Pocket full of Shamrocks

               

St. Patrick's Day Parade on St. Patrick's Street in front of St. Patrick's Building on St. Patrick's Day.

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday!    We had a fun, long day.  I had visitors from California, an ex-coworker and her sister planned their trip around the holiday, so they could be a part of the festivities.  We had a busy few days leading up to the weekend.  I had the week off as well so I got to play tour guide, but opted out of my 5th trip to the Blarney Castle and Killarney.  But I couldn't miss out on the Patty's Day parade.  Talking to Kevin and other locals, they made it rather clear that they had no interest in joining the hoards of people lined up at noon on a Saturday.  The party had started the night before, so most (smart) Irish people were still under the duvet as the parade came and went.  But we, along with all of the other tourists, Spanish, French, Italian and fellow Americans lined up, pushed through and waited for it to start.  It was great people watching.  Lots of green, lots of painted faces and Irish paraphernalia, but as I quickly learned, few of these revelers were Irish!

Well, the parade was pretty basic.  I'd say the California parades are flashier and grander to be honest, and our visitors might have been less than impressed to see that 75 percent of the parade was local kids teams of sports they had never heard of.  It was good to see the community spirit, but I had more fun people watching than watching the parade itself.

Following the parade and the subsequent downpour (I guess it ALWAYS rains on Paddy's day) we grabbed sausage sandwiches and ate them on the street corner, before heading into the first pub of the day.

We started off in true tourist fashion, by ordering 3 coffee with Bailey's.  Sorry Mr. Bartender.  Now, don't judge me, Corkonians, I was just trying to pretend I was a visitor for the day so all bets were off!

After walking around the wet streets for a while, we headed out of town to Glanmire to have dinner with Kevin's parents.  The girls and I went to the local pub to watch the Ireland vs. England rugby match and continue our drinking taboos.  We ordered a round of Murphy's (hey, when in Ireland on St. Patrick's day...) then noticed to our delight that they had pitchers of beer on promotion.  This is the first time I've seen pitchers in Ireland, so yes, Mr. Bartender, we'll have a pitcher of Carlsberg.  It wasn't long before we had people talking to us, asking us where we were from, because "Irish girls don't drink pitchers of beer, especially after stout".  Oops.  Yeah, I'm just visiting!

After a delicious meal at the Bambury's we headed back into town, and continued the revelry.  Meeting up with friends for a few drinks before the night was over.  It was a long day, but a memorable one, and I even ended up with a shamrock painted on my face:)

Sláinte 

Dinner is served

I love living with an Italian.  Our roommate just whips up homemade pasta occasionally...and it is quite amazing.

Galtee Mountains

I must say that I'm quite excited to see what happens this year.  2012 just has a good ring to it.  It's been a really busy couple of months.  Kevin graduated, we celebrated our birthdays, Christmas, St. Stephen's Day, New Years and La Bafana.  I'm exhausted!

Other than a busy holiday season, everything is just sailing along rather quickly.  It was definitely different to not be home for Christmas, my first one away...but with all of the stuff going on, work being crazy, etc...it all just came and went so fast.  I'm really looking forward to the next few months.  Joined the gym and starting a 12 week yoga class tonight.  We're going to the Wicklow Mountains for a weekend in February to hike and stay in a b&b for a couple of days. Going to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah next week.

Still working part-time and job hunting for something better, but in the meantime I'm enjoying the free time I do have.   I'm cooking a lot, just finished knitting a scarf and reading some great books.  I think I'm doing the nesting thing...but still don't feel settled.  Seeing as though we'll be in Ireland for another 6 months or so, I still feel like I can't really put roots down.  I really do want to become a teacher, but can't do anything from here, and since we don't know what state we'll end up in, it's especially tricky.  The economy here is fairly bad, most jobs are technical or in call centers, which I just refuse to do.  I'd rather be broke and sell pretty clothes that lower my standards...even...further....

I just feel like I have the motivation and the fuel behind me, and I really do miss teaching, so that has to be a sign to go forward with that.  Plus, I think I'll always want to spend time in Europe, so having summers off will hopefully allow me to have the opportunity to dip my toes in different oceans every once in a while.

Among others, one of my New Years resolutions is to do a blog every week (ok, at least every other week)  I have these great ideas, don't write them down and then by the time I sit here and write, I feel like I have absolutely nothing to say.  But my goal is to keep those "great" ideas in my head, or put them in my notebook and actually have something interesting for you (all 3 of you!) to read:)

Cooking

Listening

Reading