Back in Black

Hi All,

I apologize for my long silence but things have been incredibly crazy this month. To summarize, that job that I was offered at the Architecture firm fell through when they realized that they wouldn't be able to get me a visa. Serious let down...and Tom and I started discussing other options. I had another interview the day after I got the bad news about the architecture firm. This job was a small design studio out in the 'burbs (Drogheda). Bad commute but I really liked the studio's work so I decided to apply. Two days after the interview, I was back in Drogheda and was offered the job...yahooo. I looked into the visa situation and found out that for a company here to get me a work permit, they would have to prove that there was no one else in the EU that could do my job as well as I could...a pretty impossible task for a graphic designer when we are a dime a dozen...and So...I made the leap that I have been too scared to make for the last 5 years...and decided to get hitched. Changed my flight, finished up my freelance work at Snap Printing, took on another freelance job that I completed from Boston, went to a couple of networking meetings, packed, drank some scotch at the Barge and jumped on a plane for home...lovely, lovely, home.

When I arrived at Logan, Lolo, Marina and Brian were waiting to pick me up. Went home and saw my parents and ate yummy mom-food (manicotti and salad from the garden and other tasty Perry Street type foods.) It was so good to be home. Really, so good. Spent two weeks simultaneously catching up with all my peeps and trying to plan a barbecue wedding in my backyard. Needless to say, my feet hardly hit the ground. Tom flew in the following week and the craziness of planning this thing continued.

I have to say, the "wedding," went so much better than I could have even imagined. It didn't rain, the justice of the peace turned out to be amazing, found a hot but not too weddingy dress, Tom's parents were able to come and Tom's mom made me an incredible bouquet at the very last minute, the wine flowed freely and best of all, you all came, my lovelies. Who knew that such a flawless event could be planned in two weeks? Fabulous. Of course, everything couldn't be done in such a short time and we ended up using cheapy rings that we bought at the last minute. (Tom bought his about two hours before the ceremony...haha.)

Anyway, that's the last three weeks in a nutshell. For all of you who weren't at said backyard wedding, I'm going to be planning a bigger, more formal event for next year...but I can't even think about that just yet. Am back in Dublin now in my new place, starting my new job tomorrow with my newly acquired green card, navigating the strange and exhorbitant world of telecommunications and hot water (of which there is not much at the moment.) I have to say that it was hard to leave Boston after two weeks of such a lovefest, much harder than I expected it would be to come back. At least, it's sunny and warm today and I'm beginning to recover from my jetlag. I think it will take a while to adjust to all of these changes in my life...but here goes.