Crimson & Clover

After months of trying and about 8 trips to Vodafone I FINALLY got an iPhone. Yay!!!  So expect a lot more photos from me in the coming weeks and months.

A lot is happening. God is doing a lot in my heart lately and I’m not quite sure how to describe it yet so I’ll just keep it all to myself for now. But enjoy the photos! I’ve had a great weekend full of all my lovely friends.

My friend Debbie was in town from Ecuador! So we met up at Foam like old times.

…and we vandalized one of the decorations as a memento.

Heart of Prayer nite at Dublin Central Misson…

and dinner and drinks with the band after

…a man called me a “scallywag” for almost accidentally going into the mens room.

Tapas with Kehne and few others after church

I hope you had a lovely weekend!

Krista xx

This past weekend was amazing.

I don’t think I’ve laughed as much…ever.

A lot of it was over this.

Magnus has a new nickname… Marshmallow.  LOL!

My friends are awesome.

Special thanks to Daniel for posting!

Tonight I went to a show at Trinity College called Trinitones.
That’s right, I said Trinitones.
My dear friend Chloe described it as “Ireland’s answer to the Warblers” (from Glee).

The group of 14 guys were fabulous and they did an amazing job for a packed house. They did songs like “Shake it Out” by Florence and the Machine and “Teenage Dirtbag”. It was hilarious and such a fun change of pace for the evening. If you’re in Dublin and get a chance to see them, you should. Plus, it’s free!

The weather here has been FANTASTIC. It’s been in the mid sixties every day this week so far. The city is buzzing and ice cream is flying off the shelves. I’ve managed to make it to Stephen’s Green twice this week so far and hopefully again before the weather changes back to cloud and gloom. I don’t mind the cloud and gloom, but Dubliners are nicer when the weather is like this for example, my co-worker bought me an ice cream today. Most the time I’m not even sure he notices that I’m sitting next to him. haha!

In other news, I’m going to Paris in June!!! Yay! More details on that later. I just cannot wait to get back to Paris. I love that city.

Happy Days!

Krista

This is my post about St. Patricks Day…almost 2 weeks late. Sorry about that!

Patricks Day was brilliant! I had a great time. For those of you who’ve not been in Ireland during Patricks Day, picture Mardi Gras only covered in green and everyone is wearing funny hats. That’s about it.

In the days leading up to Paddy’s Day I had tried to score sweet roof-top seats on an O’Connell St building but was denied access. Something about safety and “what-if-we-fall-to-our-death”. Meh…  Anyways, since that fell through we had to go with Plan B. Everyone had told me that in order to get a good spot I needed to arrive hours early. I was ok with that because we Americans are used to showing up early to to claim our spot (ie Black Friday, Any movie premier, Walmart openings, etc…).  The parade was set to start at noon so I told my friends to meet me in town at 9 am so we could get a spot in the front. I thought that we still may need to elbow our way to the front, but hey… it’s all in the name of St. Patrick.

So I arrive in town with my friend Bekki at 8:30am and the whole of Dublin is deserted aside from the drunks that never made it home from the night before. Literally there was no one out. I actually felt quite silly walking around the street with my giant green hat a bright green coat at 8:30 in the morning. Like someone who is invited to a costume party but shows up ready to party when they’re still setting up. Awkward.

I slowly peeled the enormous hat from my head and tried to regain some of my dignity whilst  figuring out what we were going to do with ourselves for the hours until the parade. Luckily, we found a coffee shop and set up camp there for a while, picked our spot for the parade, went back to the coffee shop, and then eventually back to our spot to claim our territory right at the barricade and around 11:30 everyone seemed to show up.

The parade didn’t reach us until around 1pm because we were toward the end of the route but when it did it was AMAZING and definitely worth the wait. Being from a small town, I’ve never experienced a large-scale parade. The biggest parade they have in Riddle Oregon is the one where all the log truckers hang lights on their semi trucks for christmas and drive them through the main street. They’re usually beer themed and at least one has a toilet on it. No lie.

The parade was beautifully done and the creativity with the costumes and the floats was astounding! Here’s a quick look.

And the Rangerettes were there! Oh no yay! That’s exactly what I wanted to see!

