bookshoplaura

Just before the start of this month ( September) I stumbled upon an online fitness challenge and decided it would be interesting to try. I then decided it was a little too easy so I changed a few things and decided not to take a break every second day. In the end I had nine exercises to do each day and every two days the numbers went up. They were a plank, push ups, dips, v-ups, up downs , jumping lunges, air squats, mountain climbers , superman pull and leg raises. On day one I would be doing about 7 reps of each exercise (slightly more of mountain climbers, superman pull and leg raise) and about a 1 min plank and by day 30 I would have 2 1/2 min plank and around 40 of everything else. So far pretty simple, right? I even printed off a calendar of September so I could write down what I had to do each day and have the wonderful satisfaction of crossing each day off as I went. I will admit I did not actually foresee a scenario in which I completed all thirty days. I am a rat...

My boyfriend is always saying we should go somewhere for the weekend and I usually mutter something about not being to afford it and then we decide I am a fun spoiler and we go back to whatever we were doing. Apart from our trip to Edinburgh we have only stayed at my parents house for a weekend and their holiday home in Wexford so were not quite living the jet set life style. Nor are we likely to start doing so unless I magically start earning a lot more money. Next weekend we are going to Dublin to see The Riptide Movement play Vicar Street and we have known we were going to do this for weeks but somehow left it to the last minute to book accommodation. Anyone who knows me will know I am a meticulous planner. I like lists and a general idea of what I am likely to be a doing just a little in advance. So if money wasn't a restriction I probably would have booked somewhere to stay as soon as I had confirmed our tickets to the gig. Instead I kept letting it slide until we had less...

I should probably start with a disclaimer to save any poor soul who has accidentally wandered onto my blog in search of advice. I won't be giving any, the title is a misnomer. If you are a regular reader then you have probably already assumed this is the case. I am in the habit of doing this.  I am probably a little too attached to my own bed here in my apartment. I don't spend all day in it or anything, I am usually up by about 7 or at least awake at that time on days that I'm not working but I sleep better there than anywhere else. I was always like that growing up but back then it was my childhood bedroom I felt like that about. No matter where I went, I would look forward to coming home to the comfort of my own bed in my room that was filled with a quiet darkness at night.  I remember once staying in a cousin's house in Dublin and waking during the night looking for the bathroom but I was so disorientated by my unfamiliar surroundings that in dark, I climbed ...

It's not every Saturday evening that you find yourself hiking up the Comeragh mountains with a group of strangers (and my boyfriend) to watch a play.  I'm not sure if you've heard of the Comeragh's wild festival, I hadn't up until a few weeks ago. But it happens around now every year and its a series of events in the comeraghs to get people out into the countryside. Some of the highlights include guided nature walks, a chance to watch a movie up by mahon falls and my Saturday night plans the hike up to Coumshingaun lake to watch Lackendara Jim. The Lackendarra Jim tickets cost €20 for the walk and play or you had the option of paying €50 to camp up there. For a camping ticket they provided sleeping bags and mats plus you arrive at the campsite to find tents already assembled and some basic food, tea etc is also covered in the cost. It was all organized by Mountain zone with the play by rigout productions and music by Jordans Rigout.  Now I am going to be hone...

Last night was culture night across Ireland and in cities across the country people were flocking to different venues to see music and film and art. I however was stuck on the book desk until after nine pm trying not to claw my own eyes out with boredom. A Friday night shift in a near empty bookshop is pretty painful as it is but it's made more so when you're counting down a lovely weekend off after seven days of non stop working.  I had planned to central arts after work, I had a dress in my bag and tights on under my work pants but as the night wore on and last nights crappy sleep took its tole on me, I was starting to wish I could head home to my pyjamas and toast.  I pulled myself together after work in a sleepy hungry sort of way and headed over to central arts with my boyfriend hoping there would be seats because I really didn't think I had it in me to stand for the gigs. The first band were really good but I wasn't really able to get into it and found myself...

If I was to divide my social life of  recent times into two categories, before I met Stephen and the time since, you would notice a vast difference. The truth is I like all of the same things I've always liked so with the exception of the opera ( which I was pretty iffy about until I saw it and really enjoyed it ), all of the things we've been to are the kind of the things I'd be inclined to go to. That doesn't actually mean I'd have made it.  I find that much as I have always enjoyed live music, comedy and theatre, it proves to difficult to arrange such outings. You have to persuade friends that its a better use for money than that night out or sometimes the friend who would like to go don't actually live down here and a lot of the times what appeals to me doesn't exactly excite others in my social circle so yes I was missing out. Then I went and got myself one of those boyfriends that everyone is always raving about and suddenly I have tickets for more...

Here's something you might not know. I called my car Stella , not after the cheap Belgian beer but the character of the same name in the Tennessee Williams play, a street car named desire.  I think I was imagining some scenario where the car might break down and it would be raining and I would drop to my knees shouting stellaaaaaa like the iconic scene from the movie. It's funny because I've never actually seen a streetcar named desire.  That seems to be as good a segue as any to bring up the fact that tonight I am going to a national theatre live screening of a street car named desire. And all from the comfort of my local cinema. Just in case you're not familiar with national theatre live its part of an initiative to make the theatre more accessible by live streaming a number of plays into selected cinemas across Ireland and the UK.  The odeon cinema in Waterford is part of it but unfortunately they show about 4 plays a year instead preferring to show the...