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Yearly Archives: 2014

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If you’re living in an apartment you might think that you have no hope of growing your own vegetables. Well, think again. If you have a balcony, there’s nothing to stop you from growing your own vegetables and herbs on it. Here are some tips on how to do just that:

Use synthetic soil
It’s best for when you’re gardening in containers. Wood chips, peat moss and sawdust are all great, and it’s not a bad idea to put coarse gravel at the bottom of the container before you put in the soil as it will improve drainage.

Remember to water them
When you lead a busy life remembering to water your balcony plants may be the last thing on your mind, but if you don’t water them once a day, they just won’t make it. Don’t over-do it either as you can drown them, and if your balcony gets rain, then obviously you don’t need to water them on rainy days.

Make sure they will get enough light
It’s good to observe your balcony and figure out the spots that get the most light. This is where your plants will thrive.

Pick the right vegetables
Some vegetables do better in containers than others. Carrots, for one, aren’t great in pots, but lettuce is. Tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber and peppers are all good options too, aswell as any kind of herb.

Germinate seeds indoors
Sometimes it can be handy to plant the seeds indoors and then transfer them to containers when they’re stronger.

Fertilise
It’s good to feed your plants as well as water them since they’re not in the ground. Get some fertiliser to add to your watering can from you garden centre.

Pick ‘em when they’re ripe
Make sure to harvest your vegetables, when they’re at their peak of ripeness to get them at their tastiest.

Image from Pinterest

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Lady Gaga isn’t one to sit back and allow people to make critical comments about her weight – and we love her for it!

The singer shared an image with her fans on her Instagram page, captioned: “Curvy and Proud.”

Gaga has shared her issues with an eating disorder in the past, saying: “I have struggled with an eating disorder for over 10 years and I take that very seriously, I take the struggles of others very seriously.”

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French supermarket, Intermarché, have launched a campaign to combat food waste by selling “ugly foods” at a discount.

The campaign, which is called Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables, is hoping to re-educate their consumers when it comes their food purchases.

This comes after it was revealed that we throw away 300 million tons of food each year. As part of the campaign, Intermarché have released various posters which include images of disfigured fruit.

The supermarket is hoping to highlight that it’s the taste that matters when it comes to your fruit and veg, and not how they look.

We think this is a great idea, and definitely something that needs to be introduced on our Irish shores.

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Emma Stone and Colin Firth are doing the rounds to promote their new film Magic in the Moonlight, and during one interview, Emma recalled the time she watched Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and live texted Colin as she watched it. Just for the craic!

“I live-texted Colin the plot of Bridget Jones a few months back while I was watching it. You were very upset with me, if I remember correctly. I talked him through what he was doing…it was all complimentary.”

Poor Colin has been trying to distance himself from his chick flick stardom, so he wasn’t overly impressed: “I might decide to not revisit stuff in the past, and then you get a good friend saying, ‘Oh, when you were doing this you had this and that expression on your face’”.

Don’t worry Colin, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Bridget Jones was the BEST!

Magic in the Moonlight is in cinemas this Friday, so If you didn’t have any plans before, you do now!

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Colaiste Lurgan have given One Republic’s Counting Stars the ‘as Gaeilge’ treatment, and as usual, it’s absolutely brilliant.

Have a listen for yourselves, we think it might be even better than the original!

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Former The City star, Olivia Palermo is fast becoming a huge style icon – from her Carolina Herrera wedding jumper to her fashionable outfits in general. And now Olivia is becoming a designer herself, by launching her own shoe collection.

Olivia is collaborating with Aquazzura to create six styles of shoes for the Florence-based label.

Aquazzura x Olivia Palermo collection will include sandals, over-the-knee boots, suede boots, pumps and even gladiators.

Commenting on her shoe collaboration, Palermo said variety is important when it comes to women’s footwear.

“Every woman should own a perfect black pump, a go anywhere bootie, a strappy simple party sandal, sexy lace-up sandal and a statement boot that goes with everything.”

Inspiration for her new collection came from her own wardrobe.

“We talked about shoes and how at the end of the day you always go back to certain styles. We both had such a great time talking about it, we decided to do it.”

