the great trip (mid) west

A little peak at where I've been and what I've been up to for the last two weeks!

Iowa

Illinois

Michigan

a long awaited update (perhaps I flatter myself too much!)

So, I guess the last significant update into my day to day life was written way back in the beginning of July. (Was that only a month and a half ago???) So, I figured it was about time for another!

I was in Florida for just under six weeks. I went down to be a summer nanny for the wonderful girls I used to care for before I left to do Transit and their wonderful baby sister who was born while I was gone and their wonderful cousins who live in Jacksonville. I think I can safely say that everyone involved had a great summer.

We were right on the beach, as you can see from this picture. This is the spot where I did quite a lot of reading when I was "off duty," not bad, huh? The summer was full of sand and water and sun and origami and reading time and ice cream and the dynamics of little girl relationships and naps and trips to the park and trips to the girls' Papa's tree farm and good food and all kinds of other fun things like getting caught in the rain almost every time I went out for a walk in the evenings. And big, beautiful rainbows.

No summer would be complete without a trip to the zoo and this one included petting and feeding sting rays. (Their "stinger" had been trimmed, apparently much like you would trim your fingernails.)

We drove back to Charlotte on the 29th of July, I think. It was definitely a Wednesday. And that evening I booked my flight to Ireland. I fly into Dublin on the 12th of September and will make my way north to Belfast where I will be living until I find a job or run out of money which I project will be sometime in December! No, seriously, I'm heading to Belfast to job hunt and make connections and do some volunteering and have committed to stay through December, which hopefully will give me enough time to find a job so I can stay forever, or at least two years which is how long my visa will be issued for.

So, naturally, I'm excited and nervous and thinking about packing way more than I'm actually doing the packing. And I'm sure to run out of time to do several of the many things I have projected to finish before I leave. So it's all rather exhilarating and tiring.

On a sort of side note I saw movies 24 and 25 of the summer this week. Time Traveler's Wife with my sisters, Laura and Emily, and Nights in Rodanthe with my mom.

I feel a bit like Clare in the Time Traveler's Wife. (If you haven't seen the movie or read the book I'm going to be giving away plot here...) In the scene where Henry travels to and from the bathroom. She's very pregnant, but has tried to keep herself from hoping about this baby because she has lost so many before. Henry comes back from travelling to the future where he meets their daughter, Alba. He tells Clare all about her and she says, "You mean it's all going to be all right?" It was such a moving scene and I feel like her. There's this thing that I've been dreaming about and hoping for and working towards for so long, but because it's been so long it's so very hard to understand that it's really happening. That the dream is becoming reality. I think it can't be true.

But in three weeks from today I'll be sitting (well, sleeping actually) in Belfast. And I'll never again have to cry when I leave Ireland because I don't know when I'll be coming back. It's all rather overwhelming.

So anyway, that's my update.

a theatrical summer

I have seen a copious amount of movies this summer. More, probably, than I've seen in the last two years. It was a great way to pass the time on the weekends in Florida, when I was off work and my European History book was getting a bit... tedious. So here they are, the summer's movies:

June-
Earth
Land of the Lost
The Proposal
Australia*
Up*

July-
Away We Go*
The Tale of Desperaux
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Confessions of a Shopaholic*
Last Chance Harvey
Rachel Getting Married
New in Town*
Miss Potter
The Ugly Truth
Michael Collins*
Nick and Norah's Infinite Play List
G-Force

August (so far)-
500 Days of Summer*
Penelope
Waking Ned Devine
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Wind That Shakes the Barley*
Julie and Julia*

So that's 23 movies. Some of these were brand new in the theater and some have been out since the mid 90s, but it was the first time that I've watched any of them. The stars are movies I'd recommend generally. My two favorites were Confessions of a Shopaholic and Julie and Julia. And my favorite kids' movie (and all time favorite Pixar movie) was Up, which was fantastic!

