California Adventure Tour.

Two weeks of intensive city hopping, roller coaster riding, exhilarating adventurous experience at its finest.

My friend Feargal flew into LA from Dublin with his son on December 26th. We had a nice dinner at a steak house in LA as they fought the jet lag of their first night in town. Killian loves ribs. He ate an entire rack several times throughout the trip. He also developed a fondness for poking me constantly while we waited in lines for roller-coaster rides at the various amusement parks which I wasn't quite as fond of.

Second day we drove down to San Diego from Brentwood and had an overnight adventure at The San Diego Wild Animal Park. It's called the Roar & Snore, was during the Festival of Lights and I highly recommend this experience once... just not in the middle of winter when the temperature is below freezing unless you bring your own mini-heaters for the tents. The way the experience works is you are private guests of the Park. You are assigned tents just outside the areas where most of the animals roam. The package includes dinner, breakfast, two days at the park and two/three private tours with the animals. The night tour takes place late at night after the public has left the park. There is a campfire with singing and they opened up the sledding just for us which the kids loved even though it was freezing cold outside. I would also recommend bringing an extra set of clothes if you plan on participating in this little bit of fun because everyone who sledded was soaked. There were a lot of laughs and the Christmas lights in the shapes of animals adds a bit of nostalgia to the experience. They wake up the campers early for 1-2 early morning walking tours as well as a bus tour before the park re-opens to the public and you can for an additional cost have private feeding sessions with the animals as well. It was a great experience overall and enjoyed by all of us.

We spent the rest of our evening after the Wild Animal Park touring old town San Diego's Mexican restaurants with Margaritas and mariachi bands, got a great discount at the "W" hotel via travelzoo and there was ice skating downtown across from our hotel. There was also a basketball contest going on while we were there so the jacuzzi was not quite accessible unless you wanted to pile in with 20 college-age girls but they were all nice and we did night swimming in the heated outdoor pool and warmed up in the jacuzzi afterwards.

The next day we awoke and headed to Sea World for my favorite part of the trip... swimming with dolphins. We actually got to spend about an hour in the water with them, playing, giving training commands and they do take pictures of the experience for you to keep. It was the best experience of my trip and I now want to do this on every beachy vacation I take because I loved it so much. Our dolphin, Maggie, was so soft that when I touched her it felt like touching velvet and dolphins are such docile creatures that I couldn't help but smile from ear-to-ear throughout the entire experience. They do provide hot showers afterwards before you head back into the rest of the park which is an added bonus. We spent the rest of time enjoying the various Sea exhibits and shows until the park closed. We stopped in Pacific Beach for a late night dinner on the strip and then drove back to Los Angeles that night.

The next stage of our trip was dedicated to amusement parks throughout the Los Angeles area. We toured Universal Studios, Disneyland, California Adventures, and got our admission tickets for both Sea World and The Wild Animal Park on a group pass that we purchased through the Universal Studios website. This is a great package deal because it includes 2 days at Universal and 3 days at the Disney parks for a cheaper rate. We also separately purchased discounted tickets via AAA for Magic Mountain. I purchased the annual pass at the full rate which means I can visit for the entire year free. Only thing I would have done differently was add a parking pass for Magic Mountain as it's approximately $20 per trip to park.

Highlights and favorites included the incredible fireworks shows including DJ's and a midnight countdown at Disneyland on New Year's Eve night. I also loved seeing the updates and changes to Universal as working as Guest Relations at Universal was actually my first job in high school when I was 16 and they were still in the process of building Citiwalk at that point... I really enjoyed seeing all the additions and growth to the park since I had last been there. I also loved going on Tatsu at Magic Mountain... best roller coaster I've ever been on and I laughed so hard that I cried at the way Feargal screamed in a Dublin accent the entire time we first went on the ride. We liked it so much we went on three times in a row, but nothing beat the first time. I liked that California Adventures offered wine tasting as well for when we wanted to relax after being on our feet for two weeks straight.

We also spent a day shopping around LA including The Beverly Center, 3rd Street Promenade and visiting Paradise Cove for lunch at the beach. Killian ordered full-racks of ribs everywhere he could find them which was amusing to me since I think the meat in Ireland is fantastic and this was his "American" food of choice... that and hot chocolate. I made hot chocolate for him on his first morning in LA and I think he had 1-3 cups every day after that. :)

We headed to San Francisco for the final two days of the adventure because Aer Lingus cancelled their Los Angeles/Dublin direct flight 2 months prior due to massive budget cuts, which was a complete cluster experience to say the least but I really enjoyed my first "real" trip to San Fran. We had booked flights for around 10am and we got to the airport about an hour 1/2 early for a what should have been an easy local flight. Easy except for we flew out of LAX instead of Dublin and it was still only a few days after New Year's so LAX was still extremely congested. We got to the gate and saw that our flight was delayed. We asked how long the delay would be and decided to grab breakfast pre-flight. We came back about 30 minutes later and they had not only "cancelled the delay" but they had closed the flight leaving several of us passengers stranded in LA until the next flights could be arranged. This may not have been a big deal but we had pre-booked tickets to Alcatraz that afternoon and the only flight we could get out in time flew into Oakland instead of SFO.

We made a split-decision to go for it and not lose the days planned activities. So we raced to another terminal, caught the flight to Oakland and cabbed it into the city just in time for Alactraz. Alcatraz is an amazing experience and I recommend every one go once. To see a real jail that housed some of the most dangerous criminals in history is so incredibly intriguing to me. One of the prisoners, who is now in his 70's, was there autographing the book he wrote so of course I had to buy it... and I also bought a book on Al Capone, hoping to find some family history in there... long story saved for another post... but I did purchase that as well. I got some great pics of the cells and the view into San Francisco and we did the tour. It was cool.

And then came the yucky part. Trying to get our luggage was a complete nightmare. Southwest Airlines would not deliver our luggage to our hotel so we spent 4 hours on the train back and forth picking up our luggage from SFO airport and made it back to the hotel in time for dinner at a beautiful Italian restaurant (the name I cannot remember, but it was near a mall and across from a few shoe stores). Unfortunately by the time we finished dinner, the shops were closed so we headed back to the hotel and had drinks in the hotel bar where we met 2 lovely girls and their father travelling from Brazil.

The next morning we had just enough time for me to grab a quick breakfast with one of my friends from LA living in Oakland and back to the airport we went, where we parted ways as I flew back to Los Angeles and Feargal and Killian flew back to Dublin.

All in all it was an amazing whirlwind view of California... an enjoyable and pleasant experience and I'm still in awe of all the things we were able to do and see in such a short period of time.

so behind on travel blogging...

Ok I'm going to try and make an actual attempt to catch up on my travel blogging. I have disconnected for a while but have actually been documenting privately the entire time so hopefully will back track and catch up my blog with my story. Hope you enjoy. :)

A Downside of Online Social Media. (watered-down Kool-aid)

I am not thrilled that online social media sites seem to be watering down real forms of communication. Just because you know how to text or can read a status update on facebook or twitter doesn't mean real forms of communication aren't necessary or that you are getting to know a person. There is much more to life than this.

