Flowas..

Flowers, Ikea's shop floor; embroidered silk trousers; a gem of a find in a secondhand shop in Notting Hill, London; tights, Santa Claus; yellow suede and metallic heeled shoes, Asos. (All teamed with a plain with shirt).

   I am so sleepy, today has been a very long day in which a lot of ground was covered and the fumes from a lot of Bostic glue have been ingested all in the name of textiles! I took a trip to Ikea to replenish my sheepskin supplies. I find their rugs are great for adding a bit of fluff to everyday life and while I was there I happened upon this beautiful meadow of plastic flowers and a lampshade that looked like it was preparing to head down the aisle...

The Day St. Vincent Came to Om

The pass given to my co-workers and I by the lady herself. I was very glad to have blue eyebrows for meeting St. Vincent, got to make a good impression you know and blue eyebrows are the way to do it...

Black jumper, with white flecks and zebra sleeve, a discarded sample version(with hand written label) from an unknown label, secondhand in London; netted fringy top (part of a set), Irish Heart Foundation; purple pencil skirt, mystery second hand find; striped tights, Penneys; monochrome shoes, Dorothy Perkins.

   Oh Saturday, you beautiful day....
   I am updating after the event as Saturday was just that; eventful! At one point during the day I was standing behind the counter of the boutique I work in at the weekends, Om Diva, with my co-worker and pal, Bella. Bella made a strange noise and pointed at the security camera screen and said 'Is it? Is that HER??' Sure enough it was her, St. Vincent had called in during the summer and picked up a few pieces from Irish Designer Capulet and Montague before her performance at Electric Picnic, and was back for more!
  I then went up to assist St.V and her friend with their shopping, everything was going well, I was being moderately cool until I tried to hang up one arm full of the clothes she wanted to try on in the fitting room, it was at this point that I got my head tangled in a sheer sparkly top and just couldn't get free! My other arm was little use as it was holding more clothes, but when I didn't eventually break free I also managed to flick a long tasselled earring at St. Vincent which she gracefully caught and returned to me.
  Anyway she bought two pieces by Irish designer Ciara Murphy and invited us to see her show in Olympia that evening, along with after party passes and chats after the show.

Don't Be Afraid M.Murphy....

!!!

    Last week I found this wall and I've been using it as inspiration ever since; 'what would the wall say?' and things. It has been a helpful and encouraging addition to my life and I just can't quite believe that it just happened to be personalised with my name on it! I am of course aware that this is Ireland, the homeland of Murphys, but according to this poll Kelly and O'Sullivan closely follow on the list of most common Irish surnames so it could well have been 'Don't be Afraid M. Kelly' instead.

Fluffy powder blue crop jumper, Penneys; sheer black top, Enable Ireland; fluffy woolly fuchsia and black skirt, second hand in London during the heatwave as I am insensible shopper; yellow bag, Penneys.

     Today has been a joyous day, known as Friday to some, but Payday to others. I decided to restock on all my little bits I had run out of so I took a trip to see The Teddy Bear Story Exhibition with MMM and her little sister and then went around town filling this giant yellow bag with eyelets, sparkles and socks to sacrifice to the greater good aka my current project.

What it would look like if I wore my bag as a skirt.
Shoes, Asos; tights, eBay; bag, Penneys.

 

The last time I b;leached my eyebrows they fought back in the form of an allergic reaction, so this week I have been revisiting my back catalogue of eyebrow incarnations.
'M' earrings, Tiger; acid green eyeliner pencil, Catrice.

Thermal Insulation Tent

 

Stripes, Penneys; Tartan pinafore dress, concession in Topshop; silver fluffy crochet cardigan, River Island.

  

It was raining today, the day after the Ball, maybe it was raining yesterday too, I just can't recall. Anyway that is the reason for the metallic backdrop, none of the walls in my house are free from furniture/decoration so this handy thermal insulation tent for victims of hypothermia came to the rescue! It also came with some handy bundles of yellow chord and is quite happy to be cut up and used as wrapping paper.
  I love this tartan dress. I was 55minutes early for the coach up the coast to my hometown and decide that, as it was chilly, it would be an investment in my health to spend some time indoors instead of at the side of the road, so I took shelter in Topshop, it can be very hospitable that way you know...
   I was getting the bus Home, home just for the day to surprise my little sister for her Birthday and she certainly was surprised when I opened the door to her after school!

Vintage furry aviator hat, The Third Policeman, Rathmines; (formerly)white boots, Office.

