Laura Lynn Charity Ball

As if the bake sale last week, Wednesday, wasn’t enough, I bought tickets to a formal charity ball held at the Crowne Plaza (about 5 blocks from where I live) here in Blanchardstown, Ireland. The charity ball was in support of the Laura Lynn foundation. They run the first hospice house for terminally ill children, which was opened here in 2011. (In the USA, these are usually run by the Ronald McDonald House or the Shriners Club.)

You can find out more about the Laura Lynn charity, hospice house, and donate here: http://www.sunshinehome.ie/lauralynn-house.html

Tickets to the ball were very reasonable at 50 Euros each (30 Euros for those of us where I work because we were offering some prizes for the raffle) and included a 4 course meal. There was also a fabulous singer, dj, and a raffle the night of.

Thing is that despite telling the guys on my team that they’d get some massive brownie points if they took their girlfriends, they all declined. When I arrived at the Ball (with 3 other lovely ladies) I had to giggle. The place was about 10 beautiful ladies dressed in ball gowns and looking gorgeous – to 1 man per table! Above you can see me, Diana and Sylvia; Below it’s Me, Jacqui and Sylvia.

We had a great evening (Men out there – really, if you wanted to meet women – this is for sure the place to do it – as they all wanted to be Cinderella for the eve!) despite the drought of men – eating, dancing, and laughing at the fact that none of our “yellow” book raffle tickets were drawn. (They had different color tickets that were drawn from all over the crowd. for prizes worth up to 500 euros!)

By the time I got home at 3am, my feet hurt, and I was ready to climb out of the restrictive garments that make us all look so good – and into my PJs, have a cup of tea, and head off to dreamland.

Day trip to Malahide Beach

Back in the beginning of July, as I was walking the Everest Challenge, A, J, and I decided to head to the beach and have a nice afternoon walk.

The weather was overcast, as is typical here in Ireland, and the water was freezing. It didn’t stop us, however, from slipping off our shoes walking on the tidal flats

and then going for a bit of a wade into the salty water of Malahide beach.

Despite sinking quickly once I was out in the water, I did have to laugh when A decided to get up to a bit of mischief…

by splashing J (who, like me, was shocked at how cold the water is!) to help her get used to it. Taking off with a cackle, she promptly sped out of range, so she couldn’t get splashed back herself…

J took it with a fine sense of humor,

and very quickly, we were off to find the “perfect” bit of sand to dig our heels into – and leave our footprints behind.

It’s just a good thing it didn’t mess up our toenails!

On the way back, we passed 3 old ladies sitting on a wall, overlooking the beach. As we paused to brush the sand off our feet and then replace our shoes, they commented on not only what a lovely day it was – but also how well we 3 younger ladies seem to get along. The funny thing was that somehow, I could picture A, J, and me, in 40 years, sitting on the wall – and see a reflection of ourselves in them. Just goes to show – the more things change, the more things stay the same.

Tanks General Gigs

One of the best things about having friends in a band is that there’s always something going on – either in the city, or out of it. I’ve amassed quite the number of photos of Tanks General gigs over the last 6-8 months both of the band itself and others playing on the same night. Here’s a pretty interesting set.

Tanks General – first ever Gig @Fibbers on Ormond Quay- Dec. 2011: