I'm back!

Once again, I've let my blog go and haven't written anything for far too long.  I had to blow away the cobwebs when I signed in today.

Anyway, October is shaping up to be quite an awesome month: I've joined a band, Martha and the Moodies, and played one gig already, with another tomorrow.  I'm going to see The Pierces play in ABC, who I love and am so excited about!  I also managed to get a ticket to see Lykke Li after her previously cancelled gig was re-scheduled in a bigger venue, so huzzah for that!  And, of course, it's nearly Hallowe'en time.  I'm not usually too fussed by Hallowe'en - I've always preferred Guy Fawkes night - but for some reason this year I decided on my costume well in advance and have been looking forward to it for a while now.

I'm going to go as a pirate, but not one of those lame, sexy girly pirates you get if you look up 'women pirate costume' in Google images (go on, try it, you'll see what I mean) - I'm going to be an androgynous swashbuckling pirate, with both a beard and plenty of eyeliner.  Awesome.  My new boots from Tenerife will come in very handy for this, I think!

In other news, I've recently been made the Regional Organiser for UK Feminista, along with my amiga Hazel from GFN.  So far we don't really know what we'll be doing but I think it will involve a fundraising event so keep your eyes peeled for that, there will be no excuse good enough for not being there!

The horrible weather has officially set in here in Glasgow, with terrible rain, drizzle, gale-force winds and general dreichness every day.  Not nice.  I heard a rumour that it was to snow in October - although this would be a bit early and would cause untold disruption again, I'd still rather have snow than rain.

With this in mind, I'm trying to squeeze in wears of my fave clothes that will just not be suitable for winter.  So for The Pierces' gig I'll be wearing my incredible star-print maxi dress:



I also have the lovely camel jacket from H&M which I think can safely be layered over jumpers on a cold day, though maybe not a rainy day cause it'll get spotted and marked.  And then when the cold weather really kicks in it'll be full steam ahead for the fluffy Russian-style hat that I got for £1 in a charity shop last year.  It's incredible and I feel like Miss Saigon when I wear it.  With that hat on my head, all I need is a vodka to hand and I'm pretty sure I'd be right at home in Moscow.

Here's a pic of me in the hat last winter in Spain.  I don't always wear the sunglasses, too, but I'm sure you can still appreciate it!

Glasgow Feminist Network

Even before I went away on holiday I hadn't written a blog post for a wee while and that's because I was busy working on the new website for Glasgow Feminist Network.  We ended up just deciding to do it ourselves rather than wait for someone else to build it for us, so I said I'd give it a bash, and with tonnes of help and pointers from Jamie McHale of Telaco, I got there in the end!

I'm quite proud of it, to be hoest: go and check out my handiwork here:

www.glasgowfeministnetwork.org.uk 

...Even if you're not a feminist, go and see the fruits of my labour and help boost our web stats at the same time!  And if you are a feminist - or think you might be - sign up to our mailing list!

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

Talk about a culture shock!  After ten blissful, warm days in Tenerife I come home to find Scotland is getting hit by the tail of Hurricane Katia.  A few days for cosy socks, tea and snuggling under blankets, for sure! 

I had an amazing holiday - me and Paul (my brother) were sharing a flat and my mum and granny were staying in another flat in the same complex.  We spent loads of time at the pool, and went snorkeling on the beach a few times too!  The first day we went we didn't see many fish - the odd stripy one floating about, but we did see a big sword stuck in the floor of the sea, which was pretty cool.  The second day we went, the water was much rougher and quite cloudy from all the sand getting blown about but we saw loads more fish - I swam right through a school of sardines!  Wish I had an underwater camera for such moments!

I'm happy to say I picked up a good tan, and narrowly avoided getting burnt!  I also did a good bit of shopping and got a lovely wee dress and pair of leather boots.  I'm usually quite fussy about boots - I don't like ones that come too high up my leg cause they make me look stumpy (!), and I want them to be chunky but not too much.  Anyway, I stumbled across this pair in Stradivarius, and despite the roasting heat outside, I immediately saw their potential as replacements to my treasured others that are well past their best - I've had them re-soled and re-heeled so many times that the last time, the cobbler told me he wouldn't be able to fix them any more!

I'm happy to report that they're very comfy, very waterproof, and have already been put to good use in the 3 days since I got back!

I also got a lovely wee star-print dress (in case you hadn't noticed, stars are the print to be seen in for A/W 2011), which actually goes quite well with the dress:

Hmm, that picture isn't the best, but you can check it out online here, if you like.  Happy shopping times, indeed!

So, I'm not exactly thrilled to be back - I've mostly been reading in bed since I got home, to be honest, but once I adjust back to the weather I'll be back on form.  Probably.

I've had a couple of call-backs about jobs - though I still haven't actually been given a job.  But it's more than I've had in a long time so I'm hoping that something will come out of it and in the mean time I'm still bombing out the CVs and applications.  Positive thoughts, please, peeps!

Car Boots

So today was the big car boot sale.  I rolled out of bed at 4:45am and made it there for half past 5, the boot sale opened at 6.  My auntie and cousin were there earlier so they got us two pitches together which was good, cause it made the time pass quickly chatting to them.

