Happy New Year

1 01 2009

It’s officially 2009 which means this is my first blog post of the new year. The pressure to begin with something mind blowing may have overcome me were it not for the copious amounts of cold and flu medicine I’ve taken in the past 12 hours! I spent this New Years eve on the couch with my girlfriend watching atrocious television…really wasn’t in the mood for all the New Years Eve hoo-ha this year and we’re both coming down with a cold. The highlight of the evening was watching ‘Meet the Fockers’ (I laughed my ass off despite the fact that it was my second time seeing it AND I don’t remember finding it so funny first time round…this may have been the cold and flu medicine at work again!).

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Nimble Soccer Gal

8 12 2008

Leah Lynn Gabriela Fortune, born in Brazil to American parents, plays soccer for Brazil’s U-20’s and Team Chicago. She has developed her own signature move- check it out- a sort of somersault throw-in!

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Nimble or what!?!



How much Coffee will Kill You?

27 11 2008

I’m sitting at my desk, savouring every drop of my large Americano, feeling myself wake up that little bit more with each gulp! As I browsed the morning papers and had a quick scout online, I came across this nifty site.

It features a calculator which allows you to “pick your poison” and select from a wide range of drinks (from Pepsi to Green Tea) and by entering your weight, calculate how much you can drink before it starts coming out your nose and you ‘pop your clogs’!

Suffice it to say that it would take over fifty cups of my wonderful, life breathing, Grande Americano to kill me. That much coffee would be equal a REALLY bad day at work so I think I’m pretty safe!



Ditching the Converse

19 11 2008

My shoe collection would not be seen in the stylish shoe racks of Miss Carrie Bradshaw. Personally I don’t believe in buying furniture for your shoes and so I live sans-rack and my shoes sit merrily in a mound in the corner of my room. I doubt the girls at Vogue would like them to feature in their ‘feet chic’ spread.

Here’s how my ‘collection’ lines (or piles) up:

  • One pair of Converse All Stars
  • One pair of brown boots (round toe…my little sister tells me this is sooo uncool!)
  • Two pairs of Converse-esque shoes
  • Four pairs of runners (sneakers for US readers)
  • One pair of slingback peeptoe shoes (bought to begrudgingly attend a black tie ball earlier this year)
  • One pair of black Hush Puppie boots
  • One pair of black Hush Puppie shoes (yes I like Hush Puppie’s…they practically kiss your feet as you walk!)

I hate to shoe shop. I am highly adept at haemorraging money in Foot Locker or any other casual footwear mecca but I dread having to buy “proper shoes”. Last week I had to brave the shops in search of what my gf calls “Bette clothes” and “appropriate” shoes in which to strut confidently into my new workplace. After sweating buckets and trying on shoes I felt obligated to like, I finally found a pair that didn’t make me feel like I’d have to harness the power of Chi in order to walk in them.

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A Stereotypical weekend in Homosexual Heights

28 09 2008

I currently reside at Number 1 Homosexual Heights with my girlfriend of three point something years (I’m constantly reminded of the importance of the “point something” and will no doubt be reprimanded for not knowing what the something is!) and a guy who is a Sex and the City addict (modern day code for gay boy!). Now… the house isn’t painted in rainbow colours and we don’t parade out into the back garden in the morning to raise the Pride flag at dawn. However we do engage in regular bonding sessions….trips to the pub, nights out, evenings in with some DVD box sets (unfortunately we can’t get him to watch the L Word but that’s a whole other post!).

I would highly recommend that you get a live-in gay guy…I don’t believe in the image of gay men perpetrated in the media, the “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” gay man who is doused in culture, a great cook and an impeccable dresser. However in my experience a lot of them do love to cook and love to eat! Mine fancies himself as a chef and so we regularly have fab Friday nights in experiencing his various culinary delights. This Friday we had Coq au Vin.. and yes we’ve already heard the ‘lesbians eating Coq’ jokes so unless it’s a fab one you needn’t bother! Of course when having Coq au Vin you must have wine…in our case 6 bottles of red… and then dance the night away. Gay… so gay?

