Coming to a close.

Here are some photographs from the summer time that I had yet to post. Although I have over three weeks of summer holidays left the air has a feeling of ending in it. Autumn is always bittersweet. On the one side I have my birthday and nice cool breezes and pretty brown leaves and on the other I have to go back to college, routine, early mornings and a significantly lower income. Until then I am going to soak up the rest of my holiday time before first semester begins.

^^ Strawberry Summer Cake by Smitten Kitchen ^^

^^ we spent a lot of time at Seapoint this summer. It became the beach to be at, go to, swim from and grab dinner on. It became ‘the beach’. ^^

^^ Boys that look like boybands at the local non-park, park ^^

^^ Killiney. Always. ^^

^^ If I had all the money in the world, this would be my house. ^^

^^ My sister did an olympic TRIATHLON. I can’t decide if she is insane or incredible. Both I think. ^^

^^ The sun shone often and we swam regularly. Recipe for a summer well spent. ^^

Ending

Summer is well and truly drawing to a close. With just three days left (excluding today!) until I start college I am beginning to feel somewhat nostalgic for the passing season. Richard finished his job in the lab a couple of weeks ago and took holidays from Penney’s to coincide so we could get away for a few days. But…we didn’t. Everywhere we looked was just too expensive. While I have been working here and there all summer long the expense of a new laptop has eaten into my savings. I was given more money than I expected for my birthday and I am so grateful but it was too late to go anywhere as Richard’s back to work now and there are always extra expenses once term starts again. I am not ungrateful for the time we did have ‘holidaying’ at home but I couldn’t help be irritable and grumpy at times. It felt as if I would have no stories to tell, no adventures to regale…or at least none that would hold up against backpacking in Thailand, or fishing in Connecticut or interning in New York.
That is not the point of summer though, is it? Adventures are for enjoying, they are not for having and then making sure you tell all your friends about them so you seem better/cooler/hotter/funnier than them. It’s hard, sometimes, not to get caught up in who-did-what or who-went-where, but by doing so it is so easy to lead myself down the path of inadequacy.
I enjoyed my summer. I really enjoyed the baby-minding. I am proud of myself for being able to afford a new laptop without borrowing any money. I also enjoyed having coffee with my boyfriend, going shopping with my girl friends, finding new places to walk the dog, making plans for next year (big, big plans), partying, learning to drive properly, going to my first festival and so many other everyday adventures. It was summer. It was nothing special, but special all the same.

PS Photo of Richard from Bibi’s cafe. So delicious. The perfect place to cosy in from the lashing rain outside. 

Summer Adventures

Summer Adventures by meldonc featuring Mulberry bags

Sorry I've been so absent from blogland, but Summer and her adventures have been distracting me something awful.
I finally got round to playing on polyvore earlier... and came up with this. It's virtual shopping at its best, although oftentimes leaves you drooling over things like the Alexa and the Electra.

My heart aches for an Electra.

I've been taking lots of pictures, doing lots of drawings and planning many adventures. I'll update later with all that, but for now go out and play in the sun people!

summer to do: blow bubbles

 

It's finally summer.

Well it's been summer for 8 days.

But college is over now and I am free!

summer

 (clockwise from top left; Eoin made Sangria last night (it was so delicious), I planted a whole world of vegetables this week, Emily’s baby toes asleep in the sun, Lily chillin’ in the shade—she can’t handle this heat!

Summer so far has been busy. So so busy. I feel like I haven’t sat down in a week! My mum is away and my brother has exams so I’m meant to be holding down the fort…while also doing my mum’s job, minding my cousin’s little baby, doing some design work and cooking and cleaning and washing and all that boring stuff too. The baby is cute but not really used to me yet so she’s only happy when we’re moving…so we do an awful lot of walking. Yesterday I worked out that I’d already walked over 12 and a half kilometers before lunch! Yikes! 

The weather has been crazy amazing, so uncharacteristically hot for May which has made working like a busy bee much nicer. I even got sun burned yesterday, oops. I must say it has been pretty cool to wear summer clothes (no jeans! no tights! no socks!) all week.

