Last night, for a little change of pace, we went to see a fashion show! I had to buy tickets to the show, which made me wince a little, but I guess considering that they served complimentary drinks, it was actually not a bad "value" at all. I got to see some really nice local fashion, see a new venue, and also we hung out with a new acquaintance, we'll call her A2, a very nice woman we met at Seomra Spraoi on Sunday who moved to Ireland a month ago from South Africa. So really, many good things all rolled into one event!

I am going to write a more extensive review on what I thought of the actual fashion in the show on my fashion-related blog, but there were some really beautiful pieces in the show, and you know what? Even the ones I wasn't so hot for were inspiring! I would love to get involved with some kind of show like this, but I first need to get a lot more practice in, and invest some dollars into some good fabric for a collection (as opposed to the yard sale fabric I am currently working with haha). I've started on the pattern for my next piece, and it's going ok, but I realized how long it's been since I have worked "on the flat," and how much I never really enjoyed it! I much prefer to drape on the dress form. However, this is really good for me! Because I will learn a LOT by having to do something I don't enjoy so much, and I will have to learn how to flat pattern something I would have previously slapped on the dress form and draped.

I did get a couple of shots in, though as you can see my camera is ancient and the models in motion came out blurry. Still, you get the feel for the space inside the show. I forgot to take a photo of the reception area, which was a large warehouse studio space -- very bright, and gigantic. I wondered how they use the space regularly when there aren't events there.




After we walked A2 to her bus, we grabbed a couple of pints at my favorite bar, the Welcome Inn. It was, as usual, completely dead inside and smelled like the vaults at Saint Michan's where they keep the mummies, but I just really love it in there because aside from the music, it's like walking into a time warp when you go in. Mark and I debated our usual topics of capitalism, ideology, and cultural identity, and then caught the bus home.

So things are moving right along, and getting better here. I don't have crippling homesickness like I was having back in March, which is a huge relief. The weather is improved, but man if it isn't still raining a LOT. It puts a damper on things, like oh, being OUTSIDE, but at least it's not massively cold and rainy like it was when I got here.

The job thing though...I just don't think it's going to happen for me any time soon. I know of two Americans that have come here since I've been here and they've both gotten jobs. The first is a girl who is here on a student visa. She coincidentally got a job in the Hostel she is living in. The other guy is a dude who came here with his wife who got relocated for her job (she's American too). He applied to like hundreds of jobs before he started to get any nibbles, but the thing about this dude is that he has tons and tons of restaurant manager experience. He has opened restaurants and managed big places like Legal Seafoods. He has tons of wait staff experience (of course), hospitality, all that jazz. So he's really marketable in terms of work because when it comes to food service, the one with the most experience usually gets the job. He ended up taking a job that was way beneath him, but it seems to pay decently and he says it's easy enough. Still, even in the relatively cut and dry world of hospitality and food service, he spent literally hours every single day applying for jobs for over three months to get that one offer.

But for me - my experience is so specific to certain environments. I have a hard enough time finding jobs that aren't teaching jobs when I'm in the US and the economy is good, let alone in a foreign country whose economy is shitting the bed (no economic stimulus package here, that's for sure!) And the anti-immigrant attitude here is very very strong right now. I honestly feel that I have a disadvantage because I am an immigrant, or non-national, if you will. So each week I look at the job listings and apply for jobs I know I could do. But I don't treat applying for jobs as my job. Last week the convenience store, Londis (sort of like 7-11 or Store 24 back home), held open interviews for positions in their stores. Over 500 people were lined up around the block. This is emblematic of our times here.

I know I have a strong CV and a strong cover letter. I have great work experience and a Master's degree. But I never hear anything back. And I don't think I will for some time. Instead of spending hours and hours every day combing sites for more listings only to apply to more jobs and get the same rejection, I've decided to actually cut back on my job hunting time and instead invest my time into creating my new career, so that when the economic shade does lift, I can more easily enter the workforce in the Industry of my choice. I'm using part of my dole money to invest in fabric and notions with which I am making clothes for my etsy shop. I don't know if I'll sell anything on it, but that's not the point. I am doing something worthwhile with my time instead of walking a maze that leads nowhere.

