HI

OK...I know I suck because I have not posted in a long time. Eventhough on I made this whole declaration that I am back on my last post. SORRY!

I have been supper busy! As most of you already know, I started my MBA in January and I have been going non-stop. I took a full load of classes during the Spring and Summer semesters and my Fall classes already started. I am so tired but I still have a long way to go.

And for those of you who keep asking me about a baby...it's not going to happen for a long time. I have so many things going on in my life right now that.

What you ask?

Well I am volunteering at a women's shelter and an organization that is in charge of foreign exchange students. So far I am the area representative for a German girl and a Japanese boy. I can't wait to meet them. I am also supper busy at work because we are finishing up our study. We need to recruit 200 participants by February of 2011.

Any who...I don't want to make any promises but I am going to try really hard to post more often.

later!

I'm Back

Ok...So I have had a lot (well, maybe just a few) of people ask me why I have not posted anything on my blog. To tell you the truth, I have been so busy that I did not have the time or energy to blog. Now that I have found my groove with work and school, I have decided to get back on the horse (is that how you say it?) Any who...I have busy with work and school and trying to adjust to my new home. To tell you the truth, I miss driving to work and living around trees. I now ride the rail to and from school and because we sold my car, I am stuck at home until my husband gets home. Part of me misses my car, listening to music while driving to work, and the feeling of freedom. Either way, I like my new place and need to buy stuff for my new home. Wish me luck.

Let's see...my friends have made fun of me for all the trash tv I watch. Every single "Housewives" show, 16 and pregnant, Ru'Pauls Drag Race, Basketball wives, and I am sure there are more. My friend just had her second baby, Sophia Elizabeth. I am almost done with my first semester of my MBA and will take summer school this year. I have considered liposuction (not really, but I dream about it). Oh, yes, I had a dream where I was pregnant. From what I hear that means there is a new beginning. I hope that manifest itself into a new, higher paying job. Wish me luck!!!! Well, that's it for now, I have to get back to my school work, but stay tuned for more.

Apartment Update

So, where do I begin? We have finally gotten our place into a more livable state. You can actually walk around our apartment without the fear of steping on something, or triping on something, or having to walk through a maze.

We went to Ikea this weekend and got a new light fixture to replace a really crappy one in the kitchen. We also got some organizer trays, these set of cool candle sticks, a wine glass rack, and a whole lot of other stuff. Ikea was a madhouse! For those of you who are not privy to the Ikea world (my husband worked there for 5 years), Ikea changed management a few years back. You can totally tell, too. There were several, I would say about 7 display centers, under construction and things were not running as smoothly as they used to. It was crazy! I never want to go back again. Any who...

We went to go eat at this restaurant called Gravitas on Taft and Allen Parkway. It was pretty good! Well, except for the brownie, they need to work on that. The hostess was a total flake. She had this bleached blond hair that totally washed her out instead of making her look sexy and she was dumber than dirt. She even confessed to us that she had no clue what was going on. LOL. The bar had this cool DJ playing house music for everyone to enjoy. I had the lamb with fries and my husband had the Cordon Bleu cCicken and both dishes were to die for! Then we went back home and watched the movie "Monster." Wow, talk about your sad depressing movie!

"Monster" is about this woman serial killer down in Florida. She would kill her "Johns" for money. Well, the first time she killed was because he brutally raped her and she managed to escape and shoot him to death, only to find out later that he was planing on killing her! After that she just kept killing them. Despite that, you still manage to feel sad for the girl.

So we have been eating out for every meal since we moved, and it was not until yesterday that I was able to go grocery shopping. Thank you Jesus, WE HAVE FOOD!!! I was able to cook myself breakfast this morning and have a salad for lunch. Thank you very much.

I would like to thank my loving husband for making some chocolate covered strawberries and giving me the most wonderful card! THANK YOU BABY!

