Nicola Keegan

It was high time I bought my sister a little prezzie, and so I decided to buy her this beautiful one of a kind set of necklace and earrings from ViviBijoux. Virginie takes great pride in making beautiful jewelry from quality materials. The finishing touches that she adds to a gift, and the presentation are an added extra that really makes it special.

This week, Athlone is hosting a Eurofestival, and today, there was an arts & crafts fair at the Civic Square.  I took a stroll down there on my lunch break to visit Virginie and Millie, and I fell in love with another of Virginie’s creations! I couldn’t resist this necklace! I love the pattern and the colours, and it will match a lot of the clothes that I wear.

Her online blog and boutique are well worth a visit for a nice treat for yourself, or for a special gift for someone!

Here is a quick recipe that I tried yesterday (Thanks Michelle!) – it was delicious!! No photos I am afraid… Next time!

Korean Bulgogi

1lb lean boneless pork or beef (cut into thin slices)

3 tblsp soy sauce

2 tblsp crushed garlic

1 tblsp grated ginger root

2 tblsp brown sugar

2 tblsp red pepper sauce (which I didn’t have, so I used a big tblsp chopped red chili)

2 tblsp rice wine vinegar (which I also sisn’t have, so I used a slosh or red wine, and a dash of white wine vinegar)

2 tblsp sesame oil (I onlt had toasted sesame oil, and I find it’s flavour overpowering, so I used about a teaspoon of this)

1 onion, thinly sliced

Chopped spring onion if you have it

A few sprinkles of sesame seeds

Combine all the ingredients for the marinade, and stir – add the meat and marinate for as long as possible!

Stir fry on a high heat, and serve with steamed rice. I fried the meat in batches, and set aside each batch as it was done – then combined all the meat, the veg, and the rest of the marinade t the end.

I also added some small pieces of broccoli, which I had boiled for a few minutes, some asparagus, also slightly cooked, and some chopped green peppers.

Enjoy

So I have almost finished James & Sarah’s wedding photos – I just have a few that I would like to make black & white and then I am done

If you would like to look through them (be warned, there are over 200!!), click here.

Here are a few funny moments.. showing how much James is loved by his family.. and why

On Sunday, Virginie hosted a lovely baby shower for Miriam – she worked really hard, and made some beautiful little decorations & accessories.

Vanessa made these amazing cupcakes which tasted even better than they looked!

Take a look at the delicious treats as well as all the glamorous ladies in attendance!

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So here are the rest of our photos from our visit to Malmo & Copenhagen..

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While we were in Sweden for a few days, we stayed with the very hospitable Wojtek. He was a wonderful host, and made us feel at home and very welcome! One of the highlights of the visit was a short trip that we made on the evening before we had to go back home – Wojtek kindly took us out for a spin in his boat. It was a fantastic sunny evening, and we enjoyed it very much! Here are some photos..

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Back in February, I wrote about a half-marathon that Donal was going to do on June 12th. So the day has been and gone, and all went well! So far, he has raised a total of €801 for the Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation.  The online page for donating will be open for another couple of weeks, so if you would like to help reach his goal of €1000, click here to help out!

Donal managed a time of 2:21:48 which he was very pleased with!

Here are a couple of the photos I took on the day..

On the 11th June, my cousin James got married to Sarah. I will be working on some of the wedding photos over the next couple of weeks, but I just wanted to post one up as a taster!

Congratulations you two!!!

And here is a nice photo that mum took of all the cousins!

I haven’t posted anything in ages and ages so I will be posting a lot of recent photos & updates over the next few days. Here is a tasty recipe I tried out last weekend -

Buy some frozen ready cooked shrimps with the tail on. The night before you will cook them, take them out of the freezer and put them into a zip-lock bag with some freshly squeezed lime juice, some olive oil, come shredded coconut and some chili. Leave to defrost in the marinade in the fridge overnight. When you are ready to cook them, thread them on some skewers, squeeze over some more lime juice, and then BBQ or grill them! Yum!

I love to enter competitions… I will enter anything that I find online – and I NEVER EVER win anything. The closest I ever came was when I was about 3 years old and I won 3rd prize in a Rupert the Bear comic competition, and I won a comic annual.

In December, Donal and I were strolling around Liffey Valley, and there was a stand advertising a special offer that a company called Covergirl Studios had where you could go and get a makeover and have some studio photos taken. I thought it would be cool as I don’t really have any nice photos of myself as I am usually on the other side of the camera lens, and the last good photos we had of Donal & I together were from our wedding. Anyhow, I went home and looked up there website, and there was a competition that I entered and forgot all about it. So I get a phone call about a month ago saying I had won 3rd prize, and I could go and get the makeover and photos done! I have to admit that I jumped up and down a bit the delight from actually having won something.. 30 years after the last win! About time too…

So I was pampered for a while first – had makeup done and hair styled, and then we had loads of photos taken. It was actually very interesting purely from a “professional” point of view to see what it is like being on the other side of the camera. It really helped that the photographer was very specific about poses – particularly how to put your hands as it can feel kind of awkward. If I ever do any more photography jobs, I will be more conscious to help the client pose and position their hands!!

So here are the results!!