Ohio

I'm slowly catching up :) 20 hours after we got home from Dublin we were back at DIA for a flight to Ohio, for the 2nd part of the wedding celebration. It was a whirlwind, but we were able to see all the family and some friends too. I will add that late night and early morning flights aren't really that fun with Emma.

playing bb with daddy

Emma followed Duffy around the entire trip. Duffy was a good sport

let me get the drinks!

up

down

taking a ride!

pensive

Madi, Jack, Dorothy and Emma... all the cousins!

The Schwaberow clan

having some cupcake

Emma's first drink of sparking cider... she LOVED it!

risky business

The UK

It turns out that Jamie barely took any photos of anything other than people when we were in England, so there isn't much to share. We had a really good time, I wish we would have seen more of London and the English countryside, but it wasn't really a sightseeing vacation, it was about family. Chad and Heather's wedding was gorgeous and English wedding are quite the show. It was TWELVE hours long and we basically ate like 4 times over the course of the wedding... nice! I think my favorite "attraction" in England was Harrod's... I mean what's not to love? The food halls there are amazing and I could have spent all day wandering around and sampling the food. Unfortunately they don't allow photography and we opted to follow the rules :)

big ben and parliament

self portrait on the river Thames

Westminster Abbey

view from the London Eye

the only photo I could find of Cave Castle, the wedding location.

also a great photo of the wedding party

Dublin was also really fun. We toured the Guinness factory of course and tried to get U2 tickets but didn't have any luck :( We also took a day tour to the Irish countryside and had a great time hiking around in the pouring rain.

first stop? fish 'n chips and Guinness of course!

we also ate at a restaurant that advertised the age of their beef and had pictures of cows everywhere. good food, bad view.

some rich dude's land outside Glendaloch

hiking through the bog

cheers!

the river Liffey

view from the top of the Guinness tour, cheers!

back in the saddle

I know that everyone wants the Europe story, but Jamie still hasn't sent me any pictures and really the story is pretty boring without pictures. I promise they are coming :)
Today I just need to talk about something I'm struggling with these days.... going back to work. Yeah, you read that right, the gig is up. Jamie and I have decided that it's best for our family if I go back to some sort of work. Part of me is really excited about using the part of my brain that knows about more than diapers, part of me is sad to lose the freedom that staying at home and all of me is sad about not getting to spend all my time with Emma.
The struggle isn't so much about going back to work but rather what it is that I want to do with y life. I feel like someone has asked me what I want to be when I grow up and I don't know the answer (side note, when I was little I wanted to be a lawyer and the first woman president). For those of you that don't know, my educational background is in electrical engineer and my employment background is in project management and some engineering. I prefer project management over hardcore design engineering but I'm finding design engineering positions to be more prevalent. I've also found myself wanting to explore other avenues. I am feeling the need to do something "meaningful" with my life. What exactly that means, I'm not sure. I've found a million jobs that appeal to me; from small positions in a NICU, to positions with non profits, or research positions. I'm finding so many things that I "want" to do and many things that I "can" do, but it seems that positions that overlap are few and far between (maybe 1%).
Why is it that I'm 31 and still struggling to find my way in life? I met my brother's boss this weekend. He's my age, married with a child not much older than Emma. He's also the top broker in the company and making more money than I can imagine making at my age. And it's not so much the money, I think it's just being good at something, knowing which path to take and when. I'm surrounded my friends who seem to know what they want and how to get it. I'm married to a man who is lucky enough to truly love his job. How do I find these things? When do I figure it out? Why does it seem impossible to find something that I might actually love AND be good at?
Why is it that I don't feel any more grown up than I did 10 years ago when I was figuring out what to major in?

appeasement

I've been getting some "comments" from readers that I'm slacking on the blog. I know it, we've been travelling so much that I just haven't had the time or energy. We got back from the UK last Wed, then turned around 20 hours later and headed to OH. We got back from OH on Tuesday, Jamie left Wed and I leave on Fri again. ACK!
I haven't had time to go through our UK pictures so I thought I'd share some of the photos that my parents took while they were staying with Emma.

yep, that is my kid in a shopping bag ;)

practicing good hygiene

eating watermelon like a big girl!

posing with Grandpa

enjoying the garden