The Interior DIYer
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Merry half way there!

It’s official. We are exactly six months through the year. Half way to Christmas. To some people this may cause their skin to crawl, but I’m always thinking six months ahead. These days I’m daydreaming about Christmas time, wooly blankets and hot chocolate. Woah, hold up – those last two happened last night. Yep, our summer is over already here in Ireland it seems … Moving on!  

In recent years, husband and I have started a tradition of our own. At Christmas, husbands mom makes us a ridiculously yummy pudding, which is one of husbands most favouritest desserts. So, for the past three years, I’ve saved two healthy slices of Christmas pudding and stored it in the back of our fridge. Then on June 25th, half way there, I dig it out of the fridge and we enjoy a serious slice of pudding {I snuck a tiny bit while taking this picture, and nearly had a When Harry Met Sally moment in the kitchen}.  
Do any of you have silly traditions like this you’ve started with your significant other? I can easily see our tradition snowballing out of control when we have produced children, and I end up decorating the house on June 25th. Yeah. I’ll be the weird mom. 

p.s. Thank you all so much for your sweet comments and words of support on yesterdays post. I am one lucky gal 🙂 xx A
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Window woes

If you can see the sun and/or you don’t have to wear three layers of clothes at the moment, count yourself lucky. Here in Ireland we skipped spring and summer, and headed straight into next winter. Grey skies, biblical downpours, freezing temperatures and snow. Thanks to the reminders going around social networking sites, this time last year it was 16 degrees in Dublin. I didn’t even bother opening the blinds last weekend …

They remained closed for two reasons. We’re renters, so there is a limit to what we can do when it comes to fixing minor issues – our dining room juts out from our apartment and consists of three floor-to-ceiling windows. In the summer it’s amazing, but in the winter = ice box. We close the blinds as our first defense against the cold. Our second defense was to hang a curtain rod across where our living room meets our dining room, to close and isolate the dining area at night in the winter months {mad props to handyman father}.

Unfortunately, they only keep out so much. I found a type of blinds over on the VELUX® website that offer the perfect solution – Energy Blinds have a special layer of insulation to keep in the heat and improve the temperature of the room. Absolute perfection. Except there is one massive set back – VELUX blinds can only be applied to their own brand of windows, and our existing windows don’t compete. Massive sad face. But hey, a girl can dream.

I also spotted on the VELUX website something I was pretty surprised to see this side of the Atlantic – insect screens. I’ve been saying for years that I don’t understand why houses over here don’t have them. If any of you have VELUX windows installed in your home, I’m mad jealous. More info of course can be found over on their website – www.veluxshop.ie.

So until the summer time when it’s warm enough to use our dining room again, hubby and I have found dining a la coffee table a completely acceptable alternative. Although I am starting to show my age when I try and stand up after a full meal …

Image 3 cred. 
VELUX were kind enough to sponsor this post about my winter window woes, which I’m pretty excited about. Excited about the sponsor bit – not the cold state of our dining room. In case that needed clarification. All views are my own.
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2012 – goals

It’s the new year and I’m writing a post on goals – shock, horror. But in stead, I’m writing about last years goals. Twelve months ago I wrote a list, and never published them. I kind of forgot about them. And I also thought no one would really want to read them anyways.

Then the other day, I went back to take a look at  the unpublished post, and was shocked when it dawned on me that I managed to achieve each of my goals for 2012. I don’t think that’s ever happened …


Couch to 5k – I always admire joggers. I hate jogging. Probably because I hate sweating. But I’ve come to a point where I want to be fit, and the perfect way to start this is the Couch to 5k program. 
I achieved this, getting up to 50 minutes of non stop jogging. For me – the eternal physical activity hater – that was a huge achievement. I also shed 28lbs/2 stone in the process. I’m hoping to continue this goal into 2013 and I’m proud to say I started kicking my ass again this week after a couple months off. If I can do it, anyone can. For serious. 

Level up – I heart blogging. Since I began, the more I got into it, the more I realized it pushes me to be more creative. I’m contemplating taking my creativity to another level. Possibly stepping into the world of selling stuff online. But I haven’t a clue what I’d sell. Not off to a good start …
I got a couple of magazine features in 2012 which was more than I expected. I’ve had a possible online idea involving revamping items and selling them on, but I’m really unsure how that would go. I do have a daunting /massive/exciting project on the horizon, but for now, I’ll do that annoying thing that people do and I won’t tell you what it is. 
Project Less 365 – I have way too much crap. Stuff I’ll never use, but that can get use from someone else. I’m hoping this year to embark on Project Less 365 – the idea being that you get rid of / give away one item per day every day for a year. 
Having only started this at the beginning of November {delayed by wedding fever}, I managed to almost finish this project by December 31st. And I’m not stopping there. A weight is being lifted the more I get rid of stuff. If you’re curious, you can check out my less is more posts.



Not morph into Bridezilla – I have a pretty tough level of OCD at the best of times. What scares me about our wedding day is that I won’t be able to relax and enjoy it. I’m trying not to put an overwhelming amount of detail into it, that way there’s less to go wrong. And if it does, c’est la vie. Or, I’ll keep a constant supply of g&t at hand.

I was as calm as a Hindu cow the two weeks leading up to our wedding, and I’m very proud. I typically excrete OCD, so this was a big step for me. I reminded myself that yes, it’s our wedding day, but it’s just another day in the end, so calm the fuck down.

As for this year, I’m not yet sure of my goals. And I’m okay with that.

xxA