This is right after a kid asked this guy if he was Santa Claus.haha!

These guys weren’t in the parade, but decided that a captive audience this large was too good to pass by.

These guys were in a hostel across the way from us. That’s not his real butt. It’s a plastic butt that says Póg mo Thóin which is Irish for Kiss My Ass. After this they came to the window with a few bottles of liquor and dumped them onto the crowd below.  They were Americans…  lol

This is Rachel, Bekki, and Carla

Bekki, Myself, and Carla

I was planning on staying in the city after the parade to get a pint of Guinness somewhere but as soon as the parade was over the street flooded with the green covered masses, most of whom were half way to drunk town. The city was crowded and crazy and I couldn’t feel much of my feet from standing in the same position for about 3 hours. So I decided to go home and I’m glad I did. I heard that on Sunday morning the city was covered in piss and puke and I’m sure much more.

All in all it was a great St. Patricks Day! I love this city and I loved celebrating such a fun day with the Irish.

Cheers!

Photo credit goes to Rachel. She took most of the photos above since my camera battery died just as the parade started. haha

Rachel is an American in Dublin as well! Check out her blog here

This morning it was my small groups turn to set up the church before service so my housemate and I caught a taxi to our leaders house and then rode with them to church. During our last meeting we decided it would be fun to put in a little extra effort into the decorations and snacks for the church on our next turn. Bron and I made cookies on Saturday night but in the rush of leaving this morning we left them on the counter. So, if anyone wants some coffee and should-be-hazelnut-but-the-shop-only-had-walnut-cookies, please let us know because we have close to 3 dozen.

If I haven’t mentioned this before, I LOVE my small group leaders, Sandy and Dave. Love, love, love them. Sandy has the same (and I mean this in the best way) “blatant disregard for any rule she doesn’t like” that I do. Like what she calls her “Cheeky Park” when she goes to the bank that has no parking so she parks in the middle of the sidewalk. I LOVE her.

Anyway, on our way to church Sandy said that she wanted to pick up some cherry blossoms on the way so that we could do a little decorating. The next thing I know, she’s pulling up onto the middle of the sidewalk near the M50 into the middle of about seven trees that are heavy with blossoms. She grabbed her shears,  jumped out of the car and began to “prune” the trees of their lowest branches and when passersby starred or pointed she just waved, smiled and pranced her way to another tree. All the while, I’m in the van laughing uncontrollably, guarding the cupcakes as instructed and hoping the Guarda doesn’t drive by.

Luckily the Guarda didn’t drive by and we made it to church safely with our cherry blossoms in tow and they added quite a nice touch to the service. We just made sure to avoid getting asked where we got them from…

What a morning! haha!

This past Thursday was my first time working at The Lighthouse, part of Dublin Christian Mission. The Lighthouse gives meals and clothing to homeless people in Dublin about four times a week! In January, I felt really strongly that getting involved with the homeless was a next step in the things God has for me while I’m in Dublin. Thursday was fab and the staff at the Lighthouse are fantastic. I was surprised to find that there were quite a few homeless people that didn’t look homeless at all. In fact, at first I assumed they were staff that I’d not met yet. We served sandwiches, Irish Stew, and tea and coffee and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. I even got some great advice that I’ll share with you: *Man shakes his finger at me and says* “ALWAYS be a good girl and NEVER feed the swans white bread”.  Words to live by…

On Saturday while on the bus en route to city centre, I encountered a less pleasant homeless man who, after serenading the ladies in front of me, continued to point his crooked finger at every lady on the lower level and scream, “I’d NEVER marry yous!!! And if yous come at me, I’ll kill yous! I’ll kill yous stone dead.”  Charming..

Have a lovely week everyone!

Cheers!

Krista

Loving this song lately. I’m soooooo ready for Spring.

Admittedly, I’ve been a little grumpy this week.  It could be because my team lost the Superbowl, but I didn’t really care so I don’t think that’s it.

