Adventures of an Irish Girl in London

Moving...

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 11:57:55 +0100

Hey guys… so it’s been a while since I’ve posted here, and I’m sorry about that. I’ve been pretty busy with work and holidays and we’ve been having some trouble with our housemate (he changed the password so we’ve not had internet in a while!) so sorry about that!

I’ve just found a blog that I started back in September, and I’ve decided that I’m going to go back to that one. It’s a wordpress blog so I just feel that I’ll be able to do more with it than this one!

Hope you’ll hop on over there and join me!

http://orlasworld.wordpress.com/ (yeah I know the name’s not great.. but meh!)

Speak soon,

IGiL xx

Tumbleweed...

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:12:25 +0100

When I started this I had great plans. I was going to post at least once a week, I was going to post interesting stuff & I WOULDN’T FORGET ABOUT MY BLOG!

Needless to say that’s not happened. With work, living with the housemate from hell & being very lazy most of the time I’ve just not posted very much…

I’m going to make more of an effort I promise! This weekend I’ve got plans to sit down and put together a plan for the next couple of weeks so that I actually post stuff when I say I’m going to. I need to get my creative cap on and get out there and write!

If you’re reading this - Thanks for coming back even though there’s never anything new here! hehe..

IGiL x

Promises Promises

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:11:10 +0100

Yes I know I promised an Avon post Aaages ago! I’m sorry! I just didn’t get a chance to take pictures - mainly because my camera has gone awol! I will take some soon and post the Avon goodies soon! :)

I just want to say a big hi to all the ladies from beaut.ie who’ve visited! :) It seems that the majority of my traffic comes from you girls! My referrals have sky rocketed! :) Hope you’re all keeping well over there!

Laters!

IGiL x

50 Questions

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:08:00 +0100

Soooo.. I know you’re supposed to be tagged in these things, but what the heck - I’m doing it anyway! :) It’s a fab sunny day here in London town and I fell like doing something lighthearted! (Yes I know I promised an Avon post last weekend, but that will come soon!)

Where were you 3 hours ago?
Sitting at my desk in the office, working and eating lunch

Who are you in love with?
Irish Boy :)

Have you ever eaten a crayon?
Not that I can remember, but I wouldn’t put it past myself!

Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?
‘Fraid so, my headphones and three (YES 3!!) tubes of hand cream.

When is the last time you went to the mall?
I went to Primani at the weekend, and hopped into a mall for a couple of minutes, but I didn’t buy anything I promise!!

Are you wearing socks right now?
Nope, lovely black tights (perfect for the hot weather!)

Does your family have a car worth over $2,000?
Mine was worth that once… alas I do not have a car in London :(

Have you been to the movies in the last 5 days?
I don’t think I’ve been to the movies in the last 5 MONTHS!!

Are you hot?
A little, but I am drinking tea in 23degree weather!

What was the last thing you had to drink?
Tea

What are you wearing right now?
Black top under a black and white skater style dress from Primark with a black cardigan over it - also from Primark!

Do you wash your car or let the car wash do it?
I would do it myself if I still had my car!

Last food that you ate?

The chicken salad that I made for my lunch

Where were you last week at this time?
Sitting at my desk, working :(

Have you bought any clothing items in the last week?
No - I did pick up an armful of stuff in Primark, but put them back when I noticed the line to pay!

When is the last time you ran?
This morning - to catch my train.

What’s the last sporting event you watched?
The rugby match on Paddies Day.

What is your favorite animal?

Dog.. seriously - I will stop and talk to any dog I see.. I’ve even crossed the street so that I can talk to the one I see each day on my way home!

Your dream vacation?
Grabbing a backpack and taking off on the first train/plane/boat without having to worry about where the cash was coming from.

Last person’s house you were in?
Other than my own? Emm… … I was over at my friends house there before christmas!! (Yes I know it’s ages, but I usually meet people in town and I’ve had a lot of people come visit me lately!

Worst injury you’ve ever had?
I don’t really get injuries - I hurt my ankle years ago - nothing serious, but it does give me a bit of trouble sometimes.

