More Good Times Ahead! [And many thanks for the past!]

Hello there. How are you? Hope you're well, thanks for coming to read this, I like you :) 

1) I've a lot of thank-yous to make after the gig in Spiders two Friday's ago, firstly just to let you all know, we raised over €230 which means I'm about a fifth of the way to the target of €2,300 with all donations to date added up! :D

Now, I'd like to thank Spider's in New Ross and all the staff for letting me have the gig there, Eugene Rowe for his PA and for playing and Adam Lundy, Andy Gallagher, Leah Rossiter, Pauric Carney, Paul Gannon, Rob Carney, and Carmel Daly for playing aswell! 

Special thanks to Pauric, Mark Hughes, Andy, Leah and Michelle McCormack for coming all the way from Dundalk! Love you guys so much!!   

As for all the people I know that attended, thank you too! As far as I can remember, those people were Aoibhe McGahan, Daryl Brazil, Dave Whelan, Rory Jackman, Sean McComish, Niamh O'Leary, Caragh Walsh, Helen Ryan, Kara McBride, Symone Fenlon, Martin Murphy, Dani Wall, Jackie O'Connor, Paul Mooney, Eddy Molloy and Deimante Stankeviciut and there was a good few strangers there that I didn't know (or get to know as I was running around frantically) so big thanks to you too, and if I forgot anyone I'm so sorry :/ 

Raffle prizes were courtesy of Ghandi's Pub, Nolan's, Il Primo's Italian Restaurant, Belinda's Beauty Salon with some extra prizes added in by my mother, my sister Nicola and Gráinne Rafferty. 

There's also been a few people who have since donated seeing as they couldn't make it to the gig (Thank you Thomas and Joe Van-Son, Niamh Hanrahan and Harry mcCarthy ;] ) and those people are also awesome ^_^

Aaaaaaaalrighty then. I THINK, that's all the thank-yous I need to get out there for now, sorry for the long list but there's a lot of deadly people out there that deserve thanks!

2) The fun is only just beginning >=]

The Twisted Pepper - Dublin.
Saturday 1st June.
7pm.
€8
Be there.


...please :)

So far I've two awesome bands lined up to play, FourDayWeekend and The Mariannes. More have yet to be confirmed but I guarantee there'll be a great mix in taste and style for everyone to enjoy and a big raffle too as usual. Who doesn't love an aul' raffle?

I know the gig starts early enough but I only have the venue until 10:30pm, after that anyone who arrives will be charged €15 into the venue's POGO club night they have every Saturday. However if you come before that you get to stick around after the gig at no extra cause and we can all party late into the night. Few shots, be grand. ;)

Check out the event page below, come along, and invite your friends :)
https://www.facebook.com/events/166050946886938/166085570216809/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity


**I'm looking for people who'll help out on the door on the night, even if only for a while, you shall be rewarded!**

Also, this is only 10 days before my 20th birthday which I won't be doing anything for so I'll guilt you friends and family of mine that don't come :P 

3) I'm bag packing in Super Valu in New Ross on the 30th & 31st of May, I'm looking for people to help out with that too for however long they can, you'll also be rewarded and I'll love you long time, so let me know if you can! :)

I think that's all for now! I'll be back with another update I'm sure, before the gig, I'm excited! :D

Ceara (:
<3

May I also just take a moment to say YAY! to the fact New Zealand have joined the 21st Century and legalized same sex marriage! Whoopa =D

Cake Served, Now Play The Music!

Greetings all! We had the Bake Sale and raised around €195 and 40pence sterling and 1 US cent. Progress - yaaay! I want to thank all who bought baked goods, DkIT Student's Union for donating RAG Week tickets for a raffle, Kelly's Pharmacy Dundalk for donating fancy soap and of course all the wonderful people who helped me out with the sale: Michelle McCormack, Leah Rossiter and especially Grainne Rafferty and Roisin Ryan. Oreo cupcakes were a huge success so if anyone would like a batch of them for any reason let me know, the proceeds will of course go towards the monkeys!
    There'll be an Acoustic Gig on in Spiders in New Ross on Friday the 1st of April. Admission is only €5 and everyone gets a free raffle ticket on admission. There'll be loooooads of prizes so you will definitely not want to miss out! Plus, I'll be playing guitar and singing live for the first time EVER so you'll also definitely want to come for that reason so you can video me making a fool of myself (and then if you send it in to You've Been Framed you'll get money if they show it!). Anyone from afar who would like to go, I can put you up for the night a.k.a party in mine afterwards! There's also slots open for people to hop up and play a few songs so I'd really appreciate that if anyone can. :)
The link to the Facebook event page is http://www.facebook.com/oddb3?ref=ts&fref=ts#!/events/443855729028411/?notif_t=plan_user_joined Invite your friends!

