I will be missing you, Ireland-Love, love, love.

Ballyvaughan, I love youuuu!!!!

So, I am now relocated to Orchard House-craziness-never thought I would sleep in this house, I've slept over at all the others, but this one tends to be out of control/dirty/etc. :S But it will only be about 8 of us, maybe? Me, Suzanne, Katie, Maura, Lindsay, Brad, John, and Alex I think for a little while-Most of us are here til Monday, I believe. Monday, I'll take a bus with Katie to Galway, then to Dublin, where I'll stay the night and meet my aunt on Tuesday morning, theeeen, we'll fly out to France at 6 pm, i think...after that, it's back to Ballyvaughan for little bit and then home! Whoa! So much relocating! Well, I gotta go into town to mail some art home and check out the farmer's market and then maybe go for tea at Joe's house-tata!

Blasted Volcano

So, here's the thing...there's this volcano, named Eyjafjallajokull (Do not ask me how to pronounce it, it's insanity) CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO but it has errupted, twice, and that has caused a ton of volcanic ash to fill the air and float all over the place, screwing up all the airspace, keeping all the airports in Europe closed... we are stuck here, in Ireland, on an island! It's like LOST! lol Yeah, so my aunt was supposed to get here Wednesday afternoon and then we were eventually going to travel to France and have fun traveling together, buuuuuut we don't know how to predict when this ash problem will go away...so I might be here for a while in tiny little Ballyvaughan, which has it's pros and cons. We will be taken care of just fine, from what we've been told, if we're stranded-we can stay in one of the student houses (in which I would rather not stay because it's the crazy party house) but otherwise, Megan might let me stay in a thatched cottage in Ballyvaughan that her family had rented-they probably won't get here, so we could take advantage of that instead! Otherwise...I think the idea of building a primitive hut on the side of the mountain would be a lovely way to live here on the countryside for a while, might as well try better connecting with nature while I'm stranded here for possibly forever. :) And there's always the Newtown Castle...could be a bit cold and hard on the back, but it's there and always open! Some people are really freakin out because of plans not working out the way they were planning, but for me, other than worrying I'll miss seeing my sister's baby belly grow, I figure I might as well just try and chill out (like the volcano should do) and enjoy being here a bit longer :) Yesterday, I finished up my Irish Studies paper, which was the last thing I had to accomplish here, workwise! After that, I went and laid on the grass and just soaked up the outdoors, it was lovely to just smell the grass and be bundled up like a white burrito in a blanket and wait for Janine and Ryan to finish cooking a delicious chicken/sausage curry dinner! After that, I just hung out at their house while the others worked on their papers, then Seth and I decided to write a collaborative poem over facebook chat, which resulted in this lovely 2 page poem/story that will probably make no sense unless you there to laugh hysterically about the plotline...but it was really really fun, we couldn't ever read it straight through without having a laugh attack cuz it was so ridiculous! We had started a group on facebook called "Poetry Fridays" or something like that and we only did that once and it was so much fun! Seth and I decided to be the super arrogant team, so we've been doing our best to live that up and add more arrogant team appraising things to the group information and have been telling everyone how amazing our poetry talents are as a team, so here it is, sorry if you find it offensive, we kinda got on this crazy plot thing that led to necessary controversial events:

Brilliance with a side of steak...and maybe some jam.

There once was a steak named Josh

This steak thought it was very posh

His mother was proud, and she lived on a cloud

One day, her pride at a loss, she showered him with steak sauce

He danced and he flipped, his mom was the boss

Needing some seasoning, he grabbed some moss, named it Ross, and gave it a toss

Even though they were pals, he needed some gals, so seasoning was needed indeed

So he moseyed over to a flower, tall as a tower, and rather than cower he showered her with the rare words, medium glances, and well done dances

The flower was impressed, she even needed a rest, his charm was too much, it was best

But the mother would have nothing of it and told her to shove it, no flower would have the power no matter how he loved it

The flower was offended and her heart went unmended, so she wilted away and the love finally ended

In sorrow Josh moaned, and he wept and then slept until he was phoned

It was his mother to say she was sorry, but he hung up and called the show Maury, for he was sad and enraged, and was sick of being caged, his friends had really started to worry

So they invited them in, telling her she had won a prize of substantial size, the greatest bin that ever was made - lies!!

