At last an update....

Well Iv been in Jamaica just over a 5 weeks now and what can i say its paradise - the sun shines constantly, the beach is like a five minute walk from my parents house and not working while hard to adjust to in the beginning is now so acceptable ha ha!.

When i first arrived i was eaten alive by mosquito's - i despise them - if anyone out there can give me one good reason why these blood sucking parasites exist please come forth with your argument cos as far as i can see they are of no use to nature!! slowly my body is becoming immune to their bites and no longer leaves sore itchy spots on my once pasty legs! What i have not become immune to though is what Jamaican's call the "forty leg" which is a poisonous centipede which had a delightful munch on my ankle and left its poisonous spines imbedded which resulted in first a lump the size of a marble which gradually progressed to a lump the size of a golf ball - sore, red and full of poison i was lucky i had brought a general anti biotic from home and my jamaican adopted brother AKA the bush doctor applied soothing aloe vera plant gew to it every evening until eventually the poison and the spines came to the head and it started getting better - below is a picture of the dreaded insect! god knows where i was when he bit me but he bit me and got away with it!

i have spent most of my days hanging out on the beach, chilling with my friends and spending time getting to know JB - i think the second and third week where the hardest i missed my girlfriends terribly - i personally dont find the women here too friendly to girls (competition i suppose - i have seen it myself in small towns in ireland and there is alot more women to men) so i have gone from having a lot of girlfriends to having just my Mom really and she isnt exactly going to be hopping out to dances every night with me - which meant that i hang out alot with my guy friends or rely on JB - This can sometimes be a bit frustrating as i am so independant when i am at home and never relied on any guy for company or had to have a fella there when i go out anywhere - but seeing as he seems to feel personally responsible for my safety and well being here i sometimes feel a little bit trapped.

The lack of available internet access can be abit of a pain - especially for someone like me who is used to having broadband on tap! I have had to snatch little moments online here and there and while my blog has been neglected i am trying not to neglect my friends sending emails and photo's and updating my facebook page.

I also have missed not reading my fave blogs - so much can happen in a month and i have a full google reader which i just dont have time to read when im online!! My mom has contacted Cable and Wireless the Provider here the week we arrived and we are still waiting for them to come and install the net!

I am now typing this update off line and am going to save it to my thumb drive to load up when i next go online to save precious online time!!

So to update you all - i got my much waited for confirmation email from Cayman last Thursday - Work Permit Visa Approved!!! The sigh of relief i feel is unbelievable! Am so excited now about starting the second leg of this great adventure - and my nerves are starting to kick in again!!!
I got a call from the MD of the company last Tuesday to say that they had the perfect job for me in a bank and i might have to fly over for one day to meet the client and get aquainted prior to my final move!

Ill be sad to leave JB and Jamaica but its literally a stones throw away and me and JB have been getting on fabulously so we are going to see perhaps about him coming over in a few months time after i get settled - until then we will go over and back and see how things go.

Christmas here is so unlike Christmas at home - its not all the commercialism and fuss of an Irish Christmas - its laid back and relaxed - as most people dont have the money to squander on expensive useless presents its more about family and celebrating a holiday atmosphere and i am really loving it - My parents put together a christmas feast and JB's family (our neighbours) came over and we all spent the day together - Christmas night me and JB went to a live concert - over 48 artists played and it went on all night - PARTY!!! Iv been out a few times since i got here but nothing too wild - just local dances and dinners - The area we live in is not really touristy so i end up being the only non jamaican and get stared at quite abit - which JB finds hilarious and loves the attention - me im not so keen and end up feeling quite shy which i am not normally ha ha! (at all) While people from our area know me and my family it is when we venture further from our area that the staring gets abit more intense and i suppose the curiousity of who is the random blonde girl dancing wildly to reggae and dancehall music is to be expected!

I love it here - i truly feel at home - i dont know why when my parents where immigrating 5 years ago i didnt just sell up and go then - regardless im here now and i dont regret any step of this decision!

