Monday 29 August 2011

Followers, Fibro and Purple Hued Cocktails


No real bunnies were injured in the taking of this photo.

My weekend was fairly uneventful, because I was sick for most of it. My fibromyalgia hasn't been bothering me much lately, but it has come back this week and seems to want to make up for lost time. Great.

I had a good week though. I am now godmother to my beautiful brother Jack. There's almost twenty three years between us, but as I plan on sticking at 25 for at least a decade the gap will soon narrow.

I got my husband an Xbox for our anniversary, and he's been solving crime in 1940s LA ever since. We did manage to squeeze in a meal at a nice restaurant to celebrate two years of marriage and many cocktails were consumed. My new favourite is an Avation, a mix of gin, maraschino liqueur, lemon and crème de violette. It's a pre-1916 cocktail, which means it comes from my period of history so could conceivably be called research. Unfortunately, it doesn't come from the right continent, as it originated in New York instead of Europe, but there were a lot of Irish people in New York then, right? All I need to do now is link cocktail bars to the spread of smallpox and I can come at my historical research from a whole new angle.

 I also got a new iPhone, which I love. I had an iPhone before, but I lost it in the Big Snow of 2010 (for my North American friends, the 'big snow' was around five inches, and the country ground to a halt. Ireland doesn't usually get snow). It's handy because it means I can check my email on the go and I don't have to be at home to update my Facebook or Google+ status. I can also take pictures for my blog, like the one of my dog at the top of this post.

And hello to all my new followers! I've broken the 150 follower mark, so a contest of some description is called for. I'll try to come up with a suitable prize. And for those of you who want to take part in Rachael Harrie's Platform-Building Campaign there's still time to join in. You can sign up until August 31st.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! :)
Posted by at
ABNA, writing, Ravensborough , , ,

18 comments:

  1. Anonymous29 August 2011 at 14:08

    That sounds like a lovely anniversary dinner, and congrats on your new brother/godson! Also? I looooove cute puppy photos! Your dog is adorable.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous29 August 2011 at 14:24

    The Big Snow was five inches!? I love it! Now I know how Californians felt about my little earthquake last week. Sorry to hear your fibro has been bad, but Happy Anniversary and congratulations on hitting 150! (How'd you do that so quickly?)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Steph Schmidt29 August 2011 at 15:55

    Yuck, hopefully your fibromyalgia calms down and goes on vacation somewhere cold and remote, like Antarctica. There may not have been cocktail bars around then but pubs are bound to have served some variations of cocktails pre-1916.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Claire Lachance29 August 2011 at 15:58

    Hope you feel better soon. And happy anniversary!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hart Johnson29 August 2011 at 17:28

    Urgh! I didn't know you had fibromyalgia--I study pain during the daytime--did you know? At the conference I went to in May there is some really good evidence for exercise that combines mind/body stuff (tai chi/yoga) for centralized pain syndromes--what it does is increase the gaps in the brain between one spot and another so the perception of pain doesn't 'spread' the same way. I think it's worth looking into if you can find an instructor who understands your condition (and therefore doesn't do anything to exacerbate it).

    That puppy is SO CUTE! And congrats on a little brother!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mark29 August 2011 at 17:48

    Wow, cute dog pic:) I like writing and I love Dublin...cool blog:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous29 August 2011 at 17:48

    Happy anniversary! Congrats on a new little brother! What a weekend you had!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Tara Tyler29 August 2011 at 23:52

    grand and happy celebrations all!
    you should link up that pretty cocktail recipe for my blog party tomorrow! yum!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Elliot Grace30 August 2011 at 00:07

    ...an X-Box for an anniversary gift, well done Christine, and congrats to you both ;)

    EL

    ReplyDelete
  10. Myne30 August 2011 at 00:47

    Congrats on your anniversary, and the iphone sounds good too. I'm coming over from the anniversary and I see we both are on shewrites too. Nice to meet you.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Heather30 August 2011 at 01:03

    Congratulations on being the Godmother to your brother! I hope you had a great Anniversary! I hope today is better for you and that the fibro is in check for the day and week. Have fun with the new iphone!


    Heather

    ReplyDelete
  12. Jessica Love30 August 2011 at 01:37

    Happy anniversary!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Alison Miller30 August 2011 at 03:28

    Awww! I love your dog!

    And boo to feeling bad! Hope you have a better week!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Alleged Author30 August 2011 at 03:35

    Cute puppy! Sounds like your anniversary was muy cool (HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!). Hope you feel better soon! *hugs*

    ReplyDelete
  15. Shannon Lawrence30 August 2011 at 05:15

    Happy Anniversary! That drink sounds yummy. And hey, research is research. You could always feature the guy at a tiny bar who invented the drink then moved to New York. ;-p

    ReplyDelete
  16. Christine Murray30 August 2011 at 13:27

    @Crystal: Thank you!
    @JM: Yep! We don't do snow well. The country was nearly locked down in a state of emergency/apocalypse type scenario. Shops ran out of milk, fuel and instant hot chocolate powder. It was lovely though!
    @Steph:Indeed they might! Good idea ;)
    @Claire: Thank you!
    @Hart: Thanks for the advice, that's really interesting. I'll definitely look into that :)
    @Mark & Kristin: Thank you!
    @Tara: They're seriously yummy, my new favourite thing.
    @Elliott: Yep, we've had a tight couple of years so I wanted to get him something nice. It's also his birthday present, so not as flash as it sounds.
    @Myne: Thank you! Lovely to meet you too!
    @Heather: Thank you so much!
    @Jessica, Alison & Alleged: Thank you all so much :)
    @Shannon: I think so to. You guys have convinced me :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. JoAnna773 September 2011 at 15:36

    Hi, I am a new follower, from the writer's campaign. I am in the same group as you - woman's fiction - chick lit 1. I look forward to getting to know you better during the campaign.

    ReplyDelete
  18. NIKE22 August 2019 at 13:59

    Please click this sites play bazaar and good satta kinig this is a good sites and more earn.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)