Let's see, what else is going on. Oh, yeah. I was off today because of Presidents Day so I was able to explore downtown. I got up, cooked breakfast, and went down to Macy's for my makeup remover. Then I went to BCBG and Forever 21. I was disappointed with BCBG but I was able to buy 2 tees for $7 total. We'll see how long they last. Anyway, that's it. We are off to go buy a microwave and a computer. Later.

The Move

I would like to thank our friends Ivan and Kathy for helping us paint our entire apartment! I also want to thank my sister, Vicky, for helping us move. Their help was heaven sent.

So how was the move you ask?


Well...it was the most difficult move I have ever had. I should know about moving, I have moved A LOT! We had to prepare our new apartment for the movers. This included painting the walls with this great Grey color my husband created. I am not sure if I already told you about this, but we had chosen this great Gray color. Unfortunately for us, the paint guy gave us the wrong color. So we had to lighten the color ourselves. To be honest, I really like the color we came up with. Any who, I had class on Saturday and we luckily were let our early. Right after I got out, my husband and I went straight to our old place to pack more boxes. We then headed to our new place and started painting. We painted from 4:00 pm to 12:30 am! We were so tired. Then we headed back to our old place because the movers were going to get there at 8:00 am.

So we wake up early, and by we I mean my husband, at 7:00 am to be prepared for the movers. Unfortunately for us, they were 2 hrs. late!!!! On top of that they were not really good. Some of our furniture has dings in it now. On top of that, one of the movers had the gall to hand my husband a business card, telling him that he was going to start his own moving business. Ha, yeah right! That is the last time we are using those guys.

I spend the rest of the night packing up our stuff and my husband worked on his midterm! I am so tired!! We still have boxes to unpack and finish painting. Our in-laws are coming over tonight to help us bring the last of our stuff. I can't wait until our new place feels like home.

Information

Hi ya'll. Some of you have asked questions about our new place. Well here it is:

1. We have concierge services (during the week: from 9:00am to midnight and 24 hrs service during the weekend)
2. Free laundry facilities on sight
3. Door to door dry cleaning service
4. Free guest parking (although it is limited)
5. Free parking for both of our cars!
6. Access to many great restaurants in our building
7. Basement pool
8. Free gym

Pretty cool, huh?

How is the Move Going?

It is going surprisingly well. Well, not really. The first night we spent the night, we slept on the floor. The second night, we were able to blow up our blow up mattress but it deflated throughout the night and we woke up on the floor! Last night we were able to find the small hole on the mattress and patch it up. It was not until last night that we got a good nights rest. Too bad it only lasted 6 hours!

Oh yeah, we also got the wrong color of paint for our walls. The color we chose it too dark. Now we are going to have to try and lighten the color ourselves. I am so tired right now! To top it all off, my sinuses are going crazy! I have this headache that I can't shake off. Unfortunately for me, all my medications are packed. LOL. So now I have to transfer my prescriptions to my new CVS. Ahhh - I hate this part of moving. Oh well.

I start my first class tomorrow! I am so not ready. I have not received my book yet. I will be the one girl in class that is not ready for the first day of class. :(

I get to attend school on Saturday from 9-5 then go home, finish painting, and move on Sunday. I need a break! Oh well...

Wish us luck.

Update: My book just arrived! Now I get to read all night long. I can't wait!!!!

First Day at Our New Place

Ok. So, since we did not have one more clean thing to wear, and our new place has free washers and dryers, we decided to spend the night. It was really, really interesting.

First of all, I was really happy that we did not have to leave our building just to wash our clothes. I can wheel our dirty laundry bin (which I stole from my sister, sorry sis, I owe you one) out of our apartment and walk a few feet, and there it is! You have no idea how happy that makes me.

Second of all, it was strange to sleep in a new and strange place, even though it's our own. It did not help that we had to sleep on the floor and on HARD wood floors at that.

