february is over!

Seriously February flew by! I don't know how it is the end of the month already! The last two weeks have been busy busy busy! I went home for a long weekend for Presidents' Day and enjoyed seeing my twin on Friday night - I stopped by her & Andy's house and caught up with them, as the last time I saw them was their wedding in August! Then I enjoyed my weekend at home seeing my family and just enjoying Jersey! There is just something about it! My sister and I saw Safe Harbor - gotta love a Nicholas Sparks movie! And then my gramma was over for dinner. Monday I headed back to Jersey kinda early as I was leaving Tuesday morning to head to Indy and I needed to do laundry and re-pack!

nothing like cliff's ice cream - even when it is 15 degrees outside!

So Tuesday was my first State travel of the spring! It was weird flying since I haven't been on a plane since July! I was flying almost every week from February to July last year and then nothing for 6+ months! But I was off to Indianapolis and looking forward to it. I'd been to Indiana two years ago for work - and loved it! So I flew in Tuesday and went out with my coworker and her friend and watched the end of the Indiana-MSU game and it was fun being in a bar in Indiana watching the #1 team play in a very close game! Wednesday we headed out on an adventure downtown - I wanted to explore the State Capital which you know I love!

woooo for another capital!

So after walking around downtown we headed to this great burger place and then headed back to the hotel to get things set up. It was a good conference - overall. A few hiccups but nothing crazy and it was fun. MJ was working this weekend too so it was nice to have her around! I survived my first session as a State PC - so yay for that! I'm off to Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday for round two!

The fun was Sunday night - I met Amy's parents for dinner and had a great time with them! I haven't seen them in a little over a year so it was nice to catch up! I can't wait to see them in May in Charleston for Amy's graduation! And Sunday night was glorious to lounge around in my lovely hotel room and king size bed and just relax and catch up on tv I've missed! Monday morning I flew back to DC and I've enjoyed my week in the office getting ready for the next few sessions! Especially that I'm gone the month of March for work! Wooo - Columbus, Westchester, Albany and Orlando! Especially Orlando! I'm heading there early (sadly the flights for Austin didn't work out) but I going to go to a National Park site and the beach since I get there early! 

And in other news... there is a new boy in my life. I've been seeing him since mid-January and he is pretty awesome. I went on a really interesting string of first dates from December-January and this one was a pleasant surprise! Since the first date I've seen him about twice a week and it has been hard with my crazy schedule but he has one that is just as crazy as mine. So in a way it is kinda good as he understand when I'm like yeaaa - so I'm home for 4 days in March. So the details - he is 30, from Texas and works in government (as does everyone in this area), was in the Navy and enjoys backpacking & camping/the outdoors and I really enjoy spending time with him! 

So how was the end of your February?

really bored

dear blog,
i still love you. i'd like to apologize for ignoring you. i'm sorry my life is boring right now and i haven't felt like writing about it. i will try to write more while in new jersey.
much love,
erin

so that pretty much sums up what i've been doing the last two weeks. i've read a redic number of books. my kindle and local library are even more of my friend than they used to be. i'm a huge fan of the free kindle section and some are great and others are not. i do keep track of the books i read each year and so far i've read 59 books and another 50 free kindle books (ones i have read, like & are book length, many free are shorter) and some of the books i read last week are:
girls in white dresses - catherine bybee - library
on sparrow hill - maureen lang - free kindle
falling star - diana dempsey - free kindle
the paris wife - paula mclain - library
nantucket nights - elin hilderbrand - borrowed from sister
19th wife - david ebershoff - library

i looooove that kindle now does library books and hey i have a stack of books i need to pickup from my local library too. so yay for reading!

and i had a fun weekend! friday night was my sorority's annual ornament exchange, so that was fun and it was great to see my nj sisters, who i've missed! and then saturday i went out to lunch with one of my former coworkers who i taught with and yesterday i went wedding dress shopping with my twin! it was great to see her and spend the afternoon with her, her mom & sister and then also try on a few bridesmaid dresses and then meet up with the boys to check out a potential wedding band. and i will say i never had so much fun people watching in a casino before.

and i've been having some fun with my hair - my sister wanted to try something out but couldn't figure out how to do it on her own hair, so she tried with me. but first she needed to curl my hair, which i haven't tried doing in years! but she just did it with a curling iron and while it first took some getting used to she has done it a few times and i really like it.

so just trying to keep myself busy, without spending money and i'm just overall not in a great mood right now, which i hate because i'm bored and not working.

26!

first birthday!

happy birthday to me!

i am now 26 and pretty excited for it.
25 has been an interesting year - one full of uncertainty, change and travel.
and not where i expected myself to be.
i never expected at 25 to be collecting unemployment, living at home, working temporary jobs and at times feeling so unsure of myself. i've always been a planner and knew exactly what i wanted to be doing with my life. but this year has taught me to be flexible and to adapt and to enjoy what you are doing and to have fun with life and well to have a plan z.

