an end to 2008

it has been a fun crazy last few days, i'm exhausted and just got home from work in time to curl up on the couch and watch the ball drop :)

happy new year!

santa got ran over by a reindeer...

Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday :)

Christmas was good this year, it was nice to be home. There is just something about being home for Christmas, no matter how much your family drives you crazy. While last year was fun being in Scotland, the usual Christmas crazy was just what I wanted. 

I worked Christmas Eve, cocktail waitressing. The day was crazy though, it was an icy morning on the roads, so Dad drove Mom to work, which slightly messed up the car plans for the day. So while I was cleaning, wrapping presents and such in my room, Dad noticed it was getting cold. So after a few minutes we realised the furnace was broken. So trying to get someone to come out Christmas Eve and someone who was approved to work with the State was fun. So Dad had to be at work for 1. So Mom left work early, and I went and picked her up, so I could have her car so I could go to work later on. Luckily someone was able to come out and fix it, so we could have heat. I'm just glad it wasn't a few days earlier when it was in the teens. So after work, where it was BUSY, we opened our presents. 

Now that we are all older, it is easier to open them Christmas eve, instead of on Christmas morning. I got a few surprises, but most of my gifts I picked out earlier this week. But I was happy, I got a bookshelf (I have boxes and boxes of books as well as stacks everywhere in my room), clothes, a few CDs, a Coach wristlet, my Dad's favourite photo of me with a little thing about my name (which seriously fits me to a T) and a few other random things. So it was a good Christmas. The funny part was my sister opened up her first three presents and in the boxes was three pairs of gloves, it was hilarious. Her face on the fourth box was this better not be gloves...

Christmas morning we headed over to my Dad's cousins for Christmas brunch, every year my Great-Grandmother would hold brunch for her family, so it was one of the two times a year everyone gets together (which is funny because we all seriously live within 15 minutes) and after she died three years ago, my Dad's cousin hosts it. It is nice and a great way to kick off Christmas. Then we headed over to my Dad's brother for Christmas dinner. As soon as we got there I headed straight to the twins. I have only seen them once (July) since they have been born  last March. They are adorable. So most of Christmas I had one baby on my lap :)  Drank lots and lots of wine and dinner was yummy. So it was a great day, with lots of usual family crazy and laughing. 

Yesterday we had my Grandparents over for dinner, and my sister's boyfriend is spending a few days with us. This morning was fabulous, I met a friend from college in Princeton for breakfast. It was great to see her, the last time I saw her was graduation. A funny mishap though, so Princeton is halfway between us, and because it is Jersey, we figured meet up at a diner. So we google mapped, Princeton Diners. There were two on 206, so we picked one.  So driving this morning, after passing through the center of Princeton, I'm like I must have missed it, so I turn around and drive back.... Nope, no Diner. So I call Chels and I'm like did you find it? No, why don't we just meet downtown. So we had pancakes at this fabulous pancake place and talked for an hour and a half about college, life in Ireland and Pittsburgh, and just hilarious stories. It was great :)

Now, the family is on our way into the city for the evening to be tourists and to look at the Christmas tree and all the decorations. I absolutely love Christmas in NYC, there is no place like it. I loved London and Edinburgh, but the atmosphere in NYC is just unique. 

merry christmas!

merry christmas :)

hope everyone has a fabulous holiday!

lots of love!

i <3 the duggars

So TLC right now is showing - 17 and counting: and baby makes 18 - a show on the Duggar family and the birth of their 18th child who was born on December 18th. Her name is Jordyn-Grace Makiya Duggar. Now if you aren't familar with this family, all of their children's names start with J: Joshua (& wife Anna), Jana & John-David (twins), Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, Jedidiah & Jeremiah (twins), Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer and now Jordyn-Grace.  And watching it just makes me laugh. This episode isn't as good as some of the others, as this one is all about the arrival of the new baby,  but it is the Duggars, so I'm drawn to it like a moth to the light. 

My slight obsession for the Duggar's stems back to college. Now on Sunday's the Garrett C girls would sit in our sitting room with books on our laps and would attempt to do work while watching tv and gossiping. And often the TLC marathons would spark our interest. So one day they showed a special on the Duggars and then shows with other huge families and it just became interesting. Lindser and I always facebook or email each other with Duggar news about the new babies or any other stories, so it is one of those funny things amongst Amy, Emmy, Lindser and I - along with Harry Potter, homeless roomates, decorations, the bunny and the countless other shenanigans from senior year. 

So 18 children, wow! They all are homeschooled and very religious and a very interesting life, while this special didn't have much on their life, some of the older ones focus more on that. http://www.duggarfamily.com/index.html

So today was a good day, did some Christmas shopping with my mom - and picked out some of my gifts. Tomorrow I'm going shopping with my Dad. I can't believe it is December 22nd, it doesn't feel like Christmas is Thursday! I still have a few things I need to do tomorrow while out with my Dad. I hate not having a car, while I'm home. 

So I'm now watching Irish news! A NYC local PBS station - 21 has a program called - Out of Ireland, which shows Irish news, events in NY and such. So I'm watching RTE and just laughing! I've just noticed this program now, which is kinda fun. I know it is for the Irish community in NY, but it is nice and I'm sure I'll appreciate it come April. 

