How could the last 11 days fly by so fast?

I picked Mom up from the airport Friday the 30th. After a 18 hour flight she was very happy to see a familiar face. To my surprise, jet-lag never seemed to set in. I had planned the first 2 days of her visit to just be resting and catching up. However, she seemed fresh as a daisy and ready to start her vacation. Since I didn't have much planned we didn't do anything major, we hopped in the rented Hyundai i10 and drove through Dublin and down on to Dun Laoghaire, visited the botanical gardens which are just up the street from my house and had a drive around Howth. Mom (and myself) was a bit dazed by the crazy driving but we managed okay. I think the first thing she noticed was the houses and how they're all stuck together like duplex style and also just how everything in general is much smaller, roads, cars, houses, buildings, everything.

Our adventure really started off on Monday, when we headed up to Newgrange and Knowth. This had been my second visit out to them but it was just as interesting as the first. Mom enjoyed it also, as they are older than the pyramids and much older than any structures found in America. They're something that really need to be experienced, seeing photos of them just won't do them justice.

On Tuesday we headed to the West of Ireland with Galway as our first stop. We had planned on having lunch at Nimmo's which came highly recommended. Although when we got there, they were closed for lunch due to 'chef problems'. We headed around the corner instead to Goya's where were had a lovely lunch. I'll have to save Nimmo's for another time. After lunch we headed North to the village of Cong where I had a little surprise for Mom. I managed to book a night at the 5* Ashford Castle. As we turned down the road to the castle and mom saw the signs she assumed it was just a tourist stop, which I then had to convince her that we were actually staying the night there! The castle was great, very 'castley'. It had miles of manicured garden walks and plenty of places to snoop about inside. Mom was a bit tired from the day (maybe that jet lag was setting in after all) so I ventured out on my own down the river path into the village of Cong. The walk was lovely along a long river dotted with men fly fishing and the occasional pair of swans. At the end of the path there was an old stone bridge that led over into the village entering through Cong Abbey dating back to 1135. That evening we both headed into Cong for some pub grub.

The next day we packed our bags and headed towards Connemara. After a 4 hour drive on overgrown and narrow roads we had our fill of cows and stone walls. With a short stop at Kylemore Abbey, we headed back to the Castle for High Tea. Tea was fantastic, served with mini sandwiches, cakes and scones. Scrumptious! (Thanks Kathy!) Around 4.30 we figured we better stop pretending we were royalty and head to our next destination. Back in the car and heading south.

We arrived in the extremely small village of Doolin at about 6pm. After finding a b&b for the evening, even though we had plenty of light left we decided to leave our Cliffs of Moher visit until the next morning. To the pub! At O'Connor's Pub Mom had a dinner of fish and chips while I opted for the Guinness Stew with a side of Guinness all of this was accompanied by a Trad Session (a trio playing traditional irish music). The next morning we were up early to go tour the Cliffs of Moher aka the Cliffs of Insanity! Back in the car and heading south again. We drove the coast line down to Killimer where we got the ferry across the Shannon River which saved us quite a bit of time. We then continued on south until we hit Killorglin where we got some lunch and decided to push on around the Ring of Kerry as it was only 3pm. We decided to settle down for the night in Kenmare at the end of the Ring. We stayed in a lovely B&B and I think we were the only one's there. Kenmare was a really cute little village and I'd happily go back when I have a bit more time to look around.

Once again, up early Friday morning to head back to Dublin. We made a few impressive stops along the way. I figured we started our little trip west with a castle (Ashford) so we should probably end with some. First we stopped off at Cahir which is home to one of the largest castles in Ireland, built in 1142. We had a great tour guide around the castle, learning of all sorts of medieval and norman traditions, such as catapulting dead animal carcasses over walls as a form of 'biological warfare'. After lunch in the town we headed just down the road to Cashel. This would be my third visit to the Rock of Cashel, the first being in 2001 with Sarah and the second in 2007 with Emily and Christina. Cashel is very impressive, but not to be confused with a castle, it is actually a church, only a ruined one on top of a hill making it look quite castle-esque. After we had our fill of norman history we hopped back in the car and hit the motorway all the way back to Dublin in time for dinner.

Saturday was filled with cooking, eating and laughing with friends. Mick and I decided to have a little BBQ so Mom would have a chance to match some faces to names. Even though we managed to overwhelm her with 15 people who spoke with accents I think she still enjoyed meeting everyone. After a bit of a clean up the next morning, we picked up Orla and headed down to Powerscourt Estate in Wicklow where we met Susan for lunch on the garden terrance. With full bellies we headed on over to Glendalough for one last look at some old ruins and a walk through the park.

