Monday, April 30, 2007

Somebody please explain this to me

What the hell???

No, seriously, what the hell???

A dream is a wish your heart makes



I was really homesick last week. Here in Dublin, my homesickness manifests itself in Disneyitis, or inflammation of the Disney. There is a great increase in my desire to go to all lands and worlds Disney, and there's a marked escalation in my intake of the Disney Channel and Toon Disney on the Slingbox. Exhibit A: my Amazon wishlist.

Even though as an expectant mother I can't ride any of the very best rides at Disneyland right now, I would trade all the tulips in St. Stephen's Green for a ride on Peter Pan's Flight, let alone Space Mountain, the best ride ever.

Ever.

It's definitely a combination of the sheer joy of Disneyland, the cotton candy induced sugar high, the general accessibility of Disneyland from San Francisco, childhood memories, and, of course, adulthood memories! Like road tripping with MEH and old high school friends and using walkie talkies and code names to stay connected. And Max's surprise birthday trip to Disneyland in 2004 with the Richmans and the gigantic corndogs that ensued. They couldn't have been more right when they called it the happiest place on earth, really.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Countdown to Home

I bought my plane ticket home yesterday which is, at the same time, wonderful and sad. Mostly wonderful, because it means that in 10 short weeks I get to be reunited with all things furry and slobbery. It means I get to go back to San Francisco, I get to back to the office, I get to drive and go to Target and see people that I like more often and make more wedding plans and shop for tiny baby-sized goodies. But it also means that I only have 10 weeks left to go and do and see, not only in Ireland but in the rest of Europe as well. I've had such a terrific time traveling around and seeing so many amazing places, and I know that baby on the way means putting that sort of thing on hold for a while, so I want to cram as much of it in as possible.

Let's recap the extra super fantasticness of it all, shall we?

Portugal, September 2006



Italy, October 2006



London, October 2006,



Central Ireland, November 2006



Israel, December 2006



Western Ireland, January 2007



Northern Ireland, February 2007



Euro Disney, February 2007



Paris, February 2007



London, March 2007



Southern Ireland, March 2007



Scheduled upcoming trips:

Turkey in June 2007

Upcoming trips that are still in the works:

Scotland

Barcelona

Southwestern Ireland

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Contacts, Take 2

I'm trying contact lenses again. My last attempt at frame-free living only lasted about 4 months, but I have a new game plan. I'm not going to wear the contacts every single day, see. No, I'm going to mix things up. Some days, I'll wear contacts. Some days, I'll wear glasses. And hopefully, by the time we take wedding pictures in August, I'll have become accustomed to myself without glasses just enough that I won't look like a stranger in our photos.

Here's the thing: I've worn the same, uber hip black frames for eons now, and as much as I love them and allow them to define up to 65% of my personality, I just can't picture myself in my beautiful, poofy, white dress with the big ol' black plastic glasses. (Although, maybe if I wear the dress around the house for the next few months, things will change...) I even tried some different frames last year, but those really didn't work. After a few weeks, I went right back to my trusty black plastics. So I figured that maybe if I start now, I can ease myself into a face other than the one I'm so familiar with, and I won't look like a stranger in my wedding pictures.

Or, I can just complete the look with my low-top converse. That's a wedding picture that everyone can be proud of.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

This is the cat, leaving the bag

OK then, so it's been hard for me to blog regularly lately. It's not that my life hasn't been a whirlwind of excitement--it has! Full of travels, house guests, sunny weather and wedding plans. In fact, the only things missing are those things with 4 legs and those things with initials like MEH.

In fact, it's the excitement that has kept me from blogging. I've had one big thing on my mind for weeks now, one, big, un-bloggable thing, but now I'm going to blog about it--and I apologize to anyone who didn't get to hear it from the horse's mouth before reading it here...Max and I have a tiny little friend on the way, in the form of a bun in the ol' oven. That's right! We expect little Samson to join our happy family in late October, which means I'll be fashionably pregnant at our long-ago planned wedding. Awesome. Maternity bridal fashion rocks!

Who knows if getting this load off my mind will help me blog more regularly. And I apologize in advance if my posts are more-or-less (probably more) pregnancy-centric for a while. I'm still very, very excited. But I've never been one to blog about really personal stuff, so hopefully I'll keep it to a happy mix of illegally posted mp3s and pictures of me frolicking throughout Ireland and the World at Large...for a few more months, anyway. And as soon as I start opening my posts with "This week, Samson is the size of a small lemon" go ahead and remove me from your bookmarks and feed readers--I understand.

But don't be surprised if while you're reading my blog, you get an overwhelming feeling of a giant, ear-to-ear grin that just won't go away.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Dublin Days

Max's sister is in town for a few days, and we love having her around. For the bank holiday, we went to the Jameson Distillery (effectively completing the holy trifecta of Irish Whiskey distilleries--Bushmill's, Old Midleton, and Jameson) and the Guinness Storehouse, and topped the day off with some festive teppan-yaki, a traditional Irish favorite.

More pictures later, and maybe a little gem or two from my recent soundtrack of life. (Until then, Liz has your musical needs covered.)

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Six Days and Counting

The cab driver the other day told me not to be fooled. Don't pack away your coat just yet, love, he said to me. But SIX STRAIGHT DAYS of sunshine and blue skies has me at this point where I'm half thrilled, half delirious, and 100% waiting for the other shoe to drop. April in Ireland is rainy. Everyone knows that. It will remain dreary and at least mostly wet until June. Everyone keeps telling me, don't get used to it. Enjoy the longer days that will just keep getting longer. Enjoy the temperatures that have gone from the low to mid 40's to the high 50's. But don't think that winter is over yet. Winter here is also known as Spring. And Fall. Ah, but the Irish summer. I caught the tail end last year, and boy was it something. It almost makes the weather during the rest of the year worth it. Almost.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Obscure Dublin

I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but the current Dublin tourism campaign really trips me out. The concept is that you can find anything in you want in Dublin, for instance, Find Your Perfect Dress, or Find Your True Love, or Find Your Parking Place, all leading up to the grand theme, Find Yourself Here. But the strangely cool part is the theme song for this TV/radio/print campaign: You, You, You, You, You by The 6ths, a hauntingly beautiful ukulele-driven melody that been one of my favorites for nearly 7 years. Very hip.

But the really weird thing? Today, the ad campaign was right. At 3:30 pm, just a few hours before Passover began, I was actually able to find matzoh ball mix at a Super Valu grocery store in Churchtown, about a half hour bus ride from my apartment. There they were, tucked into the Kosker Korner section of the store, along with a freezer full of kosher meat (ew). The two shelves of kosher products were very well picked over (I guess Dublin's other 27 Jews got there before I did), but I got the matzoh ball mix which had been deemed by everyone involved to be the most important item, along with a few other Passover goodies. Mission accomplished! Find Your Perfect Last Minute Matzoh Ball Mix.