First Dog!

So, the news everyonehas been waiting for – the Obama’s have decided to get a Portuguese Water Dog as the canine addition to their lovely, smiley family. How exciting! Remember how cute is was when [almost President Elect Barrack mentioned that his daughters 'could now have a dog', seeing how that's what they agreed if he got the Democrat vote? Talk about melting! The whole world stopped for a brief moment to pause and lap that one right up!

So, what are these Portuguese Water dogs like anyway? Well, first off, they chose this breed as they need a 'hypoallergenic' dog as little Malia is allergic to dogs [imagine? how awful!]and these fellas have a great reputaion; Medium sized, these hardy dogs are lively and sensible but also very loyal, they’re affectionate and good with children, easy to train and I guess, one of the most important things is that they’re so darn cute! Those ears are just crying out to be ruffled!

Obama also mentioned that they wanted to get a shelter dog. Now, I presume that the dog they’ll be getting at the end of April will be a shelter dog, I just couldn’t get confirmation of that. Why the end of April? Well, the family have a little ‘Spring Break’ planned around that time and it wouldn’t do to upset Doggie and take him off on hols or *shock horror* leave him in kennels when he’s only just arrived. And apparently, the arguments have already begun over what the new First Mutt will be called…

Less Beverly Hills.. More Like Hill 16

This is hilarious! Credit where credit’s due, I came across this on lovely Annie’s blog and couldn’t resist putting it up myself. The opening line sets the tone for the entire video – so you have to turn up the volume! There are a good few ‘Hills’ parodies up on youtube.com but this is the best, cos it’s done by a few Irish girls, natch. Whiffy Whitney’s ridin’ knickers will have to stay on until another night. Lauren’s hair extensions might be a bit manky and Lo just looks as though she hasn’t a clue what’s going on, it could be all the teeth whitening chemicals that’ve gone straight to her head. Hammer Time indeed!

The Princess and the TOADY

I happened upon this as a small box announcement of 10 lines in a paper last weekend and promptly thought I’d highlight it here, seeing as it’s my blog and I can post whatever I want. Now I’m sure that no one would be surprised to learn that there’s an official ’Toy of the Year’, which tends to be a sales based award whereby toy manufacturers slap each other on the back in some big hotel conference room and laugh how much they can get parents to pay for a bit of plastic in a box – but do you know what a TOADY is?

There a quite vocal group in the States that have set themselves up as the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood [CCFC] and each year they award a supreme TOADY – Toys Oppressive and Destructive to Young Children [I know, bit of a mouthful] and this year’s winner is Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader Barbie. Out of 6,000 votes, this nasty piece of sexist stereotype gained the top spot with 40% of the votes.

Look at the pic on the left. Look at it! Yes it’s what you might describe as a ‘typical Barbie’, but those shorts are going right up her arse they’re so short! And she’s wearing little more than a bra over her ridiculous, watermelon sized boobs. So, we’ve got the usual Barbie figure – one that’s been estimated at a mind boggling out of proportion 36′[chest]-18′[waist]-33′[hips] – and the little bits of material covering her modesty that constitute a cheerleaders outfit. The combination of flesh, non existent outfit and links to that most holy of grails [as far as Americans are concerned], the family all loves it, American Football just doesn’t sit easy with the CFCCers. And it doesn’t sit easy with me either. I’m thinking that the kind of Mom who’ll buy this for her kid [she's $79.99 by the way!] is the type that will be then driving her daughter to a beauty pageant once they stop off for more industrial strength hairspray and teeth whitener along the way.

Now, I’ll never be the type to say that I’m fond of little girls – but do they not deserve better than this? How the feck are they supposed to be able to tick ‘eating disorders’ off the list of issues they’ll never have if they think that 1] they should have a body like Barbie or 2] that being a cheerleader is the way to go, no matter what it takes to get there. Mind you, as Barbie is nearly 50 [IRL, obviously, in Barbie's World she'll always be that shinning, sparkling Prom Queen], Mattel have been pushing this one for quite a while and must’ve corrupted many a young mind by now – in 1992, Teen Barbie gave us such pearls of wisdom as ‘I love shopping’ and ‘Will I ever have enough clothes?’, not to mention the inspirational ‘Maths is tough!’