Oh yeah. So my husband and I went out to dinner and decided to stop by Target to buy this air pump to blow some air into our air mattress. We have one already but it's a the car charger kind and not the regular wall plug kind. I was fine with driving to the top of the parking garage, blowing up our mattress and taking the freight elevator to our new place. I have a feeling that my husband was a little embarrassed by that idea, because he decided to buy a pump we could plug in the wall instead. So we headed off to Target to buy a pump, then went back to our "old" place and packed what we needed for the night (including our dirty laundry). We get there, we get the bell hop, lug all of our stuff to our "new" place and found out that the pump required batteries!!! On top of that, we had forgotten the laundry detergent. So we get back into the car and headed to our new neighborhood Kroger's/Randall's, I can't remember which. By the time we got home it was 10 pm and I still needed to do laundry. By the time it was all said and done it was 1 am before I got to go to sleep. Oh yeah. For some reason, our bathroom has a window in it. Well, we did not bring with us our shower curtain (we figured that we would be ok without it for one night) but we failed to realise that without one, our neighbors would get to know us in the most intimate of ways. Luckily for us, I brought over my house robe. We were able to open the small bathroom window, hang my robe over the open window, and take a hot shower with cold wind blowing in.

I will tell you one great thing about our night/day at our new place: the rail is right next to where we live!!!! It was AMAZING getting to work today.

I AM LOVING IT ALREADY!

Sewing School Drop Out!

So. In light of what has transpired over the last week, I have decided to drop my sewing class. I am so sad! Just to fill you in:

1. Last Tuesday, the first day of my sewing class, my instructor did not show up for class
2. She called me and left me a message with her email address so I could send her an email and so that she could respond with the syllabus
3. I emailed her that same day (Wednesday) and did not get a response
4. I found out my friend, Beth had already received the email so I decided to call her on Thursday
5. She told me that she would email me that information right away and not to call her again - to email her instead (oh yeah, she also told me her husband had had a heart attack)
6. I waited around for her email (that never came)
7. I emailed her again
8. Still waiting for a response

Since I am starting my MBA program this week and we are moving, I have decided to not continue with this class. I figure that I will have my hands full with everything that I will not be able to tackle an absentee instructor. If she had her stuff together it would make it easier for me to juggle everything else, but since she does NOT, I have decided to wait until next semester. I feel really bad that she is having to go through this, but maybe she should consider taking some time off and let someone else take over.

I will wait until next semester to take this class :(

Day 8

...Off to the Airport. I was dreading getting back on a plane. This was right after that guy who tried to blow up the airplane by setting the explosive off on his crotch. What an idiot! Any who, I knew this meant we were going to go through extra security, which meant we had to get to the airport a lot earlier than usual. So we get there and go the "normal" security and I though "that was not that bad." As we are walking through the airport, I notice that it looks more like a mall. They had really cool stores and traditional style pubs! So we are looking for our terminal and we would not fine it. Our terminal was something like, terminal 12, but there was not terminal 12, right. Finally with the help from someone who worked there. Well, as it turns out, we could not find terminal 12 because it was down some stairs past immigration. This terminal looked like crap! Nothing like the other terminals headed to other parts of the world. LOL. As we are boarding we are told that we have to go through a more rigorous screening because we were flying to America. All passengers were placed in tow lines, men and women. My husband and I each took a bag and got into our lines. The lady who searched me was totally cool and nice so overall my experience was pleasant. My husband was searched by another man who then proceeded to take out my bag of tampons and question my husband on the contents of the bag, in front of everyone! My husband then replied with "You don't know what those are? They are my tampons, my wife and I shared a bag". Needless to say his search ended rather fast after that. So we board the plane and endured a 9 hr flight.



We arrived at Chicago and headed for our hotel: The Palmer House. OMG! Loved it!...

Lease

Hi ya'll. Today is the day we sign the lease! I am so excited. This weekend we managed to pack a lot of our stuff and picked out two shades of grey we would like to paint our new place. Today we are going to sign our lease and try out the two shades on the wall and determine a winner. Last night, while I was packing our dishes, I found wedding gifts we had not had an opportunity to use. I can't wait to use them!!! What are they you ask? Well, a fondue set, salad dishes and a few more other things. I can't wait!!! And yes, that does mean I am going to cook. LOL. We also found a new restaurant down the street from our new place that we are so ready to try it out. We are supposed to have a few friends over this weekend to help us paint, so hopefully all the painting will be done by Sunday. The movers are scheduled for Sunday 8:00 am. They are going to move all the furniture and some of the bigger boxed. I don't, however, trust them move some of the kitchen boxed. I am afraid that they will break all the "new" dishes I just found. My poor husband is trying to convince me to let them take these three small boxes with very fragile dishes but I can't bring myself to let them move them. Oh well.