Hope you’ve all been enjoying this beautiful weather…I’m off to work, boo!

PS I have a whole roll of film that I haven’t got a chance to develop yet, so that must mean I’m suuuuper busy, it’s driving me nuts not seeing the photos.

a summer

I love the green. I can’t get enough of the green. I want to be in the green. I’d like to throw some clothes in a bag, pack up something to eat and escape to the forest or the mountains or the beach for endless days and nights of foraging, sunbathing, hiking and relaxing. It sounds nice, doesn’t it? It sounds calm, doesn’t it? Of course so long as the weather is warm and the flies are, well, non-existant. It sounds ridiculously unattainable like some American novel or something, doesn’t it? (It also sounds like I need a car and a license, doesn’t it? I’m working on that one, really)

I haven’t had any grand adventures yet this summer, I didn’t move to New York, or trek across Thailand or work in San Francisco or even spend endless time on a beach doing nothing at all. Instead I ran errands, went shopping, ate frozen yogurt with my friends, jumped into the icy Irish sea (just the once!), baked with my godchild, watched films, read books, played intense games of sibling scrabble, drank fancy ciders and ice white wine, rocked a baby to sleep (many, many, many times) and spent hours walking the dog. It might sound boring, and it probably is, but it has been pretty nice hanging out at home and having the time to do whatever I like. There will be an adventure, soon I hope. But even if it doesn’t work out, I will be happy. There won’t be many more summers like this—chilling out with not a care in the world. I am thankful for this.



What about you? How are you spending your summer? I’d love to know. 

summer legs

Summer arrived in Dublin last week, so much sun that the radio stations were playing the weather forecast over and over again in disbelief (highs of 26 degrees, imagine!) and I embraced it to the fullest. It felt soo good to be free of tights and jeans and socks for a week and I even got a little sun burned one day.

Oh how I wish we could count on a summer of sun for months at a time (right now it is raining, as it has been for days now!), but I suppose I’ll have to be happy with what I’ve got. One week of sun is far more favourable than no week of sun, isn’t it?

(clockwise from top left: Topshop dress, shortened by my kind mother; vintage sundress, shorts from UO, dress from my brother’s girlfriend from UO in the US; Pull & Bear dress, a few years old; the best €4 I have ever spent, polka dot skirt from a Paris thrift store)

.

I feel like a couch potato.

It's summer, but it doesn't quite feel like summer yet. 

I'm making more cards, and it's exciting...

But I kind of feel like summer should feel better than this.

There's only two more designs to make before I can show you,

so hopefully I'll be finished tomorrow and they'll

be in the shops by next week!

(well, fingers crossed)

It's a bit disheartening drawing all these pictures, taking lots of photos, writing from my heart and having nobody read it. I know I shouldn't be reliant on comments or followers or any of that crap, but it's kind of hard not to be. I try not to draw for my blog, I try not to take photos for my blog, instead I try to draw what I love and photograph what I'm passionate about, but sometimes it's difficult not to 'try and do what people want'. I read so many amazing, amazing, amazing blogs and my god it can make a girl blue, slash, you know, totally green with envy!

I don't know what the solution is, but I hope I'll find it.

Homage to The Best Skirt Ever

I used to hate this top... it's been sitting in my dresser for months, but I seem to have found a new appreciation for it the last few weeks. It's kind of sailor-y and summer-y. It doesn't look great underneath things... so maybe I just needed the weather to heat up. Ha ha.. I live in Ireland.

Anways... the skirt. It's the skirt that is so very very important. I splashed out on this in London last August. And wow am I grateful. I have never worn an item of clothing as much as this skirt before.. it's so comfy and soft. It looks good dressed up and dressed down. It works with heels and flats and boots and sandals. Not to mention the colour... I love it! Thank you American Apparel... it was definitely worth the splurge.

