Happy Birthday Virgos!!!

I'm convinced that there are so many Virgos in the world (myself included) because when winter rolls around, people are stuck indoors and start to feel....oh, how shall I put this?....amorous. Especially after Thanksgiving when there's some down time before Christmas.

I don't really get excited about birthdays and have decided not to have anymore myself, but I don't want anyone to feel neglected. Also I'm lazy, so I'm hoping that if I say all my happy birthdays at once, I can be done and no one can say I forgot them. Except for the people I forget. Anyway, here goes....

Happy Birthday Lynne. Thanks for all the times you've played chauffeur and also for winning the stuffed orange monkey at the fair this weekend that I will give to Oran and claim that I won myself. Have fun in Vegas.

Happy Birthday Timmy. Thanks to you I will never think of IT Guys in quite the same way.

Happy Birthday Rob, even though you keep giving me more work than I know what to do with.

Happy Birthday Olivia. Thanks to you (and Finn) I don't get so lonely in my office.

Happy Birthday Ronan. Thank you for not making fun of Team Tragic every chance you get.

Happy Birthday Tamara. Portfinn would not run without you.

Happy Birthday Greg. You're probably the best bratty kid brother a girl could have, although between you and Charlie it's close. If I haven't told you lately, I'm very proud of you.

Happy Birthday Leslie. I miss you! I want to see pictures of those gorgeous babies of yours.

Happy Birthday Liane. And welcome to ACA.

And last but not least, to my "borderline" Virgo boyfriend, Happy Birthday Babe. You're amazing and I love you. And no, your present is not a boat, a motorcycle, or an iPhone. You'll just have to wait and see.

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Here is a little background on Virgos for the non-Virgos in the world who'd like to understand us a little better.

Virgos are intelligent, reliable, and diligent, although some prefer to call us obsessive, critical worry-warts. Lots of Virgos that are guys are not that happy that their sign is a girl so they lie and say they're Leos. I prefer to think of the man Virgos as Mangos.

LIKES - Books, details, and telling people that their sign is a pretty girl. Except for the Mangos, who tell people that their sign is a bulldog or piranha or something tough like that.

DISLIKES - Messes, pushy people, and dry frizzy hair with no bounce, vitality, or sparkling sheen. Also war.

MOTTO - Make the stupid people shut up.

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That's all for now. I'm off to bed for some much needed sleep. I hope you're all doing well.

Love, Kim

Butt Potato

I walked into the kitchen one day to find Ben and John laughing at something sitting on the counter. It turns out it was a potato they found. I'd like to think I'm a little more mature than two college boys, but apparently I'm not. Every time I see this potato I think, "ha ha, it looks like a butt," and I crack myself up...no pun intended.

It now has a place of honor next to the cappuccino machine.

Cousin Day

August 5th is officially Cousin Day.

Cousin Ben left on Wednesday to go back to TN. He is already missed...especially his cinnamon rolls and cookies. Aunt Kim taught him well!! Also, he was the only one that would play Scrabble with me. I suppose I could play with Oran, but he doesn't think it's any fun if you can't spell bad words.

As a final farewell, we deemed Tuesday Cousin Day and agreed to do whatever Ben wanted. He wanted to see the Cliffs of Moher and said that Tamara and JK could be honorary cousins, so the four of us set out on an adventure. It took us about three hours to get there and on the way Tamara got very car sick. Poor thing. The roads are very hilly and curvy, but I think it was Corkscrew Hill that finally did her in.

Here are a few pictures:






After the cliffs we drove to the town of Lahinch for dinner. We went to a Chinese restaurant and suprisingly the food was really good. I've had Chinese food in Ireland before, and it was just awful. (As an aside, I think it's interesting that bad food here is not described as "ugly," but good food is described as "gorgeous.") After dinner we went to an arcade and got sucked into this coin game where you had to put a coin in the slot and then try and get it to land in such a way that it would knock down other coins. Sounds kind of dumb, but it's really addictive. We didn't win any money, but we did get conned by a couple of "traveler" children who took us for almost 60 cents. I'll write more about the travelers in another post. They're a fascinating subject.

We ended the night in the resident's bar at a hotel in Liscannor playing rummy and making fun of absurd Irish things, particularly Irish signs. I think I'm going to do a post on that as well. They're ridiculous. Here's my personal favorite so far:



The maximum fine for not picking up after your dog in County Clare is €1904.61, or at today's exchange rate, US $2857.79. I can't even begin to fathom how they came up with that amount, but it cracks me up. Why couldn't they just round it up to €1905? or just call it an even €1900?? Did they do some study and find that the extra €4.61 was that much more of a deterrant?

Anyway, here's the link to rest of my photos from Cousin Day. I hope you all have a great weekend.

http://picasaweb.google.com/globalgiraffe/CousinDay?authkey=9N9dK7Q3js0

Love,
Kim

P.S. Happy 30th Birthday Michelle!!! I wish I could be there to help you celebrate. Oran and I will have a pint tonight in your honor!! I love you and I miss you tons.

Good Times

My latest trip to the U.S., like the one before it, was exhausting. I didn't have to do as much flying this time, but I did manage to get to three cities within two weeks. I spent a few days in the DC area visiting friends and running around like a lunatic in order to get everything done that I wanted. I got to visit Ragni and see her new baby, I had dinner with Kim and Jen, and even made it to the dentist. And of course as the Daly family pack mule, I shopped for all the things you can't buy in Ireland.

My flight home on Friday was uneventful, although I did meet an American woman who is married to an Irishman and is raising her children in western Ireland. She's been here for five years and has three small children. She had some pretty funny stories about getting adjusted that I could totally relate to. I arrived at Shannon at 6:30am Saturday morning and after a two hour drive home, I was beat. I slept for a few hours and then got up to help out in the kitchen. One of the staff has left for the season and Rory (the chef) is on vacation, so things were hectic. In case you're wondering, by "help out in the kitchen," I mean washing dishes. I'm not allowed to actually cook anything. Sunday I slept for most of the day thanks to a massive sinus headache, but I was able to help out again in the kitchen Sunday night and get most of the ironing done. Today I helped out with the morning clean up before heading off to work. I know it sounds like a lot, but I really enjoy working alongside Oran at Portfinn. It's hard work, but very rewarding. And I can honestly say, I never get tired of being around him! But alas, today I must get back into the groove of report writing and dealing with compliance emergencies.

I'm still waiting to get pictures from Audrey and Abby, but I will post them as soon as I can.

Love, Kim