Do you miss anyone right now?
Yes

Are you wearing any perfume or cologne?
Yes - The original Lacoste one

What are you listening to right now?
Chatter around my office - everyone’s taking advantage of the sunny day to not do work!

What were you doing at 12AM last night?
Trying to sleep while my housemate ran around the house slamming doors!

Who is the biggest gossiper you know?
The girls I work with and myself of course - I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t gossip, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I liked to gossip.

Have you ever drank your soda from a straw?
Emm.. yes - doesn’t everyone.

What does your last text message say?
Sent or received? Sent was something like “Where did that teddy bear come from this morning” Received was “I put him on the bed and you grabbed him and said goodbye to me xxx” haha.. I woke up with a teddy bear in my bed - Irish Boy had put it beside me when he was leaving for work!

Do you like hot sauce?
Oh yeah!!

Last time you took a shower?
This morning, before work.

Do you need to do laundry?
Yes, I ALWAYS have to do laundry!

What is your heritage?
Irish

Are you someone’s best friend?
Yeah!

Are you rich?
Only in my dreams!

Last time you got stopped by a cop or pulled over?
Back when I was living in Ireland, about a year ago now I think

Do you collect anything?
Books, teddy bears, Me-to-You stuff, Mugs

Do you have a tan?
Nope!

Are you due sometime this year for a doctor’s visit?
Emm.. I’m not sure - prob

Where is your best friend?
At work I guess

How is your best friend?
Grand! :)

Last play you saw?
A play? Ohhh… emm… aaahhh… King Lear for the leaving Cert? - Yes I know, I should get out more!

What is your secret weapon to lure in the opposite sex?
I totally don’t have one - I’m not one for trying to lure people

What are your plans for tonight?
Finish work, get home as early as possible, make dinner, clean the house, do some laundry, watch a movie, sleep

Who is the last person you sent a Facebook/Twitter message or comment?
This was MySpace - but I changed it as I don’t know anyone who still uses MySpace.

Facebook it was my friend from home Niamh and Twitter it was my cousin Daire.

Next trip you are going to take?
Going home to Ireland in a couple of months.

Ever go to camp?
Lots of day ones when I was little, and I guess Irish College was kinda like a camp?

Were you an honor roll student in school?
emm… is some subjects!

What do you want to know about the future?
Will I get to travel?

Have you been in love?
Yep!

When was the last time you drove out of town?
Well considering I’m ‘out of town’ where I am now, then it would have been 6 months ago when I came here!

I’m not going to tag anyone - but I would love if you were to take up the challenge and complete the 50 questions! Let me know if you’ve done it!

Avon Lady Calling

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:19:13 +0000

Way back, when I was living in a sleepy little town on the Clare/Tipperary border, before I ever thought about coming to London, I sold Avon goodies… to myself!! Seriously, I think I had about 5 customers in my months and months selling, but each month I had big orders to put through - all stuff that I’d see in the catalogue or online and HAD to have! :)

Now I’m in London, and I’m selling the stuff again and I can see that the same thing is going to happen! But this time I’ve got a BLOG! So I’m going to review the stuff that I get, in an effort to justify my purchases!! :)

I’ll work on some posts over the next couple of days, and hopefully put up my first post on the topic over the weekend, but I just have one quick product to mention..

My Avon Care Glycerine Hand & Nail Cream… it’s a yummie scented tube of goo that glides on and makes my hands feel amazing - as long as I only put it on the backs of my hands!!

It instantly soothes them, and their horrible dryness is gone for a good couple of hours. However, the minute this stuff hits the palms of my hands, slime central! It makes my hands greasy and just won’t sink in. I have tried and tried to get it to sink in, to no avail.

So a word of warning, if you’re going to use this baby, make sure you don’t have work to do after putting it on, or keep some napkins handy to wipe the palms of your hands after!

IGiL x

3am posting...

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 03:20:00 +0000

Yes, it’s 3am.. well 3.17am to be precise and I can’t sleep! Instead I’m playing with my blog and trying to work out what I can do to make it better, and I’ve decided that I’m going to work on getting a comments section up there!

