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may the 4th be with you: Dingle style


Happy shelter-in-place Monday! And for all my fellow Star Wars fans out there, May the 4th be with you! How are you doing? You hangin' in there? I hope so! Feel free to reach out if need be! If you didn’t get a chance to read yesterday’s post, you can click here to do so now! - “plant a smooch for that gift of gab.” Yesterday’s post was a nice introduction to an appreciation of the beauty of Ireland, and today’s post will hopefully be able to showcase just another small taste of that natural beauty (probably without doing it all the justice it deserves).

Since today is May the 4th, I thought be fun to include an anecdote from a road trip I got to go on throughout the Irish countryside with two of my best girlfriends from Villanova (who both work in the healthcare field - I appreciate both of you and how much you're doing for everyone!). Although I don’t want to spill all the beans of that road trip just yet, I do want to share a few photos from a portion of our journey on the Dingle Peninsula, which is a lovely part of Ireland’s Southwest - beautiful rocky coasts, luscious greenery, crushing sea waves below, smaller islands off the coast, and coastal paths great for hiking!

While we were on our great Villanova Irish adventure, we were lucky to spend a couple nights in Dingle, a town that our Air B&B hosts told us everyone affectionately refers to as “a drinking town with a fishing problem.” We had breakfast at our Air B&B with our gracious (super cool, super fun) hosts, hiked and had packed lunches by day, and enjoyed delicious local cuisine by night - usually sitting at shared tables with Irish families, chatting with little kids who were just excited they got to have soda at dinner while their parents looked thankful for someone else to entertain their kids for a few minutes (some things really are universal, right?).

Why pick today to share some photos of our time in Dingle? Well, I mentioned before that today is a pretty big day for fans of Star Wars, and portions of both “The Last Jedi” and “The Rise of Skywalker” were both filmed in Sybil Head and Dunmore Head on the Dingle Peninsula. There were actually many portions of multiple Star Wars movies filmed in Ireland, and anytime I post about an area close to where a Star Wars scene was filmed, I’ll try and make sure I shout it out!

And if you haven’t seen Star Wars (which may or may not apply to one of the best friends on the Villanova Irish adventure….cough cough), get on it! Even if you end up hating the movies, you’ll be able to commiserate with others who do, too (though I really don’t understand all the hate - movies are fun.. and if you really don’t like them, you could just like not watch?). Whether you love them or hate them, though, I have to admit it’s pretty cool that nowadays you can find a community of like-minded people who love/hate the same movies as you.

Now, in case you’re tired of all the Star Wars talk, let’s take a moment to really look at the scenery from these photos. I mentioned in my last post the just absolute awe-inspiring beauty of Ireland, and I think that if we take the time to really look at the colors of the rocks (which feels like the ideal Pottery Barn aesthetic I would want for my bedroom of light blues, pinks, and purples), contrasting with the colors of the ocean, the vibrancy of the wildflowers, and the greenery of the land, we don’t have to look hard to see just how much magic exists all around us in nature - real-life magic that we all (myself, as well) take for granted if we don’t intentionally stop to take it all in. Side note: there's a lot of love, friendship, and magic in those smiles, too, just btw.

When was the last time you were truly awestruck by something gorgeous you saw in nature? As I’ve mentioned before, I really do read the messages I receive through the submission box on the “contact” page of this website. It’s been a joy to read some of the messages I’ve received over the past few days, and I really look forward to hearing from you! Yes, you, the awesome person reading this! I sincerely mean *you,* cutie. I’d love to hear whatever it is you have to contribute!

Sincerely,

Johny

P.S. - If you want to catch up from the beginning on this series of adventures, here's a cheat sheet to the posts (in order in which they were published):

P.P.S. - Shoutout to my long hair! Fun fact: when I moved to Ireland, I told myself I didn't want to cut my hair the entire time I lived there. So I didn't. From June 2018 (when I left LA) to September 2019, I did not cut my hair! And then once I got back to the US from Ireland in September, I left it long for a few weeks and then chopped it all off again! I love growing it out and chopping it off! If you're feeling the lack of hair cuts from all the barbers/salons being closed, I know how you feel. You've got this!

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