the contents of my purse

1) blue and white little girl's hair clip
2) diaper and wipes
3) toddler sized t-shirt
4) sippy cup
5) wind-up inch worm
6) discarded bag from Claire's Accessories
7) plastic harmonica
8) lollipop
9) ballerina hippo finger puppet
10) baby einstein travel discovery cards
11) crackers
12) two empty boxes of raisins

more women should dress like us

So two weekends ago I visited my youngest sister Lacy in Tennessee where she goes to college. We had a great weekend. On Friday we went into Chattanooga and explored the city a bit. Fabulous independent bookstore where I found a copy of Pablo Neruda's Love Poems and Lacy found a wonderful little journal with birch trees. We saw The Proposal which was entirely predictable, but still enjoyable. We had great salads at Panera for dinner then crossed The Walnut Street Bridge for some ice cream from Clumpy's. The sunset from the bridge was beautiful and we just sat and enjoyed the evening. We walked past a man who said to us, "Good evening girls. Ya'll look great. More women should dress like you." We decided this must be because of our impeccable fashion sense and not because he thought we looked slutty. Sunset from the Tennessee River

Lacy

The Walnut Street Bridge

Sisters

On Saturday we went hiking in the Cherokee National Forest which was an adventure! The first half hour or so was fine, just following the trail and crossing the stream on rocks and fallen logs a couple times. Then we had to climb up the side of the mountain. That's when it got a bit interesting. As much as I love trail walking scrambling through the brush and decaying leaves full of large insects and possibly snakes is not my favorite thing. We made it down to our destination, a beautiful waterfall where we had lunch and soaked up the day and Lacy swam in the pool at the base for a while. (A short while as it was VERY cold.) When we decided to head back was when the fun really began. Lacy couldn't find the trail. You loose it on the way in and then have to climb back up to where you leave it to head back out. We were scrambling up and down and across the side of the mountain for a good 15 minutes when we came across an army back pack that had been lost or dropped or something. It had been there for a week or maybe less. Animals had gotten into it and strewn the contents. Prescription medicine, tins of food, a large package of ivory soap. And a machete. That was slightly disconcerting as we were half expecting to stumble on a body or hear the weak cries of an injured soldier. Anyway, I got tired of going back to the waterfall to start again and pushed ahead, blazing a trail in roughly the right direction. After a few minutes Lacy, who was lower down than me, called out, "I found the real trail!" Which was a huge relief to both of us! The rest of the day was taken up with snow cones and movies and easy dinners.

Giant millipedes were everywhere!

Lacy swimming in the pool.

Sisters

The waterfall and me

Staring up at the sky... This was my view!

The Waterfall

Snail and mushroom on moss

On Sunday we meandered our way to Atlanta where I caught a plane to Jacksonville, Florida. I'll be here until the 30th of July. So far, we're having a blast.

incidently this is my 200th post

So, I just finished packing up for my eventual move to Ireland. I'm heading to Florida to work for six weeks and I plan to move to Ireland at the end of the summer. I wanted to get the packing done before I head south so that I can enjoy the month of August and focus on spending time with people here. (And not go into panic if the last minute preparations take more time than expected, which they always seem to do.) I say the packing is for my eventual move, because I will not be taking all of these boxes when I go initially. Once I'm good and settled I will send for them. (And once I have enough money to pay for an international shipping company!) I labeled each box with a theme which gives the general idea of it's contents. Here's what the packing list looks like:

Hampers #1 and 2 ~ Both holding linens
Red Trunk ~ holding blankets and quilts
Black Trunk ~ childhood memorabilia
Drawing Board
Table Easel ~ holding oil painting supplies (even though it's been about 10 years since I painted.)
Poster Tube ~ holding my map of Europe and a family portrait in color pencil I began years ago and have yet to finish
Boxes #1 and 2 ~ both labeled Kitchen, both also contain a good amount of cookbooks
Box #3 ~ Fabric Crafts (holding, among other things, fabric remnants of dresses my Grandma made us when we were little)
Box #4 ~ Decor
Box #5 ~ Christmas
Box #6 ~ Memorabilia (mostly picture albums)
Boxes #7 and 8 ~ Books
Box #9 ~ Pottery Tools
Box #10 Books
Box #11 ~ Arts and Crafts
Box #12 ~ Books (this box holds only books about Ireland)
Box #13 ~ Books
Box #14 ~ Music (holds both my sheet music and the last few random books and things that didn't fit in any other boxes.)

(As those of you who know me can imagine, the real packing list is extremely detailed listing every item in every box, pretty much.)

