Rewind, Unwind and Take a Breath

These past few weeks have been crazy busy and, while they've been fun and I've had a few moments of down time, they've pretty much been jam packed with excitement and papers.

Two weekends ago (if I can reach that far back into the Rolodex in my brain) Rachel was in Scotland, Katie V. had a date, Stephanie worked all weekend and I ended up staying here, writing a paper or two (not getting anything done, naturally) and cleaning and going to the grocery store, which were all much needed items to have checked off my list. I pretty much had the apartment to myself for the majority of the days that weekend and watched Grey's Anatomy (Season 3 still, so NO SECRETS ABOUT SEASON FOUR!). I wanted to do something so I ended up baking a cake, Pete came over, we laughed, talked and made general fools of ourselves until Cozy called in somewhat of a panic because there was a spider on her drapes in her living room. The phone call was made to Pete who decided that I should go too, and we both trapezed next door to kill the mondo spider that all of us have seen (THE SAME ONE) in our respective apartments at least once. To calm everyone down I invited them all over for cake and Pete, Cozy and Kenna came back with me, watched YouTube videos and ate yummy chocolate cake.

Tuesday my parents left Seattle for Copenhagen then from there to Dublin. They didn't get here until Wednesday, but I wanted to inform everyone that they did indeed leave on Tuesday.

Tuesday night the theatre group all went to see Marina Carr's Woman and Scarecrow. Don't. Don't ever go see it even if someone gives you the tickets. The first act was alright; A woman is nearing death and she has created this character called Scarecrow to help her sort through her life. Sounds interesting, yes? No. Scarecrow was a very strange character and Woman was also a little out there. The second act I pretty much slept through, but I could hear everything that was happening. Within the first ten minutes after intermission, Woman's unfaithful husband comes in and climbs into bed with her, strips her nightgown off (revealing some pretty fantastic granny panties and nothing else) and Woman proceeds to do the entire rest of the show in only underwear. Scarecrow disappears and with about fifteen minutes left in the hour and fifteen minute second act, Scarecrow reappears. Woman calls out:

"SCARRRRRECROOOOOOW!!!"

And to our horror, Scarecrow becomes Death and writes a contract in Woman's blood. The show ends with Woman lying across Scarecrow's lap on her back in a Christ-like pose. Right. Weird.

Wednesday afternoon Donal (our acting teacher) lets us know that he specializes in Stage Combat. And guess what we did in class that day? Yup! Let me see, I threw Donal (easily 250 lbs), kicked Mikah in the face (to great cheers and "Great sound!"), got my nose broken (to everyone's amazement) and got slapped, punched, kicked, thrown and had chairs thrown at my face. It was the best class we've had yet!

Wednesday I pick my parents up from the airport. I can't express to you how wonderful it was to see them. We did dinner at the Canal Bank Cafe and it was good :-)

Thursday I met Mom and Mike for breakfast at the Bagel Factory, we then headed to Insomnia for coffee and Marks and Spencers for some yummy Italian dinner items.

Good Wine: Yes
Fresh Pasta: Yes
Fresh Basil: Almost
Fresh Olive Oil: No, but bottled stuff works too
Good Cheese: Kinda
Good Bread: Yes

Everything needed for Rachel and I to make the Pasta Ignazio that we learned in Trapani. Mike headed back to the Hotel while Mom and I tried to walk through the Green with the groceries to get back home. I say tried because it was lightly misting and neither of us had our umbrellas or rain jackets. I know, we're from Seattle, so we're usually fine, but we had groceries. We decided to stop under a tree in the Green to wait it out. Two minutes later it is raining harder than it has ever since we've been here. And I have bread sticking out of my bag. Wonderful. I get a text from Rachel that says "I hope you're telling your parents that this is only the second time we've seen rain since we've been here..." and then another that says "Awe, this reminds me of Italy!" Hooray for rain triggering Italy in our heads :-)

We made it home with out getting too terribly drenched because in true Dublin fashion, the storm lasted a total of ten minutes and then the wind picked up and the clouds blew away to reveal beautiful blue sky.

Enrique's class was sans Enrique, which made the entire thing ten million times better (we actually learned things! I actually have three pages of notes from that class!).

Thursday evening Mom and Mike met us at our apartment where Rach and I cooked up our awesome dinner, had great wine and had wonderful conversation. Pete joined us later for some wine and tea (which he can produce from his pants at a moments notice... the tea, not the wine). Friday was Devising where I got mauled by Big-Headed Patrick (he's not pompous, he genuinely has a big head) then Mom an Mike met me, Rachel, Pete and Bri for a delicious breakfast/lunch at Queen of Tarts. This has now become my favorite place to eat EVERYTHING.

Once back at my apartment, none other than Emma Thesenvitz called me from a pay phone, so I dropped the paper I was working on and went to meet her and Madeline (Emma's friend from Paris) and we walked around Dublin for about two hours. We decided that, since they wanted to ditch these two friends that were coming in late that night, that we'd all go dancing at Ri Ra. We did. It was Cozy's birthday eve, so we hung out until 12:00 midnight and then had a big celebration Ri Ra style with lots of dancing and general commotion.

Saturday I walked up to the market on O'Connell Street with Mom and Mike and discovered the street vendors that hide behind the Gaiety School before eating lunch at Quay's Pub in Temple Bar. I found THE BEST t-shirt.

That night we went to see Maeve Higgins perform at Vicor Street Theatre near the Guinness Factory. She's SO funny! A lot of her humor was Dublin/Irish humor so my parents, while they thought some of her stuff was funny, they weren't able to catch some of the things she said. She also had a Cork accent which made it tough for me too. That night was Cozy's actual Birthday, so naturally there was a party. I was there for approximately an hour before nearly falling flat on my face I was so tired.

Sunday I told my parents that they weren't allowed to call me until after 4pm because I HAD to write these two papers that were due the next week. They didn't, and I started one of them. For the entire day, I STARTED one paper. Great job Katie.

We went to the grocery store, Mom and Mike figured out how expensive my life here really is, went to the Barge for dinner and a drink, then I came back here to write more of my paper and wait for my girls to get home from Budapest. Yes, Rachel and Stephanie (and Matt who lives below us) went to Budapest for the weekend. How jealous am I? The answer is very. VERY.

Monday my parents came over and we set out a tradition at my house: TACO MONDAY. Hooray! I've been wanting something like this for a long time, so I'm excited that Mom and Mike did it while they were here. Dinner was Mom, Mike, Katie V., Pete, Rachel, Stephanie and me. It was brilliant, and I don't think I want to forget it for as long as I live. Some of my favorite people in all the world sitting at one table, making fun of the British, laughing hysterically at each other, and just having a great dinner. I felt a little like it was Thanksgiving. Mom was trying to take our group picture and no one would look but Mike and I. She finally says "Will you guys just LOOK at the camera? I WANT A PICTURE!" Everyone shut up, smiled, then went back to arguing. It was my favorite night I've had here so far. BRILLIANT.

Papers are finish (hence me having time to write this), class was canceled until 4:30 today, and I am loving the fact that I don't have anything to do until the end of this month. Hallelujah.

P.S. I have no idea what happened to the font and the size, but no matter what I do it won't go back to normal size... Oh well. No you can read it without your glasses on! I totally did that on purpose...