The World's Worst...

Ha. So I am the world's worst at blogging! I really should have finished describing my trip to Scotland/ Ireland! It now all feels like a distant dream... *sigh*


Oh well! Randomness at it's finest, right? ;)


So, there's a LOT going on in my brain these days. I don't really have someone to "talk" to about it all so I'll just spout it all here and see if that helps me organize thoughts!


First off, I made a goal (NOT to be confused with resolutions which I always break!) to be nicer this year. Now, I'm not the meanest person I know. But I could definitely be nicer. So I plan to work on that. Tone down my sarcasm (even the sarcasm in my head!) and try to say more nice things than anything.
 Also, I'm going to attempt to avoid negativity from others. When people are rude/ hurtful/ or overall negative about or toward me, I'm going to try to just ignore it and hopefully by not engaging in it myself, I can mentally avoid it. This way, maybe I'll be able to stick to my goal of being "nicer" this year!

With this being said, I do need to state that I'm really tired of rude people. I'm sick of people saying things that make me feel worthless and/ or stupid. But, I am a big girl so I need to learn to deal with it better. Instead of letting it hurt my feelings... crying about it... letting it get to me, I need to focus on the positive!


 So, to focus on the positive... I'm making a scarf. Well, I'm actually finishing what I started last year! I'm also decluttering (which I am finding I really enjoy!) and cleaning (also kind of fun when I'm not being told I HAVE to clean, LOL!). I'm reading my Bible daily (doing the 365 day plan- thank you smart phone!) and trying to be an overall better person. Hey, I'm a work in progress! ;o)


 So that's kind of my random babblings at the moment! Be nicer. Don't be so sensitive. Focus on the positive. Be productive!


 And hey, maybe I'll blog again soon! :oD

The Trip... Part 3! (pic heavy... apparently!)

Ok, I last ended on day 4. So on to Day 5!

We enjoyed lots of gorgeous Highlands scenery. We drove along the shores of Loch Lomond. Absolutely stunning!!

We made a stop in Alloway at the Burns National Heritage Park. (Alloway is the birthplace of the famous poet Robert Burns.) I admit, I didn't really remember the poet. So I wasn't overly excited about the stop. But! It was nice anyways. We went into the Alloway Parish and it was beautiful!

 

 

 After that, we rode along the coast, making a stop along the way. It was windy but beautiful!

 

We got to see the Creag Ealasaid (which is Gaelic for Elizabeth's Rock) also. It was neato! It's an island that looks like it's moving. Very cool!

And hey, the Island is for sale if anyone wants to buy it for me for my birthday! (or Christmas!) ;o)

Ok, moving along now!
We traveled along the coast to Cairnryan for a ferry ride to Larne! Looooved riding the ferry!

Again, very windy! But this was awesome!! Great memories!!!

 

 

So after the ferry ride, we arrived in Larne. We picked up our new driver, Patrick! I was sad to lose Peter but Patrick turned out to be another awesome Irishman!

 

We drove on into Belfast to the Europa Hotel! This was probably one of my favorite stops! The hotel was beautiful, the tour of Belfast was interesting, AND one of my favorite things... We went to see the show, Celtic Dream! That show is a definite "must see" if you ever get the chance!

This is the view from the room! The famous Crown Bar was across the road from our hotel.

 

 

Anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself! This was the end of day 5. We had a nice dinner at the hotel and got to relax for the evening! Super nice! :o)

 

Day 6! Tour of Belfast!

Extremely interesting but it seemed we didn't get enough time to see and hear everything! We went to Titanic Belfast where the RMS Titanic was built. It was ok, but not as interesting as I had built it up in my mind to be!

 

Then we went to Mount Stewart House and Gardens. This place was nice, but the gardens were amazing! (I'm running low on adjectives to describe it all! LOL)

It was simply spectacular! Such vibrant colors.. There are not enough words to describe all the beauty!!

 

So after this, we went back to Belfast for another night. (This is the night we went to see Celtic Dream!) Fantastic show! Loved Belfast!!

 

Day 7... The Giant's Causeway and Derry!

This ended our time in Belfast. We drove the scenic route of the "Nine Glens of Antrim" and it was some more breathtaking views! I can only say that pictures do NOT do this place justice!

 

This was the view while riding along the coast. Can you imagine what it would be like to see this out your window every day? Lucky people!!!

 

It was also along this gorgeous stretch of road that we had the awesome luck of driving right into a rainbow! It was so incredibly cool, especially to someone like me that loves rainbows! :o)

Sorry for the glare from the window but all I can say is wow! I believe I took at least 10 photos of this rainbow! I believe even the rainbows are more vibrant in Ireland!!

