Last minute help needed!

Less than a week away from departure and I only have packing on the brain. While the physical labor, like cramming everything I own into a suitcase and sitting on it to zip it shut, still have not been started, I've been ahead of the game when it comes to my flight and layover entertainment. I sought out interesting books with a quick ease about them, because struggling through a book on an overnight flight is not part of my plan.

A week or so ago, I bought Blink and Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, as he has been highly recommended to me by several family members. Gladwell, a journalist for publications like The New Yorker, writes about the psychology and logic behind instincts, success and how the subconscious affects us everyday. It's fascinating. The problem now is that I'm almost done with Blink. I only read it while I'm on the commuter rail to and from Boston when I visit Corey, and I cannot control myself enough to save it for the trip overseas. I've already decided to pick up Gladwell's first book, The Tipping Point, but I'm desperately in need of some suggestions for other books as I'm afraid I'll finish these on the short flight from Providence to Newark.

So what are your favorite books to read while traveling? What is the one book you have read that you couldn't put down until the last page had been read? Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated and will help shield me from the insufferable airplane small talk.

Happy New Year!

I'm a fan of fresh starts, of making resolutions and of tricking myself into believing that I will stick to them. Every year for as long as I can remember, I have vowed to stop biting my nails in the new year, and anyone who has seen my stubby fingers can attest to my failure. But this never stops me from wholeheartedly believing that I can stop cold turkey at midnight on January 1. In case you're wondering, not even this new decade could make me keep my resolution.

So instead of resolutions, I'm 10 days away from the greatest fresh start of my life. Preparing for my departure from my friends and family here has been much more difficult than I anticipated. Every time I meet someone for a tea or lunch, the thought runs through my head, Will I see them again before I go or should we say our goodbyes now? A knot of anxiety has been growing steadily over the past few weeks in the pit of my stomach. I'm extremely excited and happy to be going to Ireland, but dreading the airport goodbyes.

But overall, the feeling is a positive one, and the root of a resolution that I will sincerely keep: blogging. I love reading the blogs of students who are studying abroad and I think that I will be just as enthusiastic about maintaining my own. I am going to try to post every day, time permitting, with something about my travels. Already in researching weather and the like on this website, I have discovered that the Irish seemingly have an extensive vocabulary to describe one word: rain. The week that I arrive, it is expected to "sprinkle," "drizzle," be "showery," and experience "light rain." Raise your hand if these all mean exactly the same thing. That's what I thought.

So I'll be coming to you East Coasters from five hours in the future, and I've added a Dublin clock to my blog in case you're curious. I won't have my American cell phone, so the best way to reach me will be commenting on these posts, emailing or Skyping. This may quite possibly be the last post from this side of the Atlantic. I'm only 10 days and a pesky four hour layover in Newark, New Jersey (can't wait!) away from my new adventure.

Spoons and metal pipes

Merry Christmas from my pipe wielding family to yours. Eat your hearts out, Partridge family.

Gingerbread galore

The small army of gingerbread men and women can only mean one thing: it's Christmas and I'm home. More so than eating the cookies, and we all know my penchant for sweets, I enjoy decorating them. I've finally gotten close to my mother's skill level. The poinsettias are among my proudest creations.

And keeping with the season's current fashion trends, I could not help by make a studded stocking.

My mom's girls and boys are perfectly frosted little clones, each one exactly like the next. Literally, they are perfect. It seems an engineering mind is the perfect tool for frosting cookies.

Now that the cookies are done, I'm only a few days away from Christmas Eve, my favorite holiday. I wish everyone a happy holiday and bellies full of good food and delicious desserts!

Two posts in two days brought to you by finals.

This is what I imagine is going on at my house right now, minus the fact that this is not exactly an accurate representation of my mother. Yet, at the same time, it's really so perfect.

Only four more days until I'm home and can say, "Awww, look at the tree!"

Procrastinate. Check.

I love making to-do lists. There's nothing quite so satisfying as crossing off each assignment as I complete it. Of course, because I want to feel on top of my homework and studying, I always include items on my to-do list that I've already accomplished. This morning I woke up, showered, went to breakfast at The Paramount with Eileen, came back and made my to-do list for the day. The first five items?

1. Wake up

2. Shower

3. Go to breakfast

4. Come back

5. Make to-do list

By the looks of my list, I've already had quite the productive day. My friend Zach even showed me a new website TeuxDeux (pronounced to do) that allows you to make a task list online. Is it really necessary? Not for me, but I made an account anyways and planned a to-do list for every day of the week.

Perhaps it's counterproductive to make a glorified "I already did it" list (eh, and to blog when I should be studying) but I have to keep my sanity somehow and feeling at least a little organized helps me do that.

