Three for Tuesday

A very quick post before I hit the hay…

Why is it that long weekends (despite being long as the name would suggest) leave you feeling more tired than on the wonderful Friday that started the whole thing?

When I’m King (or, ya know, Supreme Overlord of Earth or All Powerful Leader of the Universe or something) I will decree that every second weekend can be three days long. I feel every weekend would be pushing it and nothing would get done, so every second weekend will have to do.

Now, here are three things that have been showing themselves rather a lot in my life lately.

Firstly, Turk. My lucky man. Let me explain… I work with a lovely Welsh lady named Angharad who saw I was having a dodgy day a few weeks ago as far as luck is concerned. She brought me over the then-unnamed Turk and hung him on my desk and told me he would bring me luck.

I named him Turk after the guy from Scrubs (I’m not even a huge fan of Scrubs, but I do like the name) and he has been sitting on my desk since. I have won TWO online competitions since he’s been there, there have been other very unusually lucky occurrences too that I won’t go into, but very much down to luck rather than hard work. AND Angharad took him back for a night because she was hoping he’d help her iPod get fixed… And what happened?

I got food poisoning.

So Turk is here to stay for the sake of my online winnings and to keep the projectile vomiting to a minimum.

His eyebrows are a cause for concern, but hey. He’s got character.

Next, my new hair.

After years of refusing to try them, I decided to get hair extensions. I did it for a feature for work… Balmain (those fancy fashion designer people) are the hair providers and Kazumi hair salon on Molesworth St were the brave ones who put them in for me. I was scared because my hair is very fine and I didn’t want to wind up bald, but I was convinced and I went for it.

I love them so much that I can’t really think about it for too long because I cannot by any means afford to keep them… So I will mourn the loss of all the hair in the world when they have to come out in a few weeks.

Until then, I will pretend I’m Jan Brady as I swish down the street… It’s not so much the length but the thickness that brings me the joy.

Oh, and having craploads of hair? Compliment central. I need to find a way to have a permanent bushel.

Lastly, a song I’ve had on repeat for days…

I’m having a bit of a Fleetwood Mac ‘moment’. Just ask the toddler twins that live next door…

G-bye now!

Snapshot

Hello!

Here are a load of little photo collages that I made of the last six months in the life of me! You’re probably only going to be vaguely interested if you’re in any of the pictures, and not interested at all if you don’t feature. But this post is more for me than you (selfish, really…) so there.

All of these pictures are mine and were taken by me on my trusty iPhone…

So now.

Kanye West and Jay Z with Emma and Rachel
AMAZING concert
Best non-Beyonce concert ever…

Croatia with Rachel, Karen and Laura
Unbelievably beautiful country
Lifelong memories made!

Some of the beautiful sights in Croatia (Dubrovnik and Hvar)
I don’t count my legs as a beautiful sight, FYI.

Some more Croatian adventure shots… Don’t ask!

I tried some new stuff… tattoo art exhibition
new places to eat and drink like 37 Dawson St
I took up exercise
I ran a bloody mini marathon with the U mag team!

I went to Vichy in France for work for three days
I ate RINGS around myself in France cuisine
I saw the most wonderful Chanel display
Notre Dame and some gorgeous buildings in Vichy

Went to London with Rimmel to visit their factory
Met Georgia Jagger… RIDE
Had lots o’fun with Kirstie, Mairead and Aoife

Bit of a random one… Car fun with Faye
Me and Denise in London
LOVECAKE sprinkle pops
Me getting my hair done… as usual.

I got dolled up a bit. Three of my fave outfits. I’m not very adventurous.
I do, however, have a very distinct HERE’S MY OUTFIT pose. Heh.

I went out. A lot, it would seem. Well, more than usual anyway…

Over to London again
This time to meet Alesha Dixon, my BFF ;)
There’s the Thames
And me on a roof!

Lots of lovely family time
Me and my sister and my little cousins <3

Back to London AGAIN
This time to see Cheryl Cole in concert
Courtesy of L’Oreal :)
With Denise… We went backstage!!

If there’s one thing I do well…
It’s EATIN’

An array of nail colours… I’m addicted to DIY manicures.
Worse addictions to have I suppose!

Good time with the girls (Susie, Emma, Rachel, Laura)

More good times… (Sarah, Aine, Karen, Lyndsey, Ali, Jayne, Laura, Kate)

More carrying on with friends…
Andrea and Claire, Me and Abe and some condoms…
…he can’t raid my beauty cabinet so he raids my Durex delivery
Emma and also Faye and Sarah

Here’s where my money went this year.
New laptop – JOY
Magazines and stationery and too many notepads
PETROL. Jesus Christ was there petrol bought…

I did some shoots for work with some models and some beauty products…

More fun with the girls
Oh the laughs we have…

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So there you have it, the highlights!

