missing traveling

i read a great article last week in the new york times travel section called "lost in ireland" about a travel writer who doesn't take a map and just goes around. he went from dublin to co.kerry trying to find the reeks. and for those of you who've been long time readers, might remember i used to do a lot of hiking in the reeks when i lived in ireland. so reading this article made me laugh because i've driven around that area a bit and i just don't know how you can "miss" the reeks. yea, most days they are covered in clouds and mist so you can't see much of them. but they are there. and i went on a few amazing hikes there. and i all want to do right now is grab my backpack, rainjacket,  waterproof pants, gaters and head out hiking on sunday. so i recommend checking out that article for a bit of a laugh. and i loved how he was there around all-ireland time. my first time in cork back in 2005 - i loved watching cork win the hurling all-ireland! and then i also watched a few other cork games in pubs both gaelic football and hurling.

reeks ridge - my last hike in ireland february 2009

snowy day in the reeks - january 2008

one of my many times at the top of ireland

the reeks - one of the most gorgeous days i had in the mountains june 2008

panoramic - snowy day in reeks january 2008

and now i just want to travel. after sunday i don't have a job. i have no commitments to anything right now.  so i'm seriously trying to figure out how to get back to europe. i want to go back to ireland for a few days and then maybe amsterdam, and i really want to go to vienna, budapest, prague and maybe switzerland and germany? i want to go for 3-4 weeks. and i'm trying to figure out where to start on trip like this. while i'd love to go somewhere else than europe, i'm planning on traveling by myself and going to south america alone, i'm not super comfortable with. so starting to look up flights, and see which way would be the smartest to do it... 

any advice? ideas of places to go in that region? i was thinking going marchish. i know it isn't the warmest time of the year, but it would be the best time for me to go. now just need to start saving money.

i have a few more days in dc, and then i'm back to jersey. and i'm just not feeling it this week. i'm counting down to sunday and totally faking it this week. and sadly i don't care. this group of kids seems to be having a good time, so as long as they are having fun and can't tell i'm totally checked out... 

and it doesn't help that is is raining again on a thursday. it has rained 4/5 capital hill days. like poured all day, so totally not fun. at least this week i'm not sitting out in the rain for 1.5 hours. but i did have fun with the capital hill police this morning, we have to get 360 kids through security to get onto the floor of the house and i was at security and we were joking around the whole time and at the end they said you sure you don't want a job here, you're pretty good at this. it made me laugh.

anyway, almost done hanging out on capital hill on a rainy day. for the last time.

where in the world.... the reeks, 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

earlier this week i was really missing the irish mountains, so i decided this week to pick a few of my favorite shots of the reeks in county kerry. here is where the 3 highest peaks are in ireland and i've climbed them multiple times and hiked in the reeks about ten times.

from my last hike in ireland - february 2009 - it was a faaabulous day!

an amazing snowy day in the reeks - january 2008

looking at the ridge we just hiked over - a fabulous summer day - june 2008

at the top on the snowy day - jan 2008

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

screensaver

so over the last few days i've been spending a lot of time with my computer. i should have been typing up notes for my classes, butttt i found myself distracted and my computer would keep going to screensaver. and my screensaver is my photos. and as you may guess, i have a lot of photos, so it is always fun looking at what photos pop up and what memories they bring back. i can just watch my screensaver and be entertained for hours. haha!

here are the first 5 that pop up....

this was the day we got our crew jackets. it is a big deal to finally get your crew jacket and at the end of your 3rd semester (fall of soph year) of crew right before the last race in the fall we get jackets. here are all my fellow sophomores getting our jackets at the spaghetti dinner. sadly i was not there that night because i had class :( and out of that picture there would be 8 of them and me left senior year.

my roomies senior year after playing project runway for an anything goes but clothes party

view from the rialto bridge in venice feb 2009

one of my favorite days ever. a gorgeous hike along the cliffs at slieve league in donegal, ireland in april 2008. we sat along these cliffs in the sunshine for a good hour. with my friends karen and emer

the statue to michael collins in beal na mblath in county cork, ireland. this is where he was killed in an ambush during the irish civil war. this is from august 2005 - when i took a irish history class when i studied abroad in ireland and we had lots of fun field trips.

anyone else love their screensaver as much as i do?

