I looked at the sky this evening and said "PLEASE stop snowing now". However, Spring officially starts March 20th...so the snow has a few more days to lie around and then March 21st I'll wake up and it will all be gone!

Maybe its the need for change right now (a seasonal change...Spring, please!) or just a settled desire that had seemingly disappeared, or maybe its just my age...but I want to travel again. We recently got a coffee-table book - the Earth from Above(yeah...one of those awesome huge photo books!) by a photographer named Yann Arthus-Bertrand (simply one of the best photographers in the world). The photos are of landscapes and peoples and animals and colonizations and destruction and beauty and nature and architecture. 

So every now and then I look through this book...and I cannot describe the emotional sentiment it brings up every time. And I keep saying to myself the simple words "Be at peace...its all good right now". And whats more I can clearly hear God's word resounding silently within me and it's saying "Be at Peace" and "Wait". 

I am trying hard to put these words into action because if I do there will be a pleasant degree of in-action in my life. By which I mean I am currently unable to rest, I find it hard to rest my mind if I am not physically doing something and I find it hard to rest my body if I am not thinking through the week ahead and all the things I have to do. I wonder if there is a 'perfect' balance within this, I know there is at least 'a' balance.

Talking with a good friend here and with my husband I have taken to heart the fact that life is sometimes to be lived current. While it is good to be always striving forward and be constructive with our time and be purposeful in life, sometimes this can mean being purposeful about enjoying life and living every day with fervour. Haha...I find that so hard to imagine right now or to even think how I could put that into action. The routine of get up-drive to work-come home-make dinner- prepare lunches-do chores-go to bed is wearing and I am tired! Plus I am really wanting to explore this world again. But if life can be wrapped up in moments and days it is wise to live them enthusiastically and at the same time with a more laid back pace. 

I so often come to points like these where my spirit becomes restless and ansty, where I am ready for the next thing, the next place, the next job, the next change. This time the change is to wait...probably a few years. But the beauty of this life is it can all change in ways we can't even imagine and we roll with it.

I'm coming round to it. I'll just not look at Earth from Above for a few more days.

I have to share a funny email I got from a friend the other day. She lives in London and I mailed her a letter...but it took some time to arrive and was kind of battered looking when it arrived to her.

You see when l wrote this letter to her I accidently forgot to put England or the UK on it. Like she said to me "You see, you did what I or any European would have done, subconciously assumed that everyone knew the existence of one of the worlds largest and most cosmopolitan cities in the world and therefore wrote only 'London' and not the 'UK' or England on the last address line.So it apppears that my card travelled some distance to reach me as the Northern American postal service firstly sent it to London, Ontario. There was a little note saying address not found in London Ontario, then someone else had written try the UK and someone else, maybe not knowing the UK, had wrote try England. HEE hee. Perhaps it is likely that all this travelling took place within a large sorting centre, but I like to think it went to Ontario first!"

Thanks for sharing Ruth. You should make a childrens story out of it someday!

Ok, so this is a very cheezy song, with a pretty annoying tune...but for some reason l overlooked that and listened to the lyrics as l drove home from work today...or rather to pick up Seth. I was thinking "Man, l have to go in after working all day...and make dinner...and do the laundry...and wash the dishes and make our lunches...and thats not fun" (but hey...here l am 7pm, dinner done, laundry done, dishes done and nothing to do but sit in front of my husband, while he watches Fringe, for my massage!!)

So here are the lyrics

Listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try to keep your head up to the sky
Lovers they may cause you tears
Go ahead release your fears
Stand up and be counted
Don't be shamed to cry

You gotta be bad
You gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser
You gotta be hard
You gotta be tough
You gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool
You gotta be calm
You gotta stay together
All i know all i know is love will save the day

Herld what your mother said
Read the books your father read
Try to solve the puzzles in your own sweet time
Some may have more cash than you
Others take a different view
My oh my, eh eh eh

You gotta be bad
You gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser
You gotta be hard
You gotta be tough
You gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool
You gotta be calm
You gotta stay together
All i know all i know is love will save the day

Time asks no questions
It goes on without you
Leaving you behind if you can't stand the pace
The world keeps on spinning
Can't stop it if you try to
The best part is danger staring you in the face
Oh..remember..

Listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try to keep your head up to the sky
Lovers they may cause you tears
Go ahead release your fears
My oh my eh eh eh

So l listened...without turning it off and thought, hey this is so true. Sometimes l feel like a complete schmuck at work and l thought heck yeah, sometimes you just have to be tougher or calmer. Sometimes l am so tired and irritable with my huband and l ought to be wiser and cooler! And l thought yeah, l ought to listen to what my Mum says sometimes, and my Dad has always read good books...l should read more of what he's read.

And I like how it says the world keeps on moving and you can't stop it if you try! You just have to keep on moving with it and l love that, 'cause l love to keep up with it! (Seriously, they're almost on their way to making real transformers now! How advanced is that!)

The only bit l don't really get is where it say's Love will save the day. Love's awesome and all, but l don't see how it could be that life saving...perhaps l'm wrong. lt just seems to me this song is all about having a positive attitude and talking yourself up to things rather than being loved enough to be positive...hmm...

Anyway, makes me wonder if l'll start listening to Pop more and looking for meaning in it....uh, actually probably not...

New Years Day 09'

Minnihaha Falls

Happy New Year to all our friends and family, we hope that this coming year brings you lots of surprises...as we await many too. I am excited to start working again soon and to begin contributing financially to our household...whoohoo! Which means Seth and I will be sharing household chores more...that will be interesting!

We are also looking forward to seeing many more friends get married this year and to travel between continents again. 

Keep us updated, we love to hear from you all and also love to have people come visit...

x Seth & Carol

This is a picture taken Christmas Day at Seth's parents house.

Its the end of the year and the second time I get a chance to look back at everything I've learned and done and seen. The first time I do that in the year is usually some time in the Fall, I don't know why,  but come Fall it usually just hits me that there are a number of things that have happened to have changed my perspective that particular year. It kind of happens then again in December, but for some reason not so much.

However, I came across an awesome discovery yesterday. When I first moved here and bought parsnips I couldn't figure out why they waxed them, and to be honest it kind of annoyed me! Its messy! Well anyway, I roasted some vegetables yesterday and I took a parsnip out of the fridge that was well over a month old...and guess what! It was perfect! The wax completly stops the vegetable from rotting! I was so impressed I went out and stocked up on different vegetables and shoe polish (similar consistency) and now have just a tonne of vegetables sitting in the bottom of my fridge coated in shoe polish! Amazing.

Seth went back to work again yesterday, for three days. Then hes off two more days. Sweet. Then l am determined to be working next week or the week after. Determined!

Some Christmas photos, although later on today, Seth is going to put some galleries up...

Seth's Grandma, Lucille, on Christmas Eve at her house for an amazing Christmas dinner :)

Driving to Lucille's on Christmas Eve. The roads were in perfect condition, it hadn't snowed for two days before Christmas!
             

    

Seth sledding down the hill...it was -2F/ -18C out that day! It was cold! But very pretty!!    

I demonstrate the possibility of falling on a flat surface and so the likelyhood of me going down the hill is slim! Yes, a hill that l have seen 4 year olds sled down!

  

I conquer my fear of ice and skate on the lake...kind of!        

For those who don't get it...I haven't honestly covered my vegetables in shoe polish.            

I've been thinking a lot lately about purpose as you do when you're unemployed and have the time to think such things. Not that we shouldn't routinely consider our purpose in life, but with more time on my hands l'm more inclined to think through this.

Seth and I both graduated college the same year. He started working for Boston Scientific before he even graduated...working 20 hours a week from his dorm room. Since then he has been working for them and has been doing well within the company. He is good at what he does and he generally enjoys work.

Oh, l just noticed l chipped the worktop last night...wow, thats pretty intense!

I graduated college and moved to MN for 3 1/2 months to be near to my honey and to work here on a J1 Student working visa. The job l got was a blessing and a curse! I was thankful l had my very good friend Rachel with me in that place everyday, she really kept my spirits up! We worked with mostly Mexican/ South American immigrants and the majority of them did not speak English. We stuck stickers on labels in a leather warehouse day after day.

