Rum hazed days

I’m sitting here feeling a little bit guilty that I have not posted anything for a whole week. My excuse is hazed in rum fumes. I had a few really busy days in the beginning of the week in work as all had to be done in time for our team’s kick-off event on Thursday.

Oh boy did we kick-off. After the obligatory meeting the activities started…. sailing, archery, climbing, canoeing and all was done in teams so the competition was fierce. After getting soaked, arms aching from paddling in a not very synchronized manner and with the mother of all bruises on my arm from archery (that string hits hard people) the BBQ and the drinking began. This is Ireland after all and the party was on.

Oh lord I had way, way too much cider, beer, rum&coke lemonade and even cigarettes… Jeez, no idea where I got that bright idea from, I have not smoked in years. A free bar is truly an evil thing. There was dancing, there was drunken ramblings deep discussions about extremely important topics (I’m sure they were), there was good-humored slagging between different nationalities, there was laughter and when the bar closed the party continued in one of the cottages we stayed in. It was a fabulous party day with great people.

At 3am I stumbled to bed, still fully intending to drive home later on that day. Yeah right.

Breakfast at 9 was… OK. At 10 I was supposed to drive myself and two friends back home. At this stage everyone was laughing at the state I was in. It was not happening. One of the girls ended up driving with me doing my best not to get sick in the car. There was no way in hell that I could drive anywhere, so I ended up sitting on her sofa for hours trying to recover. I had to sit very, very, very still for a long time. Oh my… it was one of the worst hangovers I have had in many years. Put it this way, I was ridiculously happy when I managed to drink a glass of water at about 5pm.

So the lesson is… avoid rum, cider and cigarettes too much lemonade. Or just don’t do it often… I still feel in a haze today which is insane. Still though… it was brilliant. I work with some awesome people!

This seems strangely apt:

Smile … it is Friday after all!

Am in work which normally means that I am (mentally) running from one thing to the next but today… I am not. I am smiling. I am on the edge of a laugh. I enjoy the banter. I bob my head to the music in my headphones. I blog (shhhhh don’t tell).

It is Friday just like it was last week… but for some reason it feels better this Friday. It has been a pretty good week even though it is the month-end. Busy in work but, considering all, it has gone smoother than the last few months. Yes, it has been mad for a few days but you know what… I truly believe I rather laugh than cry and laughed is what I have done no matter what this week. (… slightly hysterical at times but ehhhh who cares!).

A long-awaited book was released which has given me much enjoyment this week. I have managed to combine a work trip to Norway in March with a visit to a friend in Stockholm and her 30th birthday party, a party I thought I couldn’t make it to. This evening I am off to another friends birthday bash and it is the perfect way to end the work week.

The music in my headphones are old songs from the 90′s which remind me of happy summer days and evenings with friends when we were carefree students. That is what I feel like today: carefree.

Happy and carefree on a Friday. Damn it feels good! Happy Friday people!

Jaeger-bombs anyone?

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Oh lord… what a night! There I thought that the Christmas party with the work crowd was mad and what happens…I go out with the fabulous people from the Bujinkan club. A great meal in Alvito’s in Leixslip (highly recommended!) and then off to The Courtyard for way too many drinks. So many laughs, jokes, silly conversations, big hugs, serious discussions, more hugs, more laughs…and Jaeger-bombs…

Who’s idea was it to start drinking those?? For those who do not know what it is…you fill a glass with Redbull and then you drop a schnapps glass filled with Jaegermeister in it and knock it all back. Oh yes!!

At 03.30 we were first gently and then not so gently told to go home… ushering drunk people out of a pub at closing is not an easy task (been there, done that). So we all stumbled home, the stumbling was obviously due to the ice and snow on the sidewalks and nothing to do with any alcohol consumption…

What a fabulous night with some of the nicest guys and girls that I have the pleasure to know and train with!

Today I am however paying the price for thinking Jaeger-bombs mix well with beer and other drinks… Well, I think I will retire to my bed again for a bit because in a few hours some of our neighbors are coming over for a civilized wine, cheese and crackers session. December party season in full swing!

Post xmas party

Image by NotoriousJEN via Flickr

OK, it is 4.30am and I just got back from the xmas party. Needless to say I am juuust a bit intoxicated. It was a good night, even though we ended up in granny central! We had a meal and all at this hotel and at the same time a whole lot of other parties were involved. Most were either scangers or people from a nursing home. I mean….we even had nuns there for gods sake! There were many inappropriate laughs about CPR and old folks home. OK I know, not very PC but oh so fun. The band was shite. We went to another pub…then tried to make it to a nightclub… and then managed to find a taxi to take us home. The taxi ride took forever…mainly because off all the peeing breaks that had to be made. Not sure why I am telling you this as I am sure it is a definite over-share.

