more cake

Its a colleague's birthday today. So I'm in for work on a Friday :( But the good thing is that we are going for lunch (all on the company) and then we are going out for a few drinkies and some dinner this evening. So another big night out in the big city lights for this country girl! :)

my first lamb...

Had a busy day today. Got up and went to gym and then got home and went to sit in the sun with a slice of buttery toast and a cup of sweet tea. It was 17 degrees again today, and I had to take advantage of the weather, so Moira and i took an 8km walk called the bluebell walk. Its called that because all of the fields are full of bluebells. THey should only bloom in the next couple of weeks, but some of them are already out.

Uncle Jim up the road is a sheep farmer, and he said today that one of the lambs are half dead. Sometimes sheep have 2 or 3 lambs, but only have enough milk for 1 or 2 of them. SO we have to hand rear the ones that are left out, these are usually the smallest ones. 

Moira and I got the braai going, just to take advantage of the good weather. We made chicken kebabs, lamb, steak and pork sausages and burgers. 

Just as I was finishing my dinner, Uncle Jim came up the road with the wee lamb that was tossed aside by its mother, and I had the privilege of feeding it.

Everything was going swimmingly, until it wee'd on me. I want to name it so badly, but Uncle Jim says that it might not last, so I don't want to jinx it... Will keep you updated.

summer's on its way...

The clocks went forward an hour today. Which means that we have more sunshine at night, but also less sleep this morning. On my way to church my car said it was 14.5 degrees, and when I got out of church it said 17.5 and slowly crept up to 19 degrees! Barry, Harpinder, Jimmy, Fionnuala and I spent a good while sitting out in the sun today. Its so weird how a little bit of sun can lift your spirits.

Karl was away in England this weekend, catching up with Simon. And i think he felt that guilty about leaving me at home, that he paid for a horse trek for me yesterday afternoon. Sinead is taking lessons and goes once a week, and the riding school had a special on, so we went for an afternoon of trekking which was so much fun. My legs are so sore from gripping the horse so tightly in order to stay on. I think I'm going to sign up for lessons come May. 

on our way to the country for the trek

a quick lesson

After some food I came back home and spent the evening with Barry, Harps and the inlaws. 

Got up super-early this morning. Because the time was changing (we are now an hour behind SA), I changed the time on my phone. Little did I know that my phone updates itself! SO when my alarm went off at 8am this morning, it was actually 7am!

After ironing Karls shirts and making some chicken parcels for the week, I headed back out to Sinead and we walked about 8kms around Cushendun. The weather was amazing, and it was super-busy. Everyone out with their babies and dogs, even the ice-cream van was at the beach front. Hope this summer lasts for a while yet.

4 lambs - very unusual!

walking along the river

short sleeves!!!

check out how sunny it is!

yes, that is a REAL goat (the white one)

can you spot the ice-cream van?

finished off our walk with a walk on the beach

Had a nice weekend, despite the fact that I was husbandless. Looking forward to pizza and an early night. Last week of work this week until May. *HUGE GRIN*

sofa woes..

We bought this AMAZING sofa a few weeks back. Its the one I have always wanted, but it was superduper expensive, so we got our corner sofa set instead. And then its was on sale for half price!! So my dear husband ordered it for me :) It arrived last week, and we tried to put it into the house on Sunday...

It doesn't fit!!! Its too BIG! It doesn't fit through the doors of our house or my in-laws house. Unless we take out a window, its gonna have to stay all wrapped up until we build our house (with wide-ass doors!). It doesn't look that big, but its massive, its taller than Karl! So lesson for today: use a freaking measuring tape!!!

St Paddys day

We started the celebrations a bit early, and I made a batch of green cocktails on friday night, and we took them over to Sinead and Hugh's for dinner and a dvd. 

Sinead and I finished the cocktail mix and moved on to wine I think? I woke up on St Paddy's day with no hangover! To be honest I wanted to climb Slemish for my first St Patricks day in Ireland. The problem with that plan is that so does the rest of Ireland!! Apparently it gets so crazy that you have to park miles away and have to queue for hours to get up there. So instead I made more green cocktails and we went over to Willie and Joanne's for dinner and drinks on Sat eve.

yummy chocolate wine that we got FREE with our Indian takeaway!

digging in

defo hometime!

So I walked up slemish on Monday instead and it was dead quiet and so mucky, i slipped a few times, but at least I can say that I did it!

