Mint Chocolate Chip Mug Cookie

It's Friday...  I decided my toddler and I deserved a sweet treat today!  With a toddler and an infant in the house I knew it had to be something super easy and FAST.  My first thought?  Mug cake.  My second thought?  Mug cookie with the bag of Andes candies baking chunks the hubs got me... Oh. Yes. Must be done. 
Referred and used my fave mug cookie recipe from No. 2 Pencil and the only thing I changed were the chocolate chips.  You could use the Andes candies pieces that I used, or M&M's, Reese's pieces, butterscotch chips etc...  Go wild!

Ingredients:

1 T. melted butter

1 T. turbinado sugar

1 T. brown sugar

dash of vanilla extract

sprinkle of salt

1 egg yolk

1/4 cup of flour 

2 T. Andes candies baking pieces

Directions:

Take your mug and melt your butter in the micro.  Add sugars, vanilla, salt and egg yolk.  Mix thoroughly; then add your flour; stir well.  It'll turn into a dough ball while you mix (as if you were making a full batch of cookies). Finally, add your chocolate and once it's incorporated place mug in the micro again and bake for a max of 1min.  

Dig in and enjoy!!!

Peach Crisp (in a jar!)

 

It's peach season here in Texas!  Yippeeee!!!  Know what that means?  It means you buy a bag or two from peach farmers on the side of the road (near Fredericksburg of course) and then you eat as many as you can only to be left with more peaches than you know what to do with...  

So what do I do?  Start baking. 
Problems: #1, my husband is grain-free, and #2, he doesn't like peaches.  Something about a peach tree in the backyard as a child and his mom told him he was allergic to them (so as not to have him climb the tree and eat all the peaches...).  As a mom I laugh and say, 'Smart woman.' As a wife with lots of leftover peaches I say, 'Shoot...'  Thankfully our 1.5 year old daughter LOVES them!  So I figured I'd make a jar of a kind of peach cobbler/crumble/crisp thing that she and I could share!  It turned out incredible.  

I don't have a lot of options for baking/cooking as usual since we're still in the apartment and most of our kitchen stuff is packed away in the storage unit(s) (insert sad face here).  What I DO have are jars.  Only two sizes though.  Big and bigger.  I used the smaller of the two for this (pint) and it was perfect for the two of us girls to share. Plus, I love jars and I use them for whatever I can (iced coffee, baking, flower vase, storing foods etc). I started with this recipe from Boulder Locavore and then varied it a bit. 
For me this is more of a crumble/crisp than a cobbler just because it's not doughy.  I'm not a big crust fan in pies and desserts to begin with so this is the perfect amount of crumbliness with gobs of delicious filling.

Ingredients:

Peachy Goodness:

1 3/4 cups chopped peaches (which was about 2.5 peaches for me)

1 1/2 T lemon juice 
4T brown sugar

2T flour 

Crumbly Topping:

1/4c old fashioned oats

2T flour

1/4c brown sugar 

3T melted butter
1 teas. cinnamon
splash of vanilla

 Directions:

Cut your peaches into small chunks and put in a medium sized bowl.  Add your lemon juice, brown sugar and flour. Mix well, then spoon into your jar.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. 
 
Mix up your oats, flour, brown sugar, melted butter, cinnamon and vanilla until everything is moist and squishy.  Spoon the topping over the peach filling in the jar. Press it down a little if need be. 

Once your oven is preheated, place the jar inside (on a cookie sheet in case of spilling over) and bake for about a 35-40min.  You'll know it's done when you see the peaches 'talking'...  This means bubbling and hissing a little; the topping should look a little crunchy and brown.  

Let it sit on the counter to cool for at LEAST a half hour before you dive in with a spoon.  Then once you've devoured about 1/3 of this delicious crisp, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  AMAZING combination - seriously - you'll thank me later.  Enjoy!  

Yes!!!!

Just a quick update!  I did get into the viticulture class!!! Yay!!!
It's a two year class provided jointly by Texas A&M and Texas Tech and when it's completed I will have my certificate in viticulture!
So excited to start!

Catching Up!

Wow. SO much has happened since I last posted. 
Let me sum it up:
Got pregnant Christmas 2011(YAY!!!!)
Had a beautiful, perfect baby girl in September of 2012 (WHOOHOOO!!!)
Moved to Texas in a hurry February of 2013 (LOVE IT)! 