With Mom's last day upon us, there was nothing left for us to do except go shopping! Neither one of us would be your typical shopper, however when you're shopping for gifts it's another story. I took Mom to the renown Grafton Street to find a few souvenirs. After we were shopped out we met up with Mick for a late dinner at my favorite Indian Restaurant, the Green Chilli. Once again with full bellies, we headed on back to the house for one final late night chat before Mom's flight the next morning.

As I watched her disappear through the security doors I realised that I already missed her. It was absolutely fantastic to have my Mom come for a visit. I guess I just didn't realise how much I miss her every day. She knows me better than anyone else, loves me unconditionally and is very proud of her little girl.

It's hard to see my Mom grow older but it's even harder to be so far away and to realise that time is just flying by so quickly.

Thanks for coming to visit Mom, love you!

Pictures to come...

V-Day 2010

Mick and I decided to stay in and avoid the masses on v-day this year. We treated each other to homemade sushi followed by Flourless Dark Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Mousse and Raspberry Coulis (found on an aptly named blog). I would highly recommend this recipe, don't be scarred off even Mick loved it!!!

Thanks Mick for the great dinner company. ♥

Over the hill

Or maybe I'm just on the ascent of the hill? On January 15th I officially turned 30. I was lucky enough to spend my birthday in the amazingly beautiful Austrian Alps. A group of thirteen of us went to Saalbach, a cozy little village (resort) in western Austria. This was my first attempt at skiing which the idea of has never quite suited me. However since the back surgery last year I decided that snowboarding (aka falling on my ass non-stop) probably wasn't the best idea, so I thought I'd give skiing a go.

Getting to Saalbach in the first place proved to be quite difficult. In what will forever be known as the Big Snow/Ice Storm of 2010 here in Ireland we were attempting to fly. After 9 hours in the airport, with our Ryanair flight to Salzburg delayed and finally cancelled we were able to book another flight with Aer Lingus to Munich, Germany and this flight actually was on time. Instead of our 1 hour transfer from Salzburg we were now looking at a 3.5 hour transfer from Munich which put us into the Hotel Panther at around midnite. A few beers and we were off to bed.

Up and early the next morning to book into Ski School. Myself and another guy, Rob, were the only two beginner skiers in the group. We stuck together for the first few days until Rob quickly surpassed me in skiing talent and I decided to drop down a level. I'm not sure if I hurt my left ankle on a fall or if it's just my weak ankle but the boots did not agree with me either way. When I had my boots on I could only put pressure on my ankle for about 10 min at a time, this does not really agree with the concept of skiing so I stuck to the beginners slopes while everyone else moved on.

I found out the real reason that everyone goes skiing anyway:
Après-ski (French: after skiing) refers to going out, having drinks, dancing, and generally socializing after skiing. It is popular in the Alps where skiers often stop at bars on their last run of the day while still wearing all their ski gear.

Skiing is a hard life: up at 7am, ski till 4pm, drink till 8pm, eat till 10pm, drink till 2am, sleep, repeat. And there you have it.

The best nite out by far was my birthday. At dinner the hotel had made me the most amazing hazelnut cake with a Firework on top! No joke! Then after dinner, off to the bars for some karaoke, bowling, drinking and general fun times...And then up at 7am again.

Overall it was a great holiday and a fantastic birthday. I'm looking forward to my 30's I think they're going to bring some great adventures!

I'll get some photos up for you soon.

Slacker

I am really slacking on these blogs lately and I apologize. So much as happened, yet it just seem so go by so fast that I don't have time to write about them. I've added a whole slue of photos to my Picasa Page so head on over there to see what I've been up to.

The winter is definitely upon us here in Dublin. It has gone from rainy to rainy and cold. For the last few weeks we've been waking up to a frost covered Dublin. It has been spitting snow a little, but from what I hear the snow is on it's way and should hit next week. Our quant little old house has now become a quant freezer box. All this weather makes for staying inside huddled in one room with a roaring fire, drinking hot chocolate/tea/bailey's coffee and watching movies - our activity of choice. When we're not doing that you'll probably find us huddled up in some warm pub slurping down some cold pints.

Work has calmed down quite a bit this winter as well, my work has been put back to a 3 day work week again with 3 weeks off for the holiday's. Some people aren't so happy with this, but I welcome the time off. I'll actually be taking a 4th week off as well as we're heading to Austria skiing on the 9th of January. I've been doing a few ski lessons at Kilternan on their dry slope. Just learning the basic's of skiing so when I get to Austria I'll be a step up on the other beginners. (you'll find some photos here.