25th birthday!

while 25 was at times a rough year i did have some great parts to it. i had a great birthday weekend up in connecticut, spent a few glorious days with amy in acadia national park, ran a half marathon, had a fabulous fall working conferences in dc, went to charleston, sc with amy, had a lot of fun weekends with friends up & down the east coast, went to europe for 3 weeks in january by myself (zurich, prague, budapest, vienna, cologne, amsterdam) and back to my favorite city and second home cork, went to 5 new states working conferences around the US (washington, indiana, alabama, mississippi, texas), wished george washington a happy birthday with my best friends, saw my carolina tarheels play in the sweet 16, got to see my friends a lot, moved to dc for the spring/summer, went to a friend's wedding, many mini road trips, a chestertown reunion , saw sugarland, U2 and keith urban, successfully ran two conferences for 350 high school students each session in washington dc. had a fabulous weekend saying goodbye to mystic and decided to move to charleston,sc.

so with all the uncertainty and the kinda living at home and job searching and sometimes feeling like a failure i really did have a great 25. it was a major learning experience and i gained some awesome skills out of it and well i had a positive outlook on life and i made the best out of my transitional year. i gave myself a goal of finding a teaching job by september 2011 and then i would find a different path. and well that end line is in site without a job - so i'm finding a new path and am taking the huge leap to move to charleston and well hoping for a great 26! i'm looking forward to a new city, meeting new people and hopefully getting myself back on track. i've loved this year but i want to be more stable and less nomadic.

so the goals of 2011 - let's see how i'm doing...

- find a full time job where i am happy (preferably teaching) -  hopefully charleston will have that in store. i've liked what i've been doing this summer but there is no stability
- move out and get my own place - kinda - i've been in arlington since mid april and i'm moving to charleston with amy at the end of august
-continue traveling both in the US and internationally (i would LOVE to get out west again) - i'm doing well on this one! with my 3 weeks in europe and 5 new states so far! must keep traveling! i have a friend in colorado this fall i want to visit
- read 100 books - i'm probably pretty close - with the kindle i haven't really kept a running list like i did in 2010 but i'm reading up a storm. (must go through and create a list so i can keep track)
- continue working out 3-4 times a week and run another half marathon - nope - with the crazy hours and traveling for work just hasn't happened. i want to do a half this fall in the south carolina area as i want to run a full in spring 2012
- save an additional $12,000 this year - biggest no - i wish i had $12,000 in my account right now. going to europe and having to use some money from savings this had my account not happy right now
- scrapbook more - not so much with traveling and conferences. once i'm in charleston i want to do more
- continue doing my photo365 - yesss! i'm doing awesome with this! and i plan to do  26 as well! i love photo 365-ing!
- cross 5 things off my 30 by 30 list - working on it. i've been to 5 new states, 6 new countries and a book signing. things are happening
- blog more (125 posts) - i've only written 49 posts so far so making the goal of 125 will involve a lot more blogging, like 3 posts a week.
- a relationship - had some fun this spring but my nomadness makes a relationship difficult. maybe in charleston?
- continue looking for the best in every situation - i've done a lot of this! and well just gotta keep staying positive and it all works out!
- enjoy life and have fun! i had a lot of fun (see above) and really am enjoying myself even though this isn't where i expected to be in life...


so happy birthday to me! i can't wait to see what 26 has in store for me but i will enjoy it and have fun when i can!

laura ingalls wilder

so a few weeks ago i was checking out either goodreads or a blog/twitter (i can't remember) and i saw a book that looked intriguing. it was called "the wilder life: my adventures in the lost world of little house on the prairie"by  wendy mcclure and well i kinda have an obsession with laura ingalls wilder and her little house on the prairie books. i've written about it before back in december 2007.

 i can't tell you how many times i've read my copies of her books. i remember when i was probably 8-9 or so getting the first 2-3 books from my aunt for christmas and reading them  and then going to the library to get the other ones and sitting in my basement reading her books in the tent my sister and i made down there. and just absolutely falling in love with them. i loved history back then and i was in my oregon trail days too so the ideas of moving west in a wagon - sign me up! And there were multiple books so i got to see her grow up and get married! (and she got the guy) so of course i loved them. i don't remember when it was i found out she was a real person - i think my mom told me. but i do remember getting her biography at the bookstore and LOVED seeing the pictures and finding out everything about her and seeing what was different from the books. i loved her so much for our 5th grade hero day projects i did laura ingalls wilder as my hero. yup, all the other kids are doing sandra day o'connor, eleanor roosevelt, sally ride, jackie robinson, abe lincoln, and other big historical figures... and i'm doing laura ingalls wilder. i absolutely loved it. i had a nice little presentation, dressed up and it was a fun day in school. i don't have any scanned copies of the pictures, i should look when i'm home....

and well i also had all the other little house books too - the ones written about laura's daughter rose "little house the rocky ridge years" and a few about laura's mother caroline and apparently there are more too on other females in the family that have come out in the last few years. but the original ones are obviously my favorite.

so when i was younger (and still now) i tried to convince my parents we needed to go to south dakota on vacation so i could go to de smet and see where laura grew up and mansfield, missouri where she later lived and wrote the books. and well that never happened. i've always wanted to do a little house on the prairie road trip. in 2010 when i went to visit my friend patricia in kansas and was flying into missouri i looked to see how far mansfield was from kansas city and was disappointed to see it was on the other side of the state. but i always wanted to go there.

so when i see this book and it is a memoir of her going to all the little house on the prairie sites and her reliving her childhood through these books and the recent loss of her mother i was hooked. i need to do this road trip. i want to go to all these random places in wisconsin, minnesota, south dakota, iowa, kansas, missiouri and see for myself where laura lived. (plus i've never been to wi, mn, sd or ia, so 4 more states) so i loved reading this book and it was fun to read about someone else's litte house obsession.

my books just waiting to be read again!
and the biography is the one without a cover

so i haven't read these book in about 10 years probably. and when i went home a few weeks ago i brought a few down to dc with me and i am loving rereading my favorite book series again. and i've done a bit of research and i'm now looking for all of rose's books that she wrote as she was a pretty interesting woman herself and to see some of her perspective on things as well as a few of the other books on laura i don't own.

so i have a goal of doing a laura ingalls wilder road trip and it will happen to make the 10 year old erin extremely happy!