Oh, yay for the days getting slightly brighter... I hate it so dark and cold! Boo, winter!

christmas cards, footbal and snow

so a random crazy sunday at home. my mom wanted to get the christmas photo taken today, so she could send out the christmas cards. so of course it can't just be easy, it always ends up a major production of trying to get all 3 of us to look decent in the same photo. so about 45 minutes later there was a good photo, after a few hilarious moments, one of which had me laughing so hard i had tears streaming down my face. i can't even remember what was so funny, just the fact i was mad i had to go re-do my makeup and couldn't breathe i was laughing so hard.  oh, and then i wrote my mom's christmas cards for her. so this year i wrote my cards and my mom's. that is a lot of cards!

little bro and i

christmas treee 2008

crazy sister

take 768 - we look like we are singing. 

 the final product.

so after the christmas card pictures i enjoyed some football on tv. i forgot how much i loved football, i haven't watched a game on tv since super bowl 2007. silly ireland and it only being on like sky, so i can't watch. my jets, well played like crap. like  13-3 crappy. no touchdown, farve had 4 sacks, 2 interceptions... and they were playing seattle. seriously, not happy, they pretty much blew their playoff chances, the giants game was good, i'm just watching that one now. 

ugh, we got more snow today, like another 3ish inches of the stuff. i am sick of snow! i've been home a week and there has been 3 days of wintery weather, and it is COLD outside, like 15. i can't complain about it being cold in cork, when it is like 50 right now. oh well. 

oh, last night was like a time warp. i helped out my aunt by working at the restaurant, by bussing tables. the last time i bussed tables i was 17. i felt like i was in hs all over again. and i didn't really like that. 

first of the month...

so i've been doing this for a few years now and i love it. the first things posted every month for 2008 :)

january: 4th - edinburgh and letterfrack

back to reality... 

(written after my christmas holiday to edinburgh and then new years in connemara with the club)

february: 1st - crazy weather

ireland has the weirdest weather today...

(it the span of about 30 minutes it was sunny, pouring rain, huge wet snowflakes and sun)

march: 3rd - kinsale, mt. brandon, sangria

 busy. busy weekend :)

(a friend from wac spent thursday night with me, then kara's friend from home visited and then mt. brandon on sunday)

april: 2nd - going greek!

 off to greece for the week!!

may: 1st - may day!

 happy may day!!

(reminisced about may day at wac... ohhh the crazyness!)

june: 3rd - avoiding the thesis

 this weekend i completely avoided the thesis. and it was fabulous!

(bank holiday weekend fun of enjoying the sunshine and having fun!)

july: 2nd - life to do list

so amy and i were talking about our life to-do lists the other day and i realized the last time i wrote mine down was summer 2006, when becca and i were setting goals for our senior year of college.

august: 1st - already august?

 i can't believe it is already august. gah, where is time going? it has been a good last week in the states.

september: 2nd - gossip girl, thesis, new house, political rant

so i have started updating like 4 times this week, but never had gotten around to actutally finishing what i had to say.

(randomness about work, thesis, moving house, kara and politics)

october: 5th - random...

it is a gorgeous sunny day and i am not on a mountain :(

(silly being sick)

november: 3rd - i can see russia from my house... halloween fun.

 halloween this year was quite fun...

(all about the antics from halloween)

december: 2nd - turkey, snowy hikes, december.

i've started writing this about 5 times now and hopefully i'll be able to actually write it. i open blogger and then get distracted by a gchat, someone at work, or something...

so there you have it, my first of the months aren't that exciting this year.. oh well.

lots of trains...

So the wintery weather that hit the tri-state area yesterday slightly messed up my plans for the weekend. Stupid snow. I am really not a fan of snow. Oh well, it does look pretty :)

so i had a fabulous few days of visiting mystic and my college roomie :) i had a train filled adventure on the way up to ct. my mom dropped me off at the netcong train station on her way into work and the weather wasn't fabulous. it was slightly icy - the little bro had a delayed day of school. so i switched trains at dover (where i usually get the train from) and then was in penn station. i wasn't minding my day on a train because i was reading jodi picoult's newest - change of heart. and wow! i love her novels, and this was one intense, i had tears streaming down my face. such a tough question and it is one of those where you can say something about what you would do, but if you were really in her shoes, would you? so after getting into penn, i walked the few blocks to grand central station, and then hopped on a train up to new haven. once in new haven i switched over to another train to old saybrook, where i met up with roomie! so it was a lot of trains, but luckily they are great to travel on.

so we just hung out for the afternoon and then we donned our aprons and started cooking some of christmas dinner. amy's friends were doing a little holiday dinner, so that was a fabulous way to spend wednesday evening! the food was fabulous! her friends are amazing! the funny parts of the evening - standing around the fish tank and talking about fish for about 30 minutes, the turkey (i'm done) button, and a few other random conversations. it was quite funny :)

so thursday, amy got new windows! yay!! so that was fabulous! we headed into mystic to walk around for a few and lunch and just hanging out before amy went into work. where i put some of my ocdness into good use and helped amy organise a few things. then it was time for her to become may. and so i went on her lantern light tour. it was fun, seeing her in 1876. i was quite jealous, because i LOVE the clothes. i want to be from 1876. some of the dresses were gorgeous! so her tour was fabulous and it was funny running into her friends i knew. after her tour, i went and helped to elf (behind the scenes) and that was hilarious. the conversation was brillant! and then i helped to close all the buildings and such. then amy's friends and i went to their favourite bar - john's, which was fun! so a great evening :)

friday morning amy and i headed to the train station and i began the train adventure. my plan was to get into the city about noon, and holly and i were meeting up at around 4. so it started snowing while i was on the train in ct, and it was snowing quite heavily, so i called my parents to just make sure it was ok for me to stay in the city and not catch a train home. so all was good, so i left holly a call, letting her know all was good, and headed uptown so i could go to the met. i was getting off the subway when i got a message from holly asking could we postpone, so i hopped on the subway again and headed back downtown, but this time to penn, so i could look up a train schedule and see if i could get a train back to netcong. since netcong is only a commuter station, the times aren't that great, which is why i usually use dover. and with the weather and the fact that my dad drove my mom into work, meant i needed netcong and not dover. so luckily the next train from the city would be getting into netcong at right before 4 which fit perfectly. so after some phone calls to my parents and holly, i was headed back to jersey.

