Our Irish Holiday: Part I

Hello America and Happy Labor Day!

Ryan and I landed back in Boston yesterday afternoon from our AMAZING holiday in Ireland! After journaling for the past week and sorting through 843 pictures (we may have gotten a little picture happy) yesterday, I am so excited to document and share our journeys with you all!

Day 1: Last Saturday night, Ryan and I got on to a plane in Boston around 9 p.m. with pillows and blankets in hand, ready for our overnight flight to Dublin. After a rough night's "sleep" on board, we hopped off the plane at 8:30 a.m. Ireland time, ready to hit the town!

Our first stop was to Dan Dooley rental car desk to pick up our sweet ride for the week! We ended up with a Renault Clio which was actually much nicer than we were expecting. Although it was a stick shift (meaning I couldn't drive even if I wanted to...), the car came equipped with a navigation center in the console which saved our butts more than a few times on those crazy Irish roads! 

In our new car, we began our trek into the city center of Dublin towards our hotel to park and unload our luggage. We were staying at the Morrison Hilton Hotel across from the River Liffy. Since it was still pretty early in the day, we couldn't get into our hotel room yet, so the front desk held our luggage while we walked across the street to the Mochaland Cafe for breakfast, where we enjoyed our first (of many) european coffee. Those guys over there do coffee so SO well- I can't even describe it!

After breakfast, we were able to check in so we decided to unload in the room and get freshened up from our overnight flight before heading back out into Dublin. Since there was a lot we wanted to see in a small period of time and the city seemed to be pretty spread out, we decided the best way to explore would be to purchase a ticket for the hop on-hop off bus that had regular stops all over the city. The buses were double-decker also, which led to pretty nice views just from the seats when we didn't feel like getting off and walking around.

Our first stop was Cathal Bruga Street, a pretty touristy street in the city center. We decided to go into Carroll's, their tourist gift shop, to pick up some Dublin-related souvenirs. Afterwards, we got back on the bus and rode it a couple stops further to Trinity College. The architecture of the buildings on campus was beautiful and so, so old!

While walking around the small campus, we both got hungry again and decided to stop into The Porterhouse Pub, a local microbrewery, for a drink and some lunch. They brew all their beers, so Ryan and I both decided to order the Red Ale (Ryan ended up drinking both beers since it wasn't something I was really enjoying). Along with our beers, we ordered a pizza topped with Serrano ham and mushrooms and let me tell you, this was by far the BEST pizza we had ever eaten! So Good!

My mouth is watering just looking at this baby!

When we finished up, we got back on the bus and took it to the next stop, Christ Church Cathedral, which was built in 1173 and received it's last restoration in 1871-78. Holy OLD! We didn't really go in the church but admired it from the outside. There were signs EVERYWHERE warning us of pickpocketers in the area, which we thought was pretty sad since this is a place of worship. Go pickpocket somewhere else, thieves!

Our final bus stop for the day brought us to the Guinness Storehouse and Brewery. We explored the brewery, floor by floor (there were SEVEN floors), learning what goes into a Guinness to make it an Irish Stout before going through a tasting. I had never had the desire to taste a Guinness before today based on it's appearance alone. But, I'm so glad I got my first taste in Dublin because I really did enjoy the beer, even more than Ryan! In the tasting, we learned that there is an entire correct process to tasting Guinness that the official tasters go through before releasing the batch of beer on the world. Serious stuff, I tell you! After the tasting, we walked up to the top floor of the brewery, called the Gravity Bar, where we each received a free pint, which we enjoyed looking out over Dublin. We finished our tour of Guinness at the gift shop before hopping back on the bus to take us closer to our hotel. 

At this point, it was around 7 p.m. (2 p.m. our time), meaning we had been awake for roughly 32 hours and could have easily passed out for the rest of the night if we would have allowed ourselves. We rallied though and decided to walk to the Temple Bar area for dinner. We tried to eat at a famous restaurant called Temple Bar, but it was way too crowded so we walked up the street a little further to a restaurant called the Mercantile Tavern. Ryan had the BBQ pulled pork sandwich (so American) and I had the Irish Beef Stew. Believe it or not, Ryan totally won dinner that night- his meal was so much tastier than mine. Oh well! After dinner, I could barely keep my head up, so we walked back to the hotel and crashed immediately. I'd say we had a pretty successful first day though!

