Crazy Times call for Super Awesome Crazy Nova

Oh wow, it has been an insanely busy week.

One of the best parts of my year is a festival that i help organise in my home town.
It runs over the June bank holiday and this years festival is 10 times bigger than other years.

In the few months leading up to it, its mostly committee meetings and calling/emailing/facebook-ing people, nothing too strenuous or demanding.
But in the 2 weeks before it, all hell breaks loose.

We decorate the town top to bottom with flags and bunting and pretty things, put up signs all over the county, stick up posters and hand out leaflets. And that is all heavy lifting and up and down ladders.

The week of, we have to run around and check every little last thing to make sure its all ready to go. My phone has not stopped ringing since Friday and I FUCKING LOVE IT. 

I love this part almost as much as the actual weekend itself. The adrenaline is pumping and you have to think on your feet. Something goes wrong and you cant panic or cry. You just have to fix it.

Last year, some of our talent and our bouncy castle company cancelled last minute ( 3 days before our launch) and instead of freaking out, i just thought.... I can totally fix this. I thrive under pressure.

It made me stronger. We all need to face things like that in life to make us stronger.

I dont mean life or death situations because I dont even know if i could handle that, but situations where if you dont think on your feet, everything will fall apart.

It makes us stronger and we need that to help us grow as people.

There are two types of situations in life that you will face

Those you have no control over and Those you do have the power to fix if it goes wrong

We have no control over the weather so it makes no sense to spend time worrying or stressing when nothing we say or do has any affect on the outcome. Just let it happen

But if someone cancels at the last minute and you have 5 minutes to get on the phone and call a replacement, then you should and then it is ok to worry a bit. Keep calm, breath and fix it. And if you have tried everything and it cant be fixed, pat yourself on the back for working your butt off and trying and go about your day. Its not the end of the world

Festival starts on Thursday night but opens officially on Friday. Wont end until Monday night.

5 days of little sleep, eating on the go, music and art and dance and culture and noise and fucking awesome people.

Hell yeah...bring it on

Nova xxx

What are words anymore??

I worry ( a lot ) about the state of the English language. I know that slang has been a thing for many years ( hundreds in fact ) and that making up words is nothing new.
*We will not speak of bae*

But i have a serious problem with a word i just discovered - BRONDE!!

What the actual fuck.

This is a product by L'Oreal and it claims you no longer have to settle on being just Brown or just Blonde. Now, you can be Bronde.

THIS IS NOT A NEW COLOUR NOR DOES IT NEED ITS OWN NEW WORD.
This is brown hair with blonde highlights. Something a clever hairdresser thought up maybe 20 years ago. This style was really in in the early 2000s.
I myself had a style like this when i was 15.

The words Brown and Blonde already exist. Highlights are already a thing. Hell, you could have brown lowlights on blonde hair if that was your thing. You do not need to create a word to describe this hair style, it has been around for years.

I used to work in a salon and if i was still there today, i can guarantee I would be smacking bitches who asked for Bronde hair.

I weep for the future of hair and people in general.

Nova xx

Mondays don't always suck...in fact, they can be awesome : )

Have you ever had a day that was exhausting and draining but also the best fun ever. 

I had such a nice day today. 

To start off with I treated myself to a delicious scone and homemade jam at a local bakery/cafe/bistro place in my town. It was still warm from the oven, the jam was strawberry and ginger. Was so good. Then I spent the day in a local school helping all the kids with some art projects. I am part of an amazing festival in my town every year and one of the things we do every year is get all the local schools to make an art installation from recyclable materials. This years theme is animals and holy hell, did the kids deliver.

We only have one more week to complete them so it's a bit mental at the moment. But the kids are great and their ideas are top notch.

Even though it was exhausting because you have like 40 kids shouting all at once, it's great fun.

When I got home, I spent a few hours baking, making rainbow biscuits and pinwheel cookies.

I love to bake, i find it very relaxing. And after all that, I made a simple dinner and sat down to watch some TV and catch up with the Internet. Was a really nice day and I get to do it all again on Wednesday.

Life is good

Nova xx

My Name is Nova...??

Just a little bit of history...how I got the nickname Nova. Unfortunately it is not my real name, and there was a time in my life when I was seriously considering legally changing my name to Nova but it's like a pretty involved process and ain't no 18 year old got time for that.

My real name is Michelle. Nova started in cyber land

My journey into cyber land began when I was about 16. Using the computers at school, setting up emails for learning purposes and all that jazz. We didn't get a computer at home until shortly after I turned 17 and then I was able to create my own cool email and online names.

Around this time, I was really into green day ( I know right ) amongst other super cool awesome bands. I loved the song "Give me Novacaine". I had a friend who was really into green day, way more so than me and we would listen to them all the time together. 

So when I was ready to join Bebo ( pause for that hilarity ), I knew I wanted the word Novacaine in my profile name. But when I was typing it it, I missed out on one of the N's so it was spelled Novacaie and I just loved it. I pronounce it nova-Kai. 

