so i hung up on roomie 5 times during our phone call

so i am quite special. 

last night while talking to roomie i was also packing. 

and the phone is weird and reallly sensitive, so while cradling the phone between my neck and shoulder i managed, not once or twice.. but 5!!! times to hang up on her while talking. 

it got to the point where she was timing how long it took before i would hang up again. 

it was quite amusing. 

anyway, i'm off to the airport soon. 

i have 1 bag of clothes/things i brought over to use while at home.

i bag full of food/and other supplies i'm bringing back.

it is pretty funny, when my dad was like i thought you said you didn't have a lot of stuff, i opened up the second suitcase and was like look - all food!

happy sunday, i wish i was around to see more of the football games today. 

the colts game yesterday - grrrrrrr. 

headed back to cork

i'm headed back to cork tomorrow. 

and i haven't even started packing yet.

i'm not really in the mood to. 

ugh, i'm torn. 

i want to go back and i'm looking forward to it. 

but at the same time i feel like i'm getting more and more ready to move back to the us. 

but if i wasn't going back and was staying here, i'd be miserable right know. 

so ffkskfdakjdflsl.

the last few days have been busy, yesterday met best friend from hs for lunch and then went to walmart and shoprite to buy supplies for the next few months. the way i see it is i have an empty suitcase going back to ireland (all the stuff i'm leaving at home) so why not fill it with food/other items cheaper to by at home? then the fam went out to dinner. today i ran errands with my dad, and then met a good friend and we went to the seton hall/west va basketball game. it was good fun, we had seats in a box, vip parking and the game was good. wv killed seton hall, but it was good to catch up with her and just have fun. 

so my flight is tomorrow evening, and i'm finally starting to feel better. i had a crazy post-nasal drip, slight sore throat, runny nose but i've been coughing like crazy. but i'm feeling better today than i have all week, so hopefully i won't die on the flight. 

so off to pack and call college roomie. 

2008 in review

Wow, 2008 was a pretty good year. I lived in Ireland for all of 2008, wrote a 21,000 word thesis, graduated with my Masters in History, traveled, showed my parents around Ireland and had two fabulous vacations home.

So here is 2008!

January: Ended 2007/started 2008 out right with the club up in Letterfrack, started up my second semester of classes and loved my new professor Cindy, also got to go to a lecture by one of my favourite historians - JJ Lee,  a few super wet hikes, had a few crazy Thursday nights out with Kara followed by slightly hungover Friday mornings at work and abseiled off the science building on campus for charity with the club.

February: started the month out with the Sex and the City Wine night..., counted out thousands of euros because it was Ball season at work, had a completely epic hike with the club on the Reeks with 2' of snow and Curve Gully, our slight obsession with Pat Fitz (Irish singer), had the hilarious good idea/bad idea Wicklow weekend and the cloud inversion on Lugnaquilla, went to Wales to see my sister and enjoyed seeing Swansea and I also made out with the Welsh guy, the post Birthday Ball phone call with my crew loves, finally reading my fav book of 2008 - Eat, Pray, Love.

March: started out the month with a friend from college visiting for a night, then Kara's friend from home was also over so that was a crazy few days, then a great hike up my favourite Irish mountain - Mt. Brandon, the hilariousness of the post-grad ball and law boy, my twin cousins being born, a super long but awesome Cloon Lake hike, the rediculousness of clubs&socs - quadruple double fisting, wayy too much wine, lots of dancing and laughing with the club, the totally hardcore Reeks Ridge hike, celebrating St. Patrick's Day in Ireland, Easter and our yummy dinner, and ending the month in Donegal with the club where it was a fabulous 5 days and had some incredible hikes on the Blue Stacks, Slieve League (with the most gorgeous cliffs and a swim in the N.Atlantic) and Errigal.

April: Started out the month meeting up with my sister and heading off to Greece! I had an AMAZING week in Athens and Santorini. Turning the corner in Athens and seeing the Acropolis, words can't even describe, the 9 hour ferry ride to Santorini was to totally worth it with the view of the cliffs and spending 3 days on the pants island. from the cliffs, the view of the caldera, black beaches, and the most gorgous sunset i've ever seen, I loved Santorini, back to Athens where we continued to take in the sites before heading back to Ireland, working on my term paper and really missing rowing, finally getting to meet Jenna (the other girl from the whole M. saga from my study abroad) and it was great! Megan coming over for another visit, being done with classes for the first time since I was 4, my ZTA weekend in London touring Parliament and Cambridge and seeing the bonds of sisterhood really are amazing.

May: I booked my flight home for my vacation in July, started seriously working on thesis, enjoyed a few days of good weather, bbq's, a great night climbing at Kinsale, realizing I've done a lot more work on the thesis than I though after seeing I read 105 books and notes on 62, going to the gym again, finally moving out of the house from hell,  celebrating a year post-wac and my rowers getting a NCAA bid, cheering on Munster as they won the Heinekin Cup, the fabulousness of seeing Sex and the City opening night (2 days before the US)!

June: I was in quite a funk in June, I blame it on the lack of summer weather, being disappointed when it looked like Hillary lost the primaries, summer housemate Brenda and I being crazy, being excited that I actually had 5,000 words of thesis written by the 13th, a few fun 21st parties, a fun rainy afternoon shopping with the girls, ending the month with 12,500 words on thesis, getting really excited about my trip home and a great hike in the Eastern Reeks.

July: soooo much rain, seriously even for Ireland, pub quiz fun, thank god for 3 weeks of real summer weather in the States! 3 absolutely crazy weeks with my DC trip, seeing my Worch girls, Coop's wedding and seeing some of my crew loves, meeting up with little, a relaxing week at the shore with the fam, the most incredible camping weekend on the Cape with my lovers, who I missed soo much, my 23rd birthday, the silly lionkitty breaking his leg, seeing jerz, becca and twin and getting back in touch with holly.

