Happy New Year

Ok, I'll admit it, I've been a bad girl! It has been a long time since my last post. There are no excuses but I'll give a few anyway....

November brought NaNoWriMo and I had a good wee story to run with. By the end of week one I was already playing catch up. Nothing new there though, I like deadlines and do my best work on the lead up to one. I love the excitement of 'will I, won't I make it?'. So, by the last week, I was still only half way through the 50,000 word target! I was determined to make it but then disaster struck. Beth got a nasty vomiting bug two days before the deadline when I was about to pull an all-nighter. In the end, I did pull an all-nighter, cleaning and holding the bowl for her to puke into. It was terrible. I had never seen her so sick.

We had started off that day so well. She had gone in to school as normal, spent some time with her dad's family and then we went into town to attend the Festival of Lights and Dundalk's attempt at breaking a world record. We smashed it, over 5,000 Santas attended the Santa Run. Beth and I caught a bit of it but, unfortunately, she had started getting sick at that point so we left before all 5,000 went past.

On the 30th of November, I had to put out 8,000 words. My hands ached, my brain was fried but by 11.15pm I reached 50,006 words and cried with relief (not literally, I was more numb than anything else). What followed were days of nothing. My mind shut down and I wasn't entirely unhappy about it. However, it went on too long and I'm here now to blow away the cobwebs and start anew. 

Here are a few photos from the last month or so.

At the Festival of Lights, BP (Before Puke)

This was the scene a couple of hours later. Poor baby!

Thankfully, she was all better by the following weekend for her stage debut with her ballet class. It was an arduous three hours in the audience for a three minute stage appearance but I was so proud of my little ballerina!

In the middle, at the back

Meeting Santa

Sporting our festive apparel on Christmas Eve

'The Doc is in' Beth's main present from Santa

Beth loves the orange that Santa always leaves in the toe of the stocking

Pepperoni enjoying the fire

Looking angelic on Christmas Day

Waiting for midnight while Mum watches Jools Holland's New Years Eve Hootenanny

Tomorrow, I hope to do a recap on last year's resolutions and make some new ones. Hope everyone out there had a beautiful Christmas and a Happy New Year, I know I did!

New Year Resolutions

Good morning world! Happy New Year to you all. Hope you celebrated in style whatever way you wanted. I had a quiet night. Some bright spark let off the loudest firework known to man at midnight and, as a result, I spent the first hour of the new year with Beth. She was still up at 8am, sitting on me and telling me to get up!

I don't usually make a list of resolutions but I do believe lists make things happen so here it goes...

New Years Resolutions:

1. Finish Devil in the Clouds

2. Enter the ABNA

3. Learn to drive

4. Get more writing jobs

5. Stop eating rubbish and get back down to my ideal weight (not sure what weight I am but know it's not ideal)

6. Start jogging again and complete the Dundalk 10k in May

Just before Christmas I received the first printed copies of The Secret Beneath Bleeker Avenue. It was pretty cool to see my book actually in print.

So happy with them :-)

I made only one (sort of) resolution last year. It was to keep my blog more up to date and I think I kept that! Well, it's definitely better than previous years. 

2012 was a good year. I finished and published my first book, had articles published in The Irish Times and online with journal.ie, I turned 31, Beth turned 3, we went on holidays to Carlingford and Spain. It has been a full year and I hope 2013 is just as good!

How were your New Years celebrations?

Cala De Mijas (I Love Mondays)

On Beth's actual 3rd birthday my sister, Beth and I flew from Dublin to Malaga. We then took a bus to a gorgeous small village called Cala De Mijas along the coast of southern Spain. It was eight nights spent in a fantastic 4* hotel situated right beside the beach. The room was lovely and spacious, the breakfasts were amazing (buffet style and lots of it) and the facilities were second to none. However, the staff, in particular the reception staff, were often rude and always unhelpful. In truth though, it did little to dull the week. 

The unfortunate element to the week was Beth's cold. She was often narky and tired. The photo above was taken five minutes before she dropped an orange juice all over herself. Thank God she had a swimsuit underneath. In the 30 degree heat the dress was dry before we finished our drinks. Poor pet just wanted to be home in her own bed but we did our best to keep her happy. So much so that now that we are back she is being really cheeky if she doesn't get her way! 

Roughly 1 minute before the juice incident :-)

Besides the little hiccups we managed to have a good time but I think I'll wait a few good years before taking Beth away again! And yes, both of us are still as pale as we were leaving rainy Ireland :-)

It's back to writing full steam today. I have a short story in my head bursting to get out. When I've a first draft I'll get back to the sequel of The Secret Beneath Bleeker Avenue. I'm hoping to have it finished by December and ready for self-publishing in the new year.

Have a lovely Monday! :-) 

Chocolate Biscuit Cake

I said I'd share the recipe for the Chocolate Biscuit Cake I made for my birthday. It's a brilliant recipe with no baking involved. The cake itself has a gazillion calories so not recommended for those on a diet! I got the recipe off my friend Debs.

275g Butter
150ml Golden Syrup
225g Good Quality Chocolate (e.g. Cadburys)
400g Digestive Biscuits
400g Rich Tea Biscuits
1 Packet of Malteasers
Optional Extras: Raisins, Nuts, Marshmallows

1. Mash up the biscuits (the rich tea can be a bit tough so put them in a bag and bash them with cup).
2. Melt the chocolate, syrup and butter.
3. Mix everything together in a really big bowl.
4. Put in a grease lined tin, cool and stick in the fridge.

Voila. Can't get easier than that!

Still planning the Rainbow Cake for Beth's 3rd birthday and will have lots of photos of that! I'm going to do a princess theme. Lots of pink and sparkles for my little princess.

In 3 weeks Beth and I are jetting off to the south of Spain for our first ever foreign holiday. Can't wait!! We're both very excited :-)

In writing news, I'm still working on the Bleeker Avenue sequel, the new project and a collaboration of short stories with a writer friend.

Busy, busy!!