because the internet

Good Morning.

So glad to see we've all resurfaced and that all is going well for Megan, Sarah and Dee. I can't wait to hear about this first expedition in adulthood with an Undergrad under our belts. (I include you Sarah as a confidence in how swimmingly it'll go for you!)

 I'm still kicking it over here in London with Jam, teaching the tiny people. Come January I'll be here a year! Does that count as 'having lived in London?' legitimately then? Like a true resident I haven't taken advantage of many of the great things the city has to offer. I use my weekends to sleep in and experiment with cooking brunch using what's left in the fridge from the week(very often beans on toast.) If I were one for resolutions, ticking off some must sees would definitely be number one.

We have undertaken challenging construction projects...  

There have been plenty stumbled upon gems however, like this old school French bakery.

It's been a busy term in school finishing up my NQT year and getting into a routine that works for 30 small people and 3 adults who need to spend 6 hours a day together as harmoniously as possible. I hope not to have to eat my words when I say it's been ok so far...cue some blurred classroom pics.

Just understand maths already small folk!

My room was decorated in the summer and feels so...bare.

I've put up and decorated my first fake Christmas tree. The lack of wilting in the branches has been my greatest peeve about the transition  (I do accept that I should have anticipated this.) Winter geansais have been pulled out of the wardrobe and have made a very welcome return to my days and nights. I'll be home Christmas Eve for a few days and fingers crossed that schedules can be aligned so I get to see you all buds!

This years addition to my ever growing jumper collection.

This album blows my mind btw. It's currently on repeat.

Merry Happy Folks!

Ciara

x

Versace for H&M

... is actually pretty ugly. I'll be shot by the "Ooooh, don't you get FASHION crowd?". Yeah, yeah, on yer bike, love. I was wondering why all these women were pushing themselves out of H&M today, in a heavy sweat, with really, REALLLLLLYY bright neon headache-giving bags. Then bingo, there's the Versace logo. So I went in for a look.
Why did I waste my time? Now, this may contradict my love for Bryan Ferry here a few days ago but number 1/ It's Bryan fecking Ferry, legendary frontman of Roxy Music and 2/ What he's wearing actually looks half normal and rather nifty.

I'll retract my distaste for this so called "inspirational" Versace collection, if you can HONESTLY find me five men who would wear this ensemble.

Yeah. Didn't think so.

Bryan Ferry for H&M

What a man.
[Even with an eyepatch]

For H&M's 2011 Christmas Holiday Campaign, Bryan Ferry and his son Tara lent some time.
Ms. Lykke Li and her sister Zara also give the cameras a turn.

Nice.

Marina is a Diamond

This came on my iTunes this morning and reminded me of about a 3 month period when Dee and I were literally obsessed [pardon the pun] over our dear Marina here. So much so we drove to the back of beyonds [County Carlow] to go see her. 

Even though Dee's little Micra ran out of petrol along a very dark, lonely 10 mile stretch of road at like 8pm, during the middle of winter, but we willed the little car to the first petrol station on the outskirts of Carlow town and just made it. That was a fun trip.

Her music is one thing. She is like a unique combination of Florence and the Machine, Kate Nash and Lily Allen. 

Her style is another. When most people think of Marina, they think of;

Fringe, block colours, wacky sunglasses, tribal prints, biker cut off shirts, baseball shirts, body suits, big black hair, eyeliner, black lipstick, figure hugging dresses, contrasting prints, fun, acid tones and a lot in individuality. 

She's great, isn't she? I'd go into more but I am currently late for an appointment with my forthcoming project so enjoy another Marina-made tune or two.

Opera, Forever 21 and freaky French men.

Ah lads, sorry for the wait. I've been all over the gaff. So what has happened since that last post. Well:

1/ I went to that Fenech Soler gig in a club that was underneath a motorway which was interesting to say the least. We met the band afterwards and while they seemed nice, there's always a little bit of a poncy air about musicians, isn't there? Great dancing was done though. Also discovered how nice a white wine spritzer is.

