An evening at the Morrison

This weeks highlight would have to be my second blogger meetup. Emily, Julie, Rincy and I were invited to The Morrison Hotel in the Dublin city center for some spoiling. We were given a tour of the newly revamped hotel which reopened on February 1st, after an impressive 11 week face-lift throughout the entire hotel. 
Redone in a calm and uplifting palette with highlights in some of my favourite plummy hues … 

A big thank you to Susan for giving us the tour and for being such great company. 
We were waited on hand and foot for the rest of the evening in the Quay 14 bar and were treated to some delectable cocktails and scrumptious finger food {including deep fried olives – sounds a bit iffy, but they were to die for}. I tell you, I could get used to this.
xx A

Retail therapy …

Saturday mornings. Quite possibly my favourite part of the week. I wake up early {force of habit}, tune into a plethora of cookery shows, and clean my apartment. Probably some peoples idea of a nightmare, but I love cleaning my apartment. 
On to the main attraction – I have some new additions to our apartment, and I couldn’t help but share them. Onto the eye candy … 

I picked up these adorable pillow cases from Arnott’s Bargain Basement in Dublin. I couldn’t help it since they’re in my favourite colour – dark cherry, and they were reduced from €20 each to €5. These will look perfect juxtaposed against our skull pillowcases. I adore strong mixes like this. 

Up next, a little faux never hurt anyone. I am a huge fan of {quality} faux flowers since I unintentionally murder any plant that enters my home. So much so, I blogged about it here ages ago. I picked up this mother at good ole IKEA. All part of the grand scheme of my living room makeover
Also from IKEA, I nearly d.i.e.d. when I saw their new Angenam collection. Just what my dining table needed. It’s quite a deep bowl, so I pop a candle in there so at night it shimmers and is all romantical and whatnot.
And finally, what has had my attention for the past week or so, my new phone. Hubby and I treated ourselves to swank new phones, and I must say, mind = blown. We’re new to smart phones, so decided to go all out. I can blog from my phone? Why the face.
I hope you have something fabulous going on this weekend! Now that the nights are getting darker and colder, I feel the gravitational pull increasing towards knitting needles and crochet hooks. But for now, I’m heading out into the great outdoors to do some painting. All will be revealed 🙂
xx A

Retail therapy

If I’m out and about crossing stuff off lists, I try to find time to stop in some home departments to make myself fell all nice and fuzzy on the inside. And this is what I foundimpulse bought, took home because they’re awesome.
First up, this floral cut velvet cushion from Marks & Spencer. A little steep at €35 for a pillow, I still picked up this big burgundy beaut the moment I saw it. Consider it an investment. You can see my other recent pillow purchase here, which you will be glad to know get along very well with their new neighbour. 
I oogled this swank curtain tie-back down in Arnotts Bargain Basement. At under €5, I’m determined to go back and get a couple more. I really like the contrast of the body of the tie-back with the dare I say modern {that word makes me cringe a little} lines of the clear glass. Winning. 
And just to show you don’t have to go to high-end brands to find pretty stuff, I picked up this double bedspread at Penneys {aka Primark} for €18. Once I saw the incredible aubergine hue and in stripe form, I needed it, and I needed it 5 minutes ago. PLUS, it’s quite good quality / not the typical crappy cheap fabric. Yum, yum …