any interesting childhood obsessions that you've recently rediscovered?

let the crazy begin!

so tomorrow it all starts. i will be meeting my staff for the summer and starting training and then next sunday 360 high school students will arrive for the first conference. crazy how fast the last few weeks have gone since moving to dc. i should be packing up for what i need for the next 3 weeks as i'm moving into the hotel tonight, but i'm doing other things instead. but i'm super excited for everything. i feel confident i know what i'm doing and it is going to be a crazy summer but i'm ready for it.

this last week was fun - i had dinner plans with friends almost every day after work. so it was great to catch up with mj & ellie on tuesday before the crazy starts and laugh about work and life. wednesday was my relax and errands night - i ventured to the laundromat because i haven't done laundry in about a month, thursday i met up with kaity and last night patricia and i went out in georgetown and we had a fun night reminiscing and laughing over sangria. so a fun way to spend the nights after work!

so i just read an excerpt from the newest anne brashare's book - "sisterhood everlasting" i was (an still am) a huge fan of the sisterhood of the traveling pants books. they bring me back to the summer of 2001 when i was 16 and first found her book and instantly fell in love with the characters. and to all the times twin and i talked about the books and my first summer working at camp. i got books 2-4 all on the day they came out and read them that night tears streaming down my face. and i feel like i've grown up with these girls - in her newest book they are all turning 30 and haven't all seen each other in a few years and it will be interesting to see where they all are in life. but in the last 10 years i know i can relate to the to the growing and changing of friendships. so i can't wait until june 14th to read this book!


so the crazy in my life is about to start so i'm enjoying the rest of my day and probably going to go to relax along the river at great falls for a bit before heading to the hotel tonight!

how was your week?

j. lancaster!

so today after work i rushed out quickly to head into the district hoping i wouldn't hit too much traffic and it wasn't too bad because one of my favorite author's jen lancaster of "bitter is the new black" "pretty in plaid" and "my fair lazy" new book came out today and she was going to be in dc talking about it and doing a book signing! so for those of you who've never read her (check her out) she writes about her life and her first book is about going from being a vp for a company to unemployed and showing up at the unemployment office with a prada purse. she is super snarky and hilarious. and i've loved her books and was excited for a new one! but the fun is this book is a novel - and all interview long she was saying i'm a novelist it was pretty funny! and for those of you who've read her books some characters might seem familiar but it is fiction. her new book is called "if you were here" while waiting i read about 2/3 of it and i'm loving it so far!

so i get to b&n for the event at like 5.50 (starts at 6:30) buy my book and head upstairs... the chairs were just gone (and seriously b&n only like 50 chairs... really?) but i was standing in the first row behind the chairs and started reading the book. once jen came out she talked about the book and being a novelist and then read us a section of the book and then answered questions. it was pretty funny to hear her talk about her life, blogging and being an author and i really enjoyed it. and then the signing.

now b&n tried to organize it with lettered wristbands. they called up "a" wristbands but after a while the line kept getting longer and longer and i don't think they were really checking, which is super frustrating to be following the rules, waiting for the next group to line up and by the time they called c i was waiting for an hour and then waited another hour before talking to her and getting my copy signed. so i was kinda annoyed at b&n for not having a better system or at least following through with the wristbands. don't say one thing with protocol and do another thing. grrrr...

anyway, it was fun to meet her and it was great to go to my second book reading in 2 weeks (yay!)

anyone else a jen lancaster fan?

lone star state

In the airport and waiting to board my first flight to Chicago and then I'm off to state 32 Texas!
This is my last weekend working these conferences and I just have no desire to do it. I put off packing until this morning and left at the last minute possible. I am excited to go to Texas and see Dallas though. And the 80 degree weather that I will get there! But my co workers this week are fun, so that will help.

And for my history dork moment my professors book - 1861 came out yesterday and I had pre ordered it and was soooo excited when it arrived yesterday. I only read a few pages because I went out with M. But yay! I'll be reading it on my flights today and can't wait to get my civil war dork on!

So any recommendations for things to do in Dallas? I'll have Sunday night to Tuesday morning to play around the area!
Yay!

books and travel

as many of you probably know two of my favorite things in the world are books and traveling.
i've read 82 books in 2010 and hope to read a few more over the next few days and then my love of traveling and new places (fun places of 2010 - kansas, missouri, civil war trip, maine, wash dc, and then all my little mini road trips to see friends) and the upcoming eurotrip!

so i love travel writing and if i was a better writer it would be my dream career. to travel the world and write about it. one of my friends wants me to write a book about my travels, but i will never happen. i think that is one of the reasons i love "eat, pray, love" so much. the travel aspect of it and the life in other places and the things you experience and how they impact you. travel writing is one of my favorite things to read and i feel i can just get away with it and laugh about the antics and usually crazy things they get involved in and imagine what it would be like to just move to italy, travel around the world for a year or travel around ireland with a fridge.

amazon.com

so along with travel writing i also love reading books set in fun places and so i was in the library a few days ago and found the best book. - it is nancy pearl's "book lust to go: recommend reading for travelers, vagabonds and dreamers"it is a awesome and she lists a bunch of countries, geographic areas, cities and then some books both fiction & non fiction and why she chose them for that place. i've spent the last two days going though the book and creating a list of all the books i want to read from it. i'm excited to read some books about the places i'm traveling to - switzerland, czech republic, hungary, austria, germany and the netherlands. i'm always reading anything i can get my hands on about ireland both fiction and non-fiction.

i loved going through this book picking out titles and i can't wait to go to my library and my favorite used book shop to look for all these fun places to read about and maybe one day travel!