OK, I am pissed and can barely type at this stage. It was a brilliant night and it was fun! Have a nice weekend everyone!!

A bit of music late on Sunday evening

As I have been a bit too gloomy in my last few post I decided I will just listen to lots of music this evening. Letting it work it’s magic…

Music can always get me in a good mood. It helps me focus in my job. It makes me push that little extra in the gym. It can convey something to all.

Oh… and I happen to love this song.

 

 

 

A glass of red

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I am feeling old today. Not old as in “about to grab my zimmer-frame and gingerly move to find my medication” but more in the “oh my god it is Saturday night and here am I sitting at home almost falling asleep at eight o’clock in the evening”.

Maybe I am old… or maybe I am just a very sad example of a 30-something women who works too much, doesn’t work out enough and as always needs to shed a few pounds. Alternatively I have just been around my two cats too much and have been assimilated to that extent that all I want is play, sleep and eat.

The scary bit about feeling the way I feel this evening is that I am actually OK about it. I really couldn’t be bothered going out tonight. I feel like sitting in my nice and warm apartment reading some of my favourite blogs, maybe reading a good book and then perhaps watching something on the TV. Topping this with a nice meal and a glass of red wine.

The scarier bit is reading the above paragraph back to myself and then going…Oh lord what has happened to me??! I am clutching at memories of fun wild nights out with an ungodly amount of alcohol consumed. Then I realize that the memories are just that… memories… and that is what they should be. Great, fun and loved memories. Trying to relive something never works. Tried it before and failed miserably. Making new memories is more fun anyway.

So, summa summarum; I will stick to my glass of wine for tonight (well bottle really) and will make new wild memories another day instead.

Slánte!

Family musings: Shut up!

I said before that I will post about my family every once in a while. This might turn out to be really boring to read about but we’ll see how this plans out.

“Everyone shut up and listen to me!”… that was me… during most of my time living at home. Now do not go and get the wrong impression here…this did not mean that I was upset or angry or in despair (weeell… I was a teenager once so that statement might be debatable). I am the youngest in a very loud family and how else was I going to get any words in? I just had to become the loudest of them all and when that didn’t work I had to shout to get all to listen to me. Probably because I had something extremely important to say… most of the time…

Our family dinners (or breakfasts or lunches…) were always interesting. Many discussions going on at the same time… never really with the person next to you..mostly with someone across somewhere. The volume was normally very high, the discussions varied and quite entertaining. I could never (and to some extent still don’t) understand why anyone would like to have their dinners in silence. The only time when we had any meals in silence it was because my parents had a row and the atmosphere was silently tense.

One would think that things changed after everyone grew up and my parents getting old… but no, my parents are still the loudest people I know. Whenever we all get together (not very often unfortunately) we keep the neighborhood up. People have actually been under the impression that we are all having a massive argument as everyone is so loud. I take it down as pure envy as they do not always understand everything, since my parents are known to talk both in German and in Swedish…mixing the languages up like mad (any linguist would shudder and faint). A bit hard to eavesdrop when you don’t understand all.

The last time we all came together was at my mum’s 70th birthday…we had a party at my brother’s house and everyone was there. My brother and his family, my sister and hers, my aunt and uncle and everyone’s partners plus a few cats, dogs and horses. It was fun! People from all ages, from 73 to 2. There was singing (yes including to loud German umpa-bumpa music where my dad and uncle excelled), dance offs, outdoor games and lots of food and drink. I laughed the entire day and night. It was loud and a bit mental…and there was plenty of moments when I had to stand up while laughing and say:

“Shut up and listen to me!”

Sambuca! Great idea….

Yay! Let’s have a shot of sambuca… its sooo nice and will be a great add-on to all those other drinks I have/will consume!

Right. Well it sounded like a very fine idea last night. It was a great shot, tasty and all that but maybe not the best combination. I am paying for that today….not too hung-over but very tired. Thank god beer didn’t come into the mixture.

It’s scary to think how much age can change your tolerance for alcohol. I can still drink a fair amount, provided I had something substantial to eat before, but the recovery time is so much longer these days. Maybe I am just out of practice and maybe that is a good thing as well. Either way it is much more fun drinking less often as I am actually enjoying a good party more than if I would go out all the time. And I know..you do not have to drink to have fun…but at the same time…it is boring being the only sober person in a group of friends..it is fun for the first few hours…then it just becomes a pain. All in moderation I guess. As long as alcohol doesn’t rule your life and you hopefully know what you are doing then a good party can be one of life’s gemstones.

OK, I am rambling now and will stop this before it becomes even more horrid. Cheers!