hola de españa!

spain is FABULOUS!!!!

i LOVE it!


had an absolutely amazing time in malaga! granada was fun and madrid is eeeeeeeee!

went to the prado today and saw a million fabulous paintings.

can´t wait for tomorrow and the reina sofia y GUERNICA!!

off for some tapas tonight and lots of wine!

i also have taken about 500 photos in the last 3 days!!

adios!

i may take a holiday in spain...

sooooo roomie and i are headed to SPAIN in the morning!

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

soooo excited!!

we are going to malaga, granada and then madrid.

and seeing the mediterranean sea! the alhambra, the prado (especially for las meninas), guernica at los museo reina sofia!!! among many other things.

we are going to eat tapas, drink lots of wine and sangria, go crazy at a spanish disco, maybe speak some spanish, and take a million pictures!

the last few days in cork have been fun! amy's been entertaining herself while i work, but then we've been having fun in cork :) 

oh read this on a random blog and helllllo it describes me to a t! 

LEO - The Boss (July 23 - Aug 22)

Very organized. Need order in their lives - like being in control. Like boundaries. Tend to take over everything. Bossy. Like to help Others. Social and outgoing. Extroverted. Generous, warm-hearted. Sensitive. Creative energy. Full of themselves. Loving. Doing the right thing is important to Leos. Attractive. 

i'll leave you with a few teaser pictures from the last few days around ireland. it has been a fun few days with lots of crazy stories!

amy and i in cork at the shaky bridge

driving up in connemara - it looks like i'm singing

amy hugging the history in galway - the spanish arches

pretty sure this was my first scenery-gasim...  and why i LOVE ireland

cliffs of moher

oh and just after the last two days at work of catching up on my reader i'm gone for a few more days, so i can't wait to see the number be crazy again! 

hope everyone has a good few days :)

and i finally made an email address for the blog so email me at heartinireland@gmail

YAY!

986

I have successfully driven 986 km around Ireland in three days. And there were no major incidents, I may have slightly banged up the passenger side mirror on a stone wall, but it was a biiiig truck on a small road. So I forgot how much I loved driving, maybe not Friday, but by Sunday. 

So we met our car Peat - as Amy and I called him nice and early on Friday. So early the sun still wasn't up, and oh yea it was kinda raining. So I'm driving and it isn't staying on the left side of the road that Amy needs to remind me about, nooo. Its - Erin, curb. Side of the road, ummm curb. CURB! I remember doing the same thing when I first started driving, being scared of hittin/being too close to oncoming traffic, that I would hug the side of the road. And well in Ireland the side of the road there isn't a shoulder, it is a stone wall, big ditch or nothing. So once it got light out, it got easier. Though throughout the day on Friday there was rain, snow, sleet, hail and wind.. and sun. So pretty much everything! 

Friday in the car was an adventure! So we managed to take the scenic route a few more times than planned. First we decided to head to the Cliffs of Moher, and I knew the road we wanted was outside Ennis. So we drove to Ennis (remember it is only 7am) and then I wasn't paying attention, so I went straight through and after about 15km, I was like SHIT, we should have turned, so we look at the map and see a road we could take that would bring us to the Cliffs so we get on it, until about 20 minutes later we realise we are on 18 again and headed towards Ennis. How? No idea... oh well. So we get to the Cliffs (and I'll write about the actual stuff later, this is all about my driving.) and from there decide well, lets go up to Connemara and Kylemore Abbey. So we plan out the roads... until I realise we are driving around the Burren a little too much, and wait a second, we don't want to be going towards Doolin or that other village, because we were already there... So we realise we have gone in a circle and must have made a wrong turn somewhere, so more map consulting and we get on our merry way up to Galway and then to almost Letterfrack. And while driving this I get more and more confortable, I'm actually starting to drive the speed limit in some places, Amy is reminding me less and less of the curb... and when Lady Gaga - Just Dance comes on the radio I slightly car dance. So after Kylemore Abbey we drive back down to Galway no problems.

Saturday after leaving Galway we head down to Killarney and I'm totally getting comfortable on the big roads, I'm even going a few over the speed limit! And apparently my Jersey driving skills come into action, giving a few hand gestures, yelling at cars and even more car dancing, plus later on that afternoon I also sat the way I always do when I drive at home, my one leg tucked up. So we did a bit of the Ring of Kerry and then back into town for the night. Sunday wasn't very exciting driving wise, just from Killarney to Blarney then back into Cork and the airport where were returned Peat. He was a fabulous rental car, we had a lot of fun together and once I got comfortable it was great. I only messed up twice on driving on the wrong side, (both times when turning left - I'm like Derek Zoolander, I can't turn left. Seriously.. ask me to park in a parking lot by making a left turn, its quite amusing...) but for the most part I didn't even need to think about that, it was keeping an eye on the passenger side and making sure I wasn't driving half off the road. 

So my Irish driving experience was quite good, and I had a fabulous time and we got to see some pretty awesome things. Oh... and we only pulled over/stopped in the middle of an empty road about a million times to take pictures... 

So here is my fabulous driving map.. its quite funny. 

So hope everyone had a fabulous weekend, my reader is slightly crazy, and I'll be thinking of questions over Monday/Tuesday at work, so if you want to be interviewed just ask! 

