Weigh In

I am not weighing myself until Thursday. I sometimes obsessively weigh myself daily, bad idea.

I stuck to the diet except for an add of a 50 calorie piece of cheese at 6pm.  It was awesome.

Total:  1115 Calories.

I also worked out yesterday, I ran for 25 minutes alternating at 5.5 mph and 3.8 mph depending on heart rate, then hit the eliptical for 25 minutes.   According to my Heart Rate monitor, I burned 513 calories. 

Only 5 more days till:

Countdown

19 days till Cabo.  Concentrate on the picture.

Deep breath.

Sad Roomba

Roomba needs a new part. We are waiting for his new brush to come in the mail. We have very dirty floors, because even though we own a real vacuum, we never use it.

In happier news, the whole living room is blue, and I will be painting the kitchen red tonight (Just one wall).  But I am back to work, 2 weeks of vacay are over.  Boo Hoo.

Vegas, Baby!

I’m off to Vegas for the weekend, so if you’re there, look for a girl with flaming red hair and an eiffel tower drink in hand.  That would be me.

I won’t be getting married, unless I marry Brenda or Melissa.  Promise.

I am so excited to see my girls!  And we are bound to have a good time at:

 

Duh.

On a Rainy Day in Dublin…………

Excuse my posting about this so late. I wanted most people to hear the story in person.

The first day in Dublin was one of the rainiest days I have ever encountered (this is a rare moment when it wasn’t raining)

We decided to try to walk to a deli that we had found in the guidebook.

It was a long walk.

And a rainy walk.

And our hotel (the Quality Inn) didn’t end up being very close to the Dublin nightlife.

So, naturally we decided to stop and have a pint at the pub.

I told Brendan I wanted a light colored beer, and he brought me this delicious cider by mistake.

Then we made our way through the University, Saint Stevens Green, which was surprisingly romantic in the pouring rain, and by the time we got to the deli we were soaking wet. And the deli was a “take-away”, unbeknown to us, so, of-course we decided to go have another pint before we got our lunch for the long trek back to the hotel.

So we stopped here, at Cassidy’s, for a pint. And I kept drinking that delicious, delicious Bulmers.

And it was a crowded pub, because right after we got there, a very important rugby game between Ireland and England was on. So we were lucky enough to get a booth, but there were people standing, so we invited these blokes, George and John to sit with us.

They started asking us about our lives, how long we’ve been together, and were mocking Brendan for not having proposed to me yet. Such as:

“Five years, what’s wrong with you?”

“She’s beautiful, I would marry her right now?”

“I’m going to propose before you do!”

Brendan, always defiant (and a few sheets to the wind), said something to the gist of “I’ll show you”, and pulled out a ring. Then he totally clammed up. I can not describe to you the level of shock on my face at this moment. My mouth was hanging open like a garage door. I really thought he was joking.

Brendan:

Me: Yes, Yes Yes!

I then grabbed the ring and tried to shove it on to my finger, got berated by all (by now most of the bar was involved in our engagement), and Brendan tried again.

Brendan: Will you marry me?

Me: Yes!

And my new best friend, John. He is going to be my maid of honor.

Not every girl can say she got engaged at a pub!

And the ring is beautiful and fits perfectly. I knew I could trust him to do it all by himself. I just never thought I would be so surprised!

Don’t go to Richardson’s Pub

Early in the morning on St. Patty’s day, we went for a walk in Salthill, outside of Galway. Ain’t we cute?

Here is the pay toilet I used when I had to pee by the seashore. It cost .20 euro, worth every cent. (Editor’s note: I was INSIDE the pay toilet as Brendan took this photo)

The people of Galway drink all day on St. Patrick’s day, starting in the early morning, to watch the parade, then all afternoon and into the evening. It is much like Rick’s at MSU, but without the green beer. Here’s the lovely parade.

I only got hit on three times on our trip, and all three occurred St. Patty’s day evening at a pub in Galway called Richardson’s. So the men I met at Richardson’s had been drinking for a full 10 hours or so, which really tells you how incredibly attractive I was, after 10 hours of beer goggles. I was pretty sober because we had taken a break in the afternoon and napped.

The first man was dancing Elaine Benes style to “Born in the USA” when we walked in. Brendan walked up to the bar and he zeroed in on me. Still dancing.