The frustration I am experiencing comes from a common misrepresentation of thoughts and ideas and experiences. People have a tendency to read small status quotes and think that they know everything about you. This misconception cannot be farther from the truth. My life, for certain, cannot be described in 140 characters or less. It can at best be only a sliver into having insight into someone’s life. I try to keep my interaction on these sites as positive as possible. In a conscientious way, I use a tool designed for social interaction. The misrepresentation comes when people assume that whatever interaction you have displayed on these media sites is a complete representation of your life or of what you may be going through at any given moment. The problem with these invalid assumptions is that with online social media, you can paint a picture of anything you like. You can lie. You can over exaggerate the truth. You can under exaggerate the truth. And don’t be naïve, I know people who do this just because they can and they think that there are no consequences to their behavior. You can make it look however you like, but people seem to assume that following one’s twitter or checking out one’s facebook/myspace page means they know you or know what your entire life status is at any given moment. I follow all the ladies on The View and @iamdiddy and @aplusk on twitter because I respect them, but I promise you, I’m very aware that I do not know them at all. I just think they have interesting things to say and use it as mindless entertainment in hope that these successful celebs may say something inspiring or motivational.

On a daily basis, I experience 1000+ emotions. I filter these messages to only include things that are inspiring, informative, helpful, playful, fun. The other side of emotions, I tend to leave behind because it is not productive, in my opinion, to use social media as a place to dump your problems onto other people. Some are not so conscientious. They dump anything on there like a bad case of the runs and expect you to sift through their crap for the truth. I’m not sure what expectation they have or what their desired intent is, but it’s an interesting playground for certain. After a recent bad experience, I was hesitant to post anything else, because of my sudden fear of the consequences of my behavior. I rationalized that if I didn’t share, then a similar situation could not happen again, therefore eliminating further potential loss. But what about future potential gain? How many people’s lives have I quietly touched by something I have written on there? How many feelings have I hurt by the things I have posted on there? And all weighed out, is it worth it? I think it is worth it as long as I post a warning sign. So here it goes…

My Rules of Engagement:

The content you are currently viewing is not indicative of my whole story, nor could it possibly ever be. Please use caution when using this information to gauge the content of my character or the themes of my life. This common misconception cannot be further than the truth. That said, my life and my story is an open book. If you want to know something about me, ask. If something I say on here offends you, please let me know so that I do not repeat what can only be described as an unintentional mistake on my part. And while I appreciate facebook, myspace, twitter, texting, etc., for what they are, it is not a complete form of communication. It’s a snip it, at best. If you really want to know who I am or what I’m about, call me on the phone, talk to me, write me, ask me for coffee or to brunch, lunch or dinner. Finally, my mother taught me that if I don’t have anything nice to say, I should say “That’s nice.” or say nothing at all. If you don’t like the statements that I make, tell me, I will not be offended. In fact I respect people who aren’t afraid to tell me their truth, agree or disagree. It’s how I learn. If you are confused or unsure about something, ask for clarification before you assume anything.

If you don’t like my rules of engagement, or if you’re not interested in what I have to say, agree or disagree, you have options as well, including deleting me as your friend. I would prefer that you communicate with me and give me a fair chance to think and respond, but deleting me or anyone else for that matter is an option. I used to be offended when someone deleted me as a friend. Now I’ve realized I’m better off and grateful that at least they had the courage to set their own boundaries. What I’ve also realized is that if you think my opinions aren’t interesting or not worthy of listening to, while you are entitled to your opinion, I can only guess that you really don’t know me at all, and I don’t need that type of negativity in my life, only love and light. I promise to offer you the same respect in return.

All that said, it’s ok to drink the “online” Kool-aid. I actually like Kool-aid. But Kool-aid is not the only drink and it’s nowhere near the best drink. It’s basically just watered down sugar. Why anyone would only want to drink that crap as their only form of hydration to the body and soul is beyond me.

So sign off of facebook, myspace and twitter, put down the blackberry or IPHONE and go live your life (if you’re not sure how or don’t know where to begin, send me an email and I’ll give you my guide to living a complete life). That my friends is the best online advice I could ever give you. :)

Family History

My aunt Paula has been researching and documenting our family history for as long as I can remember. I am lucky to have so much information about the details of my history and background because of her dedicated efforts to researching information about our family. She just started a new blog. You can see it at http://afropix.blogspot.com/. As you can see, it is most likely her and my grandmother that have given me a passion for photography and writing. I love this new effort to keep us informed and am grateful for the constant dedication she has to journaling. Thanks Paula:)

Meant to be.

Everything in life is happening exactly as it should. I am sure of it. Case in point: The birth of the newest addition to my "Irish family", Liam Christopher, born this evening to Jim and Jo this evening on 8-8-08 LA time but technically on 8-9-08 Irish time. The reason I say this profound statement is at approximately 8:10pm Irish time I was driving in my car on my way to meet my aunt Caroline for dinner after a very busy and productive work day (just as it should be)... thank you God for sanity and productiveness... when I had the thought, "Why haven't I heard about the birth of Liam yet?" It was supposed to happen today... in my head anyway. Needless to say, as I was finishing dinner with Caroline, who was actually in Ireland very shortly after Liam's big brother James birth and had the opportunity to meet him about 3 weeks after he was born, I checked my blackberry to see the wonderful news that Jo had in fact given birth to Liam only 20 minutes after my thought.

I cannot even describe how happy I am that Liam has entered our lives and is now a part of the "Irish experience". Through everything that has happened in the last two years, Liam is proof that through the chaos that comes from picking up one's family and relocating across the world on a bit of "faith" and hope for better things in the future, miracles do happen letting us know that all is right in the world and that things are happening exactly as they should. I cannot wait for Jo and Jim and their family to return to the LA area so that I can continue to see their beautiful children grow into amazing adults. I cannot count my blessings enough that I was able to find a "kindred valley girl" all the way in Dublin, Ireland to help walk me through the experience and I cannot express how grateful I am to have been a part of the raising of their first beautiful child, James and how excited I am to soon get to meet Liam when they return for the next part of their adventure in Los Angeles.

Congratulations to you Jim and Jo and James!!! I am so happy for the newest arrival of your family. Cheers to that. You have so much support on both ends of that Ireland... it's simply meant to be:)

Shake. Rattle and Roll!

Appropriate title as there was a 5.4 earthquake in Chino today which practically shook me off the couch earlier today as I watched the ship that sits on the mantle of the fireplace practically sail into my head but also appropriate to mark all the changes since being back home in LA. Feeling a bit nostalgic as I read all the old posts about wanting to start my own company, I have very wonderful news to share. After 4 months of intensive work, I have officially launched my new company. Yay... I have put a lot of effort into this and am very excited about what's to come:)

Cheers.

