Caving in to peer pressure!

After much encouragement from a certain friend- you know who you are!- I have now joined the ranks of the bloggers. I haven't been very good at sending out e-mail updates lately, so I plan to use this as a way to let everyone know what I'm up to on this side of the pond!

I am really enjoying my work. I primarily see clients in their homes and work on exercises, assess if they need any equipment, etc. It is mostly an elderly caseload, but I've learned that that is my favorite patient population to work with. In the health centre that I work in there are two other full-time physiotherapists, two part-time physiotherapists, the manager, and a part-time secretary. Everyone is really nice, and we are given a lot of flexibility in setting our own schedules. I work 4 longer (but it's not that long- 8 to 4 with a half hour lunch!) days Monday-Thursday and am done by noon on Friday, it's great! I have also gotten very good at my map reading skills finding my way to all the homes! Some of the streets are crazy- sometimes I have to back up if I meet a car because the street isn't wide enough for two cars. And, I park mostly on sidewalks!

Paul's business is always busy. He employs two electricians of his own and also does a lot of work with subcontractors. He does both domestic and commercial electrical plans, installations, and maintenance. His main hobby is single-seater car racing, and he has had three races so far this season. He won two of the races but got 8th in the most recent race because of gear box problems. If you're interested, you can find out more about the championship he races in at www.formulavee.ie.

Our wedding plans are going well. We will be married in St. Paul, MN on October 18, 2008 with a second reception in Louisburgh on November 15. We were back in MN for a week of wedding planning in April and now won't be back until right before the wedding. I feel like I'm kind of in a "holding pattern" at the moment though, because not much more can be done until right before the wedding! The only major thing to do in the next couple of months is get the invitations for the Irish guests addressed.

It's been over a year since Paul purchased a site next to his parent's house in Louisburgh. The site came with planning permission for a specific floor plan for a house, but we wanted to make a few changes. We were fortunate enough that the guy Paul bought the site from was building a house with the exact floor plan, so we could see the "real life" version. We worked with an engineer to modify the plan, and the new application for planning permission will be lodged soon. After that, people have six weeks to make objections to the plan. At that point we can then start clearing the site. We have no specific plans for when we will start building the house, and we probably won't move to Louisburgh for at least another year. A lot depends on when I can find a job there and when Paul feels he can transition to being based there while still keeping his business going in Dublin.

Our plans for the summer include a weekend trip to London in two weeks. We leave on Friday the 20th and will be back on Sunday the 22nd. We're not sure what we're going to do yet, but I just checked out a couple of London guides from the library today, so that will give us some idea! Other than that, Paul will be racing once every 3-4 weeks, either near Dublin or Belfast, with one weekend in Wales. We also go to Paul's parent's house in Louisburgh quite often. It's on the opposite side of the country and about a 3 1/2 hour drive from our apartment near Dublin, but it's worth the drive! Louisburgh is right on the Atlantic ocean with beautiful beaches on one side and mountains on the other. And, we've been very lucky with warm, sunny weather every time we've been down so far this summer.

That's it for now, but I hope to update regularly, so please check back often!