 

After this, we stopped at the Giant's Causeway. Awesome!!! If you don't know what that is, google it! It is fascinating, both the myth and the scientific reasoning! It's another place that I highly recommend seeing if you are ever in Ireland!

 

 

After this stop, we went on to Derry where we enjoyed a very interesting walking tour of Derry! Our guide did a great job and I learned quite a bit!

 

We then left Derry and drove on to Letterkenny, which was our stopping point for day 7...

And this is also my stopping point for part 3! Lots of pictures and I know I missed several highlights! (Like, the swinging bridge we saw... And the castle that sits on a cliff edge.. The kitchen actually fell off into the water -with the staff inside!) I just can't fit all the awesome details in!! It's definitely one of those tours that if you ever have the opportunity to go on, you should!!





The Trip... Part 2!

Now to part 2!
(For the record, I am omitting LOTS of great details! There's just so much to tell and I don't want to get too overly boring!)

Day 2-
We started the day off with breakfast. It was quite tasty (especially to me since my normal breakfast is 1 cup of rice chex and 1/2 cup of milk)! We took the bus and toured Edinburgh. We went to the Royal Mile. (I just like saying that. LOL) We then went to see the Royal Yacht Britannia. While the yacht itself was nice, I wasn't overly fond of the "tour" which included carrying around what looked like a huge phone and having to push in numbers for the area you were at. (Plus it told lots of info I wasn't overly interested in.) But! The fudge was tasty! ;o) So it wasn't a wasted stop!

After the Yacht, we were given free roam of Edinburgh. (Of course it rained!) The buildings were beautiful and impressive. We stopped at lots of shops. We had lunch and roamed and shopped some more. Eventually making our way back to where Peter would pick us up.

Overall, Edinburgh was impressive but not entirely my cup of tea!

Day 3-
This was a really awesome day! LOVED this day! Definitely my favorite day in Scotland. We went to Pitlochry to visit the Blair Athol Distillery (to see how whiskey is made). That was extremely interesting and the "wee dram" we got at the end wasn't bad either! ;o) I really did enjoy hearing how it was made!
After the Distillery, we sobered up (bwahahaha!) and drove through some absolutely gorgeous Highland scenery to see the sheep herding dogs! The dogs were absolutely amazing!! They each respond to different whistles, know what each whistle means, and they are very awesome to watch in action! The sheep were so beautiful too! And just the scenery itself was breathtaking! This was absolutely one of my favorite parts of the whole trip!

This was the trainer, Mr. Ross.

This is the absolutely gorgeous scenery at Leault Farm. I'm not sure there is a word to accurately describe the scenery!!!

 

 

After we left there (so sad because I loved it there!) we went to our hotel which was beside River Ness. Lovely view from the hotel! And that evening we went to dinner and enjoyed a ceilidh (musical evening). There was a lovely show with Scottish bagpipes and dancers! Very neat!

 

Day 4-

Ah, this was a disappointing day. We drove alongside Loch Ness. I was so sure I would see Nessie that day! Apparently Nessie had the day off however. So no Loch Ness Monster photos for me. *sigh* But the views were stunning so I wasn't TOO sad... ;o)

We also went to the Clan Donald Centre at Armadale Castle. It was beautiful. The gardens were amazing! Another amazing place in Scotland!

I thought the castle was stunning! I can only imagine what it looked like when it was first built. I'm certain it was nothing short of amazing!

Oh yes... Did I mention is rained practically the whole time we toured there? ;o)



 

Now after we toured the castle, we took the ferry back to the mainland. We went through more gorgeous scenery (and I swear, it never got old!).

Another one of my most memorable moments was seeing the "Hogwarts Express"... Woot woot! I admit, I'm a geek. I also admit that my photos of it didn't turn out amazing but hey, I know what it is! ;o) And I was quite pleased no matter what! (Plus I bought a couple of postcards that show it much more clearly!)

 



 

Ok, this is enough for part 2! Forgive my randomness! (You were warned!) ;o)

 

 

Ramblings... to be continued... :o)



The Trip! (This post is long overdue!) Part 1

Ok, I have procrastinated long enough!
I have to say, it's not that I've forgotten my trip or that it wasn't epically amazing and there's nothing to tell. In fact, I think I have too much to tell! My plans had been to keep a journal while I was there so I could tell you all everything! I started out pretty good. I wrote all about everything from getting to the hotel on Friday night to when we were waiting for a hotel room in Edinburgh. But it started to go downhill from there. So I decided to just take notes... Write down the highlights from each adventure... And that lasted until we got to Ireland. But looking back, my notes just kind of... suck.

So now I've decided this will just be random and weird ramblings from my trip! Warning: This could possibly get long. Maybe even boring at times. But hey! It's my blog and I can say what I want to! ;o) I'll break it up so it's not TOO overwhelmingly long.

