Saturday Snapshots: Ireland & Currently July

I wasn't going to participate in this linky (only because I felt like being completely lazy couch potato when I woke up this morning), but I realized I have NEVER shared a few of my 400+ pictures of when I toured Ireland.  So, after breakfast, coffee, and a couple hours of The Plague on The History Channel, I have finally overcome my laziness... a little.  I've labeled every picture with where it was taken incase you would like to do further research... I'm going to try to keep this brief!

In June/July of 2011, my brother, his {then} girlfriend, and I went to Ireland for two weeks.  We took a 12-day all Ireland tour via Paddywagon Tours.  This tour was packed with amazing people from around the world.  If you're under the age of 50 and love a good time, I highly recommend this tour group!!!  We started in Dublin and, basically, worked our way around Ireland and ended in Dublin.  So. Much. Fun.  I'm going to move on to the pictures.  If you have questions, please ask!

Beautiful, no? 

Derry is full of history... very sad history.  If you know anything about Ireland, you know that religion (Catholics and Protestants) has been a conflict for many, many years.  There are walls and fences that separate Catholics and Protestants.  While there, I took a Derry Walls tour... so incredibly sad, but it is a beautiful place.  Oxymoron?

Very cool!  The legend goes that the columns are the remains of the causeway that was built by an Irish Giant and a Scottish Giant across the North Channel so they could meet and fight! :)

More walls to separate the Catholics and Protestants.  We took a Black Taxi Tour while in Belfast and learned a lot!  They, too, have a very sad history that continues today.  While you can travel between sides, there are still gates that close and lock every night.  This is to prevent people from going into people's houses at night to murder them.  

 Are these not absolutely gorgeous??  There were huge fuschia plants everywhere!

I went to the top, but couldn't bring myself to kiss the Blarney Stone after the people in front of me.  Yuck! 

(Eww, I was a tiny bit heavier here)  This is possibly inappropriate to post, but you can't go to Ireland without touring the Guinness Storehouse!  So much history and information!  Guinness, in it's singular form, is not a favorite.  

Farley's Currently July

Everything is pretty self-explanatory!
Listening: - I'm a history buff... I can't get enough!!!
Loving: - I don't have cable or satellite at my apartment.  It's just too expensive, so I'm soaking it up while I'm house sitting! :)
Thinking: - My Vistaprint is supposed to arrive today (our mail here stinks).
Wanting: - I am not a fan of summer.  I love the time off, but I hate to sweat.  Living in the south, you sweat no matter what you do.  I hate it!
Needing: - I need a little motivation to do anything today. :)
Tips: - I don't have graphic software to make a lot of the amazing images you see on blogs; however, I am able to use Powerpoint to layer graphics, text, etc. over images.  It works pretty well!

As a reminder - my GIVEAWAY starts bright and early Monday morning!