It's been a busy week!

It's another one of those weeks when lots is going on, but nothing seems worth writing about....you know, lunch with friends, kicking this chest cold, donating things to the charity shop, getting Wes' US visa, grocery shopping, vacuuming our previously soaking wet carpet....you know....WAIT! WHAT!? {insert sound of record scratching to a halt}

I KNOW!!! VACUUMING!!!

I kid, I kid....that's right...we're moving to the US and the government will now officially accept my husband! I would do a cartwheel, but there's not enough room in my apartment. All in all it took us just over five months to complete the process. Not bad at all, really. In fact, we could have done it quicker, but we drew out some of the bits of the process because we had an idea of our time frame for moving. Five months of paperwork, medical appointments, and payments all culminated in a 5 minute interview. When we walked up to the window, the guy greeted us by saying, 'Someone did their research. All of your documents are in order and everything is correct.' WELL, my chest puffed up and my husband said he thought I was going to start doing a jig around the office! Ha! I felt like the teacher just gave me an A++!*

So, expect this blog to take a turn to the stresses of an international move. I'm afraid that finding a decent and affordable shipping company is going to be harder than getting the visa!

I didn't want to take a picture of Wes' passport, so instead you get a picture of the mysterious brown envelope that everyone talks about on expat boards.

And no, we don't know when we're going. I keep telling people either when one of us gets a job or six months from now since that's the amount of time he has to activate the visa. Finger's crossed the job comes first!!! Thankfully, he can now tick the box on job applications that he's legal to work in the US!!!

*This is the clear behavior of someone who has been unemployed for two years. Wes wondered if the guy would write me a letter of recommendation.

Santa came early around here!

We're having a white Christmas in Dublin this year. This is what it looks like outside our condensation-covered window:

If I'm feeling adventurous I may venture out and take some pretty pictures. Since it's noon and I'm still in my jim jams, I'm thinking it won't happen.

We're heading to the in-laws this weekend for Christmas. Santa's already been to our house though. Last night he dropped off some presents to put under the dehumidifier which is still drying out the carpet from last weekend. I did put up some Christmas decorations though.

We bought this nutcracker when we were in Germany a couple of months ago. We have more things, but no room to put it, so this is all that's going up this year!

Wes gave me my gift when we were in the US.

I'm so glad he picked out a watch for me! I was having the hardest time deciding and needed someone to pull the trigger on that decision!

I got Wes this:

The show is hilarious and I highly recommend it. You may need subtitles because that Manchester accent is brutal!

Then Santa brought us this:

Why? Because someone in my family gave Wes Scrabble for Christmas and apparently want us to get divorced. To say I'm a Scrabble-Nazi is a bit of an understatement. I can't help that for 6 years I played everyday at lunch with the Yoda of Scrabble. So yeah, I'm pretty good now. The last time I played was with my sister and BIL. My dad had to sit on his computer and verify my words were legit because they challenged everything. Amateurs. My husband is smarter than me and he'd definitely beat me at Trivial Pursuit, but I kicked his ass at Scrabble the other night. Now I can pull out the big guns and he can challenge me all he wants!

You Capture - Fail

To bad the theme wasn't really 'fail' or I would be the winner! The themes were 'Halloween' and 'Silence'. Here are my excuses:

1. Halloween - Well, I really have no (good) excuse for this one. Halloween actually started in Ireland 2,000 years ago as a Celtic festival. They had huge sacred bonfires where they offered up sacrifices to the Celtic deities and dressed up in animal skins and skulls (thanks, History.com). Sadly, no trick or treating. They still have bonfires (but offer up pieces of furniture and the occasional car as sacrifice) and they definitely dress up (more princess than dead animal), and of course now there's trick or treating! Oh yeah, my excuse about the lack of picture - we have no children, I hate to dress up, we live in an apartment building so no trick or treaters, and I blanked on even getting a pumpkin to carve.

2. Silence - I live in Dublin city center. Nothing is ever silent here.

I will still leave you with a picture. I had a bad day last Friday and my husband surprised me with these cute little sweetheart roses:

Next week's theme is 'Serene'. I'm not promising anything!

