Ireland Trip Part 1---Skelligs and Dingle

So to say I've been slacking on the blog thing is probably the understatement of the year. Its been almost a year since I posted. I can't believe it. Time just flies.

Anyway, so what have we been up to this year you may be wondering... Not too much really. Guess we are just kinda boring. We did get back recently from an amazing vacation to Ireland.

My husband posted his favorites and his disappointments on his site and I thought maybe I would share a few of mine.

I would have to say that one of the highlights of the trip for me was seeing the puffins in their natural habitat. I've always thought these were the cutest birds and I have always wanted to see one in real life. I spent a summer in Maine one year and they have puffins there but I never got to see one.



We went on a day trip out to the Skellig Islands off the southern coast of Ireland on our third day there and I finally got to see the puffins. They didn't disappoint. The Skelligs are home to thousands of birds. The country has established these islands as a nature reserve and they only allow so many people to visit per day. It was a 45 minute boat ride out to Skellig Michael. This is the larger of the two and they only one that they allow people to visit. There is a monastery at the top of the island that was founded in the 7th century by Christian monks. The huts are very well preserved and it was definitely worth the trip out and the climb up the 600 stone steps.



These are some of the huts at the top of Skellig Michael.

And yes, we climbed up 600 of these steps to make it to the top. Definitely know now just how out of shape I am.



Here I am with some puffins. We were able to get pretty close to them before they would fly off. There were hundreds out that day. The weather was amazing. I guess we were lucky because prior to our trip, Ireland had had horrible weather for like a month or so.




We left out of Portmagee for the Skelligs and on our drive into town we saw this amazing rainbow. I didn't get a picture of the whole thing but we could be exactly where the rainbow started and stopped. It was beautiful. We saw about 8 or 9 rainbows during out stay.



Another favorite part was simply the driving through the countryside. The views are beautiful. The next couple of pictures are from our drive down the Dingle Peninsula. If you ever make it over to Ireland, definitely do the drive to Dingle. Definitely one of the best parts of our trip. I know most people will drive the Ring of Kerry and we did this drive too. It had some wonderful towns and beautiful scenery but in my opinion, it didn't live up to the drive to Dingle. Stunning.








For the sake of not making this post forever long, I'll split up our trip and leave it at this for today.

Happy 4th!!!!

Bedroom Makeover

We've been busy around here the past week or so making over our master bedroom. I'm so excited with how it's turned out. We had painted it green not long after moving in. I liked the green but it was a little too much. I'm definitely the type of person who likes to change things up every now and then. When I was younger I would rearrange my bedroom furniture every few months or so. Luckily for my husband I don't do that too often any more. I'm surprised he actually helped repaint this time.

Anyway, I decided that I wanted to repaint and after going through about a hundred paint chips, I found a blue and tan that I liked. We decided to paint blue in the bedroom and the tan in the bathroom. We haven't started on that yet but maybe soon. I need to give my poor husband a break from painting for a while I think or he really won't help me. He LOVES the color blue so I knew he would like the paint choices.

Here's a picture of the green before.


We didn't really have any other furniture or accessories other than a dresser that the TV sat on.

Here's the finished room. I'm really excited with how it turned out. Here are a few pics of how it turned out:


I found the quilt and tan blanket at TJ Maxx for a total of $45. It has the perfect shade of blue and brown to match the paint we chose. I'm considering covering the headboard and footboard with some white fabric that ties on the sides. I like the brown in the wood but it doesn't match our other furniture. I would love suggestions.

The picture above the bed came from Kirklands. I get a lot of my home decor items from here because there is usually always a sale. The quote says," Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... it's about learning to dance in the rain."




We found the armoir on Craigslist and had to do just a little bit of touch up. The dresser is something I picked up a while back at a flea market for $90.


The accessories came from both TJ Maxx and Kirklands. Everything was on sale. I love not paying full price. I picked up the curtains from Target. I have such a hard time with curtains. I can rarely find any I actually love. I considered making my own but I like how the brown and white look together. I have a couple of picture frames I'm planning on hanging together as soon as I get the photos developed. Other than that I think I'm pretty much done with the room. Let me know what you think. Is there anything that would look better changed up. I'm sure there is. I would love input.

I linking to Tatertots and Jello and Keeping it Simple

Look what I found...

These beauties are in my flower bed in the front of our house. I planted these early this year and was in the hospital when they first bloomed. By the time I got home, they were a little past their prime. However, I got to see the new blooms this past weekend. I love yellow roses. I also planted a pink rose bush and the blooms on it are just as beautiful.

Backyard Landscaping Project

Well after several bumps in the road, we are finally close to be done with our little landscaping project in the backyard. I'm really happy with the way its turned out so far. I've got a few little things to add to it but it's pretty much done. Here's what it looked like before...

This is a picture taken during the process of clearing out the grass around the patio. My poor husband worked so hard to make this perfect for me. I really couldn't do a lot to help. We did most of the work after I got home from the hospital so I pretty much supervised.


Here's what it looks like after. We built four 3X3 boxes to use as planter boxes. I've got tomatoes planted in two of them and flowers planted in the other two. Right now they don't look like much but I'm hoping in a little while there will be a little more color. I still have some bird feeders to put up in the other corner and we are planning on planting a small flowering tree at some point in time.





This is the beautiful hanging basket I got at Walmart. I love the colors.




Here's the side view. The sunflower looking thing on the ground is actually a bird feeder I got a year or so ago at a craft fair. I'm getting ready to hang it on another hook along with a hummingbird feeder.


I'm really happy with the results and I know it will only get better after things start growing. I would love any input about how to make it even better. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for stopping by.

Landscaping Project

We're almost finished with our backyard landscaping project. It's only taken 2 months. There were some setbacks in those 2 months. We had about a months worth of rainy weekends so there was no we were going to be able to till up the ground with all the rain. When we finally get a week where we didn't have any rain, I end up in the hospital and have to have surgery. Finally, after all of that, my amazing husband worked so hard to get the flower beds ready to plant in. I'll post pictures tomorrow! Can't wait to show it off.

Show Us Your Money Saving Tips- $20 Gym Memberships

I'm posted about this in the past but I think it such a great idea that I just had to link it up to Kelly's Korner- Show Us Your Life series.




Last fall when I made the decision to start a weight loss program and work on getting fit, I started looking into gym options. I don't know about you but I don't like the idea of getting stuck in a gym contract and after hearing some of the horror stories about the contracts from some friends I knew that was something I didn't want. My sister-in-law was using the gym at one of the local youth centers and it had everything she was looking for, so I decided to give it a try. The great thing about it was it only cost about $20 for a membership. That's all. No monthly fee. No contract. Now I will say this if you are looking for the personal trainer experience, you're probably not going to get that at a youth center. However, it had all the equipment I was interested in using. Most of the centers in my area offer workout classes for a small fee in addition to the gym equipment. So if you're looking for a place to get that workout in but you're like me and you hate the contracts and high prices, check out your local youth centers and activity centers.

New Goal

So I may be crazy but oh well... I've decided to start training to run in a 10k run this fall. If you know me, you know I've never really done any kind of running. This is a big deal for me but I believe its totally doable. My awesome sister-in-law is going to do it with me. We're going out to buy new running shoes this week and going to get started soon.
I found a running plan that is designed for people who are new to running. It caught my eye because it's call the "Couch potato to 5k" training program. It starts with small steps and works up to a 5k. The race we are striving to run in is both a 5k and 10k. I'm hoping with 4 months to train we will be able to run in the 10k.
I'm not really worried about making a good time. I just want to set the goal to complete it. If I can accomplish that I will be happy. So here's wishing us luck. I know we can do this together.