Birthdays, Trips to LA...and on and on and on about nothing.

First things first... two of my best friends have had birthdays this week. Last Sunday was Karen's birthday and today is Tara's birthday. The hardest part about being away from LA is not being home to celebrate holidays, celebrations, birthdays and day-to-day events with the people I love most....because although I know that I came here to learn things and expand my horizons and get out of my comfort zone, etc. etc. etc. and I am sure that I still have more to learn and experience here, I can't even begin to go describe all the countless things I have been through with them because it would take years to recount all of the memories and experiences...and I miss them both (and everyone else for that matter) terribly especially when I am not there for the big and little things...so in honor of you...Karen and Tara...

I Love You TWO!!!!!

Things have been mellow around here. Everything is in a routine which is good, I really look forward to Tuesday nights with the girls and we made Mexican food (burritos and nachos) this last Tuesday. Jim was even able to join us which was a nice evening. For those of you who don't know, Jim and Jo moved here from LA as well and just had a baby boy (James Joseph). It's amazing to see how this little boy grows week by week. In the five weeks that we've been having "Grey's Anatomy" nights, he has changed tremendously and his personality is beginning to form. It's very cool to see and be a part of.

Since Paris, I've been back in the gym on a regular basis, trying to mix cardio and weight training and I have to admit that as much as I love it, I am sore today. I guess that's the price you pay for staying out of the gym for a while... your body catches up with you when you begin to push it again. But I am happy to be back on track with that so it's worth it. The gym is like a disco club, dark colors and beating music, tealights on stairwells and I really like it... and it keeps me out of the pubs which seems to be the only other form of week night entertainment around here, which is not my preference.

I booked a flight for the end of April for our annual Coachella tradition. I can't believe it but Coachella tickets are already sold out for Saturday and Sunday, so I bought one for Friday and will hopefully get tickets for the rest of the weekend when I get out there.

Karen has changed her wedding date to June 23rd so I booked an appointment for yesterday at a wedding shop in Blackrock to do the bridesmaid dress fitting yesterday. She picked out beautiful bridesmaids dresses for us and I am so excited for her wedding. The shop was an interesting example on how retail is so different here than in the US. There was actually a sign on the door that basically said, "we only allow our customers in by appointment...so if you don't have an appointment, please don't be offended if we don't let you in." While I was there, one of the girls arrived early for her appointment and they actually sent her away and asked her to come back at the scheduled time.

It amazes me how people here actually put up with such poor customer service and how the retailers actually get away with doing things on their own timeframe...and the consumers have little choice but to deal wit it. In LA, if customer service wasn't meeting expectation, people go somewhere else to buy their product. Here, customer service is poor everywhere and if you so much as threatened to go somewhere else, they would basically say, "That's fine. This is how we do things here and you won't get better service elsewhere so good luck." It still amazes me how different the cultures are in terms of service and expectations!

Ok, I am actually boring myself at this point...so that's all for now.