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A Sort Of Minimal Christmas
Just to warn you this isn’t a big pontificating blog about how you shouldn’t buy stuff for Christmas for your kids, or how my family is better than yours. Of course I’m going to think my family is awesomely flawed (like every other family) but I’m biased. 😉 I am one of the biggest Christmas nuts there are out there. I plan for the next Christmas from St Stephen’s Day, I start saving from 1st January; basically I blooming love Christmas. I love the lights, the family time, the music, the telly, the children’s awe and wonder. It’s blinking brilliant (not just the lights). There are a few things that…
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Banking On Christmas Stress
It’s not the lack of money for groceries that gets me in the end because I don’t notice the difference. It’s the stress; the feeling of tightness in my chest when I think about the bills, the weird anxiety when I consider getting the car past the NCT, and the massive gulp when we pay the mortgage every month. Then absolute screaming frustration when another niggly thing crops up that we have to pay for, that I have to fit into the budget. Somedays I feel like I’m wandering around in an empty house, in an empty town, in an empty country, with nobody to talk to about how it…
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Let Me Tell You A Story
A long time ago in a kitchen far away, tucked into a corner of North County Dublin there lived a woman who didn’t know what she was going to do with her life. Nearly 8 years ago now, she waited for her first born son to arrive, and rubbed the curve of her belly, and wondered how things were going to be when she went back to work after having her first baby. She worked in an office in the City Centre you see, as a PA for a property company, which was as far apart from food blogging as you could imagine.
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Holding Our Breath For A School Place
It’s gas isn’t it? How something so small can make such a big difference? Just 1 little school place.
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Fitness Challenge Update
I know that quite a few people had asked me how I was getting on with my fitness challenge so it’s time I updated you! I’ve been trying to be more active with a view to increasing my fitness levels, and consequently my general health. I just didn’t realise how much this Winter would throw at me!
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9 Things You Need To Know Before Starting A New Exercise Programme
You might have decided that 2016 was the year you wanted to get fit, or exercise more, or joined a new class or even (gulp) decided to start a new exercise programme and join a gym. It’s been a couple of months since I bit the bullet and decided to take control of my own fitness levels, giving me a bit of experience when it comes to starting from scratch. Even if these few tips don’t come in useful right now, they might do in the future so maybe store them away until you need them.
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Thank You
In 2015 I (in no particular order): Recorded some awesome radio with The Sodshow, including special editions from Bloom 2015 in the Phoenix Park. Also I was the Executive Producer for some live sessions from Bloom Fringe in The Powerscourt Townhouse Centre. Something I will always be proud of. Was invited to do two live cookery demonstrations at Taste of Dublin by Glenisk. Chaired two judging panels at the Irish Quality Food Awards 2015. Spoke at a blogging event with We Teach Social on How To Stand Out From The Crowd. Joined my friend Rory at a blogger’s table for TV3’s The Restaurant for an an episode that will be…
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Finding My Voice Again
More than a couple of years ago I lost my voice. Not that I lost the ability to speak, or express myself. More I lost my singing voice. Music was a massive part of my life when I was younger. I actually thought at one stage that I might study voice fulltime; I trained hard, I sang professionally at a few weddings, I also sang with some award-winning choirs, recorded some albums with them (with a solo too). I’m not comfortable explaining exactly why or how I lost my voice. Let’s just say that one day I could sing, and then I couldn’t; and so it has continued for many…
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Freddy Buttons Book Review
Freddy Buttons is the creation of writer Fiona Dillon. He’s not just a figment of her imagination, oh no, Freddy is very real. Just ask my boys! Fiona knows her stuff, is also a quintessential Irish Mammy, grows her own food (obviously), and writes expert columns for the Irish Country Living, and Home Farmer Magazine. She’s also written her own how-to book entitled Food From An Irish Garden published by Orpen Press in 2014.
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Learning To Walk Alone
It’s been 7 and a half years since I first carried a child inside. In Irish/Gaelic the term for pregnancy is “ag iompair clainne”. Literally translated this means “carrying a family”. When my first child was born, I still carried him in a sling, in a carrier, and he then eventually graduated to the buggy. At the time he just about was ready to walk independently without the buggy on standby his little brother arrived. And so I continued to walk with my children. Hand-in-hand, side-by-side.
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Disconnnected
If you’ve been around for some time, then you may remember that last year I took a break to find the bottom of my wash-basket. Although I did find the bottom of the wash-basket and several hundred pairs of socks, the idea was to become disconnected. That was the more difficult task but made a huge difference to me personally. As a result I made some changes to the way I work and the time I spend with the family. It was so successful that as a family, we have decided to disconnect from things for a little while. My husband has taken time offand the kids have a long…
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Photography Confidence
Let me explain about this photography confidence that I felt I had lost. Regular readers will know that last year my first cookbook was published and I put my heart and soul into that book. I wrote the book at a time when things were very bad for us and it gave me something to focus on. I am not the world’s best photographer. I’m the first person to put my hand up and admit it. Putting my words, and my pictures into print made me feel exposed. Ask yourself, how would you cook, style, and photograph a cookbook containing nearly 150 recipe images on your own with a cheap…
