still year end

ohmygosh.

it's hard to believe that it's still year end at work. i'm not even able to think about new year's, let alone our trip to the continent. except that it will be exciting.

christmas was basically a whirl wind. it was pre-year end and i felt really under prepared because we went to celbridge, right after work on friday and then on saturday made it to carrickmacross. on christmas evening gerry and i got back here and we opened each others' presents. (we're still in separate rooms at his parents' place, so we decided to open a few in carrick, and the rest here.)

now i'm trying to not have to work on saturday, so i can pack and get ready for our trip with ian. so far the plans for that include: meeting ian in frankfurt, going to heidelberg for a couple nights, and then hitting some other countries. will keep you post posted!

the christmas party

i've uploaded some pics of my christmas party. you know, the one where i ordered the full-irish breakfast, and the one that i bought a new dress and some jewelry for.

here's ricardo & gerry looking suave


karen and me in the same festive colour, but very different dresses


matilda and her very own special 'love balloon'

it's done!

the blanket made for danielle's baby is done! whoo hoo! after three false starts, large and small, on christmas eve, i made the last stitch. and can now give my old arthritic hands a rest. here's how it looks:



and a close up

giving

i can't believe christmas is less than a week to go.

i've been so busy with work (year-end is even worse than month-end) i can't believe i've managed to get my christmas shopping done!

thanks everyone for the cards, and thanks for the eczema cream, ang and lief! i tried it right away, and will let you know how it goes. smells good. :o)

all i have to do to finish up, is give away the gifts, and finish up the blanket i'm crocheting for danielle's baby. it'd be a sweatshop over here except that we've run out of oil and since thursday have been freezing. once it's done i'll take a pic and post it.

we're heading up to gerry's parents' place this weekend, and will hopefully get some shopping done in dublin before new year's. after new year's we'll be traveling europe, so we've got lots of planning for that too.

the full irish

funny thing happened last friday...

after a good night of dress-up and drink-up for our work christmas party, and going to bed for the second time, we decided to fill out the form for breakfast in bed.

i was so drunk and tired that i ordered two full irish breakfasts. a full irish has black pudding (blood pudding), white pudding, bacon, sausages and eggs. the one i meant to order was the vegetarian version (beans and toast). i woke up at my regular time (6.30) in a panic. i decided to wait until 7 to call to say what i really wanted. here's a sample of my conversation/explanation:

umm, i ordered two irish breakfasts last night, but was too drunk to remember that i'm a vegetarian. the response i got: ah right! i'll get that sorted for you, miss.

the irish, they understand drunk.

checking his list update

while at the mall today (well, not a real real mall) carol and i went to eason's (a bookstore) to have a look for presents. while at eason's we found a munster book (see below) and i pointed out the two guys we saw on monday. they look just like they do in person.

checking his list

today we sent out some christmas cards and a present or too. sorry if you don't get a card, we kinda ran out.

i also sent away some presents and we got almost everything we need for our christmas dinner on saturday. it looks like things might work out alright. whoot.

OHOHOHOHOH
in other exciting news, last night, at dinner, guess who sat next to us? springer and hmmm... can't remember the other guy's name from the munster and ireland rugby team. i was like: gosh, that guy looks familiar. and gerry was like, oh yeah, he plays for munster, and then i was like, i think the other guy does too. and sure enough, it was true. also, we eat similar food to them. gerry and yer man had the same main and springer and i both like edamame. YUMMY indeed!

it's new!

i got a new mobile today. it's pretty. it also costs less than the amount you get in free phone credit. i never had a pay-as-you-go phone before ireland. it works out fine here, cause i don't really use it too much.



it's coffee brown and cyan. and it's beautiful.

another one down

so, last week marked another month-end. more surprisingly, it also marked another month-end that i was sick. i feel like i get sick every month at month-end. it sucks extra because it feeds itself. you work longer hours in recycled air, so you get sick. you have to work a bit longer, cause you're run down from being sick.

i've started feeling better though... took it fairly easy this weekend. mostly i've been watching law & order, tending the fire, and cleaning house. today i made things a bit more exciting by starting on christmas cards. all of the addresses are filled in on the charity cards (still can't find unicef cards here, but i did get some oxfam ones, and gerry got bernardos cards the other day). we also went to a dinner party last night. it was really nice. it was actually kinda cool because she's french, so most of the food was french. and she made lots of veg stuff for yours truly.

it was nice to be invited to someone's event at work. we were having a discussion at work the other day about how it's hard to meet people here (i said that people are a bit more open in north america). of course regina said people in ireland aren't friendly. i said they're more friendly than in germany. matilda said that people here are much more open than in sweden... it kind of proves my theory on in warmer countries, people spend more time out of their houses, socialising and have less layers on so they're more open. all this to say that i got invited to a work person's house for dinner! yahoo.

this will be a week of christmas preparation. we both have tuesday off, so we're going to get a tree, buy stuff for the dinner party on saturday, and hopefully set up whatever room we're going to use to host 16 people for dinner.

i'd say we won't even need a fire, there'll be so much body heat in this place.

on the note of dinner, i should probably check on my marinating chicken and get some taters boiling. (i lost a bet, and am making a meat, potatoes and veg style dinner.

the birthday weekend

the weekend was busy, but not too busy. we got in lots of relaxing, but still managed to shop and see some sights.

we saw Bunratty castle and grounds on the way from Limerick to Galway, and in Galway we went for a walk on Salt Hill, and looked over the bay to Claddagh. you know, all things to help me work on gerry's list of must-do's in ireland. Oh, we also got a pint of Guinness, which neither of us fully drank.

just like paradise

last night, after opening my prezzies from danielle (a foxy necklace from the breast cancer fundraising at CIBC) and a shirt from the gap (the gap?! you say) that is from the 'red' line where profits go to support education and medicine for AIDS in africa.

anyway, yeah, after opening my presents, we went to cafe paradiso. YUMMMMMMMMMMY!!!!

everything was delicious. gerry started with the caramelised onion tart with goat's cheese (just the right amount of goat's cheese) and i had the veg sushi plate with tempura.

for my main i had a 'gratin of leeks, roast pumpkin & hazelnuts with Gabriel cheese & tarragon cream,braised fennel and cannellini beans' and gerry had 'risotto of watercress & roast shallots with Oisin cheese, black kale, and braised sweet cayenne peppers & sweet dumpling squash'.

for dessert? awwww yeah.... dark chocolate silk cake with praline ice cream and hazelnut wafer.

we're going to look for the cookbooks at a secondhand store here. they might not work out as well, but it'd be nice to take the recipes with us wherever we go.

mysteries solved

in order:

1. isabel's extra present was a silver engraved pic of the birthday celebrations.

2. bruises on shoulders are from yoga. but it was worth it!!! i did a shoulder stand today! i wasn't really looking forward to yoga at all this evening because last week i really didn't think i'd catch up and be able to do the pose. tonight, with some encouragement from isabel, and some help from the wall, i did a full shoulder stand and the instructor even commented on how straight my back was. i'm so proud on this eve of my 30th year!

also, as inspiration, we get an angel card at the end of class. tonight's for me: beauty.

3. my birthday present from gerry really is the greatest present! when i got home from yoga, i was digging through the freezer to give isabel these freezies for her son, isabel had gone in and was talking to gerry. as i walked into the house, they were standing there with balloons and these popper things! gerry had flowers, champagne, and decorated the sitting room for me. and then i got to find out my prezzies from him! (as if this wasn't enough!) he made a photo book of all of the pics we've taken (see the one below of us in front of the eiffel tower). and then told me about the trip around western ireland he's booked for the weekend. we're going to see traditional irish music in limerick, then go to bunratty castle, and then to galway for two nights! (finishing off with a massage on monday morning, which is already booked!)

am i over using !!!!! well, maybe but who cares? i'm so excited and happy to be 30 in 4 minutes.

whoo hoo!

now it's try-to-go-to-sleep time.

:o)

paris & birthday

gifting giving

today i gave and received!

we bought christmas presents for a couple of people... you know, we had the time, it wasn't too busy (a miracle on St.Patrick's St.) so we took advantage of our opportunity. we even bought ourselves a wine rack. obviously i can't go into too much detail regarding christmas gifting, so i don't spoil the surprises.

we met with sharon for a yummy dinner at amicus. and i was gifted with a spinning uno game and yummy bath bombs from lush. whoot.

i also got chocolates from lynda at work. things are gift-fantastic around here.

secrets

gerry still won't tell me what my birthday present is. i'll try to wake him up and catch him off guard in a minute.

if you check out the easting out ireland link, you'll see pics of the food in paris. i promise to post pics of paris and birthday festivities tomorrow.

suggestions needed

here's the hypothetical* problem:

say one's sister got married without a pre-nup (because it was going to be forever). say that same sister's husband is actually a complete asshole (surprise, surprise - i'd like to point out that someone might have been suggesting that all along) and now they're getting divorced, and he wants stuff that's not his. because he's an asshole, and probably for a whole list of other reasons, but since this is hypothetical, i'll just let you imagine.

now in this scenerio, what the (asshole) husband is trying to get from the divorce is the shared house that the sister put down a heap of money for, and is therefore causing other problems that the (probably) younger sister is trying to take of.

this example leads to the suggestion part. and because this is hypothetical, one can dream. what would someone be able to do to get the (asshole) husband to get lost? clearly within a realm of legality. or not, and she can just have no knowledge of any events that may have taken place from a simple hypothetical.

if you are feeling vindictive, or know someone who just likes to punish assholes, i can provide an address. hypothetically speaking, of course.

if not, i am willing to take suggestions.