Thoughts on cleaning

Me: Wow, these people have really good quick cleaning ideas.

Him: (silence)

Me: This girl keeps a sponge in all her bathrooms and while she's brushing her teeth or washing her hands, she'll run the sponge around the sink. That's a good idea.

Him: She's a freak.

Annnnd this is why we live in a shit hole!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

It's hard to believe a year ago today I was getting my hair and makeup done for the big event! I remember the people at the salon commenting on how relaxed I was. What was there to be nervous about?? I was getting MARRIED!!! Friends and family were coming from as far as Ireland, England, Spain, California and Florida. I couldn't WAIT to see them! The torrential rains from the day before had stopped and the sun was shining bright! So what if the wind was blowing (strong enough to blow over a flower arrangement) and people had to wear their coats during the ceremony because the heaters didn't work. Our memories of the day will always be perfect!

Wedding Photos by Peter Evans Photography

One of the best memories of the wedding weekend was the breakfast we had at the inn the next morning. We stuffed ourselves silly with breakfasty goodness! We seriously talk about it all the time. I decided to try and recreate the strawberries and cream french toast. Nom nom nom!

Of course, I couldn't start the day without putting my sticker on first. This came in the anniversary card from my parents and it couldn't be more perfect!

Wes didn't put his on yet, but I know he really wants to. It says, 'I'm the boss around here when she's not here.' Perfect, no??

Anywho, I gave him his 'paper' gift, a book of strange maps, and I'll be getting my gift later. And he's made dinner reservations somewhere! All in all a pretty great day!

Merry Christmas!

I've married into a family that doesn't eat traditional Christmas pudding, cake, or those bloody mince pies! Yippee!!! May 2010 continue to be as prosperous!

If you keep doing that, your face is going to stay that way!

I was riding the Luas home yesterday and per usual it was jammers. I didn't plan my seating properly at the beginning of my trip and ended up stuck in the middle of a car. I realized this one stop before mine, causing me to have momentary public transportation stress. Normally other people get off at the same time and the crowd loosens up, but yesterday at 3pm at Four Courts, I was the sole person alighting from the train (how British do I sound there!?). Anyways, squeezing myself through the people I sounded like this, 'Sorry, sorry, excuse me, I need to get off, thanks, thanks very much'. I know this doesn't seem odd, but I pronounced the word 'much' similar to the word 'mulch' minus the 'L'. Say that to yourself a couple of times. That's an Irish accent.

When you marry someone with a different accent than you, well, you make fun of each other a lot. My latest one is the way he pronounces 'calm' and if he says the word 'tarantula' to me one more time I'm going to buy him one for Christmas. Even I laughed at the way I pronounced that one. A few weeks ago it came out that the Irish accent beats French as the world's sexiest accent. This made me laugh because if you heard some of the Dubliners around here sex would be the last thing on your mind. Our front window is on the sidewalk so we hear a lot of people talking as they walk by and this gives us a lot of material for our comedy routines. Always a staple in the routine is 'fooks sake!' and of course I end it by saying 'tanks for coming!' Then I turn the TV to 3e (pronounced tree-E) to watch another episode of Father Ted or see what fil-em is playing.

Let this be a lesson to you! If you mock the way someone talks long enough you might just end up sounding like them yourself!

Patience is not my virtue

I'm all over the place these days. Well, mentally all over the place because physically I'm sitting in the same ol' spot that I sit in all day. I didn't get the job that I interviewed for last week. It's a bummer, but it's not the end of the world. The position was interesting, but not exactly what I want to do. There were parts of the job description that I really doubted my ability in doing. However, other than the obvious things this job would have offered, like a paycheck, the more important thing it was going to offer was clarity. It would have made things a bit clearer for the next, oh, five years! But, I didn't get it and now we're back to wondering what we're going to do when Wes' contract is up next summer. This is where my mind starts whacking out.

