Life As We Know It

Hello All!

This is Whitney posting today (Duncan has been very good about doing so the past few days while I am sacked out on the bed).

Today went fairly well for me. No wrong buses, thankfully. There's always just a few minutes to pass "by the sea," as my coworker says, before I scramble to the office. Duncan and I were able to make the commute together this morning as he is beginning to have more normal hours.

Today I typed up a spread sheet of contacts for an award show that my magazine hosts in the fall, which passed a good bit of time. Then I was able to design a spread (hurrah!) and my supervisor seemed pleased, I suppose. He always sounds a little surprised, and says, "Yep, that looks good." So, I am assuming that is approval. Towards the end of the day, I got another spread to work on, so I am beginning to grow quite excited that I am being put to work on real projects that will be printed.

I have been able to eat lunch with my coworker, Helen, every day. She is a riot (and a real insight to an Irish mind)! So far, I have learned that Irish people are a lot like American people, and she sees the United States (and England) as big influences on Irish culture. She also informed Duncan and me the other day that divorce was just introduced to Ireland a few years ago, and it is a rather lengthy process to obtain one. When we told her that the divorce rate in the States was over 50% she was floored. Today I was able to talk to her about George Dubyah, the War in Iraq, guns, and the like. She and I agreed on almost everything, so I suppose that is why we are hitting it off so grandly.

Yesterday I also had the pleasure of hearing Helen and my other co-intern, Feioch (I think), speak with American accents. They knew the whole array, from North to South, East to West. It was quite amusing to me, as they could do much better American accents than I will ever be able to do with an Irish accent. They asked if I could tell the difference in their accents, but I definitely could not. Helen is easier to understand, but I would never be able to tell where each came from as they can with Americans.

The funniest thing I have encountered was Helen reporting to the staff that she went to a Japanese restaurant (Hibachi style), which no one in the office had heard of. She had taken videos on her phone and everyone was gasping at how wild the chef was, and I thought this hilarious as I have been to Hibachi places many a time. I just played along though, and pretended that I too, was flabbergasted.

As for Duncan's day, he played with more and younger kids. It seems his days will mostly comprise of a)planning b)playing c)waiting for one or the other (which I don't think he should complain about). Mind you, the younger kids are a handful. But as he gets to play soccer every day, he can't complain.

Now he wants to go do laundry.

I'm ignoring that to continue.

By the time we get home (which is usually around 7 or so), and then eat... I am quite exhausted. It really makes me appreciate my parents and all the hard work they put into a full day at the office (or in the studio :)) while still having the energy to come home and play with me; that's devotion!

Tomorrow (evening) we leave for Belfast. There are five of us going, and I think everyone is quite excited.

That's about it for now, I suppose I can't stall on laundry much longer.

Love you all!


This is a chocolate covered macaroon that saved the day as I waited for Duncan to get off the train today. They were quite delicious...


...as you can see.


And lastly, the gorgeous flowers Duncan brought me yesterday!