so we got about 8 inches of snow on friday. and we are supposed to get more on sunday. it was a fabulous visit to ct to see the roomie :) and i can't wait for out european adventure!

ps. happy boston tea party day

i <3 igoogle and their today in history application. when i open the internet igoogle is my homepage, so it is one of the first things i see.

so i was quite excited to see today - december 16th

1773 - Protesting the Tea Act, colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians dump crates of tea into Boston harbor

and we all know i LOVE tea parties...

so happy boston tea party day - and go celebrate by drinking a cup of tea :)

plus is also today in 1811 New Madrid, Missouri Earthquake struck and in 1971 Don McLean released American Pie.

i'm so dumb...

I changed my website address for my blog to -
http://andherheartitisinireland.blogspot.com/
so if you are bookmarked, please change the link, as the old one won't work anymore.

So I finished writing out my Christmas cards last night. I addressed all 40 of them (except those I'm missing) and they were all ready to post. So I was at the post office buying stamps when the postmaster notices my cards and says, they are going to need extra postage. I had bought square cards not realising it would be different. So she says it would be pretty expensive to mail as is, I would recommend getting card envelopes. So I've re-addressed all my cards and they are ready to go! Stupid me, as it was not fun re-addressing all of my cards.

Ugh, my bank is driving me crazy. I tried to use my US debit card yesterday and today and both times it showed up as declined. So I figured, oh I'm using it in the US (they know I'm in Ireland), so maybe that's why. So I call them to ask, and after answering like 12359 security questions, she informs me, that it had been compromised in August! But what I don't understand is I used the card in October in Belfast? So I wonder when it got turned off. So now I have to wait 10 days to get my card, and then call to let them know I'll be in Ireland. And of course I put the money my parents owed me into the bank, so I'd be able to use my debit card, and now I can only use cash. Grrr!

I'm off to Conn in the morning to see college roomie! YAY!! I'm excited to see her and catch up and play with the kitten and see her in 1876 and not make fun of the boot at allll! (she somehow re-broke her foot) and then on Friday I get to see my pen-pal. We've been friends for 10 years now and we first met the summer of 2004, and now I'm spending Friday night with her in the city! YAY!

Did this and it made me laugh, how perfect is this?

erin's Dewey Decimal Section:

917 Geography of & travel in North America

erin = 5894159058 = 589+415+905+8 = 1917


Class:
900 History & Geography


Contains:
Travel, biographies, ancient history, and histories of continents.



What it says about you:
You're connected to your past and value the things that have happened to you. You've had some conflicted times in your life, but they've brought you to where you are today and you don't ignore it.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

home for the holidays

i've been really lazy with updating the last few days, i have no desire to write about the family's visit but give me a few days. i'm now home in jersey, for my three week holiday. the first thing i felt as we walked out of the airport, was the cold. brrrr. i was like fuck, it is freezing! it's funny, as cork's usual winter temperature is about 40-50 with lots of rain and wind. though the last few days it was slightly colder about 32-40, but with the rain it doesn't feel as cold, because the damp and wet. while at home it was about 30 but because it is dry, it feels so much colder. and bitter. 

so it is good to be home. i've already had some of my favourite foods, seen some of my family and talked to my two best friends :) yay for easy phone calls! i cleaned my room yesterday as it was a MESS! my parents use it as storage since i'm gone, and the fact i live in the basement an 1850s farmhouse, means my room is home to lots of little creatures - especially spiders and other insects, so tons of cobwebs and dead little creatures. so spent the day vacumming and dusting. though cleaning this time was a lot easier than the summer when it has been 10 months since i had last been home.  

today i want to finish writing my christmas cards (i started writing them on the plane), mail them, go get my nails done and go into target to get a few things. 

so off to be productive!

i'm a master

I was conferred today, so I am officially a graduate of UCC and I now posess a Masters degree.

YAY!

The conferring was nice. Kara came over, we had mimosas and got ready together, walked over to college and the crazyness! Struggled to make our gowns and hats look acceptable, luckily Kara had been told to bring pins, or the gowns would have been open, as they didn't have any zippers, buttons or anything! Then the ceremony, it was short, the main part of the ceremony was in Latin. Then they just called up the names, we got our degree, signed the university register, the conferring speaker and then we were done. So the only person not to finish was Catherine (known to Kara and I as Grandma) - Paula, Olen, Cian, Michael and Aine all finished. Kara and I thought someone else wouldn't finish, so it was good to see everyone and catch up. After lots of pictures, then I ran over to work to say hello to everyone and then back to meet up with my parents to show them around my lovely little city :)

The vacation with the family has been good, only driving me slightly crazy over the last week. But the post about those adventures will be once I am back in the US. 

me

the parents and little bro

kara and i

outside the presidents door

2.42 am

it is 2.42 am. i am catching a 7.30 am flight. so be at the airport around 6. which means leave my house around 5.40, which means up around 4.30 to shower,dress, make sure i have everything....

fabulous evening, it was the societies christmas party, and i got a free ticket for working with societies and pretty much unlimited drink vouchers... i just figure my parents will be jet lagged, so i can be tired too right?

yay! for london :)

and seeing my parents!

4am phone calls

So I was sleeping last night at 3.50 am, like any normal person would be, when I was awoken by my cell phone, which vibrated once. As I reach for it and realise it is WAY too dark to be my alarm going off, and I look and see my clock - 3.50 am. Why is my phone vibrating? I see a missed call, I think thats weird, it only vibrated once (my phone is on only vibrate) I look at the number, its from the States. Its not home or mom, it's Kelly. Why is she calling me?!?! So I turn on my computer and send her a gchat.

