Six lovely things for this fine Sunday morning. 

This would’ve been lovely and alliterative, but I got to five and could find nothing else I was bothered writing about. Alliteration isn’t my number one concern in life, you know. *lie*

Also, for those of you expressing delight at my return to the blogosphere, I love you and wish I could courier over some cake to you right now. But knowing Ireland’s courier service, some lucky Botswana native would receive your very gone-off cake in mid-2013, after fielding 23 phone calls to direct Dave through the African desert.

Getting on with the lovely things…

Lovely

1. Jade the Gorgeous

Here’s me, in the Merrion Penthouse, gabbing about beauty products and life in general with Jade Thompson (@JadeLThompson), winner of Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model. It’s in black and white so as to somewhat disguise my rotten-average-person-ness beside the *official* best looking model in Britain and Ireland. I love my job! Oh, please excuse the ridiculousness of my hair. It was windy out, okay??!

2. Jedward’s Tweets

An odd one, I know. But the things these two lads tweet never fail to bring a smile to my face. They’re 19, and tweet the mental and incoherent ramblings of a drunk toddler. Here’s a couple I retweeted the other day. Hilarious because you know it’s not put-on – they’re just THAT simple.

3. Chanel Rouge Noir

I impulse bought a bottle the other day and have been staring at my fingernails constantly since and making many unnecessary hand gestures in people’s faces. If you’re not feeling very ladylike or very womanly and you need a quick fix that will make you feel like the love-child of Princess Grace and Audrey Hepburn (quite impossible but ya know what I mean), go buy a bottle and get to feeling feminine and a little bit posh.

In the interest of full disclosure: These aren’t *my* nails.

4. Beyonce is preggers

I know this is old news (and I mentioned it in my last post) but if I’m to stand a chance at Godmothership (?) I need to publicise the crap outta this kid. I reckon I’m in with a good shot but if I’m seen to be supporting it when it’s still in the womb, I should definitely get picked over Kelly/Solange/Gwyneth. Right?

5. HOLD THE LINE!!! Love isn’t ALWAYS on time!! (choooon)

À bientôt

Hello there, remember me?

I’m that blogger you once read, the one who kept you mildly entertained all those months ago with my posts about nothing in particular.

Well, don’t get too excited. I’m not exactly BACK, per se. I’m just letting you know why I dropped off the face of the planet and am only clawing my way back now.

As you will know, if you are a TWYL regular, (hey Dad!) I like lists. So what more fitting way to regale you all with my tales of woe and WOAH than with a few lists?

I was…

A happy little blogger
Freelancing (a little)
Living in a lovely apartment…
…with my lovely boyfriend
Spending lots of time online, dossing
Enjoying the blogging community
Not very monied, but okay with that
Inspired daily to post on this here blog

I am now…

A happy little employee…
…at U Magazine! *wihoo*
Tired, constantly
Single
Back living with my parents
Not very monied, but still okay with it
Angry at tax
Rage-filled, more regularly than before
Commuting *pauses to cry a river of tears*
Tired, constantly
Watching a lot of West Wing to relax
Not having time to scratch myself
Tired. Have I mentioned that?

So, if you analyse both lists, you’ll see things sure have changed here on Walton’s mountain Aisling’s blog.

Some other points of note…

I would like to say THANKS A BUNCH to all the people who emailed and tweeted and facebooked and whateveryou’rehavinyourself’d me to say they miss the blog and that they want me to get back to it. It made my sad little heart do a smile.

I’d also like to say to those of you that check every day to see if something new is posted (I know who you are – in the most non-stalkery way possible), thanks for liking TWYL that much :)

And I will finish with this…

I might not be back to daily blogging as I was before, but I’m going to do my best for you, okay?! G’bye kids, until next time.

PS: Beyonce’s kid, boy or girl, is going to be called Aisling. I have it on good authority. Aisling Z. It has a nice ring to it. 

Just before I tell you who did win, here’s a recap of the prizes. HUGE thank you to the wonderful people at Vita Liberata, Bourjois, Rockstar Tan and Shavata Brows for giving me the super duper prizes.

A spray tan in a salon near you from Vita Liberata

A hamper worth €100 from Rockstar Tan’s new Fame range

A selection of goodies from Bourjois’ new So Laque range

An eyebrow shape and thread from Shavata in Harvey Nichols, Dundrum

Now… for the winners!

(I’m using the names you left the comment as – if there’s more than one of your name I’ll specify)

The Vita Liberata Spray Tan goes to…

Roisin Flanagan

The Bourjois nail polish collection goes to…

Stacey

The Rockstar Tan Fame Hamper goes to…

Lady Peach

And the Shavata threading session goes to…

SJ

AND… Keep reading…

Because I LOVE my readers so much, I’ve picked 4 RUNNERS UP who will get goody bags filled with mixed deadly stuff :) They are:

Karin

Jenny Quigley

Deirdre 

Sinead Babs Reilly

CONGRATULATIONS!!