Oh and the new Bruce cd - AMAZING! I picked it up Friday night and we listened to it a few times in the car :) Still don't get why Ireland released it on Friday, but it isn't until Tuesday... but I'm not going to complain!

i wish i could wear my little black dress everyday

so while amy and i are driving all around killarney national park, chasing sheep and taking a million funny pictures, hopefully making out with hotties with accents and drinking lots of pints- here is a fun trip down memory lane.

so classy in philadelphia inspired me to do this post.

last week she posted about her favourite dresses and it made me think about all the fun dresses i've worn to proms/formals/weddings/birthday ball and other fun dress up occasions.

so lets go back...

back to christmas 1988. you know your mom was like mine and each christmas you got a christmas dress. here is one of my favourites. wasn't i cute?

fast forward through all of the awk middle school years, because well those were painful. here is my freshman year high school semi formal - 2000.
and then junior prom - 2002 - i love this dress!
this dress also makes an apperance at my freshman year birthday ball in college with my berries (2004)

but my favourite dress is my senior prom one - 2003. i LOVE it. i still need to find an occassion to wear it again.


so one of my classic staples is my first little black dress, i got it senior year of high school and i still wear it. this picture is from my fall sorority formal sophomore year - 2004. it was also worn to the senior year fall one in 2006. and i think my freshman spring one in 2004 (i was only at that one for about an hour because of crew) this is with my berries.

now i also LOVE my sophomore year birthday ball dress - 2005. this is with one of my fav sorority sisters also sporting the same dress. (and we were classy drinking strawberry andre right out of the bottle)
and then onto lbd 2. my junior year birthday ball dress. yes, i wore flip flops. with my roomie! this dress has been also worn to both the ucc postgrad and clubs/socs ball in 2008.
this is another favourite, i first wore it to my uncle's wedding in 2004, and then this is from my spring junior formal in 2006, where yet again i was only at formal for about an hour because of crew. it was also worn to my spring formal year sophomore year 2005 (that was an absolutely hilarious evening). i'm with my little and glittle.

now at the end of junior year -2006 - i along with 2 of my loves, roomie and kaity , was invited to a black tie event to celebrate the george washington book prize at mt. vernon. and i love this dress, this is my formal black dress. this was also worn to senior year birthday ball
this is my little red dress, the exact same as my lbd, but red. i love it, and it gets worn all the time. this was senior year at our wine and cheese party, 2006. i'm with my friend em, and we studied abroad together.
so this isn't a real dress, but for an anything goes but clothes, the fab ladies of garrett c made formal dresses. and i'm pretty proud of my project runway skills. 2007


this is my graduation dress - i wore it to both my wac - 2007 and ucc - 2008 graduations. this is from the morning of my wac graduation, popping open the champagne :)

and last but not least is my most recent purchase. this is the dress i wore to coop's wedding in july 2008. i love it! i'm with all the other crewies at her wedding!
so YAY! for dresses.

i absolutely love getting dressed up, and my favourite theme party is lbd wine and cheese because it is an excuse to wear a nice dress.

interview me

So while college roomie and I are off running around Galway, admiring the Cliffs of Moher and hopefully making out with hotties I'm hopping on the interview bandwagon... My friend Kristen over At One Safe Place interviewed me, so here are her questions and they are GOOD!

The Rules:

a. Leave a comment saying, "Interview Me".

b. I will respond by e-mailing you 5 questions. I get to pick the questions.

c. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

d. You will include this explanation and offer to interview someone else in the same post.

e. When others comment asking you to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions!

The Questions:

1. If you had to be stuck for hours in any airport in the world, which airport would you choose and why?
If I had to be stuck at any airport I would choose London's Heathrow. I've been to many airports all over Europe, some seriously nothing more than like a shed (Paris Beauvais, about an hour from Paris and where all the budget airlines go) and I've spent a few nights in airports (London Stansted with Em and Laura on our Berlin adventure, Dublin with my sister on the way back to Greece) but my favourite is Heathrow. It is GIGANTIC! And the thing I love about Heathrow is flights go all over the world, the US/Australia/Asia/Africa... so there are always awesome destinations at the gates and I LOVE to people watch. So I think about what the people are doing and why they are going there. Are they going home? Vacation? Studying? So many things to think about, and places to dream about going. And once you are through security, they have some decent seating by the shops that is actually comfortable, and about a million shops in case you get bored.

2. Who was the best teacher/professor you ever had, and what made them the best?
I have two. One from high school and one from college.
High School - Mrs. Tanis. I had her twice, for Biology sophomore year and then again for AP Bio senior year.
She loved biology! She loved teaching! And she got so excited about what she was doing, and it just radiated through her classroom. In my sophomore year I was the smartest kid in the class (I should have been in Honors, but that's another story) and she challenged me more by giving me more in depth work and making my lab partner someone who needed a LOT of help. And I really liked her for bio, and one of the reasons I did AP Bio was her. And AP Bio was a challenge, but she made it fun! She wanted us to do well and for the AP exam, since she knew she couldn't get to everything would do review sessions starting in January. We would meet during lunch once a week and then as it got closer to the exam twice a week and an evening session, now it was all optional, but most of us went. She did this on her own time because that's just how she is and also so we could do some really cool experiments/classes on stuff she thought we should know (but wouldn't be on the AP). She is the kind of teacher I want to be, and I hope when I have my own classroom I can be like her.
WAC- Hands down, Dr. O'Connor - my education professor. He is one of the smartest people I know. Has an amazing personal history and loves teaching. His classes were completely non-traditional. While sometimes he was slightly too theoretical about teaching methods and ways of implementing instruction, he was still amazing. I had him for 2 classes - Educational Pyschology and World Geography and then my ed block (student teaching) semester. The way he organized our student teaching was quite unique and the pure torture of the academy, but I feel prepared to enter the classroom in September. He made me excited to go to my education classes, got to know all of us personally and helped us recognize our own weaknesses and build them up, and how to play to our strengths. He was the best because he set up an amazing program, always kept us on our toes and from the first class was using methods we would use in our classrooms in our college classes. He also knew us and got us to stretch our comfort zones, experiment with new things and the funny little things about edblock, the notecards, video taping ourselves, naughty Sean in our classrooms, he let me be a t-rex in the classroom during edblock and he is just amazing.

3. If you could have tea with any person in the world, who would you choose?
Ahhh, this one is really tough, I don't know why. But to have tea with one person in the world I would choose to chat over a cuppa with Bono of U2. I know it is slightly random, but I LOVE his music and I think he is trying to promote change around the world and using his fame for good. He writes songs that have social and political leanings and that really touch people. I think he would be great to just have a little talk with.
Runners up - Michelle Obama, Harry Parker (harvard Crew Coach, who is one of the winningest coaches ever) and Hillary Clinton.

