in honor of st. pat's day...

...here's my quick and dirty review of our dublin trip. yes, we went in january, so i'm basically 2 months late. but at least i'm posting it on st. patrick's day, so it's relevant to today!

we flew to dublin from gatwick and getting there was a such a pain, since we were going with the commuters, so the train was packed. add to that, the fact that i was a wee bit hungover from the previous night, and you'll see why i wasn't in such a great mood that friday. anyways, we got to dublin, and i had to learn how to readjust my brain to comprehend english with an irish accent. they are so much more difficult to understand than the british. we basically settled in friday night, and planned our day for saturday.

saturday, we decided to take the dublin bus tour...except that it rained almost the whole day. but we had a good time and hit the most famous places, including the guinness factory. you've all seen mr. rude there in a's previous post. the factory itself was kinda cool, since the building was built after some building in chicago (yeah, can't remember right now. oopsie!). and yeah, we got a free pint of guinness at the bar at the top when the tour was over. whoop-dee-do. i will say i was enlightened when i put 2+2 together and realized that the guinness book of world records is also from the makers of guinness the beer! stuuuuuupid. (yeah, whatever...how many of you out there knew that??)

anyways, my friend aisling, who i used to work with at pwc, is from/lives in dublin, and she was kind enough to take us to a proper irish restaurant in the 'mountains' (and i use that term loosely), for an authentic irish meal and entertainment which included irish folk songs and dancing. yes, DANCING! the following is a clip that reminds us our favorite italian stallion's irish jig at his wedding last sept:


and t, we know you will watch this next video over and over and over again until you've perfected it. we look forward to your performance when we move back to chicago:


as for the rest of the weekend, we went back into the mountains sunday and took a tour of the wicklow mountains. very historic with lots and lots of greenery. it also rained on sunday, which wasn't a huge surprise. i would say dublin is similar to london, except that it's smaller, with lots more greenery. oh, and people with accents that are difficult to understand!

happy st. patrick's day!

Mr. Rude in Bruges...

bruges (or brugge) was more than ordinary...it was a great place...and definitely worth going...its a very well preserved belgian town and it definitely has a feel much like florence did...we stayed at a well-known top notch hotel (#1 rated on tripadvisor) where we had a chandelier over our bed (there's a different chandelier in every room of the hotel apparently)...we ate tons of chocolates from so many chocolate stores there...they were pretty unbelievable despite me not being much of a chocolate fan...we definitely ODed on chocolates...although each piece was like paying for gold so we spent a fortune also...yeeks...

this is m torturing mr. rude...we were in the bell tower in the center of it all...

and of course, no posting about belgium would be complete without a picture of mr. rude having a famous belgian waffle...can you say mmm mmm...

Mr. Rude in Brussels...

Since we are clearly too lazy to write about our trip to belgium...here are a couple of pictures of mr. rude in brussels...brussels is ordinary unfortunately...we planned less than a day there, which was more than enough (plus, i've been there before already to visit the LackLusterLolita aka L-cubed aka Triple L)...but the belgium food and the beer were of course suuuuweeeeeeeeeeeeettttttttt....

since m doesn't like beer...it helps that belgium has all sorts for all tastes...tons of flavored beers...m especially liked the raspberry ones...belgium beer is also pretty hardcore...with alcho content up to 10%+...which is lethal!...so you have to watch out what you order...hehehe...

this statue is a tourist must see in brussels...as you can see, belgiums have an interesting sense of humor...

getting fit...old skool...

okay...maybe i just don't want to pay for a gym membership...there are two nice full service gyms a couple of blocks from our flat...and also one a block away from work (right in m's building)...but memberships are too expensive here...and i don't feel like paying for a monthly pass just to work out 5 times the entire month...hehehe...

anyways, so, i bought one of those pull up bars that you can place on your doorway...and i also bought that perfect push up thingie as well...and i have a nice yoga mat for doing situps...oh yeah, i also have that wheel that you can roll while on your knees to strengthen your abs...anyways, so this isn't quite old skool...but close enough as i have no weights or cables or anything...

so, been doing this since january 1...part of the new year's resolution type of thing...just doing it regularly...not very hard core, but just regular once a week type of thing...and i am definitely noticing slow and steady results...i mean, i would definitely have progressed a lot faster if i had a gym membership hitting the free weights and machines, but this is just as good...i'm never going to get quite as ripped or anything because i don't have anything specific to target certain muscles...but the wonderful ups - pull ups, push ups, and sit ups definitely work and target most muscles in a very simple motion...plus, it combats laziness of having to go into the gym...and i can watch tv...and hang out with gusieppe...

also, it is nice living in london near hyde park and kensington gardens...so many places to run...nice trails...plus, regent and hampstead heath are close enough...so, great places to run...no need for treadmills...the only issue is that it usually doesn't rain inside a gym...

greetings.

long time no post. i know, i've been mia. it's been a mix of working hard, playing hard, and then traveling or sleeping on weekends. what can i say, i'm leaving the blogging up to waterloo.

anyways, i don't have much to say right now. just that i have to post later about:
- our trip to ireland
- what i did during archie's boarding trip to austria
- brussels (crap) and then bruges (so lovely)
- signing up for the berlin marathon (woohoo!)

for now, i'll leave you with a little bit of our homelife with gus. a few months ago, we finally decided he could be outside of his crate when we're not home. it's easy over here since the dining area is a small 8X8 room or so...it's also known as gus' room, because there are glass doors that we can close and block him from the rest of the flat. often when we come home, he is hiding/sleeping under his blanket and is almost always too scared to come out when he hears someone is home. when one of us calls out to him and he recognizes us, he becomes a monster and rises from the dead from under his blanket...so cute. he's so not a watch dog, and his bark is defo worse than his bite. this little guy is scared of everything.

Meet BODE!

my sister's new puppy...related to our Gus (same parents we think...or at least half bro)...ab named Bode after the road we grew up by in Streamwood...Bode is pretty rare in that he is a white puggle...crazy cute...

the first day of training...

m is running the berlin marathon in september...booked flights and hotel for the both of us already...well, since i'm already there, may as well run it too...all signed up...ready to rock...we've both run the chicago marathons twice, but not the same time...uh oh...