where in the world....letterfrack, 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've chosen an absolutely area in ireland. letterfrack is a village in county galway and is in connemara national park. i spent a few days around new year's 2008 up here hiking and having a blast with the club. it was one of my favorite new years. we did 4 amazing hikes in 5 days. including a hike up croagh patrick on new year's eve day and then a great night out with friends to ring in 2008!

pics from - night navigation up diamond hill, view on first day's hike, me on the summit of croagh patrick and the famous death scene!

so if you are participating go over to Jess's blog - Classy in Philadelphia and share your link!

i love the mountains

Yesterday was such an amazing day. I went hiking with the club to the Reeks, specifically Hag's Glen and Carrauntoohil. Or the highest point in Ireland at 1038m. Now I've been to Carrauntoohil a handful of times now and to the Reeks a lot and each hike has been great because each one has been different - coming down in the dark through a bog in the pouring rain, curve gully in 2 feet of snow, team sorority girls on the epic reeks ridge hike, not getting quite to the top in November because of time restraints and yesterday's gorgeous day.

One of the reasons why yesterday's hike was so fabulous was because it was my last hike with the club and my last adventure in the Irish mountains. These mountains have become my home on Sunday's and I've spent almost every Sunday from late September to March hiking as well as going out randomly with friends in the summers. From my quick calculations I've gone on about 50 hikes in the time I've been here including the time I studied abroad. So these mountains are really a bit part of why I love Ireland so much. So when I realized that this was the last hike I was sad, but luckily it was one of my favourite hikes. They still have 5 more but I'll be traveling most weekends until I go home.

But the weather forecast was looking optimistic (I think I was the only person excited to see it was going to be about 50 and sunny, everyone else wanted snow) and there really wasn't too many clouds in the sky. And we were on the Reeks. So after the long walk to finally get to the mountain - there was about a 2k of road walk and then another 3k along a path(ish) and then through the bog we were there.

Walking in - there was only a bit of cloud on Carrauntoohil -big one on the right

But going through the Hag's Glen is just gorgeous. And so it was exciting, we were going up O'Shea's Gully (one of the easier ways up, but I'd never done it before) and there was a slight detour with a few of us going up the bottom half of Curve Gully (I like climbing up rocks and waterfalls) but it was just nice.

climbing up the gully

The clouds were clearing even more as we were climbing in, and I was hoping (fingers crossed) that there would a view from the top. As normally it is cloudy, and if you lucky the clouds might give way for 30 seconds and a view opens up but then quickly closes. So a clear day on top is quite exciting! So there was the usual banter while hiking up, talking about life, post college plans (a lot of my friends are all final years - which is crazy because when I first met them they were all in first year!) and everything. Enjoying the scenery and just being so happy to be on a mountain.

Along where we had lunchy

So after a quick little lunch among the mountains by a cute little lake we started up the gully and we were about 20 minutes from the summit and it was clear! So we were right by where the 2nd highest mountain is connected to Carrauntoohil by a great little ridge and the views were just amazing!

Why I <3>Like those views were part of the reason why I love hiking and Ireland so much. And after some scenery appreciation where I was joking around and said I made a little pact with the mountain gods to get us such nice weather because it was my last hike. We headed up the path to the top. And of course the clouds were starting to roll in, but it was pretty dramatic to watch the clouds roll in and I had a great time just sitting up there taking it all in.
Clouds rolling in over Beenkeeragh
at the top - these are actually other hikers not my friends.
coming down the Heavenly Gates
And then we headed down though the Heavenly Gates and omg, the group was sooo slow.
Like constantly having to stop and wait for people to catch up, but we were getting to the point where we didn't want to be coming down in the dark. So we were trying to hurry them down, without being too mean about it. But the sunset was absolutely gorgeous and you could see the tops of the mountain for most of the hike down, which was pretty awesome. So while walking down the path I was just basking in the moment, trying to take as many mental photos (and regular ones) because hiking in Ireland and getting such nice days is rare, and so it was nice that for my last Irish hike. I was sad to say goodbye to the mountains that I call my home.
omg, gorgeous sunset
last view of the reeks - car is the 2nd to the right.

I was wrecked after the hike - while it took us forever because the group was slow we had been hiking for about 8 hours from the time we left the bus to getting back to it. But enjoyed the bus ride back talking and singing. They made me laugh, because on the announcements, they said goodbye to a semi permanent member who we just can't get rid of whose been around the last 2.5 years (while calendar years is only 2 - I've been around 2.5 academic years since the academic year is september to march) and got a lot of jokes about my accent and bionic knee (the knee brace I wear). So that made me laugh. I was sad to say goodbye to PJ the bus driver, who I've had a few long talks with and can always make you laugh. I'm having a going away party at a pub in a few weeks so I'll still get to see everyone a few more times, just not my beloved mountains.

