engaged...

just thought i would share some good news with my blogger friends...

i got down on one knee last night and asked my girlfriend to be my wife...and she said yes...!!!

sssshhhh....

a few things happening for me this week which i'm excited about....

i finish up tomorrow in my current trainee management position and i'm hopeful a few freelance projects might come my way...can't say much more than that at the moment - can't give too much away...

wish me luck...

the colloseum...

what can i say...blood, guts, gore, gladiators and ancient romans...all of this with tickets similar to modern day systems assigned to doors and section numbers and could seat up to 50,000 spectators...the predecessor to our modern day stadiums...unmissable folks...

again there is a wealth of writings available online and no doubt we've learnt alot as architects and designers in architectural history classes about this place so i'm not going to dwell too much on this subject...

my final posting from my trip to rome and i must say...i think my most favourite thing about rome...oh and gelatto...

http://www.the-colosseum.net/idx-en.htm

top choice #3...the vatican museum...the sistine chapel...

"The frescoes that we are contemplating here introduce us into the world of the contents of the Revelation. The truths of our faith speak to us here from all sides. From them human genius took its inspiration undertaking to clothe them in forms of incomparable beauty"
(Pope John Paul II, 8 April 1994)

so much has been written and said about the ceiling of the sistine chapel that all i'm going to say here is that its unmissable...its studied in art history lectures across the globe...everyone knows of the feat of Michelangleo completing this installation while lying on his back...it has to be seen and marvelled at least once in your life...

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/CSN/CSN_Storia.html#page-top

top choice #2...the vatican museums...the raphael studios...

the pictorial decor in the raphael studios was carried out by raphael and his school in the years 1508 - 1524...

they form 4 rooms known as the Stanze of Raphael, which are part of the apartment on the 2nd floor of the Pontifical Palace chosen by Julius II della Rovere as his own residence...

...running from east to west, as a visitor would have entered the apartment, but not following the sequence in which the stanze were frescoed, the rooms are the Sala di Costantino ("Hall of Constantine"), the Stanza di Eliodoro ("Room of Heliodorus"), the Stanza della Segnatura ("Room of the Signatura") and the Stanza dell'incendio del Borgo ("The Room of the Fire in the Borgo")...

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/SDR/SDR_00_Main.html

top choice #1...vatican museum...the egyptian rooms...

founded in 1839 by Pope Gregory...the egyptian rooms houses ancient egyptian monuments and artifacts...not only are the objects themselves of interest but alaso the history behind them and how they came to be in rome, and in turn in the vatican...

of particular interest in this area were the statues of Ramses II, the mummy in its case and the bronze figurines...

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MEZ/MEZ_Main.html

the vatican museums...

the vatican museums in vatican city are a must see when in rome...

the richness and prestige of the collections of masterpices collected over the centuries by various popes, as well as for the sumptuos setting create a group of grand buildings, countless rooms, salons, museums, chapels, galleries, corridors, courtyards and gardens...

see below for a few picture highlights from my visit there...including the helicoidal staircase, designed by Giuseppe Momo...

i will in the next few posts feature my top 3 choices from my visit there...

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html

please...pick me

its certainly not easy but i'm spending my days off looking for work at the moment...

i'm feeling optimistic that i can be of benefit to someone in the design industry over the next few months...

people in the industry are telling me that things are busier than they were this time last year which is a good sign, although its the builders holidays at the moment so i can imagine practices are somewhat quiet as usual when the builders are away...

no rainbows...no gold...

but at least i found my leprechaun...lets hope some luck will fall my way...

recession icons...

spotted this on drury street during the week...as did dublin streets...

http://www.dublinstreets.blogspot.com/

coming soon...

so between the job-hunting, the cold-calling, the interviews...(anyone think i'm being over-optimistic...???)...i will create time to keep up to date with my blogging...

i have more posts to come on my trip to rome...also since rome, my girlfriend and i have had visitors from the states come to visit so we've managed to squeeze in some short overnight trips here in ireland and as usual i've been on the outlook for suitable eye-candy for my blog...


watch out for posts featuring highlights from my visits to galway, clare, belfast, cork and kilkenny...and another little snippet of some of my previous work...

and once again...

well folks...custardbydesign has a little bit of bad news to share with you all...

i've been made redundant from my trainee manager position...the company can't afford to keep me on so i've been let go...
wish me luck in my new job-search...not too sure what my next step is but for now i'll be kept busy with my blogging and if anyone hears just a snippet of any openings in Dublin or the surrounding areas let me know...