I wrapped the towel around me and calmly got some toilet paper, grabbed it and threw it in the toilet and flushed.

Phew that was over with.

As a chick I don’t like bugs and when I’m a naked chick I REALLY don’t like bugs.

I was talking to a friend about it today and she TOTALLY agreed with me. Something about being naked and seeing a bug and suddenly you wanna cover everything up. Are we afraid the little bug will climb in one of our hole?

I know… That sounds ridiculously awful, and unlikely, but my friend laughed hysterically because the same thought went through her head.

I am dying to do something that isn’t Work or Crew related. Unfortunately, I will need to start small but this new thing Pinterest has opened up a new world. I have found some cool sites and stuff to make.

As much as I try to be an easygoing stretch your wings and fly type…

I just can’t stop trying to burst people into flames with my mind.

Loved it!

Visiting Aunt Dot and took Ginja, as usual, and Hophead.

We arrived just in time for church. Then off to lunch in the hall. It was all pretty tame except for everyone pushing us to stay for dinner. Then it got bad…

I stepped away to let them know we would stay for dinner but Aunt Dot got pissed because she didn’t know what I was doing. I said I was sorry and she said, “You will pay for your sorrowfulness.”

WTF?

We went back to her room and she flipped out when I had to use the restroom and wouldn’t use the one in her room. While I was gone she, evidently, was cussing at the nurse, “god dammit… I will kill you!”. It amazes me that a nun would say, “god dammit!”

She was nasty, months ago, when when I told her Hophead and I got engaged. So telling her we got married never happened. I was nervous getting to that part and knew I had to tell her this weekend.

She flipped out because we didn’t get married in a church. She said I have to follow the rules.

I said, “Those aren’t my rules.”

She turned to Hophead and got nasty with him. I said, “Don’t talk to him like that or I will take him out of here!”

She said I was being disrespectful and I said she was being rude. I can’t believe I’m arguing with a 99 yr old nun.

I knew I had to change the subject and give it a few minutes and she would forget… It worked!

We muddled along for less than an hour when she started in on my hair.

About this time Hophead excused himself to the bathroom and that’s when he took advantage of his flask of Jameson.

Meanwhile… “Your hair is darker! It doesn’t look good.”

Every 5 to 10 minutes she would say this. I was getting really tired of it.

“Oh boy you are being too sensitive.”

“Well you’ve told me how ugly I am at least 20 times in the last hour, that would get on anyone’s nerves.”

Maybe I should point out how scary she looks without her wig and those freaky moles growing on her face are disgusting. I guess that would be mean… I would never do that.

Finally, she has turned the tv on. Everyone is occupied now… mainly her.

Dinner is in less than an hour then we are off to the hotel and a bar. The flask is empty I hope we can survive.

We still have to come back tomorrow. Ugggh

After Hophead proposed, of course, I was thinking about the next step… how and when we would get married. I figured a year or so is normal, right? We had just gotten home and stopped over to see my parents when Dad said, “Why wait? Mother and I got married only three months after I proposed” and he walked away.

Hmmmmm… Yeah why wait?

You know it’s amazing how life still goes on and keeps moving no matter what anyone has going on in their life. The Fall season was approaching and this is such a fun time with so many festivals going on. We found out about this Festival in Frederick with Blind Melon headlining but even better is The Amish Outlaws, they are a favorite of ours. We immediately hit the beer garden for some Flying Dogs and started getting hungry. We sent Ginja off in search of what kind of foods this place was offering but then the rain started.

It rained for a good while but we got shelter in the hay pavilion. One of the vendors decided the rain wasn’t going to hurt their profits and decided to take orders from people hiding from the rain. Smart idea cause we took them up on it. Because of that vendor we waited for the rain to stop and just when it did The Amish Outlaws started playing.

Ginja had never seen them perform and I was excited for her to have The Amish Outlaw experience. They finished up with Dropkick Murphy’s ‘Shipping up to Boston’. We were having a blast and didn’t care about the rain. Afterwards Brother Eazy Ezekiel came down to the masses to hand out bumper stickers. I was so excited I ran up to get one and slipped. As I was going down I was determined not to get my shorts muddy. Eazy looked at me and said “Eeeewwww here have two stickers!”

