Never too late?

I don’t know if it’s just me, or perhaps society, maybe both, but I’ve always had this mentality that your life needs to be set in your twenties. You have to have a mortgage, a spouse and a career. If you don’t have that by the time you’re thirty, then your life is pretty much older. Apologies if this insults anyone, I don’t mean it to. I wish I could change this thinking, but it’s not easy. I’ve spent a total of six years in college with no clue as to what I want to do with the rest of my life, and I worry that I’ve left it too late.

Maybe I’m just conforming to the social norm. I want to get a mortgage and get married. But career-wise, I really haven’t got a clue. Lately I have been considering a certain career path that involves three years full-time study and a LOT of money (not nearly as high as American college fees, but still a lot for the average student). I don’t want to do it right now, I accept that it’s something I’ll need to put off for a few years. But can I do it? Can I find a way to study full time with a mortgage and a family? I guess anything’s possible. Like my mam says, you never know what’s just around the corner.

I just wish I had someone to talk to about it, someone who gets it.

Speechless and redundant

I’ve been away from my blog for so long not just because of my trip to Budapest, but due to work also. Last week we learned that the company was imposing mandatory redundancies as finances reach an uncomfortable low. No, I haven’t been let go, but the workload of some who have has fallen onto me and I’ve barely had a minute this week at all. Don’t get me wrong, I’m actually happy to have more responsibility but I’m just not good at dealing with the new pressures.

The new work requires me to learn a whole new system and so I’m asking questions like it’s my first day all over again. I hope I can get into the swing of things sooner rather than later. My meditation will certainly come in handy if I can just learn to incorporate it into my working day.

My heart is broken for those who were made redundant. I thought they would stay for at least a month whilst they got their workload in order and handed over to the relevant people. However, some have gone already. I can only wish them the best and hope they find another job soon.

Budapest 2017

Budapest was amazing, what a beautiful city! The heat was crippling but not as bad as Milan was last September. Below are some pictures from our trip, hope you like them!

Our first tour was the Hospital in the Rock, which was very fascinating. We were offered coats to wear underground because temperatures went as low as 14 degrees. Being from Ireland, this was summer temperature!

Shoes on the Danube was very emotional. So many lives lost for no justifiable reason.

St. Stephen’s Basilica. Unfortunately, we missed the tour but it was still a beautiful building to witness.

I’m adding this because it ‘s so cute and a great idea. It’s a dog bar!

The Budapest Eye. We went on this on our last day.

The view from our Gold 4 stand at the Hungarian Grand Prix. This was the day of Qualifying if I recall correctly. I got sunburned pretty bad!

The Parliament Building.

I do have lots more pictures but these are the ones I wanted to post. I really encourage everyone to see this city, people are so friendly and it’s cheap too!

A long lost friend

My Headspace app sends me insightful messages throughout the day. Yesterday I received the following (and I’m paraphrasing):

Is there a friend you haven’t seen in a while who would love to hear from you? Why not give them a call?

I immediately thought of S. We met in college and became friends. She is one of the sweetest people I know and it was sad to realise that we had in fact fallen out of touch with each other. I was in work when I received this prompt, so I messaged her through Facebook.

We texted all day and I learned that she is seven months pregnant! I was really out of the loop, which added to my guilt. She invited me to her baby shower next Saturday, but I’ll be away in Budapest so we’ve agreed to meet the following Saturday. I’m really looking forward to seeing her, and I’m determined not to let us fall out of touch again, unless she’s sick of me!

Hop, skip and a week to Budapest

This time next week I’ll be in Budapest. Something you need to know about me is that the closer I get to a holiday the more I dread it. It’s nothing against where I’m going, I suppose it’s more that I get homesick so easily. I make it a point to go somewhere new each year, because I do enjoy it in the end and I’m always glad I went.

I remember the first time I went away without my family. My then-boyfriend (now fiancé) and I got a good deal on a 5-day trip to Berlin back in 2010. The first night over there I couldn’t sleep and I wound up crying because this was so new to me and, I have to admit, I wanted my mammy. Silly, I know, considering I was 22 at the time. But it was a shock to the system.

So why Budapest? I’d like to say the main reason is because I’ve always wanted to see this particular city, and that is in fact one of the reasons, but the main reason is actually… Formula One.

Last year my fiancé and I decided we would like to see a Formula One race live, and so we booked Milan. We didn’t just go for the race, however, that was our compromise. I would hate to go to a country I’ve never been to before just for a race without doing any sightseeing.

I promised myself that I wouldn’t do another race weekend for a while. Even though Monza was enjoyable, it was quite exhausting, especially in the crippling Italian heat. And Budapest will be just as warm (we need a race in cool/cold weather)!

At first we were just going to grab a day ticket and simply go to the race on the Sunday, but alas we wound up getting 3-day tickets. It’s funny, I don’t want our future holidays to always depend on which races are on where, but at the same time it feels wrong going somewhere that we can’t see a race!

Anyone else have any holidays planned?

The challenge of being cruelty-free

Way back when I did a blog series in which I discussed different products that were certified to be cruelty-free. If you are someone who aims to use products that haven’t been tested on animals then I’m sure you’re aware of how difficult it is. Some products claim to be cruelty-free when they’re not and you have to make sure that the label they’re using is actually an official cruelty-free label, such as Leaping Bunny.

Yesterday I decided to browse Skechers, as I was planning to get a pair of Go Walks for my upcoming trip to Budapest. I noticed that one of their filters was Vegan so naturally I clicked it and to my relief, the shoes I wanted were in fact vegan. Just out of curiosity I decided to check up on other pairs that I have (the ones that are still on sale) and was horrified to discover that my favourite Skechers boots have suede on them. I was instantly struck with a dilemma. Do I get rid of them? After all wearing them was going against everything I believe in. I hadn’t bought the shoes directly. My mam had bought them and decided that she didn’t like them so I bought them from her.

Why is it so difficult to not wear an animal? The fact that Skechers use faux fur on their shoes should lead to them using faux leather surely. At least a good majority of their products are actually vegan, I just slipped through the cracks.

Week of woe

Last week was strange. I felt out of sorts more than usual, which I found ironic seeing as I was doing all that I could to help my moods. Then I realised that I’m technically treating my anxiety, but is that independent to treating my depression?

Then my fiancé revealed that he felt similar last week also, and so did my mother! So something was in the air last week making everybody down, which makes me glad because it wasn’t just me!