*it's hypothetical because *i* would never do something that might harm someone or cause any kind of jeopardy to any type of legal going-ons. but your suggestions might help me sleep better.

birthday bliss

IT'S ALMOST MY BIRTHDAY!!!

YAY!!!

on saturday evening i celebrated my birthday with the girls.

we went for dinner and had drinks, and then went to suas for more drinks. the second part of the drink fest wasn't that successful because we were so full from the first part it was hard to fit it all in. good times, food and drinks were had.

i got a present from isabel and elaine which included a cute green wallet (perfect since my other one had been wrecked from the thievery). and, among other things, there were a pair of fuzzy pink slippers to match the robe isabel had given me earlier in the month. oh, and from tara and jim a purse lamp, which sounds weird, but is actually quite lovely and sexy.

sunday i spent the day in those slippers, the robe and my jammers.

gerry made me pancakes with butter and maple syrup. and he spoiled us when isabel and elaine came over, and of course, made me dinner! i got to pick the movies/tv all day. being spoiled was great! (especially because it was pouring rain outside and really, not weather to go out in.)

after a rough start, the weekend turned out well. i'll post a couple pics when i get home.

firsts

yesterday i got my first birthday card of the year. thanks for the dirty thirty wishes anghold.

in other birthday news i still don't know what gerry got me.

and in other other birthday news, i made reservations the other day to SoHo, a restaurant/bar in cork that serves food and cocktails... what more could a girl want? how about the actual reservation? i called today to confirm it, because i hadn't heard from anyone. this evening i was told that i didn't have a reservation and that they just hadn't gotten around to calling people back yet.

madly, gerry and i scrounged to find a place that would take 8 people on a saturday night. cafe bar deli said that we could call saturday morning and let them know when to expect us. we'll head around the corner for cocktails afterwards.

mood: annoyed at SoHo. grateful to cafe bar deli. still excited to turn 30.

voulez vous?

one more sleep and we're off to paris. whoot. it's just a quicky. we get in late-ish on friday and then we'll spend saturday wearing out our shoes (i'm bring comfortable runners this time... none of this high-fashion cuteness, it's gonna be high-function all the way) and then saturday evening we have the show at the moulin rouge! sunday will be spent hitting the cobblestone again, and then we fly back.

it's one of the things i'll miss the most about living here. it's really quite convenient to get to paris for the weekend, or to catch a show in london midweek. the problem of not liking to fly is somewhat less major, as long as it's not on ryanair. i lose my head with that airline because you don't get assigned seating. it's like getting on a bus, and i'm always really not keen to sit next to strangers when i'm about to have a panic attack while flying. i feel it's more fair to subject people i know to that kind of excitement.

in other news:

we had a team night out last night. good fun there. dinner was nice and the company was great. we made some confessions to each other. one of mine and carol's was that when ricardo first started here, i couldn't remember his name so we gave him a new name ending with 'o' everyday. fernando, eduardo, federico, carlo... you get the idea. he confessed he thought i was american. boo-urns.

oh, i also found out that someone in finance overheard me say that i was gonna break a sweat one day and they think that i really keep my island (the group of desks where we sit) really entertained. i've tried to tone it down a bit today, but we laughing at ourselves because last week, in excitement of borat, we were going on with 'i liiiike' 'high-five' 'it's niiiice' 'we make sexy time?' for ages, and laughing our asses off at it the entire time. at least we're having fun. :o)

it's almost my birthday. i'm pretty excited about 30. as i've said before, 'it's the new 20'. but better, i hope. :o) i still haven't nailed down any presents, but i love surprises so that's cool. i liiiike guessing too... so it's a really tricky in-between.

hmmm... maybe i need to buy myself a present in paris. like these cute chanel earrings... i will have to see how much they are.

uh yessss... i liiiiike

saw borat on thursday.

high-five.

we pretty much laughed our asses off.

head games

last night i had some people and their partners over from work to play a few games of cranium. it was good fun. last week had been a bit crazy, cause of month-end. so it was nice to socialise in a more relaxed way. the rest of the weekend is all about chillaxing and getting ready for paris next weekend.

i can't believe it's already november! soon i will be 30! whoo hoo!

gerry's been bugging me like crazy about my birthday present the last week. hints include: we might need a tent, him slipping about buying a holiday during interrogation, telling me to absolutely NOT book anything else between the 24 and the 27th. at first i thought it was a holiday to spain for the weekend, but now i'm leaning more towards going to the czech republic or something for a christmas market. then again, i'm kinda all over the place with guesses. and i wouldn't be sad at all to just stay in ireland and do something nice... but i just don't think that's what's happening.

in other news, this is meant to be a weekend of chillaxing and some tidying up.

we've already watched heaps of law & order and the daily show. whoot!

wanna make some money?

last thursday i got a call from the garda. someone called to say they found my ursula bag. i got the number for her, she said it looked most things were in there, and that the money was just gone. that was cool with me.

we picked up the bag last saturday, and YAHOO!!! everything except the money was in it... just like she'd said. that's the great news. less great is that the bag was hanging in a tree on the side of the road during some pretty wet days. i'm going to clean it out and try to get it dry-cleaned.

oh, and extra good news? gerry's wallet was in the bag. weird hey? we were going to have a look around where the woman found the bag, but when i went through it in the car, his wallet with license and cards (again, no money, which still makes me feel bad) was there.

we are an idiot

yesterday gerry and i both had the day off. we had a lovely day. went to cafe paradiso, the gourmet veg restaurant for lunch. did some shopping. got my sisters' birthday presents, and did some stuff we needed to get done.

then gerry went for a night dive with a guy from work.

everything was going well...i was left alone on the dark beach so i decided to lock all of the doors except for the driver's side. you know, just in case there were some weirdos down at the beach, and i had to run for the car.

after a while of sitting by the beach, and just walking up a bit, i saw flashing lights from the water. i decided to walk up a bit and check it, in case they were signalling to me that needed help.

anyway, the evening went on without incident until after the dive when we were getting to go for tea at the pub. gerry couldn't find his wallet, but we figured it was mixed in the pile of dive gear and such somewhere in the car. obviously i was going to pay because i had my bag there, and it was easier than trying to find gerry's wallet in the dark. oh, except that maybe i left it at home. i though i had it with me, but i guess not.

with this, a bit of panic, a bit of doubt, a lot of guilt.

we got home, and i knew for sure it was stolen, along with gerry's wallet. insert more guilt, and feeling really really dumb. the ursula bag in chocolate brown was gone, my credit/bank cards, passport, money, favourite lipstick, etc.. could it get worse? gerry had just sold his computer to his friends and had 350€ in his wallet. his driver's license, his credit/bank cards. so i guess it did.

burn on me. we are an idiot indeed.

just so you know

(this didn't post last night, 1 am. i do know it's morning now)

i can't sleep, but have taken some magneleuvers mix, so i should be sleepy by the time i finish updating you on the most inane of things in my life right now.

ah, it's that time of year again. when i wake up it's dark. when i get home, it's thinking darker thoughts.

but it also means that it's okay to have a fire every day... unlike when i was lighting fires in august and getting mean comments about it still being summer. i do enjoy a good fire.

we have a 'coal guy'. i'm not sure if i mentioned it before but when the flower lady was talking about the 'coal man' she sort of made him out to be this younger guy, driving his jeep, tossing coal out like it was nothing. when he first came to collect his money, i was kinda like: who is this guy? turns out he's a old guy, i did notice he had some pipes... you'd want to if you were carrying 20KG bags of coal around all day.

i'm bringing this up because the other day, not on a tuesday (his regular delivery day) we came home and there was a bag of sticks (kindling) and some logs and some other burning product. because it was up against the wall, we didn't know if he meant it for the flower lady next door, or for us. but really, the flower lady's not that close, and why would he put it on our side of the wall, and so far from her...it'd be heavy (he'd know) to carry over to her. anyway, we got all this stuff that we didn't order and a note saying the flower lady paid for us.

