2011 was a really interesting year. i traveled a lot, lived in dc for a few months, moved 800 miles away from home on a whim and broke myself again. the first 11 months were pretty damn awesome, but it was the last 1.5 months that were pretty rough. so overall 2011 was a great year with lots of adventures but not quite the stability i was looking for, especially the end of the year. but it has been a fun year and one that i'll remember as i was able to travel so much!
january
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| amsterdam |
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| zurich |
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| vienna |
kicked off the new year in philly with jeanne, kaity & co and don't really remember anything as i was a hot drunk mess. but on january 3rd i hopped on a plane to zurich to start a 3 week adventure around europe. i had an amazing time traveling solo getting to go to some amazing places and just doing what i wanted as i frolicked around. spent about 36 hours in zurich, loving the churches and chocolate! spent many hours on trains as i went to prague next. loved loved loved prague and the history there, charles bridge, prague castle! saw the sedlec ostuary and the church decorated with human bones. wished i had more time in prague but off to budapest. it was foggy & wet in budapest but loved the cathedrals, castle, walking tour and turkish baths. next was vienna and i loved the elegance & history. spent a lot of time in palaces and went to a ballet at the vienna opera house! cologne, germany was where i spent most of my time in the one of the largest cathedrals in europe, eating chocolate and enjoying this adorable city. and then finally getting to go to amsterdam! the highlight was the anne frank house, but i loved the canals and bikes. had fun at the heineken brewery and museum and just enjoying the city! and then my last leg of the eurotrip going back home to cork! i spent 4 glorious days back in my little city along the lee, visiting friends, eating all my favorites, going to my pubs, going to my old office and just missing ireland like crazy. i was really sad to leave cork! but the adventures were just getting started when my eurotrip ended. i was in dc within 24 hours of landing starting up more conferences, but this time traveling around the US! and dc was great - catching up with old friends, meeting new great people and an epic snowstorm! and one of my best friends getting engaged!
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| cork |
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| prague |
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| budapest |
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| philly |
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| seattle |
february
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| birthday ball |
a month full of travel! after dc i headed off to seattle! yes! for another new state - washington! after the conference had a great few days exploring seattle and falling in love with the pacific northwest! then to indianapolis (another new state indiana) where i spent some time with amy's family and also went to the speedway and my sororities international office! started dating m, spent a few days in nj before heading to philly and back to chestertown with my loves for birthday ball! a great weekend at wac celebrating gw and being with many of my favorite people in one of my favorite places!
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| indy |
march
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| sister & i at bama |
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| loves! |
started out march with heading out to pittsburgh for work. had a blast after the conference, a great night out with my coworkers, a nylc reunion, seeing a good college friend and exploring the city. found out i got the pc job in dc for the summer! on the way to my next conference i stopped in harrisburg to see becca and had a fun night with her before heading to dc. dc conference was ehhh, but i got to see many of my friends. next up was birmingham (another new state alabama!) where i met up with m. who was also in alabama for work and had a great conference and was super excited to explore birmingham until i had to go to meriden, mississippi (another new state) to rescue my sister when her car died en route to new orleans. so her and i had an adventure stopping at university of alabama and i drove 550 miles in a 24 hour period. but i went to mississippi! i was back in new jersey for a little bit, my dad and i went to the ncaa sweet 16 games to cheer on carolina! which was so much fun! celebrated being back from ireland for 2 years, went to dc/philly for a weekend to see friends and search for a apt in dc, with a hilarious evening in philly with the loves. and had a hs moment going to a devils game with 2 hs friends!
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| pittsburgh |
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| sweet 16 |
april
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| zeta |
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| meeting lucy! |
celebrated sisterhood with zeta day and a fun trip with my sisters and the most redic night ever with m. and his friends with the drunk phone calls with barb! my last crazy conference in dallas (another new state! texas) and all the amazing history with jfk! meeting one of my favorite bloggers - lucy and playing with the cowboys at the stockyards! moved down to dc to start my new job! one of my professors had a book signing for his book 1861 and it was great to see him! and enjoying the spring in dc and getting to see my friends all the time! being giddy about the royal wedding and worrying about my sister down in alabama with all the tornados until we heard from her 48 hours later.
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| grassy knoll - dallas jfk! |
may
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| with little & glittle |
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| dc |
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| great falls |
kicked off the weekend with jeanne coming down and playing with her & kaity in dc. crazy nights out in admo with my coworkers, seeing glittle at the randomest college brunch ever, went to the jennifer landcaster book signing, played at the embassies and just enjoyed dinners & movies with my friends. it was great to be in the same city as so many of my dc friends! celebrated the 4 year mark of being out of college (when did that happen?) had the best weekend ever! went to harpers ferry with annie and re-enacted john brown's raid, hiked on the AT and visited their headquarters (i've wanted to go there since i was 11) then i saw brett dennon with ellie saturday night, brunch with little & glittle sunday morning and then seeing sugarland and meeting fellow blogger amanda! celebrating memorial weekend with jones's bachelorette party and amy & jeanne in town and discovering great falls park where i spent many evenings this summer! had a great month at work, loving most of my team, getting excited about the summer, hiring the staff, joking around with my pc partner, annie & i getting close and just loving everything!
