My Narnia

Today’s guest post is by Sinead from Her Style Diaries…

Everyone has a happy place. Some of mine are capones down the road that sell the nicest homemade chips and pizza, in any boutique/vintage store, sharing  a blanket on the couch with the boy, online, blogging and shopping , in my car,  watching jersy shore, but my secret little happy place is, my wardrobe.

Is that shallow?

Ah well shallow it is then….

This is where i start my day off and end my day.
I have been able to make one of our  two bedrooms  upstairs in our small country style house a walk in wardobe with all of my prized possessions like shoes hats jewellery clothes and bags .
The other room is made into our office which is another nice little place to be blogging and sorting bills grrrr

I wanted our bedroom downstairs just to be a place where we sleep and relax and zone out so that only has a bed in it with some lockers and one small wardrobe for the boy and a small tv, its all natural colours and is very calming indeed. It has a beautiful veiw of the sea and the clare mouthains and  we can even see the cliffs of mor on a really good day from our bed.

The upstairs room/wardrobe has an actual walk in wardrobe that lets say, hobits would love, but thats because its a country style house and has all the little nooks and crannys around the place with storing in the walls ect so the wardrobe room is a bit slooped but it hangs all my dresses and jumpsuits on two bars. It has a light. It boasts hooks for all my headbands and hats and all my necklaces. All my shoes live in here aswell but im hoping for more shelves so i can take them out of their boxes and up on to a well deserved throne.

All my bags hang of the back of the door and and i can see each and everyone of them..
love that, cas im guilty of forgetting what i own as im sure most of us are, so i like to see what i got so i can mix them up and play around, some are in baskets waiting for their day out which could be soon now…cheer!

I come here to paint my nails and use the varnish remover because the boy starts choking and having a breathing problem as soon as he smells it…. get over it like…  its not that bad…   sigh

My makeup station is this room. Everything i need to beautify myself not that it would take much … aha ahem : )
Everything i own is in this room. Besides all my winter stuff well most of it , cas you just never know do ya?)
This room is heaven to me –  i love being in it and feel very at ease that everything is at hands reach.
A double bed rests over at the wall. Lovely for reading or blogging. My gym gear lays on here and i do try not to ignore that!
Missy also lays here alot on her leopard print blanket.

Its a great little place. I can sing up there , dance stupidly, dance naked! walk around naked , very liberating, blog, read,  try on millions of different outfits, take hours to get ready just because i can, i can hide stuff up there like stuff that has those silly tags on them that really cost an arm and a leg but obviously only cost a fiver!!!   cough cough

So in all honesty i do spend alot of time in this ridicuosly small room that holds probably everything i own fashion/beauty related but….

So thank you thank you thank you to neils sister elisa for moving out into her beautiful new home next door and letting me take over narnia for  the forseable future!
It realy does make me stupidly happy that i have this place ….

I love it here… its like    ….  a shrine   ….. to …     well me!

Everyone has a happy place,  so what’s yours?

I am Her and She is Me

How do we choose our girl crushes?

I had a friend who was obsessed with Alexa Chung.
At the time, I was pretty clueless about indie celebs and if they weren’t plastered all over billboards, then I’d probably never heard of them.
When I eventually got around to looking up this Chung character, I found myself looking at someone who wasn’t all that dissimilar to my friend.
They had hair that was similar in colour and shape, the same pretty tomboy style, same unusually attractive faces.
The friend had been this way before I knew of her Alexa obsession, so I was pretty certain that the likeness wasn’t down to copycat-dom.
Coincidence then?

I’m a doubter.
I think we pick these crushes because we see these girls as the ‘better’ versions of ourselves -the people we could be if we had slightly nicer genes, more money, well-connected parents or a few lucky breaks.

You all know that I worship at the feet of Zooey Deschanel.
We have a similar retro vibe with our hairstyles,  clothing choices (well, more my wish list choices due to a lack of funds) and our taste in music.
She is who I’d like to think I could be.
The Me in life’s dimmed lighting.

It’s a comfort to think that if all my flaws and failures were wiped away (and if I had her cute features, quirky charm, oozing talent and hypnotic charisma of course), I could be her.
She’s the perfected version of who I’ve aimed to be.
And while I struggle in the marshy pit of inadequacy, I can look to her and she gives me hope.

