Happy New Year everyone.... I am trying to get back into a routine after a nice long Christmas break. I had a wonderful Christmas with so many friends and family visiting. I received lots of thoughtful gifts.  I haven't really made an New Years resolutions, I'm just trying to eat healthy and become more organised-the same as most people. I also want toy try and exercise some more. I haven't got out much over the Christmas for my walks so hopefully now that the weekend is almost here I will get out and about. Tomorrow I will take the Christmas decorations down as it is Little Christmas or Women's Christmas (Nollaig na mBan). Apparently the idea is that on this day the tradition was for the women to get together and enjoy their Christmas while the men folk stay at home and handle all the housework. However I  don't think this really happens! If you have a man in your life, see if it works for you and do let me know how you get on. I have some family visiting tomorrow night and then I plan to do lots of house work over the weekend. I have no major plans for 2017, we are very busy at work and I have to work three late nights next week. 

Wishing you and yours lots of peace, joy and happiness this Christmas.... Hope everyone is enjoying the evening with family and friends.... I'm keeping cosy at the fire with lots of good music and food....

Precious Memories

May this holiday season

leave you with precious memories:

A Christmas filled with love and light,

 perfect gifts, delicious foods,

 love and joy all around.

A New Year with continuing blessings—

friends, family, good work, great fun,

 and delightful surprises.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

By Joanna Fuchs

Happy Christmas Everyone. Hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday with family and friends. I went to my parents for dinner after Church and then visited my inlaws and wrapped up the day watching TV with husband. It was a lovely relaxing day. It even snowed here in Ireland this morning to add to the festive feel. Hope you are having a lovely time and relaxing.

I hope you all got over Christmas ok and enjoyed the festive season. It is all over now as we embark on the New Year. Have you any New Year Resolutions? Below are just a few of the many lovely gifts I got this Christmas. Hope Santa was good to you too.

This weekend I met up with some friends in the city and came across these sand sculptures at Dublin Castle. They are truly works of art! We also visited my friends exhibition in the Civic Trust and the National Museum for a short while. Then tea and cake in Avoca :) Hope you are having a nice weekend. It is a long weekend here in Ireland so I am looking forward to my day off tomorrow.

 

 

All images courtesy of my friend D

Summer came to Ireland today. Myself and my husband headed off to Dublin to the meet his relations. We visited Africa Day marking the 50th anniversary of Africa Day and African unity in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. There was hundreds of people there but as you may already know I don't like people in my photographs so I took lots of photographs when it was quieter before lunch. We wandered around Farmleigh House and Gardens in the Phoenix Park where the event was taking place. For those of you that are not aware of Farmleigh, Farmleigh is an estate of 78 acres situated to the north-west of Dublin's Phoenix Park. It was purchased from the Guinness family by the Irish Government in 1999. The house has been carefully refurbished by the Office of Public Works as the premier accommodation for visiting dignitaries and guests of the nation, for high level Government meetings, and for public enjoyment. The house is closed currently due to official Government and State business associated with the EU Presidency.

Hope everyone is well. Last week was my 30th birthday and my husband had a party for me. We had 25 people over for food and drinks. It was really nice to celebrate it with close family and friends. I received some lovely gifts, here are just a few below, I couldnt get photos of them all

 

Mono boat face cloth to match my blue and white bathroom

{Cath Kidston}

 

Mono Boat bath towels to match my blue and white bathroom

{Cath Kidston}

Forget me not Tumbler Glass Candle- my home will smell beautiful

{Rachel Allen}

I'll be smelling beautiful too :)

{Ralph Lauren}

Afternoon Tea at one of Ireland's Great Castles

{Castle Leslie}

Hope you all had a lovely Easter and enjoyed the time off. I am lucky as I also get today off work :) I had a nice weekend, went to my friends wedding party which was really good and great to see two good friends begin their married life together. I had another friend visit Sunday night and then I went to the city yesterday to catch up with more friends that I went to university with. I also had dinner with my inlaws on Easter Sunday which was lovely. So all in all, I had a lovely Easter with family and friends.

What did you get up to over Easter?

