! 

We started the day by heading (or trying to head to!!) Covent Garden. As usual, when Emily and I left the Covent Garden tube station, we decided to turn right and lead everyone that way - even although we should have gone left! We make the same daft mistake every time - maybe one day we'll get it right! We meandered through some of the side streets, and visited some of the little gorgeous boutique stores - there was one in particular which I can't remember the name of, that I could have spent every penny I owned in! I did manage to resist however! We finally reached Covent Garden itself after a quick detour, and we wandered through some of the shops and the little market, just having a look. We wanted to go back to the Icecreamists, a boutique ice cream shop that Emily, Nathen and I visited last year when we were in London - it was home to the controversial breast milk ice cream(not that that was the reason we loved it!). We were really disappointed to discover it was gone, and had been turned into a cafe instead. We bought ice creams from the chocolate shop instead, which were delicious, although slightly disappointing after going specifically for an Icecreamists ice cream!

After Covent Garden, we decided to head for Leicester Square, for the M&M store! I absolutely love tha shop, and could spend ages in there. I've visited both the store in London, and the one in New York, and I'd love to visit them all some day! We spend a while mooching around the shop, stopping for some photo opportunities on the way!  (Please excuse my scruffy appearance - I totally hadn't taken into account the London heat when I packed, and my jeans were WAY to warm to be wearing! :( )

After the M&M store, we started to head for the Parliament buildings, via Trafalgar Square! We were really disappointed to see Trafalgar Square all set up with big screens, rather than being able to climb up on to the big lions. We had a quick five minutes by the fountains to soak up the sun and for another photo opportunity - although with three of us being photographers there's always a photo opportunity for someone! 

From here we headed around to the Houses of Parliament, where we grabbed some lunch and sat on the grass and watched the protesters and chatted about the few weeks that we hadn't seen each other in.  I couldn't get over how warm it was, it was insane. Much hotter than it had been in Scotland anyway! 

After here, we decided that there was only one place left that Fee really HAD to see whilst she was in London - Oxford Street! When we arrived we made a quick beeline for Urban Outfitters where we had a look at some of the funky, bizarre and downright strange stuff! We spent ages in New Look - and probably could have spent longer had we had the time! The New Look was massive - it even had a Starbucks inside! I managed to restrain myself and only bought 2 tops - although I could have bought so much more! After here we had a peek in a few other shops, before deciding it was time make the trek to drop Fee off at Victoria Station, so she could catch her bus back to Sunderland. 

After a quick farewell, Emily, Nathen and I headed to Kings Cross for my train. We stopped en route to have a look in Scribbler, Paperchase and Accessorize - who can resist stationary and gorgeous jewellery?! Not me anyway! Fairly soon my train had been called, and I had to try and navigate my way to the right carriage - not before a bit of an emotional goodbye, thanks to Nathen! I'm sure I'd have been fine if it hadn't been for him tearing up, bless him! 

I had a bit of a hellish journey back to Edinburgh on the train - it wasn't pleasant being on a hot, sticky train over tea time that had ran out of food! All I wanted by the time I got home was a shower and my bed - I was exhausted! 

Next time, well definitely need more time in London. I absolutely love the city, and I would love to explore it some more! But for now - I'll just need to get saving for the next time! 

Michael Bublé!

A few of my uni friends and I bought tickets to see Michael Bublé at the O2 in London wayyyyy back in around October time - and thought that the 10th of July would never arrive - but of course it did, in typical spectacularly fast fashion! 

It literally doesn't feel like five minutes ago that we were "maybe going to start thinking about hotels and trains for London" and now it's over and done with! 

We all travelled to London from our various corners of the UK (I had some East Coast Rewards points to use, so I managed to travel first class there and back - score!) and I met up with Emily and Nathen in St. Pancreas station, before we went to meet Fee at Victoria Bus Station.  We decided to quickly pay the Queen a visit whilst we were in the area, and I think we were all hoping that the Royal baby would have arrived by then, but no such luck! 

After swinging by the Queens house, we decided to head to our hotel, to get changed for the main reason we were in London: Michael Bublé! We were all SO excited by this point! 

We got to the O2 at about 6:30pm - the doors were due to open at 7pm, with the main man himself due on stage at 8:30pm. After taking some photographs outside, we decided to head in and go to the one place we all knew best: the pub! Of course a celebratory graduation Bublé cocktail was in order! I loved how all of the bars and restaurants had a Bublé themed menu, it was a really nice touch. I couldn't believe how much the O2 had changed, although the last time I was there it was the Millennium Dome in 2000! 

After we polished off our cocktails in record time (I blame the heat and the excitement!) we mooched through the crowds, had a quick look at the extortionate merchandise stands, before heading to the doors to get in! 

When we got inside the actual venue, the support act, Naturally 7 had already started. They were an accapella group, who used their voices as instruments. They were amazing! A great warm up, as our excitement was continuing to build! 

The seats we had were soooo high up! I really couldn't get over how high up we were. I'm terrified of heights too, so I was terrified when we sat down and was until Bublé came on to the stage - at which point I promptly forgot how high up I was! 

This shows how high we were, and how many people were there! 

We took a few 'selfies' in the wait between the support act and the main act, although I was too scared to move so everyone had to shuffle over towards me! 

It was toasty in there, that's for sure - as you can see by our rather pink glows! 

Michael Bublé was, as expected, FANTASTIC. I didn't realise just how much of a funny man he actually was, but everything he said was hilarious. He really turned the concert into a show, without the need for too many stage props. It was the fastest two hours ever! It was a great night, singing along, and later up dancing. He did some great covers, and has given me lots more to download! 

Once the show was done, we headed for Garfunkels for a quick bite to eat since we were all starving, before heading back to the tube to go back to the hotel. When we arrived back at North Greenwich station, we noticed a massive billboard which we hasn't noticed on our way out, which we obviously had to go and have our pictures taken in front of! (Whilst trying to figure out how we could take it home... We couldn't think of a way unfortunately!) 

We got back to our hotel that night and just crashed - we must have needed the sleep after the exhausting day! 

I'm now a graduate.

On the 8th of July 2013, at 3pm, in the Stadium of Light, Sunderland, I officially became a graduate. I received a 2:1 honours degree after a heck of a lot of tears, tantrums, late nights, laughs and bottles of vodka! I've made friends that I will have for life, and I've acquired a whole lot of knowledge that will come in useful at a pub quiz at some point I'm sure. I loved my time at university. For me, it was more than just learning about photography. I learned how to make new friends, how to live with difficult people, how to cook and work a washing machine all by myself! University is about more than just learning. It's a huge life experience, and one I would never change.

I'm so proud of each and every single University of Sunderland Class of 2013 graduate: we did good!