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.