August: Back to wet Ireland, where I started working full time at the office, and getting serious on the thesis, so it wasn't a very fun month. by the middle of the month having the 4 chapters in draft, the OLYMPICS and watching my women's 8 win gold!!! the boys winning bronze, Michael Phelps, more fun with lawboy, work hitting the busy season but having a lot of laughs with the girls and not being soo stressed about the thesis.

September: I moved again, handed in a rough draft of thesis to my adviser, lots and lots of hours at work,  the whole Sarah Palin rediculousness, deciding to stay in Ireland until March, a fabulous day in Youghal, and computer breaking, 1 year in Ireland,  spent lots of time editing the thesis, finished the thesis, had her bound and handed her in 1 week early!! She came in at 106 pages and 20,995 words, and a gorgeous hike in sunshine to brough na binne, the financial mess and the first official hike of the year with the club.

October: uggggh sick, voted by absentee ballot for Obama, the hilarious night out lots of free beer, a fun hike in Gougane Barra, being a film festival volunteer, the wettest hike possible on Coumsaharan, a fabulous weekend in N. Ireland going to Belfast and the Antrim Coast, getting a postcard from Mary Whipple (my coxing idol), booking my flight home for Christmas, and a funny Halloween as Sarah Palin!

November: Was sooooooo ready for November 4th and the election. I stayed up until 5.30am to watch the coverage and was sooo excited and overjoyed at Obama being elected President, a fun but super wet Dingle weekend, my baking obsession started, the amazing Munster-All Blacks rugby match, finding out I was graduating with and thesis recieved 1st class honours!!, two very yummy Thanksgivings and a great snowy hike in the Reeks. 

December: A fun night out with the girls from work and the socs Christmas party, meeting my parents in London! and showing them all around one of my favourite cities, stepping over the Prime Meridian, lots of pictures with Big Ben and Parliament, a few crazy days traveling around Ireland - the Ring of Kerry, Killarney, Blarney, and all around Cork, my MA graduation and back to the states for a few weeks, where it has snowed way too much for me, a great few days in CT seeing my roomie, some crazy family times, getting to see Chelsea, the wonderfulness of NYC at Christmas, a great reunion with Holly in NYC, and yet again working on New Year's Eve. 

So some goals for 2009

-be happy

-work on a more healthy lifestyle

-enjoy my last 3 months in Ireland 

-travel as much as possible

-find a teaching job for September

-find a fun summer job

-start my 'big girl' life

- keep in better touch with family and friends

- become more crafty (knitting, scrapbooking)

- continue reading history books

- edit thesis for journal publication

- save money

2008 was pretty fabulous, 2009 is a year of endings and beginings. I'm getting a few more months in a country I love and then I'm starting my job search for both a fun summer and a teaching job starting in September, so who knows where I'll be next year? I'm ready for the adventure and crazyness that 2009 is about to bring!

happy 2009

I can't believe another year is here, it seemed like just yesterday I was on Croagh Patrick on New Year's Eve Day with some friends enjoying a nice day on the mountain and then ringing in the new year at the random pub in the middle of gorgeous Connemara with the club... But what a year 2008 has been. I'm writing the 2008 review, so that will be coming. 

So what I've been up to:

-Saturday night, my parents, little bro, sister and her boyfriend went into NYC for the evening. We had a great time walking around seeing the tree and all the Christmastastic parts of the city. It was a madhouse, so much more crowded than usual. But we had a great time :)

the fam at the tree

Sis and I being silly at the Bergdof windows

Times Square - it was a MADHOUSE

-Sunday I went to Pennsylvania with my Mom to see my Grandmother and Aunt. I hadn't seen them since Summer 2007, so it was a nice long lunch full of talking and catching up.

-Monday I spent home, getting stuff done. I put together the bookshelf I got for Christmas and cleaned. I also read a fabulous book! The Widow's War by Sally Gunning. It is set in 1761 in Cape Cod and all about a whaling widow and her fighting the status quo of a women after her husband's death of her property going to a male relative. It was a quick read and I enjoyed it. Amy it made me think of you!

my bookshelf - all full of books :)

-Tuesday was a mad day! I made quick plans to see my twin (best friend in the world, not really my twin) as she was working up in my area. So I met up with her and her co-workers and helped them look at the water quality in streams. She works as a Watershed Ambassador. So that was fun. I had to leave early, to take my little bro to the orthodontist. Then I met my mom for a super quick lunch and she dropped me off at the train station. 

how hot do we look? me and my twin

-Tuesday afternoon I was on my way to NYC (again) to meet one of my longest friends, who also is my pen-pal. Thanks to the American Girl Magazine (one of my favs growing up, you know you loved it too) pen-pal exchange. We began exhanging letters in August of 2008 and have kept in pretty good contact ever since. I have a showbox full of letters (most are from 1998-2002) and we emailed and imed a lot through HS. During college we didn't talk as much, but still sent occassional letters, and birthday/Christmas cards. But during the summer of 2004 where I worked at a camp in Michigan (where she is from) we met up for a weekend and it was FABULOUS to finally meet her! So over the summer we started writing letters to each other again (can I just say how much I love getting real mail) and so we made plans to see each other while I was home. So I got into the city and went to the Met. YAY art museums. I had a good time walking through, but OMG is the Met confusing. And it was super crowded. But I enjoyed seeing some European Art. Yay for Monets, Manets, Seurat and others. I didn't get a chance to get over to the American art. Next time. Then I met up with Holly and we went out to dinner with her husband (She got married in October). It was fabulous, we sat around talking for hours and then back to their apartment, where they have seriously the best view of Manhattan. And played with their kittens and just talked more :)

Monet's Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lillies

holly and I

the view from her apartment

-Wednesday - We went out to brunch, and again talked for hours. Then I caught my train home, went to my Grandma's where I waited for my Mom to pick me up and take me to work. I cocktail waitressed for NY Eve and was home by 11.45. I watched the ball drop curled up on the couch and then went to bed at 12.05. 

-I am watching the Winter Classic Hockey game right now. It is pretty awesome. On Wrigley Field (baseball) in Chicago, they turned it into an ice rink and the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Redwings played an outdoor game. It's been a good game, last year they played in Buffalo and next year is either Toronto or NYC. When my dad was telling me about it, I was like I'm sure the players love it, as the last time most of them probably played on real ice was when they were 12.  

