As I mentioned briefly when we having coffee last weekend, I got a cat! She is five years old, rescued from a cat specific rescue league. Her name is Leslie Knope (but really goes by baby or sweetheart) and she is the most precious thing ever.
She doesn’t like to be held but she need to constantly be at my side.
If she’s not playing with my makeup brushes or jumping on and off the bed she is sound asleep at my feet or at my side.
So this is my kitty, Leslie.
At the start of August, my family traveled from Pennsylvania to Tennessee for the wedding of a family friend. The wedding was just outside of Nashville, so before we headed to the town of the wedding we spent a few days there.
What I found really cool about the city was the combination of new and old architecture.
I think this AT&T building is probably one of the coolest buildings I’ve seen. It’s just so different. It kind of reminds me of a castle for some reason.
Another view of the same building I believe.
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen (maybe I haven’t noticed) a coffee bar before. Of course I had to go, it was pretty good. I did find the guys working super nice and the interior was pretty cool. It was right on Broadway, which is pretty much the main tourist street in the city.
There are a lot of Honky Tonks in Nashville, I’m not sure what it is. We did go to this one, one evening because the live music was really good and not too country for my family. It was interesting because they had two live bands one downstairs and one upstairs, the one upstairs is what we heard from outside and the one that made us go in. If you were inside you could only hear the one on the floor you were on which I don’t know how that works but I thought it was really cool.
Think of the max number of boot stores you could picture at one time and triple it. That’s the number of boot stores in Nashville. Seriously it’s insane. My youngest sister was annoyed every time I asked if she wanted to go in to one. We actually didn’t go in to any but cowboy boots are super expensive so I didn’t really need to.
I love fluorescent lights at night. Like signs like this make a city great in my opinion. It helps it to stand out and gives it a different charm.
This picture is not about the fluorescent signs, but rather the amazing chocolates that this shop sells. I got the peanut butter flavor, and as a peanut butter lover, really the best option. I’d say better than a Reese’s.
We drove here, it is a replica of the Parthenon and it’s super cool but you do have to pay to get in. They filmed some parts of the Percy Jackson movies series here.
Sneak peak of my favorite outfit post to come!!
This was inside the of the Parthenon and this is Athena (which in the Percy Jackson movie held the ball thing). Just super cool. Thought it was nice and shiny.
Overall it was a really nice trip. It was also nice for me to get away since I didn’t do a major vacation this year. The car ride was long but it was worth it. Highly recommended weekend trip. I think it would be a little bit nicer (and cooler) for a fall trip rather than early-mid August, but still it was fun. Also getting to see old friends and going to the wedding was super nice and fun too.
Well, this has been well over due. I went to Sevilla back in November to visit my friend Molly who was there for the semester. I would say that this is easily one of my favorite trips and most memorable trips that I made while I was away. I think it’s probably because I was going to visit one of my really good friends and it was the first time I was with someone who knew me really well for the first time in months, it was great.
There were orange trees everywhere. This was something that really puzzled me. They aren’t eaten. I don’t know why that bothered me so much, it just did. I just thought it would be so innovative if there was just food all over the city. I don’t know.
We did a lot of sightseeing on the Friday that I was there. We got there Thursday but our train form Madrid left super early and we were exhausted so we saw more of the city and then looked at more stuff the next day. This is the view from the top of a church. A church. I believe it was the Cathedral de Sevilla. It was a Catholic church too, which was cool for me. The top picture was taken in this area that had a lot of holes for me to trip in, which I tripped in most of them, but it was in the church. The church was absolutely massive.
This was the wall tile in a building somewhere, I thought it was pretty.
That evening we went to see the sunset on the top of the Metropol Parasol. It was absolutely amazing. It was one of those sunsets, or maybe even moments that you can’t even believe is real.
I believe this is the Plaza de España. This was an area of a lot of wedding pictures. It was very pretty. I love this last picture of Molly and I because I’m like totally ready and already posing, but I have no idea what she’s doing haha.
One more post from my trip coming eventually!
It’s that time of year again. The time when I reflect back on my year, 2014 was a reflection, but I prefer the Year in Review of 2013, so that’s the title of this one. All in all, 2015 was a strange year, a good year, but a strange one. Looking back at it, it’s like I lived this life that wasn’t mine, I don’t know if that makes sense. For the most part my anxiety has greatly subsided and only surfaces at the most inconvenient of times, like parking lots, highways, riding bicycles through London, and when I have too much stuff to be done. My blogging hit a creative roadblock for a while and that was really hard for me to deal with, I just wanted to create great things and I couldn’t. Recently, I’ve been feeling better about that though and that helps a lot. 2015 brought the biggest adventure of my life yet, I lived in another country for three months, and that was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done. If I had to describe 2015 in a phrase it would be: unexpectedly expected.
