saturday: spring, mendl's pastry boxes & black forest

On Saturday, I started the day by making a bottle of lemonwater for the week. I get a bit lazy with these things so making a bottle keeps me on track as I know that the benefits of drinking a glass of lemon water first thing in the morning, are numerous and valuable (excuse the mess by the way, I was in the middle of cleaning candle jars as I want to make some homemade spring scented candles). 

Pictured: Zara White Jasmine Perfume - Wet'n'wild H20 Proof Eyeliner in Ultra Black - Topshop Neon Rose Blush - Essence Black is Back Nail Polish - Sally Hansen Mega Shine Top Coat - Real Techniques Stippling Brush - Real Techniques Brow Brush - H&M Eyelash Curlers - Maybelline 24H Color Tattoo in On and On Bronze - Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal in Bright Blue - Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer 51 - L'Oréal False Lash Telescopic Waterproof - Maybelline Colorsensational Shine Gloss in Cashmere Rose

I then got ready to get out. Lately, I've been enjoying putting blue in my waterline, I think I've been inspired by my trip in Lisbon and all the blue tiles (azulejos) there, as before, electric blue didn't really appeal to me. I'm looking for a blue varnish (something like Nails Inc's Baker Street maybe) but I haven't found anything I liked so far on the highstreet. Do you have any recs?

Just checking that Spring is here :)

Smithfield's Market Place under the glorious blue sky. It felt almost a shame to go to the cinema on such a beautiful day...

Almost! As I couldn't have been more excited that day to watch the new Wes Anderson's release: The Grand Budapest Hotel! (it was sooo good).

After the film, I had a mosey around the Light House Cinema to look at the aftermath of the previous night's party, themed after Wes Anderson's characters. There was a tent in the middle of the room just like in The Royal Tenenbaums and a wall full of drawings of Margot.

We then made our way to the cinema's café as something quite magical was set up at the back of it. Two glass displays holding some real props from The Grand Budapest Hotel!

Turns out that the film's lead designer is Annie Atkins a Welsh graphic designer based in Dublin. She worked on the look of all the paper-related items in the film (passports, labels, letters, correspondence, etc..) and she kindly loaned all her copies to the cinema. It was a truly amazing experience to stand a few inches away from all the beautiful objects she created and that contributed to make Grand Budapest so special.

If you want to see more pictures of the exhibition, hop over to my travel blog, I dedicated a whole post to it.

I then crossed back to the city centre to take the bus to Magda's. It was nice to see daffodils everywhere on my way and I also spotted that interesting sign on Capel Street. Might have bothered with the theory test if the signs were all looking as pretty.

Magda greeted me with a scrumptious looking black forest. Food blogger friends are awesome, don't you think?

  I was experiencing major cat withdrawals after babysitting her cats for 3 weeks last month so it was nice to see their little whiskers again.

  We sat down and chatted about finding your passion, boyfriends vs. tidiness & the Polish bra revolution.

  It was then time for me to go home and crash into bed in a cake-induced coma. Though not before quickly framing my new postcard!

Bloom 2013

At the start of this month, I went to Bloom, a gardening and food festival taking place in Phoenix Park, Dublin. I was mostly interested in vegetables seeds, as I want to start growing my own stuff, but my search was fruitless.
In place, I admired a garden designing contest, sampled fancy jams, walked on the yellow brickroad in Oz, feasted on organic cherry tomatoes, aaawwed at the sight of fluffy lamb, walked in a huge kitchen garden and inhaled many a flower. Bloom is a lovely event to attend, especially if it's sunny and you're looking for a family-friendly activity.

To be honest, I wasn't going to post this video below as I messed up my camera settings (I thought the sky had a weird lighting that day, God forbid I actually check my ISO...) but I decided to give it a go at learning colour correction on my editing software, instead of throwing the footage in the bin. Please excuse the shoddy result.

a little update of sorts

I just spent a week or so at my friend's (she has a yummy food blog, check it out!). She needed someone to baby-sit her two little kittens while she was away on holidays and being the animal-obsessive I am (I'm the mad person who points out at e-ver-y dogs on the street and then squeal), I was super happy to oblige.

It actually felt a bit like holidays for me too, it was dead nice to enjoy her balcony during the short-lived Irish Summer. Also, she lives in a very different area from where I reside and it was very refreshing to see and experience Dublin from another angle.

I jumped on the opportunity to explore my new surroundings and upon Magda's recommendations my first port of call was the Merchants Market, the biggest indoor market in Dublin. I was pleasantly surprised, it is actually brilliant. Loads and loads of second-hand furniture, bric-à-brac, clothes and cheap fruits and vegs. I'll definitely come back! I got some lucky finds too (see picture below): a couple of books and the prettiest tray (remember my obsession for beauty trays?!) for a mere fiver... Bargain!

I know things got a bit quiet around here, but my head was all over the place the past weeks (hell the past year) and after months of running in hopeless circles, I feel like I found the energy and faith to settle down on a project. I'm not going into specifics yet but I'll be sure to let you know when things are up and running. In the meantime, forgive me if I accidently disappear again but I need to focus on that other thing for a little while. I'm going to do my best to be more regular here though and buy a weekly planner because I do have many posts in my draft section, I think I need some structure and organisation.