     **Reminder that I'm having another even bigger gig in The Twisted Pepper in Dublin on the 1st of June so keep that date free!

That's all I can think of for now...
Peace out mo'fos!

Ceara :)
<3

CakeCakeCakeCAKE!

Cake and music!! Who doesn't love cake and music??
   Here's the thing, I plan on giving people cake and music and in return I hope they'll help me help monkeys, who doesn't love monkeys?? Well, apart from people with zoophobia, they don't like animals at all...
   Anywho, I have updates for you family, friends and friend's of friends of mine. I have a date and venue for a live gig in Dublin. It shall be in The Twisted Pepper on the 1st of June. I've yet to set up an event page but keep that date free and if you know of any bands that will do a gig for free let me know. :)
   An acoustic gig is going to be held in Spiders in New Ross on Friday the 5th of April, there's slots for some more acts and I know you people have talent so get back to me if you would like to play a few songs!
   As for a Bake Sale....WE FINALLY HAVE A DATE!! It's this Thursday the 28th of February at 11am outside the canteen in college. I shall be making oreo cupcakes, chocolate chip cupcakes and biscuit cake and some very generous friends of mine (Roisin, Grainne, Michelle and Leah!) will be baking more goods such as caramel slices and jammy dodgers. I would really appreciate it though if any more of my Dundalk/DkIT friends could bake more stuff for me if you can. I'll love you forever!!
   Also, if anyone in Dundalk has an icing piping bag thing and/or cupcake tins they wouldn't mind lending me until Thursday, I will also appreciate that :)

   I think that's all for now! I'll have more updates about the bake sale later this week, don't forget, if you know a decent band that will do a gig for me, send them my way.

Ceara (:
<3

PROGRESS! Boo-Yah.

For once, decent prgress has been made!! =]
The New Ross Fundraising Gig shall be in Spider's, most likely Friday the 5th of April, just need to confirm with the pub. Anyone else wanting to stick your name down to play leave a comment or message me on Facebook :)
Bag Packing has been booked in Supervalu for the 30th and 31st of May, from 10:30am to 6/7pm. Anyone interested in helping out for an hour or two I would love to hear from you, I'll also be asking around closer to the day. You get to wear one of these deadly t-shirts I painted if you do! =D (I might just take Roisin Ryan's advice and make and sell some for extra donations =P )

As for the Bake Sale in college, the woman who's permission I needed FINALLY got back to me...after 3 months...better late than never I guess! Although, she didn't have good news, seeing as it's not a graded event (as most bakesales in College are =.= ) and it's partially for personal reasons I have to ask the head of my department for permission...so the search begins again! All I want to do is sell cake to people so they can be happy then the monkeys will be happy :( I disapprove of authority being needed to sell cake!!
...anyway, I'm getting off point here..
Well I think that's all the updates I can remember for now.. Thanks again to everyone who has offered their help and advice! Loads of lovely people did so after the last blog entry :)
Also, still looking for some unwanted christmas presents as raffle prizes if anyone has some!
Ceara :)
<3

So Many Things To Do!

Ok, my neglect of this blog has been AWFUL, for that I'm sorry but I shall not make excuses but get on with what needs to be done! First of all THANK YOOOOU to anyone and everyone who has sponsored me over the past 3 months, I know who ye are and will all get a personalised thank you :)
This blog has 2 lists, one of upcoming events I shall have, with what I am in the process of doing to get those events organised, and most importantly a list that all you lovely lovely people can help me with! :) so scroll to those that interest you!

List (1) Upcoming Events;

• An acoustic gig in New Ross - The Ship seems to be closed again so I'm getting in touch with Spider's instead.
• A live music gig with a few friends' (UHMAZING) bands in Dublin.
• And of course the gigs above of course will have raffles with some quirky prizes I have lined up ;)
• Bag Packing in Supervalu on the quay in New Ross - just waiting on a response to my e-mail!
• Bag Packing in Tesco in either Drogheda or New Ross or both - also waiting on a response to my e-mail!
• Bake Sale in DkIT - I WILL find that woman who's approval I need who has been ignoring my e-mails and has not been in her office the past 15 times I went looking for her!!! And I WILL make and give you all cake. -haha that rhymes =P

List (2) I Need You Guys To Help Me By...

