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...

Birthday Recap

Yesterday marked the end of the 28th year I've been alive and the start of the 29th. While the number 28 isn't too significant, I can say for a fact that it is MUCH better than 27. For some reason, for the past year when people asked how old I was I always had to actually think about it. Odd numbers and my brain apparently don't mix.

I’ve never been one for big birthday celebrations. When I was little I had my fair share of birthday parties (Chuck E Cheese and Princess Tea Parties were personal favorites) but as I started getting older things just started getting in the way. School was generally back in session (but barely), or after college I had jobs that made not working on my birthday pretty much impossible and now the hangover the next day pretty much doesn't seem worth it! Don't get me wrong, I love having everyone pay attention to me for a day and all, but I didn't even do the work to get me here- my Mom did. I suppose I should be buying her gifts.


Anyway, I did get a few nice surprises yesterday. First of all, we got the first snow of the season here. It was more like two very random blizzards, but I enjoyed being able to sip my peppermint tea and watch the flurries as the ground and trees became covered in snow. I'm sure the charm will wear off soon, but for now it was a nice gift from mother nature.

I had a video of the snow but can't figure out how to put it up here. So lets pretend this is my apartment in the snow. 

What was nicer, though, is the fact that the roads weren't too bad to get to spend the evening and my birthday dinner with R. We went to a nice little spot in town called Scholars. It's part boutique hotel and part restaurant, and the food was delicious! I forgot to take photos of the Potato and Leek soup starter, or the Sea Bass main, but I did remember to take a quick picture of my Panna Cotta for dessert!

Panna Cotta with chai tea chocolate ice cream on top

We tried to go to the local mall to get my new iPhone 6 (I'm very spoiled... but also very excited) but alas, living in a smaller town means that the whole world shuts down at 6pm apparently, and we got there 10 minutes late. Despite that setback, it was still a lovely night!

it's actually kind of tranquil when it's empty

How do you celebrate?