Just because...I think it's a cool pic!

Party trick!

Apparently I used to amuse my cousins with this 'curtain performance' when they were little!ha ha!

And more...

Such posers!!!

The night of posing begins...

My saturday night was spent in the always wonderful company of my cousins!it was one of those 'let's crash my auntie's house for dinner' nights and it was fun as always!i just 'happened' to have my dad's camera in my bag so after ali decided she was bored after 2 seconds of the movie we were watching we had bit of a photo shoot instead!it all started off quite normal as you can see in the photos above but the next blog will show you how it turned into a living room version of 'america's next top model!'

Happy Birthday Jenna!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNA!!!

This chick is an absolute legend!She was my highlight of my trip up the west coast,it wouldn't have been as much fun without her!She has this amazing ability of being completely cheeky but adding this little smile afterwards and totally getting away with it!I officially adopted her as my little sister and I miss her heaps!Everyday was a laugh with her,even the bad days!

Love ya babe and hope you have an amazing birthday!Wish I could be there to help you celebrate!Someday we shall be reunited - Liverpool or Belfast?!Or maybe we should just go back to Oz!

Amy's on a book!

hey check out this book,it's got my brother's girlfriend on the cover!yeah it actually is her!how funny!

what cool parents!!!

Awww,look!it's my mum and dad!i found this photo the other day,it's when they were first married and the other one was taken last year.love it that they're still happily married after 30 years!my parents are awesome!

Any comments?

I found this today and found it pretty interesting,please leave comments with your opinions of it...



An Atheist Professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty.He asks one of his new students to stand and.....

Prof: So you believe in God?

Student: Absolutely, sir.

Prof: Is God good?

Student: Sure.

Prof: Is God all-powerful?

Student: Yes.

Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill.But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm?

(Student is silent.)

Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?

Student: Yes.

Prof: Is Satan good?

Student: No.

Prof: Where does Satan come from?

Student: From...God...

Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student: Yes.

Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything.Correct?

Student: Yes.

Prof: So who created evil?

(Student does not answer.)

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?

Student: Yes, sir.

Prof: So, who created them?

(Student has no answer.)

Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?

Student: No, sir.

Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?

Student: No, sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, or smelled your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?

Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.

Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student: Yes.

Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol,science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.

Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Prof: Yes.

Student: And is there such a thing as cold?

Prof: Yes.

Student: No sir. There isn't.

(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that.There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?

Student: You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence ofsomething. You can have low light, normal light, bright light,flashing light.... But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't.If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?

Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?

Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but man has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, then yes, of course I do.

Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)

Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even
prove that this process is an on-going endeavour, are you not teaching your own opinion, sir? Are you not a preacher rather than a scientist?

(The class is in uproar)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?

(The class breaks out into laughter)

Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelled it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his faceunfathomable.)

Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.

Student : That is it, sir.... The link between man & God is FAITH.That is all that keeps things moving & alive.

Now guess who the student is........That young man was ALBERT EINSTEIN.......

Footie in the garden.

This afternoon my bro,his girlfriend and I returned to our younger days and played a little football in the back garden. Chris bought a net for him and his friends to mess around with when they go for their 'lads weekend away' and we just had to try it out!When chris and i were younger we used to spend our summer days playing footie in the garden.Today Amy,his girlfriend,joined us and we managed to cause the usual damage - knocking over plants,holes in the grass,breaking garden ornament type things!but we still had fun and haven't revealed all the damage to our parents yet - shush,don't tell!

A little bit of Oz.

I had a little bit of a moment of feeling like I was back in Australia on Thursday night. First of all my cousin Lizzie brought me some Milo from Edinburgh!i was so excited,i haven't had it since I was in Oz and you can't get it here at all.Lizzie had to go to a South African shop in Edinburgh to find it - how good is she?!Milo is like that missing drink when you offer someone tea or coffee here,in Oz it was "tea,coffee or Milo?".It's kind of like hot chocolate but slightly different and the genius of it is that you can drink it hot or cold!Plus it's supposed to have vitamins and minerals in it so you don't feel so bad for drinking so much of it!I'm so glad Lizzie found it as I was seriously considering getting some shipped over from Oz!

Later the same night,Liz and I went to a huge church in Belfast to see Hillsong London. It was such a great night, it's part of what I love about church - the absolutely amazing music that's played now. It's not all old hymns and choruses that people think of when they think of church (although some of the old stuff is pretty cool too). Church is such an exciting place to be nowadays!It gave me some more Oz memories as I visited Hillsong while in Sydney and it was just awesome.

Bye Juls....

