What a life ...

I was just thinking what an amazing life my child has, she has been around the world, she has traveled extensively, and she really does have a wonderful life.  Last week was her birthday party and we did Movies "Kung Fu Panda 2" with her friends, and then went off to Eddie Rockets for a kiddies Meal.

Then on Sunday we had the adopted Grandparents over, Joe, Carla and Lisa and some kids from the neighborhood for snacks and cake.

Monday we did something but for the life of me I can't remember now, oh yes we took the LUAS into town to go and explore the new Disney store on Grafton street (what a disappointment, but I will leave that for another post).  Then on the way home, I took her to the gym for a swim.

Wednesday was sports day at school, I took the afternoon off and that night she had a sleep over at a friend (mid-week) only because D and I were off to the Def Leppard Concert, and then Friday she had a Birthday party after school a "pajama party".

Friday night I got a call from Granny Yvonne, who's daughter is here from SA, and her granddaughter Sarah wanted to spend time with Emily, so Saturday I went and picked her and her daughter up, who is a year younger than Em, took them Marlay park, then to Dundrum for some retail therapy, ice-cream for the kids, Coffee for the moms and a walk around Hamley's (so way over priced)!


Then back to our place for lunch and playing and finally dropped them at home on the way to our concert, and as it turned out D went and got Em a ticket for the Journey Foreigner Concert so she came with us.  We stopped at Milano's on the Quays for dinner first.  Then walked over to the O2, well I should do a post about that separately because my child was head banging standing clapping waving her arms just like a really Rock child (mum a wee but embarrassed)  - lol but I got over that :).

Today has been a home day because we got home so late and it hasn't stopped raining the whole day!

January - The Last Post

Okay so I am doing a cheat here, backdating this post to the 31st of January, I don't know what happened but time just ran away from me and I have not been able to blog.   So my last post I told you about all my woes, well I still don't have my car back, but one of my colleagues at work has been fetching and dropping me ever since and he has been absolutely wonderful.

This morning I woke up over and hour late which meant that both D and Em were late and Em got to school an hour later than she should have.  It was my fault though, I was reading a book that Lisa bought me ages ago "Wild Irish Women" and really enjoying it, so it's Lisa's fault I couldn't put it down and overslept.  Then I had this really weird dream that I was in the Outback in Australia with my friend Colette and I was in a car trying to take photos out the window, while the car was driving really fast.  Weird.

So onto the week-end in Galway, we had loads of fun however I was exhausted by the time I got there even though I got to drive down in style in the Merc SLK, I was the first person who retired.  We only arrived down at about 8:45 as there was an accident on the M50 and basically got down checked in and then went off to dinner in the dining room.  After dinner which ended at about 11:30 we all went off to the pub in the hotel, there was this little old man playing country music to a handful of people, well I say he welcomed us as we started dancing and singing to his music.  And what is it with "Galway Girl" everybody has to either sing it or have it as their ring tone down there?

Saturday morning after a nice breakfast I took a walk with some of the girls along the promenade, then went back to the hotel for a cappuccino and get ready for my facial with Dianne.  After facial I headed into town, had to go get Em a present and of course Dianne gave me a shopping list of booze to buy.  Anyway got back to the hotel and Elaine came back (my room mate) we had a good old natter, then Dianne arrived and we laughed till we cried (can't remember if she was sober at all over the week-end), then we all got ready for dinner out on the town.

8 o'clock the taxi's arrived and we all went into town for dinner, after dinner off to a pub - the town area was very much like Temple bar in Dublin people spilling out onto the streets, it was just to busy for us so we headed back to the hotel and the residents lounge.  After one Baileys I think I head off to bed at about 2:30 a.m.

Breakfast at 9 and in the car with Dianne @ 11 to head back to Dublin, so all too soon the week-end was over.

As week-ends go ...

So I finished up work on Thursday and no sooner was I socialising, Kelly came round for tea on Friday morning, and after she left I started the chores I would normally reserve for the week-end, shopping, washing etc. Luckily Em was at the after school centre for the midterm break, so I could get things done.

