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 :)

As most of you may not be aware, my background is in urban and regional development, I have also worked in heritage related posts and in rural development. I am a qualified planner and did some teaching too. I am also a farmers wife, may I add. So today I would like to introduce to you, The Urban Nexus Initiative. This initiative was initiated by two of my  friends whom I met when we pursued a Masters Degree in University College Dublin. While we have gone our own ways career wise since, we are still in contact and enjoy meeting up every so often.

For those of you who are not from Ireland or are not aware of the Initiative, it is a design and research based programme developed in 2010. It's main aim is to explore cities using alternative techniques and methods in order to inspire creativity and originality in the city design. It is all about more holistic approaches to how the urban realm is designed in the modern day city.

In order to put this into practice, they have developed the XXI Century Liffey Project (The Liffey being the main river which flows through Dublin City). This is an urban design project to re-vision and re-imagine the Liffey Quays for the XXI Century. It is basically about the River Liffey and its quays- an iconic space in Dublin City, but a space that seems to have been left behind. Through the project they aim to re-imagine the role the quays play in the XXI Century Dublin by considering design as the vital element in the creation of dynamic and interconnected spaces. They have began to stimulate discussions and debates through various methods including a number of exhibitions, lunch time talks and seminars prior to any proposed plans for the area. Ultimately they hope to initiate new ways of thinking which can be applied to the wider urban areas of Dublin and other cities alike.

{All images from Urban Nexus Initiative}

I know I have a brand new home in the country which I am delighted with... but I can still dream can't I? I have fallen in love with these Border Oak Homes since I first set eyes on them. They are full of character, old world charm and look so cosy and country cottage like too. Once we had our home built I said never again, there was so much organising and managing on it however if I won the lotto I want one of these!!! You really should check out their website, the finish of the homes are superb and as for the interiors, I just love them!!! So fingers crossed I win the lotto and then I will be contacting Border Oaks to come here to Ireland to build one of these perfect homes for me, overlooking the lake down the long lane. I even have my site picked! What are you dreaming of today???

{All Images from Border Oak Blog}

Hope you are all having a nice week. I took this week off work as I have a lot of planning to do. I bought my wedding dress today, it will be ready in January. My kitchen is almost installed now and all the interior doors are hung in the house. We bought all the tiles for the bathrooms yesterday. My wallet is getting a good bashing this week.

I also booked my wedding venue, it will be a traditional church wedding with a castle reception. I am having three bridesmaids- two close friends and one of my new sister in laws. Our Church is very small and is located on the lake shore. Have a look at the reception venue where we will have an arrival reception with canapes and drinks, then 5 course meal later in the evening, followed by a band, then evening buffet, then a dj to finish the night off at which stage I will be exhausted. That's the norm here in Ireland. I hope you like my venue. I think it's fit for a princess : ) The venue was expensive but I have cut back on many of the other items. I am not having a video, my friends will drive us, my wedding dress was a total bargain, I am trying to get a photographer for an hour or two and need to arrange invitations which I might do myself. I have looked at Wedding Chicks DIY invites and I like them. Tomorrow on my to do list, I have to go and suss out bridesmaid dresses and invitations. Hope you are all having a nice week and you have better weather than us- it has rained non stop all week!

Here you go, as you can see the upstairs windows are taking shape, the roof is felted and now we are waiting to get the side gables plastered and windows in before we get the roof tiled. It really is coming along quick but the inside work will be slower progressing. At least it will be water tight for christmas!

I always take photographs from this angle and you can't really see the sunroom to the right hand side as this is where the opening is from the road and also there is a large pile of topsoil in the way to take a photograph from straight on. To the left hand side there is a room in the attic space,  this will be my secret room/ den which I will put all my books in and a small desk :)

Yes it's another update on my new home. This time I took the photograph from up the field the opposite side of the road. The electricity wires are the opposite side of the road and won't be in our view. I like how the roof profile doesn't really break the skyline. You can see where the two upstairs windows are going to be. In my last update the house looked very big but I think that now the roof is taking shape and there are only two windows upstairs it looks much more in keeping with the countryside. Since this photograph was taken on Sunday the felt is now on the roof. The side gables and the chimneys now have to be plastered before the tiles are put on the roof. You can see where we have the topsoil all piled at the front of the garden which will be spread out over the garden once it is completed. We have looked at stone for the porch too.

And here is a sample of the type of stone we would like on the porch, it is Donegal stone.

So that's the update on my new home...

Here is the progress on my new home. You can see the upstairs windows take shape, there is one on each side. Again as I took this photograph from an angle you cannot see the sunroom to the right hand side. The roofers are coming next week so it will really begin to shape then. We have chosen a storey and a half design house which is in keeping with the traditional farm houses in Ireland. We are going to put some stone on the porch and have brown windows with a coloured door.

Some of you may remember me blogging about a top secret I had, well it's time for the big reveal to you all! Have any of you been guessing? This is on the cards since the new year and I wrote about it in my New Year Goals :-)  I am like a wee bird that is going to build a nest :-) After all home is where the heart is!

If I were asked to name the chief benefit of the house, I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace ~Gaston Bachelard

The most important work you and I will ever do will be within the walls of our own homes ~Harold B. Lee

Life's a voyage that's homeward bound ~Herman Melville
Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home ~John Howard Payne

A good home must be made, not bought ~Joyce Maynard

My home is not a place, it is people ~Lois McMaster Bujold]

Any ideas??? I have gave the secret away! Yes you guessed it! Myself and my boyfriend are building a home together, we have the plans all ready and have permission. We are both living at home with our seperate families at the moment but as soon as the house is built it will be our HOME!!! :-) As you may have noticed I'm very excited, all I need now is lots of money! All donations accepted :)

Hello Everyone,

Hope you are all having a nice weekend. I'm relaxing today and going to visit an old friend now soon. Tomorrow I am going to the new IKEA store in Dublin, I have never been to IKEA but im really looking forward to it to see what all the fuss is about. Im sure I'll want to buy lots but one or two small items is as far as it'll go. Change of plans now, instead I am going to visit possible wedding venues along with my boyfriend and his sister and no its not me getting married its his sisters. Theres alot of wedding planning going on in our two families lately and yes this is a different wedding from the one that I was looking for the wedding invitations advice (See post below)