Another fantastic thing that happened was Modest Mouse came to Dublin! I was quick on ticketmaster.ie at exactly 9am and was able to get tickets to the small venue before they sold out in less than 5 minutes. Jessica flew over from Dublin to see them with me. She arrived in the Saturday before (gig was on Tuesday) so we'd have a bit of time to hang out and she was happy to see a bit of Dublin again. So that night she got in, myself, mick and jess headed up to the Porterhouse North for a quite "welcome back Jess "pint. When we arrived I saw a few of our friends, what a coincidence! ... and then look a few more, wow they don't even know each other... why are they all here together? After about a 2 minute delay everyone yelled "SURPRISE!!!" and I quickly realised this was going to be more than just a quite pint. Mick had gone through months of organising a surprise party for me 6 weeks early as we are going to be away in Austria for my actual party! I definitely got a surprise. It was great to see everyone out especially on another crappy evening. On Tuesday we headed the Modest Mouse gig which was probably the best show I've ever been too. It was in a venue that only holds about 500 people. We had no problem standing dead center stage just in front of the guard railing. I sang my lungs out and danced my legs off, I had no voice and wobbly legs the next morning. Outstanding.

A quick rundown of some other things that happened. I got laryngitis, then I caught a cold, then I got better for a few days, then I caught another cold. I've basically been sniffling and coughing for well over a month now.

In between all that I've managed to do a few things. A group of us headed over to Lahinch, County Clare to go surfing. I was really looking forward to this but the stupid cold I had wouldn't allow me any fun. While we were there we visited the Cliffs of Moher where we experienced the true power of wind. Several people a year get blown off the cliffs and I always put this down to stupidity but now I realise you could be 200 feet away from the cliff and still get blown off if you're in the wrong area. Don't worry we stayed in the walled area the whole time, but at one point go smashed up against the wall and if it wasn't there about 20 people would have been blown over the edge. Scary! After we all decided we'd had enough wind we visited the Ailwee Caves where there was no wind and it stays at a constant 10°C. The next day everyone, including Holly the dog, went surfing while myself and Orla stayed on the beach and took photos. It looked like great fun and I'll have to give it a go sometime when I'm not sick.

Only 9 days now till we're off to Austria! Where I will attempt to ski. I promise I'll post up a blog when I get back. Hope you're all doing well.

Head on over to my Picasa page for photos!

Yes I'm alive!

I've just been very busy, or maybe very lazy, probably a combination of both. Too much has actually happened for me to remember. Our trip to America came and went far too fast. We had a fantabulous time. Four days in NYC with Aaron where we went to the National History museum and saw dinosaurs, went to the top of the Rockerfeller Center where Mick kept his eye out for his TV-Star crush (Tina Fey). We went up to the Top-of-the-Rock just as the sun was going down so we got to see the city with and without lights, absolutely beautiful both ways. We visited the Bronx Zoo on apparently what is the busiest day of the week and we ate a pound of cheesecake.

Then on to Oregon. We were picked up at the airport by all my friends and drive directly to the Concordia Ale House so we could get a pint of sweet, delicious, very much missed Oregon beer. This just started things off perfectly, I knew it was going to be a good trip. The next day, we headed down to Sunriver. This was fantastic as 13 of my friends got to go which is pretty amazing as everyone was able to get off time work or get babysitters and generally act like we were all 22 again. We all went out to the Lava Caves which were very different from the caves Mick and I visited in County Clare, Ireland, which were also very cool. I finally got to spend a bit of time with my mom and introduce Mick whom she'd heard so much about and finally got to met. I also got to spend some time with my brother which was much needed.


Back to Portland. We went for hikes in the Columbia River George, Kayaking with Jaimie's family on the Rogue River, Sarah's bachlorette party, walking around Portland, eating around Portland, Mick got to go shoot guns while I visited my fluffyfaced kitty cat. I took mick to the batting cages where he got to partake in the great aAmerican past-time of hitting baseballs. We got to spend a little time with my sister and my three nieces who are all so big now and so cute! We took the train up to Seattle and where we met up with Dominic and drank beers from our socks in the park. And then most importantly, I got to see my best friend in the world get Married. The wedding was fantastic, not a thing out of place, all was perfect. When Sarah and Morgan went off for their Honeymoon we watched after their house for them. They just bought a lovely new house complete with game room (pool and poker tables), a hot-tub, and koi pond out back! They really lucked out and so did Mick and I by getting to stay there.

Then before we knew it, it was time to go home. I didn't quite realize how much I missed everyone and Oregon until I was there again. It was so good to be home and be surrounded by all my friends and family. I miss you all and thanks for treating us so well.

Lots of love,
Judy

If you haven't seen em yet, more photos at Mick's Picasa:

American Holiday Part 1

American Holiday Part 2

Great weekend, baaaaaaad Monday.

On Thursday 10 of us headed west to Carrick-on-Shannon for the annual Shannon Cruise. Thursday night was nice and easy, we settled in for the evening and to enjoy a bbq on the docks. Friday was back to the river going at a top speed of 8mph! We stopped along the way for a quick dip in the cool (freezing) waters of the Shannon. There was only one fatality of Mick's new waterproof camera, which is probably still working perfectly at the bottom of the river. We sailed on and went to a pub beside the river for dinner, I had grilled Hake, which has topped my list of the best dinners I've ever had in Ireland. Back to the boat for some cards and drinking.



