A Year in Review

Well 2013 has come and gone and what a fantastic year it was.  Highlights include a jaunt back to Mexico where I experienced some of the best diving of my career.  I was blessed with the opportunity to go exploring around ye ole Emerald Isle for a couple weeks in August.  I took an interest in myself for the first time in a long time, focused and dropped about 30 lbs. I celebrated my 20th high school reunion where I got to rekindle old friendships and spent the rest if the year making new ones. But the biggest news of 2013 is that my little brother Ryan popped the “Big Q” and is now engaged to his beautiful fiancée Marissa Baggarly.

With all the good and excitement from last year I am optimistic for what 2014 may bring.  Now that the Holidays are over I can go back to my usual regimen.  Back to my somewhat healthy lifestyle of eating right and exercising regularly (now if I could only give up the wine...).  Not only do I need to counteract my over indulgence of delectable delights and holiday cheer that I’ve been spreading since Thanksgiving, but I could use to shed a few additional pounds on top of that.

As far as travel and vacations are concerned, I’ve booked a relaxing getaway to the Bahamas toward the end of Feb; perfect timing before my body is entirely depleted of vitamin D and I go completely insane from all the snow and these polar vortex shenanigans.  A much overdue visit to San Diego is on the horizon for some time late spring (missing my SoCal peeps and old stomping grounds).  On top of that there is a GIANT wedding to help plan for in September… so many things to look forward to.

And with last year behind us, I hope 2014 treats you kindly.  Should you encounter any of life’s unexpected curveballs, may you stay strong and handle them with grace and optimism.  Happy New Year everyone... and let our new adventures begin!    

Winter wonderland

There's nothing more magical than waking up after the first big snowfall of the season and peeking out the window into a winter wonderland. A blanket of white as far as the eye can see, snow glistening in the new break of day. Everything is quiet, peaceful and picture perfect.  And that my friends, is when you take it all in.  Embrace that moment and cherish it for what it is, because soon the reality of it consume you.  It won't be long before you realize that your completely snowed in and it's gonna take a hell of a lot of time and effort just to get this day started.

It's not long before that calm after the storm is masked by the irritating sound of snow blowers and plow trucks barrel-assing at a million miles an hour down your street.  Soon that blanket of white will be tainted by animal tracks, shoveled walkways and random heaping piles of snow.  The white will turn gray, and then eventually brown from all the sand and exhaust on the roads, and soon the only thing you'll find glistening are little patches of yellow from all the dogs in the neighborhood peeing on your lawn. 

Now don't misconstrue, I'm not trying to be a negative nancy.  I would just like to reiterate that living in this climate is a giant pain in the ass.  You need to get up extra early to allow yourself time to unburry yourself before heading to work and pray the whole way that you make it there safely. You need to wear layers upon layers of clothes, because you'll be freezing your ass off in one place, only to start sweating to death in the next. 

And the expense of living/surviving in this climate is outrageous. Every year people pay an exuberant amount of money on heat/oil/wood/pellets/alcohol or whatever they use to try and stay warm.  They have to own a second set of tires just for the snow season, and pay someone twice a year to have them put on/taken off.  People spend extra money on warm bedding, warm clothes, and warming accessories... only to dream about the day they will be warm again. 

But the one good thing about dealing w/cold wintery winters, is it make you really appreciate the finer things in life (or at least warmer things).  And speaking of warm, now that I'm done w my hot coco and peppermint schnapps (something I would have never drank in San Diego) it's back to the grind and clear up the last of the nearly two feet of snow we've gotten in the past two days.  Be safe everyone, and enjoy yourselves no matter wherever or how warm/cold you are :) 

Fall Recap

My appoligies for lack of blogs. I've been pretty busy this past month.  But to sum it up, here are some bits:

Halloween- keeping w/my heritage and recent trip to Ireand, I dressed up as lady leprechaun; aka CloverGirl.  Fun was had by all parties I attended and I finally got to play that infamous game Cards Against Humanity... Tons of fun, but completely inpolitaclly correct in all aspects. 