Love love love my baby girl. She is so amazing and has taught me so much about being a mother.  
Love being close to friends and family now here in Texas! The only bad thing is living so far away from DH's two other daughters (that live with their mom back East). Thankfully we have them for a handful of weeks this summer (like usual) so we are really trying to take advantage of that and fit lots of fun stuff in!!!
Plus, we're in the midst of property hunting. 
Trying our best to find the perfect Hill Country land for us to grow grapes on; to live our life on, and in the best area and a good price range... Wish us luck. 
Oh! Also waiting for word on if I got into a 2yr viticulture class! *fingers crossed*

Our Belated Honeymoon Adventure (pt. 3 of 3)

Better late than never! My husband and I finally got to take our honeymoon (2 years after the wedding) to the beautiful, magical country of Ireland. It was incredible. Thought I'd write a post on wh

Better late than never! My husband and I finally got to take our honeymoon (2 years after the wedding) to the beautiful, magical country of Ireland. It was incredible.

Thought I'd write a post on what we did and where we went, what we ate - I kept a travel journal while we were driving, so I'm going to type what I wrote, verbatim in italics, what I add now will be in regular font.
Don't know if anyone else will read it and it doesn't really matter, but I wanted to have an online copy of our trip. Our adventure... :-)
Here starts part 3, the final entry in our saga!

Ireland: Day 8

Slept wonderfully at Ard na Greine and had a HUGE breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. Then we went outside to see Norma's baby calves! SO cute! They licked us a lot...discovered the barn cat too. Came back in for a fresh change of non-cow clothes and then took off for Mizen Head armed with a bag of Norma's scones. Our first stop was a circle of stones near Glandore, Co. Cork, called the Dromberg Circle of Stones. Very powerful place to stand. My legs got wobbly inside the circle and my ears began to ring while inside on of the old foundations of a hut. Interesting...
Back in the car - drove through Glandore town - SO pretty! Makes me want to spend all day there just sitting and looking at the harbor and being lazy and having tea... Maybe someday we'll have a cottage there. Very idyllic. Stopped in Skibbereen for some tourist info and some postcards, then continued on. Saw some more gorgeous coastal scenery including a huge white sand Caribbean-blue beach! We stopped and walked in on the boardwalk, then a floating pier they use to get across the water when the tide is up. Climbed up the dunes and down to the beach. Took our shoes off and just enjoyed for an hour or so. Barley Cove Beach is lovely. Drove around the corner and up the cliff and found Mizen Head. Had to get my lighthouse fix. :-) Mizen Head is a sight to behold. Gale force winds on a bright sunny day make you only wonder and shudder at what it looks and feels like during a storm. We spent some time in the visitors centre and then decided to walk down and over to the the bridge built during the early 1900's, between 2 cliff-sides connecting the walkway and the end of Mizen Head where the station is. We'd overheard some people in the visitors centre swearing they wouldn't go across that bridge for ANYthing. hahaha! The bridge was strong and not scary at all. We even saw a harbor seal sunbathing down below us. It looked as though he was waving! The views were incredible. I felt more 'in-touch' here than I did at the Cliffs of Moher which was where I thought I'd really connect. Mizen reminded me of all the lighthouses on the Great Lakes where I grew up (except bigger). It felt like home. The man taking our tickets at the station was from NYC & salty. I liked him. He reminded me of all our east coast salty sailors. :-) Neat museum inside the station on the end of the cliff. Very informative. Learned about Marconi and his innovative technology. Then went out on the point and was almost blown off the cliff! Loved it. The caves look like they house sea-creatures such as mermaids and other 'supposed' mythical beings. Here in Ireland I wouldn't doubt their existence for a second. When leaving Mizen Head, we got back to the parking lot and saw two huge, beautiful black horses playing with each other on the cliff! It was so surreal...like watching a scene in a movie. Perfect way to end our trip to Mizen.
Drove back into town by a mountain top road and got to see different views of all the nearby harbour towns. Drove back into Bandon town and checked DH in for his his half-marathon then drove back to Ballinascarthy/Clonakilty for dinner. Had a beer and took a photo at Henry Ford's Tavern. Then had really great food at a little spec of a shop tun by a Tajikistan man. Had excellent curry chips (fries) and a meat pizza (including lamb). Very good. The owner even let us take a picture of his curry sauce for future culinary reference. Went back to Ard na Greine fat and happy and passed out for the evening. It was a very good day.

