Wednesday 7 November 2007

Pink Ribbons & Pizza!

Gosh, I can’t believe 15th October was my last Blog!
Hmm, now I’m trying to sit here and think just what I’ve been up to since then?

Well there was Half Term to keep me busy; with the joys of baking, the cinema, shopping, and Pizza Hut buffet to keep my children busy. Is it natural for a 9 year old to be able to eat nine pieces of Pizza + salad at one sitting? It seems to be for my son! And he just burns it right off – so unfair.

I’ve just come back from a rather lovely weekend in Dublin. My husband and I (sounds rather formal!) try and have at least one weekend away every year without the kids (my parents are very accommodating) actually this year we’ve managed two - St Ives, Cornwall in May, and Dublin in November. The Dublin weekend is fast becoming an annual event, and you’ll know if you’ve been following this Blog from an earlier entry, that we were attending a charity ball while we were there.

We had a lovely evening as always at the Pink Ribbon ball in Dublin’s Burlington hotel. The charity that puts on the event – The Marie Keating Foundation always does a first-rate job, it’s a fantastic evening for all to attend, and they raise lots of money as result.
This year after dinner, there were two acts to entertain us, a swing band ‘The Legends of Swing,’ and Bryan McFadden – Ex West life. Bryan was great; I’m a fan of his solo stuff, if not of the West Life boys, and I hear he put on a good show. Yes you read that right, I HEARD he put on a good show. Where was I when all this was going on? Outside chatting to an old friend I bumped into in the bar! How typical of me, but I didn’t mind, it was great to catch up with the friend again, who coincidently is also called Bryan too!
I also caught up with another chap during the evening – Ronan Keating. If you’ve been on my website, you’ll know I have a bit of a soft spot for Mr K, who I’ve been lucky enough to meet a number of times. He’s a grand (as the Irish would say) chap, and lovely to chat to.
This time I had my fitness hat on (which didn’t match my dress unfortunately!) and was talking training matters with him.
He hopes to do the London Marathon next year, and another long distance walk across Ireland (this would be his third) to raise money for both Cancer Research UK, and the Marie Keating foundation.
Not an easy thing to do I was telling him, when the training for each event is so different, and both events are so close together. But he seems to have it all in hand, so after a brief discussion, I wished him best of luck with it.
But I’ll wait and see next year if he manages to do both….

Me grilling Ronan about his training regime! I feel like I was ‘papped here, but thanks to the people that took the time to send me these photos.
P.S. Ronan's not really cross on the second from last photo, even though he looks like he's fuming!








And in more formal pose with Ronan, and then hubbie!


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great read Ali, why haven't you been snapped up by a publisher yet?

The pictures are lovely as well, he looks really intrigued & involved in the conversation bless him!

Anonymous said...

Hi Ali, thats a lovely read.
The pics are great, you can really see how Ronan is listening to you. Hope he takes your advice for real !
Thanks for the link anyway
Marlis

Ali McNamara said...

Thanks Mandie and Marlis.

Well I'm still trying Mandie - my current novel is being looked at by a few publishers just now, so fingers crossed. I never realised just how hard it is to get a novel published until I started this three years ago. There's some very good unpublished authors out there, just desperate to be discovered...

Julie said...

Hi Ali! The pictures are great, it sounds like you had a fab time ;)
How did you get to hold on to Ronan long enough to have a conversation with him then? ;P

Anonymous said...

Is it your first novel Ali?

Ali McNamara said...

Hi Julie,
I’d like to say it was my natural charm. ;-) But it’s more likely the fact I don’t stop talking long enough for him to get away!

Hi Mandie,
This is my third novel, and the one I’ve had the most interest in so far. So maybe it might be third time lucky?

Ali :-)