30 by 30

i know many of my favorite bloggers have done a 30 by 30 and so i decided to write a 30 by 30 of the things i want to do in the next 5 years before i turn 30. these are things i want to do in addition to my regular goals of each year. so here it is, my 30 things to do before i turn 30!

1. go to 10 new countries
2. finish my college scrapbook
3. go to 7 new states
4. live by myself
5. fall in love
6. find a job i love
7.  publish an article related to my thesis
8. visit one of my irish friends wherever they might be
9. go skydiving
10. donate at least $250 to a charity of my choice
11. go to chicago
12. visit 3 new national parks
13. have one of my college loans paid off
14. get a slr camera and learn how to use it
15. learn to quilt
16. figure out my family's genealogy
17. hike the appalachian trail for 2 weeks
18. get a library of congress library card
19. be in the audience of a talk show
20. adopt a pet
21. have sex in a tent
22. go to a book reading
23. go to a professional conference
24. write a letter to myself
25. bake 10 new desserts - 0/10
26. run a half-marathon
27. go to a winery
28. read a biography for each president
29. donate blood
30. write a letter to a government representative

so here is to a great 5 years and lots of fun things to accomplish!

i've become a statistic

hi blog, how are you?
so i've been back in new jersey for almost a week now and it is such an adjustment. moving back home with my parents, stressing out everyday about not having a job, unpacking, and everything. i've started to write like 4 times but never get beyond a few words.

and the weather didn't help. it was like high 60s and rainy most of the week, and when you're on the verge of tears well crappy weather makes you burst into tears more often.

my big project of the week was joining the ranks of the millions of american's who are unemployed. yes, i've become a statistic.  i had a lot of fun with the state of nj department of labor (and it only took me 4 days of calling) but i'll be getting more information in the mail this week of how to proceed. it was extremely frustrating to do and at the same time as i was calling, and calling it just kept reminding me that i wasn't teaching this year. and i would get upset. and then every time my dad called he'd be like so get through? and it was like adding salt to the wound. ugggh. i know it isn't my fault but having to register for unemployment just makes me feel like a failure.

i should find out by the end of this week if i'll be in dc this fall, so just waiting on that which is frustrating because i'd love to be able to make plans, but can't because i don't know where i'll be or what i'll be doing.

umm, i don't know what else. i'm just in a funk right now, but there are a few things making me smile.

this is one of the many things making me smile :) and i can't wait for the new season of glee & how i met your mother! yay! plus monday's rhonj renunion drama!


oh and tswift's new song. which i know i've talked about before. but I LOVE IT! like a lot. and the music video - soo cute.


and i've been running. it has been nice. i'm doing 9 miles tomorrow. the half-marathon is in 20 days!

and it is almost september. ummm, when did that happen? i'm not ready for fall yet.

acadia

omg, i LOVE maine! acadia national park is absolutely gorgeous!  i just couldn't stop saying omg! and soooooo prettty over and over again. and just making ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh noises.

 and it didn't help that i was the one who was driving so it was like omg, pretty view (quick look to the ocean must keep eyes on road) so while i sort through the photos and unpack and then re-pack to move back home to jersey on monday i'll leave you these few ammmmazing photos.

maine

so i survived the summer! camp ended on friday. and then we spent saturday and sunday cleaning. scrubbing lots of boats and cleaning. but it was fun and we had a good time. friday night we had a little end of the summer party at the house and it was pretty funny! and nice to just hang out with everyone! and saturday night a good friend has his graduation party at the beach cabanas so that was fun hanging out on the beach at night and enjoying seeing a bunch of friends. sunday afternoon i saw eat, pray, love and enjoyed it. and today went into work a bit to tie up all loose ends, and then amy and i went shopping for maine!

so as you are reading this amy and i are either driving to maine or frolicking about mt. desert island. until saturday we will be camping and enjoying the days in acadia national park & bar harbor. i am SO EXCITED! i've never been to maine, so yayy! for another state! (maine will be state #26!) and i reallly want to see a moose! and i'm also excited to be stopping at the LL Bean outlet too! just what i need - more tote bags! haha!

so hope everyone has a good week! i'll be back on saturday!

eat, pray, love... the movie

i've talked about my love for the book eat,pray,love by elizabeth gilbert before when i first read the book back in 2008 when i was visiting my sister in wales. and when i went to italy in february 2009 i was in heaven and absolutely loved italy and re-read the book again. i've read it 6 or 7 times, my copy is sooo marked up. i have passages underlined and highlighted and notes in the margins. and i just loved the book and the idea of balance.