So what do you think?
Is there more to your girl crushes than mere admiration?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Last week, a radio presenter read one of my tweets out on air.
Don’t worry, the post isn’t about that: I’m not so bad that I think this is worth bragging about.
But as it was a tweet, he also read out my Twitter Username: @chicknamedherms
ChickNamedHermia was too long by ONE LETTER to use so I had to use the ‘Herms’ nickname a lot of you have given me.
When I heard him say it – actually heard it said out loud – I cringed.

That’s right.
I cringed at my own blog name.
I felt like one of those sad teenagers who try to reinvent themselves by choosing some strange name that they think will make them sound ‘original’.
Or those teenage Angst Girls who name themselves after goddesses because they think it’s deep.

I didn’t choose the blog name all those 2.5years ago so that people would call me Hermia.
That didn’t even occur to me at the time.
I know…how slow am I?
The name came from the lyrics of a song in the film Get Over It.
Musical Shakespeare.
How could I resist?

It seemed like a good idea at the time: different, a little quirky and gave me some anonymity.
Now though.
Now I feel less happy with it as a blog name.

So I’m asking you guys:
Should I change the name of the blog to something a little more adult, a little more creative?
To something that sums the blog up better?

Please Discuss.
And Happy St Patrick’s Day Eve.

 

Etiquette

I have been working in offices since I was 20.
It was a bit of a shock after working at markets  and then in a shop for the seven years before that and took some getting used to.
The problem with working in an office is that you can’t get away from annoyances.
In another environment, you can move yourself to another area of the building and busy yourself with another activity, far away from whoever is annoying you.
Lately, a number of friends have been complaining about their office environments and the annoying habits of their co-workers, which has prompted me to create the following list:

Office Etiquette
compiled by Hermia and her office-working friends:

1. A bar of soap and some deodorant won’t break the bank. Invest in them.
Similarly, I don’t care how much YOU like that perfume that you BATHED in this morning, stop abusing it because I don’t want to spend the day choking on it. Remember, less is more.

2. If you eat at your desk, keep in mind that no one else wants to smell your latest frozen delight of fish and sewage. It can be forgiven if it only happens now and again, but not on a regular basis.

3. If someone is popping down to the shop for a snack and asks you if you want anything, they mean it along the lines of “Do you want me to grab you a bar/crisps/banana?”. This is not an invitation for you to dump your complicated sandwich order on them, forcing them to queue forever at the deli counter.

4. Just because a co-worker comes into your office to say something to whoever shares the room with you, it doesn’t mean you’re allowed to sit there listening in on everything that’s being said. It mightn’t be super private, but it’s not being addressed to you. It’s also not socially acceptable to reference said conversation at a later time.

5. If someone is taking a phone call with a client, don’t make as much noise as you can in the background because it will be impossible for them to figure out what the client is trying to ask/tell them (working in a call centre was fun). Also, don’t listen in on the phone call, because it’s none of your business and if it is, you will be told…take your nosiness elsewhere.

6. Stealing food is not ok. It is NEVER ok. It’s even less ok in this beautiful recession where people now have to budget and plan out their week’s lunches. To you, it might just be a yoghurt, but to the person it belongs to, it’s leaving them short of food and possible costing them more money. Don’t be an asshole.

7. Don’t give people nicknames…actually that one applies to every job. As does ‘don’t leave poo floating in the work toilets for the next person to find’.

8. Don’t be a knuckle-cracker. The noise makes a lot of people want to vomit. If you really need to do it, take it outside

9. Don’t force the person you share a room to talk to you if they obviously don’t want to. Take the damn hint! (this was particularly bad in the call centre, because you didn’t have a designated seat and sometimes ended up sitting beside people you didn’t like or who were just too weird)..this one also applies to bus stops.

10. Don’t mess with another person’s desk. It’s just wrong to adjust the height of their chair or mess with their screens or move their papers and pens around, while you’re arsing around on their computers. A side-note to this rule is also not to root around on another person’s Facebook/Personal Email/etc if they’ve left themselves signed in on THEIR computer that YOU are violating.
Frape is hilarious if it’s your best mate, but messing around with a co-worker’s private sites is just unacceptable. Don’t be a dick.