New England Rythem Fest-wknd long festival promoting different types of dance from across the globe. I Had the opportunity to take a stab at the sultry sexy art of belly dancing...Holy hard!  With all my experience shaking my groove thing in prof Zumba classes, I thought i was a shoe in.... Not so much.  My triceps and akillies hurt like hell. But our instructor was so awesome and accommodating, and it's a style of dance that I'd like to peruse in the future -timing and cost permitting.

Sox Champions? What what? - had to take a mini vaca to my fav metropolitan city in the US to help celebrate the amazing sportsmanship, purservierence, dedication and drive known as lthe Boston Red Sox!  My dear friend Al-vac from San Diego just happened to be on the East side, and we got to spend time honoring our favorite team.  We also checked out Boston's newest comedy club, and randomly ended up strutting our stuff on the red carpet...(had I known, I would have practiced.  Pretty sure Todlers n Tierra's have way more swag than me)

So just to recap, all is good on the homefront.  Summer is officially gone :(. Days are getting cold, nights even colder.  But the Holidays are rapidly approaching and I'm looking forward to catching up w friends and family, and spreading some Holiday cheer :)

 

Sets of Two

It's been about two months since it was decided that I'd move into my brothers house until he returns home in April (we think).  This basically means until Ryan, and his now fiancé Marissa (congrats again you two), are back in town full time, I will be flip flopping between the two Brooks' Estates.

 

Having two homes (neither of which I can call my own) may sound grand in theory, but living in two places means having to have two of everything.  And let me tell ya, that ain't cheap!  Espically if your like me and require certain "comforts and amenities". 

As of two weeks ago I am the broke, yet proud owner of two of the following:

-Two sets of hair, nail and beautify supplies to help keep me looking somewhat presentable. 

-Two down comeforters, two sets of comfey bedding and two stashes of Reds to keep me warm and cozy on cold chilly nights.  

-Two Nutri-bullets so I can start my day w a healthy blast.

-Two sets of chargers so I can stay "iConnected"

-And perhaps most importantly, two Roku boxes so I can continue to Keep Up w/My Kardashians and all the other worthless crap I watch on TV.... (via the internet cuz I refuse to pay for cable).  

And continuing w our theme of two's,  it's taken me about two full weeks to figure out the most direct route to work in the mornings. And now that I have it dialed in, I can make it door to door in 12 minutes flat (only two more minutes than my commute from 28 Olive).  

So until Ryan and Marissa move back full time, this will be my living arrangement. And when they do, I will go back to having a big-girl apt... at which point I will need to sell-off one of each of my sets of two.   

Kickin' it Home 2013

This past wknd I joined a kickball team in a tournament to raise money for Youth Services of Brattleboro.   Played at the new West River Park, there were 16 teams total, broken into two brackets. The 1st set of teams to begin at 8:30am, and the second set to start around 1pm.  The winners of the 1st and 2nd brackets were scheduled to play for the Championship around 6pm. By the luck of the draw, or not so lucky, my team The Cult (Cultural Intrigue) was scheduled to play first... aka super cold and super early on a Saturday morning.  

Apparently the event was much more structured than last year, but there were still some inconsistencies which may/may not be addressed in future tourneys. The umps on one field would call 3 fouls an out, while the other field only two.  Sometimes we could have 10 players and sometimes only 9. We weren't required to have an official lineup or set positions. We just kicked in order of who ever felt like kicking, and I played Left Field, Right Field, 3rd base and toward the end designated myself Catcher so I could nurse a pulled hip flexor which occurred early in game 4.   

The whole thing was ridiculously comical and the main field was definitely the place to be. There was a food vendor, music bumping, and hilarious play by play commentary by Fish Man, one of our local Dj's He basically took the role of Bob Uecker in the movie Major League, making light of all our quirks and less than stellar moves on the field.  There were teams of all shapes, sizes, ages and abilities.. The Cult being one of the more eclectic teams. I saw shoes go flying and people running bases 1/2 barefoot, and we had quite a few time-outs due to dog interruption (mostly one dog in particular) who clearly wanted to join in the fun, taking their own turns at rounding the bases.   