Aww,I had to say goodbye to my Juls tonight - sob!I've known her since school so she's seen me in my best and worst times and she's still my friend!She's moving to Edinburgh,she's an Architect and studied in Edinburgh and just loves it and decided to go back and I'm really proud of her for doing it!Plus,it means I've got her and my cousin to go visit now in Ed - love it!Will miss ya juls.

Go Barca!!!

Tonight was the Champions League Final between Barcelona and Arsenal.Now usually I would back the english team but after Arsenal stole 4th spot from Spurs in the Premiership and also because they are our arch rivals,I was totally going for Barcelona!Oh,you've no idea how much I wanted Barca to kick Arsenal's butt!It also helped that I have a Barcelona shirt from when I visited the Nou Camp when I was on holiday in Spain with my friends when I was about 19.

It was a scary first few minutes when Thierry Henry came close a couple of times for Arsenal but then their goalkeeper got sent off and I thought woo-hoo Barca will dominate now!They did but after a dive from an Arsenal player Sol Campbell headed them in front after a free-kick.It looked like Barca were never going to score but finally they did in the 76th minute and then again in the 80th minute! 2 goals in 4 minutes! yee-ha! they won!

I just still wish Spurs had held onto 4th place then we would have been in the Champions League next year.But I'm still happy that Arsenal lost!

Take That on tour!!!

Take That reunited!
amy with Take That in the background
the very gorgeous Jason Orange
the boys after their Beatles medley
when we first saw them!
piano gathering!
mobile phones instead of lighters!
very suave!

I've just got back from seeing Take That in concert and it was just amazing!okay,i know it's probably sad to admit I was a Take That fan,but i was,so there!i didn't get to see them in concert 'back in the day!' so I was thrilled to see them tonight!My absolutely wonderful little bro bought me the ticket for Christmas and I went along with his girlfriend,who is also a huge fan!

The night started off great as Beverley Knight was the support act,I didn't even know that she was going to be performing, I think she's brill so I was excited to see her.She has just got such an amazing voice!After a great performance from her we didn't have to wait too long before the boys came out - and the screaming started!I will admit that both amy and I got a wee bit emotional - ha ha!we were discussing afterwards that it was honestly like we were transported back to our early teens when we would have given anything to have seen them in concert,we were living our teenage dreams!

The show was just amazing,it was so well put together and pure entertainment.They played all their classics and we sang and danced and just had such a good night!They even walked through the crowd but unfortunately amy and i weren't in a section that was near to them.we did have amazing seats though and i attempted to take a few pics,they turned out a bit blurry as i had to use nightvision without a tripod but i think you can still tell it's them!

Poor gary barlow still can't dance but it was entertaining watching him try - bless him!wee mark owen is still as cute as ever,both howard and jason had the amazing bodies on show and their dance moves were great!robbie williams even made an appearance in the form of a hologram - ha ha!there was a show of fire for 'relight my fire' where beverley knight took lulu's role,then there was a rain show for 'back for good' where the boys got very wet and some of the crowd too!

During 'babe' instead of everyone waving their lighters,we caught up with the times and used our mobile phone lights instead - it worked really well!They finished with 'never forget' and it was just so good,the crowd got totally into it and it was a perfect end to a brilliant gig!

I really could talk about it all night,amy and I were as high as kites by the time it had finished!

I'm now proud to say that I've seen Take That in concert!!!woo hoo!!!

Whisked off to Ayr!

Not content with staying in one place for too long,i was whisked off to Scotland yesterday for the day with my auntie and my cousins and a bunch of women/gals i'd never met before in my life!we headed off early to catch the boat over to Stranraer and then got a coach to Ayr.It was basically a shopping day,even though i don't really have any money i still managed to shop - ha ha!To be honest I was more entertained by my cousins and their friends!It was an experience spending the day with 18 and 19 year olds!I hadn't met most of them before so there was that inital 'gotta suss this chick out' kinda thing going on,but by the end of the day they were giving me heaps - bad influence from my cousins!

The pics are of my cousins and their friends,i didn't actually take any of Ayr itself as to be honest it just looks like any other town.It was a long day but a good one,thanks for all the fun gals!

PS - how white am I now?!?!

Which one is Pob?!

Does anyone remember Pob?I might be showing my age here but he was from a kids show when I was wee and he used to write the alphabet with a magic pen!anyone know what i'm talking about?!

anyway,can you tell which one he is?!?

