What april showers?

As I get through my post-wedding blues, I thought I'd share some pictures from my April. It was a lovely month, besides the assignments!


(It was the morning after the night before)


An attempt on behalf of me and my friend Seán to climb Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, we took a rest and turned back.

I went home to Sligo and Dublin for a few days and was reunited with my lovely friends & I/We...


Learnt about the dangers of smoking (hi rosie)


(hi austin)


You'd think after so many attempts they'd have found the right shade of green paint to conceal graffiti by now










Went to see the Frida Kahlo & Diego Riviera exhibition at IMMA


Saw some questionable posters in Kilmainham and played guessing games


My Dad enjoying his new Wills & Kate mug with a Tunnocks teacake.


My brother made me tomato soup, which I enjoyed with toasted soda bread as I luxuriously read the sunday papers


Stopped in at The Outsider, the Jack B. Yeats exhibition at the Niland.


Sat in the sunshine in Iveagh Gardens with friends and recounted vulgar anecdotes


Drank tinnies in the sun on the TCD cricket pitch instead of doing archival research (failed academic)

Mad for the thrift

I hope you lords and ladies are out enjoying the sun this easter weekend and not confined to the desk like me!

It's safe to say that I am a charity shop junkie. I even like the familiar damp, musty smell that puts people off. The pokier the better. The dingiest, most cramped shops can sometimes hold the greatest treasures, as most people are put off by the prospect of wrestling through narrow aisles of clothes. Not me, its how I like to spend my free time. Whenever I'm in a new town I'm itching to explore the local charity shops.

Here are some of my favourite recent buys:


Reiss cropped jacket, €6.50


Wallis purple lurex disco top, €3
Worryingly, I'm becoming more and more like a magpie for lurex items of clothing


Max Mara wool drape skirt, £4


Denim shirt (I've been wearing this consistently for the past 2 months), £3, originally LOGG by H&M


€1 - I couldn't resist this! You Irish kids will probably have read this, around the same time as Under the Hawthorn Tree, right?

My recent charity shop/second hand bookshop acquisitions:

Brideshead Revisted & A Room with a View I already own, but i can't resist buying multiples of my favourite books, particularly if the cover is attractive. I'm frivolous that way. I also stock pile books and buy them so I won't forget to read them, eh, its a ... faultless system so far.

This is sort of a silly excuse for a post but I don't want yous to think I've upped and gone! Personally, I love seeing what gems people have picked up in charity shops.

My rules to myself - I don't buy something just because of a label, I ask myself if I actually will wear it/have any use for it. Although this sometimes goes out the window in the case of picking up something to give to a friend (like a pair of tight gold trousers I can recall). I don't want anymore clutter in my wardrobe.

Sometimes its just the fun of browsing and the strange things you come across in some places. It's a hobby for me, its retail therapy without spending a lot. The rummage can sometimes be relaxing. If a place is very busy I won't linger because the good stuff is probably gone and I'm never really in the mood for clashing elbows with a couple of hipsters or a wan who doesn't understand the concept of personal space, as applied to the real world.

I'm going to York next month, and London, so if you have any recommendations for charity shops (or indeed in Glasgow and Edinburgh) please send them my way!

Easter with flair

A long Easter weekend is the perfect excuse to settle down in front of the television on a lazy afternoon to watch some classic matinees. I feel like on weekends such as this, you need something bright and colourful, funny and uplifting. To put that smile back on your face, if like me, you've had to sit through six hours of Ben Hur or Quo Vadis with your Dad, until you get to watch what you really want to watch. Is it just me or does Jason and the Argonauts remind anyone of Easter? It seems like it was always on tv this time of year when I was a wee one, and my Dad would watch it every time.

If I had the free time right now, these are what I'd be watching:



Bringing up Baby (1938)
I laughed till my sides ached when I finally got around to watching this last summer. I'm rather ashamed that I had seen it before. This is The Original Rom Com. They don't make them like this anymore. Hepburn and Grant spark off each so well I wouldn't be surprised if you could catch the static off the screen. I mean it, you must watch this immediately, you'll thank me later.



The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Three of my favourite actors star, what more could I possibly want? Hepburn, Grant and Stewart make the most remarkable trio in this hilarious comedy of errors. High society girl Hepburn, gets her come uppance and finally realises what she wants from life and love.



Easter Parade (1948)
Ah, well its all in the name isn't it? Judy Garland and Fred Astaire make a multi talented pairing in this colourful, laugh out loud musical. The lavish candy coloured costumes are veritable eye candy, whereas you can't fault Astaire or Garland's musical duo. More saccharine than the previous perhaps, but if you want to inject some colour and froth into your afternoon, here you go.



Les demoiselles de Rochefort (1967)
Some continental colour now, and easily one of my favourite musicals - The Young Girls of Rochefort swings with sixties spirit and enthusiasm, without so much of the sex, just some great choreography. Gene Kelly stars alongside the beautiful sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac. One a cool blonde, the other a warm redhead. Great songs (even if I can just about hum the words) and dresses to boot. Directed by Jacques Demy. If you love musicals, like me, at least you can give the appearance of being cultured, seeing as this is French an all.



Carry on Camping (1969)
Not forgetting the great British comedies! I remember watching Carry On marathons during the long summer afternoons when I was a kid. I still find their tongue in cheek, slapstick humour very amusing, I won't lie! Barbara Windsor and Kenneth Williams are an absolute scream. Carry On Camping remains one of the best Carry On's in my opinion, its so of its time, made in the summer of love itself, so high spirited and hormonal. A time when the average person holidayed at home, something I suspect we're returning to in this economic climate... now I'm making it sound like its a social commentary for our time. Actually maybe it is, watch it and report back.

I welcome any recommendations, by the way, I'm always wracking my brain for a good movie to watch, of an afternoon.

Back in the old town

I haven't had a moment to update and deadlines are swiftly approaching. I am back in Dublin for a few days and have archives and the like to visit, old friends to see, assignments to do.

Thanks to my mate Austin for reminding me of this classic. Dublin still looks like this, although people have substantially less hair and we don't mope around in boats on the Liffey. The Celtic Tiger has gone.



I will announce the winners of my give-away next week. I miss reading your blogs!

This old house of mine

As the days get longer and brighter I can't help but think of summer. Soon I'll be going home for a few days to hopefully conduct some dissertation research and as well as spending some time in the countryside I know so well.

Here are some pictures of my room I took last summer before I relocated to Scotland. Brownie points for guessing what my favourite colour is. It's been purple since I moved in when I was 15 (I originally wanted black, that was my 'black phase', praise be only a couple of photos exist as testament to this and I'm sure both in my possession.)


London - Paris - Berlin - New York, if only these were closets from Narnia


Obligatory heart shaped lights that girls buy when they're sixteen and have spending money from their first job...




Art to inspire














I am a hoarder, so all my junk is hidden in my wardrobes. ;)

I don't know about you but I love looking at people's bedrooms.