This week I'm loving lots of things but here are just a few of them;

I've been following The Informal Florist on instagram and twitter and also saw an article about them in Irish Country Magazine. I love their style and their flower arrangements are so pretty- really natural looking and traditional- just the way I like flowers. 

                                                      {Images from The Informal Florist}

So the Informal Florist has inspired me to enrol in a short night course in Flower Arranging in a local community hall. I am really looking forward to it and will let you know how it goes. 

This week I am also loving Cath Kidston's Billie, he is just adorable...

                                                            {Images from Cath Kidston}

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. Today myself and my husband visited Clonmacnoise in County Offaly. Clonmacnoise is located on the edge of the River Shannon which is Ireland's longest river. It was founded in 544 by Saint Ciaran. It is a monastic site with ruins of two round towers, high crosses, seven churches and even a cathedral. It is a wonderful place to visit and look around with a visitor centre on site. The photographs came out pretty well for a cold January day in Ireland. Hope you enjoy.

{Images from All things nice...}

You may have noticed that I post a lot of photographs from around home and the farm on my blog. Below are a few images of my favourite tree which is on the top of the hill at home. I have started to photograph the tree through the seasons, below I have Summer Evening, Summer Day, Autumn Sunset and Winter Sunset. It is both amazing and wonderful to see nature and the landscape change around us through the seasons. Have you a favourite tree?

Hope everyone has a nice weekend. Imagine we only have one more weekend left until Christmas. I started decorating the house this weekend, using lots of foliage I picked in the hedges and woods around  the farm. I have just a few more decorations to put up and more holly to pick. Here is an image of the arrangement I put on my entrance table in the hallway, do you like it? I might add some more holly to. I'm getting my Christmas holidays on Thursday :) Have you all your decorating done? 

So I eventually got an instagram account

If you would like to follow me, here is the link http://instagram.com/allthingsnice_4life/

I have nearly no followers yet as I'm just getting to grips with it...

Hope you have a nice weekend. 

Remember I posted at the start of the month on November through the Years. As I have been blogging since 2009 I decided to feature some of my old blog posts from November in years gone past. 

So this week I am featuring some images from a blog post from November 2010 entitled Antique Lace anyone?? This post featured Sheelin Antique Lace Shop & Museum based in Bellanaleck, County Fermanagh. Since 2010 it looks like Sheelin Antique Lace has expanded to include Vintage Fashion. Their website and Facebook has some beautiful images- so feminine and sophisticated. The shop has a real boudoir feel to it. It looks amazing! It appears they have also opened another shop in London- Sheelin Lace London. I recommend that you follow Sheelin Lace on twitter or visit their websites Sheelin Lace and The Sheelin Antique Lace and Vintage Fashion. 

{All images from Sheelin Lace}

I have been blogging since November 2009. That's five whole years! Where has the time gone. I have now decided to dip into my blog archive and show you what I have blogged about each November since I started. A lot of things have happened in my life since 2009 including building a new home on the farm, moving to the countryside, getting married, getting a new job, completing an accredited training course and getting older and wiser with age (I hope). I have now been blogging for over 5 years and hope to continue with my blog for as long as I can. It has become a hobby and rather than watch TV at night time I blog. As I work full time I rarely get to blog during the week, only at night. 

I hope you like the blog posts I have taken from my blog archive and today I will feature November 2009. 

November 2009: This year I wrote about the wonderful book "The Goddess Guide" by Irish Author Gisele Scanlon. It is full of beautiful images, illustrations and inspiration for all Goddesses out there! Six Goddesses appear throughout the Guide; The Home Goddess, The Office Goddess, The Earth Goddess, The Luxurious Goddess, The Urban Goddess and The Sex Goddess. Which one are you? I think I might  introduce my own  seventh Goddess- the Countryside Goddess. That's me with a little of The Home Goddess thrown in for good measure. It's 2009 since I blogged about The Goddess Guide and I still love it as much now. It would make a great gift for Christmas too :) 

{Images from The Goddess Guide}

Apart from home (which is on a rural farm in Ireland), Mykonos is one of the most beautiful places I have visited. I love the white washed buildings with the pastel blues, greens and pinks. The azure blue skies and aqua coloured ocean adds further to the charm. The old churches and windmills are so pretty juxtaposed with the low buildings and blue skies and hilly terrain beyond. It is so clean, tidy, bright and relaxing. The cafes and bars are stylish and everything looks so good in white. I fell in love with Mykonos and hopefully some day I will get a chance to visit again.....

What is the most beautiful place you have visited? Is there one place that will always be in your memories for its beauty and uniqueness?

