Wordless Wednesday

Sometimes, there's no need for words. All you can say can be said with silence.

Reasons I'm Happy To Start The Week, a day late :)

I’m starting my French course this week. After years and years of hating French so much in school, I left school, discovered the French move “Le Fabuleux Destin de Amelie Poulain and visited France again with my Dad. I’ve loved France and the language ever since and have had an innate desire to learn it again!

My friend, Carmen and I are going to climb Croagh Patrick at the end of the week. I’m very excited about this, I love hiking and a bit of adventure, it will be my first time driving to the mountain and I’m nearly certain I’m going to get lost!

My housemates and I have started a new “healthy eating regime”.. We’ve started off so well so I really hope we keep it up. We’ve been inspired so much by TaraLynn McNitt and her fabulous blog, hopefully we can achieve half as much as she has!

My brother is graduating from Secondary School on Thursday, such a huge day for him but especially for my Mam, I’m just glad I can be there with them J

This image, it inspired me, it makes me so determined to achieve all I want in life and to make the next year one I’ll look back on and really be proud of!

Friends with Benefits

Me and my housemate just watched this tonight. I forgot how great this movie is.. It's obviously a typical girly cliché movie but it's so much better than most of them? 

Is it just me or do they actually have amazing chemistry? Their kind of relationship is the kind I'd love. I know "friends with benefits" never actually works out but yano, how great would it be? :)

ps. Mila Kunis, SUCH  a babe!!

How I want to live my life

With exams coming to a close and my lonely, mundane summer looming before me I’m beginning to reflect on past summers, all my friends are flying off to have the time of their lives on their j1’s and European adventures while I’m stuck here in my part time job and to be honest, I’ve begun to feel pretty sorry for myself.

When my most recent exam finished I went home and sat on my bed and tried to think of the last time I felt this defeated at my lank of innovation with regards my summer plans. It took a while to remember, especially when all I could hear was my friends excitement ringing in my ears, and then, like a slap on the forehead, I remembered. The summer of fifth year, eight years ago, in 2004; the worst summer I could have ever conceived possible lay before me. Three weeks were to be spent, in the middle of nowhere, speaking Irish. I was to spend half of my summer in the middle of Ros Muc, in the Gaeltacht.

Weeks beforehand were spent trying to convince my father that this was not a necessary component of my summer holidays, closer and closer to the time with my parents not budging a bit on the subject I began to accept defeat and I sat on the very same bed as I was sitting on yesterday and imagined all sorts of horrible scenarios that were inevitably waiting for me in Ros Muc, it was set to be one of the worst summers ever, right?

Eight years and six trips to the Gaeltacht later, I beg to differ. I’m not going to bore you here by reciting everything that is great about the Gaeltacht, because it’s everything; everything is great in the Gaeltacht! I will, however, inform you that it has been a great conversation starter for me since coming to college and I’ve noticed that everyone with whom I have discussed our respective trips to the Gaeltacht with comes away with the same memories, so for you poor unfortunates who never had the privilege of been thrown into a strange house, in a strange place, with strange people for three weeks and therefore don’t have this undefeatable conversation starter, I shall inform you of these memories, so you can at least pretend, you imposter!!

The Bean an Tí, ah, the wonderful Bean an Tí. This woman, no matter how kind or caring she is, will simply strike fear into every single student the first time you come home for your “suipear”. She does this to ensure you don’t give her hassle for the next three weeks. She’ll start talking to you at lightning speed as soon as you come in the door and her “blás”, along with your fatigue, from the trip and meeting more people than you can care to remember, will all combine and make her simply impossible to understand, you, most likely, will stand there, open mouthed and wide eyed and simply follow her hand gestures. This scary woman, however, will in fact become your saviour, if you get on her good side nice and fast – something I would recommend, she is, after all, the one who will wash your delicates, feed you and ensure your general safety. Having her on your good side can only be beneficial, especially for someone like me with allergies, if she didn’t like me, it could get ugly with nuts in everything! If you are lucky enough to first of all, get on your Bean an Tí’s good side and then even luckier to get to go back to her house for a second year running (three years in my case) it’s just like going home. She turns into a loving mother you can understand that knows your food preferences. Perfection!

The “relationship”, your Gaeltacht relationship is the one factor that can make or break your summer. Everyone, well every single person, don’t go denying it now, goes into summer with a desire, shall we say, to meet the “perfect” member of the opposite sex to enjoy for the summer and it’s no different when you’re going to the Gaeltacht, I’ve heard many stories of relationships that began in the Gaeltacht and are still blooming years later, I’ve heard more about people who have met in the Gaeltacht, not noticed each other and met again years later and hit it off beautifully ;) I can only hope that my situation will be the latter as all I’ve had is a few weeks of unrequited love and some silent “relationships” with not a word spoken between us but, inevitably, you’ll always come across a chance to play some tonsil hockey. For all you imposters out there, just remember, a Gaeltacht relationship is the same as every other teen relationship, just dial the intensity up about four notches, you do have to fit all the “pasiún” into three weeks after all :P

Sé do cinnire agus do teach ceann do na rudaí is tabhachtaí sa nGaeltacht. For the Gaeltacht veterans they will have decided before they reach the “halla mór” who they would like as their cinnire and if they don’t get her/him it’s just never a good start. For the new comers, you can usually tell which cinnirí were the “desired” cinnire by which ones were standing alone and which ones were fighting off ten or twelve 13 year olds. It is inevitable that the cool cinnires house would instantly be considered cool. So, if you’re unfortunate and end up in the less desirable cinnires house, you’ll need to make up for this, right? How? Well, obviously in the comortás tí... The comortas tí are vicious, they are basically a competition between the houses with things like songs, dances and TV shows to be showcased. As someone who has had their share of “dodgy” houses I can tell you now that this is NO FUN with a house you’re not completely comfortable with. I’m sure everyone reading this is cringing at the memories so let’s move swiftly on!

