One Red Paperclip

So I was clearly hard at work today and I came across this blog, not as good as mine, but still worth a check! http://www.oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/ I assume everyone at home has already heard of, considering all the media coverage this guy has been getting, but I thought it was GREAT! So check it out if you need something to keep you busy for a while!
One sad note about it though, he referes to Guelph as the G-Dot...not the G-Spot, but I did try to set the record straight!

Another Island Adventure

Last weekend I decided to be adventurous again and head off for a weekend on my own. My destination was Inis Oirr (or Inisheer in english). Its the smallest of the Aran Islands, the largest is Inishmore that I visited with Aunt Gail. So this is the view of the islands from the ferry harbour. It is less than 3 Sqr km and there are around 250 people that live on it. I stayed in the only Hostel on the island, conveniently located right next to one of only two pubs on the island!



As a big part of the local tourism trade is horse and buggy rides, a lot of the locals have horses. This one lives in the islanders front yard...clearly the best way to keep the grass short! Daddy, can I have a pony? It'll save you time cutting the lawn so its actually an investment!




There is music every night in the pub. On friday these three guys came with their flute-type thing, a weird looking bag-pipe instrument, and an accordian. Some random tourist also had his guitar there so he played along too! So FUN! Unfortunately I drank 4 pints of Guiness on an empty stomach and got a little sick at 3am...SO worth it though!



No, this is not the toilet I got sick in, but I thought it was SO funny that the sink was in the stall beside the toilet...the first one I went into I thought was the disabled stall, but no, all 3 stalls had sinks! How lazy can you be! Of course I washed my hands while peeing, unfortunatly I forgot that I then had to wash them AGAIN after I was done! This idea is not without its flaws!


These are pictures of the island from the highest point on the islands, just 61m above sea level. It was a beautiful of course!






This is the Caislean Ui Bhriain and Dun Formna (translantion: O'Brien Castle and Formna Fort) on the island. It was a 3 story tower house built by the O'Brien family, who owned the Island until 1585 (hey Katie, maybe you should see if you still have some claim on this thing! Its a bit of a fixer-uper but how cool to own a castle!)




When the island was first inhabited the soil was so rocky that the locals had to pull up all the stones so that they could farm. Unfortunately the soil turned out to not be so great for agriculture but how beautiful are all the stone walls that zig zag all over the island! They were clearly forward thinkers!


You can't really tell, but that piece of land on the horizon is the Cliffs of More. That little speck in the lower right is the island's light house...I walked SO much...for like 5 hours...and I still didn't see the whole island! All those miles of stone walls really add up to a lot of walkways!





This is a picture of the Tobar Eanna (St. Enda's Holy Well). Apparently it has healing properties and if you see an eel it is a good omen...I didn't see one...I actually think that no one has ever seen one except after having a few pints at the pub!

On your mark, get set...

The first week in August is Race time in Galway. Its 7 days of horse racing, champagne, and partying in the streets...so fun! The girls and I all decided to get dressed up on Thursday night and head into town for the night. This is Orla and I in our hot outfits before we left the house.






This is our ride into town. That's Gwenda in the white jacket, its her car. You can't really see her, but Cliona is also in the car. We were really riding in style! I LOVED IT!
Its not illegal to drink in the streets in Europe and never was this as obvious as during the races! You could barely move in the streets they were so packed with partiers! The amazing thing is that although everyone is cramed together, there are no fights!
One thing that did amaze me though were all the girls dressed up in beautiful outfits and hats! I felt so posh!







Here are Gwenda (in the white), Cliona, and I drinking outside Naughteans (I will never be able to spell that!). We met so many funny people!








This is Paul (my employment agent) and Gwenda. It was all about the business contacts at the races!







Apparently this guys name is Mr Weasle...I have no idea what was up with the outfit or the stickers we was handing out but it he was french and histarical!







This is one of Cliona's sisters, Maeve. I got REALLY excited when she came in with a Tim Horton's coffee cup...probably a little too excited because apparently I started to screech and some guy got really pissy about it...but I told him to chill out...I was just excited to see something from home!



This is the line up for the taxis. The line was SO long...not really sure why I took this picture though!

High Class Dining

There is a hotel in Galway called the 'G' hotel...no, the G apparently doesn't stand for Galway, but rather for Gorgeous...weird I know! A few weeks ago our CEO Martin took Cliona and I out for lunch there and it was just so over the top that I had to share some pictures! To the left is a picture of the bathroom sinks. So beautiful...all black marble and gold frames. I didn't get a picture of the lobby desks, but each has a clear box on the top filled with Sworovski Crystals...Gorgeous!





Can you see why this is my favourite room? I love it! This is so what my living room is going to look like when I have my own place!






This is the bar area...Cliona and I went and had drinks here together one night. The bar actually has crystals in it as well...and at a cost of between €12 & €18 per cocktail I can see how they can afford them!




This is the room where we had lunch. Is all beiges and creams and very soothing. My favourite is a candid picture of Marilyn Monroe that one of her lovers took of her (apparently!). I also have to say that I love the floating balls! Don't get it but really cool!