now, a couple of weeks ago, i did ask for some sticks, but he didn't think he'd be able to get them. i said it wasn't a problem. but he kinda got carried away, translating sticks in logs and 3€ into 22€ (sticks vs. logs and whatever else he left). to be honest, i don't mind. he could have done it to make some extra money but i'm understanding it as concern. :o) he probably had a good chat with the flower lady and they decided that despite us not calling, we could use some more fuel for the fires. and good on him, what with winter coming, i'll be burning whatever i can get!

in other news, i'm still trying to get my money back from kitsilano workout. i joined the gym before i moved to white rock. if you move, they're supposed to give your remaining money back. needless to say, it's been 1.5 years, and i'm still chasing it. but! i have a phone number for the accounts person, who won't be answering their phone today because of the sabbath. however, they will take calls after sunrise tomorrow... works for me. i'll keep you updated. obviously i'm not giving up. now it's the priciple... i won't be able to use a gym membership there, cause i live in ireland, so i don't know what i could negotiate for. this could be the one time that all i want, and get (because i won't quit) is my money back. it's almost boring...which could be why there's such a challenge. you know, to remind me what it's like being normal, getting screwed by some company, and not getting anything to help with the pain. ugh. i don't like it. maybe they can give me an elliptical machine for when i move back. hmm...

i think with winter coming, gerry and i may be able to maintain our movie-going madness of late. we're both keen to see the new Scorsese flick. AND! we both have tuesday off, so maybe we can get a cheap-o price for a matinee. i'm still heady from little miss sunshine, so Scorsese better be up for the challenge.

which leads me to: i made microwave popcorn tonight. the other bags from the box have been decent salt-wise. this one, way too salty. but i did figure out the trick to not burning it here... put it on medium high. less popcorn will pop, but gerry only picks at it anyway. at least it's not stinky burning! when we're back in canada, i'm going to have popcorn at the theatre in white rock, or in hope... as long as i can sneak in without anyone seeing me, cause YUM! the popcorn's so good, and it's cheaper at those places than the huge 5 million-plexes.

oh, i'm getting tired! i should have just enough energy to make a shopping list for tomorrow.

the 2nd gross-est thing of my life

okay, you know how when you see something unfamiliar you have a million thoughts about what it is going through your mind? that happened to me today.

they've been doing construction at the bishopstown/dunnes roundabouts for quite some time. they started the lights sunday night i think, the cones are picked up, the grass looks nice, blah blah blah. when i saw two big trucks stopped at the dunnes roundabout, with two guys using shovels to scoop up stuff, i was like: oh! i wonder what they're doing now. huh, it looks like pebbles, maybe they're making a path, or using them to put around flowers/bushes. nicely coloured rocks... pinks and greys, and oh... they're in bags. oh no, it actually looks like they're cleaning them up, and they fell off one of the trucks. uh. they're not making rock scraping sounds, and in fact... nope. not lovely rocks in lovely colours. intestines and i don't know what else, but probably sausage-type things. driving past, oh god. the smell. yuk.

that was my drive home today.

film fest

there was a film fest in cork last week. working doesn't really help going to see it. also not great? you have to be a member to see them.

instead, gerry and i have been having our own little film fest. we've been seeing at least one movie a week lately. yahoo to that bizness.

tonight we saw little miss sunshine. this movie was brilliant. i highly recommend it. i thought it was a feel good family movie when i first heard about it. whatever it is, it's not that. but this was me during the movie: laugh laugh laugh. whaa haa haa. laugh laugh laugh.

we saw the devil wears prada. it was okay. entertaining enough. see it on video.

clerks. so f'ing hilarious. but, as gerry says: stoner humour. i loved the first one, and laughed my ass off hard at this more modern version. very very funny.

day off

yay. it's saturday!

today i did some shopping. and i'm currently working on dinner. roasted veg and stuffed peppers. yummy!

i didn't do the dishes before gerry got home... too busy playing carca and chatting, oh and watching jon. i kinda felt guilty about it... you know, i didn't work today, the least i could have done is have the dishes done. then i was like: i wonder if gerry will be annoyed? i probably would be. no. i would be. but of course gerry and i have very different ideas on the subject. and of course he wasn't mad; he just helped me do them. :o) i know there are weird guilt issues that get mixed up with cleanliness and me. the good news? at least the toilet's clean if you come over. and i did have a strong fire going when he got home.

we saw clerks 2 on thursday night. after a dinner at yummy wagamama, for which, my love clearly has no bounds or guilt. clerks 2 is f'ing hilarious. seriously. i thought my super ex-girlfriend was funny (the funniest movie i'd seen lately) but clerks 2 is on a totally different level. basically, it was a great date.

we saw an inconvenient truth on sunday. not funny. but good.

oh, and on tuesday, to celebrate our niagara meeting, gerry took me to dinner and the ballet. dinner was great, and made me decide to give luigi mallone's more thought in the future... day-amn that cosmo rocked. yummy. maybe i need a drink now.

welcome winter

winter is here. again.

good news? we got oil delivered today so we have hot water and heating. again.

i think i have fleas

because last friday was quarter-end, and i was at work until 11pm (still started at 8am) i get to come in at 10 today! yay! i'm trying to scarf down a smoothie before i jet to the chemist's (hopefully for an antihistamine or whatever it is that people take in these circumstances).

i'm not allergic to anything. well, mushrooms are debateable, and i do have a gazillion 'food sensitivities'; to name a few: soy, cranberries, dairy, wheat, gluten, mangos, tomatoes, garlic, rice, and well, the list goes on. at some point on friday and saturday, i got some bug bites. gerry and i were in the exact same areas of the house, the room even. he doesn't have a scratch, or feel the need to scratch, at all.

i have at least eight bites on me, and a couple of which have gotten huge. bigger than the size of quarters. sure i get weird skin reactions to stuff some times, but this is FREAKISH.

maybe they're infected from the scratching.

anyway. gross. i don't know if they're fleas, but because we live in the country, and have to have a window open a bit so we don't die from carbon monoxide poisoning from the fires, they could totally come in. we're going to be vacuuming like crazy this week, and i'm going to try to get an answer for the gross-ness on my body.

now that it's getting late, i might have to wait until lunch time, but that's only 2 hours away.

you're a star!

so, as will happen when you're missing someone, i was driving home from work wishing gerry was here. it wasn't just cause he'd have dinner ready for me (as i've mentioned, it's quarter end) and probably a fire lit. but because i'd come home and have a nice hug and kiss.

then i was thinking about the great speach he did at jim's wedding (there was only one "bridesmaid...lovely" comment) he was really funny. like really funny. and despite leaving his suit on the roof of the car overnight (it rained) and a couple of other hiccups, he was a great bestman... and certainly, he raised the bar.

(it's a long drive home at that time, there's a lot of time for thinking) turns out, it's not just because gerry does nice things for me; it's also the emotional side that he pulls through on.

now, don't get me wrong, i'm not saying we never push each others' buttons. and lately i've been kinda on edge with work, family and all the fun things that go with it. so it was nice to reflect on the good things i do have, a great fellah, friends and adoptive family.

i guess i just had a moment of thankfullness for all the good things i have, despite struggling with some of the other ones. it was nice. and since i feel free to whinge and moan on here, it seemed appropriate to praise as well.

thanks friends. thanks fellah.

lonely girl 15

when gerry said everyone was watching to utv (or whatever it's called) i had no idea that everyone (except for me) was.

on jon stewart last night there was a reference to it.

i still don't like lonely girl.

my clock's got wings

as of last saturday, it's been a year since i left home. a whole year. one whole one. yup.

i'd say i've learned a lot in this year, especially about ireland. knowing a place is like knowing a person, you've got to live with them to really get it.

typing this now, i'm recalling my most recent learning event here: really really really don't get door handles with knobbley bits. they equal danger.

having been away a year means a few things too, for example, despite celebrating our 'one year' anniversary in april, coming up in less than a week, will be a year after meeting gerry in person. crazy to think that a year ago i was freaking out about meeting him... and look where i am now... okay, well, i'm alone in bed, and gerry's in boston, but i'm alone in *our* bed, at *our* house.

it also means that in less than two months (it was exactly 2 months last saturday) i will be turning thirty. so far i feel like i've been embracing this event. thirty is meant to be the new twenty, you know. :o) i do have a bit of a 'i want to have experienced that, i don't want to be experiencing it now' attitude, and i don't want to think that i'm wishing my life away. but i really do expect 30 to hold a few surprises and some really cool adventures. i'm looking forward to the adventures, and can only hope that the surprises are good ones.

it's hard to imagine where i'll be a year from now. i expect i'd either be working on my masters or at job here, if i can somehow psych myself up for another year and a half here, or we'll be on the road somewhere.

