4 years

bags packed

four years ago was one of the best days of my life. it was the day i had waited for since december 20, 2005 to move to cork, ireland. i had made my dream of moving back to ireland a reality and it was really happening. i was really doing it - my bags were packed and i was moving back to my little city by the lee and starting grad school at ucc. but most importantly i was moving back to ireland.

i can't believe four years have gone by since i was moving back and a little over 2 since i moved back to the states. it was an incredible time i had living and working in ireland and a part of me will always be in cork. i was lucky enough to be able to visit cork in january on my eurotrip and i still miss ireland dearly.

but i am so glad i was able to follow my dream and live in ireland. it was what i needed and a great adventure.

so here are some of my favorite ireland photos:

kinsale sept 2007

cliffs of moher - october 2008

ucc - oct 2007

cork city - nov 2007

somewhere in kerry - jan 2008

somewhere in kerry feb 2008

one of the many times on the top of ireland - carrauntoohil - march 20098

hiking in co. donegal - april 2008

youghal - august 2008

gorgeous hike in kerry - sept 2008

gugane barra - co. cork october 2008

giant's causeway - n. ireland oct 2008

masters graduation - dec 2008

with my bff annie moore - kinsale dec 2008

parents in ireland - gap of dunloe - dec 2008

burren - jan 2009

galway - jan 2009

st. finbarrs cathedral - cork

river lee - cork city 

happy friday!

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!

two years

two years ago i moved back to the states from ireland. 

it is fun to think about how much my life has changed and that it is still as crazy as the moment i landed in newark.
march 24th,2009 i said goodbye to the emerald isle and hopped on a plane to start back in the states. v
i was so lucky to get to visit this january for a few days and see my friends and my favorite city.
but it was different. this january was the first time i went to ireland to visit. and i think that is what made stepping on the plane two years ago so hard, that i know i won't be going back to ireland to live. when i left after studying abroad it was my goal to move back to ireland after graduation. i would be back.
but now i'm only back to visit.

but i made the right choice in moving back to the states. i've been extremely happy the last two years. i've done some awesome things. i moved to connecticut, worked leadership conferences in dc, taught high school in new jersey, alternate director of a sailing camp in connecticut, more leadership conferences in dc, traveled around europe, and now i'm traveling around the us doing leadership conferences. while this wasn't the plan, i'm happy with where i'm going. i'm enjoying my 20s and i love being close to my friends and getting to take random road trips and just taking advantage of every opportunity i have.

i am so glad i took the opportunity to move to ireland and to do my masters there. that was an amazing time and it is just crazy to believe it was two years ago i was saying goodbye.


but i'm excited for the future and what is next... though i had no idea what i'd be doing two years ago when i moved back to the states, the last two years has shown me that life is awesome and you can do amazing things and have fun with life and the decisions you make. and take advantage of every opportunity.

cork

so i had 4 absolutely wonderful days in cork. i was shocked that i was there for 4 days of sun. yes - it did not rain a drop when i was in cork. i was flabbergasted. but the sunshine in cork was glorious as there is nothing nicer than a sunny ireland. so i'm back in the states now and gearing up for some more travel (details to come) let's just say my life is crazy. i'm loving this year because it is turning out to be what i said a year of fun and travel with some work in there. but crazy. 

so about ireland. it was like coming home. i hung out with my friends, popped into work, and honestly it felt like a normal week. ate soo much food, bought ballet flats & tights, drank tons of tea, frolicked about my favorite place and just enjoyed being in cork. ending my trip in cork was the right thing to do. 

out for tapas with the girls from work :)

a little bit of heaven - o'conaill's hot chocolate in cork

st. finbarr's cathedral in cork - look at the gorgeous blue sky - i saw finbarr's from my window in my last house

along the river lee and the north side - i lived in the bright pink building on the right when i studied abroad

fitzgerald park - one of my favorite places - especially in nice weather

the quad at ucc - had fun walking around the university and remembering the memories

curry chips from lennox's - number 1 on my list of things in cork to do

kara and i out at my favorite pub - costigans

the trip back to cork made me remember my love for ireland - i could go on and on about it. check out the archives for more irish talk. and it just felt so normal. so happy to finally go back after almost two years and i can't wait to visit again.

so i'm back in the states and it was a great trip :) i'm writing a wrap up about everything and just so glad i said i need to go to europe and booked it. and traveled for 3 weeks by myself. lots of crazy going on - but hey just more fun to write about :)

how was your weekend?