(I just checked online and it's not longer stocked!! I intended on buying five more to last me a life time. I better take greater care of the one I have :S)

While in London this summer I bought new lipstick in Topshop... their make up is so much cheaper over there than it is here and I love it! The colour is amaaazing. I've always been a red lipstick lover, but never owned a good one (the one I normally use cost me less than a euro at a Romanian market... hardly good quality, although it's seriously pillar box red).

Photobooth can't do justice to it's colour or shine...

finished

Tomorrow is my last day of college for this year. I cannot possibly convey to you how fast this year has gone. It feels like we have just sat down at our shiny white desks, both nervous and excited.

New friends were made and old friends grew closer. We had project after project and a lot of the time I wanted to give up. We did typography,  illustration, grids and letterpress. And I fell in love with photography all over again. I cried and laughed and felt simultaneously like I couldn’t continue and I couldn’t do anything else. I will miss coming in to chat to the girls, bitch about the tutors, and eat lunch in the cold canteen. I will miss walking through the liberties, seeing the children running late to school and the lady who feeds the pigeons out her front door, watching little girls chit chat and share sweets on the stoop in the afternoon while the boys kick ball across the terraces. I will miss the people watching.

The summer is vast and expansive, it is opening up before my eyes. It half terrifies me, half excites me this vastness. I wonder what I will do and then I remember all of the plans I have. Plans are good yes. But I am trying to remind myself that no plans are ok too. Having no plans means I can do nothing. Doing nothing is good too. There will be hopefully different people to watch, different places to photograph and a grand adventure I will remember for the rest of my life. Every day is an adventure, or at least it can be. This Summer I will finish learning to drive, travel (hopefully) to a new continent, mind the cutest of babies and drink lots of cold drinks on warm days (double hopefully). There will be barbeques, road-trips, drinks parties, dog walking, barefoot in the grass, candles and lots of love. I can’t wait to camp again, to lie under the stars and realise all over again how small I really am.

Most of all I am looking forward to walking and talking with those two up there. There’s not much sweeter than that.

A Party

On Saturday my brother Eoin & I had a party to, emm, celebrate this fantastic summer we’ve been having and raise some much needed funds for our charity work next year. The summer part was a little bit ironic as on the day itself we had big black clouds, lashings of rain and hailstones. ‘Oh well’ was all we could say as we soldiered on cooking and slicing and chopping and mixing. We brewed 14 bottles of elderflower champagne which we served along with tortilla chips, chopped vegetables, blue cheese dip and hummus. 

A while later we served dinner; spicy meatballs, quinoa salad, cous cous with roasted vegetables and goats cheese, rocket salad, honey glazed sausages and minted pea pesto with pasta. It was all delicious (and as we were a little ambitious with the portions we had plenty left over for Sunday and Monday!).

When it got dark we lit candles all over the house and served four different brownies—that I had spent Friday afternoon baking—with freshly whipped cream and berries. The flavours were cheesecake, peanut butter, mint and raspberry with white chocolate chips. People brought wine and there were beers as well for when the home brew ran out. We were a little skeptical about how it would go down but (with a cheeky bit of cordial added to sweeten the taste) everybody seemed to love them! 

The party went on till the early hours. I crashed, exhausted, around half one but I think the last to leave were the lads at 5am. I felt like such a party pooper but I literally could not keep my eyes open any longer! 

The next morning I woke up to mess and empty bottles: the sure signs that a good time was had by all. 

Eoin & I would like to extend our enormous gratitude to all of our friends and family who made it on the night, your company and generous donations made all that hard work of cooking and baking and cleaning more than worthwhile. We are also overwhelmed and extremely thankful to all those who couldn’t make it on the night but who donated anyway. We love all of you guys. You’re the best! 

summer to do: dress like this

 

So effortlessly beautiful. 

Built By Wendy

I can't wait for some sun!