To summarise, just don’t be a self-obsessed, rude, social-retarded jerk and you’ll be a lovely office person.

What do your co-workers do to annoy you…?

EDIT: I’d forgotten about this one:
11: Do not – I repeat, DO NOT – stare at your co-workers when they are eating!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stealing is wrong, y’all!

As you all know, I’m a little bit obsessed with WR.
The restraining order means I can’t live in the bush outside her house and use my binoculars to stare in the windows anymore, but that has not lessened my love for the dear girl.
She’s my Cyber Soulmate.
*waves at WR from across the street*

You can’t beat a good creepy start to a post.
*satisfied sigh*

ANYWAY!
I’m not one to keep my mouth shut when something or someone bothers me.
I am a big fan of fairness.
I should’ve been a judge….or a journalist….OH WAIT!

I was introduced to a blog called Just Add Kaleena the other day.
Ah sure, she looks amusing, I thought to myself.
I had a look at her posts.
Oh…and she does Photo of the Day like WR:

Actually WR only posted that same picture the other day.
It had a very similar caption too.
Well that’s….strange.
There’s no link to WR’s blog, so maybe it’s a coincidence?
Or maybe she’s a fan and just did something similar without noticing?

I left her a wee comment asking if she was separated from WR at birth because of their similar sense of humour.
She didn’t respond.
I forgot about it.

Then today I visited her blog and saw this:
Yes that is a comment from me underneath it (with a typo in it, of course) because I remembered seeing this exact same post with a nearly identical caption on WR’s blog ages ago.
I remember it because I found it particularly hilarious being a Posed Picture person:

And it’s one of many that are quite similar to our WR’s Photo of the Day posts.

I just think it’s disgraceful.
I mean I see a lot of bloggers copy little things from other people, such as little phrases or ideas, but never this blatantly!
How does she sleep at night!?
My blog pictures come from my Flickr and Tumblr accounts and while I don’t link the original source directly from this blog (get’s messy), I do link the photos to the original source on Tumblr and Flickr (it’s not hard…they’re nearly all from WeHeartIt).
And while not crediting a picture is one thing, stealing words and entire ideas is another.
I always link posts or blogs that have inspired me.
Hell, I’d no problem linking all of Kaleena’s posts here!
I’m that fair.
😀

So I’ll see if she replies.
Maybe it’s a huge misunderstanding.
Somehow, I doubt that….

EDIT 1: WR has told me she’ll retract the restraining order for the Irish Blog Awards in March…YAY *practices hair stroking techniques*

EDIT 2: And the blog in question appear to have been removed….did someone report her, because there really wasn’t any need for that.

EDIT 3: Kaleena has sent WR an apology for using her posts without crediting her. Nobody seems to have reported her (thank God….dramatic much if someone had!?) and she may be making it a private blog now which is why the link seems to be gone, but I’m not sure of the details yet.

EDIT 4 –A Word from The Rabbit: Kaleena and I have had a little chat and she apologised for the whole situation. She seems like a nice person and I don’t think she meant any harm. She has made her blog private but I hope she brings it back because aside from the situation, I actually enjoyed reading it.

EDIT 5: (I’m starting to feel like Old Skool Hyperbole and a Half with all these ‘edits’) Kaleena’s blog is back to normal and she’s taken down the stolen material that was highlighted here…I still saw a few WR posts left though. Also there’s no sign of the post she said she’d do on her blog letting her readers know what she’s did and attributing the work to WR.

Let’s Talk About Poop

I walked into the office bathroom this morning, having been blown to bits and rained on in the battle to get from Tallaght all the way in to Dublin City Centre and in desperate need of some fringe fixing.

Opening the door, a smell hit me.
Ah crap.
Literally.

Thinking it had to be one of the boys, I hurried to the Girls room trying to escape the smell, only to find I was smack-bang in the middle of it.
Twas painful, lads.
But you all know how insanely obsessed I am with my hair, so I held my breath and worked as fast as I could.
And then it occurred to me.
If anyone comes in while I’m in here or sees me coming out of the toilets, they’re going to think this is me.
Even if I say “Oh by the way, that metal-melting smell wasn’t my doing,” they’ll nod and smile politely, while in their heads they’ll be saying, It was SO her.