The images above are all from Cath Kidston and I adore them, really bright and cheerful, just the way we like it :)

Saturday night as myself and my new husband sat watching tv, we heard a strange noise outside and then the door bell rang. Husband went to the door and all I heard was shouting, singing and lots of laughter, next thing there were about 20 people in our home all dressed up with old clothes and straw. They threw straw all around the house and then pulled us outside where they had a tractor and trailer waiting for us. They were very modern indeed as the tractor had flashing lights on it. So next, they lifted myself and husband into the large tractor trailer and they all jumped in too. Next thing we knew we were en route to the town where they made a commotion and we all ended up in the pub! This is an old Irish tradition for newly wedded couples in their new home. It is to bring them good luck in their married life and home. Their friends and neighbours come around dressed with straw and take the bride away and the groom has to get her back, however I was lucky they took the two of us with them to the pub. This is a mixture of the old tradition of straw boys or it is more commonly known around here as bann begging (hope I have spelled that correctly). There is very little information on the internet about bann begging and I am wondering am I spelling it correctly. If anyone knows any more information on bann begging I would like to hear from you.

I'm excited today as my wee blog has over 100,000 page views and that does not include the times I view my blog. I would like to thank each and every one of you for following, stopping by or browsing through my blog All things nice... It is a bit of everything and most of all it is a journey through my life, from everything I like, from interiors to life in the country, to building a new home and getting married. I love catching up on other blogs and reading about other cultures, lifestyles, diaries and businesses. I hope you continue to stop by and hopefully some day my page views may even reach 200,000!

Wedgwood Harlequin Cuckoo Teapot- one of my first wedding gifts from a good friend that knows I love tea, birds, blue and china :)

Hello everyone, I got internet access at last! Hope you are all enjoying the new year, one month almost gone already- how time flies! Since I lasted blogged properly, I have got a new job which is going well. I have also moved to my new house hence the lack of blogging lately as I had no internet access. We are settled in now. I cant find my camera battery charger so have no photographs of the house for you yet. These days I am organising the wedding, one month to go. We got engaged in September and have been very busy planning. This weekend, I'm getting the bridesmaids dresses altered at the dressmakers and then going to look at flowers. I also have to finalise the text for the wedding booklet and next weekend hopefully get my wedding dress from the shop and buy shoes. We also have the tasting at the hotel next weekend.

I'm loving life at the new home and after work most evenings I go up to the farm, I don't do much but I like the fresh air and the baby calves are cute too :) I hope you have all been well and that you haven't given up hope on me blogging again.

I have lots of catching up to do on your blogs!

Here are some of my new winter clothes. I've starting moving at last, have all my kitchen ready now including dinnerware and glassware. Bedroom furniture arriving in the morning, lots of packing to do now! One of my friends called today with a big hamper full of goodies and new saucepan set. I was delighted with them. Also got my proof wedding invitations today which I am happy with. Christmas is almost here, hope you have all your presents wrapped.

My friends sent me this cute word cloud of my blog. I'm going to print it off and put it in my new kitchen which is green :) Have you any word clouds?

A big thank you to Jenevieve from Buttons, Ribbons and Other Things for this Stylish Blog Award. I am very honoured to  be chosen for a style award. You should visit Jenevieve's blog, it is full of colour, lots of outdoor life, creations and lots of inspiration, she has opened a new facebook page for her shop A Rainbow Life too.

I have to now tell you seven things about myself, I don't think a lot of my blog followers know much about me, so here goes....

1. I am a true home bird

2. I have a Diploma, a Degree and two Masters Degrees from three different Universities

3. I am 28 years old

4. I still live with my parents (but I'm currently building a new home with my boyfriend)

5. My favourite colour is blue

6. I love tea (always time for tea)

7.  I have lots of freckles

Fianlly I have to pass this award on to 15 other blogs. As I have so many favourite blogs and lots of stylish followers and blogs I visit, I have decided to let you all join along if you wish. I hope it doesn't look like I'm cheating or not following the rules, but I hope some of you will join in and let us know seven things about yourself.

And remember you should all visit Jenevieve's blog.

Here is just a quick look back at some of the things I blogged about in 2010. Some of you may remember a few of the blog posts but if not, why not take a look at them. I enjoy writing my blog and have really got to know some amazing people, some creative, some taleneted, some so sincere and good natured. I love reading all your blogs. So here are my own favourite posts from my blog in 2010;

January: In January I tended to be very emotional as I was unemployed. I wrote long posts but some of them are nice to read back over, others are a bit boring if I must say so... :) This is my favourite post of January when I wrote about colour or as the americans would spell it color.

