Trip to Minnesota

I got back to Dublin Tuesday morning after ten full days in Minnesota. I was able to see nearly all of my extended family and lots of friends. I stayed with Margo and Justin in the Cities most of the time and made a trip to Floodwood, Duluth, and North Branch. It was a jam-packed 10 days- we went to a Twins game, hit the outlet mall in Albertville, and ate our way through the State Fair! Here are some photos!

Margo and I with Kirby at Target Plaza before the Twins game


Me, Justin, Mom, Jara (my cousin's foreign exchange student from Germany), and Margo. Dad wasn't able to make it- he had to stay home and take care of a sick cat!


A quick trip to Canal Park in Duluth with Benjamin, Courtney, and Carly


Love Duluth!


I spent the night in Duluth with Molly, Matthew and Dave- it was great to meet you Matthew!


A visit with Jessica, Piper, and Isaac (Isaac was too busy on the swing set to have his picture taken!)


Dinner at Sara's house in North Branch with Sara and Heidi


Me with Jarett and Connor


Both sides of my family got together at my cousin's house- thanks Travis and Sonya!


Me and Margo at the State Fair



I went back to work on Wednesday and have been getting back on Irish time slowly! Paul made a quick trip to Louisburgh yesterday and will be back this evening- he was talking to a few people there about different things for putting in the foundation for the house, so hopefully that will be started soon! Have a good rest of the weekend everyone!

Bank Holiday Weekend

This past weekend was a Bank Holiday weekend, so we headed down to Louisburgh for the long weekend. On the way, we stopped in Castlebar, where one of my high school classmates was spending the night! She has been working in Belfast, but our paths haven't crossed until now. To think out of 40 students, two of us are on the same small island 4,000 miles from Cottonwood, Minnesota!

Paul bought a fishing rod and he and Dermot went fishing off of a pier on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday they had no luck, but on Sunday the Mackerel were nearly jumping out of the water. At one stage, Paul had a fish on the line, and a seal came out of the water and grabbed it off of the line!

Dermot's catch

Paul's catch

Holy Mackerel!

Long time, no post!

Well, the summer is flying by, and I really have no excuse for not posting. We haven't done too much out of the ordinary since our cruise at the end of May, but we just seem to be busy with everyday things. Work has been really busy for me, but the days fly by, which is nice! Some of the things we've been up to so far this summer:

-Weekends in Louisburgh, enjoying the country!

-Stayed with some friends in Kilkenny and took in the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival over the June Bank Holiday

-My 30th birthday (June 23). I told Paul I didn't want any big to-do, so I thought just the two of us were going to this restaurant in town for dinner on the night of my birthday. When we arrived, there was a table with about 10 of our friends there! I was totally surprised and had a great night.

-Saw Irish comedian Dara O'Briain at Vicar Street in Dublin- here's a clip of one of his bits that Paul and I can relate to quite well!

-I'm doing golf lessons once a week during the month of July. It's been a long time since I've golfed, and I'm really enjoying it again.

-Saw hypnotist/mentalist Keith Barry at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, and I was one of about 20 people to be hypnotized on stage- an interesting experience! He has a new show on the Discovery channel in the States, and I would recommend checking it out. He's really good!

-Barbeques, going to the cinema, hitting the gym, and enjoying the nice weather (well, June was nice- July, not so much!)

-Counting down the days until my trip to MN! I'll be over August 19-30!

A Wonderful Surprise

At 2:30 last Tuesday afternoon, I got a phone call from Paul while I was at work asking if I wanted to leave the next morning for one night in Barcelona, then a 4-night Mediterranean cruise. Um, yes! Turns out one of his suppliers takes 30 couples (good customers and their significant others) on a cruise every year, and we were first on the wait list when somebody couldn't go at the last minute. I asked my manager, and she said, "Yes, yes, yes, go!", so I quickly rescheduled all my patients for the next few days, then spent the next few hours running around getting travel supplies, packing, etc. The couple who dropped out were supposed to fly from Belfast, so we had to make our way to Belfast by 4:45am Wednesday morning. We flew to Barcelona, spent the day and night there, then got on the ship last Thursday morning. It was amazing!

While in Barcelona we walked around the city, including this market

Enjoying some of the fruit from the market

Boarding the ship, Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas

We departed Barcelona on Thursday around 5pm, and when we woke up the next morning we were in Toulon, France- a main naval base for France.

View of Toulon from our balcony

On the promenade in Toulon

A view of our ship

Friday night was the formal night- Paul even rented a tux on board!

On Saturday we arrived in Ibiza, an island off of Spain, and the ship was docked there overnight. On Saturday we spent the day on the ship and took in an ice skating show, went ice skating, played mini-golf, saw a singing and dancing show, and spent time by the pool. Paul and I got up early Sunday morning and explored the Old City of Ibiza.

The main pool area

Mini-golf- we tied!

At the top of the Old City of Ibiza

Streets in Ibiza

Ibiza harbor

We arrived back in Barcelona early Monday morning, headed to the airport to fly back to Belfast, and got back to Dublin in the afternoon. It was a fantastic vacation, and I would highly recommend a cruise!

View from the bar where we had pre-dinner drinks on the last night

Our dining room for dinner each evening

Sunrise over Barcelona harbor

One last view of the Mediterranean!

Marie and Brian's Wedding

Our reason for spending the week in Louisburgh was Marie (Paul's sister) and Brian's wedding this past Saturday the 8th of May. It was a spectacular day!

A Week in Louisburgh

Last Friday Paul and I departed Dublin for a little over a week's stay with his parents in Louisburgh, County Mayo. The drive takes me around 3 1/2 hours, and the last 20 minutes is filled with spectacular scenery. The sun was shining so brightly and the sea was such a beautiful shade of blue, that I had to stop and take pictures!


The first weekend that we were there was a Bank Holiday weekend- everyone had Monday off of work, and the May Bank Holiday weekend is always the weekend of a traditional music festival in Louisburgh. The town was packed, and there were concerts, workshops, and "sessions" in all of the pubs. Paul and I caught up with some friends and took in some music in the pubs.

During the week Paul worked on some jobs he has in Mayo and the two of us helped to get ready for the big event that took place this past Saturday, May 8th- Marie and Brian's wedding (more in the next post)! One afternoon I made a trip out to Paul's uncle's farm to visit the sheep- there are three lambs that are tame and will come up to people, but unfortunately they were hiding that afternoon!

Happy Easter!

My apologies for not updating much lately, but there hasn't been too much happening! I had surgery back on the 10th of March to repair a small paraumbilical (near the belly button) hernia, so for quite awhile there was a lot of laying on the couch, watching tv, and reading. It was only a day case, and Paul took wonderful care of me. I'm recovering well- only an occasional twinge of pain every now and then. I'll be going back to work on Wednesday but still won't be able to do any lifting for a couple more weeks. In my time on the couch I discovered the tv series Modern Family online and find it hilarious. I have also been flying through a mystery/suspense series of books by William Kent Krueger. He's an author who lives in MN, and most of the books take place in Aurora, MN. I would highly recommend them!

Last weekend cabin fever was getting the better of me, so we ventured out to the wax museum in Dublin. Here I am fighting for Irish independence.


This morning I went to the Easter service at Christ Church Cathedral. It was amazing. The choir sang the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah (fun fact- which was performed for the first time ever in Dublin back in 1742), and I had goosebumps. After the service there was tea and coffee in the crypt. As Margo said, "I suppose the crypt is kind of like their church basement". Paul was at a race (just watching!) near Dublin for some of the afternoon, then later on we broke into our Easter eggs.