Tag: Travel

9 Things to do in December

Hi lovelies,

*Mariah Carey voice* It’s ….. TIMEEEEEE!!!

How is it the first week of December already?!?

‘Tis the season to be jolly, and here’s a list of things for you to do, to ensure you have the most magical month.

1. Visit The Wonderlights Experience

This year, I finally got to visit The Wonderlights Experience in Malahide Castle and Gardens, after having it on my annual bucket list for what feels like years and what a magical experience it was.

The most magical winter evening spent at The Wonderlights Experience

The perfect winters activity for friends, couples and families to visit over the coming weeks.

2. Make and decorate a gingerbread house

The making and decorating of a gingerbread house is such a wholesome winter activity to do solo or with friends.

Both Flying Tiger and Ikea sell ‘Build Your Own’ sets to make the process that bit easier, and while my attempt didn’t go exactly to plan, I cannot but emphasises just how fun this was to set aside time to make.

Pro tip: learn from our mistakes and make sure to assemble the house prior to decorating the individual pieces. You will save yourself a whole lot of heartache to say the least…

3. Make cute hot chocolates with your friends

I think we can all agree that hot chocolate is one of life’s simple pleasures and one that definitely makes the Autumn/Winter months more enjoyable.

This is your sign to invite your friends and loved ones over to make the cutest cups of hot coco.

These gingerbread shaped, chocolate covered marshmallows, I purchased in Flying Tiger, make the most divine hot chocolate topping, ever!

4. Host a Friendsmas Dinner

At Christmas it can be so easy to get caught up in the material, and focus on the giving and receiving of physical gifts, however this year I encourage us all to focus a little less on the presents and more on the presence of the people you love.

Cozy up and host your nearest and dearest around your table for a Friendsmas Dinner. The focus for this dinner is to ensure that lasting memories are made with your closest friends over good food, drinks and games.

Remember, “It’s not what’s on the table that matters… it’s who’s around it!”.

5. Go on a Winter Stroll

Wrap up in the wooly hats, winter coats, gloves and ear muffs and set out on a stroll even if it’s just around your local neighbourhood.

There’s just something so special about heading out in the crisp winter air. I recently visited Ireland’s highest waterfall, Powerscourt, located at the foot of the Wicklow Mountains.

This walk was so picturesque and really made me stop to appreciate the sheer beauty of nature in Winter. Just look at these pictures and video.

6. Have a snug movie night

Grab the throw blankets, cushions and snacks and spend a cosy night in watching some Christmas movies.

7. Visit a Christmas market

Nothing says festivities, more than mooching round a market at Christmas.

8. Light a holiday scented candle and have a pamper night

Routine pamper nights are the perfect reset for your body. Whether you choose to watch your favourite movie/series, do some skincare, have a bath or better yet all of the above, make sure to light a holiday scented candle to elevate your space.

9. Go to a carol service

Over the coming days many churches will host carol services in the lead up to Christmas Day. These services usually consist of hymns and readings of the gospel sharing the story of Christmas. Jesus is the reason for the season, so it’s only right that you attend a service to commemorate the occasion and also spread the Christmas cheer.

Wishing you all a December to remember.

Love, Nyasha x

8 Ways to Spend the month of August

Hi lovelies,

Hope you are keeping well. We are well and truly into the month of August, and summer will soon be drawing to an end. To help you make the most of the last summer month of the year, I thought I would share 8 ways to spend the month of August in Ireland.

1. Visit Coppenagh House Farm, Carlow

Coppenagh House Farm is a family farm located on the outskirts of Tullow, offering a real farm to fork experience through its livestock, farm shop and coffee box. The farm shop sells various Irish produce from food and drink to clothing, while also stocking beef directly sourced from the farm, locally prepared and packaged by an award winning butcher. Outside the shop you will also find a cute coffee box brewing delicious coffee and serving tasty treats.

Who knew cows and coffee would be such a wonderful combination!

2. Go sunflower picking at the Cloneygath Airfield, Monasterevin

Are you looking for a unique and picturesque activity? Look no further than sunflower picking at the Cloneygath Airfield! Located in the heart of Monasterevin, this hidden gem offers an enchanting experience for nature lovers and photography enthusiasts alike. Open until the end of August from 11am to 4pm daily.

3. Brunch at Grangecon Kitchen, Wicklow

Grangecon Kitchen is is a restaurant, bakery and deli serving both brunch and dinner in a cute, picturesque tent. Closed for summer up until the 23rd of August, however once it reopens, I encourage you to look no further when it comes to organising brunch dates.