News from home has been flooding in - Roomie is moving home while her and her Fiance's house is being built so its and end of an era and thong memories! The girl who took over my job - got completely stressed and upped and walked out at 8am one morning leaving the office in dissray and never came back!! My other colleague has been keeping me well informed as to the progress - the office has now downsized, moved to a smaller premises and hired another person to take over my job - my manual has worked out well though and according to emails from my old boss - the new girl is great so im happy for them...

I think while i love it here - the hardest part of all was not being able to see my friends when i want - i miss lazy night on the sofa with Roomie under our blankets just laughing and gossiping - having I heart NY Mondays and thinking up ways to bother the boys next door - daily work emails with MsT and going to Ms Motivators house on a daily basis to let off steam and just chat - getting ready to go out here on my own just isnt the same as champagne cocktails and screaming cyndi lauper from the ipod while getting ready with the girls.... but its all ahead of me and hopefully when i reach Cayman i will have a new group of friends who wont replace the old but at least bridge the gap of being away from home.....

Happy New Year everyone and thanks so much for the lovely comments and for not abandoning me or my blog while i was MIA!!
I look forward to hearing what has been going on in your lives that i have missed and see what kind of antics you all have been up to and trust me once i hit Cayman and get back on line fully i shall be updating this lovely blog daily as before!!

BTW you will never guess who i bumped into over here last night - none other than britain's own Lily Allen - ah its like Celeb spotting here!

APOLOGIES APOLOGIES

HEY ALL!!!

Here is a pic of my new home in Jamaica!!

Well im still alive and well its just the net access where i am is fairly limited!!!

i am having the dt's from the net believe me but am filling my time with other such lovely things like doing nothing!!! hanging on the beach, swimming, getting bit by a poisonous centipede and enjoying my now blossoming romance with JB!!

I hope you all are doing great and as soon as the Cable and Wireless people come this week and install my wireless i promise a very long and very detailed update!!!

Tuesday Hottie # 9

And in keeping with the Beachy Dude Theme - Tuesday Hottie # 9 is none other than the epitomy of beach hottie:

Kelly Slater who on a Not2Hot Scale gets an 8 from me!!

The Journey

The Drama of the last few days could only happen to me! So we board our flight from Dublin to Gatwick with no problems in fact it was all going too easy! The lovely man from Aer Lingus who checked us in even let the fact that we were heavily over the weight restrictions pass! come on!

So the flight takes off and 2 things start it off in a bad way (1) the fact I was in the window seat and im not a particular fan of window I much prefer aisle – (2) I was sitting on the wing ensuring optimum engine noise – now im not a scared flyer I wont say I enjoy it but I don’t hate – I love getting to foreign and exotic locations but don’t love the airports, ques, security, customs and the flight bit…. Being over the engine practically assigns you to be the first person who will hear the engine fail! Ie: if your not a cool, calm and collected individual as in im not – then expect me to scream at the top of my lungs “we are all going to die”

Anyway 20 minutes into the flight I glance out the window and notice that instead of just seeing fluffy clouds over a sea, we are instead flying parallel to a city (the only possible city being Dublin – and weren’t we meant to be flying away from it??) I point this out to my Caymans Mama who points it out to Caymans Papa – who is just about to point out that he didn’t think the plane sounded right since take – off (we are all aeronautical engineers in my family – did I mention that before?) when the captain comes over the tannoy and says that due to a technical fault we are returning to Dublin!

Now it is 7.15am we are scheduled to land in London at 8.15am our connection is taking off at 9.40am! and we are now on the way back to Dublin – at this point I stop a male steward and ask him what will happen with our connection – to which he replies with what can only be described as the look a little rabbit has when he lifts his head and see’s an 18 wheel trucks headlights pummelling down the highway at him “LETS JUST GET BACK TO THE GROUND FIRST” now excuse me for being a fussy customer but I really expect only one thing from these lovely people who serve us at 40,000 feet and that is that no matter if we are all going to die – please do not hint that fact to me! Dying hadn’t at that point crossed my mind- missing my connection had – thanks!

