The Dayward Q&A

I thought I'd put together a few different Q&A's just for a fun, and to put a bit of a different twist to the usual 'about me' post.

1. What was the last thing you ate?
Rice Bubbles (aka Rice Krispies) with milk...for dessert.

2. What is your body shape?
As much as I would like to say I'm an hourglass, unfortunately I've just recently come to accept that I'm more along the lines of an upside down triangle.

3. Best tip for dressing for your body shape?
Avoid shoulder pads.

4. Current favourite item of clothing?
Yuki Kasia print dress - it's perfect for work without being too boring, and fits well too.

Yuki Kasia Dress - Pic from TopShop

5. What are your make-up essentials?
I usually rush through my make-up application each morning, so I like a no-fuss, simple look:
* Maxfactor black eyeliner (mechanical - because I don't have time for sharpening!)
* Dior Blush in English Rose - I use this on my cheeks and my eyelids (again - it saves time!)
* Dior nude skin perfecting hydrating concealer in beige
..and that's it! All my other make up is for nights out.

6. What is something you purchased recently that you're happy about?
It may be a bit of a strange answer, but I purchased these on-the-vine cherry tomatoes the other day because the colour looked so much more appetising than the tomatoes we usually pick. Not only were they sooo tasty, but they worked out cheaper too. Yay!

Cherry Tomatoes

7. Name something that annoys you
Hmm...I will have to pick two things:
i) People who stop in the middle of a crowd for a chat. Move out of the way!!!
ii) Getting my hair caught/pulled. It puts me straight into a bad mood!

8. What is your current favourite jewellery item?
My double heart tag silver and onyx pendant necklace from Tiffany & Co. Not only is it simple and elegant, but it was given to me by my best friends. I love it!

Tiffany & Co Necklace

9. What's something you're looking forward to?
Going back home to Sydney for a visit next week! I can't wait!

10. Describe yourself in three words.
Quiet. Ambitious. Quirky.


Feel free to answer these Q's on your own blog - post a comment below with a link to your blog. I would love to see how other people answer!

Dressing for Ireland. AKA boots...heels...boots...?

The Irish weather has been typically...Irish lately.

I seem to write a lot about the weather, but you really can see all four seasons in one day here, which makes it a bit difficult to decide what to wear!

I rely entirely on layers now. A typical outfit would be a short sleeved or sleeveless top, cardigan, scarf, jacket, with sunnies, beanie and umbrella in my handbag.

For the first year in Dublin, I refused to buy peep-toe shoes - I didn't see the point as there would only be a few occasions I could wear them without getting cold/wet toes.

Then I decided...life is too short to worry about wet toes, and bought these Ted Baker heels:

Ted Baker Keanah Heels

I wore them to a wedding last month, and was looking forward to wearing them again last weekend, when the weather turned awful. Friday was miserable and chilly, which meant there was nothing else to do but pull out my Moovboots.

MoovBooting it

However - Saturday turned out to be a lovely 22 degrees (can we say heatwave #2 for the year?), so I could wear my Ted Bakers out on Saturday after all!

TFNC dress, Penneys belt, Ted Baker heels.

We've got another night out planned for Cork this coming weekend...we'll see if it turns out to be a boots or heels night!

Lavender inspired

As inspired by the lavender plants in our backyard:

Witchery necklace
ASOS PRISM platform peep toe shoes
Velvet top
Zero+Mariacornejo dress

Recipe: Simple Sea Bass and Hand-Cut Oven Chips

J cooked this for me last night for dinner. We usually have the sea bass with a chilli, garlic and butter sauce, but we were out of garlic, so we had the sea bass with curry sauce, just as if we were a fancy chipper. Delicious!

1. Peel, rinse and chop potatoes into rough chips/wedges. We usually have 4-5 potatoes between us depending on how big they are.

2. Dry the chips in a tea towel to remove any moisture.

3. Put the chips into a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, add a small bit of oil, seasoning and mix. We usually put basil, chilli flakes, salt and pepper - but you can add whatever takes your fancy! Pop the chips into a pre-heated oven (roughly 180 deg, or 160deg fan forced) for 45 mins, stirring occasionally.

 4. Coat the sea bass fillets with plain flour (not too much). Heat a small bit of oil in a fry pan, and fry the sea bass lightly on each side - this should only take a few minutes each side, as soon as the fish is lightly golden, it's done!