How embarrassing!

When I got up I looked over at Hophead and said “I think I may have hurt myself… Let’s go get another beer“. Unfortunately, the beer didn’t help like I was hoping. Leaving the beer garden I was having a hard time walking and Hophead had to help me get over to the aid station. They were so excited to help me get to the car because they had a shiny new cherry red golf cart and I was the first to get a ride in it.

So Hophead and Ginja took me to the ER and according to Ginja I was funny cause I was still buzzing from my beers. I may have had a buzz but I was feeling stupid and in my mind I was entertaining them. I figured I pulled something and this meant I was not running in the morning and this was going to screw up any plans of running for a while since sprains take forever to heal. Imagine my surprise when the Doctor came over and said “Well you broke it but at least you don’t need surgery“.

Shut the Front Door!

That week after breaking the ankle was a real tough one, the best part was we set a wedding date of November 5th… 2011.

  Starting at midnight on Wednesday, November 9, local residents will donate online to help raise millions of dollars for local nonprofits as part of the first annual Give to the Max Day: Greater Washington.

•  Give to the Max Day is a massive one-day regional online fundraiser that will unite local Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC communities to support nonprofits serving the area.

•  As part of Give to the Max Day: Greater Washington, nonprofits large and small can earn their share of $125,000 in cash awards, including up to $25,000 for nonprofits with the most individual donors and the most money donated.

• Homelessness in Washington, DC, the Nation’s Capitol: there are more than 6,500 homeless men, women and children in Washington, DC on any given night. Of those, nearly 2,000 are chronically homeless–meaning they have been homeless for a year or more, or four or more times in the past three years.•  Miriam’s Kitchen provides free, homemade meals and high-quality support services to more than 4,000 homeless men and women each year in the Nation’s Capitol, Washington, DC. Their core programs are meals, case management, Miriam’s Studio, and Miriam’s Cafe.

• Homelessness at Miriam’s Kitchen: on any given day at Miriam’s Kitchen, 82 percent of their guests are chronically homeless.  In fact, the average length of homelessness of the guests is 5.5 years

• Nearly 80 percent of Miriam’s Kitchen’s guests live on the streets of DC, in parks around the city, under the bridges along the Potomac River, and in emergency shelters.

• Miriam’s Kitchen’s guest demographics: 95 percent of Miriam’s Kitchen’s guests are male, 60 percent are African American and the median age of our guests is 50.

• Mental illness and addiction at Miriam’s Kitchen: Many of Miriam’s Kitchen’s guests suffer from severe mental illnesses and addictions, making them the most fragile and hardest to connect with social services.

Homelessness in America

• There are 671,859 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States - roughly 22 of every 10,000 people are homeless

• 18 percent (124,000) experience chronic homelessness in the United States:Chronic homelessness is often the public face of homelessness, involving either long-term and/or repeated bouts of homelessness coupled with some sort of disability (physical or mental). People experiencing chronic homelessness often end up living in shelters and consume a plurality of the homeless assistance system’s resources

• 37 percent of the homeless population are people in families: Families become homeless as a result of some unforeseen financial crisis – a medical emergency, a car accident, a death in the family – that prevents them from being able to hold on to housing. An estimated 85,000 families experience homelessness each night.

• 50,000 young people are homeless long-term: Young people often become homeless due to some familial disruption, including divorce, neglect, or abuse. An estimated 50,000 youth experience long-term homelessness.

• 20 percent of the homeless population is made up of veterans: There are approximately 131,000 homeless veterans, accounting for 20 percent of the entire homeless population. Veterans often become homeless due to war-related disability. For a variety of reasons – physical disability, mental anguish, post-traumatic stress, etc. – many veterans find difficulty readjusting to civilian life.

• Non-chronic single adults: Survivors of domestic violence and former prisoners re-entering society are among the other groups of people that often experience homelessness

• Lack of affordable housing leads to homelessness: Homelessness occurs when people or households are unable to acquire and/or maintain housing they can afford. The main reason behind this inability to acquire/maintain housing is the scarcity of affordable housing in the United States – particularly in more urban areas where homelessness is more prevalent.

