World pieces

Not the wildest Saturday evening I've ever had... But we had fun :)

And now I know where the Solomon Islands are...

Stepping Back

Due to excessive levels of stress and anxiety in my life of late, I've decided to take things slow for a while, to switch pace from insane, adrenalin fueled rat to mellow-easy-going snail.

No more having 5 windows open on my laptop at work all day,
no more compulsively checking gmail/facebook/twitter etc etc,
no more listening to/watching the radio/tv and reading the newspaper at the same time,
no more trying to keep up with all the latest movies and theatre,
no more sitting in Dublin traffic,
no more social occasions that I'm only attending out of obligation,
no more rushing,
no more taking on more than I can handle,
no more incessant planning of tomorrow, next week, next month, next year...
no more feeling like I'm running out of time,
no more unnecessary panic,
no more irrational worry,

Yes to more time writing,
yes to more time reading literature as opposed to journalism,
yes to listening to really good music and maybe playing some,
yes to slow meandering walks in the park/the hills/by the sea,
yes to meeting friends over coffee and having a really good chat,
yes to taking time to shop for and cook nice meals,
yes to nights in,
yes to walking to get to my destination,
yes to talking about how I'm really feeling instead of pretending everything is fine,
yes to yoga,
yes to getting and giving massages,
yes to doing one thing at a time and doing it well,
yes to relaxation,
yes to a realistic appraisal of how good my life actually is,


yes to the simple life...

Dimension Tension

I'm not proud of this but I somehow managed to let myself be coerced into going to see My Bloody Valentine 3D at the weekend.

I'm not a big fan of horror at the best of times - I just don't see the point of making yourself deliberately anxious and scared for 2 hours - I can ring my mother for that sort of emotional trauma. The last time I watched scary movies with friends I managed to fling a glass of red wine over the beau who unwisely chose to sit beside me during Dawn of the Dead.

I was not allowed a drink at this movie.

The whole 3D thing did make it an entertaining experience - to look over your shoulder and see a cinema full of people wearing rayban style glasses was amusing and at certain points in the movie it made the goriness pretty dramatic. Mostly I just giggled with my companions over whether it was the mistress or the smouldering ex-boyfriend who was the masked miner pickaxing the poor innocent townspeople.

We also had the added entertainment value of some extremely drunk Dublin scumbags sitting right beside us - it would seem from their willingness to shout at the screen and inability to stay in their seats for more than 5 minutes that the 3D had them really fooled. They were part of the movie as far as they were concerned and even added a 4 dimension to proceedings with their foul odour.

Ah Parnell St...

I was glad by the end that I wasn't watching Revolutionary Road as I had wanted - luckily any interruption of My Bloody Valentine was most welcome.

There were 4 or 5 trailers for other 3D movies which would indicate a strong resurgence in the format - mostly they were animated movies and the trailer for the new Pixar movie Bolt looked really good. The headache that accompanies the use of 3D glasses is not all that pleasant though - feels like you've had your eyes crossed for 2 hours and €15 is a staggering amount to pay for a movie (especially one of My Bloody Valentine's woeful calibre). Being in 3D is not enough--a good script or some decent actors are also necessary.

Speaking of Valentine's Day...It's coming up soon and for the first time in ages I have someone to share it with! Huzzah! Ok, ok it's a Hallmark holiday that is artificially constructed to make couples buy cards and chocolates and flowers etc but...but I'm going out with someone for once so who cares!

Romance and rose petals and chocolate hearts for all!

Resuming Transmission

Apologies for the lengthy break in posting blogs. I have no real excuse for it - apart from the fact that work has actually been quite busy (what's that all about?) and the trip to California was busier than expected...but to be honest I haven't been all that motivated to post - I'm hoping this is about to change.

Barack Obama will be inaugurated as President today - oh really you'd already heard about this? Yup this chap:



Still it's undeniably a day to celebrate and celebrate I will at the Democrats Abroad ball at the Davenport Hotel tonight. Maureen finally convinced myself and Alex to go a few days ago..."it's historic occasion...blah blah etc". Bob and Martina are also going so it should be a good night.

Poor Maureen got dragged on the immensely tedious Questions and Answers last night to represent Democrats Abroad. Just looking at the panel of Irish politicians and listening to their tired excuses for the state of the economy was enough to depress even the most cheerful Irish person. I think this sums it up:



Sigh.

Time Marching Onwards

November? November?!

What the flip?

Autumn disappeared in the blink of a squirrel's eye and bleak, dark winter days are upon us.

Can't get too depressed, however; I head off to California in less than a month. Hurrah!

Sunshine, vineyards, palm trees...



...shopping and sushi here I come:



Re Bridesmaid issues - progress is being made - at the weekend we succeeded in getting the first dress fitting done and shoes procured for both bridesmaids. That's everything we needed to get sorted before the other bridesmaid heads off to Australia for 6 months.

Protracted discussions on the issue of invitations have resulted in an agreement to use e-invites as opposed to labour-intensive handmade cards - thank the Lord! My expertise lies much more in on-screen than off-screen design.

I have to ask myself though - if this is the level of stress induced by being a bridesmaid, what it must be like to be the couple trying to get married? Doesn't bear thinking about... Hats off to those who survive it.