Plus, I'm tired of reading about if monkeys and fish have a moral code. I think we can all agree that no matter how ethical monkeys act toward one another, they will still fling their poo at you if you upset them. And we eat fish, so I don't think anyone really cares about their emotions. I mean, not that they are exactly fish, but in my family we name and play with lobsters before dropping them into the pot of boiling water on the stove. Fun, yes. Humane, not so much.

But, in an act of procrastination, I digress.

It's time I get back to prepping for philosophy and revising my to-do list to include blogging. I like living in a world where productivity and procrastination can be one in the same.

Who says I can't do science?

As a magazine journalism major, science really is a foreign language. That's why it's wonderful to have a friend who finds all experiments fascinating. Eileen shows me and I don't have to sit through the long lectures to understand why it happens. I really don't care, it just looks cool.

Haven't had your daily physics fix today? Watch Eileen and her water pressure experiment. Trust me, I wouldn't be posting if it wasn't really interesting.

Best Thanksgiving ever?

Absolutely.

Not only did I feel more well-rested on this break than ever before, but the food was amazing. Literally everything I ate last week was delicious. The minor exception being "grilled" chicken, which was actually "caught fire in the grill" chicken. Love you, Mom!

For Thanksgiving, we went to my Auntie Erin and Uncle Tim's house for one of, if not the, best Thanksgiving dinner I've ever eaten. This post is heavy on pictures, so enjoy. They show the food better than I could ever describe.

Here's Uncle Tim serving the turkey. He was responsible for most of the food, but Auntie Erin, who's sitting next to him, cooked her fair share. The two should open a restaurant or write a cookbook. Trust me, they're good.

Here's Nana, Dad and Pat passing around the turkey.

And here's mom with some mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce.

Also, the eyeballs made an appearance. It wouldn't be a Kavanaugh dinner without them. I believe they are a kind of creamed onions, but really, I've never been able to bring myself to try them. Uncle Tim used to pay me $1 to try exotic foods like whipped cream and shrimp cocktail sauce. If he were to, ahem, up the ante a few bucks, I may consider trying some of the eyeballs, but until then, I'll just keep passing them around the table.

Here's my finished plate, with none of the foods touching since I'm weird like that. The squash, turkey and sweet potatoes must stay separated, but the mashed potatoes and corn are allowed, even encouraged, to touch. I'm made fun of at every holiday, but they just don't understand.

Then came the desserts. Oh, the desserts. My Nana made four, count them one, two, three, four, desserts. Apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie and lemon cake. The lemon cake is made specifically for Patrick, but I was able to steal a few slices...and a slice of apple pie...and a slice of the pumpkin pie. Yes, I ate three desserts after a seriously filling dinner. I know you're judging me, but once you see the pictures, I think you'll understand.

After gushing over the food, we really had a good time for ourselves. Patrick and Papa definitely share some goofy genes. Those are salt and pepper shakers on Pat's face and, yes, that's a knife in Papa's mouth if you can't tell.

Some of us are relatively normal. Or maybe we're just better at hiding the crazy.

For the rest of the evening, Pat and Uncle Tim had a bit of a jam session. Pat's been taking a guitar class at school and has really gotten much better since the last time I was home. He tried to teach me a few chords, but I don't think I was made to be musical.

After we left the Kavanaugh dinner, we went to the second show, which was dessert at my Uncle Ray and Auntie Kristen's house. I didn't take nearly as many pictures because I was having way too much fun playing with my cousins. Pat and my cousin Ryan played video games all night, of course.

My cousin Kate and I played Barbies with her younger cousin, also named Meghan. Barbies are always fun. I don't care how old I get, I will always enjoy changing their outfits, playing with their hair and searching for the ever elusive matching pink heel. It was funny to see the aftermath of a few creative decisions that Kate made a few years back. Some of the Barbies had a little work done, to say the least. Yikes.

Then, on Saturday night, we headed up to Nashua, New Hampshire to visit my Auntie Jo and Uncle Bill's new house. During the night, Sarah, Amanda and I came to the realization that we could be replaced by a few toy trains that Matthew had set up for the little guys. I guess the cousinly bond was a bit weak, because the trains really did the entertaining.

Ben and Sam could not be torn away. I'm sure you can imagine the fun of taking twin three-year-olds away from a train set so that they can go home to go to bed. Oh yes, it's a joy. Actually, it's pretty much the same reaction you get when you tell a college student she has to leave home to go back to two weeks of cramming for finals. Sure, I love being back in the city, but after such a much needed break full of relaxation, food and family, I could have used a few extra days to sit and play with the trains.