-My sister's boyfriend just explained how one farts in their own face... He is a diver, and while we were talking about farting, he goes have you ever farted in a wetsuit? And then continues it with when he wears his diving helmet, it has a neoprene collar, so it gets stuck in the helmet. It was pretty funny when he was telling us.

- I'm only home a few more days and a lot more to do! So happy 2009 :)

an end to 2008

it has been a fun crazy last few days, i'm exhausted and just got home from work in time to curl up on the couch and watch the ball drop :)

happy new year!

santa got ran over by a reindeer...

Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday :)

Christmas was good this year, it was nice to be home. There is just something about being home for Christmas, no matter how much your family drives you crazy. While last year was fun being in Scotland, the usual Christmas crazy was just what I wanted. 

I worked Christmas Eve, cocktail waitressing. The day was crazy though, it was an icy morning on the roads, so Dad drove Mom to work, which slightly messed up the car plans for the day. So while I was cleaning, wrapping presents and such in my room, Dad noticed it was getting cold. So after a few minutes we realised the furnace was broken. So trying to get someone to come out Christmas Eve and someone who was approved to work with the State was fun. So Dad had to be at work for 1. So Mom left work early, and I went and picked her up, so I could have her car so I could go to work later on. Luckily someone was able to come out and fix it, so we could have heat. I'm just glad it wasn't a few days earlier when it was in the teens. So after work, where it was BUSY, we opened our presents. 

Now that we are all older, it is easier to open them Christmas eve, instead of on Christmas morning. I got a few surprises, but most of my gifts I picked out earlier this week. But I was happy, I got a bookshelf (I have boxes and boxes of books as well as stacks everywhere in my room), clothes, a few CDs, a Coach wristlet, my Dad's favourite photo of me with a little thing about my name (which seriously fits me to a T) and a few other random things. So it was a good Christmas. The funny part was my sister opened up her first three presents and in the boxes was three pairs of gloves, it was hilarious. Her face on the fourth box was this better not be gloves...

Christmas morning we headed over to my Dad's cousins for Christmas brunch, every year my Great-Grandmother would hold brunch for her family, so it was one of the two times a year everyone gets together (which is funny because we all seriously live within 15 minutes) and after she died three years ago, my Dad's cousin hosts it. It is nice and a great way to kick off Christmas. Then we headed over to my Dad's brother for Christmas dinner. As soon as we got there I headed straight to the twins. I have only seen them once (July) since they have been born  last March. They are adorable. So most of Christmas I had one baby on my lap :)  Drank lots and lots of wine and dinner was yummy. So it was a great day, with lots of usual family crazy and laughing. 

Yesterday we had my Grandparents over for dinner, and my sister's boyfriend is spending a few days with us. This morning was fabulous, I met a friend from college in Princeton for breakfast. It was great to see her, the last time I saw her was graduation. A funny mishap though, so Princeton is halfway between us, and because it is Jersey, we figured meet up at a diner. So we google mapped, Princeton Diners. There were two on 206, so we picked one.  So driving this morning, after passing through the center of Princeton, I'm like I must have missed it, so I turn around and drive back.... Nope, no Diner. So I call Chels and I'm like did you find it? No, why don't we just meet downtown. So we had pancakes at this fabulous pancake place and talked for an hour and a half about college, life in Ireland and Pittsburgh, and just hilarious stories. It was great :)

Now, the family is on our way into the city for the evening to be tourists and to look at the Christmas tree and all the decorations. I absolutely love Christmas in NYC, there is no place like it. I loved London and Edinburgh, but the atmosphere in NYC is just unique. 

merry christmas!

merry christmas :)

hope everyone has a fabulous holiday!

lots of love!

i <3 the duggars

So TLC right now is showing - 17 and counting: and baby makes 18 - a show on the Duggar family and the birth of their 18th child who was born on December 18th. Her name is Jordyn-Grace Makiya Duggar. Now if you aren't familar with this family, all of their children's names start with J: Joshua (& wife Anna), Jana & John-David (twins), Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, Jedidiah & Jeremiah (twins), Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer and now Jordyn-Grace.  And watching it just makes me laugh. This episode isn't as good as some of the others, as this one is all about the arrival of the new baby,  but it is the Duggars, so I'm drawn to it like a moth to the light. 

My slight obsession for the Duggar's stems back to college. Now on Sunday's the Garrett C girls would sit in our sitting room with books on our laps and would attempt to do work while watching tv and gossiping. And often the TLC marathons would spark our interest. So one day they showed a special on the Duggars and then shows with other huge families and it just became interesting. Lindser and I always facebook or email each other with Duggar news about the new babies or any other stories, so it is one of those funny things amongst Amy, Emmy, Lindser and I - along with Harry Potter, homeless roomates, decorations, the bunny and the countless other shenanigans from senior year. 

So 18 children, wow! They all are homeschooled and very religious and a very interesting life, while this special didn't have much on their life, some of the older ones focus more on that. http://www.duggarfamily.com/index.html

So today was a good day, did some Christmas shopping with my mom - and picked out some of my gifts. Tomorrow I'm going shopping with my Dad. I can't believe it is December 22nd, it doesn't feel like Christmas is Thursday! I still have a few things I need to do tomorrow while out with my Dad. I hate not having a car, while I'm home. 

So I'm now watching Irish news! A NYC local PBS station - 21 has a program called - Out of Ireland, which shows Irish news, events in NY and such. So I'm watching RTE and just laughing! I've just noticed this program now, which is kinda fun. I know it is for the Irish community in NY, but it is nice and I'm sure I'll appreciate it come April. 

