bookshoplaura

Looking at the weekend that lies ahead for me, I am glad I made the most of last weekends sunshine. For most people the weekend involves some sort of plans, some type of social activity and for the very lucky two glorious days where no working will be done. For me the weekend officially starts tonight. I have finished my Pa work for the Easter break and as of 11pm tonight I will be starting a round of 4 working nights. I can't say I am terribly excited at the prospect given how wiped I was after the weekend I worked three in a row but my rent wont pay itself so I'll get through it somehow. For me the working night prep actually started on Monday and I know that's not common practice but Monday was the day I chose to kick my sugar habit. It was getting out of hand, I felt like crap and I was getting sick of feeling like my pants were trying to kill me. The reason that had to start Monday is that as from tomorrow my defences will be weak, oh so weak and I would be fightin...

This weekend is the first weekend I have had off in absolutely ages so I was sure to make the most of it. It is funny how exciting the prospect of a weekend off can be when you've had a few wandering around like some sort of social care zombie. Luckily for me my parents own a holiday home just outside the village of Fethard-on-sea in Wexford and when I asked nicely they let us have the place for the weekend so we had all the pleasures of a weekend away from home without spending a fortune. If you haven't had the pleasure of going to Fethard-on-sea (and you might not as its a small village on South East Coast of Ireland) then you wouldn't know that it has an uncanny knack of picking up some of the best weather Ireland has to offer. I know that doesn't sound like much of a recommendation going by Irish weather but if it's going to be sunny anywhere it will be sunny in Fethard. I was trying not to cross my fingers too hard but leading up to our weekend away the wea...

For those of you too young to know, the ageing process is not a fantastic thing.Sure you can get more of a handle on your life as time goes on and hopefully make better decisions but you lose many things in the process. I am only in my thirties so, so far the things I have lost do not include my memory or bladder control and for this I am grateful. I have noticed over the passage of time some things that were  considerably less irksome in my twenties but give me considerable bother now. I need more sleep for one, in college I flitted from night out to college to work without much hassle or sleep and coped fairly well. These days I have a night shift and it takes me several days to be back to normal. My hangovers have magnified beyond what I could have ever imagined so its hardly a surprise that I haven't drank since New Years Eve. And of course my body seems to need a lot more work to stay in anything resembling a shape. I only have to look at a bar of chocolate a...

Anyone who knows me will know that I didn't rate the Fifty Shades Of Grey book very highly. If you have read it yourself then you shouldn't be too surprised at this. I love to read for the simple pleasure of reading, the power of a book to transport you somewhere else entirely and Fifty shades just sort of offended me when they tried it pass it off a valid piece of literature. It was originally written as Twilight fan fiction which tells you everything you need to know because aside from being a vampire, Edward Cullen, had creepy stalker boyfriend bit down to a tee and it seems Mr Grey has taken up nicely where he left minus the whole Vampire element and adding in a whole lot of smut for good measure. If you have been living in a cave the last few years then I guess it's possible that you might not be aware of the phenomenon that is Fifty Shades of Grey. Just in case you have now emerged from said cave and now found yourself confused on my blog, I'll enlighten you. T...

If you are hoping for a blog post detailing one of those holiday packages where you are whisked to some sunny location to do Crossfit/other athletic activity then you are about to be incredibly disappointed. The fitness holiday I am referring to is the one I have taken from Crossfit and by that I mean I haven't exercised since the end of January and I guess I thought it was a better title than getting fat. The reason for this so called holiday is very simple. I used to go home on my days off and pop into my sisters gym for Crossfit classes and  then I got this new job in social care and my hours are less structured so I haven't really been home at all. Given that I have a kettlebell at home and a working knowledge of many weighted and body weight exercises, technically speaking this shouldn't have thrown me too far off the fitness path but that is forgetting the fact that I am incredibly lazy when left to my own devices. At first it wasn't too bad because I wasn...

If I was counting (and I'm really not) I would tell you its approximately 11 days to my birthday. Okay its exactly 11 days to my birthday as I have the dubious delight of being someone whose birthday falls the day after St Patricks day. On the plus side this means I always know with certainty what day St  Patricks day will fall on and I have a parade to 'look forward to' every year near my birthday but on the downside it means that most of my friends have been pretty hungover for my birthday since my mid teens. So I am going to be thirty three, eeeek. I will pause  now so you can tell me I don't look it and I will be pleasantly surprised or disgusted depending on how many years you knock off my actual age in your estimation. So far I have no real plans other than the fact that I have booked the weekend after my birthday off to ensure I don't spend it working nights which gives me the freedom to do something to mark it or lie in bed singing la la la nice and l...

I have been looking for things to read, especially as I seem to have quite a lot of time sitting around the college and sometimes spare hours to pass on night shift. It was during such a hunt that I stumbled across some ebooks on a torrent site I use and started downloading like mad. By the time I had finished I had built up quite the collection on my phone ( which as it turns out is working quite well in lieu of an ebook reader) but instead of diving into something new and different I found myself beginning Harry Potter. I, like most people have read and thoroughly enjoyed the Harry Potter series having read them shortly after they first came out. I also listened to the incredibly lovely audio books as read by Stephen Fry and watched all the movies. Naturally I agree the books were best but overall its a fantastic series. I am certain most people feel this sort of warm nostalgia towards the books, the only notable exception I know of is my boyfriend who refuses to have anything to d...

It looks like in the near future I will be going from being ridiculously broke to actually having money as my hours catch up on me and my finances even out. This is all good stuff so let's just say I am pausing here to say yay and move on. The unfortunate part of all this is that the extra hours I am being offered are all nights and more specifically fall in or around the weekend. That would all be fine if it had not already been established that all I am able for after a full nights work is sleeping and eating which I am told is pretty boring.  Now don't get me wrong, I am happy to be working in social care, after all I spent long enough waiting for my opportunity to come. Many days spent pretending to dust in the bookshop while I dreamed of actually getting my foot on the ladder. While not quite being the Cinderella like scenario my mind had conjured up, there was no fairy Godmother, I am delighted to be fulfilling a near years resolution ( a first for me) and the work is...

I have always been pretty firm on where I stood in the argument of real books versus digital and I would like to say this is something I have stayed firm on over time but  I do try not to lie on my blog even if it makes me look silly. While I do still love how books feel and look and enjoy the tactile experience of picking one up in a shop and physically bringing it home, I have started to veer towards the digital book or ebook as many know it. Before you get all up in arms please allow me to explain my change of heart. As many of you know I used to work in a bookshop up until recently enough and if you didn't know then I am sure my blog name was probably a give away. Before my bookshop days I got my books like a regular person; I pilfered from family members, regularly borrowed from the library, I ransacked second hand shops and I occasionally treated myself to a brand new book. As you might be able to tell, my passion for reading has been around a while. Then I got my booksho...