so when i saw it was being made into a movie i was ehhhhh. i always prefer the book to the movie and so i was like ohhh, this might be interesting and uggh, how bad are they going to ruin it. and having julia roberts as liz was good. and then i saw the trailer and was like ohhhh! so it was a busy weekend, but i went to see it with amy and captain on sunday and enjoyed it for what it was as a movie. i try to separate movies from books, but this is my FAVORITE BOOK! and i was kinda concerned how they would convey her words, which are just incredible. and i was right. i loved the voiceovers where she would quote a part of the book, and overall i did enjoy the movie. i loved the scenery, and omg, want to go to bali now. and i loved the italy scenes! i thought the beginning crying scenes could have been a bit more powerful, i thought bali wasn't explained enough, but it was good. it can't be the book.

i will be reading the book though this week while i'm in maine :)

photo365

so i mentioned that i wanted to start up a photo365 again. i've really missed having the random photos and being able to look back on the photos. plus i always have my camera on me, and who knows what this year will hold, so why not have some fun with it. i did a photo365 from august 2007-february 2009 for 576 days and captured almost all of my time living abroad. so i'm back to capture my 25th year. so i've started a new blog to capture the photos and to not clutter this one so much. so please check out heart in ireland - 25 a year in photos.

here are a few sneak peaks of the last few days. i started it on my birthday, it just took me a few days to get things created and uploaded.

day 12

day 10

day 7

yay :)

august

where do i even start?

my birthday weekend was spectacular! after work amy, the mikes and i went out to dinner at outback. it was fun, my steak was delish, laughed at captain when he ordered the "chocolate thunder from down under" and then we met up with barry & amanda and headed into town to the pubs. we went on a bit of a mystic pub crawl, but i really only remember the first two. i was exhausted by the time we got to john's and also quite drunk. yay for being the birthday girl.

so saturday morning we woke up waaay too bright & early to meet captain and head to noank for breakfast. we were up at 7 and rode our bikes to carson's and i was quite the hungover girl. we sat on some rocks overlooking the river after breakfast and just enjoying the gorgeous day. and to continue the birthday adventures we went to the beach :) enjoyed the sun and relaxed and read. then it was concert time!

amy had convinced captain to come play and so we grabbed some food & beer to tailgate with and headed to harford. we knew the concert was sold out and omg, traffic! we left and planned to get to the parking lot at 5.30 for the 7.30 concert. yeaaaa, traffic. it took us pretty much 1.5 hours to go 3 miles. so we ended up parking in a parking garage. and tailgated there for a while, which was pretty funny. and then headed to rascal, which was soooooo much fun! their concerts are so great. i went to two in 2006, the epic north carolina road trip and then with my parents. and there is just something about lawn seats and country concerts! loves it!they played a great show, i was dancing, singing and just having a blast! the only thing i was sad about was they didn't play my favorite - "my wish" which i thought was kinda odd, as it is one of their more popular songs. but oh well, the concert was still a blast!

and then last week. ummm there are no words. in the 9 summers i've worked at summer camps, i've never had a worse behaved group. and there was a lot else going on at work too, so it was a complicated week. and it doesn't help that it is now august, and i still have no idea what i'm doing. so i also wasn't in the best place emotionally and so it was a rough week. and it was a quiet weekend, which is what i needed. just watched movies, relaxed and had a few drinks.

and now week 8 started, which is crazy how fast this summer went. a few more days of work and then amy and i are headed up to maine! we are going up next week for a few days to frolic in acadia national park & bar harbor. yay! i can't wait. and then who knows....


and this video makes me laugh, a lot! we just keep saying the "it's so fluffy I COULD DIE" over and over at work.

and the new taylor swift song - "mine" OMG. LOVES IT! i absolutely love the line "made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter... you are the best thing that's ever been mine". i've pretty much been listening to this song on repeat. including i played it for the first 20 minutes of my run this morning.

and speaking of running, it is getting better. i ran almost 8 miles this morning! yay! i wanted to do a 6 mile run, but there was construction, so a road was closed. and so i ran an extra almost 2 miles. but that is the furthest i have ever ran, and i am so proud of myself. and i am feeling so much more confident for the half marathon. yay!

and tonight i'm enjoying my trashy jersey tv. an episode of housewives and the first 2 episodes of jersey shore. yesss! and yay for a new blog header & colors!

how was your weekend?