Apologies for the rather haphazard posting on social media lately, and lack of interaction etc, but a family crisis recently has left me absolutely exhausted mentally and physically, and only able to do a fraction of the work and interactions I'd normally carry out.
Basically my father was rushed to hospital with a nasty bout of pneumonia two weeks ago, and as he is the main carer of my mother, who has dementia, I had to rush over there and care for her (I'm an only child) for nearly two weeks, meaning my children had to stay with their dad, and I had to take time off from my "day" job, and partially from my Alternative Fashion Fest work. I've been doing what I can, when I can, and work has been a good distraction actually, but just wanted to let you know that there is a good reason for my engagement being quite sporadic.
Yesterday was my first day back at work (St Vincent De Paul, who have been lovely and very supportive), and seeing the kids again. My mother was supposed to have gone into respite last Friday so my father could rest, but she point blank refuses to go (Friday was a particularly horrific day to be honest), her brain no longer being wired to comprehend the need, and I could not stay any longer due to my home and work responsibilities, so the health care team and my father are having to look at other options for support. He does, however, have friends who are being very helpful, so for that we're grateful. His health though, continues to be a worry, and decisions will have to be made regarding the future.
Sunday's #Trek4Life, was something I booked for in the middle of all this, determined that it would be a worthwhile event to go to, given that it was for charity (The Irish Cancer Society), promised to be inspiring, and also many people I follow on Twitter would be there. When there I didn't really have the energy to "network" or take pictures, but I was certainly delighted I went.
It certainly delivered on that promise, and Kelly Donegan and Jessica Banaghan did a fantastic job of organising it. Harry's On The Green were the perfect hosts, and I was raving to anyone who would listen, about their chips - honestly the best I've ever tasted (and I've been on this earth 41 years!).
All of the speakers were fabulous (I must mention Ciamh McGrory of Insight PR who helped me retrieve this blog post after a technical hitch!) and there were many laugh out loud moments, not least from Andrea Smith. Andrea, being in the same decade of life as me, and having the same "I've been at the bottom so the only way is up" attitude, was probably the speaker I identified with the most, and took the most from. I looked at her fabulously coloured hair, and admired her attitude and joie de vivre, and thought she would be fabulous in our Alternative Fashion Fest. The lovely ladies at my table (very friendly) said I should approach her and ask her, but I felt it rather gauche, meeting someone only for the first time, and asking them something like that, when they don't know me from Adam.
I had spotted a beautiful young lady there and thought "she must be a model or something - she's unfeasibly beautiful". Well, yes, it turned out she was - Laura O'Grady - so, understatement of the year from me there!
That gives you an example of how out of touch I am - I'd never seen any of the people there on TV, and until starting to do work for the Alternative Fashion Fest, I had no idea of who many of them were, or how well-known they were in Dublin or elsewhere in this country, because apart from comedy shows and the odd US drama, and of course CBBC, thanks to my children, I don't watch much TV except when in my parents, and that keeps me out of the loop a lot. Regarding fashion, I'll read the odd article, but ultimately will wear or buy something according to whether I like it or not, rather than whether it's "on trend".
If I were working on a mainstream fashion show, I'd say I was probably the last person who should be doing it. But given that it's alternative, and my contribution to being "alternative" is that I'm older (41), short (5' 2"), sort of curvy at size 12-14, you're more likely to find me reading Thomas Sheridan's latest post than Vogue, and I'm living life on my own terms as much as I can. I've shown I'm not afraid to be me, and feck what the begrudgers say. I hope the alt people will embrace me as even partly one of their own.
Having said all that though, I'm really enjoying reading other people's blogs in the mainstream too, and seeing what everyone is up to. I still like to try to look pretty, so of course I'm interested in certain make-up products etc, and pretty clothes. I've kind of missed that actually, over the past few years, so it's been really nice to dip in.
Anyway, please bear with me - I will catch up as and when I can, on everything, and be back to full productivity when I can. Keep your eye out for a series of interviews with Irish alternative models on this blog, for a start. Keep well everyone, and thanks to all who've supported us at Alternative Fashion Fest, and what we're trying to do.
