A Dame Good Time

This season’s annual trip to Notre Dame was less victorious than prior years, but we still managed to have a fantastic time. We had a few hang ups here and there, including a horrible loss to Stanford, but for a long weekend with my husband, beer, and pizza, I really have nothing to complain about! We did things a little differently this time around, as we didn’t actually stay in Chicago, where it takes trains, planes, and automobiles to get to South Bend, IN for the game. We made the somewhat irrational decision to rent a car and take a mini interstate road trip and spend both nights in the University Town. 

That was, of course, after we got our fix of family, fun, and PIZZA in Chi-town ;) Tim’s great Aunt Charlotte, a seasoned actress back in the day,  lives in an awesome high rise smack dab in the middle of Michigan Avenue, and all things awesome in Chicago. To my disbelief she is turning 90 this December, which I can honestly say age ain’t nothin’ but a number with this little lassie. She is a ball of fun, and so interesting to talk to, as she gives us the scoop on the long lost Parlier fam. We picked her up in our sweet "Victory Red" HHR Cruiser, (**wink wink Robin**) and headed over to Navy Pier where we dined at REVE overlooking the Lake, then hit up this amazing Smith Museum of Stain Glass , and even splurged on a Haagen-Dazs ice cream cone and a cool magnet for our fridge. 

Last year, it was cold, windy and raining, so I prepared for the worst, only to show up to 70, sunny, and blue skies. It was fabulous! Next, we hit up Michigan Ave. for my two guilty pleasures, Pizza and Nordies. Neither brought us luck as we lost our parking ticket and had to pay a full day’s fare for parking at Nordstrom **not cheap**, then by the time we gave up looking and decided to go to dinner, our restaurant(s) of choice were already on a 2 hour wait! BOOOOO! Was this a sign for things to come!? We ended up at an oldie but a goody, Pizza DUE, which is owned by Pizza UNO, who originated the Chicago deep dish. Nuff said. It was delish, as always, and before we knew it we were on our way to South Bend, Indiana, rockin’ out to their random, but awesome electro channel. 

It might as well have been Christmas morning as Tim was up, bright eyed and bushy tailed, dressed for the game before I even opened an eye lid. We rushed off to campus to find parking, and looked forward to a great day ahead. We started off the morning with breakfast in the student cafeteria, which was pretty much a Soup Plantation/MGM Grand Buffet hybrid, with all kinds of yummy food for the taking. 
It was so interesting to see the breed of students from ND and how they look and interact, in comparison to our experience at SDSU. HA! Regardless, everyone appeared to be pumped for the game. As expected, the campus was packed with eager fans with tons of sightseeing to be had. The Touchdown Jesus Mosaic, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, and the Grotto to name a few. All were stunning, especially the Basilica, as I felt it was more breathe taking than the churches we recently visited in Italy!

Touchdown Jesus! 

Basilica

The Grotto

We had plenty of time to kill so we perused through the loyal tailgaters and landed at the Linebacker Bar, where they sold 32oz beers for less than $5. I haven’t had as much as a sip of alcohol in almost two months, but I considered this an “in the moment” exception. ;)  
Details of the game are neither here nor there as Notre Dame ended up losing 14-37. Booooo. We still had a great time meeting new people, seeing old friends, and naturally, ended up back at the Linebacker to drown our sorrows.  

After a long day/night we roamed the campus as total trespassers, and I had to literally talk my husband out of intruding into a dorm room party, although tempting. ;) Instead we marveled at how truly amazing their campus is, even at midnight, and ran around taking a few silly pictures 

with some really important people. ;) 

Our trip concluded with a way too early flight back to San Diego Sunday morning, but being the piggies we are, we stopped for Chicago style Pizza on the way home at Lefty’s. Not quite the same, but good enough for us!  Despite the loss of the game…and the parking ticket, we still managed to have a barrel of good laughs, no tears, and a lot of great Pizza! We are already talking about our trip next year, as we learned even more of the Do’s and Don’ts this time around.

Onward to Notre Dame

Five years ago Tim took his love for the Fighting Irish to the next level, by trekking out to South Bend, Indiana to watch the gold helmets run through the tunnel for the ultimate college football experience. Every year since he has made it a tradition to head East in hopes of a real time victory! Last season, I was the lucky winner who got to attend with him.  I was a bit nervous that my football fanfare, specifically Notre Dame, wasn't up to par to be the "chosen one," but obviously I was stoked! 

