It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Milestones

This week Erin and I hit a minor milestone. We sent our 2000th text message to each other. In fact, this year we have sent:

• 2016 texts
• 47 emails
• made 531 phone calls
• 13 Facebook messages
• a handful of notes

but critically, delightfully, splendidly a total of:

• 0 minutes on Skype

Is it a great invention? Sure. Making Microsoft a lot of money? Absolutely. Saved us a lot of money? You bet. But when the only way you spend time with your girlfriend is in 13" table-top format, things can get a little frustrating. So I'm awfully thankful our tally this year is zero! Did you know that we once had a 4 and a half hour Skype call?! SICK! I think Erin even has some photographic evidence somewhere.

Speaking of photographic evidence...

She is a champ! Silverware to prove it!

But she is not the only champ in the family. Every year there is a big tournament where all the universities around Ireland gather at one location and battle it out for 3 days to see who will be crowned Irish Intervarsities Champions. I've always wanted this title. My fours years at UL proved frustrating. 2 first round exits, a semi-final, and runners up in 2006. We lost in that final 3-2 to the team I now play club for - Jordanstown. It was an incredibly tight game and one of the most fun I've played in. But 2nd place is still a loser. So that should have been it. My chance at being an intervarsities winner blown.

Except this year I became a student again. Even though I play club for Jtown I am only eligble to play for Queens seeing as I am a student there. I would have to be a turncoat (like my wife). Play against my team mates. 

Well at the fifth time of asking - I got it. The trophy was returned to Queens after an 8 year absence. Here is the winning point:

On finals day

QUB mens and womens team

Early rounds. I'm at the back.

Anywho, the clock is ticking :) Exactly 24 days (+7mins)

Good Morning Wednesday

Well, it's 7:10 am here in Belfast.  Pitch black outside!  I'll let you know when the sky finally starts brightening... I took the photo above right before I sat down.  This is my favorite corner of the room.  Notice I even light my candles in the morning now!  Niall and I got up earlier today so I already have the place to myself.

I have a confession-- I have been really bad about sleeping in over here.  Sometimes (ok, most of the time!) it is soooo hard to get out of bed.  Is it the heavy black-out curtains we have in our room?  Is it my sub conscience knowing that it's gray and wet outside and that my cozy bed is the best place to be? Or maybe, as Niall has concluded, it's having a very cuddly husband sleeping beside me?!  :)  I really don't know.  But it seems as if my body is shutting down for the winter and needing more sleep these days.  On Sunday evening, I was feeling a bit under the weather.  We didn't get to bed exceptionally late, but still for some reason I didn't even hear the alarm go off, or Niall get out of bed and begin his morning routine.  The only thing I can vaguely remember is him coming in to me and saying he was leaving for work!  Next thing I know, I opened my eyes to a very drizzly, dreary day.  I had this sinking feeling that it was later than I wanted it to be.  I had to be down at Soul Food at 9:30 am that morning... so I pulled myself off of my pillow and dragged my feet into the kitchen to check the clock above our stove.  AHHHHH!!!!  9:40 am.  Crap.  I immediately went into a state of total panic, rushing to put on a pair of pants and scrambling everywhere to find my phone so that I could call work.  I made it down there by 9:50 am-- not bad, but I felt completely flustered the rest of the day!

The good news is, Soul Food was actually closed on Monday, so it wasn't a 'real' shift that I was twenty minutes late for.  4 of us girls had a meeting at 10 am to go to our espresso supplier's base to get our "official" coffee training done, while our bosses had to get some maintenance work done in the cafe.  The girl who trained us on this big fancy espresso machine was the UK barista champion a few years ago!  She said it was a completely nerdy competition-- but she must have enjoyed it, because this woman was pretty passionate about making the perfect espresso, cappuccino, latte, macchiato-- you name it.  Though we had all been making coffees for months now, it was kind of fun to learn some coffee bean history and get in on some of her secrets.  And getting paid for doing a bit of coffee tasting for a few hours-- not a bad deal!

*side note* ... It's 7:35 am now and I can just see the line separating the hills and the sky.  Still not light out though!