22 months

i'm back in CORK!! it has been 22 months since i said goodbye to my little city on the lee after living there for almost 2 years, and crazily enough over 5 years since i first said goodbye. but i'm back, and while only for 4 short days i'm so excited.

flying into cork is one of my favorite things in the world. especially on a sunny day (see ireland loves me!) and to just see the field of green, the coast.... i am seriously jumping up and down like a child inside.

i'm just at the airport waiting for my bus into the city, and then i'm heading to meet my friend sharon so i can drop off my bags and then off to explore and say hi to my favorite city and a hot chocolate at o'connails, and then tonight i'm going out for pints and then tapas with my old co-workers! yay for a great first day back home!

and i'm so glad i'm missing the icey/snow fun that is hitting home right now. which is crazy that my trip is almost over. it went by too fast!

do you want to have a slumber party in my basement?

so a weekend in mystic was juuuust what i needed. i needed the crazy that only one of my second homes could provide. a fabulous weekend with the college roomie that included great friends, alcohol, yummy food and history.

i had a crazy morning on friday - i realized if i was going to europe in 3 weeks i needed to mail my passport like a month ago to get its extra pages. so i did the application and paid to have it expedited and went to the post office to mail it (ps - i can't wait to have it back, so scary to mail it away!) and then headed off for harford where i was meeting a sorority sister of mine for dinner. we met up every few weeks when i was in connecticut this summer for dinner and i've missed seeing her, so it was a great catch up dinner and just chat about life and such.

then on the road to mystic - where it was so great to see everyone. friday night turned out to be fun. another good friend was in town for the weekend as well, so i was excited to see him! we spent the night drinking and card games (where a bunch of random people showed up) and then headed off to a bar downtown. it was full of good conversation and just the random mystic debauchery.

saturday morning amy and i decided to put our inner history nerds on and went up to newport to play in the "cottages" like we did one afternoon this summer. so we enjoyed walking around the elms and marble house and soaking up the lavish summer "cottages" of the rich and famous during the guilded age. and i just love it. both houses were amazing and also decorated for the holidays as well. unfortunately you can't take pictures inside. but they were just gorgeously decorated. and the art collection at the elms was pretty impressive! so i'd recommend these two houses in newport as well as the breakers and rosecliff which we saw over the summer. 

poinsettia christmas tree at the elms - omg the floral arrangements were incredible here!

back view of the elms

amy and i at marble house

after a fun afternoon of playing history nerds we met up with our friends houli and captain and went for some of my favorite pizza in mystic. pizzetta is great and so delish! so we had fun making fun of each other and chatting about everything while enjoying fab pizza. my fav is their mac&cheese pizza. and then the fun began.

so then the 4 of us had a slumber party. it was pretty much your teenage slumber party minus nailpolish plus alcohol. we played played board games, drank wine and alcoholic hot chocolate, acted like 14 year olds and it was a great night. something fun and so relaxed. and since the weather wasn't great the boys stayed over and camped out on the couch and air mattress. and then we proceeded to talk through the walls once we went to bed. it was fun and such a random, low key night. and then the next morning we went to breakfast and i had gingerbread french toast which was like a little bite of heaven.

so it was just what i needed in terms of a weekend away!

and this week should be good. i'm going into nyc on wednesday with my brother for his christmas present. i'm taking him to see the king tut exhibit! which i'm really excited for! and then i'm going into the city on saturday night for suz's christmas party. so lots of fun things going on!

aannnnnnnd i did it! i booked flights and trains today! I'M GOING BACK TO EUROPE! for 3 weeks in january! i'm going to zurich, prague, budapest, vienna, cologne, amsterdam and then ireland. soooooooo excited for this. i need this trip right now. i figured out all the details on sunday night and booked today. so i leave in 3 weeks - which is super soon as christmas in in two weeks, then new years where i'll be in philly and then on jan 3rd i leave. so a lot to do. but i'm going back! i can't wait to go to all these new places and especially my favorite cork! i can't wait to frolic down patricks street, visit friends, drink beamish, get hot chocolate at o'conaills and so many other things! yay!

so how was your weekend? any recommendations for any place i'm going?

where in the world....sunshine in ireland

It's Wednesday and that means it's time the lovely Jess over at Classy in Philadelphia's , Where In The World Wednesday!

If you participate, please take the button the fabulous Feris made to use in your post!

The idea of WITWW is to post a picture of you in someplace in the world...it doesn't have to be somewhere foreign or tropical. Just a picture of you somewhere that you consider traveling.

so with my last post on the cliffs of moher jess made a comment about it always being cloudy in ireland. and yes! jess. it is usually cloudy in ireland and the sky a nice shade of gray.

exhibit a

- cork city - 2008

it rains A LOT in ireland

. this was from a particularly wet & rainy hike in jan 2008

but on rare occasion the sun does come out! and those days are glorious and the sky is an incredible shade of blue.

brenda & i - st. patrick's day 2009

the sky doesn't look blue here but it was gorgeous! hiking in the easter reeks - june 2008

yeats' church in april 2008

cobh - september 2007

so the sun does shine in ireland. and i had a great time looking through my thousands of photos for ones of the sun!

and now i miss ireland!