4. Go to the cinema

Thanks to Barbie, Little Mermaid and Elemental, I have visited the cinema more in the last 3 months than I have over the last year, and with more great movie releases due, I feel like I will continue to frequent the cinemas more often.

If you are stuck for what to watch and just want the cinematic experience with a large coke and popcorn in hand, then look no further than Odeon’s Screen Unseen, where you can watch highly acclaimed pre-release films from as little as €6, with a plot…. you won’t know which film you are seeing until the cinema lights go down.

5. Deep clean your room

Need I say anymore than declutter, donate and refresh your space! You will only have yourself to thank once you have made the time and completed this task.

6. Bake a yummy treat

Thanks to instagram and tiktok, we are constantly being bombarded with tasty recipes to recreate in the comfort of our own homes. The most recent recipe frequenting my timeline is homemade pain au chocolates using kinder chocolate and puff pastry.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGJpSby8E/

7. Visit the Mueller and O’Connell Bakery in Abbeyleix

If baking isn’t quite your thing, Mueller and O’Connell Bakery is the fastest solution for your insta worthy baked goods.

8. Roam around the streets of Dublin City

Ditch the rigid plans and have a Dublin day out free of major commitments. You’d be surprised at the shops, restaurants and cafe’s, you will find as you wander freely.

City Break in Barcelona

Hi lovelies,

How are you all keeping? I hope you have all had a wonderful week. The long weekend is finally here, and I bet I’m not the only one who was living for it. Like many of us, work life is currently keeping me on my toes, so I often find myself dreaming about my next get-away.

One of my short term goals is to travel more, and see more of the many wonders of the world around me.

So far this year, I have been lucky enough to visit both Spain and Scotland.

In January, I took a 4 day trip to Barcelona to visit a friend of mine. This trip completely exceeded my expectations and highlighted my love for city living.

In today’s blog post I will be breaking down all the best bits of this trip.

DAY ONE

We flew from Dublin Airport at 6:15, and arrived in Barcelona just before 9am, Spanish time.

Upon arrival we went to a local cafe called, La Despensa de Eva.

Here we caught up with one another over coffees and cake! We absolutely adored this place – the customer service and overall presentation of their coffees and treats was impeccable.

Later, we decided to walk around the city, to familiarise ourselves with the area and its amenities.

I quickly fell in love with the architecture as we walked through the streets. The high rise buildings, aesthetics and balconies – I admired it all.

Even their Penneys (Primark) looks high end from the outside of the building!

Soon after our strolls through the city streets, the lack of sleep from the night before finally hit, causing our day of adventure to turn into an evening of catching up on sleep and watching cartoons in our hotel room.

DAY TWO

After a very much needed relaxing evening, we woke up far more energised – ready to take on Barcelona day 2.

First on the itinerary was brunch! We visited a restaurant called Belliny, where we ate our full. The menu here was filled with endless breakfast, brunch and lunch options such as full English, various benedicts, pancakes and even açai! After a lot of debate I ended up ordering their eggs benedict riojanos and fresh seasonal fruit.

After our brunch, we wandered around Barcelona city once again.

On our strolls we came across the Sagrada Familia. We opted not to book tickets to enter the grounds, however from the outside we were able to take in the beauty of the building.

Right outside the church you also find stands of local artists selling their work, here you can purchase beautiful paintings and drawings of the Sagrada Familia, amongst other things.

Later in the day, we visited the St Joseph La Boqueria, which is a public market in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is renowned for being one of the most picturesque markets. Inside you will find most, if not all food types, from pick n’ mix stands to fish and meat stands and everything else in between.

Next door to the marketplace, you will find a DUNKIN’ Donuts and Starbucks, where we treated ourselves to coffees and doughnuts after our wander through the market. From there, we decided to call it a day, order a take away and take endless photos in our matching pyjamas.

DAY THREE

Having had another quiet night we woke up ready for another day of exploration. We started our last full day in Barcelona, dining in La Despensa de Eva, where I got a toasted chicken sandwich and chai latte.

Later in the afternoon, we decided to visit Park Güell. Tickets were €10.00 each, and available to purchase from the entrance, using a QR code.

Upon entry into the park we were met with a lovely uphill walk way, which led us to the most scenic view of the city.

Fun fact; some scenes of Disney’s, Cheetah Girls 2 was filmed in Park Güell. My inner child was fan girling, just by being here.

I got to experience the public transport in Spain for the very first time this day, and I was pleasantly surprised by how affordable, consistent and reliable it was, in comparison to good ol’ Ireland.

Later that evening, we decided to have something a little more Spanish for dinner.We went for tapas near La Plaça de Catalunya. The garlic prawns I ordered were to die for.

