Deep Water

I watched this documentary last night ,its an amazing story and if you like anything to do with the sea ,sailing and just enjoy a Human story ,watch it.Its a stunning true story of the first solo nonstop round the world boat race and the effect it has on all the sailors involved mainly Donald Crowhurst.Of the 9 sailors that set out only 1 made it Robin Knox-Johnston.To say they were brave is an understatement .I really enjoyed it

I have a list of documentaries I want to see.

Mellow Yellow

I am crazy for everything yellow at the moment ,I really want to paint my living room Yellow ,it is such a happy cheerful colour .I am on the lookout for some cute yellow flats too .Bought this skirt at Anthropologie

Liking these flats too from Boden

And of course when we think of yellow we think of Sunflowers my favourites,love this cushion by Pottery barn

 I managed to grow some sunflowers in North Carolina one Summer, I am trying again at the moment, got 2 pots on my deck ,hope they turn out like the one below ,not bad considering I am the worlds worst gardener

Dancing

My friend Rosario who currently lives in North Carolina but who is coming HOME to Austin for the weekend sent me this video,I love it ,Rosario likes to send me video clips which always bring a smile to my face.How I envy this guy Wow has he traveled .I am hosting a small get together on Friday for Rosario and our friend Clara and another friend of Rosarios,they are all Mexican but they promised me they will only say nice things about me in Spanish!!! Rosario has promised she will take me to Mexico one day to visit ,cannot wait

Easter weekend

I had a good weekend with the boys.Friday we had a picnic in the park with my good friend Sherie and her son Max.Later we had a swim lesson ( someone else was filling in for our regular instructor) Luca loved the new guys style and can dive bomb quite effectively ,Noah on the other hand HATED the instructor who I swear near scared my son off swimming for life.He pushed him too hard and Noah was in tears! We watched Shrek 4 later on.

Saturday we did the local Easter egg hunt ,weather was perfect so we walked there and back.I love so much that I can walk to things here ,just like back home in Ireland.After lunch we went to see the movie Rio ,which was Ok ,Luca is starting to cringe a little at romantic themed movies !! He is a growing boy .It felt weird to eat out later with just me and the boys ( Hubby is in China) After putting the boys to bed I indulged in some good British television "North & South " set during the English Industrial revolution .I love love this kind of thing you know "Jane Eyre " like dramas I watched the whole 6 episodes ,so romantic ,how I wish the men were still like that ,mind you I cannot complain about my guy !!
Sunday we stayed in our Pjs till after lunch ,we played Ludo and dossed around the house .We were invited by my lovely Irish neighbour Marion who cooked a Sunday roast .Her family are lovely and my kids love to go to her house .So all in all a very pleasant weekend

Oh yeah best thing was, I found some Cadburys  buttons chocolate eggs at World Market ,the real deal

Girl crush no.2

So in my next life I would really like to look like Audrey  Tautou ,she is gorgeous and if you have not seen the movie Priceless you need to see it .Her dresses are amazing and the shoes to die for .I remember for months afterwards I had such a longing for silver strappy high sandals and eventually found a pair .I love all her movies and have yet to see "Coco before Chanel"

I can not think of anyone better to play the legendary Coco Chanel than Audrey.She is the perfect muse for Chanel

Adele

So I bought her 2 albums 19 & 21 and they do not disappoint ,she looks pretty hot on the cover of Rolling Stone

I agree 100% ....she recently said she makes music for ears not eyes,love her sound ,off to listen to it now

Sunday fun

My guy is 1000's of miles away in China, so I am on my lonesome with my 2 boys.We had a great day yesterday that consisted of me pottering around in the morning while the boys played with their lego, then played Xbox lego games.After lunch I took  them to the Ymca outdoor pool where they played for 3 whole hours .I got sun burned on my back Ahhhh hate that ,but they had a blast.I rolled Luca up in his towel and watched him roll down a grassy hill,such fun.For dinner I made them pancakes with nutella and let them sleep in my bed ,they were out in about 10 minutes.I slept so bad.
There was a huge wildfire in my part of Austin which was quite scary to watch ,several homes were destroyed.The conditions here are perfect for wildfires its so hot and dry and the winds are strong.I felt better with us all sleeping together.Miss my guy something terrible ,every time he goes away I fear I will not see him again ....I always imagine the worst.
Thank goodness I have my 2 munchkins to keep me busy,this is one of my favourite photos of them, it is a couple of years old but it always brings a smile to my face.

Robyn

I Love her teeth so sexy ,great tune

Pixie Lott

Catchy tune ,she is big in the Uk

Eating out

Yay! We got some new furniture for our deck at Crate n Barrel,Marc built our beautiful deck all by himself (Love a man that can create things with his hands) All we need are some loungers and a few more flowers and we will have our own little paradise ...Happy days :)    I think a trip to the Natural Gardener is in order

Cannot wait woohoo

So Tuesday night I am going to see these bad boys with Marc.Cannot wait, so excited ,I think the last concert I went to was Metallica in Dublin years and years ago.I love the Kings of Leon,this song especially, makes me want to let my hair down and drive really fast in a convertible sports car and act like I was 21 again

Not that "I" ever drove a convertible sports car really really fast but someone else did and it was amazing.It was a vintage Aston Martin and it was in Switzerland ,I will never forget it Thank you George!!

