Andrew Davis

Two nights ago we got some terrible news. Andrew Davis had suffered a brain aneurysm. He is one of our best friends, was a groomsman in our wedding, and a part of the JLP (Justice League Productions). We are devastated by this news! Although the prognosis is not favorable, he is stable and seems to be showing some improvements since the surgery to stop the bleed in his brain. Luckily for his he was at work and so now along when the aneurysm occurred. He lives in Los Angeles so we aren't able to see him, but Albert and Griffey are giving us updates and his parents arrived in Los Angeles yesterday afternoon to be with him. The CT scans have been showing improvement and today he started having some eye movements and occasional muscle movements. There is still a long way to go before we can stop worrying about him, but we are trying to be optimistic. He is young, strong and a fighter, which we hope will work in his favor. Please keep Andrew in your thoughts and prayers.

Wedding Musings

As I look back on the last two weeks, I find that there are some things I think I will always remember. Some things because they were amazing and others because they didn't work out the way I wanted.

Wedding Highlights

* The look on Shawn's face as I walked down the aisle.

* Master Reverend Albert was so amazing during the ceremony! We knew he would do a fabulous job when we asked him, but we were completely blown away by how seriously he took the whole thing. He added just the right amount of humor to the ceremony to make it exactly what we wanted.

* My sister and her husband flying up from Austin to be here for the weekend and being such a huge help in maintaining my sanity.

* The mom's pouring the sand in the main vase at the beginning of the ceremony which made us doing the Unity Sand Ceremony useless. Priceless.

* How beautiful all my bridesmaids looked and how grown up my baby brother looked in a tux.

* Sara's "Amy Winehouse" hairdo. Another priceless moment!

* Patrick almost falling down the stairs after the ceremony during pictures.

* Theresa getting mad everytime the photographer's told her to make a serious face.

* Almost forgetting all the bouquets at the Hyatt for the ceremony!

* Walking to the Hyatt for the reception hand in hand with my husband.

* Our first dance to our favorite song to sing together (A Whole New World)

* Delicious food...very delicious food.

* Valerie sending back her salad (family inside joke)

* My Aunt Colleen being more drunk than I have every seen her, but wow did she have a good time!

* My cousin Kelly's son Tyler talking to me for really the first time every and telling Kelly that he should have married me before Shawn because I'm soft.

* So many compliments on the little crafty things I made for the wedding, as well as the super cool guestbook.

* Albert & Andrew completely taking over the dance floor...they are awesome!

* The JLP together again...for not nearly enough time though.

* A great, great party with so many people that we love!

With all the good there is always some bad...

I just want to comment to anyone who knows (and loves) Concannon's like I do. We purchased our cakes from Concannon's because I love they cakes. I knew they wouldn't deliver to Indianapolis so I made arrangements to drive to Muncie the day before my wedding to pick them up. I called and visited the shop several times before the day came to pick the cakes up. I had asked on a previous call about storing the cakes overnight. At the time I was unsure if we would be able to use the pastry fridge at the Hyatt so I asked Concannon's if the cakes would be ok if they were left out at room temperature overnight. They assured me it would be fine if they weren't refridgerated. We ended up being able to use the pastry fridge and the morning of the wedding I went down to the ballroom early to get the ribbons put on the cakes before getting my hair done. Almost all of the cakes had some portion of the frosting totally falling off! It was a disaster. I was freaking out and it caused me to be late to my hair appointment, starting off the wedding day in completely the wrong way. The pastry chef at the Hyatt ended up agreeing to help fix the cakes and my Dad, Stepmom & Stepbrother Mike stayed there to help so I could go. We took pictures of all the of the cakes to approach Concannon's with later. I have not been able to get there yet, but my Mom called and spoke with them. They claim that the cake's frosting fell off like that BECAUSE we put them in the fridge overnight! Can you belive it? I am shocked that Concannon's is acting like this is my fault! This situation is not over yet...I will let you know what happens when I show them the pictures.

Overall Shawn and I had a wonderful day. We both agree that once the ceremony started things went smoothly and at the end of the night we were happily married, which was the plan. We want to thank everyone who was there to help us celebrate!

2 Weeks Down!

As of last night, Shawn and I have been married for 2 whole weeks! Shawn asked me if I'm going to keep track of the number of weeks we're married forever, but I said maybe just for the first year! haha! We still had a bottle of champagne in the fridge from the wedding night that we didn't use, so we got that out and used two of our new champgne flutes. I also got some strawberries the other day, so we had those too. Married life seems to be running smoothly...so far ;)

Back home

We had a great time in Ireland, but all good things must come to an end. We arrived back in Chicago around 5pm yesterday and took the train home. We were craving some regular American hamburgers so we headed to Bar Louie to get some Loaded Tots and hamburgers then we totally crashed! Both asleep by 9pm...but then we woke up today before 6am! We have a ton of stuff to get done today se we're going to get started!

