Laura, Katie, Cecelia and Alex- oh my

Ah, what a fun few days.

On Wednesday I took Laura and her sister Katie to London for the new Twilight premiere. Laura views Twilight in much the same way as I do, but Katie loves it, so we promised we wouldn't sigh or roll our eyes the entire night. I think we succeeded. Mostly.

We arrived in London at midday, left our bags at the hotel and I took the girls shopping. When they'd spent enough of my money we went back to the hotel and changed. The girls looked stunning. I wish they'd allow me to post a photograph of them, because these are two VERY pretty girls- tall, slim, dark-haired, looking breath-taking in their Little Black Dresses. They were also wearing three-inch high-heels, so as we were walking down the red carpet they were looming over me like I had own personal Amazon bodyguards at my side. It was, I think you'd agree, AWESOME. Two Valkyries on my arms. What more could a guy want?

We saw quite a few famous folks- my favourite was Pixie Lott (cuz she's so purty), and there were a load of X-Factor contestants skipping around, looking delighted. I think they thought everyone had turned out to see them, bless their little fame-seeking hearts. I hadn't a clue who they were, because I do not partake of that stuff, but Laura and Katie were pointing them out to each other and offering comments.

"God she looks weird."

"Is that her face?"

"Look at those shoes. Are her feet on backward?"

"I'm surprised she can stand with all that hair."

The film itself was, you know, a film I saw. It was definitely a film I saw. I would go as far to say that it was even one of the most recent films I've seen. There were a lot of things in it. Chairs. People. Shrubbery. There were some words and a lot of music playing. There were outdoor scenes and indoor scenes. There were credits at the end. Looking at it that way, it had everything you'd want in a movie.

So... that's my review of Breaking Dawn Part One.

The next day I took the girls shopping (again) and Laura bought a dress to wear to her college graduation (and half an hour ago she stopped by on her way to the graduation and she looks BEAUTIFUL in that dress). We walked around Hamleys toy store, which was awesome as usual, and arrived back in Dublin at 5:30 pm. Which meant I now had two hours to go home, get a shower, grab my tux, and get to the Irish Book Awards. Yay!

I managed it, of course, for I am wonderful. True, I arrived JUST as it was starting, as is my way. I don't think I've ever been on time for the Awards. I didn't win my category, but I think they made the right decision. I've won three awards there in the past two years because of YOU, my Minions, and I would undoubtedly have won again this year if the winner was decided by the sheer volume of votes alone. But they also have a panel of judges that can make the difficult decisions if called on to do so, and they reckoned the best and most deserving book in that category was Anna Carey's The Real Rebecca. She also got a BOATLOAD of votes, from what I hear, so she won fair and square, and the look on her face when she won was hilarious. Eyes wide, mouth open. Brilliant.

And I loved not winning. To be honest, if I had won this year, I would have withdrawn my name from contention next year. And because I didn't win, I didn't have a hundred people coming up and congratulating me the entire night, so I could relax and have fun. I spent the first half of the night with Cecelia Ahern, one of my favourite writers to chat with, and the second half with Alex Barclay, my dear, dear friend. ("Dear friend". My God that sounds old. She's not my "Dear Friend". She's my Hot Friend. Yes, that's what she is. My Hot Friend Alex Barclay.) The fact that both of these writers are beautiful women had nothing to do with the level of my enjoyment, I assure you.

I got home to my own bed at eight the next morning. I had two hours sleep. Then I was up, to cram as much into the day as I could before meeting up with Alex again, for she was taking me to the ultimate in geek-fests- we were going to watch the first Lord of the Rings movie while the RTE Concert Orchestra performed the score live in front of us.

Now, we were both utterly exhausted after only a few hours sleep, but even so we had no problem staying awake. I had to keep looking away from the screen where the movie played, because it was all-too-easy to forget that the orchestra was doing all this live. Awesome, wonderful, hilariously-geeky stuff.

I got home at a little before midnight. I got into bed. I woke up and it was Saturday.

I've spent the last three days in the company of beautiful women who make me laugh, and I have to say that kind of thing never gets old. Thank you, my Minions, for all your votes and all your support. You have fantastic taste.