More holiday snaps to show you, as you will know from my previous blog posts I went on a cruise recently, we spent some time in Venice and then it was on to Kotor, Montenegro for our first stop off. Our next stop was Corfu. Corfu is one of the Greek Islands. While in Corfu we visited the town, the Palace grounds and also the old fortress which dominates the east side of the city of Corfu. There was fabulous views from here and we enjoyed just strolling around and taking everything in. It was a glorious day and I even did a bit of shopping. I won't bore you with all the details as I have a lot of blog posts about my travels. The pictures say it all, enjoy.

Hello everyone! The weeks are flying by, everyone seems to be extra busy these days. From looking at my blog, you will notice I haven't been blogging much this week. I took a few days off work and spent it with my parents. What have you been up to lately? I have been painting and doing gardening. I'm glad it's the weekend again!

I know some of you are already married and others may not have any interest in marriage, but all you single ladies out there looking for a husband, would you marry a farmer? Well, be honest now, would you?

Do you like country life, perhaps you like animals and nature or would you like to put your wellies to good use? If the answer is yes, then the farmer is for you!

Lorna Sixsmith has provided us all with a witty account of the Irish Farmer as the ideal husband in her book Would You Marry a Farmer? When Lorna posted this question on her blog, she got a phenomenal response and since then she has gone on to write the book. I really enjoyed this book and so much of it is true. The illustrations are cute too. I have already married a farmer so I know first hand what it is like and I wouldn't change it for the world! Thanks Lorna for the great read. The book is available online from Lorna's website Irish Farmerette.

As some of you already know, I am a student on Decor8's Blogging your Way e-course and I am loving it, I highly recommend it to you all. As part of the course I partnered up with Denise from What a Day Weddings. Denise is a wedding coordinator and once you visit her website you will know she is excellent at what she does. If your like me and love taking a look at wedding day inspiration, you should pop over and take a look around Denise's beautiful website and blog. 

Hope you all had a nice Easter and relaxing break. I enjoyed my time with family. The weather was lovely here in Ireland which was great as everyone was out and about. We went shopping and visited Lough Key Forest Park. I picked up a few country style items for my home- as you all know I like to keep it country! 

The china mug is from the Katie Alice Collection, it is really pretty "Have a cup of tea and fly away with me.." The Katie Alice Collection has some really nice vintage inspired china and homeware.

The image in the middle is my new mat for my hallway- how cute is it! I bought it in Vobe Interiors based in Carrick on Shannon, Leitrim, Ireland but the good news is they have an online shop too for any of you further afield. 

Here are a few items I bought about 3 weeks ago. I have been looking out for a nice bag since Christmas and came across this satchel bag a few weeks ago and decided to buy it. It is from River Island. The jumper I picked up in Heatons for €13.00 which was a real bargain.

I am finishing up my course this weekend and my written assignment is due on Wednesday, I have it more or less completed now. I am delighted as I hope to have more free time to enjoy myself and also get ready for Decor8 Blogging your Way e-course next week. I am also looking forward to Easter and the weather improving. What have you been up to lately?

If you are from Ireland or elsewhere, you have to watch the new promotional video for Ireland- it really will make you want to love our little country. Enjoy!

With all this rain and wind, it is becoming increasingly miserable here in Ireland soooooo we have booked our holidays for 2014! We didn't go anywhere last year so we decided to have a good holiday this year. My husband really deserves the break too. So we are hitting the sun visiting Italy, Montenegro, Greece and a few of the Greek Islands :)

Hello everyone, it's the weekend again, the weeks just seem to be flying by. What horrible weather we have had this week, rain, sleet, snow and high winds. It has been a week for staying indoors. But alas I woke this morning to sunshine, yes sunshine! At last, Spring may be on its way. The bulbs I planted in my garden are popping their heads out. I may do some Spring cleaning today but first I thought I'd share with you some lovely items from Cath Kidston which I have my eye on. I am loving crochet these days and as always anything nature themed like this beautiful bird wallpaper. I love baby blues, pinks and pastel greens. Have you any nice plans for this weekend?

Wishing each and everyone of you a very Merry Christmas. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and good wishes for the festive season.

 

I know we have a few more weeks to go, but I couldn't resist posting this cute Christmas Advert from John Lewis on my blog. Hope you enjoy if you haven't seen it yet. It is so sweet :)

 

 

I got this lovely gift last week, it is a lovely knitted throw made from really vibrant colours. I am looking forward to using it in the winter months when the weather is chilly. The Autumn is already beginning to slowly creep in here in Ireland. The evenings are getting shorter and much cooler. I don't mind the Autumn time, I love the trees changing colours and the crisp air. I light the log burning stove and cosy up at the fire with a big mug of tea, some blogging or a good book. We had a great Summer here in Ireland this year, the weather has been so good with lots of sunshine and heat. We got our garden almost completed now and the painting of the exterior of the house is coming along well. What have you got up to this Summer?