A look back on my year of 2012!

Hey guys! 

Thankfully, this year was a great year for me. I had so many opportunities
And some many family events that I will never forget!
Yes of coarse there was highs and lows, making new friends, getting back in touch with old friends,
a new year in college, a new house, the loss of some amazing people, 
bad decisions and illnesses. The one good thing about 2012 I will not forget, is I have no regrets. I have made some amazing friends and if I could do 2012 over again I would do it the same. 
Of coarse a year wouldn't be complete with drama and conflict. 
I look forward to 2013 and plan on leaving this in 2012.

Some people make stupid resolutions, like they'll give up alcohol, 
junk food, save money, loose a stone, become a better person.
How do we expect to do this in the instant of 1 minute as the bell strikes midnight.
New years for many is a lonely time, even surrounded by hundreds of people. 
I personally love the idea of a new year, a new start but the history will always be there.
Appreciate the things dear to your heart, life is too short to dwell on mistakes, on the past or regretting something, sadly there is no edit button and we cannot re-do our lives.

A regret is something we wish to erase from our minds, think of mistakes as lessons. We have to make these mistakes to realise the true potential in life. You learn from your mistakes and wont ever let it happen again :) 

I am so grateful for all my family, friends and opportunities I have been fortunate enough to have in 2012. I made a quick collection of pictures from every month, looking back on the year past! :)

Wishing ye all a very very happy a joyful new year!
Auld Lang Syne <3

January 2012 :)
My first ever performance of an Adele song in public! 

Mcdonalds crew night January 2012! 

Febuary 2012!
 Rag week in carlow with a dear friend!

Being children, March 2012 
With an old friend :)

First radio show :) March 2012

I had the opportunity to host a radio show with one of my friends,
it was very stressful and I was a ball of nerves. It went off without a hitch .
Was one of the best opportunities I've ever had in college!

March 2012 
Road trip with my twin and her boyfriend!

March 2012 My first photo shoot :)
I had the chance to be an assistant director on a photo shoot,
even got to be in one of the fabulous shots!

First photo shoot :) 

March 2012 Pr Ball :)
Public relations ball was amazing! 

March 2012 :) 
The three best friends :)

March 2012 Promo of my radio show :)
The day before my radio show, promoting around the college :)

March 2012 Pr ball :)

Dublin May 2012 

Ended up bumping into this fellow on a night out in Dublin.

Was an amazing night :) 

Time with my Grandad :) May 2012
I love my Grandparents so much, This was at my aunts wedding
I got to spend a whole weekend with my whole family, it was amazing .
I will never forget it! 
Golden Moments :) 

 

May 2012 with my family :) 
My beautiful aunts wedding :) 

June 2012, Family reunion :) 
My grandparents were 60 years married, a huge achievement!
I got to see my whole family, from all over the world, something that do not happen too often!
It was amazing!

July 2012, My 19th birthday! :)
Drinks with my best friend. My 19th was one of the best birthdays,
I had all my nearest and dearest friends there :)

Kerry, July 2012 

July 2012 :) 
An amazing chocolate factory in the middle of no where in Kerry!
Ate so much, and had the worlds tastiest hot chocolate!

August 2012 with my friends :)
My friend was turning 21 and it was a great night!

Working on my second photo shoot :) august 2012
I got a change to work on another photo shoot, as an assistant director!
It was a fantastic day, totally unsuspected!

August 2012 :) 
A night out with my best friend :)
Amazing memories from this night in Dublin :)

August 2012 :) 
A random trip around Dublin with my twin and an old friend from primary school!
Recreating child moments!

Come Dine with me, September 2012 
Who needs the tv show when we created our own version, 10 people, 5 couples,  
let the battle commence!

September 2012, New friends :) 
All my new french friends!

September 2012 :) 
A night out with Dan in Carlow, Celebrating getting my own house
with some friends :)

Geek Night :) September 2012 

September 2012, Music Society day :) 
Thankfully in September i had the chance to start up a music society within the college,
 as a singer this was a dream, we then set up a weekly event in a pub in Carlow! It could not have gone better with over 62 new members in one day, the club is booming. 

September :) 2012
My best friend David's 21st :)

Arthur's day in September :)
With a good friend i used to work with! :)

September, First day of music society :) 
The first official night of our music society meetings! 