some of my favorite travel writing books have been anything tony horowitz - who it what i like to call a travel writing historian, round ireland with a fridge by tony hawk, i love bill bryson - one of my favs is the lost continent, the lost girls is about 3 friends who travel around the world for a year, and i've read a few that were great about hiking the appalachian trail, living in italy and so many more. reading these books makes me want to hop on the next flight there!

 what type of book do you prefer to read?

end of november

so november was not a very blog worthy month for me. just not a lot going on in my life, being at home and not really doing anything this month. but december should be better as all my weekends are busy with traveling to see friends. so that makes me happier that i have things to do. as november was a hard month for me.

so everything is going ok. i've subbed a few days which is always interesting. and i have a little rant. this is mostly aimed at high school teachers. please leave lesson plans. i don't understand how you don't have emergency plans somewhere, so i can keep your 27 crazy juniors under-control. or at least email or call a co-worker and say hey can you give this to the sub... seriously how hard is that?!? last year in my department we all did it - i would email 2 of my co-workers my plans if i was sick and i'd text one of them as well. i just wish teachers had to sub for a few days to see how crappy it is when you don't leave plans. uuughhh!

ummm, had a good thanksgiving. it was the usual family at my aunt's house, nothing too crazy.
went out to dinner with some good friends from high school which was fun. we try to do it every year around thanksgiving, as who knows where we all are. we totally drove our server crazy, as we were pretty chatty and took a while to order and then after desert talked for a while. but it wasn't crowded and there were other people there, so he wasn't waiting on us.

my high school friends :) 

i also finally joined the 21st century last week. i got a droid! i am loving it so far. i'm still figuring out what apps are good. any you recommend? 

and the gym is going well, trying to get into a routine. but omg, do i sweat. after 30 minutes on the elliptical i'm bright red and gross. and i'm wearing shorts and a tank top. i have no idea how the girls who are in perfect makeup, sweats and a hoodie do it. 

and i've been reading a lot. i've read 15 books in november. and i'm starting today "confessions of a prarie bitch: how i survived nellie oleson and learned to love being hated" the title sparked me to grab it at the library and it is a autobio of the girl who played nellie oleson on little house on the prairie. 

so earlier this week my friend emily sent me a link to a sports illustrated article about rowing. that i recommend to everyone. it is one of the most inspirational things i've read and just shows why i absolutely love rowing. plus the article does a great job of explaining what a coxswain is (which is what i was on college) and i shared it with my seniors and coach. you will need a box of tissues though!

so happy tuesday!

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 :)

a list

so in the last two weeks my life has been busy and i've somehow skipped blogging. so in the last two weeks i have:

-signed up for a half marathon
-stayed in new jersey for 2 weekends in a row
-wrote 3 finals
-read 7 books (seriously)
-ran a little for that half marathon
-enjoyed some bike riding
-shopped
-cleaned and organized my room/closet
-met multiple people out for dinner
-had the worst migrane of my life
-family get together for memorial day
-been chosen as my sorority alumni chapter secretary
-still been waiting to see if i have a job next year
-thought about packing for my summer in connecticut
-spent way too much time at school. like 7.10am to 5.15 pm most days

so while most of it wasn't too exciting, i was busy!

i am psyched about this half marathon - my running is just slow for me and i hate how out of shape i feel. i seriously worked out last in december with the ski team and before that last february when i was constantly at the gym in ireland. so being slower than i used to be running wise is making me not motivated, when i need to get out there and not make excuses. i'll be running it with 2 college friends from the crew team (both who have run marathons and half marathons before) so we are texting and calling reminding to run, but with all the years of team sports i miss working out with someone next to me. but my goal is to run this half marathon in under 2 hours, so about a 9.15 mile. which right now i'm around a ten minute mile, but back when i was in hs i could do for a longer distance about a 8.15 mile and my fastest timed mile was a 7.05. so just going to keep plugging away. any tips?

and i've been reading a lot again. i've really missed it. i'v read 7 books in the last two weeks. i know - pretty crazy. but i'm a fast reader and these have all been chick lit and fun reads.
Last Song - Nicholas Sparks
Beachcombers - Nancy Thayer
Falling for You - Jill Mansell
Miranda's Big Mistake - Jill Mansell
Millie's Fling - Jill Mansell
The Brightest Star in the Sky - Marian Keyes
The Death and Life of the Great American School System -Diane Ravitch (ok, maybe not chick lit, but AMAZING)

and i'm currently reading the new Ann Brashares - My Name is Memory. one of the things i love about summer is reading a lot more!

and here is the countdown. i have 9 more days of school! 3 more teaching days! finals start on friday and are all next week. whooo! so close. and then i'm in connecticut! i can't wait!

anyway, i'm up waaay late for me on a school night and this is already a late night week. i'm seeing satc2 with erin tomorrow, another movie with cate on wednesday annnnd the dixie chicks/keith urban/the eagles on thursday! eeeeee! (thank god finals start friday morning, so i don't really have to teach!)

read any good books lately? any fun plans this week? any running advice?

lots of rain.... in ireland

so one thing i forgot to mention over the weekend.... my home in ireland is flooded. pretty bad. friday morning i woke up bright and early and saw a few messages on my fbook that classes were cancelled as cork was flooded. so i go and check rte and bam, i see the above picture! HOLY SHIT... (as compared to an almost identical shot i had from december 2o08)

they got a toooooon of rain in cork last thursday/friday and well the city centre is an island. and every few years when it rains really bad in december, it might flood a bit. like maybe a few inches, and the river might rise pretty high. but this flood was like the worst ever seen in cork city. the main city centre was under about 3 feet of water. so when i got home from work friday i was amazed at all the photos friends had posted online. a bunch of the student apartment complexes had to be evacuated as well and it was just intense looking at these pictures. especially since i knew exactly where all the photos were taken. where i lived when i studied abroad i would have had to be evacuated, as i was next to the river. so things have started to calm down, but most of the city is still without water and it is going to be a looong clean up.