And what's more, instead of walking around with the feelings of despair and hopelessness that spending hours applying for jobs I know I won't get brings, I walk around with hope that what I'm doing will lead to the fulfillment of my dreams. Maybe it's not the American dream, but an American's dream in Ireland.

So in Massachusetts, there's a screen law. Landlords are required by law to put screens on all windows. Well, I sure wish they had that law here! Even though this is actually the nicest place I've probably ever lived in, none of our windows have screens. Right now I can count about six flies buzzing around our kitchen/livingroom. And our windows are such that we can't go out and buy screens and put them in ourselves -- these windows are un-screenable! I'm not sure what to do because it's...a problem. I'm about to go to the hardware store and buy some fly repellent doo-dads. But I think they are probably a bunch of malarkey.

To celebrate the completion of Paper One of Three for Mark's second semester of school, we went into town for some middle-eastern food and a couple drinks. We went to this little place on Parliament Street we'd been to a couple of times before, but we realized sort of quickly that the other times we went we were kind of maybe not-so-sober, and so our recollection of the food was, let's just say, not quite accurate. But it wasn't terrible.

Then, craving some decent draught beer, but not wanting to go anywhere particularly crowded or far away because we were on foot and it was raining, we decided to go to The Bull and Castle, which really feels like kind of a tourist trap in a way, because of its location and the way it's decorated, but they have a bunch of really good beer, so our need for quality drinking won out. BUT, as it turned out, it was quite pleasant in there! It wasn't too crowded, and the people in there seemed rather laid back -- our only complaint was that the music was a hair too loud, which made talking a little more challenging. It kind of reminded me of how the music in Bukowskis is always too loud. After we had our fill, we of course dropped into Spars (the local equivalent of Store-24) and bought snacks, but somehow decided that it was a good idea to buy a small pizza at Apache (a crappy pizza chain) too! But you know what, it wasn't so bad. We then went home so we could stuff our faces with it all and watch late night TV.

Today there's a big game next door at Tolka Stadium. I might get new batteries for my camera and try to take some photos!

Well after MUCH futzing, I have some good news on the making stuff front! My Etsy shop is back up and running with one item up for sale (though I couldn't figure out how to make it run on Euros, I figure it doesn't actually matter since I still have two US bank accounts and a US Paypal account) and my fashion blog up and running too! Of *course* there are still minor changes I would like to make, but I need to leave it be for the moment.

So here it is! The unveiling of MY ETSY SHOP

and

THE SLICKFIXATION BLOG

Now I am really excited to design my next item!

No pretty pictures or links to post today, I'm afraid! This morning when I woke up, I felt really motivated! So I got online, and I ordered Gypsy a fresh supply of Swedish cat food. (Reindeer was one of the flavors, and I will feel like I'm serving up Rudolph every time I feed it to her.) Then I went and ordered myself a TABLE for my sewing machine! No more sewing at our round, glass kitchen table that I keep thinking is going to shatter every time I sew fast! And I think I got a pretty good deal: 66 euro, including VAT and delivery. I can't wait to have a separate work space again. I would have liked to wait until July, when the new IKEA is opening, but man, I just couldn't wait until then. Sewing is so miserable in this little nook. And this table should be for eating, not used as my desk! Next thing I need to do is get my dress form shipped to me, and I will have most of my former studio here in Ireland.

So then I decided to get some sewing supplies in town. But wouldn't you know it, not thirty seconds into my shower and I came down with a migraine. I waited until the visuals were mostly over, and then I headed out. I picked up some snaps and knitting needles at the Trimmings store, and then decided to venture into town to this store called Hickey's which is sort of like the equivalent to Joann's fabric, the US fabric store chain, I guess, but much smaller and a little more boutiquey. They have one floor that is mostly bridal, and one floor that is mostly curtains and upholstery. Then the apparel fabrics are...limited. But not only that, they are SO SO SO EXPENSIVE.

Let me give you some perspective on how expensive. At Joann's you can get cotton knit from about 1.99 to 6.99 US dollars per yard, which is about 1.53 to 5.36 Euro. But don't forget that it's yards, not meters, and keep in mind (for later) that a yard is .9144 meters.

