so what.

do you know what i miss?

those 14 days of heaven back in may.
the travel days, my favorite kind.
spending nine hours on a plane.
stepping off the jetway, and into heath-row...
the best feeling ever.
i didn't care about the state of my hair,
or the makeup on my face.

that's the best thing about the travel bug.
it satisfies you with throwing wet hair into a bun on the top of your head,
slapping on the closest pair of walking shoes,
and lets you run fearlessly around england as fast as your legs will allow.

i've never needed anything but the sky.
a sky so long, and a world so wide.
to teach me about the elgin marbles.
one that lets me brush my fingers along westminster's pews,
and reminds me that it's sometimes okay to kiss the floor.

so what if my grades are mediocre and pocket change is scarce.
i've seen the world, and i know that it's there.

[if you could excuse the awkward kardashian-fab pose that i somehow thought was okay, that would be great.]

vienna waits for you. billy joel, highly appropriate.

i kind of feel like never reading an article, memoir, JSTOR entry, or scientific journal ever again.
because i have spent the last eleven hours hooked to my computer, notebook, and every 1960s new york times article that ever existed.
and frankly, i am sick of writing about housewives and "glocoat".

so i took a break.
mind you, it was not a break from academia, but rather a break from all things "don draper meets stepford wives". it was a dive into western civ. a very much needed dive.

it was a small vacation where i disappeared into stefan zweig's autobiography.
i saw vienna, and lived like the jewish bourgeoisie.
i learned all about the age of security, and the upper middle class previous to the twentieth century.

i also read this, which explains my obsession with this novel:

"we gradually acquired small comforts, moved from a smaller to a larger house, rented a carriage for afternoons in the spring, and traveled second-class in a sleeping car. but it was not until he was fifty that my father allowed himself the luxury of spending a month in the winter with my mother in [the south of france]."

the world of yesterday, by stefan zweig.



never have i been so crazy eyes over a class before.
i'm in love with this required text. really, i am.

[weekend starts TOMORROW! ...at 3 p.m. ...if i can only manage to finish this soul sucking paper. you will be the death of me, english 2010. wow... never thought i'd say that... i blame it on general requirements, and lack of creative thinking involved with that waste of a class.]

wanderlust.

today, i think instead of vacuuming my bedroom and organizing one too many torn open envelopes, i think i'll drink sweet lemonade on the bow of a sailboat in the middle of nowhere, croatia, and get lost in a charlotte bronte best.

see you soon.

picture credit, my current favorite blogger who just returned from the trip, herself.

she is living proof of her blog title, and i am deeply envious.

the first of european thursdays.

new rule:

every thursday is euro-thursday.

 we took miss meg's advice, and spent an afternoon at the london market.

(thanks, meg!)

i reacquainted myself with my favorite european treats: wine gums, and bueno bars.

it was fabulous, and worth the drive. 

but what drive isn't worthwhile when it is accompanied by iron & wine, the smiths, mozella, and leads to the slc?

tonight will be spent with this friend and this friend, watching the greatest show on television. 

and hopefully kicking some hussies out of the competition.

stay tuned.

kilarney has ruined me forever.

miraculously, there is wifi in our favorite red blooded american diner in limerick. sure do love me some free wifi, that's for sure. especially when it is accompanied by a big juicy BLT heavy on the mayo. what can I say... i'm all about the grease. however, I can't stomach another fry. i'm done with those.

the tour ends in the morning, and i have to wake up from my green dream. it's possible that i'll shed a few tears. i mean, i'm just being honest.

i spent the day on dingle peninsula and felt my heart skip a beat upon entering thatched roof and poppy territory. it was a blustery day and grey was everywhere. the rain dimpled our euro car as the kooks and otis redding provided the soundtrack of our drive. this saying goodbye business isn't going to be easy.

i'll be seeing you in america too close to momentarily. back to the place deprived of cake pops, penney's, and da mario's. {sigh. big sigh.}

love, a true galway girl.

travel seduction brought to you by ireland.

tube to train, train to ship, ship to train, and train to train, i have reached dreamland. around nine o'clock tonight, and after twelve hours of travel across land and sea, i stepped off the train in limerick. the very same place that mr. thomas lefroy calls home... that is one beautiful detail that i am particularly giddy about. the other could possibly be driven by the fact that upon arriving, out my window, there was nothing but green.

i am in heaven here.

