Myself and my blogging missus Ruth were recently invited to a coffee lab hosted by the kind folks at Ground. I've mentioned this company before, having serendipitously stumbled upon them last year. As much as I like coffee, I have to admit I was a little naive to the actual journey from bean to blend to barista.



Our venue was the comfy surroundings of the Waterstones Belfast branch and our host for the evening was manager Michael. Michael gave us a brief background intro to himself, describing his past experience in independent coffee sales and hosting similar events for coffee aficionados before stepping back to the comparative security of the corporate coffee culture. This move did nothing to diminish his passion for the product and his wealth of knowledge was fascinating.

Last Saturday, myself and Ruth from Willow Lane and Rosanna from Silver Brogues met up for our inaugural Blogger Brunch. We to one of my usual haunts, Established, for some coffee and catching up.

You can rarely go wrong with the classic blue & red combo.

My new Kickers boots (courtesy of a Bunnipunch competition) completed my metro-lumbersexual look

Some people are good at being adults. Old souls some call them. A sensible, grown-up approach to life, with a reasonable and well adjusted outlook and attitude.
I am not one of these people.

I turned *coughcough*33*coughcoughcough* late last December and I have been resisting "growing up" with every fibre of my being. I have self-diagnosed chronic Peter Pan syndrome, a classic case of the boy who never grew up.

• I am still the man who watches cartoons. A lot. Not anime or sophisticated animated movies; actual cartoons.
• I am the man who still plays Pokemon - I have done so since Red was released when I was 16 (I was probably too old to play it then let alone now.)
• I am the man with an encyclopedic knowledge of X-Men rooted in my decades long obsession with comic books.

And so what? What benefits are there in always being sensible or grown up? I have a mortgage and pay my bills and drive a car - sometimes that's adult enough for me.

It's this balance that inspired the 90:10 brand, a range of clothing that embraces being 90% grown up and 10% not. The brand is the brainchild of Dan who, like many of us, was reluctant to fully assimilate into the adult world. He wanted to keep some joie de vivre with a range of relaxed and fun (without being novelty) clothing for the man who is sick of having to wear a suit or shirt at work and just wants to take it easy in his down time.

I am a committed hoodie lover, and so when Dan offered me one of their hoodies, I gratefully accepted. The hoodie itself is a fine, slim-fit brushed cotton in a rich dark blue. As many of my hoodies are zip-front, its nice to have a pull-over version for a change of style. It's a soft and comfy piece that will be perfect for a low-key weekend. The logo is subtle and will encourage a question rather than shouting the answer of where it came from.

As it is that little bit finer, it could be layered under a coat or body warmer, or as we enter summer, I can see them being the go-to barbeque/beer garden hoodie for when the sun begins to set.





Many people say that the secret to living longer is staying young at heart, so I'm determined to do that and will display my 90:10 split with pride!

Adidas (and yes, it's pronounced addy-dass - not ah-dee-dass) has been at the forefront of sportswear and sports luxe fashion for over 50 years. Big-name collaborations from the world of fashion and music such as Kanye West, Jeremy Scott, Pharrell Williams, Raf Simons, Yoji Yamamoto & Stella McCartney have further cemented the brand as *the* sports apparel line.