Happy Birthday Mom ...

Today would have been my mothers 85th birthday, a wonderful lady - happy birthday !

Shocking

It's the 9th of December and I have not done one post this month yet, the reason being my life has suddenly become that of a "hard" working mother with no time on her hands and having to co-ordinate, my social life, her social life and try and stay above everything.

So much has happened in the past 9 days and of course so much more to happen this month, I am hoping to blog this week-end to keep not only you but me updated with what is happening, but for now I think I am going to call it an early one, my little red taxi must leave at 7:15 a.m. tomorrow to face the "lions" once again!

I leave you with a photo taken of my lovely Em at Pearce Street Station going on the Santa train to Maynooth on Saturday while mom was partying down in Kilkenny.

Shutterfly

My friend Kelly told me about this website Shutterfly where it is much easier to load up photos, so from now on all our photos will be displayed here, it may even take over from my blog, but we will see, so bookmark it:  http://rowephotos.shutterfly.com/

Have a good Day

New Found Fame

Someone found my blog and put a link to it and my photos up on :  http://www.ub40.co.uk/forum/ub40-discussion/594843-found-little-blog.html

Auditions

I just had this weird thought, Em is doing an auditon tomorrow at her Drama school for the play that is being held in May next year, but what if 10 or 11 years from now she is auditioning for the X Factor .... Anyway she has chosen to sing her song that the I taught her when she was little and used to sing in the bath when she was 2 and she has loved it ever since, here is a video of her singing it when she was 2:

and here is how she will sing it tomorrow ... hopefully

Jedward ... Vote for them

They are just so young and so cool and having so much fun ... I would vote for them if I could!

UB40 and Eddie Grant

Yes I have been quiet for a while, you know Life just seems to take over and then we don't get time to blog anymore.  Well Friday night my friend Carla's mom came to visit and D and I went off to the O2 in Dublin to see Eddie Grant and UB40, we ended up stopping at Brambles in Terenure for Dinner so we missed most of Eddie Grant but got to see UB40 which was awesome as usual.  I will do a seperate post on the dinner which was really good!  Here are some pictures from UB40, Labour of Love tour.

Pumpkin Cancer

A week after Halloween, our Jack O'Latern was struck with Pumpkin Cancer and we had to put him out!!!

Rain

If you want the rainbow,
you must too put up with the rain.

D. Parton

Venice

This is another one of my favourite photographs taken in Venice in November 2004:

We were in Venice at the end of October when they have their lunar tides which are associated round the time of the Full moon.  They warn the residents by means of an air raid siren a couple of hours before it is due to flood.  It is really an experience being there when this happens, I quite randomly took this photo of people going about their normal day as if nothing was wrong and afterwards realised how stunning it was (well at least I think so anyway). 

I just read this on the internet which I think is quite sad that they have done away with the sirens:

 "Until late 2007 Venice still used sirens dating to the Second World War to warn its residents of floods. Now the historic sirens have been replaced by a new, more complicated system. When the tide is predicted to reach +110cm a recording of the old-style sirens will still be sounded to warn of acqua alta. But this will be followed by another signal which will alert Venetians to the level of flooding expected: the more tones sounded the higher the water, from one tone predicting 110cm to four rising notes indicating serious flooding of 140cm. The speakers are concealed inside belltowers and public buildings."

It is worth reading the information on this link if you are planning a trip to Venice.  http://www.italyheaven.co.uk/veneto/venice/acqua-alta.html

Em

I just came across this photo taken in November 2004, 5 years ago and just can't believe where the time has gone!

Stones

I took this photo in Croatia last year, this was the beach across from where we were staying: 

The Big "C" party ...

"As I drove to work, the sun was rising in the distance, above the  clouds that were so low they covered the sea like a white fluffy duvet" ...

Okay that is not what this post is about, but in my head on Monday morning I came up with this, because it's exactly what it looked like, driving down the highway to where the M50 meets the N11, the sun was rising in the east, and I could see the sea, but lying on top of the sea were all these clouds, it was absolutely awesome, at these times I so wish I had a decent camera on me and I could just stop on the side of the motor way and take photos!

Okay this was to tell you, me or whoever reads my blog, "I've been invited".... yay an email went out on Monday night about the Christmas party and it is down in Kilkenny at Mount Juliet, absolutely stunning - check out the link, it's over 2 days a Friday and Saturday and on the Saturday we get to do one activity, either play golf, Clay pigeon shooting or Archery - I have no idea what to do but opted for the Clay Pigeon shooting as I have attempted this before but with real birds, however I looked at the Spa and may find out if I could rather spend the day at the spa having a facial and body wrap or something equally as pampering.