After I returned to Ireland l continued to look for work, hoping l would be able to use my degree in Art History to some advantage but not particularly counting on being able to use it in Cork! Up to Christmas l worked in a couple of different jobs, doing some nannying, working in the book store l used to work in through Uni, doing some awful menial jobs in which l didn't last very long, then l returned to the U.S and Seth and l got engaged that Christmas.

I returned once more to Ireland and continued looking for work, l got a weekend job working with Ford Fiesta which paid pretty well except for some funny incidents which cost us a little bit of money I then worked in a pharmacy for a number of months where l completed some training in basic first aid and OTC drugs. I think it was definitely worthwhile and though l'm still not very good with self medicating myself (e.g sleeping pills- which l will NEVER take again!!:) as my husband will attest to, l do know what to do and how to help!

Then l felt God finally brought me into a job he had waiting for me. I started working in a Frame shop/ Gallery and l really loved it. Mostly because of my workmates, but the job had plenty for me to do and a lot for me to learn.  I was very happy there.

That job came to an end when l finally got to marry my sweetheart and we left Ireland and came to MN. For 8 months l waited for my Greencard, some days l waited patiently, l loved having so much free time and being able to cook my husband awesome meals and have so much time to do housework! I also loved that l had free time to take all our visitors around MN.

When l got my Greencard l started applying to different places for work, within a 10 mile radius of where we lived. I knew l would not be using my degree because l wouldn't be travelling into Minneapolis every day. I wanted to be close to home so l could be home before my husband to start dinner! Not long after l started looking l got a job as a Respite teacher looking after 3 toddlers with special needs in a Daycare. l loved that l could look after this children and have an impact in their physical, mental and social development while they were in Daycare. I worked there a month and was laid off as they were making cutbacks.

Now l am back to scratch. Looking for something somewhere where l can basically just spend time with people and make friends! I do also want some mental challenge during my workday too though! 

As l looked back through this it made me question why it worked like this. Why should Seth have a desire and a skill so easily appliable to the workforce, why should he walk into a great job as soon as he leaves College? Why would it not work out like that for me? 

I do think its not fair sometimes, but then l remember that life is not supposed to be fair! No one said it would be! I have realised looking back that no matter what job I worked in and how much l loved or detested it, God was there. And as l moved from job to job (and seem to continue to do so!) l know that there are reasons. Some l know and some l don't. I know that l am being taught perseverence! Discipline... and l am being led from place to place to see the lives of others. That I may walk in and out of jobs, but l also walk in and out of lives. Some l teach, some teach me, some l help, some help me. I continue to try and see this, to know this, to know my purpose is simply to love and do my best in whatever l'm in. 

That is hard when l feel l need to use my degree, or my time or my ability or my availability to make the most money l can out of them. But l also know that that is not my purpose. I am here to serve, to love, to laugh and to enjoy life in the process! It is hard at times, but we don't develope character from an easy life. Not that my life isn't easy! But in my job-to-job process l wonder why sometimes! l trust that God is making me bigger and better in this process.

Now l must go out and pick up some applications and start to look for work again! I must find some more lives to be a part of...maybe permanently, maybe temporarily, but mostly for me to fulfill my purpose...

The title alludes to the fact that l am making most of my Christmas gifts this year...not all but most of them. And Seth and l are mostly re-gifting each other gifts this year...see we've literally spent thousands and thousands of $/€'s on each other the past few years and so this year with me unemployed and us trying to be smart about our spending we decided to do Christmas creatively.

I've written little notes alongside gifts that he uses and likes (but still hasn't noticed gone missing!) and wrapped them up in boxes  and bows and put them under the tree. Some of them we're really going to laugh about :) And l've made him some fun things.

Mostly l'm so excited to spend this time of year with Seth. The cold has that tendency to keep people indoors, it makes you sit at the table longer, or by the fire or makes you want to jump back in bed after dinner :)

However today l decided l definitely needed to go outside and expose myself to the cold! Wow, it was crazy cold...(Oh CSI has started...l'll have to update later), l went to the beach and walked down over the hill without falling on the ice once. That is my biggest fear you see, l hate walking on ice, but l'm determined to overcome that and get out in the snow and some day onto the ice. lt was so beautiful looking out over the frozen lake. l did wonder whether if l would loose my eyes in the cold. They were the only exposed part of my body and at -25 C l could feel the cold searing through them! But l wasn't out longer than 10minutes. I only wished someone was standing beside me to agree with "WOW". Maybe someday l'll pick Seth up from work and surprise him and take him! (He won't be reading this for a while so he won't find out:)

So these are some of the Christmas gifts l've made:

These are teeny-little cookie jars I bought for $1 and filled up with different hot chocolate ingredients. They're going to be as good as my sisters hot-chocolate!