Him: I love this song!

Me: Uh huh.

Him: I want to buy you a drink.

Me: My boyfriend is already buying me one.

Him: I’ll buy you BOTH one!

He stumbled over to the bar, where he got us two drinks. Now we each have two drinks, because Brendan had just gotten some. This man could not sip correctly anymore, and 2 minutes later ran (ran, really) out of the bar, never to be heard from again.

The second man was so drunk that I thought he was learning disabled. He sat down and immediately tried to put his arm around me, with Brendan sitting across the table.

Him: Darling, where are your shamrocks?

Me: I didn’t get any shamrocks.

Him: Darling, where are your shamrocks?

Me: I told you I didn’t get any. I guess I wall have back luck this year.

Him: Darling, you are going to have terrible luck this year (puts hand on my thigh)

Me: Oh, no no no!

Him: Darling, I want to take off your knickers!

Me:

Him:  Darling, I want you to take off your knickers!

Brendan then tried to get him to pay us $1000 euro for me to take off my knickers. He got kicked out of the bar soon after.

The last man came over to us playing what I can only describe as “air piano”. When Brendan tried to join him with air guitar, the man chastised him and pushed his hands down. He then grabbed my hand across the table.

Man: I want you to come to England with me.

Me: What?

Man: I can take you places.

Me: What?

We left soon after.

Galway on St. Patty’s night.

Jet Lag

I just got up at 5am because it’s 11am in Europe.

We had 7 flights in 7 days:

Chicago to London

London to Dublin

Dublin to Galway

Galway to Dublin

Dublin to Rome

Rome to Frankfurt

Frankfurt to Chicago

I am exhausted.  But we are home safe and well.  Abby said Stanley was so happy to see her when she came over to feed him that he threw up.  He is very happy to have us home.

Here is a teaser for you.

I’m going out to brunch with Clay and Abby today to celebrate my 27th, so I better try to go back to bed.

Vacay Tres

We will be off to Europe for spring break.  If you think I’m a terrible person for going on two vacations in two months, just know I will be charging this one on my credit card, and have a laugh at my expense.  And take note that I haven’t been anywhere but Michigan and Tennessee to visit family since we bought the house.

We start in Dublin for the first two days, I have no particular plans for Dublin other than eat, eat, eat.  And have a Guinness at the Guinness brewery.

Then off to Galway (where we will be for St. Patty’s day).  In Galway I plan on wearing my St. Patrick’s day tee shirt from Old Navy.  ALL DAY EVERY DAY.

 

Then off to Rome, where I am going to eat 5 lbs of Gelato every day.  And then some pasta for dinner.  Oh, and there is going to be a wine and cheese festival while we are there.  And I have been told to buy a leather purse, because the leather is luxurious.

My birthday will be the day after we get back (Easter Sunday), so don’t you worry your pretty little head, if you have an expensive gift for me I will be home to receive it.

Wish us luck!  Promise to post all about it when I return.

Vacay Dos

One night in PR we got to see a private concert by the Goo Goo Dolls. I am not the greatest GGD fan by any means, but I own a couple of their Cd’s. I thought the concert would be crowded and gross, but there were less than 500 people there. They did a cover of “American Girl” by Tom Petty, my fave song ever. They did run out of beer, though. This is us before the concert (actually dinner before the concert).

And in the rainforest where we went on a really cool hike.

This is the waterfall we were supposed to swim in, but the water was too high.

And, we’re back!

After one canceled and two delayed flights, about 8 hours in the Orlando Airport staring at children wearing Goofy Hats (Disney TM), and a few in-flight beverages, we are home safe and sound.  I am SO happy to be here, and Taco Bell was very happy to see me around midnight last night.  (More on the lbs gained later).

I got a new camera right before we started this trip, and forgot to replace the memory card with one that would hold more than 20 pictures.  At first I was upset about this, but I soon realized that this would make me only keep the pictures I liked from the trip, because I had to keep deleting the bad ones.  Great Idea.

Usually our vacation photos consist of Brendan and I with:

1.  Stray cats we try to pet

2.  Other animals we try to kidnap (in this case, an iguana)
So let’s get that over with first.

I made a conscious effort to take pictures of us and not just cats.  Especially after this black and white one bit me.

More vacay later.