Remember the guy that talked REALLY fast in the Micro Machines commercials?

 ....well that's how this post is going to be.

WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON YOU ASK?   Hmmmm, lots 'o stuff.  We took an amazing trip to Ireland in March to visit my bestie Jenn in her new home of Dublin, we're remodeling the basement, it's Spring so we're landscaping our behinds off, I deactivated my Facebook account...and oh, I got am amazing new job at a Fortune 50 company.  We've been insanely busy, so I've neglected my bloggin'.

Super duper cliff notes.  Ireland.  Eight days in the most beautiful country I've had the pleasure to visit.  The people were amazing, the scenery was unmatched, and we had sunny weather the entire week!   We saw Grafton Street, Trinity College, The Book of Kells, Temple Bar, The Guinnes Brewery, Kilmainham Gaol, Jameson Distillery, St. Michan's Crypt (whoa, touched a crusader!!!), Brazenhead, Cliffs of Moher, Dromoland Castle, Bunratty Castle, attended a Medieval Banquet, rented a "mid-sized" car (lost in translation?) drove across the entire country.....and that's all I can remember for now.  So amazing.

Guinness Storehouse

Jenn, Kevin and Michael in Temple Bar area.

Michael and I at The Brazenhead - oldest bar in Ireland!  1198.

One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.  Cliffs of Moher.

Piggyback ride from Jenn at Cliffs of Moher

Jenn and I getting romantic.

Inside St. Michan's Tomb

Our "mid-sized" car we took cross country.

Dromoland Castle

Dromoland Castle facade

Medieval Castle Banquet

St. Paddy's in Dublin!

A bunch of 'Merican's

Dromoland School of Falconry Graduates

Grafton Street

The basement is well underway, and we've got the wall down. We are essentially turning two rooms into one big room.  Still need to rewire, rearrange, paint everything tan with white trim, and close in the original TV cabinet.  Ugh....okay we're not even halfway there yet!  We got a gigantic new sectional that we clearly didn't take the time to measure, so it's expediting the process.

Um...this sectional doesn't fit in our basement.

Let's take this sucker out.

Getting there...

Cleaning up the mess, with help from Tucker B.

Need to rewire, rearrange, paint.... it's livable for now. 

Springtime landscaping...best said in pictures.  Black mulch is the new hotness.

Facebook was doing nothing but raise my blood pressure and make me sort of hate people I didn't know I hated. Hate is a strong word... dislike.  So I got rid of it!!!  Therapeutic, rid of the crazy.  Although, it's great to see some people's true colors behind the safety of their computer screens.

I was contacted by a recruiter out of the blue and was lucky enough to be hired by Humana.  I am a Digital Project Manager and will be starting my fifth week there tomorrow.  So far it's amazing, and I work with such fun and positive people!!!  I'm adapting to the HUGE corporate culture quite well, and had no idea how huge of a company it is.  I've made some great friends there so far, and am really happy I made the decision I did.

I hope to start blogging more, especially since I kissed Facebook goodbye!  Not sure if anyone even reads this anymore, but it's sort of therapeutic for me to keep this up, either way.  Sort of like a live journal that's fun to go back and read years later.

Progress!

Thanks to Clear Cut Lawn Solutions we now have a yard that no longer resembles a jungle!  These guys were great.  They came earlier than expected, and absolutely exceeded my expectations.  Check it out!

We've had a "when it rains it pours" scenario going on with the house in the last couple of weeks.  First after our power having been out for over 48 hours, the central A/C wouldn't come back on. Awesome.  The great part was that the seller purchased a warranty for the home.  We had to pay to file the claim but ended up getting that fixed about a week later.  A week with no A/C in August feels like a year, trust me.  Thank goodness we could seek the basement for some refuge!  In the upper 90s though, it was even getting toasty down there! 

Amidst our string of bad luck, our pride and joy - the koi pond - even took a hit.  After Michael put blood, sweat and tears into that puppy, the pump broke.  Naturally this was after we'd adopted a school of 7 koi fish!  The clock was ticking for oxygenated water so we had to act fast!  After numerous trips to Aquatic Escapes and completely destroying the pond all over again, we have a new pump and filter.  Whoever initially created this pond had absolutely no idea what they were doing.  The filter was inaccessible (a problem since it needs changed every 3 months!) the waterfall canister was buried (shakes head?) and half of the pond was actually being wasted by that.  It's not much to look at right now, but check out the fish during chow time.  (Click to view full size)