As a typical Irish woman I need to discuss the weather. The fact that we were in the middle of the Irish country with lush green landscapes never seemed to register with anyone in the Gaeltacht. THERE’S A REASON THOSE FIELDS ARE THE GREENEST YOU’VE SEEN! After a fabulous day, possibly after been set up with the boy of your dreams your only thought is what you’re going to wear or how you’re going to look at this very important “celií” or “dioscó”. You go home, fix yourself beautifully for hours in the hopes that when you walk in there’ll be a “Wow” moment and all of a sudden, everyone will be looking at you, wondering how they hadn’t noticed you before. You look and feel wonderful leaving the house, this can only equate to a good night, right? Wrong. You, you innocent cretin, have not taken into account the hideous weather that you will encounter everyday in the Gaeltacht, Connemara has some of the nicest days known to man but I’ll be darned if there’s one of them that doesn’t have at least one torrential downpour that will ruin the most looked after hair and make up and morph your “never fail” outfit into something that could have been resurrected from your Bean an Tí’s wardrobe!  

After years of going to the Gaeltacht I have realised that you should always try and impress the person who cooks your food as fast as possible, if you aren’t where you want to be in life, be it your teach in the Gaeltacht or a course in college, denial is always the best method and most of all I have learned looks and clothes will not help you, your only sure way to finding the “perfect” man is by using your dazzling personality. I’ve been single ever since.

This is the thing: When you hit 28 or 30, everything begins to divide. You can see very clearly two kinds of people. On one side, people who have used their 20s to learn and grow, to find … themselves and their dreams, people who know what works and what doesn’t, who have pushed through to become real live adults. Then there’s the other kind, who are hanging onto college, or high school even, with all their might. They’ve stayed in jobs they hate, because they’re too scared to get another one. They’ve stayed with men or women who are good but not great, because they don’t want to be lonely. … they mean to develop intimate friendships, they mean to stop drinking like life is one big frat party. But they don’t do those things, so they live in an extended adolescence, no closer to adulthood than when they graduated.
Don’t be like that. Don’t get stuck. Move, travel, take a class, take a risk. There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming. Don’t lose yourself at happy hour, but don’t lose yourself on the corporate ladder either. Stop every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with your journal.
Ask yourself some good questions like: “Am I proud of the life I’m living? What have I tried this month? What have I learned about God this year? What parts of my childhood faith am I leaving behind, and what parts am I choosing to keep? Do the people I’m spending time with give me life, or make me feel small? Is there any brokenness in my life that’s keeping me from moving forward?” 

Now is your time. Walk closely with people you love, and with people who believe God is good and life is a grand adventure. Don’t get stuck in the past, and don’t try to fast-forward yourself into a future you haven’t yet earned. Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling honestly along life’s path.

I saw this on a blog somewhere else, I can't remember where but it really struck a chord with me. The two types of people there are, they people who define themselves by the time they are in their late twenties and the people who are still living in their teens in their late twenties. I'm currently trying to develop myself as a person and improve myself. I'm taking french classes and looking into courses for the first semester of next year. 
I'm taking a chance. These are the years. No matter what you do, make sure you do what you love. Create the life you want. Don't get stuck and progress in the way you've always wanted to :) 

Peace Out!

Reasons I'm Happy To Start The Week

Exams are finally finished, all my friends are free as am I.. Let the summer begin :D

I have recently just discovered Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Will keep me pumped throughout the week

My housemates and I have finally settled into our new house. We had our first party this weekend and we’re all relaxing together today. It’s beautiful.

^ All my beautiful gals!

I’m halfway through Jane Austen’s Persuasion, one of the things on  my Bucket List was to read more books like that.

Now that exams are over and summer has officially begun we have plans to do “ weekly excursions”. We plan on being real tourists and doing everything from surfing to horse riding J

Inspirational

"Set your alarm for 6am. Don’t groan when it goes off and pull the covers over your head, get up and start your day. Put on a baggy top and running shorts. Go downstairs and pour yourself a nice big glass of ice water. Cut up some fruit and mix it in with yogurt. Add some granola. Now go outside. Stretch for 10 minutes. Skip for 5 minutes. Jog for 10 minutes. Run for 10 minutes. Walk back. Lay out a towel on the ground and lie down on it. Do 50 crunches. Yes, they hurt, but they are 100% worth it. When you’re done, get in the shower. Use a nice smelling shampoo and matching conditioner. Shave your legs and wash your body. Exfoliate your face. Get out of the shower and let your hair air dry. Look in the mirror. Do you like what you see? If you do, good for you. Do this every day and you will continue to love yourself. If you don’t like what you see, do this every day and pretty soon you will. Being lazy might feel good at the time, but being active feels better in the long run. How badly do you want it?"