So it's been a while....

It's been quite a while. There have been a lot of changes since I've been away and life has been very busy! Here's a quick overview:

• we moved into a house
• Branden is very close to being totally done with his thesis and being a student
• we have a niece!
• we tried durian fruit...not too bad
• we've started a young adults group (with other friends) at our church and multiple other branch off groups from that
• we got a cat!
• we had our 5 year wedding anniversary
• we've been doing some fishing lately
• we've had a few jam sessions in our house with Branden's musical friends
• WE GOT A CAT!!!

Okay, I may have mentioned the last one already but it's a biggie! There are things I'm completely missing but I'm tired and can't remember the past few months all that well. There was a tough bit for a while when we first moved when I was going through a bit of depression and my anxiety was through the roof. That was our finally push to get the cat. She is like my therapy cat and she really has made a huge difference. 

I wrote something the other day while I was watching her sleep. You can read it HERE on my other blog. 

This is Rogue. She fell asleep while cleaning her belly.

Strange Bedfellow

Somehow a shard of glass broke off from my dresser top and found its way into my bed last night where it managed to slice my arm. Branden had to get creative and make a custom band-aid because the kind we had weren't long enough to cover the cut. How this happened, I have no idea. This is just my life and most of my injuries are in odd ways.

Some examples:

• If there are any uncovered floor vents in a room, I will find a way to fall into them. 
• If I am eating something that would be considered unpleasant to inhale or shoot out of your nose, I will most likely accomplish the painful feat. (nachos with lime guacamole and a cinnamon tic tac are on my top most unfortunate items) 
• If for some reason the accident includes a tree, the result will end in stitches. 
• Before my 10 years is up to renew my tetanus shot, I will find a way to make sure I renew it early. (last time it was from falling down plywood stairs in a construction home and that was almost 10 years ago so I don't really want to know what could be coming)

All this to say that I am not surprised that a random shard of glass found its way into my bed and cut me last night, but I still don't do well with pain or blood so now I'm afraid of the bed...and Branden just left for Dublin for an overnight trip.

Anyone else have any odd injury stories??

Bla Bla Blog

Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, what to blog, what to blog? I've had so much going on lately but my brain is a bit melted after all the focus I just put into my workout today. It was a milestone for me; the first time I have ever managed to do an entire hour workout video with the particular youtube trainer I like! I can't think of the last time I sweat that much but I had the windows open and I was a mess! It was fun though and I definitely think I'll do it again. You can click HERE if you are interested in trying it out for yourself.

This last week I suffered from really bad insomnia. Most nights I was going to sleep after 2am and one night I didn't go to sleep until 6am! Thankfully I found a cure and I'm finally drifting off closer to my regular time between midnight and 1am (I'm a night owl anyway). My cure came when Branden decided to stay up late and watch the Seahawks play the 49ers on Sunday night. The game didn't start until 11:30pm our time and by halftime, I was off in lala land, sawing some logs! Most people who know me, know that I loath American football with as much passion as a mongoose has for a cobra! As Branden watched on his laptop in bed, I laid back and pretended it was Thanksgiving, as I was full from some amazing food we ate at our Spanish friends' house earlier, and let the game lull me to sleep. Worked like a charm but I did wake up when it was over to find Branden as uptight as a small dog in a room full of stilettos due to the intense last seconds. He was happy that the Seahawks won though but this means I'll probably be drug along to watch the Superbowl for the first time in about 5 years...oh well, it will be at a pub most likely.

I finally took down our Christmas decorations in the house but now I have to find places for all the new decorations I made. We are seriously running out of space to the point that if you need to look for a pencil in a drawer it will look like a tornado ripped through the room along with you. We can't wait to eventually get out of living our whole lives in one room although these last (almost) 3 years have really taught me to not be a 'stuff' person.

We do have one more birthday video to share from a bit back. It was my bro-in-law's birthday in Dec and he is the biggest football fan I know (sorry Jared, please ignore my comments in the second paragraph) so we tried to come up with a football themed birthday video. This is what we managed:

Well, that's all my brain can muster up at the moment. I think I should go stretch again and spend the next hour on my hands and knees praying that I'll be able to move the rest of this week!

Home Decor for Lushes...or...Happy Birthday to my Mom-in-law!

It's Branden's mom's birthday so we put together one of our ever so coveted birthday videos! I hope you enjoy it, we had a blast making it, and actually did this unrehearsed, unscripted, and improved in one go (with the exception of a couple of screw ups at the beginning which we happily added at the end as bloopers).