For the rest of the evening we strolled around Barcelona city, taking in a few more sights we’d missed the days before.

We stopped for coffees in starbucks after this, and then later that night we decided to order a Mc Donalds. I finally got to try their patatas deluxe and white chocolate sundae that are exclusive to the Spanish menu… and might I say, we are definitely missing out here in Ireland.

I absolutely enjoyed visiting Barcelona – I would even go as far as saying that it is one of my favourite cities to date. Definitely one for the bucket list, if you haven’t yet visited it.

Love, Nyasha x

New normal; how I’m coping during all the uncertainty

Hey lovelies,

How are you all keeping? I know it’s been a minute since I’ve posted anything on here, but I think it’s about time I got back to sharing life with all of you. As I’m sat here writing this blogpost, I just can’t believe we are already half way through the year of 2021.

Like… how is there only 6 months of the year to go?!?

I repeat, HOW?!?

With the pandemic still lurking about, life for so many of us, may still feel very repetitive and filled with endless uncertainties. However, with every passing day, it’s important to remember that YOU have the ability to regain power over YOUR life.

Over the last few months, I personally have gone through a whirlwind of emotions – I’ve experienced so many highs and just as many lows, but by reminding myself that better days lie ahead, I found the strength to carry on, and continue to do so, even on the hard days.

At this present moment I am lucky enough to be living life in the beautiful island of Cyprus. In March, I somehow managed to land the job of my dreams, during a pandemic, over seas and in the sun! How lucky is that?, and it’s all because I stopped allowing current situations I found myself in, to limit me.

So, to those of you feeling powerless over the direction and course of your life – today I encourage you, to acknowledge the real and ever present uncertainties you are faced with. Then begin to focus on the things you can control, while allowing for and accepting that uncertainty is a natural and inevitable part of each and everyone of our lives, with or without the pandemic. The truth is, in order to take control over your life, we need to learn to better tolerate, and even embrace the inevitable uncertainties that come our way.

By doing so, some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives will unfold because “when nothing is certain everything seems possible”.

Love, Nyasha x

Albufeira 2019

Hi lovelies,

I’m backkkk!

First of all, my sincere apologies for being inactive on this site recently, but as you all know (from my endless rants on Instagram), I’ve got a degree to get!

So far this academic year has not been the easiest, but I really can’t complain because despite the constant weight on my shoulders, no tears have been shed! But I will get into all of that in another blog post, sometime soon!

Today, however, I’ve decided to come out of my shadow to share the highlights of my trip to Albufeira, Portugal.

One of my childhood friends turned 20 this year, and to mark the occasion, some of her friends and I, decided to embark on a girls trip to celebrate.

We flew from Dublin Airport at 7:40 and arrived at Faro Airport around 10:40.

When we arrived in Faro, we were collected and driven to our accommodation

For the duration of our trip we stayed in the Club Ouratlantico Apartments. These apartments were in walking distance to all local amenities, making it a lot easier for us to explore everything Albufeira had to offer!

DAY ONE – FRIDAY

After a morning full of traveling and very little sleep, we decided to take it easy on ourselves and just wander the streets of Albufeira.

We eventually found ourselves at the beach, Praia dos Alamães. While walking along the beach, we stumbled upon the Beach Spot Restaurant. Despite being confused by the menu at first, we ended up getting lovely food and drinks here for a very reasonable price! The restaurant was situated in such a lovely ‘spot’ on the beach, which offered such a beautiful scenic view, from the upper outdoor terrace.

Later that evening we decided to go and explore the Strip. The ambiance of the Montechoro strip was very lively and friendly. It had so much to offer, from bars to corner shops and everything in between. With every step we took, we encountered hawkers, who did not shy away from sharing their latest enticements.

Our first evening in Albufeira was very random, to say the least. It consisted of karaoke, fish pedicures and a miniature pig we all will never forget! But like they say,

“The best memories are usually unplanned, random and spontaneous”.

DAY TWO – SATURDAY

Breakfast was definitely my favourite meal during this holiday. We got breakfast in Urban Pizza on the Saturday and Sunday because it was just that good!

The freshly squeezed orange juice was exactly what we all needed to start our one and only full day in Portugal.

On Saturday we headed to Aquashow in Quarteira. We bought our tickets at a local shop on our way to the aqua park because the vendors sell them at a cheaper rate. The tickets were €26.10 per person. This ticket gave us free access to all rides in the park.