So I got home, checked my email and went to bed. And woke up this morning feeling like I got hit by a bus. I haven't hiked in a while, so I was the usual sore after a hike, knees sore, random bruises that I always get, and my hips sore. Anytime I hike my hips are bruised from my pack. It has happened since I was 13 and started backpacking, since I don't really have hips, packs fit me kinda weird. And I had a killer headache. And had some bad news in an email from roomie. Another really good friend had a seizure last night, they think it was just a combo of dehydration, stress and a few other things, but she is doing ok. So it was definitely a shock to check my email and see that. And work has been the usual Monday, so I was grabbing my purse to go home for lunch and I notice my keys aren't there. kfksfkksdks!?! uuuugh, the one morning I didn't have my keys in my hand walking out the door - I was running late, headache and a lot on my mind... So of course I only had one of my housemates numbers, the one who works late hours and so I texted him asking for the other numbers and luckily one of the girls was going to be home when I get off work. So I just went to the shop and grabbed a roll instead of going home. At least I have aerobics tonight and then I'm meeting the girls from work for a pint to look forward to, so hopefully the endophins will help the headache and my bad mood.

Happy Monday!



little video from the OMG gorgeous spot/picture of me and prettyness. i'm talking a little bit, but it was windy. the view starts out looking at Beenkeragh ridge (kinda) not the best and then over Coomlaughra Horseshoe of the lakes, over to Cahir then up to Carrauntoohil - where you can see the cross! then back over to Cahir and the lakes again.

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 :)

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.

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 I can't believe it is December already! Seriously, where is time going? I am so glad I am staying until March, because if I was leaving in three weeks, I might be having a panic attack right now. Plus the funny thing I would have been leaving 20 December, which is the same date I left three years ago. How random is that, I think if that would have happened, I would pretty much permanently hate that day. Anyway, I'm meeting my parents in like 40 hours inLondon. Crazy how fast this is coming up. I think everything is organised. I'm excited to show them around London, as it is my second favourite city after NYC, and I just love it. I don't think it could get old. And then their week around the emerald isle, (ok, well the southwest) that should be super fun. Everyone in the family wants video of my Dad driving, I admit, it will be hilarious. Irish roads are quite an experience. And I picked up my stuff today for my Confirring, Kara and I will be having mimosas that morning and getting ready together :) So that should be fun.

So Thanksgiving was fun last week. I had two, one Wednesday and the other on Thursday. Both were fun, Kara's on Wednesday was her housemates and some other friends. We had a good laugh and the food was great, I had my first attempt at Guitar Hero, and wow did I suck. Hand eye co-ordination, not my thing! And then I went to the pub for a few to catch up a with a few club friends, and to get excited about Sunday's hike in the Reeks! Also Sharon, made me a Happy Thanksgiving poster for my desk, while I was out at lunch :) (She doesn't work Thursday's) So Thursday was good, worked and tried to watch the Macy's Parade, but couldn't find it online. Then after work headed over to Clare's for her feast! It was fabulous and so much fun! Some incredibly hilarious conversation, trying to find enough plates/forks and chairs, a fabulous pumpkin pie. It was great, even though I couldn't be with family, I had a great two days with friends :) I called the family and talked with everyone for a bit, they were quite funny!

Didn't do much over the weekend, it was FREEZING! Like right around freezing, and just felt like winter. It even smelt like winter outside. So Saturday I just did the usual Saturday stuff, errands in town, read, watched movies and such. Saturday night I finished my yarn, so I have about 3/5 of my scarf finished. I watched x-factor while I knitted, it was Britney night, so for their first song they all did Britney songs! Quite exciting and she even 'sang' her new song, which I'm not sure I really like. But she looked normal, and by that I mean pre-crazy Britney. 