2/ Myself and some of the other Irish girls here went to go to the Opera. There I was wearing tights, boots and dungarees [which looked like mid-length shorts] and Anna in her trackie bottoms. Happy out. Until an usher came over and told us we had to leave as we weren't in the proper attire. We took the 10 minute U-Bahn back to my house to get changed and by the time we came back, the feckin' show had sold out. Just perfect. Remember kids: Opera means serious business here.

3/ I was waiting in an Underground station, outside a bakery for my friend when a weeeeellll-into-his-thirties French man approached me. What followed was the single most awkward conversation I've ever had. He asked me for my "mobile number, facebook, address, room number" [Weird] and told me that "I'd like to get to know you. I like you. I like you verrrryy much" [Even weirder]. I have the two most common names in Ireland so "Bonne Chance"! Sorry Megan, the French have yet to impress.

4/Work is hard. Money is good. Working to get money = Mixed feelings.

5/I still haven't travelled outside the city. Hopefully soon though!

6/ Austria celebrated their national holiday this week and of course, I was working! However, I hit a party with some friends and we adorned the complusory red and white face paint. I might have gotten carried away decorating other people.

Their traditional lederhosen and dringels are ridiculously expensive there though. At least 200 beans for something decent!

7/ Christmas tree decoration, anyone?

8/ I've discovered I'm really crap at sowing. Sewing? Sowing? Anyway, I've a mega Halloween costume planned but all will be revealed once I try it out. It involves a wig though and chopsticks. Also had sushi for the first time and despite some warnings, I didn't choke or feel sick or get my tie caught in the conveyor belt. Success!

9/ Backstreets are cool. Leave the Lonely Planet at home.

10/ I walked in on two work colleagues mauling the face off each other today. In work. In the lunch room. Which is the only place I could have lunch. And the worst thing? They. did. not. stop. 

11/It had to be done considering the Mufasa nickname I've picked up. It was a close call between the "Beauty and the Beast" one and the "Lion King" but Simba and co. won out in the end. Cheers Forever 21.

12/ I'm 21 years old in one month. Arghghw02-2i!! What to do?

Right, I've to go and sleep before I hit the working world again tomorrow so here's another music dose.

 Really want to hear from the rest of ye. WRITE GODDAMN THEE!

S

Padam, Padam

I'm having a crappy week. Read about it here;

I'm in bed. I'm sick. I'm stuffing my face with dominos. I'm on Lookbook.

Whenever I'm feeling blue I go on lookbook and then I splurge some serious cash money on clothes. I spend a significant amount of my money on clothes anyway, but more so when I have symmetrical pimples the size of Mount Kilimanjaro on both my cheeks. SIGH

Here are the top 3 things I spend my money on:

1. Clothes

2. Alcohol

3. Food

Note that both clothes and alcohol rank higher than food, an actual necessity. I am going to die in France. :(

Anyway, the people on Lookbook have clothes TO DIE FOR.

So today on my break at work I decided to do some ULTIMATE SHOPPING. (ultimate shopping is something I just invented today. it's basically going shopping on your half hour lunch break, bombing it around the place and buying stuff really quickly.) My first ultimate shopping experience made me feel good and when I returned to work I no longer felt like my soul was being destroyed and my every hope and dream violated.

NICE ONE!

Here’s something I bought. It's from Zara. On sale 9.99

It's extremely green, I know. But I don't own anything green. I'm forever wearing black and gray. Besides, it will be really easy for people to find me if I wander off in a crowded area?



They're ladybugs!!! I think.

 So yes, I think I'll make ultimate shopping a more frequent thing from now on.

Hope that everyone had a splendid Bastille Day the other day. Hopefully this time next year the process of becoming a French girl will be complete and I will be celebrating with you all like a mad thing.

