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Chemospiration: Celebrate your head and be ahead of cancer with style

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First God, then Coffee

First God, then Coffee

Ines Perkovic/Getty Images

Upon waking, our brains switches frequency to daydream-like theta state where our minds are malleable and easily influenced. By scrolling on our phones first thing, we let ourselves be bombarded by images and information at our most vulnerable and receptive state. Rather than consciously acting and taking control over our first few steps every morning, we are…

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Dumb Phone, Smart Mind (Part 2)

Dumb Phone, Smart Mind (Part 2)

Over these past 2 years I’d become very much aware of how my smart-phone use was blocking my productivity and had changed the way my mind worked (discussed in Part 1 blog post). It didn’t affect my day-to-day job as I’m quite strict about not being distracted from my work, however in my down-time I would turn to my phone, and specifically Youtube, instead of accomplishing my own personal goals. I…

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Smart Phone, Dumb Mind

(Illustration by Peter Oumanski for TIME)

With a distraction device barely ever out of our hands, our thoughts caught in the “net” and spiraling down a never-ending scroll-hole, have we stopped to realise how the workings of our minds have suffered as a result? Do we not understand that being so externally connected is damaging the relationship we have with our inner selves? In turn, how can we…

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Be Faith Filled, not fear filled

Be Faith Filled, not fear filled

Irish Poet Seamus Heaney’s last words – painted by @maserart (Dublin)

Corona has people’s hearts trembling, the economy shaking and the world shivering.

It is a challenging time for all of us – waking up to new developments every morning has made each day unpredictable. This insecurity and daily uncertainty has some of us in a state of fear. Worrying not only about the illness itself and our…

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(via Blade Runner) How a Chemo Queen became a Blade Runner!

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Inception

  For those who haven’t seen Chris Nolan’s epic thriller Inception (no spoilers), it tells the intriguing story of Dom Cobb (Leonardo Di Caprio) who has the ability to enter and share people’s dreams to steal secrets or plant ideas in their subconscious using a shared dream technology that also allows him to create a dream within a…

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Cork-On-Ice

As I sit here in recovery from my second operation, January is drawing to a close and I can faintly hear spring’s whispers haunt winter’s last breath. If you are looking for one last “hoo haw” to honour the end of the sleepy cold months before spring’s sunshine warms your face again, Cork-on-Ice is open until this Sunday 31st January. I was invited for the VIP and Press opening in November and…

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Christmas Catch Up!

Rubbing the 2015 sleep from my eyes, I wonder to myself was it a dream. But no it wasn’t. That, my dear, was Christmas. Come November time, Christmas has this habit of slowly creeping out of Halloween’s fog and whisking you away on a gradual crescendo of excitement and childhood dreamlike nostalgia. I have learned that the anticipation to anything is the best part; be it a holiday, your wedding…

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Cancerversary

4th December is a year since I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 31 years old. Honouring my “cancerversary”, I will take you down the path from discovery to diagnosis. The morning I woke up to my lemon-sized lump on Thursday 20th November 2014, I went to my GP that same day as it was evidently abnormal. My GP referred me to a Breast Clinic where I went for an ultrasound the following week on…

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Xpose & Oasis Top Vlogger

Xpose & Oasis Top Vlogger

It was one of those evenings you don’t know what to expect and it turns out to be a cracker of a night! Attending the “Me, Myself & Oasis Wrap Party” in Oasis Store, St. Stephen’s Green, we celebrated Aine O’ Neill being crowned Ireland’s Next Social Superstar & Top Vlogger. Xpose and Oasis’ competition challenged 9 contestants to complete various vlogging tasks each week and it…

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Strictly Against Breast Cancer Gala

Strictly Against Breast Cancer Gala

  Breast Cancer Ireland’s 3rd “Strictly Against Breast Cancer” Black Tie Gala last Saturday night rolled out their pink carpet and brought Irish TV personalities and Cancerians together to have a dance off and compete for the coveted privilege of first place to raise funds for Breast Cancer research. With Nicky Byrne as the host and Emma Hannigan, Eoghan McDermott, Lorraine Keane as the judges,…

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Tit for Tat

20th November marks my one year anniversary when I woke up groggy one wintry morning to discover a 7cm x 4 cm lump in my right breast. It was the size of a small lemon and, very bizarrely, had grown over night. To commemorate my lump-changing event, I am ready to write about what so far has been a positive chapter in my life: my operation. I wanted to live through my operation and its recovery…

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Malloween

Malloween- Not ghouls made from marshmallows but Halloween in my hometown Mallow! Last Saturday night Furiosa begged to be taken on a night out. Not satisfied with having a day out at a demolition yard in London*, she wanted to experience Malloween for herself. “As the world fell, each of us in our own way was broken” First stop was The Mouse Trap, a little nook and cranny pub where it’s…

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Nightmare Realm: Dare to be Scared!

Nightmare Realm: Dare to be Scared!

My Nightmare Realm experience on Monday 26th October was the perfect way to draw Cork’s Jazz Festival Weekend to an end and to get into the Halloween vibe. If you are fan of American Horror Story, you will not be disappointed for what they have in store for you in this three story scare fest on Albert Quay. Fumbling along a delirious maze of dark corridors and nooks and crannies, disturbed…

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Today Show - Breast Cancer Special

Today Show – Breast Cancer Special

I was thrilled to be invited to be part of RTE1’s Today Show Breast Cancer Survivor Special on Tuesday 20th October. I never expected that just in my first week back to live in Ireland that I would be on Irish television twice!! It was a great show dedicated to Breast Cancer Survivors with informative sections on how to check your breasts and what signs to look out for. Viewers texted in for…

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I AM Ireland, Ireland (I) AM

I AM Ireland, Ireland (I) AM

I was delighted to be invited on TV3’s Ireland AM along with Deirdre Featherstone, a fellow Irish breast cancer blogger who’s blog is called “Kicking the Shite out of Cancer” on Thursday 15th October. I arrived into Dublin the day before to be styled by Judy Gilroy at Oasis. Her room was super cool with an amazing view of St. Stephen’s Green and an uplifting soundtrack of buskers floated up to us…

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Sam McCauleys, Douglas & Chemospiration!

Sam McCauleys, Douglas & Chemospiration!

Apologies to all my readers for the delay since my last blog post. I’ve had a very busy month as I was preparing to move home from London to Ireland. I’m happy to report that my husband and I have arrived safe and sound yesterday to my home town Mallow, Co. Cork where we will both live for now. It will be an exciting time ahead of me as now I will be able to concentrate fully and put all my…

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