End of Semester Recap

You know what, when it comes to blogging I tend to have an uneven ratio of words to pictures. And I'm really ok with that. I understand there's a lot of TLDR out there and I think most of my pictures can say a lot already. That's why I love instagram. I get to essentially mini blog which is super helpful for letting everyone know what's going on in my life without me writing a book all the time. Anyways, I never shared how the end of semester ended up: I was high stress with finals and then immediately went into vacation. Well I'll have you know I made out with some of the best grades this semester and managed to have fun towards the end, shocking I know.

PopPop || He's been living with us lately because his apartment building caught fire (his room is okay, they're just rebuilding.) It's fun having him around since he's a pretty fun party kind of guy.

Alcohol Gifts || I relieved a variety of drinks from my family. Whiskey, champagne, wine, vodka, and rum. And of course a book of drunk writers, Literary Rogues.

Kacie and Me || Kacie and I are finally 21 and got to drink with the family together at Pusser's.

BBC Drink in Ocean City || Mom and I went to Ocean City for Mother's Day weekend. I went to look for jobs and a place for me and 9 friends from Ireland to crash. The search was near impossible, so I wound up looking in Annapolis (to my luck.) Even though searching was hard my mom and I had a great time bonding and drinking wine and tropical drinks.

3 Years || Gerred and I have been dating for 3 years now. May 9, 2010 is when we made it official and August 30, 2012 is when he proposed. I'm happy to marry this guy one day and can't wait to start planning and you know, making a real wedding date.

Mother's Day Mimosa || On Mother's Day I told my Dad "Let's make mom egg white omelets with feta cheese and the whole shibang" he agreed, but I wound up not cooking that at all. I instead made mimosas out of a ton of oranges. We then went bike riding and then ate at Gina's Cantina, yum!

Nancy Drew: The Deadly Device || I played the 27th game of the Nancy Drew Mystery Adventure games (yes, I've pretty much played them all since I was 11.) This one was sciency and revolved around Tesla. It wasn't my favorite, but I wound up live playing and texiting it with my other Nancy fan friends: Stacie and Maggie. I cannot wait to play the Ghost of Thorton Hall.

Farewell to Tom || My cousin, Tom, recently got a job in Charleston, South Carolina. He's moving down there and I can't wait to visit him some time because, hey it's South Carolina and Tom.

Printing Press

The Rose O'Neil Literary House is where all the literary and cultural happenings go on at Washington College. With a cup of tea in hand you can walk around the house filled to the brim with books and jammed pack with broadsides of all the famous authors who have stopped by the house through the Sophie Kerr program for years. There's a kitchen, a garden, a classroom on the porch where I've had Foundations of Western Lit and Creative Process, and a ceiling painted with authors stringed together in a 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon way. 

Now as wonderful as this house is, I know I do not use it to it's full potential. In fact, the only time I really ever enter the house is for class or for a class project. Well, the King Lear video I filmed had me investigating the greatest resource available to the literary house, the antique printing press. Master printer, Michael Kaylor, was printing out 75 special broadsides for the play and one of my partner's Maisie and I, made our way down into the depths of the workshop to see Mike in action.

We were there to film, we didn't plan on interviewing him, but he wound up explaining his entire process to us. He set up the machine, slapped on the ink and would run the paper through the machine as he cranked the wheel. He'd pull it out and remark that the print was either too inked or too dry. Mike would then take the paper out, measure it, and go back to the machine and adjust. He also insisted on not filming any of the "before" prints that did not qualify for the final 75. The man is a master and his work certainly reflects it.

Soon the prints were cranking out one after the other. Maisie and I enjoyed the experience, seeing and learning the process we had taken the time to watch before. The end result was fantastic, an old illustration of King Lear and the Fool paired with the poem "On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again" by John Keats.

I enjoyed myself so much, I might want to take one of these workshop classes one day. I'm glad I got to  take advantage of a resource I had long forgotten.

Guest Post

I'd like to introduce you all to my blogger friend (I love that I can say that) Bailey from Becoming Bailey. She's a college girl trying to figure herself out in the world before graduating in December (like moi.) So here she is, Bailey!

Hey everyone! Shannon has asked me to share some travel tips with you lovely readers, specifically in the form of road trips.