Saturday D took her off to Drama, she has her 3rd speech and dram exam on the 14th of March, it's quite a big deal because the examiners come in from the Irish examination board to listen to them and then mark them. So after she got home and had lunch we all went off to Marley park, where she met up with her "boyfriend" Sonny, and then to Joe & Carla for a wonderful curry dinner as a Thank you for helping them move at the end of January.

Sunday we awoke to a dusting of snow on the ground and cars, but loads of snow on the mountains. D had to go to work, so Em and I headed over to Nutgrove as she wanted to buy a sword with her few pennies at the Euro Saver store. We then went to pick up a well deserved cappuccino for mom and then went to Eddie Rockets so Em could have a milk shake, after that we walked the drinks off along the canal.

It was bitterly cold but the walk warmed us up, on our walk we found two memorials set up for different people who had drowned in the canal, quite sad. Since we moved to Ireland 9 years ago, there have been a number of deaths in the canal, mainly guys walking home from the pub who have been drinking and fall in. As we walked down the canal, we came across a derelict building that said "Murphys Undertakers" and I wondered if the undertakers were there specifically because lots of people drowned in the canal at one stage?

Further down is a bridge I drive over often, I really didn't realise how old the bridge is, and hopefully it doesn't get washed away in the next storm we have. Then it was home to get Em ready for going back to school on Monday.

Next Stop ...

Well my three month contract is coming to an end on Thursday, which means I would have been there for six months. It's funny I think I felt more part of this company than I ever felt with any company that I worked for on a permanent basis before, the longest I worked for a company was over seven years and I never ever felt like that.


It was possibly due to the fact that it was a small company with no more than 25 staff members including the two directors. From the time I started I was made to feel like one of the family, everyone was just so nice to me and I was even invited to the Christmas party event in the country. I have loved each minute I have been there and even though it was only 6 months I feel like I have been with them for years.

I would have probably stayed on, had the company got another big contract, but at the moment there is nothing on the cards and other companies are not spending money. But the director did say that if anything came up I would be the first person they would phone, and of course I know he will give me a good reference should I need it.

One thing I do know is that I have made some really really good friends in the short space of time I have been there, and have already been invited on their next night out for drinks. Dianne gets back from South Africa the last week-end in Feb and has already said we must get together, and Yvonne is going to meet me at Dundrum for coffee on the odd occasion and of course I will pop into the office.

So what to do, well I decided I am going to take a few weeks out for me (with hubbies permission of course), I have a few ideas I want to get off the ground and also market my company (which is me) and get a web site going as well, so I am going to be busy busy busy with lots of positive things. And of course since telling everyone that I am finishing up on Thursday I have been inundated with lunch dates.  Some of my friends I have not seen since before Christmas and some new friends I have made.  I am also meeting the HR director from the last company I contracted for, to do a catch up with her, they have something going down in the Camens at the moment, so need to find out what it is, maybe I can get an assignment there - as Em says PLLLLLLEEZE do you think hubby would let me go, I don't think so!

If I had the money I would love to go to South Africa for Easter but it's not going to happen, so I guess I will just have to enjoy spending the time with Em here seeing as she is off for two weeks at Easter.

I have tried to be really positive since the beginning of the year and it is paying off. The other day a friend who moved away, tried hard to bring back negative thoughts and anger about some people, and it worked for a while and then I thought to myself – I don’t want to go there anymore – I have so much left to do and give in life that negativity is just going to get in the way of that, so from now on I am just going to lay low with people who are trying to rub their negativity off on me.

So here’s to my future whatever may happen!

Valentines Day ...

