Its International Day of the Girl Child, it’s the sixth year of the UN led day to recognize the difficulties that millions of girls around the world and to try to galvanise the world to take action to empower girls to reach their full potential.

“The day aims to highlight and address the needs and challenges girls face, while promoting girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights”

SOURCE:uN.ORG

I care deeply about the human rights of girls around the world. I care about the human rights of girls in Ireland and of my girls. I have three  girls and a boy. I have the same wishes for all of my children. It is a lengthy wish list and it’s almost identical for each of them.  Continue reading →

My smallest child is always with me. From day one.  I used to carry her everywhere, at first, she was so tiny I could just scoop her up on one hand and bring her with me wherever I had to be. Then into buggies and slings or on my hip or her small hand in my hand. Things were slightly different in her first years than with her siblings. I haven’t been back to work since she was born and even though she is a fourth child and life is busy, her early years have been full of living slowly.

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I go through stages of things I am interested in. At the start of the year I was gung-ho into cooking all the meals, meal planning,  cooking all the days, making 700 meals a week.  I got bored quickly and then moved unsuccessfully onto break making. That didn’t work out. Then came cakes.

I mastered making a cheesecake. I made about 24 in one month. I don’t eat cheesecake. I realised it had to stop when I saw the light going out in my kids and the husbands eyes when the word  cheesecake was mentioned.  Continue reading →

A while back myself and the seven-year old had to make a last-minute dash to the GP surgery on a Monday night. A sudden onset of something that the pharmacist said needed a GP. We got to the surgery a couple of hours after it had closed but our doctor works late and I knew he would see us.

It was after 8pm on a dark wet night. One too bright florescent light was glaring  and the usual noise of the waiting room was missing.  No radio, no chat just complete silence. It was just the two of us and two other people waiting. No phones beeping. Total quiet.  Continue reading →

She always carried me. When I was a baby, she carried me. She would sit me on the back step or the front step so I could watch the world go by. She brought me to the library and got me my own library card when I was a toddler and carried my books home. She carried me on the back of her bike all over the city. When I couldn’t walk the last few steps crossing the field in front of her house, even though she would be tired too, she would pick me up and carry me the rest of the way.  Continue reading →

I didn’t really make any new years resolutions this year but I did decide I was going to stop spending ridiculous amounts of money on eating out/ takeaways and we were all going to eat better and I was finally going to get a grip on domesticity.

I dug out my slow cooker ( bought in 2011 and seal taken off plug in 2017), I reset my online shopping password and I bought all the vegetables and all the meat and I cooked and cooked and cooked. Litres of soup, decent lunches,  proper dinners  – every. single. day. Jesus its time-consuming, the eating well isn’t it? Continue reading →

Dublin Herbalists are an Irish skincare brand, who since launching three years ago, have now grown their  100% natural skincare collection to over 20 products and oh what lovely products they are.

Claire Gardiner is the creator and maker at Dublin Herbalists.  Claire is a qualified herbalist who has a deep understanding of the medicinal and therapeutic value of plants and used this knowledge to develop a moisturiser wholly from natural products in her kitchen at home. That moisturiser proved so popular with her friends and family that Dublin Herbalists was born. Continue reading →