view from my window studying abroad.. i loved to count the shopping carts i could count in the river at low tide...

so just a quiet week, i sometimes hate short weeks at school. because with 2.5 days before thanksgiving and having a bunch of kids absent for being sick and extended breaks i'm not going to start a new section... so just trying to do something fun, and tomorrow with the 23 minutes i'm having each class i'm not doing any instruction. just fun history games and trivia. but i'm not complaining about the 2 days off of work!

annnd i decided to get the jcrew dress and it came yesterday! yay :) and it fits sooo well and i am in LOVE with it!

annnd now i'm off to read sophie kinsella's twenties girl :) i finally got a call from the library about it, i was number 45 when i requested it in august!

november!

november. how is 2009 almost over? this year has just FLOWN by.

but 2009 has been the most amazing year so far and i'm looking forward to a fabulous november and december :)

good, but slightly crazy weekend in connecticut. had a fun halloween party where i dressed way to slutty for my usual. but it was fun. halloween isn't one of my favorites but i had a good time. it seems when i do dress up for halloween i go the mean girls route - "in girl world, halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything bad about it." we had a fun party saturday night and it was nice to drink (yay margaritas) but wow, that's why i don't make drinks because they were strong! and the bobbing for nips (the small airplane bottles, never heard them called this before) was hilarious! soooo many inappropriate comments and that's what she said jokes. yes we are 5.

so it was nice to get out and to go up to connecticut :) and on the way home i stopped at the amazing book barn and got 12 books for $54. a bunch of history hardcovers and then a few fun easy reads. so lots of good things to look forward to. i'm really excited about the history of the arab peoples by albert hourani and a few others. yay books!

and can i just say GO YANKEES!!! one more win!! it has been such a great series, but seriously these 8pm starts are killing me, staying up until midnight. grrrr. but i love my twitter during the games, sooo funny!

anyway off to sleeeeeeep and a 3 day week this week! YAY!!!

the roomie and i as a ghost and a witch

fall into the gap

so can i mention how much i love the gap?

i've been a big gap fan for a long time, especially their jeans and sweaters.

and while sometimes they can be slightly out of my budget, but sale time i always manage to do well and pick up something. and sometimes it can be hit or miss in what i like, but i love the gap.

so with everyone raaaaving about their updated jeans line and being such a gap jeans fan and realizing i only have 1 pair of jeans and getting a 25% off your purchase if you use your gap card i decided to head to the gap with my mom this evening.

and i knew i was in trouble when the biiiiig signs in the window said - buy one get one free! sweaters, tshirts and long sleeve shirts! annnnd $20 off jeans!

and their fall collection is ammmmazing!

and i am sooo excited that i was able to get 2 pairs of gap jeans for the price of 1!

yes, the amazing gap curvy jeans which i LOVE came out to be $29.50 each. i was giddy in the store when buying them. yay for $20 off each pair and then an additional 25% off! and i was having a conversation with the guy at gap about the jeans because i was saying how excited i was to be getting them for nothing, and he asked if i'd worn them before. and i said yea, i love them. and we were taking about the changes.

and theeeen i also got 2 sweaters, which i'm quite excited about. and 2 of the henleys!

so i was really excited because i spent $120 and got 2 pairs of jeans, 2 sweaters and 2 henleys.

YAY!

and i'm also reading 2 amazing books right now. the first one is a history of ellis island. and as a person who studies immigration history, my dream job would be working at ellis island and it is one of my favorite places. the book is amazing so far and it makes me want to do research and be all scholarly.

and the second is firefly lane by kristen hannah. i am a huge kristen hannah fan, and this is my favorite of all of her books. i've cried through the last half, with my mom making fun of me. but wow. it is a story of a lifelong friendship between two women and growing up, love, and life. so if you are looking for a great end of summer read, i would recommend it. it came out last summer, but as i was only in the states for a few weeks and i couldn't find her books in ireland. and i went to the library today and put a bunch of my favorite authors books on request, but of course i'm like 40+ back for the new sophie kinsella and jennifer weiner books... so we'll see, i'll probably end up buying them before my name comes up on the list.

i'm super excited to see my best friend from high school tomorrow! i haven't seen her since christmas when we met up for lunch and last summer we met up for dinner when i was home. and then i'm headed to pennsylvania to see the boy, where we might head to philly, depending on the weather...

ohhh, and thanks for all the comments about the pictures the last few posts :) it is one of the reasons why i love hiking, the gorgeous scenery! and it really isn't that bad. it might sound like a lot but 10 miles isn't bad over 5-6 hours!

anyone up to anything fun this weekend?

august?!?

so first off, omfg it is august already? this year is just totally flying by! and i don't know how i feel about that!

so being home is an adjustment, but one i am going to make for a few months. i don't want to live at home, but for right now that is the plan. my plan is to see how things are once i start working, but ultimately i want to move out around christmas. my parents want me to stay home longer and save but, i just don't see it working out well. i want my own place, i want to decorate and know that when i come home from work it will be quiet and neat, not my crazy fam, plus we only have 1 bathroom and it will be a 45 minute commute to school each day, so nooot looking forward to that.

but for now i'm going to enjoy the month i have left of summer. first day of school is september 1st!

eeeeek!