Miriam’s Kitchen

Miriam’s Kitchen was founded in 1983 by a collaboration of The George Washington University Hillel Student Association, Western Presbyterian Church and United Church in response to an urgent need for services for the homeless in Washington, DC.

Miriam’s Kitchen’s mission is to provide individualized services that address the causes and consequences of homelessness in an atmosphere of dignity and respect, both directly and through facilitating connections in Washington, DC.

Miriam’s Kitchen provides free, homemade meals and high-quality support services to more than 4,000 homeless men and women each year through our core programs: Meals, Case Management, Miriam’s Studio, and Miriam’s Cafe.

Hophead and I headed off to the Motherland… Ireland that is. He was set to race in the Single Speed World Championships (SSWC). This spurred on a nice little vacation for us. We started In Dublin headed to Cork, before Limerick for the race and finished off in County Clare.

Getting ready for this trip was made easy by the travel agent. This chick is a gem and we are incredibly grateful for her. Luckily, Hophead doesn’t get to stressed over things but he ordered a new bike frame with couplings special ordered and a bike box. This was all to arrive one week before we left but it didn’t. They confused him with someone else and hadn’t even sent it as of the 15th which is when it was supposed to arrive. I was crazy nervous about this and I think that is the most stressed I have ever seen Hophead. Little did I know… He had other stressors he was dealing with.

The bike finally arrived and he got it built with little trouble. We packed and were ready to leave for Ireland when 20 minutes before we left we found a HUGE branch down in the back yard. Hophead assessed the remainder of the tree and said we would have to call the landlord when we got back and have it cut down but it was fine. Who knew we would have an earthquake the next day.

We arrived in Dublin early the next morning and we were doing pretty well considering we hadn’t slept much on the plane. The plan was to check our bags at the hotel before heading to Guinness Storehouse but the hotel had our room available. Yay! I really wanted to clean up.

We headed off into Dublin ready to try my first Guinness AT the home of Guinness. Hophead was in the lead and I was glad he was in control. Guinness was very cool and we worked our way up to the Gravity Bar. Awesome views up there!

After the Gravity Bar we ended up in Arthur’s Bar for a bite to eat and another Pint. We were starting to feel the tiredness but our second wind came when Hophead suddenly got up and came over to my side of the table, dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him.

OMG!

Of Course!

Then he pulled this gorgeous ring out and slipped it on my finger. He had it designed with the trinity on either side of the diamond. The Trinity is what we have… Love, Loyalty and Friendship.

I was stunned and was trying to keep from crying. I didn’t know what else to say. No one in the restaurant caught on to our big event. This explains Hophead’s other stressors prior to the trip. I guess this means I will soon become Mrs. Hophead, ergo Redhead.

After Guinness we made our way across The Liffey to the Jameson Distillery. We had to continue drinking. Hophead was selected to do a tasting and I know this was something he was looking forward to. After the tour we hung out a while longer drinking Irish Coffee, Jameson straight up, Jameson with Ginger Ale. At this point we had been up for over 24 hours, got engaged and all the drinking had us loopy. Thank goodness for the Spire of Dublin. This was how we found our way back to our hotel.

Once we had wifi, back at the hotel, I needed to get in touch with Ginja and let her know. I had friends calling her at the beach to get her on the internet on her phone. Finally, I just called her. We also started posting our engagement on Facebook and within minutes we were getting responses as well as seeing Facebook posts about the earthquake. Oh and get this… The earthquake took down that tree in the back yard… right into the neighbors shed.

We missed the entire disaster week with the earthquake and Irene.

The next night we went to see Flogging Molly in concert. We were smack dab in the middle of the mosh pit with the slam dancing. I didn’t want to be in a mosh pit so in my own way I kinda let them know this old chick was there and to keep away. I think I may have bruised one boy. Oops!  He never came near me again.

Our next morning we were to pick up our rental car and head to Cork. The Cabbie gave us some directions and great advice. We were given the keys and when we got to the car we noticed it was pretty banged up. We checked the paperwork and headed back in just to make sure. The woman says to me, “Oh yeah! So you can bang it again and no one would know.” **Big Grin**

Umm… OK!!!