Ireland: Day 9

Had a quick breakfast of yogurt flavored with homemade rhubarb goodness. Then jetted off to Bandon for DH's race. Parked in the middle of their rugby pitch and walked over to the start line across the highway. DH took off running and I walked into Bandon to await his finish. Bandon had a farmers market going on in their town centre which was where the finish line was! Neat town. DH finished his half-marathon at 1 hour and 58 minutes. We walked around a bit at the market, hot him his post race massage, then walked back to the rugby club where they had free sandwiches and were pouring hot tea in mismatched ceramic mugs for everyone! Very homey relaxed atmosphere. Then went back outside and grabbed a burger. They had a DJ and the grill all fired up. It was lovely. Everyone was really nice and friendly to 'the Americans'. :-) Went back to Norma's house and had some tea and coffee after DH had a shower, then prepared for the party at Norma's house. Her 3mo old grandchild was being christened that day so we were most graciously invited to the after party since we were there! LOTS of people showed up. Lots of family and friends and neighbors. We drank a lot of wine and ate a ton of great food. Met some really nice folks.

Ireland: Day 10

Checked out of Ard na Greine which was seriously sad...and started driving east. Knew we had to be back in Dublin by Monday night for our flight out on Tuesday, so figured it'd be good if we made half or more of the distance on Sunday. Took the 5min car ferry Norma had recommended over Cork Harbor to avoid Cork traffic (and all those bloody round-a-bouts!). After we'd crossed the river, we decided to try another Jameson Distillery, this time in Midleton, Co. Cork! Neat place - got to see the worlds biggest pot still! DH was a whiskey taster again and we hit the gift shop on the way out. :-)
we kept driving and decided to check out a place I'd seen in the B&B book Norma gave us before we left called Killiane Castle in Wexford, Co. It's a 15th century tower attached to a 17th century manor house. Incredible place. The owner showed up at the door and told us the price of the room (which was great) and he showed us up to our room! After getting our luggage up there we walked back downstairs and outside to try out the "farm walk". We traipsed all over the place. Got thistles in our feet/legs stepped in mud, cow poo, climbed over fences and braved a really big kinda pissed off looking horse. It was fun!!! Plus, the chickens chased me all over the yard... Then we decided to climb the old tower. What a place! I wasn't sure if it would be stable or not but we climbed... Old brick fireplaces, narrow stone steps gave way the rooftop. Incredible views. Went back down after awhile and saw the owner outside! He asked if we'd seen the head (!?!?). There's a head carved out of limestone on the top part of the tower - just coming straight out of the wall. Way cool. Next, went out to dinner at a pub about 2km from the Castle. Good food. Drank a bottle of wine and had an Irish coffee. Larkins was the name of the place. I had curry chicken and chips and DH had fish goujons. We shared profiteroles for dessert. Mmmm!

Ireland: Day 11

Had a great breakfast at Killiane. I had eggs baked with cheese and mushrooms and DH had crepe type pancakes. REALLY tasty! Got our bags and checked out - then climbed the tower one last time. Decided we would take turns, one going up the other staying down so we could get each others photos on top of the tower! Let me just say, it's a lot creepier when you climb it alone.
Started driving towards Wicklow and when we got there, parked in town to find the Black Castle. I was really looking forward to this ruin. Followed the directions I had found online past Hopkins Hardware along the harbour and up the hill. Once we got closer we just couldn't miss it - huge black ruins rose up from the edge of a cliffside. Really awesome place. Very dramatic/romantic. Lots of cannons surrounded the ruins as well. I really enjoyed that we had the ruins to ourselves. It made it a lot more personal and gave me another sense of belonging.
Started driving north towards Dublin and stopped at Avoca where we got many a thing for friends and family including an Irish wool scarf for me! :-) When we realized town would be a mess because the Queen was coming to town the following day. So we couldn't go to Guinness but drove around Dublin and back up to Newgrange/Bru na Boinne to see Knowth! Took our time at the visitors centre and had a sandwich. Got on our tour bus, met some ladies from Canada and had our tour of Knowth. There were only 5 of us on the tour. It was great. Very interesting how it's construction coincides with Newgrange and Dowth. VERY windy! Got to climb to the top of the main chamber where the settlers used to live. Neat perspective.
On the way out of Bru na Boinne, we stopped in Duleek at the Woolen Mills store. I got a gorgeous grey, Irish wool cardigan and another scarf. Fantastic!
Drove back south towards Dublin again to look for a place to stay. Wound up at the Premier Inn in Swords. Had dinner at the restaurant downstairs. Nothing spectacular but it was very filling. I had the fish & chips (huge fish!) and DH had the curry chicken! Got a bottle of mediocre Cabernet Veneto. Profiteroles for dessert which was awesome.
Packed everything up. Wine wrapped in clothes and carefully put in suitcases.

