the Crayze

11 May 2013

Confessions of a Shopaholic

The Shopping Diaries – Cork Edition

Ok I’m woman enough to admit it, I’m Laura and I’m a shopaholic.

See it’s not even the clothes that I love, it’s the simple rush of spending money, the artform of shopping (believe me there is an art to shopping, or maybe I’m just desperate to be creative).

So, in an attempt to justify the fact the I love spending my money as soon as I earn it and to show off my shiny new purchases I've decided to I’m going post a few entries of a ‘shopping diary’ right here on the Crayze. And we can all celebrate in my addiction!

Well as Limerick has about roughly three shops left in the city centre (jog off will you bloody recession) I had to journey a little further for a bit of shopping this week and headed off to the land of mystery and wonder known as Cork.

Looking for a few bits for my upcoming holidays to Spain at the end of the month, I hit the main shopping areas of the city and was not left disappointed, as you’ll see!!

Ah, the totally pointless shopping OOTD shot!! (Bus journey totally leading to wrinkled t-shirt situation.)

Ok, so here is maybe the real reason I travelled all the way to Cork, the unbelievably amazing Mars bar cheesecake in Scoozis on Winthrop Lane (http://www.scoozis.ie/), literally the best cheesecake I’ve ever had and believe me I've had a lot of cheesecake.

I have to get some every time I go to Cork. They do a mean pizza too.

Seriously if you’re ever in Cork check this place out, I’m obsessed with their dessert menu!!

Well a shopping trip is nothing without basking in that post shopping feeling, not pictured is me rolling around on the bags, indecent proposal style.

So alas until another shopping diary entry and haul of goodies.

xoxo
L

3 May 2013

Just Another Fashion Friday

A simple Friday morning trip into town ended up a fashion delight as I stumbled upon 'Limerick’s Fashion Friday', where the style being offered by local shops was being displayed.

With the runway set up in a makeshift tent, local models strutted their stuff in a series of outfits and accessories and drew quite the crowd on Thomas Street, despite the rain.

Poppin' the hip

Blue Steal

Hosted by Limericks hardest working fashionista herself, Celia Holman Lee the event kicked off the line-up of events as part of Limericks Riverfest over the May bank holiday weekend.

Celia whipping the crowd into frenzy

This guy was banging out the tunes

Showcasing clothing from a variety of local stores for both men and women the show was a welcomed unexpected surprise and I caught sight of a few things I wouldn’t mind picking up, like I needed another excuse to shop!!

The clothes and models looked great and judging by the atmosphere of the crowd gathered it all went down very well. Could a Limerick style fashion week by soon far off?

Limerick fashion lovers

1 May 2013

S'more's for me!

I will never be able to truly enjoy my late-night tea with a bah-jillion biscuits, so I thought I might try and jazz them up tonight!

Thanks, or I suppose no-thanks to Rachel Allen, I have truly over indulged tonight by making her home version or S'mores, or sometimes spelled Smores (get all your S'mores trivia here!) or what she likes to call "Chocolate and Marshmallow Biscuit Sandwich". Catchy name huh?

So its beyond easy. All you need is biscuits, digestives preferably and you'll need some marshmallows and chocolate.

Place biscuit on tray, put chocolate on biscuit and place marshmallow on top and put it in the oven. Easy!

Mind you, you'll have to watch them because mine turned out a bit toasted.

Still tasted unreal though!

*I used Rich tea biscuits, giant white marshmallows and dairymilk chocolate.

What they should have looked like! Whoops.

Indulgently yours,

Eimear.

Goodwill Thrifting -Limerick

Hey, its no Camden Market, but charity shopping in Limerick is far more impressive than any of you might have thought!

It's cheap, it's cheerful and a lot more fun than one might expect. If you go into any charity shop, you're either bound to find something that is ridiculously cheap, or hilariously funny.

Surprisingly this animal welfare shop has no clothes for animals, so your Bichon Frise shall continue to perish in the cold. But it does have oodles of clothes, shoes, bags and belts. Out of all the charity shops it's probably my favourite because they seem to have everything out on display. Some shops keep the good stuff in the back or like rotate which I'm sure there's a reason for but is really annoying.

Got the above bag for 3 euro!

SVP are a pretty big charity so you'd expect these guys to have the good stuff. Everything is in really good condition and the place is super organised. I previously got a pair of light faded highwaisted Pepe jeans for €2.50 which we turned into my favourite pair of shorts! See below:

Monochrome came from somewhere and that somewhere was the 80's. Charity shops are probably the best place to get authentic 80's fashion and not spend a huge amount.