You see, I consider myself a semi-professional road tripper, as a good majority of my childhood was spent crammed in the backseat of the family minivan on the way to the beach. One year, my family even traveled from our home in Kentucky to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, then to New York City, and on to Washington D.C. before finally heading home. My most recent road trip was to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas with my mother and grandmother over Spring Break.

Throughout the years, I've learned some very valuable lessons. Learn from my mistakes so your trip won't be a disaster.

1. Take your car to the shop before you leave. You do not want to be on the interstate in a rural area with an engine failure. Also, clean your car before you leave, because it will get messy on your trip.

2. Buy a road atlas. Even if you have a GPS or a TripTik from AAA, make sure to have a paper atlas just in case. (You will not believe the number of times Apple Maps got us lost in rural Arkansas!)

3. Pack snacks. Once you're finally on the road, you don't want to stop for a candy bar. Keep them within easy reach of the driver's seat, so you're not rummaging through bags while behind the wheel.

4. Make a "road trip" playlist for when you lose radio signal in the boondocks. It will happen and you do not want to be fiddling with the radio when your hands should be on the steering wheel.

5. Don't drive more than 11 hours in a day. Professional truckers don't drive more than 11 hours in a day, so neither should you. And on this note, it's safer to travel with friends or family-- you can split up the driving. Plus, you'll make some great memories! (That being said, choose your friends wisely. You will be stuck with this person for hundreds of miles.)

6. Relax. This is a fact: it will take longer to get to your destination than planned. Instead of speeding to your destination, take your time and enjoy the sights. Who knows? You may even run into a cool little tourist trap.

One such tourist trap: Margaret's Grocery in Vicksburg, MS.

7. Pick a good co-pilot or as I prefer to call them, navigators. The person in the front passenger seat should know how to read a map, give directions, and assist the driver in switching lanes during heavy traffic. If the person up front does not fit these qualifications, pull over and move them to the back. It sounds mean, but your navigator is the second-in-command of your vehicle. Just like a co-pilot needs to know how to fly the plane, the navigator needs to know how to drive the vehicle and give directions.

8. Bring enough money! Some places only accept cash. Trust me, you'd rather have too much than not enough. Of course, be careful with your money as you do not want to flaunt it all and end up a robbery victim.

9. Take a break. Get out of the car to stretch your legs and eat dinner. Sometimes, it's the only thing that will keep you sane.

10. Always, always, go to the bathroom when you are at a rest stop. Don't have to go? Then follow my advice that I always gave my campers before a long hike in the woods: Go try. You do not want to be hittin' the woods scraggly bush on the side of the interstate.

I hope you all have a safe and wonderful summer full of amazing memories. Happy road tripping, friends!

Vacation

Hello everyone! I survived finals and done with my Junior year of college. Now that I'm back I've been applying to jobs in both Ocean City and Annapolis and crossing my fingers to hear back from anywhere. 

I won't be starting work until June 1st when I get back from my two and a half week vacation. I'm spending half a week in New Mexico for Geralyn and Lisa Marie's wedding and then flying over to Texas to travel around with Gerred. 

I'll be absent from the blog for awhile, but only because I'm having a great time and seeing and doing all that I can.

EDIT: I'll be working at the Irish Channel as soon as I get back.

Vegetable Soup

I don't hate vegetables, but I have a hard time wanting to snack on carrots or broccoli. Lately, I've decided to remedy this lack of easy vegetable access with vegetable soup. In the beginning I just would wing it. Pour in broth and vegetable juice and throw in vegetables continuously  While I wouldn't say I've stopped doing that, I do have a recipe from these experiments to share.

Ingredients (with wing-it measurements)

2 cup vegetable broth

1 cup vegetable juice

1 can tomato paste

1 can green beans

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/2 a chopped zucchini

a handful or so of kale

1/4 sliced onion

 sliced red, green, and yellow peppers

1/2 cup mushrooms

1. Pour in broth and juice and heat it all up it up in a pot.

2. Add in your tomato paste and stir.

3. Continuously throw in vegetables and stir and stir until things are looking cooked.

4. Taste it and add some old bay.

And there you have it a very simple vegetable soup that can be adapted to whatever vegetables you desire, but don't feel like snacking on raw. If you enjoy snacking on raw onions though, I'd really like to know about that.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

I really enjoyed our spontaneous trip to Ocean City this weekend. I know it was a lot of stress with me looking for jobs and crack house apartment rentals for 10 people, but I had a great time being by your side. My favorite part was when we woke up and walked out to the beach right before the rain hit. I love you so much and I am glad we got to spend time together.