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| atc headquarters in harper ferry |
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| sugarland |
june
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| being funny at work |
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| jones's wedding |
june started the crazy of summer - conference life began. checked into a hotel for 3 weeks and trained my staff. it was so awesome to finally meet the 20 people i helped hire! helped jones celebrate her marriage and had a crew reunion at her wedding which was a blast! ran a leadership conference with paul for 327 hs students around dc for 12 days with some of the craziest stories and a few nights of 3 hours of sleep but laughing to keep my sanity. and i loved it. and i became an amazing problem solver. after working for 12 days straight i went to a U2 concert!! which was absolutely amazing. i enjoyed my days not in session in the office and then a mini worchester reunion in chestertown! aubs & her husband flew in from england so we had a weekend of pretending we were freshman and going to all our favorite ctown spots, playing beer pong until 3am and of course the bird! and somehow celebrated my 10 year blogging anniversary - i started waaay back in june 2001!
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| U2 |
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| worch girls at wac |
july
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| 4th of july fun |
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| mj and i at keith urban |
kicked off july by heading home for a few days to see my family in a very quick 48 hour trip which was nice. enjoying a semi normal 9-5 schedule and going out to amazing dinners with mj & ellie, annie & i with out nooshi nights and just soaking up the gorgeous summer! celebrating the 4th of july with 300 hs students and then stepping back into conference life for 10 days with 328 hs students and it going so much smoother than the first time. really loving my job and being excited for the next few weeks with just office time. deciding to move to charleston for an adventure, heading up to mystic to see amy and say goodbye to it and all the crazy times up there the past 2 years. more nooshi nights with annie, seeing keith urban with mj! my birthday weekend and a hilarious sangria night with patricia, heading to pa for travis's party and swinging by harrisburg to see becca! a fabulous 26!
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| mj, patricia & i |
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| best coworker! |
august
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at zzb & kenn
ahhhhh! the summer went by way to fast! reliving the summer of 2009 with patricia at the t.swift concert. a historytastic weekend - ford's theatre, antietam, dc memorials at night, manassas. soaking up the last of dc with my friends. saying goodbye to a great summer job and some amazing coworkers. tim mcgraw & zbb with my sister & momma. spending a few days in jersey packing up my life to move to charleston. the lovely 13 hour drive to charleston with an earthquake, moving into the apartment and exploring my new city! |
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| moving into the apt! |
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| my room all packed up |
september
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| ft. sumter |
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| angel oak |
spent the beginning of the month getting used to my new city and job searching. hung out a bit with amy's grad school friends but most of the month was job searching. was approved to sub and found a retail job, wasn't my dream job or even what i wanted but it paid the bills. got involved with the charleston zeta alumnae group and volunteered with the homes & gardens tours, had fun with amy playing tourists. saw my my aunt & uncle when they came down. and finally at the end of the month my things arrived so i was able to unpack!
october
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| zeta |
was a pretty crazy month with work between retail and subbing and then volunteering with the house & garden tours and playing kickball. but still continued to play tourist and loved going for walks on the beach! volunteered with zeta for race for the cure and subbed a lot which i reallly don't like uuugh. decided to go to the southern ground music & food festival to see zac brown band for the friday night and ended up meeting people which led to going to the festival on saturday to see zbb again (this time from a few feet away) and then the next week going to the pro am jam where i saw hootie & the blowfish among other people play a few songs!
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| cyprus gardens |
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| southern ground festival |
november
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| family |
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| pittsburgh |
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| grand & great grandkids |
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| beach! |
kicked off the month flying out to pittsburgh to work a conference for the weekend and had a blast seeing old friends and really missing conference life. still working like crazy but getting a promotion at retail job to stock room supervisor - which was nice to get more hours and be a supervisor. saw darius rucker perform in his hometown, which was awesome! continued playing kickball - annnd then tearing my ACL playing kickball mid way through the month, which really threw everything for a loop. needed to come home for surgery and everything so drove home screwing up thanksgiving plans and everything else. spent thanksgiving at home with my family and was able to see a few friends which was an added surprise of being home. started going crazy with being home and unable to work.
december
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| post acl |
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| family |
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| sister & i at lady a |
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| sister & i in nyc |
very rough month for me. i really missed being in charleston, working and just living. i hated not working and then not having money, so didn't really do much. was able to see my nj zta sisters a few times and did help twin go wedding dress shopping twice though! little car accident - oops! and did go to philly to see jeanne and help her with some wedding plus saw phil vassar & craig morgan with her too. went to see lady a with my sister and also into nyc for the day to see the city at my favorite time of year. acl surgery on the 19th and all the fun that came with that. christmas with the family and seeing friends and quietly ringing in 2012.
i'm hoping for 2012 to start off better than 2011 ended. 2011 was an interesting year where i was able to go to 6 new states and 5 new countries, make some great new friends, run conferences for hs students, work retail, go to 12 concerts, moved into my own apartment in charleston, lived in dc, had all sorts of adventures, was able to see so many of my friends, tore my other ACL and overall had a blast! who knows what is in store for 2012??
After a few fun filled days in Westchester for work I was off to NYC on Sunday afternoon for a few days to relax between conferences. Sunday was St. Patrick's Day and all day long I wanted to be back in Cork and enjoying the day there with trad music and a pint of beamish. I had a wonderful St. Patrick's there in 2009 right before I left. I lived in Ireland for 2 years total - 19 months between 2007-2009 and then 4 months in 2005. But I was looking forward to going out with Suz and Meg this year!
So after we enjoyed a few pints and catching up around 9 we decided to head home. As the 3 of them had to work the next morning and well I was exhausted after the conference. But on the way home for stopped for a real Irish treat - a Shamrock Shake! It was delish! Suz and I just hung out chatting and finding a new gem of a show to watch. Myrtle Mannor on TLC. It is a "reality" show shot last summer at a trailer park in Myrtle Beach, SC. Absolutely hilarious!