At least we were on the outskirts of Dublin and the directions the Cabbie gave us were great! We were on our way to Cork. I guess I should mention that we did not have a GPS. We were using maps and they weren’t very detailed for any of the cities.

Three hours later we were entering Cork. Now to find our B&B. The map we got with the rental car sucked so with the help of some of my other maps we were able to find the Kent House. It was nearly 4pm and we were starving. We immediately headed into town and found nothing but shopping. SHOPPING!  We didn’t want to shop! We wanted food… With some pints!

Then it started to rain, as it did so often there. We jumped into the nearest pub we could find. We quickly ordered a pint and asked for a menu. They only had sandwiches but we were hungry. Hophead deemed this place a morgue so we paid our bill and went in search of a better Pub. We found Counihans Bar. We were enjoying a pint as the bartender and his friend Dennis chatted. We soon started chatting with Dennis and then his girlfriend, Siobhan, showed up. We chatted and drank with them for hours.

After leaving Counihans we wanted to get a bite to eat. I had seen a Thai place down an alley when we first started walking around. We found it and there was all sorts of construction. We were told the restaurant was open upstairs. This all felt so odd besides the fact that we were going to eat Thai food in Ireland. We were greeted at the top of the stairs but there was no one seated. We were offered a seat by the window overlooking the alley and when it came time to order the waitress told us she needed the number of what we were ordering. Pad Thai should be pretty basic but I got the number for her. A new waitress came out and asked us if we had reservations. We looked around at the empty restaurant and said, “No. Is that alright?” Luckily it was.

Just before our food came two different groups came in. The food was good and that was about the extent of our stay in Cork.

The next morning we were excited to have our first real Irish Breakfast. It was yummy but there was no blood sausage. We packed up and headed for Limerick.

Along the way we stopped and got a better map but still there wasn’t a lot of detail to help us get into Limerick City. We missed the turn and ended up at Bunratty Castle and Durty Nelly’s. I love that name Durty Nelly’s. The castle was unlike anything I had ever seen but also confirmed that I’m starting to develop claustrophobia. We had been checking out the castle when we found a small spiral staircase that led to the top of the castle. The views were AMAZING! More and more people were coming up so we decided to head back down. Mid way we came across more people coming up so we ducked into a small room.

The small room is where we met a woman from California. I had to take my jacket off and things were getting very hot for me. The CA Woman stood at the entry as a multinational traffic jam occurred in the spiral staircase. People tried to come in our little room but CA Woman would not allow it. She also was sure to let everyone know that they were making her feel road rage. One German couple did make it into our room and proceeded to block us in as they waited to go up. FINALLY, we were able to get out. Oh good heavens it was hot in there but Hophead never even took his jacket off, maybe it was just me… It was!

We headed to Limerick City to find our hotel with very little information. I knew it was on Ennis Road but that was about it. We took the Limerick City exit and after many round-a-bouts I noticed a street sign that said we were, in fact, on Ennis Road. See this was my job… I was navigator and reminder to drive on the left. Suddenly, we were right next to our hotel. Well that was easy! Where was our button?

Now to find our way to the race the next day…

“I wish I could be a fly on the wall…”

We all have that curiosity… to see into another person life. Is my day to day so very different from theirs? I think this stems from wondering “Am I normal?” Ummmm NO!

There is the curiosity into the life of a person of a different status, race, sexual orientation, celebrity or athlete. I’m sure this list could go on. From this came the inception of reality TV.

Reality TV is like a car crash and we couldn’t seem to turn away. It seemed to start with MTV’s The Real World, New York (1992). I know… 1992!!! I can’t believe it was that long ago. I was so young back then; even I could have been a Real Worlder. Later in the Nineties movies came out about Reality TV and watching people live their lives, The Truman Show (1998) and Ed TV (1999).

Since it began it has really changed. Shows like Real World and the Housewives aren’t the real world. These shows group similar people mix them up like a recipe then watch. Or there are shows like Gene Simmons Family Jewels, which is obviously scripted. Not to say I don’t enjoy watching Gene and his Fred Flintstone antics but I do tire of it since it doesn’t seem real.