Colour

February: I was very creative in Februrary and made a small rug, a wall hanging and some hearts. I also posted some images from my interiors scrapbook, take a look at this post;

Images from my Interior Inspiration

March: I was busy throughout March as I got a new job in February and was getting to grips with the job. I didn't get around to blogging as much. I did  post some lovely photographs of Ireland for Saint Patrick's Day for those of you abroad, have a look;

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Duit

April: I spent alot of time in April outdoors as the weather was good. Every Sunday myself and my boyfriend went somewhere for a drive or walk discovering the countryside. I also spent some time on his farm with the animals, have a look;

Why not pop over and meet the animals on the farm

May: I blogged about random stuff in May. I blogged about things I love and here is just one of them;

Things I love...

June: Summer was here and I was full of life, visiting great houses and gardens and enjoying the long days. I also wrote about interiors and style and I revealed my BIG news to you all;

Some BIG news

July: In July I wrote about my holiday in Edinburgh, Scotland with friends and shared some inspiring kitchen designs with you all. The weather wasn't very good, it rained a lot. Here is a post from my holiday when I visited Stirling;

A visit to Stirling in Scotland

August: I went to Kilkenny for a long weekend in August and the weather was lovely. I was inspired by Pip Studio, Amy Butler and Avoca. I blogged about more home interiors and some design and craft centres I visited. 

Avoca

September: Our new home progressed well in September and I posted some updates on it and what my new life on the farm will be like.

Oh to live in the Country...

October: I was busy in October posting about all sorts of nice things for the new house including lights, mirrors, stoves, doors and lots of bright interiors. This was one of the updates on the new home, not much has happened since apart from the roof is now slated.

Update No. 5 on my new home

November: I blogged about Christmas preparations including crafty gifts, pine cone decorations, and handmade goodies. I also focused on more interior inspiration; beautiful bathrooms, making a splash (bathroom tiles) and wonderful workspaces. I posted about owls- owl templates and owl love you :)

Owl love you

December: While Christmas shopping I saw lots of lovely items I could of added to my santa list, actually if I added them all, my list would be endless. I posted about some of these including pom pom galore, handbag heaven, away with the birds and dear santa...As always though I was looking out for lovely images of kitchens online too. Here are a few I loved in December

Pretty Kitchens



So there you have it, a whirl wind tour of All things nice.... for 2010. I am delighted I got to share it with you all and thank you for your kind comments. Hope you enjoy it :)

This Christmas I attended two weddings. Have a look at the venues, what do you think? I have been to 6 weddings this year. I like attending weddings, but when you have a lot of them you don't enjoy them as much. In Ireland, weddings generally start around 1:00 in the day with the church ceremony and then the reception is in a hotel straight after. On arrival you receive tea and then later in the evening around 6:00 a full  5-6 course dinner is served. Speeches take place, then a band with dancing, some more snacks and tea and then dj with disco music. So a wedding day here is a very long day- finished late about 3:00 in the morning. What are weddings like in your country? I have never been to an outdoor wedding as the weather isn't good enough here in Ireland. Here are a few photographs from the two venues to share with you.

{Images from Farnham Estate}

{Images from Lough Erne Resort}

Well we are now over two months into 2010 and the time has flew by. The weather is beginning to brighten up and we are getting some sunshine now :) I love to see the baby lambs jumping around the fields and the carpet of snowdrops all over the graveyards. No daffodils have emerged yet, the grass is all yellow because of the severe frost we have had, so hopefully in the next few weeks they will return to their rich green colour. There are lots of wee calves on the farm and I will try and get some photographs of them tomorrow.

So I  am now going to recap on my goals for 2010 and see how I am progressing. I will go through each goal and give a brief outline of how I am getting on with it.


No.1 Eat healthier so instead of biscuits with mugs of tea- replace with cream crackers, replace cake and sweets with fruit- I might have slipped abit on this one, with a few too many treats in the evenings so I will began to get back on track this week as I have a family wedding coming up near the end of the month.