In January it seemed as if I was going through some self-evaluating. I had almost all classes for my major and minor and it lead to some major self reflection and evaluating. This was the semester that I went back to school and I felt content for the first time about that. Before there was always that bit of dread, but not that semester. Molly, Eric, Logan, and I all went on a little day trip to a bookstore in Harrisburg and to Chocolate World.
February is when the not blogging every day kicked in and I started to slack. I celebrated being single with two Galentines days I think I failed the 3-5 days a week. In order to try and combat this I started the 30 Day Blog Challenge. This is also when my blogging rut began. There were highs and lows of it throughout the year. However, because blogging had hit a rut, I was enjoying my life. This is also the last month that I would go home for the job that I hated so much.
At school March means spring break, which usually means a week of working, for me, it meant quitting my job. I had never quit a job before so it was this huge step for me in my life. I was kind of afraid, but also so glad that I did. I quit in order to go Florida with my friends for spring break, which was a great decision if you ask me. This was also the month where I honestly almost stopped blogging if I’m being honest. I hit a rut, I didn’t always enjoy blogging, I stopped doing the 30 Day Blog Challenge, I was at the peak of my creative roadblock. March was a month of highs and lows. However, by the end of the month I felt that I was slowly climbing out of my rut and onto better. This was also the month I found out that I had been accepted to go to Dublin for the semester, it was official that I would be studying abroad in the fall.
To be honest. I don’t remember anything about April. April is a weird month where nothing really happens. We had May Madness at my school and it was like 45 degrees outside. I don’t know why we had May Madness in April, I think it had something to do with finals week. Other than that, I feel like April is such a filler month. It’s project after project and paper after paper, other than that there’s not much to it.
May means the end of school. This year, I went home without a job and with fewer friends waiting for me than I was leaving, and it just felt weird. Normally I go home to a routine and this time I was going home to job application after job application. All of this time was good for me to start to get ready for studying abroad. I went on some hikes and just took some time for myself. At the end of the month, I was back working at my new job that I love.
I started LNBM in June which is the best and worst thing I’ve ever done for this blog. While it greatly feeds my laziness in the blogging department, it always seems to decently well with readers. I also continued my visits to Frederick to see Logan, Molly, and Eric. They also came to PA a few times, it was easier for me to go there just with schedules and everything. June was another month of severe bloggers block. However, this was the first time I didn’t keep it a secret. I was open and straight forward about it, which I think made it easier to write.
In July I went back to Florida, this time with my family. I got to accomplish a life dream, to stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and see the giraffes from my hotel window. I also got to experience the magic of the updated Harry Potter World, which was absolutely amazing. The bloggers block start to wear off a little bit and I felt like I was doing good in the blog world. I always start to get a little restless in July. I’m ready for a set schedule and this summer I just never really got that. I like structure, and there was not a lot of structure in my life this past summer, which was probably a good experience.
August was a month of restlessness. I felt stagnate. Everyone was getting ready to back to college and I was just waiting. Do you know that night before you leave before you go on vacation? That’s how August was for me. To me the world was paused, crawling until I made it until September when I could finally go to Dublin for the semester. I did go on my first solo trip to the beach which was the type of relaxation I really needed. I don’t like to wish away time, but at the time I was just wishing that August would just hurry up already. I celebrated my 21st birthday and going away with family and friends. My friends slowly started returning to college and I continued to work, just waiting for the day that it was my turn to leave.
September started with two visits to Hood. I finished working, went down for Eric’s birthday and then the next day I was off for Dublin. This was the start of my greatest adventure. This was the part of the year that I was looking forward to the most. After all of the paperwork errors and thoughts crossing my mind that I would never be able to actually go, it was time for me to go. I left on September 13 and got to Dublin on the 14. Right away we had walking tours, bus tours, and just sightseeing things. I had my 21st birthday in a different country where it doesn’t really matter because the drinking age is 18 there, but still I turned 21, that’s a big birthday, or so they say. I visited the Cliffs of Moher and just explored Dublin.
October was when life started to get crazy. I went to Howth which is a small little suburb type place of Dublin. I went to Paris to meet up with my dad who was on business, how many 21 year-olds can say that? Then I went to Galway, another little seaside town for a night with my friends. I ended in October in London, England. That’s just absolutely crazy. I did so much in one month.
I feel like November was yesterday, it went by literally in the blink of an eye. I went to London (again) and Brighton. I also went to Madrid and Sevilla. I was away from Dublin for a whole week and then I made the decision to not travel again while I was away and enjoy my last four weeks in Dublin. This is the first time any of my pictures from Sevilla are being posted, the adventure post will come soon. My family came for Thanksgiving and I got to enjoy more time with them which was great. When I said at the beginning that looking back on this year it’s like looking at someone else’s memories, that’s what November is for me, it’s so surreal that it seems like someone else’s life.
