Dubai!!!!

Anyone who follows me on Instagram will know I was in Dubai recently for a few days. This was a bit of a spur of the moment trip that came about after I caught up with a good friend at a wedding recently and had the usual "oh I'd love to visit....oh your always welcome,,," chat. This usually ends up in nothing happening, but, when I went home and googled flights and sorted out logistics (ie three kids!) it actually happened!! And boy was it worth it! We had such a great time. Everything ran smoothly, the kids were happy, the flights ran on time and our holiday was amazing! ....it would encourage me to go away again 😂 

Desert Tour with Arabian Tours

I ended up booking our flights with Turkish airlines and having a stop over in Istanbul. The longer journey was worth it though financially as the flights were literally half the price of the direct flights. Turkish airlines were good to fly with, everything ran smoothly, the aeroplane food was your usual standard food, there was a good selection of movies to watch and the flight attendants were nice and friendly. I'd happily fly with them again. 

Dubai Mall & The Atlantis

On our first day there we did the city sightseeing tour. I love bus tours as they give such a good over sight of the city. I booked a 24 hour ticket with a desert tour package. The bus ticket is worth the money as there are lots of routes. We just did the 'modern route' but I think if you had the 48hpur ticket it would give you plenty of time to take in the other routes also. 

The Burj Khalifa & dinner at The Social

The highlight of the trip I thought was the desert your with Arabian Nights Tours. We had a lovely, friendly, informative tour guide. They collect you at your hotel in a 4x4 jeep and drop you back there. You drive about  an hour out to the desert where they begin with driving over the sand dunes (like lunatics!) but it's great fun. Next you stop for a falcon show,  I didn't think I'd find that interesting but I actually did. More crazy sand dune driving and we stop to take in the sunset of the desert,,,this was amazing,,,just one of those pinch me moments. Then we're off to our final destination, the campsite, for food drinks and entertainment. 

The second day was our lazy day. We had a big sleep in and caught up with my friend. That evening we went to dinner in a restaurant, Social House, that a view of the fountains beeside the Burj Khalifa. Every half hour there is a water fountain display where the water 'dances' to music, it really is beautiful to watch.

On our last day we visited the Burj Khalifa in the morning. We had booked the tickets online and collected them there. It was easy and straight forward. We went at 11:30 and there wasn't too much queing or waiting around. By the time we were leaving you could notice it had gotten a lot busier. We had a great view of the city and it was definitely worth doing. After some browsing in the biggest mall in the world we headed over to the Atlantis for lunch. Again, this was lovely to see as it is pretty breath taking.....and if you watch Real Housewives of Beverly Hills or Melbourne, this is the hotel they stay in!! :) On our final night we went to a gorgeous restaurant 'The Social Room.' The food here was out of this world and there was a gorgeous view over The Marina.

Overall, Dubai as a city is amazing, its so friendly, clean and safe. Yes the weather is hot but everywhere is air conditioned....unless your lying out on the beach or by the pool! Everything about Dubai is bigger and better, the cars, the buildings, the lifestyle. Dubai is definitely worth a visit. 

Relaunch of Pichet Restaurant

On Tuesday night we attended the re launch party for Pichet Restaurant in Dublin.It has been completely transformed with a new layout and fabulous new décor. From the amazing new bar, to the quirky tiles, to the bare concrete walls and exposed pipes this really is bang on trend style wise.

Tastiest of cocktails!

On hand for the night was the gorgeous Roz Purcell who did a wonderful job of talking us through the starters, main course and dessert. The food was without a doubt delicious, my favourite was the risotto with shortrib that we sampled as our main course. It would definitely entice me to return to the restaurant in the near future! Oh and if you think that cocktail on the left looked good, it tasted even better!! (Even if it was non alcoholic).

Roz Purcell talked us through the dishes

The three dishes we sampled.

Birthday parties...