Eat Pray Love

I finished reading Eat, Pray, Love last week. Caroline bought it for me a few weeks ago while we were out at dinner at The Cheesecake Factory in the IE (as in the Inland Empire, not Ireland) and afterwards she walked me over to the bookstore and bought me the book and said "Read it, she's you."

It was quite inspiring for me because as it turns out I am very similar to Elizabeth Gilbert and her viewpoints on life and children and travelling and priorities. She takes a different course than the usual on her path of self-discovery, leaving her home after a painful divorce and travelling to Italy, India and Indonesia on a journey of self-recovery, very similar to my trip to Ireland and I found myself laughing, crying, smiling and relating to so many things that she went through on her journey.

It reminded me that I am not alone, not the only one who wasn't jumping to have children and settle down but instead wanted to travel and explore, not the only one who needed to heal from a lifetime of heartbreak, not the only one who loves and lives her life in her own unique way a bit off the beaten path, not conforming to everything that society says I should be as a woman... and by that I mean being 32 and not being a wife or a mother, with a house and a white picket fence who cooks every meal and cleans after her children and has a very routine life that revolves around these roles in her life.

Not that there is anything wrong with those who choose the role of wife or mother or both in any way shape or form. In fact, I admire those that choose the role of mother and have the discipline to do so even more because of my inability to be that committed to that lifestyle. It's just not been of my greatest desires to do so myself, and I've never felt that "biological time clock" that most women talk about and at this point I don't know if I ever will have that overwhelming desire to be a mother.

Strangely enough, I would love being married as long as I felt I was marrying the "right" person for me, not a perfect person but my perfect companion. I enjoy the idea of the love and companionship and sharing that would come with marriage and maybe then my viewpoint on children would change. But that's not the only thing the book is about, just one of the first of many things I related to while reading... and so all that said, read the book, it's fantastic!

Coachella 2008

Coachella is always worthy of a blog so I thought I would sit down and share my adentures. I wasn't even sure I would be at Coachella this year given that I was still scheduled to be in Ireland until September but given that I am home in LA, I couldn't miss it although all evidence pointed to the contrary until right before hand. Also I haven't really explained how I ended up back in LA but I promise to save that story for a later date... for now COACHELLA!!!

Because I didn't know I would be here, I didn't really make a big attempt to partner in with the Boonville crew on the RV and just assumed it would work out, but by the time I realized I would be able to attend the RV was fully booked. Hmmm, now what? I finally was able to reach Jude regarding the house she has there and that was also already rented... hmmm... maybe this just isn't meant to be. Then Alex who I had planned to go to Coachella with almost backed out... It's not looking good. But at the last minute, Even Steven worked his magic and hooked Alex and I up with Khan who I had met at The Beat Beach party a few weeks before and said that we could stay at his condo for the weekend, which we did not actually finalize until the week of Coachella and of course everything else in the area was already booked. Talk about taking it close to the wire. But everything as it turns out worked out exactly as it was supposed to.

Alex and I left LA for Coachella on Friday morning, had no traffic. Jude hooked me up with tickets for all 3 days and an extra ticket for Sunday and we were packed in Alex's very full with Sleeping bags and airbeds Audi TT and we were off to our adventure with music beating the whole way there.

Khan had rented a condo at the PGA West through VRBO which is the same company that we used in Barcelona (the one that we were broken into by someone with a key) but this was a much better experience. It was a lovely condo on a golf course with a pool and jacuzzi right outside our patio, with a lake surrounding the area. We met what I now refer to as the PGA West Crew including Khan, Sophie, Sara & Marcus and Brian, said our hello's and headed to day one of the festivities.

Coachella really outdid themselves this year with the artwork. There were huge art displays that were apparently from last year's Burning Man and it was simply indescribably amazing. We spent the first part of the day wandering around the grounds checking out the displays and artwork and playing in the water fixtures and then headed to the Sahara tent to see Adam Freeland. Great way to start the festival:) We then saw Goldfrapp and The Verve and a headed back to Sahara to see Fat Boy Slim. Now I normally would have preferred to see Jack Johnson because I know he would have been amazing, but mellow, live. However, I am so glad that Khan headed us back to Fatboy Slim because he took us on an amazing DJ journey that was one of the best live DJ sets I have ever seen, hands down!!! I was literally on Cloud 9 from the experience. Throughout the day, I felt the tension in my shoulders begin to relax as I was around these great people all there to experience a weekend of good music and fun and by the end of the day, I literally felt for the first time since returning back to LA, at HOME. It was phenomenal and euphoric and exhilarating!

We then headed back to the house to reminisce on our favorite things for the day and snack on chips and salsa before heading to bed, and by that I mean passing out in a sleeping bag on the couch, at around 2:30am.

Day two, I met our new Portland friends that were staying in one of the rooms of the condo. Alex and I went to the grocery store and picked up fresh meat and eggs and fruit and champagne and beer and came back to the house and I boiled eggs. Not many know this but I am actually the perfect hard-boiled egg maker;) We had a nice cooked chicken lunch and then headed in the afternoon to the festival and literally ran to the Sahara tent to catch James Zabiela. We ran into the Boonville crew right after that and spent the rest of the day tossing between Saraha and the beer garden. We got to see Boyz Noize, Erol Alkan, Hot Chip, Junkie XL (amazing),M.I.A., Sasha & John Digweed and then headed to Prince at the main stage which I have to admit was a bit disappointing considering how much I LOVE Prince and after three songs I decided to stop torturing the boys and we went back to the RV for an after party which lasted until 4am in the camping area with at least 20 people coming in and out of the party and Rasmus and Even Steven DJ'ing all my favorite songs. It was wonderful.

We had to catch a cab back to the condo so we walked back to the now very empty road and some guy tried to "give us a ride", creepy in a truck, to which I politely declined and then fate stepped in as one of the VIP carts came by, picked us up and drove us to the main road where a real cab pulled up behind him and gave us a ride back to the condo. He was very nice and telling stories about growing up in Indio and gave us his business card if we needed another cab. The condo crew was still partying by the pool so we poured another drink and joined them where we also met a young French Canadian who was there VJing for Sasha & Digweed that night and stayed up until around 6am.

Sunday was a slow day to start so we barbecued the steaks I had marinated on Saturday and ate amazing food during the day and then headed to Coachella around 4pm. We saw Booka Shade and Danny Tenaglia, Sia, Modeselektor and then headed to Roger Waters where he did a 3 hour set including the entire Dark Side of the Moon album and was mindblowingly talented. After that was the wind down so we ran back to Sahara to catch Justice and dance dance danced until the end of the evening, so much fun... but not over yet:) We then ran to the funky drum circle and played there and got food at the yummy Japanese restaurant and had massages and played until the cops came and politely kicked us out at about 2am.