and do you know what?
there is a bath tub here. a real life one. and the view put my window is of a dark grey stone clock tower and cathedral, fifteenth century made or older. i'm telling you, i could spend forever here. plus, i ate maynards wine gums for dinner, {my favorite european delicacy} and am finishing off the night watching made in chelsea. the hills, but with the addition of british accents... which somehow makes it less trashy. instead of our protagonist being the lovely "LC", in britain, her name is caggie. i do believe i have once again pestered the reality t.v. monster inside of me, and this show has become an addiction i refuse to shake myself of. cheeky, reeeally. lastly... every commercial voice over has an irish tint. it. is. the loveliest thing.

good night from county cork.
all of my love, courty kearns.
{p.s. my name is a big deal around here, what with it being irish and all. so i'm obviously loving that too.}

that was the man i was supposed to marry.

he got off the tube at picadilly, walked eastbound and forever out of my life. i'm afraid the image of his khaki pants, curly sand hair, root beer boots, and dark teal eyes will never leave me. he stared at my shoes, and i stared at his stare. it made my heart hurt, really. a few years my senior, two or three i'm sure. if he'd spoken a word to me with the british accent that i know he had, we'd be halfway to serious courtship by now. i am convinced that I witnessed a great tragedy this morning on my way to wales; never trust a boy from london in dark blue pin stripes. he is far too dreamy for real life. here's to better luck in dublin.

penny lane is in my ears, and in my eyes.

a little less than two weeks, lovelies.

i can see london-heathrow as i type, i swear it. slow-mo walking across abbey road, playing around piccadilly circus, trafalgar square, and harrod's... indulging in a pistacchio and strawberry cake pop of course... remember? bucket list? not to mention shopping portobello road in notting hill, {cue bill withers}. sunday the fifteenth, you can find me wandering hyde park, listening to young revolutionists proclaim their most well thought out ideas from soap boxes. and later in the week, i will share a long awaited kiss with the one that i love. his name is the blarney stone. and we're practically married. i'm pretty committed, and have been since i heard the word ireland so many years ago. i was young when we were introduced, but our love is forever.

for now, however, i must dream sweetly of gerrit rietveld, phillip johnson, and karim rashid... for my academic fate lies within their now-tainted names. they're brilliant men, but i'd rather not be tested on the course of our courtship.

that means history of interiors final, people. 
tomorrow. 

{good night.}

p.s.
still beatles obsessed. i think it's for good this time.

i'm not even embarrassed.

you guys. 

i'm going through a stage where all i want to do is pretend that i am kate middleton. (for obvious reasons.) lately, i only listen to the beatles. eleanor rigby and lovely rita are my best girlfriends these days. not to mention i watched the young victoria yesterday and drooled over her wardrobe. and her husband. i don't know what it is... but the royal wedding is taking over, and i can think of nothing but this and this. i'm a little bit bitter about missing the event by just two weeks. 

yes, that's right. two.

boo.

 oh that i were a transcept at westminster abbey.

i thought that since mr. president wasn't on the guest list, i could maybe go in his place. he should not have regifted the winston churchill bust... to the people that gave it to him... good one. 

anyway. 

i think we all know where i'd rather be right now.

i love them.

i'll be watching their special day live tomorrow morning. 

at 4 a.m. 

it's just true.

"all my parts are vital."

friday mornings are serious business around here,
and there are a few things that need to be addressed.

when you have the world's most sensitive stomach, and when you wake up with fake morning sickness that makes your insides want to resign from the rest of your body...

well. that's when you think you're pregnant.

but except, i'm obviously not.
but sometimes i think i am still...
i think when i really am prego, with reeeal morning sickness, i will welcome it with open arms, like a dear old friend.
my anxious stomach is making me tougher, that's for sure.

other than all of this bod talk...

i watched this yesterday.
and got my cry in for the week.
i always cry at the end of the ireland letter when he puts his head on her shoulder.
i lose it. serious.
they're my favorite movie couple. in case you ever need to know.
and sometimes i pretend that i'm holly kennedy, and that i live her life.
except just in the ireland parts...
because remember how i'm obsessed with that place?
and remember how this is lovely? and i'm obsessed with it too? and just them, period?
okay good. i'm glad we're all remembering.

also,

grey's anatomy last night? *spoiler alert... do not continue to read if it's still fresh on your tivo...

arizona robbins. could she be any bigger of a baby?!
it's all i could think about.
suck it up, pedes doc.
and just when things get better, and she's not being a little girl anymore... really you can't keep your eyes on the road?! what is that about?!
if that baby dies... and if callie dies... ohhh my gosh.
first o'malley's accident, then izzy got weird and left, and now callie-used-to-be-o'malley is all torn up...
this show can't afford to lose another one of its best characters. even though i'll watch it until it dies no matter what...

and also, i would like to say that i think avery and little grey are fabulous together... but it won't last. because lexie and sloan are just m.t.b. {meant to be. remember it.} ...he loves her wayyy too much.

lastly, how glad am i that someone can dish karev's crap right back to him? can you say, finally?!