Love you Momma Bean and Happy Birthday!! I hope you spent it decorating!

Diet changes that are changing me

I will start everything off by saying that I don't believe in diets. They may work for a time but as soon as you stop them, the majority of people will gain weight back and even then some. What I do believe in is eating right. I lived my whole life (except the last year or so) fighting what I knew was true in my head because I didn't want to give up what I put in my mouth. I knew that if I gave up eating crap and started exercising then I wouldn't be fighting the weight battle anymore but I liked my large quantities, I liked my junk food, I liked convenient foods prepared for me, and most importantly, I wanted to have it all and be the weight that I wanted with minimum effort on exercise. Isn't that what most of us want and hope for? It is this unrealistic desire that companies who sell supplements, exercise equipment, and "wonder products" make ridiculous amounts of money from.

So, as a person who was gaining weight, unhappy with my body, had no money for magic pills or gym memberships, I knew what I had to do and knew it wouldn't cost me a dime. I had to workout and get moving every day, I had to eat foods that I knew were healthy, and I needed to cut the foods that I knew were bad. The diet industry would go bankrupt and shrivel up if everyone did this, but it's not easy and that's why we desperately try to cut corners and tell ourselves that it's still ok to do the unhealthy things we do as there are products out there to take care of it.

Right, so now I am ranting a bit. Can you tell how much I hate the weight loss industry??? Anyway, one thing I have done is gotten rid of a lot of crap in my diet and I have to say, my food is so much better tasting that it was before! Who knew eating healthy food would be better?!? I am also not concerned about my weight anymore and have found joy and peace in my body knowing that I am taking care of it in a healthy way so I should love it because now it is a healthy body. Also the inches are slipping away slowly so that is also a bonus! (of course all the free workout videos from Youtube is helping with that!) So without further ado or ranting, here are some things that I have gotten rid of and substituted with healthier, and tastier options:

*Also note that I not a dietitian and just a regular person with the general knowledge of what is bad for you and what is good for you.

Gotten Rid of: Potatoes
Why: I don't do well with starchy foods, and unless you keep the peels on, potatoes aren't the most beneficial substance in the veg world.
Substituted with: Sweet Potatoes
Why: They have so much more flavor, are much healthier than regular potatoes, and I can use them for everything I would use regular potatoes for...even oven baked fries!

Gotten Rid of: White Rice
Why: Again, it is starchy and does nothing for me. I also don't really like it as I find it boring and just 'waters down' the taste of what I'm eating it with.
Substituted with: Quinoa
Why: It is so tasty, has a great rice-ish texture, and is a great source of protein. It doesn't 'water down' the food I eat it with and it keeps me full for longer.

Gotten Rid of: Store bought salad dressings
Why: They are full of sugar, fat, salt, and preservatives. They make your salad unhealthy.
Substituted with: Homemade salad dressing
Why: I know what is in it which doesn't include sugar and preservatives. It is super easy and quick to make and tastes a lot better too! We make not only the typical balsamic vinaigrette dressing but also honey mustard, and our own ranch (without using a ranch dressing mix which is not that great for you either).

Gotten Rid of: Store bought soups
Why: Like salad dressings, these can have extra sugars, loads of salt, and preservatives. Plus, I don't trust the meat to be real or the veg to fresh.
Substituted with: Homemade soups
Why: Again, having the power to control what goes into my own food is huge in keeping myself healthy! Some soups can be time consuming, but for the most part, they are easy to make, have way less salt, and all the fresh ingredients I want to put in! One of my favorite quick soups is tomato soup. I use a non BPA lined can of chopped tomatoes (and all that is in the ingredients are tomatoes and water), heat it up on the stove and throw in a low sodium, organic stock cube of my choice (either veg, beef, or tomato are my favorites) some dried basil, black pepper, and viola! You can take a hand blender, use a regular blender, or I just use my potato masher since I like some texture, but it's so tasty and I have soup in about 15 mins.

Gotten Rid of: Pasta
Why: It is starchy and doesn't sit well with me. Plus I find it also "waters down" the flavors of my sauce and veggies like rice.
Substituted with: Zucchini (or courgette if you are where I am)
Why: Zucchini pasta is so tasty! I just take a potato peeler to it and shave pasta like strips off until I get to the core (which I chop up and throw in to the pasta). It cooks up in minutes, tastes so much better, and is way healthier than starchy noodles. Plus it doesn't "water down" the flavor either.