maybe i'll set myself some short-term goals here in the meantime. i'm working on friends at work... went for dinner with a girl today, unfortunately she's leaving at the end of the week. also, i want to do more organising around the house, i made a start on sunday. when we first moved into the house we bought this suction cup thingy for the shower. the directions do say to clean and put it back up once a month. it was so hard to put up in the first place, we never deliberately took it down. but it would fall on occasion.i tried putting it back up last week, but no luck. finally, on sunday, while thinking i was buying fax paper, but really was buying the wrong fax paper, i also picked up a spring loaded, pole with little triangle shaped shelves on it, so it will fit in the corner. i've fixed it into the shower, and so far so good. the top shelf is ridiculously high and i would never use/reach it, but there's still heaps of storage space, so it's great.

anyway, i've got a couple of other projects that i want to take care of this coming month. gerry's working all the weekends in october, except for this one, so i'll have lots of time. then again, time has been flying.

did i do that?

i fully admit to being tired. because it's month and quarter end, there's been a lot of overtime. because gerry's in boston all week i'm responsible for lighting the fire and cooking my dinner by myself. it's certainly cut back on my pavlova consumption.

having anticipated this, on sunday i picked up some irish specialties: food that fits into my routine of: get home, turn on stove, go pee, light fire, put in food, have shower, sit on my ass researching travel plans and watch an episode of america's/britain's NTM, jon stewart and law & order while chatting to friends online.

yesterday, after finishing the dinner part of that and bringing my dishes into the kitchen, i was running back to the living room cause i'd just got a gust of smoke. i was closing the door between the hall and the kitchen when my claddagh ring caught on the door handle. it felt like my finger had been torn off. luckily it was just cut, the ring is completely warped (if it had been a thicker style, i'd probably be fingerless now) and my finger is killing me.

my diagnoses is that i've sprained my finger. (some of you may know me from such hits as 'kindgirl needs your help' which does clarify that i *am* in fact a doctor.) i have taken some aspirin and will bandage up my hand when i get home. i don't think it helps that my arthritis is especially bad in that hand.

at least i didn't lose my finger. i'm pretty happy about that.

another weekend, another wedding

wow. i almost can't believe it. normally, i'm not a huge fan of weddings. i'd say gerry's brother's wedding was no exception. but! i've just discovered the absolute saving grace.

the siege of ennis

how much fun is this?

so MUCH FUN!

it's an irish set dance that is traditionally done at weddings. this last wedding was my first time doing, other than a very fumbly attempt in our living room.

i will try to explain it, mostly because if i ever get married, i'm sooooo having this happen!!! there are multiple lines of four people holding hands. it usually goes boy-girl-boy-girl. each line faces the other and dances back and forth three times. then each row splits into two couples and basically makes a circle. but with one couple dancing in front and going left, and the other couple going around the back and to the right. both still facing forward. then you go back to the line formation and each person goes forward separately to meet the person across from them. and they swing each other around a bunch of times. then it's back to the line formation and both lines go forward, with one line going under the arms of the other. each line will then be facing another line to which the whole thing repeats.

the whole thing was great. i did request it... who knows when i'll be at the next irish wedding (we're rsvping as "no" for the october wedding we've been invited to). but it was great that there were a whole bunch of people doing it. if anyone is looking for a good dance as part of a workout plan, i'd like to suggest irish set dancing. geesh!

the jumping church is still my favourite irish thing, but between the siege of ennis and the giant's causeway, it's pretty tight.

congrat's to jim and tara. good luck and best wishes!!!

syl

dear syl,

you were a good woman.

great humour, and an endearing quirkiness that was so cute!

funny and smart too.

you did a great job 'bringing sarah up'... well, you know what we mean. thanks for taking me in all those times that family should be together, and making me a part of yours. easter, thanksgiving, a warm welcome always met me... a warm welcome and a good laugh.

you are dearly loved and missed.

xo
ursula

a weekend in london

thursday after work gerry and i caught a plane to london.

we met sean at the airport and had a drink with him... it was great to see him, since it'd been almost exactly a year since the last time. he happened to be in london and so did we, so last minute-ish we set it up. there's was some remembering of the good old days... like the time wade died at the casino in reno. and some general catching up too.

gerry and i basically got to the hotel and crashed that night. the next day we had some breakkie, went shopping and saw phantom that evening. saturday we say a matinee of the cantebury tales and checked out the market at covent garden. come to think of it, i should really rate that f'ing restaurant that had crap service and didn't bring me my salad but tried to charge me for it. hmmm... guess i just did.

anyway, the shows were great and it was a nice, but busy weekend away. what did i learn on this trip? what restaurant to *not* eat at in london, and that my hands are too old and arthritic to carry a handbag (no matter how new and cute) around all day. also, it makes sense to go to marks and sparks before a show because you can eat in the theatres, and the prices at M&S are waaaay more resonable.

good trip.

canadian killers

maybe it's just because it's not as usual as in the states, or maybe it's just because i'm canadian. in any case, i'm concerned canada's getting a bit messed up.

this is the second serious shooting that's happened in montreal in the last 15 years. it's been a bit hard to get information other than a guy in a trench coat shot a bunch of people at a school. (that's what happens when you don't get your news on the cbc, so i had to check out the website just this evening.)

i still can't find information on *why* this happened. i doubt it will make it easier for the parents of the girl who has died, but i can't help but wonder. will it be more of an "un-canadian" problem if we know the guy had a mental illness? will this make canadians realise that gun-control and acts of violence aren't just american issues?

the terms of this cannot be held down to a man who blamed women for his misfortune... gill attacked men and women and he didn't even apply to the school according to one of the administrators. can we find someone/thing else to blame or are we going to have to look at ourselves?

weirdly, in the marie claire that i bought this month, there was an article about karla and how she got the sweetest deal for murdering and raping girls by blaming her husband for controlling her.

is canada becoming the new america? what can we do to stop it?

wedding bliss

friday, gerry and i made our way to celbridge for his friend's engagement party. we were on our way to his brother's wedding, so it seemed appropriate. we got there late, but not too late to have a few drinks and chat to the soon-to-be bride and groom.

we stayed in celbridge and went for breakkie the next morning, on our way to 'dumdum' where i bought not one, but two furlas. one named ursula and one not. :o) both uber-adorable.

also this past weekend was gerry's brother's wedding. i'm guessing it was the bride's dream wedding.

it was at a big catholic church and the ladies were wearing hats. the reception was at cabra castle–– a castle that works as a hotel and reception-type place.

it was a big wedding with a multi-course meal, lots of wine and eventually dancing and fireworks. all the while full of questions similar to, "should we keep our hats for your wedding?".

i still think vegas is a better idea.

there's just one more thing

ah, columbo... how i love you.

the smell at work has been solved. when i found out what it was, it grossed me out so much i dry-heaved. no kidding.

it was coming from the tray in the water cooler near the printers (the ones whose paper we had smelled to see if it was coming from there).

someone put some coffee or some juice or, maybe it was just water that didn't evaporate into the tray and it went, um... bad.

in a lucky coincidence, the water guy came that day and i asked him to change the tray. he said he'd never seen anything that bad before. i wasn't as concerned with how it looked, but more so with the smell. i was happy i'd never taken a glass of water from that cooler and had been drinking the bottled water which is also provided for free from the canteen.

gosh, the idea is making me sick. yucky.

more on my weekend (4 days of wedding fullness) on my lunch break tomorrow; or else when i get home.

csi cork

today at work near the printers that my side of the department use, there was a weird pukey smell.

matilda first told me about it, and i warned her that it could be this guy's feet (i'd smelled them before at this terribly long meeting we had last week... well, before that too, but never for such an extended amount of time). anyway, we decided that could be it. then i went over to get some stuff from the printers, and i almost dry heaved from the grossness. it wasn't that guy's feet. it smelled like vomit.

periodically throughout the day, we'd get whiffs of it, even as far over as our desks. some theories as to what the mysterious smell was (since we made almost everyone in our department go over to see if they could figure out where/why/how it smelled) included:

a dead body dragged taken apart by rats and dragged over the ceiling
just a dead and rotting corpse
hidden vomit in the corner
a dead mouse
feet

it really smelled bad and grossed me out. i don't like to smell vomit. it makes me want to vomit.

funny, that

i finished the hitch hiker's guide to the galaxy on friday. it was good. really funny.

funny thing? people were talking about it at work on friday. funnier? the mini-series was on this evening. i'd never even seen it 'til today. it didn't look as good as the movie.

weird when things like that happen.

ahhh sweet relief

today is the day after month end. this makes me happy. a nice easy-ish day with only filing and some small accounting things to do.

roll-on weekend!

this weekend gerry is going to do a motorcycle driving course on saturday and then head to carrickmacross on saturday evening. i can't remember the last weekend we had to ourselves to just relax and cuddle up. well, it will still be a few before that happens again.

my weekend will involve housework, chatting to danielle on saturday evening, going to the market and tv watching. it will also involve the final details of our paris trip (this week has not been conducive to getting personal things done). i will also be trying to plan some stuff for ian's visit here... i'm going to look into cities that would be good for him to fly into (we'll meet up with him and spend a couple of days there) and then places that are warm for a week's visit. he will also get the (now) traditional list of things to start getting together for me. mwah hah hah!

