Ireland Day 63 - Rain

And lots of it! Night before last there was a spectacular thunder/lightening/rain storm and last night there was just a lot of rain. I left for the bus stop a few minutes early because I was running early (how awesome is that?) and I was greeted to a rather neat sight near the park: super deep puddle!

If I hadn't left early I wouldn't have had a chance to stop and take pictures :3

The rest of the day wasn't super eventful. Pretty average, really. I've been in a very good mood the whole time though, so that's nice! I spent my lunch with Caitriona and Steve which certainly helped with the good mood! I ate at a new place as well, delicious sandwich accomplished! Steve discovered Curiosity Cola, endorsed by a dog. It was good times.

I wondered what I would do with the rest of my day, but nothing particularly brilliant came to mind, so I decided I would just shoot on home and skype with Cassidy! Plans formed. I had mini pizzas for dinner. I need to learn to cook.

The rain was so interesting today. It was a nice day for the most part, and then while I was walking to the bus stop after work it started to sprinkle, and then rained fairly heavy. So I stood and smiled at the sky with my headphones on. I would have spread my arms wide if I hadn't been in public. The bus ride was kind of funny, there's new upholstery on the seats and halfway through the route we got a new bus driver! When I got off the bus it was overcast, and then ten feet from my front door is started to just. pour. It was exciting.

Rain like this never seems to last long so I didn't have a big enough window to experiment and get exactly what I was looking for.

I wanted to take a photo so badly but I had to use the bathroom even more (I have had an extreme amount of water today). By the time I ran back and flung open the front door there was no rain. NONE! It had stopped. "Are you kidding me?!" I yelled. After trudging upstairs and unloading my bag, to my great delight, the rain started again! So open went my bedroom window and I took as many photos as I could until the rain stopped.

Remaining droplets.

Now I am watching 17 Again (brilliant film, by the way) and wondering. Wondering wondering.

-MJ

Ireland Day 32 - Sandwich

I'm naming this blog after my mediocre dinner tonight. It was a sandwich, in case you weren't sure. I really don't like nuts/oats/grains clogging up my bread. I tried, I really did. I can do wheat, but not all the other stuff.

Moving on though! I actually took a real picture today. It was of the bad sandwich.

I think it looked fairly promising too. Oh well! Now I know.

When I woke up this morning I was actually feeling better. My head is still feeling a bit like it is stuffed with cotton, I have a bit of the sniffles and the worst cough, but I am on the upswing I think! There was a tiny bit of a setback this morning when I coughed so hard that I threw up, but that passed thankfully! I've been wracked with coughing fits through the whole day, terrifying and disturbing customers I'm sure. I can only hope that I'll sleep soundly tonight (although I don't know how that'll work).

This morning there was a very large shoot to be done - 9 adults and 6 kids. WOW. Brad trained Catharine and I for it earlier in the week and she and I attended it together. My voice is still very weak as well, so I am hopeless at rounding people up. Catharine is awesome! The shoot went really well I think. Got some great shots of the huge family. The rest of the day was pretty low key. Good for my voice.

At lunch I decided I wanted mashed potatoes again, so I went to Riordan's and had bangers and mash. Mmmmmm. It was so so so good. I had a hot chocolate directly after that. I treated myself, some might say xD My throat definitely appreciated all the warm nourishment.

My evening transitioned nicely to an enjoyable sit-down with Steve at the kitchen table. He made me some tea and gave me biscuits and we were chatting about Ireland and how nice it is here. So pleasant!

For the most part I haven't done much today, just edited through photos from the day trip to the Cliffs of Moher. I did probably 70 or so? Exhausting. Worth it though! I love the pictures, they make me happy to look at.

The days are creeping ever close to Wednesday, when I will be getting my third secret tattoo :O Excitement!

Time to sleep!

-MJ

Ireland Day 19 - Dominos

Not a lot of pictures today, but we did eat Dominos! I had a buy one get one free coupon that I was anxious to use. Emily arrived in town today, YAY! So we had a girls night in watching Friends, Coach Carter and then Sex in the City while we chowed down on pizza. They arrange the pepperonis here. That was a funny surprise.

They arrange them per slice!

Today was sort of low-key, sort of. Maybe I just think that because I didn't make a lot of on-the-spot updates. Let's review!

Wake up! Go into town. I made a very special shoe swap (Geraldine let Maisa borrow flats so she didn't have to wear heels to the club) and hung out with Owen. We had lunch with Geraldine on her lunch break (they're so cute) and then walked around the square. We ran into Catherine at one point and that was kind of funny. I haven't just ran into someone I knew since I've been here. A little surreal.

I had some errands to run, including getting my wedding shots to Brad and scheduling my tattoo appointment :O I took in a few pictures and was very specific about what I wanted. He didn't write anything down, just a very brief description. I'll see what they draw up and obviously if I don't like it I'll have them change it. August 11th! I'm excited. I know everyone is just so curious to know what it'll be, but surprises are a good thing.

Catherine is lovely inside AND outside ;)

I've been listening to my playlist I made yesterday all day today. I even took my headphones out onto the bus with me! Made things a little more interesting. It was a good time walking around with Owen. Got to know him a bit better. Woohoo for friends! Oh, no restaurants here seems to use sliced cheese, it's all grated. Note to Ireland: it is very difficult to eat a sandwich when the cheese is flying everywhere.

Emily arrived via bus around 2:45 so we met her at the station. I was so excited to see her again! She's awesome. We mosied around and met up with Maisa. Commence more exploring! I didn't take out my camera once because I'm an idiot. A lazy one. Oh well. Just carried around a gradually heavy backpack for no reason. I'm going to be so strong after this trip.

We caught the bus back to the house and hung out over with Catherine for the rest of the night. Today was a good day, relaxing and full of friends (both real people and the TV show! :B)

Moulding around the fireplace at Miriam's.

Tomorrow the girls and I are going to The Cliffs of Moher! Hot damn, I am excited. The video camera is charging and the camera battery is going on next! AHH! The bus leaves at 10:15 and I believe arrives back in town at 5 or 5:30. That's a lot of cliff-y goodness! We also go to The Burren. Mr Martin McDonagh insists I have to go, so I'll be thinking of him while I'm there :)

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10:22 am: home: The weather here is too unpredictable. It said rain and fog so I decided not to go to the Aran Islands. Now sunny and rain? Ugh.

11:24 am: home: Wearing pants that are slightly damp.

12:20 pm: 33 bus: The guy in front of me on the bus has a piercing on the back of his neck.

12:44 pm: Outside of Geraldine and Owen's place: Watching a "clamping" officer trying to determine if he can ticket a parked car.

-MJ