Nice legs

 I am loving this skirt ,but I think it is a bit short and I   have chunky thighs. You can find it here ,love all the clothes on this site ,so simple and classy and I like the way they use the same model. Have a feeling she is Emerson! Bit pricey too, Hmmm birthday is Oct ,Xmas is too far away, Oh Mothers day is coming up!!!!

Short n Sweet

Today I got to see my good friend Rahila who drove down from Houston to see me. Rahila lives in Atlanta Georgia and was in Houston all week with her work. It was so great to see her but it was only for a few hours,really wish she could have stayed longer,we have so much to catch up on. I miss her, my American sister.
Above is a photo taken in North Carolina on my birthday ,she made me that cake.She is a sweetheart. I have been assigned by her to organize a get together for our families this Summer !!! The pressure is on

Green smoothies

Since moving to Austin I have met some amazing people. One of those people is my friend Clara, she is the type of person who makes you feel instantly better being in her company, she radiates so much positivity and good energy. I would happily move in with her except she has her own family to look after and I am kind of a bit big and old! Clara eats only raw food and has done for 4 years now ,she looks amazing, and is in the best shape ever. She is also my spin instructor and is over 50 ( and does not look it ) She is BEAUTIFUL inside and out.Well Clara got me hooked on the whole green smoothie trend .

So green smoothies are fruits and vegetables blended together. The cool thing about this is the taste of the fruit usually over powers the taste of the veggies. My kids hate anything green, be it salad,Kale,broccoli but with green smoothies I can get them to eat RAW veggies and they love it because they think they are getting a big delicious fruit smoothie and they do not see any yucky green leaves. So Momma can relax knowing they have some goodness in their bodies.

Here is one of their favourites   2 bananas,1 orange ,large cup of frozen blueberries and 3 leaves of Kale. You can add some water to make it more liquid and a squirt of agave or honey ( we prefer agave ) to sweeten. Usually the fruit makes it sweet enough. I have a powerful vitamix blender which would blend wood chips ,seriously it is the Daddy of all blenders but you can use a regular blender if you like

I like to put the smoothies in jam jars and I add a cocktail umbrella because the kids always ask for them! I have several different recipes but you can really blend and experiment with what you like.Delicious ,Thank you Clara I am greatly indebted.

Austin City Art Festival

So today we went to check out the art festival downtown, it was a lot of fun,they had some crafts for the kids and lots of eye candy for Momma,in the way of pictures and pottery.My favourite was the robot like creations made from what seemed to be household/garage bits and pieces.Pricey but absolutely a joy to look at.If money where no obstacle I would have invested in a piece or two.Instead I had to be happy with my shiny red apple which caught my eye immediately.I always like to support artists a lot of whom make their living this way,its so easy to buy mass produced stuff that sometimes it is nice to own a one of a kind piece

Girl crush

Giovanna Battaglia is one of my style icons,she ALWAYS looks amazing and is a darling of many a famous street style photographer.She is a former Dolce & Gabbana model and is an editor for L'Uomo Vogue.She is dating the son of Carine Roitfeld but all that matters little to me,I could look at pictures of her all day,her style is simply incredible.She never puts a foot wrong,is that possible?

Rock buns

So in my last post I pretty much stated how great I think my Dad is ,well he would be nothing if it were not for the woman in his life my Mammy.So not to leave you out Mam today I made some of your tasty rock buns.It would take me a book to write about how great she is,I will leave that for another blog.The scones/rock buns were delicious eaten with butter by Noah and with jam by me,Marc and Noah.

Out of 7 kids (I was the eldest ) I loved all of my Mams cooking her beef stews,shepherds pie ,bread and butter pudding,rice pudding and she makes the best cup of Irish tea I know,love you Mam xx

My little David Attenborough

I have a great Dad ,he has had a very positive influence on me and I am happy to say my little boys are picking up all the positive things I learned as a kid.My Dad took us on lots of walks, as kids we were often piled into the car at the weekends and driven off to some part of the Irish countryside.My Dad has enormous respect for nature and all things living.He cannot walk past a piece of trash without picking it up.I can remember having to sit through nature programs, David Attenboroughs being a big favourite in our house.So in a lot of ways I have grown up to enjoy the same things he does.
Well my eldest son Luca who is 7 ,is a lot like my Dad,he is fascinated about all things living.He has no fear when it comes to bugs and from an early age has loved to study and catch creatures .He loves nothing better then to inform his Mom on the differences between crickets and grasshoppers.While I like to admire things from afar, thanks to Luca we can get up close and personal! While I forbid him from taking anything to my bedroom ,I am really really happy he is growing up to respect our planet and all the living things we share it with.He gets that we are all connected in some way and I have my Dad to thank for that .Its the best gift of all 
 

Can I just note that everything in these pictures was released back into the wild unharmed.