Do we move to the US? (sub categories of this include: expensive visa for Wes, moving an older cat, when would we start looking for job, how would we handle the extra expenses of healthcare and a car if we're only on one salary to start, I could get my stuff out of storage!, what if Wes hates it)

Do we move to the UK? (sub categories of this include: pitiful salaries compared to the US and Ireland, we would have to sort out a visa for me, it wouldn't be as far of a move for Little Kitty, no healthcare concerns, most of the jobs we would be interested in are in London and we don't want to live in London, we're further away from both our families, we both liked living there)

Do we stay in Ireland? (sub categories of this include: if I stay for 3 years I can get citizenship, no extreme moving for Little Kitty, the lack of jobs in our field right now is staggering, we would have somewhat of a cushion as Wes could claim benefits for a little while after his contract is up if necessary, the proximity to Europe is a definite bonus, healthcare is cheaper, we both like living here)

Throw in the whole 'when and where do we start a family' conundrum and my mind is racing! I do try to think about how it is an exciting time for us. The world is our oyster! We could go anywhere! But, it would be nice if we had an idea where that was going to be. Some days I feel like I'm just sitting here waiting for the rest of my life to start and it's not a nice feeling.

Apparently something is supposed to be happening in the budget for higher education in Ireland in February. Wes wants to wait until then before we make any decisions. Waiting involves patience and this is definitely not my virtue.

Six months of wedded bliss?

Yesterday was our 6 month wedding anniversary, so I thought that might be a good time to reflect. I also haven't posted anything in awhile and I've been racking my brain as to what to write about since things haven't been too terribly exciting around here.

Being married is hard. There, I said it. In the first few months that we were married, people would constantly ask me, 'How's married life?' I really hate that question and I will never, ever ask anyone the same thing. This is because the answer everyone wants to hear is, 'Oh, it's wonderful!'. No one really wanted to hear my response of, 'Married life is hard.' I could tell this perplexed people when I said it. So I started saying, 'Oh, it's wonderful!' and they would go away. I should also qualify this statement for people who don't really know me very well....I'm not the overtly romantic-type. I'm not a gusher. You're not going to hear me screaming my love for my husband from the rooftops. Not because I don't feel it, but because I'm not that type. In fact, I wish I was more that type and sometimes I try, but it just doesn't come natural to me.

It's not Wes that makes being married hard, it's me. Getting married for the first time when you're 34 has its pros and cons. I am a very independent person with a good sense of myself and am able to bring my own personality to our relationship making us a great team. This sounds like a pro, right? Well, I could say I'm a very independent person who knows what she wants and is used to thinking only for herself and now has to learn to compromise and be part of a team. Then it kind of turns into a con. No one wants to get married, only to discover how much of a bitch they can be, right?? Yeah.

My unwillingness to give up my bitchiness led to disagreements about whose way is the better way. And it's hard to believe, but my way is the better way only about 90% of the time. Who knew!? Some of the best advice I can give to newly married people is to talk to already married people. I was in the US chatting with some of my girlfriends and they reflected on their early days of being married: 'You use Tide?? But I use Cheer!!' And my one friend told me that her and her husband bought their own milk for a whole year (her's was organic skim and his just skim) because they couldn't compromise on this. THANK YOU! This is what I needed to hear!!! Oh, thank god we're normal! You can even take it to the next level by hanging out with old married people. You can learn a lot from them.

Six months on I can say that being married is awesome. A few weeks ago I said to Wes how I feel like we've turned a bit of a corner and things just keep getting better and better. It's been hard, probably the hardest thing I've ever done, but it was the best thing I've ever done. Ever. I've learned my capabilities, my limitations, my strengths, my challenges, and the depth of my own feelings. I've tapped into feelings I never knew I had. Should I head to the rooftop to start proclaiming my love for this man?? Erm...no. I'm not that type.

Fat Club

Marriage has done nothing for my waistline. Well it has actually, it's expanded it. Age isn't helping either. My metabolism has slowed to a crawl and I've started avoiding mirrors.

