Where have I been, you might ask....

Let's see...what has happened in the last year...  I'll order the biggies chronologically:

1. Got a big ole fancy ring.
2. Became a house-girlfriend.
3. Got another little puppy (Molly) for Oscar to play with.
4. Brought Oscar and Molly in for the snippy snip and Molly didn't wake up  :(.
5. Went to the US and got MARRIED! 
6. Had a drink-filled celebration here in Dublin.
7. Got another puppy for Oscar to play with (Dixie).  Intend to have no more bad luck in this area...
8. Took a leap into my next career - I am full to the brim with fitness knowledge.

As you can see, the beginning of 2009 was a few smiles short of a kiddie birthday party.  But we are on the way up!  And of course, the most important update:

Lauren thought Sheila was back, but it was really Sheila's sister who had surgery to look like Lauren.  They kidnapped Jana and Lauren and started confusing everyone else, including Crazy Patty who had her own little surgery to look like Emily.  Of course the crazy look-a-likes met and hatched an evil plan.

So there you have it - your very own Young & the Restless update - now all of your dreams have come true.

At some stage I'll need to put aside the distractions of blogging, facebooking, and watching English and Irish actors doing their thang in the 1500s (The Tudors), to actually study a little anatomy.  What's that you say?  Don't I remember that from Mrs. Lemaire's class my junior year in high school?  If only....

My back yard is like a comb over hairdo

When you cut it short, all of the bald spots are revealed. I made a HUGE mistake in waiting 2 whole weeks before cutting it again. It is ridiculous - my dogs can recreate Tropic Thunder out there. They get completely lost back there and, as a result, insist that they go to the field across the street to do their business. This is sometimes inconvenient for me at 5:30 in the morning after I'm awoken to a complete spit facial (Dixie, not Derek), so I decide to put on my long pants and sweatshirt and head out to the tropical rain forest that is my backyard.

What's that you say? Sweatshirt to cut the grass?? Oh yes my friends. It's something like 55 degrees and misty raining every morning but the grass still insists on growing. I will say, though, that there's nothing better than hearing a lawnmower going on a sunny Saturday because that means......SPRING IS HERE! Oh, unless you're in Ireland. Then it's just the next phase of winter.


p.s. - Joe that one's for you. And considering you have decided to relieve yourself of all of your hair, I can't even make a bad comb over joke. Pffft.

Jail sentence lifted

He's freeeee! He has gotten all of his vaccinations now and we've waited the recommended week and now he isn't restricted to the front yard. Hopefully these longer walks will wear him out!

Oscar's first bath

He hated it! Couldn't wait to get out. For his second one, we tried in the tub so he could run around, but he still didn't like it. Let's hope that changes!

LOOKY!!

Everything's bigger in.... Ireland??

The "real" Paddy's day

Dublin has a lot of work to live up the the celebrations in New Orleans. In Dublin, I did not have to dodge any Irish foods: cabbage, potatoes, carrots, moonpies (huh??).

We just caught the end of the parade. Apparently they don't really throw anything, but it does attract over 500,000 people so there must be something great about it. The last thing that went by before they opened up the barricades for people to roam through was a Ferrari:


People go through great feats to see this Irish parade. Climb the nearest traffic light:


Or a post on a really spiky SOLID IRON fence!! Crazy kid.

We found our way through the crowds:

To our first pub: The Old Stand. Anyone who's come to Dublin and done the Literary Pub Crawl will have visited this pub. Started with a few Guinness appetizers and settled in for a little Irish stew and fish 'n chips. Mmmmm....After a stroll down Grafton Street and stopping for a little traditional Irish music:


What are they, like, 10???

Then off to a few more pubs for a few more Guinness-ii and back home to Oscar.

All in all, a great day!