Of Bookstores and DD's

Blog Challenge Day 6? Maybe....

This Blog Challenge went to hell on an express train. After some consideration it has become abundantly clear that I don’t do things worth blogging about… at the moment. I was going to review a book then I was like but what book? Then I got distracted with writing. I wrote five stellar pages. Then I decided I was tired and went to bed with my puppies.

But tonight I vowed to write something and not totally give up. I’m home alone right now. I get to play designated driver tonight with my parents and brother. Should be fun. Two bars, three people, should be easily managed.

In the mean time I shall bore you with activities of today. I went to a bookstore. I’ve got a birthday party for a 6 year old to go to in like 2 weeks. He’s my brother’s girlfriend’s son and he’s just the cutest thing ever. So I was thinking what to get a little kid. I can’t toy shop for my life for a little boy. I was going to get a star named after him, then surprise surprise you don’t actually name a star you just pay for the fancy paper certificate. Boooo. I settled on a book a month for a whole year.

I could have done it through a website, but 1 that was expensive and 2 the book choices were sucky. So while my mum and I were out today I made us stop Barns and Nobles. I spent about 2 hours in the kids section looking for books. I had to google the authors of a few of my childhood favourites like Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and the Miss. Nelson stories. Then I read through new ones I’d found that looked cool and I wanted to make sure they weren’t shitty or too tough for a kid to understand and/or read. Over all it was 2 hours well spent.

I’m off to the post office tomorrow to grab envelopes. Then I’ll write something cool in the books and warp them up all cool like. Set a reminder in my phone and put the books in a half inconvenient place (like the side table in the dining room) so I don’t lose them or forget about them. After all I’ve got to remember them for a whole year.

Well picking up the parents has thrown off my mojo so it’s good-bye for the night!

Cheers,

Bench Princess

These last three weeks I’ve been working on painting a piece of furniture for my mum. It started out like this…

Is was in our dining room and my mum wanted to make it into a bench. So I started by painting it white

Then the insanity began

And it slowly turned into this

How cool right!! Tassels and all!!

Cheers,

A Blog About Blogging

So here’s the thing… I’ve been in this funk lately. Maybe it’s just midwinter blues or something. But I’ve been lazy and slothish. I’ve got an inkling that it’s not just me being cooped up all day. It’s got to do with me being home from Europe and I’ve been stuck without adventures lately. Plus I’ve been out of touch with my writing and that funks me up real good. 
Then I realized my poor blog here has lain neglected and I feel bad because honestly I love blogging I just haven’t found the time even though my days have been filled with nothing. So today I’m dedicated to catching you all up on everything. And I’m dedicating myself to getting out of this damn annoying funk!!


Cheers,

Elephants in Milan

You probably think I’m off my rocker saying I saw elephants in Milan. But I did. I saw a whole parade of them. 
Elephant Parade is a open-air exhibition (the world’s largest in fact). It’s dedicated to saving Asian elephants from extinction. And what it is is an exhibition of hundreds of painted elephant sculptures. These sculptures are scattered around cities for a few months. Like Milan they were there from 15 September till 16 November. Right now they’re in Singapore.

So cute right? And at the end of the exhibition a famous auction house auctions them off and the proceeds go toward saving the elephants.  It funds projects all over Asia, the main one being The Asian Elephant Foundation. It also goes toward elephant hospitals and the leasing of land where elephants can migrate, breed, and live long happy lives. Super cute right? 
I went on the Elephant Parade website and saw all the cute elephants they’ve painted for the exhibition and I wish I could have seen more in Milan. But the ones I saw were so freaking cute too. My favorite one is the one with the pencil and the poem on the back. 

Here's what's on his back: 
"My Name is Elephamm and i live over the rainbow... I met by chance a creative spirit called Amm who told me his tribe's story, free spirits able to speak through the voice of the heart. Special people who catch the sight of the rainbow and set off for a colour to get up on it to live there and communicate with all the living creatures through the universal language of the light. 
I shared with Amm my experiences and my dreams and he taught me how to draw stories which came out from the heart.  in order to help me, he gently slid in one of my big ears to talk directly to my soul.
We played, talked and laughed and we were moved to tears by watching on Youtube the story about Mosha little elephant who was moving his first steps after his leg being healed from a mine explosion. i convinced Amm to remain inside me to help me get on the rainbow and to learn how to talk his language.
i walked over the rainbows all around the world with Amm and my legs blotted with all their colours. My blue eyes, as big and pure as babies' ones, are still capable of dreaming. And with the pencil, I always carry with me, I can draw how i feel. I have told my stories to all other little elephants and i have become the herd's head. they have decided to follow me on the first rainbow that will rise in Milan, connecting their trunks in a single row.
We will be able to observe the world from a peaceful, joyful and friendly place from above...Far away from fear for mines and poachers and from a world where men don't communicate anymore and cry for their incapabilities. For this reason on shiny and sunny days we will try to send some light rays to men, through our hearts, in order to light up their self consciousness for a few seconds and let them start to perceive what they can't see and feel anymore"


Just so adorable. I hope I get rich and famous one day so I can go to the Elephant Parade auction and buy a cute one! In the mean time I might get a mini one from the webstore…
Cheers,

I Haven’t Been Myself Lately

Paris is calling to me… and I’ve talked my boyfriend into to going with me this weekend. We leave Sunday morning and come back to Nancy Monday afternoon. Perfect right?

