Ballerina, you must have seen her...

Since the age of two I've taken ballet class, that's almost 19 years now. It's one of the things in my life I've done for the longest, only out run by breathing, walking and all the other essentials. I often wonder what it would have been like to do it as a career. I don't regret not doing it, I actually honestly could not see myself doing anything but engineering and I'm so glad I chose it but dancing would have just been a different path. I'm happy I didn't do it as a career though, the life of a dancer is one of the most difficult there is, not just regarding the physical strain on one's body but also the emotional impact of constantly striving to be better and the perpetual competition for the spot as prima ballerina. Dancing as a hobby is something I hope never to give up though, we all need something that we love that doesn't seem like effort to partake in; for me, it's ballet.

After two and a half years at college, Trinity has finally started ballet classes on campus and last Wednesday I went along to the first one. It was packed, and not just with girls. It's odd that this clear high demand for ballet classes in college had not been addressed sooner but I'm glad it now has. The classes are relaxed and informal, suited to all levels and I'm thrilled that they've started them. 

Here's to many more years of ballet.

And yes, that is a cut out of Jeremy Clarkson in my pointe shoe.

Saturday Playlist

Okay I've been the world's worst blogger of late but with going back to college this week and getting settled back into the swing of things, blogging hasn't been at the foremost of my mind. But here I am, and here is my Saturday playlist for today.

You can expect more outfit posts soon too.

"All Yours (Full)"- Submotion Orchestra

I saw someone post this on facebook recently and decided to give it an old listen. I love anything with sax really and it's just a cool chilled kind of tune. Not really my usual genre so I thought it would be nice to put it into my playlist today for a bit of variety.

"It's Over"- Milosh

Michael Milosh (Milosh) from Canada is an electronic musician, again not my usual Indie lo-fi choice but I like his stuff. He's also a trained cellist and enjoys jazz which I feel comes out in his music. It's not just your usual electonic 'sounds', it's got more of a feel to it so to speak, but then again, what would I know?!

"This Could Be Beautiful (it is)"- Metronomy

A London based group, Metronomy is my second electronic addition to today's playlist. I've been rediscovering a lot of elecrtonic music on my ipod of late so bear with me with this little phase. This song is great for walking to, if you're that way inclined.

"Forgive"- Burial

Burial (William Bevan), like Metronomy, also hails from London. This song "Forgive" is possibly the most eerily morbid song I can bring myself to listen to. I don't generally like such 'moody', dreary songs, but the gentle wave-like undertones in this piece I find strangely relaxing in a kind of lost-at-sea sense. Give it a listen and you'll see what I mean.

"Everything is Alright"- Four Tet

Although considered electronic, the instrumentation in this song is simply sublime. That is all.

Sorry about the heavy electronic vibe this week guys, just the mood I'm in!

Enjoy!

I'm back...

What a week! As you may (or may not) have noticed I've been AWOL for a week due tot eh fact that I was off skiing in Les Deux Alps in France with my college. I won't make you jealous with all the amazing details but safe to say it was such an incredible week with great people. 

I'll be back to posting properly soon I promise. My tripod has arrived and I'm just waiting on my remote release shutter to come....watch this space.

Until then, enjoy these few ski trip photos I stole from my friends cos I was too scared to bring the new camera with me!

Enjoy!

If you hadn't guessed, we like to dress up.

Gone skiin'....

... see you in a week!

2011 in Photos

New Year's 2011

Skiing Les Deux Alpes 

Valentine's/20th Birthday

Engineering Masquerade Ball

Hat

Ferris Beuler jacket from Dan

Freddie

Trinity Ball

Home Bedroom

Building homeless shelters (and holding my camera wrong!) (photos by Chloe @ thetraintattoo)

New Fringe

Chicago

Bed Bugs

Gay Pride San Fran

Berekely, California

Berkeley Marina

Meeting Jeremey Messersmith with Dan

Shadows

Strawberry Shortcake

Viva Las Vegas

Anniversary Make-Up

1 year on

Winter (photo by Chloe @ thetraintattoo)

Christmas

Crackbird and ANEWSPACE

I got Dan to take a few photos of my outfit today on the new camera before heading for lunch to Crackbird and then checking out some of the sales (expect a post on what I found soon). If you haven't been to Crackbird yet and find yourself around the Dublin area within the next month then I implore you to go there. It's one of these newfangled "pop-up" restaurants (not that anyone understands what that means) but it is "flying the coop" as they've put it, i.e. closing, at the end of January! If you like chicken and are looking for a quirky place for lunch or dinner then this is your only man. Prices are pretty reasonable, as reasonable as you'll get city centre anyways, and it's located on the, yes I'm going to say it, uber cool South William Street.

While you're there actually you should check out ANEWSPACE street art gallery across the street that have an extensive collection of Irish and International street art prints as well as originals and some cool nik naks too. My ever so cultured brother brought me there and we have both bought pieces since; him from his own money, me on the other hand not so much as I am still a poor student though I one day do hope to pay all my debts back when I become an engineer for NASA and am the first person on Mars.......yeah, one can dream.

In case anyone's wondering, I haven't been asked to promote either of these places, I just think they're cool and it's a nice way to spend an afternoon if you are that way inclined. 

outfit

jumper, ring- Primark/Penneys

Shirt- Jennyfer (France)

leather shorts- Forever21

boots- Carvela

bag- Bags4Life (vintage)

P.S. I still haven't quite gotten the knack of the new camera but I'm working on it. I've also decided to do more outfit posts, cos apparently people like them, but intermingle these with snippets of interesting things to do around Dublin along with random ramblings from my mind. I hope that's alright.

Another year over, and a new one just begun...

I'm not a girlie-girl, and those who know me will know this. I never played with dolls really as a child, Barbie being the exception cos she's just great and yes I do have a collection of collectable editions at home, but that's another day's story. By dolls I mean the Baby Born typed things, you know the ones that were like "real-life babies". I had a Baby born, but it spent much of its life under my bed where it still lives to this day; call child services, I know.

Although I'm not a girlie girl, I was never a tomboy either, keeping to the female past-times like ballet rather than football or the like. This mix I suppose you could say comes across in the way I dress. Though I might be more comfortable in a denim jacket and a pair of men's brogues, I can't but help myself enjoying a good sparkly dress for big occasions. This sparkly side of mine came out on New Year's Eve when I donned this Baroque style sequined dress from Topshop and even scraped my hair off my face for once in an attempt to look "made-up". 

Of course I couldn't be all girlie and so coupled the dress with my double-finger cross ring, also from Topshop, to make the look a bit......I don't know.... rockier let's say.

Happy New Year guys!