Ireland: Day 12

Our last day in Ireland! Super earliy in the morning we drove over to Avis and returned the car faster than I thought it would take. Got through the insane amount of security in the Dublin Airport and then had to wait for 2 hours because something was malfunctioning. Had a snack at the cafe and met a nice Irish guy going to the states to see his daughter who had been in a car crash. DH used up his euros on some Bushmill's whiskey from the Duty Free shop while we waited.
After several gate changes we got on our plane and headed to Charlotte, NC, USA! Got to Charlotte and heard about the bomb threats to the Queen on her visit to Ireland. Kinda scary... Had some American junk food - boy did it taste good!
Got on our plane for Baltimore and sat there for an extra half hour due to snarly weather on the eastern seaboard. Finally got back to Baltimore. Watched with trepidation as our bags came down the baggage claim belt. Thankfully, none of them were dripping with wine! So we were happy. :-) Took a taxi back to our car which was still sitting there waiting for us (thankfully). Then drove over to pick up the Plottador from her sitters house. Scary driving on the correct side of the road again!!! Lucy was SO happy to see us! That made leaving the Emerald Isle so worth it.

In conclusion -
We had an amazing Irish experience.
The people were so gracious and the scenery unbelievable.

I wouldn't go back and change anything about it, the good or the bad.

These three blog posts will serve as a fun reminder of our belated

honeymoon/2nd anniversary adventure to the Emerald Isle.

Our Belated Honeymoon Adventure (pt. 2 of 3)

Better late than never! My husband and I finally got to take our honeymoon (2 years after the wedding) to the beautiful, magical country of Ireland. It was incredible.
Thought I'd write a post on what we did and where we went, what we ate - I kept a travel journal while we were driving, so I'm going to type what I wrote, verbatim in italics, what I add now will be in regular font.
Don't know if anyone else will read it and it doesn't really matter, but I wanted to have an online copy of our trip. Our adventure... :-) Here starts part 2!

Ireland: Day 4

Full Irish breakfast at Mountain View B&B. Best coffee since being in this country. Lovely people.
Checked out and drove south towards Donegal Castle and around some big mountains on the way. Got downtown Donegal, parked and walked up to the castle. Took the tour. Really cool castle in the center of Donegal next to the river Eske. The rain started as soon as we got inside. Great timing on our part once again. Went upstairs & they had restored the banquet hall! Felt like we'd stepped back in time. Lots of fireplaces & very interesting history. Even saw two doves outside on a branch bathing together in the rain.
Left Donegal Castle and kept driving south.

On the drive down between Sligo and Donegal, we drove off the beaten path to find a friary/castle but it was private. Then drove off again on the R279 in Mullaghmore to find another castle/manor house. It too was private but we got to see awesome views of Donegal Bay & I got out twice, once to take photos of the cliffs and the castle and again to pet an Irish horse. Very friendly.
Got to Sligo, Co. Sligo. Decided since it was our Anniversary to stay at a castle!

Markree Castle is awesome! Reminds me of the movie The Canterville Ghost. Checked into the Johnny Cash room where he stayed with June Carter Cash back in the early 90's. So romantic... Fabulous room with a massive en suite bathroom. Left our bags in our beautiful suite and then went back into Sligo town for lunch and to see Sligo Abbey. The abbey is umm...creepy. Tons of tombs, but it had the only sculptured 15th century altar to have survived in ANY Irish monastic church. After leaving the Abbey we walked downtown to find food. Had a margherita & spiced lamb pizza at an adorable cafe downtown. Yummy! It poured down rain while we were inside which made us thankful for our timing once again.
Then went back to Markree Castle to explore the grounds. Found a 'secret' pathway through an old metal gate which was absolutely magical. Wildflowers covered the forest floor and sun started to peek through the trees. Took some awesome pictures outside and even found a 'barn cat'! Got all spiffed up for dinner at Markree. Ordered a bottle of wine from Spain - "Marques de la Villa Tinto de Toro '08". I ordered the guinea fowl stuffed with wild mushrooms & DH had the duck leg. Delicious! Had some sort of chocolate goodness for dessert. Then went into the sitting room to continue drinking our wine, then retired to our room for the evening. Great 2nd Anniversary.