I hate Barbie. I will admit that I was a Sindy fan when I was really young, but in fairness, Sindy is in a different class. Good for the CCFCers for making Barbie into a TOADy. 

Little Miss Meh

I don’t really feel like blogging right now. And now you probably don’t feel like reading this post. Sorry. It’s like I’m in some kind of bubble of mediocrity, a hamster on a wheel if you like. At least if I was in a fish bowl the castle would seem like something new each time I swam by it. It’s all just a bit, no, a lot, ‘meh’ right now.

I still don’t feel like I’m properly ‘into’ my new [2 months old] job yet.. it’s not that I can’t do it, it’s just a slow burner moving into a new disipline, building a whole new set of contacts and getting to grips with the politics. The commute is pissing me off. I missed a bus by 1 minute yesterday, had to wait half an hour for the next one and then was stuck on a traffic island in the middle of the road as I saw my bus home pull away later on. Saying this makes me feel guilty though because I really like the people I’m working with and know from experience that having a job right now is a bonus.

I’ve still no money though. Holidays? Pah! Paying off the credit card bill? It’ll be a long time and it’s use is on ‘real emergency only’ hold. A tub of Ben & Jerry’s or Claire’s Accessories earrings keep me going inbetween actually deciding which week I’ll treat myself to a MAC lippy and Nars eyeshadow combo or something from Esprit. Oh the money thing isn’t really bothering me. I always manage to go out a couple of times a week and really enjoy myself, that’s I suppose the way I really treat myself – the one thing I’ll never fathom is how city dwellers can up social life and swap it for nights in front of the TV trying to convince themselves that ‘everything’ is worth giving up in order to pay a mortgage, even if negative equity has fecked everything up. Seriously, I’m so glad I don’t really have to worry about money though, I get regular Fur Time with Molly & Fizzy and the only reason I’d want my own place is to be able to have pets, so I can live with renting no problem.

I should be raving about meeting a few friends at 8pm last Saturday and getting home at 9am the next day, after a night of great chatting, laughing and most of all dancing. Yeah, it was a really good night but one thing kinda ruined it in the middle and so I’m still actually trying to figure out what happened. Try as I have been , I’ve no control over this situation and damnit! I hate not being able to at least take a grip of what’s going on and think I can make it change. The fall out from this probably means I now won’t be going to a particular evint – I had my fabulously slinky Karen Millen dress, provacative Pied a Terre high heels and sexy evening gloves all ready to go as well. And I look absolutely fabilis in that outfit. At least as I write this Monday is nearly over, I feckin hate Mondays.

This is what’s bubbling underneath, courtesy of a little online quiz that I took while trying to come up with something more interesting to blog about and failing miserably:

‘You are such a sweetie! you would do anything to help anybody. You always have a smile on your face and when someone sees you, they smile too! You’re popular and probably friends with Little Miss Chatterbox. Heck, you’re friends with everyone! You are sensitive and funny and probably aren’t single. But if you are [Ahem! That seems imminent, tbh *sigh*], then it won’t be long before Mr Sunshine comes along. You have a crush on Mr Messy but you’re willing to make him a bit more clean and be more than friends. Who knows? He could be your Mr Sunshine after all!

So, I’m off to try and find the Little Miss Sunshine that hopefully isn’t too far away.

Get it? Got it? Good!

Ok. This says it all. It’s a Friday Song… and it’s also an Everyday of the Week song! It’s one of those songs that once in your head, you’ll be humming it ALL day, maybe even for the next week!

I love this song. It’s cute and fun but it also comes with a message.

And.. and! Apparently there’s a Flash Mob/ Flash Music event going on tomorrow on Dublin’s Grafton St at 3pm. Be there and you’ll hear a whole crowd of people burst into a no doubt, ahem, totally coordinated rendition of this song. Cool! It’s being organised by 2 guys that have just been made redundant. Food for thought indeed.

Friday Pah!