Well what a week, busy busy busy ... Monday I stopped in at Carla to drop off a snow suit for Xavier, then Tuesday I had to get passport photos done, pick up Em from Swimming and go off to the Garda station to get my passport application and photos signed by a Garda, then Wednesday off to the passport office, then picked up Mercia from her hotel and we went shopping in Dundrum, lunch at Siam Thai and then rushed off to pick Em up from School and back to the hotel for coffee and only got home at 5:30pm. Friday Em and I went to Mercia's hotel and Em swam, then we went down to the Vertigo bar for a drink and waited for D. M & P are heading off for a jaunt around Ireland so we said our good-byes and headed home, bunged a quick pizza in the oven for D & Em and I settled for Salad. 

By Saturday when I sat down to watch the rugby, I was so exhausted I fell asleep during the Ireland / France match. 

Today was valentines day, and Emily was just so hyped up about it being Valentines day, she made sure that her dad bought me Roses which were really beautiful, and she asked Granny Yvonne to buy me a present too.  She is so cute at the moment, anyway I booked tickets for The princess and the frog, which was a perfect movie for Valentines day a Disney Love story.  Met Mandy, Lisa and the kids and then we all went off to watch the show, after the show we made our way to Granny Yvonne and Grandpa Bob for Lunch, which was awesome and then home to all the chores.

What a week ...

Blog update

I should blog, yes I know I should blog, yes I know I should really write something constructive, but well all I can do is tell you about my life.  So where did I get to "Halloween", it was hubby's birthday the day before and I really should have organised something nice, what a bad wife I am but I will make up for it sometime.  Oh yes I made pumpkin soup with the insides of the jack o lantern, which reminds me is not vrotting in the lounge, better go and get rid of it, it already has about 10 species of fungi on it.

So Sunday I invited a few friends round for Birthday tea & cake it was all very civilized as most of my friends now have babies, Carla & Joe were there with Xavier and Kelly & Charl with baby Pierre who is like a junior version of Charl.  Granny Yvonne & Grandpa Bob and Malcolm.  The boys are all going to the rugby on the 15th and 28th of November, so it was good for them to see each other before then. 

Then the week started, I spent Mon - Wed at Temple street doing UAT and ended up being there till after 5 on Wednesday, luckily I arranged to put Emily into after school care, then yesterday and today back in Bray, next week Em will be at the after care on Monday again as I have meetings all afternoon in Bray, and then we will see how the rest of the week goes.  I was rather exhausted after the last 2 weeks as I am not used to working a full day and it feels like I am back in the rat race, by yesterday I already thought it was Friday but no such luck ... and to top it all they showed me how I can sign on to the system from home and do some work from home ... "If I want", but necessary to check my work email as the develepors send out emails on Saturday and Sunday night and expect me to know what they sent on Monday morning when I am at a client and not in the office ... okay so I am having a good old moan here, but what the hell.

Party season has started, everyone gearing up for their Christmas parties, the company I am with had their Christmas dinner in Florence, Italy last year and not sure where they are having it this year or if I will be invited seeing as I am only there for a short time, it would be nice though.  They did say that it was about an hour and a half from Dublin, now whether that is driving or flying I have no idea.  But I guess if it is anywhere in Europe I won't be able to go anyway!  Damned Green Mamaba.

Well I think that is about all my news, nothing exciting to report!

How do you like the photo D took of the full moon - pretty cool huh!

I need a holiday ...

Yes, go on laugh!  This week was just so hectic that I really felt that I had not had a break.  By the way the weather has been absolutely fantastic since we got back at the end of August, we have had 2 months with very little wet weather, but let me not jinx it now.

Monday my good friend M came over from London and spent the night, she had a meeting at her head office in Tallaght on Tuesday so we had the pleasure of her company on Monday and went through all our holiday photos on the Big screen TV.  Then Tuesday D's friends folks were here from SA, so they kindly offered to take a parcel back for us and they popped in.  Wednesday I had a hair appointment in the evening, Thursday D now does Ballroom dancing, and today Friday, they had an art exhibition at Em's school, and then what they did was they took a painting from each kid and had it framed, they exhibited them all for everyone to see and then you could buy the painting and the money goes to help towards the upkeep of the school, very good idea I thought.  

