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I will admit that when I accepted a last minute invite to a dining in the dark event, I did so with a certain degree of trepidation. I am not exactly known as an adventurous eater. While I have certainly branched out over the last few years I am still a bit funny about food textures and flavours and generally I like to know exactly what I'm eating in case someone tries to sneak in one of the pesky foods I dont like. The other concerns I would have would be around my vegetarianism and gluten intolerance. If I accidentally eat wheat I would become quite sick and this involves one of three things none of which is delightful for my other dining companions as it will either involve me being locked in a bathroom or belching/ farting my way through the remainder of the meal. While eating meat is very unlikely to have same effect I do feel a bit ill thinking about eating it. Normally all of these things coupled with my general dislike of publicly making a fuss  ( by making my food iss...

Last night, I finally had the opportunity to attend Modwords. For those of you not familiar this is a Spoken Word event being put together by the very talented Anna Jordan. For lack of a better description it is an open mic but for poetry or anything resembling poetry. It's been running for a few months but it has had the misfortune of being hosted on nights where I am working late so last night was the first time I was fortuitous enough to be able to attend. I have never hidden my love of poetry. It's always been a form of literature that has spoken to me on another level. Expressing emotional states that ordinary language cannot do justice to. I once used to have some of my favourite poems typed and stuck to my bedroom walls, something that seems terribly juvenile now but at the time it seemed important that I could access these words whenever I desired and every time they struck a chord. It's fair to say I have been writing poetry since I was 15. Most of my e...

Yesterday was one of those rare treats, the sun was shining and I found myself heading out to Cheekpoint to see bands play on a boat. Its not everyday you find yourself saying that or if it is then you clearly lead a more exciting life than me. The gig didn't start until 7 and I arrived in Cheekpoint just in time to see the boat making its way into the harbour. At this stage I was a little lost due to my appalling sense of direction and while I could see the harbour from the hill I was perched on, it took me just a little while longer to actually find the road that brought me to it. I was down in time to see the boat arrive and a crowd begin to gather.  Away With The Fairies were the first to play. They are an incredibly talented trad band that most people in Waterford are already familiar with and the lads have a diverse range of talents including acting and songwriting among them as well as obviously being able to sing and play a variety of instruments. Watching them perfor...

This weekend I had the pleasure of another lovely Girlcrew outing. There was a 60's/rockabilly event on in the Parlour tea rooms and I really wanted to go but I didn't have anyone to go with. Which is pretty much why Girlcrew was set up in the first place. My boyfriend was going to be there but would be working/networking for the night and I find my awkward wallflower act (my default position at events where I don't know anyone very well) to be exhausting. I had recently attended an event that my boyfriend had organised which was also his birthday celebration and found that while I really enjoyed the actual performances, the bits inbetween where everyone mingles were actually painful for me. If I could have camouflaged myself I would have. Anyway this is where Girlcrew steps in. I haven't been on many outings with fellow girlcrewers due to my unsociable work hours and other commitments but the few I have been to have been overwhelmingly positive. So I posted on th...

(Photo courtesy of Hailey K Stuart)  This Saturday just gone I found myself bravely heading out into the night on my own without the crutch of alcohol to steady my nerves. I was dressed in what can only be described as 70ish clothes. A patterned top and unflattering somewhat flared jeans with wedges that were hidden under the jeans and a fringed bag. I was on my way to the fourth Songs From the Parlour event which was 70s themed so I was not just dressing up for the fun of it but I had not pulled off the look with the same easy glamour that most women seem to. I had arranged to meet at least one of the women from Girlcrew in a bar beforehand but I was so unsure of who was actually going that I almost talked myself out of it several times before deciding to go and then rushing to get my very disobedient hair into flicking out and staying there. I just arrived at the bar on time feeling very self conscious and wishing I was ordering something more soothing than water. I was wait...

My boyfriend and I introduced a date night a few weeks back. I work crazy hours and my boyfriend has events almost every other weekend so we don't see a lot of each other and apparently watching me go to bed early is not considered a real activity. So we decided to have one night midweek as a date night, usually Wednesday and on that night we do something together like a normal couple. So far we have been out for food once but mostly we go to the cinema which is hardly terribly exciting but I've enjoyed the films we've seen and its nice to deliberately spend time together. Tonight after much debate we decided to go to Burzza. I was really in the mood for pizza and I knew they had a gluten free option. Initially we were planning to come straight home after and watch a movie together. We sauntered into Burzza at just after 7 and I had thought it being only Thursday that we would get a table no issue but the place was buzzing so we were lucky to get one.  We were atte...

