Home 'Warming' Gifts

My Mum takes things literally. 

I recently came home from town to find this gift bag (not actual Gosh products) in my room (clearly from my mum). Inside was exactly what I have been looking for, large long lasting candles and scented melts, along with some incense.  Nothing feels more like home for me than relaxing with the lights off and scented candles or incense lit. Scented melts are a new thing I found after been giving a candle diffuser and finding out that these little-scented wax melts on top and fills the room with aroma.... Not just putting some essential oil on top and it burning. 

 The scented candles I was given are lavender and apple (very different), the melts are Tropical Retreat (kinda like soap) and incense are Sandalwood scented (warmly scented).

When we actually moved into our new apartment my mum hid a parcel and texted me later where to find it, and this is what I found. 

Again some more candles but again what I needed as I've loads of tea light holders but no candles to put in them at the minute. She also gave me another candle holder but this one is quite large so can possible fit some of the pillar candles from above in them. On it the quote says ' I love my home'. She also made these little name plaques which I hung in our bedroom... because Rich wouldn't let me hang them on the front door because 'its embarrassing'. 

Richards mum also gave us a gift of a huge mint plant which I asked her for as since meeting him I learned how they use fresh mint leaves in tea and its divine (and so healthy).  Also, she gave us a new jar of her delicious homemade jam which she wrapped up so nicely in this gorgeous jar. I love homemade and natural foods and that's one thing I really love about Rich's culture, they home grow a lot of products and then make them into many things.  

Lastly, but not least, From a good friend of my mums are this beautiful gifts. This kind lady had only met me once and gifted these amazing little pieces. A gorgeous elephant (my favourite animal how did she know) necklace, a beautiful Buddha with amazingly vibrant colours for good luck in our new home and some warmly scented incense. 

I can't wait to find more melts in different scents, lit up my candles and sit back and relax with some mint tea and jammy toast... before the pressure of college begins. 

Star Gazing

 Recently the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) were visible across Ireland for a few days and my boyfriend who is interested in astronomy and me in photography knew we had to get out and check it out. We were actually up until 5 am the first night (watching funny cat videos) and never thought of it ,so on the second day we made it a priority (although still ran a bit late). 

We got wrapped up in coats and hats, gathered up the camera and torch and drove out more into the countryside heading North away from the town lights and parked up on the side of the road (which I was afraid would look dodgy and a car did pull up to ask us if we were okay). We followed the advice on the Astronomy Ireland Facebook page in letting your eyes adjust to the darkness while looking north... but we saw nothing at all.  The sky was beautiful with loads of stars and the most incredible full moon but there were no Northern Lights being seen here in Leitrim.  

I think you have to really know your stuff and where to look at the correct times but we took our chance at the possibility of seeing it as it was the first time seen in Ireland in 23 years.  We had a fun night time adventure and actually one of my first times being able to hear about something and being able to say 'actually lets go drive there and see' so was exciting. Also, the full moon was so beautiful and I pulled over at a little lake to capture some shots of it over the lake, although my camera skills do not do it justice. 

Do you have interests in astronmy, follow moon cycles or just have an appreciation for the beauty of the sky? 

Magical 22nd Birthday Gifts

Starting off  I'm not one of those people that brags I merely love the gifts I was given and love to share them as gift ideas for others and for myself to look back on.

Also, I'm not a super crazy Harry Potter fan I've always loved it, it's just the merch lately has been INSANE (thank you Primark) just don't judge okay, my family think I have some kind of HP obsession... 

maybe I secretly do. 

First up from my brother's girlfriend (practically my sister-in-law, its been 8 years) these amazingly cosy fluffy pyjamas, a gorgeous woolly hat and huge snuggly plaid scarf... well set for a warm winter. 

My brother always gets the most amazing gifts and always out dos it on the HP things. I mean look how he wrapped the music box in a package with a stamp like Hogwarts. 

Getting to the music box, how INSANE is this <3 <3 I had seen one on an advertisement on Instagram never thinking you could buy it then I open it up and find this beauty. I'll admit I have sat cross-legged in a corner just playing this over and over very creepily but its just so cute. 

These incredibly cute notebooks are so adorable and the detail on them is amazing even inside the covers are illustrated. 

Along with the notebooks from Primark, there are also these coasters with are you guessed it INCREDIBLE. I actually wanted these for our new house but have never seen them in stores in our area so am so over the moon that I can now decorate the table. 

Lastly from my brother is this adorable HP blanket which  I can not tell you how soft it is. Any bedding from Primark is always incredibly soft I don't know how they do it but this one is the coziest and the best way I can describe it is a soft bear. 

My boyfriend went all out this year (with some hints from me) and got me the cutest things. We'll pretend we didn't eat that huge box of Maltesers in one night. 

One I actually had not seen before was this amazing pack of 26 reusable gadget stickers which are so cute and really well detailed. 