4. What is the most beautiful place on Earth that you've ever seen and what made it so beautiful?
sjfkkgfkkdkk, I can only pick one? I have a few different, but I guess my top choice would be Zion National Park in Utah. I went there in the summer of 2007 with my family on our western road trip. And I absolutely LOVED it. The canyons and cliffs are just breathtaking. You are at at base of them and just looking up, so many pretty colours, and different geographic shapes. And I'd never seen anything like it, I am dying to go back and do more hiking, go into the slot canyons and just bask in th

I wish pictures were able to show how GORGEOUS it is.


My runners up - Santorini, Greece and Dingle, Ireland.

Santorini, Greece

Dingle Peninsula, Ireland

5. If you could have a magic button next to your bed that did something awesome when you pressed it, what would it do?
Hmmmm, I don't want much just for my room and the bathroom to be super warm so it makes getting out of bed easier and I would have it right next to my alarm clock. You should see my still covered in blankets turning on my heater and then climbing back into bed for 10 minutes. I hate being cold, especially at 7.45 in the morning.

So if you would like to be interviewed, leave me a comment with your email and I'll get back to you with some fun questions.. it might be a few days, as I'm frolicking, but get excited!

what kind of adventure can we have?

you don't understand how excited i am right now.

i will be leaving after work tonight to spend the night in limerick, so i can get to shannon bright and early to be waiting for my fabulous roomie with a cup of coffee so we can begin our euro adventures.

i can't wait.

i am more than excited to show her around the emerald isle, take her to some of my favourite places and let her get a glimpse into why i LOVE ireland so much.

we are renting a car (eeeek! i'm kinda nervous about this, but i'll be ok. we're getting an automatic and i've been in cars enough over here so i'm used to driving on the other side, but i've never driven) and going to at least galway, cliffs of moher, killarney, blarney and all around my little city by the lee and who knows what else between galway and cork. we don't have any set plans, except friday night in galway and saturday night in killarney and back to my house sunday night. so should be quite the adventure.

and then after a few days in cork, we are headed to SPAIN!

i can't wait, roomie and i always have fabulous adventures, even if it is just going to the grocery store, so 10 days in ireland and spain... watch out!

and in random notes.
ummm, bruce. once again i'm like wtf. his new cd comes out tuesday in the us. monday in the uk and TOMORROW in ireland. i don't get why ireland gets it first, though i think amy and i may be stopping into a shop and getting it.

and aerobics yesterday was fabulous. it wasn't just right. not easy, but definitely not hard. After aerobics with novice crew coach and power hour with kanagroo man at 6am nothing can ever be hard again. i'm not as sore as i expected to be this morning - YAY!

hope everyone has a fabulous weekend :)

at last...

First hungover at work, not the best way to start the day.
Last night was fun though.
I haven't been out in a while, so it was a funny night out with the girls from work.
We made kinda last minute plans to go out for a pint, now I was just expecting 2 pints.
5 pints later....
Kinda explains the hangover.
Had fun talking about office gossip, catching me up on the ridiculousness of the Christmas party which I missed because I was home, trying to create office scandal, and just general merriment.
I don't miss being hungover at work, last January almost every Friday was like this when Kara and I went out and had some crazy adventures...

So the inauguration yesterday... there are no words.
I felt so proud to be an American yesterday.
We had it streaming online on the tv at work. Around 3.30 I put it on and we watched the coverage and I was trying to answer all the questions about everything and all the random questions about American politics. Good thing I'm a history major and like politics!
So once it started, I was just giddy.
His swearing in, was so cute. I love that he slightly fumbled, he is human. And it is super scary taking oaths like that, seriously it is almost impossible to not mess up. Believe me from all the times I've seen oaths from sorority stuff, inside your head its like omg, pay attention. remember the order of the words, fuck! what comes after that, when they say - say your name, say my name, don't repeat say your name....
And his speech, wow. I don't even know what to say. I read it this morning and he is just such an amazing speaker.
Some of my favourite lines:

*At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents.
*Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
*For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

and I LOVE that he quoted GW. Because I LOVE George Washington. I guess that's what happens when you go to a school that is named after the guy and we celebrate him and pretty much love him.

And then I didn't get to see Michelle's dress until this morning, but OMG! LOVES IT! She is just absolutely gorgeous and I love her. She just seems like an amazing role model, a mom, a career woman, an amazing relationship with her husband, she is powerful, elegant, classy, fabulous style, hardworking and just omg, i love her. And the girls, so precious. I just love the family. And I looove that their first dance was to 'At Last' so fitting, and how he started out with "How good looking is my wife"....

Anyway, finally starting to feel unhungover. And maybe I won't die at the gym tonigh in aerobics... hopefully...

history.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

i am so ready for today!

i woke up this morning all excited and giddy.
it is such an amazing day.
i can't wait to watch the actual inauguration.

in a few more hours barack obama will be the president of the united states of america.

i have been waiting 8 years for this day.
almost 1/3 of my life.

it is crazy because for pretty much most of my political awareness it has been george bush as president and finally now it is the dawn on a new era.

i've had the webcams on the capital on my computer all morning, and it has been pretty crazy to see how throughout the day the place has filled up, i turned it on when i came into the office after 9 (4am in dc) and now when it is about 2 hours until.

i'm just overwhelmed with pride and emotions right now.

i can't wait to watch this!!

just dance.

random thoughts: 

- so ireland received some snow today. luckily in cork it was only big wet flakes (i don't even want to call them that) and they melted as soon as they hit the ground. so what made me laugh was on the news they were talking about the road conditions and such and that they were expected to get 2-5mm of snow. yes MILLIMETERS of snow.  so about half a centimeter.... better get out the snowblower. 

- Getting hotels and such booked for Spain! YAY! I got an email back from a friend who lived for the last 3 months in Spain, and he is amazing for this line, talking about a restaurant/cafe he recommends - "The interior design is really cool and all the staff are male so you guys are likely to get chatted up there!!" There is a reason why I still keep in touch with him even though he is M's best friend. 

