Minnesota Renaissance Festival

I was asked to post a photo of myself and Maggie. Since it's nearing the end of the semester, and I'm feeling entirely too sleep-deprived to take a current photo, I had to look for some taken at a less crazy time!
In September, we went to the MN renfest, and it was absolutely fantastic!! It was my very first experience at a Renaissance festival, and I had the best time. The costumes we're wearing were very kindly lent to us by Maggie's friend's mom, and made the experience so much more exciting. It wouldn't have felt nearly as authentic if I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.
At the Renfest was also where we were introduced to the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, who have a chapter in Minneapolis. We've been dancing there since late September, and I don't know when I've had more fun!!!

It's a little hard to see, but this was right after being glittered by the fairy dust man at one of the booths...

And a full-length shot, after Maggie had taken off her awesome hat. It was really warm, and I was glad I was wearing shorter sleeves.

We're looking forward to going next year, and plan to make our own costumes!!

Christmas storm

Hi all!

So I know I'm not in Ireland yet, but I was getting bored of not having anything to post. Today we're having a crazy blizzard up here in the frigid northlands of Minnesota!

 This picture was not of the craziest time (then we couldn't see those buildings in the background at all!) We've already gotten at least 8 inches, with much larger drifts because of all the wind. It's a great day for staying cozy inside!

We've been decorating and getting in the Christmas spirit over the past couple weeks. Mom very kindly sent us a set of gingerbread house pieces, so I put it together last week. Eileen, Neil, Maggie and I had a lot of fun decorating it while watching Miracle on 34th St. The final product is a little funny looking, because the icing was kind of runny, and we ate more candy than we put on the house....

One of the little gingerbread snowmen decided to climb up on the roof and keep watch for Santa!

The weekend after Thanksgiving, Maggie and I put up our tree. Actually, Maggie did most of it, because I was sick, but we both put on the tinsel and ornaments. We're not allowed to have lights in the apartment, but I think that the tinsel is sparkly enough to make up for the lack. We made a paper star for the top, which took a lot of calculating and paper scraps to figure out how to make it properly 3-dimensional.

Also, in this photo, you can see the snow piling up on the ledge outside the window - about ten inches there at the bottom!

I'm getting really excited about going to Ireland - I can't wait!!

First Post

Hello Everyone!
For the spring semester of 2011, I will be studying abroad in Ireland!! I am so very very excited!!! I will be at a small international art school called the Burren College of Art (see the above image). It is in County Clare, Ireland, near the town of Ballyvaughan.
I know that several of my family and friends want to be updated on photos and stories, and I figured this was the easiest way to do it (yay for no more huge email attachments!). So I'll be updating here any adventures I have, cool things I see, or other random thoughts that I feel like sharing :)
Hope you enjoy!!!