Another Kitchen

In the last 12 years we have lived in 6 different homes. In Sydney we traded up as we needed to space-wise, first we lived in a one-bedroomed apartment with stunning city views, then our first little man came along and soon we moved on to a 2 bedroomed house, then munchkin no. 2 came along and we moved on to a 3 bedroomed house, no. 3 arrived and we needed more space inside and out so we got a house with a big garden and playroom, we lived very happily there for 3 and a half years until the owner needed the house back for family and then our last home in Sydney was a 4 bedroomed house with a big rumpus room and massive deck overlooking a gorgeous National Park.

Then we moved back to Ireland and made the decision to rent again whilst settling back into life here. Now 18 months later we are house-hunting for a permanent house to buy and live in for a long time!! I can't wait to move, the house we are renting is OK but the garden is pretty blah and we need more space! Also I am DYING to get stuck into some DIY projects and really have a home that reflects OUR tastes rather than the choices of the owners.

While renting we have been very limited in what we can do decor-wise, tenants aren't allowed to put screws or nails in the walls, or paint or change flooring so apart from furniture and ornaments and things like that we've been pretty limited.

But still we have managed to make each house our home, with all our things, mementoes, photos, kids' drawings etc.

I am aching to do a kitchen reno and have my dream stove/cabinets/worktops etc. But for now this is where I spend about 75% of my time...

It's not a bad kitchen or anything, it has benefits such as good appliances, a pull out pantry and good daylight, but the oak cabinetry, speckled effect laminate countertops and patterned lino are not to my taste at all. Still, I've managed to put my own stamp on it with my various kitchen things and it's a nice place to cook :-)

This is one of my favourite spots in the kitchen. I love ceramic lidded flip top jars and have built up a nice collection in different colours and patterns and my gorgeous little blue onion/egg basket is so cute.

You may remember my bread bin make-over from a few years back. It now serves as a little tea/coffee station.

I don't drink tea or coffee myself but have noticed that here in Ireland people start to panic if they're not offered a cuppa within 30 seconds of entering your home so I thought it would be a nice to have a spot to keep everything together.

Inside the bread bin are various teas and coffees and on top are my Orla Kiely jars containing sugar and more teabags and a pretty Cafetiere and percolators.

If you'd like to see a couple of our other rental kitchens I managed to make my own (I say MY own as I'm the only cook in the house ;-) you can see them here and here.

I am still daydreaming about white cabinetry, timber open shelves, grey granite countertops and oak flooring though :-)

Ruins

One of my favourite things about being back in Ireland is being able to show my boys the beautiful sights in our lovely little country. They are particularly interested in "really old stuff" and love going to see old ruins. We usually combine these outings with a hike and a stop off for lunch afterwards.

A few weeks ago we were staying over at my parents' house and my Dad and I brought them to Monasterboice, the ruins of an early Christian settlement in County Louth. There is a really old graveyard, a round tower, some beautiful high crosses and the ruins of an old church, plenty for little people to explore. Of course, they quickly turned things competitive trying to see who could find the oldest grave.

Naturally all the mischief and questions worked up an appetite and we went to a nice Irish pub for a hearty lunch afterwards before going to meet up with their cousins for more mischief. 

On the way back we passed by Newgrange, an ancient passage tomb originally constructed over 5,000 years ago. I'm looking forward to bringing the boys to see it another time, hopefully in the Summer.

A couple of weeks ago after a very windy rainy January we decided to dust off the cobwebs and take advantage of a nice sunny day to hike up to the Hellfire Club in the Dublin Mountains not far from where we live.

The boys had great fun exploring the spooky ruins, there are many urban myths and tales of paranormal activity associated with the Hellfire Club, the most popular one when I was little was that "if you walk around the hellfire club at midnight in an anti-clockwise direction the devil will appear!!!" 

It didn't look too scary on this nice sunny day though.

There are beautiful views all over Dublin from the top of Montpelier Hill where the ruins are located.

Rather than walking the main track back down I would recommend losing yourself in the beautiful woods, we even saw some moo cows!

We stopped off at The Merry Ploughboy for lunch, I highly recommend it, the food was yummy and they have a really nice kids menu :-)

Magic Rainbow Clouds

Whilst packing the kids into the car for the school run this morning my middle son let out an almighty screech of excitement and pointed up at the sky. Expecting the usual moon/bird/airplane/helicopter I was stunned to look up and see these beautiful rainbow clouds...

These camera phone photos don't do them any justice, they were absolutely stunning!! I have never seen anything like this before and when we got back home I looked them up on the internet, of course there was a scientific explanation involving crystals and high winds, but we are sticking with calling them "magic rainbow clouds" :-)