Ireland: Day 5

HUGE breakfast at Markree Castle. DH brought a massive silver tray upstairs for an intimate breakfast for two. He had the full Irish breakfast and got me french toast. It looked and tasted fried - interesting - I'll never turned down fried food; it was fabulous. Beautiful place. Sad to leave. Even got to see the Johnny & June signature in the guest registry book. Very cool to know we stayed where they stayed.
Left Markree and started south toward Carrowmore - a megalithic cemetery. It started raining as soon as we got there so we borrowed an umbrella from the OPW people. Got to see some really cool giant stones out in the fields. It's always neat to read the myths that go along with these places.
Got back on the road and saw a castle type structure by Drummard, Co. Sligo. Drove up but it was on private property. Same thing happened the next town up. In retrospect, we should've knocked on some doors and asked to go see them closer.
Found a watch tower in the middle of Killala. Built in the 12th century. Really neat tower that looks like the town was built around it. Kept driving and stopped in Ballycastle, Co. Antrim at Mary's Cottage Kitchen. Probably the best food we've had since we've been here (seriously - it was the best lunch during our entire trip!). I had the quiche and salad, and DH had the ham, cheese and tomato panini plus a sausage roll. We had a slice of apple tart and a rhubarb crumble! Mmm!!! Not to mention a wonderful pot of tea.
Ceide (pronounced kay-gee) Fields was next. Very interesting site. VERY windy! Right on the Atlantic. Watched a video on why the bog is there and how the old town was discovered under the bog. The cliffs were HUGE!!! Very cool to see the layers of cliffside and how they relate directly to hundreds of years.
Started driving south toward Galway. Drove around Ox Mountain which had fog at the top of it making it look unseemly tall! DH found a Dr. Pepper in Headford, Co. Galway. We joked about it being from Dublin...you know, Dublin Dr. Pepper...if you're familiar with Texas, you'll understand the joke... Then we thought we'd try and find a place to stay. Tried the Headford Anglers Inn but figured we could find one less expensive. Started exploring the surrounding roads.
Found Annaghkeen Castle. Which was awesome. A 14th century ruin. Climbed through the chink in the stone wall and explored the ruin in the field. Neat that it was right on the river/Lough Corrib. It was neat to just happen upon a ruin that we could climb all over and really explore. We were all alone so it was a very personal experience. Absolutely beautiful.
Tried a B&B we followed signs for but their gate was closed...so we figured it was too late. Drove the rest of the way to Galway. Took a spin around town (its surprisingly big!), and found a B&B on the north side of town. Brook Lodge B&B. Checked in, then went back into town for a late dinner at McSwiggans Pub & Restaurant. I had the chicken kiev and DH had the chicken special stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon. We ordered a half bottle of chardonnay from Australia. Then shared a brownie and ice cream for dessert. VERY good food.

Ireland: Day 6

Took off from Brook Lodge B&B and headed south. Stopped on the side of the road to see Dunguaire Castle. Didn't go all the way inside but took lots of pictures outside. Kept driving south towards the west coast veered off a few times to see old keeps and then got onto a really really really small road called the "corkscrew" - up to the Cliffs of Moher. Very touristy...but totally breathtaking. Neat museum inside. Extreme wind outside. Wish there hadn't been so many people.

Kept driving and spent the night in Bunratty town between Shannon and Limerick. Checked into a place kinda on their main drag that shall remain nameless since it was terrible. It was more of a hotel than a B&B, but we learned that you should never stay in a B&B that isn't Shamrock Approved. No credit card even after she said she'd accept it (quoted DH a higher rate than we would've gotten at a B&B but said 'since I'm giving you a good rate, you'll pay cash, right?' - this is after he asked if she took credit cards...). No wifi even though they said they had it. It was there...but we couldn't get online which was extremely frustrating. Went out to eat at Durty Nellie's. I had a pint of Harp and traditional Irish stew. DH had the fish & chips and a pint of Guinness. Fantastic dinner. Great pub atmosphere.

Ireland: Day 7

Woke up to ants ALL over the room but mostly in our bed which explained the bite marks on me.