Personally I think eloping is wholly underrated...

Hurrah!

The new website is finally ready!

If I haven't been posting for the past while it's because work has been incredibly busy--but exciting too.. I've been hosting events, getting press, getting promotional materials made....and writing a whole new website for the organisation.

And it's done. Phew.

Link here: Habitat for Humanity Ireland

I've earned a mug of tea...

Panic on Camden St

I got beset upon by a nasty cold towards the end of last week and despite staying out of work sick on Thursday and half of Friday I was still sniffling and aching all weekend long.

It was unfortunate timing as my 'to do' list for the weekend was extensive – my 'winter necessities' shopping list had become urgent as a result of the freakishly cold weather last week (Does anyone else think we're in for a Winter o '47 style marathon freeze this year? Don't say I didn't warn you) and more importantly my duties as Chief Bridesmaid for the Dobbyn family wedding 09 were becoming pressing.

Yes the wedding isn't till July 09 which should leave plenty of time for preparation but the bride has big exams in January, the other bridesmaid heads to Australia for 6 months in December and, well, this is my family we're talking about here.

My main duties are getting myself and the other bridesmaid clothed, shoed and accessorised (feel my pain) and organising the hen night. Doesn't sound like a lot but the workload seems to be multiplying exponentially as I actually start doing the tasks.

Bridesmaid outfits:

We have the dresses – they're lovely teal, flowy dresses that will suit us blondies perfectly. So far so good. Of course they have to be adapted by a dressmaker to make them the right length before bridesmaid number 2 heads down under. In order to be able to be measured correctly we need the shoes....She lives in Galway, I live in Dublin – the challenges mount. Once that's all sorted I have to get matching jewellery, design hair styles and possibly make-up/fake tans etc.

I'm knackered just thinking about it.

The Hen Night:

My darling sister wants no ordinary hen night...no dinner, cocktails and L plates for her. No...for her hen night my sister is jetting all her friends over to Edinburgh (ok Ryanair will probably do the jetting) next June to take part in the Moonwalk....an overnight walking marathon in aid of Breast Cancer Research.



Yes she's making her friends 'walk' for her hen night. In fairness the event does sound pretty cool – it's around midsummer so the night should be mild, it's mostly women who participate, people design funky colourful, lit-up bras to wear over their clothes, generally there's a festival atmosphere...and it's all for a good cause. I'll take that over matching t-shirts and L plates in Temple bar any day.

She's also considering taking everyone for 'high tea' in the Balmoral that afternoon for an uber posh, lady-like experience that the Grannies and Mothers will enjoy.



So far so good.

In fairness the fact that the Bride here has a clear idea of what she wants and is aiding the organisation is definitely a good thing.

It does look , however, like I'll have to design invitations, organise everyone to register for the Moonwalk early next year, organise flights, accommodation and design at least one funky bra (hopefully not 15 of them) in order to get it off the ground.

Step one (invitations) was on my list for this weekend and given the fact that I was staying at the beau's place just around the corner from the holy grail of Invitation design – Daintree - I couldn't use the cold as an excuse to avoid going.

My first mistake was leaving it till late afternoon to go in – the cold had me knackered so I slept till about 4pm. I arrived in the shop circa 430 to utter pandamonium...brides and brides families everywhere comparing Indian Cotton card, the merits of 'fan leaf' over 'aquatic plant' paper, shades of ivory envelopes, ribbon, dried flowers, feathers etc.

Daintree features a greater level of selection than any normal human can possibly handle without breaking into a cold sweat (which is precisely what I did not 2 minutes after entering the place). Brides on the other hand seem to revel in it...every aspect of a wedding requires endless decision making and each bride has to make exactly the right decision in each case or their wedding will be an utter disaster. At least this must be the case to explain the stress levels aroused by satin paper and silk ribbons.

I was looking for something pink and simple but also elegant and artistic because my sister is a classy dame.

Something like this maybe:



After selecting a pink envelope and a piece of Indian Cotton card that looked like it would fit into it when folded over I felt like I was almost there. I then started to look for some coloured/patterned paper to use as a seond layer or strip for decoration and at that point became stumped. Yes I could find lots of gorgeous matching papers...but what the hell was I actually going to do with it?

It was at this point my utter lack of an artistic ability became apparent. How many layers were there meant to be? What font would I use? How the hell was I going to print these up anyway? What kind of glue to use? Did I have to print the addresses on the envelopes? Why does everyone in here seem to know what they're doing but not me?!

My cold sweat became an all out flood and I had to discard the pink envelope and run. I wasn't in any shape to handle these crucial decisions – much more planning and preparation was required. As I gulped in fresh air on Camden st I realised I was in way over my head.

I don't know how brides do this for real on a big scale for an entire wedding. Whatever about hen night invites – where do people begin to design their wedding invites? Terrifying.

My only hope is intense internet research prior to entering one of these premises again. Being a Dobbyn might actually help me handle this challenge....for once we have the right amount of anxiety and insane punctuality for an event.

After all I'm not Chief Bridesmaid/Best Woman for nothing...it's up to me to see my sister has the best damn hen night the world has ever seen.

Mission accepted.