- had a lazy day yesterday. but the weather was just like saturday's so noope. not going out there. watched top gun and it reminded me of crew senior year. we designed i feel the need, the need for speed shirts and all wore aviators. and it reminded me how gorgeous tom cruise was circa 1986... before he went crazy. talked to gator again, the conversations are hilarious, so we'll see. 

- watched the obama concert on the internet this morning. wow, seemed absolutely amazing and watching it made me even more excited about tomorrow. i'm so glad rte is showing it and though i'll be at work, we'll be showing it on our tv. My favourite of all of the performances though was U2. 

- i'm slightly obsessed with this song - just dance by lady gaga. i don't know how new/old it is. just they've been playing it non-stop on the radio the last 3 weeks. it makes me want to sing and dance while i am at work.  and the lyrics remind me of most of the irish out on a thursday night, they are redic!

-i signed up for an aerobics class at the gym on wednesday, it might be entertaining.

- glad everyone liked my 101. it was actually a lot of fun to do, and i had fun thinking of weird, random things. 

-did i mention i'll be seeing my rooommate in 4 days?!!!!!!!!!!!!

101

1. my name is erin. 

2. my favourite color is pink. 

3. my birthday is july 30th. 

4. i am a classic leo. i hit almost all of the characteristics to a t. 

4. i have a younger sister 21 and brother 13.

5. i currently live in ireland, though home is new jersey.

6. i love sports. i cheered (grades K-2, 7&8), softball (3-8), basketball (3-8), field hockey (5-12), ski raced (9-12), track (9-12) and rowed (4 years in college).  

7. though i've always played sports, my actual athletic ability is questionable. my hand eye cordination is almost non-existant. i'm pretty sure in the 5 years i played basketball i scored 10 points total and i only got on base in softball once i was taught how to bunt.

8. i understand the sports though, and get all the rules and strategy behind them... that's why rowing was perfect for me. i was the coxswain, so i steered, motivated my rowers, called the races and was the 'brains' behind the boat. 

9. i sometimes act like a t-rex. 

10. in college my friends freshman year named all my accents. 

11. i have a weird memory, i can remember dates, places and people no problem. but give me a list of 40 vocabulary words, and i'm screwed. 

12. when i was bored in college classes i would make lists. states, presidents, countries in europe. state capitals, counties in ireland...

13. i've been blogging since 2001. first on free open diary - though some of these were lost, when the server crashed and like 1% of their stuff was lost, and i was one of the people who lost everything (luckily i had saved most of them), then onto live journal in 2004, and on blogger since 2007. 

14. i still sleep with a stuffed animal. his name is bunny and i've had him since i was about 6 months old. 

15. one of my favourite things to do is drive. just put in a cd, roll down the windows and drive on little back roads, singing out to my heart's content. 

16. when i hear songs, i relate them to certain people, events or memories. 

17.  i absolutely love children's books. my favourites are eloise, make way for ducklings, if you give a mouse a cookie, and anything dr. seuss.

18. i was the dumbest smart kid in college. at graduation those who graduate with honours are in ranked order, after that it is alphabetical. 

19. i am an amazingly picky eater. i have gotten better as i've gotten older, but my diet is still mainly carbs. 

20. at home i currenly have 6 cats and a dog. throughout my life we've had 11 cats. i am quite allergic to them. but it doesn't stop me from cuddling them. 

21. i was a camp counselor for 5 summers - 2 girl scout camps and a day camp. and i taught at 2 academic summer camps. 

22. one of my nicknames is speedy. i was called it for 4 summers at girl scout camps. 

23. my other nickname is my last name. for most of hs and college more people called my by my last name than my first. 

24. i love national parks. i've been to great smoky, zion, bryce canyon and the grand canyon so far. my goal is to go to all of them. my favourite is zion.

25. i also want to go to all 50 states. 

26. so far i've been to - nh, vt, ri, ct, ma, ny, pa, nj, de, md, va, wv, nc, sc, fl, ga, tn, oh, mi, ca, az, nv, ut and dc. 

27. i also want to travel to all 7 continents. so far i've only done north america and europe. 

28. there also isn't a country i don't want to go to. 

29. so far i've visited the us, canada, ireland, england, scotland, wales, northern ireland, germany, france, greece and spain. (italy february 2009)

30. the first broadway show i saw was rent. 

31. for both my junior and senior prom, i asked my date to go. they were my co-captains on the ski team.

32. my favourite city is new york city. 

33. my favourite number is 33. 3 and 9 also work. 

34. my favourite alcoholic drink is a cosmo. i also enjoy sex on the beach, guinness, and wine. 

35. in college i won an oreo stack eating contest. it was on the bus on the way home from my last college crew regatta. i think it was 12 double stuff oreo sandwhich. (12 fillings inside 2 cookies)

36. my senior crewies are some of my favourite people in the world. we shared 4 years of sweat, hardwork, tears, teamwork, memories, laughter, rowing, and friendship. i would do anything for these girls. 

37. i've never had my hair longer than my shoulders. it is usually just below my chin. 

38. i used to be obsessed with beanie babies. my favourites are erin the bear (duh), speedy the turtle, pinky the flamingo, quackers the duck and seaweed the otter

39. i am absolutely in love with gmail. i currently have 38 labels, and they are all colour coded. 

40. i've read all the baby sitters club books, and owned about half of them. i used to pretend i was stacey. 

41. one of my goals is to hike the entire appalachian trail. all 2170 miles from georgia to maine.

42. i refused to read harry potter until the summer of 2002. when at camp a friend gave me the first book at camp. but she had gone through the book renaming everyone after camp people. she was harry, i was hermione and my best friend was ron. so i was reading about basil, speedy and ace. i became hooked, but i was confused most of the 2nd book, because i dodn't know their actual names! i read the first 4 books within 3 weeks. i then got 5/6/7 the day they came out. 

43. i love my sorority! i can't wait to be closer to an alumni chapter. i am currently in the uk chapter and met up with sisters living in europe twice and i'm going to london in march again to see them again. 

