I’m not really a huge fan of Valentine’s Day…I remember sitting in home room as they were handing out red, pink and white carnations fretting if I’d end up empty handed for the day. I always bought anonymous carnations (and candy canes, for that matter) for classmates who probably were thinking the same thing as me, so at least they would not be empty handed too. Even now with a husband and kids, I kinda feel like I don’t need a special day to tell them how much I love them. I do that every day I change the empty toilet paper roll and don’t chuck it at their head.

So I’ve decided to skip Valentine’s day all together and jump right into St. Patrick’ day! A holiday for my family that involves lots of dancing, shamrock shakes and shenanigans. No gifts and no carnations, just a whole lot of corned beef and cabbage and fun. Having three Irish dancers, we are going from the moment we wake up, covered in leprechaun kisses, to the moment we rest our weary heads. It’s a fun day to celebrate all things Irish, even if you aren’t even a wee bit Irish.

This year,  “Bliain na Gaeilge” or “Year of Irish Gaelic” marks a revival of the Gaelic language over the last 125 years. I can’t speak a lick of Gaelic myself, other than a few Irish dance terms like, “Oireactas,” (or-oct-us) with a loose translation of “Championship,”  “Rince,” (rink-a) meaning “Dance,” and  “Feckn edgit”, meaning…well, never mind . My daughter learned how to say, “Can I go to the bathroom, please,” which is “An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas, mais e do thoil e.” By the time I try to spit that out, I think it’d be too late!

I wanted to create some pieces with Bliain na Gaeilge in mind. Some pieces are of this beautiful language and some are just for fun. Not a single piece has anything to do with asking to go to the toilet. But all the pieces are for sale if you so desire 🙂

I’ll be posting more Irish stuff before St. Patrick’s day, so please check my gallery and blog  often. Until then, Sláinte!