Ok - I know, I know...I'm really getting behind on my blog entries. So I will do my best to send you 2 blogs posts today and somewhat catch everyone up. I am currently uploading pictures from my 2 Canadian visits and my latest weekend in Killarney/Dingle to Facebook and will do the same for my picture blog for those of my family who aren't connected to Facebook.
Update on life thus far is pretty simple. I started my new job at the end of March and it's pretty good thus far. I work with 8 other people and the company is slowly growing. It's made up of two companies: a recruitment agency and a sales & marketing agency. I work on the sales & marketing side doing event planning for a new client and will be assisting with marketing and such on the other clients in the upcoming weeks. It certainly was an adjustment for me coming from Canadian advertising culture into Irish marketing culture. Everything is not as structured and because Ireland businesses are much like local businesses where everything is done via phone and contracts are just usually 'my word', it was hard for me to grasp that seeing as I'm sure to 'everything in writing' and 'there's a process for everything'. So, I started by looking where we really needed some structure and processes put in place and got to it. Soon enough my boss could see that it's a really good thing and yes, maintenance is needed but I'll help him as long as I can legally work in Ireland to keep everything updated and organized. It definitely was not like jumping back into my old role in Toronto but I like challenges and change so it was a slow start but I'm learning something new everyday and looking forward to adding this to my career experience. So, that is what keeps me busy Monday through Friday and my weekends are free to do whatever I please, give or take. My goal is to do one weekend trip a month to somewhere new in Ireland or even Europe (flight costs depending) so I hope to meet that goal each month!
About three weeks into my job, my boss knew that I had a plane ticket pre-booked for another visit to Canada. I know everyone was like, 'why are you going home again? you just visited!' My rational was that the first visit was pretty much planned back when I booked my initial plane ticket to Ireland (return date had to be used or I was going to be charged $300+fare difference just to change it) and it fell on a very special date for me (10 years since Gramma M had passed) so I knew it would be a nice surprise for Mom and the rest of the family. My second visit was scheduled to be a week longer and the fact that prices double to and from Ireland after May, I would be busy traveling and working and likely wouldn't be able to get back to Ontario to possibly Christmas. Mom and Dad are visiting in July till August, Joc and Mike are possibly coming in October so I knew I would have some visitors in the summer and fall which I'm looking forward to. Anyone else is welcome to visit - just send me a note and give me a heads up!
Anyway, my time at home was quite nice and very hectic at the same time, as expected. I knew that my vacation wouldn't be a vacation but I thought it wouldn't fly by as quickly as it did last time - if anything my second trip was faster than the first one and it was double the length in stay....poop. I was pretty much on the go since 7am till 11pm at night visiting with friends and family. I got to spend time with the little cousins and Hayley and Randy's new addition - Reese Elizabeth...which was very key for me because young ones can easily forget who you are if you are away at long periods of time. Surprisingly, when I saw Morgan and Dan's daughter - Pearl - she seemed like she remembered me from when I met her for the first time last September and she was just maybe 2 weeks old at the time! Kelsey and I had some quality time together, watched 101 Dalmatians and did all the fun things you love to do with little ones - blowing bubbles, giggling, cuddling and bathtime fun. Thankfully I had my iPhone along with me the whole time to capture the special moments. I squeezed in time with Brad Arlene and kiddies on my way back from my birthday weekend in Toronto. Hard to believe how big Scott has gotten since I last saw him. I guess 6 months in between visits can really show you how quickly kids grow!
I had a great birthday weekend in Toronto. I took the train up early Thursday morning to Toronto and a few plans fell through so I took Rimi's Audi back to her place and vegged out for a bit till I met up with Trevor for sushi dinner. I think it was the only day I relaxed for a couple hours and I really appreciated it. I have been having a lot of pain in my jaw since January and went to my jaw specialist when I was in Ontario. Luckily, it's just a pulled muscle but unfortunately it's no quick fix. I have to do stretches and such and it's quite painful still. So, when I went out for sushi with Trevor, I almost cried (we don't have sushi in Galway) because I could only manage to eat two rolls because I can't fit them in my mouth. Luckily, sushi pizza is a bit smaller but it was so depressing but I had great company so it was still a nice night. Rimi took Friday off so we had a 'BFF day' full of shopping for bday dresses for our annual 'Shimmy Bash', good food, movies and treated ourselves to a 60-min massage. It's been too long and I used to get them every month and might try to get back into that habit. Rimi has never had one in her life and I think she will start doing them once a month too and her massage therapist even said she needs a chiropractor to work on her damaged shoulder...tsk tsk. Saturday was a full day with primping ourselves for the party. We got mani-pedi's and then went to Yorkdale for hair and make-up. Rimi didn't have the best MAC artist as she kept leaving her for customers and made her late for her hair appointment and she got concealer in her eye so Rimi's eyes kept tearing up and the artist blamed RIMI for it....haha....geez. My artist was quite nice and even though HE was wearing more makeup than I was, it still turned out great and I wish Rim had the same experience. The Shimmy Bash was a great success. Some people couldn't make it due to prior engagements but it was nice to see everyone that came out. I apologize to everyone that I didn't have a chance to visit with when I was home but there's always an open invitation to come visit me and I'm always up for Skype or email chats! I am glad I got to see Coopaloop and JBurns (shoutout) and share a lovely meal and convo with my girls....miss you guys.