Sunday was fabulous, despite it being so cold and almost slipping and falling a million times walking to meet everyone. We were hiking in the Reeks, and there was SNOW! We were supposed to do a horseshoe around the 3 highest peaks in Eire, Carrantuohill, Benkerragh and Cahir. But with the weather being questionable and the prospect of roads freezing, our bus driver asked we be down around 4. So we knew that didn't give us enough time to do the whole thing so the two groups were going to do Benkeergagh and the other Cahir and onto Carrantuohill. So it was fun, despite the cold. As long as you kept moving you were warm, especially going uphill, so it wasn't too bad. The snow made it more fun :) As it is a treat in Ireland. So we had multiple snowball fights and the group was pretty small, so it was good. We were in a cloud for most of the day, until the end when it cleared and I got a few photos in. So it was fabulous to be back on the mountain, as I hadn't been in a while. Was wrecked though when I got home, and both of my knees were killing me. But it was an amazing day :)

Yesterday at work was fun, we christmastized the office, so that was fun :) And I was busy trying to organise things for the trip. Today was pretty quiet, nothing too unusual. Tonight the girls from work and I are going out for drinks which should be fun. And tomorrow is my last day of work for a month! Crazy! 

some pictures from Sunday's hike

the clouds cleared

 a gorgeous sunset

the view for most of the hike

weekend update

not that there is much to update, as this was a pretty low key weekend. 

-last few hours of work on friday was quite crazy. most friday's the girls and i are quite punchy, and it didn't help that i was doing room bookings, and of course any of the rooms the societies wanted were booked, so i had to try and find them a more suitable one. it was making me go insane. i would rather have done the accounting stuff i was doing last june that made me hate numbers. 

-friday evening, i was lazy. i should have been out celebrating, but no one was around. and it was yucky and rainy out, i was going to head into town, but after work just didn't feel like it. 

- so i did nothing exciting and knitted and watched bad tv. 

- saturday i ran my errands in town, and popped into a few shops and just looked around. went into the kitchen store and got a muffin tin, so i can make cupcakes! caught up on grey's and private practice. can the izzy/denny story end? thanks. i like christina and the new guy though. then i read an old jodi piccoult novel and knitted while watching xfactor. i know i'm addicted. first time i've ever seriously watched one of those shows. i also made chocolate chip cookies, as i had a craving for the dough.

-sunday, woke up and looked outside, it was super windy, and wet. decided to skip the hike, as much as i wanted to go, i didn't really want to be wet and blown away. so i watched a few episodes of 90210 (they started showing it over her last week, and well i like it. i might have a slight love for trashy teenage girl tv...) and then i went into town and read at my favourite coffee shop for a while. and also had a little bit of fun picniking photos. just got off the phone with my parents, going over some trip details. can't believe how soon! 

-the jets beat the titans! YAY! i had the game online and kept track of the scores. i do miss football. but i'll be home for 3 weeks of it! 

-busy, busy this week. making cupcakes monday night. i took off tuesday afternoon, so i could go to immigration, get a haircut and run errands and brenda and i are doing movie night. wednesday is kara's thanksgiving and pub with the club, thursday is thanksgiving and i think i'm going to a friends and friday i believe is work christmas party (so early because of me). 

-i'm finally getting a haircut. YAY! its been like forever. and i'm actually changing my hair! seriously since i've been like 14 my hair has been the same, just slightly shorter or longer, depending on the last time i cut it. but i'm going to do some layers, i want it like this. what do you think?

anyway, i guess i had more to say then i thought. and weird i made this a list, when not really. 

dingle 2008

Dingle was great :) Despite the horrible weather, lashing rain and spending about double the time in the hostel as the years previous!

So Friday I left from work to meet everyone, I had my backpacks at work, and my co-workers laughed at me and all my gear. I had my medium hikng backpack with my knee brace and boots attached on the back and then my regular backpack with clothes/food for the weekend. So of course it is raining, not the most fun way to start the weekend. It poured the entire bus ride to Dingle, and it takes like 3.5 hours. We get to the hostel and it is lashing, seriously pouring!! So we all started cooking dinner, and just sitting around and getting out the alcohol and talking and exploring the new hostel. They had an adorable cat, who sat on my lap for a while on Friday night (which I shouldn't have, because my eyes were KILLING me!) I know I shouldn't play with cats, without my allergery meds, but I can't help it. So then the evenings fun started, the guys had brought a guitar and bodhran (my favourite of all irish trad instruments) and so they were playing and we were singing. And then the crazy started. This weekend was the hair straightening. One of the guys Brian (Tim) has this longish curly hair, and we have been joking around about straightening it, and so one of the girls brought her straightener so we could. So we straightened 3 of the lads hair. It was quite amusing!! After a while we went into the table traversing, which is always fun! and then the cardboard box game, and then we continued to do all of those crazy little games we always do in Dingle. So then more singing and just hanging out talking.. I was up until 4am, (seriously tired at this stage, I'm not as young as I once was) and there were still a handfull of people up. Friday night is a little quieter than Saturday, like I had 2 bottles of cider and most people only had a few cans.. We save the hard alcohol/large quantities of alcohol for Saturday evening, when most people only get like 2 hours of sleep if any!.