Gotten Rid of: Store bought pasta sauce
Why: Sugar, salt, and preservatives
Substituted with: Homemade pasta sauce
Why: Eating stuff from a jar now is sickeningly sweet and so not as tasty as what I can make! I control what goes in my red sauce pastas and I don't use any sugar! I don't need to. Making my own sauce is easy and extremely delicious. I occasionally will make white sauces too but I usually use chicken stock and plain yogurt.

Gotten Rid of: Ice Cream
Why: It's pretty easy to know why this isn't healthy! Cream, sugar, and store bought stuff has all sorts of other crap in it.
Substituted with: Frozen bananas!
Why: By freezing chunks of frozen bananas and simply putting them into a food processor, I can have soft serve ice cream without all the sugar, fat, or guilt! I can even customize it in ways that helps whatever flavor I'm craving. My favorite is with unsweetened cocoa powder and a bit of peanut butter...mmmm! Satisfying and healthy!

Gotten Rid of: Pizza
Why: It is high in fat, carbs, salt, and lots of other processed crap.
Substituted with: Whole wheat tortilla based pizzas you make yourself
Why: I will admit that we actually don't eat the substitute at all anymore but if we get a big pizza hankering (which they do go away!) this was a really tasty way to have it. Using the whole wheat tortillas as a base cuts the carbs way back, and then we made our own pizza sauce (very much like how we make our red pasta sauce) and put on our own toppings and cheese. We control the quantity and it is just so much better than frozen pizza!

Gotten Rid of: Pork sausages and bacon
Why: High in fat
Substituted with: Turkey sausages
Why: Bacon has been cut completely from our diet (yes, I heard all those gasps!) but seriously we don't miss it. Our turkey sausages come from a local butcher who makes them nearby. Turkey is much healthier and it actually can have a ton of flavor.

Gotten Rid of: Using a lot of butter and olive oil
Why: Butter is only healthy if used in small quantities and I find olive oil to leave greasy residue.
Substituted with: Goose or duck fat
Why: Goose and duck fat, although high in fat, can actually lower your cholesterol and is fantastic to cook with. I have a recipe I make all the time that would use about a tablespoon of olive oil and we always found there to be an oily residue. When I swapped to goose fat, I actually use less (about a teaspoon) as it goes farther, and it blended in with the dish and didn't leave a greasy residue! Now I use it for soups, casseroles, and anything I can think of! I do buy mine from a local butcher so I know it doesn't have a bunch of crap in it and is just pure goose fat (or duck fat, depending on what they have in).

Gotten Rid of: Sugar substitutes
Why: There have been plenty enough studies done that have shown these to be horrible for you!
Substituted with: Honey or I just use regular sugar
Why: Anytime I can use honey instead of sugar, that is my instant solution. However, I know that sometimes I can't avoid it so if I have to use sugar, I'll use sugar. It may not be perfect, but it is still better than those chemically crazy sugar substitutes. The good thing is that now you can just hit up the old search engine for any tasty dessert dish you could desire and find out how to make it with honey, maple syrup, or some other healthier form of sugar. This is one of my absolute favorite new dessert recipes and it's versatile and tasty!

Flourless Chocolate Chip Chickpea Blondie

Gotten Rid of: Cream
Why: It is so high in fat that the allowance of what you should eat in a day is too minuscule to what you would actually use
Substituted with: Milk (for coffee) or canned coconut milk (for whipped cream)
Why: You can have more milk in your day than you can cream so it makes more sense to put that in your coffee instead. I've actually found cream in coffee to be more of an American thing as I have never seen it over here and everyone just does milk. I adjusted to just milk really easily and then my coffee doesn't have to be a stumbling block of sugar and extra fat as a start to my day. Also using the solids in canned coconut milk is a tasty way to make whipped cream and you don't have to feel as guilty.

Gotten Rid of: Breakfast cereals or granola bars
Why: These usually have lots of sugars in them
Substituted with: Homemade smoothies, eggs, or whole wheat peanut butter toast
Why: I love homemade smoothies and my favorite at the moment is 1 avocado, 3 or 4 pears, 2 frozen bananas, dash of vanilla, and a bit of milk. (this is breakfast enough for 2 people!) This is like having a sweet vanilla milkshake for breakfast! Branden is also the king of making eggs so if he's around in the mornings, he will make a killer scramble, omelette, or fried eggs for us. If I am lazy then whole wheat toast with a smear of peanut butter is a great way to get me to eat in the morning, and our peanut butter doesn't have much sugar in it either.