So we land (nose dive) back on the runway in Dublin and taxi to a port where 5-6 technical trucks and cars are waiting – we are all instructed to stay seated which we do – but now that we have landed and nobody was injured – the passengers are getting a wee bit annoyed – we hear others mentioning connecting flight ( the thing one must know about Ireland is that its practically impossible to get from Ireland direct to most places and that London is a common port of call for the traveller wanting to get to anywhere bar Europe or America) the airhostess are extremely unhelpful telling us to contact our connecting flight airlines (eh so not my job!) and that basically anyone who only has carryon baggage can get off and get on the next flight to Heathrow which is leaving in approx 6 minutes – Que Stampede of Suits and laptop bags! (Call me unprofessional but if I was heading to the UK for work and this happened I would have gladly sat on that runway all day!)

Then there was it now known as the Dublin 9! My Parents and me and other couples and 2 solo dudes who all had connecting flights which are now most surely going to be leaving without us! We are assigned an Aer Lingus Rep who brings us to the Aer Lingus ticket desk to reassign us all flights to our final destinations through America – One couple and two solo dudes opted for the Overnight in Orlando to leave the following day for St Lucia and St Maarten – while we opted for the Overnight in NYC to arrive the following day in Montego Bay – My Parents had never been to NY so it was a great opportunity - Baggage is reclaimed and Rechecked and off we head to the Big Apple – Arriving at JFK at 1.30pm New York time and 4 degrees (hadn’t really thought of the fact that none of us had any coats, hats scarfs etc and it was only getting colder throughout the day! Regardless we are put up in the Plaza JFK and have showers a lovely buffet lunch and my dad gets the hotel to organise a 4 hour limo tour of the city (we had no coats I wasn’t kidding about that) So we spend from 3 til 7pm seeing the sights!! Love it!

The next day we are delivered to JFK and put on an American Airline Flight to Montego Bay! So a day late and one more country wiser we are here!


And FYI the weather is fabulous!

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE......

I have scheduled this post to publish as im winging my way across the atlantic ocean! As you read this im on a long haul flight from Ireland to Jamaica!! Montego Bay here i come!

After months of planning and saving i'm on my way! Roll on the Red Stripe, Sunshine, Sunsets, Caribbean Sea, JB!! and everything else that comes with 2 glorious months in tropical paradise!

(all in preparation for my new career of course!!) I would like to thank you all for your comments, following my blog this far and all your great words of wisdom, advise and inspiration when it was all becoming too much for me - you guys ROCK!! and i can promise to keep you posted as the adventure has now finally begun!!

I hope to post on Thursday - giving me a day to get over jet lag, unpack and catch up with all my friends!!

Thank you all again

ITS FINALLY HAPPENING AND I CANT CONTAIN THE EXCITEMENT

X x CG!!!!

Tuesday Hottie # 8

So i bet you thought that seeing as im currently "soaring, flying" i might have left y'all without a Tuesday Hottie! No way iv scheduled this post for all you girlies!!

So Tuesday Hottie # 8 is....the yummy but oh so evil (that def the attraction i dunno why)

Ed Westwick aka Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl

On a scale of Not2Hot he gets a 7 from me!

A bit of Pampering..

This week i have made appointments with my beautician and hair stylist!! My last ever appointment! The beauty treatments i can live without, i am sure waxing is the same anywhere in the world but my Hair Stylist is an Artist!!

Im not just saying this cos i love the way he does my hair - he has 3 month waiting lists! Women adore him (he is a gay man so its not out of infatuation its because of just how good he is at doing hair & such a great listener!) I want him to be my BFF forever - seriously if i was really rich and i mean REALLY rich i would be flying him over each month to do my locks! I am a blonde! What the hell is going to happen when my light brown roots start to show!?? (dont tell anyone - honestly people i went to school with even think im a natural blonde - i was born to be blonde without the cliché stupidity) Trusting someone to do your hair is a big deal! I am the one who has to go around with it on my head and after 6 years of going to the Artist i dont know how i will cope with someone new!! He is now a friend and credit to him he is the one who listened to me moaning about not being happy here and wanting to move and he gave me the pep talk that set the wheels of this big adventure in motion!!!

Before i met the Artist, i had Bleach Blonde hair - not the natural Blonde i have now - he does not use peroxide so i dont get the yellow/green hues of some blonde dyes? The Artist knows how i like my hair! not too much volume, sleek and straight - he knows that only a side fringe suited me, he has been with me through the following hairstyles!

