Cuzzie Wuzzie Bonding

It's really scary what happens to family and friends over the years, Like when I was growing up my Dad used to talk about how he was so close to his cousins when they were kids they even made a mini film together.  My Dad's Dad was the Producer and Film maker, sadly I never got to meet him but from what i have heard he had a really creative mind he loved inventing stuff, He even went to university to study science during a time when no one in Ireland went to university, and most people hadn't even completed secondary school. He really could of been something with that brilliant mind of his. But alas it wasn't to be. As the head of the family he had to much pressure put on him to soon. 

Despite hearing about all these memories about my dad and his cousins he never hears from them now unless its a death in the family, and to be honest with me and my cousins a similar pattern has already starting to develop. For example when we were younger we used to see my cousins James and Paul every Friday and had loads of fun together. but as we grew older that all stopped. and we started only seeing each other at christmas time. and lately I have only seen those two cousins and the rest of my cousins at funerals. Is history repeating itself? 

Anyway one of my aunts noticed this and decided that she would have a cousins party :) so that we could all get together in a more happier atmosphere.I thought it was all talk until i got a call this week to say it was happening. 

So yesterday me and my brother got a bus to my aunts, and of course not all the cousins showed up i only have 6 cousins on my Dads side i don't have any. We had a lovely meal with yummy desserts. Rocky Road and Brownies :) 

After the meal we decided to play a game of Monopoly The Simpsons addition! for old times sake and surprisingly it was a great laugh and we all left at about 10.30 ! It was a great night and i hope we all can continue to stay close like this in the future. 

 My Sis, Gavin, my Bro

 Gavin, James, My bro, my sis head lol

The Monopoly King, 

On the way back me, my sister and brother were discussing all the cousins personalities and came up with a few roles. 

The Leader,

My brother, in the past it was always my cousin James who would take the lead in organizing the games to play like hide and seek in the dark. Tying us all to a chair one time so my aunt couldn't bring us to mass! but nowadays he is much more mellow. So my brother has seemingly taken over this role with suggesting we play monopoly rather than all just heading home after the food.

The Sheep

My cousin James was nicknamed the sheep as he seems to go with the flow and follow whatever is going on.

The Funny one,

My cousin Stephen is always the life and soul of the party and full of fun so he was deemed the funny one. sadly he couldn't make it last night.

The Lurker

My cousin Paul is the one who shows up to parties shows his face and leaves. So he is the lurker.

The puppy,

My cousin Carl the youngest of all the cousins is a hyper active maniac when he gets sugar into his system. So we called him the puppy.

The Roofie, The Crazy one.

That would be me, I have no idea about why I am the crazy one lol!

The Laid back one,

My cousin Gavin is the totally chillaxed and easy going one

The Absentee

This would be our cousin Rebecca who we have not seen for more than 10 years and have no idea where in the world she is.

The Fluff,

My sister is another sheep so we called her the fluff.

And that is another part of my Big Happy Family 

Beauty Haul

 So lately I have really gotten back into being crazy about skincare products and other beauty related items, and yesterday I went on a small shopping spree and picked up a few goodies :) 

The first thing I bought was the Montagne Jeunesse Deep Cleansing Nose Pore Strips, I tried them one on me and it worked brilliantly I could see a huge improvement as soon as I took it off, My boyfriend was so impressed he even wanted to give it a go! He always likes to try my stuff, Theres been a few times where we have both put on face masks together, but i never had the chance to capture it on camera. He liked the nose pore strips until it was time to remove it, and oh my god it was a big OUCHHHH or AIYAAA moment lol. and he said he never wanted to try it ever again lol. Even though he was impressed with the results. No pain, no gain.

Then I spotted this new Bath Range that seems really really similar to the likes of Lush or the Body Shop called Bomb Cosmetics. Has anyone reading this ever tried them? I bought two Bath Bombs don't they look so cute and they smell gorgeous. They have cute names too the first one is called Cherry Bathe well and the one below is called Mr Lather Lover. I can't wait to try them out and pick up a few more. 

I also decided to pick up one of there soaps sometimes you just get fed up using those bottle soaps and want a good classic lovely smelling bar of soap the one i picked up smells like cherries and smells lovely, a great summer scent. The only thing I would say is it is a bit sticky and slippery. doesn't really dry off. 

Then the last thing I picked up was the Strawberries & Cream Body Butter. It smells so good, Before I saw this I was really tempted to buy the Body shops mini Strawberry Body Butter. but i actually found this Bomb Cosmetics Body Butter to smell much more natural and it seems very rich and nourishing. 