I should start by saying I don't live a particularly glamorous life, I just couldnt think of a better title. On Thursday night just gone my boyfriend and I headed to Wexford town for the premiere of the movie Staid. All I knew heading down is that several musicians we knew were on the soundtrack and I should probably dress up. Naturally I panicked and ended up in this floral number that was more cute than anything and looked like a child playing dress up. Seeing as I'm nearing my 34th birthday I should probably abandon any hope that I might get the hang of dolling myself up. We didn't account for the traffic crawling into New Ross as we joined the masses making their way home so we ended up in Wexford with only moments to spare. This is when I realised a crucial fact, I don't know how's to navigate my way around Wexford town at all which left us at the mercy of Google maps to direct us to the Opera house. It got us there through a maze of one way streets with no...

Last Saturday night I found myself out for the night with a group of women I had never met before. It was my first proper outing with Girlcrew aside from the two occasions last year I had met people for coffee. If you are not already familiar with Girlcrew then let me give you a brief introduction. Girlcrew is a hub for women who are looking to make new friends. Sometimes its because they have moved/ changed jobs/ gotten married or divorced and find their social group has drifted. I have been living in Waterford a long time now and yet I find I don't really know anyone down here so when I first heard about Girlcrew South East I was really excited. I joined immediately and met up with people twice and then nothing. I work pretty mad hours and I am also taking a bit of break from alcohol so I found the get togethers that were happening either clashed with my work schedule or were too daunting a prospect for me. So I mostly just looked on in envy at the happenings being posted on th...

In Waterford there lies a place which once a month becomes transformed from church to an enchanting place where music can be heard and creative minds come together. If you saw St Patrick's Gateway on any ordinary night you would not be able to imagine how magnificent a venue it can become. Last Friday was the third in the series of The Between The Bars events, a venture which brings national acts down to our forgotten corner of the world as well as championing some of the best talent the South East has to offer. Naturally I have been at all of them and I have been blown away every single time. December's Between The Bars featured Susan O'Neill and her band the Low Standards. I took advantage of the great deal Momo Restaurant have on for the night and it does help that they are just down the hill on Patrick's Street. Might be worth keeping in mind for January's Between The Bars (featuring David Kitt and Band Of Clouds) that with tickets for the gig you can a...

I am definitely more hermit than social butterfly at the weekends these days but as chance would have it I had a social engagement two weeks in a row and I had three whole days off work. After spending my Saturday afternoon in a very leisurely fashion, I was all dressed up and ready to go out by 7. A band called Wyvern Lingo were playing in Shortts Bar and we had tickets to go see them. The gig was on nice and early which suited me just fine because there's only so late I am inclined to be in the centre of town on a Saturday night sipping a fizzy water. I know, I live an exciting life.  Susan O'Neill accompanied by Michelle Haberlin were playing support and they warmed up the crowd nicely. Susan is a local singer who I have heard so much about but tonight was the first time I had the honour of hearing her sing and can I just say wow, what an amazing voice. She had a really rich tone to it and is a talented songwriter as well.   Her performance was so lovely that it h...

It feels like only days ago I found myself sitting in St Patrick's Gateway awaiting the debut of Between The Bars but a whole month has passed. Time as always seems to crawl by so slowly and then pass all at once. The very first Between The Bars gig featured Corner Boy and Ronan O Snodaigh and it created a great buzz in the South East. For the second event Elm, The Casanova Wave and In the Willows were all set to perform. It seems the people of Waterford knew they were in for a rare treat because crowds poured in as soon as the doors of St Patrick's opened. As always we began our night with a meal in Momo. They were offering a pre-concert deal of a two course meal with a wine or beer for €21.50 and I was glad we had booked our table because it appeared as though plenty were taking full advantage of this great offer with every seat filled as we sat down to eat. I really did mean to get something completely different but I had been dreaming about their falafels since m...

After much waiting, stressing and a whole lot of working my holidays finally came around. On Sunday night I got home from work around 10 and began preparing to leave for our airport bus a few hours later. For future notice I will remember that my holiday will be a lot more enjoyable if I actually manage to get some sleep beforehand or at least if I am not packing between my many shifts at work. As I mentioned before this was not my first trip to Belgium, my boyfriend had also been before but both under different circumstances. Himself with a group of friends and I had been with the college on an educational trip that also involved a lot of beer consumption. On our previous trips neither of us had spent much time in Brussels but it seemed like as good a choice as any for our holiday. We arrived in Brussels just after 10 and proceeded to get very lost trying to find our accommodation. It doesn't seem to matter if we are in the next town over or a few hundred miles away, myself ...