i'm quite excited about that though, but i have tons to be doing. i went up to the school the other day to fill out some paperwork and sign my contract! yay! now i'm just waiting on the stupid state of new jersey for my certificate. but the school said they would try to get it expedited, as they are sooo bloody slow and make the process so complicated!

so yea, just been cleaning and trying to get my room organized, but i want to completely get rid of a looot of stuff, as what i've done the last few days was just putting things into piles as i haven't really been home in 2 years. so just trying to make sense of the storage facility that my room had become.

but the boy came up to visit yesterday :) oh, and this is a new thing. we worked together in dc, so i've only known him for about 7 weeks. and one of the many things he did was to quickly met the fam. it was only a quick greet as my dad was heading off to work and my mom was in and out, and sister even stopped by to check him out. so we had a good day, despite the rain :( i attempted to take him to my favorite place in jersey, but the weather was crap. and we just drove around and hung out. though he is teaching me to drive stick... so that was funny. i didn't do as bad as i thought i would, but the 2 feet thing is haaard! i was sad to see him leave, but i'll see him again next weekend :)

aaannnd i turned 24 on thursday!

yay :)

didn't do anything much, but went out to dinner with my parents and talked to a lot of my friends. but in honor of gaining another year i like to look at the goals i set back in january and see how i've done and i think i've been pretty good so far this year.

of my goals

-be happy - omg yes, i feel like i haven't been this happy with my life in a while so hopefully this continues

-more healthy lifestyle - thiiis i could use some work on. i was good while in cork, but in conn and dc working redic hours i let this slide, but my goal for the fall is to do 3 5ks and a 10k and to run/bike on a regular basis.

-enjoy my last 3 months in ireland - those 3 months jan-march were a blast, between traveling and soaking up every second with friends, they were fabulous and i was sad to leave.

-travel as much as possible - well i went all over ireland with amy, spain, italy, dublin, and then some traveling in ct/boston and then dc/nyc. so i'd say i was good. hopefully i'll get to do a little more this fall and throw in a few weekend road trips to see friends.

-find a teaching job for september - YAY! though i was beginging to think this was a lost cause.

-find a fun summer job - check! i had the best 7 weeks in dc with my job and i missss it.

-start my "big girl" life - ummm, not yet... give me another month and possibly??

-keep in better touch with fam/friends - ummm, yeaa. though the last month of working redic hours has made it hard, i'm going to continue working on this and not let my emailing slide. though holly and i have been really good about letters.

-be more crafty - this needs some work. though i am excited to scrapbook now that i can!

- continue reading history books - kiiiinda. though i have a nice big stack of history books to read.

-edit thesis for journal publication - hahahaahahahaha, nooope.

-save money - yea, i've been pretty good with that, so just keep saving.

some things i'd like to add are:

-keep myself grounded in my first year of teaching

-read 75 books in 2009. i am at 34, the last two months i haven't read :(

-do 3 5ks and a 10k

- keep positive and continue loving life

so i'm off to the jersey shore on monday for a few days with my parents and i am sooo excited to sit by the beach and read for 4 days. and do absolutely nothing but read, enjoy the sun and take long walks on the beach. yay!

another weekend

so i only have a week left in connecticut. i do not approve. i am sad to leave. i've really enjoyed my time here. i love my job here, i absolutely love living with my roomie, her friends have been amazing, and i'm just having fun. coming to connecticut after leaving ireland was the best decision i've made in a long time. and while i'm excited for dc, i don't want to leave. i guess also part of it is after july 29th i have no idea where life will be taking me. i'm done in dc the 29th... and my 24th birthday is the 30th, so i just hate having absolutely no idea what i'll be doing. i'm applying for teaching jobs like crazy. i've applied to about 40 teaching jobs from north carolina to connecticut and haven't heard anything... so i don't know what plan b/c/d is right now. i have a few ideas, but i don't want to live at home and i want to be somewhere, not 4 months here, 4 months there. i am getting tired of being so temporary.

so it was a fun weekend. the weather was quite nice and i was excited on saturday because i could wear my madras skirt that i bought a month ago from jcrew and it hasn't been warm enough to wear it! friday night was a quieter night, just hung out with a few friends and had a few beers and played wii. well, most of the time i was cuddling with the cutest little kitten ever. and saturday amy and i had a little adventure. we went to the mashantucket pequot museum. it was interesting. in college we both took a colonial cultures class and it was on the early impacts between the colonists and natives. it was one of the best and most thought provoking classes i had in college. and we focused a bit on the pequots, so it was interesting to see their portrayal of themselves. so i enjoyed the museum, though there were parts of the museum i didn't like and their representation is slightly skewed. and then a friend of amy's was in town, so we bbq and wanted to have a chill night.

i just want to point out, i've drank more in the last 2 months i've been in connecticut that i ever have. we don't really mean to.. it just seems we drink one night a week like margarita night or something... and then on the weekend. so saturday night we wanted to make pomegranate martinis. so everyone was over, and 2 martinis led to a lot more... so we were all slightly more tipsy then we planned, but it led to a fun evening where all we could do today was laugh. so i can't complain. i'm gonna miss the random nights hanging out drinking.

and today was quiet, amy and i were up super early considering what time we went to bed. and so we snuggled on the couch and watched wind. a sailing movie based on the americas cup racing. and then i went to the book barn. this amazing used book shop in niantic. i got 15 books! for only 55 dollars. i was quite excited. it is definetely an amazing place, and i could have left with sooo many books!
and then i spent the afternoon re-reading one of my favorite books growing up. the witch of blackbird pond. so that was my weekend. did anyone do anything fun??

italia

ok, so i have a feeling this is going to be quite long...