ian's trip here means a nice vacation for me so i think i'm putting the excitingness of both things together. i'm way too out of it today to fully wrap my head around it, but for now, i will leave it at being excited.

oh shoot... i should make a list, i also need to get jewelry for the weddings this weekend and possibly some kind of hair thing like feathers or a hat.

help me jeebus.

month end = my end

as danielle mentioned in a recent email: it's month end, i've fallen off the face of the earth... or at least the social continent on said planet.

i've been busy with overtime, talking to birthday folks, and trying to plan our trips to london and paris. to top it off, i'm working on getting rid of this cold.

my success hasn't been great, but yesterday i made progress. after work i ate, talked to srs (mostly at the same time), had a shower, grabbed hitcherhiker's guide and went to bed. it's been a few nights recently that i've been exhausted but unable to sleep. there's just too much going on. finally, last night, i went to sleep early, and started to sort of lose it. i think i was so exhausted, mentally and physically that my body and mind stopped working properly! i woke up kinda stressed and out of it, and couldn't even answer gerry when he asked what was wrong. went pee, and then came back and realised i'd been dreaming about orders. i woke up randomly through the night, but basically had a good sleep, relatively speaking.

why the physical exhaustion? well, it's not that easy to be sitting at a desk all day, while not having slept well the night before, also i really need to be working out more... i've kinda fallen off the train since coming here. to top it off? ah! indeed... a story:

last week i asked some ladies to meet up for dinner on monday. elaine's going to college in dublin soon, isabel's going on a vacation for two weeks, trish is also off to college, but on friday next week, and beverley came too, but she's not going anywhere, yet... so it seemed like a good time.

we met up at cafe bar deli and everyone was close enough to on time. gerry was dropped off on the way, because he was meeting damien (beverley's boyfriend) for a pint as i had planned to drive.

everything was grand. good time, good food, great company. because i figured i'd be picking up gerry from somewhere on the road to beverley and damien's, i offered her a lift home. poor her. we went to the garage, and my car wouldn't start. so i decided to give it a push to see if it would start. well, the little push ended up being a bigger push (we were sure it would start going down the hill through the gate–the garage attendant held it open for us) and it did! but then beverley had to stop for the red light. gerry and damien were called and they came over. we pushed it the wrong way down a one way street, and YAY! it started again! and then it died. again. did we block traffic? of course! so we were pushing it down st.patrick's street (the busiest street in cork, especially at that time of night) and miracle of miracles, it started again. and i kept it revved the entire way home so it wouldn't die again. soooo crazy. i was stopping with the handbreak so i could keep it revved up, please keep in mind, this is in a 95 ford fiesta (a real party in a car). we were at stop lights and roundabouts, and i'm revving the engine... ah! the looks.

somehow we got home.

the next day i was in for work at 6.40 because gerry had to drop me off, and he works at 7. good news? got lots of work done.

gerry got a new battery for me, but the light still comes on... at least it starts now. the security guard at work told me to unplug the back window defroster. apparently with too much moisture they short out and cause battery drainage. i did it. anything to help, really.

at least now i know my my arms were killing me last night, too much pushin'... and definitely not the good kind.

huckleberry pie

was it last year that we had the strawberry social?

i miss that.

on that note... there was eton mess served at harvey's bistro, different than the one at the strawberry social. lovely. but not as lovely.

say what you mean

it's a bit weird. i've caught up on my regular blog readings but i didn't make one comment.

i like to comment on my friends' blogs because i feel like then they know i'm reading... and possibly more important, that i'm paying attention.

i always wonder how people will perceive my comments...or other people's comments even. especially if you don't know someone, how will they know that it's supposed to be funny? does it matter?

as an aside: i've been sick twice now since i started my new job 2 months ago. well, two months ago on saturday. the first time was when i first started there, and the second has been since coming back from vacation. i'm just sayin' is all.

You've got a boat-load o'nerve

all i talk about lately is moving. i'm sure it's kind of bugging g, but so far he's not telling.

it's true that we're making big effort to do more of europe (i think we're both enjoying the efforts, but are also wanting this to placate me) while we're still here; we've got tickets for london in september, paris in november, and possibly a quick flight to germany after my birthday and then a drive from there back to ireland. my sister, as per the norm, still has not followed through on getting fixing the storage to liberate the '71 bug that i wish to take here. maybe i should articulate to her that my desire to leave here gets stronger every day, and that my motions to make this happen are becoming more desperate.

we've started to play the lottery... then who cares how much g likes his job... he wouldn't have to work. we could just travel around until we find some place that we both like. or more than one place.

i've been searching for "around the world" tickets and trying to figure out which would be most suitable and economic for us.

i've considered the option of moving to the states.

at worst, we'll probably be here until march-ish 2008. then g is pretty sure he could get a transfer for a year or so to australia. maybe i will like there.

Does your mother tell you things?

this weekend i got to chat to srs. she's in ottawa until thursday. then she's off back to san fran.

she sent the phone number for the hospice that her mom's at so i could give a call, so i did. i'd say she's in a pretty similar position that my mom was in two years ago.

i cried when i talked to her mom. which is pretty much exactly the opposite of what i wanted to do. when srs and i talked, we talked normal. maybe we sort of both wanted it to be a bit normal... or maybe we were just trying to ignore how we feel. or something. maybe we just don't need to say it... that's what i like to think. that we both know, and we don't need to say it outloud.

like everything, it's hard to know the truth.

weatherman wet-fingers the sky

okay, so after danielle and her mom left i went right back to work that day. sometimes i enjoy wallowing in my misery, but other times, with some foresight, i will prevent this by making plans.

it was craziness at work because i'd been gone for a week. my department was basically a mess, excepting that orders had been done, everything needed some tlc.

also, in that time, a girl who has been quite negative about all things irish and all things her boyfriend, decided to go on a vacation, and a guy there quit. it was weird. i suspect they are related, but maybe shouldn't go into detail.

yesterday i left work early because i was sick. today, on dr.gerry's orders, i've taken the day off. i'm not fully recovered, but am certain it will come (from watching tv and surfing the web for holidays, and soup). tomorrow i will go back to work.

almost the whole time danielle and her mom were here the weather was pretty frickin' nice. the day before the left it started raining. since then it's mostly been raining. lots of thunderstorms, lots and lots of rain. everything's back to normal now.

we don't go anywhere, just on trips

it's been quite some time since i last blogged. now it's going to be one of those massive blogging sessions.

so much has happened. let's start where we left off... danielle was visiting. now, if you'll allow me, i will sum up.

we went to blarney: it was a gorgeous day. i didn't realise that i already blogged about this. *blush*

we went to dublin it was a long day, and a short visit. my first time in dublin was a success. we went to a cathedral and a museum after a yummy lunch at cafe gertrude. we were guided there by conor and it was yummy.

sadly we didn't make it to dumdum centre to buy the "ursula bag" by furla. would it be weird to take the bus to dublin this weekend while gerry's doing over time? wait a second, if he's doing over time doesn't what me that *he* should get the bag for me?

we shopped in cork

we went to west cork: stopped at inchydonny (however it's spelled) stopped at what we thought was a craft fair at a church. ended up being mass, but it got me directions to the "other church" that apparently had events like craft fairs. the stuff was less crafty and more arty than expected... but all very nice. it was cool to see local stuff, and to find out about classes. i'd love to take the chair making class, but i don't think my hands are up for it right now...maybe once i don't have arthritis. that would be fun.

we had a lovely meal at annie's: extra yummy.

we played loads of games: this includes cribbage, and the couple times people came over and we played cranium.

overall, i'd say a good visit. it was nice to be able to see stuff i'd been holding off on, because i didn't want to do it twice.

kissing lips

so far danielle and her mom's trip to cork has been a mix of hanging out and playing cards and doing the tourist thing.

friday evening we went into town for wagamama. it was an all-around, 'YUM!'. we met up with elaine and shantella and funnily i even saw matilda from work there.

saturday we went to the coal quay market to drop off the basket to the german baker, picked up pretzels and a croissant and went to the english market to get a picnic for fitzgerald's park.

sunday we had a barbeque and finished an evening of too much food with a solid game of canadians vs. irish. the irish won, but we're looking for a rematch on saturday.

monday we went to blarney, where i was the only one brave (stupid) enough to kiss the stone. i don't think my gift of gab has increased, but i guess it's hard to get chattier when you're already the chattiest.

the weather's been great since danielle and her mom arrived. i encourage canadians to visit more regularly. please. we got some rain on sunday and thought we might get rained out, but it cleared up nicely for the barbeque and we even ate outside.

that's hoff-tastic

just saw an add for an internet service provider. the hoff is their spokesmodel. it's funny, self-mocking, and disturbing.

