Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts

Back From Break

Labels: - Thursday, July 26, 2012

Sorry I have been a little AWOL the past couple of weeks. I went home to visit my parents and meet up with my sister, so that took up a lot of my time. It was really nice to spend some quality time with the fam. I tend to miss them :)

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We took a long time to land in Oakland and flew all around the Bay, something I've never done before. It was cool to see the City from that angle.

I went to San Francisco a couple of times and hung out in some places I've never been before (only took me 15 years!). My mom and I went to the Mission district and found some really cute shops as well as a lot of street art and murals:

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I recently moved and haven't completely finished unpacking, so knitting has taken a backseat for a while. However, I have some great swap stuff coming in and some new projects to start!

Reminiscing and SWAP!

Labels: , - Friday, June 1, 2012

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I've been missing Europe, especially Roma, lately. It's such a beautiful place with amazing food! I recently found this photo I took at Campo dei Fiori because I thought these bags were so cute!


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I also am joining some Ravelry swaps! I have never done a swap before, but the idea is right up my alley and I'm really excited. I have signed up for two for the summer. I think I can do both as long as I have time to go shopping and knitting. I'll post updates once I've bought and received my things. :)

Olympics and Sewing

Labels: , - Thursday, May 31, 2012

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No, probably not the Olympics you were thinking. This past weekend, a friend and I took a road trip to her home on the Washington Peninsula. Home of this gorgeous stretch of mountains in Olympic National Park.

There was also a huge music and art festival in her town. That is where I discovered this guy:

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Despite is appearance and nerdy yet charismatic stage presence, he has one of the best voices I've ever heard. He hits notes that I didn't even know a guy could hit! You can check him out right here.

Since I've returned from my adventure, I have been working on my dress. I have two weddings to go to in July, so I decided to put my craftiness to the test. After already four hours of work, I am still cutting!

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Hopefully I can start sewing today!

Smorgasbord in Cork

Labels: , - Friday, March 4, 2011


Firstly, I realized at the end of my stay in Cork that I really didn't spend much time in the city itself unfortunately. However, my experience in County Cork was quite lovely. We drove up Friday evening on a bus with the NUIM International Society and stayed in a hostel very near the City Centre. This was my first experience in a hostel, and I found that the longer I was there, the less of a big deal it was to be there. Therefore, I found I slept quite a bit better the second night.
Saturday, we found ourselves in Blarney. A ridiculously small town that houses...of course, the famous Blarney Castle. The castle is cool and all, but the grounds are AMAZING! It was such a gorgeous day with plenty of sunshine and we got there early before the crowds. The walk up to kiss the Blarney Stone was reminiscent of the hike to the top of St. Peter's (with the steep winding staircases and slight development of claustrophobia). However, at least it wasn't 90 degrees and suffocating; so overall a more enjoyable experience. The actual kissing of the stone is an ordeal, yet speedy quick. You have to get on your back, hold onto two metal bars, and shimmy upside down until you reach it with an attendant holding onto you. This part was fine, but no one told me about the MAJOR HEADRUSH that comes afterwards! I was dizzy for about 30 sec.
We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the grounds. The road we walked on had more daffodils than I have ever seen in my life! We also found horses, waterfalls and caves...the whole place was beautiful. And of course, I had to buy a Blarney Stone t-shirt...classic Kate. After our adventures we had...yep, chinese food :) It was quite delicious and warm, which is all I really wanted.
Our second day we went to Kinsale, which is a cute little fishing town seated right in a coastal bay. Again, the weather loved us, so we took a hilly walk around the bay to St. Charles Fort. I kinda liked the walk better than the Fort itself. There were so many cute houses and signs along the way as well as some picturesque views of the the bay (which had sailboats on it that day!). I had some seafood chowder at a little cafe before we got back on the bus, and eventually headed back to Maynooth. All in all a wonderful weekend. (Pictures to be posted soon).

5 Weeks Already?!

Labels: , - Thursday, February 24, 2011


Well, I'm officially the worst blogger ever. I am now resolved to keep this updated with my thoughts and adventures as I live the Irish life. Therefore, I am going to start with an overview as opposed to a day by day account.

Firstly, Ireland is beautiful once you get out of the city. Yes, cities are beautiful in their certain aspects, but I didn't come to Ireland for buildings. I came for breathtaking scenery! Unfortunately, I didn't find that until I traveled up to the North Coast two weeks ago, but it was well worth the wait.

Northern Coastline

I am currently residing in the splendid little town of Maynooth, which would be more of a village if you took away the University. The culture here basically revolves around the students, and it is a very interesting culture. All of the Irish students go home on the weekends (apparently they still don't know how to do laundry after 20 years), so all of the partying happens on the weeknights. There is a different pub/club for each night of the week (except Tuesdays, don't ask me why...), which is where you will find everyone. I don't know how anyone goes to class after staying up until the wee hours of the morning, but they do.

I am really thankful for the Irish university lifestyle at the moment though because they don't do much. Most of my classes, or modules, are only once a week, and no one assigns homework. In my English class, my entire grade will be based on a two-hour final exam! However, this gives me a necessary break from grueling U.S. studies and more time to travel.

Here are some more interesting facts I've learned along the way: The Irish have something against non-fat milk, so I have to buy it in 1 litre containers; they DO have peanut butter here!; they do not have Mac & Cheese (except in a can?); it takes twice (sometimes 3x) as long for something to get done here than it does in America; tea cakes/biscuits are yummy!; coffee, not so much; Irish care WAY more about their appearances than Americans (they actually dress up for class); the Southern diet was invented here (in my opinion); you bag your own groceries; sandwich toppings are odd, yet delicious!; there is a surprising amount of foreign food eaten here (mostly asian), but the only thing they use tortillas for are wraps.

Going to Cork this weekend, so hopefully I'll have more news soon!

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