I then had to go to the Garda Station because I lost my GNIB card and am now having hassles again, would you believe it - long story, then D had a hair appointment tonight so only got home late and then I got a message from a friend of mine tonight to say that she is arriving in Dublin tomorrow from London and I haven't seen her since Emily was about 10 months old and to top it all it is her birthday, so I guess if I am going to see her I have to get a present.  I also have an appointment at the spa and
if that is not enough, I need to find shoes and a jacket to go with my dress for the wedding on Thursday, talking of which Damo and the boys decided at 2 PM that there were drinks at Smyths, which I am obviously not at because I am sitting here blogging away on a Friday evening, but I am exhausted and there is still the washing that needs to be done.

So ... that has been my week, my boss was in all week except today and he promised to sit down with me on Thursday and go through the project plan as I am only in 3 days next week, but there was some crisis and I did not even get to speak to him, so have been battling my way through SQL statements and think I have done pretty well, but nothing is working at the moment. (If that makes any sense). I sent him 2 emails and he did not reply to either, oh well.

Oh yes one more crisis, we arranged for Em to go and stay with her adopted Grandparents on Thursday night as we have booked into a hotel close to the wedding venue, so I she is fetching Em from School on Thursday, but now they sent home a pamphlet to say that they are going to a church service and they must all be picked up from the church, so need to arrange that still, better put it on my list of things to do!

Best thing about next week though is that I am off work Thursday and Friday and the Monday is a Bank Holiday so nice looooooooooong week-end, the following week I am working full day doing testing at the project site, so I have booked Em into a new holiday care centre in Donnybrook and she is so looking forward to it because they really have some great activities, I got an email from them today and the list is as follows:

o Tuesday: Cinema.
o Wednesday: Book of Kells.
o Thursday: Natural History Museum.
o Friday: Soft Play/Herbert Park.
The afternoon is filled with age appropriate arts and crafts (pumpkin craving) and baking etc.

I really want to be a kid again, on the Friday they will more than likely have a dress up Halloween party as well as Saturday is Halloween, talking of witch, I mean which I had better decorate the house and go and buy sweets, actually that will just have to wait for next week-end!  Too much to do and so little time and next week is just as crazy as this week! 

Will update you with photos form the wedding next week, have a fab week-end everyone and I will tell you all about the week-end on Sunday Night.

News Update

Wow, we have been home 4 weeks tomorrow and it really has flown, I managed to have 3 of those weeks at home just catching up and getting life back to Normal. Emily started school on the 31st of August and is really coming along fine, it's almost as if she is a new child at school - she seems to be listening and behaving. Her day now is from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. so it is rather long and the days they have swimming they only finish at 3:15.

I decided to get straight back into the job thing and with the recession in Ireland I was a bit worried, I sent my CV out and of course there was nothing out there for me, so luckily I contacted someone I knew and within a week, I had an interview and an offer of a contract. I started there on Friday and I must say I am so happy, it is a company that I really like, I like the way they do business and the directors are just so nice. The location is really nice as well albeit it a bit far, I climb on the M50 at about 8:40 (after spending 10 - 15 minutes in traffic on a journey that is only about 2 km's from our house to the M50), then by 8:55 I am taking the Bray / Greystones exit to the company, 15 minutes to do about 15 km's. The company is located in Co. Wicklow which is South of Dublin, so I am travelling away from the city passing rolling green hills with sheep and cows and towards the Irish Sugar loaf mountain.

My hours are from 9:00 to 14:00 so I leave there at 14:00 to pick up Emily from school and we only get home at about 15:30 - 16:00 depending on traffic, so it has been pretty hectic, but I am enjoying it so far - I might sound very different in a month’s time.

Other than that we are concentrating on getting the house and garden sorted, so no holidays for a little while although I was looking at Cyprus today and wondering when we could squeeze a trip in, so who knows ... watch this space!