We then headed back to the condo, threw on bathing suits and hit the jacuzzi with champagne until the security guards shut us down for noise at about 4am at which point the party just moved back into the condo, first ours, and then the condo of the French Canadians a few doors down. It was so much fun. I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt over the events of the evening, 6 people were in the bathtub making their own jacuzzi at our condo while the rest of us lounged at the other condo, laughing, listening to music and just having a wonderfully fun and relaxing time. I think we went to bed around 6:30am after the sun was rising and then woke up Monday at around 9:30am from the heat and just chilled and ate and finally left the adventure after cleaning up the mess at around 3pm.

It was one of the best Coachella experiences ever. My favorite music of the weekend was Fatboy Slim, Roger Waters, Junkie XL, Justice and Sia. I left feeling revived and rejuvenated and peaceful and energized all in the same moments. I absolutely love everyone I met while I was there and we are already keeping in touch and I am already excited in anticipation for next year!!!

Cheers,
Ness

Home Sweet Home.

Well it's official I am back in LA for good. I am no longer working for Pocket Kings and have relocated back to the states. The experience of relocating back has been surreal to say the least. I never realized that with moving home for such an extended period of time, that my routines and lifestyle would grow to reflect the adjustments to the new culture and now that I am back home, I feel I am somewhere in between what my life used to be and what it is now. It takes a bit of adjustment.

I had a nice going away dinner before leaving Ireland. It was great to have one last night out with my "Ireland family" before returning home. When I was driving to the airport, I found myself humming "Everything's gonna be alright" by Bob Marley. Interesting...

There was so much to do to prepare to move in such a short period of time, that I have found myself overly exhausted since my return. That combined with jet lag has led to what feels like an excessive amount of sleep although it must be necessary because I am still tired and it's been a week.

Other than that I am just adjusting to new routines, job searching, and getting my life back on an LA track... more to come...

I hate it when...

I hate it when...you haven't checked your email in a while and you see you have a new message and you are all excited to hear from someone you know...and it's spam from a credit card company...or some internet mailing list you ended up on...I really hate that!

Party Weekend in Stockholm, Sweden

Ok, I have been a very bad blogger so I have decided to try and catch up on all the experiences and travel weekends I've had over the past few months so that I don't forget all the good memories.

After my last post I took a trip to Stockholm to visit my friend Marie for a long weekend. I landed in Stockholm on a Thursday night late and since I was very tired, Marie and I went back to her apartment in Solna and caught up since we hadn't seen each other in over 2 years. It was a really nice evening.

We awoke Friday and decided to spend the day doing one of my favorite activities... Shopping:) So we browsed the mall near her house for most of the day and came home that night full of shopping bags and decided to head to the clubs.

We started the evening at The Soap Bar, where we ran into some of Marie's old friends and had a few drinks there with them. After a few hours of partying there, we went to a club a few blocks away called Hell's Kitchen. We ended up with a group of new friends there who had a table with a huge magnum of champagne. We had a great party evening that turned into an afterparty that lasted well into the next afternoon.

On Saturday, after a quick nap, we had decided to take a cruise from Stockholm to Finland, supposedly a "party cruise". We decided to get massages when we got there and we were so tired after our all night party the night before that we ended up eating the cruise ship dinner and going back to the cabin where we slept all night. Swedish massages are THAT GOOD, lol. We missed all the club activities and spent the next morning having a buffet breakfast and shopping at the cruise's duty free.

We then took a mini walking tour of Stockholm for a few hours before it was time to head back to Marie's for an evening of cooked mushrooms (different than LA mushrooms - they're wild and dried) with toast and had a nice evening at the house before going to bed early to catch a very early flight the next morning back to Dublin and straight into work.

Unfortunately, my luggage didn't make the connecting flight so I had another travelling lesson learned... Never put your keys in your luggage. My luggage landed in Dublin at 11pm at night, much later than I did and I had no way to get into my apt after a very long party weekend. Gavin and Fran, my neighbors/co-workers were kind enough to let me stay at their house until my luggage arrived.

All in all, it was a great trip, I loved Stockholm and would definitely go back. I would love to go in the summer for mid-summer and spend some time in the rural areas of the country as well. Good times.

One Year In Dublin

It's a sleepy morning and I am drinking my first cup of coffee for the morning and thought I would write a little bit. Alot of people have been asking why I made my blog private...mostly I just decided that I didn't want the entire world wide web to have access to my private thoughts, pictures and life. I also realized that I was really sensoring my blog and I shouldn't have to do that so this was the better option. I hope you all continue to log in and read and enjoy it.

I went out with my friend from work Rena last night. It was a beautiful evening. The sun was out all day yesterday and so we headed into town right after work for dinner and a few drinks. We had a lot of fun hanging out in the outdoor beer gardens at Crawdaddy, made friends with a few of the guys of this really good Irish band that had played there last night and eventually called it an early night since she was heading south for a day of massage today after her triathalon last weekend.

I am finally finishing my medicine from being sick and I have to admit that it has put me a bit on edge. The medicine had steroids in it so you have to come off it slowly to allow your body time to adjust and I've noticed that I'm really cranky and irritable and even irrational for no reason. I hate feeling that way but today is the last day that I have to take it so hopefully it will even out soon. So I've been trying to stay low key to avoid any more dramatic situations because even though I know I have been way over-sensitive to everything, I can't tell what is from the medicine and what is from reality.

Yesterday marked the one year date from when I arrived in Ireland. I cannot believe that an entire year has gone by. Sometimes it feels like it has flown by. At other times, it feels like it has been forever - too long. I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I am glad that I came here and tried to shake things up in a bit. I have learned alot from the experience. I have tried to accomplish things while I was here, travel goals, long-term career goals, but I have to admit that I don't know if given the opportunity, I would do it again.

I am definitely an LA girl. I love sunshine and the beach and outdoor activities and the social and cultural variety that comes with living in such a big city. My friends and my family are all there as well so of course that makes a big difference too. I notice that my experiences are so different here even when I have only a few friends in town. It becomes an entirely different experience, than when I am in my daily routine which is primarily spent at work or alone. But given the choice right now, I would come home at first opportunity to be back in the City of Angels with the people I love most.

I think I will continue to travel for the rest of my life. I absolutely love visiting new places and seeing the culture of each environment be so different from place to place. I do think it is different to spend a few weeks on vacation than to actually relocate your life and it has been good for me to experience some of the challenges that come with completely changing your environment. But one of the biggest lessons learned is that I want to spend my life with my family and friends and have travel as something I can do on vacation, not spend long lengths of time away from them.

So the ultimate unanswered question becomes, will I survive another year in Dublin? And is it worth it? I ponder that thought daily and I don't have an answer yet. I take things in baby steps now. I am meeting a friend in Sweden at the end of this month. I will be hopefully heading to Italy for a weekend in October. My birthday weekend, I will probably go to London with one of the girls from work. The weekend after my birthday, I will come home for a week into Thanksgiving. I will also come home for Christmas into New Year's.

Most of you already know that when I return I will hopefully be starting my own recruitment firm. I work on the business plan weekly while I am here. That keeps me very busy and keeps me focused on the long-term reason that I moved here in the first place. I saw this as an opportunity to not only get outside of my "comfort zone" in LA where I was way too comfortable...ie. not growing or learning but also to financially put me in a position to take the next step career wise.

