Taking a walk on the WILD side

I fell in love with a faux-fur leopard print coat last week and was so close to putting myself into debt and buying it when my friend kindly told me I looked like Bet Lynch from Coronation Street. Since I don't smoke or drink pints I figured I probably wouldn't pull it off so and left the shop empty handed.

Animal prints are definitely a look I'm loving this Winter though and think they add a bit of classic boldness to an otherwise simple outfit - when worn in small amounts! Whilst they've always appeared over the years in the forms of handbags, shoes and other accessories, we're seeing them more than ever incorporated into outfits, particularly leopard print and here are some of my favourite looks for this season...

Love Katy Perry's 3/4 length sleeved dress

Kate Moss adds a faux-fur leopard print coat to a
zip-detailed black dress and understated heels

Rihanna tucks a leopard-print blouse into
a high waisted white trouser suit for a sophisticated look

Forever 21 launches in Dublin

In case the Dublin shopping scene wasn't exciting enough with the opening of the largest New Look store in Europe, it decided to go one step further and get way ahead of the European trends with the arrival of one of America's biggest fashion retail stores, Forever 21.

The store which will open its doors to the public today, Saturday 13th November, is the first of its kind to be opened in Europe - which is bound to shake our fashion scene up and set our standards that bit higher in the stylish city stakes!

Forever 21 is a Los Angeles based company and will be taking over most of the space previously occupied by Arnotts Project in Jervis St Shopping Centre in Dublin City Centre. The store is famous for its fashion trend turnover and with such amazingly affordable prices, its bound to give its competitors H&M and New Look a major run for their money.

The fashion giant didn't choose fashion capitals Paris or London for it's European debut store but little old Ireland instead. Although with 500 stores opened world wide and an estimated 90 new stores being opened annually, I doubt it will be too long before our neighbouring cities follow suit.

Check us out setting the trends!!

Shop 'n Rock!

In case late night shopping visits on a Thursday wasn't enough of a mood booster (retail therapy so near to the weekend, yay!) Dundrum are hosting a 'Shop and Rock' evening this Thursday, 11th November, exclusively for shopaholics!

The Shopping Centre is extending it's usual hours from 9 p.m. - 11 p.m for one night and will be filled with free entertainment, fashion shows, competitions, refreshments and lots of discount shopping!

I thought I was too late to hop on the guestlist but after a very sweet email with a couple of smiley faces I managed to make it on so if you fancy going, email news@dundrum.ie ASAP!

The Cemembert Quartet, The Shoos and The Overtones will be providing some background music while we shop and if you need a break, make sure you visit West Coast Cooler and Lindt for some free chocs! With discounts in lots of participating stores such as Aldo, Fran & Jane, Oasis, Harvey Nichols, Inglot, Penneys and River Island, it sounds like a pretty good time to start the Christmas shopping early this year! Now all I need to worry about is how to fit it all into just two hours... :)

No more cupcakes for Clio...

I've rethought the whole 'do-it-yourself' scenario when it comes to the mechanics of my car. I may have been feeling brave and up for learning all about the anatomy of an automobile but I've decided it's just not worth it! Give me some paint to watch dry any day but ask me about any car-related problem and you may put on your little sneakers and run. Run fast!

Here I was thinking I was great, washing my car all by myself, paying all my car finances, booking clio-patra in for her health check ups and taking her for her NCT. Well, if I could turn back time! If you read my previous blog post on cupcakes and carborators, you'll know my little car failed her NCT test. Fair enough, I'd left the crack on the front bumper... half hoping it would heal itself up / half hoping the NCT man might not notice, but no such luck. I just hadn't anticipated her failing for a fist full of issues!

So off I sent my brother up to the garage (the DIY thing had already worn off) and they fixed some engine part that was listed on the NCT result form despite the mechanics thinking it was just fine. Having only a 30-day grace period to retake the test, I trailed back up once again to the Fonthill testing centre only to fail yet again! And to make matters worse, she failed on the exact same faults. My little brother (extremely handy to have - would recommend) asked the NCT tester man to point out the exact engine faults and off he went storming up to the garage to have a nice big row. But alas, the mechanics - being the knowledgeable engine types that they are trained to be - had actually fixed the right problems, the NCT centre had written the wrong name of the engine part on the original forms.

After a lengthy phone conversation between my brother and the NCT can't-help desk, where he got absolutely nowhere, I resentfully booked a third test and went back to sit in the now very familiar waiting room while I painstakingly watched Clio being poked and prodded for the seventeenth time. When she made it through the other side I marched up to the desk where a young chap said, "bad news". "Oh no", I didn't pass did I?" poor innocent me said, jokingly. "No, you failed". That man was seriously lucky he went home without a black eye!

Despite the garage having tested the emissions and passing them with flying colours, somehow the NCT centre had managed to fail the same exaust less than 24 hours later. I'll plant a bloody tree if they're really that worried! So, with one day left to my grace period, over €600 spent on tests and needless visits to the garage, I ran to my NCT-less car wondering if my face was wet from the rain or the tears for my rapidly depleting bank account...

On booking another test, I then discovered I would have to wait almost 2 months before another date would be free to take another test. I'm hoping Clio doesn't develop any symptoms in that time!

