Day 5- Shopping in Galway

December 30th,

At least I think this was day 5….

Effa, Zoe, Amy Sweanie, Shiela, Sarah, and I all went on a train station to Galway to go shopping. It took 45 minutes. This was literally the most beautiful train station I've ever seen.

This train station was quite the change from busy London trains. Once we got to Galway, we went in a store called New Look, then Penny's, and a ton of other stores. I usually like to shop best when I'm by myself, but this wasn't too bad. Here's what the outdoor mall parts looked like:

I especially loved the colorful shops. 

I ended up getting a velvet shirt for 9.90, a pair of shades for 6, and two pairs of earrings each 2 euros. Ooh, I also got frilly knee high pink socks for a Euro. I can't believe how cheap I am, if anything was 15 Euros I didn't give it another glance.

Then we went to Effa's house for a sleepover since Karen had guests over. We watched Despicable me and it was awesome!

Day 4- Gallery and driving

Decmber 29th,

Today mom and I took a walk while Karen, Kevin, and the kids were at church. Wrong choice. It was cold. Reguardlessly we went to the pier and back, here's a few photos of that:

After that, Kevin took us for a drive. We went to the Abbey from 1212, and around water and cliffs.

Then we went to the Russell Gallery. We had hot chocolate and played Farkel and Jenga. Karen was really nice and got me some watercolor papers, and my mom got me a silver lizard bracelet. 

Day 3- Skating and Limerick

December 28th,

Apparently Limerick is the worst Ireland city because it had slight gang activity. Whatever though, the gangs aren't in the center of the city.

Today I woke around 8:44-ish and by the way, Miriam's mattress that I'm sleeping on is LOUD and SQUEAKY. I toss and turn when I sleep and Zoe sleeps like a rock so I made her switch.

The mornings in Galway out the window are gorgeous! I had three pancakes with maple syrup, two pieces of bacon, and a sausage for breakfast. Miriam put nutella on two of her pancakes, and whipped cream on the third. Ew… She ate most of it though. And then she kept touching and begging for the last piece of bacon, even though I think her Dad ended up eating it.

We got dressed and had a race down the hill in the front yard. The car ride to the market was filled with Miriam trying to play silent games and fall asleep games with us. She was a bit hyper. We got to the market and I left my gloves in the car. :(

The streets with lights reminded me of London's Regent streets.

We met two guys,  I don't remember their name. Karen got cheese and ham. Other people got sandwiches filled with sausage, ham, beef, cheese, and a ton of other stuff. Zoe and I got hot  chocolates in these cute green, red, and orange cups.  I think the marshmallows on top were strawberry or peppermint (they were pink and didn't taste normal).

We then went to buy skating tickets. We had to wait, so we went to Penny's. I should've been super excited to go in there,  but it was claustrophobic and I was scared I'd get lost. Zoe got a skirt that I really wanted, and it was only 5 Euros. Effa got a jacket for 15 euros. Miriam got  really cute leopard hat!

Skating was crowded on a little square of ice. We got Miriam to steer away from the edge. There were orange seals for people to hold onto while skating, and we all practiced pushing each other. Poor Aiden sat out and watched us and held our phones for us.

When we got home we played hide and seek, and Miriam kept trying to get us to watch a movie but we didn't necessarily want to. We had chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy and cheese, and broccoli for dinner.

Oh wait! How did I forget! We had Moody Cow- a delicious milkshake place. You pick from the wall of candy and they crush it into your vanilla milkshake. I had M&Ms in mine and it was delicious!

PS. Today was mom's secret birthday. She didn't tell anybody, so yeah, weird…I'd be telling people if it were my birthday. She claimed the best present she could have was being in Ireland.

Day 2- Family's house in Ireland

December 27th,
Mom drove quite successfully to Aunt Karen's house. We didn't hit anything or die. Alond the two hour way, we saw sheep with green and orange butts. Apparently farmers paint the sheep's butts to keep track of whose sheep is whose. Horses and cows were also on the way. I'm quite surprised at this transition from city in London to the peaceful grass, hills, rocks, and bay that is Ireland.

