Firstly, a very happy New Year and happy 2013. Can't believe it's 2013 already - and I know I say it every year but time really does fly by. So anyway, back to finishing up the last of my posts from last year. Yesterday afternoon Uns and I headed into Skibb for lunch at the Riverside Cafe with some of the girls from the wedding, a few who Uns hadn't seen in years, so was also a catch up not only from the wedding. The Riverside Cafe is, according to their website, Skibbereen's foremost Gourmet Restaurant, serving great Mediterranean food with a West Cork Flair in a warm & friendly atmosphere. And to be honest, the food there was excellent, which is why they have a pretty good name around the Skibb area.

After lunch, we took a walk up and down the main street in town for a bit of shopping, then popped into Apple Betty's Cafe for a quick cup of coffee to warn us up. It's a nice little cafe serving tea, coffee and a huge range of homemade cakes, scones, chocolates and just about everything else you can imagine you'd find in a bakery.

Since time was moving on we thought we might try head down to Sandy Cove quickly to try and catch the sunset. So we headed home, grabbed my camera and rushed down there but probably a bit too late for the golden hour I was hoping to catch. Still, a lovely sunset and sky, just didn't catch it on my camera (this time).

From there it was back home for dinner then started the preparations for our New Years Eve fancy dress costume. We had planned to do a group fancy dress as the Royal Family, including Megan, but not tell Noel, then spring that on him just before. Once ready and sorted, we headed down to Noel's place for pre-party snacks, beers and shots. It was then that Megan dropped the bombshell that she'd be going as the Queen and not as My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. The look on Noel's place was priceless when he realised he'd be dressed as a knacker on his own! Haha, classic!

After some time at their place we all missioned down to Mary Ann's, which was already in full swing for the night, and ensured we got the Royal welcome on arrival, well, all of us except Noel. There were some brilliant costumes out that night, good to see most people making a decent effort.

Last night was brilliant, with the whole pub moving outside just before midnight for the countdown and cheers around the two famously lit up trees in the street. I liked how local it was, and seems to be a tradition done every year! After another few hours inside Mary Ann's, the girls started to harass Fergus to drive us home, which he did, but guess he didn't really have much choice in the matter :)

Today wasn't a particularly early start, but then again when is New Years Day ever a particularly early start? After all surfacing around mid morning, Donners and Emma came down, and we all sat down to a well welcomed Irish breakfast, just what we all needed! Obviously with us flying back last night, we didn't want to do too much during the day but felt the urge to get out the house and get some fresh air, so figured we'd head down past Sandy Cove and over to Traharta for a fairly easy stroll on the beach and over the boulders there. We landed up meeting up with Noel and Megan down there, who clearly had the same idea as us.

I think the walk did us good, as it didn't feel such a mission to head back up to Cork Airport as I thought it may be. Was definitely sad to leave after a good holiday, but also looking forward to this year, starting off with a January detox and health kick! But for now, I'm going to grab some beauty sleep to (try) be fairly fresh and awake for work in the morning :(