For more pictures go here.

Saturday contained more of the same intermixed with shooting scenes for "The Shannon Stranger II a sequel for the members of the Shannon Cruise from years back. We also had an important addition to the crew this year, Holly, the official boat-dog joined us. It was great having a dog aboard. On Sunday we lazily made our way back to Carrick-on-Shannon to head home. We had a farewell dinner at a local Italian restaurant and then I hopped on the back of Mick's bike and we were once again Dublin-bound.

And that's when thing's went bad. About 30 minutes into the bike ride my stomach started to feel queezy this was then followed by what mick could only explain as exorcist-style shenanigans including the worst stomach cramps I've ever felt (and never want to feel again). Long story short, at 2am we went to the emergency hospital where I remained until 2pm the next day. When I left they still didn't know what was wrong with me. I'm awaiting some more tests to come back from the labs. I'll then get antibiotics for whatever ails me. Most symptoms are pointing towards E.Coli which I could have got from something I ate over the last week or so. No one else from the boat trip has been sick so we're ruling out anything eaten then. I'm feeling much better today (Tuesday) and was able to eat almost a full dinner. I'll hopefully get lab results back tomorrow. In the meantime I'm confined from going to work as I may be contagious. All I know is that I feel better and it seems that whatever it was has passed. thank god!

Here I go again on my own...

Hi All it's been a while since i've posted and many fun things have come to pass.

I introduced Mick to Geocaching and it's our new favorite activity. It has taken us to mountains and castles and to lovely walks in the park. We've only done a few so far but plan to pick em up in our spare time. We had a week of absolutely amazing weather, got a sunburn and all, now it's back to a bit of rain and overcast. We took full advantage of the weather when we had it though, by going to beach, motorbike rides and bbq's a plenty!

We also celebrated mick's 30th birthday party (which is actually on the 12th, but due to a business trip had it early) traditionally over at Aslinn's house complete with bbq, bouncy castle and bone fire. It was absolutely fantastic. Then the next day we headed over to Trim Castle for a day in the sun among the ruins.

While we were busy doing this our flatmate sarah was busy moving out and getting ready for her move to Italy, so we'll be cat-sitting pebbles while she's away for the summer. It's nice to have a cat in the house again, but to be honest, pebbles is well... insane. It had to be said.

As for Mick's business trip, he's been called to Sydney Austrailia for three weeks. He's at the airport as I type this. I've moved from the thoughts of not wanting him to leave to just being plain jealous! I wanna go! I'm just trying to keep in mind that it's business and he will be working a lot. As well it's actually winter in Sydney right now so there won't be any fun times on the beach (just one's in pubs). He's promised we'll go back someday and i will hold him to that. I'll be using the next few weeks to get things done i've been meaning to do...not too sure what those are yet.

Oh I also passed my driving theory test last Saturday. Basically I've been driving for 12 years and I can legally drive in Ireland but I can't legally get insured which means i have to apply for my irish license before getting a car. However, actually obtaining a license is quite a lengthly process.
1. First I have to pass my theory test (done),
2. Then i've to apply for my provisional license
3. Next i have to take 6 driving lessons (up to 50 euro a session!),
4. Finally after 6 months i can apply for my full license and of course have to pass a driving test.

And of course each one of these steps costs money. I can actually get insured with only a provisional license but my insurance rates will be sky high!

There are a few things i'm looking forward to. I won't shut up about going to the states i'm very excited for that! I'm also looking forward to Mick getting home (I know... already??) then the day after he gets back we're heading to Claire and Mike's wedding up at Darver Castle which should be fantastic!

to view some of my latest shenanigans follow the link below.

Bits & Bobs 2009

If you didn't get the email...

I know what's been on all of your minds lately. When the heck is Judy coming for a visit??? We'll the time is near...well 3 months away. As an added bonus my amazingly awesome and handsome (and irish) boyfriend will be joining me. Clear your schedules for some proper Judy & Mick hang out time from August 27th to September 14th. Aaron we'll be in NY August 24-27 so prepare your couch/floor!

Oregon has a lot to live up to for mick, as you all probably know how I tend to exaggerate. We'll be looking for couches/floors/beds to sleep on and cars/vanagons to borrow for some short trips...so let us know if you have a spare.

We'll have 2.5 weeks to:
1. Go to the beach! who's in?
2. Maybe camping/rafting if the weather is as good as last sept.
3. Down to sunriver (Emily think i can rent the house again? not sure of the dates yet)
4. Up to Seattle for a day (DOMINIC!!!)
5. Drinking delicious oh so missed Oregon beer.
6. Sarah's wedding! (Sept. 6th)
7. Leah party? huh huh?
8. lots of visiting in between.