I love a good theme for a birthday party! Over the years I've had lots of parties for the boys and I genuinely love the prep involved,,,I also love that I've gotten better (I think) at planning their parties,,, practice makes perfect as they say!
(If your looking for a girls party I've only thrown the one so far, and I warn you there was a lot of pink! Annabels 1st Birthday Party )

I think we are so lucky that we now have Pinterest for unlimited supply of inspiration,,,although this can sometimes be a curse when our own parties never quite get that same 'pinterest perfect' look! Also, I find shops like Dealz and Eurogiant brilliant for party supplies that don't break the bank. Also there is such a wealth of talent on Etsy if your organised enough to give yourself time to order off them.  

Here are some of my top boy themed birthday parties, usually the theme is whatever the boys were 'into' at that stage, I hope it gives some inspiration!

1. Soccer Theme...

We sent out soccer shaped invitations and everyone was asked to wear a jersey to the party. We were lucky with the weather and the kids spent most the time outside playing a soccer match and a penalty tournament. 

2. Farm Theme...

This was a mix of a cow theme and a farm theme! We went for John Deere green! The balloons were just white and I cut out and stuck on black cow pattern shapes. My sister printed the logo for his tshirt on iron on paper, it was so cute for the day but didn't wash well.
(As you can see the green table cloth was re-used from the soccer party!)

3. Magician Theme...

We had a magician for Senans 7th birthday party and he was amazing,,, he entertained the adults as much as the children! This would be great for a winter party where bouncy castles aren't really an option! I made the cake 

4. Superhero Theme...

For Senans 5th party we had a superhero theme by the lake. The invite asked everyone to wear a superhero costume if they wanted to,,,Senan was Superman obsessed at that stage so he wore his Superman costume and we had a superman cake. We went with blue and red balloons and table wear but other than that kept it fairly simple!

This was Senans 5th birthday, serious reminiscing here!

April Round-Up 2016

I honestly do think the older I get the quicker the time goes! It's almost May,,,like that's Summer in Ireland! But anyhow April has been a good month, I love looking back over the month and seeing what we were up to! We had lots of celebrations, the biggest one being a good friends wedding in Galway. We had such a fantastic day and night (and sleep in!) I got my pink dress in Minx in Mullingar and I had my gold strappy sandals since Christmas time. How fab is the brides short dress! I loved it, it completely suited her and her personality and it looked so comfortable, she just glided around the from for the night. 

The weather picked up in April and we got out and about lots more. The kids just love being outside and to be honest it makes the evenings a lot easier when they can use up their energy outdoors! 

We celebrated my mothers birthday, she really is amazing, I'd be lost without my parents! I just love the homemade cakes and cards, I think it's little celebrations like this that make the best childhood memories! 

We also changed our car this month, we had a Landrover Discovery so we actually just got the same again but went up a few years,,,I find we need the 7 seats with the three kids, an aupair and if there's ever any of the kids friends with us. 

We had a great April....roll on May! :) x 

5 Top Tips for Fitting it all in

Everyone seems to have so much to do these days. We want to fit so much more into our lives. The buzz word seems to be 'balance', sometimes this isn't achievable, I think in life there are different phases when some things require more time and effort and other things have to slip for a while eg with small kids I think the priority is to spend time with them, when they're all grown up and gone I can shift more time back to pursuing my own hobbies. Sometimes its just not physically possible to fit it all in, so we need to figure out well what are the most important things to us.

1. Set your priorities, decide what is most important, is there anything you do that is just out of habit or for the sake of it, that you could actually stop.

Figure out not only how you need to start being more organised but also what you need to stop doing. (I had to delete the Daily Mail app because I literally spent hours of my life on it!!) Could you record you favourite shows and fast forward through the add breaks. So think about family, work, friendships, fitness, diet... what are your priorities? I find these Wheel of Life templates excellent, use the different categories to decide firstly what you want to prioritise and then by marking how happy you are in a certain area you can clearly see where you need to focus your time and energy.

I find these 'Wheel of Life' templates an excellent starting point.