so participate with where in the world wednesday and go over to Jess's blog - Classy in Philadelphia and share your link :)

one year

last year i was boarding a plane in shannon and flying back to new jersey on march 24th. i have been back in the states for a year now and what a year it has been. the last 365 days have been pretty incredible and i've decided to write a post summing up the fabulousness of the last year rather than a post about the sadness of missing ireland.

quick note for all the new readers - i lived in cork, ireland from september 2007 to march 2009 and had an absolutely amazing time doing my masters in history, working & traveling.

so since i landed at newark liberty international airport at 11.30 am i have:

-bought a new car - colby my 2009 chevy cobalt who i just hit 18,000 miles on yesterday

-moved to connecticut with my college roomie 5 days later

-started teaching middle school students about whaling, maritime history and working on a ship and loving it

-my college loves and i reuniting in providence/boston and ct multiple times

-making some bad decisions with gator...

- cheering on one of my best friends as she ran the boston marathon

-danish ghosts at work

-seeing a good friend of mine catie and going to a bruce springsteen concert!

-crazy drinking in connecticut. between margarita nights, saturday nights and parties...

-applying to a million and seven teaching jobs

-helping amy coach rowing

-being super sad to leave connecticut

-home in jersey for a few days

-some kitty drama with scarlett being eaten and lillian being attacked but surviving and putting alice/trixie to sleep

-moving down to nova/dc for the summer to work at a high school leadership conference

-having the best summer roomie, crazy 7-11 runs, lots of tswift/kclarkson/mcyrus,

-team westpark and the happy hours

-dating the boy for the summer

- fun times with high school students in dc/nyc for 7 weeks

-getting a teaching job in nj

-enjoying the month of august in the jersey shore,hiking,lots of pa, nyc

- a crewie reunion in maryland

-joining my sorority alumni chapter

-a crazy fall pretty much spent at school but loving my co-workers and some great students

-seeing my first crew regatta in 2 years

- a redic halloween in connecticut

-going back to wac/maryland for the first time since graduation

-meeting friends in nyc whenever i want

- a first thanksgiving with my family in a long time and the parade in nyc

-started coaching the ski team

-a nice christmas with my family

-a quiet nye with erin

-started seeing matt

-seeing friends for dinner

- still loving my teaching job

-an awesome trip to kansas to see patricia

-waaaay too much snow

- putting puppy to sleep :(

-riverdance!

and here i am today... it was a pretty awesome year, full of the unexpected. because when my plane landed i knew i was moving to connecticut until june and then the unknown. and i have been so lucky that it was a positive year and so many incredible things have happened. i've met so many amazing people, made new friends and had a few crazy adventures.

my heart will always be in ireland and i am so glad that i had the opportunity to live there, but i really have been happy with my decision to move back to the states and everything i've been able to do this year.

where in the world.... cork, ireland

It's Wednesday and that means it's time the lovely Jess over at Classy in Philadelphia's , Where In The World Wednesday!

If you participate, please take the button the fabulous Feris made to use in your post!

The idea of WITWW is to post a picture of you in someplace in the world...it doesn't have to be somewhere foreign or tropical. Just a picture of you somewhere that you consider traveling.

this week i'm back in cork, showing you some of my daily life there. last year on march 24th i left ireland to move back to the states, so the pictures this week are of my houses in ireland and me doing things i always did. i was super lucky to live in ireland for 20 months this time.

first house - fern lodge 2nd house - st. mary's

i couldn't find a picture of the 3rd house - but here was a view from the back porch

me busily working on my thesis! at work one day

so participate with where in the world wednesday and go over to Jess's blog - Classy in Philadelphia and share your link :)

where in the world... irish st. patrick's day

It's Wednesday and that means it's time the lovely Jess over at Classy in Philadelphia's , Where In The World Wednesday!

If you participate, please take the button the fabulous Feris made to use in your post!

The idea of WITWW is to post a picture of you in someplace in the world...it doesn't have to be somewhere foreign or tropical. Just a picture of you somewhere that you consider traveling

so this week in honor of st. patrick's day, i chose to use do my witww in cork celebrating st. patrick's day! i was there both 2008/2009 for st. patrick's day and both were fun. i didn't take many pictures though. oops! (which is unusual for me!) 2008 i went to the parade with kara and then for a few pints at our favorite pub in the afternoon. in 2009 i went to the parade with brenda and then because it was gorgeous! day we went to the park and then cooked dinner and then went on a mission to find a trad session (most are on in the day we later learned) and we found one and i enjoyed a few pints of beamish.

photo i had taken march 2009 in dublin at guinness factory

my fav park - fitzgerald park. i really miss going there.

it was a GORGEOUS day for march 2009.

brenda and i after the parade - enjoying ice cream

cork parade from 2009

cork parade from 2008

so participate with where in the world wednesday and go over to Jess's blog - Classy in Philadelphia and share your link :)