The Cult clenched 3rd place in our bracket getting knocked out in game 5 by Vintage Steel.  Not to shabby considering it was our fist time all playing together.  Vintage Steele then went on to play Lawton Floor Design in the finals. Lawton's had an all star lineup, all of whom were fantastic athletes through HS and college, and continue to play competitive sports now their later years.. no offense of course. Not only did they win the whole thing but I'm fairly certain they went undefeated.  I'm friends w/most of their players and congratulate them with the utmost sincerely, but I'm extremely relieved that we never had to play against them... don't be fooled by their team photo, they're way more intimidating than they appear :))

I never would have thought that a friendly kickball tournament would turn into such a grueling and exhausting task... resulting in many a pulled mussel, minor scrapes and bruises, even a questionable broken toe (and that was just my team alone, ha).  I passed out on the couch 8pm ish, and awoke around 1am with all the lights on, TV still on, staring at a lovely glass of wine w/only one sip taken out of it.  I guess this older 30-something couldn't handle the competitive twist on an innocent childhood game quite like she thought she could.  I praise the Lord that I had no commitments or places I needed to be today.  I'm still not moving very quickly.  In fact, all day I've been doing my darndest to not have to move at all...creak, groan, creak, groan.

(Lawton Flooring pics by Meghan McLaughlin and Gina Ballantine Pattison)

Home again, home again...

Well I made it back safe and sound. And what a fantastic trip it was.

Highlights of the trip include an impromptu, yet fantastic Pub crawl in Dublin .  Kissing the Blarney Stone, of course.  Visiting the town of Chobe, which was the last port of call for the Titantic before she sank and tourimg through the Titantic museum. Tooling around the cool beachtown of Dingle (no joke, thats what its really called), and reuniting w/my dear friend Orna.

 

Not so highlights of the trip included blokes on bikes hogging up the narrow roads... making an already dangerous situation much more dangerous. The lack of decent cuisine... It was always a crapshoot when u ordered something, ya never really knew what it would entail. The fact that I was surrounded by water yet it was so damn cold that swimming and diving were not an option. (1st vacation in a long time that did not involve scuba diving). Oh and poor fishy didn't transition very well at the sitters and apparently gave up the will to live w/in days of arriving....RIP Ruby Sue! (And I'm so sorry u had to deal w that Maribeth... eek). 

But as fun/fastinating as it all was, its good to be back. Im ready to get back to my normal routines.  Back to work to earn back all the money i spent.  Back to my workouts to counteract the reduculous amounts of heavy beers and fried foods I consumed daily (I can guarantee it will be Thanksgiving before I eat another form of potato, and even then I may have to pass).  And back to my comfey bed, snugly dog, and driving around in a car with ease.  

So thanks again to the "land of saints and scholars".  You've given me many memories and many reasons to keep these Irish eyes a smilin for quite some time. 

PS... For my non FB peeps, as promised i have gone back to my previous blogs and posted related pics... Sláinte!!!

Wrapping it up

Well it's been nearly two weeks since I've stepped foot on this beautiful island.  And since last catching up I've been all over the place. Our plan was to take day trips from Listowel to various places inland and on the coast.  And day trips it's been.  In the car out of the car, in the car out of the car.  Stop here to see this, stop there to see that... a real live Lampoon vacation.

I've seen more spray painted sheep butts, driven along more redicously narrow cliffside roads, and oooed n awed at enough glorious patchworks of green to last quite a while.  I've visited Midleton, Killarney, Tralee,  Cobh, Kinsale, Ballybunnion, Tobert, Dingle, Banna Strand, Fenit, Ardfart, Cork, Limerick... And a gazillion towns in between. All beautiful and unique in their own special way.

Tomorrow it's back to Dublin for the remainder of the journey where we will grasiously bid that rental goodbye.  Herts should really consider changing their rates... boy did they get screwed out of our unlimited milage.

P.S.  For those who worked w me at Sea World in San Diego, I've got plans to meet up with Orna Murphy on Friday night.  I'll be sure to give her your best :))