***WINNERS: Mail me your full name and address at thinkwhatyoulikeblog (at) gmail (dot) com – I won’t share any details with anyone but myself & the prize brand PR peeps.***

If you didn’t win, try not to cry. And I wish I could give you all prizes/hugs, because you are all smashing and I value your reading lots. But there can only be… eh, eight winners.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered! :)

And don’t worry… there’ll be more competitions. Soon, even. *ooh*

With such amazing prizes, there have been tonnes of entries, but if you want to enter, today is your last chance! I’m picking the winners at random at 5pm.

Here’s a little funny to keep you reading at lunchtime… Writers or wordy types will get a kick out of this. Enjoy! 

But even though I’m a writer and THE biggest (and probably one of the longest standing – hear me, bandwagon jumpers?) Beyoncé fan ever, I just don’t think there’s a way to describe her performance at Glastonbury or how it made me feel.

For one of the first times ever, there are NO WORDS. 

During it, I couldn’t tweet because that meant tearing my eyes away from the TV. (I wasn’t THERE because they didn’t announce she was headlining until all the tickets were gone – why would I have bothered going otherwise? To see Tinie Tempah? Nah.) At many points, I let out screams, almost had panic attacks (from the overwhelming joy) and I was on the verge of tears for the whole thing.

Now, anyone reading this who’s thinking “Jeessssus what a loser. Get over it.” I fully agree with you. I am a loser. I am on the wrong side of fangirl when it comes to Beyoncé. I did go to her ‘I Am…’ tour twice – once alone because no one would come with me. 

But I don’t care!

*breaks into Crazy in Love dance routine*

Three things before I depart:

1. My life’s mission to meet Beyoncé is 100% renewed since last night

2. Beyoncé or not, I wanna go to Glastonbury next year

3. Zane Lowe? You’re on my list. And not the good one.

 Must thank The Anti Room for recommending this book. I bought it as soon as I read their review and even though I’ve just started it, I love it already and can tell it’s a great book. Here’s a quote from it -

Caitlin Moran on having children: “In many ways, it’s the easy option for a woman. Why? Because, if you have children, at least people won’t keep asking you when you’re going to have children.”

On wardrobe despair: “When a woman says, ‘I have nothing to wear!’, what she really means is, ‘There’s nothing here for who I’m supposed to be today’.”

So yeah, if you’re stuck for a new book for your reading list, check this one out.

OMG. I went to Harvey Nichols the other day for a look around all the counters, and I picked up a tub of Eve Lom Cleanser, THE skincare cult product to see what all the fuss was about. I DISCOVERED what the fuss is about. My god, my skin was glowing and as soft as silk after one use. It’s seriously pricey… €115 quid to be precise, but when something works…

There are no words for the sheer joy Ben & Jerry’s Caramel Chew Chew brings me. Oh, what my waistline doesn’t know won’t hurt it. Maybe.

Whoever find this HILARIOUS typo first gets a kiss off me next time I see them. Except my sister and Fiona McGuirk. They already found it. If I was a fan of the abbreviation LOL, I *might* use it here.

This I dedicate to Laura and Susie, the ULTIMATE car buddies. This is THE driving song, and reminds me of college and fun with the girls. Love ya, Timbaland. Aiiiiiiight.

Don’t forget to check out the AMAZING GIVEAWAY I’m having. See Tuesday’s post for details… :)

Good for a laugh of a Wednesday evening. I’d recommend it but wouldn’t be in a mad rush to see it on DVD or anything.

Anyone who’s seen it will remember two things.

1. The line “Shut the FRONT door” – the title of this post – which is one of the funniest lines in the film.

2. Cameron Diaz’s legs. Amazing. Inspiring. SHINY.

So with that in mind, here’s this week’s…

12 Picture Thursday

Lord, grant me these legs.

Don’t forget to enter the AMAZING giveaway if you haven’t already!! Check out Tuesday’s post for all the details!

Hello there wonderful readers!

It’s competition time!

*does eighties style dance*

*waits for cheering to stop*

Right, so I’ve managed to get some absolutely AWESOME prizes for you… In honour of me really loving each and every person who reads my blog (NOT literally. Ew.) Here’s what they are and how you can enter!!

There’s four prizes, so FOUR people will win! :)

A spray tan in a salon near you from Vita Liberata

I’ve made no secret of the fact that Vita Liberata do the BEST in-salon spray tans there are (in my opinion anyway! and I’ve had my fair share!) No smell, no parabens, just gorgeous colour AND – it’s made in Ireland and therefore, Irish!