I'm a little excited if you can't tell. See you all in a few months.

Lots of love,
Jude

Damn Recession.

I finished my first full week back to work last week. I was actually suppose to be back to work the week before, but i fell ill with a case of strep throat which kept me home and in bed for the better part of the week. Not fun at all. Overall I'm, health-wise, i'm doing well now. I've still a bit of pain in my leg but I'm confident it's getting better all the time. I just need to keep up my swimming (2x a week), yoga (once a week) and physio exercises (5x a week). All that keeps me fairly busy.

I've also been toying with the idea of signing up with a softball team. But I'm not sure how the twisting of hitting would work with my back. Not to mention, I don't really have any sort of transportation and all the teams play outside the city centre. So I'll have to look into that a bit more, but i sure would love to play again. The subject of transportation has been on my mind a lot lately. I miss driving. I miss having the freedom to go anywhere I want whenever I want and not to rely on public transportation or the kindness of others. But I hate the idea of owning a car again, paying insurance and buying gas for it. The other option is to get a motorbike, it would be a hell of a lot faster to get through traffic, but i'd still have the gas and insurance to pay for. I hate traffic. What i really need is a flying machine—with no insurance and runs on water. :)

The recession is still going strong. I'm hearing all the time of people being laid off and businesses going out under. My job is going strong for the moment, everyone is working full time again and we're all working hard to keep it that way. However, 2 months ago one of my best friends, Guðrún, was laid off and she has now made the hard decision to move back to Iceland. There are no words to describe how much i will miss her. I'm sure it's much more scary for her, as she's lived here for 3+ years and has made an entire life in Dublin and the city attached itself to her heart as it has to mine. However, this will give mick and me a great opportunity to visit Iceland!

I'd also like to note that it has been 1 year and 5 months since anyone has come to visit me. I think it's time, don't you?

Well that's all from this side of the world. Hope you are all keeping well and drop me an email sometime!

Paddy's day and other miscellany.

Well not a lot has happened since last post. Paddy's day came and went. We enjoyed it by watching the parade from a rooftop on dame street where we had a fantastic view. I've mainly just been taking it easy. I went and saw the doctor on the 13th and he requested that I stay off work for another month! That was a bit of a blow, but I gotta do what the doctor says. The improvement in my leg/back seems to be going at such a slow pace I can't detect it, but the doc assures that it is healing normally. Over the last week I've been getting really stiff and it's hard to move, feels like i need a hip replacement. I'm hoping this won't last for too much longer. I'm swimming and just going for walks, but other than that, not much.

Any way here are some pics of what I've been up to.

Paddy's Day 2009 & other Miscellany

Catholic for a day.

So this week included Pancake Tuesday. In honor of the sacred holiday we made Blueberry Pecan Buttermilk Pancakes.


In other news my back/leg seems to be improving slowly. It's still a bit painful to sit for long periods of time but that also seems to be improving. I'm not getting as many pins and needles anymore either. I think I've finally seeing results and if I continue to improve I should be fine in a few months. And I'm okay with that!

Time

Well I'm 2 weeks post-op now and I definitely have not walked away "pain-free" as I was promised. It's a strange pain now, hard to explain. I still have twinges of sciatica down my leg and my feet have lots of pins an needles now which they never did before. I've called the surgeon to make sure all these symptoms are normal and that i haven re-herniated my back, however he won't be available for 2 days. So I just get to wait. Everyone made this operation sound so simple before i had it, but now i'm finding out it's not so simple at all and it could take me up to year to be back to 'normal'. which is frustrating for me because it's not what i was expecting. I'm not so sure I'll be able to go back to sitting at a desk for long periods of time as sitting hurts the worst. As you can tell my spirits are not very high at the moment and it's hard to just grin and bare it, but i'm trying.

In the meantime, i've passed the days by creating a new portfolio site and have opened myself up to freelance designing in my spare time. Take a look.

UPDATE: The doctor called back and said pins and needles are normal everything i'm experiencing is to be expected and he'll see me in two weeks. phew.

Home Again.

I'm back from the hospital and restricted to bed-rest for the next two weeks. Overall I feel okay, it's a little concerning because the pain I'm feeling now is identical to the pain I had before the operation. But the doctor has assured me that this is normal and the pain will go away. He described it as hitting your thumb with a hammer, once the hammer is removed the pain will remain for a little while. He said my nerves have basically been getting hit with a hammer for about 8 months now, and the hammer has been removed. So, it will be a only a matter of time before the pain subsides. This could be anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months. I'm hoping for the 2 weeks...

I'm moving freely around the house, able to go up and down the stairs and walk around. If I stand up for too long I start to get a bit dizzy, think that might be from the painkillers I'm on. Speaking of them, it's sure noticeable when they start to run out the pain is back in about 5 minutes and i know it's time to take another dose.