I’ll do my best to post again soon… Swearsies.

 

So Long, Farewell…

Not many things compel me to write poetry.

But when I found out one of my favourite people in the universe (that’s right, the universe) won’t be around five out of seven of my precious days a week anymore, I felt a poem coming on.

Now, last time I decided to write a poem, it didn’t go down well.

My closest friends and my family read it and, knowing who I am, said it was a good poem and smiled sympathetic “she’s going to end up on that show about hoarders, isn’t she?” smiles. Apart from that, people just baulked at the idea of someone writing a poem. Because sure why should we continue to create poetry?! We’re only normal humans with no talent. BET that’s what people used to say about Seamus Heaney and WB Yeats before they got all famous. Who the hell is going to create the Leaving Cert English poetry syllabus for 2059 if not me, eh??!

Rant about poetry over, Aisling O’Toole, my wonderful colleague and friend, will be moving on to bigger and better things (better is up for discussion, she won’t be sharing an office with me anymore, after all…) in August and I am positively devastated.

Without gushing too much, AOT befriended me at the very start of my ‘career’ in journalism, gave me support when I got the job in Harmonia and has just generally brightened many of my days since. The fact that we share a name seems immaterial in comparison to that one brain we clearly cohabit.

I can only hope she’ll see fit to continue the shared custody of this brain, and I wish her every single piece of luck I have in my possession as she heads off to her new job. From one Aisling to the other, may I just say… Ah sure lookit. We’ll be GRAND.

PS. In case you’re in any doubt as to AOT’s talent as a writer, check out her awesome blog, which is about one woman’s fight to own expensive non-essential decorative items while spending all her earnings on actual essentials.

 

 

 

I like my music the way I like my orange juice…

…With bits.

Unlike my sister who has, in the past, made my Dad SIFT her orange juice, I like bits. I like bits in my juice, Tropicana in it’s original form is my cup of tea orange.

My affinity for bits doesn’t end there… Thank God, I hear you say.

I love songs with bits. I know, you could say that every song has a bit. But not a proper bit. If you’re a music lover, you’ll know what I’m taking about.

The bit in Phil Collins’ In The Air Tonight when gorilla from the Cadbury ad went hell for leather on the drums. (I’m sure that’s the way Phil describes it to people too…)

The bit in More Than Words by Extreme when they all do that whopper harmony towards the end and the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

The bit in the theme tune from Fresh Prince kicks in and everyone within a five mile radius goes ‘Innnn West Philadelphia, born and raised…’ and the awesomeness begins.

The bit in Celine Dion’s Think Twice where she screams ‘No, no no no!’ and all the women in the world (bar her, obvs) lose their collective shits and forget what it means to sing in key.

There are so many beautiful songs with beautiful moments, and I made a list of mine (the above ones are a mere selection). The winning song moment for me was at just before six minutes in the below Youtube video, the music changes and makes my brain melt with joy.

Listen to the whole song, loud as you can, for full effect. It’s made all the more enjoyable (I think that’s the word) if you are, in fact, Still In Love with someone…

50 Shades Funnier

So the world and it’s mother are reading 50 Shades of Grey.

I’ve read it and it kept me entertained, and I enjoyed the cringey awfulness of some of the dialogue and I thought the characters were hilariously underdeveloped almost so much so that I thought six people must’ve been writing it (or an author with multiple personalities).

Anyway, I did like the book – not in a Man Booker Prize winner kind of way, more in an ‘Ann and Barry Went to School and Oh Look! They Took Their Pants Off’ kind of way, to blatantly rob borrow a reference that my boss employed today.

S’wanyway.

This same boss of mine brought my attention to a most wonderful blog, on which the author (@amberance on Twitter, should you fancy a follow) reviews 50 Shades chapter by chapter.

The result, my friends, is a series of blog posts that are funnier than any book I’ve ever read, and funnier than any blogpost I’ve ever read (which is saying something because I’ve read posts on White Rabbit NI before).

So much so that I would urge you to READ the book just so you can understand the blogger as she rips each scene apart moment by moment and uses every expletive under the sun to express her utter disgust at the idiocy of the characters, situations and the author of 50 Shades herself, E.L James.

Here’s the link, I’ll say no more. If you’ve read it, read this. If you haven’t read it and want to, it is littered with SPOILERS so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

BizzyBiz Blog – 50 Shades Reviews

Enjoy!

Please note: do not read this while eating your lunch. I hate a fairly serious egg mayonnaise… situation… earlier today. It’s for the best, really.

BY THE WAY, on a side note, 50 Shades is OBVIOUSLY being made into a film, and there are rumours that Ryan Gosling will play Christian. I leave you with that thought.