3:52 AM me: call me again

you do realise it is almost 4am

3:53 AM kellly: i hung up before it went through

i just wanted to make sure that my card worked

haha sorrry

3:54 AM me: fucker

kellly: how did you know it was me????

me: i was wondering why it didn't ring

it showed up as a missed call

3:55 AM kellly: ohh okk

welll, it works =] yayy

haha

me: ok back to bed

kellly: love you. have fun. xox

me: dont really love right now

lol

3:56 AM kellly: you dooooo=]

And this is my crazy sister.

edited: it was approx 10.50 pm east coast time when she called, so 3.50am ireland time.

just wait until i'm bored at 9am at work... hahahaha!

turkey, snowy hikes, december

I've started writing this about 5 times now and hopefully I'll be able to actually write it. I open blogger and then get distracted by a gchat, someone at work, or something. So I can't believe it is December already! Seriously, where is time going? I am so glad I am staying until March, because if I was leaving in three weeks, I might be having a panic attack right now. Plus the funny thing I would have been leaving 20 December, which is the same date I left three years ago. How random is that, I think if that would have happened, I would pretty much permanently hate that day. Anyway, I'm meeting my parents in like 40 hours inLondon. Crazy how fast this is coming up. I think everything is organised. I'm excited to show them around London, as it is my second favourite city after NYC, and I just love it. I don't think it could get old. And then their week around the emerald isle, (ok, well the southwest) that should be super fun. Everyone in the family wants video of my Dad driving, I admit, it will be hilarious. Irish roads are quite an experience. And I picked up my stuff today for my Confirring, Kara and I will be having mimosas that morning and getting ready together :) So that should be fun.

So Thanksgiving was fun last week. I had two, one Wednesday and the other on Thursday. Both were fun, Kara's on Wednesday was her housemates and some other friends. We had a good laugh and the food was great, I had my first attempt at Guitar Hero, and wow did I suck. Hand eye co-ordination, not my thing! And then I went to the pub for a few to catch up a with a few club friends, and to get excited about Sunday's hike in the Reeks! Also Sharon, made me a Happy Thanksgiving poster for my desk, while I was out at lunch :) (She doesn't work Thursday's) So Thursday was good, worked and tried to watch the Macy's Parade, but couldn't find it online. Then after work headed over to Clare's for her feast! It was fabulous and so much fun! Some incredibly hilarious conversation, trying to find enough plates/forks and chairs, a fabulous pumpkin pie. It was great, even though I couldn't be with family, I had a great two days with friends :) I called the family and talked with everyone for a bit, they were quite funny!

Didn't do much over the weekend, it was FREEZING! Like right around freezing, and just felt like winter. It even smelt like winter outside. So Saturday I just did the usual Saturday stuff, errands in town, read, watched movies and such. Saturday night I finished my yarn, so I have about 3/5 of my scarf finished. I watched x-factor while I knitted, it was Britney night, so for their first song they all did Britney songs! Quite exciting and she even 'sang' her new song, which I'm not sure I really like. But she looked normal, and by that I mean pre-crazy Britney. 

Sunday was fabulous, despite it being so cold and almost slipping and falling a million times walking to meet everyone. We were hiking in the Reeks, and there was SNOW! We were supposed to do a horseshoe around the 3 highest peaks in Eire, Carrantuohill, Benkerragh and Cahir. But with the weather being questionable and the prospect of roads freezing, our bus driver asked we be down around 4. So we knew that didn't give us enough time to do the whole thing so the two groups were going to do Benkeergagh and the other Cahir and onto Carrantuohill. So it was fun, despite the cold. As long as you kept moving you were warm, especially going uphill, so it wasn't too bad. The snow made it more fun :) As it is a treat in Ireland. So we had multiple snowball fights and the group was pretty small, so it was good. We were in a cloud for most of the day, until the end when it cleared and I got a few photos in. So it was fabulous to be back on the mountain, as I hadn't been in a while. Was wrecked though when I got home, and both of my knees were killing me. But it was an amazing day :)

Yesterday at work was fun, we christmastized the office, so that was fun :) And I was busy trying to organise things for the trip. Today was pretty quiet, nothing too unusual. Tonight the girls from work and I are going out for drinks which should be fun. And tomorrow is my last day of work for a month! Crazy! 

some pictures from Sunday's hike

the clouds cleared

 a gorgeous sunset

the view for most of the hike

i'm turning into betty crocker

So I have been on a super baking kick recently. Like since Saturday I made chocolate chip cookies (my favourite), then I tried a new recipe I've been meaning to try for months, guinness chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, which I made Monday evening and then yesterday for Thanksgiving I made two apple pies. So yay for baking! And I was soo excited while running errands yesterday! I found measuring cups and spoons! It was like Christmas! Over here they weigh everything, and I use recipes from home, so everything is in cups and teaspoons instead of grams and ml. So I was in town running errands yesterday and popped into the cooking shop that is a little bit further of a walk, and was just looking around, when I saw them! I've been looking for a while now for them, but had never seen them. I was like, I bet they will be quite expensive, because well everything is expensive, but to my surprise I was able to get the two of them for only €5!! So baking the pies was even more exciting, now that I actually had the proper measuring equipment and wasn't using random guesses!