I've to go to the dr. next week and get my clips (aka staples) out and then in two weeks I'll be able to go swimming again. Then in a month it's back to the surgeon for a check-up.

Mick has been amazing. He was at the hospital with me the whole time, staying all day until the nurses would kick him out. When I got home he had put together our new orthopedic bed so I can get some good rest, and I have.

I think the hard part is over, now I just get to lay down and take it easy at home and watch the snow fall.

Thanks to everyone for all the loving thoughts.

Here's a few photos from the last few days and of our new house!

Surgery and new house

Surgery

Sitting in my hospital bed after surgery, eating cookies. More cookies stat! Surgery went well, or so they tell me, I don't remember a thing. I woke up in the hospital this morning at 6 to the sounds of construction work next door. I got up to close the windows and looked out on a snow covered Dublin. That was strange. Shortly a nurse came to take me to get my back 'marked' for surgery. After he informed me i had my gown on backwards we headed down to get marked. After receiving a local anesthetic they jabbed some inked up needle into me which hurt pretty bad. After they finished my body thought it would be fun to pass out, all the blood drained from my face and my legs and arms went tingly. I didn't pass out completely but i managed to get all the attention of the nurses. ;)

They then put me on a trolly/bed and pushed me back up to my room where i got my blood drawn and awaited surgery. About 9am someone came and took me down to the anesthesiologist. Can't say I remember too much after that. Woke up, went back to sleep, woke up again and then was taken up to my room where mick was waiting for me. Dr. O'Neill came in and said that everything went very well and that my disc was 'very large' and i had very much reason for complaint. Well not any more!

I'll keep you updated later. Lots of love, jude

Birthday Road Trip

Well, I am now officially in my last year of my 20's. Wow. It's really amazing how life just flies by. Thirty will be here before I know it but I still feel about 23. I figure I better end the second decade of my life with a bang so let the shenanigans begin!

On the 9th I met up with Guðrún who was kind enough to share her birthday celebration with me. I was celebrating a little early due to Mick being away snowboarding and a pre-planed trip to see Jessica in Germany for my actual birthday. It was a good night we started and remained at the Porterhouse all night. It was great to be drinking Red instead of Coors Light for a change.

Then on Thursday the 15th I woke up at 4:30am to get to Dublin airport to catch my flight to Frankfurt Hahn. The flight was good until the end when we attempted to land but the visibility on the runway was at zero. We made one attempt but had to pull back up as we could see absolutely nothing but fog. From there we circled the airport for an additional half an hour and then approached from a different direction, success! After several questions in my extremely broken German I found the bus station and was off to see Jess.

Jess Greeted me at her house with a special birthday quiche, then off for a little nap. The next day we were up bright and early to begin our journey to Zürich. We drove straight through Germany and France and into Switzerland. Thanks to the superb roads the four-hour journey seemed only like two.

Once in Zürich we found our ridiculously clean hostel and began our exploring. Immediately we noticed how clean the city was too. Of course, most other European cities are clean when you come from Dublin but Zürich was immaculate. Shortly after we also realised how expensive it was! Two Corona's, one meal and one starter (split between the two of us) cost €50. This may not have been so bad if the food was good but it was possibly the worst Mexican food I've ever had. Imagine: Cool ranch Doritos with old El Paso Salsa on em with a bit of cheese and some canned guacamole and you can imagine my disappointment. In it's defense however, we probably should have gone for some traditional Swiss food instead of Mexican food...it's just hard for me to walk by those bright yellow and red signs that boasts such delicious cuisine and not stop. Oh how I'd pay for just one 7-layer burrito from taco bell...(yep, it's that bad).

We continued our tour of the old town and meandered down the many quaint ally ways, peering through expensive shop windows. The town was empty, surprising for a Friday night. Not finding much to do and the shops all closed, we headed back towards our hostel with the hopes of finding a nice little local pub to tuck into. Our hopes soon dashed. We asked several passerby's for directions, but they all replied that Zürich has no 'local pubs' and if we wanted a beer we'd have to head back to the city center...strange. Very strange. Defeated we headed for the hostel but soon found ourselves lost. And then... a pub — Hooray! We joined the six old men inside and stayed until late. Good conversation with Jess and good beer. A local man took a shine to us and told many stories in broken german/english, mainly about how he was from the Milkey Way system and broken memories of war. He explained that he has a storm in his brain that made it hard for him think (to me, he seemed to think far too much!). I believe he was just happy to have someone to listen.

Saturday morning we packed our bag and set off for the local flea market before we left town. We picked through junk for the better part of an hour, me buying a small bottle topper and jess a picture. Back on the road again and off for Strasbourg. Strasbourg was absolutely beautiful and much more 'realistic' than Zürich. We walked around the town for 2 hours and toured the town's gothic cathedral. We ate lunch and sampled chocolates. And then headed back for Homburg.