I know I must have more, and I definitely have lots of recipes I could share from any of these so let me know if you are curious about any of them! I will do my best with sharing my recipes, as I don't measure anything out and am mostly a 'go by taste' chef. This may seem like a lot and be overwhelming but if you really are interested, I'd suggest just taking one or a few of these and trying to implement them in your every day life. Once you get comfortable in making them and taste how much better they are, you can build up the confidence to try others or find ways to make healthier, tastier substitutions in your life! I'm always looking for new substitutions in mine! Any way to get healthier!

Happy 2014!

I can't believe it's the 6th of January already! Time to get back to writing! Here are some main points of the last few weeks.

• I survived the holidays, ate way too much tasty food, but my waistline seems to have come out of it quite unscathed and possibly even smaller. Wahoo!!
• Our nephews loved their needle felted Angry Birds that I made for them for Christmas and they totally believed that Santa picked them up from our house and dropped them off at their house. (A letter from Santa himself helped)

• I still have my decorations up with a hearty desire to keep them up because they are pretty and I like them. 

• I have finally realized that sugar is absolutely evil as every time I had a holiday meal and ate a significant amount of the wicked white stuff, which has been rarely part of my diet the last few month, it tried to kill me. Kill may be a bit strong but it zapped my energy and made me feel like I had a nasty cold and sore throat for 2 days after. I hate you sugar.
• Roast duck is a fabulous thing, even if it looked like a giant skinned bat.
• My new TV show addiction is My Cat From Hell and I can't get enough of it. I also can't get enough of cat shaming and you can click HERE to see my recent favorite compilation.
• We've had numerous wet and windy storms which would be called a 'hurricane' if we were Georgia and not Ireland.
• Branden and I got fabulous new glasses and we are really pleased with them. His are a dark greenish tortoise shell color and mine are purple and black. 

• I am still behind on all the recent birthday videos we have done so I'll leave you with Hunter's birthday video from November! 

Happy Monday and Happy New Year!

This is not easy for me

I am over at my other blog today sharing a very difficult story. It is Granny's Story, the beautiful story of her passing and you can read it HERE

*Note: bring your own tissues


And for you giggle for today, here is my tip of the day!

Tip of the Day:

It is not the best idea to put your makeup on while watching RuPaul's Drag Race.

More proof that we are crazy

Tis the season for cold and sickness, bla bla bla bla bla, bla bla bla bla *sniff *hack

I am slightly afraid I am on the verge of getting a cold as yesterday I had a scratchy throat, had no energy at all, and thought my head was going to explode at any moment. Today I am actually feeling a bit better and I'm hoping it was just due to having way too much sugar at a birthday party on Sunday. Branden and I don't really eat much sugar anymore so I think my body is experiencing a 48 hour sugar crash.

Anyhoo, since my time away from blogland, we have had a number of birthdays in the family which means more crazy birthday videos!!! Today I'm going share our nephew Brady's birthday video that we made for him back in September when he turned three. He still loves for us to sing him "Little Bunny Foo Foo" but of course with our changes of dinosaurs instead of field mice, and the good turtle instead of the good fairy. Apparently my sis tried to sing him the original version and he corrected her and made her sing our version. For his birthday, Brady wanted a Cookie Monster theme so we adjusted our song to fit his birthday. 

Da Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb!

I love Christmas. I have been decorating since the beginning of November and listening to Christmas music since October. However, there is one "Christmas" thing (in quotes because I don't consider it to be legit) that is like fingernails on a chalkboard to my festive ears. The Little Drummer Boy.

I hate that little punk with his lame story line, obnoxious lyrics ("pa rum pum pum pum" are not lyrics or drum noises!), and boring melody that sound like children of the Christmas corn chanting. Lately there has been a viral video of an A Capella group singing this festive nightmare of a song, which I refuse to post for fear of inviting a drumming poltergeist to my blog, and I am the least bit impressed...and couldn't even make it to the 1 min mark. They had the same effect as rolling a cat turd in chocolate...or marmite...either way it is still gross and still poop. I suppose if I liked overly auto-tuned 90 music then it would have been palatable but it is still the Little Drummer Boy and he is still an unbiblical nuisance that should just be considered of the devil and burned at the stake.