So Saturday we wake up around 8 to be ready for the bus which is coming a little after 9 to take us to the mountain. And the weather was still ok, the forecast wasn't the best. So we went off to Brandon (my favourite of all Irish mountains) and we were going the pilgrim path up and then coming down along the cliffs. This is where I took my favourite Ireland photo when I studied abroad, coming down along the coast and the sheep... So were hiking and the weather is still ok, we start getting in the clouds, slightly misty.. meh, nothing unusual... a little higher, ohh, its windy... now it is actually raining.. must put on rain jacket.... wow, its getting really windy... a little higher... seriously wind. it is getting hard to walk... ok now it is seriously raining, time for the waterproof pants... ok, i'm ready to turn around, this weather is ridiculous. wind you are blowing me around a little too much, and now it is hailing....

I was never so glad to hear that we were turning around, but luckily going up the wind was at our backs... so going down it was in our faces, and i had my hat half covering my face, to try to avoid the hail/rain. It was nice when we got down lower where the wind wasn't so ridiculous and it was just normal rain. But I was so cold. So relieved when we reached the point where the bus was picking us up, I was starting to feel my body again! The shower was amazing, I didn't want to get out of the warm water!! Then we spent the afternoon just relaxing around the hostel, talking, sitting by the fire... a few people went to the climbing wall, but as I haven't climbed in 3 months I would be completely out of shape and it wasn't worth paying 10e. So I walked into Dingle town with a few people, and of course it started POURING!! but it was fun to see the town and to walk into a few shops as I have never been to the town, it is such a great place! Saturday night after dinner was fun. I was drinking a bottle of wine :) I started playing a game of kings with a bunch of the people, the guys were playing music again and just the usual merriment. The game of kings was intense, we actually used a king cup, but it wasn't like wac where if you pulled the king you poured some of your drink into the cup, and the 4th king would drink it..(which we rarely did anyway, because we were nicer than that and didn't want t infict that on each other) nononono, if you pulled a king, everyone playing poured some of their drink into the cup and you would have to drink it... so there were 4 of these lovely opportunities per game. Luckily in the 3 games I played I only pulled one king... the drink was lovely... lots of different beer, a few ciders and then a red wine and my white zin. I chugggged that as fast as I could, as I didn't want to have to drink it twice! It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but ugggggh! So the game continued for a lot longer, hahaha, but i joined in on a few conversations and then sang along with the guitars for a while, then we all ended up in one of the small rooms and were seeing how many people could fit into the closet, then doing other random things, more singing, lots more singing! and then talking, dance offs, more singing, and what do you know, it is 4am.. so I was dying again, half asleep the last 15 minutes, so around 4.15 I head off and there were a ton of people still running about, singing and being crazy.

Sunday morning woke up, enjoyed breakfast and sitting around talking, laughing about the debauchery from the night before, and then a bunch of us walked into town again for Ireland's best ice cream. It was pretty amazing, but they were sooo small and expensive! All I really want is a gigantic thing of Coldstone or Cliffs (the best ice cream in the world in Jersey) And it was kinda raining walking into town... but on the way home the skies opened up, like seriously. I was soaked in about 3 seconds. Not cool. So back to the hostel, packed and cleaned up and then while waiting for the bus we had another singing session. So got home a little after 8, threw both my bags contents in the wash as everything was soaked!, and the rest is now sitting in a huge pile on my floor. My room is a disaster zone, seriously need to clean!! That is the only bad part about coming back from a mountaineering weekend, trying to dry out everything!

So that is the Dingle weekend. Crazy fun, but great. Though it was the quietest of all three years it still was great. I was quite disappointed that the weather was so shit, and that there was no climbing outside on Sunday, Dunsheen is my favourite place to climb! And I look forward to Dingle for the climbing. Oh well.

Back to the usualness, can't believe it is already the 10th of November! Where is time going???

Oh loved work today, because they were playing a TON of Elton John on the radio. They announced today he is playing in Ireland in June so the radio was giving away tickets everytime they played a song. So they were pretty much playing a song every hour. LOVED it!

