The charmed one turns 23.....

Happy birthday babe...hope you enjoy all 30 hours of it :)

Prue and I have been organising the office over the last couple of weeks...bit by bit mind so as not to over exert ourselves!! So now that the dusting, vacuuming, moving of furniture and sorting files is done we want to redecorate!

waaaaaaaaay back at the beginning of our term, we thought it would be cool to ask people to send us postcards to decorate a wall of the office with...now as we prepare to handover the office we thought we'd get a headstart for Aisling and Co...

So send us postcards, photographs, traditional decorations.... you send it we will find a place to hang it :)

Probably one of the best articles that I have read regarding Ireland's membership of the EU...That we have reaped the benefits of the EU is a well documented story, but our contribution is rarely recorded!

More later, work now ;)

I wouldn’t consider myself particularly girly, in fact most of my friends are guys (see ode to my boys post from a few weeks back) and yet I do like a decent romantic movie…Before Christmas I had the happy luck of finding the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice at the library…6 hours of regency drama all neatly packaged in 3 DVDs – oh the irony of that!

In the past few weeks Prue and I have been on a bit of a RomCom-a-thon, and well let’s face good ole Jane Austen invented the genre! We started with Dirty Dancing, moved on to Top Gun, this weekend watched the recent Hollywood version of P&P and last night savoured the modern day version – Bridget Jones…And I have but one question…Why don’t all men look as good as Colin Firth in a suit?! Why? Why? Why?





Just for you Prue – “Oh Mr Darcy….I'm undone!!!”

Leaving home this morning the choice of flipflops for the day seemed like the obvious one! Glorious sunshine was streaming through my window from about 07.30 onwards, there wasn't a hint of that almost omni present Dublin "breeze" and sooo I made the spectacularly difficult choice between green, black or pink! (I went with the pink) and flip-flopped my way to the office! All was bright and sunny as I took a mid afternoon stroll to get lunch, rejoicing in my choice of footwear...Alas it could not last! No sooner had I mentioned the words "I'm thinking of going home early" to Prue then dark clouds formed over Gardiner St and soon there were fat drops of rain falling on my window! You wouldn't mind but by early I meant no later than 18.30! It would appear that the curse of being prepared for summer continues!

In other news, Prue and I took the "Just the 2 of us" tour to TempleBar last Saturday night...we had planned to meet up with some members, interns, a new CEEDer and a newly arrived alumnus from Belgium...Of course we spent some time on the roof garden of Fitzsimons, "socialising" before heading to do some seriously funky moves on the dancefloor....but this isn't so much an update on our evening as a comment on the madness that is TempleBar!

In one night we encountered not one, not two but probably a dozen "hen night" parties...each cleverly themed of course! Some just had the specially printed t-shirts declaring to the world that they were "Kat's hens" etc, others wearing oooriginal costumes like devil horns and novelty drinking straws (oh how cheeky of them!) or even better the combined set of angel wings, sash proclaiming bride to be and of course, the flashing Learner "L" sign....there were the ones that put some effort in and headed out dressed as school girls, cabin crew, hawaiian themed, oh and of course the golfers!*

Dearest friends....if and when I decided to get married...please, for the love of all things alcoholic! Pleeeeeeeeease do not allow me to have a hen night! And by not allow all you have to do is promise not to turn up!

*Rob, just in case you haven't completely regained your sense of sarcasm....this paragraph was meant in the most ironic of senses! :)

I've had an odd day...In order to stay productive I've had to have 3/4 documents open at a time and switch between them...attention span sooooo short! But to do list sooooooo long! Came to an odd realisation in the course of chattage with Prue ;)Read this and was infected by the randomness....it is the only thing that can account for my soundtrack of musical theatre and power ballads today :)

It is raining and a little chilly in Dublin and yet I have that summer feeling!!! Read this and have since asked the author to kindly vacate his living space in MY HEAD! I have been trying to find the time and the words all week to sit and write about just that very topic!


Was home last weekend to catch up with some people I have not seen in a very long timfor varying lengths of time! One that had his bday the next day and who has since got some fantabulous job news :) Hopefully I'll be joining in on those celebrations soon! And another that filled me in on his plans for a nice relaxing summer holiday ;) Some quality time with the muppet on the beach no less!! So that was some of the home connection caught up on...

And the rest? Some really great chats this week have made me realise that even though my term is coming to an end, that is reeeeally ok! I am taking with me some SERIOUS survival skills learned on the absolute emersion crisis management course that is @IE, some amazing memories and best of all I have the people...the ones that I will stay in regular contact with and continue to know the minor details of their every decision, the ones that Ill look forward to catching up with on a regular basis and the ones that will randomly email some day to say that they are coming to visit (having not heard from them in 5 years!) and you know what I'll love them all the same as I have done this year!

I think the video that Aisling and I took in Dublin Airport en route to IPM pretty much sums it up...it was meant to be our roll call at closing plenary but well a combination of my laptop not working and there not being a closing plenary kinda ruined that one! But here it is in all its glory!! <3

Is it a flamingo?! or is it a franky?!, originally uploaded by aineoconnell.

Chattage today was funfunfun! Even if you were the one chatting and I was typing due to some technical difficulties....Glad to hear the Conexion was sooooo great! I wish I had been there too :) This is my version of the glasses photo :) Works everytime...good times, great memories, ridiculous amounts of fun - what more could I need to make me smile?! TQ

They've made it to youtube :( what is more it was then duly posted on facebook with the title

"Support Taoiseach Bertie Ahern for a third term, so Fianna Fail can take the next steps forward"

The phrase next steps has forever been tainted by this election campaign...siiiigh