So happy mother's day to my mom and all the other moms out there like my grandma, aunts and my soon to be mother-in-law. Hope all the mom's out there have a great day and are showered with love from their sons, daughters, and grandchildren.

Annapolis with Sam

A few weeks ago Sam of A Diary of Travel and I headed over to Annapolis. I played tour guide around the city I'm well versed in and pointed out sights, shops, and any historical banter I knew about. We passed such landmarks as the Governor's House, the State House, Ego Alley, and the Alex Haley Statue. Along the way we snacked on Sofie's Crepes (which truthfully I had never eaten before,) stopped for some of my favorite strawberry oreo ice cream at Annapolis Ice Cream Company, and ended the night with a sampling of seafood with my whole family at Boatyard Bar & Grill. 

I had the Florentine Crepe which was rich and delicious. Next time I'm here I'll have to get a nutella crepe.

I always love coming to Annapolis with people who have never seen the city before. I get a fresh perspective and have a lot of fun re-exploring this city. Are there any places you know front to back?

GFC Blog Hop

Hello everyone, today I'm co-hosting the GFC Blog Hop with Sara of a Pearls and Curls and Chloe from Rainbows and Honeysuckle and fellow blogger friend and pen pal, Rebecca from Life with rMe . This is a great way to meet some new bloggers so go ahead and join the hop!

The Rules:

1. Link up both your blog and your Bloglovin' below! Be sure to visit some other links as well to make some new friends!

2. Follow your hosts and co-host and leave us a comment letting us know you followed so that we can follow you back!

3. If you're interested in co-hosting, you can fill out this form

For those that are just meeting me here, I'd just like to say "Hello!" I'm Shannon, 21, and about to be a senior in college once I finish my last finals tomorrow. I like to travel and recently spent a semester in Ireland having the time of my life. You can check all my Ireland travels here. I'm engaged to a Navy Pilot in Primary School. Currently I'm living in Maryland and he's in Texas. We've been doing the long distance relationship for a year now. Explore the blog and you'll find more tidbits about me and I cannot wait to meet you all in return! 

Happy blog hopping!

Creative Process

This semester I decided to entertain myself with taking an art class, The Creative Process. In the course of the class I could come up with any idea and create projects while getting critiques from my class. Many chose to do musical pieces, toy making, book making, feminist art, performance art, documentaries, creative writing exploration of the outdoors, stop motion slutty dolls...you name it they tried it. I chose to go with idea of storytelling through portraiture and watercolor. I asked people what made them who they are now, what are they going through right now, and who are you? I looked at four different people and one fictional character and decided to represent their stories in pictures.

This is Katie of Tips From the Mrs. with Bear Grylls. She is figuring out what it's like becoming an adult and growing and mentions that the day she figured out she had to become an adult was the day she bought a washer and dryer.

This is Gerred: "Now, in the military, I have more order to my life than I ever did growing up. It helps me. It calms me. I still enjoy spontaneity, but I respect the discipline involved with life being a pattern of lovely things.” He says that patterns are what helped him shape him into the man he is today.

 

This is Nina. She has a tattoo on her side of an Indigo Bunting. I painted the tattoo and overlaid it on top of her. The bird represents her brother.

This is King Lear. This piece begs the question that Lear asks throughout the play, “Who am I?” The fool’s answer that Lear is only “Lear’s shadow” is represented as the light above him reflects his shadow below him. The shadow here is meant to be the man that Lear once was; the man that had everything. The watercolor represents the division between the kingdom and the division of the mind in madness. The fleck of gold in the center is the man in the epicenter of the universe being reduced to nothingness.

This is my grandpa. We went out to where his garden used to be together and talked. He told me stories about growing up on the farm, leaving for the Army, and now seeing his garden gone.