Oh, yay for the days getting slightly brighter... I hate it so dark and cold! Boo, winter!

christmas cards, footbal and snow

so a random crazy sunday at home. my mom wanted to get the christmas photo taken today, so she could send out the christmas cards. so of course it can't just be easy, it always ends up a major production of trying to get all 3 of us to look decent in the same photo. so about 45 minutes later there was a good photo, after a few hilarious moments, one of which had me laughing so hard i had tears streaming down my face. i can't even remember what was so funny, just the fact i was mad i had to go re-do my makeup and couldn't breathe i was laughing so hard.  oh, and then i wrote my mom's christmas cards for her. so this year i wrote my cards and my mom's. that is a lot of cards!

little bro and i

christmas treee 2008

crazy sister

take 768 - we look like we are singing. 

 the final product.

so after the christmas card pictures i enjoyed some football on tv. i forgot how much i loved football, i haven't watched a game on tv since super bowl 2007. silly ireland and it only being on like sky, so i can't watch. my jets, well played like crap. like  13-3 crappy. no touchdown, farve had 4 sacks, 2 interceptions... and they were playing seattle. seriously, not happy, they pretty much blew their playoff chances, the giants game was good, i'm just watching that one now. 

ugh, we got more snow today, like another 3ish inches of the stuff. i am sick of snow! i've been home a week and there has been 3 days of wintery weather, and it is COLD outside, like 15. i can't complain about it being cold in cork, when it is like 50 right now. oh well. 

oh, last night was like a time warp. i helped out my aunt by working at the restaurant, by bussing tables. the last time i bussed tables i was 17. i felt like i was in hs all over again. and i didn't really like that. 

first of the month...

so i've been doing this for a few years now and i love it. the first things posted every month for 2008 :)

january: 4th - edinburgh and letterfrack

back to reality... 

(written after my christmas holiday to edinburgh and then new years in connemara with the club)

february: 1st - crazy weather

ireland has the weirdest weather today...

(it the span of about 30 minutes it was sunny, pouring rain, huge wet snowflakes and sun)

march: 3rd - kinsale, mt. brandon, sangria

 busy. busy weekend :)

(a friend from wac spent thursday night with me, then kara's friend from home visited and then mt. brandon on sunday)

april: 2nd - going greek!

 off to greece for the week!!

may: 1st - may day!

 happy may day!!

(reminisced about may day at wac... ohhh the crazyness!)

june: 3rd - avoiding the thesis

 this weekend i completely avoided the thesis. and it was fabulous!

(bank holiday weekend fun of enjoying the sunshine and having fun!)

july: 2nd - life to do list

so amy and i were talking about our life to-do lists the other day and i realized the last time i wrote mine down was summer 2006, when becca and i were setting goals for our senior year of college.

august: 1st - already august?

 i can't believe it is already august. gah, where is time going? it has been a good last week in the states.

september: 2nd - gossip girl, thesis, new house, political rant

so i have started updating like 4 times this week, but never had gotten around to actutally finishing what i had to say.

(randomness about work, thesis, moving house, kara and politics)

october: 5th - random...

it is a gorgeous sunny day and i am not on a mountain :(

(silly being sick)

november: 3rd - i can see russia from my house... halloween fun.

 halloween this year was quite fun...

(all about the antics from halloween)

december: 2nd - turkey, snowy hikes, december.

i've started writing this about 5 times now and hopefully i'll be able to actually write it. i open blogger and then get distracted by a gchat, someone at work, or something...

so there you have it, my first of the months aren't that exciting this year.. oh well.

lots of trains...

So the wintery weather that hit the tri-state area yesterday slightly messed up my plans for the weekend. Stupid snow. I am really not a fan of snow. Oh well, it does look pretty :)

so i had a fabulous few days of visiting mystic and my college roomie :) i had a train filled adventure on the way up to ct. my mom dropped me off at the netcong train station on her way into work and the weather wasn't fabulous. it was slightly icy - the little bro had a delayed day of school. so i switched trains at dover (where i usually get the train from) and then was in penn station. i wasn't minding my day on a train because i was reading jodi picoult's newest - change of heart. and wow! i love her novels, and this was one intense, i had tears streaming down my face. such a tough question and it is one of those where you can say something about what you would do, but if you were really in her shoes, would you? so after getting into penn, i walked the few blocks to grand central station, and then hopped on a train up to new haven. once in new haven i switched over to another train to old saybrook, where i met up with roomie! so it was a lot of trains, but luckily they are great to travel on.

so we just hung out for the afternoon and then we donned our aprons and started cooking some of christmas dinner. amy's friends were doing a little holiday dinner, so that was a fabulous way to spend wednesday evening! the food was fabulous! her friends are amazing! the funny parts of the evening - standing around the fish tank and talking about fish for about 30 minutes, the turkey (i'm done) button, and a few other random conversations. it was quite funny :)

so thursday, amy got new windows! yay!! so that was fabulous! we headed into mystic to walk around for a few and lunch and just hanging out before amy went into work. where i put some of my ocdness into good use and helped amy organise a few things. then it was time for her to become may. and so i went on her lantern light tour. it was fun, seeing her in 1876. i was quite jealous, because i LOVE the clothes. i want to be from 1876. some of the dresses were gorgeous! so her tour was fabulous and it was funny running into her friends i knew. after her tour, i went and helped to elf (behind the scenes) and that was hilarious. the conversation was brillant! and then i helped to close all the buildings and such. then amy's friends and i went to their favourite bar - john's, which was fun! so a great evening :)

friday morning amy and i headed to the train station and i began the train adventure. my plan was to get into the city about noon, and holly and i were meeting up at around 4. so it started snowing while i was on the train in ct, and it was snowing quite heavily, so i called my parents to just make sure it was ok for me to stay in the city and not catch a train home. so all was good, so i left holly a call, letting her know all was good, and headed uptown so i could go to the met. i was getting off the subway when i got a message from holly asking could we postpone, so i hopped on the subway again and headed back downtown, but this time to penn, so i could look up a train schedule and see if i could get a train back to netcong. since netcong is only a commuter station, the times aren't that great, which is why i usually use dover. and with the weather and the fact that my dad drove my mom into work, meant i needed netcong and not dover. so luckily the next train from the city would be getting into netcong at right before 4 which fit perfectly. so after some phone calls to my parents and holly, i was headed back to jersey.

so we got about 8 inches of snow on friday. and we are supposed to get more on sunday. it was a fabulous visit to ct to see the roomie :) and i can't wait for out european adventure!

ps. happy boston tea party day

i <3 igoogle and their today in history application. when i open the internet igoogle is my homepage, so it is one of the first things i see.

so i was quite excited to see today - december 16th

1773 - Protesting the Tea Act, colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians dump crates of tea into Boston harbor

and we all know i LOVE tea parties...

so happy boston tea party day - and go celebrate by drinking a cup of tea :)

plus is also today in 1811 New Madrid, Missouri Earthquake struck and in 1971 Don McLean released American Pie.

i'm so dumb...