44. i love taking photos. i've been doing a photo a day project since july 31st, 2007. 

45.  my twin isn't really my twin. she is my other half. we met working at gs camp in 2001 and have been inseperable ever since. 

46. my core group of friends from freshman year of college were still my core group senior year. i love all our worch girls photos. from the mud fight to birthday balls to crazy theme parties to graduation. 

47. i love all things chocolate except chocolate ice cream. 

48. i've only ever worn clinique happy. 

49. i relate everything in life to friends episodes. i'm also slightly obsessed with the show, know every episode and could kick your butt in friends trivia. 

50. most of the places i've been in ireland, it has been for hiking. donegal, connemara, dingle, wicklow, all over co. kerry, west cork, some in co. waterford & tipperary. 

51. i majored in history and american studies with a secondary education certification at wac. 

52. studying abroad in ireland in 2005 was a major life changing experience. it changed what i wanted to do post-wac and introduced me to my academic interest - irish american domestic servants. 

53. my first boyfriend got my hooked on country music. and now it is mostly what i listen to. 

54. i love wearing high heels or flip flops. i hate socks. 

55. my favourite season is summer. i hate being cold. 

56. i am a romantic at heart. i love chick flicks and chick lit. 

57. facebook has become my lifeline while living abroad. i love being able to see what everyone is up to. 

58. i love  peanut butter, mint and chocolate together - ie, chocolate chip mint ice cream with reeses pieces. 

59. i'm always reading. ususally some random chick lit, but i read anything and everything.

60. in college i drank at least a can of coke a day. and i was on a permanent sugar high just to stay awake most days.

61. in ireland i traded the coke for tea. i'm addicted to barry's tea. i probably have about 4 cups a day.

62. i've been watching/following days of our lives since i was 9. 

63. i wish life was a musical. how much fun would that be? always breaking into singing and dancing!

64. i cry a lot. any little thing can make me start tearing up. books/movies are the worst. i cry reading pretty much anything. nicholas sparks/cecilia ahern books are the worst. 

65. i have my masters in history - specifically on the irish diaspora. i wrote 21,000 words on irish domestic servants in the us and great britain.

66. i've only had 3 boyfriends. 

67. i am an overachiever. i was in nhs in hs, and 2 different honour societies in college.  i was also in about a million clubs in hs, and on the exec board for most of them at one point and 2 year captain of the ski team. i also held 3 positions in my sorority and was captain of the crew team senior year. 

68. i'm short - 5'1'' and i absolutely love it. 

69. i prefer only using lower case letters. especially on my name. i've been writing my name in lower case letters since i was 16. i've only recently started (sometimes) signing my name with a capital letter. 

70. i actually had a professor write on a paper-  are you e.e. cummings? - thank you clayton. 

71. i love abbreviating words. 

72. i want to go back to college for my PhD is history one day. 

73. i still have not gone to coyote ugly. it is on my list of things to do. when i was 15 we made plans to have my 21st birthday there. 

74. instead i was in dc visiting one of my berries on the way home from north carolina and we went to the natural history smithsonian so i could see the t-rex, and then the american history one and then just had a nice lunch. my first legal drink in the US was a strawberry dacquri. 

75. my first beer was my freshman year in college - the first night of college at talbot. 

76. i love getting letters in the mail. 

77. i hate snow, but love skiing. 

78. i love italian food. but i'm not a big fan of marinara sauce. 

79. my favourite sandwhich is pb&j. but only grape jelly. runner up would be grilled cheese. 

80. i have a slight obsssion with crutons. 

81. my college roommate freshman year keeps me sane, even from 3000 miles away. we write each other amazingly long emails. we word count them... i'm not kidding. 

82. i love making mixed cd's. 

83. i wear pearls pretty much every day. 

84. the best decision i ever made in my life was to go to wac. those 4 years were absolutely amazing and i learned so much about myself and had some amazing opportunities. 

85. i once opened a bottle of champagne using a sword from the war of 1812. 

86. i set my alarm clock to go off at either a :7 or a :3.

87. i've been wearing a silver aids awareness bracelet from the body shop since i was 14. i have only ever taken it off for sports. 

88. i want to run a marathon. 

89. i am extremely ticklish. like you touch me and i'm spasiming. 

90. my toe nails are always painted red. and they have been since i was 16.

91. i love to-do lists.

92. i tore my acl playing field hockey right before my senior year of high school. 

93. i have to shower in the morning. it wakes me up. 

94. i love finding new blogs to read. when i find one i like i read their old entries. 

95. when i was younger i hated my name. i absolutely love it now. 

96. i am so glad i decide to move abroad after undergrad. 

97. working in an office has made me realise i don't want a desk job. i need to be active and constantly doing something different. 

98. my first concert was the beach boys when i was 7. i've also seen 3 doors down, oar , something corporate, rascal flatts (2) and snow patrol. 

99. the fastest i've ever ran a mile was 7:15 my junior year of hs for field hockey.

100. i only write in black ink. i hate pencils and blue ink. 

101. the most played song on my itunes right now is taylor swift's - a place in this world. i've played it 541 times since jan 8, 2007 (when i had to reinstall windows on my computer) 

so there you go :)

101 things about me. 

if you want to know anything else, just ask!

i might get blown away

So I had plans today to run a few errands in town and then walk over to Fitzgerald Park and finally go to the Cork Public Museum. I've lived here for long enough to never have been and I LOVE museums. But mother nature has made me question that decision, as it is POURING and super windy. Like howling wind, the winds are about 30mph with gusts about 60mph. And well when looking outside and seeing everything blowing about and just hearing the wind... I've decided those errands can wait for tomorrow, except the library. Which means I'll just have to run down after work one day this week. Now I know I live in a wet country, so you really just get used to the rain and either wearing a rain jacket or just getting wet, at least in the winter, because umbrellas just don't work here. But on days like today, unless I have something to do, I won't be going outside. 