1. The POB (Posh Spice bob)
2. The Elf (a la Sienna Miller - Factory girl)
3. Various upstyles to suit outfits for christmas parties, weddings etc
4. Since my elf cut and i knew i was going away i have been growing my hair - he is such an Artist that he has been trimming it just so right that it wasnt a nightmare to grow back and my blonde locks now sit just below my shoulders.

He knows me!! He knows what treatments it needs = he knows how dry blonde hair can get and furnishes me with various hair masks and night treatments!!

He is going to give me my colour number to pass on to the next salon i go to! but it wont be the same!! so this post is in dedication to the Artists out there who make a girl feel so great about herself!!

Its Friday I'm in love!

I'm in love! I want it! but i dont think i need it! but its still love!

Damsels in Distress - Guest Blog # 3

Hopefully i am not too late with this guest post!! My friends have used the term lastminute.com with reference to me on more than one occasion! of course all posts have to be proof read by the powers that be CG first! she's probably scared i will tell you about the time that she slipped and fell in Dunnes Stores Department Store....but never fear my dear friend, your secrets safe with me, i have no intention of discussing such shame on the world wide web, good friend and all that i am......

Anyway back to my post....When i was asked to think of a favourite memory of myself and CG and put it in writing it was hard for me to narrow it down to just one. As you can imagine after spending 5 days a week together for almost 5 years there has been plenty to choose from. But whenever i think of our fun times together a couple of memories are always at the forefront of my mind. The following is one of my favourites:

One rainy miserable wet windy Wednesday lunchtime CG & i were cruising through town in CG's 2x4 car, for the want of a better term "singing" very loudly to the latest hit from the sex god that is Justin Timberlake. (This was a favourite past-time of ours!) Mid chorus we were rudely interrupted by a sudden thump. This called for a brief glance at each other, an eyebrow raise and the next line of the song. When the thumping persisted we knew it was time to drop the hairbrushes and pull over. We proceeded into the nearest housing estate and got out of the car. Our suspicions were confirmed and were were greeted by the FLATTEST tyre that ever was!! We looked at each other, both willing the other to know what to do. "What next?" CG asked and just as i was about to reply "i'm bringing sexy back" a Knight in shining armour rode up in a Nissan Micra.

CG knew him to see from town and he lived in the estate and very kindly took the flatty off and brought it to the garage to be mended (any normal person would be thinking now, why didnt he just put on the spare - well in true CG style - of course the spare was also flat!)

After the ordeal we both agreed that Knight (as he shall now be known) went above and beyond the call of duty to help us...if there was only something we could do to repay him. BING!! Que light bulb over CG's head. Come with me cos i have a plan. Back into the newly pumped 2x4, tunes blaring and off we went. CG filled me in on her master plan on the way and all essentials were picked up.

Before we knew it we were back in Knights estate. We rehearsed for a minute in the car and a few nudges and shoves later, we were ringing the doorbell with a box of Cadbury's Roses in one hand and a Thank you card in the other.

DING DONG!!!!!

Lady of the house: Hello?

CG: Hello is knight in?

LOFTH: Ammmm, he's upstairs

CG: Well could you ask him to come down please?

LOFTH: He's in the bath

CG: Thats ok we'll wait, could you let him know we are here

(Please note - this lady had never seen either of us before in her life so looked a mix between crazy and puzzled at this stage)

LOFTH: Ok well who will i say is calling?

CG: He helped us out earlier

LOFTH then went upstairs and we could over hear the following conversation

LOFTH: There is two girls at the front door and they want to see you

Knight: What??

LOTH: They said you helped them earlier today?

Knight: What!? Tell them im in the bath

LOTH: I did!! (Voice strained)

Knight: Ill be down in a minute

LOTH then came down and told us that he would be down in a minute, closed the door in our faces and went back about her business/

So we waited.................................and waited!

Knight: (With flushed face, wet hair and bare feet) Hello!

Now anyone who has ever been to Ireland in the 1990's will be very familiar with the "Thank you very much" Jingle from the Cadbury's Roses Advertisements anyone who isnt see below:

>


....please also remember how loosely i used the term singing earlier. I dont think i need to go into any further detail of what followed.