I changed my website address for my blog to -
http://andherheartitisinireland.blogspot.com/
so if you are bookmarked, please change the link, as the old one won't work anymore.

So I finished writing out my Christmas cards last night. I addressed all 40 of them (except those I'm missing) and they were all ready to post. So I was at the post office buying stamps when the postmaster notices my cards and says, they are going to need extra postage. I had bought square cards not realising it would be different. So she says it would be pretty expensive to mail as is, I would recommend getting card envelopes. So I've re-addressed all my cards and they are ready to go! Stupid me, as it was not fun re-addressing all of my cards.

Ugh, my bank is driving me crazy. I tried to use my US debit card yesterday and today and both times it showed up as declined. So I figured, oh I'm using it in the US (they know I'm in Ireland), so maybe that's why. So I call them to ask, and after answering like 12359 security questions, she informs me, that it had been compromised in August! But what I don't understand is I used the card in October in Belfast? So I wonder when it got turned off. So now I have to wait 10 days to get my card, and then call to let them know I'll be in Ireland. And of course I put the money my parents owed me into the bank, so I'd be able to use my debit card, and now I can only use cash. Grrr!

I'm off to Conn in the morning to see college roomie! YAY!! I'm excited to see her and catch up and play with the kitten and see her in 1876 and not make fun of the boot at allll! (she somehow re-broke her foot) and then on Friday I get to see my pen-pal. We've been friends for 10 years now and we first met the summer of 2004, and now I'm spending Friday night with her in the city! YAY!

Did this and it made me laugh, how perfect is this?

erin's Dewey Decimal Section:

917 Geography of & travel in North America

erin = 5894159058 = 589+415+905+8 = 1917


Class:
900 History & Geography


Contains:
Travel, biographies, ancient history, and histories of continents.



What it says about you:
You're connected to your past and value the things that have happened to you. You've had some conflicted times in your life, but they've brought you to where you are today and you don't ignore it.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

home for the holidays

i've been really lazy with updating the last few days, i have no desire to write about the family's visit but give me a few days. i'm now home in jersey, for my three week holiday. the first thing i felt as we walked out of the airport, was the cold. brrrr. i was like fuck, it is freezing! it's funny, as cork's usual winter temperature is about 40-50 with lots of rain and wind. though the last few days it was slightly colder about 32-40, but with the rain it doesn't feel as cold, because the damp and wet. while at home it was about 30 but because it is dry, it feels so much colder. and bitter. 

so it is good to be home. i've already had some of my favourite foods, seen some of my family and talked to my two best friends :) yay for easy phone calls! i cleaned my room yesterday as it was a MESS! my parents use it as storage since i'm gone, and the fact i live in the basement an 1850s farmhouse, means my room is home to lots of little creatures - especially spiders and other insects, so tons of cobwebs and dead little creatures. so spent the day vacumming and dusting. though cleaning this time was a lot easier than the summer when it has been 10 months since i had last been home.  

today i want to finish writing my christmas cards (i started writing them on the plane), mail them, go get my nails done and go into target to get a few things. 

so off to be productive!

travels

it is official! I am in Ireland until March! I booked the flight home for Christmas today! 

YAY!

So I will be stateside from 13 December to 4 January, so mark your calendars, becuase I'd love to see people. I know it is tough with the holidays and all, but it would be great to see people :) 

And then I will be back in Ireland for three more months! 

So I'm quite excited about that, also now that it is almost November I really need to get started on looking up stuff for when the parents are over and booking hotels/rental car, but first bloody UCC needs to decide on when conferring is. I know it is sometime during the week of 8-12 December, but other than that, no clue. Fingers crossed for Monday or Tuesday, just because it makes everything easier planning wise. I just love planning trips. The last two days at work I've figured out some plans for this weekend's adventure to Belfast! And started to look up some stuff about Spain for when Amy comes! I seriously would love to be a professional traveler, how does one get that type of job? 

So I'm quite excited about Belfast and the Giants Causeway! I was supposed to go up with my Early Start class in September 2005 when I was studying abroad, but there was an unusually high amount of violence that month, so my professor didn't want to take 20 American students, so we spent 4 days in Dublin instead of 2/2. So I'm finally getting to go. The weather is looking to be Irish, 10-12 and showers. Typical...So other than planning trips and booking flights, nothing much else going on. 

So  facebook has alerted me that another friend is engaged. Ahhhhhhh! This one couple in particular was quite shocking, I remember when I realised through facebook that they were dating and was like seriously? I guess though because I am nowhere near wanting to be married it just seems crazy at 23 to be even thinking about the idea of spending the rest of your life with one person... And also this weekend one of my close friends is getting married. It is crazy to think that someone I have known since I was 13 is getting married, and just how totally different our lives are, believe me I have a shoebox full of letters over the last 10 years and the ones from 8-10th grade are hilarious! I got a letter from her yesterday and just discussing things in our life and reading it I was like wow, she is so grown up, and it made me seem like a kid still. I'm not complaining at all, I love my life. And the things I want to do before I settle down, well that list is quite long. 