Guinness and more...

Shawn and I were both really looking forward to our trip to the Guinness Storehouse, so we waited until our last day. We went first thing in the morning when they opened and there were already a ton of people there! This is a really impotant time in Ireland for Guinness because on Sept 24th the country is celebrating 250 years of Guinness. Arthur Guinness opened his Guinness Brewery in Dublin back in 1759. When he did this he signed a 9000 year lease for the site (a copy of this lease is on display in the storehouse and you can buy it in the gift shop). The brewery has been in operation now for 250 years...pretty amazing! There is going to be a worldwide celebration at 17:59 (5:15pm) on Sept 24th to all toast Arthur Guinness. The dark stout/porter that everyone associates with Guinness wasn't actually created until the early-1800's, Guinness originally created an ale, but the creation of the signature stout has been what helped Guinness to maintain the legacy for so long.

The Guinness Storehouse is a 7 story building in the St. James Gate area of Dublin (not the nicest neighborhood, but we were there during the daylight!). The 7th floor is called the Gravity Bar and everyone who comes to the Storehouse gets a complimentary pint of Guinness in the bar before leaving. The first few floors of the building are devoted to telling you about the Guinness making process. I never knew what a "hop" was, but now I do! It is really interesting and there is even a large indoor waterfall! After this portion there is a Tasting Lab. They explain to you how to taste the beer to get the full effect. Smell...swirl then smell...taste. We tried it. Then we tried another time! haha! It was free so might as well try a few :)


After we finished touring the building we stopped in the area called "Pour you own Pint." In this area you are taught how to properly pour a pint of Guiness. We had noticed since arrival in Ireland that they take their time in pouring a pint of Guinness. The first pub we went to we though the bartender had forgotten Shawn's drink because he started it and then went to do a crossword puzzle! Turns out this is the technique! The first part of the pour released nitrogen and carbon dioxide gases into the beer. This helps to create the signature "head" of the beer. You then let the beer settle for 2 minutes at least. In the picture below the beer to the far right (mine) is just starting to settle. See how the darkest portion is at the bottom and you can see the swirls of different colors in the glass? The beer to the far left has already settled and is ready to be completed. To finish the pour you push the handle of the tap away from you instead of toward you. This released beer into the glass but no more gas. Perfect Pour. We did it and we got certificates! Now we are skilled at pouring Guinness and experts at Whiskey!

There is a Brewery Bar on the 5th floor of the building where all the food is made with Guinness in some way. We had lunch there because in the Pour you own Pint area a couple came through that didn't like Guinness so they gave us their pints. Nice! We each got 2 for free and we drank them fairly quickly. Especially considering that beer in Ireland has a higher alcohol content than we're used to...we were feeling a bit tipsy! I am not a typically a big fan of Guinness but this fresh Guinness from the brewery itself was pretty good! I was pleasantly surprised. They also make a variety of Guinness Stout that you can't buy in the USA so we bought 2 bottles to bring home. After a stop in the gift shop we headed out for a long walk...we walked so much on this trip!

The next place we went is a old renovated prison called Kilmainham Gaol (pronounced Kill-may-ham Jail). This has housed many Irish political prisoners over the years of rebellion in Ireland as well as during Irish Civil War. There is a ton of Irish history in this place...I could totally ace an Irish history test at this point! This jail has also been used in several films so if it looks familiar that is why.

We walked to Phoenix Park after the jail. The house of the Irish President is in this park as well as the Dublin Zoo. We wanted to go to the zoo, but we ran out of time! Boo! Next time :) This statue is in the center of the park.

For dinner we went to a restaurant called the Church. It is called the Church because it used to be a church. Now it is a restaurant, bar and night club. It was so cool. Our dinner table was right in front of the old church pipe organ. The bar was really cool. The food was decent, but the atmosphere made up for it. We had planned to go to a Temple Bar pub crawl after dinner, but after all the walkind of the day we could imagine walking anymore! After we got back the hotel we just decided to relax and enjoy our last night of our honeymoon together.

We are headed back home today. See you all soon!

A Great Day in Dublin

We started out yesterday morning by heading to Christ Church Cathedral, which is right next door to our hotel. This cathedral was so beautiful! The building has been added on to several times over the years, but the original portion of the building has been there since the early 1100's! Just gorgeous!

