HELLO!! Just letting you know that I am majorly behind in blogging, but at least I've managed to stay up to date with the pictures :). Today (Day 65!) I have been menu planning and filing and catching up with people. Have no fear! I will catch up as soon as I am able to :).
<3 Livvy
OKAY. Now I'm finally getting caught up!! :D So today I had myself a proper lie-in until 10:30. Ahhh just what I needed. Sadly though I woke up to the news of the Paris attacks, which has been weighing on me. How can the human race, which is such a loving and inspiring race, become so poisoned by anger and aggression? I just don't understand it. What is weighing on me even more though is of the world's neglect on mourning the bombing that had taken place the day before in Lebanon. This is just my take on it, but it seems like we've accepted the large amounts of violence in the Middle East as commonplace and have become somewhat numb to it. When something similar happens in a country closer to the world we know, it's a catastrophe! I don't really know how things would change, or how we would change as a society, but it still eats at me. My heart goes out to all of those that have lost their innocent loved ones as a result of this inhumanity.
Today was pretty good! I went to Blarney in the morning with Bren and Rachel to explore the grounds! We kissed the Blarney stone, which seemed a bit unsanitary, but hey at least now I'm supposed to have the "Gift of the Gab," or eloquence in speech. We found a feral kitten while we were there too! It was so adorable! Now that I think about it, we probably shouldn't have picked it up (it smelled HORRIBLE!), but it picked on Rachel and I's heartstrings because we both miss our cats. It liked cuddling into her scarf and my sweater ^_^. We ended up letting him/her go at the end though!
Before leaving Blarney, we stopped at the Blarney Woolen Mills, which has a ridiculous amount of traditional, Irish sheep wool sweaters and other goodies. :D:D:D
<3 Livvy
OKAY. Now I'm finally getting caught up!! :D So today I had myself a proper lie-in until 10:30. Ahhh just what I needed. Sadly though I woke up to the news of the Paris attacks, which has been weighing on me. How can the human race, which is such a loving and inspiring race, become so poisoned by anger and aggression? I just don't understand it. What is weighing on me even more though is of the world's neglect on mourning the bombing that had taken place the day before in Lebanon. This is just my take on it, but it seems like we've accepted the large amounts of violence in the Middle East as commonplace and have become somewhat numb to it. When something similar happens in a country closer to the world we know, it's a catastrophe! I don't really know how things would change, or how we would change as a society, but it still eats at me. My heart goes out to all of those that have lost their innocent loved ones as a result of this inhumanity.
Today was pretty good! I went to Blarney in the morning with Bren and Rachel to explore the grounds! We kissed the Blarney stone, which seemed a bit unsanitary, but hey at least now I'm supposed to have the "Gift of the Gab," or eloquence in speech. We found a feral kitten while we were there too! It was so adorable! Now that I think about it, we probably shouldn't have picked it up (it smelled HORRIBLE!), but it picked on Rachel and I's heartstrings because we both miss our cats. It liked cuddling into her scarf and my sweater ^_^. We ended up letting him/her go at the end though!
Before leaving Blarney, we stopped at the Blarney Woolen Mills, which has a ridiculous amount of traditional, Irish sheep wool sweaters and other goodies. :D:D:D
By the time we got back from our drizzly adventure, Bren and I had to go and help out with the pop-up dinner hosted by an old Ballymaloe Student named Jared from Chicago. I quite liked working as a waitress! It makes me want to do that at some point one day as well! Jared and his co-chef Richie created an amazing menu entirely out of a single free-range pig reared in the area. I found the starter the most interesting - homemade ramen with pork belly, limpets (a type of shellfish), fermented mushroom, soft-boiled egg, seaweed, pork broth made from the pig head, a radishes. It tasted delicious! As a main, they roasted various cuts of pork in the wood-fired oven and served it with braised greens, gremolata, roasted onions, and roasted potatoes in lard. Even the salad used the rendered lard as part of the french dressing! Dessert was an American-style apple pie with a shortcrust pastry made with lard and cheddar cheese, topped with oat crumble and a side of homemade buttermilk and apple syrup ice cream. WOW!
The night went by so quickly because I was enjoying the waitressing so much! I thought I'd include a picture of myself that someone took for me! :)
The night went by so quickly because I was enjoying the waitressing so much! I thought I'd include a picture of myself that someone took for me! :)
I somehow managed to stay up super late, even though I was exhausted from working for 5 hours! Oh well! I can't believe this weekend is going by so fast!!
Congrats to my younger sister Emma by the way!!! I heard she had an amazing race this weekend at States!!! She's a beast! <3
Love,
Livvy
Congrats to my younger sister Emma by the way!!! I heard she had an amazing race this weekend at States!!! She's a beast! <3
Love,
Livvy