I'm obsessed with green

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of my second favorite holiday, I thought I'd post some of my very favorite pictures featuring the star of the day: Ireland (well, kind of...sorry, St. Patrick)

Second trip to the Cliffs of Moher

View from the Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary

View from the side of the road near Dingle

Sheep. Lots and lots of sheep everywhere you go.

I miss Ireland. I can't wait to go back one day. Everything is just so green and vibrant and lovely...

Ok wow, sorry, got all nostalgic there. 

So now I have a question for all of you. Since I'm heading on vacation on Saturday, I need some good books to read. While I normally love reading Jodi Picoult and Phillipa Gregory books, I'm looking for something a little bit lighter and and a whole lot funnier this time (not that I don't love balling my eyes out on the beach). Maybe chick lit (love Shopaholic) or maybe not...I just want an easy, fun beach read that keeps me entertained. 

So if anyone has any good suggestions, I'd love to hear them! Thanks a million!

Green beer is magically delicious

Have I mentioned how much I love St. Patrick's Day? I absolutely adore it. Next to Christmas, it's my favorite holiday. It's all green and Irishy and lively—what's not to love? 

Yesterday was the big day of festivities in Chicago and it was a total blast. I started my morning with Starbucks, eggs, bacon and beer at 10am. And I didn't get home until about 1:15am. After consuming my body weight in green beer, I'm not even sure how I made it. But it was a beautiful day, everyone was in festive spirits and I soaked up every minute. Plus, the midday drunk food run to McDonald's helped out a bit, too. It gave me the push I needed to go to the  Gaelic Storm concert at House of Blues last night. The band just kept playing and playing and playing for almost 3 hours. Amazing. And now I really, really want to play the fiddle.

Anyway, I'll be sure to share more stories tomorrow...maybe about the horrible fashion I witnessed yesterday (thigh high socks are never good, especially not with white booty shorts) or about the Indiana Jones-wannabe at the concert who kept trying to do an Irish jig. But for now I need to head to bed. I've been a waste of space all day. Actually, I was very productive because I had to run a million errands, but my head was in the clouds all day long. It was kind of like I was just floating through the day like a little space cadet.

I'll leave you with a picture that pretty much sums up my day yesterday:

That would be me and my boyfriend trying to recreate the weird statues at the Rock and Roll McDonald's. Wow, that female statue's jeans sure aren't flattering at all, if you know what I mean. Yikes. 

What the hell is Willis Tower?

Well, that would be the new name of the Sears Tower.

Are you kidding me?! They are renaming one of the most identifiable buildings in the world and THE icon of Chicago? When I think of the Sears Tower, it doesn't even occur to me that it was once named after Sears department store. It's like Wrigley Field—the name just fits. And for most Chicagoans, I doubt they think about sticks of gum before setting foot inside to see a Cubs game. 

So some British company called Willis Holdings managed to get their hands on the naming rights and BAM! we now have Willis Tower. Damn you, Brits, why did you have to do that? You just stole a piece of Chicago. I love your accents, your princes (the young, studly ones) and your tea, but that's it. Now I'm a bit mad at you for swooping in and taking our beloved Sears Tower.

I'd rather think of it as being named after the older brother on Different Strokes. And Chicagoans, I guess we better prepare ourselves to hear a whole lot of people say, "What you talkin' about Willis?" I've already heard that about 16 times over the last 24 hours. Oh well, I'm sure everyone will still call it the Sears Tower. I know I will. Willis just doesn't seem like a name that will stick. At all. 

This morning as Starbucks I was discussing the name change with my coworker. As we were waiting for our drinks, I said loudly, "Those damn Brits make themselves look like asses by swooping in and changing the name..."

Before I could finish my sentence, the guy standing next to me leaned over to get something from the counter. He grabbed his drink, turned to look at me and said, "Excuse me, that's my drink". In a VERY thick British accent. The way he looked at me, I knew he heard what I said. Whoops. But really, out of all the people in Chicago, the guy standing next to me had to be British? I have very interesting luck. 

And speaking of luck, tomorrow is the big day o' St. Patrick's Day fun in the city. I can't even wait. I'm getting up bright and early to go see the bright green river (love it), watch the parade, listen to fun music, drink endless amounts of green beer and soak up all the amazing Irishness. It's finally a day (well weekend in this case) where everyone shares my intense love of all things Irish. And then tomorrow night I'm heading down to House of Blues to see Gaelic Storm. Amaaaazing.

My thoughts exactly.  Happy early St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Lookin' on the bright side

Today was rough. It was like someone sucked all the life out of my office. Everyone walked around, heads hanging low, trying not to look at the 5 now empty cubicles. A few of the people who were laid off came back late last night to clean out there desks, leaving only the random highlighters and stray papers strewn about. It's so depressing. And since my two cubicle neighbors are now gone, it's like working in a graveyard.

The office is silent, somber and altogether sucky. And after our company meeting this morning in which we were told how terrible our situation (tied together with the economy) really is, no one felt like doing anything. 

So while I sat there completely unmotivated today, I started looking ahead to the fun things I have coming up to cheer myself up.

Valentine's Day—Though not my favorite holiday (sorry, Hallmark), I do love spending time with my boyfriend. And I finally get to see him again this weekend after a very long two weeks. Not only that, it's also our 3-year anniversary. Wow. 3 years. That's a long time...

The Opera—I'm looking forward to this out of sheer amusement and curiosity. My friend and I both wanted to get tickets to the opera since neither of us had ever been before. So she looked up and saw that Tristan and Isolde was playing in Chicago and went ahead and bought tickets...without realizing how long it was. It's 5 HOURS. 5! We both agreed if we get too bored/antsy/tired, we'll sneak out and go to a bar. Sounds like a plan to me.

St. Patrick's Day—I LOVE St. Paddy's Day. Next to Christmas, it's my absolute favorite holiday. It's an entire day dedicated to all things Irish, what's not to love? You get to wear lots of green (I do every day anyway), blast Irish music and drink green beer all day. It's the best. And usually, my office closes down that day and we all head to an Irish pub with clients to drink all day. Unfortunately, with the layoffs, it looks like that might not be happening this year. Such a bummer.

Aruba—We leave March 21st and I can't even wait. The beautiful weather today reminded me of how much I love being out in the warm sunshine. It's going to be amaaaazing. I can't stop looking at pictures of all the beaches and palm trees there...

Plus, I have a bunch of friends' birthday coming up, a visit from my boyfriend's parents, a high school reunion, a book/wine club meeting and some fantastic Marquette basketball games thrown in, too. All before April. 

Despite the work situation, it looks like I'm finally crawling my way out of the winter slump and I couldn't be more excited about it. Must be all that sunshine I got today!