fionarita

I'm Fiona, I live in Galway in Ireland, right beside the sea, which is a bit lovely. I'm currently doing a research PhD in combustion chemistry and biofuels. I love it!

I like crafting, especially baking, but I'll talk about that more in the "Crafts" section. I love butterflies and cats and the colour purple. I enjoy my own space and playing the piano occasionally. I like to read and take photographs. I love coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon.

I love nature, water, trees and other countries. I really like Australia and New Zealand! I spent four months in those countries in 2009 and really want to go back. I spent six months of 2012 in New Jersey, researching in Princeton University, it was an amazing experience! I like small towns, parks and forests over big cities but I make exceptions for Paris, New York and Sydney, those cities are just magical!

I also love yoga! I've been practicing for over two years now and can't get enough. I also started running a few months ago and though my progress is slow, I'm so happy to get out for a run.

At the moment, I work 9 till 6 (ish) so I have all evening to make delicious food. And cooking is so so relaxing. I love constructing themed cakes and cakes that I know a friend will like on his/her birthday. My favourite so far would be the kayak cake I made a few years ago for a kayak fiend!!

I knit and crochet. My love at the moment is crochet. I like knitting but am nervous about starting a big fancy project... Someday. I love papercrafts and make cards for friends who don't live near me.

I've really gotten into sewing lately and have made a few cool things. I'm making a lot of tea wallets for my friends. My next mission is that apron I've been planning to make since August. I have the fabric, I just need to sit down and do it.

I really like trying new unusual crafts, even only once. (:

I love books and reading and am hoping to join in on a few book swaps!

A few books I like are "Le Petit Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (I speak a little French, by the way), "I Capture the Castle" by Dodi Smith, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde, "Sabriel" by Garth Nix, "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman...

I'm drawing a blank now. I love fantasy and some sci-fi. I've read a few of Raymond E. Feist's "Magician" series and really liked them. And of course, "Game of Thrones". I'm really into kid's fiction and simple books. Serious books and non-fiction sort of bore me.

I like cartoons and kids movies. I especially love Disney and Winnie the Pooh. I prefer the original A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard Winnie the Pooh to the Disney stuff and I really dislike the new stuff for the kids these days! I really liked the movies "Enchanted" and "The Princess and the Frog". My favourite Disney movie would probably be "Pocahontas".

Non-Disney-related... I really like the "Felicity Wishes" books from Emma Thompson. I used to have a little obsession with them, but haven't delved into that properly in a year or two. I also like My Little Pony.

I'm a bit of a collector of these things, digitally. I love going over to a friend's house and stealing all their good music, movies and TV shows.

I love listening to music. I've a bit of an eclectic taste... Tool, Muse, System of a Down, Kate Bush, Death Cab for Cutie, Talking Heads Beirut, Iron and Wine, Florence and the Machine, Yann Tiersen, Regina Spektor, Feist, The Album Leaf, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, etc...

I like watching movies. A few of my favourites are "Amelie", "Enchanted", "Star Wars", the newest "Star Trek" movie... And of course now I'm drawing a blank again!!

TV shows that I like... "Sherlock", "Friends", "Stargate SG-1", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Angel", "Frasier", "Black Books", "Spaced", "Heroes"... I like watching TV shows, but I don't have a TV connection. I watch them on my hard drive. My TV used to be for playing the Wii, now it occasionally plays a DVD.

Oh, and "Avatar"!! The Nickelodeon TV show that is... Love it!!!

I like games. All types of games!

Board games that I like are Scrabble, Monopoly, Cluedo, Guess Who, Jenga, Chess... I love a good game of Chess! My favourite card game is definitely Spit... And Shithead, love that game!

I have a Nintendo DS and a Nintendo Wii... I love Mario and all things Mario. I also really like the Professor Layton games and I was really enjoying playing Okami on the Wii. I was addicted to Animal Crossing, but had to stop myself once I started looking at daffodil stalks and thinking they were weeds.

I have a Sega Mega Drive that occasionally works... Occasionally.