The first ride we went on together was the water rollercoaster. I was genuinely so surprised at how much I enjoyed this ride considering I have a fear of heights and drowning. The park is designed with everyone in mind, so even if I wasn’t feeling as brave as I did, I could have had just as much fun on rides that didn’t involve speed, heights or water.

That evening after a good rest, we decided to get dressed up and head back to the strip for our final evening in Albufeira.

Dinner was then, followed by strolls down the strip and an ice-cream date.

We were travelling back to Dublin on Sunday evening, so we all woke up extremely nostalgic. The trip had just gone by so so fast! We had such a fabulous time in Albufeira, and enjoyed everything little thing it had to offer.

Here’s to more adventures in 2020!

Love, Nyasha x

Summer 2019, Recap

“You know all those things you’ve always wanted to do? You should go do them”

Hi lovelies, 

As we are drawing near to the end of summer now, I just wanted to do a quick recap of my summer, and all it had to offer me. This summer I vowed to myself to live life to the fullest and seize any opportunity to do things I found fulfilling. Although I didn’t get the opportunity to fly out to live my best life, or jaiye at Afronation, I can confidently say that, Summer 2019, you have been too good. 

Despite having started my summer sick and brittle, I quickly recovered after plenty of much needed rest and once better, I didn’t waste any time to start making plans with those I love. 

May

After 10 days of not seeing them, the college girls and I met up for a shopping trip in Dublin City. As someone who used not to be very confident in their navigation of the town, I was pleasantly surprised on how good my navigation was. We spent the day gallivanting, and to end the day we went to TGI Friday’s, on Temple Bar.

June

June was such a busy month for me. On the 2nd of June, I decided to finally bite the bullet and start this blog – meaning any spare time I once had, was and is now spent typing. However, thankfully, it has been such a wonderful and surreal experience thanks to all of you who have been reading them on a weekly basis.

Other than working and integrating blogging to my lifestyle, I also tried to spend some quality time with my family.

This was also the month that I got engrossed in all thing Love Island despite my original dismissal of the show. Without getting into too much detail, I’m actually happy that I ended up watching the show, as I gained some valuable life lessons (suprise suprise!!).

  1. Sisters before misters ALWAYS!!
  2. Be confident in you
  3. Always expect the unexpected

July

As some of you may know this year I was resident more so in Wexford than Kildare – meaning I had little to no time with my family and friends from home throughout the academic year.

July, however offered plenty of time for me to catch up with those near and dear. Roadtrips, cinema dates and everything in between were had.


August

As I am writing this, the month of August is not yet over. However, in the next two weeks I will, most likely be spending, most of my days in work, so I will not have much left to recap with you.

So far I have spent this month attending events such as Girlz Arize and CTY 15 hours of Praise. I’ve also been catching up with friends, embarking on road-trips and engaging in family time.

Overall, like I said at the very start of this blog post, I am very content with how my summer has gone this year. I wanted to be productive in whatever I found myself doing, whilst having a nice balance of work and fun – and I can confidently say I did just that.

“Be spontaneous. Be crazy. Leave your comfort zone and live with no regrets.”

Love, Nyasha x

Gratitude.

Hi lovelies,

It honestly feels like I haven’t talked to you all in forever, but I’m back! I hope you are all keeping well and enjoying life and what it has to offer, at the moment. I know I am. This week alone has been such a good one for me.

On Wednesday, I went on a little day trip to Wexford to see my main ‘huns’. The sun didn’t disappoint us, so we used it to our advantage, and went on a little road trip to Forth Mountain Quarry…. where the scenes did not let us down.

I don’t know if seeing the world from an elevated point of view made me develop a strong sense of gratitude, but I certainly found myself feeling much more thankful and appreciative for the people I’m surrounded by, the fact that I have a job, a roof over my head, clothes I can wear and food on my plate – all the things I tend to take for granted every other day.

Gratitude is described as the quality of being thankful and the readiness to show appreciation.

By developing a sense of gratitude, we obtain the ability to disconnect from toxic, negative emotions, increase our happiness, become less materialistic and less likely to experience burn out while developing patience, humility and wisdom. Expressing gratitude not only benefits an individual, but it also benefits their society. Despite the numerous benefits, expressing gratitude has to offer, many of us often fail to show gratitude to those who make a difference in our lives on a daily basis.

We struggle to find the right words to express ourselves and assume that the person we want to appreciate, will feel just as uncomfortable hearing us express our gratitude as we will feel, expressing it. This however, is not the case. When we show our gratitude to others, we make them feel valued and significant. As individuals, we thrive on positive feedback. Being valued and appreciated reinforces a positive sense of self worth.

