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