Next time my NCT is due I'm thinking I'd rather chance the points on my license thank you very much! :(

30 ways to shake up your life...

1/ I recently came across an article in an Irish magazine which gave me 30 different ways to shake up my life and I've taken it upon myself to give it a go! I'm not exactly stuck in a rut, in fact I find life a little crazy at the best of times but I'm a bit of an adventure junkie and since my sad financial situation won't allow me to throw myself out of a plane every weekend, what harm is a little extra shake in my life? It keeps me on my OPI-polished toes (koala bear-y, this weeks colour!)


This is the first of my attempts at shaking so I've taken one of the steps from the long list - 'Start a Twitter account or create your own blog.' Okay so I might be cheating a tad since technically I have already started my blog but hey, no harm in getting a bit of a head start! And this is only the beginning, I'm sure the other 29 steps should get a little bit more interesting...  

Cupcakes, Clio's and Carborators!

It's just like when someone starts talking about the offside rule, or tries to explain to me how exactly to play poker.  I can't help it, I try my utmost best and my mind STILL goes numb. There's just no way my female mind wants to torture itself with this new and horrendously boring information.

Not that I don't want to know about cars - I do, in fact I hate when I know nothing about something and I'm quite proud when someone asks me the size of my engine and I can answer straight away. Same with my number plate and the fact that she takes petrol. But that's pretty much where my knowledge of cars stops. It's why I have brothers, and the occasional man in my life!

But poor Clio-patra. I've been neglecting my little Renault lately and one day I come home to find her tax is due and her insurance is calling for a renewal. To make matters worse, I haven't given her a bath all winter. On double-checking her due dates I then realise her NCT was up too. 

After sighing away any hope of being able to buy those pretty cream and pink heels from River Island, I try and calculate (using my phone - not my head) just how much her doctors bills are going to cost me. She has been really good to me this last year, taking me across the country a few times, dodging a few crazy drivers on her way and didn't faint on the M50 once so it was the least I could do.

With my dad and my brothers being away, I decided there was no better time to try and play mechanic on my own. After sorting out her finances (wasn't so difficult actually) and booking her NCT, I decked myself out in old jeans and pink washing up gloves - you would have too if you had to use that sponge - and scrubbed the car clean. I then checked the oil and water, both seemed fine and I'm pretty sure I checked the right tanks. From what attention I did pay in the past, I remembered something about a measurement mark and something about a dipstick...

 

The day before the NCT I took Clio shopping for new wiper blades and lights. I must have looked very confused standing in front of so many wipers as it wasn't long before I was handed a set from a helpful little sales boy. 'Surely they all do the same thing?' 'No', I was told, 'different sizes different makes, different years'. Money making racket more like it.

Then the big day arrived and with all the men in my life still away, I managed to persuade one of my good male friends to assist me for the day. What they'll do for a cup of tea and a cupcake! But even with all my good intentions, my clean(ish) car, my fancy new wiper blades and the fact that I had to listen to my chum telling me my car was being violated for half an hour, she still managed to fail. Something to do with her exaust, her underbody and her steering (I think!). Which means I will still have to endure a real trip to an actual mechanics - probably be my lonesome... and that will be another story!

Blind Expectations

I've always been a bit envious and well, slightly impressed, by people who have managed to avoid the dating scene altogether; sticking with the same person after meeting them at the age of 12 and a half. Then again, I'm not sure I'd have wanted to miss out on all the fun either...

I agreed to go on a blind date once, with a guy my friend insisted I meet. And although I had visions of myself sitting alone at a bar stirring my almost-empty cocktail glass after my blind date seeing and fleeing... the date actually went much better than I thought and I ended up dating the guy for a few months. I also managed to get myself roped into a double-first-date with one of my friends. It was a first date for both of us and with us both being somewhat dillusional, we decided bowling would be a great idea! If you think four strangers on a date together sounds bad, my date brought his friend along for moral support. And this was only last year. I couldn't remember my dates name either, I was just pretty sure it began with 'S'... clearly a major success all around.

But there have been good first dates too... strolls on the beach, movies and romantic dinners. Luckily I've always found first dates to be a breeze, so they've never really been something that bothered me. Why would they? First dates are just a blank canvas and I'm the proverbial paintbrush. All you have to do is turn up, tell your lifestory and decide - usually within the first ten minutes - whether you a) fancy him, b) think he's got second date potential or c) need a friend to fake emergency call you. Although since this is real life and sadly not an episode of the hills... option C is probably never going to happen. Just one of those things I've always wanted to do!

It's the second date that's another story. They're loaded with expectations; you've decided the first date was successful enough to warrant another, but you can't help but wonder if the first date was just a fluke. What if you notice something you didn't see before like a dodgy pair of shoes?  What if you only notice on date two that his hair has a bit of a mullet shape to it? That he tucks his tshirt into his jeans or he has a dangerous habit of name-dropping? There's also the fact that you're setting your poor self esteem up for disaster. If a guy doesn't call after the first date, well fair enough, but after the second? That just hurts!

Not all second dates are disasterous, but they're the ones I dread the most. As long as there's some laughter, some flirting and some little romantic gesture, it's probably enough to seal the deal for date number three. Otherwise? Let Operation Phase-Out begin...