I had never seen floors like these inside of church before but St. Patrick's Cathedral had similar floors too. This style of floor ran through the entire ground level.

The cathedrals we have been to all have a small chapel behind the altar that is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. This statue was at the entrance to this chapel. I thought it was very interesting.

The coolest part of the cathedral was the underground crypt. This is the original crypt of the church. There were tombs and areas where people had been placed if they broke the law. Kinda creepy, but cool. This area was set up like a museum with old artifacts from the cathedral over years as well as a short video to explain the history of the cathedral.

After we left the cathedral we went to Dublin Castle. This castle had a guided tour and our tour guide was named Theresa! Lucky for us! The tour was very interesting. We learned the history of the castle and got to tour the inside of the building as well as an underground excavation area. The original castle was mostly destroyed back in the 1700's during war, but they have maintained portions of the original castle so you can see the difference. In the excavation area they have even unearthed an old rock wall that was used by the Vikings even before the Anglos settled there. We also learned a lot about Irish history. I didn't realized that Ireland had been fully under British control until less than 100 years ago! There is a room in the castle that has a coat of arms for each Irish President that has served. They serve 7 year terms and their current president is a woman (in her 2nd term) and their last president was a woman. That means that next year will be the 21st year in a row that Ireland has been under a female president. Nice!

This room is the old dining room. These mirrors are set up so that when the viceroy was setting at his position at the table he could watch all the other guests. This was designed so that he could always tell who was talking to who and make sure that no alliances were being made that would be damaging to the crown. Sneaky!

In the main ballroom, named after St. Patrick, there are three large paintings on the ceiling. These were commissioned while the British still had control and you can tell by the nature of the art. In this painting, the King sets in the center while a woman in white is to his right. She is supposed to represent Britian while the woman in green with her breast hanging out is suppsed to be Ireland. This is designed to make her look weak and submissive to Britian.

Shawn managed to find a comic book store. Oh geez!

We found a memorial to the Irish men and woman who died to free the country from British rule. It was beautiful.

We also stopped in at the Irish Writers Museum. It was very intersting and I learned a lot about Irish writing over the years. I also discovered several books I would like to read! This statue and painting are of George Bernard Shaw.

The coolest part of yesterday was the Irish House Party last night! Oh Wow! I can barely describe how ! Shawn and I learned a few simple steps of traditional Irish dance from a girl that used to dance with Riverdance! How cool is that?! They played a bunch of traditional Irish music and explained the history of the music. They taught us about the instruments. For example. that young guy on the left is not playing the bag pipes, he is playing the ilen pipes. They are the Irish version (and were actually created first) and are called the ilen pipes because instead of blowing into the pipe you have a bellow that pumps air into the pipes and you pump it with your elbow (which is the ilen in Gaelic). There was a girl there that sang a beautiful ballad in Gaelic. It was gorgeous. The girl who did the dancing also played the accordian. There was also a guy playing the Irish flute which looked more like a recorder. When they all played together it was just amazing! Shawn got some video and I will post it when we get home.

Today we are off to the Guinness Storehouse as well as some other exciting things!

Oh Dublin...

Our first full day in Dublin didn't get off to the greatest start...but at least we had one good night first.

After we got to Dublin we headed out for dinner at a restaurant I had seen on a Rachel Ray special about the food in Dublin. It is called Gallagher's Boxty House and the food looked delicious on TV. It turned out to be even better in real life! Shawn enjoyed it too. A boxty is a potatoe pancake with some kind of meat and sauce filling. I had beef in mine with mushrooms and onions and a mushroom cream sauce. Shawn's had ham I think and the sauce was like honey mustard kinda. Hard to describe, but delicious

After dinner we headed down the street to the Palace Bar. They were having live Traditional Irish Music in their upstairs bar, so we listen there for awhile. It was really nice music with an Irish flute (almost looked like a recorder), guitar and fiddle. After that we headed to Oliver St. John Gogarty's Bar (which is a very famous bar in Temple Bar) for more music! These guys were playing much more upbeat Irish tunes! The accordian player looked like he was 80 but he was drinking and jamming with the other guys! Part way through the banjo player had to leave an a young guy joined in to play the bagpipes! So cool! He had a kinda air hand pump contraption so he didn't actually have to blow in it. It was a leather bag that he pumped with his elbow as he was playing. Different. It was a fun night out.

