Ireland Diaries: Sligo, the Final Installment

The final installment of the Ireland Diaries is here. If you haven’t read the others you can find the links to them below 🙂

Sligo and Easkey were the final places I visited on my Ireland journeys and it was also the part that I was most excited about. My cousins on my dad’s side live in Ireland and, with the exception of one, I had never met any of them in person before. We had been chatting on the phone and emailing and skyping etc since we were little kids but that was all.

Our whole lives we spent every year hoping it would finally be the year we could meet. It only took me 21 years but I did finally get my grandparents to take me to Ireland to meet them, and it was like we had been hanging out in person all our lives. 

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Ireland Diaries: A Perfect Ireland Train Trip to Cork and Cobh

Welcome back to another post in the Ireland Diaries. If you’ve missed the others you can find them HERE.

Getting to go on a train trip was one of the things I was most excited to do when I went to Ireland. I told my grandpa that he could choose whichever trip he wanted as long as there was a castle to see. The trip we chose went from the Heuston Station in Dublin to Cork, then a van ride up to Cobh, and a train ride back. It takes about 3 hours by train to get from Dublin to Cork and the ride there didn’t seem as long as I expected. Though it may have been because I dozed part of the way.

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Ireland Diaries: The Guinness Factory

The fourth installment of the Ireland Diaries is finally here!

I was going to include the journey through the Guinness Storehouse in my other post, but then decided it deserved its own. My uncles and my dad were adamant that I visit, since they hadn’t gone before, and everyone wanted to know what it was like. The Guinness Storehouse, as stated on its website, has “seven floors of fun and excitement as you explore the story of Ireland’s most iconic beer.” Guinness Brewery began in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, and from what I heard a lot of people told me that they think Guinness tastes better in Ireland. I personally think it’s disgusting but more on that later. 

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Monthly Favs- February 2024

An extra day in February gives me the extra wiggle room to help get a blog post out without feeling last minute. Phew. This month went by so fast. I blinked and now I have to change my classroom bulletin boards. (The worst moment of the month, yuck)

While it was a bit crazy I also got to spend a week with a college friend who I haven’t seen in almost two years so it was awesome! Yay to February break. Here are some of my favs from the month!

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Why you need to GOGH to this exhibit!

The Beyond Van Gogh: Immersive Experience is an exhibit that is currently happening around the country. The exhibit’s purpose is to show the artwork of Vincent Van Gogh in a way never experienced before.  With the use of projection and original scoring, you can view 300 of Van Gogh’s art as though you are in the paintings. 

My uncle bought us tickets for my birthday last year, but it didn’t come to San Diego until this month. I thought it was worth the wait. 

You begin in a room filled with projected information depicting Van Gogh’s life and includes quotes and empty frames creating the walkways. They are also a fun photo opportunity. 

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Monthly Favorites- January 2024

And just like that month 1 of 2024 is gone. A whirlwind of a month jumping back into another semester of teaching, the end of the holidays, and lots of SoCal rainy days. Let’s just say the first week after break having no outside time is NOT conducive to calm, attentive classroom behavior. Ha. 

A new series I am adding this year is Monthly Favorites! (Thanks Melissa for the recommendation *waves*) Anything from random things I’ve bought that month to interesting trends on Social Media can be discussed. So tune in every month for something new! 

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2023 Revisited and 2024 Goals

2023 crawled and flew at the same time. Now I’ve blinked and we are in the middle of January 2024! How crazy is that? To start the year let’s take a look back at 2023 Highlights and talk about some goals for 2024!

2023 the Best of

and was surprised with a Downton Themed Birthday outing you can read all about it here

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2023 Reading Roundup!

The 2023 season comes to an end. So out comes the yearly book round-up!

I started strong, I even had monthly genre themes, and then I went rogue. Though, I somehow managed to juuuuust get through 45 books before January 1. I was losing hope at the end with my dwindling reading habits but surprised myself the last few weeks. 

Without further ado, here is what I read: the highlights, the lows, and the best overall. 

You can find full reviews of January HERE and the next few months HERE

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