Then Friday we leave for Spain. It’s a mini Ireland reunion. I’m meeting up with my friends from last semester at my friend’s place in Murcia Spain. Then from there I’m taking a tour of Spain.

Or at least that was the plan…

Till my bank decided I wasn’t myself.

So my account got locked and I couldn’t by tickets around Spain. And thus a clown operation ensued.

Lucky for me my mum was going to the bank that morning anyway and she ended up getting it sorted. My debit card I have is now void. They issued me a new one and my mum was going to send it to me… but it turns out that one didn’t work. So she had to go back to the bank and get another one.

That one worked. And she’s overnighting it to me so I’ll be back to normal Friday. But that still left me with no cash…

So I had to call the TD branch when I was at an ATM and they were able to open my account for a few minutes for me to get cash. Then my old card was really dead.

I’ll be myself again Friday and hopefully they won’t think it suspicious of me to book flights, hostels, and trains around Spain. If they do… well I’ll be stuck in Spain without money and I can think of things that would be worse.

My Europe Adventure just keeps getting better and better with the outlandish situations. I wonder what’ll happen next…….


Cheers,

Here’s To….

Here’s to having dreams and chasing them.

Here’s to fighting for what you want.

Here’s to standing up for yourself.

Here’s to being true to you.

Here’s to loving your life and those in it.

Here’s to making your own destiny.

Here’s to those who live their lives unapologetically.

Why is there a Bush on the Floor?

Just when I thought Ireland couldn’t get any more ridicules… a bush gets thrown into my housemates room. Now I’m talking about my housemate who’s room is next to mine and if you remember I’m on the second floor!

Let me set the scene for you…

It’s 3:30 am and I was sleeping soundly. A noise wakes me up and as I sort of wake up I hear a bunch of Irish guys outside making lots of noise. I wasn’t concerned because the Irish are often loud this late at night. What did concern me was when I hear quite the racket next door.

I know I should have gotten up to check on my housemate but I didn’t hear her calling for help… what I did here was her shouting out the window “Are you f***ing serious?” at which point an Irish guys says yes they all laugh and it gets quiet as they run off.

I’m still in bed I figured if my housemate needs help she’d call me… a few minutes later she does. So I roll out of my warm bed and open my door and take two steps into her room…

Dirt everywhere!! And there in the middle of the room…… a mini bush. A mini bush that had formally been outside. Needless to say she was quite upset and I was too. Her room was sooooo dirty!! After a few minutes of just staring at it we decided to deal with it in the morning. So after shaking out her sheets she goes back to bed and so do I.

This morning the min bush was still in place…

^I stole these pics from her facebook… hehe^

We had a good laugh over it today. It’s much funnier when it’s not 3:30am and you’re woken up by having a bush tossed through your window.

It’s now our new joke since no one but the bush was hurt.

Cheers,

Lord Nelson

I promised you a post on Nelson… well here we go. Strap yourself in for an epic post!

First off here’s the man himself

Totally cool right?

And now his full name/titles as read at his funeral:: The Most Noble Lord Horatio Nelson, Viscount and Baron Nelson, of the Nile and of Burnham Thorpe in the County of Norfolk, Baron Nelson of the Nile and of Hilborough in the said County, Knight of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Vice Admiral of the White Squadron of the Fleet, Commander in Chief of his Majesty's Ships and Vessels in the Mediterranean, Duke of Bronte in Sicily, Knight Grand Cross of the Sicilian Order of St Ferdinand and of Merit, Member of the Ottoman Order of the Crescent, Knight Grand Commander of the Order of St. Joachim.

My first impression of this man came from my tour guide in London on the Saturday bus tour. When we went past his monument she started out by giving a some history then telling us that the English really like him because he kicked a lot of French ass. She really said that. Then she told us about his death and that’s when I knew he was an epic person, but I’ll fill you in on that later.

For some more starters.

Occupation: English Flag Officer for Royal Navy

Most notable battle:: Battle of Trafalgar (1803)

Born:: 29 September 1758

Died:: 21 October 1805

He was such a looker when he was young...

Sorry back to the story, I’ll make this quick so we can get to the best part. He joined the Navy. Kicked a lot of butt. Got married to some ugly lady..