so italy. wow! it was absolutely amazing! i loved it and just couldn't believe i was there sometimes. walking around the colosseum i was like, seriously, this is the colosseum, i was expecting to wake up from a dream. but it was real!

so i was up early wednesday morning. my flight to venice was from dublin, so i had two choices. take the bus or fly to dublin. i chose to fly, as i'd rather sit in the airport than on a bus for 4.5 hours on the windy irish roads. and then switch to the airport bus once in dublin. so unfortunately my flight was at 10am to dublin and my venice flight wasn't until 4.30. but i was ok with sitting in the airport for about 5 hours. i sat by arrivals for the longest time just watching all the happiness and reading/journaling. then i went upstairs to eat and allll over the news was the turkish airline crash that had happened earlier that morning, now that was the first i heard of it. which was interesting because as i landed in dublin a flight to amsterdam was boarding. not the best news as you are waiting for a flight. the flight was fine, nothing exciting. i landed in venice at 7.45 and was like eeeeee! i'm actually here! and then went to catch the actv - their public ferry system on the canals, but of course had juuuust missed the 8.10 one. so had to wait until 9.10, and i chatted with a nice american couple who were living in limerick, she was over on a fullbright. so that was fun talking with her. so we finally reached piazza san marco around 10.30 and even though it was dark it was awesome to finally see it. i wondered around and found my hotel quite quickly.  i didn't get lost! yay! so it was 11 and i was starving but couldn't find anything open close after my little wander, so just went to bed!

piazza a san marco

i was up bright and early thursday morning and ready to explore venice! the first thing i did was head back to piazza a san marco! so i could explore the basilica. and wow! 

inside basilica san marco

so i was a bad kid and took a picture from the upper part of the basilica. i just didn't know where to look, the ceilings were all amazing, the walls were all bare but it added to it, the floor was incredible and just all the detail everywhere. it looked from further away the upper parts of the wall and domes were just frescos, but upon closer looks they were all mosiacs. and i was just blown away. after walking around i went up to the museum and to get a closer look at some of the mosiacs and the view from the square. 

looking out towards the lagoon

after being completely awestruck from the basilica i wandered about, i decided not to go to the dodge's palace and instead wondered along the canals for most of the day. 

gondolas around san marco

i first wandered around san marco and then decided to head over to the grand canal. so i wandered through the cute little alleys and crossed adorable little bridges passing amazing shops. until i ended up along the grand canal.

view of the grand canal from the rialto bridge

so i wondered more. if you didn't notice i just like to walk around and see what i can find. i walked allll over venice and decided i was going to cross all 3 bridges crossing the grand canal. so i pretty much walked everywhere! i had an amazing lunch in campo santa margarita and at at a little table outside evjoying the sunshine and had the best pizza and a fab glass of wine. i then continued to wander and just popped into shops that were amazing. i wish i had more time to head out to murano - where they blow glass, but i enjoyed the shops and everything was so incredible. and then later on i stopped and got gelato and ate it while people watching back at san marco piazza. i attempted to watch the sunset, but it wasn't that great and then found a cute place for dinner. i wasn't very adventerous at night, and i was tired from my day of walking so i d just went back to the hotel and relaxed. 

i was up super early on friday to head to florence - i was catching the 8.40 train to florence, and my hotel was about a 30 minute ferry ride along the grand canal from the train station. so i was luckily able to see a gorgeous sunriseish while waiting for my 7.50am ferry. it was cool their main source of public transport is a ferry system with stops all along the grand canal, so instead of a train. i enjoyed the trip along the canal getting to see everything from it and all the gorgeous buildings !

sunrise is my favourite time of day

so the train wasn't bad i arrived around noon in florence and after dropping my bags of at the hostel i immediately headed to the duomo. duomo is the italian term for church but one of the best known is the one in florence - whose official name is basilica di santa maria del fiore, and it was amazing!

the duomo

and inside - wow! again i was speechless. it was incredible. much less intricate and ornate than san marco, and it was really only one long room, instead of little smaller ones off it it. 

i loved looking up at the fresco on the dome though. 

view of the dome taken from the upper gallery while climbing up to the top

so after exploring the duomo i headed over to galleria dell' academia to see michelangelo's david  and omg. he was amazing. i was good and didn't take a picture though i should have. the woman was really good at keeping people from taking pictures. but i seriously sat there and just looked at him for about 20 minutes. the statue was a lot bigger than i expected and i also loved the half-finished sculptures leading up to david. the rest of the gallery... it was only ok. i'm not the biggest renaissance art fan, but i can appreciate it. so after the david i wandered about again, through all the markets selling a lot of leather good and such, i did buy a wallet. and had a great lunch and decided to head back towards the duomo as it was getting to be about 5 and i figured the view from the top of the dome would be gorgeous at sunset. and i was right!

florence at sunset

after this i headed towards the river and just enjoyed the view and decided i was slightly hungry so i stopped in a cafe for a cannoli and a glass of wine. it was here where the place was quiet and my waiter was talking with me, and he asked me to meet him for a drink later. i decided why not. how many times are you in italy and get asked out by an italian? i was of course being careful (sharon joked with me not to talk to strangers because we had rented taken on saturday night... not the best film to see before traveling on your own. haha) and met him outside the duomo later on. we went and had a drink in a bar and then walked towards ponte vecchio where we made out for a few minutes, before he became slightly sketchy (wasn't liking his wandering hands) and i told him to feck off and made sure he wasn't following me before walking back. so there is my amusing italian guy story. he wasn't even that cute. haha. 

ponte vecchio - taken saturday evening

so went back and crashed. i was so excited for pisa! a summer camp friend of mine who i hadn't seen since 2006 has been teaching english in livorno for the past few years and so we met up in pisa and spent the morning talking and catching up! i loooove being able to see random friends all over europe! and so the weather was GORGEOUS, about 70 and sunny. so i got there early so i sat by the tower people watching and journaling and just soaking up the sun. marveling over the tower, it reallly does lean! the cathedral there was gorgeous! once i met iz, we just walked around with 2 of her friends and talked, had lunch and gelato and just explored. i was sad to say goodbye to her!

