sick hair

okay, once again, i'm sick. some coughy-chest thing going on. again. boo urns.

but i'm gonna tough it out, and go to work tomorrow for two reasons.

1. i don't get paid if i don't go, and this also affects the number of hours i get towards holidays.

2. tomorrow is the big hair cut. i had a really long shower today, washed my hair with care, and brushed it twice.

i've raised over 250€ now, which is super exciting. and hopefully tomorrow there will be a few more donations from work. whoot.

i'll post some before and after pictures tomorrow evening, after my proper hair cut.

Q3-2007

done! well, for me at least.
but, having been home for an hour, i'm still jittery and unable to sleep. took a magneleuvre, so i'm hoping that'll take the edge off in a few minutes.

i'm so wrecked, but my mind's still working on percentages and crap stuff like that. one more quarter-end until canada! since that one is also year-end, i have a feeling i'll still be jittery days after. oh well. that will really be the last one, then.

tomorrow? sleep. tv. dinner. movie. maybe reading, but i don't want to strain myself.

keep counting

well, only 4 days left for quarter-end. and then it's october.

october's big event is us having a whomping thanksgiving dinner... it will be a bit later than the holiday in canada, but the spirit of the event will still be there.

and then of course, there's november: birthday season!

after that comes christmas and year end.

then it's time to go.

we have so much to do, but gerry and i have both been sick lately. me with my never-ending gift from turkey, the mid-gastrointestinal infection (translated by the girls at work as pregnancy) and a cold. gerry with a cold, and now he appears to have caught my pregnancy and has been nauseous all day.

anyway, we have heaps of packing, and heaps of planning for our trip all the while playing more scrabulous!

sick @ work

went to work today. i probably should have stayed home. i was kind of out of it. hopefully i didn't book anything totally wrong.

with the help of some people at work, we've decided that i will make the hair-cut an event at work. on october 1, i will cut off two pony-tails of love. and i'm going to try to get cash from people at work.

keep you posted. ugh. i'm tired.

give it up

we measured my hair at work on monday, and it looks like it's long enough to donate 10 inches for a wig! how exciting!

the plan is to get a very tiny trim (just to make sure it looks really healthy, but keep it over the 8 inches mark). and then with the rest that's left over get a proper cut.

i was thinking of collecting some cash around work to donate to irish cancer society, and then i'll send my hair to canada. i'm not 100% sure on the collecting at work, but i feel like if i can make some cash to donate, then surely it's worth a try.

if you read this blog and want to give me money to donate, work away! if i go to work tomorrow i think i will send out the email... maybe other people will do it too.

i hope whatever hair dresser does it doesn't feel it's necessary to charge me for two hair cuts... maybe if i explain the situation they would be more lax. will keep you posted.

plan-it australia

plans for our trip back to canada are coming along well. we're fairly certain about certain aspects of the trip, but are booking nothing until we get gerry's passport back. despite being sick, i managed to get my sorry sweating body (why do i react to every thing with sweat? no idea.) to the post office. some things are worth getting more sick for, i guess.

(the part i haven't told gerry) i'm stopping work after the first week in january. i think we'd originally decided around the 10th but i'm going to need some prep time. there are always last minute things to buy, send and wax. oh... told my work i was leaving at the beginning of january. it went well the manager was glad for the amount of notice i gave, and that i was staying through year-end.

*huge relief* if you know me, you know i hate leaving a job. even ones that i hate, i find it really hard to leave.

so, plans are really coming together for our time here and our trip back. i have a feeling it's going to fly, and that there's a lot of hard work ahead and it might sneak up faster than expected. we've checked out some camper-van kind of things to rent while in oz. we're hoping for a bed/fridge/toilet/shower kind of deal. at first, we thought we would just stay along the coast, but plans may now include a road trip out to alice springs, which is pretty much the centre of australia. i guess i'd better get going on the music for Peas and Pip.

sleigh bells ring...