Day 2: With a full nights rest, Ryan and I woke up bright eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to hit the road and see more of Ireland! We started the day off back at the Mochaland Cafe with some more amazing coffee and the best blueberry muffin I've ever had. Once we checked out of the hotel, we loaded the car up again and began our journey towards Cork. The total drive from Dublin to Cork was about 2 1/2 hours but we had planned to stop at the Rock of Cashel, which was pretty much at the halfway point. The Rock of Cashel was beautiful, even though part of it was in repair. The castle was built high on a hill sometime in the 10th century and was the location of the ancient capital of the Kings of Munster as well as the spot where Brian Boru, the high king of Ireland, was crowned in 977.

After touring the spot where Brian Boru was crowned, we found it only fitting that we dine at the Brian Boru cafe down the street. The cafe was cute and the food was delicious. Ryan got the fish and chips and I got a BLTC on ciabatta bread. So good! With full bellies, we got back into the car to finish our drive into Cork. Since it was getting kind of late, we decided to drive right to our Bed and Breakfast for the night to get checked in before figuring out what to do with the rest of our day. We booked a night's stay at the River View Inn, which was super quaint and our hostess, Catherine, was lovely.

 

Our cute little room

We had planned on dropping our stuff off and then heading to the Blarney Castle, but Catherine informed us that that wasn't such a good idea since traffic at that time of day would be bad and the castle would close for tours by the time we got there, so we changed our plans and drove into Cork's city center instead to walk around for a bit. We checked out a couple of shops, but were not overly impressed with the area so we drove back towards the B&B, parking the car and walking to dinner at a nearby pub. 

We spent the rest of the night at Barry's Pub. Since we weren't quite hungry yet, we decided to grab seats at the bar and order up a couple of Murphy's Irish Stouts, which Ryan decided he liked better than Guinness.

When we got hungry, we moved over to a table to order some food. Ryan ordered a Smithwick's and an Irish beef burger and I ordered a Guinness and the seafood linguine. While Ireland isn't really known for their food, these meals were amazing!!

My Guinness moustache

Ryan in a Sam Adams shirt drinking a Smithwick's. 

We had some pretty decent entertainment while sitting at our table. Outside our window, a group of people dumped a trash can full of ice water out on a guy filming a video for the ice bucket challenge, which has gone international, and the woman at the table beside us was filling in her friends on her recent trip to the states. It was really funny to hear her thoughts (yes, we were eavesdropping) on our culture while experiencing her culture. At one point, she was describing her trip to Niagara Falls, where her family rented an SUV for the drive. She had to explain what an SUV was to her friends, describing the car as a mini-bus, which we thought was pretty funny, since we were driving the world's smallest car around her country.

After dinner, we moved back to the bar and spent the rest of the night chatting it up with a bartender and the owner of the pub. They gave us some great advice on things to do at our next stop in Killarney, and taught us about one of Ireland's favorite sports, hurling. The owner of the pub also gave us two really awesome Guinness glasses to take home with us, which was awesome!

I'm a transformed girl, I guess! 

Alright, that's enough for one blog post! I'll be back with the next leg of our journey soon!

Throwback Thursday: NYC For A Night

Well, the last-minute laundry is finishing up and the bed is covered in clothes ready to be stuffed in a suitcase and placed on a plane heading to Europe! That's right, folks...Ryan and I are leaving the country Saturday night for 7 days of fun and exploration all over Ireland! 

While I wait for our clothes to dry, I thought I would participate in a little Throwback Thursday action by reminiscing on our fun one-night trip to NYC this past June. 

Every once in a while, I get to tag along with Ryan to work events and outings. While my favorite experience so far is our trip to the US Open a couple Septembers ago, this most recent outing is pretty dang high up on the list. This time around, I got to fill an extra seat at a Yankees game, and man, was that a pretty awesome seat to fill! Since we were going to be making the 4 1/2 hour drive in to NYC, we decided to make the most of it and stay the night. 

We got into Yankee Stadium about an hour before the game started. Our seats gave us access to the Legends Suite, where we were able to stuff our faces with some unbelievable food before hitting up the candy bar on the way out. 

If you look closely in the above picture, you can see Ryan's plate stacked a mile high with crab legs and other goodies. Meanwhile, I've got a little surf and turf going on on my own plate. Steak and Sushi for the win! 

We spent the next few hours baking in the sun watching some baseball before heading into Manhattan to check in to our hotel for the night and rest up before hitting the town! 

For dinner, Ryan and I decided to check out Ruby Foo's, right off of Times Square.