Reddy?

Red Cardi, I don't even remember when this came into my possession, I think I might have just developed it!;white net top with fringing, Om Diva; purple crochet cardigan, second hand shop in Dundalk; black hairy skirt, Olsen.

 

This was a day of regretful wardrobe choices unfortunately. The skirt is beyond ankle length, it only allows for a stride length of about 40cm so manoeuvring the day was quite a challenge!

It is however a lovely skirt and came as part of a set comprising of it and a hairy vest, and who wouldn't want to have a hairy chest even if it is only imitation!

They were both the fruits of a day well spent in Rathmines, Dublin doing a lap of the second hand shops. I had never been to Rathmines before, but it seemed like the perfect way to celebrate the end of the thesis and MMM's birthday.

The skirt of doom, Olsen; sparkly pink socks, a birthday present form Iarla (from Topshop); shoes, Office.

 

On MMM's birthday we went shopping in Rathmines, but we had mango cheesecake with edible flowers on top!

 

 

Mini-Break at the Coast...

 

 

 

   Oh what a glorious day! I didn't dress for the weather, but I never expected snow! Oh well, my toes have thawed and my feet have dried, and all is well in the world once again!
I decided that after finally handing in my thesis yesterday that I had earned myself the opportunity to spend some time in what I like to call home-Home, the home of my home.


Black jersey headband, my mother's drawer; pale pink sweater, M&S complete with many an evenings' worth of my time spent sequinning; green wool skirt, second hand land, surprising thermal tights, my room; inappropriate shoes, Dorothy Perkins.

 

 

  These shoes were completely inappropriate in the surprise snow! 

Daisy earrings, Dorothy Perkins
 

Hello Yellow!

Yellow polo neck jumper, mystery previously owned gem; black and white trousers, second hand; black and white stripy top, Penneys; old, faded tallow tights, River Island; bright yellow tights, eBay; undies, TopShop.

 

Today was thesis hand in day so I wore a dotty ensemble to compliment my theme. I don't really ever want to have to think about it again, but I will say it is about circles and dots, and their use by Yayoi Kusama and Nigel Cheney.

If you look very closely you can just about make out how I spent one of my first post-thesis evenings: sticking things to my nails! It is perhaps THE most extravagant use of time I can think of. Not only is nail art not entirely crucial to life, but sticking things to your nails not only uses time but also inhibits one from further activity until a sufficient amount of superfluous sticky things have become unstuck!

 

White shoes, Zara- these are the newest member of my wardrobe family. They came from the Sale section of Zara and were marked 20euro, but when I arrived at the counter I was greeted with the blissful news that they had been discreetly reduced again to 6euro!

 

I Think Something Fishy Might Be Going on...

 

 

This glorious top is the proud property of my pal Miss MMM (I wonder if she knows I have it). It was a second hand find and used to be a maternity dress that would only have fitted a pregnant lamp post. It then became a skirt and this top, unfortunately the zip was sacrificed to the top half, so I'm not sure what happened to the skirt...actually I seem to recall it being too narrow a skirt for both legs, but that might be an exaggeration on the part of my memory.

Sunday has been a wonderful day, rainy and uneventful-just what I needed!

 

Fishy top, from maternity dress; navy wool skirt, second hand in London; purple polo neck jumper, (Santa Claus) Dunnes Stores; everything else, Penneys.

 

Star fish earrings, Om Diva (a birthday present from my boss)

 

Eye Eye

 
 
 

White leather jacket, Om Diva; white shirt, Tesco school uniform section; black jumper with gold beading, Topshop; orange necklace, Om Diva; evil eye broach, Tiger.

 
This was a day that was a long time coming. It was thesis printing day and this is what a person looks like when they are waiting for the bus to the thesis center, for the printing and binding of what seemed to be an unending project...

 

 



 

 

A Turbulant Terrifying Tuesday...Weather-Wise

Yesterday I wore my pyjamas.
They are fleece fabric printed with a mock fair isle design.
I am not showing anyone those.
Today I could not wear my pyjamas as the plumber, the gas man and the electricity man were coming, so I am wearing my loveliest African embroidered pink floral trousers.
My housemates said they also look like pyjamas.
I'm sure most things do when worn with slippers.
I don't think I'll show you those just yet either.

 The other day I said that I would tell the tale of my woolly pink wonder.