There is one more product in the Bomb Cosmetics range that i am on the fence about buying the Black-currant Body Polish like the strawberry body butter I just fell in love with the scent I may go back tomorrow and buy the Body scrub. 

So have any of you reading this tried any Bomb Cosmetic products? How did you get on with them? 

A Real CATastrophe!

They say all bad things come in threes and in my family it was no different. I know I have already mentioned the passing of my Grandma and Granddad. But there is a furry friend i have not mentioned. My little sweet cat Angel disappeared without a trace back in January before I went to China. It was the beginning of a series of unfortunate events.

My brother let her out the door one afternoon and she was never seen again. Its a real mystery. We put up Missing posters everywhere around the neighborhood. and got a few tip offs she was spotted here there everywhere but they were all false alarms and false hopes. 

We even had some bizare tip offs, such as a crazy cat lady has been going around your town stealing cats, You should look into it. No lies cat napping really has happened and the lady got her cat back. 

Another tip off was that a bunch of cats have moved into an abandoned shed behind the local church maybe you should check there, my Dad was the one to follow that lead and managed to sprain his leg climbing over the fence! Hes not as agile as he used to be ! lol. 

But with all the tip offs in the world we are still no closer to solving the mystery of where in the world did Angel go?? Have any of you reading this ever had a pet go missing? Did you get it back?

RIP, Hope your in a better place now.

Flowers in Bloom

Not everything was good in Ireland while I was away in China, My Granddad passed away and then two weeks later I got another phone call to say my Grandma had passed away,  My Granddad was 95, and it was not really unexpected, but my Grandma was only 83 and nobody saw that coming, She was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, and we knew there was no cure for that, she got phenomena in the last week of her life and sadly passed away. 

A meal with my Grandma in Shelby's

Before we went to China, We packed all our belongings and moved out of our apartment, we didn't want to pay rent for 3 months, and put everything up in my parents attic, with the intention that we would find a new place when we came back, then when my Grandma passed away, my Mom had the idea that we should move into her apartment and since we were strapped for cash we gladly accepted rightly or wrongly. Heres a few pics from around the apartment 

Michael Cooking

 My first bubble bath in years (my old apartment only had a shower)

 Our Bedroom

Our Big Ass TV

Me eating in the dinning room 

Anyway my Grandma was always a very keen Garden, She used to have a huge garden in her old house and when she moved into her apartment she still kept up the Gardening to a lesser extent on her balcony, But when she passed away all her balcony plants were sadly neglected, and when we moved in to her apartment we vowed to resurrect the garden and we started yesterday, Check out the fruits of our work, we still have a long way to go though.

This wasn't our first gardening bonding experience, When we were in China we helped Michael's Mom out with her Garden, it did attract quite a few stares, at one point and old man who seemed to be a bin man stoped his little truck beside the house and stared for a good 10 minutes, This is what its like in rural China, You just get used to it. We all look so glamourous haha!

Oh how time flies...

I never planned for this blog to be so spaced out, when i started it I was updating it like literally everyday and then as time went on I started slacking and slowly but surely started posting nothing, but I am hoping to revive this blog again. :) And yes! I am still wrapped firmly in my Chinese leaf, 

Michael and I in Xiamen

I just came back from a rather long holiday in China, I was over there for 3 months! Some may think thats crazy, even i think saying it out loud is a little crazy, but it was a good learning experience I got to experience really living in China, doing normal day to day activities, the ups and downs of traveling, seeing lots of beautiful scenery, celebrating Chinese New Year the list could go on and on. And i can now speak Chinese, not brilliantly but at least have a conversation, do some haggling. I kind of miss speaking chinese all the time, but i do love my own home comforts, TV in a language i understand fully, my family... being able to do whatever I want. 

Me in a restaurant in Fuzhou

So during my travels I visited Hangzhou, Xiamen, Yiwu, Fuzhou, Putian, Fuqing, and then i lived in a small village near Fuqing called XinCuo for most of my trip. so basically all in the South of China, All the cities were different in their own ways.

 I had a lot of firsts over there my first time on a speed boat, a first time on a two people bicycle, first time rowing a boat, first time letting off fireworks and so on 

Well i think the pics all speak for themselves we had a wonderful time over there and can't wait to go back, but that won't happen for sometime, have to get back to work and saving repaying debts and so on.