We were also very disappointed because I had found this great chandelier online. When we went to the store to check it out in person, we found out that it was a piece a crap! So, my husband and I have decided to try and make one of our own. This is not a traditional chandelier, this is supposed to be a very modern and less expensive than the $300 the other one was priced. I am not sure how this is going to turn out or what it will look like, but I will make sure to keep you updated. LOL!

Sewing Class

So, today was my first day of sewing class. Actually it is my Pattern Making class. Unfortunately or fortunately (whoever you want look at it), my instructor did not show up. We were supposed to start class at 5:00 pm and end at 10:00 pm but at around 6 the teachers had not shown up so we all decided to leave. I hope the instructor is ok.

I did get a chance to meet some of my new classmates. Beth, who is a friend of mine, is in the class (and I am so glad she is). Blair, a girl who lives in my neighborhood, who is trying to quit smoking, and seems pretty cool. This older lady who is from Australia but has a British accent, and totally talks way too much. Joe-se, no, not Jose but Joe-se (nuf said). And some other people I did not get a chance to meet. I hope the instructor shows up next week. Oh well. Later

Painting Update

We are almost done painting our "old" apartment. We only have the 1/2 the wall behind our television and 1/2 the wall behind our bed. We ran out of paint so we have to buy some tomorrow and move the TV and bed. If feels so strange! Our walls are white and it feels like it does not have any character. We should be done painting and packing by the end of this week. Our goal is to get this place ready by next week because that's when we get our keys to our new apartment. That means that we will start painting our new place next Monday, hopefully with the help of some very awesome friends, wink. I can't wait to get out of here now. I can't live surrounded by white walls. Any who...I will keep you updated. Later

Day 7

This was our last full day in Dublin and it was bitter sweet. We decided to hit the last spots on our map that we had not had a chance to visit. First off was the hospital, which in the museum of fine arts. This was the first modern hospital which looks nothing like the hospitals we have now. Unfortunately for us, it was closed (enter sad face here). So we decided to enjoy the garden right next door, which was frozen over. LOL. Either way it was amazing.

Look familiar? If you don't recognize it, then you need to visit Herman Park.

Next, we headed over to the first modern prison ever built. Prior to the building of this prison, prisoners where all locked together in a cell. This included women, the elderly, children, and men. In order for these prisoners to get closer to God and think about their crimes (instead of lounging around with other criminals) a prison was built where every prisoner would get his or her own cell. Unfortunately, due to over crowding, those single cells were quickly filled with more than one person. One of the many cools items that were displayed was the log book with each prisoners name and offence. Just about every offence was either pick pocketing, steeling food, or attempting to commit either offence. The youngest person to ever get locked up was an 8 year old child. Offense: stealing food. Aside from being a prison,this was also a place were public and private executions took place. While some prisoners were executed via a firing squad, some where publicly hung for all of Dublin to see. It is said that people would travel from all over Ireland just to partake in this "pass time". If fact, some of the executed are buried on the prison grounds.

Next, we decided to visit St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was an amazing place! This is definitely worth visiting. It has a very cold and old feel as opposed to some of the "newer" churches which are lighter and have a more welcoming feel.

Flags so old they are falling apart!

Afterwards we headed back to the center of town to have our "last dinner" in Dublin. We had Thai food. Yes Thai! It was so good! Delish. Believe it or not, it was difficult to find authentic Irish food in Dublin. There are a lot of foreign restaurants with a lot of foreigners working there. I bring this up because it is next to impossible to get a work visa in Europe. Any who...afterwards we headed to the Ferryman. The Ferryman was a bar right down the street from our hotel. And this is how we spent our 7Th and last day in Dublin...