Anyway, happy Wednesday. Off to the pub to join my fellow mountaineers for some craic.

back to ireland

So my vacation is officially over. I am sitting in Newark airport waiting for my flight to Heathrow. I still have about an hour before we start boarding and then another hour before our scheduled departure at 9pm. The lines weren’t too bad, I had no wait dropping off my bags and security took the average 30 minutes or so. Which in Newark is not too bad. My plane just pulled up to the gate, so the flight I took over here that arrives at 7 just came in slightly late. I just love airports. They are just so interesting and really run like mini cities. I can people watch all day, I would love to be more talkative and just ask people where they are going. The few people who were around in security were interesting a middle-aged British couple who were here on vacation and recently bought a sailboat in Conn and were testing it out. The man behind me was going to Sri Lanka for 2 weeks to see his wife and children who’ve been over there for a few weeks on holiday. I just think it is sooo awesome. Anyway, I love people watching.

So the last few days at home were fabulous :) It was great to see twin and db on Friday evening. It was fun pretending like we were 16 and on our night off. I can’t believe the last time I saw Gina I was heading to Ireland the first time, pretty much three years ago. Crazy how we have not seen each other. I’ve known Gina since summer 1999. So that was a great night, just catching up on life and reminiscing about camp. Saturday during the day Becca and I met up for our windows down, Madonna blasting reunion. We had a great time catching up with stories from Law School and Ireland. We went to lunch, and then went to Target. It was great singing Madonna :) Then my sister and grandparents were over for dinner, it was good. Then I met up with Suz and Cate at Chili’s and had a great mini-HS reunion. It was good to hear what they and other friends were up to as well as all the great gossip! And there was some fabulous HS gossip about a few people. So that was fun.

Sunday I went over to my Uncle’s and he wasn’t there at first, so I talked to Oma until they arrived. It was good to see Scottie/Barb and the kids. The twins are still adorable as ever, I had Daniel most of the day. I also saw a family friend whose known me since I was about five and haven’t seen since I was 18. It was good to see everyone there and it was a gorgeous day! Then the little bro was headed to camp! This was super exciting, since I went when I was 10 (even though I started asking when I was like 8 to go), Kel’s first summer was when she was 7 (and she cried for the 3 days she was there, and waited 2 more years to go back). So I was super excited he was finally getting to go and get the experience. So I went with the parents to drop him off, he is going to a Ycamp and it is co-ed and it seemed nice. Totally different from Hoover, 12 boys/2 counselors to cabin for the 2 weeks. I always wanted to do one like that. So hopefully he has a great time. It totally made me miss camp! After we dropped him off we went to Outback for dinner, I got my pomegranate margarita :) Which was fabulous. That is what I am going to miss, the cheap drink. Oh well.

Today I was up early to take my Mom to work, then I came home and finished packing. I went on a major food buying spree and bought a bunch of food and that is most of what I am bringing over. The pile of clothes and such was so small. I am still not looking forward to moving at the end of the month, I still have so much even though I home a ton of stuff. How did I acquire so much stuff!! Oh well.

So my trip home has been fabulous. I had an amazing time visiting friends and family. I really got to see most of my friends, which was pretty awesome. I took advantage of all the food and everything I’ve missed. I will really miss driving though, that is my favourite. So I’m back to the ususal work/thesis routine. I can do it for 2 more months. I’ll give myself a few days once I get back, and by this weekend I want to be working on the thesis again. My goal is to have 3/4/intro/conclusion done in 2 weeks. So 5000 words in 2 weeks. And then I’ll start on the editing. My goal is to have it done around the 15th of September and then I’ll do all the little proofreading, nit-picky stuff. I want it bound about a week before I have to hand it in.

So I’m about to board in a bit, so next time I’ll be back in Cork!

already august?

i can't believe it is already august. gah, where is time going? it has been a good last week in the states. tuesday night i went to dinner with my parents, then on wednesday - my birthday i didn't really do much, so it was a nice relaxing day :) my mom and i took clyde the silly kitten to the vet where he did break his paw and now he has a big blue cast. i think it is pretty funny :) but i do feel bad for him because all he wants to do it go outside, but we aren't letting him. after that my sister called and since it was her night off, her and ryan were going to the mall so she invited me because she felt sorry for me. haha. it was fun though :)

thursday i was busy and took my mom to work so i could have her car, where i went to walmart and then the other mall to get things i want for ireland. i mostly got makeup and other things that i can't get in ireland that i like. then i went to old navy and got a few things and then i was a good daughter and brought my mom lunch and we ate at work. so then i went to the mall to get perfume - it is sooo expensive in ireland and i also went to hallmark to stock up on some cute cards. i also treated myself to coldstone ice cream :) soooo yummmmy! then it was time to head to the grocery store to stock up on peanut butter, mac&cheese, goldfish, sweedish fish (it is serious thesis time) and a few other foods i want. the way i see it is i have 2 almost empty suitcases so might as well bring back some food :) then i went and had dinner at my aunts and it was a good evening. it was good to see the kids, they were so excited about their weekend in boston and it was nice to talk to my aunt and cousin. so that was a fun evening.

i can't believe it is friday and i go back on monday. i need to start thinking about packing. it will be nice to be back in ireland but i am going to miss the warm weather and sunshine, being in the same time zone, easy phone calls and driving. the only thing i am not looking forward to is getting back working on the thesis, gah. but only 2 more months, and i'm almost 3/4 written with my adviser liking both of the chapter's he has read. so i'm in the home stretch now. i can do it! (and having 3 huge bags of sour patch kids will help!)

tonight i am meeting up with twin and hopefully db? the last time i saw db was summer 2005, right before i was headed to ireland the first time. tomorrow is an afternoon with becca :) blasting the madonna, windows down and singing loudly! then dinner with the fam, then going out to meet a few high school friends. it should be interesting as i haven't seen these girls since 2005? i think it was right after i got home from ireland last time? sunday is seeing my uncle and the twins, then taking michael to camp!! yay! the little bro is finally going to camp! and then out with my parents. so many things in so little time!

oh! and i am soo excited by this! my old pen pal holly and i are back in contact! we lost touch around jr/senior year of college and she no longer has facebook, so i would send her emails to the last known email address i had and earlier this week i had a gchat request from her! and we've emailed a few times and i've already written her a real letter. sooo excited to be back in touch with her, because i have a huge shoebox full of letters from her and it was fabulous getting to finally meet her summer of 2004. so YAY!

