Throwback! (and it's not even Thursday)

Yesterday while I was "packing" for heading back to university on Tuesday I thought I'd have a little look into one of the boxes in my room containing a load of old photographs of my sister and I growing up. I'm very fortunate to have a lot of photos and home videos of us and even though I don't look at them very often, it's nice to look back whenever I do! 

This was taken in a museum in Belfast probably around 2000. The museum has since been refurbished but I really miss the way it looked before! I ended up going to sixth form very nearby and used to walk past it every day.

Me in the funky blow-up chair my uncle bought for my aunt whenever they were still going out, circa 1997. It's only just occurred to me that that's a pretty weird gift to give your girlfriend haha.

Me and my little tiny baby sister, featuring questionable stain.

Christmas Dayyyy, in (I'm guessing) 2000.

I just think my momma looks super smokin' in this and I look super happy.

Just playin' on the beach in a massive puffy coat (That's Ireland for you...)

Anna and I with a goat.

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Book Review | The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Don Tillman, a university professor of genetics, has a plan for absolutely everything in his life. His days are mapped out, dictated by a strict schedule down to the very second. Unable to find the right woman for him (partially due to his incredibly lofty standards), Don devises the 'Wife Project', a questionnaire designed to find him the perfect girl... But then Don meets Rosie, spontaneous and impulsive, Rosie meets none of Don's essential criteria, yet Don finds himself swept up in her and her world, unable to understand the force which causes him to gravitate towards her.

I picked this book up after receiving a recommendation from someone I knew but I'd already heard about it through Goodreads, Amazon etc. and even the lady in Waterstones when I was buying it told me how brilliant it was, so I was very keen to give it a go. In truth this book as absolutely hysterical. The narrative and concept are very fresh and the book itself, all in all, is highly entertaining.

It's difficult to voice my reservations about this book without giving away spoilers but I will say that the fact that many of the jokes are at Don's expense has caused considerable controversy. Although this approach undoubtedly works to brilliant comic effect as intended, the ethics of this novel are a bit skew whiff and I've noticed from reading reviews that a number of people feel that it misrepresents a certain group within society. Normally I don't pay much heed to these sorts of claims (e.g. 'Eleanor and Park' has been accused of being racist?) but certainly I can imagine one of my friends in particular being offended by this book. For that reason, I'm reluctant to give this novel a sparkling review, although I did enjoy it. In summary, I would recommend with reservations.

Saturday Roadtrip | Walled Gardens & Wild Flowers

Last weekend my cousin Jenny and I took a little roadtrip around the Causeway Coastal Route around the north Antrim coast of Northern Ireland. The route has some really stunning views and its also a very very long drive, I think it took us around 7 hours and we didn't even go the whole way around! But roadtrips are basically my favourite thing ever so I was in my element.

We set off around 12, stopping for lunch at a lookout along the way, and then as we were driving along we saw signposts for Glenarm Castle Walled Gardens and Tearoom. Neither of us had ever been there before so we decided to stop and I'm so glad we did. The garden was beautiful, it was just filled with so much colour particularly from the thousands of wild flowers growing everywhere. I think that was my favourite thing about it. There were also apple and pear trees, water features, statues and a mount where you could look out over the garden. It was a really misty day and you could see the fog settling over the hills and trees in the distance which I think added to the atmosphere. I just wish my camera was able to capture it better! Jenny had brought her DSLR with her so we both wandered around for a while taking photos which was really relaxing, we both even managed to snap a picture of a butterfly that was sitting on one of the flowers.

After about an hour we heading off again and started noticing that there were quite a few cyclists on the road, then a few cyclists turned into a couple dozen cyclists and then eventually we were stuck behind hordes of cyclists before realising there was actually a huge cycle event around the coastal route. Just our luck! On the bright side, we were moving so slowly we really had time to appreciate the scenery haha.

Along the road we also stopped at Dunluce Castle, a medieval castle that sits basically on the very top of a cliff plunging down into the ocean. It's one of the more famous castle in Northern Ireland and is really very striking. We didn't go in this time as it was about to close but we took some photos from the cliffs overlooking it. It's been a really long time since I've visited properly so I desperately want to go back soon and have a proper look around.

And so we began the long journey home, though not before stopping for dinner at a restaurant on Portstewart promenade. Can we just take a moment to appreciate the sheer size of Jenny's filled Yorkshire pudding? Because it's pretty massive! One thing I love about the fact Jenny and I have grown up together is being able to reminisce about our childhoods and family, especially the ones who aren't around any more, it's nice to be able to sit and chat about everyone and just remember, which is what we spent a lot of time doing in the car and at dinner. Then, on the way home in the car we just had the music blaring, soundtrack for the day being 'Chandelier' by Sia, which is one of my favourite songs of the whole year, and also by far my favourite music video. I've probably watched it about 26 hundred thousand million times.

I know it's a bit late to say now but I hope you all had a lovely weekend yourselves!

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