Róisín Duffy Virtual Assistant

04/07/2024

We are currently mid moratorium (I flipping love that word!) so please simply enjoy Louis at his local polling station this morning🐕






*

*professionalism may have slipped slightly here

23/06/2024

We're always told as business owners to be prepared for all eventualities.

Have a backup plan.

A Plan B.

Well folks, based on today's outfit, mine appears to be kids tv presenter.

12/06/2024

My daughters are putting fabulous outfits together for Taylor Swift tomorrow while I'm thinking about which socks will be the warmest.

Old age comes at you fast

15/12/2023

📢Well folks, what a year it's been!🎢

In February this year, on a bracing walk by the canal in Stratford upon Avon, my partner turned to me and said

'Why are we waiting to live together? You're my person' (awwh ❤)

To which I responded, being the old romantic that I am

'I've been ready for ages mate, just been waiting for you to catch up'

A week later both our houses were on the market, and sold within a month. For weeks we were on tenterhooks, hoping the chains didn't collapse, hoping our new build wouldn't be delayed, hoping we could complete within the required timeframe. Stressful isn't the word.

On top of that I had a teen and a pr***en thinking that moving 5 miles outside of Stratford was a DISASTER. Let's not even talk about trying to get them to pack.....

Our house was not going to be ready until September yet he had to be out in April and me in June...cue a few months of living in *the* most depressing rental with the most unpleasant neighbours *shudders*

Fast forward to December and although there are still bags and boxes loitering (let's not talk about the garage), we are happy and settled, and I have 2 daughters loving their new home.

So this year, I've had a word with the boss (me), and agreed to have 3 weeks off over Christmas and New Year. This will be the longest amount of time off I've had in 5 years. I might even get reacquainted with my old friend Jim (gym)

To all my friends, clients, colleagues and associates - wishing you all the best over the holiday season and a wonderful 2024

Roisin x🎄✨🎉🥂

31/10/2023

👻Halloween is a dreadful American import👻

Wrong!

Halloween or Samhain (sow -ann) is actually an ancient Gaelic festival which begins on the evening of the 31 October, marking the end of harvest festival and the start of the darker part of the year.

It is mentioned in Irish literature since as early as the 9th century, believed to be a threshold festival, when the boundary between this and the otherworld was at it's thinnest.

There are strong similarities with the Mexican feast of el Día de los Mu***os which also celebrates those who have passed over.

Offerings of food or drink were laid out out to the otherworld to try and ensure that people and their livestock survived the winter.

It seems that the traditional 'American' concept of Halloween evolved from Irish and Scottish immigrants (we get everywhere)!

So if you get annoyed by the constant bing b**g of your doorbell tonight...know there is a strong Celtic and Pagan tradition behind it 🎃

09/10/2023

After 10 years I have finally deleted my Twitter account (No, I shall not call it X)

It seems the value of the platform has tanked from 44 billion to just 8 billion USD

It has been, quite frankly depressing to see the damage that has been caused to the platform since acquisition by Musk. In it's heyday it was a fantastic platform for the sharing of cultural and political ideologies, 'meeting' like minded people and of course, seeing pictures of cats pushing things off windowsills🐱

Not to mention that I met my partner on Twitter!

In recent times, the algorithms have frankly, gone nuts, and the site is overrun with ads and bot accounts. It's now unusable. So I've nipped over to Bluesky and it's like an early days Twitter, with pleasant interactions without the relentless spamming.

It's anyone's guess how long this will last, but for now it's a pleasant change from 'X'

X is still worth something, but not for the people running it. Boss Linda Yaccarino is set to present her plans for the social network formerly known as Twitter to bankers holding nearly $13 billion of its debt, the Financial Times reported. Looming over talks is the likelihood that X’s value is s...

24/05/2023

I've been rather quiet on social media lately because there has been a little happening in my personal life...

Tom and I are in the process of selling our homes and buying together ❤️

Running two businesses, two households, two children ( a teen and a pr***en 😳), a neurotic dog and a mischievous cat during all of this, has been a challenge to say the least!

I'm so lucky that been self employed has allowed me the flexibility to respond to solicitor's requests at the drop of a hat and push the process through as quickly as possible.

From the middle of next month I will have more capacity to take on a new client. If you are looking for a VA who can juggle the above 😉 and keep her sanity, then drop me a message or email me at [email protected]

17/03/2023

☘Happy St Patrick's Day to all my friends and colleagues!☘

Rather than post a pint of Guinness or a harp, I'm going to debunk a few of our stereotypes and maybe drop some interesting fact bombs!

☘St Patrick was actually Welsh! Apparently, he was captured by Irish pirates from Wales and enslaved as a herder. After six years he escaped and returned to his family, but returned to Ireland as a cleric to spread Christianity.

☘He used the shamrock to explain Christianity to the Irish - using the three leaves to explain the concept of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

☘We have our own language called Gaeilge - which is not dissimilar to Scots Gallic

☘St. Valentine's remains actually reside in a Dublin church - Whitefriar St church to be precise!

☘Halloween originated in Ireland - based on the pagan celebration of Samhain

☘An Irish passport is one of the most desirable in the world -providing visa free access to 189 countries.

☘Ireland's education system is ranked 5th in the world!

For more fun filled and educational facts, please check out the fabulous podcast on BBC sounds called 'Killing Leprechauns'

We're more than just a nation of potato eating Guinness drinkers you know 😉

08/03/2023

Equal rights for others doesn't mean fewer rights for you.

It's not pie🥧

-Jesse Williams

I love this quote so much because it's just so obvious when you think about it, isn't it?

We as women have achieved so much but there is so much further to go. To my fellow women on - keep going

WE GOT THIS ✊

25/01/2023

Would it be a stretch to say that this was a little bit of from (TikTok famous) Kate Hunter?!😆

Working with Kate Hunter & has been an absolute pleasure over the last year and a half and it's been wonderful to see the success they genuinely deserve.

I have some capacity to start working with new clients (or old!) in 2023, so if your business could benefit from some support, let me know!

04/01/2023

Do not beat yourself up making resolutions for 2023 ✋

The language we use is important - we are all still recovering from the pandemic years and do not need to be putting additional pressures on ourselves to achieve x, y or z.

So set *intentions* not goals - this way you are never failing - you are consistently working towards what you want to achieve.

I am learning as I get older *cough cough* that being hard on myself is not healthy or helpful. So today when I dragged my post Christmas body to spin class, I congratulated myself on making the class, and didn't get annoyed at myself for phoning it in a little! 📞

So my only 'resolution' for 2023 is to keep moving forward - whatever the pace.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and peaceful 2023

#2023

22/12/2022