Off to Cork....

We are all off to Cork on our hols on the 1st September - doing staycations this year!!!
Hope to have loads to talk about when we get back!!
Stay tuned.

And the winner is...........

Thanks for all the entries!!!


The winner is - Geraldine Kennedy!!!!


Congrats Geraldine - please get in touch with me so that I can send you out your prize!!!

ooooh exciting

That's it now it's all over!!!!
Winner to be announced tomorrow - wonder who it will be!!!!
Thanks so much to all who liked on Facebook and followed my blog!!!
Good Luck Everyone

Competition Time

Hi there 
To celebrate reaching 500 likes on my Facebook page I am giving things away!!!! How about winning a lovely Cari Design scarf and cotton facecloth & re-usable make-up remover pads! They would make lovely treats for yourself or gifts for someone special!

I would love some more followers for my blog so if you could follow that would be lovely!!!!!


Anyone who likes my Facebook Page - www.facebook.com/caridesignwestport or follows my blog (under My blogs list) will be entered to win the goodies!!!!


Closing date is Saturday 7th July @ 5pm with winner to be announced on Monday 9th July 2012!!


Good Luck everyone & thanks for the support!

Holidays - Part Two

So here is Part Two of my review of our hols in the lovely Sligo!!

We stayed in the Cois Re Apartments in Strandhill and they were lovely. Two bedrooms, sitting/dining/kitchen a bathroom and one of the bedrooms is ensuite. Carmel was very friendly and nothing was a problem, it was nice to deal with someone who was nice!!

It's a nice nearly ten minute walk into Strandhill from here but if the weather is good it's lovely as you can see the sea all the way down!  There is a Spar shop which has most of everything you could need for a holiday stay and the staff were very friendly too!

There is a great little playground beside the GAA pitch and we had lots of fun in there on the days when it was just a little too cold to visit the beach!

We ventured out and about two of the days the first trip was into Sligo where we ate in Source Sligo (probably enough said in Part One!). We found some really nice little shops - Inspire, Unit 10 First Avenue, Quayside SC - great little treasure trove of goodies including wool, sewing kits, cards, books and kids toys.  Hargadons Wine Shop in Johnston Court SC - my other half got 'lost' in here for quite a while!

But probably the find of the trip was The Roundabout, Gallery & Craft Loft in Collooney. It is located above The Farm Shop & Cafe which stock lovely local & artisan produce and have a great cafe.
But upstairs is a treasure trove of craft and goodies!

The Bull @ The Roundabout

They have art, handknitted crafts, a jeweller, woodcraft, beautiful handbags (literally had to be dragged away), cards, books - the list goes on. They are very friendly and made us feel very welcome even though our little lady was running riot around the place!

Overall a great holiday to Sligo and I would highly recommend everyone to go!!!


Thanks for reading!

Holidays - Part One

Hi All
We are back a few days now from our hols and settling back into normality!
While I am on hold with Dell Technical Support - I thought I would update my blog!
Currently on hold for nearly 6 mins! (afterthought - whole Dell call only took 40 mins and found them very helpful and efficient, we will see how the actual fixing of the laptop goes)

Anyway off we went to Strandhill in Sligo.

Beach at Strandhill

I've never been to Sligo before so I was keen and had done a lot of research online beforehand.
Food wise you are spoiled for choice - we only got to experience some of the great spots in Sligo and here is some information on the foodie ones!

Shells Seaside Cafe , Strandhill, Sligo

Where do I begin with Shells, it's like a little piece of heaven in Strandhill from the beautiful breakfasts, luscious lunches right through to sumptious snacks and delicious dinners!!!!! Yes we visited quite a bit.
Brekkie is generally the most important meal of the day and definitely the tastiest if you are having it at Shells we had the Full House brekkie, my other half had the porridge with fruit compote and the little lady had fruity toast with jam - all wow.
For lunch and dinner both myself and my other half couldn't resist the fish & chips which are just mouth-watering. The fish is so fresh you can just picture it hopping out of the sea and right into the kitchen! The little lady had the 'Sharky Fish Fingers' on one occasion and the ketchup was designed as a fish on the plate, a lovely touch.
The cakes and cookies are melt in the mouth and look too good to eat.
Oh and if you are on hols try the pink prosecco for a little treat. Prices are great here too very affordable and great value for the delicious food on offer!

Source Sligo, 1 - 2 John St., Sligo 

Fabulous - great space and even better food. We visited twice, the first time for lunch on the day we arrived and it was lovely. We had the food below and it was delicious!!!!!
“Potted Crab”White Crab meat, Lemon and herb butter, with crusty breads. €7.50
“Duck Liver Pate”Homemade Pate with Toasted Brioche, Onion Orange Marmalade. €8.95


We went back another morning for some brekkie and to wander about Sligo - so back to Source Sligo again, couldn't resist and we had......
Soft scrambled egg, Burren smoked salmon, cream cheese, chives,Served with brown bread €9Eggs Benedict, Free range poached egg, home cooked ham, Spinach & hollandaise sauce €8
Both of them very generous and delicious and again the staff were so nice and very good to offer to distract my little lady!




That is all for the mo - a few other gems to tell you about but in a few days - can't use up all the interesting bits in one post!!!!

Bye

Another Cardigan

Morning all it's promising to be another nice day here in the West (apologies south & east of the country!)
Just finished off another lovely little cardigan and though I would share it!
Lovely colour chosen by my friend and it works great with the yellow buttons!!

I really liked the pattern which was very straight forward to make which was great!!
Have a happy day!