There are several reasons that this is important to me. First, I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to work for several successful companies, both large and start-up and I would like to take what I have learned over the years and actually create something that is as successful for me as it is for the people I work with and for. I want to do something different and better than the current standard of recruiting as it is something I am passionate about. I enjoy finding people good jobs that will further their lives and careers. At the same time, I would like to also benefit more of the rewards of that as well.

I also want to eventually be in a position that if I ever have a family of my own, I will be able to make them my priority but continue to contribute to the financial security of my family. Recruitment is ideal for that because I can do most of my work from home and still balance that with the other areas of my life. It is extremely important for me to be able to have that balance and hopefully not have to sacrifice the lifestyle I have become accustomed to. I have worked hard to get myself to this point and I would love to see it all come to fruition where I am doing work that actually helps others but also helps my own life as well.

So even though I don't have a family of my own now, the things I do now will ultimately affect in a positive way, the things that I can offer in the future. So for all of these reasons and more, it was important that I take this step and moved here a year ago because had I not, I may have continued to stay in my daily LA routine and not made the efforts required to take the next step. Being here has definitely put my focus on creating these things for my life so that my time here was not a waste and that when I return it will be to something better.

All that said, it is easy to get discouraged when you don't have your family and friend network close by to support and encourage you which is where I struggle most with being here. I find that I have more energy when I am around the constantly energizing people in my life. Most of these people are in LA and I crave that constantly while I am here. I am trying to make the most of it while I am here though and stay positive in what can sometimes be a very draining situation to be in.

OK, enough truths for now.

To be continued...

Trouble with pics.

I uploaded all the pics for the past few months today only to discover that Picasa is having issues with posting them on the blog and for some reason they are not visible. So rather than spend another 8 hours doing this again...I am going to wait a week or so and see if they resolve the issue. So frustrating!!! Crossing my fingers that it wasn't a total waste of a day.

Kindness from the Locals

I walked into the local hardware store this evening to pick up a transformer for my new Vonage phone, which is a fabulous new toy since now I have an LA based phone number that calls me at my house in Ireland and I can call LA without having to pay international rates. While I was there, I met three of the nicest people at the store, the owner (who has owned the store for 20 years), his assistant (a sweet Romanian girl) and one of the owner's friends. The four of us stood and chatted for almost 2 hours.

While chatting about electronics and such, I remembered that I have needed an electric coffee grinder for about a year now. I have at least 5 bags of coffee beans to be grinded and hadn't found an electric grinder since living here...and trust me, I have looked. Not only to my complete amazement did they have exactly one electric coffee ginder, but one of the older gentlemen I was chatting with, bought it for me as a gift for giving him great advice on gadgety things to buy (I introduced him to Vonage and suggested he buy an external hard drive and back up his computer). WOW, there really is still true kindness and generosity in the world! Happy Days!

And now I'm off to go brew some fresh coffee:)

A bit of craic!

So as I posted earlier, my car engine blew last weekend in the Ring of Kerry. I am officially in a holding pattern until next week to determine if it at all repairable as the one guy that I know who may be able to help it is "ON HOLIDAY". So this morning after literally running to the bus, I barely jumped on it in time to make it to work on time. I had "grand" plans to hit the gym this evening...foiled due to this breaking news:

14/8/2007 No DART services running south of Dun Laoighaire
There are no rail services operating south of Dun Laoghaire on the DART line due to a DART failure at Sandycove. Dublin Bus will honor tickets.

Of course I had already caught the shuttle to the DART in the POURING RAIN when I discovered this fabulous news. And there is no bus near the train station we were dropped at. So after waiting 30 more minutes in the POURING RAIN for the next shuttle to come back to the DART station, I was shuttled back at work just in time to run in the still pouring rain to catch the Dublin bus back home in rush hour backed-up traffic to arrive home two hours later. OH how I miss having a car and a 15 minute commute!!!

And in the middle of August here is the 5 weather forecast:
Tuesday RAIN 12 to 19 °C
Wednesday SHOWERS 10 to 17 °C
Thursday PARTLY SUNNY WITH SHOWERS 9 to 17 °C
Friday INTERMITTENT CLOUDS 9 to 17 °C
Saturday SHOWERS 10 to 18 °C

See a pattern here...the high for the week at 19* celsius translates to 64* fahrenheit. I have to find humour in all of this, it's become more amusing than annoying because it seems unbelievable to have more rain in the middle of summer than I typically see in a year:)

And finally, you know you are really WET when you have to change your jeans and your shoes when you get home, because the rain has crawled all the way up your pant leg to your knees. The one new thing I have learned since living here about why people wear their pants too high as if they are flooding....to avoid the floods:)

Happy DAYS!!!!!!!!

The Castle Tour of Ireland

Jude and Tara came to Europe for a three week tour of Sweden and Ireland. They first stopped in Dublin on a weeknight before heading to Copenhagen and then to Sweden for Vilda's Christening and a visit with Petra, Andreas and Hanna's family and friends. Since we only had one night before they continued to Sweden, we decided to head into Dublin City Centre and had a nice dinner at Peploes Wine Bistro which I would highly recommend for their ambience, selection of excellent cuisine and fabulous wine. After dinner, we walked around Dublin for a bit before heading back to Blackrock so they could taste a local pint of Guinness.

They returned to Dublin last Friday night and we decided to have a night of rest before beginning our tour around Ireland on Saturday morning. We started our castle tour by heading down to Kilkenny, where we had lunch followed by a tour of the Kilkenny Castle. We then did a bit of shoe shopping and headed back on the road to Waterford where we saw the Clock Tower, the Reginald's Tower and the Waterford Crystal Factory. The original plan was to also hit Wexford but I was told by several locals that it was too far for a one day trip so we skipped it. We then headed into Cork City for the night.

That night we had dinner at a local italian restaurant and stayed at the Imperial Hotel and walked around a bit in the rain. The next morning, the rain was a bit lighter so after an interesting breakfast experience at the hotel, we walked around a bit through the quays, Parliament Bridge, through the English Market which was unfortunately closed, and into the shopping district. We also got to see the Red Abbey and st. Mary's Dominican Church as we were searching for the car park where my car was hidden a few blocks from the hotel.

After finally finding the car, we hit the road and headed to The Blarney Castle where Jude and Tara kissed the Blarney Stone. Kissing the stone is said to bring the gift of magical eloquence or the "gift of gab". I declined as I have been told by several locals that the locals of Blarney actually pee on the stone. Yuck and no thank you...I already have the gift of gab and am eloquent enough without kissing it:) It was a beautiful castle to visit though.