Thankfully I didn’t meet anyone.
And judging by the fact the cistern was still filling up, I’d missed the actual culprit by about a minute myself.

Pooing in a public toilet is a traumatic experience.
Not just from the hygiene perspective, but from the paranoia and judgement side of things.

Another issue that isn’t uncommon in public toilets is the the presence of skid marks.
And again, if I come in after that person, I’m a nervous wreck thinking that the next person to come in will thing I’m the dirty bitch staining the toilet bowl.
There was one particularly bad incident of Skid Marks a couple of months after I started working in my current job.
I was still a newbie and still trying to make a good impression.
(They’re all on to me at this stage, so I don’t bother any more)
I was already a nervous wreck every time I had to use the toilets, because we work in quite an old building and once the toilet is flushed, it takes about ten minutes for the cistern to fill up again.
So if someone had used the toilet right before you, you could either come back later (when someone else nearly always got in just before you again) or just leave your pee sitting in the water under a pile of toilet paper.

Anyway, this particular case of Skid Marks has to be one of the worst I’d ever seen and mortified at the thought of someone thinking it was me, I contemplated cleaning it.
I know.
Follow that logic, like!
Someone else desecrates our toilet and I’m on the brink of cleaning it.
Eventually sense kicked in and I just left it and ran before anyone could see me in there.

I think the worst one was one raised by an old Lentra workmate of mine one day when we were standing over the deli sink peeling hard-boiled eggs.
She brought up the issue of Floaters.
Apparently it nearly always happened to her whenever she pooed in a public toilet, such as our work toilet.
(If anyone hasn’t copped who would discuss this with a person over hard-boiled eggs, it’s the girl who brought you THIS).
Usually another flush of the toilet would send it hurtling down the pipes, but it’s something that haunts me in my current job.
As I mentioned previously our toilet takes about ten minutes to fill up with enough water for one flush, so if you blow that first one, you have to hang around the toilet for all those minutes and pray no one comes in during it and then face the knowing faces of colleagues when you return to your desk.
Hmph, they’ll think, she’s been a while. Must’ve been a tough curry last night…
Or you can make a run for it, but knowing my luck, I’d most definitely be caught and then I’d get the name Abandoning Poo Girl…or maybe something more creative!

I don’t actually have a finishing point for this story.
Except that I’m a little psychotic when it comes to pooping.
Elliot from Scrubs gets me…
Carla: Thank you SO much for letting me stay here, Elliot.
Elliot: Please! And I still have only one rule: I cannot talk or be talked to while I’m on the toilet and also cannot talk or be talked to BY someone who’s on the toilet.
Carla: You told me yesterday, Elliot. I get it.
Elliot: Hmmm, you say you get it and still managed to knock this morning and ask if I wanted coffee.
Carla: Oh I just thought-
Elliot: Uh bup bup bup bup buh! Pretend that never happened or I won’t poo again for two months.

The compulsory “Nominations for the IBAs have opened” post

So yeah.
Nominations for the Irish Blog Awards 2011 have opened up.
You can vote HERE.

You don’t have to be Irish or be living in Ireland to vote.
You just need to read Irish blogs.

Despite our efforts, the Fashion and Beauty category was not split into two separate categories.
Shocker.
In fact, this year they’ve been packed into a new Lifestyle category.

Speaking of protest attempts, one interesting addition to the categories is…
Best Outraged Blog Awards Post
Conspiracy theories, cries of corruption and calls for a million blogger march on IBA HQ

Seems like this could be a bit of a two-fingered salute to anyone who has criticised the awards over the past year.
Call them out in public.
Make them own their complaints/observations/civilised queries and potentially face the people they berated if they make it to the awards ceremony.
Evil genius or pettiness?
A number of protests and campaigns were held against the government, etc this year though, so I’ll give ’em the benefit of the doubt that it’s these bloggers that the category is aimed at!
See?
I can TOTALLY be diplomatic.
Maybe just this one time though…

