P O D C A S T S

I do love listening to music. But often, I tend to find five songs I really like and have them on repeat for three months solid. Then this makes me frustrated. So! Nowadays when I'm cleaning, working, cooking etc. I tend to pop on a podcast; they're all different, entertaining, educational and funny. I decided to make a list of my favourites to get you introduced to the medium if you're interested. Enjoy!

5. Women Of The Hour with Lena Dunham

about - A miniseries hosted by Lena Dunham in which she and other guests talk friendship, bodies, love and sex, work and ''The Big Picture''. I'm a fan of Girls so, like I did with her book, I thought I would give Lena's podcast a go. I wasn't the biggest fan but it's worth a mention for Emma Stone and June Squibb's advice bits. Emma Stone's voice is the bomb.com. 

standout episode - Love & Sex Bonus Episode: First Love Lost. It's heartbreaking and lovely all at the same time. 

4. Modern Love

about - I can't remember how I came across this one just before Valentine's Day but I really enjoyed it! I do love a bit of love. This is a weekly podcast featuring stories from The New York Times column Modern Love. It features, like Emma Stone's, great voices reading some great stories. 

standout episode - standout episodes in this case; 'One Last Swirl' | Modern Love 2 and 'An Interlude of Clarity' | Modern Love 4. Again, lovely voices and some really well written, reader submitted columns. 

3. Serial

about - I listened to the whole of season one whilst watching Making a Murderer at the same time and half wanted to become a lawyer. Adnan Syed was convicted for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in 1999. He's still in prison but has voiced his innocence since the murder. Sarah Koenig is host and the definition of detective. You'll be hooked! 

standout episode - The whole of season one. All of it. Yet to start season two. 

2. Garance Doré's Pardon My French 

about - Garance Doré is French blogger extraordinaire. I first stumbled across Garance on YouTube and have been following her since. Garance includes a French word of the day related to the theme of the episode. Who doesn't want to parle a lil francais?

standout episode - Finding Balance: Zosia Mamet. Garance speaks to Zosia Mamet (Shoshanna from Girls) about success and how realistic and enjoyable it is to really have it all. This episode takes place in a café so the background noise is weirdly comforting, totally immersive and Zosia is a dote. 

1. #girlboss radio 

about - Sophia Amoruso is the founder and owner of Nasty Gal and author of #GIRLBOSS. In this podcast she speaks to different women about how they went about finding their own success. My favourite part is when she reads out #girlbossmoments sent in by listeners and readers of her books.  

standout episode - all of it. Gals, soak it up. It's good for ya. 

Started The Minimalists yesterday and I already think it's worth a very mini mention. 

Ciara

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March Madness ~ La Sagrada Familia

How is it the 1st of March already? I don't even know. Declan's February visit was the kickoff of what I'm calling March Madness; I have four weeks of visitors in a row. First there was Declan, Eavan and Katie just left, Rose and her cousin Esther are coming this weekend and two of my bestest friends, Nicola and Sarah are here next weekend before I fly home for 10 days for my Easter holidays. I've had to buy a blow up bed. Feelin' 23.

For Declan's penultimate visit we hit up La Sagrada Familia. I would highly recommend it! The outside is so obviously gorgeous but the light from the stained glass windows on the inside was my favourite part of our visit. I also enjoyed my typical trip to the gift shop to pick up a postcard and play with the kaleidoscopes. After the church we went to The Beerket, a craft beer place just opposite my apartment. There we drank some delicious beer, saw a funny license plate and enjoyed some great lightning.

Happy March,

Ciara

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C A R N A V A L

Happy Monday, Happy Lunar New Year and FELIZ CARNAVAL! This past weekend some great, glittery friends and I travelled to Sitges to witness Carnaval in all its glory. I've been to Cádiz for Carnaval whilst on ERASMUS and throughly enjoyed it (you can read all about that here). Since last time I wrote a list of all the reasons why Cádiz was great, I thought I would do the same for Sitges. Ahem:

* G L I T T E R  E V E R Y W H E R E

* fabulous drag queens (see B&W pic with one of my favs)

* singing Queen whilst walking through the metro station

* double decker TRAINS

* baby dog
* Samba bands 

* co-ordinating costumes (especially the ones with families and cute babies)

* Oompa Loompas from Co.Cork 

* dancing/jogging/playing badminton with no ball on the beach

* burgers and crepes 

* being an elf 

On Sunday, I was somehow alive and went out to brunch at The Benedict with Niamh, Eve and Maeve (not all my friend's names rhyme). We went for a wander after to see how Barcelona did Carnaval. It was a lot more family orientated and much less of a party but we didn't mind as work had to be attended the next day. The last two pictures are from the party in El Born, one of my favourite parts of the city.

Hope you all have a lovely week!

Ciara

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January Mood Board ~ Pretty Power

I love visual things. I love photography, videography, style, pretty views, all kinds of patterns, illustrations, ad campaigns, architecture, jewelry, pretty gift wrapping, fashion editorials, art museums, interior design, the way food is presented on a plate, a really well merchandised shop floor, typography, well done web design, table settings, great magazine and book covers, gardens and party decorations. I've been wanting to learn how to deal with images and all these other things digitally so I've decided to teach myself how to use Photoshop. To get good practice, every month or so I'll post a mood board on the month in question.

Et voilá! My first mood board of 2016; January! January is normally my least favourite of the 12 months. More than likely I'm broke from an indulgent Christmas season, I have to wait a whole year for it to be my birthday again and the weather is normally shite.com. But this year I've come to realize that you have a whole year to play with in front of you, there's goals to be accomplished and I've turned a new age which I always view as a new chapter to fill with adventures and other antics. And now that I'm living in Barcelona the weather in January is nothing but blue skies baybay!

I've entitled the board Pretty Power. I don't know why but sometimes I feel guilty for being a girl who likes all of these visually stimulating things, like it's shallow in some way. But I've come to realize that I can like whatever the hell I want and still be taken seriously in anything that I wish to accomplish. So I'm ruling out that guilt and going for it in 2016. 

Here and here are the links to my Tumblr and weheartit profiles. Two websites that I literally spend hours trawling through and where you can find all the original images I used in the mood board. 

Here's to a great January! 

Ciara

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