And it soon became my name everywhere online ( Bebo, MySpace, MSN, Facebook, blogger and all the forums and chat rooms I went on). I became confident and happy, chatting to people online, writing my profiles and sharing my thoughts and ideas.

I don't care if they were real or fake people, I enjoyed being on the Internet and broadening my mind.

I started to sign off conversations as Nova instead of Novacaie for handiness ( or laziness ) and people would refer to me as Nova. For a long time, people thought it was my real name. Then people started calling me Nova in real life and it just stuck. 

Not many call me it in my current circles in the real world but I have so much love for its history, I will always be Nova online.

I'm not two different people, I am Michelle both in the real world and cyber land. But Michelle is Nova, we are one in the same. The confidence I gained spending years online, reading and watching and learning from others has helped shape me into the person I am today.

Sometimes I am cynical or straightforward. Sometimes I am sensitive to a serious fault and sometimes I am mouthy and opinionated. 

So for all you in cyber land

I am Nova...hear me roar! Haha x

My attempt at artistic photography.

"HACK" Bullshit...Fuck!

Like any other (in)sane person awake at 5am on a Sunday morning, i am on YouTube.

Lets start with this rant...YouTube is ruining me. I know that i am an adult with my own thoughts and opinions and consequences and shit. I have responsibilities and chores and stuff.
But then there's YouTube.
Sitting over there with its shirt off and its all sweaty and sexy and inviting and my brain just says to me "Fuck sleep, you don't need it. What you need is YouTubey salty goodness.
But its ok, I'll get cranky, I'll say mean things and then YouTube will sweet talk me and I'll go back to it with open arms and about 3 days of sleep deprivation induced craziness.

I have a problem with the Internet. Well, i have a fuck ton of problems but one in particular that's really annoying me and ruining my valuable night time Interweb perusal.

HACKS!!! Life hacks, food hacks, clothes hacks, hack hacks. Fuck you and your stupid hacks.

At first I found them interesting, I will admit to having the Pinterest app on my phone and have pinned a lot of hack-y looking things, but i haven't tried any....i swear!

But now there on YouTube, my precious tomb of ridiculous videos. And at first, i was intrigued. I watched a few, thought to myself that looks pretty cool. Maybe I'll give that a go someday.

But then the food hacks kept coming at me and they are the ones I have the biggest problem with.
I watched a video the other day, chocolate based hacks. Hack your chocolate and make your life easier. What i thought i was going to watch was a cool video on how to grow your own chocolate from a pair of old tights and borax (check it out, borax is used in tooo many of these hacks) or something along the lines of, save money with these amazing life changing hacks and never worry about buying chocolate again.

But what i actually watched was a a bunch of absolute bullshit.
When you list 8 ingredients and a method of combining them,
THAT'S A RECIPE, not a hack.
Just because you cooked it in the microwave does not make it a hack.

Fuck, i have recipe books from the 80s that are just for microwave cookery and they prided themselves on calling them recipes.
Now these bitches online are calling them "hacks". Bitch, google the words "brownie recipe" and you'll find the thing your hacking.

Microwaves are for popcorn, re heating beverages, making scrambled eggs in a bind and maybe exploding water balloons.

Cook your goddamn brownies in the oven...in a pan and make like enough for a 12 instead of one in a pissy little cup


Now, i want brownies. Damn! Didn't think this through

Nova xx

Nighttime sleepy times???

It is currently 3:55am on Friday morning and I am wide awake.

Yesterday ( Thursday) I spent the entire day with a headache that practically floored me. But this is not something new, i have suffered with bad headaches and migraines for many years now. But thats a story for another day.

So at about 5:30pm yesterday, when my boyfriend got home from work to find me and our son sitting on the couch watching Scooby Doo and me with a blanket over my head because the light from the sun shining through the window was making my head pound, he told me to go straight up to bed and lie down.
It was bliss, lying in a darkened room, in my cosy bed, with my head cushioned with soft pillows.
I only meant to rest for an hour or two, get up and eat a good dinner and be back in bed at a reasonable time and have a full night sleep.

Ha ha when does that ever happen. Me and my good sleep intentions. I slept through 2 alarms and didn't open my eyes until 11pm. By this time, it was the hunger that woke me and my headache was gone. So up i got and made myself a very late dinner and settled down to watch a little TV.

Almost 5 hours later and i am still awake. Well fuck it anyway, i am all over the place. I know i am tired but can i find the determination to go to bed...No!
I feel like sometimes it would be awesome to hibernate for 24 hours straight to let my body recover from some of the awful sleep patterns I follow.

I have an insanely busy few weeks coming up and I love keeping busy. The only problem is i am already tired going into it and during the busiest times, there will be very little chance to sleep. This weekend will be my time to rest and gear up.
I need to set aside a full day to just tidy my house but i wont even attempt it until i get the " I am awake enough to run a marathon" feeling back into my body.

Sometimes i wish someone was in charge of my sleep. Mr. Sandman, where are you? Your slacking.

