Mariella Beth Layhe

A big congrats to our dear friends, Clare and Simon Layhe on the birth of your beautiful daughter, Mariella Beth Layhe.

I am very proud of you friend, 40 hours of labour! Cherish every single moment with her.
Love you guys
xx

Week in review

What a week! We're exhausted. Friday eve, we sat around doing very little. And we received an early Christmas present in the post from Leigh&Ed&bump in the post: a selection of all our favourite South African treats! What an awesome way to kick of the weekend :)

On Saturday we tried to sort out the flat a bit, and I made the Christening cake. 

Saturday eve, we went to Joanne and Willie's where we were supposed to put up her Christmas tree, but we ended up watching x-factor and having a few g&ts instead. Sunday morning we went to the christening and the lunch after and then Sunday night we went to see the Ratpack Christmas special in Belfast. It was amazing, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was unbelievable how much they looked and sounded like the original Ratpack! We stayed over at Barry and Harp's place.

On Tuesday evening, straight after work, I went to Ikea and then met Karl at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast for dinner AND some Lionel Ritchie. I'll be honest, I'm not really a Lionel Ritchie fan, but Karl loves him and his mom gave him 2 tickets for his birthday. I must say, I know more Lionel songs that I thought I did and it was thoroughly enjoyable - we had such a good time! We are lucky to have such accommodating family, cos we once again made use of Barry & Harps yet again. 10/10 for hosting skills :)

Wednesday eve we had Sinead and Hugh over for dinner, a hearty beef stew, a fire place and good friends are a good way to chase away the winter blues. We also finally bought a tv, so got that all hooked up and sorted out, it looks bigger in our livingroom than in the shop!!

Last night we had pizza and sticky toffee pudding around at Hugh & Sinead's and we were supposed to go to the Christmas Market with them today, but to be honest, we were too tired to get out of bed early on our day off! So we slept in and got up and had a much-needed gym session! Trying to do some prep for an interview I have this week, and then we're off to Joanne & Willie's this eve (for some more baking). 

Its staying darker later in the mornings, and some evenings by 4pm, its dark - I kid you not. The one consolation is that after the 21st December, things start to brighten up - literally. Its cold here, very cold, like -5 cold. And most mornings, I'm greeted by this icy patch...

And lastly, since this is not gonna happen for the next 86 years (apparently), I couldn't resist...

Cornerstone - Hillsong

Loving this at the moment. Listen to it 4 times a day. At least!

Christina's Hen Do

There seems to be so much happening in the run up to Christmas. In addition to trying to move and unpacking, it was Christina's hen do on Saturday. Moira, Margaret, Harpinder and I left at 7:30am on Saturday to head down South to Monaghan for a day of activities. I was not looking forward to it. We were headed for a day of team-building, archery, crate-stacking and mud sliding...in 2 degree weather!!! The only thing that got me there was the fact that the hotel had a jaccuzzi, sauna and heated pool. It was also Karl's birthday, and it was the first year we didn't spend it together. I was a hard pill for me to swallow, but Karl went off to a rally with the boys. 

Let me tell you, despite the cold, I had a great old time, enjoyed every minute of it and then some. 

Harps and I really sucked at this!

Do I look cold? lol!

human knot

Even my mother-in-law enjoyed herself, she's a really good sport. After the day of activities, we headed to the hotel for some R&R followed by dinner, a cocktail making class and some dancing. I must admit, by the time it came to the dancing part, I was exhausted, so retired to the warmth of my bed pretty quickly. 

After a crazy weekend, Karl and I had a couple of days off to sort out the house and try to get Cassie settled. She's still a bit confused and needy, and isn't used to her new sleeping place. She wakes us up at around 3am every morning by crying and scratching at the door, so we eventually just let her in. Hopefully we can extend the hours a bit until 6:30am at least. 

Cassie being even more needy than usual since the move

2 ton/2000kgs of coal to keep us going this winter

and here's why!

last cake decor class for the year - kitkat cupcakes = YUMMO!

Movember - he's gonna kill me for putting this up here! :)

Cake I made for a colleague going off on maternity leave: you guessed it: she's having a girl!