These insanely incredible HP pieces have to be my favorite the signs are that little touch of Hogsmeade in your home and the journal is so beautiful I am keeping it for some special occasion to write about in. 

Lastly from my boyfriend is a candle for a replacement that he broke/blew up and this super cute chill pill bath bomb that  I saw and now we have a new bath thought it was so cool. 

From my parents I actually got another of the same HP blankets but their so cozy and unique its good to have two and plus I can have one at home home and one in our apartment. They also gave me this incredibly cute Gryffindor tote bag perfect for shopping which is actually full of shopping already in this photo its the cutest. 

I was so lucky with my incredible gifts this year from my loved ones. How amazing is the Harry Potter range in Pennys/Primark though? 

Through the Lens

I've always really been into photography and even more so now I'm back to blogging regularly and wanting the perfect photos to accompany my posts, also through using Instagram about 204 times a day to upload quality photos which I carefully work on to capture.

I remember once a group came into school to teach us photography and I fell in love with it and really put the tips into my photos. Actually, from that lesson with them, they picked one of my photos I took to be entered into a competition and placed in a local gallery and I actually won the competition which really boosted my interest.

I have this thing where if I see something I imagine how it will look through a lens and in a photo, how to capture it at the right angle and save its beauty.
For me it's not all about sharing it over social media for attention, it's an interest, a passion.
And now something I'm going to take up even more regularly to capture things I see daily of any interest and find the art right in front of me. I plan to spend days taking off outside with my camera exploring through the lens and capturing whatever catches my eye, especially now as I moved and have a whole new place to explore. I also want to learn more about actually taking photos, what all the little buttons and settings on my camera actually do and how to capture light, darkness and everything in between.

I recently took out my camera and tried many settings and lighting and positions, playing around with what I could see and how it comes out through the lens. It also helped I have a poser of a boyfriend and the most adorable dog.

I hope to share my journey of photography here on my page, as even at the beginning if you look closely enough the first photos that may seem blurry/unedited/out of focus, well they can still be art.

My Birthday in Paradise

After the most hectic 6 weeks of college, I was glad my birthday came around as it's on Halloween so always on holidays, perfect for a chill day. My parents had brought our car up to us during the week (long story but so instead of getting a bus home I could drive) and I was dying to get back on the road and just go on an adventure outside of town. We heard quite a few recommendations of Glenveagh National Park which turned out to only be 30 minutes from us and I knew that is where we had to go.

Every single year, EVERY year, without fail something goes wrong on my birthday with friends canceling either the night before or the morning of my birthday so it's always been a bit of letdown, and of course it happened again this year a friend who was meant to come with us canceled but it wasn't his fault and I was determined to not let it spoil my day so me and my boyfriend headed off early to enjoy our whole day there. 

I can not speak enough words of how incredibly beautiful this place is. I really felt like I was in a completely different country (picture national parks in America) with huge stoney mountains outlining the breezy cool lake with trees covered in all of the autumn colors. That's what really popped for me was the colors, we were lucky with the time of year we went, autumn was everywhere. 

What I mainly went there for was the castle, which is insane having this castle in the middle of nowhere... I mean hello Hogwarts. So we choose the 4km walk to the castle which says a lot about how incredible this place was as I hate walking with a passion but did not want to miss a second of this beauty by getting the shuttle bus from the carpark, although we did on the way back because we were so wrecked. 

After the magnificent walk, we finally got to the INCREDIBLE castle and it was like stepping back in time as musicians played old medieval tunes and we walked the wall gardens, pleasure gardens and around the courtyards.  Every corner of the gardens was beautiful from little Indonesian statues to carved wooden huts to view the grounds from above while we sat like the Lord and Lady we are. We took lots of little paths around the grounds including one that led up to 167 (more or less I can't quite remember) steps which was closed off but still you could walk around it and it gave an amazing view down on the castle.

Sitting in the wooden hut with my favorite person in the middle of the Donegal countryside surrounded by magnificent mountains, a chilly Autumn breeze, smoke billowing from the castle chimney and an accordion player in the glasshouse was one amazing way to spend my birthday.

After discovering the boathouse down by the lake on a map I knew I had to see it because (sorry letting out my inner nerd here) it just screamed the Harry Potter games where a lot of time was spent at the boathouse. This one was incredible as it looked out on all the mountains and it seemed like it was a rooftop swimming pool. Nearby there was also a bird display with a white Tawney owl... Hello! Hedwig.. for Halloween which was really interesting and incredible on the castle grounds (just like a Hogwarts lesson). 

To make the day that bit more incredible, as we sat in a long wooden hut (just like the bridge that Neville destroys) a little robin sat directly in front of me for quite some time checking us out. I have always believed robins are your loved ones in heaven letting you know their nearby and my nan always used to sit and watch them so I believed this was her coming to wish me a Happy Birthday