• Firstly, sharing the blog, you can do that on Facebook just by clicking 'share' under the link that brought you here :) (I hereby swear I won't neglect it anymore!)
• If any of my musically gifted friends are interested in playing a slot in an acoustic gig in New Ross let me know (thanks to Rob, Paul, Eugene, Martyn and Mam for volunteering already!).
• If any of you are in a band that may be available for a gig in Dublin sometime get in touch.
• If any of you have unwanted christmas presents, I will take them as raffle prizes!
• If any of you own, work for or know someone who works for a business, a voucher for the product or service (whatever it is!) would also help so much towards raffles. I'll put your logo on this page (if I can find out how) and all my sponsorship cards and mention you in every thank-you speech. :)
• Anyone willing to spend an hour or two or three with me bag packing in either Drogheda or New Ross I would very much appreciate it and love you long time.
• Peeps in the Dundalk area or anyone who goes to DkIT, if you cook me cake (or rice crispie buns if you're less talented with a rolling pin) and let me sell it I will be eternally grateful and shall one day cook you cake in return. :)
• I'm planning on sending out sponsorship cards to family and friends who are willing to go around their estate or work place and collect a few pennies for me. If you would do such a deadly thing for me let me know! =D
• I guess the only other thing I can think of now is to sponsor me really! You can do so through PayPal by clicking the link on the top right hand of the page BUT 9% of what you give goes to PayPal :S You can also lodge money into the bank account I set up for the fundraising, just give me a shout and I'll send the sort code and account number onto you. :)

Thank you for reading! And thanks to absolutely everybody who's been helping me out, giving me donations, advice and volunteering for things,
I love you all :) (And these monkeys from Bambelela love you too!)
<3

First Donations! Say Whaa?? =D

I know this trip is just under a year away but I'm so excited!! x] I got my first donations thanks to Gráinne, Mark H and Andy and my neighbour Mark (because I gave him a homebaked scone) so my total today adds up to €3.90!! Its a start anyway =D Here's my empty passata jar with the progress so far, it'll be full to the brim in notes in no time ^_^





Woohoo! I'm getting loads of good fun ideas to raise money, I don't want to just be doing the usual table quizes and bag packing to raise money, like if I was doing those, everyone one have to dress in onesies or monkey suits! So far I'm thinking of busking with fire poi, selling jelly vodka shots, painting faces in the middle of college, putting scars on people, performing some artsy fartsy movement/acting piece @ €1 entry or something, and bake sales where each thing is only 50c! - And of course I'll be wearing my onesie and butterfly wings while selling them, just because I can get away with it! I'm gonna make this more fun than stressful, more ideas to come and I'll let you know what's going on :) If you're interested that is :P
    On another exciting note, I was youtubing videos of vervet monkeys to show you guys and I found one from a girl who went to the same place I'm going to which I think is deadly! Here it is anyway, it's pretty simple but the monkey is so cute :3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTLrD7EbGIQ
Feeding them every 20mins at night is going to be tough but so worth it :)
  Now, to more boring matters, I need to pay a deposit of €530 to the project to get a form of proof of reason behind funraising so I think I'll take a loan out of the credit union to pay for that so I can get onto asking businesses for sponsorship and asking Tesco if I can bagpack in one of their stores dressed as a giraffe or something ! So that's what's cracking, if any of ye own businesses and would like to sponsor me with a product or voucher or sum of sorts I'll put your logo/copmpany name on my sponsorship cards and display links to your company on this page and in every e-mail/letter I send to anybody in regards to raising funds or thanking people, just let me know =]
    Ok, there's more I want to ramble on about out of excitement but I'll save that for another day, I've spent the whole night researching this stuff instead of college work (yet again), thanks for reading, that itself is support! Love y'all :)
(: <3

Gosh, there really is a lot to plan!

OK, it's been a month since I've updated the blog which is just not good enough! I was really busy moving house and then went abroad for my Godson's christening but now I'm back in Dundalk and settled in and ready for action!
  Now, one main fundraising activity I plan on doing is bag packing in Tesco in Drogheda for a day hopefully. I'm going to e-mail them tomorrow or Thursday asking permission to do so. However I AM slightly worried that they'll ask for a copy of the EnkosinI Voluntary Contribution Form (from the sanctuary saying it's a genuine cause etc). Now the problem with that is I won't receive that form until I officially book the program by paying a 50% which will be $647.50/€503. So I need to raise €503 to get the form and I need the form to raise the €503! It's a silly system we live in these days! But anyway, I'll contact Tesco and Supervalu and whoever will have me to work out exactly what I need to bag-pack and let you guys know what the story is :)
  I'm also going to get in touch with some businesses to see if they'll kindly donate a product or voucher for their company or anything of the sorts for me to raffle off (or use as prizes at a table quiz if I get the time to organize one).
  In the meantime I'm working on printing out basic sponsorship cards but I need to get ink for my printer so once I get my hands on some then that'll be that sorted! In the meantime, if anyone would like to sponsor me now you still can by clicking the link up there on the top right which goes straight into my paypal/Africa account which I'm using only for this program, any donation at all, big or small I will be eternally thankful for! Thanks for reading too! =] And I promise, I won't leave the next post for too long this time, I'm a student procrastinating from work now! =P
Peace (: <3