I stared at the self-service till in the supermarket, and it stared back at me. I braced myself and pressed the start button. Bagels - check. The satisfying beep told me I'd successfully united the barcode and the scanner on first go - result! Bread - check. Surely a record? But I didn't reckon on ...
*Review: I was invited to review Martinhal Cascais, but all opinions are my own* I put my book down on the lounger and turned my face to the sun, pausing for a few seconds to appreciate the moment - to appreciate sitting by a pool in Portugal, with nobody to look after but myself. I thought back to ...
"What's up pet?" I asked my middle child on Friday evening, when she looked a bit sad. She shrugged. "I'm not sure what it is. I think I'm just worrying about lots of things but I don't even know what they are." This isn't uncommon - she's my little worrier. She worries when her glasses are missing, ...
As anyone who works mornings and looks after kids in the afternoon knows, it's a day of two distinct halves. The morning is busy-busy, trying to cram in every last drop before the imaginary school-run klaxon sounds, and tools must be downed. Like the no-nonsense bell in a TV game show, ignoring the unsent email, the uneaten ...
Vanessa Tierney is a mother of two and business-owner who has moved back from the UK to settle in Wexford. She talks about the benefits of ditching the commute and working from home - the premise on which her business is founded. Thank you for taking part in this interview series for Office Mum - so let’s ...
Are you and your friends like me and my friends? We stay in touch on WhatsApp and Facebook. We grab coffee when we can, and we have really, really good nights out when we find a date that suits everyone. But we haven't been away together since our hen parties a very long time ago, and with ...
They came on Saturday afternoon - my almost-last round of edits. This is the time to make final tweaks and find typos. (Typos are so hard to find, but I know they're there, lurking, grinning slyly, hoping to make the final cut.) And for me, the only way to do this is to read it out loud. All ...
"So what did you do for St Patrick's Day?" asked our lovely optician on Monday. "Did you go into the parade?" "No..." said the child. "Did you watch it on TV?" "No, Dad was watching the match, so we didn't see it." I jumped in then, quick to clarify that I'd been at a wedding, so my husband had stayed ...
This time five years ago, when my husband was out one night and there was nothing on TV, I cranked up my ancient laptop and googled "How to start a blog". I'd been thinking about it for a couple of months at that stage, but fuelled by a quiet house and a glass of wine, ...
It's struck me many times over the last 18 months that writing books is a little like having a baby (albeit in a non-human-creating, non-life-altering way). The writing is like the pregnancy (only it feels even longer) and the last round of edits are like the final push of childbirth. The end result is of ...