sNOw Fun

Ok, so as I said last week, snow is fun and beautiful for about a day, or until you have to actually go out into it. This week it has been quite difficult getting around because of the snow and ice. It snowed on and off for just under a week. The problem is that Ireland is not used to this weather and we aren't prepared to deal with it in the ways the other countries are. Having said all that it is starting to melt now and hasn't snowed in Dublin since Thursday night.

I mentioned some snow related difficulties I had on Thursday in yesterday's post so I thought I'd share the full story with you. It all started because my parents were attending the wedding of one of their friends today and my mam was looking for a dress to wear to it. Leaving things to the last minute as usual (hehe) my mam came into the shop I work in looking for something to wear to to the wedding on Monday and found a gorgeous 70's style maxi dress. Unfortunately our tills in work were offline which means staff sales can't be processed (which means my mam couldn't have gotten the 75% staff discount). So on Thursday I suggested taking the LUAS (Dublin city tram) out to Dundrum shopping centre to buy the dress in the shop there because I wasn't sure when the tills were going to be back online again.

So my mam met me after work on Thursday and we got the LUAS at 3. We were only 3 stops into our journey when the driver announced that we all had to get off the tram because the one in front of us had been derailed by a bunch of kids building a snowman filled with rocks on the tracks. So we got off and decided the best thing to do would be to walk the snow covered tracks up to Dundrum and then hopefully the Luas would be running later. However it had started to snow very heavily at this stage and as we were walking along the tracks they became covered with snow because they weren't being used and it seemed unlikely that the southbound line would be in use later. We walked for an hour and a half in up to a foot of snow sometimes more in places. I was so glad I brought my umbrella, it was a lifesaver!

We got there eventually and my mam bought her dress and we got coffee to warm up. While we were drinking our coffee the shopping centre announced that the luas would be back running from 5.30, so we headed back to the luas stop and alas there were very few people there and the controller told us that whoever said they were back running was lying and that he was being told by the control centre that they wouldn't be running for the foreseeable future and that his advice to us was to try and get a bus or a taxi. So we went to the nearest bus stop and waited. There was very little traffic passing us after a half hour and then a man passed by saying that the luas was running again.

Hesistantly we decided to go back and see if it was true, not thinking that it was because of the false information we had already received. My mam went up to a garda traffic car stopped at a traffic light on the way to the luas and the gardai (multiple policemen) pulled over and told us that there was no way it was running and they advised us to get into the next taxi we saw which is what we did. After almost 6 hours we got back to my apartment at 8.30 and Donnacha went out and got us pizza and beers and my mam stayed with us because it was too dangerous and she was too tired to walk into town and get the train to Skerries.

The very annoying thing was that the tills in work were finally fixed when I was leaving work on Friday. Also The National were playing on Thursday night and Donnacha found a guy selling 2 tickets for really good seats but I didn't get back in time to go, plus I was wrecked anyway after the ordeal so that was very annoying because I was so looking forward to seeing them. But we're hoping to get tickets to Arcade Fire either tomorrow or Monday night which would be a great consolation! All I can say is that it certainly was an experience and something I won't forget for a while. It will make me very grateful when the snow finally melts and things get back to normal!
Here are some photos from Thursday. I had to stop to take some even though it was freezing and snowy!

The last Luas that ran on Thursday












There were so many people walking along the tracks

A yummy caramel macchiato in Butler's to warm me up




The snow piled up in the patio outside the coffee shop

I thought I'd show you the reason for all the trouble, this is the dress my mam bought;

And the jewellery we picked out to go with it;

So that was my eventful week! I'm looking forward to being able to hopefully walk to work at a decent pace next week. I bought some things while we were out in the accessorize in Dundrum too which I'll show you tomorrow.

Hope you're having a good weekend!

Love Em xx

I'd Say You Make a Perfect Angel in the Snow

As promised, some photos of the snow from last night. It has frozen over today and therefore the roads and paths are very slippy. I was dreading this happening again after the big freeze of January '10. It was incredibly annoying trying to get anywhere, I'll have to leave for work extra early tomorrow so I can take my time walking on the icy ground. Snow is a novelty here for about a day and then it's just annoying. Can't wait for it all to melt! Having said that here are the photos from last night when it was still beautiful!

I happened to catch this girl walking in the centre of the road at exactly the right time with her arms stretched out. How perfect is that?

You can see the snow gradually building up on this branch

and finally, Donnacha's snowman who lived a short life;

Hope you all had a lovely weekend! It's back to work for me tomorrow unfortunately. I'm already looking forward to my next week off after Christmas!

Emma xx

The First Snow

It's been snowing here very heavily for the past 2 hours and the snow is about 3 inches on the ground. Donnacha was out making a snowman by himself and got help from some drunk people walking home and a car pulled over to take a photo! I took some photos which I will show you tomorrow. As much as I'm not a fan of the cold weather, there is something magical about snow falling. We actually had the first snow of the Winter last night at around 4am aswell as a thunder storm.

This was the park beside St. Patrick's Cathedral today

It has been so cold these past few days but I managed to get some more Christmas shopping done. I'd say I have about a third of it still left to do, and that's all the people who I find very difficult to buy for like my grandparents. I have to admit, I do love Christmas shopping, not the crowds and long queues but getting someone something you know they will love. Oh and wrapping the presents, I love that too!

Today after doing some shopping we went to see Robert Rodriguez's Machete. I love his other films so I was looking forward to this and it was pretty good, not his best but I enjoyed it.

So here are the unedited funny face photos from the other day that I promised you, you'll get to see my goofy side, which if you know me well is a big part of me!

I can be quite the messer when I want to be, just as Donnacha!


So I got my hair done again yesterday. It only took an hour for the semi-permanent colour and blow dry and it cost less than I thought it would so all in all a good experience! It's great to have my colour freshened up and to have the vibrancy put back into it. I probably won't get in done again until the end of January and hopefully then I'll be able to get it lighter (that's if I still want to). Here are some photos just to show you the colour now;

This is a bit darker than the actual colour, it's hard to tell what it's like indoors at night with a flash




The hairdresser blow dryed my hair curly with Morrocan Oil, it smells amazing and makes my hair so shiny!

I told you about Donnacha's dog being sick during the week and unfortunately he had to be put into a permanent sleep last night. Donnacha is just happy that he got to say goodbye and that Snapper isn't in any pain anymore, but it's not going to be the same in his house anymore without him. It's amazing how much an animal can become part of your life.

On a happier note I have been planning a special treat for you guys! I've been collecting some items for my first reader giveaway! I'm very excited, so much so that I was going to wait until I had reached either 50 followers or my 100th post to do it but I couldn't wait. Heehee! I'll tell you all about it soon when I've gotten together the last few items so keep an eye out for the special giveaway post which should be within the week!

Well I hope you're all having a great weekend with less snow and more warmth than mine!

Goodnight,

Em xx