First of all, I want to say that my first flight was not bad at all. Ok, the poor screaming baby and crying 5 year old I could have lived without. But hey, my ears hurt too so I could understand. I also wasn't quite anticipating flying in a diet coke can. ;o) (The plane was a tad small and a bit overly warm.) But hey, I was adding new experiences to my life! Overall, the flight from Memphis to Newark wasn't so bad. Security was easy. And I was well on my way to Scotland!

Flight #2 was much better as far as not having screaming infants in my ear. We also flew in a much bigger plane so that was nice. I even pulled out the blanket a time or 2! But, security was a bit different. I had my first official "pat down"... I suppose I looked suspicious. Maybe it was the bags under my eyes? I have no idea. But of course I was safe and we moved right along.

I will say that flying across the ocean takes time. And I am not really used to just... sitting. I read. I watched the flight map. I played Bejeweled (as best I could with the little screen not registering that I was actually touching it. Grrr!) I tried to sleep. I ate the plane food. (Really not too bad! I lived through it!) I read more. Played more. Watched the screen of the guy in front of me. (Very weird show- surely less weird with sound!) So yeah, it was a long flight! But I didn't panic and actually flying was nice and I hope to fly somewhere again sometime!

So after hours and hours of flying, we landed in Edinburgh, Scotland for the first leg of our journey!! All I could think about was a nice hot shower and a change of clothes before we began the tour of Stirling Castle. We were picked up by Peter, our first bus driver. (Peter was very funny and very Irish! I loved Peter!) We arrived at the hotel and... no rooms. There had been a wedding there the day before and the wedding guests were still there. So... we waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, it was getting close to time to leave for our tour. Still no rooms. Still no shower. So I took my change of clothes (from my carry-on bag!) and went to the hotel restroom and changed. Put in my contacts. Splashed my face with water. Tried to look human... (Seriously, how human can you look with no sleep, a 6 hour time difference, no shower, and wrinkled clothes from a carry-on bag?!)

Yep, this was Day 1: sleep deprived, shower deprived... But very happy at Stirling Castle!

 



Stirling Castle itself was pretty amazing! It was the first castle I had ever seen and I was impressed. I only wish I had been more awake to hear what our tour guide had to say! ;o)

After touring Stirling Castle, we made our way back to the hotel where we were given our room keys (oh thank heavens!). Unfortunately, not enough time for a shower so we just freshened up as best we could and headed out for dinner at the pub and then an incredibly cool (yet again, hard to enjoy being so exhausted) ghost walking tour of Edinburgh! And might I add, I believe it rained on us. ;o)

We learned a lot. The tour was quite fascinating. I took tons of pictures. Went to the hotel... and fell asleep (after that hot shower... finally!). By 2am, I was wide awake and ready to face the day! Unfortunately, I had to wait until 6am to actually face it!... But at least I got in lots of thinking time! And I learned my lesson... Keep the iPod by my bed so I could at least read when I woke up! ;o)

Ok, enough for part 1!
To be continued.... ;o)

Epic Trip With My Bestie: It's HERE!!!

   Ok, I was exhausted last night so didn't get to update. So I'm going to type fast this morning...

   Yesterday is a blur! I was so incredibly wired! I found all the things I had left to pack. (At least I hope I did!)

   I started off cleaning out all unidentifiable objects from the fridge. Since I'll be gone, I thought it would be nice to give the guys some extra space to store the take-out. Haha! Actually, I cleaned it out so I could actually have room to grocery shop for them. Which was the next stop!

   I admit, I zoomed around the grocery store like a mad-woman. I have no earthly idea what all I got but I'm sure it wasn't vegetables. *sigh* I'll have to double up on healthy stuff when I get back!

   Anyways, I came home and packed some more. Ate candy. (Got a major sugar rush!) Talked to a friend while balancing the check book while writing down addresses.... There is no telling what I said! (Hopefully I didn't disclose the tiny number left in the bank account!) ;o)

   Up next, BACK to town for the stupid batteries that my mind kept blocking out! Plus a few other random things (gallon bags! I ran out!) It seemed that everyone there was in slow motion... and wanted to talk. Finally made it out of there! Came home.... did a few more things (showered, shaved, soaked my exhausted feet, tucked my sweeties if for the last time for over 2 weeks....)

   This brings you up to speed! Lots of random insanity!