Then Saturday night is the official ‘do’. We have a private dining room all to ourselves. Once dinner is over, our croupier awaits us in our private bar for our Casino Royale experience. Sounds like fun, although I hope they are giving us money to gamble with!  It's also a team building week-end so therefore no partners, but sounds like a fun, so I really am looking forward to it.  Oh and we are staying in the Rose Garden Lodge, quite aptly named don't you think?

A whole new "World"

I don't know how to blog this without sounding like well a snob I suppose in one way, my project takes me to my client who is on the "North Side", now in Dublin the north side is anything North of the Liffey. Although I have been working on the North side since last September, this is the first time I have actually come face to face with real northsiders. Luckily I don't see too many in the morning when I am rushing in to the client, but happen to bump into them on my way back at 2:00 PM in the afternoon.

I am gob smacked regularly, where are where are the fashion police, yesterday while walking down to my car which I park at the Parnell street Car park, there was a woman who must have been close to 60, twiggy build, dark hair, weathered face from cigarettes and drink wearing Silver high heeled mini boots, black tights with a mini skirt and a Silver and black sergeant pepper style jacket.

It gets quite scary because I often think I must stand out because I am dressed like a normal person, do I look like a “South sider”? Then today walking past the new Tesco in Parnell street, a rather largish lady was walking in front of me, again she must have been in her 50’s or 60’s and she was wearing glittery, lycra tights, with a short jumper, which just met the tights and runners, of course the tights left nothing to the imagination.

Do these people not own a mirror? I practically run to my car each afternoon, and when my boss tells me I don’t have to go to the client, it is like heaven to my ears! Then I wonder how D has managed to work round there for the last 8 years, leave me on the South side please.

D asked me if I had seen the ladies walking around in their night gowns yet, now I must say I actually saw that on the southside once ...  I have never proffesed to be the best dressed woman in the world, but I could probably quite easily make a living teaching northsiders how to dress, help Trinny and Suzanne we need a "What NOT to wear" event staged around Parnell street.

Christmas in Dublin

After much surfing I eventually found a site that gives me information on what is on in Dublin over Christmas for kids, I need to get out and take Emily to do fun things, so this post links to the site and here is the list if you are interested:

12 Days of Christmas Market at the Docklands (12th to the 23rd of December), this year they are including Santas Grotto, so can take Em to see Santa there.

7up Christmas on ice at the RDS (13th November to 17th of January), the first 7000 tickets online are only €7.00.

Christmas at the Ark, a cultural event (21st of November to 20th of December)

Christmas Time at Farmleigh (week-ends 6th of December to the 21st of December), will have to go to this, they have a market and caroll singing and a lot of other events happening.  Here is an example of a program for any one day:

10am – 5pm Christmas Food Market - Fresh food produce throughout the festive season Courtyard/Farmyard
10am – 5pm Live Crib & Childrens Christmas Room - See our outdoor crib and post your letter to Santa in Santa’s big red postbox Outdoors/Arkle Room
12 Noon – 1.15pm Storytelling for Children with Niall De Burca
2.45pm – 3.30pm One of Ireland’s best known Childrens storyteller will captivate
4.45pm – 5.30pm you with Irish myths and stories

The Old Kitchen

1.30pm – 2.30pm A Magical Christmas Time with Carl Campbell
3.30pm – 4.30pm Carl specialises in childrens magic entertainment and is one of Ireland’s most popular magicians “but can he make a live rabbit or Santa appear?’

Cowshed Theatre

1pm - 4pm Horse & Carriage Rides - A special treat for all the family this Christmas.  Wrap up well and enjoy a memorable jaunt in our majestic horse drawn carriages as they weave their way through the picturesque surroundings of Farmleigh in the winter time
1.30pm – 3.30pm Carol Singing with the Dublin Welsh Male Voice Choir Christmas songs from the Welsh valleys Ballroom
12 Noon – 4pm Barbershop Harmonies with The Mellowchords - Join The Mellowchords as they entertain you with their favourite Christmas carols and songs as they meander through the grounds of Farmleigh Outdoors

I will list the theatre events in my next post.

My friend Kelly has just let me know about and ice rink and Christmas events at the Beacon Quarter in Sandyford, check out http://www.beaconsouthquarter.com/

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!