 

it really does lean!

so back in florence i headed over to santa croce this gorgeous basilica in florence where some of the most famous - michelangelo, galileo, machiavelli, and marconi amongst others italians are buried. and the inside was even prettier than the duomo! but a lot of the alter was under renovation unfortunately.

outside santa croce

after that i was running short of time, so i decided to head to the uffizi and see some amazing italian art. i didn't get a chance to go to piazzale michelangelo, which  offers some of the best views of the entire city, but i figured i had seen a gorgeous sunset the night before. so the uffizi was awesome. 

view from inside the uffizi of the building

i enjoyed seeing the birth of venus by botticlli, a few davinci's, doni tondo - michelangelo's only finished surviving panel painting and many others. i was running out of time here, so it was very fast and trying to see the most famous works of art here. after the uffizi i hung around palazzo vecchio and had dinner over looking the square and enjoying the atmosphere. i walked around a but more and then headed back because i was up super early the next morning for roma!

i arrived in rome around 11 and headed to my hostel and dropped off my bags and headed to the colosseum!!! i wandered a bit going into a gorgeous basilica - santa maria maggiore and then saw my first view of the colosseum!!!!

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

where i was just so giddy i was skipping. no lie. i was told to avoid the long lines at the colosseum to go to the roman forums first. the ticket is for the forums, palatine and colossuem and once you have the ticket you don't wait on line. so i walked right into the forum and of course the weather was kinda eeeeh in rome. a drizzly misty rain i'm oh so used to from ireland. which wasn't too bad. the forum was cool walking around it because this was pretty much where ancient rome deveolped. it was the market/centre of government/everything. 

forum from the palentine hill

then i headed over to the colosseum and had no line!! when the line looked to be about a 20 minute wait. and omg. there are no words. 

looking into the colosseum, the platform was where the floor was and the mazes under it show the underground tunnels where the beasts would be hiding and such.

i was just in awe. i was first surprised at how small it was, i was expecting it to be slightly bigger. but it didn't really bother me. i was just imagining what it must have been like and just having my colosseumgasim. 

i <3>

so after i recovered from the amazingness. i headed over towards the momument to vittorio emanueke II   and wandered about and poked throught the little museum there and the tomb of the italian unknown solider. 

view from the monument and the italian flag!

the monument - it can be seen from all over the city. it was impressive!

and then i continued wandering around and by now it was raining harder and i was starving! so i had a great lunch and it was raining even harder and was about 5. so i decided to skip trevi fountain and the spanish steps and i had a headache and was cold and wet. so i went back for a nap, which was greatly needed. i was running around the city and just needed some downtime. so i just relaxed and after my nap went out for a quick slice of amazing pizza. the food omg, i seriously gained like 10 pounds in italy!! 

so monday i headed towards the vatican! and was quite excited to be visiting the smallest country! 

piazza a san pietro and the basilica. 

so i had to wait about 10 minutes to get through security and then i was in st. peter's. and wow. it was gigantic! and unbelievable. and so many things to look at!

looking into the basilica

after just enjoying the basilica i headed outside to join the line to go to the top of the dome. which was about a 45 minute wait, but gorgeous view. i climbed the 562 (i think, with the elevator it is 320, but i'm hardcore and walked up the whole thing) and enjoyed the view. 

i love this photo. view from st. peter's basilica

after enjoying the view i was getting excited to see the sistine chapel! i also mailed a few postcards from the vatican post office! so i made my way to the vatican museums and was completely surprised there was no line! yay! and i wondered throught the museum taking in some amazing tapestries, the map room, admired raphael's work and then finally!

kinda blurry, but i was the sneakmaster extradionare keeping my camera in my purse and taking shots because they were amazing with the no photos rule here. 

the sistine chapel was incredible. didn't know where to look and just wish i was taller to take in the detail! i loved it. i spent about 20 minutes here just admiring it. 

after that i contined though the museum, but only saw a small part of it because i had a lot to do before catching my flight home. i consulted my map and headed off towards the pantheon. i stopped at a few smaller places and enjoyed them and got slightly lost, but the pantheon was awesome!

pantheon

now of course right after this it starts POURING. like buckets. i remembered my umbrella today so the umbrella vendors left me alone today. but by the time i was at trevi fountain it looked like i went swimming in trevi! but i still loved it!

trevi fountain 

and the last thing i needed to do before heading to the train station was eat gelato on the spanish steps! so i headed there and the rain was still heavy until i got about 10 feet from the steps. so i poeple watched and ate my gelato and enjoyed it. 

yummmmmy gelato!

so i hopped on the metro, ran back to my hostel to grab my bag and catch the train to the airport. my flight back was fine and i got back to cork around 11.30, unpacked and crashed. i was exhausted and had work the next morning. 

i absolutely loved italy! i would love to go back again and just travel around the country with a car and just explore. being in italy made me want to re-read eat, pray, love again. it is one of my favourite books, so i can't wait to read my copy at home! i attempted with my non-existant italian, but i kept wanting to speak spanish! oops! and i really enjoyed the time alone to just think and be. and to get the opportunity to travel to some pretty amazing cities. i totally recommend traveling alone and just enjoying life. 

if you want to see more pictures let me know and i'll send you my picasa link!