has anyone else noticed that when he walks it's really stiff? like "old man, i'm having trouble moving" kind of stiff walk. it's almost like he has wooden legs.

going places

gerry and i don't have much free time between now and christmas. as mentioned, danielle and her mom are coming for just over two weeks, and i've taken some time off for that. we have two weddings to go to (gerry's in the wedding party for both) but we've now managed to plan a trip for london (ehm, england) in september, between weddings, and a weekend in paris (still not the one in ontario) in november. in london, we're going to see a couple shows, gerry (he's gay below the knees) would like to see phantom, and i would like to see something shakespeare. in paris, we're going to do touristy things because gerry's never been, and really, we couldn't get cheaper flights to anywhere else.

this leaves me with 2 days of vacation time left between now and december 26 which is when my contract runs out. i might have to just randomly take those days off, cause every weekend that gerry has off, we have plans, and here, if you don't take your vacation time, you don't get to bank them or anything.

v is for visitors

YAY! one more sleep until danielle and her mom arrive!

i get to leave work early for the second day in a row. gerry will pick them up from the airport, and i will meet them at the house, unless by some miracle work decides that i am not needed and that it would be wonderfully kind to let me leave extra early. for some reason, i don't think this is going to happen.

i'm ready for some time off, some cribbage and some more canadiana!

canada kicks ass

last night gerry and i had a guest from canada. jaimie is a friend of my friend jen.

it was sooooo nice to have another canadian in the house, and extra wicked to get canadian oreos and some hershey kisses with caramel!

jaimie's visit only made me more excited for danielle and her mom's visit (two more sleeps!!!!!!).

i wish all of my friends lived in ireland, i bet i would like it better here.

YAY jaimie! hope you had fun.

boooo-ring

i'm bored.

i don't want to do anything and i don't want to do nothing.

exciting events

yay! gerry's home and he brought me soooo many presents! AND everything he got is perfect. very very exciting. welcome home gerry!

on thursday some girls and i went for dinner at cafe mexicana. the food was great, some of the service was stellar, and some of it was brutally bad. more of that in eating out: ireland.

* THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS COARSE LANGUAGE AND PERSONAL INFORMATION *

as will happen when five girls get together, the conversation quickly ended up at sex. i would like to say i didn't even bring it up. anyway, elaine was going on about the vibrating ring from durex. basically a cockring that has a vibrating piece on it. when i say she was going on about it, i mean i was like, where's a 24 hr pharmacy? i need one of these now! but there wasn't much point, cause gerry was away until saturday.

so today at the mall, elaine, isabel, shantella and i were in a pharmacy, and i was like, oh my gosh! great time to get one. elaine confirmed it was the same one. whoot! anyway, we were driving home, and i opened the package, to check it out, read the directions, etc. the stupid thing didn't work! so, gerry knowing how annoyed i get with that, was like: do you want to return it? and i didn't want to turn the car around and go all the way back, but it beats doing it later. we turned around, and i went to return it. i let someone go in front of me because i wanted to talk to the same lady that i bought it from earlier... for obvious reasons. anyway, i was like oh, do you remember me? i bought this earlier? obviously she did. anyway, i explained the situation, and was like i just bought it an hour and a half ago, and she joked: oh just enough time to go home and get back! then i told her about telling my friend that i was opening it in the car when i figured out it wouldn't work and all they could do was make jokes about not being able to wait until we got home.

the exchange was not painful at all, until i got to the exit and the alarm went off.

in review of this product: good dirty fun. the price is a bit steep for something meant to be a one-use product. i'd look into something with a longer battery life.

drop it like it's hoff

*gosh* totally forgot... for all you hoff fans: click it.

they are so in love with the hoff on the morning show at red fm, here in cork. they go on about him at least a couple times a week and today they had this guy who is apparently the only hoff impersonator. he's learning the words to the german hit: get in my car. anyway, he recommended this site, and who would challenge a dude that looks like david? not me, that's what i'll say.

while you were out

because gerry is currently on a plane somewhere over the atlantic between here and the u.s. i feel it is a good time to list the things i got done (house-wise) while he was away.

• washed old shower curtains and added them and the crazy green, shell-shaped shower curtain holders to the pile of "came with the house, don't want in our house" and put up newly purchased, much more modern curtain

• bought a fruit/vegetable rack, assembled and put to use in kitchen

• bought a new extension cord (lead) to fit under the bed with enough sockets that the bed side lights and the alarm clock can work at the same time, installed it, and reset the clock

• moved another dresser (set of drawers) into the bedroom (brings the total to 4 and one wardrobe) so that gerry is not tempted to leave stuff on the floor. in my mind, if it's on the dresser, it's better off than on the floor in a big pile.

• recycled the stuff that we were going to use for a fire, but that i have since made the executive decision that we do not need until september, when fire season starts again

• bought a clothes tidy rack that has been put into the gym area to hang our wetsuits and dry suits on, to clean up one of the spare rooms

• bought two shelves to put tidy up of the stuff that came with the house, and to tidy up some stuff that didn't come with the house. assembled the shelves and then moved the stuff that was in one of the spare rooms to the shelves to organise the stuff better

oh, and to celebrate gerry's return, tara gave me the great idea of buying some champagne which i thought would be fun, so i did. and since i told gerry i'd make him lunch tomorrow, i got some cheese and crackers. mwah hah hah.

because i finished up all the housework tonight (usually i get most of it done on the weekend) tomorrow can be a stress-free fun day! i will have to do some laundry on sunday but since i bought yet another 48 washes pack (i forgot that on wednesday when i went shopping i *did* buy more laundry detergent. i thought that i probably hadn't because i don't really understand what all the weird kinds are on about and was going to quiz gerry on it when he came back, but i guess i decided to go ahead with the tesco lemon scent twice. oops.) i won't be running out of detergent.

now i'm totally tired. and in bed, so that equals sweet sweet sleep!

scary movie

the past week and a half that gerry's been away i've been pretty okay by myself in the house at night. this means i haven't been freaking out.

tonight's a bit different. three more sleeps left and tonight i'm losing my cool.

i think it's because i had a nightmare last night, and now i'm afraid to go to sleep.

what could be that bad?

it's not the first time i've dreamt about babysitting these kids that used to live in the log house down the road from me when i was younger. one time (in real life) i was babysitting them and a cop came by and askled if i'd seen this guy around, and i was like, uh no... he suggested bringing the kids inside to play for the day. so i knew that that had happened in my dream, cause i remember the feeling that day, and it was present in my dream.

(in my dream) the kids were playing inside, but one of them got out through the basement door and the killer was waiting outside for anyone to come out. we were going by a hedge, which he totally blended in with when he stepped out to attack us. somehow i grabbed the kid and we made it inside. but the lock was broken so i had to prop stuff up against it. we all ran upstairs, and the rest is pretty blurry... of course the killer come out of the bushes was the part i keep remembering.

anyway, i'm not really excited about being in the house in the middle of nowhere right now. i've sort of had to run from room to room turning on lights, and then go back and turn them off. my fear does not overcome my guilt of leaving lights on all night.

all at once

suddenly i'm popular. no, not at work... still working on that.

it's weird, i have a choice of two plans for tomorrow and plans for dinner on friday and a guy from work is djing at skybar on saturday... which we may go to, depending on how gerry feels, since he gets back that morning.

in any case, other than dinner with sharon a couple times, and some listed stuff around the house, i haven't done much these past two weeks.

i'm okay with that.

staring at the sun

thank you lord, for making it sunny today. it's a nice 30 ish degrees, and feel like summer. tomorrow is supposed to be thunder storms.

i want to be chillaxing on my bit of grass, or even on my camping chair but because they're doing some kind of construction basically in our back yard, that's not gonna happen.

i don't know what they're doing... building another house? in any case, it's loud and annoying. and cutting into my very precious sunning time.

i havna got da powah

today the power went out at work. that was fun/boring. if there's no power you can't even surf the web. it was also hard to pee in the pitch black, which is where i was headed when the power went out. it was only out for like half an hour.

also, the girl who was in my market and is now doing the customer service part was not at work today. she was sick, but no one told me until almost noon. i still don't know 100% what's going on, so that was shit.

i'm excited about my (rescheduled for thursday) ergonomic assessment and of course the training in how to lift a box of paper properly, which takes place friday.

i'm going to try to bring a lunch 3 days this week. i will have a sandwich for 2 days at lunch, and i will try to remember to bring cheerios for breakkie, in an effort to save some extra money. i won't be saving much, but i want to save up money for a couple of long weekends we're planning and possibly a more serious vacation. it is tempting to keep buying the 1€ fruit pots though, because i couldn't buy all that fruit and not have most of it go bad on me.

learning curves ahead

i've never worked in an office before. well, not really. like, i've done officey work before, in the office part of a house, or in the office at my mom's store, but not like now.

