23

I was at a conference in Atlanta today, and after getting up at 4am to get to Atlanta by 9am, it made for a long day. I did manage to stay awake through the whole thing and even took some notes from the speaker. One thing she mentioned during the workshop was that it takes doing somethng twenty three times before it becomes habit. I have heard this before, with different numbers, but the same concept. Repetition = Habit. This can be applied to my career as a business owner and also my personal life.

For instance, over the past month I have managed to put on a full 5 lbs in weight. No lie, 4 weeks, 5 lbs. Now, i'm gonna credit this mostly to Ireland and its plethora of unhealthy food and beverage choices (Guiness, fish & chips, Zaytoon, club orange, scones), but also those damn good Dreamland Nachos at Bryant-Deny. However, excuses aside, action must be taken. SO, for the next 23 days, I am committing to making working out and eating healthy a priority. I know what my weight loss goals are, and I know its not all going to happen in 23 days, but forming a habit will. So, during the next 3 weeks I expect to be hungry, cranky, tired and pretty much a total bummer. However, this gives me a base to work from and good habits to carry forward. Plus, on WW, you arn't suppose to see weight loss until after the first three weeks anyway. So here is some of what's getting cut out:

-alcohol (that was even hard to type)
-diet coke
-rotel :(
-weighing myself (not until the three weeks are up)
-eating out, if at all possible, not many healthy choices out there

What im bringing into the habit:

-more water consumption
-fresh fruit and veggies
-lighter portions
-exercise at least 5 days a week

So, as you can see, this is a life change...again. I did this four years ago while in Dublin. Somehow I lost the habit, but I'm taking a stand against the harm I have done to my body over the past 2 years. I'll keep yall posted.

Tide vs. Hogs

Today was Bama's first SEC opener against the Arkansas razorbacks at home in t-town. Unfortunately, when I found my camera this morning, it was completely dead, so I dont have any fun pictures from the day. However, if I had, it would have shown a very rain soaked crowd. Thanks to my mom's poncho inginuity, we managed to stay pretty dry. Luckily, the skies cleared right as we walked into the stadium, so the rest of the game was enjoyable. The game was exciting, but after bama was up 35 to 7 in the third quarter, I kind of lost interest. We were in the middle of the Arkansas section for this game because our tickets were gifts from his grandmother who is a Arkansas season ticket holder. (Many of Jordan's family went to U of Ark) We had some great fans around us, and they were very gracious as their team got smashed. After a double round of "Rammer Jammer" we headed back down to the Morris' tailgate to wait out in traffic and try to salvage from food from earlier. (my dip was pretty waterlogged) BAMA 4-0 on the season, roll on....

250th

Today is Arthur day, the 250th anniversary of Guiness (1759), named after the founder Arthur Guiness. At 17:59pm (11:59am our time today) we were to raise a pint to celebrate the man who has over time heavily influenced the culture of beer. Unfortunately, I completely forgot about Arthur day and was eating at a mexican restaurant during that time. Sorry Andrew, I failed. Birmingham has crappy Guiness anyway, but I would have liked to have raised something besides my bean burritto to my mouth.

Speaking of things that come from across the pond, enjoy the best claymation cartoon of all times. Creature Comforts. This is old school, but i love it. If i'm having a bad day, then this is what goes into the You Tube search because its fantastic. Here is another fantastic gem from the Creatures.

Fame!

I cant sing, dance, or play anything but Cannon in D on the piano, but I can't wait to see this movie. I might have downloaded the main track onto my ipod and rocked out on the way to work today...it's possible that happened.

House news: I just moved our closing to Oct. 23rd. Turns out, as of last night, we have a contract on our house! (the one we are living in) So, that's fantastic news, but their closing date was two days after mine, so I needed more time to get the heck out. Now, I will have a week to paint my new house before the movers come to put everything in. Which leads me to tonight's bribe. If anyone wants to join me and Jordan's two man painting show at the end of October, I will provide alcohol & food to be consumed once the brushes are put down. All you can eat of drink, and your choice. So, the signup sheet will be going around soon...

Peta's Most Wanted

I will admit, I watched the Jon & Kate plus 8 episode where they annouced their seperation, i think i even blogged about it. I guess i was as intrigued as everyone else, but this couple is doing nothing lately but pissing me off. After that big episode, I have stopped watching this couple exploit their children. But, i cant get away from all the headlines about their affiars, parties, interviews, and lack of time with their children. It's sad that now Kate is filming a pilot for a talk show, and Jon just did something I cant even imagine. He has sent their two precious german shepards back to the breeder. First, you know those children had to have loved those pups. Second, if they arnt taking care of the dogs, how are they properly parenting their children? See article.
I hope PETA comments on this. I hope they picket their house. I might just join them. I might just try and adopt those dogs myself. Im angry this morning. Dont mess with the Shepards Jon, dont do it.

Our House

Pending inspection, here's our house!