Everyone seems happier here and less chaotic. Zoe blames part of the London stress on the red tour buses. The tour buses in Dublin are green.

I feel really stupid for thinking this, but I thought Irish was an accent. It's odd to see English as the second language below Irish on signs, rather than first on signs.

Once we got to Karen's, we settled and had a fun and eventful night of playing pingpong, eating chick chicks (as Miriam called them- they're nuggets though) and pepperoni pizza with Amy.

We met Amy Malonie(oldest, and had her hair in a bun), Amy Sweanie(athletic and wore an Einstein shirt), Sarah, Rachel, Jemma (funny and likes strawberry cheesecake brownie stuff), and Effa. Effa is the closest to my age and she likes to cook. I'm sure I butchered the spelling of all their names, and maybe forgot a few names.

We played Pictionary and Sorry with Amy and Miriam before the other village girls got here.

For dinner we had green beans, beef, and mac and cheese.

Aunt Karen's cooking is the bomb!!

Alright, my mom is getting nosy about what I'm writing, goodbye for now.

Day 1- Ireland Castle Hotel

Dec 26th,

The people that were staying next in our place showed up. The father didn't speak English so the girl had to translate. They put their bags in the kitchen, and then Mom, Zoe, and I had to scramble to leave before 12.

It wasn't until we in the cab on the way to Heathrow Airport that I noticed I left my London subway passes behind. I had wanted to keep those as souvenirs. The cab, by the way, didn't even look like a cab. I thought I was getting abducted.

My mom was thankfully chatty to fill silence. We found out hat the cab driver is from Ethiopia (I think that's what he said). He used to live in Miami and Tampa Florida. And he's been in London for 24 years now.

We gave him plum pudding, some hot chili stuff in a jar, and some chocolate.

The airport ordeal was different than America. We first of all had to change our flight since we were there like 5 hours early. It ended up being free since "friends" were flying to Dublin too. Otherwise we'd pay 40 pounds and another fee just to switch flights for each person. We flied Aer Lingus, and had seats 7A-C. I had the window seat!

Before all that though, I had three forms of potatoes(hash browns, Zoe's fries, and chips). Mom had a burger with fries. Zoe had an omelette and a brownie later.

Also,
security was crazy.
Thank goodness we got the nice immigration lady. She asked us why we were staying:too see family; and stamped our passports. The other lady was taking like twenty minutes with each person.

Hmm
Okay so Mom got her baggage checked because her I-pad was in it, and my tube of toothpaste (oops)- which got taken away!
Zoe got stopped and "lightly touched" because she was wearing a tampon,
And I got stopped and had my bag swabbed to check for a bomb.
What the heck.

As soon as we got to Ireland we had to wait a whole hour (after changing Pounds to Euros) for us to get the rental car. We had to get on FaceTime with Dad and ask him about which car service it was, and yadda yadda yadda. I got grumpy and had to pull out my last London Cadbury chocolate bar, a shame, I know.

We got it, and well…
We didn't know how to open the trunk
two lights wouldn't turn off
the roads were on the other side
and mom had her shoulders tensed up the entire time while driving.

Eventually we got to the castle hotel. It was only 5 miles, but it took us longer.

The castle looks like it was built up recently.
They have a gymnasium.
And they put butter or goat cream or some mysterious cream on my smoked ham, lettuce sandwich.

Hopefully tomorrow's drive to Gaulway will be better. PS. I WANT TO GO TO PRIMARK HERE!:)

Sorry, no photos for this blog. It was dark and the few photos I took were craptastic.

Also PS. The castle was thankfully not haunted (at least my room wasn't).

Christmas Walk around Camden

December 25th

Today I had to wait until 10:30 for Zoe to get up to open presents. It wasn't a Christmas like we normally have. Since we're not at home, I missed having a Christmas tree, and having a Christmas meal like: ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn on the cob, green beans, and bread rolls. I really missed family in Florida last night, and especially my dad and the cats.

Mom and I each got some chocolate teddy bears and a Cadbury chocolate bar.