We then headed toward the Ring of Kerry which is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. There are winding roads and exquisite views over the ocean and quaint villages. Unfortunately, just as we were heading out of the Ring and towards our next intended stop, which was dinner and a night's stay at Bunratty Castle, my car literally blew up. We were coming down a hill towards a cliff and as I went to make the turn, my car literally lost all power including steering and brakes. I am not quite sure how (divine intervention maybe) but I managed to turn the car as hard as I could to not head straight off the cliff while pulling on the hand brake to get the car to a stop. Thank God I had ordered AA (which is Ireland's version of AAA) the week before as it took an hour and a half to get a tow truck to come and get us and take us to the nearest city which was Killarney.

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we never would have seen Killarney if my car had not died and it turned out to be one of our best evenings. Jude found the name of a hotel out of one of our travel books and I called and booked the room at the Killarney Park Hotel. This hotel had the best service I have ever encountered in my life. Not only did they give us their last room at a discounted rate because of how late we got there, but they helped with everything including finding us a rent-a-car the next morning. Killarney turned out to be my new favorite place in Ireland. We found a late dinner spot as we were all starving at this point and then found a cool spot playing fabulous live music called McSorley's. McSorley's also has a two story night club which we danced at after the live music ended at about 1am. It was a great night and of course not at all part of the plan.

I awoke the next morning at 8am to get the car situation sorted so we could get back on the road, we finally found a rent-a-car place at the Kerry Airport (with the help of the staff at the Killarney Park Hotel) and were back on the road by noon, a bit behind schedule. Now I was learning new skills as driving a car on the opposite side of the car on the opposite side of the road with a stick-shift around the roundabouts is quite a skill, I've decided.

We headed up the coast, through the town that hosts Kirby's, Jude's family name, to Bunratty Castle which I've visited before. Bunratty Castle also hosts the best apple pie I've had in years which we got to taste as the weather decided to take a turn for the worse and was downpouring. Finally, Jude and Tara were seeing the "real rain" of Ireland. We then high tailed it up the coast to Galway as I was supposed to catch the 6pm train that day from Galway to Dublin so that I could make it to work on Tuesday after the bank holiday weekend. We made it to Galway about 45 minutes too late though so we headed another hour up the coast to Jude and Tara's hotel for that evening at the Ashford Castle.

The Ashford Castle is unquestionably the most beautiful castle I have seen with an amazing golf course, although I didn't find the service there to be as nice as at the Killarney Park Hotel (Jude said the service was better the next day). We had a beautiful dinner and I did a tour of the castle as I wouldn't be there the next day to really explore it. I then woke the next morning at 5:30am, caught a cab to Galway, took a 3 hour train to Dublin and headed straight to work where I proudly arrived by 10:30am. Wow, what an adventure!

Jude and Tara continued to tour on Tuesday and saw the Cliffs of Moher, somehow got a flat tire in the rent-a-car(what was it with our bad luck with cars) and spent that night at the Drumoland Castle while I spent the evening getting some much needed sleep. They came back to Dublin on Wednesday night and toured the Hills of Tara and attempted unsuccessfully to tour Newgrange. They did see the Newgrange Museum but the actual tour of Newgrange had sold out by the time they got there. Apparently, you have to get there early or book through a tour due to it's popularity. So they returned to Dublin and we had our last night in Dublin at a great recommended restaurant Fire at The Mansion House. Tara was not feeling well at this point so we headed briefly into St. Stephen's Green, over to St. Patrick's Cathedral and then caught a taxi back to Blackrock and spent the rest of the evening packing for them to return to LA.

Other than my car exploding (I have since confirmed that the engine is blown and I will share that adventure in a later blog), it was a fabulous tour of Ireland. The castles were amazing, the memories will last a lifetime and it was so wonderful to have Jude and Tara visiting to share the experiences with. I was sad to see them go as it was so much fun to see so many things here that I may not have even attempted had they not been here. And we are already planning "The Comeback Tour" of Ireland to plan a trip back here to spend some quality time in the towns that we enjoyed the most. I already know I would like to spend more time in Kilkenny, Killarney and The Ring of Kerry.

Special Thanks: Thank you so much Jude for coming to visit, for all of your help and constant generousity with everything. I love you and will see you at the Barker Ranch for Thanksgiving dessert:) xoxo.

       

       

George Michael, Finally!

Last week before Tara and Jude arrived, I finally got to see George Michael in Concert. I attempted to see them in June but missed it as I was stuck in LA sick and ended up having to give the tickets away. So when he ended up cancelling the second day of that tour in relation to his pending drug charges when he was recently caught sleeping at the wheel in London, it was a blessing in disguise for me as I was able to buy tickets for the replacement show. Jo was an amazing trouper as I don't think she had the same love and passion for George that I did growing up but was open to the experience.

It was fabulous to see him in concert since I've followed his music since I was a child during his WHAM days and am an avid fan of turning up his Best Of George Michael CD while I clean the house on Saturday mornings. He played many of my favorite songs, including Freedom 90, FAITH (I bought the t-shirt, lol), Careless Whisper, and my new favorite Spinning the Wheel (I loved his live version). He also played a few of his new songs which I didn't even know and they were good as well.

I loved how he still dances like he did in the 80's, still looks suprisingly good in tight leather pants and still sounds amazing.

One thing I didn't know about George was his passionate political view points. So I was quite suprised when during his Freedom 90 song, a blow up doll emerged covering the stage of another George, George Bush, with the British Bulldog sucking his how shall we say "private parts". And then later on, another blow up doll emerged of a scary version of the statue of liberty with a plaque in her other hand that said "What is fuckin liberty". I had no clue he was using his concerts to boast his political viewpoints. Most interesting was that he didn't really receive a response from the crowd other than a slightly uncomfortable silence. OK then, back to the show.

I will say that the Irish had as great a love for George as I did and spent the entire time on their feet dancing, swaying and singing every word to every song, including a spontaneous outbreak of their own national anthem in between songs, so it was an exciting place to see the concert, one of my first in Dublin.

It was a great night and I am so glad that I finally got to see George...it only took 20 something years, buying 4 tickets, giving two away, and an hour and a half drive in traffic to the Point to finally see him perform live:)

Thanks JO for being a George fan for the night with me! I had a blast! Well worth the wait:)

       

The Beauty of Dublin and Kilkenny

I am still very behind on my travel posts. It is a beautiful rainy Saturday morning so I figured after my 12 hour sleep last night that I'd take a moment and catch up on my travels.

When I arrived back in Dublin, two of my favorite rock star friends from LA were already here for an Irish vacation. For those of you who don't know, I met George and Marisa separately at the Cat Club in Hollywood as I used to watch George's amazing band "JAY" perform there and Marisa and I became friends when she was cocktail waitressing there several years ago. She is also a beautiful actress/model and most importantly, one of my best friends...and of course, my favorite make-up artist:) George and Marisa later met and began dating and I love that we have all remained such close friends over the years. I also think it's funny how The Cat Club has brought so many people together.