Living Room

Kitchen

breakfast nook

living room with door to the back porch (the bookshelves are my fav!)

Dining room

Hall bath on main level

Finished basement, with full bath

Side deck on level of driveway, above is the main deck on the back of the house

big backyard for my future pup, almost an acre to run around! All pup friends are welcome to visit!

Offer accepted!

After several days of negotations, we have finally reached an agreement and are signing the contract for our house today! I was right, this was the one! Of course, our closing date isnt until October 30th, so we have a bit to go before everything is finalized, but I cant be more excited. Getting into a home as been a goal for two years, and i'm thrilled it is almost here.  Once we get settled in expect a big party because I'm ready to celebrate! Pictures to follow!

Third time's the charm

If you had told me that only a week after returning from overseas I would have put three offers on three different houses, I would have told you that you were bat shit crazy and to get right out of town. However, I apparently am the crazy one, and yes that is how it has gone down the past few days. Call us indecisive or just plain thrifty, but we havent quite found the deal that we want. Today's offer though, I'm hoping will be different. Im not going to post pics of the house, or any details until its final because I dont want to jinx it, and knowing us, it could all be different tomorrow. But, I think this is the one, and I cant wait to share.

more macros

Right now Jordan and I are in the middle of the monumental process of trying to buy a house. This is not an extremely fun process (although it started out as one), because it has taken so long for two stubborn people to find "the one." Well, we thought we had found that house, but today have realized that we have become a victim of the mortgage crisis. Try negotiating a home with someone who bought more house than they could afford two years ago, and b/c of 100% financing, interest only loans, and most likely a home equity line thrown in for good measure; these people owe more on the house than they are even trying to sell it for. Hence, NO room for negotiation. This is what I calll financially ignorant, and now I cant get the house I want because you have to come to the closing with cash. So, needless to say, our reasonable offer was rejected for full price, and we, unfortuntaly, had to move on. Sad. I almost blew up on our realtor because I was so mad that banks allowed people to even get a loan like that.  Yet, realizing full well that she had not personally signed off on the loan, I calmed down.

So, round two starts tomorrow when we put an offer on the next one we liked. The "almost the one" house. I'll keep you posted.

HOWEVER, this is actually not what I wanted to blog about today. As you can see from the post above, I need some serenity in my life. So, enjoy these macros taken on Garnish Island, West Cork, during our visit to the secret garden. There are several times during the day when I close my eyes and pretend i'm back there.

(American) Football!

Alabama football is back! This saturday we headed down to T-town to see the season opener vs. Florida International University. I love game days, and the energy on this particular one was magnetic. We went down with Chase and Rebecca, so we visited her brother at the DKE house (Delta Kappa Epsilon-it took me way too long to figure that one out). While at the house I had two striking realizations. 1): This year's class of freshman girls were 10 years old when I was a freshman in college. 2) These girls are experts at smuggling alcohol into the stadium. At one point while I was waiting in line for the bathroom at the frat house, this girl reaches under her dress and pulls out a plastic pouch full of vodka. She was planning on getting into the stadium with that bag of vodka between her legs. She has a point, the security guards will check her purse put not her upper thighs, so its a win win for her. In the meantime, Rebecca got her bag of peanuts taken away at the gate before we went in. Guess she should have taken a page from the freshman sorority girl's book with dos nuts...

40-14 Roll Tide.

Back to football...Bama won. At one point though we were losing, so that was a bit of a nailbiter. But we pulled through and gave a hearty two rounds of Rammer Jammer at the end. Man I love that song. Another song I realized I dont know all the words two is our fight song. I think I did at one point, but I found myself at this game making up words, so go here for the correct lyric. This is really for me than you, I think ive been singing the wrong words to this for about 20 years now...

Last days in Dublin

Andrew by the bay

Dublin Bay

The lighthouse on the south wall in Dublin bay

Recieving a banner from the Dublin Central Rotary Club from President Grainne Bagnall for the Birmingham Rotaract Club

Before I left Ireland, I visited the good people at Dublin Central Rotary Club for their weekly meeting. It was a great meeting to attend, as they were honoring a Paul Harris Fellow. This is someone from either the club or the community that has worked dilligently for the improvement of society. The reciepient at this occassion was the principal at a local boys primary school who has helped motivate his students to raise money for a boys school in Kenya. This work, along with the help of Rotary has vastly improved the lives of the young boys in both places. It was quite interesting to hear about this work and see this man surprised with such an honor.

Earlier in the day, Andrew and I walked along Dublin Bay along the south wall. It was surprisingly gorgeous outside, without much breeze and warm, so the walk was fantastic. Apparently the weather is suppose to be fantastic for the next two weeks. I had some good weather, but still got the rain and wind at times. Regardless, August and September are great times to visit Ireland, if anyone's interested...