Off to make dinner and get my life organised!

i can see russia from my house... halloween fun

(So apparently I never hit post on Monday night...)

Halloween this year was quite fun. I haven't been a big Halloween fan for a while now. The last time I dressed up was sophomore year of college. I hate trying to think of something creative. So I was being forced out this year and decided to go as Sarah Palin. I had a blast! After work on Friday with the usual Fridayness of fun, I made dinner and got ready. Headed over to Kara's for some fun before hand, I was being one classy VP candidate and drinking wine. We finished getting ready, chatted, played some card games, ate some of Steph's fabulous baking, a few other friends of the girls came over. It was pretty fun, then we headed into town, which was also quite fun. Tons of crazy costumes! My favourites were the 4 guys as the teenage mutant turtles or the guy as Michael Phelps. So I had a great Halloween :)

Steph -Marie Antoinette, me - Sarah Palin and Kara - Pocahontas

Sarah meeting Michael Phelps at the pub

Saturday slept in late, it was fabulous! Ran errands around town and organised everything, as things were still kinda crazy as I was away last weekend. Laundry was done, letters were written, and I relaxed and read while cooking. Then I watched X-factor (I've become addicted!) and knitted. It is slowly coming along, but somehow I add stitches when I knit.. I don't know.. Most people loose them, I add them.. So the scarf is coming out ok. Once this is done, I'm going to attempt something with a pattern, as this is just plain. X-factor is quite nice on Saturday nights as I don't like going out because there is nothing worse than getting up early to hike and not feeling well. So I veg on the couch, knit, drink like 5 cups of tea, text back and forth with Brenda (who is at home watching it) and getting my bags organised for hiking.

Sunday was the Eastern Reeks. It was a good day, nothing super crazy or special, just a regular hike. It was a blah weather day, cold and we were in a cloud for most of the hike. A few girls in the groups were OMG slow, so it was kinda painful with that. So it was still nice to get out, but I'm really looking forward to this weekend and Dingle! Yay! for Mt. Brandon and hopefully climbing at Dunsheen. And just a weekend of fun, alcohol, debauchery and laughs. Dingle 2005 was the year of the walk off, chocolate crepes at 3am, breaking 5k of chocolate of heads... 2007 was table traversing, riding around on trikes, climbing the hostel... so who knows what 2008 will have in store?

Today is just a normal day at work, I'm going to the Philosoph debate on the US election. It should be interesting. I've really enjoyed being abroad for this election and seeing the international reaction and opinion on it. I'm getting excited and nervous for tomorrow, like I voted a month ago and I know the polls are saying Obama is ahead, I'm just worried they aren't right. So hopefully Obama can pull it off!

film festival and soaking wet hikes

Last week was a busy week for me. Between work and life I was also volunteering at the Cork Film Festival. It was fun, though I wish I would have had more time to actually see some of the films. So it was pretty cool, I was put in the venues, so I was greeting people, collecting tickets, guarding the doors and got to see the films if I wanted. So I was at the Opera House, which was cool because most of the big films were being shown there and it really is a gorgeous building. Tuesday when I was volunteering was the coolest though, it was the silent film night. I didn't get to see the first bit, but they had Paul Merton speaking about silent films, and then the second half was the showing of Buster Keaton's Steamboat Willie Jr and they had somone playing the piano, so it totally felt like the 1920s. Watching a silent film reminded me of the Margaret movie, and made me think of camp. So I just thought it was really awesome :) The other few movies I saw, I didn't really like.  A few of the shorts I saw were good though. It was a fun week though and I got to meet and talk with a lot of interesting people. 

Sunday was an interesting hike. It was a super wet, rainy, windy, disgusting Irish day. We went to Coumsaharan, in Co. Kerry and while the forecast was wet, it was dry and overcast when we left Cork. It started to pour, after about Macroom and you knew it was going to be one of those hikes. It was super windy, like 80kph winds, so the plans slightly changed, as we reached the top, before we started along the horseshoe we were getting blown away. So we walked down the side of the mountain, through the bogs which turned into rivers and ponds. Seriously it was crazy how much water was coming down the mountain. Now where we were hiking was quite boggy, but with this much water it was like hiking though a pond! Even with my waterproofs I was still soaked, as well as everyone else. The only thing dry on me was my feet (which I am NOT complaining about) as many people had soggy feet, which isn't hard when you are walking in 5inches of water! So despite the rediculous rainyness, it was a great day :) Sometimes the super rainy days are a lot of fun, and they make you realise how amazing the gorgeous sunny days are.