Chicago is the gateway city of choice to South Bend from the West Coast, and I must say, I fell in love.  Deep dish pizza that tastes like buttery cheese pie crust, hand crafted beer that will blow your socks off, and the shopping on Michigan Avenue that even the blistering wind and rain couldn't hold me back from.

What's not to love!? Top that off with the traditions and hospitality of UND, and you have yourself a perfect trip.  We cheered through rain (thank goodness they sold ponchos!) and basked in the victory over the University of Washington Huskies.  Having gone to San Diego State, we were robbed of college football tailgating, due to the fact our stadium was off campus, and our team wasn't exactly Mount West's finest. Needless to say, it was an awesome adventure starting with Rudy playing on the bus as we pulled into campus, to the student organizations selling cheap BBQ before the game,  and the high fives and pushups taking over the crowd each time they scored! (check out that video!) A Notre Dame football game is unlike anything else I have experienced!

I'm ecstatic to say we are headed back to Notre Dame this weekend for the matchup against Stanford! This time around we are only spending one day in Chicago before heading straight to South Bend, Indiana so we can explore this small town and soak in all things Notre Dame. Game day, we have high hopes of visiting the College Football Hall of Fame in the am then heading over to campus for a more in depth tour of the historical University and of course, some serious tailgating.  Years past Tim has always traveled with the Luck of the Irish, as every game he's attended has been a victory.  Not to jinx our pot of gold of course, but I hope we win!  GOOOOO IRISH!!!! 

DUBLIN ROCKS PART III: HOWTH IS MAGIC!

Our last and final destination during our visit to Ireland, was a small coastal town of Howth.  Howth is located on a peninsula about 10 miles north of Dublin City Center and just a quick 30 minute train from where were staying. As you can imagine, the aftermath of our awesome Pub crawl was lurking upon us as set out to explore this township all the locals had been raving about. We didn’t get more than 100 yards from our hostel before we stopped for a Guinness...The Hair of the Dog that Bit You…Whatever that means.

Next stop was a quick walking tour through Trinity College (400 years old) and the Book of Kells (transcript of the 4 Gospels dated back to 800AD). The weather in Dublin is refreshingly clear and crisp so walking through this historical campus was truly a breath of fresh air. We were so thankful that it hadn’t rained for us yet, as we were told it had rained for 3 weeks straight prior to our visit!

After touring the college we stumbled upon an exhibit in their Science Gallery called BIO RHYTHM. It was swamped with families and kids, so we didn’t stay long, but it was a very interesting exhibit relating sound with the body.

Up next was a short, but painful, train ride to Howth. Neither of us knew what to expect from this place, we were just told we had to go. Once we reached our destination it was time for lunch, so we walked the coast looking for a place to eat. First impression, I would relate this area to Seaport Village in the San Diego Harbor. Fresh fish were literally being caught and served on the spot, but the fruits of my labor from the night before weren’t feeling it…if you know what I mean. We settle in a restaurant called the Oar House and dined for over 2 hours, Tim having Fish N chips, and I had a simple pasta dish. Truthfully, neither of us wanted to get up and luckily Europeans don’t mind you taking your time. Atlas, we were feeling up to par and decided to take another lap around and explore a little more.

Kids and families were buying fish to feed the cute fat sea lions, and locals were fishing for their daily catch over the pier. It was such a cool atmosphere to soak in. Feeling 110% better than before, I saw someone with ice cream, and began the hunt. To our surprise this ice cream cone led us to an adventure we would have never expected! Long story short(er) we followed a few teenagers up a hill that we saw people coming down as we ate our dessert. We figured it was just a local road with better views of this amazing coast line.

