Coulda Woulda Shoulda

I Totally Miss This... The cost is too high right now. Perhaps I should open up an Internet Cafe in Belfast. I have Dave sighing over my shoulder. I hope to update more but I need to get a job. I have an amazing flat and I'm so happy where we are. I love my fridge and freezer. I love my dry bathroom which is not in the basement. I love my laminate floors. No vacumning. I love it here.

We are no longer homeless!! Have found an amazing flat in Belfast. I love it. Details and pics later. Keep your fingers crossed for some employment now. Sorry so short. This internet cafe is ££$$$.

Another Jet Plane Tomorrow So I have been quite slack this week. I have only really been online for a total of 4 hours. It really sucks not to be able to drink my tea, read my sites, update my stuff. Plus, we're coming close to crunch time on another issue of Mosaic Minds and I'm feeling VERY GUILTY for being not putting in as much as I'd like to this month. It's set to be another great issue with a ton of interesting articles. I have felt more like myself in the last week than I did probably the entire month of February. I realize this may be coming out of the blue and sound quite harsh but being back here has made me reconnect with the Europe Abbey and I gotta say, I really like her. It's not that I dislike being around people at home or that I miss them any less. It's just that I haven't quite figured out how to be the person I am here..there.. Hopefully this year will help me figure that out.

The Eagles Have Landed I've done it! I am here. It feels so good to be back. I had such a wonderful, fantastic, exciting, amazing, spectacular, uplifting, inspiring and all around great time when I was home for three months. I managed to reconnect with a lot of friends, take stock of what and who was important and also set up amazing network opportunities work wise. If I had never been home, I would never have gotten involved in Mosaic Minds. What a great bunch of ladies to work with. Always inspiring and helpful - thanks for understanding my move issues ladies!! I must say, though, it was time to go. Time to come across the pond to try it out again for a little while. I'm sure when I get my flat in Belfast and a job that I'm happy with, I'll start missing everyone all over again. But for now, my itchy feet need some lotion. Leeds is exactly the way I left it. I suppose it has only been three months but I expected SOMETHING to change. Besides t...

Flying Away Today I am so much more frazzeled then expected. I am so much more drained from saying goodbye to so many people all over again. I don't remember this much frustration last time. Perhaps I was more excited. Why am I not as excited as last time? I think I just need to get there. I will try and update soon but I'm already behind today. I wish I could sound more postitive on my last day in the country, but perhaps I had too many expectations for this day.

A Good Sendoff? As I was driving in D's parents car yesterday, listening to the Barenaked Ladies latest album, I was overcome with happiness. I was so overcome with happiness that the morbid part of my brain piped up and thought that if I was to be hit by another car and die, right at that moment, that I would have been happy with the way I left the world. Singing my heart out to my favourite band by myself - freedom - in a fancy car on the highway. I was comforted to know my loved ones would probably imagine me that way in my final moments. No pain. No fear. No disease. Heck, probably not even a clue what happened. Just happy. Just singing. If you gotta go, it sounded like a great way, at the time. It must be my leaving that has warped my thoughts so. Perhaps I realize that I have done almost everything I came home to do. And now I'm heading off again, happy to take on another world without fear. Another new beginning. Hopefully I'll be contentl...

Mosaic Minds Question Always looking for some insight, we're asking this question for our Online Outlook section this month: Have you ever jumped feet first into something that you thought you should know more about? What did you learn about yourself? If you have a great tale, about 4 to 5 sentences long, please email travel@mosaicminds.net. Include your name as well as email and web address if desired - free advertising for you!

Busy Busy Busy *sung in ABBA Money Money Money style* Okay, it's happening. I realize I just wrote about the list. But I'm feeling the strain again. Problem is, I am a procrastinator - some of you may know that as I have written numerous times about my difficulty with leaving things until the last minute. I'm off to Toronto today for a romantic day with D. Ontario Art Gallery, fancy dinner, Theatre show and a night in a hotel. Luxurious. I am, however, not going to be at my computer until probably Thursday. So, I will update then and apologies for this short note. I wish I had a cell phone where I could up date this blog. I know you can actually email updates to a blog from anywhere. All I would need is a phone I could email from. (See?? What AM I talking about? I've got a ton of things to do before we take off and I'm going on about updating a blog by a phone???)

Making a List and Checking It Twice I have been known to panic. It's part of my personality. My control-freak nature doesn't allow me to feel okay with just coasting. And so on the weekend, I had in my mind that I had SO MUCH TO DO!! and that I needed tons of days to get it done. How was I going to manage? Ah, my favourite part - making a list. Write down everything that is in your head and make a list. Perfect. This must be why I like writing so much. It orgainzes my thoughts. It allows me to express myself. So, after I wrote the list last night, I realized, that I don't actually have that much to do. It's more about the people that I have to see before I go. It didn't seem this difficult last time I left. I think perhaps I've been a bit lazy and selective with my time this time round. And now, when it has come down to the last week, I have all these people I have not yet seen and would like to see before I go. I will probably have to start i...

Found Again A bit of a melodrama. It was back within 20 minutes. Sorted.

EMAIL EMAIL EMAIL!! I AM SO LOST RIGHT NOW!! MY EMAIL IS DOWN AND I CAN'T ACCESS IT!! *having a freak out*

Can You Just Cancel It Please? I made the mistake this morning of doing something that I've never done before. I tried to cancel my credit card. It has been over a year since I have begun to phase the credit cards out of my life. It has been about 7 or 8 since I have used them for a variety of purposes. The first major expense was when I was in second year university and I decided that I would put my 4 day trip to Las Vegas on the card. What a rush. It was like free money. And although I was never as crazy as the Shopoholic of Sophie Kinsella fame (reading the series right now - so funny), I did tend to rationalize all my purchases. I ended up have three credit cards, a gas card and a store card. Who knows how it happened but you know they just send you those "You're approved!" and I can't seem to help it. I even did one of those funky bank debt consolidation loans. Figured I needed credit with the bank and wanted a lower interest rate. You s...

Vint Day 2004 With my parents living in a different country, every time I have visited over the past few years, it has always been like a holiday. And holidays are great. You get to sightsee, eat loads, drink loads all in the name of "vacation". But sometimes, because it has always been so short, I find myself wishing that I could just lounge around on their couch and act as though I see them every day. This time, it was more like that. Because D and I arrived 5 days before everyone else, there wasn't any pressure to act like it was vacation. We could just sit around. We watched television. We ate in instead of eating out. We went to bed at a reasonable time. My mom fixed a weird face reaction that I seemed to be having. It was just like as though we lived around the corner instead of an 8 hour drive away. I loved it. Of course, by Friday, the extravaganza was ready to begin. My youngest sister had flown from her college in NC. My younger ...

The Goal I've got myself a goal. I will attend this in May..in Paris. I'm going out on a limb here, stating this here and now, but let's just say I need to set some deadlines for myself and this is one of them. Things to do before that: 1 - Set my life up in Belfast, NI. This is kind of a big one, which includes many little ones they are: 1a - Get a house 1b - Get a job 1c - Begin to pay off my debts 2 - Save for the conference So, really, it's not THAT big of a challenge. Really. (A girl can dream can't she? If you'd like to assist a crazy girl getting to Paris from Belfast in May, please email her )

WE'RE LIVE AGAIN! Hello all - Mosaic Minds Nostalgia issue was posted today! Check it out Here's the link to pass along to all you know: http://www.mosaicminds.net ********* VINT DAY RULED..but more on that later...