But the weather in Ireland is constantly changing, and somehow while I was writing that, the rain stopped and the sun tried to peak out, so I ran into town to run errands. The city was so quiet for a Saturday afternoon, I guess the horrible weather kept everyone at home. But I was able to go to the library and get a few books to read over the next few weeks, a guidebook for Madrid (they didn't have any Spain ones, so I put myself on the hold list for one) and I also grabbed one for Italy, so I could start planning my next trip. Then I treated myself to some hot chocolate, this shop seriously makes the BEST hot chocolate in the world! 

So at least I was able to get out of the house for a bit, so that was nice. Though I was just going to watch a movie and knit. After the gym yesterday I popped into a music/dvd store that is closing, and picked up 4 dvd's for 14 euro. I got myself My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Top Gun. And then 2 for a friend's birthday next week. 

So I'm getting SUPER excited about roomie coming over! I spent a while last night looking up hotels and such for Spain! I'm getting so pumped to have some slightly warmish weather, see the Mediterranean Sea in Malaga, the Alhambra in Granada, the Prado in Madrid and so many other fabulous things!! It is crazy how fast this is coming up, I'm meeting her bright and early Friday morning at the airport! but I can't waaaaait! YAY!

The adventures are going to be slightly crazy! The two of us together can be redic. Lots of history love and of course getting her an Irishman! 

I wish I was in the States for this weekend though. I'm reading all these awesome things about the Inauguration and I want to be able to watch the coverage today of it all, the concert on Sunday, and everything on Tuesday!! Luckily most of it will be shown online, so I can watch the inaguration on Tuesday! I may see if I can stay at work and watch it on the fast connection, instead of my dinosaur of an internet connection at home. 

I've talked with Gator twice in the last few days... I'm still like aldgfsfgjkshksgkk about the whole thing. I'm enjoying talking to him though, so we'll see what happens, he invited me up to see him once i'm home. The conversations have been quite amusing and it makes me laugh that most of them occur at 8am for me. At least it is a good way to start my day. 

omg! you're american!!

Brenda and I are walking home from the cinema talking about the movie, when we pass a girl and her boyfriend? walking towards us. We were maybe 5 steps away from them, when the girl calls out, wait! I figured we had dropped something? But no.

The girl looks at me and goes OMG YOU'RE AMERICAN!!!!!!!!!

Where are you from?!? 

I say  New Jersey. 

OMG I've been there.

I spent the summer on Cape Cod and then some other place and omg! I just LOVE America. 

And she went on a slightly drunken I love Americans talk for about another 30 seconds before her boyfriend was like come on let's go.

And she gave me a hug....

Brenda and I just look at each other and laugh. I have never had this happen to me. 

I get the where are you from - allll the time. And then a my cousins live in some random city or I've been to Boston,NYC or California. 

But I have never gotten the OMG!!!!!!!! You are totally like my new BFF!

Totally made my night.

So Bride Wars. It was better than I expected. Pretty funny.  I was laughing most of  the movie. Some absolutely hilarious scenes. And can I pleeeeeassseee have Anne Hathaway's wardrobe? Pretty please, with a cherry on top?  

Like the movie was pretty crazy in a few places and omg, seriously would someone do this in real life. But then again it is the Plaza in June... haha. And seriously! there is noooo way there would be 3 dates for the plaza in June in March of the same year. I enjoyed it, but then again I'm a fan of most chick flicks, because when I go to the movies I usually want to laugh and be carefree. Not be scared shitless or intense action thriller. I want to laugh and I want romance. 

And, wow. Plane landing in the Hudson River?!? I'm amazed that it was able to not crash and that everyone survived. 

Night :)

i felt like a little girl playing dress up

Ugggggh,

Today just isn't my day.

So I woke up three times from a weird dream last night. I was hiding to try to stay alive. It seemed like I was being persecuted for something but I'm not sure what (seemed quite WWII like, but I don't know what I did) but it was creepy. They were in the same room as I was and trying to find me, and I was like panicking... I woke up once, and then fell back asleep, and the second I did the same thing. The third time it was like 45 minutes before my alarm, but I didn't want to have the dream again, so I decided to stay up. I'm really bad at remembering dreams, because I don't usually dream (or remember anything from them) but the weird thing was I had a similar dream earlier this week. Hmmm. Wonder what is going on inside my head....

And then something is up with my shoes.
I don't know what, I wore my favourite black heels today and I had the HARDEST time walking to work his morning. I felt like a kid playing dress up in her mom's shoes. The one shoe seemed gigantic.. and now they have always been slightly big, so I just stuck inserts in them and they fit better (and they are still in). The funny thing is I wore these shoes yesterday no problem. Weird huh. So I folded up a piece of tissue so they fit a little tighter, so I don't look like an idiot who can't walk in heels...

And I've been working for the last 2.5 hours and only have gotten 3 accounts done.

At least I'm meeting a friend for lunch and later tonight Brenda and I are going to see Bride Wars. I know the reviews have been meh, but I LOVE Anne Hathawayand chick flicks are my weakness. So it should be fun, I just have to get through some more numbers.

And tomorrow is Friday :)

waaaay to much math today...

lots of random things going through my mind right now. 

- i am the only girl at the gym wearing shorts. 

seriously, the last two days i have been the only woman wearing shorts. do irish women not wear them to the gym? every other woman was dressed in cute pants and a matching top. here i am in a pair of shorts and a wac rowing t-shirt. these women are even fancy at the gym... uuugh! not that i'm going to it bother me, becuase seriously i get WAY too hot to wear pants.

i'm enjoying getting back into working out. i was really good last spring/summer about going, so going to get back into that routine. i'm looking at doing an aerobics and a spinning class a week too. so that should help break it up, and then the other 3 days do my bike/eliptical/weights. but yay! for the gym. 