A weakness of mine

No.2 Keep positive, jot down positive thoughts and ideas in my notebook- Now this one has been very easy due to No. 15 being fulfilled, see everything is related and hence achieving one goal will help with other ones :) I continue to make notes in my fairy book each week.

No.3 Complete my plant and bird identification booklets- I am still working on this from time to time, I have all my sketches complete and inserted into my book, I have the text wrote up but will need to insert it now so I might get some time this month to progress with this.

No. 4 Study for my course- As No. 15 has been fulfilled I had to give up my part time course due to time constraints, however I am on the watch out for advertisements of part time evening courses for the summer months. I would like to do a short part time interior design course in the evenings.

No.5 Keep in contact with my friends reguarly- Last month I made sure I contacted and visited as many of my friends as possible, as some of my close friends live in England and Scotland I didn't get to see them all but I have plans to visit Scotland in the Summer time :)

No.6 Continue with my craft projects- Again I didn't have as much time as usual to do this. I finished off my wee heart cushions which I posted about earlier in the month. I also received handmade gifts from Monika @ home: handmade All things nice magnets and a beautiful handmade pendant and I was also lucky to receive Happy Mail from Laurie Anne at Rebel Blossom: a pretty handmade drawstring bag, felt needle holder and notelets/cards- thank you girls, you both have give me lots of inspiration and hopefully some day I will be as good at crafting as ye two :)

No.7 Make more handmade projects-  I did quiet a bit of card making and made alot of decorations for Valentine's Day. Tomorrow morning I think I will make a homemade Mother's Day Card for my Mother for Mother's Day next week (Don't forget!) I also made some simple rice krispie buns for my boyfriend for Valentine's Day and decorated them in a lovely package with lots of ribbon and cute valentines images.

No.8 Buy some blank white cards to make greeting card- As I already mentioned in my January update I bought some cream ones and lovely paper and stickers too. I will soon have to go and buy more though :) I really should get white ones this time as they are prettier and look better.

No.9 Continue taking photographs of my travels and my local area at home- I took more photographs in February than January as the weather has began to improve but I will continue taking more and more. The most I took was of my lovely walk in the woods with my mother.

No.10 Spend more time outdoors- I really tried hard this month to get out and enjoy the dry weather, I had my lunch outside two days this week and went for a lovely long walk most weekends :)

No. 11 Appreciate those I love- Always and forever, I think I did this month!

No. 12 Start a very big project (It's top secret though so I can't share with you all yet)- Again this is still top secret hopefully by the end of the month I might be able to let you in on it as there is alot of background stuff to be fixed up first.

No. 13 Declutter my walk in wardrobe which I was meant to do ages ago and sort out all my clothes- Oh no! It really isn't that bad really!

How neat is this wardrobe, someday mine will be this organised

No. 14 Start back with my To- Do Lists as they were very helpful- Yes I'm still at this, and it keeps me on track!

No. 15 Keep applying for jobs and try and not get down about them- I kept trying and god loves a trier and I got a job- I'm three weeks into it now and I love it so far. It really is my ideal job. It took me awhile to get use to the early mornings and the later evenings again as my last job was nearer home and now I have an hour each way to go but I don't mind the driving :) This doesn't give me as much time to craft and blog now but I still get a chance some evenings to do these things.

No. 16 Improve my cooking skills- I don't know if I'm improving but I am cooking more now at the weekends as I am not at home during the days.

If only I had a kitchen like this...

No.17 Don't worry about little things as much- Now that I haven't as much free time on my hands I am not worrying as much, so it must of been something to do with idle time and too much time to think. So for any of you that worry too much, I say go do things, interact with people, start an evening course, volunteer with the local community or a charity, visit friends and try not to spend so much time on our own, which was my problem and meant I had too much time to think!

No.18 Grow vegetables- The poly dome is still not up but it is still very frosty at night so maybe at the start of April - hopefully it wont be getting too late :)

No. 19 Organise my time better- I really have to rework this one now that I am working full time and am not home until nearly 7 so I need to ensure I use my free time at the weekend as efficiently as possible. Any suggestions welcomed?


No. 20 And most importantly enjoy life :) This month I am just grateful for those who believe in me and those who have given me a chance in life.