Sunday 27 March 2022

St Patrick's Day 2022


I woke up to a photo of Enid on my phone.  She was again taking part in the parade as part of the Dublin Cycling Campaign group - if you do a search on my blog for "parade" you will see a few posts from past years when Enid and I have partook together.  She is dressed for the theme of Joycean/Bloomsday, and I am glad she is getting use out of my nice Peter O'Brien coat lol!


So I immediately rushed outside and took a photo outside my front door to send her.  We are nerdy like that, we like replicating each other's photos for fun.


I had only bought this dress the night before would you believe.  I got panicked that I should be wearing green to work, as I would in Ireland,and Ross Dress for Less came up with the goods in the shape of this Calvin Klein dress in a nice bright green.  I think it almost has a 1940's shape to it would you agree?  I also think all these photos show the difference in pictures when you move angles and stand up straighter etc etc!!


Represent! Here I am standing on the front steps of my workplace.  A few of these photos were posted on our social media pages and got good traction and reaction, so the trip to Ross ended up being worth it!



Yep! Definitely some angles better than others.  But I really just want to show you this dress and preserve it in a few different photos.


Later on, after work I met up with a visting friend from Ireland. Svetlana and her husband and friend had a little stopover in Key West before departing from Miami on a cruise ship.


Some of Enid's bike group crew.  Note the sunflowers and blue ribbon for Ukraine

Happy St Patrick's Day 2022!



Come on Downnnnnn!


A while back Patrick announces to me "we're going to The Price is Right Live.  I got us tickets".  Then every time I saw an ad in The Citizen or on facebook etc I would shout out "Patrick O'Herlihy! Come on Down!!" and show him the ad.

So, we've had a bit of fun in the lead up and then we had a lot of fun at the actual event on Saturday night.   Notwithstanding, that we were CONVINCED that one of us would get called (we do this a lot lol) and then a little disappointed that we weren't! Ha!  Ah well




 

Working from home

Ever since the pandemic the "Working From Home" - concept(?), thing(?), some other word I can't think of right now - intrigues me...

"Phenomena" That's the word!  

It is still bizarre to think, that literally overnight, the world went to working from home and working virtually.  I suppose it is seems especially odd to me, taking into account two very personal factors.  (a) That my job obviously never went virtual and (b) that I just knowwwww that had I been back home in Dublin and working at my old job I would have just HATED working from home.  Maybe to the point of simply not being able to do it!!! I need to go to the office! I need the structure of  a start time, a finish time and a work in between those two times.  I need the discipline of setting alarms, having showers and Dressing For Work in proper work clothes of a jacket/trousers/blouse or a dress and a jacket etc. I also enjoy the interacting with people, the chats, the cups of coffee...the  meeting friends after work for a drink and some food, the drinks in town on a Friday night after work.  

But mainly, let's call a spade a spade here Amy, I need to go into work to get the work done.  I know it. It's the person that I am. 

One person who I admire when it comes to working from home is Patrick


For posterity this was his desk and working from home space when we moved into our new home just over two years ago.  This space would have worked fine if it could stay looking like the picture above.  But jeebs, Patrick struggles with paper and keeping his desk nice and clear!  And also, look at that little laptop. There had to be better options!



So. Because I was bored and I like putting together furniture I recently bought him a new desk!  

Criteria for the desk was that it was not too big and did not go over a certain size: so as it left space for going in and out comfortably by it's side. And that the price was reasonable.

It took me about 2.5 hours in total and I was particularly proud of myself that I got the drawers on properly and sliding open smoothly.



This is the final space after I added a few things;
- the monitor riser with the laptop underneath
- the little fan for during meetings when it gets hot
- the little filing thing on the left for all his paper!!! (Let's see how this works out lol!)
- underneath the filing thingy, there is a little hook where he can hang his headphones

 I think this will be overall a much more comfortable and efficient space.  If I was to say one criticism I would talk about the way the monitor is blocking some of the view now!  

Monday 14 March 2022

IORAB Water Flosser


My water flosser / water pik that I had brought over with me from Ireland finally gave up the ghost.  This is the replacement I bought from amazon for the princely sum of $24.99.  I'm really happy with it.  The main difference between this one and my old is the water pressure - much higher on this one.  This results in feeling cleaner and fresher for much longer.  There are some additional attachments with this one also but I don't really see myself using them as I get the results I want from the standard attachment.

 

Shanna Key is Sally O'Brien's, Key West

By a series(?) misfortunes, well one or two anyway, we ended up finding a new food place to add to our Favourites List. 

While we initially planned on having dinner in the new Shanna Key (Sally O'Brien's!!!!!*), upon arrival at the pub we found it closed as it is still under renovation.  So, we cycled on to Salute on the beach and found it to be absolutely JAMMERS. So, considering the route we were on, I suggested to Patrick that we go to the Southernmost Mansion where we had never been and try one of their famous Lobster Pizzas.  We got a sit on a raised platform, under an awning with a beautiful view of the ocean - much better than in this photo.  And the pizza was divine! Thin and crispy and generous on the lobster. 10/10! A lovely place to switch off and relax.  We will be back.

Side note: new name for Shanna Key....Sally O'Brien's.  Where is my throwing up emoji.  As an Irish person I think it is overworked and twee.  Why any earth could they just not call it O'Brien's like they would in Ireland???  And of course, that name just makes me think of the Harp Ad in the 1980's, okay well that is kind of funny I suppose.  The pub was bought by a guy who has two Irish pubs in NYC already, so I had high hopes for this place....let's see how things go from here!  We did peer in the window while there and did see a lovely new wooden floor so that is nice I suppose!  Watch this space!