Yes comments.. so now those of you who’ve been visiting can let me know how dull and boring you think I am ;) Yes I’m talking to you nice person in Canada who seems to spend hours at a time on here!! haha

I’m sorry if there are disruptions over the next couple of days, but I’ll try to get it up and running as soon as I can!

Edit: So I’ve added comments, but in the process I’ve also changed the theme, let me know what you think of it! x

IGiL xx

Yummie dinner from last night! Irish Boy makes AH-MAAAAAAZ-ING...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:17:44 +0000

Yummie dinner from last night!

Irish Boy makes AH-MAAAAAAZ-ING baked bangers and mash.. so of course when I popped into Asda the other day, I had to go one step further.. I found two giant yorkshire pudds for 40p each and brought them home.

Last night we made the baked bangers and mash, but instead of baking them in a dish, we baked them in the Yorkshires… YUMMIE!!!

Sorry for the bad quality image - camera was dead and phone was about to die so it had to be taken quickly!!

What have you had that’s interesting lately???

IGiL x

Wooh a Promo - OR NOT!

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:31:38 +0000

Wooh a Promo - OR NOT! :

So I’ve been hearing great things about MUA for a while now. Today I took the plunge and decided to order a bunch of stuff - at around £1 for everything it wasn’t going to be a huge investment, especially seeing as they were having a promo for free shipping!

I had a look at their stuff, considered some reviews I’d read and popped about 8 things into my basket - not so shabby considering my total was £10.50.

Things started to go wrong when I clicked ‘Checkout’… I went through the process, entered my billing and shipping addresses and clicked the final button to go to paypal and enter my billing details.

Bad Idea!

It took me a couple of tries to get there - which I thought was ok since the promo was ending soon. When I eventually got there, I encountered another couple of errors - so getting frustrated I decided to use their handy contact form (!) and send them an email.

I got a reply from a lady called Jade who stated that she didn’t know what I meant by the error I sent and that I should ‘try going through paypal as a guest and that might work’. I explained that I had already done this, but it had not worked. I asked if I would be seeing errors due to the promo that was running and the response was this

Yes we do Orla,we have a promo expiring at 12pm

I know there is a promo! That’s why I’m asking you to help me out with my purchase before the promo ends!

Grr - has anyone else had an issue with MUA and checking out some purchases with them?

IGiL x

Sorry! - Three little things..

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:32:08 +0000

Seriously - I set aside time for myself a couple of times each week and say that I’m going to come up with 1 interesting thing to post here.. and then I forget, or I’m too tired or something! hehe..

So I’m keeping it short today - just three things that get me in a funk, and what I can do to make them better.

Terrible Housemate - I’m going to ignore him completely, as in pretend that he’s not there, not speak to him and most importantly NOT READ THE EMAILS HE SENDS TO ME (Maybe another time I’ll post some extracts!)
Being Tired ALL OF THE TIME! - I’ve started taking Iron supplements so I’m hoping they will work their magic along with the Vit B I’ve been taking.
Being Lazy - I’m going to pick a class and just join, I’m thinking zumba or some other form of dance, but would love to do Mui Thai as it would rid me of my anger (see Terrible Housemate above)

Ok so they’re my three negatives and what I’m going to do about them - how do you get out of a funk?

IGiL x

Oopsie!

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:43:30 +0000

Hehe.. so my resolution to start and actually keep up with writing in a blog is NOT going well!

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post; here are my confessions!

- I danced like a kid in the snow on Saturday night

- I woke up early and ran to the window and begged Irish Boy to come play in the snow with me

- I wore every colourful/warm piece of clothing that I own TOGETHER on Sunday! Pink cardi, purple tights, blue/pink/green/yellow scarf, similiar mittens!

Hehe, I’m such a kid!

On the plus side, my knitting is coming along well!

IGiL x

That's London baby!

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:33:57 +0000

So today I am going to a conference for work… is it sad that I feel like a kid going on a school tour!

Im totally not sophisticated enough for London living!