Sunday morning we lazed around and waited for lunch. Jess' mom made a traditional german meal of Klöße with sauerkraut and bacon sauce. Absolutely fantastic!

Overall I have to say I'm happy I got a chance to revisit Switzerland, but I can now say it does not live up to what I thought. Perhaps if I was extraordinarily rich and enjoyed the finer things in life I might move to Zürich, but for now I think I'll stick with this dirty old town.

Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes. Love ya all.


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Germany / France / Switzerland

Times are changing.

Jess and I started off in Dublin together and tomorrow a part of that adventure will end. Jess will be moving back to Germany and opening the door for all sorts of new adventures of her own. Our friendship was built on us both being thrown completely blind into an unknown city with only each other as companions. Companions who couldn't speak the same language, but we were completely lost together.

I will miss our chats about how Dublin dives us crazy, how much we love and hate it. I'll miss our travels together and that friend who is always up for anything even if it's pissing down rain. I'll miss her German common sense.

I know this is not the end and we'll see each other again and be keeping in touch. But I will miss her dearly.

London calling...

So we've all been asked to take a week off unpaid due to the recession. This is hard for a few people but for me however, I welcome the time off. So last week I took Thursday and Friday off and Mick and I headed over to London.

Actually, let me roll back a week to when I got the tickets. For some reason I decided to be a scatterbrain and leave getting the tickets until only a week before going. So when I went online to book the tickets, whaddya know—Ryanair had decided to triple the price! So we pushed the holiday out yet another week. We booked tickets for leaving Thursday afternoon and getting back Saturday evening about 10. When I got home and checked my calendar I realised I'd doubled booked over the Wolf Parade gig I already had tickets for on Saturday night. So I got back online again to book another flight home to make us arrive back in dublin in time for the gig. Only a 40 euro charge for the new flight. I didn't bother cancelling the first flight home as there's a 50 euro fee for cancellations or changes, but no fee if you just don't show up...

So finally we arrive in London and get to the Royal Lancaster Hotel just at the edge of Hyde Park. We settled into our 16th floor room, took in the view and then headed out for dinner. After a bit of looking we ended up at Satsuma, a Japanese restaurant, which was okay. Then out for a drink and back to the room to get a good night sleep and up early the next day.

First thing Friday morning we headed over to Portobello Market to get breakfast. Lots of cool stuff there, but unfortunately, not a lot of food. We ended up getting some vegan pastries and had to balance them out with some German hotdogs and burgers (mmm breakfast). Then onward to our main attraction—The Natural History Museum. We spent a good few hours here and only got through about half of it. The highlights were the dinosaurs (duh!) and The Vault, I had no idea I liked jewels so much!

We then took a short stroll across the street to the Victoria & Albert Museum, we took one look at the map/floor plan and decided that it was far too big for us to tackle if we were ever going to get through our plans for the day. Back on the tube and on to Tate Modern. Gotta say I wasn't impressed. I think I may just be burned out on modern art museums or perhaps it's just because I was recently at MOMA and the Guggenheim in New York, which are hard to follow. At this point we were museumed-out. Back to the hotel for a rest up and then dinner. We were determined to find some good indian food. We headed to a recommended restaurant, only to realise it was Friday night and we'd never get in anywhere without reservations. We settled for Masala Zone a chain restaurant throughout London. The food was good, once again, nothing amazing but it did the job. To the PUB! the pub closed at 11...on friday...yeah. So, back to the HOTEL!

Up bright and early again on Saturday, backed our bag, dropped it off at Victoria Station and headed out to see the sites of london. We wondered over to Buckingham Palace where there were thousands of people staring at nothing. Then a stroll through St. James Park trying to avoid the savage pigeons and squirrels. Past big ben, over the river and to the Imperial War Museum. We were lucky cause while we were there a few vetrians from WWII were having a Q&A session. However we spent so much time listening to them that it didn't leave any time to actually tour the museum as we were to meet up with Mick's friend Colm for lunch. Luckily Colm worked just around the corner so we headed to his local and ended up drinking our lunch.

With a few pints in us, we headed back to Victoria station to collect our bag and get the train to Gatwick Airport. The time was tight, but we'd a half hour till our flight took off. We got to the Ryanair check-in desk just as your man was leaving. No luck, he wouldn't let us check in. See, Ryanair actually count on people not making their flights, that's the way they make their money. So there is no kindness in their hearts and they won't make allowances. In fairness it was our own fault...actually I blame the beer.

Luckily, we still had our second, later flight booked. Only a 4 hour wait in the airport. Phone calls had to be made as, Aishling and Gudrun's gig tickets were at my house, but it all got sorted in the end. We finally arrived home at 11pm which was far passed time to make the gig. Two lessons were learned: 1. Don't go to the pub before a flight and 2. Never think Ryanair will be kind.