Other than that we are all well, Derrick got right back into the swing of things and is working really hard, we just can't believe that it is only 3 months to Christmas now, which means that the social life will be hectic over the next few months.  Will keep you updated.

Quick Update

We got our passports back from the Australian Embassy on Tuesday, so D arranged to take Thursday afternoon off so that we could go to the French Embassy to get our Visa for French Polynesia.

It was Emily's birthday as well, so I picked Emily up from school early and went off to the French Embassy in Ailsbury Road, Ailsbury Road is where most of the Embassy's are and some Ambassadorial residents as well, it is one of the most expensive Roads to live in Ireland. The house are Georgian and huge and most go for over 5 million Euro some for us much and even more than 25 million Euro.

We had to queue up outside, what seemed like for ages, the Embassy is only open between 2 and 4 pm, Monday to Thursday and from 2 to 3 on Friday. We eventually got in and the guy spent about 15 minutes checking all our papers, by the time we got out it was 3 pm. The guy said our passports and visas will be ready on the 15th of June and on the 17th we have our interview at the British embassy to get our visa for Britain.

We stopped off at Rathfarnham Castle on the way home as they have a nice little cafe and kiddies park, the weather was still glorious and I had only had breakfast, so was starving. The meals are very healthy, very much like the Avoca cafes so I had some quiche and salad.

Emily had great fun playing in the park and all to soon it was time to go home. I took some photos which I will add as soon as I have downloaded them.

Friday was a hectic day at work, I only have 3 weeks left and the system seems to be falling apart and of course we know who will get the blame once I have gone ... but no, no one has a blame culture in this country. Yea right.

Then Saturday night we had "The Nery's and the Steven's" over for a Roast Dinner. The Nery's are returning to SA and the Steven's are going to live in London, it was a nice quite evening just chatting, it felt kind of sad though to know that we probably won't have them round our dinner table for a very very long time, if every again! ;( (A reason, a season, a lifetime).

Sunshine, Events & Birthdays

I guess my friends must think I am nuts when I go on about the sunshine, but when you don't get much of it, it becomes a special event in your life. We have had nothing but Sunshine since Friday, and with it being a bank holiday week-end it has made it extra special.

Wow, so where to begin, the exam is over - it didn't go too bad, but I won't be winning any awards! Now we just wait for the results. Our friend K had her baby a month early, a little boy - baby and mom are both well. Two lovely families that we met from SA are both leaving Ireland, one for the Island on the other side of the Irish sea and the others to return to the land of blue skies and sunshine. Lisa has acquired a cat! So I think that is about all the local news.

Emily's birthday bash is finally over, we had a bouncy castle in the garden and thank goodness the weather was perfect. So now most of the stress is over and all we have left to worry about is getting our Visa's for our holiday!

Talking of which a number of people have asked us if we are going to put our Itinerary up on the blog, well once we have all our visa's I will put it up or maybe before then, but it will be in the next 4 weeks, as we really only have 4 week-ends left before our BIG trip!

Here are some photos from the birthday.


This post is a bit all over the place as I haven't really been in the mood to write either - So please forgive me.

My Week ...

Well my broadband has become so slow that it is unbearable, especially when you are trying to do anything on the blog or of course catch up on news on facebook, so I do need to contact my ISP provider and either give them a boot or a kick up the ... old proverbial!

This week has flown once again, last Sunday we just had a pyjama / tracksuit day, did not budge out of the house, it was rather nice for a change.

Most of the week was just Work, home, sleep - however I did get an email from production company about a story they were doing for Discovery Channel on the Sinking of the Oceanos and Moss Hill, anyway he wanted to fly me over to the UK to do an interview with them for the story, and after a few emails backwards and forwards they would have wanted me to go immediately and just told them it was impossible, so within about 24 hours they had booked a flight over to Dublin and were coming to interview me on Sunday here, but I will get back to that story later.