if you've ever seen the movie: the office, but have never worked in one, the i would say you would still have a decent idea of the characters that work in said place.

i will describe a few for fun.

there is the slightly older german man. he is very particular, and also making weird nasal noises... well, actually weird other noises too. he brings a blanket to work because he gets very very cold and will tell anyone who is listening, or really that can hear, all about how it is too cold despite having his hoodie on (as in the hood on too) and a fleece blanket as well. also, if asked for help he will pull a cop on you. by this i mean that he will take as much time explaining to you, somewhat offensively, that he has his own work to do as it would have taken for him to actually help you. (please note, i have never asked him for help, but had the embarrassing misfortune to witness someone else.)

there is the eccentric french lady who wears hammer pants, and has them in a variety of colours. she is funny and nice, but crazy.

there is the younger french lady whose laugh is so artificial that you dread hearing her speak, for fear that someone might say something that borders on remotely funny. she also wears kitten heels and gingham bustiers.

there is the hippy girl with the long-haired boyfriend, who by default is nice and oddly, for ireland, a vegetarian.

there is the guy with short hair, bad temper, and a need to not be challenged, and if it does happen, he will say outrageous things that aren't really what you'd choose to teach your children. his opinion will be heard and he's always right.

there is also the german girl who hates ireland more than me at my worst times. everything that has happened to her here is a personal attack on her by "the stupid irish" and anything that someone might comment on becomes an example why ireland sucks the most. now, the good news on this is threefold. one, i'm not the only person not desperate to make ireland my home. two, it's forced me to deffend ireland more than once. three, i've realised that in the end, if i didn't want to be here, i could leave... well, maybe my life is no longer quite as easy to just pack up and leave, but when it comes down to it, i still believe that if you don't like something, change it. in this case, it might not be immediate, but it's a presence at the back of my head.

more characters to come.

this is it

okay. today's the day i'm going to (hopefully) finish some stuff around the house. i've already started, and with a few purchases, will likely finish. i've also come to the conclusion that when gerry and i stop renting and buy a place, we will have a built in closet, and that that closet will need to be huge. we both have a lot of clothes, and our room looks like a furniture shop. i'm sure it wouldn't be so bad if we'd taken the bigger room, but that side of the house is too noisy for me.

my hair still looks good, and today i've experimented with cute bobby pins (slides) in it. yay.

okay! off to shop!

hairy

so the scoop is, this is not the best pic of me, but the hair looks good. i like the colour and the stylist thought my head was too round for a short and curly (more HM) 'do, so we settled on shorter, with heaps more layers (unlike crazy peter mark hair-don't).

i'm happy. more pics to follow at a later date.

big day

after work, i have an appointment with toni & guy. well, with beth at said salon. i forgot my camera, so i'm going to have to take a picture when i get home, before i sleep on it. i'm so excited... it's basically all i've been talking about all week. i'm not totally sure people get it.

i moved desks on tuesday (i think it was tuesday) and since then i don't get to hang out as much with the same people at work. i'm sort of secluded with the nordic department (all two of us) and the soon-to-be supervisor on the other side. needless to say, especially since the other changes at work, things have been more work-orientated.

in other news, i'm on a losing streak when it comes to games, so if you've ever wanted to really really kick my ass at something, this might be your chance. and by this, i mean when i'm at home.

spoiled

ahhh, the sweet sweet heaven that is a pair of brand new ikea slippers in my favourite colour. thank you cheryl and jeffy. a month and 12 days after the package was sent, it arrived. i found the post office and basically ripped it open and found 4 pairs of slippers whoot! again, thank you! yahoo!!

i saw pirates of the caribbean 2 with sharon tonight. i think it was better than the first, but maybe i should see the first one again. in any case, it was almost 2.5 hours, but it didn't really feel like it.

work's been crazy this past week. there have been some changes made to the department and i'm learning to be in charge of the nordic section, so it's a bit nuts... i'm sure i'll be back to slack in no time. today i only had time to look at 'ursula' three times. twice have been at home. don't worry, i looked my new hair and researched yvonne's suggestion long enough yesterday... it didn't need attention today.

i did have a minute to make a hair appointment for friday. what to do!

oc'd

blah blah blah. have we met? i have ocd.

one of my quirks is that i have a very strict routine for bed. i may be out of my head drunk, more tired than tired, or just not feeling like it, but i will still do it. everyday.

first i wash my face, then i tone it, then i put an exfoliant cream on, and then i moisturise: first an all-around, and then one or two other forms of moisturiser on my eyes. the crazy moisturising is because of my eczema, if i don't, then i will most certainly regret it the next day, when it looks like i have dried toothpaste, or milk all over my face.

now, it might not sound that crazy, but the time kinda adds up. only in extreme circumstances will this be broken. and i mean really really extreme. super extreme.

this evening there was an 'issue'. how could i forget to buy cotton pads? i even brought the empty packet to work to remind myself that when i went to the bank, i had to nip in to boots and grab some more. i had even budgeted the time. so this evening, while performing the methodically comforting task of doing my face (for some people this means putting on makeup, for me: clean clean clean) there was a speed bump, and i remembered the cotton pads, or lack thereof. panic ensued, i knew i had to have hidden a couple for just such an instance. well, i'd hidden one, so i ripped it in half and finished. i will have half for tomorrow morning, and perhaps the upset caused by forgetting will remind me to get them tomorrow.

a bag called ursula

can you believe it? i decided to do some online shopping this evening. bad news? there are a lot of things i want, but it's still just over two weeks before i get paid, and i promised myself not to make big/non necessity purchases before then. but i might have to.

i'd like you to meet the furla named ursula.



how could this happen?! how could it not?! ohmygosh!!!

other amazing things i found:

deal with it

i'm trying to be positive about the lack of summer here. one guy at work said, "you don't move to ireland for the weather". someone else said, "you have to change your perception of a good day here. you can't look outside and say think that the sun's not shining, so it's a bad day. if it's not raining, it's a good day: you have to go out". fair enough. today (in case you can't tell by the photo) was not a good day.

i've decided that i may try to take a long weekend in the fall, once our guests have left, and worked in around the weddings in september. i don't think i could handle the rest of the 'summer' like this.

to all you irish: i'm *not* complaining, i'm stating. i didn't realise the summer would suck so huge here. maybe if i'd been more prepared mentally for this, which is what i'm trying to do now, i'm taking the above advice, trying to change my outlook on the whole thing, and will try to find the sun on one or two long weekends.

in other news, i think germany's going to win their last match at the world cup. they'll get 3rd place.

it looks like i have boogers

i have fairly dry skin on my face, and need to put a conscious effort into moisturing. since my cold included a very runny nose at the end of it, i was moisturising it like crazy the past few days. it possibly helped, but did not stop that part of my nose from turning out super crusty, there's even a scab on it. i would describe the look as kind of scaly snake-like but that's only at a closer look. from a distance, it just looks like dried boogers all around the rim.

pick my hair style

okay, i've been thinking about my hair, and i've found some pics.

the plan is to colour it closer to my natural colour, and have a few bits of highlights, so picture these styles with darker hair.

to start: this is pretty much what my hair is like now. or at least close enough if i bother to style it. it's got lighter highlights right now.





or i could continue to let it grow, and it will look like a curlier version of this:





now, the other longer hair option is to keep the length, but get some slightly funkier layers in, which i suspect would look something like this:





now, another choice, is to do what i consider to be the same as the one above, but shorter which equals funkier, like this:






i'm serious when i say i want opinions. i am kinda leaning in one direction, but like on who wants to be a millionaire, i don't want to influence the voting. i guess for that, the hair colour can be voted on as well... but that, as i've disclosed already, i'm already planning on darker with highlights. p.s. i'm *not* going to peter mark, i'm going to toni&guy, so i know i'll get what i ask for... or something even better!

ouch

gerry left for the states this morning. to keep myself busy during the next two weeks (aside from working) i've made a couple lists.

one list is all about things i want done to the house while gerry's gone (which i will not list here, because some will be a surprise) and the other is of things i want done on a more personal level, including:

wax arm pits (i was going to get it done, because i tried to do it myself, once. that was a really really big mistake. today i decided it might once again be a good time to try. i think it worked out alright. but day-amn it hurts more when you do it yourself.)

dye hair

change toe nail polish

buy a couple books from amazon.ca

find a place that sells stones to make jewelry, i have something in mind but can't make it until i find the right stuff.

scrabble cures sickness in 7 letters

last night, because i'm not watching football anymore, i got to hang out in bed, and be challenged to a game of scrabble by gerry. since i was still sick, that was very acceptable to me.

turns out there are different rules in ireland than in canada. now, since i love rules, most of you will know that if one makes sense to me, i will love it even more, especially if it's about games. i didn't realise there were different rules depending on the country, so we didn't discuss anything pre-game.