October 2012, Time with twin :) 

Halloween 2012

Come Dine With me :) October 2012
Night three going great, until i posed for this picture! :P

October 2012, Graduation
A dear friend of my graduating from college.
A Kate Middleton look-a-like ;) 

November 2012, Music Society night :) 
Singing at the music society night!

Movember :) 

Supporting movember in November 2012!

November 2012 :) <3
Having a girls night after the music society with my friend clare :)

India, November 2012 
A trip to india on a night out with my friends! ;)

December 2012 
A girly night out with my housemate :) 

December 2012
Another night out with my housemate :) 
All set for Christmas :) 

December 2012
Its onesie time, my favorite Christmas pressie from a close friend :)

Well one regret I do have is accidentally dying my hair orange!
Not one of my smartest moments!

Happy Happy Happy new years to everyone :)
I hope the resolutions last as long as ye hope :)

Twitter: @iamkatedillon93
Email: Katedillon1993@gmail.com


Happy New Year Days! :)
Kate
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Aussie, New Year, Amazing Hair! @iamkatedillon93

Aussie Miracle Hair Insurance Leave In Hair Conditioner

For men, females and even animals if you wish!

"There's more to life than hair bit it's a good place to start" The Aussie Philosophy

With this in mind, why not start the new year with fabulous hair?!

This leave in conditioner cost me €7, but being the bargain queen i am i picked it up in Tesco Extra while they were having a 3 for €13 sale, Saving me an amazing €8. Thats practically free!!!!!

I was quite hesitant that this would do everything it said on the bottle, "a saviour for weak, distressed hair, protects and detangles" HELLO! That screams my hair!

My hair is knotty, bleached, dyed, out grown, fuzzy, kinky, thick and weak! THIS IS MY SAVIOUR! As said on the bottle :P

So Aussie said : "With a drop of Australian jojoba seed oil, helps detangle and protect, smells lush, is a must for the beach, makes styling easier".

I agree with everything in this statement and thats not too often. The jojoba seed oil leaves my hair smoothed and controlled without it being oily or greasy. It really does detangle my hair and i can control it so much easier, as they said.

Did i mention the smell?

IT SMELLS LUSH! i can not fault the smell, it is devine. When i whip my hair down, shake it all about, all day it smells of this stuff. Its fresh, fruity and clean. 

Sometimes i spray my hair on the second day, even when it is dry just to make my hair feel and smell great.

I have horrible dry ends at the moment, number one because of the bleach and number two i refuse to get a trim (that turns into 5 inchs off) :P

The price? €7. As some people might say, that is expensive for leave in conditioner. It comes with 250ml of product which sounds like very little, But in all reality its tons and tons of product which i plan on using!! :) 

How to use it:

IT COULD NOT BE SIMPLER, if i can do it, you can DO it!

I wash my hair, with shampoo, then my purple shampoo (to combat redness) then condition with my Aussie hair conditioner, click here for a review of that :) 

Then brush through my hair with a wide tooth comb, (saves that brush full of hair ;) ) and then spray my ends with this conditioner. I make sure to not put it in my roots, im sure you can but that could lead to an oily mess.

I seriously recommend this, to everyone. Even men!

One teeny tiny problem i had, was the packaging. For some reason it fell in my shower and went crazy, it snapped the neck in several places and sharp plastic was all over my shower. NOT SO SAFE!
Hopefully everyone isn't as clumsy as me!

Twitter: @iamkatedillon93

Happy Hair Days, 2013 :)

New Year New you?!?

Its Christmas time, instantly we think of food, wine, chocolates and goodies.

But what will we do come January when we make those awful resolutions that only last till the second week in January?

Here's some helpful tips to get you through those Christmas times without gaining a stone!

Step one:

Put down the tin of chocolates, yes its time to treat yourself but think logically will you really love your skin breaking out, your hips growing and having to squeeze into your jeans?

A way I try to avoid gaining that Christmas weight is portion control. Instead of pilling the pounds on, pile on less food, smaller portions lead to a smaller waist

Step 2:

Swap up the tv remote for exercise  Why not go for a walk? Go get some exercise  rather than watching some stupid tv show. I find it really hard to get up and have motivation to get outside, its freezing and most of the time it rains. Once you get going you'll feel ten times better!

Step 3:

Start eating fruit, cranberries, clementines and berries are all in season in the winter so why not take advantage, instead of shoveling in food why not swap it up for fruit?

