Baby Love

Babies is a documentary film that followed four babies from across the globe for the first two years of their lives.

Just saw the trailer and all the oxytocin in my brain stood up and sang "hallelujah!"

I have GOT to see this movie! Why, oh why do we have to wait till May?

Pretty, Pretty

Sun. Blue Skies. Palm trees. So much to love about Miami. Fantastic jewelry? Hmmm, that wouldn't have been the first thing to come to mind, but now I'm convinced.

While hanging out with my sister on my recent trip, we had to do a quick drop-in at a jewelry party for a friend of a friend. "Five minutes" we thought. Two hours later....



I am so in love with my new Silpadajewelry. Definitely worth the pain in my wallet :-) Beautiful, top quality, and a lifetime guarantee. Give me more!

Brain Fart

Mea Culpa! I can't believe this, but while doing some housecleaning on the blog today I found this post from October that I never posted.

Sorry Niamh, I promise I didn't mean to be rude or ignore you!

Original text of post below:




Niamh is so cool! She nominated me as a Kreativ Blogger because she likes my take on expat life in Ireland and she thinks I'm funny. Boy, do I have her fooled! :-)

As with everything though, there's a catch. As in rules. But definitely ones I can live with: Link back to Niamh at Writer on the Way Home (now Irish Wanderings) because I think her blog is really thoughtful... and funny; List 7 things I love.

7 Things I Love:

1. Spending the day in my pajamas reading a book or catching up on my DVR
2. My cat lying on my chest and kneading my collarbone with her paw. Kitty love!
3. Belazu Balsamic Vinegar. When was the last time I actively researched a food item on the net and tracked it down because I couldn't live without it? I'd do it again for this lovely item!
4. Hugs from my niece and nephew. Any contact with my niece and nephew :-)
5. E-books. Having gone through the trauma of packing up (most) and selling (too many) of my books for the big move, I'm never putting myself in that position again! A portable harddrive is sooo much easier to move :-)
6. Speaking of which... my portable harddrive. Almost as small as my Palm Pilot PDA, but can hold 300 Mb.
7. And, as always... fried, ripe plantains.

Old Spice - The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

This is one of the best commercials I've seen in... heck, forever! Does it trump the Cadbury gorilla commercial? I don't know. That's just how good it is!

Sunshine and Flowers

My new blogfriend, Imperfect Stepford Wife, just gave me a great award!



Thank you so much. I love to feel the love! :-)

Now onto the rules and, since this is one of my most conservative traits (rules are good for you!), I'll be following them (almost) to the letter.

• Put the logo on your blog in your post.
• Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
• Link the nominees within your post.
• Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blogs.
• Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Dum, dum-te-dum!! And the nominees are:

Shenanigans
She's Not From Yorkshire
Dixie Peach
Irish Wanderings
I Married An Irish Farmer
Not From Around Here
I'm Leaving On A Jetplane
Black Girl in Prague
....

Clearly I need to get online more. Some of my fave blogs are no more, some are haven't posted for awhile. So I'm stopping at 8 not 12.

Maybe I'll add some more once I've gone through this year's list of Irish Blog Award nominees. That's always a great source of new reads.

On A Good Week

Image by Paolo Màrgari via Flickr

• Aero Tone on Monday
• Spin and Tone on Tuesday
• Total Tone on Wednesday
• Spinning and salsa class on Thursday

With this schedule, you'd think I'd feel in better shape. So why does climbing that second set of stairs at the gym kill me every. single. time?!

Airport Pick-Up

This is why I like Irish men. Many of my Irish female friends may dispute their value, but there's something unique in the blend of shyness, humor, and lager-induced bravado that can be quite appealing at times.

Last week was a perfect example. Somehow, I got picked up on my flight to the states, without even realizing it! It was like a dating "Sixth Sense" - the ball didn't drop for me until almost the very end :-)

This guy was smooth, patient, non-threatening, but not afraid to move in for the kill at the end of the silent chase. From sitting across the aisle from he and his buddies on the plane, to the final walk and wait at Baggage Claim, it was an exercise in patient hunting. And, by the time the prey copped on, she was already hip deep in conversation, admitting that no she wasn't married, and willingly passing on her mobile number.

Now, I like to think I'm pretty self-aware, but, in this case, cluelessness probably served to keep me calm, unflustered, and distant enough at the start to ensure that the chase kept going. Rather than anxious and self-conscious, I ended up feeling pretty pleased with both myself and him, and smiling a bit as well. The smile had to get bigger when, as we caught up with each other in the snakey Customs line, he sent a smiling wink and his friends chorused out "Hi Sirmelja!" :-)

All in all, an interesting flight.

Reluctant Truth

Those of you with sharp eyes may have noticed an update I just made on the side-bar. Sadly, it had to be done. As much as I'd like to pretend, I'm just not a 30-somethinger anymore :-(

But, hey, I may have just turned 41, but I still feel 31! And as long as people keep telling me I look it, I'm going to keep on smiling :-)

Reflections in an Airport

I recently flew to Miami for a sad occasion - the death of a very much loved aunt. I'm actually still there, writing in a spare moment while spending time with family. Thankfully, I hadn't had to attend a funeral of a loved one in years before this, so I'm trying to focus on the positives rather than dreading the inevitable outcome of my certain age where this will start happening more and more :-(

But, that actually wasn't the point of why I started to write this. While waiting for my next connection, on one of the layovers of the flight here, a few thoughts hit me:

• That first few hours on U.S. soil always brings a welter of mixed emotions. I feel blessedly normal (it's so much easier to blend in) but jarringly anonymous at the same time (there's nothing that special about me here... weird). In Ireland, I'm kind of exotic (not that many other Americans/black Americans/Jamaican-Americans running around). Here, I'm a dime a dozen. I'm literally of two minds about it.

• When did the whole world switch from laptops to netbooks? (All of a sudden, laptops look big and clunky). And, how can I get one??

• Being surrounded by rushing, semi-panicked strangers, tight spaces, bright lights and loud, clashing noises is NOT the best place to be when the worst sinus headache in the world comes crashing down on you! Don't. Do. That. Again.

Party Diversity... Irish Style

Four French, two Polish, one Russian and a Jamaican-American go into a bar... Ok, it was an apartment, but it still sounds like a great beginning to a joke. And, happily, there was lots of laughter.

An evening out at a friend's place in Cork is definitely more international than ones I would be used to. And not just the guests, the menu too! Lots and lots of crepes, handmade by the authentic French husband of my Polish friend. Washed down with wine, juice and, most intriguingly, a lychee liqueur that I have just got to try again! Not often though - 21% alcohol. Eeek!

The entertainment was just as new to me (though probably not to anyone else on the planet). Besides the fantastic accents and lots of French flowing in the background; we ended up playing Rock Band on the XBox. As a XBox virgin, let's just say 62% to 77% in 3 songs ain't too bad!