i'm thankful for spinach

we are full. turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, bisquits and stuffing (that i made!) it was good and mama Molli started cooking at 7 am. i got to sleep in and take a nice jog in the FREEZING cold weather then cook a LOT of stuffing in the boys house. it was good. we've got food to last us until the middle of next week (like always). it's definitely weird having thanksgiving on FRIDAY,...but i'll deal. my friend Brit (www.ypguybrit.wordpress.com) showed me this blog by this Christian guy who makes these cartoons. they are amazing. one of my favorite ones:



it's good. so all's to say: thanksgiving was good. now we are watching "310 to Yuma" in the guys house, gettin all relaxed from the Turkey. I got to skype with my whole family last night while they were having TG meal...it was great. not much longer and i'll be doing some travelling then headed on home.

21st of november means?

thanksgiving? no, i'll wait until November 22nd.
Friday.
just doesn't fit right.
There is a reason why it's on the third thursday of November...which reminds me: 23 days until i land in the great state of Texas
We will be cooking a "Thanksgiving" meal on friday, which will consist of turkey and mash potatoes, but i'm not sure what else. no pecans (no pecan pies), no pumpkin pies (they dont have pumpkin stuff over here) we might have yams...we'll see, and for my family: creamed spinach. 
Today we are going to Belfast (for the 'last time') all day long...staying until around 9 pm, so that'll be fun. I'll be doing interviews all day. WOO HOO

Mom comes over in like 14 days! OH i'm so excited! i'll be getting a LOVIN' momma hug in 14 days! those are just needed every once in a while

4 weeks to go

we've sure been busy over the past few weeks.
it seems that all of a sudden our teachers (both here and in the states) realize that we really didn't do MUCH the first 2/3 of the time we were here so they are going to plan something literally every day for the next two weeks. that's pretty awesome and everything ... considering we were just tourists ... but we are not. we are students. the end of the semester is creeping up, tons of little things to do (write letters, read books, make things, update my blog...:)), lots of places to see, and people to meet...AND finals and research paperS are due in a few weeks.
so i've got a big research paper over Irish tourism, a 2000 word paper due on William Wilberforce, travel to Dublin (in the Republic...OH over to 'the other side'), 10-14 pages on Sir William Orpen (an Irish artist), lots of interviewing of Northern Irish people, a trip to London and lots of other things that i wont bore you with.
all to say: i'm busy, but have a hard time DOING the work ha ha...i'm best at procrastinating.

we went to where C.S. Lewis went to church and got baptized and lived...that was amazing.  ross wilson made this statue of the wardrobe and one of his characters "diggory" walking into it.
we also went to the coast and could see Scotland from across the water. wow awesome.

we've had a few interesting people visit us lately.
Eamonn Mallie: the head journalist for Northern Ireland and a lot of the UK. he came and talked to us about....poetry? what? it was weird. and he made us feel like complete idiots cause we didn't know as much about America as he does...and he put down our education system. good start Eamonn (it's pronounced: E-mun) he's written lots of books. he's been involved intensively with the IRA and Shinn Fein (terrorist groups of Ireland) for years. he's like the Cooper Anderson of the UK.
David Park: wrote "oranges in spain" which we've been reading came and talked to us about it. that was pretty awesome. he's written a lot of short stories and novels and he's also a teacher....fascinating, i know
we just got home from Eamonn Mallie's house. we were invited to see all of his art
O WOW...
he's got to have over 15 million dollars worth of paintings in his large house. and he told us about every single one of them. all of them have a story. it was amazing, beautiful, intense, and long :)

a few days ago Vivo: the 'corner store' of Northern Ireland was having an anniversary. "one year of being open"
they had food, beverages and a drawing for prizes. well of course we went. party in dundrum!
we hung out, ate little smokies, drank tea (of course) and waited for them to cut the cake...as we were waiting one of the girls who worked there asked if i wanted to add my name to the raffle before they drew. SURE! i say. why not? i never win anything anyway.
"meg smith"...OH! that's me. i win.


gotta love Dundrum.