bookshoplaura

I am one of those people who would really like to be fit but just wishes the process was a little easier. There are some things that have stuck with me since my initial introduction to the world of fitness. I feel terrible when I stop working out, I no longer drink coke or eat at McDonalds so at least I can claim I have some standards. The rest gets a little muggy over time. I can go for months committed to eating healthily and working out but when I fall off the wagon I tend to do so in an epic fashion. What can I say I am not a girl to do things by halves. Usually it is something that prevents me from getting home to the gym and at first I think its okay because at least I am still eating good food but then that stops and I fall further down the rabbit hole. My gym going has been patchy the last few months, my diet has not been great and so it is hardly a shock that my pants are starting to feel like they are attacking me. I don't have much energy and I have been eating a ...

Last night I was given the opportunity to go see Darren Skelton's 'view from the blue' show in Central Arts. I had missed it the first two nights he played because of work but it had received such a good reception that he agreed to put on another show. All I knew going in is that there would be a lot of nostalgia, some of which would probably be lost on me. I do like a chance to broaden my cultural horizons as often as I can and a blog about the view from my couch probably wouldn't get many hits so I decided to take a chance on it. Like Darren I was also born in the 80's, although you would never know it to look at my baby face. I was not however born in Waterford. I'm originally from Clonmel in South Tipperary but I moved to Waterford in 2006 for college and somehow I forgot to leave so here I am 9 years later. I would still be considered somewhat of a blow in and by no means am I in any position to get nostalgic about the good old days in Waterford. Darren...

With today being the day I start back into night shifts (after a two week break) and also my only day off this week, I decided it would be the day to do all of the things. I was up bright and early to do my messages, like some old woman sans the nifty wheely bag. There was food to be bought and bills to be paid and I had persuaded my boyfriend to finish work early so we could go to Kilkenny for the afternoon. I remember the good old days ( a few months back) when we would get to Kilkenny all the time but the opportunity for a day away doesn't crop up often enough.  I wasn't really up in Kilkenny to shop. In that I didn't really have the money for it. I just wanted a nice afternoon out so when I am wandering around my apartment in a zombie like state for the next two days, I can remember that I had a nice day out on Friday. Despite my intentions to not really do any shopping I was feeling pretty excited about visiting one of Kilkenny's many book shops and treating my...

Last week I had an absolutely fantastic weekend and wrote an even better blog post about it and then sort of disappeared from the blogging world. I really wanted to be out and writing but it's hard to dredge a blog post about how boring economics are and how after college I have mostly been under a blanket watching many episodes of Chicago Fire. If you are curious it is just as terrible as Chicago PD but I feel I am emotionally invested in the show now and I guess bored Laura doesn't have the most discerning taste. However this not a blog post about terrible tv, even if I would be well placed to write one. In this day and age when everyone has a smartphone with a million filters and effects, we all like to think we are photographers. Some of us do better than most and manage not to crop anyone's head out of the photo or catch the right bit of scenery in a good light. I have experienced the odd moment of pride with ones my phone has taken but I more of the 'why did I...

Weekends off have become like fairy dust to me, a beautiful rarity. I remember a time in the long long ago when I could guarantee one off every few weeks but it's not the case with agency social care work so I had to fight for my Saturday off and I was determined to make the most of it. I got up early on Saturday to make myself look beautiful ( or at least make a valiant attempt ) and buy some food and at 11 , Stephen called over. I had friends travelling down from Galway and I wanted us to get out for a walk before they arrived. We went out to the minaun by Faithlegg to traipse through a mostly decimated forest. Its got a Coilte sign at the entrance which says their motto is leave no trace but it was more like someone has misinterpreted it to mean leave no trees. My friends arrived down earlier than expected so our walk was cut short and we made our way back into town for lunchtime. We had a bit of a wander and went for coffee with the girls and then all headed home to pre...

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing some great comedy in Bakers Bar in Clonmel. I usually don't know what's going on in Clonmel as its not often I get home with the haphazard hours my new job brings but I was home during the week and I saw the poster in Bakers Bar window. I will admit I did a double take when I saw it.  I have heard my brother say great things about foil arms and hog, and he's got pretty good taste in comedy and I had recently seen a video of theirs that went viral where they worked 50 place names into a conversation. Plus I was off on the night so it was kind of a no brainer. Stephen had recently been complaining that we never go anywhere or see anything so a rare Thursday night off seemed like as good an opportunity as any to change that. Bakers Bar on Parnell street is one of my favourite bars. It doesn't look like much from the outside but inside it's quite spacious with lots of exposed brickwork. There's a beer garden/ smoking area ...

As anyone living in Ireland knows, we don't get much in the way of sun. For the last few days  we have been getting some uncharacteristically sunny spells given the frost we had only weeks before. In some ways its great to have this weather in April, people are stripping down to shorts and vests and making the most of it but then there's always the worry that we're getting our summer now and during the real summer months we'll be facing rainy days and grey skies. Luckily for me I have only missed one day because of working nights and the rest of the time I have been out enjoying the sun as much as I can. The thing about this sort of weather is it always leaves me wishing I didn't live in apartment block. It's weather for outdoors especially when indoors is getting uncomfortably warm. On one side my apartment faces a car park and on the other a small river.I even have a narrow balcony that gets no sun so isn't good for very much. It gets great light in he...

This weekend, as many of you already know, I was working nights. Logically you might think that meant I had a whole lot of free time during the day but really I was mostly sleeping or eating or wishing I was doing one or the other. I wandered around in my pyjamas and drank many mugs of coffee, made jigsaws on my phone while watching back to back episodes of terrible cop shows and then I picked myself off the couch and headed to work again. Yesterday I wasted a beautiful day because I couldn't muster the energy to go out on my own and my boyfriend was at home recovering from a busy weekend of socialising so I stayed on the couch and pretended it wasn't sunny. I was determined that today would not be wasted. I crawled into bed just before 8 and whispered to Stephen (who had been keeping my bed company whilst I was up all night working) that he had better not wake me and set about trying to cram four nights sleep into a few hours. Luckily it sort of worked and I took in all of t...

I am not sure if you have noticed that I haven't been blogging lately. I have kind of disappeared from social media and have just been hanging out in my apartment a lot. It doesn't really give me much to write about. Unless anyone cares to read a blog about my landlords terrible choice in carpet. Part of the joys of getting myself into social care is that I am working lots of unsociable hours which has many downsides. Obviously I am very tired after work, even days later. Today is the first day I haven't had a nap this week and that doesn't leave time for many exciting activities. It mostly seems to leave time for bad tv, lots of snacking, light reading and making puzzles on my phone. None of these activities amount to anything resembling a social life. The other major issue with all of these nights is that I seem to be most in demand at the weekend, you'll find that's when most good events seem to happen. No one seems to want to have gigs Monday to Wednesday,...