When I moved to England I really, really missed my Merritt Athletic Club in Baltimore: Body Combat, the outdoor pool in the summer, yoga classes included in the membership price, and the stair stepper machine thingy are the main things I missed. I joined a new gym in England and it wasn't the same. It was okay, but it wasn't Merritt. Then I moved to Dublin and now I really, really miss my Fitness First in Bath/Bristol: I could use the locations interchangeably which worked well with my schedule, Body Combat, and my Saturday morning Pilates class which was included in the membership price. I joined the gym near us and well, the pool is beautiful, but other than that it's not great. Body Combat (the Les Mills one, not just one someone makes up) is very hard to come by in Dublin. There is only one gym in Dublin that I have found to teach Body Combat and it's not convenient to us. And, the yoga and Pilates classes at the gym are not included in the membership. On top of a monthly membership fee I'd have to pay an additional 70 euro to take yoga or Pilates. This is ridiculous.

In an effort to mix things up, I have frozen my gym membership and signed up for a bootcamp class in Phoenix Park. Yikes. People are going to be yelling at me and it will probably be raining. I think I'm actually more worried about the rain than the yelling. I decided to take an all-girl class, both because I've never done one of these before so I'm a little intimidated, and hopefully one person in the class will talk to me and be my friend.

Then to add insult to injury, I am joining Weight Watchers. I did WW in 2000 and lost 45 lbs. I didn't do the meetings, I just did it at home by myself. When I moved to England I was surprised how the girls were skinny, except for the 6-pack of beer they had sitting on their belly. I am now sporting my own mini-keg, muffin top, inner tube....call it whatever you want. The food here is different (i.e. less choice), the nutritional information on the back of food looks different, and well, I need a boost. I would have gone to the meetings this time (see above with the friend possibility), but the class that's up the street coincides with the bootcamp class. So, I'll do the At Home version. I'll have to buy a scale. Double yikes!

My goal right now is to be a solid US size 8 again. I guess that's a UK size 12. Fortunately, I don't have as much weight to lose this time around, but I also have a husband who has a metabolism that runs non-stop and doesn't need to lose weight. This is going to be the hardest part. Or maybe it will be avoiding scones. Or cheese. Or chips.

Oy.

Water, water everywhere....

To say we have a damp problem in our bedroom would be an understatement. This has kept it from being the romantic abode it is supposed to be....well, this and the fact that since it's the largest room we have, it seems to be a dumping ground in our lunchbox-sized apartment. I've lived in damp countries now for 3 years so I have a pretty good understanding how much damp I'm willing to live with and when it's all just gone too far.

It all came to a head when I got back from the US and thought things smelled a little funky in there. Is it the 3 weeks of laundry still in the bin?? Potentially, yes, but not the sole culprit of the funk. I sniffed it out, literally, and it was a pair of my shoes that was now growing a colony of fungus on it. Fortunately, it was an old pair that I was just waiting for the perfect excuse to throw away. Well, I got it. Unfortunately this wasn't the only pair, but the others were able to be salvaged (except the high top sneaker slippers! Doh!). I went online and found out that tea tree oil is a natural way to get rid of fungus. So yesterday I cleaned the heck out of our bedroom and went crazy with the spray bottle. Then today Wes picked up THIS!



Wes said I've never been so excited about anything he's ever bought me. Not true...this got me pretty excited!



He isn't as excited about this purchase as I am because removing humidity from your home is not cheap. But I pointed out that it is cheaper than moving!

Pathetic

This morning in the bedroom:

Him: Okay, I'm going to work.
Me: (manage to get one eye open) Huh?? What time is it??
Him: It's 10 til 8. I'm going to work early.
Me: Wha? So early...okay....bye....have a good night.

Weighty Issues

We've been trying to cut back on spending by not eating out as much, etc. We both love to eat out and it's very expensive to do so in Dublin. So I pretty much knew this conversation was going to go down like a lead balloon:

Me: I may go out today to look for a dress for the wedding next month.
Him: (Looks at me suspiciously)
Me: I don't really have anything to wear!
Him: What about the red dress??*
Me: I'm not sure that dress even fits me anymore!
Him: Well lose some weight!
Me: That's lovely. (Thoughts of guilt for not going to the gym yesterday due to sheer laziness.)

Ahhh....marital bliss.