Checked out of the hotel/B&B as soon as breakfast was over, told our host about the ants and were kind of expecting to get some sort of discount but we didn't. She seemed accusatory like we'd brought them in or something and demanded to see them. I can understand the upsetting attitude especially if she had no former knowledge of the ants, but her being upset just added to our horrible time there. Anyhow - you live you learn - we vowed never to stay at a B&B that wasn't Shamrock Approved again!
Started driving into town. Almost went into Bunratty Castle till I saw the high admission prices. eeep! Did however check out their gift shop. DH got a hat. Then drove down the road to an Irish winery!!! Kinda. They make a mead and potcheen. Tried potcheen for the first time...it's very much like moonshine! Interesting. Got a jug of Honeymoon Mead. :-) Very tasty.
Started driving south towards Cork. Veered off the road following signs for castles. Stopped near Quin at Craggaunowen Castle. They call it a "Living Past Experience". Neat re-creations of thatched roofed huts etc. Plus they had the actual leather skinned boat from the Brendan Voyage inside this neat glass boathouse type building. We got inside just in time for the rain to come down. :-) Took to the road again and drove past another castle - Knappogue, but didn't stop.
Kept driving south and straight into the town of Blarney. Parked in the Blarney Castle parking lot and found out they don't take credit cards. Searched town for an ATM (the one in the grocery store was out of order, so we hit the one at the Woolen Mills) then went in to Blarney Castle. Really impressive structure. 8ft thick walls and HUGE. DH ventured in to the dungeon below the castle. Very small dripping wet passageways. I stayed in the second chamber while he went a bit farther. We climbed out, then we climbed up to the Castle and past the "murder hole" and up, up, up the winding staircase to the tallest parapet where the Blarney Stone is. Laid down and hung over the castle wall and kissed it! Way cool. The views from the top were incredible!!! Green for miles! After kissing the Blarney Stone, we made our way back down through the Castle and outside then ventured into the Rock Close. Really magical feeling inside those walls. Big willows and huge old trees. Plus Druid Stones and the Witches Kitchen, and Wishing Steps etc. Really fun place to see. I felt like I would see fairies at any moment. It's truly a place where magic exists.
Drove down to Bandon, Co. Cork where DH's 1/2 marathon is and tried to find a place to stay. Was bustled inside a B&B on the side of the highway and almost plied with tea but I adamantly declined because we wanted/needed to pay with a credit card which she didn't have a machine for. Tried a place downtown too (above a Pub) and were debating...started randomly driving down the highway farther south looking for Shamrock Approved places and saw a sign for a B&B called Ard na Greine! It had a shamrock on the sign! ;-) Bingo! Whipped the car in its direction and not 50ft from the road we saw a white horse. A beautiful creature standing in the setting sun. That was my good luck sign. I knew we were on the right path. So we kept going and found Ard na Greine. A big old yellow farmhouse. DH went in to inquire about prices and whatnot and then came back to get me. Norma Walsh owns it and the dairy farm adjacent. Plus a giant Newfoundland named Benson (who'd greeted us when we pulled up). Norma bustled us inside and sat us down in her sitting room then not 5 minutes later she had hot tea and her homemade scones sitting in front of us. Ooooh so good!!! Wifi in our room AND she takes credit cards! Thank god! Norma suggested a restaurant in the nearby town of Clonakilty called The Mill House Granary restaurant. She even drew us a map. Great place. Nice owner. I had the Shannonvale Chicken, which had a rich white wine creme sauce and white pudding stuffing. To die for!!! DH had the fish pie. Everything was delicious. Very romantic and definitely one of our best dinners if not THE best dinner we had during our trip.

Our Belated Honeymoon Adventure (pt. 1 of 3)

Better late than never! My husband and I finally got to take our honeymoon (2 years after the wedding) to the beautiful, magical country of Ireland. It was incredible.
Thought I'd write a post on what we did and where we went, what we ate - I kept a travel journal while we were driving, so I'm going to type what I wrote, verbatim in italics, what I add now will be in regular font.
Don't know if anyone else will read it and it doesn't really matter, but I wanted to have an online copy of our trip. Our adventure... :-)

Day: 1

We started by dropping off our dog, Lucy (our Plottador = plott hound/labrador) at her new sitters house. I got slightly tearful, but that's normal! I was satisfied that my little girl would be okay.
Then we drove over to where the DH (Dear Husband) works to leave the car in their parking lot (so much cheaper than leaving it at the airport). Then, we took a taxi to BWI.
I've never traveled internationally before so was quite nervous about the whole stamping of passports and security and all that - but it was fine! All went smoothly. DH even got me a cosmo in flight. :-) Only bad thing was smashing my thumb in the lavatory door on the plane...ouch!
My journaling starts during our layover in -

Frankfurt, Germany

After arriving in Germany we realized we had to go through their security to go check in and get our boarding passes for our last flight to get to Ireland, which wasn't even on the board yet so we didn't even know what gate to go to. It was a long, tiring layover in the wee hours of the morning (we DID however get to see the sunrise which was gorgeous). Since we had such a long layover we got a snack. Let me tell you - the closer you are to France, the better the pastries. Ooooh so good! While waiting, we discovered what an EXIT sign looks like in Europe...it's a green sign with a man running towards a door...interesting. We finally saw the Aer Lingus employees open up their booth (at 8am, which was 2am Eastern Time...oyyy) and we checked in, got our boarding passes and waited some more. Checked out the Duty Free shop (DH got some chocolate) and then we decided to actually have 'breakfast'!