From today onwards, I am going to make the conscious effort to find one thing I am grateful for, every night before I go to sleep. If it happens to be an individual, I will make sure to show my gratitude to them one way or another, so that they too, know that I value them.

On that note, I would like to say a massive thank you to each of you reading my blog, sending kind messages and interacting with me. It means a lot more than you may realize. If you live in Ireland, I currently have a giveaway running on my Instagram account @niiash_a. Unfortunately it does end tonight, at 23:59, but please do enter up until then, you never know you could be the lucky one.

I definitely hope to do more giveaways in the future, so don’t be disheartened if you missed this one.

You are all making a dream of mine a reality, so I will continue to thank you in any way possible.

“Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness. It’s the spark that lights a fire of joy in your soul” – Amy Colette

Love, Nyasha x

Shauna’s Summer Social

Hi lovelies,

So last weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend Shauna Doyle’s very first event – ‘Shauna’s Summer Social”. I have been following Shauna’s Instagram for a little less than a year now, but I immediately fell in love with her content because of the authentic online presence she conveys across all her socials. I also love that she is very much an all round blogger and does not shy away from any category – this really stood out for her at her event, where she discussed all things makeup, fashion, biodegradable glitter, sustainabilility, relationships, love island, mental health, future goals and much much more. There was literally something for everyone.

In today’s blogpost I decided to share some highlights I captured, of the outstanding event. Shauna really went above and beyond with every single detail in order to host a fabulous blush babies event that was instagrammable.

Shuana’s Summer Social was held in the luxurius River Lee Hotel, a member of The Doyle Collection, in Cork. Upon arrval, each attendee was greeted, offered a glass of orange juice and photoraphed by @johnarthurphotos infront of the Blush Babies moon gate.

As I walked into the room more, my eyes quickly gravitated to each and every detail. Shauna did not miss any opportunity to personalize the event and make it her own. The whole room was embellished with baby pink tones, stamped with her logo. It was evident that she was involved in the entire organisation process.

As we all approached our seats, waiting for us, was the goodie bag Shauna had teased prior to the event, along with a programme and slithers of cake made by @traceofcakes.

Inside the programme, along with the schedule of activities and sponsors, was a page dedicated for us to jot down ‘what we learnt’, our ‘wishlist’ and ‘notes’. This was a fantastic addition to the programme as it gave each of us an opportunity to write down any products, tips and word’s of advice, that were mentioned as the event progressed. Once we were all settled Shauna then went up and welcomed us all, to her very first event. She spoke with such humility and gratitude, not only to her sponsors, friends and family, but also to us, her blush babies who support her on a day to day.

She then moved on to the first segment of the day, which was ‘Makeup’, where she was joined by Caoimhe (@caoimhebhmua) to do a makeup look on Lucy (@lulusbits). Throughout the process, Shauna and Caoimhe were generous enough to share all their tips, favourite products and answer the ‘hape’ of questions we all had. Once the dewy makeup look was complete, Shauna then invited us all outside for some lunch.

Moctails @thehitchingpost.ie Cupcakes @traceofcakes

After lunch we went straight into the the ‘Styling Session’. For this session, Shauna invited Ali (@ali123_), who is a student brand ambassador for Boohoo, to talk all things fashion. Shauna and Ali had both brought staple pieces from their wadropes, to give us tips on how to style them. I loved that they discussed sustainable fashion in this segment and how it is okay to wear an outfit more than once. Something I had never considered, that Ali mentioned was, if like her, you’re someone who loves wearing dresses and then struggles to switch the outfit up for another occasion, maybe try buying trousers/skirts and tops so that you can alternate pieces to switch up the outfit. The minute she said this it immediately resonated with me, as I am that person who buys dress after dress but never has any other way to change up the outfit besides the original way I wore it. I can’t wait to try out her tip next time I go shopping and see if I can save myself a few euros in the long run.

The final segment of the day, after another short break, was the ‘Q+A & Panel’ where Shauna was joined by four other fabulous ladies.

@carolbyrne30 @aoifeesull @niamhdebrun @cliona_o_hanlon

Together they discussed how they became the influential women they are today, while sharing the reality of their lives behind the screen. Each of them had their own experiences and goals which I really loved hearing about as there was something for everyone to relate to. They did not shy away from their truth but instead shared their raw real life experiences.

All in all, I really and truly enjoyed #shaunassummersocial. The time and dedication she put into the organisation of it all, in the months leading up to it, was really worth while. I wish events like this were on every single weekend. The whole event was very intimate and felt like a massive sister chat.

I am very excited to see what is next for Shauna, but for now I will hold onto what is now a fond memory of mine.

Love, Nyasha x