365 Days...

Our Galway Adventure

The realities of life are sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet. Sometimes they push us to do silly things, and sometimes they push us to do great things. Last weekend, Dearbhla and I decided to do a great silly thing! We took a trip to Galway to visit a friend of mine, do a bit of shopping,  and celebrate St. Patrick's day.

Dearbhla and I have been friends since we were about 10 years old - even though she never misses an opportunity to tell people I was the cause of her twisting her ankle badly. Ok, I was... but it was an accident!!! Everything we do together ends up being an adventure (hense the title of this post) and this trip was no different.

We drove down on Friday morning after I came off an overnight shift. We stayed in an old style castle hotel just outside of Galway city. It was surrounded by acres of green fields, much of which we didn't have time to explore. We dropped our bags and went straight to the tournament where we enjoyed a great evening and night out. It had been a long while since I had been 'out out' and we had lots of fun!

The second day we spent shopping and at the snooker, and out again that night. The evening (and when I say evening, I mean morning) saw us dining in the finest restaurant Galway has to offer - Chicken Lickin'...later known to us as just 'lickin'. We were even given a VIP room on the top floor where we wouldn't be bothered... AND they so kindly left us (possibly 1 week old) chicken basket leftovers incase we finished ours too quickly) We had the pleasure of watching the locals wolfing down their SO LOVED chicken wings, and we watched people doing impressions of us 'fishing' for salmon... I really wish I could go into more detail!!!!

It had been a while since I had laughed so much and had such fun, it was well needed! The fact I had to work Sunday afternoon after practically no sleep, didn't matter after such a great weekend! Discretion is being used with these pictures....but here is some of our Galway adventures...

Our hotel

Orient Express dinner carriage

It's so old, we thought we saw a ghost??

 Old castle style...
I love the feel of these kinds of places... stepping back into medieval times... sort of......

Dearbhla on her favorite green chair

Beauty!!

 Health freak V. Chocaholic..

Aladearbh V.AnneJo.

Fourteen years of friendship already...

May there be another 50 years of adventures...and we know where it will continue...!!

 Love you Dearbh!!!

A Little Bit Of Randomness

It's been a while since I've posted recent photos. Between travelling minus my camera, working, and going to the gym (again, minus the camera!) there hasn't been many photos to take. I also haven't been in much of a 'photography' mood lately.
Anyway, here is some randomness captured over the past month and a half. As you will see, there are not many pictures.

These pictures were taken on the way home from an overnight shift about 6 weeks ago. It was probably about 8am, just after the sun had risen, over a bird sanctuary. I stood for a good 30 minutes in the cold, waiting and waiting and waiting for ANY of the 700 birds to move...even a few of them... this was all I got...

 Went to Starbucks with Jenny and Jack...

 We made some pancakes on Pancake (Fat for my Americans!) Tuesday.

Fat Tuesday also marks the start of Lent - well the day before. This year I decided not to give anything up, but to try to live more healthily and not to let work take over my life.

Also have been doing lots of Skyping.  I thought it was funny when Belu and I turned up one day for our chat wearing our FGCU t-shirts! Both of us using as PJs!

I also decided to get in the mood for Easter  (yes, a little bit early) and painted some eggs. I've never done that before - chocolate eggs are more the Irish tradition, but since much of my influences are coming from the US, I decided to go for the real egg! Definitely won't be as tasty in a few weeks come Easter Sunday.

So, that's all folks. A couple of things to look forward to coming up so there will be some pictures to follow!
After a LONG and tiring week, it is time for me to go to sleep at least 9 hours, and enjoy my Saturday and Sunday off.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Feliz Dia De La Mujer!! Happy Women's Day!!

To all the lovely ladies out there:

Here's to all times we've been in love...
Here's to all the times we've shared our dreams
Here's to all the times we've shared secrets
Here's to all the times we've partied together
Here's to all the times we've cried together
Here's to the times we've complained about boys
...and to the times we shared our stories of love
.....to the advice we've given, and the advice we've received...

Today is our day! Be proud, be happy and embrace your dreams!!!

Happy Women's Day... 
  
Las mujeres han sido hechas para ser amadas, no para ser comprendidas...

Chocolate and Pink :)

Girlish Whims Wednesday - Cherished Gifts

This post has been sitting in my drafts for the past month...it's time for me to finally post it!

Looking around my room today ( 3 weeks ago now) , I realize it is filled with so many memories;  pictures on the walls and many cherished gifts, small and big.

Apart from my direct family, and a few close friends in Ireland, most of the people I love dearly are all around the world - Florida, Tunisia,  Argentina, New York, Poland, Mexico, The Netherlands, London and Spain. My room is filled with tokens and memories from each of these countries and people and lets me feel closer to them on a daily basis and inbetween planning trips to see one another!

These are some of the smaller special gifts, some are old, some are new, but they are gifts I will always cherish, and from people I will always cherish. These are some of the things I see every day when I wake up and at night before going to bed.

... I couldn't even begin to post about gifts from my parents or sister. They've been giving since the day I was born.

Hope everyone is having an excellent week!!


For more Girlish Whims -Click!