So nothing else too unusual. Work was busy both Monday and Tuesday, I was working in excel all Monday creating a database, which was a lot of copying and pasting information, which was quite boring. Then I booked all the hotels for my parents trip once I was home, that took forever! There were a few issues, but it is all sorted. Then I baked :) Tuesday, I took a half day, but it was a busy, busy morning at work for some reason. So it was nice getting out at lunch, but I couldn't go home and relax in front of the tv with Oprah and Ellen, I had to go into town and run some errands. I had to go to immigration again, and I am now legal until May. So that is something I won't have to do again! Luckily I had everything they needed and it was easy and painless. Seriously everytime I go you need another something which isn't on the things to bring to immigration checklist. And my picture on the id card isn't that bad either. And I got my haircut! YAY! I like how it came out, its slightly different, and more exciting, but not too crazy! Then I started baking the pie crust, then Brenda came over and we watched movies and caught up on life and then I finished the pies.

So tonight is Thanksgiving at Kara's, which should be yummy and fun. Sharon made me a Happy Thanksgiving sign at work today, as she doesn't work Thursday's, so that was fun. And tomorrow is Thanksgiving at Clare's. So lots of yummy, yummy food! And I'll be leaving for London in a week! YAY!

my new haircut

apple pies :)

weekend update

not that there is much to update, as this was a pretty low key weekend. 

-last few hours of work on friday was quite crazy. most friday's the girls and i are quite punchy, and it didn't help that i was doing room bookings, and of course any of the rooms the societies wanted were booked, so i had to try and find them a more suitable one. it was making me go insane. i would rather have done the accounting stuff i was doing last june that made me hate numbers. 

-friday evening, i was lazy. i should have been out celebrating, but no one was around. and it was yucky and rainy out, i was going to head into town, but after work just didn't feel like it. 

- so i did nothing exciting and knitted and watched bad tv. 

- saturday i ran my errands in town, and popped into a few shops and just looked around. went into the kitchen store and got a muffin tin, so i can make cupcakes! caught up on grey's and private practice. can the izzy/denny story end? thanks. i like christina and the new guy though. then i read an old jodi piccoult novel and knitted while watching xfactor. i know i'm addicted. first time i've ever seriously watched one of those shows. i also made chocolate chip cookies, as i had a craving for the dough.

-sunday, woke up and looked outside, it was super windy, and wet. decided to skip the hike, as much as i wanted to go, i didn't really want to be wet and blown away. so i watched a few episodes of 90210 (they started showing it over her last week, and well i like it. i might have a slight love for trashy teenage girl tv...) and then i went into town and read at my favourite coffee shop for a while. and also had a little bit of fun picniking photos. just got off the phone with my parents, going over some trip details. can't believe how soon! 

-the jets beat the titans! YAY! i had the game online and kept track of the scores. i do miss football. but i'll be home for 3 weeks of it! 

-busy, busy this week. making cupcakes monday night. i took off tuesday afternoon, so i could go to immigration, get a haircut and run errands and brenda and i are doing movie night. wednesday is kara's thanksgiving and pub with the club, thursday is thanksgiving and i think i'm going to a friends and friday i believe is work christmas party (so early because of me). 

-i'm finally getting a haircut. YAY! its been like forever. and i'm actually changing my hair! seriously since i've been like 14 my hair has been the same, just slightly shorter or longer, depending on the last time i cut it. but i'm going to do some layers, i want it like this. what do you think?

anyway, i guess i had more to say then i thought. and weird i made this a list, when not really. 

first class honours!

So results for my masters were posted to come out tomorrow at 4pm. So all this week, just in case they were posted early I've been checking and today at like 4ish I looked, and they were up!!

I got a FIRST HONOURS!!!!!!!!

YAYAYAYYAYAY!

So that is like the American equivalent to getting an A average for my Masters!!

I was quite excited!! I got a 72 on my thesis and was quite excited. Ok, I know you're thinking a 72, that's almost failing, why are you excited?!? Over here anything above a 70 is a First Class Honours, and they grade much tougher. So like it is impossible of to get something in the 80s and the 90s are unheard of. Anything from a 60-69 is a Second Class, Grade 1 (equivalent to a B)and 50-59 is a Second Class, Grade 2 (equivalent to a C). 

So I'm excited about this!

YAY!!

Going out to dinner with Brenda and celebrating! Kara and I are doing drinks tomorrow to celebrate! 

the one with all the rugby

So last night's Munster - All Blacks (New Zealand) rugby match was ajdjksdkfks AMAZING! One of the best rugby matches I have seen! If only Munster was able to pull it off in the end and win it, it would have been fabulous. The All Blacks have been playing a few matches over here and they are quite good, quite intimidating and have the reputation for being the BEST national squad. Munster is one of the 4 Irish professional squads (one for each province) and they play in mostly inter European games, they won the Heinekin Cup last May and are right now ranked the number 1 squad in Europe. So because it is professional, not all the guys are from Munster, and a few are from abroad, but most are Irish. So on Saturday the Irish national team got beat quite badly 22-3 by the All Blacks. So last nights match was a big deal for a few reasons - brand new stadium, last night was the opening game - 30th aniversary of Munster defeating the All Blacks in Ireland, which still is a huge deal and it is the All Blacks. So it was quite intense! Especially since both teams were not playing with their usual squads, as the Irish team (which many of the Munster guys play for) and the All Blacks played each other on Saturday. So it was just amazing to watch, from the first minute to the last. It was close the entire game, with the biggest gap being about 6 points. So Munster scored an easy try at the end of the first half, and they were up 16-10. So the second half was intense, the NZ missing both of the penalties they had, and a few times it was close for both sides.... until the 76th minute. When a questionable call against Munster got NZ close and they scored a try. And then missed the kick to put it at 16-18. So the last few minutes were intense with Munster trying to get close enough for a kick, but to no avail. It was crazy, the stadium and just the whole game. Even though Munster lost, it was still an amazing match!