I moved into a new place last week! This time it’s my own place and I have a lovely housemate named Bronwyn. I love it! I really really love it. But since we’ve moved in I’ve found myself in a fog of new responsibilities that are completely foreign to me.
For example:
The Bins!
There’s a green one and a black one. The black one you pay for and the green one is free… but they go out on different days?… I think? And we have to buy a ticket and top it up or they won’t collect them?….. wwhhhhhat? I don’t get it.
The Washer/Dryer!
We have a washer that’s a dryer too… but it doesn’t really dry. It just kind of spins things around while heating them up. So I need to get a drying rack… I guess. Or else I have to dry all my things on the radiators… which takes forever. The thing is a drying rack is heavy and I’d have to buy it in town and bring it home on the bus… which is awkward.

Not to mention our letting agent has been AWFUL. Really awful and completely unhelpful… plus I’m pretty sure they hate me.

Luckily my new housemate has been super helpful and patient. I couldn’t have done all this on my own. There are way too many new things to figure out.

So I guess I know why I’ve been in a bad mood this week. Just a lot of new things to cope with and honestly what I’ve listed doesn’t even scratch the surface of all that’s happened.

I miss knowing about how the simple things work…like trash service.  I miss knowing where I can get anything I need and I miss not having to carry it all home on the bus.

All that aside, I am thrilled to be in my new place with a lovely housemate and a room of my own. Things will get easier and taking things home on the bus really isn’t that bad. I think after 7 months of living in Dublin I’m allowed to feel a little frustrated over the differences. I still love it here though. Still love it.

Krista

I’m a bit ashamed to say that I’ve been in Ireland for about seven months now and I’ve not travelled around Ireland much. So I’ve decided that this year I will see Ireland. I’ve also decided that this year I will learn to walk better in heels and get a tan this summer for the first time in years… but I’ll let you know how those go later.

My friend Chantel and I decided that Trim could be our first stop on exploring Ireland and what a GREAT choice it was. Trim was incredible and a must see for anyone visiting!

Chantel came to fetch me at my house on Saturday morning and we stopped at the petrol station to fill up and get some road snacks. We were expecting about an hours drive and  both of us were excited to take a bit of a road trip. Chantel is from South Africa and just as used to driving long distances as I am. Ireland doesn’t give us much of an opportunity for that considering the West is no more than a 2 or 3 hour drive.

30 minutes  and a bit of confusion later… we arrived in Trim (Chantel’s Sat Nav (GPS) was not very clear at times). It was not the road trip we had hoped for. But happy that we had more time to explore.

We paid 4 euros for a tour of the castle and after the tour we walked the grounds and the village which is adorable and I’m sure even more so in the summer.

It was cold. Like 4 degrees (C) cold. I wore my trusty Chuck Taylors and only one pair of socks so by the time the tour was over I couldn’t feel my feet. We decided to duck into a pub for a bit of coffee and to warm up. This caused more of a problem than we expected though because we realised that neither of us had any clue what to do when you go into a pub. I guess we’re both used to going to pubs with guys who seem to always know EXACTLY what to do, where to go, and who to ask what. We found ourselves standing just inside the door of three different pubs staring blanking back at all the faces staring at us and then turning around and walking out. haha. We ended up in a hotel restaurant, which I think was a bit more in our comfort zone. Albeit, not as quaint.

This experience only further reinforces my notion to not go to pubs without a guy with me. Last time I went to a pub with girls only I was mercilessly bothered by a drunk guy from Belfast who kept commenting on my height, asking me “Why’er’you from Florida?!”, and trying to pull me onto a non-existent dance floor. haha! Lesson learned.

Anyways, back to Trim…

Because I’m a history NERD here are a few facts on Trim castle that I assembled via the internets…

- Originally built in 1173, it was burned down by the “Wild and Savage Irish”. Then rebuilt bigger and better in 1175

- It is the largest castle in Ireland

- All the castle scenes in Braveheart were filmed at Trim Castle.

- According to our tour guide, Henry V was kidnapped and held for ransom at Trim Castle.

Ok! Onto photos!

I wore my Oregon sweatshirt for my friends Jill and Joel in Eugene. Joel just had brain surgery to remove a tumor and I wanted to put a smile on his face. I think it worked. Oregon + Ireland + Braveheart = Bliss.

Cheers!