Due to the multiple shares of this atrocity of a video, I posted this as my facebook status recently:

Dear Little Drummer Boy,
You are still obnoxious, annoying, and do I have to even mention unBiblical!?! Once again you are not invited to any part of my Christmas celebrating no matter how "amazing" some band remade you because in all seriousness, no amount of redoing could ever make you tolerable to my eardrums.

Loathfully,
Maggie 

P.S. I'm pretty sure if you were real you would have made baby Jesus cry and spit up on himself.

This did create a bit of hubub from my friends and family but I suppose the real questions is, "Why on earth do you like this song???". I seriously need to know because I just don't get it. I would understand using a hedgehog for a toothbrush before I could understand the cultish following of this instrumentally challenged kid.

I would just much rather listen to this:

I'm so glad to be back...I guess

The other night, Branden and I were laying in bed talking when he managed to stumble upon the worst thing to say after a sentence, "I guess".

His full sentence went like this, "It's a good thing I never dated her...I guess".

Now because I am a loving, supportive, and open wife, I poked him in the ribs multiple times and shrieked, "YOU GUESS!!! YOU GUESS??? You better KNOW!".

He giggle out apologies and we were in a fit of laughter when it hit me, "This is the worst thing to say after a sentence," I mused, still giggling, "think about it; 'Your cooking is the best...I guess' or 'Dang you're sexy...I guess' or 'Fredrick is just a friend...I guess' there is just nothing good about saying it!"

After some more giggles, my silly, sweet husband pulled me in for his goodnight kisses, saying what we say to each other often and what was even part of our wedding vows, "I love you with all that I am and ever will be".

I kissed him back and responded with what we always say, "Forever and ever".

He smiled and rolled over to get cozy under the covers.

"I guess," I said softly and then we erupted into giggles again!



What's the worst sentence to say this after?? And can any of you think up a worse sentence?? I am open to suggestions to tease Branden horrendously with peak my curiosity.

If you weren't here yesterday then pop over to THIS POST to read what's been going on since I've been away.

Moving Forward

Goodness it's been a long time since I've been here! I will admit that I have been hiding out, not even checking emails or blog posts, but I've been taking some much needed time off. People who know me know that I write like I talk; it's part of me. Writing without emotion is not something I understand, so after all of the emotions of losing my Granny it was too painful to write again. It's still not easy some days but there is so much on the horizon that I know she would be excited about, and I think I'm feeling ready to slowly get back into blogging.

Over the past however many months I've been gone there have been lots of changes. Here's just an idea:

• After the University said Branden had to stay for another two years to complete his PhD, he downgraded to an MPhil (a degree between a Masters and PhD) which means he'll be able to finish in three years, like he signed up for, and be officially done in April.
• Because of this, he's applying for jobs and we are hoping to soon be out of a shared house and actually in our own place, with an actual income, and we can finally start traveling! It also looks like we will probably be moving somewhere around the Dublin area as that's where most jobs are.
• Also because of this, we have realized that we are super excited for the freedom we will have and being just the two of us again, so we have taken having children out of our future equation. You have no idea how much of a burden left our shoulders when we decided this, as neither of us has actually had the desire to have children but rather felt like it was just an expectation.
• Since we aren't planning on having kids now, I am feeling like I no longer have to sacrifice my body for babies so I am finally finding a reason and purpose to really take care of myself. I have been doing some really fun workouts for free on youtube and also been eating much healthier. I'll definitely be sharing some of my favorite new and amazing healthy recipes.
• Branden went back to the States for 10 days at the beginning of the month for his brother's wedding! Our family is now complete, as all of our siblings are married now and we will be adding a bonus member in May as his brother and new sis-in-law are expecting a baby! We of course are besides ourselves with excitement over a new niece or nephew (Dear Lord, Please let it be a niece!).

These are just some of the big things that we've been going through and we are really excited about our future and where it's going. Life is pretty hectic still, but as I said before, I will most likely be slowly getting back into the blog scene, so bear with me.

And just to give you a giggle, because that's usually what most people come here for, here is a little something Branden said the other night just before we went to bed, "You know it's Christmas season when you find a cookie cutter in your bed."

The Battle is Over

On Sunday it will be two weeks of her being gone. My Granny no longer has to fight with the cancer that tourmented her wonderful life. I was able to get back in time to spend the last few days with her and to also be right by her side with my mom and aunt as she passed. It was a painful but beautiful gift and I may eventually share it, but for now I wait for things to get easier and for life to feel normal again. Branden had to stay back in Ireland and being away from him these past two weeks has not been easy at all, but he arrives on the 4th and it can't come soon enough. God has been so good to our family through all of this and I keep resting in Him while I adjust to a world without her.