- work today...ugggh. 

so our office oversees 83 student societies. so 83 different bank accounts. to make things easier at the end of march/april my boss decided to balance the accounts for the first half of the year (last year we did a full year and it was redic crazy trying to match up our office accounts and the bank statements) so i got through about 10 in 4.5 hours. i had a killer headache at the end from trying to figure it all out. the societies banking is all online, so when they want a check they fill out a form, we get an email and write it. when they deposit money, they fill out a form, and bring it into the office. so the crazy part is sometimes they forget to fill out lodgement forms online, or checks aren't cashed. or who knows.... and a lot of the figures from last april (aka starting balances were off, because there were some uncashed checks...) so AHHHHHHHHHHH. though only having half the amount from last year is nicer, less to try to figure out. it was quite exciting when you figured out a really messed up one though!! 

- gossip girl on monday night. pretty funny. i watched it yesterday at work when it was quiet. the show just makes me laugh, it's crazy but addictive like crack. but the recap on gawker - omg had me laughing soooo hard. even if you don't watch the show, it will still be amusing.here is the link - sibling sex is better than candy. my favourite line from the gawker recap was - 

I don't know about you, but generally when I'm in large, open-planned, well-lit spaces, I tend to notice when a Japanese high school student in a silly uniform wearing large novelty spectacles that she bought at a circus is lurking behind candy and stealing cell phones. It's just not something that goes missed. 

ohhhh, gawker and gossip girl... you both are crack. 

- taylor swift ~ love story

do the lyrics drive anyone else crazy? i LOVE the song, but the more i hear it and sing it, the more i'm like wtf?!? and according to my itunes i've played it 145 times since i downloaded it september 29th. and that doesn't count radio/in the car.... (i've kinda been listening to fearless on major repeat the last two weeks)  anyway... the part i don't get

So I sneak out to the garden to see you

We keep quiet 'cause we're dead if they knew

So close your eyes

Escape this town for a little while

'Cause you were Romeo

I was a scarlet letter

And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet,"

But you were everything to me

I was begging you, "Please don't go,"

And I said

Romeo, take me

Somewhere we can be alone

I'll be waiting

All there's left to do is run

You'll be the prince

And I'll be the princess

It's a love story

Baby, just say yes

so the reference to the scarlet letter confuses me... like i get the begining, they met when they were younger, and she fell in love, some drama because dad didn't like him (romeo/juliet), they manage to sneek off together for a little, but then she is scared he won't come back/doesn't love her as much... and then all is happy/he proposes and they can live happily ever after. but the scarlet letter line!?! gaaaaaaah. the song is incredibly catchy and fabulous though. but i think my fav song on the cd is either change or fifteen. i just love her. all of her songs are just so catchy and real. 

-finished sense and sensibility at lunch today. (ugh, the weather here today is ireland in january, WET, windy and just disgusting) and i enjoyed it. though a few things stood out to me. first of all it is a classic (extremely well written) love story (which i love, i am a complete romantic), the setting is just early 19th century and it about two sisters trying to find love and the trials and tribulations. the things i had issues with was one of the sisters (i don't want to completely give it away) decides to marry the guy who was secertly engaged to another woman and of course she has no idea and finds out from the other woman... (ahhhh, hello - sound slightly familar to my life, except just dating, not engaged), hoooow can she do this? and also don't feel sorry for your sisters ex love interest just because he wanted you sister, but the other girl had more money so he went with her... he chose to do it. he made a decision. but i really enjoyed it because it has the life experiences any girl goes through with dating and having her heart broken, with the hopes of a happy ending... 

now on to pride and prejudice. 

- i really need to get working on details for showing her around ireland and spain, roomie is coming to visit sooo soon! YAY!!

- oh a big HI! to all my new readers. i'm working on a 101 things, but it is taking me forever! trying to think of 101 things about yourself is tough!

happy wednesday :)

the one where it was sooo worth it...

So over on 20sb this month's blog carnival is about first kisses. So here is my rambly post all about my first kiss...

So while most people had their first 'boyfriend' in middle school or high school, I was one of those girls who kept waiting hoping that the next guy I like would like me back. That maybe I would have a date on a Friday night to the movies, that maybe I would get asked to the prom... But nope, my first kiss never happened in middle or high school. It wasn't like I was a freak or anything, I did have dates to both my junior and senior prom - I asked both of the guys I went with and they each happened to be my co-captain of the ski team that year. So when I went off to college I was hoping my luck would be different.

I went to a small college where EVERYONE knows everyone. You end up hooking up with the same group of guys, your friends have also hooked up with them and things get messy. It is just a part of life.

My freshman year of college, I had an amazing group of friends. We all lived on the same hall in our dorm, there was a group of about 10 of us from our hall of 18 who always hung out. So we had a lot of great weekends, going to our friend's dorm where we had the strongest cocktails known to man, or our favorite fraternity house. So when in the middle of September of our freshman year Hurricane Floyd was striking the East Coast, our college was closed for a few days, while some friends went home. Most of us decided to stay (we all lived too far to go home) so with the college mostly shut down, what else is a group of college students going to do but party?

(A lot of these details are from my original online journal - I've been blogging since 2001)
So Wednesday night we went over to our friends for some cocktails and celebrated the hurricane and Caps (He was a big Washington Capitals fan, I can't call him the nickname he was later given) was there. Now we had met a few parties prior and at the night before - martini night to kick off the hurricane weekend, we started talking. So Wednesday night there was a bunch of us there and after a few of my friends went off, Caps and I (along with 2 other friends) went off for them. And on the little adventure we started holding hands and since we couldn't find the ones who had wondered off, we ended up back at the dorm watching movies, now midway through roomie got a phone call - from a guy we nicknamed Booty Call Chris (hahaha! remember him) so Caps and I were alone, we were cuddling on my bed and talking. And pretty soon after roomie left, Caps leans in an all of a sudden our lips were touching (inside I was like FINALLY!!!) and then his tongue was in my mouth and after a second of panic (hello, I'm 18, a freshman in college, never been kissed and was all like ajdkjdjfgdj what am I supposeed to be doing, am I doing this right, I must be awful) but I just relaxed and it turned out into a nice LONG makeout session. So it was getting late and so we kissed goodbye, and I immediately called my best friend, even though it was 2am. Hello! first kiss! Sp I enjoyed it, and it was a nice sense of relief, that I had finally done it. Not gonna lie, I love making out. I see nothing wrong with it, and it can be a lot of fun, and a confidence booster....

