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colemargiasso
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Name: nicole
Birthday: 1/31/1977
Gender: Female
Interests: Dancing! learning languages, traveling
Expertise: mixing cocktails, throwing fun parties!
Occupation: on sabbatical :)
Message: message me
Member Since:
10/17/2006
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| Happy almost Spring!! It certainly feels like it already is here- today was sunny, sunny and 70 degrees!
So I have some big news!!!...
 I'm getting married!!!
Quang proposed to me the day after New Year's and I couldn't have been more shocked and ecstatic at the same time! Since, life has been a whirlwind of change, excitement, and lots of planning. We're planning on getting married here in California in April of 2009. That's about all we know so far, but I'll be sure to keep you posted.
For now, I'm continuing on with my Ireland pics....
I made my way back to Galway. It was June 1st and I had 2 1/2 weeks left to my journey in Ireland.
I spent my last few weeks in Galway working at my little cafe (Food 4 Thought), going for pints at night, enjoying the long lasting sun (till 11pm!), seeing the town come alive for all the summer festivities, and spending time with my friends.
Every day the streets were growing more full with performers. It's such an exciting little town to be in during the summer.
 a firedancer 10pm
Trish and I had a crafts night and made jewelry together...
We were each very happy with our necklaces and earrings :)
  Miss you Trish!
I'm sure I have written about driving in Ireland- how the roads are still the width that is appropriate for a horse and carriage and how buses come within an inch of the buildings on the narrow streets of Galway. Here's an example, out of my living room window...
This bus actually got stuck and broke the glass of a building while it tried to back up! Crazy.
Of course I couldn't leave Galway without having a proper party!!
Me, Sasha, and Trish
We made a white sangria!
 My roommate, Barry, is also a dj!
 Trish and her best friend, Meg
 Meg is a great girl and I'm drunk here :)
Girls from work...?, me, Jasmine, and Jodie
 Barry is now living in France with his girlfriend.
  Everyone takes a turn at the turntables...
 Very cute couple :)
We had a great time that night! Intent on trying to learn some Irish dancing before I left- i made poor Trish go over the same steps with me for hours- my drunk ass could not catch on! Thanks anyway Trish!
I felt so fortunate to have made such great friends in Galway. I knew my departure would be very bittersweet.
***
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| Hello everyone!
Hope you're enjoying a fun and relaxing holiday season! It has actually been cold here in California -40 degrees, that's a real winter here. My northeast roots have been enjoying the chill.
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Forging on with my Ireland pics....
I still had a full day left with the rental car after dropping Marilyn and Matty off at the airport. So.... I decided to visit a very special place that is heard to get to on public transportation outside of Galway...
Brigit's Garden
located just 20 miles north of Galway, this is a truly magickal place.
 Failte means "Welcome"
It was a nice feeling to have the time and the space to visit this special place by myself.
I had read about the garden previously, but i was not prepared for what a magickal place this actually is.
There are actually four gardens and they are designed around the 4 major Celtic holydays/Sabbats: Samhain (marks the end and the beginning of the New Year), Imbolc (Brigit's Day), Bealtaine (May 1st), and Lughnasa (August 1st). I took my time walking, in order, through the gardens, taking in all the magick of this place.
 This is the Samhain garden. The hilly area beyond the water is actually the figure of a woman, Mother Earth, lying on her side facing the water. Her head is on the left side and she is pregnant! The keepers of the garden plant seeds on her in the winter and let the birds feed off her in September!
The round building with the thatched roof hut is a community center, right in the middle of the four gardens.
This round structure on the ground is stone artwork depicting the three faces of Brigit: Healer, Craftswoman, Muse.
 It is difficult to see the intricate carvings from this angle.
 This is a description of all the symbolism in the stonework.
Next, i walked into the Bealtaine garden. At the entrance is a hollowed grassy circular area, called "Diarmuid and Grainne's bed", god and goddess' bed. Having attained an intimate relationship with Ireland's land, i decided to lay down and be held.
 Stone entranceway leading to an oak wooden throne.