from the jersey shore to cape cod...

so it has been an intense week. i spent from sunday to friday with my family at the shore, friday was a day of traveling up to the cape and then i spent the weekend at the cape with my loves and monday i traveled home with a stop in the city to meet klast for lunch. but it was a fabulous week!

the shore was amazing, i haven't been to wildwood since 2002. i was 17, right before senior year of high school, a week before my knee surgery. so it was crazy to see how much it had changed, my parents told me how much it had changed and wow, i couldn't believe it. sooo many hotels have been torn down and condos have been built. it is sad to see the changing dynamics of everything and so many of the landmarks when i was a child torn down. but the shore was fabulous. i laid out on the beach pretty much all day from sunday to thursday. i soaked up the sun and read books. i did get sunburnt, but not too bad. i can't really complain since my body isn't used to the sunshine after this year. but i just loved laying in the sun, hearing the waves crashing and it was heaven. i took a few walks on the beach with my parents, it was fun. we went to the boardwalk two nights and went on the rides, had the famous kohr's orange and vanilla ice cream and i got a ton of salt water taffy! we went for a bike ride on tuesday morning, and crabbing on wednesday. crabbing was fun, we caught (and threw back) about 15 crabs. i ran into a girl from wac who is going to be a senior, so that was fun talking to her and we had a few friends in common. and we also went to cape may on thursday morning, it was fun walking around all the old victorians and seeing everything. i just love the shore :) so it was a fabulous and relaxing week.

friday was a crazy day, i took the bus from wildwood to nyc, where i caught a train to conn, where amy picked me up and then we had about a 4 hour drive to the cape. so i had a full 12 hour day of traveling. it wasn't too bad, the bus was ok, yay for books and napping. the funniest thing though, i was sitting in front of 2 irish girls from cork, and i heard their accents and asked, so we got talking for a few minutes. pretty funny. i enjoyed my walk from port authority to grand central,it made me realize how much i missed manhattan. just walking down 42nd street. :) it was fabulous to finally see amy!!! we talked about anything and everything on our drive up to the cape. we got up there about 9.30 and it was great to see jeanne and kaity! we finished setting up camp and then we went for a walk around the campground, and then to the beach. the sky was perfect, you could see the milky way and a million stars. we saw a few shooting stars and just sat around talking, laughing and being ourselves.

saturday we went into ptown and fixed the bike and amy got a new rack - bike rack that is. while we waited we walked around and explored. after we got back we rode our bikes to the beach and then spent the afternoon at the beach, lying around, talking, amy and jeanne went swimming, while kaity and i took pictures, then we all went on a nice long walk on the beach. the beach up there is soo different than what i am used to, reminded me much more of an irish beach. the sand is so much coarser and then rocks along the edge instead of shells. and huge huge dunes, it was pretty cool. then on the bike ride back to the campsite we went to the lighthouse, then we cooked dinner and showered and headed out to play mini-golf. it was a ton of fun, i haven't played in like four years, i actually did ok too. i even shot a hole in one! we had a lot of fun, laughing and talking. the best part of the weekend was next though.

we did get our fire permit after waiting in line for about 45 minutes, but it was totally worth it! we didn't get the beach that was closest to us, but the one we got was even better. there were these awesome dunes and only one other group was on the beach with a fire. so i made an awesome fire, i haven't lost my touch, i miss building fires a few times a week and cooking on them. but what was really awesome, was that our fire was on the beach! so the memorizing fire and the waves, two of my favourite things, with my favourite people and smores! so that was awesome, i drove them crazy singing camp songs and we had a hilarious history lesson for jeanne! where we realized that the pilgrims were the first tourists on the cape. they landed in provincetown, took a dip in pilgrim pond, stayed 5 weeks, wrote the mayflower compact, met some natives then went back onto the boats over to plymouth. it was a pretty hilarious conversation.

sunday we were sitting around talking in the morning, when it kinda started to rain, and since they were forcasting rain, we didn't want to take any chances, so we packed up super quick and then headed into ptown. we walked around, did the monumnet and museuem. it was a fabulous day. i was sad to say goodbye to j&k, amy and i had a good ride back to mystic where we then had dinner with her friends, it was a fun evening. monday i went into work with amy, caught my train into NYC and had a great conversation with the woman sitting next to me for most of the ride. after getting into the city, i went uptown and walked around and then to central park. where i saw in my opinion a rabid raccoon. it was under a tree, in broad daylight in the park and it just didn't look right. and of course there were like 20 tourists around taking pictures, i was just waiting for someone to get bitten. so i continue walking and i see someone who works in the park, i figured they could radio the appropriate person. so i say i think there is a rabid raccoon, it is out in the day and it just doesn't seem right. so goes, nah, its ok. he is just hungry and looking for food, i was like in the day? she goes on, he is a new york raccoon, he is different from your country raccoons. i just laughed and contined walking, hoping that someone wouldn't get bitten, because they were like 5 feet away.

so after some reading in central park, i made my way dowtown to meet klast for dinner. we met and went to a fabulous thai place and caught up on the last year of life. it was great to see her, after dinner we went back uptown, so i could catch my train home. so it was a long day, but soo much fun!

ohhh, so we think one of the kitten broke his front paw, so i took my mom to work so i could have the car in case i could get a vet appointment, but i never did. so just trying to enjoy my last few days at home and making plans to see family and friends. and i'm 23 tomorrow, crazy!

i <3 jersey

so my vacation home is going by waaaaay to fast! i'm leaving for the shore tomorrow morning and then my weekend in the cape with my lovers. crazyness. so i am loving every minute of being home. and it is weird for me to say that, haha. normally i try to spend as little as possible time at home. but i am loving the sunshine and hot weather, driving a car, rnndom american food, more than 4 tv channels, being able to easily talk to friends, seeing friends and family and just everything that i've missed that i didn't realize i missed until i was around it. so it has been a good week, not super busy, but still fun.

