Trying to look at the bright side of life...

Yes, yes, it's far too early into this blog to have a lack of motivation, but I can say that during the past week I've been off my game in all aspects (unfortunately the blog is the part that was neglected the most). My personal lack of productivity got the best of me and left me procrastinating even getting out of bed, though in my defence it's a very warm bed and very cold outside of it.

Over the weekend, we took a quick trip back up to Belfast were I got to catch up with some friends, eat very good food, and watch Birdman, which I still don't know how I feel about. I think I'd be raving about it if it had ended about 15 minutes before it actually did, but who can really tell.

A little friendly ambiance

Nothing like a steak among friends for a good night

Although I'm pretty sure the main wording was professional and meant to look like graffiti, I still liked it. Sorry for the blur.

Tacos from Boojum make everything better.

Monday put a huge damper on things though, as we got up early to make the drive back down and stop and get my stamp to officially enter the Republic of Ireland (there's no border control between Northern Ireland and the Republic, which makes things a bit more difficult to switch from a UK to ROI visa) and I was given very conflicting information from quite a few people and went home very confused and empty handed. Around 6pm I got a call back from the first person who seemed to actually understand what I was asking, but it's still not solved. I won't go into more detail (but if you've got questions you're welcome to email and ask!), and hopefully this will all be sorted by the end of the week. It's just frustrating when you try to go about things the right way and no one seems to want to help.

The sunrise on our drive down was lovely. I'll always be a tourist, really.

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In any case, I decided as a way to ease myself back on track, I'd make a short list of links I like. Everyone loves those posts, right? Let's pretend.So without further adieu, here are some things that make me happy:

+ Jo did a lovely post about how to pick wine that's oddly relevant in my head. I've discovered I might be allergic to red wine (flu like symptoms after anything more than a small glass-- damn you tannins!) and am trying to find a white wine similar to the Chardonnay I had during my 2012 trip to the Russian River Valley. It was like I was drinking liquid butter, and was the only white wine I've ever liked.

+ On the subject of food + drink, I've been really missing some American foods recently, and of course it's only the stuff that isn't so diet-friendly. Nonetheless, I'll be making some funfetti biscotti and some chik-fil-a nuggets. There actually isn't a week that goes by that R and I don't mention how much we miss Chik-fil-a!

+ DIY projects that may make the new apartment feel more like a home: tissue paper flower branches, paint chip art, and this colourful yarn hanging

+ This is so cool, but I'm pretty upset I didn't how about it when I lived in Atlanta. Next trip back, it will be booked!

+ I made this mug brownie and might now be deemed the best girlfriend ever. Just throwing that in there.

+ I can personally attest to a majority of the items on this New Orleans list, though I certainly haven't bought underage kids booze (I had to wait, so do you little jerks) and I've never intentionally fought a child for beads, so that one is debatable.

+ And if I ever really need cheering up and nothing else will work (not even a bit of pampering) there's always this song which makes me smile no matter what...

H54F! {edition 1}

It figures that the first Friday I want to link up with Lauren for High Five for Friday, I find out she’s passing the torch! Well, I’m still excited to do it, and can’t wait to see who the next host will be!

Anyway, without further adieu, here are 5 things that rocked my week.

1. My new visa got approved and is on its way to me!

The past year I was living and schooling in Northern Ireland on a UK Student (Tier 4) Visa, which expires at the end of the month. When we were trying to figure out the plans for next year (I’m not quite ready to head back to the USofA) I felt like I exhausted all my options, until I stumbled across the Working Holiday visa for the Republic of Ireland. Since my boyfriend has already been working there for a couple years now (and was very sweetly commuting 1.5hrs each way for the last year so I could be close to school and had to officially live in the UK for my visa) it seemed like the perfect choice. Since my circumstances are a bit different than most people applying for this visa, programs such as BUNAC and USIT weren’t really beneficial to me so I decided to do the application on my own. Well, yesterday I finally got confirmation that not only was my visa approved, but its now confirmed and sent to me! Which means basically that I can officially live and work in the Republic of Ireland for the next year! Woo!

(all those links above are just for more information about the visas and programs for people interested!)

2. Home for Thanksgiving

homage to thanksgivings past, when the quality of my simple iPhone 1 camera wasn't fabulous.

One of the requirements of the visa was that I show them proof that I’m going home at some point. Since airlines don’t allow bookings a year in advance, they only require proof of a visit home as late as possible (to make sure I’ve got something to go home to) so it only made sense to book a ticket home for Thanksgiving! I’ve missed out on Thanksgiving the past two years, so its extra special this time. In 2013, we had a group presentation in class on the holiday and 2014 we were in the middle of a move and without a working oven, so both years I settled on a turkey and stuffing baguette at the Belfast Christmas Market and called it a day.

3. Netflix

image source: imdb

I’ve seen all the magical lists of the fantastic things Netflix has added, but the one I find most appealing is the fact that they added Fantasia. I definitely have a renewed appreciation for it as an adult. Currently it's only available on the US Netflix, but I'm hoping it will come to the other versions soon!

4. More time with the Man

the view of the moon on our walk home from town on Saturday

The move down south has really changed things for the better, mainly by getting back those extra 3 hours a day. In the past year, by the time R was home it was time for a late dinner and then maybe an episode of whatever show we were watching before it was basically time for bed on the days when he didn’t have training. When he did, it was usually some combination of toast with things on it for him (Heinz beans or jam usually) before and after, and then straight to bed. The first couple days were pretty rough with an extra 3 hours but no technology (even our phones didn’t work down here), but we’ve developed a pretty good pattern since. Before, even weekends were rushed trying to fit in all the fun things and time together and we weren’t really able to enjoy it. But now we’ve got our catch-up lazy days out of the way, and we’ve been going for drives and exploring the area without any specific plans in mind and just enjoying time together. No, this isn’t specifically for this week, but as R’s work schedule has been crazy during this week it’s made me appreciate it more.

5. Blogilates

Today is day 5 of the Blogilates beginner calendar for me, and while that doesn’t seem like much to most of the world, it’s the only time I’ve ever made it this far into a consistent workout program, much less 5 days in a row. I am personally very proud of myself, especially as my sore muscles have begged me to just skip a day, no one will know, but I will know. This may be on my top 5 list each week for the next month, only because it will consistently be my greatest fitness achievement to date and if it’s missing well, my abs gave in.

So those are my five highlights of the week. What are yours?