I wish the morning had started out so well! Our whole schedule got off because Dublin streets are a maze designed to keep people in. The streets aren't labeled and if they are they are labeled with tiny little signs! They don't warn you which lane you need to be in for upcoing turns or merges. It is terrible! We had to take the car back to the Dublin Airport and it took us a lot longer to get there than I expected. But...on the happy side we no longer have to drive in Ireland! Yay! We picked up our Dublin Passes at the airport and headed back to start our day a bit later than expected. Also, we had a bit of a delay in the morning because the power was out on our floor at the hotel when we woke up. There was some kind of problem with the guys doing construction on the building across the street. When we got back from the airport the problem was fixed, so we showered and headed out.

There is an old church and wall left over from a long time ago from the Wall of Dublin. Really beautiful. We walked through on the way to lunch.

We had lunch at The Brazen Head, which is the oldest pub in Ireland! Seriously! It was established in the 1100's! No joke! I got some delicious Irish Stew and we had a drink. The pub looks funny sitting inbetween apartment buildings now, but it has survived the test of time!

We decided to check out the Jameson Old Distillery after lunch. Neither of us are whiskey drinkers, but it was a really interesting tour. We volunteered to be whiskey tasters after the tour which was fun! We compared Irish Whiskey, to Scotch Whiskey to American Whiskey. They explained how the whiskey is made and showed us kind of machinery that has been used over the years. They also explained what is different about each type of whiskey. It was really cool! We got nice little certificated afterward that make us official whiskey tasters now! haha! There was a stone on the tour that is supposed to give you 10 years of good luck if you touch it. I hugged it...that must be work 30 or so right?

St. Patrick's Cathedral


Shawn wanted to be sure to stop by Captain America's Restuarant. We sat at the bar and had an appetizer. The bartenders were really nice and we started talking to them. Turns out one of them is from Evansville! Seriously! We talked to him about Southern Indiana and how you can't buy alcohol on Sunday. Funny stuff! The Irish bartender was asking us where we'd been in Ireland. He described Limerick and the New Jersey of Ireland, and I think that's pretty good!

We hit up Temple Bar for a bit again for dinner and then went to be pretty early. Time to catch up today!

Cliffs of Moher

First things first...we arrived in Dublin today. I am almost done with needing the rental car...thank goodness!! These people drive like maniacs! The directions I printed off the internet were great, but the streets around here are rarely labeled and if they are the signs are so damn small you don't see it until you are at it and can't turn or you don't see it at all! Anyway, we made it to our hotel. Now for our first evening in Dublin :)

Also, I wanted to post the pictures I wanted to post with the Aran Island blog. Now that we have better internet, here is a pic of Shawn riding the bike across the island. I did too...and I only fell once :)

The ocean! Shawn could've sat here all day!

My new hat! Hand crafted on the Aran Islands :)

After the ferry brought everyone back from the island, we stayed on board for a ocean view of the Cliffs of Moher. Amazing! There really are no words, so I'll just let you enjoy the pictures.


The little building on top of the cliff is called O'Brien's Tower. It is another of the signal towers of old, but it is still in good condition. I believe you can take tours of it...but we didn't want to walk the cliffs from above. SCARY!

We had a nother delicious dinner when we got back to town at Cullinan's Restaurant. I had something for dessert called Sticky Toffee Pudding. Amazing! We went to another pub in town called O'Conners before heading back to the B&B. We only had one drink though because we were totally pooped out from the day! There was a little chocolate shop beside th pub and when Shawn went to get some chocolate the lady told him to be careful with me because it is matchmaking season here! Oh no!

Aran Island: Inishere (Inis Oirr)

Yesterday we woke early (as you may remember from my previous post...there was a noisy cow involved) and headed to breakfast provided by our B&B. We were already very impressed with the dinner we had here and the breakfast lived up to the expectations! I had a full Irish Breakfast (which was delicious) and Shawn finally got his pancakes! His pancakes had fruit and real maple syrup. He was in heaven!

We headed out to catch our ferry to the Aran Islands after breakfast. The ferry ride to Inis Oirr is only about 30 minutes from Doolin so it didn't take too long. The ride was really nice, although a bit chilly on the water at 9:30am. I have a ton more pictures of the island, but the internet here is not great, so you'll have to wait for those!

On approaching the island you can see a lighthouse on the Southern tip and on the Eastern shore is a visible shipwreak. The entire island is pretty small though (this is the smallest of the three Aran Islands) and you can walk the entire island in 3 hours according to a pamphlet we got from the Doolin2Aran Ferry service. The pier of the island is in the center of the town on the Northern shore. The entire town is tiny! The population is only about 300 people or so. We did find animals grazing all over the island but the houses seem to be concentrated right in the area around the pier. There were some B&B's and a hostel, as well as cafes and of course, a pub. As soon as we got off the ferry there were people from the island offering to take you around the island in their van to tell you about it, or in a horse and buggy. There were lots of those, as we noticed from the horse droppings we discovered all over the roads! We decided to rent bikes for the time on the island. That turned out to be lots of fun, but a LOT of work! That island is rocky and hilly!