Easyrider friends

craig,kev and phill.phill is from bradford and he just cracked me up!he has a degree in marine biology (i think!) and he just LOVES his animals!i swear he's david attenborough the 2nd!it was like having our own personal tour guide when we snorkelled the Ningaloo Reef or came across ANY type of animal.i was very impressed by all his knowledge and his obvious passion for wildlife.I got to meet up with him again in Melbourne where we had a great weekend (see blog on melbourne)
christian,me,paula and philip
jenna,gen and kev
philip and christian - the swedes!cool guys,even if they did keep stealing my seat on the bus!they had that ability to switch from swedish to english in a second so you were never quite sure what they were saying around you - sneaky!
me,ashley and paula.ashley was from canada and had such a great sense of humour which came out more and more as the trip went on.it was great as i got to meet up with her again in Brisbane and hang out some more,a really easy person to get on with.
gen and kev,couple from london.again such nice people!such an easy couple to be around and very entertaining!
paula and craig from liverpool.they were travelling along with jenna and the 3 of them together just cracked me up - very funny!just lovely people,totally glad i got to spend time with them.
jenna from liverpool - one of the coolest chick's i met on my travels!she was just awesome,always made me laugh then commented on how much i smiled,but it was because she was around making me smile!she put up with me taking heaps of photos of her and looked after me when i was sick.i was able to stay in contact with her a lot while i moved around oz,even calling her for company when I used to get lost!she became like a little sis to me.love her to pieces!


I thought I would dedicate a blog to some of the guys i met on the easyrider tour as we bonded very quickly - we were together 24/7!they were just the coolest gang to be with and i feel very blessed to have met them all.

More Melbourne pics...

melbourne by night
Koala and her baby - how cute!saw these guys during our road trip.
phill bonding with a koala statue!
my other housemate - Miss Kitty
the crew i lived with in Melbourne
Phill and I noticed this sign at Flinder's Street Train Station in Melbourne - 'irishness' is everywhere!
reunited!me,adrian and stephen.
my road trip partners - stephen and jenny
the travellers,the car,the view - how could it get any better?!
watching the sunset over the Great Ocean Road
Damien - our driver and most generous guy!

Four seasons in one day - in Melbourne

Melbourne - I loved it!I was fully blessed in Melbourne as I had practically run out of money but I managed to have the best time, most of it through such generosity from people I met.First of all I had a free place to stay as a friend,who's australian but I met in Ireland,arranged for me to stay at her brothers' and friends house,so i slept on their living room floor.it was great to see her again as she'd left ireland about 2 years ago.i spent time with her and then got to know melbourne city a bit better by just wandering around.also my friend phill who i'd met on the easyrider tour happened to be in melbourne at same time as me,staying with friends in st.kilda so i got to hang out with them one day,going to healesville animal sanctuary (phill loves his animals and so it was like having my own personal tour guide - he knows so much!) and then we went and found ramsay street and larked around there for a while,swinging off lamp-posts and everything - the poor people in that street must put up with so much from us tourists!the following day phill and i hit melbourne in style,i don't think i've ever walked so much in my life!we did everything we could fit into one day,from cake in aclan street,walking st kilda pier,the markets,melbourne museum,imax theatre,visiting rod laver arena,the MCG,walking along Yarra River,the casino,watching the 'pigeon fryers' and finally having a race on plastic horses in the games arcade!it was an action packed day and a most enjoyable one!

coincidentally another friend of mine,who i hadn't seen in nearly 2 years as him and his girlfriend moved to england,emailed me to say that he was in melbourne,and so was i!i also discovered that he'd been in touch with another friend of ours,who was australian but who we'd met in ireland (there are quite a few aussies who come to ireland!), who lives in melbourne.so,one evening,in a pub in fitzroy,i was with these 2 guys again,the last time we'd all been together was in a pub in bangor (my home town) when i said my final goodbyes to them both as they were both leaving in the same week!it was a tad surreal to be reunited in melbourne with no planning whatsoever!not only did i have a great night with them,i was also introduced to the couple who stephen and jenny were staying with and the guy,damien,was the most generous guy ever.he was horrified to hear that i wasn't going to get to see the Great Ocean Road as I'd run out of money,so much so that he decided he was going to take a day off work to drive me,stephen and jenny down it and go see all the sights along the way eg.the twelves apostles,london bridge,koala santuary,port campbell etc. as much as i protested that i couldn't let him do that,especially as he'd only known me for a couple of hours,he wouldn't take no for an answer and so it was arranged for the day before i left melbourne to fly back to perth.i was even more overjoyed when they rocked up at my door early in the morning in a vintage kingswood car which he'd done up and it just looked amazing!i love roadtrips,so with the cool car,cool music,cool people and oh the amazing scenery - i was in my element!we spent over 15 hours doing our road trip and i just loved it all!it was definitely the best day i could've ended my first period of travelling on.one of my favourite days in oz!sunset over the great ocean road view was a memory.ahhh,i wish i was there right now.

Sad about Spurs.