It was so nice to come back to some of my LA peeps already in town. It was a godsend to have them in Dublin upon my return as I was feeling a bit nervous to return due to my recent health scare and as I entered the door of my apartment, they had already stocked my fridge with food from the local Superquinn and even put pretty yellow daisies in the window sill. What a wonderful way to come back to Dublin:)

So I pretty much threw down my suitcases, didn't even unpack and let the adventure began. We spent the first day in Dublin doing fun touristy things that I hadn't even seen yet. We visited the Guinness Storehouse where at the end of the tour, every guest gets a free pint of Guinness. What I didn't know was how beautiful the view was from the top of the factory. The glass windows of the top of the circular building show quite an impressive view over the city. We then took a walk down to the Christ Church Cathedral and decided not to enter when we realized they were actually charging an entry fee to enter the church which neither I or Marisa had ever heard of. We eventually headed back to the Dart and into Blackrock for a night of R&R as I was still jet lagged from the long trip from LA.

The next day we decided to take a road trip to the quaint town of Kilkenny where we roamed the streets sight seeing and taking in the beauty of the town. We had lunch in a pub, took a tour of the Kilkenny Castle and learned of the history of the Butler family who owned the castle until the early 1900's. We also saw a nice modern art exhibition in the basement and had fun taking pictures Charlie's Angel style in the shadow of the visual exhibition. We then strolled through High Street and took a tour of the St. Canice's Cathedral (we decided it was worth paying to see this one) where not only were the stained glass windows breathtaking, but you can climb a tower and see views of the entire city. George and I then hit a local Kilkenny pub for a pint of Smithwick's and a chat with the locals while Marisa headed to the Black Abbey. We met a hilarious man wearing a bright green cowboy hat who was performing that evening who did a solo performance for us before heading back to Dublin.

Marisa and George did a tour of the Ring of Kerry on Friday while I worked and then after much debate over what we should plan for the weekend (Galway, Dublin and the Roscommon Festival were all possibilities), we decided to do a walking tour of Dublin on Saturday. We started with lunch, and then signed up for a walking tour where we toured Trinity College, learned about the Vikings invasion of Dublin in the late 8th century, visited the City Hall (originally built as the Royal Exchange) and the Bank of Ireland which was the first parliament house in Europe and then headed into Temple Bar lined with cobblestone streets which hosts a variety of pubs, shops and my favorite, the Irish Film Institute.

After all of the cultural stimulation of the walking tour, we decided to find some art and music in the city so we headed to 4 Dame Lane where they were hosting a painting exhibit for a pint. We then pub crawled down Aungier Street to find live music and eventually landed at the Crawdaddy in the Tripod for live rock and roll music mixed with DJ rooms for dancing. It was an all nighter and so much fun:)

Sunday we chilled and headed to Dun Laighoire for a traditional Irish lunch in a pub and took the train to Dalkey for a bit of site seeing. We then headed back to Blackrock for dessert at Sheehan's. Their chocolate cake is amazing!

Unfortunately, George and Marisa had to return to LA on Monday morning and after a crazy adventure of flights, rented cars, etc. finally made it back to LA about 30 hours later. Another reason that I love the direct Aer Lingus 10 hour flight from Dublin to LA.

It was a fabulous week and I was so happy to have them in town when I arrived back in Dublin to continue the adventure.

       

       

Back in the Land of Liquid Sunshine:)

I have lately been a bad blogger, I will be the first to admit it. There are few reasons for this. One, blogging can be bullshit. I can write to my friends and family and keep them posted on the adventures of my travels, but the really juicy stuff will never be written on my blog because so many strangers have access to my blog and I would never publicly post this stuff for the public to read. Why? Because some things are better kept private. Two, I have journalled for most of my life, but the most intimate feelings and emotions that are tied with good journalling will never get full effect in a blog without exposing your innermost feelings...again I would not do this in a public forum unless it was something I was willing to share with everyone. Most things I am not willing to do this with. That said, it is fun to share the experience of travelling to a new country and the idiosyncricies that go with that in a forum that can be accessable to the public as well...as long as it is in edited version with tact and respect to not offend the people involved or expose situations which could be sensitive or harmful to those involved.

All that said, here is what has been going on with me. I am back in the land of the liquid sunshine, formally known as Dublin, Ireland. I say that because apparently this has been the worst weather seen here in 50 something odd years. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights when Noah built his ark...Ireland has seen more consecutive days of rain than that and this is supposed to be summer. Maybe the world is trying to tell us something and we are just not paying attention...hmmmm...there's a thought.

The liquid sunshine of Ireland has made people here very bitter. It is the worst case of SADS that I have ever in my life witnessed. Granted I lived a very LUCKY life to be raised in sunny California where SADS was something I read about in my college psych books but had no true concept of what that meant, but the reality is that SADS does exist, in states such as Washington and countries such as Canada, Ireland, etc. where people experience long lengths of darkness creating a lack of Vitamin D from the sun and has proven itself to be taking its toll on a good majority of the population here.

This has only had relevance in my life because of the extreme resentment received from a select few of those around me (to remain nameless) who have made it very apparent when I returned that they are very pissed off that I was in LA during this miserable weather, completely ignoring and dismissing the fact that I was extremely ill, could have died from the misdiagnoses I received while trying to get medical care here and required extensive medical treatment to diagnose and resolve my medical issues in LA, not to mention the extreme amounts of debt accumulated to get proper medical care. And the only thing I can really equate that to is that they are jealous that I was in LA where it was SUNNY and not in Dublin where it was RAINING. Seriously??? Are you kidding me? Who does that? I have found this behavior and attitude to be selfish, childish and honestly shows the lack of content in those people's character but all that said, the most interesting thing about being back in Ireland is that I really haven't cared.

It hasn't bothered me for one second that it has been raining here. It hasn't bothered me that there are some people who are ignorant here. It hasn't bothered me to not be in LA, which everyone knows I consider home. So the big news is that I am actually happy to be back. I am grateful to have found such a great doctor in LA who finally found out what was actually wrong and put me back on the path to recovery. I am grateful that they caught the infections and treated them before it was too late. I am grateful that I was able to do so with the support of my friends and family. I am grateful that there were people in my life who stepped up to the plate and truly helped me during the biggest time of need I have ever had. I am grateful that the people who were in my life who were not willing to step up to the plate when I needed them made themselves apparent as well and dismissed themselves.

My perspective has truly changed on so many things that it is amazing. I think that I was actually sick for much longer than it took to become hospitalized. I think that my body was fighting illness for at least 3 or 4 months before it got to the point that my immune system was no longer fighting back and the infection completely took over. I think that being sick for so long and fighting that infection really affected my mood, my behavior and my attitude in a negative way. I feel aweful that this had a detrimental effect on some of my relationships and that people had to be patient with me when I was feeling "off" and "irritable" and had no idea why. I am so grateful that I have enough good people in my life that they were willing to help me through and hold my hand through it when to be honest there were times that I was frankly miserable to be around.