On the island everything is made of stone! There are stone fences that makes little grassy areas all over! There is a ruin from an old castle and once again, no signs warning you to enter at your own risk. So of course, Shawn had to climb around on it!

On a lot of the islands and over the main land there are remnants of old signal towers that were used back in the 1700's. Many on the main land are still in good condition, but this one had fallen apart. You can still see the house beside too. These signal towers were used in a similar way to the ones from LOTR. Interesting to see things like this that were used during war and conflict back...oh back a long time!

Well...I am out of pictures since my internet connection here blows. On the island we discovered a little shop where I bought a hat that was made on the island. So nice! It'll be great for the winter. We had lunch and a drink in the pub, which was totally packed! The beautiful weather is even bringing the natives out. We rode our bikes along the Western shore of the island and found an old well that is supposed to give you good luck if you see an eel in it. We did (wink wink). We also rode our bikes all the way to the lighthouse on the South. There is not road out there but we walked out to the ocean and enjoyed watching the waves crash on the rocks for a bit. This may have been the most beautiful place I've even seen!

Needless to say, we had a great time on the island. We both got some sun (our noses are red) and our legs (or I guess I should say my legs) were like jelly for the ride back to Doolin. I fell asleep on the ferry! We started our 1 hour ferry tour of the Cliffs of Moher when we got back...but I'll post pictures of that later!

 

Doolin

We arrived in Doolin around 3pm yesterday (after having gotten lost only a little!). Driving in Ireland has certainly been an experience! Not only do I have to drive on the wrong side of the car while shifting with the wrong hand, but I have to drive on the wrong side of the wrong around crazy Irish drivers. And they are CRAZY DRIVERS! These roads are horribly narrow (even in the cities, but its much worse in the country I learned yesterday). People driving right through the center of town at full speed! Scary! They all park wherever they want, including on the street (in either direction, so cars are often facing each other while parked on the side of the road). Anyway, I am getting the hang of it, but it will be nice to get back home to my Chicago-style drivers!

We arrived at our B&B (Roadford House Restaurant), got settled in our room and then decided to do some wandering before dinner. Shawn was desperate to go see the ocean, so that's where we headed.

We drove through down in the direction of the Doolin Dock and we discovered a little town area with shops and pubs. We didn't really stop, but we're planning on heading there tonight after our day. We discovered a little putt putt course right on the edge of the cliff! Amazing! We were completely blown away by the views...and I don't usually get blown away by looking at scenery. It is amazing!

Here is the Cliffs of Moher in the distance. We'll be taking a ferry ride today along the cliffs.

All along these cliffs and rocks you can walk and enjoy the view. We saw some people out sunbathing on the rocks! There isn't one sign that says Caution or anything about Your Own Risk. The Irish just expect their visitors not to be idiots I guess! We loved our first few hours in Doolin and can't wait to head to the Aran Islands today!

We headed back to the hotel for dinner and it was amazing! Our B&B has like a 4 star restaurant! It was so delicious! Everything was! My appetizer looked like art and then we had the most delicious potatoes I have every had with our entrees. We got a Bailey's Bread & Butter Pudding for dessert and it was so YUMMY! Coffee after dinner (which we have noticed is a staple after every meal here - or tea) was the best we've had. Overall, we were very pleased with dinner. Our B&B knows how to do food!

After dinner we headed to a pub down the street called McGann's. They have live music every night so we thought we'd catch a bit of music before we went to bed. The music got started late but oh was it worth the wait! Amazing! The guy playing the banjo had his fingers moving so fast it was all a blur and I've never seen anyone play the accordian in real life! That was so cool! It was just an amazing performance. We didn't stay long but we plan to head out tonight again and hear some more music and one of the other pubs.

We headed back to our B&B only to find a fox at our back door! It scared us to death! It was so cute though! I guess they feed it every night to it always comes back. We tried to get a picture then Shawn was going to try to video it, but we had no luck. We're going to try again tonight. When we decided to head to bed we noticed that there are some very loud cows that live across the street from our B&B. I don't know what their problem was last night but I hope it was a freak noisy night! I think I slept maybe 3 hours....and we have a long day ahead of us. Shawn just woke up and his first words were, "I'm gonna shoot that f*#king cow and eat it for breakfast!". That about sums up my feeling about the noisy cow as well!

Well, we are off to the Aran Islands today! Yay!