5. Prepare the sauce of your choice (in our case it was a packet curry mix), and serve. Easy!

Weekend cash-splash

Well, this has been quite an expensive weekend! 

The spending started innocently enough when I purchased this Tortel skirt from Mango...

Tortel skirt from Mango

...then the costs slowed added up as we ate out and ordered take away for lunch and dinner on Saturday. (Nandos for lunch, chicken and chips for dinner...I know, terribly unhealthy...)

On Sunday, we headed into the city for lunch at one of my favourite Dublin cafes, Coppinger Row:

Coppinger Row, Dublin

Coppinger Row, Dublin

Open meatball sandwich, Cod croquettes, and a side of fries.. YUM

After lunch we wondered around the city and ended up on Henry St, where I purchased a Canon digital SLR camera. 

I wanted an entry level digital SLR that wasn't too pricey, but would still allow me to try out 'proper' photography to see if it could be something I'd be interested in.

Canon EOS 1000D photo from here

I ended up purchasing the Canon EOS 1000D model. It was cheap as digital SLR's go, but still took a big chunk out of my paycheck! 

I've already annoyed J by using him as a test subject, so I've turned my attention to the orchids in our dining room. Two of my first photos below:

Hopefully this means I'll be able to take better quality photos for this blog - IF I'm able to get my head around all these dials!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Nicole vs. Cheryl - The Purple and Orange Trend

Thought this was pretty funny. After 'stealing' Cheryl Cole's spot on the US x-factor show, Nicole Scherzinger decides to wonder out wearing a *much* better version of the purple-and-orange outfit. I don't follow celebrity gossip much, but I can't help thinking 'poor Cheryl!' - she was everyone's darling last year, but as they say - that was soooo yesterday.

Pic from here

Pic from here

Cheryl's purple pants are pretty hideous though, I think.

My take on the purple and orange trend

1. Take one purple skirt:

Skirt from Topshop

2. Add one orange bodysuit:

Motel skirt, from Asos.com

3. Throw in a few accessories:

Asos belt, River Island necklace

4. And you get something like this:

Purple-Orange trend fashion mashup

What do you think? Are you a fan of the purple-orange combo?

Things I've learnt while living in Ireland...

Things I've learnt while living in Ireland:

• It is possible to drive a manual car without stressing and stalling
• Irish people are so nice that if you reverse into their BMW they'll just smile and wave you on
• Curry sauce and hot chips is yummy (yes, CURRY sauce - not gravy!)
• Hurling is a sport, not something you do after a big night out

A hurling match

• When someone says "Your one over there" they simply mean "that woman over there", they don't actually mean that you somehow own said woman. Same goes for "Your man."
• When you need the police you should call the Garda
• Always bring a beanie, umbrella, scarf and sunglasses with you everywhere...regardless of what the weather forecast says.
• You can't order fancy shots or mixed drinks in a bar/pub/club (unless you're at a cocktail bar). Instead, if you want a 'Vodka and orange', you'll need to order a shot of vodka in a glass and a separate bottle of OJ and mix it yourself! I haven't quite figured out how to order a vodka raspberry yet..!

No OOTD as I'm in a boring grey work shift dress, so in keeping with the Irish theme I'll leave you with a shot of an Irish pub:

No bake chocolate cake - FAIL

Chocolate 'cake' fail

I tried making a chocolate biscuit cake today. Or as the recipe called it, a 'No Bake Chocolate Cake'.

It didn't work.

See the picture above - that yellow stuff along the bottom and down the sides is butter - yes, solid BUTTER. It doesn't taste very nice at all.

I'm not sure if it's something I did wrong or if I just followed a bad recipe, but this household doesn't have a great track record with chocolate biscuit cakes - J has tried making them several times and failed. I think it's time we call it quits and go back to the easy chocolate caramel slice!

Oh, and my stay-at-home-and-bake-cos-its-rainy outfit is below:

Penneys tunic dress
Next tights
Scarf from a London market stall

Comfy, warm and cheap!

Casual weekend

Princess Highway Blazer
J Brand Jeans
Saint Shylo Top over a white singlet
Kurt Geiger patent ballet flats

After my complaint about not being able to find a blazer that suits my shoulders, I realised I already had a blazer! I love finding 'forgotten' clothes - it's like going shopping without the price tag.

I wore the outfit above out to the shops this morning, where I resisted buying these Zara trousers:

Zara trousers

The stripe down the front made my legs look frumpy.

