December 7

This is one of the best gifts I got for my bridal shower. The One Touch Can Opener. As seen on TV! I hate opening cans so this makes me very happy. Put it on and push the button. Voila! I sound like an infomercial, but I just love it.

December 6

After relaxing from our crazy week, we decided to put up our Christmas tree. It makes the apartment feel much more merry. We got three new ornaments for the tree this year. One from my mom which is a little snowman wearing a green hat with a clover on it, one from my great aunt for our first Christmas, and one that we bought in Ireland at the Guinness Storehouse.

December 5

Another SnowBall picture because technically this was taken around 1:30 in the morning. We had a blast hanging out with Scott and Shane. Don't these three look handsome?

December 4

SnowBall is finally here! The Black Diamond went really well, the holiday trees looked great, and we had a blast at the event. It was a really exciting night and we were happy to be part of it.

December 3

More SnowBall preparations! Dane had his volunteers come to the Park Plaza to help decorate Christmas trees. A few companies came who had sponsored trees to decorate and the volunteers took care of the rest. The room looked so festive when all the trees were lit up and decorated.

December 2

SnowBall is on Friday, and tonight I had some volunteers help me put together the gift bags together for the Black Diamond. They came together really well, even though they had me stressed out.

December 1

Back to work already. I had the day off, but Dane was back to the office today. That night we had one of our final meetings for the SnowBall. We sorted through some of the items that were donated for the Silent Auction and found a baseball signed by Mike Lowell of the Red Sox. Dane had his Lowell shirt on so he was pretty excited.

November 30

We drove back to Boston today, the last part of our journey home from Ireland. These are our wedding rings. I love them all!

November 29

We began the long journey back to NY this morning. First we took a flight from Cork to Dublin. Then we had another flight from Dublin to NY. Then Dad picked us up at the airport to bring us home. On the flight to NY the guy in front of Dane put is seat all the way back before we even left the gate! I have a problem with anyone that puts their seat all the way back, especially before the plane is even moving. So Dane sat about 6 inches from the TV screen in front of him for the whole ride.

November 28

When they heard how much we love zoos, our family suggested we visit the Fota Wildlife Preserve. It was a really nice park to walk around, and there were all kinds of animals. Some where enclosed and others just roamed the park freely. I desperately wanted to see a wallaby and kept looking for their enclosure. Turns out they were one of the animals that just run through the park. We found them and I was so excited to get that close to one.

November 27

We had to kiss the Blarney Stone while we were in Ireland (even though my little cousin said we'd probably get the swine flu if we did). Sean took us to Blarney Castle, where we walked around the grounds then headed up the 100 spiral stairs to the roof of the castle. By the time we got to the top I was a little dizzy, but there was a beautiful view of the grounds and even a rainbow on the horizon (didn't see any leprechauns or gold though). We both kissed the Blarney Stone and now have the gift of eloquence. Or so they say.

November 26

After three days in Dublin we got on a plane that took us to Cork. At the airport we were met by my family, who we'd never met in person before. My cousin picked us up and we went to stay at his home with his family for the rest of our trip.

When we got to the house, we met his wife and children who insisted on taking us to Garyvoe, a town right on the water about 5 minutes from where they lived. We saw the coast and a lighthouse, had ice cream, answered a million questions from the kids, and got to know our family. We stopped to get a picture of the lighthouse on the top of a cliff overlooking the water. It was beautiful, but cold!

November 25

We spent the morning walking around the city and at the museum. Eventually we were both hungry and tired, so we stopped into a pub to grab a drink. Dane spotted a pub called The Hairy Lemon and there was no question that we would go there. We ended up staying there for hours, making friends with the bartender, and hanging a dollar bill on the wall. We love The Hairy Lemon.

November 24

This morning we went to the Dublin Zoo. We really love zoos and aquariums, so we were excited to find out there was one in the city. They had meerkats which made me very happy.

After the zoo, we weren't far from the Guinness Storehouse so we walked over. It turned out to be a bad idea to walk in the pouring rain and wind, but we made it there and got some Guinness right away. After doing the self guided tour, we redeemed our ticket for a free Guinness pint by learning to pour the perfect pint. We learned that Guinness needs to be kept at 6 degree Celsius. A few degrees in either direction and it starts to lose flavor. Dane poured his pint first and the bartender said it was the best pour he'd ever seen by someone that's never done it before. Mine wasn't quite as good, but it tasted just as delicious.

November 23

When we got to Dublin, we found a place and slept until about 1pm. When we woke up, we headed straight for the Jameson distillery. The weather cold and rainy, and the walk was much longer than it looked on the map we had, but we made it there. On our tour I volunteered to do a whiskey tasting and afterwards we were treated to a sample of Jameson. We picked Jameson with ginger ale.

November 22

The day after the wedding we said goodbye to our family and got on a plane headed to Ireland for our honeymoon. The flight was a red eye, so we arrived in Dublin at 5 am. This was before we got on the plane in NY, when we still had a little bit of energy.

November 21

Wedding day! We had the most beautiful day with our family and friends. The ceremony was exactly like we wanted and the reception was the party we'd hoped it would be. Thank you to everyone who joined us to celebrate our marriage!