These were an idea a started after Seth and l were a month married. I had a pretty little perfume box and thought "What can l do with this?" We have always had ideas for fun dates but always forget them when the time comes. So l started writing them down on slips of paper and putting them in the little perfume box. My friends birthday came round and l decided l'd do the same for her. So for Christmas a bunch more Minnesotans are going to get them. See thats the criteria for receiving one, you must live in the Twin cities area, because a lot of them involve Twin cities areas.

These were inspiration from a pair of rubber gloves l got from my sister before l got married and another pair l got from a talented friend back in Ireland who made me a very glam pair for my bachelorette party! They go very well with jewelry and perfume, but not much else ;)

Any one else have entertaining Christmas gift ideas?! Ohhh noo... I am turning into Martha Stewart!!!!!!!!!! I cook and clean and make things...and thats about it!! But at least l do it my own way...!

That is a line from a song l've been listening to lately and for many reasons it wraps Christmas up well for us. It is also the tagline pasted across our walls for Christmas! The ground is now covered in snow and it is very beautiful and in a few weeks l will put some photos up...but when Seth is free to take some good ones!!

Since my last update there have been a few changes. Mostly the weather, there wasn't snow, it wasn't so cold, and now it is! Also, l found a wonderful job l was happy working in, but was laid off 4 weeks later. It seems the economy is pretty much the same both here and in Ireland, and cutbacks are being made everywhere. I will hopefully start working again pretty soon after Christmas. God knows.

Seth is doing as well as ever in work. I am very happy that he rarely works over 40 hours a week and pretty much leaves work in his workplace when he comes home to me. He is an awesome husband, especially because he has really snuggly sweaters and l get to wear them when he's at work all day:)

While l do miss the fact that l will miss out on parties back in Ireland this time of year we have been spending a lot of time with friends and going to parties here, which near about makes up for it!

This was a girls only night..so Seth said l could wear my girls only dress! Ha

We are also very excited for all our friends getting married this season, and are excited to see them come together on their wedding days! It brings back so many good memories to be at weddings and l get excited telling those friends how wonderful it is being married and all their is to anticipate within it!

The one thing l think l will miss most on Christmas day, aside from my parents, is the sea and walking on the beach with Roxy! I sound like Jacq!! But l will miss these things. l am just so excited for my first Christmas with Seth though and playing in the snow. I am so glad its possible to play outside this time of year, even if it is -20 C, l couldn't cope being trapped inside all Winter!

Some of the things l've learned about snow is that it can sometimes be very deceiving...one night as a friend came to pick me up to go out l looked down by the steps of our front door (which we don't often use really!) and said "Hey look Seth a huge dog has been walking around our house!" He took a quick look and said "No, that would be a bunny rabbit!!" It really did look like a giant Boxer dogs footprints actually, if you looked at them kind of quickly.

Its also a LOT of fun to drive on snow...and Seth and l are going to go find an empty parking lot somewhere this Christmas and go crazy!!! Safely!

Also, when you get lost you're usually going in the right direction until your not.

 
Seth and I about to cut down our Christmas tree...and it was soo much fun driving there because it was a bit like rally driving because the terrain through the woods was all rough and I am so glad we have an Outback (also because it has AWD and I don't fly off the ice on the Freeway) and I so can't wait to go rally driving (in Ireland...sometime...because it doesn't exist here)!

A dodgy decorated Christmas tree photo...there will be better ones to come for sure...

Seth just goes "I heard that!"  And l said "Heard what?" Seth:"Your butt" Carol:"What are you on about?!" Seth:"Oh, actually it was me, l heard it again"

Funny boy!

NOTE FROM SETH: It was my stomach making noises; hence, I didn't notice it was me the first time.  Get your mind out of the gutter!