I'm destroyed!Again comes the trauma of being a football (soccer) supporter. So,today was the last day of the season and it was a HUGE one for Spurs,basically for them to finish in 4th spot and qualify for the Champions League they had to win,or Arsenal had to lose,or they both had to draw...all of these possibilities occurred throughout the day as scores changed,leads changed and heartbeats became faster.There were early goals,equalizers,penalities saved,close chances...but alas,the final score was West Ham 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1 and Arsenal 4 Wigan 2 - so we missed out and I admit I cried and honestly thought I might throw up at one stage!We have qualified for the UEFA cup which at the start of the season we would have been more than happy with but to have been in 4th spot for so long and to have that opportunity to finish above our main rivals,Arsenal,would have just been glorious!

It didn't help that most of the team had got food poisoning and so were still pretty sick today during the match.There are actually police investigations going on regarding the food poisoning!I bet it was one of the Arsenal players,Sol Campbell maybe who deserted us for our rival team a few years ago!hmmm,suspicious I tell you!

The only other downfall would have been if we had managed to clinch 4th spot and then Arsenal went and won the Champions League final which is played in a couple of weeks,as then they would have taken our spot away from us anyway - oh the highs and lows and confusions of football!But today I am sad :-(

Brisbane - it rained!

Next I travelled a weird route and went back on myself to Brisbane,having flown there from Sydney.actually the night i arrived in Brisbane I ended up sleeping in the living room in a couple's flat that i had never met before in my life!she was the sister of a girl i worked with for the huge amount of time i was in the cheese factory!so that was a bit random but very nice of them!i then moved onto the hostel the following day and it was weird as there were hardly any people in it and i even spent a night in the dorm by myself!actually there didn't seem to be that many people about generally in Brisbane while i was there.i think the bad weather had a lot to do with it,my trip to Byron Bay was even cancelled because of it!i spent a lot of time cruising about the town and trying to find things to do that didn't cost any money.i even ended up going to a Kylie Minogue exhibition - i loved her when i was little!and wow,she's so little!had her tour costumes on plastic models and she's just tiny!

It was great as just as I was starting to feel a tad lonely i walked into the YHA shop and there sitting at one of the computer terminals was Gen and Kev,the couple from london i'd met on the easyrider bus!hurrah!so i got to spend a day with them and we did some touristy things like go up Mount K'ootha to see the view over the city,it was a bit cloudy but it was still a great view.Gen and Kev are in a photo above.

The city did unusually have a beach in it which I would've loved to have hung out at but it rained!apart from the day i took the pic of course,think that was my first day and thought - "ooh,i'll have plenty chances to come back here and sunbake" - nah!although it was so great that the day i set off up the sunshine coast to Noosa,it was a sunny day and I truly appreciated it!

I would like to see Brisbane again when the weather's better and I have more money with me to see more things.

Surreal Sydney

Well I don't know anyone called May to do a 'May in May' entry so I'm returning to Oz once more!Now I'm in Sydney!Have to put up the obligatory shots of the opera house and harbour bridge of course.

My dad flew with me to Sydney so I got to spend a couple of days there with him before he flew back home.We did all the touristy things like the harbour cruise,visited the opera house,went round the botanic gardens,did a city tour,went to paddy's markets (i thought it would be irish?!) and I just lapped up the fact my dad was taking me out to dinner at night so i got some proper food!it was great to see him again and sad to see him go.i was lucky enough to have a place to stay in sydney,lesley,a girl from my home town who has been living in sydney for 8 years and who i had actually only met once before,let me stay in her house for just over a week.i slept in her kitchen!i was just loving the fact i didn't have to pay any rent!she was great and took me to some 'sights' like the 'home and away' beach!ha ha!To experience Bondi Beach life we had lunch at the Bondi surf club and watched the surfers.i also got to meet up with my friend craig from busso who very kindly took me to the zoo and showed me about Manly.I also spent a day going up around the Blue Mountains and little towns nearby with some randoms on a tour - always enjoyable being with people from different countries and guessing their accents!

I was a bit daunted when i first got to Syndey because it was the first big city i had been to on my travels and it was BIG!i also kept getting lost which wasn't very comforting!i felt a bit more settled when i got to spend a day in Manly and was near the beach and it was smaller and my heart rate slowed a bit.I even ended up getting offered a job in Sydney as one of those people who hassle you on the streets to sign up to donate money to charities each month,but sydney was so expensive that there would be no way i could've survived.plus i hate hassling people!

Sydney was slightly surreal to me,one of those places that you always think of when australia is mentioned with the icon of sydney opera house.you see it so much on tv but as much as i did like sydney,i think there are much cooler places to visit and appreciate.it stressed me out at times because it was so big and busy and it felt a bit impersonal,think i'm more of a chilled city type!