Yes.. Very late with today’s Friday Song. And it’s not even up yet! I finally decided what I wanted to put up about 2 hours ago [on the way to work] and I can’t, can’t for the life of me find it as 1] the normal ’studio’ video isn’t on YouTube, only shaky live footage crap is there and 2] where I can find it, it doesn’t have the usual URL link so that I can put it up here and you lot don’t have to click into into to see what the bloody song is. *Sigh*

So, what was I going to put up, I hear you ask? Well, I’m not going to tell you as I have a feeling some divine type of intervention is doing it’s best to ensure I don’t sabbotage – wow! Beastie Boys! Haven’t heard that for a bit!.. but it’s maybe not a ‘Friday Song’ hmm – anyway.. to ensure I don’t sabbotage something, a cutting off nose to spite face type thing. Maybe. Oh lookit.. Come back in a while and I’ll have a Friday Song up. Promise.

Echo Echo

I swear to God, the next time I hear this song I’ll know who sings it. It’s a perfect little pop ditty and it’s all about ‘being back in Echo Beach someday-ay-ay-ay’. Oh this song kills me everytime I hear it – but no more! It’s all the fault of ITV for dreaming up the Echo Beach/ Moving Wallpaper combo. I’d heard this song before that but have heard it loads more since. ‘Moving Wallpaper’ was the ‘behind the scenes in the TV production company while filming Echo Beach’ programme that was shown before the actual soap that was being produced, ‘Echo Beach’. With me? Good. There’d be all kinds of crises behind the scenes and generally a lot more bad behaviour [yes, sex between people that shouldn't be up to that kind of thing and general I-could-be-fired-for-this type malarkey] just with less corny lines and less looking out to sea in a forelorn way after the latest setback / heartbreak.. you get the picture!

I watched a few of these episodes and it’s all well and good ITV trying to be a parody of itself and what TV production is, gold star to the clever exec etc.. but I liked these programmes just for what they were – perfect Friday night I’m just about to get ready to go out viewing and perfect is there any pizza left, I’m opening more wine wiewing as well. Not a lot of thinking involved, see? And did I mention Hugo Speer? Mmm mmm…

Sadly, Echo Beach is no more but apparently Moving Wallpaper will be back but will be behind the scenes of a ‘fictional’ or ’zombie’ show.

And just for the record, Martha and the Muffins did the original in 1980, Toyah did a version and Gabrielle Cilmi recorded the version used by ITV.

Flower Power

So, did you give or receive flowers on Valo’s Day? It’s not a question about scoring points, it’s just an event that can say a lot. Don’t you think there’s something intriguing about seeing someone walk down the street with a bunch of flowers? There’s all kinds of flowers. There’s the ‘I got you these cos they looked nice and so I thought of you’ flowers. There’s the ‘These are the biggest bunch of flowers I could find, you have to be impressed now’ flowers. There’s the ‘I hope you like them, I tried really hard to get you flowers you’d like, I hope these do the job’ flowers. There’s the ‘ I’m sorry’ flowers. There’s the ‘I actually bought these for myself, because I wanted to’ flowers. There’s the ‘I bought these for myself because they’re the only thing that’s made me smile today’ flowers. And there’s the ‘I miss you so much, why did you leave me’ flowers.

Every bunch of flowers tells a story but it’s generally a story that stays between the petals and leaves. I got a fantastic bunch of flowers delivered to work on Friday, the day before Valentine’s Day. Absolutely fabulous flowers, a mix of lillies, red roses, pink carnations, yellow heather-y sprays, there was an orange Tiger Lilly about to bloom all set off with green leafy strands – we’re talking a huge bouquet. I decided to leave the flowers in work until I could bring them to my parents place on Monday night, more people would get to admire them that way and I’m never really sure where exactly I’m spending my weekend nights now anyway. Come Monday, they were still perfect, the Tiger Lilly had bloomed and I struggled to carry them from the office to the bus stop.