December brought an end to my biggest adventure. I spent my last two and a half weeks in Dublin with final assignments and seeing as much of the city as possible, going to all of my favorite places and just taking everything in before I left. Then I headed home. It’s still weird being home. It’s been about two and a half weeks now and it’s still just weird. I’m not used to it yet. I’ve been trying to see all of my home friends and family before I head back to school in a little over a week. I went to Frederick for an interview
All in all, 2015 was great. It was just a whirlwind of a year. It was a year of new friends, new people, new experiences, and new places. The last fourth of 2015 could be described as the year of new, and I want to keep that going. 2015 was great, but I’m ready for some more change. I don’t like change, but I don’t know, I feel like 2016 is the year of change. Resolutions to come tomorrow!
Christmas in Ireland is great, lot of lights, and Christmas Markets. Where I live there aren’t extensive Christmas Markets really, at least not that I know of. The only Christmas Market that I can really recall going to is the one in New York City, now my mom might text me to let me know that I’m wrong, but I think that’s the only one I’ve been to until recently. I love markets, I just love seeing handmade stuff, good food, cheery people, the whole shabang. In Ireland I have been to two which is great. So that was a newish experience, and the lights are just a great addition to that.
Well obviously we have to start with Dublin, that’s where I’m living! But I guess only for the next few days which is crazy! For some reason I only took two decent pictures. I literally have no clue why I only took two good ones, my camera was out almost the whole time. 
This is Jayden, one of my really really good friends here in Dublin. We were enjoying our hot chocolates in cold, windy, Dublin.
And here is the market. There’s a lot more to it, too. This is one of the only places in Dublin that sells soft cookies, and they were so good. I might have to make a stop back there before I leave.
The lights in Dublin are pretty cool.
I’m sorry to say Dublin, but I think that Belfast won the Christmas Market contest. They had the best food.
I love this picture, but that poor lady does look a little confused or lost or something.
This was amazing. It was brownies with hot Belgian chocolate poured overtop.
Christmastime is Ireland is quite nice, it would be lovely to experience Christmas here, however, I don’t think I could miss Christmas with my family.
What’s the best thing to do at Christmastime near you?
First things first, whoops on the post that was supposed to go up tomorrow. Anyway, after going to London, my next stop was Sevilla, but it’s to expensive to go straight there. I was going to try and work out the bus from Madrid to Sevilla, but they don’t accept American cards online so instead, I chose to take the train the next day and spend the night in Madrid, because that was still cheaper than flying straight to Sevilla, plus I got to see more of Spain. While I’m super glad I went to London and Brighton, I kind of wish I got to spend more time in Spain, but that just means that I’ll have to go back one day.
Part of the problem about going to Spain was that I remember very little Spanish. I knew very little of what things said. This was some type of museum, of what I’m not sure.
I found it really interesting that so many of their street signs were covered up with stickers. I thought it looked really cool but also it might be confusing to drive around if you don’t know your way.
Here’s some treetops.
My favorite thing about Spain was that everything was so intricate and there was so much attention to detail. This was just the Metro but the gate was detailed, the sign was detailed, it was just nice place.
Then finally just a few more snaps of Madrid. It’s just a very pretty place. I took a lot of pictures but unfortunately most of them were not in focus or I hated them, so this is it for now.
12 Days of Christmas starts tomorrow!
So I know I just did a London post, but I went back! Literally the weekend after the first one, but that’s just the way time works. I wanted to spend more time, go to Brighton, and just see as much as I could, but not in 24 hours. I had to be checked into the hostel by 9 so by the time I got there it was dinner and go to the hostel. I had all day Sunday, Monday I went to Brighton, all day Tuesday, and then left super early Wednesday morning. It also turns out that I don’t have very many pictures from this trip, my apologies.
London at night.
When you forget that you had manual settings on the camera. It does look cool though.
Then Abbey Road.
This is unfortunately all of the pictures I liked from this trip to London, however, I liked them enough to include them, but there were too many from Brighton to include in into that post. I’m almost caught up on adventure posts too! Yay!
Depending on how long you’ve been following me, you may or may not know that Brighton has been a place that I have always wanted to go, making it onto my Travel Bucket List. I don’t know when the obsession started, but the pictures I’ve seen are always just so pretty and it lived up to my expectations. Since I was in London, a short train ride away, I decided it was the perfect time to go to Brighton.
The first stop was obviously the pier. If you look up Brighton, the first things you are going to see are the Lanes and the Brighton Pier.
I also really wanted to walk along the beach. It was so, so windy that day, so I walked along the sidewalk above the beach more so than the actual beach.