In the midst of the alcoholism I received a text from a friend of a friend who had rescued three kittens from drowning (awful I know….awful that they were to be drowned…not that they were rescued). Of course at 2am full of Coq and wine adopting a kitten seemed like a great idea…actually if someone had dropped a llama at the door I’d have probably taken it in and offered it a seat. Anywho my girlfriend LOVES animals and so, regardless of the fact I poured into bed at 6am, she had me up bright ‘n’ early the next morning (ok it was midday) to drive half-way across Ireland get a kitten.

Yes the lesbian cliche is alive and well. I live with two homo’s, two gerbils (Ellen and Portia…but of course) and now two cats (well one cat and a kitten). Our house is slowly becoming a strange adaptation of Noah’s Ark! We drove 4 hours…each way…to get the latest housemate in Homosexual Heights. Was it worth it? Yes. The kitten is beyond cute….a little ball of fluff we’ve named Corkie. Check her out:

Corkie

Corkie

How to top off a weekend replete with clichés? By lounging around watching Will and Grace and Sex and the City with takeout and chocolate….ahh…



Moving in together..what nobody tells you

3 08 2008

So you’ve been with her a while when she says “lets move in together”. You get chest pains…the word “commitment” is ringing in your ears and you feel your chest get tighter and you have a sudden overwhleming urge to go to the pub. Then you chat to some friends and they tell you you’ve got your knickers in a twist over nothing, you’re a great couple…you should sooo do it. You’ve gone through all the possible issues in your head before hand and gone through the check list:

- Who sleeps on what side of the bed? Well if you’ve been dating for more than five minutes you’ve marked you’re territory on the side nearest the door…to facilitate late night toilet trips!

- Putting the toilet seat down after using it- A non-starter in lesbian relationships unless somebody has the worlds best kept secret!

- Household chores- who does what? This I found pretty much sorts itself out. For example I don’t clean the toilet/bath…I actually thought that squirting toilet cleaner in it sufficed. Apparently it does not. I’m in charge of garbage disposal as my other half wouldn’t actually see the mound of crap which is slowly devouring the kitchen even if there were rats, dump trucks queing up outside and flies circling her head. So after the initial loved up few weeks you each start doing the chores you can handle and bar the odd tiff, that sorts that.

- Who cooks? I think there is a global standard on this one which is one night on, one night off. The only exception being if the other person has had a particularly shit day down the mines!

- Who gets to watch what? If you’ve got more than three functioning neurons you’ll pick your battles when it comes to the war of the remote. Both people will have programmes they particularly like and so can each watch their own. Issues only arise when it comes to a programme clash. In this case you need to weigh up whether you want to watch your programme or gain a brownie point. Chances are the show is repeatedd so in this case you get into the good books and get to see your show.

Just a few boxes

Just a few boxes

But here’s the big thing that you never think of….well at least I didn’t and nobody told me either. Pre-moving in together you’ve your own space. You have your own clothes, your own tv/stereo,etc and your own bits and bobs (a hat you got travelling in Thailand, a statue you picked up in Malta, etc) and so you pack all this crap up and move in together. Now this is where the shit hits the fan. Where does all your stuff go? I mean she has all this stuff too and now there’s only a one bed apartment or small house to fit all this stuff in. What happens with warddrobes and shelves. Who’s paintings get put on the walls? You never discuss this stuff before the move and then one year later you’re sleeping in a room with a double bed and two wardrobes piled to the roof with boxes and bin liners full of you’re combined excess.

When you’re so worried about whether or not to move in and whether you’ll kill each other over chores noone ever thinks about the logistics of the move. Anyone with advice on this please leave a comment as at this very moment I feel like the boxes are closing in on me!






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