Ate delicious frankfurters for breakfast - super good mustard. It was like dijon but it was regular mustard! Yum! Had my first European latte. Quite good! Very tall and delicious! Germany landscape looks like Wisconsin! Now I know why my ancestors chose Wisconsin when they came over from Germany! :-) I was so excited when we got through German security and I saw our Aer Lingus plane waiting to whisk us off to Ireland!

Ireland: Day 1

Always remember your drivers license!!!! My DH left his at home...
After annoyance at the rental car counter and getting our car (a cute little silver Nissan), we drove on the LEFT side of the road up to the Donore/Newgrange/Bru na Boinne area. Stopped on the way to get a roadmap, since we had nothing! Got our first taste of Irish roads and the sign posts when we zipped right past our B&B and wound up in Duleek! Still don't know how those people drive so fast on such tiny battered roads! It's truly baffling... However through good spirits and laughing at ourselves, we finally found our first Bed & Breakfast (the only place we had reservations at during our entire trip). Lougher Farm. Then went to visit Newgrange, where we got a discount on admission for staying at Lougher Farm! Went on the tour - it was awesome! Tour guide put me in a Katie-sized hole inside the tomb! Very good vibes from Newgrange. Tour guide called me 'megalithic sized' hahaha! When he turned the lights off inside the tomb (to show us what it's like during the solstice), it was like the walls were hugging me. I'm sure it helped that I was inside the chink in the wall, but still...awesome. Extremely spiritual place. We walked around Newgrange after the tour and DH took my picture showing my spiral of life tattoo next to the spirals on Newgrange.
Ate dinner at place in Donore called Daly's Inn. I had an excellent cajun chicken penne with a glass of sauvignon blanc from Chile. DH had the fish and chips with a shiraz. We were barely keeping our eyes open at this point. Almost fell asleep in our food. So tired from traveling.

Ireland: Day 2

Had a full Irish breakfast at Lougher Farm B&B! It was delish! Met some Canadians & a German couple. It was the perfect atmosphere to start our Ireland trip - great people and a wonderful host.
Checked out and drove back down to Dublin. Parked in the Jameson Distillery parking lot. Realized we needed an ATM to get more money on the parking meter. Discovered Irish ATM's are sometimes in the wine section of grocery stores... Got money, then asked for directions to Abbey St. Awhile later, we finally found Abbey St (after walking quite a few blocks) & my tattoo shop - Snakebite Tattoo - went up and found my tattoo artist, Erin Kirk all ready to go!!! I was worried we'd have to wait since they don't take appointments on Saturdays, so we had really good timing! Got my Celtic Motherhood Knot. Probably the most painful ink I've ever gotten...but so totally worth it. It looks incredible. While I was getting inked, poor DH had to go alllll the way back to the car and back to plug the meter. After he came back, we left the shop with my neck all bandaged up and my aftercare instructions in hand.
Ate McD's for lunch...We were curious as to what it tasted like and if anything on the menu was different. Real soda! That's about the only good thing I can say about it...really good Coke. The burgers and fries made me miss our American grease. Plus, DH asked for tea (meaning cold sweet tea) and he got hot bagged tea. Which was lovely and delicious but just goes to show you what happens in different parts of the world! hahaha!
Went to the "mall" and purchased a GPS/SatNav and a cell phone. Plus my aftercare creme for my ink. Credit card machines are weird here. Apparently Americans are behind in the times as far as credit cards are concerned... All the Europeans have the cards with the chip so all they have to do is stick it in there and you're good to go. The place where we got the SatNav and cell phone wouldn't even take our 'old school' credit card! So DH had to go find another ATM...oyyy.
Went back to the car on the trolley/tram thing which was considerably faster than walking. Then went to do a tour of Jameson. My favorite whiskey. DH got to be a whiskey taster! Met some American blokes. Really nice guys! I had a Jameson/cranberry juice at the end of the tour. Very good!
Went back to the car, plugged in the GPS and started driving north out of Dublin. I couldn't wait to get out of the city! Saw our first Irish rainbow!!! It was huge! Stopped several times on the side of the road to take photos of the scenery. There was this awesome bridge and mill house in Slane - just a hulking structure. Really neat. The sun stayed up till about 9:30pm and it stayed bright till around 10. Reminded me of summertime up north in Wisconsin/the U.P. of Michigan. The sunset was stunning. We drove into Northern Ireland/the UK since we knew we wanted to see the Giant's Causeway the following day. Once the sun went down we tried stopping in a few towns for lodging. No dice. Started to wonder if flying-by-the-seat-of-our-pants and not making reservations was a bad idea. Especially because at this point, my neck was starting to ache pretty badly from my new ink! I needed to get it washed off and the nappy rash creme (suggested aftercare) put on. So we kept driving north...
Finally found a big hotel in Coleraine, Co. Ulster. Bushtown Hotel. We walked in and were immediately inside a big open area where there was a band and a guy singing George Strait songs (too funny). The girl at the desk gave us a discount for checking in so late and when asked where in town was still open to get some dinner she suggested McD's...*sigh*... Having no other choice, we went there again. It was quite the experience going through the drive-through on the opposite side of the car! That alone was worth eating there again. Lots of gangly spiders in our room at the hotel, but otherwise nice! Slept on and off due to tattoo tenderness.