~Maggie

Terrible Saps

Branden is going away for 5 days starting Thursday and I don't expect I'll survive. He has to go to Dublin where he will be attending and speaking at a conference for 3 days, staying the other 2 days for some much needed studying at the library at Trinity. I'm not going with him because I would only see him at night, and with my anxiety, I would just stay in the hotel until Branden came back as going out by myself would freak me out to no end...especially in such a big city. I do have great housemates though and we even got a new girl who is my age! She just moved in over the weekend but she already fits in really well and we all hung out mostly all day on Sunday. My friends are also offering to keep me occupied so maybe I'll pull through.

On Sunday we watched Britain's Got Talent since the new season has started. A dance group from Hungary came on and performed an incredible piece that is based on a true story. They danced to my favorite song from the brilliant Emeli Sande. She is an amazing artist with incredible talent. When the dance ended, Branden and I looked at each other and we were both in tears! We are such saps! It was beautiful though and you can watch it below.

Did you make it through without tearing up? I haven't even watched it a second time because I think I may be worse off than the first time! I hate to leave you on a sad note so here is one of my new favorite videos.

I know a lot of you are pet lovers so I just had to share it with you.

Ick, spam!

I tend to get a lot of spammers on my blog which thankfully go to the spam inbox and rarely my normal comment inbox. This is also a good reason why I approve all of my comments as occasionally they do slip through. Recently I was looking through my spam inbox, for kicks and giggles, and found some odd ones...

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(Word of warning: do NOT google image search them!!!)

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What a way to celebrate!

Before I get into all the photos from our wonderful trip to Kinsale, here are some random photos for you. Our local Nintendo graffiti artist has added to his already awesome work on a wall near our house. The wall is very tall and I would be about as tall as the top of the lower coins...so it's amazing!

One of our housemates makes the best ever carrot cake!! He has a cream cheese layer in the middle and it's so moist and tasty! Since Branden and I had birthdays 6 days apart from each other, he made us a cake! As you can tell, he tried to write "Happy Birthday" in grated carrots on the top but he ran out of space and so it actually said "Happy Birtdd"...I thought it was hilarious and awesome!

Now onto our trip to Kinsale! We had an amazing time and it was the closet thing to a spa day I've ever had. We stayed at a fantastic B&B with the friendliest couple who ran it. We had just a standard double room but it was gorgeous! Our bed was the most comfy thing I've slept in.

We had a cute little seating area in a bay window and the wardrobe had great tea making stuff in it, with cookies, coco mixes, and chocolates!

Since we don't have a bath in our room at home, we asked for a bath when we booked the room. We were very excited to see this big jacuzzi tub in our huge bathroom at the B&B! It was perfect for winding down after a bitterly cold day in Kinsale.

We also had a balcony off of our room. It had a cute little 2 person table and chairs on it, but it was too cold for us to go out there!

When we arrived at the B&B, The Old Presbytery, we got settled into our room and then we were told to go up to the dining room for some afternoon tea or coffee. They had a nice little selection of teas and then a fabulous little selection of homemade cakes! There were mini cappuccino cakes, mini raspberry cakes, lemon raspberry cake slices, and a raspberry muffin with white chocolate frosting...it was amazing!!

After sampling bits of everything, we decided we should probably get real lunch and we went to a cafe recommended to us by our hosts. It was a cafe/bookstore, with bookshelves lining one wall filled with old and new books for anyone to read at their leisure or to purchase if they so wished. They had an incredible selection of teas, which we each got our own little pots of, and a wonderful chicken, avocado sandwich on incredibly tasty bread.

When we finished eating, we snooped around the cute little shops along the tiny, narrow roads. Thankfully there are lots of fun shops as the weather was almost painfully cold to be out in. Kinsale is right off the Atlantic and the wind was absolutely bitter with cold! Shopping done, we went back to our room to get warmed up and take a nap before dinner. Being out in the cold makes you quite sleepy!

