This page is a cocoon for all the “pour my heart out” stories about my family, the rants I have about various topics, the love affair I have with my American & Irish roots, and the open sharing of my faith. But first is…
ABC of YDP: Important info to read before casting aspersions on this blog!
AMERICA + IRELAND
American Women’s Club of Dublin: Friends and Philanthropy
The Climb of a Lifetime: Croagh Patrick the Holy Mountain in Ireland
Happy 4th of July: You don’t have to be in America to have “Red, White and Blue” celebrations!
Happy St. Paddy’s (not Patty) Day: Make sure you don’t make the mistake!
I’m Not the Only YDP: Lovin’ all the people who embrace their Irish+ American ancestry
Ireland I’m Missing You: Ireland in the Euro 16 has gotten me homesick!
My Muse: I see Ireland everywhere
Get Behind the Green: Irish Rugby
St. Patrick’s Day and the Greening of the Globe: #proudtobeirish
Tail Between the Legs: The U.S.A. loses big
Thanksgiving: A very American holiday tradition with many life lessons to learn from it.
Wife Carrying Competition: Hubby and I represented Ireland proudly!
FAITH
Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down!: When Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday meet
Dad, Divine Mercy and the Missing Strap: A day of many meanings…..
Forgive Me Father For I Have Sinned: My own take on the confessional and the importance of TRUTH!
Happy Good Friday: Holier Than Thou Cookies
Holy Mary Mother of God: Snapchat is down!
Hunger: Being fed
Grateful: Why Monday’s aren’t so bad
A Fishy Story: My first confession
#RAK: Random Acts of Kindness
#LOVEfest: A cuddly contest
LOVE wins! Contest results
The LOVE Enthusiast: I am an expert at one thing and this is it!
Meatsuit: NOT a foodie post but another way to look at FAITH
What Christmas Means to Me: Faith, Family and Food
FAMILY
52: Another year to be grateful to be on this earth. And to celebrate I’ve created a list of my fav quotes, fifty two of them! Yep one for each week of the year.
9/11 and the Fireman Effect: My dad, may he R.I.P
A Different Sort of Veteran’s Day: With all the hoopla over the U.S Presidential Elections, it’s important to remember one group of Americans who need our support more than ever!
A Moment of Silence: An ode to a mother gone missing
Brothers’ Day: The Story of Why Our Family Renamed Mother’s Day
“The Dog Ate the Pot” Brownies: Strange things you hear when your mom is a drug dealer
The Emigrants: Our move to London
Famous Lasting Words: Be careful what you say, your words might not be forgotten
Flying Mustard Chicken: I just can’t be mellow with yellow
Forgiveness Cake and the Kindness of Strangers: What happened the day I made a birthday cake for my missing mother and shared it with people possibly in her circumstances.
Four Legged Gratitude: #30daysofgratitude day 21 sharing my love for Jack the Soul Dog on the 2nd anniversary of his passing.
The Graduate: On the day of my daughter’s graduation, a bit of reflection of my own graduation as a mature university student.
Happy Birthday Dad! On the occasion of his 79th birthday I visited a special firefighter location in Paris
Happy Birthday With Triple H: Spending my daughter’s 34th birthday with her and my granddaughters.
Happy Father’s Day: Whether or not my dad is here on this earth, I am going to be grateful to have such an amazing father!
Healing, Happy Birthday: How my daughter’s birthday makes me realize the miracle of being a mommy
Jagged Little Pills: My story of depression and how I handled it
Milk Duds Sunny Side Up: My Grandpa and me
Mothering Sunday: In this part of the world Mother’s Day is celebrated earlier in the calendar year. Whenever it is celebrated it is indeed a special day. Whether you still have your mom or not, this is a good read!
My Cheerleader: My hubby’s birthday is a great time to let him know how much I appreciate him!
