Thursday 12th April, in spite of the fact that our timing wasn’t quite what we had planned it being was great!  We got down to my parents house in Newry around 12.30pm, and, it just so happened, dad was cooking brunch.  So Col and I ended up with a nice fry for brunch – proper bacon and sausages! It made my day! LOL! What a welcome!!

When we’d eaten (and of course had a cup of ‘proper’ Curran tea!) Col hauled out the ‘Curran presents’ suitcase and we off-loaded a case-full of presents.  Since we weren’t home in January like we had originally planned on being, we had everyone’s Christmas presents with us.  Not only that, but mum, dad and Rowan had presents for us too, I came away with two highly coveted bottles of perfume, some slippers and a few other bits’n’bobs.

Note: I say ‘highly coveted’, because perfume in the USA is ludicrously expensive, I was getting dangerously low on my supply and refused to buy any over there, as I knew I could get some for a good price on this side of the Atlantic.

From my folks house, we headed out the road to my sister and her other half James’ new house for a visit to meet my furry nephew Mylo, and have dinner.  Their house is lovely and in a great area, she has it lookin’ well, but my favourite part of the visit has to have been the little ball of barking fluff that went mad every time you so much looked at him! LOL!

Dinner, let me tell you, was food of the Gods!  Helena called up a Chinese in Camlough, called the Happy Villa, and ordered a spread for the seven of us (plus Mylo got the odd nibble!) I would have taken a picture of the food, however, it didn’t last long! As soon as the lids were off, the vultures attacked, LOL!!

With such a long list of foods that we hadn’t had in two years, she couldn’t have done a better job of ordering a wide selection for the seven of us, prawn toast, bbq ribs, chicken satay, salted chilli chicken, chicken curry, honey chilli chicken, chips, fried rice and my favourite, prawn crackers!!  We ended up having a wee bit of almost everything and enjoyed every bite!

When dinner finished, it was around 7pm, I flopped on the sofa and told Nina that if she didn’t take my ass out to the Buttercrane (shopping centre), or did *something* that involved me moving six feet outside her house, I was going to conk out.  So we went shopping!

Col stayed at home with Mylo to do some work (as he’d not ‘checked in’ in a day or so) and Rowan, James, Nina and I loaded up in the car and headed in to Newry.

First stop was the perfume shop, where I hit pay dirt (I’m sure you’re shocked!) I’m really, not in the least, a beauty blogger, a make-up lover, or, someone who takes great care and time in their appearance – however, I’m a sucker for perfume.  I love it!

Like I said above, perfume is expensive in Texas, so when I saw one of my favourites (Cerruti 1881 100ml) on offer for £20 I grabbed at it with both hands.

I also picked up a scent that I’d gotten a whiff of, about six months ago on our way to Singapore, but the price was too high I just kept a note of the name and said I’d keep my eyes peeled for a good deal.  “Intimately Beckham” – I know, I know, I’m not normally one to subscribe to the famous people churning out fragrances and all that lark, but I fell for this one immediately, plus, it was down to £15!

My third and final scent purchase, an impulse buy, was a bottle of DKNY Delicious Night that was decently priced at just over £20.

Fresh off the plane and spent £60 on perfume – though however much this may sound, please bear in mind that I almost spent £60 on ONE bottle, in duty free on the way over, so these three bottles were a bargain, especially since I’m “running on fumes” over in the US, I’m in urgent need of purfume!

The only other thing I bought, after a wee dander around the Buttercrane was a few bottles of Dettol spray cleaner.  Don’t ask 😛

We did have a nice wee dander around the shopping centre, though there’s a lot that has changed, shops have gone and shops have come.  It’s not exactly the Buttercrane of my youth any more!  Back at Nina and James’, we watched a period of the EIHL 2012 playoffs from the previous weekend and I was spent.

In bed by 9.45pm, out cold by 9.46pm.