the biggest rule difference? the challenges. in canada, if you challenge and the word is legit, you lose a turn, if it's not found, the person who put the word down, loses a turn. fair to me. in ireland, if you challenge there is no risk of losing a turn. if the word is there, no bother, if it's not, the person whose word it is loses their turn. i don't like this rule. there's no art to bluffing, and people cna challenge words any time they want.

a smaller and more easily resolved battle? that of the dictionaries. we don't have an official scrabble dictionary in the house, to me, the next best thing was the online version at scrabble.com. there was a bit of a 'discussion' over this, but once gerry's word was not in his dictionary, but right there on the screen, the issue was resolved.

end result? i ended up using the challenges more than i might have in a 'lose your turn when you challenge poorly' game, but i did win. i was behind almost the whole game. and gerry kept stealing my spots. *grr* but it was extra fun for me to win, cause i could tell he was totally expecting to win the whole game! hee hee.

i'm still sick, but no where like before... groggy, very sneezy, sore throat and nose, but not on my death bed, and high from my sick-win.

sentenced to bed

i'm sick. it's in my chest. that's the bad news.

the good news? i didn't have to come in until 10 this morning, and was told i could go home an hour and a bit early too. so, for being at work for about 4 hours (we also went out for lunch, so our 1 hr break was extended to 1 and a half) i will get paid for a full day.

and! there's more! i have also been told by gerry that i had better be in bed (nursing my disease) and that he'll make dinner and baby me! yay!!! so i'm laying in bed, box of kleenex, some water and halls nearby, smelling sexy with tiger balm rubbed into my chest (it feels a bit more like a burn than usual, but it's a good burn, so i'll take it).

oh! i almost forgot. last night, i got a call from isabel, she was listening to the radio and there was a canada day special on...okay, it wasn't on canada day, but it was close enough! all canadian music, tonnes of canadians texting in to wish people happy canada day... actually a couple of irish people did too, saying they love canada and stuff. i believe one person wrote:just wanting to say hey to all the west coast canadians here in ireland! happy canada day! ursula

ahh! the weekend!

after my first week back at work (i was there until after 9 on friday) the weekend was a welcome break.

friday i went home, had something to eat and had a super long talk with danielle. it was great, and pepped me up a bit, since i'd been feeling a little yukky the past couple of days.

saturday was all about football. i watched to full germany game that morning, and i met elaine for lunch at casanova's, which i will review on eating out tomorrow and then i came home watched some more and went to bed.

today i got tonnes of housework done, and made a list of things for gerry to do before he leaves for the states. i also made a list of things for him to bring me back from the states. yes, this is on top of the huge list that i've asked danielle to bring here for me. it's not like she's working now. she can spend her next 4 weeks shopping around for me! :o) (i do really appreciate the efforts, so i'd better continue making fun of myself!).

cup it

today i watched the game from last night (germany beat argentina). i knew what happened, but only caught some it at work last night. i could have watched more of it at work, but i had too much to do, and didn't want to be there later than i already was. then i watched the england vs. portugal game this evening (portugal won). tuesday is germany vs. italy and wednesday is portugal vs. france. it would be soooo crazy if it was germany vs. france (i was actually kinda hoping it would be germany vs. england, cause then everyone would be backing germany!). in any case, it's gonna be a great game.

i think i've mentioned that gerry calls himself a football widow... only four more games to go, but it could be even worse now, cause i'm really really gonna want to watch every game now!

in other news, work is still going well. because we had to stay overtime for quarter end, they paid for our breakfast, and provided dinner too. oh, and we had lots of snacks too! i brought rice krispie squares, and they were a huge hit, cause here they only have the processed ones, and these things called rice krispie buns which are not like the squares at all.

the bit of sunshine

okay, so my hockey team was booted out before they even got to the playoffs. good news? my football team is well in there. tonight at 5 germany's playing. i'll probably be at work, unless i magically get tonnes of work done quickly this afternoon. i've set the sky (tivo) to tape it. i will be home late tonight, but get to unwind in front of a (hopefully) winning match.

go germany! (in the team sports way... not the war nazi, take over the world kind of way).

5 out of 21 can't be wrong

5 is the number of days i will see gerry for between now and when he gets back from the states.

problem is, the weekdays go a bit too quickly. he's going to jim's to get shitfaced tonight, fishing with his brothers this weekend, and then next week he heads to boston.

now that these dates have been noted, start thinking carca and chatting!!!

stop poking me

since i've been sitting down at work, my bra has been poking me. extra weird, cause i wore the same bra yesterday, no problem. today, big problem. i think the underwire has snuck out... i haven't had a bathroom check yet, but i'm pretty sure that's what's digging into my armpit. this might make it a long day.

ugh.

that's not gonna last long

so far, a regular day at my job has been like this:

get in just before 8
email/check blogs obsessively for the next hour/hour and a half
breakkie at 9.30
do some work, check emails/blogs just in case
lunch at 12
do lots of work until 4.30/5.30/6.30
go home

the job has been very low stress, which is awesome. next week i'll have more training and probably be busier (it's quarter end this week, so i'm just posting and invoicing orders for people while they process). for now, i'm enjoying how nice it is here. sure, tonight is the last day for quarter end, so we're gonna be here for 12-14 hours, but overtime's only for a week once every three months.

besides, i think we get breakkie for free this morning too! we definitely get dinner if we're here that late.

judging a book by its cover

so sinead's blog has a reading list. great idea. she reviewed this book about two sisters whose mom has died and they fight about inheritance, blah blah blah. anyway, the title has something in it to do with tractors and ukrania. gerry bought it a couple weeks ago... probably on her recomendation, and it *looks* like a great book (sweet cover). i thought it would be a good idea to read the book. i've now decided that it wasn't. i don't start books and not finish them very often... it's happened maybe once or twice.

make that three times.

it's too sad... and makes me feel bad.

hump day

work's going well. i hear people feel sorry for me though... cause i've been delegated to all of the posting and invoicing of the orders. apparently it's the most boring part of the job. so far, i don't care. there's not that much pressure and i'm meeting new people. this could change in a few weeks, once i'm doing the full spectrum of the job, so i'm going to enjoy monotony while i can.

tonight's yoga, and i'm really looking forward to it. all the stretching is going to be niiiiice. and we're getting hand outs on doing sun salutation at home. gerry reminded me of that last night, and boy! did he sound excited. then i threatened him with doing lots of it on thursday once i get home from work. he kept changing the subject for some reason.

speaking of humping... yesterday i got home and saw a whole big pile of mail on the floor. i was so excited, something must be waiting for me there! alas, not even a bill. sad me. if you're thinking of sending me mail... like a card, a scrap of paper, or a wee note, please do so. i'd love love love to get something. not that i'm begging... i'm just saying that if you've thought about it, i'd encourage you to make it happen.

first day

today was my first of work at my new job.

the first 30-45 mins were spent having a tour and meeting everyone. literally everyone. there are over a hundred people working there. if they happened to be in a meeting when we came around, we went back. it's kinda cool to do that, but i don't know anyone's names yet. oh, wait. i know a michael and a sven... everyone else i can't remember.

after the meet and greet, i emailed, and checked blogs. then i met with one lady for about an hour to go over systems. then i read some papers for a bit, had lunch, did some training with sven, and then did some work and got to go home early.

bad news? it's end quarter so i've been told that any plans i had for friday need to be cancelled. but that's not really so bad... end quarter only happens four times a year.

so far, everyone is nice and friendly.

ohmygosh

todd bertuzzi has been traded to the florida panthers!!

alex auld and bryan allen are also gone, but it's the todd trade that has me surprised.

wow.

wik(ed)pedia

today's feature article on wikipedia was canada!

how exciting!!!

i would like to say that i knew most of the stuff it said; i'm willing to admit that i couldn't have given a date for the BNA Act, despite studying it in my race and racism class.

i also didn't know that there are about 32.5 million people i canada. huh. the things you learn.

last days!

today is my second last weekday of pure freedom. so i'm trying to fit in everything i need to before all my weekdays are taken! eek!

i got up early... well, earlier than usual, to give isabel a ride to pick up her car, and to open up a joint bank account for gerry and me. i waited for the bank to open and then was told i need to make an appointment. the guy offered me 12.30 initially, and i was like: uh, how about something sooner? so i went back at 10.30, and said i was there for my appointment. the woman was like: oh, have a seat he mustn't be in his office. there was a table of breakfast things and orange juice, so i was going to have some OJ, and then i noticed a guy there. i looked at his nametag, and it was the guy i was supposed to meet... he was just hanging out at the food table. oh boy.

i also went to the lingerie store to finally use the rest of my credit there, picked up some presents, and bought bagels and parking discs so that when i go for my massage tomorrow, i'm not rushed.

afterwards i stopped at dunnes and got some more cereal and strawberries and a spread that does not have dairy. i have no idea how it tastes, but i'm gonna give it a try here shortly. before i go to the post office.