Krista

Ok, I’m not going to lie… I’ve watched way too much tv the past two months. I blame it on the fact that the people I’ve been housesitting for have Sky and I get sleepy when I read. But, I know that’s no excuse.

In this part of the world they get shows from every other part of the world. Australia, Nigeria, Brazil and the list goes on.

I’ve been particularly entertained by Nigerian Idol, Canadian Street Cops and Australian Master Chef except I mostly laughed through Nigerian Idol…

Of course, all the shows from America are about morbidly obese people, hillbillies, or shows about restaurants with insanely large portions. None of those shows help counteract the stereotypes. Luckily they have COPS here… which I love. I’m watching it right now actually. They just pulled five bags of crack out of a guys sock and he’s claiming they’re not his socks. haha! Gold!

Also, did you know that Jersey Shore is polluting the rest of the world?! Geordie Shore is the UK version of the awful phenomenon, and now Ireland has been blessed with their own version called Tallaghtfornia. ugh!

Beks and I actually went to Tallaght (pronounced “Talla”)  for the first time on Saturday. I read about a big Car Boot Sale that they have there every saturday and since I’m looking for things for my new apartment I thought I’d give it a go. It turned out being crap… but we did show up a little late so I think I’ll try again on another day when the weather is a little better.

However, Beks and I both decided we probably won’t frequent Tallaght, although I’m sure it’s a lovely place if you spend more time there.

I mostly stayed home today.. watching COPS and working on some of my design projects. I usually Skype with my Mom and my Grandma every weekend. My grandma had eye surgery this week and is having trouble seeing until her new glasses come in. So currently, her computer text is set to 150 scale and she’s using a magnifying glass to see the things that are still too small.

I spent most our conversation laughing…

I LOVE my family.

Cheers! xx

I went to Italy for 10 days back in October. It was an AMAZING trip and the first time I’ve ever traveled solo to a place where I didn’t know anyone. I wasn’t thrilled about traveling alone, not at all. But, I had such a good time that I wouldn’t hesitate to go on holiday alone any time!

During my trip and ever since, God has spoken a lot to me about the difference between need and want and challenged me to believe more fully that Jesus is all I need. It’s easy for me to think, “Well yes God, you’re all I need but… I need this and this and that.” When in reality I just want those things. They’re not bad things to want but I don’t NEED them like I need Jesus. I was reminded during my trip of all the times that God has provided for me. Provided money, provided healing, provided friends, provided joy, PROVIDED. And time after time that he’s shown faithfulness to me, giving me a full and amazing life. So, it’s been an amazing few months and I’m learning loads.

I started my trip in Rome and stayed in a hostel. Then took a train to Florence where I had an adorable little room at a B&B and then onto Venice where I stayed in another hostel and met some delightful new friends! I didn’t even have much trouble with navigation (which I’m abysmal at). Even in Venice which is impossible to navigate. I threw out the map after an hour in Venice and just went with my gut to find things. The great thing is even if you don’t find exactly what you’re looking for, you find tons of other great things instead.

Of course my trip wasn’t all peaches. I had a scary moment in Rome where I was followed by a cracked-out guy on my way to the train station. He kept asking me if I would help him make movies because he was a film maker. That was scary. But that was the scariest thing. I also learned that you can’t trust French Canadian guys… and if they’re named Luk stay extra clear. He’s most likely a creep. haha! But the amazing friends I met along the way FAR made up for any scary moments that I had. Ultimately it was an incredibly safe and wonderful trip.

I’ve picked out some of my favorite pictures so enjoy and leave comments! I love those…

Cheers!

Funny quotes from today…

Today in the office.

“Early bird gets the worm!”
“Yeah, but the early worm gets eaten…”
“How do you know the worm is awake? He could have been asleep, minding his own business!”

Tonight at homegroup

“Yes! I love a shoulder rub! I’d strip down right now if I were to get one!”
*Silence before everyone burst into laughter*

I love my homegroup and it was so nice to be back after such a long break over the holiday. After tonight, I realised how much I had mentally “checked out” of homegroups since Thanksgiving. The uncertainty of my visa situation was a lot to handle and I think it was easier to not put forth the effort, than investing in something that might be ending. I’m feeling like myself again now and looking forward to spending another year with these lovely people.