One of my favourite parts was right in the begining, the All Blacks do this little ritual at the begining of every international match called the Haka. it is a Maori traditional war dance and it is quite intense and intimidating. I remember seeing it for the first time last year while watching the world cup. And so last night 4 of the members of Munster are kiwis and have played international rugby for NZ. So the 4 of them did a haka, with the rest of Munster behind them, then the All Blacks went. It was sooo awesome.



The Munster-All Blacks Haka.

So I was watching the match and attempting to knit, but I only got a few rows done, as I was spending too much time yelling at the tv!

Other than the rugby match yesterday not up to much. Sunday was my lazy day, I didn't go hiking. I've just been exhausted the last week, like absolutely no energy and after getting completely soaked/windblown on Brandon last week, I wanted to have a nice quiet Sunday. So that was nice.

I've spent the last few days at work, actually doing work related things. Of course when I have things I want to get done at work, I have things to do. haha! I spent Monday researching and emailing people at wac about what I need to do to get my Maryland teacher certificate. So I can do that when I'm home in December, as it takes a few months. So when I'm applying for jobs in March/April I actually have one and then I can just apply for whatever states certificate I need. And today I spent looking up more stuff for my parents trip and emailing my mom a list of hotels and such so she can book them. In two weeks they'll be hoping on a plane and I'll be meeting them in London on Thursday morning! Crazy how fast it has been! And I get my results on Friday!! eeeeek! Fingers crossed I get the 1st honours I want!

Anyway, as it is a Wednesday I'm off to the pub to see my fellow mountaineers and catch up on all the craic!

the one where i made bagels...

So a few weeks ago I was reading a blog and the author was sharing some of her recent cooking projects. She made kaiser rolls, bagels and a pumpkin ravioli. And it made me think about making my own bagels, so I did some research, as she posted a few links for recipes and I found one that seemed easy enough, as bread can be quite tricky.

So after being lazy most of the day, it is Saturday after all. I went into town to go grocery shopping, got into an arguement with the cashier at Tesco after she refused to sell me alcohol for not having proper id, came home and read, then watched Ireland get beaten up by the All Blacks in rugby and then decided to try my hand at bagels.

So it wasn't as difficult as I thought they were to make, just quite time consuming. It was fun, I haven't played with dough in so long, so kneading it was nice and fun! Then after kneading the dough, you let it rise. Then you made the bagels, let them rise again. Then you boiled the bagels, then you added toppings and then cooked them. So they came out pretty interesting. They tasted yummy, but could use some help in looking more like bagels. They improved with each one I made, the first few I didn't let rise enough so they are quite flat, and I still think I needed to let them boil a bit longer, sot they look mor like bagels, so next time I want to try that. But overall I am quite happy with my bagel experiment.

bagels on the counter all rolled out

boiling the bagels

finished product!

lots of bagels!!

So that was fun and something I'd like to try again. I like baking as it gives me something to do, and it is quite yummy as well!

So back to the Tesco fun today. So they refused to sell me a can of Guinness. Yes, 1 can. I want to make Chocolate Guinness cupcakes this week. So I've been buying alcohol for the last year and a half at Tesco, no problem. I'd say 3/4 of the time I'm not asked for id. When I am asked, my American drivers license has never been a problem. Usually I'm buying a bottle of wine or a few cans, occassionally a litre of malibu. Today the cashier was like I can only accept an age card or passport. Well I can't get an age card and I'm not carrying around my passport to go grocery shopping. Its not like I'm 19 or something. I'm 23 and over here if you look under 21 they ask, unlike at home where it is 26. So frusterating! So I just stopped at the off license on the way home, and what do you know I wasn't asked for id!

I can't believe it is mid-November already! Crazy!! My parents will be here in like 2.5 weeks! Lots to do! Anyway bed time for me, and I'm excited for my breakfast tomorrow morning!!

life soundtrack

So I posed this question on a friends's blog and I figured I should answer it myself. The question I asked was:

Make a soundtrack of you. The 15 songs you would pick if a movie was made about you and why you are choosing them.

So my 15 songs that I feel best are Erin and describe me or when I hear them take me back... (in no random order, I just hit play on my itunes.)

1. For the Longest Time - Billy Joel

Reminds me of my senior rowers and all the fun we had our senior spring from the crazyness in Florida when we first started singing this song, to the intense races, the senior 4, crewdrama, our last race, no NCAA's, making our oars and all the friendship, love and support they gave me.

2. Don't Stop Believing - Journey

Has always been one of my favourite songs, singing it at music lunches at camp, loudly while driving in the car or the bar or whenever it comes on. Also you can never stop believing, and its journey!!

3. You Gotta Be - Des' ree

I have loved this song since I first heard it when I was 10, these lyrics just scream out to me. And also they remind me of crew, I used this song as my boat's psych song because to me, they are what rowing is. And this would be one of my two songs to live by.

You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser, you gotta be hard
You gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm
You gotta stay together
All I know, all I know, love will save the day

4. Livin on a Prayer - Bon Jovi

Another classic song I have to sing to when I hear it. Reminds me of camp, driving in the car, erging novice year, singing around the dorms with the girls, karaoke at the bar, crew, and just life. Plus it is Bon Jovi!

5. Closer to Fine - Indigo Girls

Camp. This song reminds me of camp and life. From first listening and loving IG at camp, to singing it while serenading at Hoover and Jerz, Hoops, Beaker and I singing it at HH every Friday. And also I love these lyrics.

And the best thing youve ever done for me
Is to help me take my life less seriously
Its only life after all

6. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2

My favourite of all U2 songs. I just love the lyrics and it just makes me happy.