Dinner was beyond anything I could have hoped for! We went to a place called Max's where the food was incredible, the server was fabulous, and the restaurant itself was very nicely decorated and cozy. I had a starter of muscles grilled in a parsley garlic butter and topped with crispy breadcrumbs. They were heavenly and the server told us how to do them at home too! Branden had a starter of red seafood chowder that was jam packed full of different white fish, salmon, and shellfish. For a main, I had medallions of Ling with a delicious sauce with sun dried tomato and herbs and a side of potatoes, and Branden had the venison with an cranberry stuffed apple and side of broccoli and red cabbage. (are you drooling yet?) Dessert was another triumph where I had the mini Bourbon creme brulee pots with almond biscuits (cookies) and Branden had the sticky toffee pudding with pear and date compote. If you ever get to Kinsale, you have to go to Max's!

After that masterpiece of food, we popped into a nearby grocery store, picked up a bottle of red wine and headed back to the B&B for the night. We just relaxed, watched Rio (loved it!), and took a bath before conking out in our most coziest of cozy beds.

The next morning we woke up to snow! It was crazy but luckily it wasn't sticking to roads, just cars, bushes, and tops of buildings. By the time we finished breakfast it had almost all melted though. Breakfast was also a culinary delight. I had a crepe filled with warm fruit and drizzled with honey. Branden had scrambled eggs and John Dory (a tasty white fish) that was buttery and delicious! We had heard that our B&B had the best breakfasts and they certainly proved themselves!

With tiny hail type snow falling, we decided to wander around the town again before catching an early bus home. We walked up the hill by our B&B to a convent that overlooked the bay.

This was the front entrance to our B&B

Pussy willows in front of St. Multose Church which was built in 1190. We couldn't get in but we have been inside a couple of months after we moved to Ireland. You can see that blog post HERE

Across the water and on that patch of land, there is an old fort. We wanted to walk to it (which was down the road a ways, then across a bridge and then up the other side) but it was snowing on us the whole time, which is why the photo is slightly hazy.

And old, derelict house that would be amazing done up!

My disbelief in the crazy weather as little tiny snow pellets pelted me.

After touring around some more, we hauled our frozen bodies to the cafe/bookstore and waited for our bus. I got some hot coco and Branden got a mocha. When we got back to Cork, it was lovely weather! Yes, it was cold as well, but the sun was out and there hadn't been any snow! We went to lunch at a Thai restaurant after popping our heads into a toy store that was the closest thing to Toys-R-Us I've seen since leaving the States. After a tasty lunch, we did some shopping before going to the cinema to see OZ the Great and Powerful. We really liked it! To finish off our night, and not quite ready to go home yet, we stopped in to an Australian themed pub that's on our way home that had half price pizzas that day. They also have good deals on pitchers of cocktails so we ordered a pitcher of Melon Madness cocktail, a yummy, meaty pizza, and a side order of fries. It was great! We walked home just as it started to snow (and thankfully didn't stick!) and made it back happy over all the fun and good food we had experienced over the short 2 days!

It was fabulous! Tomorrow we are going to Cashel and Cahir Castle for a day trip to celebrate Branden's birthday that was on Saturday. He does need to see a couple of tombs in the Rock of Cashel as part of his studies, but it's a cool tourist destination anyway and we missed it last time we did a research trip. It should be fun and we'll have more photos!

And away we go!

Branden and I are off for a couple of days to rest and relax in the picturesque village of Kinsale. We have been looking forward to this as lately we have felt a bit more like strangers as we've been so busy!  Before I go, I thought I'd leave you all with this.

A birthday wish

Warning: This post may make no sense whatsoever to any sane person.

There is something I say that just cracks Branden up and reinforces his knowledge that his wife is odd.

"I want to look like a woman."

This took me a while to explain to him what I meant by it. Ever since I was young, I would look at women on commercials and movies and look forward to the day when I would look like them. No, not their unrealistic images, edited out wrinkles, and perfect everything. I looked forward to no longer looking like a 'girl'. The women I saw on TV didn't look like their high school selves, they had just 'matured' passed that girl look into a woman that didn't look old but also didn't look like a kid. I still look a bit like my high school yearbook photos and I'm not complaining that I may look young, but I want to look like a gown up! A young grown up, but still a grown up!

Branden understands this but he also finds it utterly funny, probably because I do not have anywhere near the body of a girl and I still look young so I shouldn't complain. The other night when we were laying in bed and having one of our odd conversations, I asked him, "When I turn 29 do you think I will finally look like a woman?"

Branden giggled at me, probably because he knew I only had about a week to make the womanly transformation, "Maybe when you are 30..."

"Oh no, I'm not going to be 30 and you should be supportive of making sure I don't turn 30 as it would just be weird for you to be married to a 30 year old."