Wednesday was college, then Thursday came and went and finally FRIDAY the start of the long bank holiday week-end, our last bank holiday until May next year! (That's besides Christmas, New Year, Paddy's day and Easter as those are public holidays). Em was also breaking up from school, and I had made an appointment at Revive, so sitting outside the school and Mandy gives me a call to find out if I want to pop over for a coffee and so Em can play with Aron. So grab Em off to revive, then to the creche to confirm her booking for next week (she is going to the creche for the week), then to the Spar and then off to Many, well it took us 45 minutes to travel about 3 miles, the traffic up to Dundrum was a nightmare and we found out later that it was because the new Hamleys store had opened the previous day. Anyway we finally got there and could only stay for an hour as my cousin Jannie was coming for Dinner, thank goodness I had made the lasagna the night before and just had to do salad and stuff.

We left there round five and thank goodness the traffic wasn't too bad from there to our place. Got home, got Em in the bath, made the salad, got Em out bathed and then wanted to turn the computer on to check my mail, D gets home and 15 minutes later the doorbell rings, it's my cousin and his early, mainly because he is flying back to SA in the morning on an early morning flight. It was great catching up with him, and because Em did not have ballet or Drama on the Saturday she got to stay up late.

Saturday we got to sleep in a little bit, however I had a hair appointment and was then meeting a friend for lunch. I hadn't seen her for ages so it was great catching up and before we knew it, it was four o'clock and the rain was coming down in torrents, so I got D to come and pick us up, then it was off home to get changed as we were going to Diep with the gang to celebrate Kelly's birthday. Funnily Kelly landed up next to me at the hairdresser so we ended up chatting for ages which was so nice, because I knew we probably would not get too much of a chance to chat later. So get dressed, get D to fetch the baby sitter, and off we go a little early mind you, but we had a bottle of wine before everyone arrived.

It's amazing how there are 5 couples and in actual fact it was Natalie that introduced us all to one another and we all tend to get on well, even the husbands - so Thank You Natalie, if it wasn't for you I would not have met such wonderful people. So there was Moi, Nat, Tracy, Mady, Kelly, D, Charl, David, Warren and Malcolm. We were seated about 9 and the whole evening seemed to go so quickly, the food was wonderful, the company was wonderful and the evening was really really good! It all ended too soon, Tracy, Warren and I spent a lot of time talking about growing up in the South and the conversation just tended to be around everything and I suppose the common element is us all being from South Africa. By the time we were leaving to go home all I could think about was the TV crew arriving at 10:00 in the morning, so we went off to get in the car and we were Clamped! Thank goodness they did not take long to arrive to unclamp us.

Sunday morning ... I am up at about 8 too nervous to eat breakfast and then down to the study to look for all my Oceanos paraphernalia, which luckily did not take me long to find. Then quick bath get dressed and wait, they got lost so ended up only arriving after 10:30. Eric & Chris, they transformed our lounge into a Studio in a very short time, D took Em off to the dump to take all the garden refuse and then to feed the ducks just so that she was out the way. And then the interview started, I must say that they are the nicest people I have met in a long time, besides the French guys who interviewed me, but they were equally as nice. They made me feel really at ease and the interview although it went on for over an hour did not feel like it.

They then did some shots of me in the kitchen paging through my scrap book, D and Em came home just as Eric & Chris had finished packing up, we all got in the car and went off to the Dockland to get something to eat, Eric treated us to lunch at Milano's. It worked out really well as Milano's which is an Italian restaurant really caters for the children, they had a children's section with a box of toys and all the kids just congregate round the box of toys, giving the adults a time to chat and not really have to worry about them. After lunch and a bottle of wine, we went out to the River and Chris did some more shots and then some of D, Em and I. We had a lovely afternoon and headed home, only got home at about 4:30 but it was really nice.

I was exhausted by last night and fell into bed at 9:30, only to wake up 3 times and then get out of bed at 6:30 this morning (on a bank holiday). Em and I are going shopping today so lets see how the day pans out, till later have a wonderful week!