Clear Out!

So today I didn’t leave the house… I spent the day organising my room…and watching Catfish episodes on YouTube too.

After living in Shanghai last year I realised how unnecessary a lot of material things are. Coming from Ireland, I was allowed to bring only one bag weighing 23kg to Shanghai. My American friends were allowed double this! Unfair much?

I did very well moving over but at the end of my trip I was amazed with how many extra things I had acquired. Generally, many of these new things were gifts that I had picked up for other people. I actually bought way too many gifts by the end of my trip. As I was traveling to Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore at the end of my trip it was a nuisance carrying full bags.

Currently, I don’t know where I will be based for the rest of the year. With this in mind, I wanted to slime line my wardrobes.

My room at present has different bundles laying beside my wall. Let me explain the method to my madness as follows:

1. The really good stuff. Brand new with labels still attached. This bundle will be offered to family members for free/sold online. I use http://www.adverts.ie in Ireland to sell unwanted goods. I wish I had known about it longer! I actually put advertisements up already and three of my lots have sold 🙂
2. Good stuff – mainly clothes but other bits and pieces too. These I will donate to a charity shop.
3. Clothes that I don’t think anyone will want. There is actually a recycling bin at the back of my house for these clothes and they somehow salvage good clothes/turn any fabric into scrap fabric that can be used in developing countries. I have seen some places actually offering to buy old clothes by weight too but these guys then sell your clothes for a higher price to the charities so I avoid them. (Maybe someone here has more thoughts or information on these people who buy old clothes?)
4. Odds and ends. This Christmas I made Christmas cards and I really enjoyed it. This bundle is little items I think I can reuse to create cards/small items.
5. Retired items. I have a large plastic container I am going to fill for the attic with things I no longer use but I just can’t say goodbye to just yet. I have a lot of cds…but no cd player. They are taking up unnecessary space but I just don’t trust technology enough yet to get rid of them. Plus…some are signed! 🙂
6. Recycle bundle. For all those random receipts and bits of paper that turn up during a clear out.
7. General rubbish bag.

Exhausted!

Love,

Nicola

Goodbye Country!

Hello,

I am back from my jaunts in the country. I had a rather splendid stay in Durrow, Co. Laois. Parents of my friends recently retired to a grand house out there and kindly allowed for me to stay over.  I was not prepared for the Downton Abbeyness of the place! My ensuite had a freestanding bath (I was super excited about this!).

Although short, it was nice to breakaway to the country for a while. Their neighbours rescue horses so they were looking in at us. My friends have two hens, a rabbit and there were five dogs currently staying in the house.

We popped down to the village today and had lunch in “Bowes”. I had a delicious (why do we always use this verb for describing food?) quiche followed by a chocolate and caramel tart….mmmmm caramel. If you ever find yourself in Durrow, I would highly recommend the restaurant.

I will leave you with a festive pic of my friend Sarah and I at the Christmas tree accompanied by Rua and Luna the dogs.

More exploring to come!

Love,

Nicola

Why hello there!

I am sure I am being very original starting a blog on January 1st but hey we all gotta start somewhere!

The last few years I have travelled a lot. To date, I have been to 27 countries. My last year was spent working in Shanghai so I was fortunate to be able to travel within Asia for the first time. I really do regret not documenting my time abroad to date as I fear forgetting those little memories that make the trips so special.

I am currently home in Ireland. My plan was to move to Canada this year as I have a working holiday visa but I am going to see what happens in the next few weeks. There are plenty of travels ahead of me…tomorrow I travel to Laois (unfortunately not Laos…but Laois) to stay with friends in Durrow. Hopefully I will have some new adventures in the bogland there!

Stay tuned to find out more about my adventures!

Love,

Nicola