   I can't believe TODAY is the day! (Well, sort of!)
   This afternoon I'll be loaded up and taken to Memphis. I am a mixture of emotions right now. Happy. Excited. Nervous. Thrilled. Scared. Hungry. (Wait, hungry isn't an emotion. haha!) I feel a bit sappy thinking of leaving today. But I am so thrilled to have such an awesome opportunity to travel overseas with my Bestie! (Don't worry Amy! I'll try to have my emotions all worked out before I get there tonight! LOL)

   So this is it! I would like to say I'll keep this updated while I'm gone. But who knows? I'm taking my journal so I can write down all the things I'll want to share when I get home. So even if I can't update, you'll still get the details. (Just have to wait for them!)

  Ok, I'm off to wake up my sweet Nic so I can spend this time with him and Nate!

If you hear any random loud noises... yes, that's me. Squealing with excitement! Just like a 2 year old! ;o)

Did I mention I'm going to SCOTLAND and IRELAND???? WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Epic Trip With My Bestie: The Last Days!

   Oh. My. GOSH!!! Only 2 (yes, TWO!) more sleeps in my own bed... And then I'm off for the most epic trip I've ever dreamed of!

   Today, I had to hit Wal-Mart for a few last minute things. (Memory card for my camera! I can't believe I almost forgot that!) When I came home, I was in packing mode! Aside from my not quite knowing what I needed to pack where, it went quite well! Thanks to my awesome friends, I believe I am all squared away! Now all I have left is my dress, pajama's, and the few things I can't pack until Friday! And the best news is.... IT ALL FITS!!! ;o)

   When my Bestie called me earlier, I was SO excited! (I swear Amy will think she's taking a 2 year old along with her!) Just saying Edinburgh makes me do a happy dance! I am certain that everyone in my house (or within a 10 mile radius) is sick of hearing me talk about this trip. But I can't help it!!! So Amy and I chatted about the trip and what to pack. This is going to be so flippin EPIC!

   I can't decide what is more exciting. Flying for the first time.... Awesome!! Going to Scotland and Ireland.... Amazing!!! 15 days with my Bestie- laughing, talking, sight-seeing, and all that good stuff... PRICELESS! (Yes, I should get out more. Then maybe I could act more like an adult when I do get to do fun things!) Amy and I are both certain that we are going to have a great time!

   I admit, I am REALLY going to miss my boys. Nic gave me a rock yesterday. He had drawn a picture of himself on one side and a smile and heart on the other. He said I should take it with me so I don't forget him. Awww!!! As if I could forget him! Nate keeps looking at me and telling me how much he will miss seeing my smile while I'm gone! Now if that doesn't melt my heart, nothing will! I will really miss seeing my babies!! (haha, ok. So they aren't babies but they ARE my babies!)

   Nate is going to do the cooking while I'm gone. I feel a tad nervous as he still forgets minor details (like starting the oven... or turning it off!). I have been working with him since I found out I was going. Surely he'll be fine. If not, the guys may eat lots of ramen noodles and McDonald's! LOL

   Well, time to relax and play some games... and unwind! Hopefully I'll sleep tonight. My excitement is making it hard for me to sleep well. Yikes!
   Tomorrow I'll go over my list once more. I also have to go pick up some groceries so the guys don't starve while I'm gone! ;o) I also plan to do some pampering!

   This is going to be EPIC! ;o)

Epic Trip With My Bestie: The Packing!

Today was... relatively uneventful.

   I did learn a few things. Number 1. Cucumbers, tomatoes, and a couple of York peppermint patties are NOT substantial food. (Which is why I feel like crap tonight!)

   Number 2. I am a horrible packer. I have no earthly idea how to pack! What do I need? What is unnecessary? What am I forgetting? And most importantly.. How can I possibly fit it all in my suitcase??

   And Number 3. I am still the Queen of Procrastination! I was packing away and sorting clothes and doing really well. Then, I had to stop to wash the last few shirts I need (want) to take. Bye bye motivation! I then sat at the computer and chatted with some great people (for a bit too long!). I also managed to flip through a magazine. I also searched through my books for what I want to take to read. The next thing I knew, it was way past late and so the suitcase got moved back to the floor and things are once again scattered from here to yon!

  The good thing is, I have all but a few shirts and my dress ready to go. I don't have my odds and ends (make-up, tooth-paste, etc.) quite ready but I do know what I have to take and where it is. I just have to get it to the luggage.

   So tonight, my blog is short and sweet (and dull!) but this was the day. Sorry it's not so exciting. I'm tired and I admit, a bit (HUGE bit) grouchy.

   Tomorrow's plans? My suitcase will be packed up and ready to go. I have to make a last run into town for a couple of things. Then, Tomorrow night and Thursday I fully intend to pamper myself and do all of my primping. Nice long bubble bath (including shaving)! Nails shaped and polished! And Friday, I will spend the morning kissing and hugging my kids until they can't take any more! ;o)

   I can not believe how fast time is flying by for me! I hope Scotland and Ireland are ready for me and my Bestie!