 "Here, the young adult can claim their personal power and sit as King or Queen in their own life."
I entered the last garden, Lughnasa. With a focus on the fruits of the harvest, this garden was filled with circular stone beds, holding all kinds of vegetables and herbs.
 I was blown away by the ingenuity and craftswork of this place. I felt completely aligned with it. Like these were structures that i would have designed in my most creative capacity, yet here they were already manifested. I wanted to live here.
I sat on a beautiful stone bench, taking in all that was before me.
  
I thought about the incredible stone craftsmanship that is right in my family- my brothers and father are stone masons. I thought about commissioning them to build beautiful things such as those for my future home and sanctuary.
The designers of this place built their own stone "whispering" chamber. It is a small-scale structure resembling that of Newgrange.
Visiting this place was such a culminating experience. I had spent the previous 5 months visiting the ancient sacred sites of Ireland and here I was in a garden where the designs of ancient sacred structures and the Celtic worldview are being used and offered to the community in a modern interactive way. It was very appropriate to be visiting this amazing site at the end of my journey.
I took a walk on their nature trail. It certainly is a small piece of an enchanted forest.
 Stone sitting sculpture on the path
As i was experiencing the magick of these woods, I remembered that Marilyn had asked me to spread some of Marky's (her late son) ashes in a special place. I knew this was that place.
 capsule of marky's ashes
I was so enchanted with this place. If I lived in Ireland, I would without a doubt work here.
Visiting Brigit's Garden was a pivotal experience for me. It was hard to leave this special place, but i know without a doubt, that I will be back.
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| Hello everyone! I hope you're enjoying a festive and stress-free holiday season!
Quang and I just went to get our Christmas tree today, very fun! We named her "Marrianne."
As I'm devoted to posting the rest of my Ireland journey, I must continue...
After leaving St. Brigit's Church, we headed over to the Japanese Gardens in Kildare. It was a rainy day which brought out all the vibrant colors.
 
A statue of a monk on the water...
Bee-hive monk dwellings...
 This interesting crystal structure is located on the floor inside of the beehive structure.
Right next to the Japanese gardens is the Kildare Stud Farm, where all of the famous racing horses are.
We had the opportunity to see some of the mares and her colts on the field. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of space so i didn't get to capture these beauties.
Right outside of the gardens, is the an ancient sacred site of Brigit's, her well that i visited at the beginning of my journey...
That was in February, now it was May, so it was nice to see it at a differnt time of year.
I asked Marilyn and Matt to go ahead without me as i wanted to have some time alone at the well.
I had come full circle. I would be leaving in about a month. I had the honor of visiting this sacred place at the beginning and now at the end of my journey. It was bittersweet. I so strongly felt Brigit's energy there and wanted to stay the whole day.
I sat on the ledge and let myself connect to Brigit.
I gave her thanks for all the blessings of my journey.
I acknowledged myself to be in service of Her.
I let myself sink deep into this moment.
There are only a few moments i may have like this in my life.
***
A little while later, Marilyn and Matt came back to join me.
There was this sweet little bird on a bench near Brigit's well. It was very comfortable with us and didn't fly away even as Matty got close to take its picture...
 Can you see it? It's the little brownish- red spot on the bench to the left of his jacket. I'm sure Matty's picture is much more impressive! :)
***
The last thing i wanted to do in Kildare was visit Solas Bride, the Brigid Center, run by her order of nuns.
I visited it on my first trip, but was excited to again and to show Marilyn how Catholicism can be done in Ireland :)
We were lucky that Sister Mary was home when we came to the center (the nuns also live there). She let have some time alone in their "meditation" room. The room much more resembles that of a pagan devotee than a Catholic saint...
 This is their altar in the meditation room.
  Artwork of Brigid 
Not a cross in the room, no kidding!
I was very happy to see the nuns again and talk with them before the end of my trip. They certainly are the guardians of this sacred place. I'm sure I will be with them again.
***
We left Kildare that evening
and headed out for Bunratty, the small little town, right outside of Shannon airport that would be our last destination for their trip.