Her face showed up on the screen and the scene was obscene, Josh yelled and his mother just cried, the flower appeared and Josh grew a beard, his manliness finally revealed


In his moment of triumph he was in for a surprise, when Maury revealed his father, a man of great honor, who liked to wear three ties

Josh's bearded jaw dropped, and his meaty heart stopped, his father looked just like Kurt Russell, not knowing how to react to the outrageous fact, he got outta there in a hustle

Steak sauce flew and his temper blew as his space was incredibly violated, the flower showed up said "Yo. Sup?", then said she and Kurt were related

Josh was sedated, his mother elated, his father ingratiated with the woman he had dated and the son he had never hated

Steak boss blushed, as her greasy hair she brushed, for she wanted her best to impress...the man she had lost that returned at a cost, but she cleaned up real nice in a dress

As they planned their big night, Josh fumed with great spite. rather than live with an attraction so strange, he began to exclaim "I want a sex change in order to make things right"

The Sexy Boss expired and Papa Kurt tired, "no more of this troubled son business!" He stormed off backstage and the flower engaged in a rather uncomfortable convo…

"Uncle Russell, I'm gay, or a lesbian, sorry... I wish I could be not so strange." But her uncle embraced her and said he didn't judge her, then his tummy really started to growl...

He stood closer to the steaks, gazing with a twinkle in his eye, his mind was on meat pie covered in sauce the size of the Great Lakes

So he looked to the heavens and apologized for his wrongs before he scooped up his son, using some tongs. Josh looked at Kurt Russell, afraid for his fate, they had just reunited, just a little too late

Feeling their relationship was tainted, the mother had fainted and was awoken by the host. Not realizing he foresaw a great roast with a side of toast and maybe some jam, she fell in love with the man and off the stage they ran

The lovelife had ended for the lesbian flower as she slumped into the sunset, in the midst of spring showers, depressing songs of loneliness played in her head as she began to think she’d be better off dead



I know, very "unique" poem with a depressing end, but it was really hilarious to write and for us to laugh about now :)

Anyways, I'm over at Marie's house, casually hanging out with Megan and Jess-we're going to head over to Logue's and Megan and I are going to eat dinner while Jess and Kaitlyn just enjoy the pub I guess

Gindi is growlingggggggg!!!!!!!!!! Fooooooooooood!

Love you guys, hopefully, I can get home to you sometime!

...so I wiped out climbing over an electric fence wire today...I was holding a pb&j sandwich and my laptop, and I was concerned randomly that the wire that had never shocked us before would be on, so I hoisted my leg over it and decided to kinda do this nice graceful leap maneuver aaaaand next thing I knew, I was flying and then landing embarrassingly on the ground and was finding globs of peanut butter and jelly in random places, I just sat there and laughed at myself and then popped my head up over the stone wall to see if Max could possibly have witnessed the amazing event from the sunroom, but I don't think there was a way he would have seen...it was a good wipe out and now a great memory-took long enough for my clumsiness to come out!