Also, I'd like to remind all you Google Friends Connect followers that GFC is going to shut down in less than two weeks so if you still want to follow this blog, make sure to make the switch to a new reader (I can heartily recommend Bloglovin but you can find out about alternatives here)

le temps des tulipes

I hope it doesn't get too ridiculously repetitive around here but I went to the National Botanic Gardens for the third time, a couple of weeks ago. I took my Mum, who was visiting for a few days. It was uncharacteristically sunny and the tulips, magnolias, bluebells and azaleas were out. It made for a delightful, colourful walk!

my visit to the Dublin Botanic Gardens in 2011 | in 2012

Something I didn't know prior to this visit is that this place is linked with one of the darkest period in Irish history. It was here that the infection responsible for the dreadful potato famine was indentified and research labs were laid on the very same ground.

Also, I found out that some of the glasshouses were built with some extra ironwork coming from one of my favourite places in London, the Kew Gardens. I think I may be even more in love with the National Botanic Gardens now!

Check out those crazy-looking flowers! They're called Protea Eximia and are from South Africa.

On a unrelated note, I got sucked in by the new flickr look as well as the free Terabyte (!) available and just opened a flickr account. Are any of yous on it?

the lovebird chronicle

A couple of weeks ago, I opened my window to attend to my sorry plants and noticed something moving in the heart of the palm tree in front of me. They had come back! My wood pigeons! Well, I'd like to think they were the same pigeons who chose this very same tree as a romantic spot last year. This time, they chose to build their nest right next to my window and I couldn't hide my excitement when I noticed two tiny little eggs under their feathers. "We're going to have babies" I said to whoever wanted to hear.

I started reading about pigeons behaviour, hatching time and such. I learnt that during most of the day it is the male that protects the eggs while the female eats to her heart content to produce her crop milk. I never witnessed the switch so I just assumed it happened at night while I was sleeping.

Woodland pigeon eggs take about 17 days to hatch and I effervescently started counting the days... Until this weekend. I woke up on Saturday, opened the window as usual to check upon my little friends and plants and here's what I saw...

An empty nest.

No pigeons, no eggs, no leaving note. They had disappeared! Gone! I am probably feeling more upset than I should, but I feel like I have been robbed of a happy moment, that I could have helped if something terrible happened while I was sleeping. My boyfriend reckons the magpies are the culprit. 

I think our daily noise in the kitchen and living room may have disturbed them. 

Or the female never came back and lonely and angry, the male gobbled his eggs, left without a warning and moved on. Those are certainly easier to consider than monster magpies to me.

<\3 

lately...

... I've been tremendously enjoying my neighbourhood adorning its best colours. So much greenery blooming and smelling wonderful: magnolias, honeysuckles, tulips and of course the beautiful cherry blossom trees. I had a mini-hanami wander in celebration, taking it all in sights and 'in lense'.

Also, I've gone back to stitching a little. Nothing complicated though, just a little floral heart for my Mum's birthday. The pattern is from a book I found in a charity shop in Glasgow, two years ago. Still love it!

a day in blackrock

One of my favourite things to do on the week-end is to go to Blackrock. It's a little town on the Dublin seaside, a mere 30 minutes away from my place. 

It's just lovely to see the sea, it always makes me feel refreshed. There is a little market there on Saturdays and Sundays, filled with bric-a-brac, vintage clothes, books, etc... all you could expect from a market really. 

I thought I would take you with me as it was all lovely and sunny last week-end. 

It's nothing special, but it's our little ritual, often punctuated by a greasy lunch in the diner in front of the market. 

My boyfriend had some lucky finds in the old video game shop and he even treated me to a book, yes! I've been super keen on reading A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway since watching Midnight in Paris last year.

After a quick look at my pile to read, I think you can expect a review in 2016... At best!

looking for spring

As the temperatures have been warming up, I wanted to look around for signs that Spring is definitely here to stay. A few magnolias have bloomed in my neighbourhood and a single, sad cherry-blossom tree. The rest seem to have been burnt by the drastic changes of temperatures. They all look a bit sorry and bare.

I figured out that the best place to check is my favourite park. It's not the prettiest in Dublin, Stephen's Green probably holds that title, but come a kinder climate, I feel drawn to this little concrete pond surrounded by a comfortable lawn and shading trees. It's just unassuming and cosy, no need to bring your clothbound Joyce, any old paperback is welcome.

The sad thing is when I got there beginning of this week, the park was not quite ready for spring. I suppose maintenance had to be delayed due to our long winter, so the lawn was turned over and the trees and bushes were chopped and trimmed. The poor park was definitely not looking its best. But I guess giving a month or so and with a bit of a sunny push, it will be back in its old modest splendour.

Nonetheless, it felt good walking around seeing morsels of blue sky here and there and even being able to take off a layer or two. And I'm happy to report that Spring was definitely there as the daffodils were swaying in their brightest yellow, ducklings were happily waddling and pigeons were doing what pigeons do best: pestering on their female kind.

But I've seen the weather turn for the worse before so I don't count my chickens. I still remember the last Spring I spent in Belgium a few years ago. A killer frost took away a full-bloom Spring. It was just heart-breaking. Me and my dog had a long walk around the lake, in complete disbelief. Echoes of crying childless ducks were rippling over the icy water. I still can sometimes hear them howling their losses in my head. Yes, Nature or God, whatever you call it, can be incredibly cruel, but it can give the most beautiful gifts. So let's celebrate that and hope*. I'll end with this quote from the last book I finished: 

"I suppose the best kind of spring morning is the best weather God has to offer."  - Dodie Smith (I Capture the Castle)

* unnecessary heavy shit brought on by sunshine cravings.