At Hickey Fabrics, I found a knit fabric. It was a plain periwinkle color -- nothing to write home about (get it? irony!) -- just a plain cotton knit (it might have even been a cotton/poly blend). The price tag? 12.95 euro per meter! What the??? WHY? This fabric would cost me two US dollars per yard back home, why on earth would it be 12.95 euro, or 16.89 USD per meter, which comes out to $18.34 a yard. Can you believe that? I just could not pay that amount. You can buy a finished top for that much money! And then there's the expense of any notions, like buttons or zippers, or ribbons, etc. No one could possibly shop at these places for business. So I have to find another option. The cheapest fabric in there was this gaudy brown and gold knit for five euro a meter -- still too much, and not the look I am going for at all.

I miss Building 19!! So, for the moment I have some silk that I bought at a yard sale (it was 3 euro, and now I know what a fantastic deal that was!) and some striped cotton knit that I brought with me from home (bought at Building 19 for, yes, two USD per yard), and once that is used up, hopefully I'll have sourced out good, inexpensive fabric I can use to make garments to sell. I have some good ideas ready to go, and I don't want to be held up by not having material!

Speaking of which, I finally think I am finished with a dress I started literally three years ago. It was supposed to be a top for a school project at FIT, and I ran out of time to include it in my Term Garment project. But since the fabric was 55-dollars-a -yard silk (bought at the famous Mood Fabric - god that place is a rip-off) I hung onto it. I committed a big fabric no-no by making it into a dress by using what I had left of the fabric -- the big no-no was using the fabric cross-grain! I will never do that again, because it truly makes a huge difference -- the skirt and the bodice actually look like two different colors even though it's the same fabric. The dress is not my size, but would fit someone a little larger in the waist. I will take photos of it, as well as another great little dress I made a couple of weeks ago, and post them very soon!

We once had a landlord that looked like a serial killer just escaped from prison who said something quite profound about himself that I definitely identify with. In his Wolfman Jack-possessed-by-a-demon voice, he said, "If there's shit, I'll step in it." Not surprisingly, we took that landlord to small claims court. The judge ruled in my favor, but let's just say that no one won.

Today was one of those days when we definitely had to quote our former Landlord. The weekend weather was beautiful -- sunny skies, comparably warm, just really nice weather. But did we do anything adventurous? Oh, no. We decided that on Monday we'd go to Bray.

This morning it did seem a bit cloudy when we woke up. I looked up the weather report: 50F, 50% chance of rain in the afternoon. No worries! We took off at 2pm. It was spitting rain, but we weren't too concerned. But an hour later when we reached the seaside town of Bray, it was pouring rain. Not pleasant!

Since the Monday after Easter is considered a holiday here (Easter Monday, who woulda thunk?) most things were closed, and we were quickly getting soaked and cold, so we popped into The Porterhouse for something to eat and to dry off. We were ignored by most of the wait staff, sat ourselves, but got a nice seat by a fire, then finally put in an order, but their vegetarian options were extremely limited, and the only vegan item they had were french fries. They did have some nice beer though, and I thoroughly enjoyed the Temple Brau that I drank.

A little aside about the beer in Ireland. Americans think that great beer is coming out of the faucets here or something. They also seem to thing that Guinness is cheaper. Before I came over, when expressing worry over finding a job, I can't tell you how many people said things like, "Well, at least you can drink Guinness all the time!" You know, they don't give it out free at the dole office. In fact, a pint of Guinness is more expensive here than it is back home. In fact, I think pretty much all beer is more expensive here than back home, and that's not just because of the weak dollar. Secondly, in 85% of the bars here, the beer selection is utter crap, and the same ten beers. I really, really miss those wonderful craft beers, the micro-brews, and the myriad local beers from all over the place. These things can be found here, for sure, but you have to seek them out is all.

Anyhoo - We hoped that once we were done eating it might have stopped raining, but no such luck. So we walked around just long enough to get soaked again, and then headed back to the train and went home, vowing to return on the next non-rainy day!

Here are two photos that I took. Shoe in the foreground:



And a final word: if you're a regular reader, feel free to send me an email or a comment! This blog was created for friends and family but I love to hear from any other readers that I've got. Especially if you're in Dublin and you have similar interests!