Oxfam is a pretty small shop but they had a lot of granny suits which if your up to it could be modified and each time we've gone there, there has always been great coats. Our favourite one was probably this really cool leather jacket which was really heavy and had this cool gold stud detail on the shoulders. Though Laura looks super happy, she did not purchase it and will probably regret this for the rest of her life. LoL

Enable Ireland is probably one of the most popular chairty shops but to be honest we never really find anything there and it's usually pretty busy it's hard to look through everything. They have a great selection of ball dresses though so if you're looking for some 90's dresses or costumes, it's the place to go.

On one fated day though we came across this true gem of a dress by Frank Usher, and it will go down in history as being the coolest thing we've ever found in a charity shop...so far.

*Note I recently discovered another, less impressive, Frank Usher dress

in a vintage shop in Dublin for €250! This just makes my €14.50 bargain so much better - Claire

30 Apr 2013

Between My Thighs #3

In anticipation of Limerick's Riverfest 2013 this weekend, where he will be appearing, I dedicate this Between My Thighs to none other than:

Donal Skehan

The lovely,delectable Donal Skehan.

This is a bit of a different Between My Thighs for me as I'm not sure how I feel about Donal, he is like the Daniel O'Donnell of the cookery world; mothers and daughters alike can't resist the allure of Donal, but it seems to me to be in a more 'ah bless, isn't he lovely' type of way rather than 'I want to rip the shirt off his back' type of way, but maybe I'm wrong.

Donal only came to my attention in the last year or so when I saw his cookery programme Kitchen Hero on RTE for the first time. To begin with I wondered how a 16 year old boy had gotten his own cookery programme, then I began to think of him as a younger, better looking Nevin Maguire and finally I discovered his true age and I began to feel a bit different. Well, I never could resist a man with prepubescent looks and oodles of boyish charm.

He has been described as Ireland's answer to Jamie Oliver, although I haven't heard any rumours of a Naked Chef remake, I think it would be a sure-fire way for RTÉ to triple their figures - just a suggestion.

Donal's first cookbook "Good Mood Food" was published in 2009 after he stared a Food Blog in 2007. His second book "Kitchen Hero" was released in 2011 along with the airing of his cookery programme of the same name. Cue obligatory collage of Donal with food.

Man Vs. Food

What I really like about Donal is his ability to take the piss out of himself. Like any good Irish man he doesn't take himself too seriously, even if he's semi-famous he can still poke fun at himself and his embarrassing childhood moments and share them with the world wide web; take this wonderful picture he posted on the blog section of his webpage for example: primary school nativity meets Darina Allen, although I can't talk, I pretended to be Darina back in the day too, it was obviously the done thing.

Ah bless!

Donal is a bit of an all rounder apparently; before he got into the cooking he was in a couple of bands. He lost out to Dustin the Turkey for Eurosong in 2008 and had some success in the Irish charts with the band Industry. Now incase you're scratching your head trying to recall the band, here's the music video featuring a slightly orange Donal, you still would though.

So he can sing, he can cook, he has a sense of humour and he's easy on the eye, what isn't there to like? Whether you want to take Donal home to your Mammy or keep him all to yourself you can't deny There's something About Donal and I for one would definitely have him B.M.T.

Update: 05/05/2013 - I thought I'd follow up after Donal's little trip to Limerick for Riverfest, where he filmed an episode of his latest show by the River Shannon. I popped along after watching my friends finish The Great Limerick Run and took a few snaps of delectable Donal to share with you. He is, as I had envisaged, as flawless in the flesh as he in on the telly. He must have used a full can of hairspray too because there wasn't a hair out of place, even when the wind picked up by the river.

* It's also apparently Donal's 27th birthday on the 3rd of June. He doesn't look a day over 17, I'm envious of his youthful looks. That's what good clean living does for you!

29 Apr 2013

Macklemore to play Dublin

Get your best (thrifted) fur coat out of the wardrobe you're going to see Macklemore baby!

Don't get too excited now but somebody somewhere has just announced that Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have announced a Dublin date for their European tour. The lads will be hitting up the O2 on the 15th of September this year and tickets are going to sell like a designer handbag in a charity shop, no doubt, so make sure to be up at the crack of dawn to get your hands on them

Tickets go on sale THIS FRIDAY, that's the 3rd of May, at 9am and are priced at an exceptionally thrifty price of €36 - sure you couldn't pass it!

8 Apr 2013

Bitches Love Blazers

What better way to celebrate the versatility of the humble blazer than some awkwardly posed, totes embarrassing pictures of myself in several blazers. It may be cringe worthy but at least it has somewhat allowed me to justify my all consuming blazer addiction!!