Lets relax people.

by Chris

Apparently there wasn't enough real news worthy of discussion so it was decided to accuse celebrity chef Rachel Ray of being a terrorist sympathizer.

Apparently ultra-conservative Fox "news" commentator Michelle Malkin believes that wearing a black & white scarf like Ray's above is equal to joining the PLO and supporting terrorism.

Yawn.

Whats next ? Sandals ? Small white Toyota pickup trucks ? Eating Falafel?

Where in the world are Chris & Kelly ?

Hello All !

I have extended my trip in NY until Monday and promise a big blog post on Tuesday covering the last week in Boston & New York. Lots of pictures & stories to share.

Kelly is in Moldova....I can't wait to hear her stories too !

I hope to be near a computer again in the next 24hrs and get some of my pics up.

-Chris

Hello Stranger!

Hiya Blog-o-nauts,

Sorry I haven't been in the blog-o-sphere much of late but life has taken me for a spin. Yours truly has gone and gotten herself a real job. Oh Lordy! After a year of unemployment I have spent the last month trying to settle in to a regular working schedule. It's wreaked havoc on my blogging lifestyle not to mention the social calendar and my sleep requirements.

Anywho - more on that another time.

Tonight I just wanted to acknowledge all the work Christian J. has done keeping things spicy for all our fans. Also to say sayonara to everyone as I am off to Moldova for two weeks to save the world...errm...I mean help a few orphans out.

Suzanne and I are getting ready to get up in like a half hour as we have to be at the airport at the crack of ridiculous. She says Hello!! (Beck - she says to tell you the foot's still swollen - do more research!!!)

So...wish me luck!!

I am relieved to tell ya that as of right now I have no anxiety, worries or fear about the upcoming two weeks. I probably have the new job to thank for that - as I am just happy to be getting away from the daily grind for a couple weeks, (good grief!! Am I pathetic or what?? Been working a month and already jonesing for a holiday?)

So...that's all I've got to say about that.

'See' you all soon. Thanks for your support. Wish me luck, keep me in your thoughts and I'll do the same for you.
Love and hugs.

-k.

Happy Birthday

by Chris

I share my birthday with many interesting people including Albrecht Durer, Judge Reinhold, Fairuza Balk, Dorsey Levens, Ricky Williams, Ara Parseghian, Raymond Burr, Andrei Sakharov, Fats Waller, Jeffrey Dahmer, The Notorious B.I.G, Al Franken and

Mr T !

But I also share my birthday (literally he was there) with this guy...

Happy Birthday Brian.

I'm off tomorrow to Boston for the NCAA Lacrosse Championship Weekend and Kelly is headed to Moldova on Monday !

After we both get back, I'm headed to China for a month with my new job.....more on that later.

I hope I don't have to take the train to work.

(Thanks to Mike Strianese for this gem)

What a Year !

by Chris

Believe it or not, it's been a whole year since we left Tampa...Wow !

While we did send some postcards, we obviously couldn't send one to everyone...so here are some postcards from the places we've been this past year.

The new European Lacrosse Magazine is out ! You can subscribe at their website

I have two articles in this issue so check it out !

Happy Mother's Day

Spring is here !

by Chris

Its hard to believe but the weather has been gorgeous for like 4-5 days in a row !

Of course the nice weather coincides with Kelly's first week of work :(

This is what Working Kelly looks like on her lunch break

In Dublin, Spring is the season of everyone running outside on their lunchbreak and camping out on any piece of grass they can find.

Its an infestation of suited business people ! They are like bugs (between noon and 2pm)

They are everywhere !

This post is gonna hop around a bit so hang on....

Last week, after Tony & I went hill walking/hiking, we drove down to Dalkey to meet up with Suzanne & Canadian Mike for lunch.

Dalkey is a charming little village on the coast just south of Dublin and is home to many celebrities including, you guessed it, Bono.

After lunch and few pints, Tony went home whilst Mike, Suzanne and I took the train back into Dublin.

Mike & Suzanne, they look like celebrities don't they?

Once we got into town, we met up with Working Kelly and then we ran into our friend Peter at the Waterloo pub.

Suzanne , Kelly and Peter

On a different night, we met up with Mike and Patrice for dinner at Gourmet Burger where I showed them my patented eat-spicy-wings-and-sweat-through-your-clothes trick. We then went downtown and had coffee and banoffee pie, before heading to BiaBar to meet up with Johnny & Evalina.

Here is Johnny aka Baby Jack Bauer, looking smart in his glasses.

Evalina, Patrice & Michael putting on their glasses

Michael & Patrice

The morning before we met up with Mike and Patrice, Kelly and I went to the Farmer's market in Ranelagh and had some delicious Falafel Pitas and a nice walk about town.


For lunch we had antipasto & wine at an Italian place with outdoor seating, then we got ice cream !

Yummy Ice Cream !

We also found Lionel Richie's Lampost

It was the first warm Spring day....goodbye Winter !

6 May 1937

Happy Birthday Suzanne!

May the 4th be with you !

Climb every mountain !

by Chris

Today was Kelly's second day at her new job (I'll let her make a post on that later), so anyway with the wife working, I did what any responsible husband would do.

I went mountain climbing.

Now we are using the term mountain loosely here. Although there is technically no height requirement to be a mountain, general consensus is that anything under 2000 ft is not a mountain. In Ireland there are 458 "mountains" of which 255 of them are actually over 2000 ft.

The 91st highest mountain in Ireland, and 7th highest in the Wicklow Mountains south of Dublin is Djouce Mountain which is 725 meters tall (2378feet)

After having a large Irish Breakfast, my friend Tony & I drove down to Wicklow via the Sally Gap pictured above. Even though it was May 1st, everything is still brown up there.

We parked at the Wicklow Way trailhead at Lough Tay (pictured below) and set out for Djouce Mountain.

The weather was cool/cold, perfect for hiking...although it was very windy.

The views got better and better as we hiked up the south ridge. As you can see in the picture below, I took advantage of this scenic overlook.

Higher and higher we went as Lough Tay (Loc-tay) got smaller and smaller.

The mountain, as typical of the rest of Ireland, was clearfelled during the 17th and 18th centuries, mostly due to the need for wood for shipbuilding.

This resulted in the peat bogs becoming exposed and in some areas destroyed. The mountain management crew has marked off protected areas and installed boardwalks made of old railroad ties to protect the area.

You dont want to go off the beaten path up here....quicksand ! or just muddy bog...either way, don't mess with it.

As you can see from the picture below, the boardwalk covers a long distance.

Once we got to the shoulder of the south ridge we got a beautiful view of the Irish sea and the coastal farms

As always you can click on any of these pictures to see them larger.

Almost at the top now !

Wooohoooo we made it. Ok, its only 2400 feet but it was a nice hike.

above, Tony at the top playing his harmonica. Two great reasons to go hiking with Tony. 1) he has a car 2) watch the movie below

After our mountain trip, we drove down to the coast to meet up with friends...more on that tomorrow !