2 Get up early or stay up late.....but NOT both! I am such a firm believer that everyone needs between 7 and 8 hours sleep to function properly! Personally I'm a morning person, I always have been even through my teenage years. Once it hits 8pm that's it, I'm off, I generally have no energy or want to do anything, so this is my watch TV, scroll through Instagram, chill out time. I do however get up early, that's when the washes get put on, lunches made, blog posts typed. But I am generally tucked up in bed by 10 o clock. I understand some people are night owls and I think this works great if you have a job that you can sleep in and get your 8 hours rest, its when you stay up late and have to be up to kids or for work, that's when it doesn't work. I think knowing when your most productive time of day is and using it wisely is key to fitting in more. 

3 Sometimes realise you can't actually do everything. Be fair on yourself. Ask for help. Build up a good network of people to help. delegate, get your spouse and children to help. Pay for people to help if possible. I think that when we look at celebrities or really successful people we forget that there is always a team of people helping them. I am not saying this to take away from their success, I am saying this to encourage us all build up our own team. Everyone has different skills and talents (cleaning is not one of mine, so I delegate this as much as possible!)

4 Write lists, allocate time for each thing. Make a plan. Again I know everyone is different but personally I have to write EVERYTHING down. From what I eat, to my exercise, to what phone calls I need to make. On a Sunday evening or Monday morning I write out my plan for the week. I literally feel so much calmer and have a clearer mind once I put everything on paper,,,it's like it empties my mind. I write down what has to be done each day, what I'm cooking for dinner and if I plan to exercise. Now sometimes naturally things don't go to plan and that's ok. I have lists on my phone that I go to regularly, for example my food shopping list, if I run out of something I just pop it in my list straight away so I'll remember to buy it when I go grocery shopping. Also at the start of each month I make a monthly plan, jot in any birthdays or events and it just helps figure out the month ahead.  

5 Multitask. Watch youtube videos or snapchat while chopping veg. Have a book in the car for when your waiting to collect the kids from activities. (bring a book for smaller kids to look at if they're in the car with you). Have runners in the car that if you have a spare few minutes you can pop on and go for a power walk, you get some fresh air and exercise. Don't try multitask changing a nappy and making an important business call. The trick with multitasking is knowing when to do and when not to! Putting activities that don't require much thought or have huge importance together means you can get double the amount done in the same time space.

Hope these help a little,,, let me know if you have any other tips or tricks!

Hen Party with a difference at Lough Crew House

Place settings for dinner

It is always a huge honour to be asked to be a bridesmaid and I was over the moon when my sister asked me and my other 2 sisters to be hers for her wedding last Novemeber. It is such an exciting time, wedding dress shopping, bridesmaid dress shopping, emails, facebook messages and pinterest notifications to beat the band, ideas flying left, right and centre. But, then comes the realisation that the hen party needs to organised too! Now, some women come into their own with a big event like this, however I am a more last minute type of girl and with the 2 other bridesmaids living in Australia (they were amazing though!) I was freaked at the idea!! But thankfully it all came together wonderfully and we had an amazing time!

The entrance to Loughcrew house

Knowing the bride to be, Doreen so well, I knew she would like something a bit different for her hen party.  Everything about the hen was a surprise for the 'Hen' and the guests. This was probably the most difficult part, trying not to let any of the details slip out!! After a bit of research we found the perfect location.... Loughcrew House , Oldcastle, Co. Meath. It caters for approximately 15-20 guests. They are so helpful and easy to deal with. They really were wonderful (even when I asked them to send me on the measurements of the dinning room table....I wanted to buy a table cloth!!) We were welcome to set up the space any way we liked, so we added some decorations and created a festive table setting using a deep red table cloth, gold chargers, holly and lots of candles. A lot of the decorations were made by Cards by Eilish ,,,she makes amazing decorations, wedding invitations, cards, you name it, she does it. (Also a bonus she is our mother!)

Loughcrew House have caterers that come in to cook dinner. We sent out the menu in advance to the guests and everyone chose their meal, they also were superb and accommodated for vegetarians and coeliacs in the group. The food was fabulous.