5 positive points about life in Ireland

Conner Pass, Kerry

I've been a bit negative about the Irish weather in a few of my previous posts, so to be fair, I thought I'd post 5 positive things about Ireland:

1. The drivers are nice.

Try to merge into traffic in Sydney and unless you bully your way in, you could be waiting a while! Not so in Ireland. Here the drivers are so nice they'll slow down and wave you into the traffic in front of them. Or they'll pull aside and let you pass if the road is too narrow. All they ask in return is a "thank you" - which can be done by waving, flashing your headlights, or flashing your hazards.

Driving in Ireland

2. The Irish appreciate the sun.

Because they don't get too much of it, the Irish really know how to make the most of a nice day. If it's dry enough, kids will choose to go outside and play instead of hiding indoors in front of the TV. If it's dry and sunny, the Irish will be outside in their shorts enjoying the fresh air. One thing I've learnt since living here is not to take the sun and warmth for granted!

3. The scenery is beautiful.

I love going for drives along the coast north of Dublin. Even better are cross-country drives into Galway or Kerry. Everything is so green and pretty, and if the sun is out the views are simply stunning!

View from the Muckross House Garden in Killarney

4. The Irish know their potatoes.

Yes, the rumours about Irish and potatoes are true - there eat a LOT of potatoes. Because of this, the Irish know how to make the best potato dishes. For example - last Christmas with J's family there was a choice between 5 potato dishes (no joke) - mash, baked, roast, potato stuffing and chips. All delicious!

5. They have leprechauns!!

Well, that may be stretching the truth a little, but they do have a leprechaun museum in Dublin! This museum is a lot of fun and comes complete with a 'Giants Room', where there's giant-sized furniture which are a lot of fun to climb around on.

I have a smokin' fence

Dress: Calvin Klein

Tights: Next

Shoes: Marks and Spencers

Was running late today, so threw together the 'safest' outfit to wear. Black may be boring, but it sure is handy for work!

When I got home, I found my fence was smoking - seriously, there was smoke coming off it! I tried to capture it as best I could below:

 

Boring explanation: Wet fence from the rain + sunshine

Alternative explanation: My neighbours have a serious grudge against the fence

So Irish...

Haha..I came across this RiverRock water bus stop ad the other day. This pretty much sums up the weather here over the past few days! The sun? what's that?

Shoulder pads aren't my friend

Clockwise from left: Warehouse (Asos), Topshop, Country Road

On my wishlist is a cream/beige blazer that doesn't make my shoulders look too big. I've tried a couple on lately but all of them make my shoulders look overgrown. Some of my online research is above. I'm especially loving the Warehouse blazer, but will need to see it in person to check the shoulder pad situation..! 

Now is right on time

Image tweeted by Twitchhiker

I was at a conference the other week and this picture appeared in one of the presentations. After trawling through Twitchhikers tweets (it was a presentation by Paul Smith, the man behind Twitchhiker), I finally found it!

I love this message - I believe that everything happens for a reason, and the picture above is a round about way of saying just that. :)

Shopaholic pt 2

So I went shopping again today... I only bought two items though, and both of them are work-wear, so I don't feel too bad about spending money..

I bought this Zara top:

Top from Zara

And this skirt from Next:

Skirt from Next

Shown together:

New work outfit

No more shopping for a month now. Really.

Crochet mishaps

The Irish heatwave is over. The weather has dropped back to 13 degrees, so I took the opportunity to pull out a scarf I crocheted a while ago but have not yet worn. While nothing special, this scarf is one of my more successful crocheting attempts:

Crochet scarf

Wearing the scarf around today reminded me of a couple of my other not-so-successful attempts, which I thought I'd share with you (no laughing!)

An overgrown hat which, when worn, can only be described as a mushroom:

Mushroom hat

And a chunky knitted scarf which was made far to chunky to wear comfortably, but can also double as a mini-blanket:

Extra-chunky scarf

Shopaholic

Although I'm supposed to be saving, I couldn't help slipping in a few purchases when I was in London last week. Unfortunately I didn't have much spare time, so it ended up being a case of speed shopping. I've promised myself a proper London shopping trip soon to make up for it!

What I bought:

TFNC Keraya Rope Dress:

Image from TFNC

LOVE one shoulder dress:

Image from inlovewithfashion.com

And, because I have NO nice work clothes, I felt justified in doing a little shopping in the city today:

Ted baker suit pants:

Ted Baker pants

Marks and Spencers shoes (love these, they are so comfy!)

M&S Shoes