Golden Globes

Did anyone watch the Golden Globes this year? I did! My friend, Laura, come over and we had a really good time. We ate Subway and pigged out on ice cream all while watching awards ceremony. Usually I fall in love with about 1/3 of the dresses on the red carpet but this time I really only liked 2.

Penelope Cruz

Kate Hudson

My friend did not like Kate Hudson's dress, she said she looked like the figurine on a wedding cake. LOL

Saturday

This was one crazy day/night. We woke up kinda late because we were so tired. As soon as we woke up, we headed out to buy some paint and buy more painting supplies we needed. We hurried home and began to paint our "old" apartment. Unfortunately we did not get very far because we had to go out and celebrate not only my husbands birthday but our friends, Ivan and Ruben. We all met at the Yard House in the newly built up area of Town and Country. The food is really good but it's become so popular that it was super busy and loud. Eitherway we had a good time with our friends. Afterwards we headed to the Monalisa right next door which is the in the new Sorella hotel. Unfortunately we had to leave because it was so packed we could not even get a drink. We headed off to Absinthe were we were able to find a little room where we hung out the entire night. Ivan has the G1 phone from TMobile and they have this really cool application that lets you know which song you are listening to. Needless to say we made it into a drinking game. Whoever named the song and or artist made everyone else drink. I really did not get drunk but stuffed because I was drinking Shiner Bock the entire time! We were there until we got kicked out by the bar staff. So we get home and decided to watch a Lost episode. Unfortunately for me, I had nightmares the entire night! It was horrible. It is either the fact that I was beyond stuffed or our place smells like paint, or both! Anyway, that was our Saturday.

Yesturday

My husbands birthday was a success! So this is what I did:

• I got off work early



• Purchased some balloons and silly string



• Got dinner for two



• Made sure to buy his favorite beer - Shiner



• Got some Tiramisu for his cake

After running around town trying to get everything I needed for this surprise, I finally arrived home. I took a quick shower and primped myself for my handsome husband! So he gets home and i surprise him by spraying him with silly string. I thought he would totally love it and fine it funny. I mean he is a very easy going guy and has a great sense of humor. Plus he loves jocking around. So as soon as I spray him, he gets this look on his face like WTF! I just assumed he was surprised and in shock but something told me that I should stop spraying him. He told me he liked it but something told me he was lying. Ok. So after the whole silly string, I got him a beer and told him to open his present, which was attached to the balloons. So what did I get him? Acqua di Gio. Let me tell you, it smells devine! I absolutely love that smell. I know for a fact, he liked that surprise. LOL. That was quickly followed by our dinner and great Tiramisu and a nap!!! Overall - I would say it was a great success!

Moving

I am not sure why I am a little sad about moving. I mean, our water pressure is the worst. We have had to take buckets of warm water to the bathtub because there was no water pressure in the shower. The property manager is this trashy lady who smokes in the office. It seams like she is always getting a new assistant. Can you blame them? We can hear all the car accidents that occur on highway 59 and there is always some construction going on around us. But, besides all these reasons I just mentioned, I feel a little sad about the move. I am not sure if it's because this was our first place. Sure we lived together before we got married, but I moved into my husbands apartment, this was our first place together. We are gradually painting our apartment and so far we have most of the living room done and the office completely painted. It is starting to look so drab. Who likes white walls? I don't! This does not really feel like our apartment anymore, but I guess this is just part of the transition process.

Armani

So, I decided to try out the make-up everyone keeps raving about. Armani Luminous Silk foundation and powder. To tell you the truth, I really like it. Now, is it worth $58 for the base $48 for the pressed powder? Not sure, but I definitely know that it beats everything else I have tried. Here are the highlights:

1. It's light, yet it has amazing coverage


2. It matches perfectly with my skin tone, or at least the closest I have ever gotten


3. It's very silky


4. It feels good

The draw backs:

1. You can only buy it a Neiman Marcus or on line


2. Neiman Marcus only takes checks or their credit card!

So will I buy it again when I run out of make-up? Probably, unless I decide to try out something new.