Ireland: Day 3

Coleraine, Co. Ulster Northern Ireland/the UK
DH went to the lobby to get breakfast while I showered. Delicious Irish breakfast once again. Checked out, left & headed north to Bushmills, Co. Antrim. Beautiful day - sun shining and the grass as green as you can possibly imagine. Took a shuttle bus to the Giant's Causeway! SO cool! Happy I wore sneakers. Lots of rocks to climb on and over. Beautiful sunny day. The Giant's Causeway was insanely beautiful. If you're ever in Northern Ireland and don't go see it - shame on you!!! We hiked the whole walking trail - which was more like a goat-walk than anything. The views were amazing. I'm not sure how they got there, but we found snails way up on the trail with us! I guess they must've blown up there. Afterwards, we walked up by the visitors centre and I got to see some Irish sheep up close. The wind literally took our breath away.

Went to the Bushmills Distillery next. Took a tour and was reminded of the Leini's factory (Leinenkugel's in Chippewa Falls, WI). We actually almost went on a German-speaking tour! hahaha! We went in the front door and went right out the back door - kinda like one of those revolving doors - thinking we'd almost missed our tour! We just sort of followed this group of people outside asking them if it was the 2:15 tour but none of them spoke English! Halfway around the block I told DH we needed to go back...I was convinced that it wasn't our tour...especially because it was only 2:10. I was apparently right. hahaha! Our tour leader found us and the rest of our group and we had a lovely time seeing an actual working distillery! Then had a hot toddy! (1 pt whiskey, 2 pts water & some cinnamon). Yum! DH had the 12yr old select. Went up to the bar after and talked to Bob the bartender - he had us try Black Bush by itself, with water and with ice and ginger ale. My fave was the Bush with soda. Then we had a sandwich at the distillery kitchen, plus a maple pecan danish. Yum.
Went to Dunluce Castle next, just up the road and still in Bushmills. It is gorgeous. Mostly open air and beautiful. Felt a very strong connection to it. Makes me wonder if I was there in a past life. It's a very commanding old ruin of a castle. It seems to just cling to the edge of the cliffside. My favorite part was standing inside and looking out the old windows at the sea. DH's favorite part was the cave underneath Dunluce.

Drove out of Northern Ireland and back to the ROI (Republic of Ireland). I had a B&B on my list of possible B&B's in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal so we were going to drive as far as we felt like it and if we made it to Letterkenny, so be it! We kept driving and saw some incredible views and had to stop several times for pictures. DH got some thistle on his legs after getting a photo of some of the scenery. He says it was worth it though. :-)
Stayed at the Mountain View B&B in Letterkenny, which was lovely. Nice big bed, huge bathroom with awesome shower, lovely hosts once again. Had it all to ourselves. We were the only guests that night! Drove back into Letterkenny for dinner. Nothing seemed to be open! Or if they were open, they were just closing for the night! After talking to two older gentlemen (they were SO cute! Quintessential Irishmen.), and hearing their recommendations (JFK...)(one of the guys was trying to assimilate a restaurant to KFC but accidentally called it JFK...heeheehee...), we went to The Brewery. I had the traditional bangers and mash & a pint of Harp. DH had the fish & chips & a pint of Guinness. It was delicious! Seriously the best bangers and mash I've EVER had!!!