We both agree that we've gained some weight since we've been married. I think it's because we're not used to eating such nice dinners every night (thank you, Me!). I'll spare you the rest of the excuses I have come up with because basically it comes down to the fact that I have no will power and I sit around on my ass for a lot of the day. When I was in Bath, I could eat soup for dinner or an English muffin with scrambled egg (i.e. breakfast muffin if you live in England). Wes' dinners would consist of white things: plain chicken, boiled potatoes, and risotto (made simply with water). I miss my all time favorite dinner in the US of roasted red pepper hummus and Triscuits. Healthy, yes?? In all fairness to me, the dinners I prepare are actually pretty healthy. The problem is portion control. I am not allowed to buy Honey Barbecue potato chips anymore.

We have only eaten dinner out once in the past 2.5 weeks. This is huge for us. We also haven't eaten beef or lamb during that time, mostly having chicken, salmon, and vegetarian dishes. I feel really good! I told him we should keep this up, but he seems to question my ability to do this. The problem is it's easy to do because I'm not working and I have time to cook, but if I start working that will make it much more difficult. So in the meantime I'm going to make a huge effort to cook healthier meals and I'll put my Cooking Light cookbook to good use! Oh, and I was at the gym for TWO HOURS today, so boo-yah!!!


*Note about red dress - I wore this to Lisa's wedding in 2007. It is still sitting crumpled in a ball waiting to be dry cleaned.

It's all official now!

*I posted this on my 365 blog, so if you already read it there, no need to read it again!*

Yahoo! We went to the GNIB to get me registered and all legal-like. For those of you dealing with the UK immigration process you may want to stop reading here because it will annoy you!

Due to my being a US citizen (and my lack of a criminal record) I am able to enter Ireland without getting an entry visa. When we arrived in Dublin on the 13th Wes came through the immigration line with me. We told the IO that we were married in the US. He took our address details, took my picture, looked at our marriage certificate, then stamped my passport with a stamp stating that I had to register with the GNIB within 30 days of arrival into Ireland. He told us that along with our passports and marriage certificate that we needed to take something with Wes's name and our address on it (like a utility bill) and bank statements proving that he could support me. He told us to plan on being there a while because it's a really busy office. I had also heard this from some other people, so we were prepared! Then he congratulated us on our wedding and sent us on our merry way. We tried to go the next day after I arrived. Closed. So we went again today. We arrived around 10:30 this morning. We stood in a queue for about 20 minutes to get our number and the form we needed to fill out (which was just my basic details). We sat down and they were on number 100. We were 123. I didn't even have time to read more than 5 pages in my book before we were called up. The guy looked at the form, passports, and marriage certificates. He never looked at any of the supporting documents, just asked if we were indeed living in Dublin. He took my picture and told us they would stamp my passport and give me an identification card. It was supposed to be a stamp for 5 years, but my passport expires before that so they could only stamp it for as long as my passport is valid, then I'll have to go back with my new passport to get the remaining time. I ask the guy if we pay then or if we pay when we pick up the documents, and he said that it's free because I married an Irishman! That was Wes' favorite part of the whole day! We had to wait around for the passport and card, then boom...we were done by 12:15! We couldn't believe how absolutely painless the entire experience was! We went and had a nice lunch in Temple Bar and tonight we'll have celebratory beers! :-D

It's been a busy month!

Well, I'm back in Ireland! It was very strange opening the door and not having Obie there to greet us. Little Kitty was very excited to see us though! She's probably totally annoyed with the attention that Wes and I are giving her. The cat sitter came by last night and she was lovely. She told us that she stayed with Obie as long as she could and the people at the vet were just in love with him while he was there. They were all devastated when he didn't pull through. She said he purred through the entire exam and he wasn't in any pain. This is the same cat that used to purr while he was having his temperature taken, so I wasn't too surprised! We all miss him a lot.



We tried to get me registered yesterday with immigration, but the office was still closed for the Easter holiday, so no joy. I did manage to get my gym membership and I finished my taxes. I need to send them off today. In fact, I should get a move on! Wes is in Limerick for work until tomorrow, so it's just me and Little Kitty hanging out. I started my new 365 project, so check out the link to the left of this post.