Day 6

...We were able to get away from the hustle and bustle of Dublin and escape to Howth. Howth is about 30 minutes (by train) north of Dublin. As soon as we got off the train platform and on to the streets of Howth, we realised that it was a very special place, despite the freezing temperatures.

The first thing we did was to eat breakfast, and let me tell you, it was delicious!!!

Then we walked around the town and managed to get to the light house.

After freezing our butts off, we decided to head back to Dublin and try our luck with the Jameson distillery. Now, I write "try our luck" because everything was closed during the holiday. To our surprise, we managed to get there right on time and for the last tour. I am not a big whiskey fan, but I really enjoyed the tour. First they show you a video about how Jameson came to be and the creator of the whiskey. Then, the tour guide walks you around and shows you how the whiskey is made now and why Jameson is the "best" whiskey around. At the end of the tour people are selected to taste test 3 different whiskeys. Of course just about everyone chose Jameson.

I would say this day was a success! What do you think?...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

I want to wish my husband a great birthday! He is 32 today!

I love you baby!

School

I am going back to school next Tuesday and I am not sure how I feel about it. Since this is an Executive MBA program, our classes are scheduled a little different than your ordinary higher learning schedule. We can take up to 3 classes per semester, but instead of the classes lasting the entire semester, they only last a few weeks. Having said that, my first class is Business Ethics. I am a little worried though because my professor has not yet added me to the blackboard. The blackboard is the system that all our interactions go through. Since I am new to this whole online school system, I will have to get back to you on how it actually works. Either way, I feel lost in this whole system. I hope I can make sense of it all and somehow get through this first week. Wish me luck!

Psss

It's my husbands birthday tomorrow!

AHHHHHHHHHHHH

I have not posted anything in a while because I have been so busy. Not only are we painting our old apartment back to boring white, but I am getting ready to start my MBA and sewing classes next Tuesday! On top of that, I am trying to get all of my financial aid squared away. Oh yeah, and it turns out that my dentist needs to go back into my mouth and fix some sh*t he messed up! Wish me luck ya'll. I am blogged (LOL) down with all this AND work. I promise I will finish telling you all about our trip to Dublin, Soon.

Day 5

...Believe it or not, most of Dublin was still on vacation. So, we decided to take this time to shop for our families gifts and catch the famouse Gaiety theatre production of Jack and the Beanstock.

That was so much fun! First of all, the theatre is so beautiful and small, you felt like you were in the middle of the story. Second, it was an interactive theatre experience, so everyone in the audience was yelling back at the characters and having a blast. Third of all, I fell in love with this song by Girls Aloud:

I know, it's totally cheesy, but I love it!!!

Day 4

...What did we do, you ask. Well, we did absolutely NOTHING! I take that back. We drank coffee with Baily's, ate the food we had purchased the day before (and stored on by the windo to keep it cool), and watched this lovely movie set in Dublin!

Once





Since we were traveling for Christmas, my husband and I exchanged our Christmas gift before we left. He got me what I have been wanting for a long time. The Nikon D90 Camera!!!







I got my husband 12 recording sessions in the studio.

We were both very happy!

NEWS!

My husband and I are moving to downtown Houston! We are scheduled to move at the end of this month. Wish us luck!

Day 3, Christmas Eve

...Getting up that day was difficult, but somehow we managed to drag our butts out of bed. Our first mission was to buy groceries for the following day, since everything (and I mean everyting) was going to be closed. Since it was Christmas Eve and we thought everything was going to be closed, we decided to hit the 2 major parks in the city. This gave us the opportunity to see the other part of the city that we would otherwise not visit.

The pond if covered in ice not trash, by the way.

Unbeknownst to us, the city was full with excitement and last minute shopping. It was like the entire city of Dublin was out and about. I was really tempted to shop!!!! Instead I settled for promenading through the cobbled streets.

I love how they decorate their display windows.