The table we set up for dinner

We all met at 1 o clock on a Saturday in our home, we had prosecco and cheeseboards and then we were bused to Loughcrew House. Before we left, we got everybody to guess where we could be going....nobody did!! It was such fun on the journey there, everybody trying to figure out where we were going, it was a complete surprise to everyone! When we arrived there was lots of wandering and exploring the house. In everyones room there was a little quiz about Doreen they had to fill in, we went through these over dinner, it was good fun! We met at 3pm for our main activity, which was Scrapbooking. We organised this ourselves. Basically everyone had a picture of themselves and the bride and we had a table of arts and crafts supplies (Dealz is super for stocking up on these) and everybody set about decorating the page and writing lovely messages. It was a wonderful activity as everyone got stuck in, and it was perfect to talk to the people at the table...and of course sip on plenty of prosecco! When everyone was finished their masterpiece they were all gathered together into an album and the bride has a wonderful keepsake of her day.

Next on the agenda we divided into groups and designed beautiful toilet paper wedding dresses! Again, peoples creativity really began to explode and they were adding bauble decorations and Christmas wreath headpieces!! This was a great activity for mixing different groups of friends. After all the fun, it was time to go get ready for dinner. At this stage the bridesmaids cleared up from the days activities and set up for dinner. We all reconvened in the drawing room for yet more prosecco at 6 o clock.

Party Games!

The next surprise for the bride was we organised for a photographer, Verona Photography , to come for an hour . This was money so well spent, her pictures are amazing! I think its easy to spot which are the photographers pictures and which are not. She took some fabulous group pictures and then some 'action' shots of us over dinner. The bride to be was thrilled to have all these beautiful pictures of her day.

Scrapbooking fun...and drinking prosecco!

We really made our own fun, we chatted and laughed the whole way through dinner, it was super we had the house to ourselves, we didn't have to worry about disturbing tables beside us! We provided our own drink, so there was no shortage (or pub measures!) We went through the quiz answers people had filled in, played pass the parcel, had Jenga and Guess Who,,, its starting to sound like a 10 years old party! It was all such good fun. There was no, waiting in cold queues, looking for taxis in the rain, standing at bars waiting to be served, people getting lost or separated. It was all so relaxed and fun. We sat by the big open fire, we drank and danced into the early hours. It really was a hen party to remember.

Beautiful album for the bride to be

Dinner time banter

Hen Party Goodie Bags

Who said party bags were just for kids!

For my sisters Hen Party in November we put together goodie bags for all the guests. They are so simple and easy, yet so thoughtful and such a treat for all the guests. It's great to pop in a drink and goodies that will go down a treat after a night of partying, and maybe some Panadol for the next morning! Really anything can go in them, there's no hard and fast rule. It's a good idea to start collecting up all those free samples and keeping an eye out for little bits and bobs that are reduced in Penneys. Each bag doesn't have to be the exact same-hopefully there'll be no fighting over bags! They really don't have to cost the earth but can give a really personalised touch.

Here are some suggestions of things you could put in:

• Hair clips
• Hair bobbins
• Makeup samples 
• Water
• Paracetamol/Panadol
• Fizzy drinks
• Chocolate
• Sweets 
• Eye mask 

We made Doreens bag from fabric, cut with a pinking shears and hot glued it together with a glue gun. The writing was done with paper you print on to and then iron on. It was got in the local pound shop. As you can tell Doreen was quite the DIY bride! Her wedding invitations were home made as well as her wedding favours, guest book, menus... There were so many amazing personalised touches on her wedding day. (I'll ask her can I do a blogpost about all her DIY creations for her wedding day!)

Below are the goodie bags we made for my other sisters hen party 2 years ago (Bernie's Hen Party.) We went with pink paper bags and home made personalised labels. We had a fizzy drink, a bottle of water and Panadol, meanies and sweets, perfect for the day after!

Pink Hen Party Bags