Slemish

it was freezing up there!

Also went to my very first spin class, and it actually wasn't THAT bad! Will defo be going back!


Counting down the days till Mel arrives!
xx

The Artist

Karl was supposed to go to Poland yesterday for work. So he packed his bags and I packed mine so that I could stay over at Barry and Harps' place in Belfast while he was away. On the way to work yesterday, my car broke down on the busiest highway in Northern Ireland :( Luckily Karl was still with me. Long story short, Karl had to get to the office ASAP to sort out stuff before his flight to Poland, but his father sent someone to take me back to the Glens with the car on his trailor.I had a quick cup of tea and then took Karl's car and drove back into Belfast to come to work. As soon as I got to the office (at 1pm), Karl called to say that his trip to Poland was cancelled! Can someone say SHORT NOTICE! Well, our bags were packed anyway, so we decided to stay up here. 

The 4 of u had dinner at Pizza Hut in the Odyssey Arena,  followed by the Oscar winning,  romantic comedy drama in the style of a black-and-white silent film, The Artist. If you havent watched this movie yet, do yourself a favour and go watch it, its on at Nouveau. In the begining I was like huh? This sucks, but as you get into it, you learn to appreciate it, as well as what it was like to watch movies back in the 'good ole days'.

I'm sitting at my desk absolutely exhausted this morning. Because Barry and Harps were only expecting me, they made up the single bed in the spare room. So Karl and I shared a single bed last night.... Not an ideal situation. *yawn*

Birthday weekend part II

So last Saturday night, my good friend Joanne, decided we were gonna celebrate my birthday in 3D style... dinner, drinks and dancing. We went to her home town of Ballycastle, about 30 mins from where we live. We went shopping on Thursday evening (instead of Zumba!) and bought very cheap, but very sexy dresses. I'm actually gutted that we didn't get a photo together in our new dresses. I did try a new hairdo though, like a side bun-thing...

We went to a place called the Central for the first part of the evening.

I had the MOST AMAZING chicken stack ever! Its roasted chicken on a bed of champ (an Irish version of mash), with fried onions on top and a creamy peppered sauce! YUM!!! Karl had a bacon and avo (?) burger, which was really well presented.

After dinner, Stevie Wonder's Happy Birthday started playing and this cake arrived on our table. It was really very sweet (nearly cried, but didn't!).

After dinner, we gate-crashed a wedding. The girl in the pink dress and her hubby were invited to the evening do at a friends wedding (in a nightclub!?) so we all went along for a few drinks. After a few long and uncomfortable stares from the wedding guests (probably wondering who on earth we were), we moved to the Glenshesk, more commonly known as "Sin City."

And thats all I remember (just kidding!) We were home and in bed by 2am :)

8 things you probably don't know about me...

1.       I HATE salad. I have always hated salad (even more so in the cold), but I’m forced to eat it because I’m trying to eat my “5 a day”.

2.      I lose my glasses AT LEAST once a day.

3.      I cannot fall asleep unless my ears are covered.

4.      I am addicted to coke zero (ok, maybe you already knew that).

5.      I have a small chip on one of my front teeth.

6.      When I’m in my car alone, I love to sing…loudly.

7.      The smell of bananas makes me sick!

8.      I am obsessed with changing round the furniture in my house, it makes everything feel different and new.

lamb chops anyone?!

We have a few visitors. When Karl and I came up the road today, Karl called me outside to show me something, and I wondered what was in store... He took me outside to the outhouses and this scene awaited me...

They are so cute. The lambs were born on Thursday and Friday. Karl’s uncle is a sheep farmer and for the first few days after they are born he puts them in my father-in-laws outhouse, just until they acclimatise etc. 

I just wanna hug them...and pour mint sauce all over them and put them in a kebab! Lol! JUST KIDDING, relax J I hope to get out sometime over the next few weeks and help Uncle Jim deliver the lambs. Pics to follow.

Spring in the Glens

I can totally feel the difference in the weather here already. Instead of the freezing mornings, its now 7 or 8 degrees and it gets up to 13 degrees in the day! Waiting for real summer when its about 18 degrees (how sad do I sound?) Anyway, I decided to walk around the Glen, which is roughly a 10km walk one day during the week. All the flowers are out and the lambs are being born, and spring is definately in the air!

a mommy sheep about to have a baby sheep

view down the Glen

daffodils growing in our garden