So, with 14 boxes, 2 trunks, and 2 hampers, plus one more box of DVDs to be packed at the end of the summer (in consideration of my brother), I have a total of 19 boxes. (Not counting the loose, big art supplies.) My goal was to have no more than 20 boxes! So I still have one emergency box if I find that I have more things than expected at the end of the summer. (Which will most likely happen.) Considering that I started all of this with 11 boxes of books alone I think I did amazingly well! I feel very proud and totally and completely exhausted.

lars and the real girl

This is a great movie! If you haven't seen it, you should. It has a lot to say about community and how the community comes together to support individuals. And it's really funny. I loved it!

happiness is...

Unpacking all the pretty shoes you've been dreaming about but haven't had for almost a year.
(If you're a girl.)

new web camera

procrastination or laziness, i'm not sure which (or why I didn't miss having a TV on Transit)

I'm house sitting this week for the family I used to nanny for. They are in Italy. I'm writing in the kitchen where the freezer is melting loads and loads of ice into water onto the floor and my purse is strewn out on the counter and the leftovers from the closet I organized yesterday are in piles covering the table. Don't worry, I'm letting the freezer melt on purpose because it was turning into one giant block of ice. And I got all the food out and into the fridge. And there are towels on the floor.

I'm here for a total of 10 days and I came with great intentions of getting all this stuff done. Books read. Thoughts journaled. Emails answered. Checkbook balanced. Instead I've watched hours and hours of Grey's Anatomy. I have read a couple books but not the important ones, just the fun ones. Now, I don't think I'm being too hard on myself here. I said it was fine to take the weekend off and just relax and have fun. But now I need to get down to business. But breaking out of this has proved to be a fight that I'm loosing. Oh grapes!

But today will be different. I'm leaving soon to get my hair cut and run a few errands. This evening I'm going to a group interview at my favorite store and then dinner with my sisters. In between I'm planning to be efficient and industrious. Fingers crossed!

And don't worry, on that to-do list is posting about the last weeks of Transit and will include pictures.

this is pretty great

it is the American way

Last weekend I went home for my "little" brother's graduation. It was a bit of a grueling trip, I left just two days after returning from the Czech Republic and was only there from Friday until Monday evening. But it was well worth the effort. Seeing my family, friends, the girls I used to nanny, and my beloved Charlotte was SO great! My dad's dad joined us from Iowa, I got to talk to my grandma on his cell phone too! My mom's dad was in the hospital after emergency surgery earlier in the week, but was with us in spirit. He also sent Daniel and I hand-crafted throwing knives, the first he's ever made. (The explanation behind this is worth a post all it's own, remind me if I forget!Me and my Grandpa Andy! Don't mess with me.

Don't be fooled by the look of boredom... he's vicious! Graduation!
Just a little target practise.

We kicked off the graduation party on Sunday evening with an (illegal) backyard fireworks show.

On Monday I had breakfast with my friend, Beth. We went to my favorite little place, Le Peep (they have magical maple syrup), where I had the Lumber Jack breakfast and managed to eat the entire thing. It was beautiful!

Then I spent the afternoon playing with the little girls I used to nanny, Shelby and Sydney. Their mom didn't tell them I was coming, first because she didn't want them to be disappointed in case it didn't work out, and then because she wanted to surprise them. I didn't even ring the doorbell. They saw me through the window and came running out. The youngest, Sydney, threw herself into my arms and didn't even look up for a good two minutes saying things like, "I missed you SO much." "I thought I was never going to see you again." (She just turned five years old) It was wonderful and horrible all at the same time. We had a wonderful afternoon playing together, it felt as if I'd never been gone.

Then, the end came. I had some Chick-fil-a with my family and left on a jet plane. It's so strange, not feeling like only one place is home. I'm struggling to view that as a blessing. It's really a challenge for a girl who grew up only wanting to have a home and a family in a small town in Midwestern America. My life already looks so different from that dream, and that's something I'm actually really thankful for. But at the same time there's a bit of grieving that goes along with each new revelation of what the new dream really means.

Summer Fruit

Summer is not my favorite season, I don't like being hot. But one thing I do like about summer is all the yummy fruit. When I got back from the beach my mom gave me a bag of peaches and plums and nectarines. I've been eating them for breakfast. When I bite into one the juice goes splashing down my hand. This is happiness.