We are having a pretty chilled Friday evening. I'm baking away - got a cake order for Sunday for a friend's twins' christening. And Karl and Cassie are bonding. Looking forward to a lie in tomorrow and the Ratpack concert on Sunday evening,

The move

On Friday evening Joanne and Sinead helped me to clean up our new place. It was full of paint and dust from grinders and drilling etc. It was wonder wonderful to have company, it didn't feel like hard work at all (it does now - me aching bones!). Yesterday Moira, Christian, Mark, William, Karl and myself moved all our furniture out an into the new place along with all our boxes etc. 

Slowly getting Cassie used to the place, she is confused at the best of times. She seems to be extremely clingy again, hopefully she settles soon. 

yes, thats how clingy she is, her paw is on my shoulder while I'm trying to dry my hair

!

finally asleep, she loves this position!

Today we spent unpacking boxes and trying to find a place for all our little things. Will probably only move in properly next weekend. Here are pics of our progree thus far...

lounge - we were testing the height of the tv stand and set the box on top on some toilet rolls to see if the angle/height/size etc were ok

my couch fits!!!!!

this is the box room, the other room is the gym, and the main bedroom has yet to be tackled

Will put up more pics when its all sorted. 

xx

2 year wedding anniversary

We went to Donegal, which is in the Republic of Ireland, but is situtated in the the north of Ireland, for a long weekend. We drove from Glenariff to Lough Foyle, where the hotel is situated and drove up to Ireland's most northerly point, called Malin Head.

We stayed at Red Castle and had a fabulous time. We were really blessed to have a room with a seafront view. THe hotel was amazing and Karl went for a half day of golf while I went off to the spa. We mainly chilled out, we both desperately needed some down time, so the weekend was full of shopping, exploring craft markets, exploring a few small villages, pre-dinner swims, and going to the local tourist haunts. Oh, and eating :) Here are a few pics.

five fingers strand

Malin Head

Made Karl a chocolate marble cake for our anniversary....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

........and a white chocolate and smarties bar for myself (they dont sell them here, so had to make my own. The up side to that is that I can put in as many smarties as I like!)

16 November - Jesus Calling

As you look at the day beore you, you see a twisted, complicated path, with branches going off in all directions. you wonder how you can possibly find your way through the maze. Then you remember the One who is with you always, holding you by your right hand. You recall my promise to guide you with my counsel, and you begin to relax. As you look again at the path ahead, you notice that a peaceful fog has settled over it, obscuring your view. You can see only a few steps in fromt of you, so you turn your attention more fully to Me and begin to enjoy My Presence.

The fog is a protection for you, calling you back into the present moment. Although I inhabit all of space and time, you can communicate with Me only here and now. Someday the fog will no longer be necessary, for you will have learned to keep your focus on Me and on the path just ahead of you.

Fionnuala's babyshower

Last weekend I made history and threw the first ever Graham babyshower. The Irish don't do babyshowers, they are a very superstitious people. They believe that buying anything for the baby before its born is bad luck. But when we discussed it months ago, Fionnuala was happy enough to have one. Nobody present had been to one, so everyone was really looking forward to it. Here is a quick photo update.

baby-egg game

pin the sperm on the egg game

rosewater cupcakes

crunchies

the food!

The arrival of the mom-to-be

dirty nappy game

babyfood game

dirty nappy game

change baby's nappy with one hand each-game

dirty nappies - YUK!!

opening gifts and reading out the poems/advice from each guest

 

Other than that, things have been pretty busy this side. Working in Belfast and travelling 3 hours a day takes its toll sometimes, but I'm determined not to let it get me down. I am grateful to have found a job in the current economic climate in the UK, even though its not in my field. WIll keep trusting and praying. Been baking away as usual. Joanne and I made a cake for her aunt's 80th birthday as well as cupcakes.

Even though I'm not a fan of halloween, our theme at our cake decorating class was halloween, but tried to be as cheerful as possible with the decor.

 Joanne and I have also been testing out loads of different recipes and baking away most weekends. From cheesecakes to scones to homemade jams, to trying to perfect gingerbread and banana bread etc, its done wonders (not!) for the figure!

blueberry and vanilla cheesecake

homemade microwave strawberry jam

Karl and I celebrate 2 years of marriage next week, so we will be off the radar from Saturday to Wednesday, off to Donegal. Will post pics and update when we get back.