The Death of Johannesburg

A once beautiful piece of architecture the Rissik Street Post Office in Downtown Johannesburg, has gone up in flames.  The old Johannesburg that I remember is no more!

Halloween Banana

Terri this is exactly what he looked like, except he had an umbrella in one hand and a 6 pack in the other.

Halloween through the years ...

Halloween

Emily went to a party tonight so I was quite dissapointed that we never got to go "Trick or Treating", but at least we still had the kids come round to our house.  I had to go and pick her up at 8:00 PM from the party and of course they were all hyped up on sugar!  But it was so weired driving along the road and seeing people everywhere dressed up, I guess this is the first time I have ever been out driving on Halloween.  Going up Milltown road there was a guy dressed as a Gladiator walking down the road, with not a care in the world as if it was his normal form of dress.  Lots of girls dressed as witches and cats, and I saw some hippies too - then on the way home from Sonny's house we stopped at the spar in Milltown to get a bottle of water and there were 4 guys going in to buy booze, they were all dressed up but for the life of me I can only remember the one dressed as a banana as Em made such a fuss over him, laughing and pointing ha! ha! a banana ;) it was fun, I think next year we will have to go to town and see all the party goers! 

Derrick carved a pumpkin for the first time in his life and honestly did quite a good job I thought, we didn't get to go and see all the houses decorated, but maybe in the morning we will take a walk, all in all it was a good day - hope you had a good halloween.

Oh yes I was going to tell you about the party Emily went to, well Sonny and her were both at the creche in Milltown from the time they were a few months old, then when they left in July last year to start school, Sonny went to a school in Ranalegh and Em of course went to JS, so they have not seen each other for about a year, his mom invited Em over and they went to a party at Sam's house who is another kid that was at Creche with them from a baby and ended up with a few kids Connor and Shay who were all at creche with her, so she had an absolute ball.  I think she has just had the best week ever.

Happy Birthday Honey

At least I know you might look at my blog, just wishing you a wonderful birthday and a super day today - we will celebrate over the week-end.

La breithe sona duit!

Gelukkig Verjaarsdag!



Lots of Love
Rosie & Em

Invictus: A movie we all have to see

Dionne Bromfield and Amy Winehouse on Strictly come dancing

Dionne Bromfield

If you haven't heard her she is fabulous, Amy Winehouses's Goddaughter who is going to be a BIG star one day, listen to this song on youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb0c7frwlKo unfortunately the embedding has been disabled, it is called "Foolish little girl", here is another one she sings "Mamma Said", I am off to get her album now.l

Good Morning

Mr Damo & Dr Tam's wedding

Wow, what a wedding the whole week had been such a rush with things going on that by Thursday both D and I were exhausted, we arrived at the hotel about 15 minutes before the bus was leaving for the Castle, so we had to hurry - we had dropped Cormac off at his B& B and said we would see him at 2, however when we got to the hotel they told us that the bus was leaving at 1:45, so D phoned Cormac and told him to Gigga, he wasn't sure what that meant but go the just of it.

We arrived at the Castle and were ushered into a little Chapel down from the castle, there were 3 guys serenading everyone. The ceremony was supposed to start at 2:30 but as brides are fashionably late, I think it only started at about 3. There were no hymns, no readings from the bible and the only religious aspect of the wedding was the fact that there was a bishop and he said a prayer.

Tam's sister did a reading from Captain Corelli's Mandolin:

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Louis de Bernieres

Love is a temporary madness,

It erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.

And when it subsides you have to make a decision.

You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together

that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.

Because this is what love is.

Love is not breathlessness,

it is not excitement,

it is not the promulgation of eternal passion.

That is just being "in love" which any fool can do.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,

and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.

Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground,

and when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches,

they find that they are one tree and not two.

The ceremony was soon over and we all left to go up to the castle, for a champagne reception while the Bride, Groom and family had their photos taken. The three guys that had serenaded everyone going into the church, were now doing renditions of Metallica, Queen and Britney spears - there songs ranged from classical to heavy metal they were absolutely brilliant.

Everything was perfect, we eventually went through to the reception area at about 5:30, the meal was awesome and once the meal was finished the speeches started which were far from boring. They then cut the cake and the first dance was a ballad from Metallica. Well very un-traditional and wonderful.
We eventually got back to the hotel at about 3:00 am and then of course it was an ABF with friends before we went up to bed, so needless to say I think we crawled into bed at about 4 a.m. after the best time I have had in a very very long time!!! No doubt the bride and groom will just be happy forever!