7. Can't Fight the Moonlight - LeAnn Rimes

Singing it at camp during LGT training on the docks, on the fireplace with a fork, in my car, really anywhere. And Coyote Ugly is one of my favourite movies. Ohhh to be 16 again.

8. Tiny Dancer - Elton John

My favourite of all Elton John songs. I love the lyrics and just makes me happy.

9. Konstantine - Something Corporate

Reminds me of senior year of high school. It was our senior prom song and just the end of high school and loving SoCo. The berries and I saw SoCo in concert sophomore year of college and it was just a fabulous night. And the lyrics are just so powerful, and the piano playing...

10. My Wish - Rascal Flatts

I love eveything about this song. The lyrics - just wow. And can be about so many things... Also my lovers and I road trip to NC senior year to see them in concert. AMAZING!!!

My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

11. Jersey Girl - Bruce Springsteen

Cause nothing matters in this whole wide world

When you're in love with a Jersey girl

12. Seasons of Love - RENT

Absolutely love the lyrics and the passion behind this song. From singing it at camp at LNC's and post senior prom going into the city and seeing the musical with my friends. It reminds me how short a year is, and measure your life in love.

13. Like a Prayer - Madonna

This is Becca and my song. Reminds me of the last 2 years of high school, windows down, music up loud and just driving around. We still must blast Madonna every time we see each other.

14. Wide Open Spaces - Dixie Chicks

This is my song. I feel this song describes me and my life.

15. A Place in this World - Taylor Swift

I love her and her songs really speak to me, - Picture to Burn, Should've Said No, Love Story...

And this one is my favourite. Because right now, who knows where I'll be and who I'll become

I'm alone, on my own, and that's all I know

I'll be strong, I'll be wrong, oh but life goes on
I'm just a girl, trying to find a place in
This world

So what are your songs? And what other ones would you have put for me?

survey time and the past...

So I was looking back through some old entries (I was looking up something on Dingle 2005) from my old journal and came across this which I did in November 2005. And reading about that weekend made me think back to three years ago and how much has changed since then. So here are my 2008 responses and then further down are my 2005 ones...

2008 - 23 year old erin

5 years ago I was...
1. a frosh in college
2. had falled in LOVE with crew
3. was running around with my worch girls being crazy in college
4. thinking about pledging a sorority
5. not looking forward to winter break and being home

1 year ago I was...
1. back in cork
2. seeing somone for the first time in 2 years and survived the most awk weekend of my life
3. looking forward to thanksgiving in london with meg
4. stressing out over my first grad school paper
5. loving every minute being back in ireland :)

Yesterday I was...
1. working
2. lunching with kara
3. trying to plan my parents visit
4. falling asleep at 6pm because i didn't feel well
5. complaining about it being dark at 5pm

5 snacks/foods I enjoy...
1. fries
2. doritos
3. chocolate
4. spaghettii
5. chocolate chip cookie dough

5 songs I know the words to are...
1. like a prayer - madonna
2. picture to burn - taylor swift
3. you gotta be - desere
4. the longest time - billy joel
5. camp songs :)

5 things I would do with one million dollars are...
1. pay off college loans

2. buy a car/house
3. travel all over the world
4. donate some to a few charities

5. two week holiday with all my best friends

5 favorite TV shows are...
1. friends..
2. sex and the city
3. gossip girl
4. one tree hill
5. grey's/ private practice

5 fictional characters I would date....
1. mark darcey - pride and prejudice
2. chuck bass - gossip girl
3. aiden - satc
4. ross - friends
5. aiden - home and away

2005 - 20 year old erin responses

5 years ago I was...
1. a sophomore in high school
2. field hockey season had just ended
3. not very happy in high school
4. getting ready for ski season
5. liked brian

1 year ago I was...
1. a sophomore at wac
2. had just started dating ryan
3. having mad issues with my roomate
4. thinking about studying abroad in cork
5. trying to get over jared

Yesterday I was...
1. enjoying a gorgeous fall day in cork
2. skipping my 4pm lecture
3. out for a pint with marcus and emily
4. finding out the results of the EC election and i'm Panhel Rep for ZTA
5. sooo happy

5 snacks/foods I enjoy...
1. chips aka french fries
2.a cup of tea
3. cadbury's mint chocolate
4. a pint of beamish
5. mozzarella sticks

5 songs I know the words to are...
1. closer to fine - indigo girls
2. camp songs :)
3. like a prayer - madonna
4. these days - rascal flatts
5. konstantine or any something corporate song

5 things I would do with one million dollars are...
1. pay off my college loans and go to any grad school i wanted
2. live in ireland
3. travel all over the world
4. hike the appalachian trail 5. put some in the bank

5 favorite TV shows are...
1. friends.. like we needed to ask.. and its been WAY too long since i've watched an episode.. since i came to ireland
2. days of our lives
3. everwood
4. oprah
5. er

5 fictional characters I would date....
1. shawn from days
2. mark darcy from bridget jones
3. ephram from everwood
4. maverick from top gun... ohhh tom cruise circa 1985
5. the coach from bend it like beckham.. jonathan rhys meyers...

Anyway in kinda a blah mood. I think the weather is just getting to me. I'm also not feeling well. I was tired at work and I got home and made a cup of tea and relaxed with a book, and pretty soon I was falling asleep. And I just enjoyed the nap and went to bed early. And woke up with a sore throat. GAH! I was just sick last month, this better just be from no sleep over the weekend. So counted a TON of money today, it is the first round of society balls and so they are bringing in tons of money in ticket sales. So I counted out 9,000 and then 14,000 euro in notes. It is so crazy to see that much money at one time. So tonight I'm just relaxing and maybe heading to the pub, we'll see how I feel.

dingle 2008

Dingle was great :) Despite the horrible weather, lashing rain and spending about double the time in the hostel as the years previous!