We were both still pretty full from the game so we ordered a couple of appetizers to share, which were delicious if I recall correctly. 

After dinner, we walked over to our evening entertainment of choice, the Broadway Comedy Club. We tried to get tickets to a broadway show, but the ones we really wanted to see were either sold out completely or sold out of the tickets that we could afford! The comedy club turned out to be fun though and we got to watch four different comedian's sets.

To finish off our night, we scoped out a rooftop bar off Times Square for a little while, taking in the gorgeous night!

This was such a fun little trip to kick our summer off! Thanks Dow for taking care of the spouses every once in a while!! 

Friday Favorites

Since coming home from my month of travel in July, I have been go-go-go every day. I cannot believe how fast summer is flying by! Before truly starting the weekend (although every day seems to feel like a Saturday...summer vacation, I love you so!), I though I would take a moment and share a couple of things that I've been loving lately!

1. This summer, I have truly been loving the "Leah picture of the day" I've been receiving from my sister-in-law Rachel! It is SO hard to be living far away from all of our family, even more so now that our beautiful little niece is here. The pictures help us see her growing every day and feel like a little piece of home! Thanks, Rach! 

                           

                    

                    

2. Ryan and I are taking off for Ireland in 8 short days and have been finalizing plans and stays for that trip! You better believe I am looking forward to exploring the Irish countryside with my husband in a little over a week!! We plan on visiting Dublin, Cork, Killarney, and Galway to name a few places! 

3. Ryan's softball team won their second playoff game last night and are now in the championship game on Monday night! I've been enjoying cheering them on from the sidelines this last week rather than from behind home plate!

4. Finally...last but definitely not least! As of yesterday, summer changed a bit for me. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before today because I wasn't quite sure how to, but my job as a paraprofessional at Nash disappeared towards the end of the last school year. Jill, the teacher I worked with was transferred to a different school, leaving Nash with one extra para then they needed. I spent the whole summer searching for a job in Weymouth and other neighboring towns before resigning myself to the idea of substitute teaching for half a year before beginning my student teaching in January. Yesterday morning, my friend Rachel sent me a text message to let me know that there was a para position available in Weymouth, which I immediately called admin to discuss. To make a long story shorter, I received a call back around 2:30 yesterday letting me know that the job was mine! I am now a 1 on 1 para to a third grade child at a different elementary school in town and I couldn't be more excited! 

Happy Friday, y'all!! 

Funfetti Chocolate-Chip Cookies

Man, these last few weeks have been super busy for Ryan and I- swim lessons for a friend's daughter, Super Summer Kids Week, Family Fun at the Beach, and cook-outs to name a few of the events filling our days and nights! Tonight is going to be the first night in over 10 days that we will be sitting down to a home-cooked meal (Spaghetti and Meatballs- YES)! 

After a swim lesson last week, I hosted my friends Candice and Rachel along with their children for lunch! Candice offered to supply the main course for lunch, but I wanted to make a fun dessert that the littles could help make! So, the night before I whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies with a twist! The cookies turned out great and I the kids definitely had a blast scooping the dough onto cookie sheets....and eating them shortly after! Win! 

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup Butter, room temperature
• 1 cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 1/2 cups Funfetti Cake Mix
• 1 1/2 cups Flour
• 1/2 cups Sprinkles
• 2 cups Chocolate Chips
• 2 cups coarsely chopped Golden Birthday Cake Oreos 

Directions: 

1. In a mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. 

2. With the mixer on low, add in baking soda, salt, flour, and cake mix, stirring until the mixture comes together. 

3. Add in sprinkles, chocolate chips, and chopped oreos. Stir until evenly incorporated. 

4. Chill dough in the refrigerator over night. (If you can stand to wait that long!) 

5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough into balls, placing them onto a cookie sheet. 

6. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

Back On Solid Ground

The month of July was SUPER crazy for this girl. I've been away from home since the morning of July 4th, traveling to Indiana, Georgia, and rounding out the month with a cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel!

Our cruise vacation started last Sunday with a drive down to Tampa with my dad, mom, Jake, and Colee. We got into Tampa around mid-afternoon and headed straight to the pool (since we wouldn't be getting enough of that over the next few days). For dinner, we decided to check out a Cuban restaurant in downtown Tampa, called the Columbian. After dinner we walked the strip for a little bit before calling the shuttle and heading back to our hotel to make sure we're all ready to get on the cruise ship the next morning.