...can't wait until next week.


{haaaappy weekend loyal followers!}

...p.s. i looooooove you!

surreal, but nice.

i'll be here on may 16th.

got it yet? here's a clue.

"whoops-ie-daisies..."

...still don't have it?

...after all, i'm just a girl. standing in front of a boy. asking him to love her.
any bells ringing yet?

i just spent the last two hours reading over maps, brochures, and tube routes of london. and i went over and the itinerary multiple times. and of course i left plenty of time to spend in notting hill. i just love playing tour guide.

so come mid-may, i'll visit the blue door in my favorite bit of london... needless to say, i can't wait!

confessions of a travel connoisseur.

it might be the snow, the mountains reminiscent of the alps, or it could also just be that i'd rather be anywhere but here right now.

so today, i took a break for just some me time. i headed to salzburg for the day.




aside from wrought iron store signs and mozart, this exists in austria. so naturally i'm obsessed.




i'm convinced that it's the prettiest city in the whole world.






{happy wednesday.}

but i am a good girl.

i didn't need it.
but i indulged in a little bit of retail therapy today.
because it was friday and i do what i want on fridays.

all for 30$ ya'll.

aaaand.
i set myself down on the carpet and pulled out the travel books in barnes & noble.
which just so happens to be my favorite store.
it was the loveliest of all afternoons.

tonight, i had a little movie date with my mom. and she fell in love with burlesque like i did. but she'd never tell you that. so don't tell her i told you so...

what a happy day.

this is why we love friday around here.

p.s. i'm obsessed with this. ohhhh and this song, too.
okay. carry on.

we'd spend our days traveling.

this morning, i woke up in cork, ireland.

yes. that's right.


here.

this is my favorite place in the world. in case you are ever faced with a life and death situation, and the only way you can survive is by answering a question about my favorite place. it's here. in cork.

i just saved your life.

i haven't been here yet. but come the third week in may, this is where i'll reeeeally be.
in ireland and england.
i just can't get my mind off of traveling right now.
and the fact that i still have four months of waiting to do.

who am i kidding. can i ever get my mind off of that? it's me we're talking about here.
it might be that i have to go to school in a few hours and green scenery trumps biology any day.
plus it's like. no degrees outside.
k but literally....


and it doesn't help when you need new music and no one to give it to you.

oh. and today, i miss high school.
because of the reasons below, explained in the picture.

kenzie bee and my favorite boys.


ugh. growing up is hard to do...

sorry. i'm not feeling so profound in the writing department lately.
maybe i'll get my mojo back when all of these memory lane blues go away.

on the plus side, it's friday!
and i get to go home today. to my parents, sister, and all of my favorite friends.
:)

{have a happy little weekend.}

mrs. somebody. darcy or the latter.

hey.
my mind is here right now. so i can't talk to you.





look familiar now?

please don't try to contact me right now.
i took a quick trip.
i'm out of the country.
i find myself doing this from time to time subconsciously.
i get on google and just look at pictures of different places around the world for hours at a time...


so today i went to groomsbridge.
be back soon.

while we're on the subject...
kind of...
i just want to throw in my piece of the day.
which is mrs. richard brinsley sheridan by thomas gainsborough

why can't life be as simple as a rococo painting?
i kind of just want to be this mrs.

danke schoen, darling danke schoen. thank you for all the joy.

would you like to know where i'd like to be right now?



back here.
in bavaria, germany.
hitting those lovely alpine slopes.

this february, it will have been two years since my parents and i embarked on our germany-austria trip!
and i have craved it every snowfall since....

i first discovered how much i liked ingrid here. (there were many hours spent in the car.)
and got yet another different taste of the european culture that i have become incandescently in love with.
i tried my first batch of schnitzel drizzled with lemon juice in germany,
and visited a cow farm where we were generously given a fresh carton of milk!
i remember walking the hallowed grounds of dachau concentration camp against the snow and through the fog. i was speechless and humbled by everything i saw. what an experience.
we slept like kings on white bed linens made of ostrich feathers--just because that's the european way to do it!
i thought the wrought iron signs that lined each street of austria were the best things in the world. because they were.
we went to see mozart and his first pianos, and meandered through mittenwald in search of the world's first violin.

...among other things.

it was a beautiful little trip.
and i would give anything to be back there tonight.

someday again, right?