Christina McDonald''s first memory of Ireland is seeing a photo of the Dingle Peninsula when she was a child. Having grown up in Seattle, she was sure there was no place greener than Washington State, but that picture proved her wrong. Twenty-five years later, she went to Dingle and was seduced by the intense emerald green of the countryside, the colorful terraced houses, the sparkling blue of the sea, and the friendly, charismatic people. A year after returning home to America, she decided to make the move to Ireland to pursue a master''s degree in journalism at the National University of Ireland, Galway. While she was there, she met her future husband, Richard, in a tae kwon do class. After receiving her degree, Christina married Richard and stayed in Ireland for a few years before moving to London, where she currently lives. Since then, she has enjoyed writing for print, radio, and online media in Ireland, England, and the United States, including Dublin''s Sunday Times, Galway''s Connacht Tribune, the Galway Independent, the Seattle Post Intelligencer, Colures Magazine, Expedia.com, and USAToday.com. When not busy writing, Christina likes to spend time with friends and family, read, work out at the gym, and travel with her husband and their young son, Adam.