The cruise ship opened its doors to us around 11:30 the next morning and left the port around 4:00. We spent the whole first day exploring the ship until our luggage appeared in our room just in time to get ready for dinner!

We ate so much over the course of the week that I really can't remember specific meals from each day but the thing that stood out most to me from our dining experiences was our awesome waiter, Gonsi! Like seriously... awesome! He even had creme brulee prepared for our table even though it wasn't ever on the menu!

Before dinner on the first menu, CLEARLY missing my husband a little bit. 

The first full day on the ship was a day at sea as we traveled to our first destination, Grand Cayman. We spent lots of time lounging around the pool and reading before getting dressed up for the one formal dinner of the trip.

After our fancy pants dinner of lobster tails and other goodies, the girls spent some time (and money) in the casino at the slot machines after arriving too late to the comedy show of the evening.

Wednesday morning, we got off the boat bright and early and tendered to the port in Grand Cayman. With no clue what we wanted to do once on land, we began walking around until we found a public bus to take us a spot on 7-mile beach. While on the bus, we met a couple on a different cruise ship that told us they heard good things about a specific beach resort, called Royal Palms. We were charged $2 per person to get into the private beach club, which contained not only a nice stretch of beach, but also a pool with a swim up bar, and restaurant, and free wifi so I could contact Ryan!! Win!

When we got to the beach, we rented some beach chairs and relaxed for a while with this view...

Within about an hour or so, some serious weather rolled in, completely covering our view of our cruise ship off in the distance. We moved our stuff up to the pool, hanging out by the pool bar for a little bit before packing things up and taxi-ing back to the port. While the weather never affected us as the beach, we ended up walking around the shops near the port in a torrential downpour. We all wanted some sort of souvenir to bring back with us so of course we didn't let a little rain get in our way!

 The boat left Grand Cayman around 3, so we spent the rest of the afternoon napping and getting ready for dinner (1 shower, 5 people...). After dinner, we went straight to the Queen Mary Lounge to wait for the comedy show since it was too crowded for us to watch the night before. The comedian was named "Cowboy Comedian" and turned out to be pretty funny. We also witnessed a proposal which was pretty sweet.

Thursday around 11, we docked the boat at Cozumel, and rushed off to make it to our pre-booked shore excursion in time. We ended up booking a trip that took us all over the island, stopping at three different places.

Pulling up to the dock. Viva Mexico! 

Our first stop brought us to San Gervasio Mayan Ruins in the middle of the island. While this was something I really wanted to do while in Mexico and I'm glad we did it, I probably wouldn't do it again. It was very hot and required some SERIOUS imagination since most of the structures were pretty ... well, ruined. It was very cool to hear how the Mayans lived and survived for so many years and the different traditions they created and followed.

After a couple of hours, we hopped back onto the bus and headed to our second destination, which was a beach on the eastern side of the island. We only had an hour and a half at this location, so the first thing we did was sit down for an authentic mexican lunch, which definitely did not disappoint. We even had authentic mexican coca cola, which is made in mexico using sugar cane.

We walked down to the ocean for a bit before getting on the bus again and heading to our third and final destination, the TEQUILA factory! Andale! Andale!

Tres Amigos? 

We tasted four of five different tequilas, a 7-year old tequila that was aged in old Jack Daniels Barrels, a silver tequila, a pina colada infused tequila, a guanabana tequila (Guava and Banana- a bottle of this one came home with me), and an amaretto infused tequila. YUM!

I don't really remember much from Thursday night (which is not a result of all of the tequilas I tasted, thank you very much), but I'm pretty sure we either went to a show or the casino after dinner before crashing fairly early.

Before dinner Thursday night!

One of the many gorgeous views off our balcony during this trip! 

The last full day on the ship was another day at sea. We finished our trip much like the way we started it, laying by the pool and reading.

 The water on Friday was absolutely beautiful and more serene than I have ever seen it. So beautiful and such a nice view to enjoy at the end of our trip!

Like Glass! 

Friday night, we said goodbye to Gonsi with one final meal and watched a show in the theater room put on by the Carnival singers and dancers. The next morning we woke up  early to debark and make the long trek back to Georgia, ending my month-long vacation. 

I'm so glad I was able to go on the cruise with my family. We had an absolute blast exploring other parts of the world and are already planning our next family vacation (Don't worry, Ryan- we'll make sure you are in attendance this time!) 

Thanks Mom and Dad for hosting me for pretty much all of July- Love ya'll!!