So it was a memorable experience, with the hilariousness of that weekend. We ended up partying Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, and the makeout sessions continued with Caps. The rest of that story with him is quite funny. So after not hearing from him for another month and a half after Hurricane weekend, we talked all the time the month leading up to winter break and during break, to find that the first weekend back he makes out with one of my BEST friends. Slight fight amongst her and I until we realize he isn't worth it. So the drama kinda ends there with Caps, but I still saw him all the time freshman year, because I ended up dating one of his good friends... And then junior year when I studied abroad, his girlfriend (started dating sophomore year) was also in Cork with me, her and I became good friends... And I'm happy to say that him and his girlfriend recently became engaged.

Somehow most of my guy experiences have a funny story or a crazy ending, they just can't be normal.. yea we dated, broke up, don't really talk or made out once and that was the end..
But it makes me laugh, and while we kinda joke about how I was 18 when I was first kissed, I just laugh, because at least it was memorable and there was a funny story involved. And it wasn't an awkward 12 year old boy not sure what he was doing...

oh yea, the title is in reference to the title of the post on my old journal... haha!

endorphins make you happy...

so i love the woman who does my eyebrows. she makes me laugh everytime i come in. i hate doing my eyebrows, i always over pluck and it just looks awkward. so i was excited when i finally found someplace to do it. most salon's don't do waxing here, you have to go to a specific like spa type salon. so i found one like last march or so and i didn't go in for a while, but somehow the woman remembererd me, even though it was like 3 months. which made me laugh, but she was so nice and she does a great job. so since the summer i've been going once a month and i love going in and getting them done. so today i had someone different, which i was slightly aprehensive about, because you get used to one person, but she did a great job. and as i was leaving the one who i always had was out front, and she was like hi! how was your holiday, did you parents love ireland? did you have a good time at home. it just made me laugh, because i'm seriously only there about 10 minutes but yet she remembers. i am not looking forward to replacing her once i leave, because she is just fabulous.

i joined the gym today :)

i went in after work, to sign up and look around the place. the facilites are nicer than the ucc gym, it is slightly smaller and doesn't have a pool (but i never used it so i don't care) and the people seem nice nad friendly (unlike ucc), all the classes are free and the general atmosphere seems great. so i am looking forward to working out tomorrow. i got into a good habit over the summer, while thesising and was sad to loose my ucc membership once i was no longer a student in october. so this gym is closer (only 10 minute walk) and i am quite excited! yay for not being so lazy anymore. to quote elle woods - "exercise releases endorphins, endorphins make you happy, happy people don't kill their husbands. they just don't."

ugh, my cell phone better be sitting on my desk at work, otherwise i'm sure she is swimming with all the rain today. not good. not good.

so my friend kristen tagged me - and i haven't done this in a while... and they are so much fun to do!

i must warn you, my music taste is alll over the place!

Rules​
1. Put your iPod/​iTune​s on shuff​le.​
2. For each quest​ion,​ press​ the next butto​n to get your answe​r.​
3. YOU MUST WRITE​ THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTE​R HOW SILLY​ IT SOUND​S!​

4. Tag 3 people to complete this!

IF SOMEO​NE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY"​ YOU SAY?
read my mind - the killer

WHAT WOULD​ BEST DESCR​IBE YOUR PERSO​NALIT​Y?​
i'll be ok - amanda marshall (my best friend's wedding soundtrack)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/​GIRL?​
hey there delilah - plain white t's

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'​S PURPO​SE?​
letting go - kim sozzi (dawson's creek soundtrack)

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO​?​

tango maureen - rent soundtrack

WHAT DO YOUR FRIEN​DS THINK​ OF YOU?
i could not ask for more - sara evans

WHAT DO YOU THINK​ ABOUT​ VERY OFTEN​?​
shattered - OAR

WHAT IS 2+2?
away we go again - the chieftans (gotta have my trad music in there somewhere)

WHAT DO YOU THINK​ OF YOUR BEST FRIEN​D?​
a lifetime - better than ezra

WHAT DO YOU THINK​ OF THE PERSO​N YOU LIKE?​
spitting games - snow patrol

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY​?​
no good - kate voegele (she is from one tree hill)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
ireland - garth brooks (hahaha, since my name means ireland)

WHAT DO YOU THINK​ WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSO​N YOU LIKE?​
feels like home - chantal kreviazuk (also one the DC soundtrack) (reminds me of so many things too)

WHAT DO YOUR PAREN​TS THINK​ OF YOU?
love song for no one - john mayer

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE​ TO AT YOUR WEDDI​NG?​

a long december - counting crows

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNER​AL?​

these are the days - keith urban (i kinda like it, its about life and living it)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGE​ST SECRE​T?​

big girls don't cry - fergie

WHAT DO YOU THINK​ OF YOUR FRIEN​DS?​

awful, beautiful, life - darryl worley

WHAT'​S THE WORST​ THING​ THAT COULD​ HAPPE​N?​

sing for your supper - cathy davey (amazing irish singer!)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?

my wish - rascal flatts

WHAT IS ONE THING​ YOU REGRE​T?​

yellow - coldplay

WHAT MAKES​ YOU LAUGH​?​

ready to run - dixie chicks

WHAT MAKES​ YOU CRY?

so young - the corrs

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRI​ED?​

9 crimes - damien rice (not the most uplifing answer...)

DOES ANYON​E LIKE YOU?

counting to 100 - matt wertz

IF YOU COULD​ GO BACK IN TIME,​ WHAT WOULD​ YOU CHANG​E?​

our song - taylor swift

WHAT HURTS​ RIGHT​ NOW?
the heart of the matter - india.arie

and i tag - college roomie, can i just say (ps. i love your blog) and emmers.

so hope everyone had a fab monday :) off to finish sense and sensibility!