Some of you may have noticied the nice new colourful blue button on the side of my blog.
Well All things nice has made it on The Blog Awards Ireland 2015 Longlist in Best Lifestyle Blog!! I was delighted to have made the long list as there are so many great lifestyle blogs out there that I couldn't even compare mine too...Blogging has introduced me to so many amazing, creative and inspirational people. I live and work in a very rural area of Ireland so I find that blogging is a great way to keep up to date with others and also learn about new cultures, countries and the lifestyles of those around Ireland and abroad. I enjoy sharing my lifestyle with you all and I hope you enjoy it. I have been blogging since 2009 and since then I have changed jobs twice, built a new home and got married. Blogging has changed with all of the other social media out there. At the beginning I was purely a blogger and now I use twitter, pinterest and instagram but my blog is always at the heart of my online presence.

If you are a new visitor to my blog, I do hope you follow along and explore some of my posts...

You will find some more information on the the Blog Awards Ireland 2015 here. 

The long list will be further reducted to a short list, which will be announced on the 2nd September and the short list will then be opened up to a public vote which will begin on 7th September. Good luck with all you other bloggers on the list. 

Yet again last weekend I was out and about discovering more of the Wild Atlantic Way. This time I visited Mullaghmore in County Sligo which is just a few miles by car from Bundoran. The weather was showery so apologies some of the photographs are a bit dull. Mullaghmore is a nice quaint village with a lovely looped walk out along Mullaghmore Head. There are great views along the coastline. I really enjoyed it and hope to go back soon.

Below, from top left: Some sheep really enjoy the green pastures along the coast with a yacht sailing by, Classiebawn Castle former home to Lord Mountbatten who spent his summer here until his death, Eithnna's By the Sea an award winning restaurant- love the eyecatching colours and finally some sheep hanging around.

All the above photographs are of the harbour area. The Wild Atlantic Way and the stretch of coastline around Mullaghmore is really worth a visit.

So with our poor weather in Ireland this Summer, I am so glad I still have my holidays to look forward to later in the Autumn. This year I'm off to Spain, France, Italy and the island of Mallorca. I really can't wait to get some sunshine and explore lots of new locations. We are going on a cruise again with Royal Caribbean on the Allure of the Seas which is a much larger ship than the one we went on last year. We will be visiting Barcelona, Marseille, Palma and three locations in Italy. We hope to visit Cinque Terre for a day also. If anyone has taken this cruise or has any tips on the best places to visit, do let me know....

Some photos I took this week and some from the archive;
Hope your having a nice August so far...

From top left; a view of the lake at home from one of the rural laneways on the farm, sunset last night out with the calves, another view of the lake and meadows from the farm, a lane on the farm, another pretty sky in the evening time from my front porch, a cart of flowers from Tankardstown House in County Meath (taken from my archives), the gardener's cottage at Kylemore Abbey Victorian Gardens (taken from my archives), a landscape shot from County Leitrim, and finally a resident mute swan on the lake.....

As some of you may already know, I am new to gardening and particularly flowers, I have shrubs in my garden for two years now and I am trying to introduce lots of flowers  too. We are in our new home three and a half years and there is still lots of work to do, but the garden is one place I like to spend my time. Below are a few photos of my new wildflower area. I set some flowers and spread lots of wildflower seeds, however if I am not mistaken a lettuce popped up in the middle of them (see the tall stem with the yellow flower, is that a lettuce??). I also have this rambling rose and have another one of them along my holly hedge at the front of the garden. I have lots of Gladioli coming up this year too but they won't flower until September. I want to set lots more daffodils along the edges as some of them didn't do so well last year.... Have you any tips for me on easy to grow flowers, I'd love to hear them... Happy gardening..... until next time....

It's the bank holiday weekend here in Ireland and I am just catching up on my blogging. The weather is still hit and miss here but I'm still living in hope that the sunshine will come later in August. Here are just a few pics from around my home... I will update you on my holiday plans later this week....