So I'm going to Belfast this weekend :) YAY!! I am so excited, I have seriously been waiting since September 2005 to go, and I AM! YAY! It is kinda a spur of the moment decision, as Monday is a Bank Holiday, so I have the day off, and I felt like getting out of Dodge. So I'm leaving Friday afternoon, and coming back to Cork late Monday night and spending a lot of time on a bus this weekend. But it should be worth it! I'm also going up to the Giant's Causeway and Portrush as well so it should be fun. So I spent most of today at work looking up hostels and trying to figure out bus schedules and such, which is funny because the one thing I wanted to do at work today was write this, but yet somehow it is 10.20 at night and I just got around to writing... 

why would she put little russian men in our drinks?

Super wet disgusting day today! Just ugggggh!

So everyone in Ireland is anticipating the Budget. The Minister of Finance presents the budget for the upcoming year and it will be on TV this afternoon and with everything going on in the financial world people are curious to see what he has to say. It is interesting because I feel in the States we don't really have anything similar, like I had to look and see when the US budget is passed, apparently the President has to submit it to Congress by the first Monday in February, and then it has to be approved by both houses in Congress and then signed by the President, and goes into effect starting 1 October. The one thing I can think gets this type of attention in the States is the State of the Union, which is always interesting to hear what the President has to say. Anyway, enough financial talk.

Fun weekend :) Thursday I went with Brenda to see How to Loose Friends and Alienate People. It was funny and made me laugh. It was good to catch up with her, I miss our movie nights in the house, relaxing and watching whatever bad movies were on TV, and catching up on our day. Friday was a usual day at work, nothing too interesting. So Kara, Lorna and I decided to go out. I haven't been out in a while as I've been sick and busy finishing up the thesis and Kara was home for a few weeks. So Friday night was supposed to be a quieter evening, I had to work the Open Day on Saturday for prospective students.

But of course that was the opposite of what happened. So we started out at costigans, but it was a weird night there as the general age was quite older, as there was a Munster rugby match one (really good game, munster won 19-17 with like 2 minutes left) . So we decided to go to the Quad, so we get our drinks - this beer called Desperado, it is beer with tequila (quite good) and so we just got our beers and started people watching and talking. So then a girl comes over and goes do you girls want a pint of miller? So we go yea, why not. So she leaves and we laugh and go I hope it is a promotion, and we better not have to pay then Lorna then says I hope she doesn't put any KGB in our drinks.. Kara then asks, why would she be putting Russian men in our drinks? So we all laugh and she brought over the pints, and we decide to start drinking the Miller and save the good beer until later. So a super drunk guys comes by and we ignore him, he was trying to talk with us. So his friend - seriously the tallest guy I have ever seen in my life, comes over to appologise. So we were just like whatever, so they bloody sit down next to us.. we were like uuughhh. So we start downing the Miller, reminded me of the Bird, except I was drinking out of a pint glass, and not a pitcher. So then we drank the good beer quite fast and booked it out of there... that was bad idea #1. Especially since the last time i drank was 3 weeks ago when i went out with work friends (and that night I had 3 pints and was fine) so we wanted to go to the Brog. So walking there a group pf guys starts talking to us, and I don't exactly remember how this started, Lorna goes we are in a band, I'm Frankie, this is Kiki to Kara and Lulu to me. Our band was called KGB, so they were like where are you going, and we replied i'm not sure yet as trying to elude the second group of sketchy guys. So we decided to go to Old Oak... i haven't been there in 3 years! i wasn't a fan of it when i studied abroad. So nothing fun really happening there so we head to the Brog and i was getting tired so at like 1 i decided to head home. So it was a hilarious evening :) And a lot of fun!

Saturday morning, not so much fun. But the Open Day went well, I gave out lots of information about accom to prospective students, and then after it I ran into town to do my errands. I finally bought knitting needles and yarn, and have decided to start knitting again, so lets see how long this lasts.

Sunday went hiking :) We went to Gougane Barra, the source of the River Lee. It is usually a very pretty hike, but the weather wasn't really co-operative, so there were no views. It was wet and misty, and bogtacular, so the usual Ireland hiking weather. It was a fun day, despite being wet. I did manage to get a few good pictures of the lake and the monastry though :)

I love the reflections!

The monastry

:)