So Friday I left from work to meet everyone, I had my backpacks at work, and my co-workers laughed at me and all my gear. I had my medium hikng backpack with my knee brace and boots attached on the back and then my regular backpack with clothes/food for the weekend. So of course it is raining, not the most fun way to start the weekend. It poured the entire bus ride to Dingle, and it takes like 3.5 hours. We get to the hostel and it is lashing, seriously pouring!! So we all started cooking dinner, and just sitting around and getting out the alcohol and talking and exploring the new hostel. They had an adorable cat, who sat on my lap for a while on Friday night (which I shouldn't have, because my eyes were KILLING me!) I know I shouldn't play with cats, without my allergery meds, but I can't help it. So then the evenings fun started, the guys had brought a guitar and bodhran (my favourite of all irish trad instruments) and so they were playing and we were singing. And then the crazy started. This weekend was the hair straightening. One of the guys Brian (Tim) has this longish curly hair, and we have been joking around about straightening it, and so one of the girls brought her straightener so we could. So we straightened 3 of the lads hair. It was quite amusing!! After a while we went into the table traversing, which is always fun! and then the cardboard box game, and then we continued to do all of those crazy little games we always do in Dingle. So then more singing and just hanging out talking.. I was up until 4am, (seriously tired at this stage, I'm not as young as I once was) and there were still a handfull of people up. Friday night is a little quieter than Saturday, like I had 2 bottles of cider and most people only had a few cans.. We save the hard alcohol/large quantities of alcohol for Saturday evening, when most people only get like 2 hours of sleep if any!.

So Saturday we wake up around 8 to be ready for the bus which is coming a little after 9 to take us to the mountain. And the weather was still ok, the forecast wasn't the best. So we went off to Brandon (my favourite of all Irish mountains) and we were going the pilgrim path up and then coming down along the cliffs. This is where I took my favourite Ireland photo when I studied abroad, coming down along the coast and the sheep... So were hiking and the weather is still ok, we start getting in the clouds, slightly misty.. meh, nothing unusual... a little higher, ohh, its windy... now it is actually raining.. must put on rain jacket.... wow, its getting really windy... a little higher... seriously wind. it is getting hard to walk... ok now it is seriously raining, time for the waterproof pants... ok, i'm ready to turn around, this weather is ridiculous. wind you are blowing me around a little too much, and now it is hailing....

I was never so glad to hear that we were turning around, but luckily going up the wind was at our backs... so going down it was in our faces, and i had my hat half covering my face, to try to avoid the hail/rain. It was nice when we got down lower where the wind wasn't so ridiculous and it was just normal rain. But I was so cold. So relieved when we reached the point where the bus was picking us up, I was starting to feel my body again! The shower was amazing, I didn't want to get out of the warm water!! Then we spent the afternoon just relaxing around the hostel, talking, sitting by the fire... a few people went to the climbing wall, but as I haven't climbed in 3 months I would be completely out of shape and it wasn't worth paying 10e. So I walked into Dingle town with a few people, and of course it started POURING!! but it was fun to see the town and to walk into a few shops as I have never been to the town, it is such a great place! Saturday night after dinner was fun. I was drinking a bottle of wine :) I started playing a game of kings with a bunch of the people, the guys were playing music again and just the usual merriment. The game of kings was intense, we actually used a king cup, but it wasn't like wac where if you pulled the king you poured some of your drink into the cup, and the 4th king would drink it..(which we rarely did anyway, because we were nicer than that and didn't want t infict that on each other) nononono, if you pulled a king, everyone playing poured some of their drink into the cup and you would have to drink it... so there were 4 of these lovely opportunities per game. Luckily in the 3 games I played I only pulled one king... the drink was lovely... lots of different beer, a few ciders and then a red wine and my white zin. I chugggged that as fast as I could, as I didn't want to have to drink it twice! It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but ugggggh! So the game continued for a lot longer, hahaha, but i joined in on a few conversations and then sang along with the guitars for a while, then we all ended up in one of the small rooms and were seeing how many people could fit into the closet, then doing other random things, more singing, lots more singing! and then talking, dance offs, more singing, and what do you know, it is 4am.. so I was dying again, half asleep the last 15 minutes, so around 4.15 I head off and there were a ton of people still running about, singing and being crazy.

Sunday morning woke up, enjoyed breakfast and sitting around talking, laughing about the debauchery from the night before, and then a bunch of us walked into town again for Ireland's best ice cream. It was pretty amazing, but they were sooo small and expensive! All I really want is a gigantic thing of Coldstone or Cliffs (the best ice cream in the world in Jersey) And it was kinda raining walking into town... but on the way home the skies opened up, like seriously. I was soaked in about 3 seconds. Not cool. So back to the hostel, packed and cleaned up and then while waiting for the bus we had another singing session. So got home a little after 8, threw both my bags contents in the wash as everything was soaked!, and the rest is now sitting in a huge pile on my floor. My room is a disaster zone, seriously need to clean!! That is the only bad part about coming back from a mountaineering weekend, trying to dry out everything!

So that is the Dingle weekend. Crazy fun, but great. Though it was the quietest of all three years it still was great. I was quite disappointed that the weather was so shit, and that there was no climbing outside on Sunday, Dunsheen is my favourite place to climb! And I look forward to Dingle for the climbing. Oh well.

Back to the usualness, can't believe it is already the 10th of November! Where is time going???

Oh loved work today, because they were playing a TON of Elton John on the radio. They announced today he is playing in Ireland in June so the radio was giving away tickets everytime they played a song. So they were pretty much playing a song every hour. LOVED it!

Off to make dinner and get my life organised!