I am still on medication to treat the infections. I still have days of intense pain. I try not to let it show, because I am sure that everyone is as SICK of hearing about it as I am sick of feeling it and sick of talking about it too. But I also have some days with little pain and because my health has improved so has my attitude and my perpective. I can no longer allow circumstances and events surrounding me to have such an effect on me as they once did because it actually effects me physically. I have no choice but to be less sensitive to others and to only allow people and situations in my life that are positive and encouraging. The negative energy that gossip and negative behavior can create can actually create ulcers or make them worse so I have no choice but to change the energy around me and in me if I want to heal and get better.

That said, because the medicines and the mandatory changes to my diet(no spicy food, no acidic food etc. etc.) have already started working, I am feeling more energized than I have been in months. Mentally at least. I am still sleeping alot, almost 12 hours a day, but I know that very soon, I will physically catch up with myself and be able to have longer days of productivity. For now, I am happy if I can make it to work for an entire day before crashing in the evening early. I am hoping by next week to have enough energy to make it back to the gym. I have a list of goals that I want to start crossing of the checklist one by one and have slowly started to work on those as well. And slowly but surely, the sun is actually coming out of hiding, even if does still have moments of liquid mixed in.

The Wedding!

So one of my best friend's finally gave up her single status and tied the knot last weekend. For someone who I know would have been equally happy getting married at the local city hall, it was the most amazingly detailed, fabulous wedding I have ever attended. The week of events started the previous weekend when 8 girls headed to Las Vegas for the bachelorette weekend and as we all know, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but the sharable highlights included suites at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay, a "Like a Virgin" themed night out(very big hit), the amazing views during dinner at MIX at the top of The Hotel, cabanas at the pool, an all night dance fest with VIP tables at Tryst and afterhours at Dre's, a bit of gambling, etc. etc.

The official wedding festivities started on Friday night with the rehearsal and over 100 family and friends were invited to a private party at Morton's in Beverly Hills for the rehearsal dinner. The wine was flowing, the food was fabulous and the desserts were mouth-watering delectable. After dinner, I headed to Venice to meet Alex, Rasmus, Mike and Andreas and hit James Beach and Viceroy for an unexpectadly very long night out.

The next morning, after virtually no sleep, I dragged myself to CJ at 9am for hair, raced to the hotel by noon for makeup by the always wonderful Marisa and her friend Diedre and around 3pm the entourage of help had arrived. There were more people in the room taking pictures and assisting with different tasks than I have ever seen or could have imagined. It was a bit overwhelming to see the crews of cameras and videographers, dressors, make-up artists, hair dressor, etc. etc. as we were putting the final touches of our dresses together and as Karen was dressed in her gown and preparing for her big day. We had an amazing suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The bathroom alone was bigger than my bedroom in Dublin. No detail was spared, there was even a fabulous girl who whenever you said, "I need or I forgot" seemed to be prepared with anything you could possibly need or imagine. Karen looked more amazing than I have ever seen her, and she is always beautiful but this was breathe-taking. All of the bridesmaids looked beautiful as well in the floor-lengthed cream dresses with black sash to floor and black strappy heels. The men were in tuxes with gorgeous silver silk ties and everyone looked fabulous as we were finally getting to see all of the extensive planning come together.

Pictures began around 3pm and we then had a break for a little bit in the hotel bar at which time we had a chance to touch up and rest and run into some of the fabulous celebrities of Hollywood including P Diddy staying in the suite opposite Karen's.

The official signing of the Katuba was around 6pm. There were appetizers and drinks included. Meanwhile, the guests were beginning to arrive for 7pm appetizers and drinks in a separate banquet room downstairs. The room was beginning to fill with approximately 400 guests and we were able to go down and mingle for a bit and see the amazing ball gowns of the women, the fabulous tuxes and suits of the men. Everyone was dressed beautifully.

Then came the official ceremony at around 8:30pm. We had to wait until sundown to begin as it was a jewish wedding. As we walked down the isle surrounded by hundreds of Matt and Karen's family and friends, I realized that since I'd been in our very fabulous 4 inch heels for about 6 hours by this point, my feet were becoming unbearably sore. By the time I got to the front, I realized my feet on the stone had officially decided to transition into the nausiating feeling of razerblades through the balls of my feet. I have never felt anything like this in my life and can usually handle myself well in heels of all sizes...but this was something different, so I took deep breaths, smiled and tried not to throw up or pass out as I was supposed to be standing for the bride not literally falling for her. I tried my hardest to concetrate while moving my feet to a small patch of grass to the right of my feet to releave some of the pressure, thinking, "Am I the only one who is feeling this?" The rabbi was a great speaker, they had a beautiful voiced singer and the ceremony lasted about 30 minutes, ending with the breaking of the glass...this is it, Karen and Matt were officially married. As I walked back down the isle with David, a groomsman, I was whispering slower, slower because I still felt like my feet were going to give out on me. It turned out that all of the bridesmaids were all feeling the same pain. Virginia, Laura and I literally collapsed into the cushy chairs in the outside of the reception area and stayed there with our feet up in the air for 30 minutes as the guests entered the reception.

As soon as we walked into the reception area and my shoes were replaced with very hidden flip-flops under our floor length dresses, my breathe was literally taken away as I was able to absorbe the details of the room and by the amazing arrangements of flowers throughout the room. No detail again had been spared. There was even floating roses in the center of the room surrounding the dance floor. It was like walking into a fairy tale. There was an ice-sculptured martini bar with Karen and Matt's initials engraved into it, where the bartender would pour the martini requested through the ice sculpture and into the glass. There was a cigar roller, a 5 course meal, an amazing band that was incredibly versatile and everyone seemed to be having an amazing time.

Matt and Karen had choreographed their first dance and I had no idea what to expect and had been teasing her about just looking into his eyes dreamily for the first dance and everything would be fine...so when they were introduced and walked onto the dance floor, I was amazed to see that they were actually looking like the fairy-tale couple floating on the dance floor, dancing and spinning around the room. It was one of the most adorable things I have ever seen.

The toasts were heartfelt and hilarious, the kindest, funniest and truest words were spoken about Karen and Matt's relationship. The dancing was so much fun and the band played a huge variety of great music. I even got the pleasure of swing dancing with one of Matt's guests.

It was an honour to be a part of. I can't even describe how happy I am that the two of them found each other and were able to have such a memorable day to celebrate their union to each other. I was truly proud to be a bridesmaid in their wedding as I adore them both so much. And nothing I write will ever be able to truly capture what an amazing day it really was.

But the party didn't stop there...there was a brunch the next morning at Matt's parents house. It was equally fabulous with a coffee bar, omelette bar, variety of meats and cheeses and fruits and breads, etc. etc. They have amazing rose gardens and an equally impressive herb garden. I really hope one day to have a fresh herb garden to pick out fresh herbs and vegetables for cooking so this really impressed me.

And now they are off on their honeymoon in Italy and France and I am kitty-sitting their very-devilish cat until I return to Dublin next week. It was truly a most fabulous occasion and I wish I could describe it with the justice it deserves but this will have to do.