49/52

—Cian

We were spoiled on Christmas day getting to spend the afternoon and evening with this little lady, her beautiful mama and her chef-extraordinaire father. Cian and Eoin and Cillian, supervised by the lovely Mike, cooked up a super storm of roasted potatoes, vegetarian and non-vegetarian brussle sprouts, carrots and parsnips which we added to with our nut roast and veggie gravy*. It was a veritable feast and we needed a considerable gap before we tucked into the most delicious desserts. Cian always entertains us with endless streams of fascinating (and sometimes quite technical) stories of his work abroad and life at home. I might be biased but I think himself and Melanie make the cutest, cuddliest and funniest babies around and I am so glad that there’s going to be another one next summer.
I am truly sorry for all those times I’ve accidentally called you my uncle Cian, thank you for being such a lovely cousin!



* Ok, so they also cooked a massive ham and humongous turkey but I don’t eat those things so they don’t come to mind immediately when reminiscing about Christmas dinner. 

Beach, Baby.

The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea. 

—Isak Dinesen.

The sun was hot and the water was oddly warm. It was a peculiar summer day in the middle of April. We ran across the expanse of sand and splashed in the salty water. For a few moments there was no college, there was no grief, no hurt, no crap weather or bad diets, no pain or heartbreak. For a few moments we ran with ruthless abandon. We lost our breaths. Our feet turned black and our calves became sand encrusted. We felt the present. It tasted salty and it was everything I needed. I can’t imagine ever not living next to the water, it feels impossible. 

(This reminds me so much of one I took of my mum last year. I used it as the cover of my zine here)

I love her so much it makes my heart swell, my arms ache and my body melt. She is the sweetest human being I’ve ever encountered…but there is a fire inside her that feels familiar. I recognise it in myself sometimes. We can be prickly, her and I.  Though seeing this in her only makes me love her more fiercely. She won’t always be this small or this close but I will always cherish this.

Eos 3 / 50mm f1.4 / HP5 Plus

∆ ∆ ∆

I have been listening to a lot of Alt-J ∆ lately. It brings me right back to the car on the way to Whistler this summer. I think Jack was driving and Gill was playing DJ. We had just stopped off at Canadian Tyre. Or we were about to. I can’t remember. It was hot and sunny and the mountains were beautiful. I could not believe my little eyes and ears and body were actually exactly where they were. Life is funny like that, you find yourself doing things or being places you never would have imagined. I just ordered this album on vinyl and am so looking forward to when it arrives.

PS This post is pure procrastination. This week is deadline-rich in college and I am feeling flippant and not very much like applying myself in any way. Next week is a reading week which means I get a whole week off, to say I am excited is an understatement. 

Finished. Finally.

And so, another college year is over. It all ended last night with an exhibition of our final project. You can see a part of mine above. I also wrote a bit about it here. I shot portraits of the most influential women in my life, asked each of them what the most important or valuable thing they learned was and then I made it all into a zine. It was printed by The Newspaper Club and seeing the finished product delivered to my door made my week, it is so so beautiful and felt so real.

A part of my own essay and some photographs from the project were featured on the Optiko blog this week too.

I am feeling pretty exhausted today but it’s a mighty nice feeling being on summer holidays…especially as the sun is actually shining today! I have no immediate plans except relaxing and eating and watching lots of my newest (old) addiction.

Happy Friday folks, I hope you have a lovely weekend :) 

xoxo

Canon Eos 3, my first roll.

I bought myself a new camera a few weeks ago…but it wasn’t until Richard gave me a lens for my birthday that I could use it. It is very fancy, looks digital but isn’t and has a crazy autofocus that’s super sensitive (which is why my jumper and not my face are in focus more than once below!) that I’m still getting used to.Here’s some photographs from the very first roll (of Portra 400, of course ;) if you’d like to have a look:Richard passed his exam and can officially call himself a biotechnologist—woo!—so we ate cream cakes (which are equally gross and delicious), courtesy of his sweet granny.

Shortly after coming home from Canada I cut my hair. It need to be done and I love the change (it’s so light! And short! And easy to wash!).

It is officially Autumn, and officially cold. Cardigans, shirts, tights and boots are becoming necessities.

I go back to college next week and am trying to get into the swing of working by finishing up some projects for Moss Cottage…it’s so hard to comprehend that this time next week I’ll be back in the studio, I wish summer would last all year!