In the end I sold a fair amount but only made £17 - and it costs a tenner to get a pitch anyway!  So not much good on the money-making side but fun all the same and I got rid of a lot of stuff, mostly teddies.  Some guy showed up at five past 6 and bought a big stash of teddies - he took 11 in all! Or at least he thought he did... I wanted £1 for each toy and he kept saying he'd only give me 50p.  Because he was buying so many I agreed and it should have come to £6 but then he only had £5.50 on him!  And he kept saying, "50p discount, 50p discount"... I was pretty mad but he left the bag of toys with me so he could come back and pick them up later on.  So when he'd left I took two out - an Eeyore, and a huge fluffy Care Bear.  So in the end he only got 9, serves him right!  I didn't sell those two later but anyway, I would have been mad to think I'd let them go and got totally ripped off!

Anyway, I also sold some bags, sunglasses and jewellery.  I think we're going to go back next week on the Saturday which is meant to be busier, and I'll sort my stuff out better then.  I had clothes that no-one was really interested in so next time I'll take more books and glasses and things, and I think I'll put up wee posters with offers on.  I think I'm getting the hang of it!

I'm a bit knackered now though, so I might go for a nap!  I went for some drinks with V last night, in Boteco do Brasil, one of my favourite Glasgow places. Good music, good food and a very nice hot-but-knows-it waiter.  I like to think I might be a favoured customer seeing as how I spent a small fortune on cocktails last time I was there!!  We had a lovely time but I was a right grumpy-arse this morning!  I kept muttering, "This had better be bloody worth it" all the way to the car boot sale.  Definitely time for a snooze now.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Polmadie

After unsuccessfully trying to flog a load of stuff on eBay, me and my cousin have decided to hit the car boot sale tomorrow, set up a stall and sell as much of our crap as we can!  I now have a bag full of jewellery and trinkets, a bag full of old teddies and a bag of bags and clothes, plus a small mountain of books.  If I sell most of that for £2 or so then I'll be doing OK.  I don't have high expectations, so any money I make will be a bonus.

Only thing is, the damn boot-sale starts at 8am and it's first come-first served on a plot so we'll have to be there early to queue in the car to get in.  Thankfully it's only 5 min from my house, but I recklessly said I'd go out for drinks tonight so I'd better not go mad or I'll never get up in the morning! Or spend the whole day there freezing and hungover, which is not what I want!!

Still, it should be good enough, and it's helped clear a bit of space in my room. 

Who needs eBay? We're going old skool!!

Mad (wo)Men

I forgot to say, the one and only bad thing about Summer School was that I lost my favourite cardigan.  I left it lying beside my bag in the pub and when I went back, it was gone.  I suppose it could have been worse cause I didn't lose my purse, phone, etc... but it was a lovely soft grey leopard-print cardigan and I'd just sewn a row of new buttons on it. Oh well.
Anyway, maybe I've been moaning about it and my mum took pity on me cause we were passing through H&M yesterday and we both saw a lovely coat on a mannequin.  It's only once in a blue moon that me and mum agree on clothes so she took it as a sign and bought it for me.  This is it, and it is lovely:

HR lent me her Mad Men boxset (Seasons 1-3) and I have become addicted.  I wasn't sure I'd like it but, in fact, I do.  I love the clothes, the characters, the storylines... and at least 4 times an episode I shout out at the sexism or mutter about the way some guy has just spoken to his wife.  Brilliant entertainment + feminist outrage = TV heaven!

I guess it goes without saying that I love the fashions, too, and as I was watching an episode last night I realised that someone was wearing a coat very similar to my new one!  Maybe that's why it caught my eye, cause I've been so immersed in the early-'60s for the last few days!  Don't care though, I love it!

I'm Baaa-aaack!

Yes, for all those who were distraught and at a loss when I went away, fear not! I'm back again.

And for those of you who didn't know I was away - shame on you! - I'll fill you in: I went down to Birmingham with a few amigas from the Glasgow Feminist Network to go to the weekend Summer School run by UK Feminista and hosted by Birmingham Fems.  It was so much fun!

We decided to fly down because it was the cheapest option, and we decided it beat a 4 hour train journey.  So, HR stayed at my house the night before and we rose with the larks (not that I've ever seen a lark) and hopped down to Glasgow International for our 06:50 flight.  Once we'd arrived in Birmingham we found our way into the city centre for breakfast, with only a slight detour on the wrong monorail track.  I've never been anywhere that had a monorail, it was awesome.  And it was free!

Anyway, once we made it to the university, we signed up for the events we wanted to go to and it all began!  We went to big talks by people from Eaves, Object, Women for Women International... and several smaller workshops about how to organise your feminist group, how to advertise, how to do events etc...  All in all, it was really useful for us in running the GFN and we got filled with the feminist spirit!  Everyone there was so nice and friendly, there was a real camaraderie there, it was great.

On the Saturday night there was an after-party so we had dinner in the halls of residence - drinking games ahoy! - and then headed to the party to tear up the dancefloor.  The security guard there didn't know what had hit him when ten feminists hit the floor to dance like wild things and sing along at the top of our voices to Blondie!  I think us Glasgow peeps led the way but we were quickly joined by others and danced the night away.  We finished with an enthusiastic Wannabe and that was the end of an amazing night.

Admittedly, the hangover the next day was distinctly less amazing but we powered through for another day of classes and workshops, and thanks to coffee, Nurofen, coffee, bit of food, Monster Munch and coffee we made it through and found our second (third? fourth?) wind.

Our flight back to Glasgow was at 20:30 and by the time we got home we were well and truly knackered.  Not including flights, I managed to only spend £50 for all my food and drink (of which there was plenty)  - money well spent, and a crowd of very happy Glasgow Feminists!