We took a few pics, but kept walking to see what was next. Finally we arrived at the Cliff trail. Collectively we decided to up the ante and go for this hike that was quoted to be shy of 2 hours. To our TOTAL surprise, this was by far one of the coolest experiences, phenomenal views, and breathtaking pictures that our camera can barely give justice. Every time we turned a corner we yelped with excitement because it was beyond words what we were looking at. Crashing waves, soaring sea birds, lavish green hillsides, and cliffs that dropped off into a blue sea of mist. It was truly beautiful. Tim and I fell in love with Ireland on this hike and couldn’t wait to explore further. The sun was starting to set so we decided to head back to catch a train back to City Center. We took a charming path through the actual town of Howth and got to see the beautiful houses and adorable neighborhoods. BTW-Irish people are the nicest people on the planet! We stumbled upon the Summit Inn-a local landmark and stopped in for yet another Guinness. From here were continued our walk through town and fell in love with it that much more. Everything about this place was truly magical! (Howth is Magic is their slogan and website) We passed about 10 restaurants and 6 bars before we stopped in for, you guessed it, another Guinness! Turns out the bar we chose was a local fisherman’s bar. It didn’t even have a women’s restroom! Luckily, women were allowed (I asked) and they had one next store. We missed our initial train, and the one after that, before we decided to take the last train out for the night and grab dinner. All the restaurants were full with reservations, but we found 2 seats at the bar at a place next store to where we ate lunch. We dined on yummy fresh seafood and wine while having the best time reflecting on the adventures of the day.

After our bottle of wine, we were convinced we wanted to pick up and move there. So was the bartender ;) It was sad to say goodbye, but we trained it back to Dublin City Center on cloud nine. On our way back to the hostel we stopped in (for a Guinness) at The Bank, which was an actual bank made into a bar. It was very cool, but we were slightly under dressed in our workout attire and Nike’s. To our demise, our second wind kicked in, and we found ourselves changed and hittin’ the streets looking for a good time. Two nightclubs and a bar later, we were well versed in Ciders, Irish stouts, and astoundingly MOJITOS! Two words will say it all….DONER KEBOB!!!!

DUBLIN ROCKS!

It wasn’t a surprise to Tim and me that when the alarm clock went off at 4:30am the day of our trip,  it was more than painful to get up. Having acknowledged this the night before, we were all packed up and ready to go, so all we had to do was wake up and leave! Destination #1-DUBLIN, IRELAND. Our flight was at 7am on Wednesday, with a short layover at JFK and we were sanctioned to arrive in Dublin at 6am Thursday morning. Ireland is 8 hours ahead, but our total travel time= 15 hours. OUCH. Although we “lost” a day of travel, I see it as we gained a day because we got there so early on Thursday! Getting to Dublin was the easy part. I slept well on both plane rides, all things considered, and I was very pleased with the airline Aer Lingus. We had individual TVs, 2 meals, and more leg room and reclining action than expected. Tim however, didn’t sleep too well on either flight, so it was a grueling start to the trip. However, we were both all smiles once we saw the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, they call Dublin.

Allow me to paint one last picture of our travels before I move on to our actual explorations of this awesome city. I had the grand idea to get a spray tan the night before the trip. I was destined to be in shorts, tanks, and bikinis once we hit Italy, and I wouldn’t dare be caught without a California glow. Not having time to catch some rays, I went for the spray…Tim so nicely pointed out that not only was I getting more orange each minute of our flight (I looked like an umpa loompa), the Irish aren’t exactly known for their sun kissed tans either…so I might as well of had an American flag with the California bear stuck to my forehead. Add to that my over the top leopard print luggage, tall boots (my theory was to save room in my bag), and lack of navigation skills and you get a helpless orange blonde tripping in the cobblestone streets, and a frustrated, tired husband that is 10 yards ahead wondering why he let me leave the States! To my defense, I found this awesome sign ;)

We couldn’t check in to our hostel until 2:30pm and by this time it was 7:30am-so we had about 7 hours before a nap or shower were in site. Neither of us were thrilled about this, but we pressed onward and mapped out our day over a traditional Irish breakfast. We were staying in what they call TEMPLE BAR, which is the hot spot of Dublin. Our hostel was 2 doors down from the original Temple Bar, for which the area is named. The best way for me to describe it would be the Gas Lamp District of San Diego. Everything was walking distance and we hit the ground running with our early start. After getting our bearings on the area, we walked to St. Patrick’s Cathedral (first Church in Dublin), The Braising Head (oldest bar in all of Ireland), the Guinness Brewery (home of the Irish stout), the Dublin Castle and then back to Temple Bar for Lunch....just to name a few! All before 2pm mind you, so at this point we were delirious, but feeling good after a few beers. ;)

 Knowing the nightlife Dublin had to offer, we unanimously decided to do a Pub Crawl on our first night. Best decision we’ve made as a married couple! All joking aside, check out that adventure here.