I also dont think that Knight helped change anymore tyres, infact i think i saw him slashing a few after that....

There is a million more memories id love to tell but there's not enough posts in my day!

So Cayman's Girl although our memories will be fewer and far between they will be as fun and dear to me as any we have shared!

Heres to your GREAT ADVENTURE!!

Love MsT!!!

HILARIOUS!

This is an hilarious email i got from a friend!!

Part 1: HOW TO SHOWER LIKE A WOMAN:

• Take off clothing and place it in sectioned laundry hamper according to lights and darks.
• Walk to bathroom wearing long dressing gown..
• If you see husband along the way,cover up any exposed areas.
• Look at your womanly physique in the mirror, make mental note to do more sit-ups/leg-lifts, etc.
• Get in the shower.
• Use face cloth, arm cloth, leg cloth, long loofah, wide loofahand pumice stone.
• Wash your hair once with cucumber and sage shampoo with 43added vitamins.
• Wash your hair again to make sure it's clean.
• Condition your hair with grapefruit mint conditioner.
• Wash your face with crushed apricot facial scrub for 10 minutes until red.
• Wash entire rest of body with ginger nut and jaffa cake body wash.
• Rinse conditioner off hair.
• Shave armpits and legs.
• Turn off shower.
• Squeegee off all wet surfaces in shower.
• Spray mold spots with Tilex.
• Get out of shower.
• Dry with towel the size of a small country.
• Wrap hair in super absorbent towel.
• Return to bedroom wearing long dressing gown and towel on head.
• If you see husband along the way, cover up any exposed areas.

Part 2: HOW TO SHOWER LIKE A MAN:

• Take off clothes while sitting on the edge of the bed and leave them in a pile.
• Walk naked to the bathroom.
• If you see wife along the way, shake willy at her while making the woo-hoo sound.
• Look at your manly physique in the mirror.
• Admire the size of your willy and scratch your butt.
• Get in the shower.
• Wash your face.
• Wash your armpits.
• Blow your nose in your hands and let the water rinse the snot off.
• Fart and laugh at how loud it sounds in the shower.
• Spend majority of time washing privates and surrounding area.
• Wash your butt, leaving those coarse butt hairs stuck on the soap.
• Wash your hair.
• Make a shampoo Mohawk.
• Pee.
• Rinse off and get out of shower.
• Partially dry off.
• Fail to notice water on floor because curtain was hanging out of tub the whole time.
• Admire willy size in mirror again.
• Leave shower curtain open, wet mat on floor, light and fan on.
• Return to bedroom with towel around waist.
• If you pass the wife, pull off towel, shake willy at her and make the woo-hoo sound again.
• Throw wet towel on her pillow.

HOW TRUE IS THIS!!!

Awards Rock!

The fabulous Kendall at Confessions of an Odd Duck has awarded me this little beauty! Now if you havent checked out his page - do so immediately cos he rocks & yay! now im part of his "entourage" !!! So here is CG's Posse!!







This is the Proximidade Award, which celebrates bloggy friendships. It means, "This blog invests and believes in 'proximity' [meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' - being close through proxy]." I now have to pass it on to at least 8 other people so here goes! (i know im doubling up here but thats life!)

1. Somewhere in between (always gets my vote!!)
2. Ms Tiff
3. D*
4. Paula
5. Katie Killary
6. Jack & Jill Online
7. Tiffany
8. Jade

I heart all your blogs!!

Tuesday Hottie # 7

This weeks Tuesday Hottie is for my friend MsT who said i have to include him:

Wentworth Miller aka Michael Schofield from PrisonBreak

On a scale of Not2Hot he gets a 6 from me

He isnt my fave but id let him buy me a drink....i suppose - i might even make small talk..

Thong Update # 4

Its been a while!! Well with the weather so bad i dont think the bra and thong have moved! Last night me & Roomie had our weekly DVD/Dinner night - that was after my fab Roomie helped me to be ruthless with my clothing and helped me to pack!! Roomie you rock!

Anyway after our bottle of Champagne - that Roomie had bought as a little pre-celebration the topic of the Thong came up and how the boys next door were just not succumbing to our little prank (how mature of them blah!!) So as this week is my last week we are declaring war!