A hamper worth €100 from Rockstar Tan’s new Fame range

Evidently, I’m all about celebrating Irish brands, and Rockstar have recently released the first Irish mineral instant tan. The pretty pink packaging looks super cute on bathroom shelves and it’s become a staple in my tan collection already!

A selection of goodies from Bourjois’ new So Laque range

I’m loving these gorgeous summer colours at the mo. That lime green one is never off my fingers. And Kate Middleton The Duchess of Cambridge wore So Laque in Rose Lounge on her wedding day, dontchaknow?!

An eyebrow shape and thread from Shavata in Harvey Nichols, Dundrum

If you love a regular threading session, this is the prize for you. If you’re new to threading, this is where you can jump on the grooming bandwagon! They’ll give you a shape consultation and you’ll leave with enviable brows.

What you gotta do to win

(it really is terribly simple…)

1. Comment on this (or any post mentioning the comp this week) saying something overly complimentary about my blog – gush, if you will (I kid, you don’t have to do that…..ahem….) and saying which prize you’d like the most

2. Subscribe to the blog

by putting your email address into the little box in the right hand side panel

3. Just so ya know, the comp will close next Tuesday at 5pm, and I will reveal the winners on Wednesday, so get your entries in before then! Oh, and the winners will be chosen at random.

Oh, AND, before I go, I must apologise to all the men reading this that don’t use tan or nail polish, or don’t want their eyebrows threaded. I’ll run a man friendly comp soon. Maybe.

PS. Don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already! :)

**Note: There is VERY important competition information at the end of this post. Do read it. Free stuff ahoy!**

Before I launch into this post, Iwant to tell you about a dream I had last night to see if any of you can figure out what it might mean.

I dreamt that I was sitting in my living room at home, watching my fish (I don’t really even have a fish) swim around in circles. He wasn’t swimming in a fishbowl, or even in water. He was swimming in thin air, suspended above a plant pot. Let me illustrate. BADLY.

So this is what the fish was doing. Swimming IN MID AIR. And in circles. He was a grey and blue fish, FYI. So anyway, this little TINY mini tiger – one the size of a gerbil or big hamster maybe – is sitting on the cabinet beside the plant pot, eying up my fish.

The BAM! Before I know it, the tiny cat is diving on the flapping fish, biting bits of scale off and making tiny growling noises.

I panic – my FISH!!! He’s a goner if I don’t stop this madness!!! So I throw my laptop at the cat. It hits him DIRECTLY on the head, but instead of being deterred or hurt, he stops, mid-attack  – my poor fish bleeding out in his clutches – and STARES AT ME, pure evil pouring from his tiny tiger eyes.

His stare is so scary, I take off running and, of course, screaming, into my bedroom, with the mini-feline-thing hot on my heels. I manage to slam my door shut just as he reaches me, saving my life (?!?!?!). Tiny cats now HORRIFY me.

Explain?!

Here are three of my favourite blog posts from the past week or so. Just in case you need something nice to read. I loved these!

First one is from The Antiroom, one of my favourite blogs, written by all women. I read it all the time, and by God you should too. This particular post is about books being replaced by Kindles and e-readers. And one woman’s dream of having a reading room. (Note: the ‘one woman’ I speak of is NOT me, although I share her dream). CLICK ME to read.

Next one is from a newly started blog called This Is Shangri-La that shows bucket loads of promise. I follow its author on twitter, (@zeldasghost) and her post about falling out of love with Facebook is super. CLICK ME to read.

The last one is an awesome post by a friend of mine called Ben who is, by all accounts, a fairweather blogger. He blogs when the mood takes him and isn’t terribly dedicated to it, but he should be, because he sure can write. His posts are super engaging. This particular one about girls you meet in nightclubs is hilarious to boot. CLICK ME to read.

Hope you enjoyed the read! And if you’ve anything to contribute to the crazy fish cat dream, do speak up.

Now for the very important competition information.

Starting tomorrow and running for a week, there will be a fantastic competition to win AWESOME prizes.

Prizes from Harvey Nichols, Bourjois, Vita Liberata and Rockstar Tan, no less. YES. And I swear not to inflict any ridiculously simple multiple choice questions on you. Do enter!

Here are some nice songs to listen to as you ring in the weekend from your desk.

I would call some of them old songs, but my dad wouldn’t, so I shall not refer to them as old for fear of making him feel like an OAP.

Procol Harum – A Whiter Shade of Pale

Thin Lizzy – Still in Love With You

Beautiful South – Song for Whoever

Fleetwood Mac – Dreams

Stevie Nicks – Edge of Seventeen

Enjoy the weekend!

PS. Today is the birthday of one of the most awesome people ever, Alison. I know YOU don’t know her, but I do. So happy bday Ali <3 x

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