monday and tuesday was just random things around the house, met my mom for lunch on tuesday and went to the library to get a million books for the shore, then jerz and i spent the afternoon/evening together. it was fabulous to see her, our schedules aligned for once and we actually overlapped at home for 3 days, so we spent the evening looking at apartments and driving around new brunswick. it was fun and great to catch up on life. wednesday i drove around and ran errands, thursday i went over to my aunts/cousins's to see them. i can't belive how big the kids are. a is sooo cute and kenzie is adorable and she talks now, but she was quite shy around me, i can't believe ky is almost 10! john made me laugh, he was like so when you getting married, i was like not for a long time. he then commented i was getting old, then thought for a second - jen was pregnant at 23. i rebutted i wasn't married the day after i graduated college. it just made me laugh and be like, ahhhh. it is totally crazy how if you look at something in perspective how it changes it. to be married and expecting my first child at this time in my life, ahhhhhhhhh. i'll continue to live abroad, finishing the thesis and traveling, being a carefree 23 (ok my 23rd birthday is in 10 days) year old please.

so then friday my mom and i went to the mall. it was good, the mall made me sad because they still had mostly summer clothes, and well as much as i love them summer things, i need fall clothes, i need long pants and long sleeves, not cute sundresses. but i did get a pair of khacki's and i do need to get another pair. it was so nice to walk into a store and see clothes that i wear, i missed gap, old navy, ae, jcrew.... and then today i met with twin! YAY!! and andy. we had a good afternoon, meeting for lunch, then coming back to play in tranquility, we went on a walk, played with the wii - omg, best thing ever, soooo much fun. even though i'm pretty bad. hello- horrible hand eye cordination! then went to yetters for dinner. hopefully plans are in the works for the week i'm back. i've missed my twin, we had a lot of fun laughing at pictures from our first summer at camp and just remembering funny times.

so i should finish packing for the shore! sooo excited to lay on the beach, read some books and just relax for 5 days. then friday i'm going up to the cape to camp with my lovers, and then meeting klast in the city on monday for dinner. it is a busy next week :)

and just for laughs, here are some old pictures i've scanned.

baby erin

happy 1st birthday - i <3>

daddy's little girl - i'm about 4 here

possibly my favourite picture - i'm 3 and playing with my baby sister

kindergarten graduation with my 2 friends

4th grade halloween
first day of 7th grade and kitten max
8th grade graduationfield hockey sophomore year
skiing junior year
begining of senior year - right after knee surgery
senior prom
high school graduation with becca

dc weekend

I had a faaaaabulous weekend in Maryland/DC visiting college friends and going to Katie's wedding. Friday I drove down to Maryland and the drive wasn't too bad, it is easy and about half of the drive I used to do for wac. I was sad when I should have gotten on 896 in Delaware, and then drove past 40 and saw signs for Elkton and then 213, because that was near where I taught. I wish I could have had time for an eastern shore excursion, because I miss Chestertown. So got to Hil's and it was amazing to see her! The last time I saw her was graduation! So Friday night was spent talking, catching up and just some quality time.

Saturday was crazy! Hil and I met up with Emmy, Lindser and Eye for lunch. It was a mini-worcester renunion. My worch girls were my core group of friends in college. We all lived on the same hall our frosh year, there were 9 of us - Amy and I, Emmy and Aubs, Blair and Hil, Christine, Lindser and Eye. and we all pretty much lived with each other all through college - lots of roommate switching but we remained friends. Senior year Emmy, Lindser, Amy and I lived together and Aubs, Hil, Eye and another friend Alex lived together. Christine finished college in December and Blair transfered for senior year, but I just think it is so cool that my main group of college friends stayed the same. We were a really lucky group, to be all placed together, and to be such a close group. I don't really know anyone who had the same crazy group of friends all 4 years. So lunch on Saturday was fabulous. It is great to hear what everyone is doing a year out of wac.

After lunch I took the metro into DC and met up with the girls at the hotel to get ready. It was so much fun, and it felt like we were in Florida getting ready for deserts at our our coaches' inlaws. We also spent a lot of time in hotels with crew. It was great to see Jclark, Katherine, Walburn and Betsy. So we headed out to the wedding, it took place at this gorgeous mansion in DC. Amazing gardens. The ceremony was outside and was short and sweet. The bridesmaids were in green and her dress was amazing. The wedding was totally Katie. It was so much fun. The crewie table was hilarious, we had a lot of fun. It was also great to see Amy (who was the senior coxswain when I was a freshman) and Leslie and Sarah. And I also got to see a few ZTA sister's who were bridesmaids, nametwin, Lindsay and Amanda. So it was just a great night and soooo much fun :)

Sunday we met up with another crewie Jamie, who is a senior at wac now for brunch. So that was fun, talking and getting to spend more time with my lovers. Then after saying goodbye :( I met back with Hil and got the car and drove up to outside Baltimore to meet up with littttttle! YAY! So we had a fabulous lunchy and it was great to see her. I miss my little. So she is also doing well, so that is fun. The rest of my drive home was good. I kinda created my own way home, I got off the turnpike because it was backed up, and I can just take 206 home. I was outside Trenton, and 206 makes a few turns and it isn't really well labled in Trenton. So I ended up on 31, which I saw signs saying Flemington - 20 miles and a few other places I knew. So I knew the road I was on would intersect with 206, or I could have even taken 31 up to almost Hackettstown. It made my Dad laugh that I can pretty much find my way home from anywhere in the state, because I can always find my way to somewhere I know how to get home from. So that was my little driving adventure. I really miss driving. It was sooo nice to just drive and sing along with the radio :)

So today was just doing things around the house, I am scanning a bunch of old photos from when I was little and then high school because I always want some, so since I have time. Its been fun to do and look through the albums to see them all.

So YAY! for my mini-college renunion weekend. I am loving being home in the states. The weather is just amazing, I love the hot weather and sunshine. And just all the random little things, I don't notice usually are nice. I'm drinking vitamin water like it is going out of style, enjoying all the little random food I've missed and loving the kitties and Brandy. YAY!

walburn, katie, me and jclark

wac

silly crewies

crewies

hilaberry and i

little and i