The night before I left, my friend Deirdre and her boyfriend had me over to their house for dinner and tea. It was great to see them, and talk about the past two years we have lived since we've seen each other. Hopefully another two years wont go by before I see my Irish gals again!

and i'm back

Back in Bama and a bit jetlagged. I still have lots of pictures to post, but today is going to be crazy. However, I promise to finish the adventure soon.

Garnish Island

Olan's meal for us, plus my addition of fried green tomatoes on the left

our ferry, the harbour queen II

this garden is stunning

the walled garden

Entrance to the "secret" walled garden

Gillian at the tower

battlement tower

View from the island

stone path leading up to the greek column and a great view

the italian garden

Sunday, Gillian and I headed off in the car further west until we reached Bantry Bay and had a ferry take us to Garnish Island. It use to be inhabited by a private resident who established massive gardens on the island. Now, its the property of the government and open to the public. We toured around (trying to steer clear of a tour group of around 40 Germans) and viewed the gardens. It was misty raining this day, so we were a little chilled, but the rain on the plants gave everything a dream-like glow. The walled garden was straight from The Secret Garden to me.

I forgot to mention that the day before we had gone to a farmers market in the local town and gotten fresh cheese and fish. That night Olan made us bacon covered monkfish tails, potatoes, baked cherry tomatoes and a mozzarella salad. I made a contribution by picking up some green tomatoes at the market and frying them up! That's right, fried green tomatoes in Cork. Cha Cha would be proud bc they were yummy. I included a picture.

Ok, Its actually wednesday night as i'm posting this, and i'm leaving for my Dublin Central Rotary meeting, then dinner with Deidre and her man Dearman (i know thats not spelled right, forgive me). more later.

A night of good craic

me & olan

olan & gill

coolest tabby ever

Olan wanted me to take this picture to show Americans an example of Irish video games...he's a mess. Actually this was in working order and ready for use in the pub's corner.

After a day of adventuring, we ate dinner and went out to the local pub to watch the rugby game. Olan spent the whole time watching trying to explain the game to me. I also spent much time explaining the American football rivalry situation, especially in Alabama. In the end, his team, Munster didnt win, but we had a great time drinking some Bulmer's & Murphy's. My favorite part of the night was the orange tabby cat that just slept in the corner while the whole pub was buzzing with people. He was asleep until we put this empty Murphy's pint in front of him and took a picture. My spencer would have wigged out, but his cat was a champ.

Rosscarbery

Chillin at Castle Salem

There were awesome horses everywhere

View from inside Castle Salem

Coppingers Court

View from middle of Dolmin circle

I can see why these people settled here, gorgeous.

Coppingers Court

The cost along our hike

cow crossing. we were sitting in the car

The next day was adventure day, and while Olan was surfing, Gillian and I went exploring. First up, a walk along the mountainous coast. The weather in west cork is slightly warmer than the rest of the country, so the 65 or so degrees was a nice break from the coastal winds that Hurricane Bill brought andrew and I the week before in the north. The views were incredible, and we even walked down to the beach and watched Olan surfing for a bit. (I am still amazing that people surf in such cold waters, but apparently with a wet suit, its not that bad. I'm calling BS on that one, it has to be freezing).

All of our adventures today centered around the town of Rosscarbery, a lovelylittle town. Click to read up on it. Our next adventure was an abandoned manor called Coppingers Court. Apparently during the famine years, the homes owner was an awful man and if his residents couldn't pay rent, he simply hanged them from the front door of this house. As you can imagine, the place had an eerie feel about it, but it was stunning nonetheless. From there we visited Drombeg stone circle. There are actually TONS of these things around Ireland, but this one was very well preserved. Also, the views from the hill were amazing.

Finally, as were we trying to find one castle we had spotted, we ran into other. Castle Salem was hard to spot at first, it actually had great signposts giving us directions. We pulled up and just saw a house. No castle in sight. We were greeted by an 80 year old man who said the castle was "around back."

So, we walked around and just found a man working on a scaffold. When we inquired as to the whereabouts of the castle, he replied, its right here, and pointed to a stone building attached to the house. We both kind of looked at each other like...ok. However, it was quite an interesting story. I'll let the internet tell it, but basically his family bought it for 500 pounds a few hundred years ago, and he decided to sell off his cattle and spend the money redoing the castle as it would have looked in the 1500's. Quite impressive. He plans on using it as a B&B of sorts. He expects people will find it to be a novelty to stay in a castle. For me, id rather be in a hotel. There is something about a 16th century drafty and damp building that doesnt quite shout comfort to me. But to each their own. Afterwards he asked how an American and Irish girl came to know each other. I told him we were to Trinity and did Women's Studies. He stopped me right there and said"oh, i get it, i understand" and kindly bid us farewell. Gillian started laughing when we got to the car. She said he most likely thought we were lesbians...haha i started dying down laughing. What was even more funny was that moments before this conversation occurred, the local Priest had just arrived to call on this man's ailing father. So, he was probably wanting to get rid of the lesbian tourist before the Priest found out...hahaha, i couldnt get over that.