We checked into a cute B&B just down the road from the Bunratty Castle and decided to go to a traditional Irish dinner held in a recreated medieval village...
We had a very good dinner and got to chat with other tourists. The best part of the night... was when Matty was asked to come up on stage and do a little dance with the Irish dancers!!!
I thought i had filmed a lot more, but i didn't have the space on my camera :(
I was so proud of him! What a good sport! :)
Our dinner led us to the village pub where we shared our last pints together. I don't remember all the details of the evening, but i know we had a fun walk home, including Marilyn diving into pricker bushes! Yes, diving- she thought a car was coming on a narrow Irish backroad. I was dying!
We drove to the airport the next morning. I was very sad to see them leave.
We had such a great trip together! I was/am so grateful that they came to see me and we were able to experience amazing parts of Ireland together! A trip, i know, none of us will ever forget. xoxoxo
I cried the whole way back to Galway.
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| After leaving Greystones, we began to make our way westward, as Marilyn and Matty's trip was coming to an end. We had two days left to enjoy the Emerald Isle together. We stopped in Kildare, Brigit's town!
We checked into a b&b and then headed out for dinner and some drinks. We were lucky to find ourselves in a pub that had recently been voted the best pub in Ireland! We had an awesome bartender that let us taste some of the best Irish Whiskey in the house and he gave us 3 free Jameson glasses! I would have to agree with the results of the bar competition.
The next morning we started our day with visiting St. Brigid's Church. We took a tour of the Round Tower, the structure where all the church's wealth and clergymen hid during raids!
 This is the only Round Tower in Ireland, that you can actually climb up in, so we did.
A few flights up inside the Tower.
We finally reach the top!
It is cold and windy up there!
This is looking out from the top, over the churchyard. That square is St. Brigit's ancient Fire Temple.
When we came down from the Round Tower, I asked Marilyn and Matty if I could have a few minutes alone in the Fire Temple to meditate...
 I decided to take a few minutes to write in my journal about what i felt in this place, one of the most sacred places I have ever experienced. I was incredibly humbled to be sitting in it.
I currently feel a strong pull to return to Ireland this coming February and do ritual in this space on St. Brigit's eve.
There was a very helpful gentelman at the church that morning. He continued to join up with us and give us all kinds of information about the church and its details.
I had already been to this church before and i had no idea that there was a sheila-na-gig here!!
 It is right underneath a corner of this gravestone...
Quite exciting!
All for now, but will be continued soon...
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| Hello! Hello!! Happy (belated) Halloween!
Things are going very well out here on the West Coast. Quang, Ben and I just enjoyed a very festive Halloween party at our house! Pictures will be coming soon.
For now, I am determined to finish posting the rest of my Ireland pics!
From the Hill of Tara, we drove around Dublin and down to this small town, south of Dublin, called Greystones. Here we found a b&b and ventured out into the town for a late night dinner. We were lucky to come upon the East Coast (the Irish Sea) right at Sunset...
 We went to a local Italian restuarant for dinner and had a fabulous meal.
We were up bright and early the next morning. Marilyn did her hair...
and Matty tried to escape us!...
 :)
That day we headed out to the Powerscourt Mansion and Gardens...
  We were blessed with a beautiful, sunny day and we took our time walking through all the different gardens.
We spent a lot of time in the Japanese Garden.
I saw flowers that I've never seen before...
After leaving the Japanese garden, we walked through the world's largest pet cemetery...
 All kinds of animals are in this cemetery...cows, horses, dogs, you name it.
 I had to get the mermaid! 
We left the Powerscourt Gardens and headed out for the Powerscourt Waterfall...
It was well-worth the visit...
 The waterfall was so large that i couldn't capture the whole thing with my camera.   
I laid on the rock for a very long time. The rock and the sound of the
waterfall were blissfully comforting. Again i felt like i could have
laid there all day, such comforting moments like these I found in
Ireland's nature.
When we were leaving the waterfall, we noticed this huge playground contraption that was just calling our names!...
 Yes, that is Marilyn :)
It was a day for all the senses!
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