What the who the????? How has it been five months since I last posted? Seriously, how'd that happen? I'm actually ashamed of myself! All of my readers probably figured I was in a coma or something. And the sad part is that one of my New Year's resolutions was to post to this blog more! And here it is, February 15th, and I am only just now posting! RUH ROH!

So, shall I even attempt to recap August, September, October, November, and December 2011 (not to mention January 2012!)? But I did so much cool stuff! I couldn't possibly recap sufficiently! Maybe I'll post some highlights....
Well of course, lots of outings with my in-laws! Bill, Joyce, and Billy are still kicking, with only a few health-related scares that have so far all turned out a-ok. Here's a great photo of Bill and Billy:

And here's one of Joyce:

Those photos are actually from April 2011 (our trip to Kilkenny) but I think they weren't developed until recently, so I decided to post them. Mark's Aunt and Uncle visited from Chicago, along with an entire flock of cousins and their friends, so we had an exciting couple of weeks socializing. Here's one of my favorite photos from that time. I LOVE what everyone in this photo is doing:

You can see the family resemblance. Bill is all the way to the right and his sister is the older woman to the left. Their niece is between them. It was a happy family reunion.

In August we took a trip to Belfast, which is only a short train ride away, and availed of my birthday present to Mark: Iron Maiden!

As (bad) luck would have it, we were as far away from the stage as possible. Seriously, we were against the back wall farthest from the stage! But still we had a fun time. We didn't have enough time to do too much cultural sight seeing, but we sure bought a lot of books!

September must have been pretty low-key, because I can't find that many photos from that month. I did MC a fundraiser for Fumbally Court Studios, which mostly involved introducing acts and trying to be funny. I should have asked someone to take a photo of me, but I always get shy about doing that!

In October, Mark and I had a weekend in Cork City. I loved Cork! We saw a play called Breathing Underwater, visited museums, ate fantastic food, and...bought more books! I must have forgotten my camera because I don't have a single photo! But I would definitely go back to Cork and hope to!

November was an exciting month. We went home to the US for Thanksgiving!! It was amazing. Amazing! First, we went to Savannah, Georgia, where my brother was getting married. Savannah was so much fun!

We had some fantastic family bonding time, and so many laughs. I managed to get my siblings to go to a gay bar (we were the only ones there aside from two dudes at the bar), Mark and I got our dance on, and my sisters and I got in a couple of runs together. There were times when we were laughing so hard we could hardly run! We went to museums (I recommend the SCAD museum) and...bought lots of books! Here's Mark in front of a film of fire. It looks real, doesn't it?

The wedding was a lovely affair featuring a stretch hummer and massive quantities of food and alcohol. A good time was had by all! I'd post photos but I kind of don't have any! Here's one of me and Mark:

Then we flew up north to New Hampshire for Thanksgiving! I got to frolic with my nieces and nephew, and meet my lovely niece's son (yes, that makes me a Great-Aunt!), Kieran. I also saw my mother, my Uncle Joe and Aunt Joanne, my cousins Geraldine, Cynthia and her fantastic husband Tom, and not least my Aunt Annie. Sadly, Annie passed away last month. She was an amazingly strong, understated, and determined person. She fought cancer four times. Now she is with her husband, my father, my uncles, and my grandparents in the party in the sky. I hope they are enjoying themselves, wherever they are.

We ventured to Boston for a day or so -- just barely enough time to see a few people -- and then before we knew it, it was time to come back to Dublin!

By then, it was nearly December. The holiday season was upon us. This year, we actually bought a tree! Decorating was fun and all, but of course once January rolled around, I was happy to pack it all up and put it away.

It was definitely party season, and here's our friend William dressed as the Angel Gabriel. Irish people love a costume, what can I say!

And here's Eilis and Andrew dressed up as one of the wise men and...I'm not sure what that leprechaun hat is for!

Here I am with my friend Clare:

We had a low-key New Year's at home in front of the television, which I found very enjoyable as I hate to go out on New Year's Eve. Then it was only a couple of weeks until I was finished with my community employment scheme, so I bid the folks at the Rediscovery Centre a fond farewell! But I have big plans for 2012, so I am not sad about being unemployed.

I just finished a fantastic course at Griffith College, Adobe Illustrator for Fashion Design. And I am starting another class next week through the Dublin City Enterprise Board that I'm really excited about. Otherwise it's been a LOT of yoga, chilling out my mind, and making plans for the ole futurama. So far 2012 looks promising.

So I should really do this more often! Hopefully the rest of the year will be a more blogworthy one!