My work Christmas dinner (a bit early for a Christmas dinner, but we start early over here!) is this weekend.  I am really looking forward to it.  One thing that my co-workers and I have been joking about lately is the Oxfam store (charity shop) next door to our work.  We seriously all have a little vice about checking in there for treasures.  And trust me, if you find a treasure in there and you don't snatch it while you can-- it will be gone the next day!  It's a small, tidy shop and things go quick.  Jude came in yesterday morning so excited because she had found a jacket for 15 pounds-- which sounds expensive for a second hand shop-- that she says is worth over 300 (that's $477)!  Apparently it is a really nice British brand (I didn't recognize it).  She was so 'chuffed.'  I don't buy anything very often, but a couple of weeks ago I found these:

Not only were they brand new, but they were my size-- which is hard to find even in a normal store!  (Apparently no Irish girls have big feet).  My style is a bit different these days since the colder weather has been creeping in.  I wear boots and scarves more in one week than I ever did in a full winter season in Santa Barbara!  All I can say is, I certainly hope it's not cooling down too much at home... because I would love a break from this constant chill.

Other little things happening here... I joined a BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) women's group here in Belfast and I am really excited about it.  I've only been going for the past 2 weeks but it has been a huge blessing.  It started off a little rocky because I don't have the car on Tuesday nights... but the leader of BSF has been picking me up and dropping me off which is great.  I'm so lucky that the meetings are on Tuesday nights, because I have volleyball Monday, Wednesday, and Thursdays!  So God definitely worked it out.  There aren't many young girls there, but I am still confident that this approach to God's word and that the relationships I form through BSF will benefit me greatly.  Last night after our meeting we went to one of the older lady's houses for tea and fellowship.  It was nice to sit around a fire and have some chit chat.  They all "ooh and ahhh" over me being from California which I always think is so amusing!

Life is good and Niall and I have so much to be grateful for.  Niall is doing well in school and to be honest, I can't complain too much about his student life!  I had the early shift yesterday so I was off in time to walk over to a coffee shop on Stranmillis and meet Niall for a pumpkin spiced latte after he got out of class (he goes on Tuesday afternoons).  I checked our mail on the way... Heather and mom, thanks for providing us with some nice reading material.  :)

I have a volleyball game tonight, the first one in a few weeks so I'm looking forward to that.  Niall is the head referee so hopefully he'll make a few good calls.  :)  For those of you who have been asking, his ankle is a lot better now-- he's playing, but he still has to wrap it up and it is still a bit sore.

Ok, I think it's safe to say we can begin a countdown now?  Less than a month until we leave for LAX!!!  :)

That's all for today... love you guys, xox

p.s.  Ok, 8 am... I guess you could say it's "bright" out (no, unfortunately that does not mean there's sunshine!).

The votes are in, the people of America have spoken...

Or did they? 126 million ballots were cast. That is a turnout of less than 60%. Given the displeasure voiced by Americans (both Democrat and Republican) at the path their country has taken over the last 4 years, I would have thought the people would be out in droves vying for their opinion to be heard. Perhaps both candidates were just underwhelming. Did neither inspire confidence as a leader? Or maybe the Electoral College is to blame. How disparaging must it feel to be a Republican voter in California or New York, or a Democrat in Texas? Essentially a vote cast in any of those examples is not only futile but has the added insult of being 'converted' into a vote for the opposition. What a slap in the face! Is it because the Election is on a Tuesday? Are you too busy? At work? Or does the early voting system now nullify that argument?

So how would you explain the poor turnout, one of the worst in the free world? To Europeans I imagine it is surprising to see a Western democracy with liberties (like having a vote) fought hard for to turn out in such low numbers. Having said that, I don't think we understand the role of federalism in your country like you do. The European Union's mandate pales in comparison to the significance of the federal government in America. Additionally, for the most part, members of European Parliament are not elected by the people (contentious issue). But perhaps most distinctly, each state is still an independent country. I still would like to ask, mostly because I'm just curious, why keep the Electoral College system?

All that aside, Barack won the popular vote too (albeit 50-49!). He will have 4 years to seek redemption-- a tall order. He appears to have been one of the least co-operative presidents in terms of bipartisan relations in recent times accentuated by the taking of the House of Representatives by the Republicans in 2010. Yesterday, the latest copy of The Economist landing in my letter box:

"Now, hug a Republican"

Let's hope he does because this graph doesn't make for pretty reading:

Good ol' Bill - an Irish favourite - getting some serious Green!

Ok. I'm done with politics. Sorry to put you through that. That is not why you come to our blog. You all know we hope to return to America for good some day. We just care about what state the country will be in when we get there. I'm used to getting nudged by the CA faction to return more promptly. In fact, as time goes on the subtle hints morph to gentle nudges to persuasive coaxing to aggressive prodding and the final straw I imagine will be some form of kidnapping. As I've said before Chula Vista could be on the cards perhaps even with a residence not too far from Tina and Ryan (by the way :-D ..... wait .... can I say? Better ask the wife first). Although La Jolla might be wishful thinking.