IGiL x

Explorations of London

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:12:08 +0000

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted.. but it’s been a looong weekend (which I’m still recovering from by the way!)

Some friends came to visit over the weekend, and as one was a nurse we decided to go to the Old Operating Theatre Museum on Saturday. It was actually pretty interesting! Although, if you find it hard to climb stairs then it wouldn’t be the best place to go! :) It’s full of interesting bits and bobs, and even has a couple of old operating tables lying around the place, alongside scary looking implements that I decided I didn’t need to look at!

It’s worth a look, and even though I called them on Friday to ask for opening hours and the entrance fee, we were not asked to pay when we arrived, but that may have been because it was getting late?

It’s worth a trip if you’ve got an hour or two to spare in London! (Just try to ignore the rude blonde lady who made us go back down the stairs so that she could go down.. obv she was in too much of a rush to let us walk up the two stairs it would take to get into the museum, before she had to leave!

IGiL x

Weekend love

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:02:36 +0000

Weekend love:

So its another weekend and yet another post from my phone since I’ve been way too tired to even think about opening my laptop in the evenings!

today i bring to you my favourite time waster, i love checking in to see what new client hell has been posted! Reminds me of the days I spent dealing with clients who didn’t know PPC from a paper clip! :-)

Exciting plans for the weekend, brunch tomorrow, followed by a trip to the model shop and to some bead shops and then a trip to the market on Sunday!

Happy weekend

IGiL x

Amazon wonders

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:43:00 +0000

So living as I now am in the wondrous city of London, I’m starting more and more to realise why so many people are broke in this city! It’s down to sites like Amazon, Groupon and the millions of online retailers out there.

What better way to take a break from the tedium of working than by shopping! And if you can’t leave the office to do it, why not do it from your desk?

So far this week I’ve ordered no fewer than 12 separate items from amazon! My first batch was stuff that I needed, but not enough to pay the 10 pounds it costs in our local shops, iPod cables and the likes, the second batch was stuff that I didn’t need, but when stuff arrives the morning after you buy it, it makes for lots of excitement and impulse buying!

How do you feel about online shopping, not just the small stuff, but shoes/clothes/bedding etc?

IGiL x

First class service on the train back from Glasgow!

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:18:27 +0000

First class service on the train back from Glasgow!

Happy New Year

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:44:00 +0000

It’s back to work with a bang for me and Irish Boy, well I started back last week, but it was super quiet. Different story this week! Arrived in to work yesterday morning, amid torrential rain (made me miss Ireland… almost!) to find about a million emails that had to be answered straight away! Fun fun! How did you get on going back to work after the Christmas/New Year.. or did you get a break at all? IGiL x

Asda Watch

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:51:46 +0000

So, being Irish, there are some things Irish Boy & I can’t live without… and one is taking a trip to Asda at 1 in the morning - which we did last night!

I headed straight to the Irish Food section, which I’ve been keeping my eye on, and was shocked to find that the brown sauce had been restocked! :) Much better than the dusty bottles that lived on the top shelf before the christmas…

Now all we’ve got to do is persuade them to start stocking Lyons Tea instead of Barrys and I’m a happy camper, as the inimitable Fr. Jack would say.

IGiL x

Took a walk to Greenwich today for a look… it was the...

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 18:23:42 +0000

Took a walk to Greenwich today for a look… it was the perfect day to take some photos! :)

WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER WHEN YOU ARE IN A BAD MOOD?

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 00:40:00 +0000

If there’s one handy - hugging a dog! Otherwise hugging Irish Boy, or listening to happy music and dancing like a looney!

Lá Amhain

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:07:30 +0000

Hi I’m the above mentioned Irish Girl in London!

My story’s the same as everyone else.. I’ve come to London to look for work, following in the footsteps of so many others, that it’s not even something special anymore!

I’m not going to bore you with details about me, but I’ll update this with interesting (I hope!) stuff I notice in London.. :)

Irish Boy has gone back to Ireland for the Christmas, so I’m going to use this week as the perfect time to explore, read, watch bad movies and stuff my face!

Hope you enjoy!

IGiL x