Outlived: On my dad’s birthday reflecting on how I have outlived him and my mom
Precious Birthday Cookies: Celebrating my son’s birthday while miles apart with very special treats
Recipe” #1: Spaghetti Sticks and Mayonnaise: What a starving five year old makes for dinner
Real Heroes: My uniform wearing family
Rich Man, Poor Man: Why money does not define me
Soul Dog: A year after Jack’s passing, we still marvel at his soulfulness
Special Delivery From Stella: A heartfelt letter from beyond
Spirit Animal: My Furbaby Stella crosses to the Rainbow Bridge
Stella the Sneaky Sweets Eater: Because wedding cake tastes better than dog food!
Stiff Peak vs Stiff Arm: How my Hubby is a saint for waiting for me
Triskaidekaphobia + 51 is the new 21!: My birthday and more
Two Become One: Our 9th anniversary spent in Africa
Until We Meet Again: Saying Goodbye to a Family Friend
What I Believe at 53: For this year’s birthday I took a page our of Oprah Winfrey’s book!
When Your Heart Lives Outside Your Body: What happens when you become a mom, and how I deal with having a son in the military when he’s deployed
Wife Carrying Competition: We made it across the “Finnish Line”
HOLLYWOOD
And the Academy Award Goes to: My take on the Oscar Nominated Films
Butterlicious: What do Beyonce and I have in common?
Chuck it in Stew: The time Alec Baldwin and I almost had a face off at the treadmills
Cuppa Critics: Hubby and I give our take on the nominated films this year
Cuppa Critics: Venice Film Festival
News Flash Hot Goss: My time with Tom Cruise
Film Feastival: Gonna gorge on movies!
KFC and Getting Noticed: From Cattle Call to the set!
Peanut Butter in the Pocket: And the best thing about it isn’t acting in the Jif commercial
Raisin Girl Oatmeal Cookies: Yes that is me on the Sunmaid Raisin Box
Screen Actor’s Guild Awards: I’m proud to be a card carrying member
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon Wrapped Dates: Guess how many degrees I am from him?
MARTY IN THE MORNING
Mancrush in the Morning: My love affair with the nicest man I’ve never met
That’s the Way the Cookie (hopefully won’t) Crumble: The Post Office better get Marty his mustaches!
My Funny Valentine Marty Whelan!
MIXED BAG
Bucket List: Monet’s Garden the impetus for this blog
Chefanie and Next of (pump)Kin: A foodie family affair
Empathetic Badass: I am a sensitive person and I’ve stopped apologizing for it! I EMBRACE my empathy!
How I Quit Smoking in One Day: If you’re a smoker and want to quit, this is a must read. If you’re not a smoker, this is a must read to make sure you never light up!
How to be a Success: The acronym HAPPY and some yummy cookies!
International Women’s Day and the NWED: Celebrating women with proper girl power!
In the Name of LOVE for MLK: Honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
Monday Mayhem: Rollercoasters vs Merry-go-rounds and a tasty lime treat!
My Two Bibles: One for the kitchen and one for eternity
Practically Perfect YDP Weekend: A dog in a pub?
Spooky Saturday Night: Halloween, a birthday, and a friend’s visit!
Storage Wars: My ten year battle with maintaining a storage unit filled to the brim, but what’s inside might surprise you!
Too Old: Can we be “too OLD” for things? I posed this question to my Snapchat commUNITY and got some great responses!
Tuesday Treat Biscuiteers: Gourmet Gorgeous Cookie Decorating
RANTS
This Just In, Beauty Secret Revealed: Why you should say No to Bo (tox)
RESTAURANTS & HOTELS
Eataly in Italy: A Two week trip to Italy started at the fab Badia Coltibuono
Heart Swell for Guarastelle: A gem of a place in Tuscany, Italy
SOCIAL MEDIA AND BLOGGING
A Most Grateful Challenge 2017: For 30 days during the month of November folks on social media joined me in sharing our gratitude. While everyone was a winner, one lucky person walked away with a gorgeous gift!
A November to Remember: For the month that is in it, I’m sharing some gratitude. Five Fab Bloggers’ posts that have blown my mind and touched my heart!