Overall though a very good few days and London has been redeemed on my list of places to visit.

A few pictures:

London	LondonBreak28Nov2008

Ouch my aching back! Part 2

Well, I've followed all my doctor's advise. I started doing physio therapy once a week, then every other week. I stuck to doing my exercises everyday but after a month when the pain continued to be persistent. I started to slip with the exercises. I was up to almost an hour of stretches a day and it was now hard to find the time or desire to do them.

I called the doctor again to look into getting an MRI, he suggested I hold of a while longer and perhaps try osteopathy instead. He arranged for me to meet an osteopath the following week. I went and once again my hopes were high. The osteopath took a look at my xray results and concluded that they were actually normal and the problem was with my sacroiliac joint and that my hips were out of alignment therefore putting pressure on my sciatic nerve, causing the pain. Hooray! She said she'd have me fixed after 2 sessions.

The two sessions came and lots of money went, and I was still in pain. Called the doctor back again...please let me get an MRI so I know what the problem is!!! I had an MRI appointment the very next friday. The MRI confirmed the first diagnosis of a bulged disc (or herniated, slipped, whatever you wanna call it) in my back at the S1/L5 vertebrae. Not only did it show a bulge but it showed a very large bulge, that phsyio therapy, osteopaths or time is very unlikely to help!

I have to say once again I am so frustrated with doctors and health care systems. If I would have gotten the MRI 3 months ago when I originally asked then I would have been on my way to fixing my problem a long time ago.

Fixing however is the tricky part. There is a surgery that can be done called a microdiscectomy, it is simply a keyhole surgery and done as an outpatient procedure. So far the research I've read has said that if a disc is to heal its self it will do so in 6 weeks, which I am well over. However, its also not advisable to have the surgery if the problem has been active for over 3-6 months, which I am just over 3 months. If I do decide to go the surgery route, I then have another challenge on my hands; I can do it through the public system, which there is a 2 year waiting list (that's helpful) or I can do the surgery through the private system for only €7000. There is a fund called the National Treatment Purchase Fund that offers to pay for the procedure if I've been on the public waiting list for over 3 months. I'm just not sure how well this fund works and have never heard of anyone who has used it...so I've to do a bit of research there. But even if I were to wait the 3 months to avail of the fund, I would be well over the suggested 6 month mark of getting surgery.

So that's the story. Here are some pretty pictures of the inside of my body:
Side view

Top view

Edinburgh for the weekend

To forget all this talk of recession me, Jess and Guðrún headed up to Edinburgh for the weekend.

Edinburgh

life update

I haven't wrote for a while, mainly because nothing has been very noteworthy. I've been keeping my life fairly uneventful in order to give my back a chance to get better. Unfortunately I seem to have plateaued. I've been taking Difene daily for 2 months now. And I'm starting to get concerned about the effect it may be having on my stomach, so I've been keeping off the drink and spicy foods. I'm still keeping up my physiotherapy and I went back to the Doctor to schedule in an MRI. I'm really torn on this situation because as long as I take the Difene I'm perfectly fine, other than a few aches and pains in the morning and night. But the moment I go off the Difene, I'm crippled again. I quit the acupuncture as it was only helping the inflammation which is none existent while I'm taking Difene.

Ah, that's not what I meant to type about at all...So on to other things.

There's lots of concern over here about the "recession." I'm assuming it's a similar situation as the states right now. I found out today that my back is one of the banks that has been bailed out. Whatever that means. All I know is I don't have 100's of thousands in the bank so I don't really have to worry. Of course I realise this effects business and it's all we here about at work these days.

On the fun side of things, I went with Mick to Carlingford this weekend and a bunch of friends. It was really relaxing, we stayed in Trea's parents house, which is a huge 7 bedroom 5 bath house out in the mountains. It was amazing there were 10 of us and we each had our own rooms/beds. The only downside was it was raining so we had to catch a ride with Tom meaning we didn't get to take the bike which would have been an absolutely beautiful drive (when it wasn't raining). We'll have to take a spin up there sometime again when we get some nice weather (positive thinking, right?).

Speaking of weather, the cold is setting in again and it's dark by 7 and getting earlier everyday. Break out the hat, scarf and gloves again.

On the horizon, I'm heading to Edinburgh this weekend with Gudrun and Jess. That should be great! I haven't been to Edinburgh since Sarah and I went in 2001. wow. Then, when I get back on sunday, I'm heading into town to see Jenny Lewis! That should be good fun too. I've also to look forward to Death Cab for Cutie and Wolf Parade next month.

Hope all is well with all of you, please drop me an email and let me know what's new in your life.

Lots of love, Jude