Neither me or Roomie have any inclination to go in and buy a blow up doll so we have come up with the following idea (a bottle of champagne really gets the creative juices flowing!)

Next Thursday evening is our very last Dinner and DVD night which also coincides with the boys next door being out football training - How convenient!! we are planning on going into Primark and buying as many cheap thongs as possible - they even have jokey red sequin male ones and we are going to be taping thongs to every window of their house and posting some through the letter box!!! How disturbed of us! I love it! I shall most def take some pics of the "Thonged House" and post them for all to see! The poor boys next door - i dont even know why we annoy them? Boredom can make girls do the wierdest of things......

Its all about me...

So i have been tagged for this lovely meme by the fabulous Miss Tiff - this could possibly be information on CG overload but here goes:

1: Where you named after anyone?
Nope - my Mom just liked the name and broke a family tradition on my dad's side as all the females had names that began with D and ended in A! Crazy i know but then my mom came along and shook the place up by naming me something different! My Grandma was none to happy at the time but got over it (I think)

2: Do you still have your tonsils?
Yup

3: Would you bungee jump?
No Sir!! No No No and no other adventure sport where i might possibly lose the use of limbs or possibly die!

4: What is your favourite cereal?
CoCo Pops!! (I am a five year old child when it comes to Cereal - the sweeter the better!)

5: Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
I dont have many shoes with laces? Uggs, Courts, Platforms, Sandals - no laces??

6: What is your favourite ice-cream?
Its gotta be Ben & Jerrys!!

7: What is the first thing you notice about people?
Their clothes and shoes - probably also how they act

8: What is your least favourite thing about yourself?
I am was a serious worrier but im learning to chill out!!!

9: What was the last thing you ate?
Cereal - i like it late at night!

10: What are you listening to right now?
MGMT - Kids - I seriously am addicted their new album!

11: Last movie you watched?
Pathology - DO NOT and i repeat DO NOT rent this - its so not worth it!

12: What did you dream about last night?
I honestly cant remember - i have been sleeping soundly as i am so tired lately!

13: What book are you reading?
At the moment - none but i have bought 2 new chick lit for my flight

14: Summer or Winter?
Most def Summer - but not the Summer in Ireland as that is just like winter!!

15: Do you have any special talents?
I can type 78 words per minute (if that is a talent?)

Ok now who im gonna tag!!!

1. Katie at "Born with the gift of laughter"
2. Jade at "Just Darling"
3. Tiffany at "Confessions of a shop girl"
4. "Somewhere in between"

Room-mates - Guest Post # 2

"Spotted CG & Roomie wrapped in matching blankets on the couch" - I'm CG Room-mate but commonly known on this blog as Roomie....

So his little girl is all grown up and flying the nest (CG you know what this means....but i know that Roomie's boy is truly gonna miss you)

Back to the Job in hand, memories of CG.....Where do i start?

My first memory of CG is of her falling up the stairs, yes falling UP not down....but i better add that she was falling UP the stairs at 7.30am after a night of partying. CG had moved in with my boy and was a legend for partying all night, coming home, changing and going straight to work. You would always know if CG had been out with the appearance of those oversized sunnies the next day even if it was raining outside! PARTY GIRL NO END!!!!

I didnt really get to know her properly until we all moved in together, since then the memories are endless, too many to mention without boring everyone to tears and me crying my eyes out in the middle of an open plan office with the realization that yes the time is getting shorter and in no time CG will be gone and i will be left alone on that couch...

But in a nutshell i will be left with the memories of oversized sunglasses, diet cokes, our weekly DVD and gossip nights, ANTM "Tyra your fierce".....the phrase "its a video..." and endless chats about nothing in particular but still managing to stay up til all hours (Roomie's boy has even mentioned that i met my match in the ability to talk)

Most of all im glad that CG made the decision to move in, not only have i had a room-mate from heaven and believe me there have been HELL one's! but i have also gained a true friend and i dont really want to imagine the place without her.

CG i have started the countdown for June 2010 (You are always a great one for the countdowns!)

XOXO Roomie