The May that Got Away

Dublin or Philly?  hint: there's a lot of history and bars

I don't know what's crazier; that tomorrow is June 1st and I have no idea where May went, or the fact that today marks the restaurant's second anniversary. Just over two years ago I was interviewing for a job and now I get paid to eat make desserts all day. 

Blogging kind of fell to the wayside this month. I knew Ireland would throw a wrench in my best laid plans, but I didn't think the rest of the month would get away from me like this. I can't complain though; May was pretty great. If I had to sum it up in three words:

Traveling

We started the month in New Hampshire for a Cinco de Miles 5k. Mid-month we flew to Dublin for our second annual UK holiday. Call me cliched, but the Guinness really does taste better over there. I left America ambivalent about the heavy stout and came home a convert; it's the official drink of Ireland for a reason. Or is Irish whiskey their official drink? We had plenty of that between the two distilleries we toured. Not my favorite, but I'm not one to pass up a free drink.

We spent Memorial Day weekend visiting my sister in Philadelphia. In all the times we've gone down to visit my sister, Brent has been under the weather and opted out of the Philly day trip. This time he was healthy as an ox and we got to do the tourist circuit; cheesesteaks, Reading Terminal Market, the Liberty Bell, soft pretzels, Old City. It's no coincidence that almost everything we did involved eating and drinking. 

Reading

According to Good Reads, I read ten books in May. I'm actually a little bitter about it because I only brought one book to Ireland, assuming that our plane would have in-flight entertainment. I could have read at least two more books on that disaster of a return trip, where I was stretching out the last 50 pages of my book while Brent was humoring me with sports podcasts that I had no interest in.

I'm hoping to do a library post soon, but in case life gets in the way again, here's a brief overview: I really liked Every Note Played by Lisa Genova and The Year of Less by Cait Flanders. The Woman in the Window and The Wife Between Us both over-hyped and under-delivered. 

Eating/Drinking

I knew I'd be overindulging in Dublin, and for the most part I was fine with it. We walked a ton every day and it was a vacation, so of course I was having a Guinness with every meal. I didn't expect the poor eating to continue through the rest of May, which is exactly what happened. Memorial Day weekend was awesome in terms of seeing my sister and showing Brent around Philly; it was not awesome for my pants, which now fit uncomfortably snug. I have a whole song and dance ready for how I plan to get back on track June 1st 4th, because everyone knows you can't jump into a big change mid-week, especially right before the weekend. 

It's not officially summer, but it might as well be. The humidity has already set in and I've eaten enough ice cream to feed a class trip to Cold Stone.