Ireland Days 81-84 and back in Washington

See? This is what happens when I don't blog: I can hardly remember what happened.

I'm back in Washington now, but not for long! I'll be heading back to Ireland sometime in February. That certainly made leaving a bit easier, knowing I'd be back.

Sunday saw a social gathering at Owen and Ger's place where I was able to spend a last night of card games, drink and talk with everyone.

Monday I did last minute souvenir shopping. I may have done other things as well but I can't remember.

Tuesday I slept as long as I could, packed, then had tea and conversation with Miriam. I received a call from Steve wishing me a good-bye and safe travels. He wasn't around at the weekend so we didn't have a chance to say good-bye then.

I asked Ger if I could stay at their place that night so I could walk to the bus station and avoid the taxi fare. She said yes, so Miriam took me over there around 8:45 or so and I read and watched TV until she and Owen got home.

They, in their fabulousness, bought me a going-away cake :3 So we ate cake and watched X Factor! It was a pleasant and quiet last night, glad that I saw them! <3

I barely squeezed in 4 hours of sleep on their couch (I was restless so it didn't go very well) and then got up and walked to the bus station.

What commenced was a full day of exhausting travel. Bus from Galway to Dublin, then a little over 8 hours from Dublin to Atlanta (yuck!), then some serious "fun" with my luggage in Atlanta, and a break-neck hustle to my gate, followed by about 5 hours to Seattle.

My mom had Gardettos waiting for me in the car! And we had Olive Garden for dinner. At the house there were gummie bears, jones soda and waffle mix. It was a nice night.

Apparently I'm taking some sort of 365 hiatus. I have been so distracted and just... otherwise mentally occupied this last week I haven't even thought about taking photos. Maybe I'll start back up tomorrow.

I'm so tired. Is it 8:30 at night or 4:30 in the morning? Why do we say 'at' night and 'in' morning?

While I was on the planes I flipped through the provided Sky Mall, Duty Free and other magazines that were offered in the seat pocket. The products weren't of much interest to me so I decided to focus on the perfume ads. They are certainly interesting. I had fun trying to decide what the lighting setups looked like. As well I liked assessing whether or not I thought the ad was effective, and then trying to figure out why based on lighting, body position and facial expression.

There was one perfume ad in particular that was not good in any way. It was bright blue and covered in diamonds and the lighting on the model was incredibly flat. It didn't pique my interest whatsoever. There was one that starred Scarlett Johansson that was really good. Maybe it was for Dior? I don't know, but it was all gold and really interesting to look at.

I love studio lighting. I can't wait to be working in the studio :)

-Miranda