We were able to find a great cafe where we had a really good cup of coco and a delicious croissant. We met a lady from the Bronx that had been living Dublin for 15 years with her husband. We would not have been able to tell she was from the US if it was not for the fact that she told us herself. She had lived there for so long, she now had an Irish accent.



For dinner we were able to slip into a Thai restaurant. It was delish! I felt a little out of place, because everyone was dressed to impress and I was dressed for comfort. Either way, we had an amazing time. After that, I was pooped! We went straight to the hotel, dropped off our stuff in the room, and headed straight for the lobby bar...

On a Side Note

Remember how I bitched out Houston for being the only city that has a rail system that operates on the honer system...well I was wrong. Dublin has 2 of them...LOL!

Day 2

...So we got up, got ready and headed to the Guinness Brewery! Now, I am not a fan of Guinness but I just had to go check it out and I am glad we did. First off, we found out that Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease! Yup, 9,000 year lease imagine trying to break that contract? It is a self guided tour spanning something like 10 floors.

I like the fact that the tour is designed to take you on a journey and explain every process of making Guinness

On the very top floor, which is the highest point in Dublin, is the bar.

Every customer gets a free Guinness beer which you can enjoy at the bar with a 360 degree view of the city.




They also have someone to teach you how to pour a Guinness beer, there is a correct way, believe it or not. Overall, I would say that the Guinness Brewery is well worth the price.



Next, we headed off to the Temple bar area to enjoy a beer, or two, or three...well you get the picture...

Thanks!

I want to thank my sister and brother-in-law for giving us one of their extra Rummykube board games. Maybe we can have a game night sometime soon? Also, thanks for that great dinner! I really enjoyed watching "Confessions of A Shopaholic" with you Vicky.

Mom and Dad - we enjoyed visiting with you today! Mom thanks for lunch! Like always, it was delish!

Love ya'll

Maldron Hotel Cardiff Lane

http://www.maldronhotels.com/

Our hotel was in a new section of Dublin. Although the hotel states that it's a 4 star hotel, I disagree. We reserved our hotel through http://www.orbitz.com/ by stating our price. They have this cool option where you state how much you are willing to pay a night, the area you want to be in, and how many stars you want your hotel to be. If a hotel meets those specifications your credit card gets charged, if there are no takers then you don't get charged and you move on. Well...back to the Maldron, it was not all that. It was a nice place to stay, clean, and a friendly staff but I would not stay there again for the following reasons:

• When we first arrived the shower curtain had horrible smell
• Our king sized bed was 2 twin sized beds pushed together
• The hotel restaurant was closed for Christmas and the only thing we were given was old chocolate (We had to go out to buy food and store it in our room, using our window as a fridge)

• Something in the room stirred up our allergies
• Since we went through Orbitz we had pre-paid for our hotel - when we got home we noticed a $500 on our credit card!!! (I am not worried because I am going to nip this problem in the butt)
  

Do I recommend this hotel: NO! Despite our hotel though, We loved Ireland.

We're Back!!! Dublin Day 1

Hey, my husband and I are finally back from our trip to Dublin and Chicago. We had such a great time and can't wait to go on our next vacation. It is always so strange to leave for 2 weeks, visit a new places, create a travel routine and then return to your normal life. I am so not looking forward to returning to work tomorrow!

Luckily our trip to Europe went smoothly, although the ride over there was very long. We flew Aerlingus...Yes, Aerlingus! That plane was so old that the seats still had ashtrays built into them and the seats were butt sprung (if you don't know what that means, scroll to earlier blogs, I have already covered that topic). The food was disgusting! I know that all plane food is bad, but this was just terrible. Despite all that, we made it to Dublin in one piece.

It was so difficult to get adjusted to the time change that we had a very hard time sleeping through the night. Not to mention that I was sick right before we left for our trip. So, the first day we got there we took a nap, which is the wrong thing to do when you are trying to adjust to a new time, and then went out for dinner. I woke up only after 4 hours of sleep and could not get back to sleep to save my life. By the time we got up, the room service lady was waking us up to clean our room...