Anyway, enough dreaming. Train your minds. We are in Ireland for the time being. And we are the gateway to Europe for you yanks so get your butts over here. Use us while you can. Our home is transformed from minimalist yuppy pad to cosy B&B and so far most of our guests have been domestic visitors (e.g. the Noonans last weekend or my sister this weekend).

Avril just left. She spent a fun 3 days with us availing of many of the amenities that Chateau d'Madden offers; free internet, large bathroom, chalkboards for scrawling thoughts, free tutelage in Science-related subjects, ride to church, divine hot chocolates, copious amounts of haagen-dazs followed by living room workouts:

And even the odd MEGA-Milkshake or two.

Remember these Taylor & Heather?

Avril is progressing well with her studies. She is almost half way through a degree in Biomedical Science. She is loving it. It is a novelty for me to be at university at the same time as Avril. It is making us feel even closer I believe as we are sharing a common path now. She is far more studious than I though. I have an assignment that I was given 3 weeks ago due in 4 weeks that I have not even started. That is normal for me but completely foreign for my whiz-kid sister.

I'm helping her put some of her extra money away in stocks at the moment. I have promised to match all her investments so she doesn't worry about it seeming so complicated. And somehow she is even managing to do better than me at that as well! And I'm the one doing it for her! She is a talented girl. She does make me very proud. With her learning and hearing difficulties I am so amazed at how well she is doing.

Spending time with some friends at St. Georges Market

Ok, want to see something interesting (and depressing if you live here)? Scroll back up to the first photo of the Economist magazine I took. That was taken at 4pm. Pretty bright - no lights are on in the living room. Now check this out taken right now as I write to you at 4.30pm:

It is not even Winter Solstice!! In a month it will be even worse. Pray for Erin. As an Irish man I have grown accustomed to this - she can't stand it. We barely get enough sunlight on normal days!! On a positive note though, we'll be in Santa Barbara by the time Winter Solstice comes around! :)

Yes. I sprained my ankle. It was only minor but so disappointing. The volleyball season had just started. I had been kind of down about it over the last two weeks not being able to exercise. But I'll live. It could have been much worse. We lost our 2nd match on Friday night. I played despite better judgement being imparted on me. My ankle still quite hurts but lots of tape and tubigrip gets me through it.

I have to finish here. I was due a blog update and now I can check that off the to-do list scribbled on my blackboard. It was overdue. To finish, I'll post a picture that always makes me laugh. Who's reaction do you notice the most:

Hi!

Hello there...

Well, it's late Sunday night and Niall and I just got done with a nice Skype chat with the folks in SB.  Not going to write too much here now, but will share more later this week.  We had a great weekend with Marie and the kids, although I will say I didn't take one photo.  :(  Lucy had her camera some of the time though... so maybe I will get some from her to share later.  It was lovely to show them Belfast and a bit of our new life here.  It is still funny to think how lucky I got with my aupair job in Bruff!  And crazy that it's been almost five years since I first went to live with the Noonan family...

Forgot that I actually have ONE photo from this weekend on my phone.  Here's me and Lucy trying on some hats :)

Some other random news:  Niall sprained his ankle playing volleyball a week ago so that's been a bit of a bummer.  :/  He was on crutches for a few days but has been limping around without them since the start of this weekend.  He did his best to keep up with Bob and Ben!

The first night it happened, it looked like a tennis ball had been glued to Niall's ankle!  The swelling has gone down so it's just a bit black and blue now.

Other than that, not too much has changed.  I am still constantly freezing and it's still getting colder!  I had another volleyball game last week, we lost in 5 (15-13 in the fifth set!) to probably the hardest team in our league.  Not due for another match for another few weeks.  Niall has one on Friday but the chances of him being able to play aren't looking too good-- we'll see.

Right, it's going on 11:30 pm so I'll stop there.  Niall will probably be writing the next post, it's his turn-- so you can all get excited for that.  :)

Love you guys!

P.S....

I know it was over a week ago, but congrats to my studly Dad, brother-in-law, and sister for riding in the SB Century!  That's 100 miles of cycling, most of which are uphill... you guys are crazy.  Loved seeing the photos and wish I could have been there... next year maybe?!  xox