Pour célébrer la Fete Nationale:

OBVIOUSLY, I know that Brel is from Belgium, but this is one of my favourite French songs.

and finally, Enrique...IN FRANCE.

WOW.

DEE, I cannot wait to see you.
CIARA, hope the beach is claaaasss...pictures? Are you alive?
SARAH, hope you're going to see Harry Potter in Leicester Square. It's THE place to see Harry Potter.

xx

Guest Blogger: My Third Cousin and I

The ever lovely Sarah from My Third Cousin and I is a fellow Cork woman and one who has quite an eye for fashion. She is constantly experimenting and sharing her own personal, suavey style on her blog and really I'm quite envious when I think of my wardrobe and see hers in comparison! 

Pop over and do yourself a favour and learn from a master. We are aware here that we're not keeping up with the fashion side here as much with all our gallavanting so Sarah , who we read regularly, kindly did a take on what to wear where we are. So sit down. Put on the kettle. Have a scone. Grab a piece of paper and maybe your laser card. Do enjoy.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Garnish with the Bizarre,

Thanks for having us. My Third Cousin and I have compiled 3 looks that have been inspired by your travels. All the pieces are from ASOS and ASOS marketplace, Free people, Planet Blue and Urban outfitters. Here is  what our dream wardrobe would look like if we were in: 

P.S. We may have nabbed the Cali skirt for ourselves. I must say we are very jealous of your adventures and are we are living vicariously through your blog posts. 

_____________________________________

Long live My Third Cousin and I!

And aren't those puppies the cutest?!

Keep an eye out for the latest posts and get some travel inspired outfits of yer own. 

S

The News In Brief

I'm still up the walls here and none of girls have time to write seeing as they are having the time while I am still in my town working so much, I forget I am in South America. So the big "WOO, look at my South American adventures" posts will have to wait a little longer. 

Until

 then, here's the news in brief.

I am listening to;

Grouplove

My brother kindly showed me the gem that is Grouplove who sound like a big mix of Neil Young, Arcade Fire and Grizzly Bear. Have also inspired me to buy coloured feathers.

I am reading this;

One of my New Year Resolutions was to get back into reading. I have just finished "The Life of Pi" and I'm ploughing my way through this "modern classic". Next on my list is "Love in the Time of Cholera".



I want to say;

It's Megan's birthday today! HUURRAAAAAHH! I wish I could have figured out Argentinian post offices [I haven't seen a single one] to send her something but dear Megan, I'll buy you something here! I swears! I hope you are enjoying France [impossible not to] but lots of South American loooooooooveee.

I want to wear this;        

Modcloth.com; $99.99
All into the tribal markings at the moment.

I am wearing these;

Glass ring; €1.50 - Recoleta Market, Buenos Aires.
Silver plated ring; €5.00 - Bellavista Market, Santiago.
Funny freckles - Genetics.

I am quite enjoying this;

It's how I imagine me and my sister to be in a few years time.

This time last week I was here;

Parque de la Costa, Buenos Aires. Me, Lucy and Ciara spent the weekend in BA as a break from work and went to a theme park outside of the city. I went on my first roller-coaster. My face nearly came off. Terrifying but exhilarating. The swings were my favourite part.

This time fortnight I will be;

In Buenos Aires once again. I will have finished my placement here in Santa Fe in 2 weeks and shall be on my way to Buenos Aires for a final 4 days down under. I hope to hit Recoleta Market once again and go to a Copa America football match between Brazil and Venezula. It;s a hard life I lead really.

This time three weeks I will be;

AT HOME! For exactly a sweet, glorious 42 hours before I up and leave and go to...

In one month's time, I will be;

In the stunning, quaint county of Gloucestershire, England! I've been accepted once again as an EFL Teacher/Activity Leader in a boarding school/summer camp near Bristol for 5 weeks. I worked in England last summer doing the same thing and taught over 200 kids in the most intense enjoyable environments. Being paid for something I love and trips to London, Bath and Bristol included. Hurrah!