I’ll have to dedicate the weekend to deciding who I’ll nominate.
There are the obvious ones (for me anyway) like WR for Humour Blog and maybe Avant Style for Best Newcomer, but other than that I’m stumped.
For starters, I know/read/love WAY too many Irish Fashion Bloggers!!
Blau, Whisty, WWIWT and Glamrocks Girls, Ali, etc….fight it out, bitches!
😀

If you’re contemplating nominating me, well thank you in advance.
I appreciate your faith in me and your loyalty.
Judging from last year’s nominations, I fit into a few different categories, so go with what your heart tells you.
Although it’s probably safe to assume that you can rule out the Irish Language and Political Categories (oh the jokes I make! *wipes tear*).
Also not sure that using everyone else’s photos, while taking the odd TERRIBLE one myself would qualify me for Best Photography Blog.
Oh and if you want to nominate one of my posts, just make sure they were written within the specified time frame.

Take a look through my blogroll for some great Irish Bloggers if you’re wondering who to nominate!

 

I just want to be perfect

I’m very much looking forward to seeing Black Swan.
Obviously there has been some seriously super crazy hype over the last few months, and that has prompted disappointment in quite a few people I know who have seen, but I remain hopeful.
Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to your enjoyment of a film is to have it exalted before you see it.
If someone says “X is the bestest, awesomest, wonderfulest movie ever in the world”, how can the movie possibly live up to that review?

Even if the movie isn’t as good as I hope, the sheer beauty of it will most probably be enough.
That and the fact I love both Natalie and Mila.

I have a morbid fascination with ballet.
On one hand, it mutilates ballerinas and distorts their self-image and there’s the constant pursuit of perfection in order to survive in the world.
Quite a bit of the time, it’s rather unpleasant to watch performance because the teeny ballerinas are distracting gaunt and bony and no amount of grace or beautiful movements can stop you gazing at the bones protruding through skin-tight leotards.
On the other hand, sometimes it can be achingly beautiful if you can achieve the perfect combination of music and dance, lighting and costume, a slim healthy pixie-girl and a man whose package isn’t smacking you in the metaphorical face.

I’m not graceful.
Nor am I in anyway talented as a dancer.
Nor am I in anyway elfin.
I’m also quite fond of my non-deformed feet.

I like to watch ballet, but I have never EVER wanted to take part.
(actually this reminds me of a rather humiliating story from my childhood…you guys should check in tomorrow for that!)

So fingers crossed I enjoy the film.
And also that I can find a copy of a movie called Repulsion, which I’m really interested in seeing after reading this article examining the comparisons between it and Black Swan.

I’m a tres cultured movie connoisseur, me!
😀

I’ve got a ticket to the fast city, where the bells don’t really ring…

So the place and date has been announced for the 2011 Irish Blog Awards…
March 19th in the beautiful Belfast.
Which makes me suspect that mine and Blau’s conversation in Wagamama on Monday was being bugged, as we’d wondered when we were going to hear about it!
And yes I AM implying that we’re important enough to spy on!

I do like the few months leading up to awards ceremony itself  – and obviously I say this with a whole one-year’s experience of the Irish Blog Awards – because it gives me some inspiration.
Around this time of year, the early darkness makes me lazy and I’m less eager to tap out a new post by the time I’ve gotten home from work and made a dinner, so I tend to give myself frequent breaks….a day here, a day there.
I also find it’s easier to post a video or a an item of clothing than actually attempt to be creative.

Not that I turn into a crappy blogger… basically the Judging Months keep me on my toes and provide me with the kick-start I need to stop me from slacking.

I’ll admit I was feeling a little bit of pressure for this year after doing shockingly well last year (I like to think of bribery as taking the initiative), but then I thought ‘Feck It, you’ll get to drink with awesome bloggers’ and now I’m happy to go along for the ride and not care about what happens!
Just as long a White Rabbit NI gets Best Humour Blog again…
*looks threateningly a potential voters*

However, whom-ever was tweeting for the Irish Blog Awards today did strike a chord with me when they said the following…

——————–

@IrishBlogAwards You may now resurrect your blogs and lick the arse of other bloggers in the comment sections or start a fight! #iba11

——————-

There’s a huge difference between getting a bit of blogging energy during the judging process and just taking the complete piss.
It was fairly common last year and I remember being surprised at the number of people who seemed to be doing this and then went as far as being shortlisted!
So I’ll ask anyone volunteering as a judge this year to look out for that.
Look a few months back in each blog’s archives to get a real look at what it’s about!
A blog should be judged on its whole year, not just the couple of months it knew it was being watched and was looking for a bit of fame!