Zoe got some overalls, PEZ, a chocolate Gruffalo (apparently a UK cartoon animal), and a box of chocolates. She didn't like the overalls, so we'll either have to return them or if we can't do if before our flight to Ireland then I might keep them. We're the same size. I still can't believe she didn't like the overalls. We've been trying to find some in Florida for awhile. 

Zoe, Mom, and I went out to eat dinner, since cooking at this town house wasn't much of an option(weird appliances). Zoe kinda got an attitude when we went in a fish and chips place. We ended up having to Skype Dad, and then we ate the chicken for lunch that was supposed to be for dinner. 

Here's some stuff we saw:

(A pink door-ooooh)

(And a tree bigger than a house-woaaaa)

Mom and I walked around after that for two and a half hours and drank hot chocolate from Starbucks. I still can't believe Starbucks was open on Christmas. There were four people working inside and it was crowded and stressful. 

Mom and I saw this on our walk:

(pastel houses, a purple one was mom's favorite and my favorite was the pink)

Hopefully we can Skype Dad later. This was definitely not a normal, traditional Christmas for us. 

PS. I'll post Primark clothing pics in the morning :) Right now it's dark and the lighting inside is very orange. 

Also PS. Mom said she's seen a ballerina ghost in her room the past two nights we've been here. She apparently did pirouettes in front of the bed, looks 15-17,  and had her hair in a blond bun. I would sleep in my mom's room to see if I can see the ghost but I'm terrified of that sort of thing. Also, we've noticed a lot of cold drafts in that room. 

Day in Camden and Oxford Street

December 24th, 2013
Yesterday mom, Zoe, and I went out to Sainsbury's to get snacks! I was super shocked to find out that not only did the baskets have only one handle (how inconvenient), but the carts costed a pound to take. How silly! Zoe ended up leaving the store since it was Christmas Eve and a bit crowded.

Here's on the walk towards the grocery!

Look what I found!

I didn't know a Skittles drink existed! I didn't try it out but I assume I'd be super sugary. 

After that, mom and I went out to Oxford Street on a red bus. We walked for a while before finding the beautiful Primark store!!!

Also, this shop on the way had beautiful Christmas windows. I apologize for the amount of pictures but their windows are legendary. The store is called Selfrides 

On the way back from Primark there were snow flurries in the sky! At first I thought it was all being done by one particular store but we kept walking and the snow flurries were still falling. Also, it was about 3:20 and we were very hungry for a meal. We went to go eat at something called the Spaghetti House. The menu…had squid ink…and something called squid egg twirl pasta… We ended up eating at a place called Ed's dinner, and one guy that worked there asked where we were from and we found out he's from Mexico. Maybe he's Ed and owns the resturaunt, I'll never know. But the burger and chips were great! The mint ice-cream was a bit too sweet for me. 

New Year's Resolutions

Last year I met quite a lot of my goals. I went without chocolate for the month of January. I watercolored a picture almost every day and read more in February. I learned how to play two instruments-bass and drums. I can do the 12 bar blues on each of them. Honestly, being able to play an instrument (even in the slightest way) was enough to make my year complete. And look at me now. I didn't imagine I'd ever be in London, let alone soon to be in Ireland.

I've been thinking a lot about my goals for 2014. Here's what I've come up with:

1. Be more daring, take more risks. I don't want to look back and say "wow…I don't have any interesting stories, I'm a boring person…" Who would want that? I feel like I'm too safe.
If I want to do something I'll do it.

2. Stop being a people pleaser. Honestly, I've spent too much of my time kissing up to people. I need to do what I want to do and for the sake of only myself. Trying to please teachers and adults and everybody else so that nobodies feelings get hurt only hurts myself.

3.Feel healthier. I've been eating fries for sixteen years and they're all the same- greasy and non-healthy. I think it's time to move on to fruits,vegetables, salads, smoothies, etc. I'm tired of feeling bad about eating bags of chips, ice-cream, and chocolate. I feel like I don't get enough nutrition. Also, I'd like to start taking morning runs or routines to get in shape.