Sorry...it's been way too long, I know

Hey, everyone :) So, I am STILL ALIVE here in Ireland! Yay! It is still as gorgeous as ever, if not more than it was! The springtime is starting to happen and we're loving it :) I have done so much since I last posted, I don't even know what I last blogged about...oh well! My best memory, or the one that comes to mind, is Charleville Forest Castle. It was incredible. The castle is supposedly one of the most haunted locations in the world! I did not see any ghosts and witness anything that strange, but some people claim they kinda did sorta. It was so beautiful! I love old buildings so much, all of the little aged details just get me so excited and I can't stop taking pictures...so much so that I took about 1,030 photos in 2 days lol. I went with the photography class, the trip was meant for photo students, but there were about 7 or 8 extra allowed, so I got to go for only 40 euro! SO worth it. We arrived there (Tullamore, I think the town was called?) in the afternoon and then stayed overnight! I barely slept, most people were up and about the castle a lot of the dark hours, but it was FREEZING there! No matter where we were, in the castle or outside, it was so cold! I suppose it kinda added to the experience though-made it more intense! The forest that surrounds the castle is the oldest in Europe and is also supposedly haunted. We wandered around in the forest at night and kinda got lost for a while, which was funny, but we heard what we decided was a centaur right as we were going into the forest. We heard what we thought was another student coming through the trees toward us as we approached the forest path, but then nobody showed up and we heard trotting across the road in front of us(but couldn't see anything) and then it went back into the forest. (They apparently have deer...but I still think it was a centaur.) We stayed in a big open room with 2 fireplaces, which were the coziest thing in the castle and we laid on the floor in sleeping bags :) We stayed until the next day around 3:30 (after we walked to the town in the late morning for lunch, walked back and hung out on this huuuuge tree reading stories outloud, it was fun :) )Apparently, a little girl, named Harriet, fell from the top floor of the huge spiral staircase when she was 7 or 8 years old and she died, so now she haunts the castle. Janine waited in the dark, by herself for an hour or more, calling Harriet, she really wanted to meet her-she loves kids. Janine ended up being the only person to scare me while I was there-I walked upstairs with a group of people and then I walked ahead into one of the nursery rooms with my flashlight and turned and screamed "HOOOOOly crap..." when my light fell on Janine sitting in the corner, smiling back at me in the dark! It was pretty funny. So yeah, the castle was amazing, the stars were beautiful, the fireplaces were cozy, the moss and old stone was gorgeous...I want to go back!!!!!! Perhaps, one day. :) I'm watching Runaway Bride right now, I love this movie! Anyways, other than the amazing castle...I have been doing art, listening to traditional music in the pubs, Monks has music every Friday night, so we're doing that tonight...ummmm we went on a 7 mile walk for Irish Studies which was so gorgeous!!!! Today, for Irish Studies, we took a bus around to some beautiful places, like Yeats' tower and bridge and Lady Gregory's house spot, the house was demolished a while ago, but the grounds were so beautiful! We went into this forest that was the prettiest forest I think I've ever seen...rows and rows of tall tall trees, we took a really cute picture of a group of us and oh man...I'm gonna miss people here! Lately, so many of us have been thinking about how hard it's going to be to leave this place and everyone here...so sad :( Seeing my family and friends at home again will be wonderful, but it will be hard to not be here anymore. I GOT TO PET BABY SHEEP AND SORT OF HUG A MOMMA SHEEP AT THE FANORE ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARADE!!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!! For actualy St. Patrick's day, I stayed in Ballyvaughan and relaxed with other students who stayed here and then there was a Potluck at Marie's house and then we all hung out at Logue's pub. As for my art: I have been drawing portraits of the students here, I'm loving it :) Absolutely loving it :) I think I stayed away from drawing a lot until recently because I love drawing people so much, but Brad and Suzanne have been drawing and painting people here, so I just wasn't, but mine are little tiny pencil drawn portraits, not charcoal or paint. I want to have them in little wooden frames perhaps, clustered together on the wall to show the mixing of so many different personalities here-I love it! I have 10 done, so I have 17 left to go, which is quite a few, but I think I can do it! I have found that it is so much harder to draw the people I've gotten to know better, I know when their face isn't quite right, which is actually pretty cool, I guess :) They are all different sizes, all small, but not all the same, which I think I really like. Tonight, we're going to Monks for music and then, tomorrow, we go to Gort for gorceries, which I really don't feel like doing...after that, I need to get more portraits done! Ummmm.......what else....uhhhhh...Oh! Brittany and I did a really fun and successful project for Mixed Media, involving us sitting in the photo light studio with our cameras videotaping us making ridiculous faces and noises and then we sped it up by 3 times and played them on our computers, side by side, so it showed us interacting/feeding off of each other-everyone really seemed to like it! :) Let's see...Connolly house has had a couple "Fight Nights," well, one was during the day and I only saw the first one, but it was pretty entertaining. Silly boys and actually a couple girls ramming themselves into each other, just embarrassing. lol Goooosh, there's so much to tell, but I don't even know what else to write about, it's so much, hmmm... ohhh well. Hehehehe, our house, minus Brian (he was already sleeping) made a bunch of really funny music videos with Suzanne's computer (Photobooth video) on the mirror setting, oh my gosh....so fun. I LOVE THE MOVIE RUNAWAY BRIDE SO MUUUUUCH! I don't know what else to write about. I guess I'll just be done for now! At least I'm back on the blog! Love you all!