————————————–

On a sidenote, fingers crossed that they introduce separate Fashion and Beauty categories this year….fashion bloggers just haven’t stood a chance these last few years!

Yay Blog Awards!

🙂

The ‘I Love Your Blog’ Interview…

The adorable LolaDee from Things I Fell In Love With Today requested I do this, and since there hasn’t been anything like this in a while and because I can’t deny that lovely girl anything, here I go…

1 – Why did you create the blog?
Ah well initially it was because I had a lot of time on my hands after I left college and having gotten used to writing almost everyday during those three years of academic bliss, I didn’t want to get out of the habit. I blogged idly for about six months and then around February 2009 it kicked off!

2 -What kind of blogs do you follow?
My favourite blogs always have a personal touch. I love reading about people’s lives (well as long as they’re interesting, lol) and if they’re funny as well, I’m all over it. They don’t have to have the most exciting lives in the world (hell, who am I to judge) but they do need to have an interesting slant put on them. Some good examples would be White Rabbit NI, Live It Love It and Jennifer Alice in Wonderland, who has become a leeeeeeeetle irregular in her blogging patterns, but I would recommend browsing through her archives and keeping an eye on her blog anyway!
I also love photography and fashion blogs, but again only if there’s a personal angle! Kisses and Cross Stitches and Whisty are good examples of this!

3 – Favourite make up brand?
I mix and match. I go to Loreal for foundation and powder (although I may be switching to MAC this month), Benefit for concealers, Rimmel for eyeliners and Smashbox from primer!

4 – Favourite clothing brand?
Topshop and Urban Outfitters are where I’ve gotten a lot of my clothes. I find they’re a little hit and miss season-by-season though! Last Winter, Spring and Summer, Urban Outfitters kicked ass, while Topshop was pretty awful, and then BANG Topshop’s A/W 2010 collections were amazing, while Urban Outfitters was shamefully disappointing! If I’m looking for a nice dress for a special occasion, I’ll nearly always go to Oasis.

5 – Your indispensable make up product?
Rimmel Waterproof Eye Definer

6 – Your favourite colour?
I wouldn’t tie myself down to anything, but you can’t go wrong with lovely blush colours.

7 – Your perfume?
I’m always a little embarrassed to admit this, but the perfume I’ve used for the last 3+ years is Britney Spears’ Fantasy. I know, I know, it’s hardly the perfume of a stylish person, but it’s actually gorgeous. I find it really hard to find perfumes that work on me. A lot of them smell nice, but then they smell chemically when they mix with my ‘natural musk’ or whatever the hell is coming out of my skin. I had a terrible experience with Dior Cherie last year, which cost my €70 *sigh* Also if I’m looking for a bit of a change, I mix Fantasy with DKNY’s Be Delicious -the apple works really well with it, but reminds of washing-up liquid on its own!

8 – Your favourite film?
It’s just not possible to choose. Some of my go-to movies are Clueless, 500 Days of Summer, Amelie, Love Me If You Dare, All About Eve and anything with Meg Ryan in it…well not anything, just When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seatle, You’ve Got Mail and City of Angels.

9 – What country would you like to visit and why?
I’m not a huge traveller, to be honest. I would like to go back to New York and I’m always up for visiting Paris, but I’m not crazy to visit anywhere else. I suppose it would be interesting to visit Japan and maybe recreate Roman Holiday in Rome!

10 – Write the last question and answer it yourself: What film do you think NEVER EVER EVER should have been remade?
It’s a tough one, but it has to come down to The Karate Kid…and also Buffy The Vampire Slayer if that actually goes ahead!

Nowww…I’m passing this along to the following lovely bloggers 🙂
White Rabbit NI
Smile Because It Happened
Red Lemonade
Bored and Crafty