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By the looks of it, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis are about to be grandparents. Tallulah Willis has been posting snaps of her pregnant belly on Instagram. She captioned the photo: “excited to meet my new little friend #happy #newlife #newbeginnings #babyonboard #blessed”
 

Last week she posted this photo, with the caption: #20wks “#bumpwatch #CatsOuttaTheBag #blessed”

However, she’s known to be a bit of a joker and her Instagram followers aren’t really believing her. Perhaps because of all the coffee she’s instagrammed herself drinking (a no-no for pregnant ladies) or it could be because of the tattoo she got last month on her ribcage (would you do that if you were 20 weeks or so pregnant?).

Hmmm, we think Demi and Bruce will have to wait a while for a grandchild yet!

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Beauty blogger Michelle Phan is reportedly being sued for millions for copyright infringements.

The blogger, who made $5 million last year – we are definitely in the wrong job – is being sued by Ultra Records LLc and Ultra International Music Publishing LLC for using songs by the company’s artists in her video tutorials.

Michelle, who used songs by Deadmau5, Kaskade and Calvin Harris, faces paying damages of up to $150,000 for EACH song – which means she could face a bill worth millions!

However, Michelle is not taking this lying down. A statement issued by her team said: “Ultra’s lawsuit against Michelle Phan lacks any merit. Ultra agreed to allow Michelle to use the music and Michelle intends to fight this lawsuit and bring her own claims against Ultra. Michelle’s intention has always been to promote other artists, creating a platform for their work to be showcased to an international audience. Kaskade, whose music has been featured in Michelle’s videos, has publicly defended Michelle against Ultra’s claims and acknowledges the success he’s gained from her support.”

In fact, Kaskade, who’s music she used even offered her support saying: “I’m not suing @MichellePhan + @ultrarecords isn’t my lapdog. I can’t do much about the lawsuit except voice support for her.”

Wow, makes you think, doesn’t it?!

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We’re all familiar with the hilarious but smart app, Siri, but sometimes Siri can be a little too right, or wrong, when it comes to our personal lives.

Reddit user, Tarty2000, posted a picture of his girlfriend’s screenshot after she asked her iPhone to ring her boyfriend.

But instead of automatically calling her boyfriend “John” it quizzed her on which boyfriend she would like to contact: her ex-boyfriend or her current partner.

Tarty2000 captioned the shot:

“My girlfriend decided to show me this ‘awesome thing Siri can do!’”

But in fairness his girlfriend did try to remove “Craig” as her boyfriend on the phone, but Siri wouldn’t let her.

“My girlfriend asked Siri to “remove Craig as my boyfriend. I’m sorry, I cannot do that.” So turns out Siri can make relationships but not break them. LOL.”

Perhaps it’s better to rely on the old fashioned way of contacting your boyfriend and not on Siri.

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Taylor Swift has been spotted leaving her gym quite often lately and the strange thing is that she always looks immaculate.

Now, we don’t know about you, but when we leave the gym, we are not looking too great.

However, it has been revealed that if we want to look as great as Taylor then we need to give ourselves an hour to primp and preen before strutting our stuff back to the car.

In fairness, if we had a group of photographers waiting for us on the way out we probably wouldn’t leave without letting the redness go down at the very least, so we can’t really blame her.

Makes you glad you’re not famous sometimes, eh?!

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Starting this August, the government in Seoul, South Korea are allowing workers to take naps in the afternoon in order to boost productivity.

Workers can nap for an hour between 1pm and 6pm – but if they do they have to either come in an hour earlier or go home an hour later. So there IS a catch, but still – on those days when you just can’t keep your eyes open, wouldn’t this just be heaven?

The government will be investing in rest areas for employees over the year. We are SO jealous. 

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Lady Gaga really doesn’t mind sharing it all on her Instagram page, and her latest snap is no exception.

The singer posted a picture of herself with the caption; “Curvy and proud.”

Go Gaga! This isn’t the first time the singer proudly spoke about her curves, as she revealed in an earlier interview with Harper’s Bazaar that she had previously struggled with her body image.

"I am better with food. I don't have an eating disorder anymore."

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