4. Read thirty minutes each day.

Here are a few of hopes or dreams for the future:

I HOPE TO

be smarter

be a better artist

make art that moves me or moves others

love how I look

have more adventures

First Doc Martens

Dec 19th-

 Zoe, mom, and I went to Camden to go to the London Zoo. The Concierge (at the front desk where we're staying) was right. There was only one lion. Lots of walking. Not a lot of animals. Zoe had a blast though. I will admit, the penguins looked pretty perky and happy. All I really wanted to see was the reindeer. We got there and they had their butts sticking up in the air the whole time, since they were digging into the ground to eat food. It was disappointing. Nose was running. It was too cold. Camden Town, by the way, is very freaky.

Holy crap though! We were directed by this punk dude named Stitch to the original Doc Martens store from the 1800's!  My eyes immediately drew to all the colors. I love the pastels and florals. The store was a lot smaller than I expected. 

Of course, my mom immediately asked about some Doc Marten store with a shoe on top of it(something she'd seen on Pinterest). Two dudes got offended and started swearing about how that entire street of markets is owned by one guy. His stuff funds terrorists and it's all fake stuff. I saw a pair of plastic fake Martens for twenty pounds. It had a zipper, which is a definite no-no for a Dr Marten shoe.

As soon as we left the shop, one of the dudes let me take a pic behind the counter. Here I am:)

These are some of the signed shoes by famous people. Blink182 actually had the store closed when they came in and spent about $8,000 on shoes one time.

I wanted my pair to match with everything and last a long time, so I got a pair in a color called chocolate. It happened to be a pre-production pair, so it's the only pair like that in the world! It has yellow and brown striped laces. Also, the guys gave me free cherry scented wax. I'm too afraid to wear the new shoes in London since I don't want them to be rained on-no matter how much Zoe claims they're waterproof. 

P.S. Yellow tags means the shoe is made in Asia. Blue Solavair tags means it was hand-made in England. 

London Lights

I'm in London and almost angry at myself for not blogging once each day (since I also failed at starting to vlog each day). Anyways, I'm here in London until the 26th and it's the 21st. I've noticed that London is very large at life with their lighting decor. For example, Carnaby, Regent, Oxford, and Piccadilly are all hot spots for night time lights…Especially the WinterWonderland in Hyde Park. Here are a few photos:

This photo was one of the first light photos I took. That was the night I first saw Traflager Square and went into the National Gallery…My favorite painting in the gallery by the way, was of a boy bit by a poisonous lizard. The info card said it's supposed to be an allegory for the pain of love. Also, I got my math teacher a Queen of England rubber duck. Her desk in class is filled with at least forty ducks already.

My mom and I went out past the Changing of Guards place to go find Oxford street- we were unsuccessful. Literally, we walked in the ran and even through snow flurries. We couldn't find it after two hours of walking. The top of this thing read "Arcade" even though the things inside the shop windows were art, not games. 

This was Carnaby Street. Yes, those are birds. Lit up birds. Paper birds. So many. I saw that today with my mom. 

This was a China Town type area. My mom and I got stuck here somehow. We were trying to find a Doc Marten store. I'm starting to think that Londeners give random directions to screw the tourists into walking unnecessary miles…. The lanterns were beautiful though. 

Trail adventure with Dad and Zoe

Yesterday we headed to a trail that starts with a T- and it's a very confusing name. We probably walked 3 or 4 miles. 

We found a lot of water, which may or may not have been infested with alligators...

Here's me climbing a tree! 

And here's a pretty butterfly I saw.

Tennessee

About two or three weeks ago I got on a plane and went to Tennessee! The mission was to see the University of the South,which is well known for being a beautiful campus on mountains.

Driving around, lots of mountains looked like this

and I saw lots of barns!

This was on the way to Chattanooga, where we went to Ruby Falls.

This is me in Abbey Ally, on a little trail in between some dorm houses, which by the way, were adorable...

Overall, there are like 300 pictures of Tennessee that I've taken. I learned that this may not be the perfect school for me, since some of the classes are with only 15 students. How scary! Also, everyone there was very posh and somewhat preppy looking. The guys there were all hot though!