We promised ourselves that if we moved to Dublin we would make the most of living so close to so many great countries, and we are starting the year off with a trip to the UK.  One of the things I personally am so excited about is living within an hour flight (and then only a 30 minute bus ride) to Oxford.  Ever since I did a summer course there in 2001 I have been hooked. Now, since we are within a reasonable distance, I can attend some classes. I am SO excited - in 2 weeks I am doing a 2-day workshop on palaeography! (yes, I am a big geek) I have dabbled in it a bit while doing my masters, but now I will actually have some formal training in it, and from a renowned institution.  For those of you who don’t off the top of your heads, palaeography is the study of old handwriting, specifically in this case late medieval handwriting of England. 

As English history has been a passion of mine for over 20 years, this will be a great opportunity to enjoy a closer look at some original documents, as well as adding to my greater knowledge base. Since Reeves has to be in Redmond, WA for work up until the first day of the workshop for me, he will meet me in Oxford with the car at the end of the weekend (he is taking the car ferry over from Dublin to Wales) and we will go into London for 3 days, returning West to Wales to stop at Hay-on-Wye for a day so I can load up the car with old books and then drive north to visit some of the castles built by Edward II of England before we take the car ferry home again.  In all we will be gone a week.  I am so excited because I have not been to the UK since 2002 and I have been aching to return.

Trina put me up to the "what are 5 things people don't know about you" challenge...here is my response......  :)

1) I play the accordion and I have always wanted to learn to play the banjo.  I have played a multitude of instruments over my lifetime, mostly in the first 20 years or so, including the accordion which I took lessons for about 8 years and got pretty good. I haven’t picked it up in awhile, but it is here in Ireland with us and I do hope to dust it off again.  Other things I have played; the piano, the clarinet, various recorders, the organ, a very little bit of guitar, and the ukulele, which I wasn’t half bad. It is the banjo, however, that has always fascinated me and is something to which I aspire, but have a feeling I will never get around to doing.

2) I am the first one in my family to go to and graduate from college.  Neither my parents nor grandparents on either side of the family ever went beyond HS.  Both of my parents were from farming families in the mid-west (Iowa and Kansas) and came from farming families. It is a personal and family victory to have my undergraduate, much less my graduate degree, accomplished. 

3) I love to people-watch and pick out which women are carrying fake hand-bags.  It is a little guilty pleasure of mine.  I have a personal thing against “fake” designer bags.  The reason you buy a fake bag is to look like a real one, right? I have never understood this. Is it to impress? The problem with that is the people you are trying to impress (e.g. other women) who can afford the real thing are going to know it is a fake to begin with.  Is it because you just really like the style but cant’ afford it? Fine, that is understood, but then forgo the “designer” bag and find a wonderful unknown handbag designer with great talent and quality materials which is in your price range, or save up for the real thing.  I personally equate stealing a designer look by trying to identically copy a bag the same as someone trying to sell me a fake Van Gogh or Picasso – they are works of art designed by an artist who shouldn’t have their work facsimiled and talent diluted.  An art lover wouldn’t frame one of those cheesy Monet posters (you know the ones, you had them in your dorm room freshman year at college) and hang it over their mantel, why would a handbag lover use a crappy copy of the real thing when there are tons of great bags out there of better style and quality.  OK, rant over.

4) The longest relationship I had before Reeves lasted 3 months.  I think after 11 ½ years of marriage and 13 years of being together, this one is going to stick. :)

5) I used to have about 24 pet Gerbils. Yes, that is a lot, and frankly, too many gerbils for any one household. This was my first pet which I got in 5th grade and I thought it would be great idea to get a boy and a girl gerbil to see what happened. Well, 24 gerbils happened! After the first litter, we let them grow up in the same cage for awhile, but we A) didn’t know how short the reproduction cycle was and B) even when we separated them by wire partitions, those little hormones were strong enough for them to chew though some serious metal. This all happen within a couple months. Needless to say, I am not sure what my mom was thinking when see agree to this, and we quickly decided two girl gerbils was plenty.

I am supposed to tag 5 more bloggers, but I have to say my blog-o-shpere is pretty limited and all the people I know with blogs have already been taged, so if you are reading this and you haven't been, please feel free to add yourself to the list.