Well l have almost finished my first month in my new work place and l really am so happy to have found a place l enjoy so much. I work as a respite teacher in St. Davids School in the early childhood programme. We have a toddler class that ranges from day to day by 3-8 kids at a given time. I have three little kids with special needs and love watching them progress in so many different ways from day to day. I am also so thankful for the fact that l only live 15 minutes drive away! No traffic:)

Seth too, is doing well in work, at the moment he is writing his self review, and l am keeping him company sitting here! He is a very diligent, very patient worker when it comes to his job. l really admire that about him.

I am looking forward to my first Thanksgiving here (Thanksgiving is an American holiday and is celebrated only by Americans) and going to Seth's Grandma's and mostly spending some quality time off with my husband:) Yay. We are going to go to a Christmas tree farm the Saturday after to cut down our Christmas tree then. l bought a some decorations and lights today at the store and when the guy was checking them through he made some comment like "oh getting ready for Christmas?" or something like that, and l said "Yes, its our first Christmas!" He kind of looked at me a bit puzzled for a bit and then l added "Oh l mean, my first Christmas with my husband!!" and he said "Ah, l thought you'd been living out in the Far East for the past decades or something!" Fair enough

Also l was kind of excited today to get up and go to the dentist and get my front teeth filed down, no more pirate look for me! Well not that people noticed that much, but l did whenever l looked in the mirror.

Well, l will be posting more photos soon of this upcoming weekend. We haven't really been using the camera a lot.

Seth used it at a conference he was at a few weekends ago. I didn't go to that conference and chose to hang out with different girl friends that weekend. On the Saturday night l had two friends l met in Ireland before l ever met Seth come and stay with me. Seth wasn't due back until sometime Sunday. The two girls slept in our guest room and l slept in our bed. In the middle of the night at some point Molly awoke and saw a man walk past their open bedroom door with a blue light (cell phone!) she was so scared as she saw him walk through the bathroom door and into our bedroom. In fact as she lay there and the minutes ticked by she convinced herself she had imagined it. But she hadn't! Seth came back at 3am that morning and none of us had heard him come into the house. He came up to the bed and called my name twice and I said "What are you doing back?" He just came back a little early l guess! We laughed about it the next morning :) 

Also we're planning a trip to California towards the end of the Winter, as an escape from the snow. And we're eating fondue now and going to the gym tomorrow after work because all we're doing tonight is sitting on our couch with our laptops on our knees and the heating up high! Oh l love being married :)

First off, I just started reading people’s comments on our posts, thank you! I didn’t notice them actually until now, but I love to know that I am keeping people updated or confused or entertained.

Today is the culmination of big decisions being finalised for the country. Happens to us too in ways, but we control them, sometimes. All the decisions we are making in our lives just seem to happen without us having control over them. Not in a bad way, things just seem to make logical sense sometimes. Like where we will spend Thanksgiving and Christmas, we will spend both those with Seth's family because we can't afford to go back to Ireland twice next year.

Then other decisions seem not to come about so easily. Like how we spend our evenings or our weekends, sometimes we have disagreements on those more minor decisions. But funnily enough the bigger life decisions we don't generally disagree about. That’s nice. Only it’s the minor day to day decisions that happen day to day, so they provide lots of communication opportunities...nice!

And I'm working now. The move to America rewired everything except my personality. Or maybe it was marriage. Whichever it was now that I am here my dreams, my desires, my priorities, my motives have all changed. That’s ok, but it’s really quite confusing. I do know I love my husband so very much and want to be his wife in the best way I can be. That I know, but we encourage each other to be ourselves, and I’m not sure what I’m after right now. Doors will open and doors will close, no doubt, I will find out.

There are still two yellow trees outside our window, they suffice as today’s sunshine, as the sky is grey and it is election day. I wonder is it some pathetic fallacy…regardless, God is in control!

Seth and I are going to the MN Orchestra on Saturday, continuing to seek out new date ideas, finding things we like and dislike together…and separately. Finding people we can befriend as a couple and individually.

Ashley and I hung out last night and had a very detailed conversation about cheese. I miss good cheese…not that you can’t get it here, but it’s so expensive. I am excited to go back to Ireland for cheese…and my family and friends too