yesterday i had to de-ice my car before work. today i'm home sick with a sore throat and sneezes. we've increased the timer for the heating. i guess it's officially winter now. i'm gonna have to dig out the electric heating pad this weekend.

another member of the hoefer gainford clan

on wednesday we welcomed the latest addition to our iFamily. Pip is a lovely green iPod shuffle that's about as big as a large postage stamp. i used my connection at apple and got it at a discount, which was nice. i still love peas, my old school 15G iPod, but pip is super handy to bring to the gym. he just clips to my shirt and only has rockin' tunes. did i mention he's also a lovely green? nice and sort of metallic looking.

welcome pip! i already heart you... and your much more comfy earbuds.

it's on its way!!!

(so i'm cheating; i'm posting an email that anyone who reads this will already have. meh, get over it.)

guess what?

within 30 days, we will have the permanent residence visa for gerry! we just have to send his passport with some pictures and they put the visa in there, and send it back! whoot! they've even threatened us that we have to enter the country by march 13th, or we'll have to start all over.

what does all this exciting news mean?

on monday, i will tell my work that i will be leaving in january. it seems like far away, but this way gerry gets to spend christmas with his family, and i get to make enough money to pay for the traveling back to canada. so the plan is that i'll work a few days in january and then we'll take a few days to finish stuff up here, and pack and all that jazz. after that, it's off to carrickmacross and some time with gerry's family. we'll then head to thailand for a week, australia for 3 weeks (1 week at gerry's sister's place, and 2 weeks roadtrippin' up the coast to do some diving at the great barrier reef) and then we'll head to vancouver. after things are sorted there and we do stuff like do the interview, get a car, and get gerry a bank account, we're hoping to go to california for a quick trip, stock up on some wine and do some visiting.

any ideas on what to tell my work? :o) i'll be giving plenty of notice, at least.

so, for the next 4 months in cork, i am going to do the absolute most to enjoy the wicked friends that i've made here, (excited though i am to go back, i have met some super cool people i'm going to miss like crazy) really focus on the new yoga class i've signed up for, read lots, work hard, and try to make lots of money, all the while seeing the bits of ireland that i've marked in the lonely planet guide but not seen yet. oh and the packing up and sorting and selling and the rest of the fun stuff that comes with a move this big (mostly for gerry).

the time will fly, guaranteed. in a week it will be 2 years since i left - so much has changed, and i'm sure i'm included in that. i know our relationship has changed gerry... he doesn't pick his nose nearly as much now. well, he's cut down on the public picking.

that's us sorted, i guess.

YAY! i'm already teaching gerry canadian. he says: yay! maple syrup, pancakes, hockey, wayne gretzky, trevor linden, please and thank you. i'm working on the national anthem, as well as trying to get him to stop saying a-boot.

i can't believe this moment has come. ohmygosh. if anyone wants to visit ireland while i'm here, you'd better book your tickets!

i said, 'hey! what's going on?'

i've been working like crazy. working and playing scrabulous, that is! sometimes i win, sometimes i lose. but i'm diggin' it.

things are moving along in these parts. i've taken over the canadian market at my work. so now i get to say things like: happy labour day! but, it means that with the time zone difference, i'm busy like crazy. oh, and they get extra special treatment... which is fun for me to be honest, because i like to give special treatment! but it does take extra time and patience.

i guess i'm busy trying to travel too. gerry and i went to prague last weekend. it was great. we met up with sarah, louis, and katie. louis had some more gems of wisdom to be added to his previous classic, and my personal favourite of: god'll get him. and if god doesn't, i will. i'm going to dedicate a post to these. cause i love them.

anyway, back to prague. we did lots there, and even had a fancy dinner and saw a classical concert. what fun! on the saturday gerry and i were left to our own devices so we went to the castle, and found a great pub there. gerry was pretty much disappointed that he was stuck with me there, because he would have gladly stayed there all day and drank beer. i liked it a lot, he loved it a lot. the concept is great, they donate their profits to a local music school for the blind. i thought the atmosphere was great... communal benches and tables. very european.

good times in prague.