Even if you want some chocolate have some, but mix it with fruit. Instantly you will feel better about yourself and i guarantee you will feel better!

What kind of resolutions do we all make?

Loose a stone

Get fit

Become a better person

Change how we react

Join the gym

These are all fictional ideas. Instead of wasting money in the gym, why not start small? Go out for small excercise, see how you find it diving into a gym could end up more expensive and time consuming than you first ever taught.

If you start small, it will happen. We cant change over night so why is it once midnight strikes we assume we can change. 

Things take time, so why not slow down and day by day set things to do, start somewhere new, setting these goals lead to disappointment and sadness. Be who you want not what your new year needs you to be.

Happy New Year Days

Kate

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Christmas Gingerbread Men Receipe - So Easy!

Another Christmas blog?

I love gingerbread, once it hits 

December nearly every week i make 

gingerbread, I know its still only the

 second last day of November but i had

 to make some!

I got these cute festive cutters in ikea for about €4 bargain! Icing is also optional, i like to dip mine in melted milk chocolate! :) Yummy!

These gingerbread men can be made with golden syrup or treacle. If ya make it with treacle it becomes very dark and there is a really strong flavour, Do not use this gingerbread to make a gingerbread house. It will fall apart and become extremely messy :P 

The icing receipe uses the raw egg white. But water can be used instead. 

Makes about 18 medium gingerbread men 

I normally use a 20ml tablespoon and 250ml measuring cup for all this recipe.

What you will need:

375g (2 1/2 cups) plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

3 teaspoons ground ginger

140g butter, softened (if its unsalted butter, add 1/4 teaspoon fine table salt with the butter to make it salty!)

130g (1/2 cup, packed) brown sugar

125ml (1/2 cup) golden syrup or treacle

1 large egg, separated into yolk and white 

2 teaspoons mixed spice or ground spice (mixture of cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg)

DO NOT MELT THE BUTTER, IT DOES NOT HELP!!!! 

Using an electric mixer or electric hand-held beaters, i used a whisk! Beat butter and brown sugar together in a large bowl. Mix and mix and mix until its smooth and creamy!

Add golden syrup/treacle and egg yolk  to the butter mixture.

Beat for about 30 seconds until all the ingredients are mixed together well!

Stir or sift flour, bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice and ginger together in a bowl.

Using a spoon, or mixer add the flour slowly to the wet mixture. I used a wooden spoon/spactula and did it by hand!

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 in a fan oven!).

Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Using your hands, bring the dough together into a ball, make sure to kneed it all together to get a big ball!

Cut the dough in half,  put one half in between two sheets of grease proof paper, then roll out the mixture flat. Do this with the second half aswell. Make sure its flat, and pop into freezer for 15 mins, or 30 mins in fridge, this makes the dough nice and firm and extra easy to work with! Shorter cooking time too :P

Once dough is cold and nicely firm, take it out of the fridge or freezer, move it onto kitchen bench or leave on chopping board, and remove top sheet of baking paper. Working quickly, use a gingerbread man cutter or any shaped cutter to cut shapes from the dough.

Transfer dough shapes to the lined baking tray, placing them about 2cm apart. This way they don't stick together :)  

Fill the tray and place in the heated oven.

I usually bake one tray at a time. But if i want to bake more than one tray at a time, you have to add more baking time :) Or just swap the trays around!

You can personalise the gingerbread men or women, by adding hair! I just popped a ball of gingerbread mix into a garlic press an then place them on the gingerbread women! 

Gingerbread and milk! Nom nom nom!

I bake the biscuits for 13 minutes. The longer the baking time, means the crispier they will be. I like them nice and crunchy. Make sure to watch that they do not over cook! The gingerbread gets firmer as it cools on a wire tray! 

I use the excess gingerbread mix to make even more shapes :) Leave the gingerbread on the tray for 5 mins before moving to wire tray to let them set!

Icing

186g (1 1/3 cups) pure icing sugar, sifted

1 large egg white or 20-30ml (1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons) water

Food colouring, is optional

Add all ingredients into one bowl and mix. Then pop into a small plastic zip bag and cut off one corner and use as a piping nossle. Make sure you make the hole small to control how to put the icing on :) 

I just skip this step and use cooking chocolate and dip the gingerbread into the melted chocolate! HEAVEN!

Happy Gingerbread Days

Kate

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