Beach cottage Saturday and Meet-a-blogger Sunday

If you have not yet discovered the joy that is The Beach Cottage blogger, you are missing out, especially if you love shabby beach chic with lots and lots of white! Originally from England, she has embraced the Aussie life to the full.

She challenged her readers to complete a Mission this Saturday.

I knew mine would not involve coffee, and I’m STILL managing to avoid chocolate for Lent, so hot chocolate was not an option. However I packed a small picnic snack which included some diet coke for me!

We were leaving our eldest off-spring to Ballycastle for the church youth weekend, and then driving on round the coast to our cottage.

We love the seafront in Ballycastle, and with a newly added boat-themed play ground it was a great place to spend some time on a glorious March morning. 

By the time we considered a snack it was almost lunch time so instead we opted for an early lunch in the harbor cafe.  I had tea and a mini-Ulster fry (bacon, egg, sausage, potato bread and soda bread) …. delicious, but forgot to take a photo! I do have photos of the tea/harbour, and it took several attempts to get the tea cup and the view in the frame!

Before leaving to drive on to the cottage, I called in to a local craft/gift shop, and am delighted to share that the owner has agreed to stock/sell my jewellery from www.janmarydesigns.com  ….. my first product in a “proper” “REAL” shop!

Later in the day, we headed down to Ballintoy, one of our favourite spots.

Today, Sunday, I did one of those things you tell your kids to NEVER DO – met a stranger I met on the internet! However, Jenny is a lovely blogger, with a passion for Northern Ireland, who has visited here with her family many times.

 So her, her husband and her parents met  4 of us (eldest daughter still away) for a lovely Sunday lunch in Tartine in Distillers Arms in Bushmills. The company and conversation were great, and we even compared thyroid/parathyroid scars (her, her mum and I have ALL had neck surgery!)

This was my third experience meeting an American blogger friend, having also met up with Jen and Elizabeth.

This post is quite long enough, so you need to wait just a little bit longer to learn who the 3 winners from the Janmary St Patrick’s Day Blogging Carnival will be.