A Snapchat Love Story: The romance of the century! Snapchat’s stuffed mascot #snappy and his girl Rose Kitty
Blame it on Napolean Dynamite: Why I am not on Facebook
Blogging: Nearing the one year anniversary and sharing a blogger’s interview
Blue Sky Tag- 11 Questions: A fun bloggers game
Circle of Friends: Cloggers Bloggers Summer Event
Happy One Year Birthday: So proud to say I’ve been blogging for one whole year!
Happy Third Blog Birthday: While I didn’t do a separate post just for the second birthday of YDP (as it was also a WCW) I did share my thoughts about #3!
Head Banging Tiramisu: My first week on Snapchat was dangerous!
How Snapchat Saved My Life: I survived the first week’s near death and six months later have lived to tell all about it!
Guest Blogger Month and Debrief: What a most amazing group effort! 33 Bloggers shared their LOVE stories during February, the month of love. Check out this post for links to all the authors stories and a list of the musical selections I used to introduce their posts on my Snapchat channel.
Guest Blogger Month II Debrief: Another year and another 32 folks bravely shared their LOVE stories during the month of LOVE! Check out this post for links to all the authors and the musical selections I used for their intros.
L-O-V-logger: #30daysofgratitude appreciation for some awesome You Tubers!
Positive Moments and a Past Post: Reflecting on some recent blessings and a post from my very first blog from “back in the day” when I was a student at Ballymaloe Cookery School
Snapchat Matters: While people are freaking out over Instagram’s copy cat of the Snapchat app, I still think that Snaps are still important!
Snapchetiquette : Manners, tips and decorum for those using Snapchat
Sunday Spotlight Snap Sista: What is that? It’s a weekly series dedicated to one person out there in SnapLand who gets some LOVE and we get to learn more about them! Read about the 1st nine honorees.
Sunday Spotlight Snap Sista Recap: Read about the 2nd ten honorees of this weekly series
#tellthetruththursday: What’s all the fuss with this weekly Snapchat series where folks reveal a little nugget of truth? Click on the link to find out!
T.M.I.: In this case it isn’t”Too Much Information” rather “Tuesday My Instagrammers” who are getting some love during the #30daysofgratitude Snapchallenge!
TNT Blowing Up Social Media: #30daysofgratitude appreciation for ten top Twitter users
There’s a First for Everything, IBA 16: My first time at a blogging conference which took place in Dublin April 2016
Winning Weekend: The Dream It, Do It Event and Ballymaloe Lit Fest
TRAVEL
Africa: I shared our trip to Kenya, Africa in a blog series called “Tripidation” because it was a trip I took with trepidation. I broke it up into six posts each using one word as inspiration.
Crazy for Canada: Montreal and Quebec City have stolen my heart!
Dreaming of D.C.: My all time fav city and a reflection of 6 most spine tingling minutes of my life, courtesy of Maya Angelou
Havana a Ball: A fascinating trip to Havana Cuba, where did have a ball!
Ice, Ice, Iceland Baby: A bucket list trip that is worthy of another visit!
I Think I Can Cope With Copenhagen: Things come in twos!
My Bite of the Big Apple: New York City has a piece of my soul as I used to live there, but it is always fun to go back as a tourist!
My Heart is Melting for Malta: Who knew Malta was so awesome? Not me until our trip there!
O Thee, A Writers Life We Shall See: Four places, four literary giants! Bath (Jane Austen), London (Charles Dickens), Stratford Upon Avon (Shakespeare), Wales (Dylan Thomas).
Recipe: Penne For Your Thoughts: A trip to Tuscany wouldn’t be complete without a private pasta making lesson in the home of the amazing Wilma
Sweden’s Smorgasbord of Life: A most amazing trip to Stockholm!
The French Connection: Everything you need to know about our trip to the city of LOVE!
YDP’s “Best of” Short List: Dublin
YDP’s “Best of” Short List: Los Angeles
YDP’s “Best of” Short List: London