My sister had a nice birthday dinner for me Sunday night on my way back from Toronto (after a quick visit at Brad/Arlene's in between) and Gramma L was able to make it as well. Gramma and I got together a few times and it was nice to see her. We even had a nice lunch at her house where I got to use her 40+ year-old grilled cheese maker and it's still just as good! :)
Other than that, I just had some family visits here and there, spent a couple days with Jocelyn shopping and usual sister chats, had a full day with Mom doing some shopping and test-driving cars for her and then soon enough I was packing to go back to Galway, Ireland. Of course I made sure to pack all the delicious treats that Canada has and Ireland doesn't. Naturally my luggage was overweight when checking in at the airport and United Airways was going to charge me $200 for being 7 lbs over. It really depends on who you get because the last time, I was 3 lbs over and she just put it through. So, Mom and I had to rearrange some things and luckily I didn't have to keep anything behind. Jonny definitely is very appreciated of all the snacks I brought over to us and we are savouring each bite of them one at a time.
Mom took me to the airport and I reassured her that no 'sad goodbye tears' were needed as she and Dad would be seeing me in a couple of months. My flights back were 'OK' (forgot to say that my flight was delayed from Chicago to Ontario because it was raining and I didn't get in till 3 hours later than expected. I told myself that Irish people would be laughing at Americans for being scared to fly in the rain!). I don't deal well with flying to begin with but I had my Gravol with me just incase. The flight to Chicago was pretty bumpy and I think it was the pilot first flight so I was pretty nauseous the whole time and thought he was going to miss the runway when landing in Chicago. I got stuck in the crappy terminal at O'Hare where the food selection is quite poor. The aircraft was a newer one which I've been lucky to get each time I fly with Aer Lingus. My plane seat neighbour was an old man from Connemara which is about an hour or so outside of Galway. He was very chatty, like most old Irish men, even when I was wearing my headphones. He said at one point, "Do ye sleep well on da plane?" and I said, "no, I barely get a wink or two." and he said, "Ya, tat's a pity. I'm da same way as well now." (note: the irish accent pronunciation). So - he would often look over to me while I was watching my movies and tv shows and catch a word here and there. Now, we left the gate ON-TIME but had to return to the gate after we reached the runway due to a 'technical issue'. When we approached the gate, two paramedics, the fire chief, two policemen and a large security guard came on board and walked to the back of the plane. We were all confused but naturally, they never tell you what's REALLY going on. About 5-10 min later, they came walking back up to the front of the plane (I was sitting right by the exit) and a passenger was with them. Ironically, I was one of the last people to board and she was directly behind me. She seemed pretty 'normal' to me but I guess something happened and she got escorted off the plane. We could hear her talking to the emergency staff off to the side of the gate entrance and the volume increased every few seconds and before you knew it she was screaming 'I hate Aer Lingus!' so they took her off to the side exit that takes you down to the tar mat and she continued to scream but the volume was muted. We could see out our window since it was directly beside where they were standing and she wasn't impressed. Slowly they got her down to the ambulance on the tar mat and then eventually inside and drove away. I was somewhat relieved that she wasn't let back on the plane and as we departed the gate, 45 min later, the pilot said 'thank you for your patience. we apologize for the medical emergency (he changed his tune) and we wish her all the best'...and everyone chuckled. Unfortunately the fun didn't stop there as I was positioned at the front of the plane were, lucky for me, all the young children were seated. Directly beside me were two babies between 6 months and 1 year plus a 3 year old girl. The parents were pretty nice but unfortunately both babies were simultaneously cry. They were ok for the first hour or two and then for the next 4-5 hours they were crying off and on. I think one baby slept for maybe 1/2 hr or hour and the other one didn't seem to at all. I tried blasting the music on my headphones but it hardly drown out the noise. I now have full appreciation for Mom when she took a 2-month old (ME) to British Columbia (4 hour flight) and apparently I screamed the entire way and the flight attendants, and even the pilot, asked her they could do anything - ie. how do we shut that baby up? SORRY MOM...and to whomever was on board that flight in 1982.
Anyway - I arrived safely, missed the bus to Galway by 20 min so had to wait a couple hours for the next one. I spoke with Jonny for about 15 min when I arrived home and then hit the bed as I hadn't slept in over 24 hours. I slept for 6.5 hours, woke up and had some dinner and then tried to get back to sleep but I didn't end up sleeping till 6 am the next day. At around 3am, I emailed my boss and said I would pick the 'optional' (as he put it) not to come into the office and would just work from home and catch up on emails. I pretty much slept all weekend and popped out for a few pints with the girls here for 'welcome back/belated bday drinks' but I only made it till about 1am till I was tired again. After a few more days I felt back to normal and was back into the swing of things with work.
All in all it was a great trip and again, I'm sorry for those I couldn't visit with but I hope to keep in touch and I will let you know when I plan to visit Ontario again!
Well, this post got longer than I thought but check out my Ontario visit(s) pics on Fbook and through this blog. I will post links soon for those and my past weekend trip to Killarney & Dingle. I was going to do another post about the weekend trip but I'll see if I have time today...if not, very soon...promise!
