Summer is here

So yesterday and today have been amazing days. It gotup to 23 degrees yesterday and Karl and I got some ice-cream (snickers - YUM!) and went for a morantic stroll on the beach. 

The sun sets at around 10pm here, so we really enjoyed the long hot day. Today, for lunch, Orna and I went to Belfast castle for our lunch (salad!) and it is 21 degrees. Now, I know that 21 degrees means nothing to you, but for Northern Ireland its BOILING. Everyone is out in tank tops and flip-flops etc, and it does feel HOT!

Its supposed to be sunny and HOT for the rest of the week and weekend. I am kicking off my weekend tonight with a braai at Jimmy & Fionnuala's. Let the SUNtimes roll :D

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! :)

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 1

Wow, what a weekend! I’m exhausted and at work and wish I was in bed. Friday night turned into Saturday morning. We went to pick up Sinead and Hugh, and then went over to the boy’s boss’s boss’s house for a pizza before our night out. After pizza we headed out to Belfast, to The Duke of York. Its a really big pub, and is very unusual.

The party was called a 70^th, because Hugh turned 30 and his colleague turned 40, so they just decided to have one big party.

After meeting everyone, Sinead and I headed up stairs for a bit of dancing and then joined the rest of them a bit late. We even had springboks .

 So anyway, after an awesome night out, we finally arrived home at 4am! Yes, 4am. I slept for 4 hours and got up at 8am to start a crazy day of baking. By Saturday evening, I was fed up! Harpinder was a great help and tidied up behind me and just generally kept me sane. The cake did turn out really good, despite some technical difficulties and the fact that the top 2 layers were too heavy for the light chocolate sponge at the bottom, did my best to cover it up with decor though!

Had to make a small cake for Christina, who is gluten-intolerant.

We had quite a spread: scones, quiche, cake, cupcakes, cheese and crackers etc.

I thought I had made too much food, but after the 20 or so people spend yesterday afternoon grazing, there really wasn’t much left. I invited everyone over fo tea and cake at about 3pm yesterday, an the last of them left at around 8pm.

opening gifts

 Got some really cool gifts, including these beautiful tulips!

I had a quick bath and got things ready for today, and then we headed down the road with Harps and Barry to have dinner and watch our Sunday night South African show, Wild at Heart. Been awake since 4am, probably a sugar high!

Really had a good weekend!

xx

weekend activities

Spent the morning cleaning the house. We have another busy weekend, but its my birthday weekend, so I am looking forward to it! Waiting for a friend, Sinead, to arrive for lunch. Made some pasta, YUM!
Then tonight we are going out in Belfast for Sinead's husband's birthday party. He works with Karl. We are going to the Duke of York.

Tomorrow I am baking. Gonna try a 3-tiered topsy-turvy cake and it might be a bit of a technical challenge, will post pics. 1 tier is choc fudge, another one is lemon and the last one is coffee and walnut. Everyone is coming over for cake on Sunday afternoon, so gonna be spending all of tomorrow baking: cake, cupcakes, scones and maybe some bread...

Also found these in our front garden

I wonder what they are....

A foreign Christmas

Well, so much for a white Christmas :( The snow has melted and the temperature is back up to a toasy 10 degrees. Last week the temperature ranged between -1 to 5 degress and it was miserably cold. I'm getting all these wonderful emails and pictures from everyone back home who is on holiday and on the beach or sipping sushi and its starting to make me ever so homesick... Fine, we have roaring fires and mulled wine, but what is Xmas without a braai, some sunshine, mad family antics and a pretty summery dress! It does feel pretty weird to be so far away from home when there is so much festivity taking place back in tht Mother City. Thankfully Karl is off work for about 10 days, so we're gonna do a few things, just so it feels like we're on holiday too. Not much planned yet, just gonna take it as it comes and explore every inch of Norhtern Ireland.

We went out last night to see Karl's friend who is here from the US. Tonight we are going to Belfast to see a comedy show that STARTS AT 10PM!? And tomorrow is my work (haha, I only started here last week) Chrsitmas Party, which almost everyone in the Glen is invited to. So I'm going to be all partied out for Christmas, and might just end up sleeping through all the festivity! :)

Have fun in the sun (although apparently its raining at home) and have a cocktail or 2 on me.