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.

Getting my Goat

Challenge laid down by Steve at Notes With No Commas blog.....

1) List two things that irritate you for a reason, which you should give, and two things that irritate you for no good reason,
2) Give credit to the person who tagged you,
3) Link your answers to the original blog - http://noteswithnocommas.wordpress.com/,
4) Tag four new people to participate.

Steve listed TV repeats and gangs....I think once I start I may not be able to stop.

For good reason:

1) Inconsiderate People

The people who arrive at the theatre/cinema 10 minutes after the show is scheduled to begin, people who leave their mobiles on, people who do back stroke in the pool at my gym, people who fail to clean up their dishes/empty take-away boxes for 2 weeks, people who park 3 cm away from your driver door, people who smoke indoors, people who vomit on footpaths....

Basically any behaviour where people display their complete ignorance of the existence of other people in the world. Please people! Open your eyes just a fraction, consider the feelings of the many other people that surround you in the world and then stop before you inflict noise/smoke/vomit pollution on them.

2)The Cost of Health in Ireland

I know it could be worse - we could have a system like America that precludes healthcare from all but the wealthy but I still think it's ridiculously expensive to stay healthy in Ireland. Pharmaceuticals are way more expensive here than in other countries due to the lack of availability of generic brands and the growth of chain pharmacies.

For 5 minutes of a GP's time it'll cost you circa 60 euro...for a course of antibiotics another 20 euro, the contraceptive pill will set you back 30 euro for 6 month supply....and don't get me started on the price of condoms.

If you're working on low income (as I am at the moment by my own choice) you literally cannot afford to be sick. I pay for health insurance to cover me should anything really bad happen but it doesn't help me pay for the GP, antibiotics, contraception - or any day-to-day healthcare expenses that can really add up. I can't even imagine how anyone on minimum wage copes.

My sister lives in Scotland and hears people give out about the NHS all the time but really they have things so much better over there...ie it's all bloody free! As in free free...no dollars, zero euros, pas de sterling.... Now that's healthcare for all.



No Good Reason

Um.

This is hard - so many gripes and so many good reasons for them...

1)Spiders

I guess my utter hatred of spiders is pretty irrational. Here in Ireland they're totally harmless, they kill flies and other irritants and they make attractive cobwebs.

But God do I hate them....something about those two extra legs they have on insects that make them repulsive to me...or the way they move.....~shiver~

2) Screaming Children in Public Places

I know children are a good thing...pretty essential to the survival of the species and all that. I even intend to have some of my own some day all going well and I know full well that I will one day be a perpetrator of this particular crime...

But do people really have to bring them to restaurants? and shopping centres? and cinemas? and public areas in general? There's something about the scream of a toddler that is so ear-piercing and disruptive of one's inner equilibrium that it makes you want to strangle who or whatever is nearest you at that moment.

Children should be seen and not heard!


There. Phew. That's a load off.

I won't mandate anyone in particular to do this--anyone with a blog out there have a go. In fact if anyone wants to add a comment here about what gets their goat--go right ahead.


Meanwhile I really should start doing some small amount of work to justify my income however low it is....

Adios Paraguay.

I've been back a week and between jetlag and mountains of laundry have failed to post a blog. I could have made time to be honest but think I needed some time to process the whole thing.

Basically it was great.

Lot's of this:


and this:

MESCALA!

A great team:


and wonderful friendly hosts in Paraguay:


We actually had an Irish journalist based in Argentina visit out site and he's having a series or articles printed in the Irish Emigrant newspaper. One of them can be found here.

Between the 15 of us we helped build 2 houses in Encarnacion, a small town near the Argentinian border. The Habitat affiliate there is hugely active - in the past 10 years they've built 750 houses and are aiming to round it off to an even 1000 for their 10th anniversary next year.

The only difficulty I had with the trip was not being able to speak Spanish. It really is all pervasive in South America and English is greeted with stony blankness. We had such a great opportunity to get to know locals but language was a barrier. There was also a lot of pressure on the Spanish speakers in our group to translate for the rest of us.

Next time I'm heading to South America I'll habla espanol muy bien.

Hasta la victoria siempre!

Paraguay Panic

AARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Going to Paraguay tomorrow and have done about 5 minutes preparation for it. It's also the beau's birthday tomorrow so am taking him out for dinner tonight. Time for packing: 0 minutes...oh well.

Over the past week I've attending a first cousin's wedding (first wedding attended en famille - and quite enjoyable actually) and spent 3 days on Inis Mor with the gang for Chelle's 30th - lots of cycling, swimming and picnicking - a wonderfully wholesome weekend.

Back at the office it's been hectic to get stuff sorted before I leave - it looks like September and October will be very busy months promoting the new Local project and next year's internationl trips. To be honest I'm looking forward to being busy and doing some event planning, the summer has crawled by at work with everyone away on trips and no events happening.

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So Paraguay...? What do I know...



Well it's Spanish speaking....has a large German speaking population also....weather should be nice enough....the country has a reputation for corruption....

And that's about it. Never have I know so little about a country I'm about to visit.

What could possibly go wrong?