Obviously these were all taken at different times of day, but I just wanted to keep going back. It was just so pretty. The waves were super rough because of the all the wind, but it was beautiful. I saw a very unlucky man get attacked by a massive wave on the pier while he was taking a picture, and I just wanted to cry for him. I really hope his camera/phone wasn’t ruined and that he lived nearby.
This is a little bit of the lanes, but also some just random pictures I took. I can’t remember what the fancy building is, I could look it up, but I’m lazy.
These are two of my favorite signs that I have seen anywhere. I don’t know why I like the bike one so much, I just do. The other one says “I have great desire My desire is great” and I just thought it kind of spoke to me. It was in that spot that I decided to come back to blogging like full on, like obviously I’ve been blogging but I haven’t felt great about it. This was the spot where I decided that needed to change, so I just really like this now.
It was one of those places where I’ve just always wanted to go and it was just perfect. I met a nice lady in a souvenir shop where I bought a t-shirt. I explored The Lanes, admiring the Cath Kidston store where I wanted to buy everything, but refrained. I’m glad I got to check this off the bucket list.
So before I went to London for my week off, I actually was there the weekend before, it was one of those weird planning things. I went with my friends from here, but I actually got separated because we were supposed to ride the bikes around to get around the city, but I got super anxious, like actually had a panic attack anxious. The real blessing about the early panic attack was that the rest of day, I was under the impression that I had already hit the worst I could mentally hit so it didn’t matter how many times I got lost, I found a map and found my way. Gotta look on the bright side!
We were there for essentially 24 hours so we did as much as we could in that 24 hours. Then I got separated, and did as much as I could in 24 hours even though I was literally going back the next weekend.
Tower Bridge is simply gorgeous. Well, there’s actually quite a bit of people on it and I’m terrified of bridges and we walked across it, which probably didn’t help then with the panic attack that was about to occur.
Here’s Jenna on the bike, the last I would see of her for several hours. I did try to ride the bike, I was just really afraid of hitting a pedestrian or something along those lines.
So the first thing I did was go to see the Globe, but more so to me it’s the bridge that was destroyed by the Death Eaters in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. I also liked the picture of the trees that was blurry so I decided to share it with you.
I then headed off to The Eye, which is owned by Coke apparently. I took a lot of pictures of it, but I did not go up it because it is expensive, the line is long, and I’ve already done it.
This view of Big Ben though. This is just a nice picture that I took on my walk.
I tried to take a selfie with Big Ben in the back, it did not go as planned. I couldn’t get everything in focus.
Here is view of The Eye from a distance, it’s a very interesting structure. If I think about it long enough it’s kind of a weird thing. What are your opinions on a huge ferris wheel that you pay a lot of money to get on?
Just a classic telephone booth picture. I wanted to change it a little bit from the red. Well actually I tried to make just the telephone booth red, but I got too frustrated with the editing software I use so I gave up.
I spent a lot of time in what I thought was Hyde Park, but when I asked a lady in a cafe where the Peter Pan statue was (that’s where I was going to meet my friends) but she told me that I was in the wrong park. I still don’t understand. I think a lot of parks are just connected, so maybe these pictures are from Hyde Park, maybe not.
So yes, that was my 24 hours in London, and over the next few weeks there will be more from London, Brighton, Madrid, and Sevilla.
Which should I post first? Chronological or is there anything anyone wants to see first?
Last weekend I had the chance to meet up with my dad in Paris, France where he was visiting for work. It was very nice to see my dad as well as explore a new city and get out of my apartment for a weekend!
Of course when I booked my ticket I didn’t know that there were two different airports so I had to take a bus to the actual city. Once there, I met my dad at the bus station, and from there we went to the Arc de Triomphe.
After that we found crepes, which I was far too hungry to capture, so you’ll just have to trust that they looked really good. Now, this is also the reason that I should write as I go because I think after this we kind of just wandered the city. We also saw Notre Dame, we went in but didn’t go to mass because it wasn’t in English. I also didn’t take any pictures inside because there was a mass going on and it felt weird.
I wish I was more of a foodie so I would remember to take pictures of my food. I also wish I would have taken a picture of the balcony outside the hotel room but the one I took on Snapchat deleted itself before I could even try and resend it unfortunately. So here are some pictures I took that night.
I really liked the lock bridge(s). Basically, people will just put a lock anywhere it seems.
One of the things I really wanted to do was see the Eiffel Tower at night.
The next day, we had croissants in the morning and took a boat cruise.
After the boat cruise we went to see the Eiffel Tower at the day so I could get some pictures of that and so I could get a t-shirt (I want to get a t-shirt from every country I visit) and like that I had to go back to Ireland.
Also no pictures of this because my phone was dying but I ended up with priority seating on my flight, which sounds cool, but it just meant I waited outside for my plane before it was even parked at the smallest airport I had ever been to and watched everyone get off. So weird.
That was my trip to Paris, it was so much fun! Now off to Galway!
