No Green Beer!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!
I hope you all made an effort to out and have at least one pint! I know I did!
But I am getting ahead of myself! I must start at the beginning because that is where all great stories begin.
My original plan was to leave work at 4:30pm and catch a bus at 5pm down to Cork...but you know plans and how they never seem to go the way you think! Of course we were CRAZY busy in the office and didn't end up leaving until after 5:30pm so I had to scramble down to the bus station in order to make the last bus out of town. Thank goodness the traffic was horrific causing everything to be late! I finally made it on the bus and settled in for the 4 hour journey south. Because of the traffic our bus was slow getting out of Galway and as a result were about 45 minutes late getting into Limerick, where we usually get a 20 minute bathroom break. Instead we only had about 5 minutes. I ran to the washroom, then ran across the road to get some change, grabbed some food out of the vending machine (I was SO hungry!), and then ran outside to get on the bus. And wasn't I surprised to see my bus pulling out of the parking lot...with all my stuff inside!!! I started to run after it, but clearly I was no match for a bus, so defeated, I returned to the station. When I approached the gentlemen that work for the bus company, there were extremely sweet. They calmed me down, and then called the driver to let him know I missed the bus. He pulled over at a roundabout and I was put in a company car and driven over. After appologizing profusely I was on my way again!
When I finally got to Cork around 11pm, Olivia picked me up and took me back to their place. We had some food and then just chilled out talking and drinking. Wasn't a late night though because the next morning was St. Paddy's day and we were heading to the parade.
Thank goodness the irish are drinkers and understand the benefit of a sleep-in! The parade didn't start until 1pm, and in irish time, much like Amanda time, that meant closer to 1:30. Luckily Alan, Olivia's hubby, was craving some Subway and we went to grab a sub. As the parade was starting we stood just outside of it and had the best view on the route! The parade was great! Everyone from town seemed to be a part of it! No floats, which was a little disapointing, but still so much fun!
After the parade, Olivia and I went and had a pint, or two, of Murphy's. Cork's version of Guiness. It was my first and I have to say that I quite enjoyed it! Especially the second pint because I tried it with black currant in it and it takes away a bit of the bitterness.
That night we went out to meet some of Olivia's friends Vera and Karen. We started at a pub called The Gables, then went to another bar where we thought there was going to be good music but it turned out to be a bit of a dump with some guy playing weird songs on his guitar. Needless to say, we had one drink and left. The last pub we went to wasn't too busy so we pretty much became the life of the party! SO fun! One of my favorite moments of the evening came when I checked my messages and found 2! One from Mom and another from Heidi, Terri, and Adam! They were SO unexpected that I kept playing them for people so they could see how amazing my family and friends are!
After drinking lots, Olivia and I headed home, woke up Alan, and then watched their wedding video...so much fun!
Saturday morning we slept in again and then went for a hike/job/bike up in one of the mountains. Alan went biking, Olivia went jogging, and I took Tyrone and we went for a hike. It was so beautiful and we barely saw anyone. Really nice after a night of drinking. The funniest part of the hike was that Tyrone likes to carry sticks with him, but is not happy having just any stick....he prefers to find the biggest fallen tree and try to drag it around. I had to be really careful because a few times he was running by with one and the branches would wack me in the legs.
Saturday night we went to see a Comedian named PJ Gallagher perform stand-up. SO hystarical! The MC was a guy names Michael Mee who was really good. He interacted a little with the audience, finding out where we were from, and making fun of his own last name. I told him I was from Toronto (because unfortunately I'm homeless so thought I'd go with somewhere people might have heard of rather than saying...well actually I don't know what I would say!) and he told me he was born in Kingston. I had to believe him because if he knows about he must be telling the truth and why would anyone lie about being born in Kingston?
The second guy was a bit of a loser, but then PJ came on and it was funny from the start! There was a drunk Aussie (I know...who would have thought) that would just randomly yell things out as though he were watching TV, and then sitting at the table beside us was a woman from Cork who kept making dirty comments. At one point PJ just told her to just come up on stage if she wanted to make the show all about her, so she picked up her stool and sat down right beside him. He was in shock. He barely made it through his routine because the audience was so roudy. I don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time!
Sunday was a quiet morning and then Olivia and Alan took me to the station where I caught my bus back to Galway.
It was a great Irish St. Patrick's day weekend, minus the green beer of course, and I am just SO glad that I could spend it down in Cork!
Not much going on over the next few weeks, so postings might thin out again for a while, but keep checking because you never know when I might add something!
PS Sunday night I was watching VH1's 100 teen celebraties (or something like that) and did you know that Cory Haim is Canadian? We really know how to produce them!