Long Time No Post

Hey everyone! So let me see...where did I last update? I dunno, I suppose around the time my dad was here, huh? Yeah. Well, My dad left Ireland on the 15th, but I had to say goodbye on the 13th. :( I miss him! We had such a great time here, hanging out around in Ireland's lovely countryside! I get the idea that he really had a nice time, too. :) The last Friday he was here, he was able to come along with our group for our Irish Studies fieldtrip to a bunch of ring forts/fairy rings. It was entertaining for him to observe our group in that type of setting-everyone was climbing all over everything, acting like monkeys! He said to my mom in an e-mail: It was like a herd of Lindseys! lol so funny, I suppose in many ways, that is true, we are all very ADD and silly in our own ways and curious and just creative, i suppose! I think my favorite memories with my dad when he was here was the day we went to Kinvara. It was so fun to be silly, taking ridiculous pictures and roaming around in such a cute little town and theeen we got to explore in that cool old church/cemetary and in that little hobbit hole mound we found on our way to Kinvara. That was just a splendid day. :) We also went to Galway on that last Saturday I saw him. Galway was gorgeous and sunny! I was, unbelievably, able to lead us to the An Tobar Nua cafe that I had gone to with some friends a while ago (the little Christian place that I randomly ended up at! We have some family connections to the people that are associated with it) Theeen we wandered and found this great pub/restaurant (can't remember the name off the top of my head, I'll find my receipt...hold on...The Dali Bar!) It was so cool in there and I bought us both bacon cheeseburgers with "chips" and onion rings-dad got a mini Guiness lol I made fun of him. The Irish told us that a man should get a pint and not finish it rather than get a half pint, buuuut I suppose that rule doesn't have to apply to everyone! Anyways, that was nice. Then, let me see...I suppose we shopped for a while, which I think was pretty successful! I had to go to Penney's to buy some clothes for getting kind of dressed up when i go out to certain places, I didn't really have anything. Then, we went back to the little Claddagh jewelry place, where the guy working looked like Ryan Fennessy! I bought a classic Claddagh ring (that points OUT! My heart has not been claimed here, no worries!!!) Our walks by the bay was lovely, I'm so glad we had nice weather. Ummmm what else...yeah, I had to say goodbye to him after coming home and getting partially ready for the evening. :( I miss you, Papa! After he left, a group of us students went to Kinvara for a Mardi Gras thing that was a fundraiser, but it was pretty funny. Beforehand, Michelle and I ate a little bit at a pub and had some nice conversation, then we went to go dance at the location of the festivities. There were a bunch of little kids dancing (it was a costume party that none of us really knew about and there was a little girl dressed as a squirrel!) Hmmm what else has happened...I dunno, we've started watching episodes of Dawson's Creek, which is so hilarious! Brings back memories of my youth... Katie and I just lose it throughout the day whenever a Dawson quote comes up in conversation. hehehe so silly. Love it! Hmmmm.............I've been pretty stressed. Yep. I think a lot of us have been, but my motivation has been lacking and that's been frustrating and having the confidence to get things done has been hard to come by, as well. Today, I'm just staying home to try and get through some things, hopefully having a little break from the stressful atmosphere of school will help me. :) I am going to keep my chin up and push onward, because I'm a big girl and I can get through this! Yeah! Please be praying for me, I need any encouragement I can get! I love being able to talk to people on skype, it helps so much to see your faces when I talk to you. I can't imagine what it would be like if I couldn't do that. I am so far away, and every once in a while, it feels like much more than other times. Anyways, what it comes down to: I will be OK! Love you guys!

Critique & Kinvara!

Good evening! (Well...to me) This morning, I had my sculpture critique...it wasn't an amaaazing critique, but it wasn't horrible either, I got a lot of interesting and helpful feedback from the professor and other students. It reminded me of how I almost always get the same type of response with my sculptures: Very arranged/prop or stage craft/set-like...soooo it kind of made me think that I have been avoiding or trying to get away from doing those things, when maybe I should be embracing that artistic impulse and trying to do decorative or stage craft-like work...is interior design/decorating for me? or maybe stage set design or prop making? I don't know, but I have always loves decorating rooms and I love creating an aesthetic environment, even if it doesn't count as "high art," as many say. It just got me thinking about new ideas for my future career, so even though i wasn't highly praised for my sculpture this morning, I really learned a lot in a way, my eyes were opened and I think I may have needed that to take place :) Our next project will involve an installation piece, which is what I've been wanting to try out! So, I think I can really try the whole decorating thing more seriously, and I might use my whole studio for the project :) So, that is my art update :)

After lunch, dad came and met me at the school, and we went to Kinvara for the afternoon! Check out the pictures! There are so fun, we had a wonderful time walkin around and taking pictures doing silly and fun things-Neil Young even came on in the cafe! :)

Sculpture!

So, today...I really did a lot of work in my studio (well, technically, right next to it) and finished my sculpture for my class critique, which is tomorrow! I titled it "The Rustic Domestic" and it's actually a feminist type of theme, which is new for me, I think, but it's kind of open for interpretation and sort of shows different views of women's roles, etc... I won't get into that. But, I really loved collecting everything I used for it and assembling. :) I went out a few times and collected a bunch of moss, which was so fun to decorate all the rusty metal with, the colors are beautiful together, in my opinion-naturally complimentary! I now have a big open empty space in my studio, so I will need to fill it! Yay! fun fun! I also kinda finished the main part of my milk story this morning so that i could show Tom what I had and he gave me some ideas for brainstorming for illustrations, I'm excited to get going on those! Dad met up with me at the school's cafe for lunch and then he helped me with my sculpture, I had some difficulty getting some nails out, etc. :) He then stayed in my studio on my computer for a while as I worked and mace horrible crashing noises and hammering and so on and so forth, it was pretty funny. Then he left and I finished working, walked home, then met him later at Logue's for dinner :) So cool to just meet up with my dad in Ballyvaughan! Then we came back to the house for a while and used the internet and had tea and macaroons :) I later got really silly and hyper with Suzanne and Brittany in the kitchen, as we listened to dated music, mostly from the 90s I think...I got pretty nuts for a while...yeeeeaahhhh... Anyways! That's about it for now, I think! I need to add pictures, I know...that may or may not happen soon, we shall see :)