A few young girls looked me up and down as I walked by. A guy walking towards me smiled and winked. I was standing at the bus stop and a lady around my Mom’s age smiled without hesitation just after I realised she had glanced up from the bouquet and was looking me square in the eye. Then I wondered what she was thinking. Feckit anyway! She was deffo thinking I’d gotten them as an apology from the someone that should’ve actually remembered Valentine’s Day last Saturday and was trying to make up for it now. Or else that I’d a secret admirer that was flat broke to shell out before the 14th and only plucked up the courage to send them after the event. A guy got off the bus when it arrived and raced over to me, ‘Ah! Ye shouldn’t have!’ and away with him leaving me to smile after being very distracted by the lady from a few minutes beforehand. As I got on the bus, the driver held out his hands, ‘OH! thanks very much! They’re gorgeous’ and beamed at me while I momentarily stopped struggling with the huge foliage to laugh. Some people got off the bus a stop later and I could feel faces peering into the cellophane wrapper to get a better look.

Ok, so I felt a right twit on the way home, barely able to see around this huge bouquet. But it really wasn’t that bad, I suppose it reinforced my thought that people are very intrigued by a bunch of flowers. And who were the flowers from, I hear you ask? Well, actually they were from my boss! Two bouquets were hand delivered last Friday to say ‘Thanks girls for all your hard work. Happy Valentine’s Day’. What? You thought they were from McSmile? Ha! Yeah right.

Osmo-regulate Me!

OK, I’ve already shared my thoughts on the yummy REN lip honey, so after giving the ‘Osmotic Infusion Ultra Moisture Day Cream’ a bit of a trial, I’m ready to let you know what I think! Now, I’ve said before, REN have a very fancy schmancy way of letting you think that their stuff was actually developed by the medical team aboard the USS Enterprise somewhere beyond the Delta Quadrant and then beamed back in time to us mere mortals as the saviour of the ‘modern’ world. And well, while we all know that there’s some things that should be avoided and some that should be looked out for when it comes to a bit o’ skincare, it’s no good the PR’s and copywriters playing a blinder if the product just doesn’t come up to scratch.

This is the blurb that comes with this little number - ’Specifically formulated to infuse dry skin with long lasting moisture to leave skin smooth, plump, comfortable and beautifully healthy. This cream not only provides immediate moisture but is cunningly formulated with an osmotic regulator that carries water deep into the skin and releases it when extra hydration is needed. Phytostimuline from Beech Bud and hyaluronic acid further increase the skin’s moisture retaining ability. Ceramide, phospholipids and Omega 6 boost the skin’s repair function to help restore softness, elasticity and optimum comfort whilst REN’s Global Protection Complex helps purify the skin and protect against premature ageing’ - but what is it actually like when you slap it on yer mush?

The texture of this is lovely, not too heavy and deffo not too light. Unusually velvety and silky, you then realise that that must be all the osmotic regulators just ensuring that it spreads across skin before oh-so-easily sinking into it. Perhaps. But definitely it has a ‘wow’ factor from the very first application! My skin [and this is aimed at dry skin that can feel taut after washing] is dry but not seriously so, just in need of regular moisture and some extra TLC in the Winter, so I would think I’m the target audience for this particular piece of kit. My overall verdict is that this is exactly the type of moisturiser that’s good for my skin and the REN ‘no horrible chemicals’ policy is not to be sniffed at either.

I was going to give out about politely add that a bit of old SPF wouldn’t be a bad addition but lo and behold! ‘All moisturisers contain REN’s exclusive Global Protection Complex, a powerful blend of anti-oxidants and free radical scavengers designed to protect the skin against premature aging and reduce the signs of damage in the skin caused by UV induced DNA damage and chronic inflammation’. Result!

This tube of lovely cost me €42 but as is to be expected… gggrrr… a bit less when bought in Sterling online.

Update: It has been pointed out to me that Clery’s may not be the cheapest place to buy REN. Apparently there’s a chemist near Eason’s on Talbot St, Cleary’s, that have better prices and are good with samples. Also try the Nourish shops [3 in Dublin city centre and a further 2 in Rathfarnham and Santry].

Friday Request

Well, this is via a special request! My new best friend, Una, rang me up after our little chat the other day [see below post] and asked if I’d put her favourite song up as ‘The Friday One’ so, who am I to deny Una her favourite song? This is for you, you super trooper!