The end.
S

An Ode to Emma

This'll be sure to get a mixed bag of opinions but I've to come clean and admit love for herself, Emma Watson. 

I know, I know. "This is just your Harry Potter obsession getting out of hand" they've told me. But it's not. I actually think she's the bee's knees. I'll be the first to admit that her acting in Harry Potter, while solid, isn't anything particularly ground-breaking and I've never seen her in anything else but I've major respect for her fashion-wise and from what I can gather, personality wise too. Reasons why? Sure, I'll share;

1/Part of it has been seeing her, a girl my own age, growing up on screen and transforming. Isn't why we all secretly [or not so secretly] like the make over bit on ANTM? Transformation. It's fascinating to me how a few thugs and tweaks here and there can alter a person's appearance so much. Seeing Urh-my-own-e grow up after every summer cinema release showed to me at a young age that it takes time to grow into yourself. Which she did. Splendidly. 

She never looked older than she actually was, never tried too hard during her early teen years and kind of just grew into herself and extended that into fashion around the 18/19 year old mark. 

2/ That underage drinking photo. Not saying it's cool and I never drank underage myself but showed a bit of personality to a person many critics slated as being a bit boring and stale. I thought it was a bit ballsy, myself.

3/ Then came the editorials and fashion spreads. My personal favourite of hers were the Burberry ads. You can tell she was born in France. Grrrrrrrr. Oozing elegance. In my opinion, can't speak for the other GwtB girls. That's when my girl crush went into overdrive as I noticed her as a fashion personality and role model. I loved the styling on the Burberry campaigns and the fact she looked rather natural [if you pretended you didn't know about all the hours of styling previous] but for me, she still looked like herself.  Kudos.

That's her little brother FYI. Hellllloooo.

4/ The hair cut. Outstanding. It did wonders for her and was an extremely brave thing to do. I know myself from experience that cutting all your hair off is as terrifying as it is liberating. I went as short as Ms. Watson back in '04 at the age of 14 because I had a barnet that was outrageously thick and awkward. I felt awkward. So I cut it all off. Which may have been a poor decision considering I'd thick black glasses and braces at the time of your life where you'd want to be attracting boys but I didn't give a fock then. I did when I was 16 and thus grew it out again but all I'm saying is that it's a brave thing to do and hard to pull off. Not sure I pulled it off. Might be courageous and post a picture here but we'll see. There's something quite "Twiggish" about her now and it's made her more versatile in what she wears and has cut away some of that child star image.

5/ People Tree is a wonderful, wonderful clothing organisation that creates fair trade and organic stylish clothing. They cater for both guys and gals but more importantly, they work within close WTO guidelines and with the producers of the garments themselves to ensure equality for everyone. Emma is a model, designer and spokesperson for People Tree.

The CEO of the whole UK based company, Safia has her own blog and she and Emma travelled to Bangladesh last year to get to the source of these beautiful clothes. Orla Kiely, Vivienne Westwood and Laura Ashley have also colloborated with them but the quality of clothes are stunning and I believe that a company like this gives you peace of mind. Knowing that you aren't buying something that under-paid, under-age labourers worked on [such as Primark clothes unfortunately] is a real reason for me to save. There's also 20% if you hold a valid NUS student card! Nice! I've every respect for Emma supporting this cause so actively, considering all she's got going on. Emma's portfolio from People Tree just captures this whole good-feel vibe as well from the collections she's designed. As an aside, their new Spring/Summer collection is so fun and colourful. The below images are gorgeous and I can't wait to make my first purchase.

Source

Love it, love it , love it.

6/ She's kissed Rupert Grint. Or rather Ron Weasley. That's most certainly the HP obsession talking but it's worth mentioning, I think.

Swooning over. Please tell me I'm not alone in this crush!?

S

Pics from Google, daily mail, teen vogue,  Emma's own website and people tree.