 Here it is:




I am a fan of layers. I wear two pairs or more of tights each day and feel a personal sense of failure if I do not break a sweat and regret my extreme layering at least once a day. I am unsure as to why this is. My friend suggested that it might be as we were born in the year of the lamb (she has a similar problem). We are trying to recreate our fleecy, lamby layer. I think I just like all of my clothes all at once.
   I found things particularly difficult during the summer just gone. I was interning in London during the heat-wave which saw firefighters extinguishing  15 grass fires a day(according to The Independent). I was interning with the knitwear design duo Leutton Postle, known for their extreme, textiley collections and avante garde approach to design.
While I was in London I took a day off to visit relatives in Wales. I booked my train tickets online and set off early one morning, little did I know that I would not be visiting the house of my Aunty and Nan who I hadn't seen for years, but rather shifting from café to café in the neighbouring town. As it happened when I was leaving my apartment in North London early on the morning of the 7th of August, a motorist was speeding down a twisting country road, recklessly mowing down a cyclist.
  This hit and run incident caused the police to shut down all the roads within a mile radius of the scene. This included the house of my relatives, thankfully however my Aunty and Nan had previously left the area and were enjoying a cup of tea in the train station of the nearest city awaiting my arrival. It was a lovely visit, but as the roads were closed and we could not make it back to their house, we decided to instead do a lap of all the cafes and coffee shops of the neighbouring town, before heading back to the city to do the same there! After our first few rounds of tea it was time to find a public toilet easily accessible to my elderly Nan. The nearest was situated next door to the indoor market, in the basement of a large gothic church. I aided Nan down the stairs and waited for her in what was to my surprise, a pop-up clothes sale in aid of the church roof fund! This was where my new pink pal was waiting for me, marked £2.... considering my weekly budget was £10 this was a considerable amount, and also factoring in the fact that it was August in a heat-wave AND that my suitcase for my homeward journey was already overfull and missing its wheels, I still deem it to have been a wise investment. In these situations of shopping doubt I always consider the pro's and con's. In this case of a heavy winter coat I always come to the conclusion that it is an investment in warmth and therefore in maintaining health.

Semi-Subdued Sunday the Second

Vintage printed top, Om Diva; Black embroidered, sequined cardigan, River Island; mohair skirt; the high street in Barcelona; bluetiful blue tights, e.Bay; shoes, Aldo/Office-I can't quite recall... 

I only ever buy River Island clothes  in the sale, but this second-hand find with tags intact was a chance find in the occasionally open charity shop beside college. I got it around the time that my class was working on our embroidery module. Presentability from both sides of the work was emphasised so I was very surprised to fins this garment does not adhere to that principle at all and ever time I put it on I have to fight my arms down the sleeves.

Space style planet and stars earrings, Om Diva.

 

Tomorrow I will tell you the story of my beautiful pink wool coat, it is a tale of mystery and adventure, unfortunately there is also murder mixed into the plot...but for now I am off to shiver in my bed as my fingers are too cold for typing!

Chicken Tikka Masala with Pilau Rice

Today was a day of hunger and until this evening I had no idea why...it turns out I was dressed as a serving of chicken tikka masala with pilau rice! Mm-mmm! Once I realised of course my torturous decision as to what to have for tea was over, which certainly was a relief as the hunger was beginning to affect me and it was becoming questionable as to whether I would be able to make it home or not. With my decision made I headed to the ready meals aisle in the supermarket closest to work with my meagre budget of 3euro and what awaited me was nothing short of a miracle; there, waiting patiently was the last of the chicken tikka meals and what's more, it was on special offer!

 

Orange, devore, beaded jacket thing, River Island;

staple stripes,(and red socks)  Penneys; yellow silk

trousers, unknown second-hand-land, my new

favourite shoes, ASOS

Shoes....

 

As it is Saturday, today's outfit was a work ensemble and that is also where my pictures were taken (on my surprise, extra 5minute  break). It was delivery day you see, and as they only happen twice a year( we have an extensive stock room) it has been a hectic one. It is great though, all the boxes delivered themselves a day or two after my boss arrived home from the land of shops, so it has been all about unpacking the spring boxes, as labelled by Ruth; and then remerchandising the shop!

    I was trying to describe the whole scenario to one of my friends who works in a pharmacy and I think I hit the nail on the head when I said it was like arranging a very big, exciting walk-in wardrobe in which you wanted to be able to admire all of your beautiful robes simultaneously...if only ay?

Light bulb earrings, Om Diva
(These earrings are the result of another time when I just could not resist buying the stock at work)