The Ultimate Case of the Mondays!

I’m finally back in the western hemisphere, but unfortunately, also back at work! Tim and I had an AMAZING trip and I cannot wait to share the details of our adventures in Europe. As expected, it was more intense than we could have imagined seeing that we were not only traveling through 2 countries with a dozen of our friends, but also attending the Wedding of the century, along with the several preceding events to the Big Day. Eight flights, five train rides, and countless cobble stone gallivants we returned home in one piece, more in love, even better friends, and surprisingly not as broke as we anticipated! I’m hoping to share my adventures one city at a time over the next few days/week…as well as share what you really care about; THE PICS! Until then, hang tight while I attempt to catch up from this jet lag/culture shock I am enduring on this dreaded Monday.

Bon Voyage!

If you need me in the next 12 days....

Takings tons of pictures and making lots of memories!!! CIAO!

!Europa qui veniamo!

In just two and a half weeks from now, Tim and I will be jet setting off to Europe for Mike and Stephanie’s Wedding! Taking two huge vacations within 4 months isn’t our typical forte, but it sure is thrilling! All the recent excitement of getting married, going on a great honeymoon, and then moving to our new place, posed a question as to how “big” we wanted to go on this Euro-trip. Should we try to save money and just go for the wedding, or make the best of the overpriced flight we were bound to purchase and stay a while? After much thought, we decided to take the famous words of the Groom and “GO BIG or GO HOME.” Life is too short, and the flight is too long to let an opportunity to see the world slip through your pocket book!

We chose to start off our 12 day trip in Dublin, Ireland where we both have ancestral roots. We are so excited to see this part of Europe as neither of us has been there. I am imagining green countryside, Old castles, and of course BEER!!! Both the Guinness Brewery and Jameson Distillery are located in Ireland’s capital, and although we aren’t big whiskey drinkers, we are really looking forward to a fresh brewed Guinness. After two nights in Dublin, the real adventure begins as we jet off to Milan, Italy to then separate! Tim will be heading to the beautiful beach city of Riccione, Italy to partake in Mike’s bachelor party, while I head over to Venice, Italy for a fun girls weekend with three friends! I have never been to Venice, so I am thrilled to have a few days to leisurely soak up the experience of “The City of Water.”

After my girly romantic rendezvous in Venice, it will be time to start heading down to Florence for the wedding festivities! This location is so appropriate as it’s the last name of the groom and soon to be Mrs. (Firenze)!  

The next four nights will be spent celebrating the union of our close friends as they welcome us as their guests to this amazing city! From the welcoming rooftop soirée, wine tasting in Tuscany, and the much anticipated nuptials at Castello di Vincigliata, this wedding will truly be out of this world. Going to Europe is an experience in itself, but being there with some of your closest friends, is looking to be an experience of a lifetime.

We are overjoyed at the opportunity to be involved in their special day and look forward to all the memories our European escapade is destined to offer us!

Paradise Pie

When it came down to planning the honeymoon, Tim and I knew the world was our oyster from which to pick our destination. After some research and plenty of suggestions, we decided on Sandals Grand St. Lucia Resort in beautiful St. Lucia, Virgin Islands. Sandals is an adult couples-only, ALL-INCLUSIVE resort. When I say, all inclusive, I mean everything. And when I say resort, I mean 5 Star award winning. It was Paradise and we couldn’t have imagined a better place to eat drink and be married :)

Kayaking, Snorkeling, Scuba diving, Sail boating, Couples Message at the Spa, Romantic Dinners with live music, Local street party, Playing pool and darts in the English pub, Visiting volcanoes and Natural Hot springs, and simply relaxing on the beach or by the pool were a few of the activities we enjoyed over our 7 night/8 day retreat. The weather was perfect, the drinks were flowing, and we never went hungry. We had so much fun together and luckily neither of us got sunburned!  Sandals St. Lucia was truly a yummy piece of Paradise Pie!