Nova xx

Lets not jinx it...cross your fingers as you read this : )

The Weather.
Perfect mindless chit chat material.
Something for the elderly, the young, the married, the single, pretty much everyone can complain about.

But it was so nice today in my small Irish town. Hot, Bright and Sunny. Beautiful blue skies, people cutting grass ( one of my favorite smells) i just have to share its glory

I live in a wonderful little town that looks like a beautiful shining ball of natural awesomeness - when the weather is good.

When the weather is bad, this is a pretty depressing place to live. But its worth it, its worth the 9 or 10 months of grey sky, grey fields, grey people, Its worth it, because when the sun is high over the hills that surround the town, it becomes one huge sun trap and everything sparkles. People smile, there is music in the street, the smells of cut grass and suncream perfume the air.

So, here are a few snaps of the beauty of the place i live

I hope the sun is shining wherever you are

Nova x

Broke Monday's

Today's Monday! Uhhhh

After the levity of a weekend, spending time with my family, doing lazy weekend crap, Monday comes like a slap to the face.

Things go back to normal, my boyfriend is back at work, my son is back at playschool 5 mornings a week and I'm left on my own. This is when I lament about having fuck all in my purse.

Monday is the day I long to have money to spend, I go pretend shopping online, filling up baskets and carts with all the things I can never have. Sigh!

Like these shoes

Or the half sleeve tattoo that I had started like 7 months ago and all I have is line work and the oddest bit of colour.

But then Tuesday comes, and I've started to get used to the week. I have craft projects to attend to and meetings to go too ( aren't I cool ).

The weekend comes like a fresh breeze, maybe we'll go somewhere fun. It's great.

And then.......Monday! 

FUCK,

Nova xx

Binge watching YouTube

So at some point or another, most of us will binge watch a TV show, those of us without cars will do it more frequently and those of us without cars and who live in extremely rural areas get like a free pass to do it.

But sometimes, when there is nothing on TV ( past or present ) worthy of my valuable nighttime sleepy hours, i will binge watch YouTube.

But not by watching videos of a particular vlogger or guru. Oh no no no. I will watch the most random stuff. Either because it fascinates me or totally weirds me out. I know, The Human Condition right?!

Sooo at the moment my current watch are videos of super awesome cool Japanese vending machines and delicious delicious videos of people making street food ( particularly in Thailand )

Don't ask me why or how, but i am inclined to blame YouTube What to Watch. You know the YouTube recommended videos.

YouTube: we notice you clicked on this video like 4 years ago, we don't know if you actually wanted to watch it, if you clicked on it by accident or if you weren't sure what you were watching until like half way through but here's like 6000 videos we think you may like.

Me: Thanks YouTube. Lets see if i can stay up past 4am tonight. Whoop!

But seriously though, check this out. Japan is too cool
https://youtu.be/ZZmUuRG87sU

Direction...What direction?

I never considered having a direction for this blog. It was something i started because i like to write and i thought i would keep it up, with random ramblings and cutesy things, reviews or some shit

But i think having a direction is a good idea. I may not know what i want to do with my life but i know the direction i am going. Forward. That's as good as a direction as any.

I am a 24 year old girl, living in a pretty rural village in Ireland with my 4 year old son and my boyfriend of almost 6 years.
That's not WHO i am, it is just a fact.

Who I am is what i want to figure out.
Sometimes i feel like i don't know where i am going and half the time it doesn't bother me.. But for the other hours in the day i am terrified. Terrified of the unknown.

When i was younger, i used to love the unknown, not knowing what was coming around the corner, the excitement of something new.
 I guess i could say i had a plan when i was younger, before the world showed me pieces of myself i never knew existed. I was a dreamer and i don't regret a moment of those dreaming days. Because that's what you do when your 16, about to finish secondary school and you are so ready to make your mark. You dream. You dream of amazing college experiences, of making amazing friends and travelling to exotic lands. You dream of getting your dream job and making butt loads of cash, of finding true love and having a beautiful life.

Some will say that those are pipe dreams, wasted time dreaming of a life that will never happen. But its not wasted time, I was 16 and finished school. All i had was time. And that exhilarating feeling of the unknown. I was ready!

And then, life happened. Its not how i had expected it to go when i was 16, but its been an amazing ride so far.
There have been times when the world felt so cold and so dark, i wanted so badly to be that dreaming 16 year old again.
But there are countless times that i am so happy i got to grow up and see the world through a life that i created, with all my mistakes, wrong turns, tearful nights and joyous days in the sun.

So here i am. A 24 year old girl...FACT!

Lets discover WHO i am. A concept, an idea, an understanding.

Am i a mother, a girlfriend, a daughter, a sister, an artist, a musician, a butcher, a baker, a theater critic, a blog writer, a YouTuber, a TV slob, a move director, an actress, a taste tester, a teacher, tennis ball?

Am i some of the above? Yes
Am i all of the above? No
Could i be? Perhaps
Do i want to be? Lets find out


Nova xx