Strange how he didn't quite agree...

So I figure now that I've got less than a week to find some way to erase any traces of my past teenage looks while still looking young...I may start with the Oreos on my desk that have been staring me down all morning!

Now for something completely different, a hilarious video for you!

Poor bunny...but I still am laughing!

Me? A Poet??

Today I give you a poem inspired by my stupidity experience from which I felt like an idiot after learned a great deal. I give you my masterpiece entitled:

DUH - in Ireland, in March

I did the laundry yesterday,
in Ireland, in March

I hoped the clouds would go away,
in Ireland, in March

I hung my laundry on the line,
in Ireland, in March

With the sun and breeze, thought I'd be fine,
in Ireland, in March

I watched the weather like a hawk,
in Ireland, in March

But in fifteen minutes I had a shock,
in Ireland, in March

The rain began to fall from the sky,
in Ireland, in March

No way my laundry would get dry,
in Ireland, in March

I dashed outside, bare feet and all,
in Ireland, in March

Hammered by the rain that started to fall,
in Ireland, in March

I quickly took everything down,
in Ireland, in March

Then ran inside with a dripping frown,
in Ireland, in March

Off to the dryer, so long eco-friendly,
in Ireland, in March

I may have tried but the weather beat me,
in Ireland, in March

Oopsies!

Tip of the Day:

In your attempt to wake up in the morning, putting your coffee in the cupboard instead of the microwave will not help your cause.


Today I don't have a music video but I have a hilarious type of video that a friend of mine got me hooked on! This was my favorite!

Mucus, Divas, and Black Eyed Children

Never mention to someone that you don't get sick very often. The day after I said this, Branden and I came down with a nasty cold...oh joy! So that's where I've been all last week and it was a head cold so my head didn't work very well. My head is more clear today and I think I'm clawing out of this cold which is great as we have friends from the States coming to visit at the end of the week!

The good thing is that Netflix got all 4 seasons of Drop Dead Diva so I've been flying through them! Especially now that I saw in the news that it's been re-negotiated with Lifetime and will come back for a 5th season, which means that our Netflix may lose the seasons since Irish Netflix seems to only have shows that are dead or dying! If you haven't watched it, then you should as I love that it's fun, clean, and has a fabulous lead character who is plus-sized.

I don't like being scared AT ALL! I don't watch scary films, I'm not into scary stories, and I hate scare pranks. A couple of weeks ago, Branden's mom was talking to us on skype and mentioned the black eyed children. We had never heard of them before, and since my mom-in-law has always liked to tell tales of aliens, big foot, and other creepy creatures, she told us about some article she read on the web. When she tells stories of scary things I actually find it funny since it sometimes gets Branden and his brother all ruffled and bothered (especially big foot stories told in their sun room at night!). After we talked, I got online and looked up the black eyed children. Click HERE to see the website I read. I read a few articles on this site and then also looked around the web at other freaky tales and legends. Not a good idea considering it was night time! When I went to the bathroom I totally freaked myself out imagining some creepy kid with solid black eyes trying to see through our non-see through, warped glass window. Uncovered windows at night completely freak me out, due to something that happened as a kid, and eyes also freak me out, especially big open eyes.

When I crawled back into bed, all creeped out, I told Branden that maybe we should sleep with the side light on. He started laughing at me as he realized that I had scared myself and had become a big weenie. We watched something pleasant on Netflix to take my mind off of all the stuff I had read, but by the time I had to pee again, I was still freaked and made Branden stand in the bathroom with his back towards me, blocking the window so I wouldn't have to see anything out of it. He continued to laugh at me. When it was time to go to bed, I still hadn't calmed down so Branden's laughing and teasing turned to tickling. He rolled over and pinned me in the bed, poking at my sides while mentioning my pansy-like qualities. I was giggling when all of a sudden we heard a huge *BANG* to which I promptly screamed but also caused Branden to jump out of his skin and yell out as well! We then started to laugh again as we realized it was one of our housemates coming home and slamming the front door.

Still giggling but still a bit jumpy, I realized that Branden had jumped too! For all of his teasing me, he had genuinely freaked out just as much as I had and even managed to sucker punch me in the kidney when he jumped...thankfully not hard! I took advantage of this realization and pointed it out to him, which caused us to laugh more, and then even more when we wondered if our housemate heard our unison scream when he shut the door. Later we asked him and he said he didn't hear us, but he thought the story was funny.