On The Catwalk

This week I shook my little tush on the catwalk (showing my age with that one) and I had a ball.  I was asked if I'd like to help with a fundraising fashion show for the Ballon Community Centre and as my sister and some friends were taking part, I thought it would be fun. I’ve made an agreement with myself to say yes to things that push my comfort zone and sashaying up and down in front of a room full of people definitely would not have been something that would have come easily to me in the past. I’ve been so busy lately that I barely had a chance to think about it, let alone get stressed but as the start time approached in Mount Wolseley, the nerves did start to kick in and there were some initial butterflies but once I got out on stage, I enjoyed every second of it.

It would be hard not to enjoy wearing beautiful clothes from some of Carlow’s finest shops. My outfits came from Erre Esse and Savana Boutiques and being styled by them was great fun - again pushing the boundaries and thinking outside the box. I love clothes so being able to play dress up without the price tag, was an added bonus for me. The very talented Clare of Angelz Hair Salon in Ballon and equally talented makeup artist Emma Maher and her friends, gave very generously of their time to make sure that we were stage ready. Faith Amond did a wonderful job presenting the night with her unrivaled glamorous flare and the dancers from The Dance Republic were beautiful to watch.

The lads and ladies of Ballon GFC did a super job transferring their skills from the pitch to the stage, with models of all ages taking part. Ballon is such a vibrant village, with a super community spirit and the night was really well supported by the local community. The Community Centre or Ballon Hall as it’s called, has always been at the heart of that spirit. As a child, I spent so much time there, doing everything from athletics, Irish dancing, variety group, scouts, speech and drama, to teenage discos.

I’m sure I even had a smooch or two around the back! And now it forms part of my children’s and husbands lives too. The hall is licensed to hold up to 500 people and as well as being home to a huge variety of sporting and fitness classes, it is also available for hire for parties, dances, fares etc and hopefully the fashion show will have generated lots of money to help with the upkeep of such a wonderful local resource.

I’m really glad I took part. Once upon a time I would have cared what I looked like and I would have cared what other people thought I looked like. These days I only care that life is short and I’m determined to fill mine with as many fun, new experiences as possible.