Captured lots of ships. Got injured in the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and had to get his right arm amputated. Kicked more butt in the Battler of the Nile. Received the title of Baron Nelson of the Nile. Went back home. Got himself hooked up with the Hamilton. Started getting comfy with Emma… she was a cutie..

This didn’t make Fanny happy and she left Nelson. Lots of time passed and yeah I just want to get to my favorite part. So the battle of Trafalgar…

Napoleon was being well…. Napoleon and he wanted to take England but Nelson would have no such shenanigans. So their fleets dueled. There was lots of shooting and gory goodness. Aaaaaaaand Nelson was shot.

He was shot by a marksman on an enemy ship. He told his second in command “Hardy, I do believe they have done it at last… my backbone is shot through.” The bullet had entered his left shoulder, punctured his lung and came to rest in his spine. He was taken below decks and made comfortable as he died.

Since Nelson was a super important person they wanted to take Nelson back to England in one piece so that everyone could say their farewell. So since they didn’t have any embalming fluids aboard the ship they put in a coffin full of wine! EPIC!!!!! They pickled him to keep him together for the ride home!! And it worked! His funeral…

And he was buried at St. Paul’s cathedral. Which we visited on the tour and we had time to walk around. Our guide told us that his coffin was visible in the crypts without having to go in. I just had to see it… and I did. Epic. So there you have it. Lord Nelson kicked a lot of French ass and was brought back to England in a coffin full of wine. Classy.

Cheers,

These shoes make my feet look big

This was my dilemma. I’d brought my converse as my main pair of shoes. Little did I know that the Irish weather wouldn’t agree with them. So they’re muddy and gross now. This means I’ve been on the search for a new pair of trainers. Every time I’ve been to Pennys I’ve looked in the shoes department for something cute and cool and never found anything. Why? Because none of the shoes I wanted came in my size.

This has been the story of my life since I hit puberty and my feet started growing. In middle school all the boys thought it was funny and they’d call me big foot because by 6th grade I was already wearing a womens 9. My feet have long since stopped growing and I’m a large size 11 almost a size 12.

Having such big feet makes it very hard to ever find shoes. They’re either ugly or too wide. And since most people don’t have such large feet stores rarely have size 11 shoes. On the bright side if I want to wear high heels I just need to find ones with 3 or 4 inch heels and I can wear a size 10.

But when it comes to trainers I’ve always hated shopping for shoes. Only ugly ones ever fit me. In high school I found out a little secret… lots of guys have big feet. And in guy size I’m a 9 which is small so there are always plenty of guys shoes that’ll fit me.

Now back to my current predicament. Today I went into city centre looking for shoes and clothes for my older brother. I went into the guys department of Pennys looking for my brother and I spotted the coolest looking trainers. Of course a light went off in my head. Why hadn’t I thought of it before!! I made a very quick dash to the trainers and started looking for my size. My converse told me I was a 42.5 European size so I figured I’d try the 42s on. Nope tooooo small, it was a little depressing. So I searched for a 43 and low and behold they had them!!!!

I was so happy to have such a sexy replacement for my dingy converse, that I’d failed to actually see how they looked on my feet. So I got home and put both of them on and holy cow they make my feet look huge. After a deep breath I remind myself I have huge feet and all shoes will make my feet look like flippers. So no biggie.

Although I’ve come to terms with my big feet a tiny problem still remains. I hate shoe shopping because I know there’s such a tiny chance that the really cute shoes will come in my size. Most girls love shoe shopping and hate bathing suit shopping. I’m the opposite. I’d rather swim suit shop then go look at shoes. That’s how much I truly hate it. So I’m destined to wear guys trainers for the rest of my life and I’m down with that because some of them are super trendy!

Cheers,

Phantom of the Opera

For those of you who don’t know… I have a HUGE obsession with Phantom of the Opera. I went for the first time with my family when I was in third grade. It for the kids on Broadway night it was the first time I stayed up really late and the next day my mum let us sleep in late and took us to school late. It was so cool! Then of course the movie came out in 2004 and it’s one of my favorite movies. Then I went three years ago for my mum’s birthday. My little brother and I skipped school for the day and went in for the manatee. Check me out.

And now I got the super smart idea to go see Phantom next semester in London!! How freaking awesome right! Not only is it going to be Phantom of the Opera but they’ll all have British accents! Super hot!!!! While I was looking for tickets I saw that there’s a sequel musical Love Never Dies. And I really want to go see that too. But it all depends on how much money I have. But those two are on the top of my to do list next semester.
I just love the music so much from Phantom! Here are my two favorite (yes I do have an addiction to posting music. Hehe)

^Phantom of the Opera^

^Past the Point of No Return^




Also on another London related note, I can’t remember if I poster or not. But two weeks ago I submitted my application for London Met and today I was on Craigs List looking for apartments for next fall. some of them are super cool, right now I’m just looking at prices, where they are, where the closest tube station is, and what it comes with. So basically I’m super excited for the fall.


Laters,