We want REAL reality. What do people do with their free time? I’m not talking about those that sit on their butts watching TV. I mean those that get out there and enjoy life. If I’m going to watch Reality TV I want ideas for things I can try. There is so much out there to do and see, personal experience is so much better than watching someone else experience.

So for reality TV these days I might tune into The Discovery Channel or National Geographic but better yet go out and experience my own. Having the blog has given people insight into my world, my reality-ish. The more I write the more I notice around me that’s interesting. Things that people take for granted day-to-day. Since I haven’t been writing as much I haven’t noticed as much, which I didn’t realize until I read a post written by Joshua Becker titled “15 Reasons I think You Should Blog”. This blog post is so right on. Number three he says “You’ll live a more intentional life” and this is so true and can be seen in Facebook. People are tired of boring statuses and pics especially when they see others doing fun things and they want to do, they want to post fun interesting pics and statuses too. They want people to see they are having fun and comment on it. The comments validate “YES! You are having fun! Keep going!”

I want to have my own experiences but then there is this thing called work that gets in the way. Most of us have this burden to bear because we need money to buy us a roof over our heads and food for our bellies.  That damn money! It’s hard to get out there and experience more when time is limited. I’m a single Mom with a full time job. On top of that I have a killer commute and just getting home can take up to 2 hours. I try to take advantage of that time and listen to audio books. I have finally read/listened to books I have always wanted to read but never had time for like Atlas Shrugged.

So for me I have running. I really do suck at it and it comes and goes but it is always there when I need it. Last year I set goals and accomplished them. I ran the Army Ten Miler and I did a half Marathon in Las Vegas. After Vegas it came to a halt. I was tired of it the weather had gotten very cold and I made a ton of excuses. I have finally started back and it is a Beotch starting again but I am having small experiences every morning plus connecting with SIL who is running with me.

Ginja is a rower. She has just finished up her second year of Crew and I might add her team kicked some serious DC Area butt this year. Rowing takes a lot of time especially in the Spring. Practice was 5 days a week after school. The kids were bused to the water and wouldn’t get home until 7pm. This is a 12.5 hour day for her. Homework started on the bus either to or from the water. Then weekends are for regattas, this means getting up at 4am to get her there on time. Ginja’s rowing is not only an experience for her but it is for me as well. Any of the parents will tell you that. The first year of rowing was so time consuming for me that I ended up hiring Merry Maids to come in once a month to help me out. That was after a nice little break down after being disgusted on the cleaning I was missing.

Since meeting Hophead I have been experiencing so much more. Hophead is a mountain biker. He has taken me mountain biking and I really can’t wait to do more especially now that I have my own bike. Even Ginja wants to ride. Hophead has a group he gets together with once a week and they ride the trails up in Germantown.

So the three of us all have a little something and we involve each other. Hophead supports Ginja and I with the running and rowing and even gone running with me. We are expanding our experiences and loving it. Last year I had Vegas and took Hophead and this year he has Ireland and is taking me.

Experiences come in many packages and some of it is from others. I don’t want to row but experiencing the rowing world as a parent is fantastic. To experience Hophead mountain biking world and the skills these people have is so wonderful. It’s amazing to see what people have going on out there in the world.

Hophead has a friend that, at this very moment, is mountain biking the Great Divide. I have never heard of the Tour Divide but it is fascinating. We are tracking his friend, who is Northbound, since it started yesterday (6/10/11). THIS is more fascinating than those reality shows. The Tour Divide is from Canada to Mexico (or vice versa), 2745 miles and three weeks to complete. This is bikepacking at its most challenging. I have to admit I am very curious as to how these people are making it through this challenge but as always there is a film (documentary), Ride the Divide, about it and you can be sure I will be checking it out because, of course, I would love to be a fly on the handlebars.

Then I met Hophead. He has brewed his own beer and he is what I, lovingly, call a “Beer Snob”.

At first he would gently scoff at me about my “WEAK” beer. His favorite is Flying Dog’s Raging Bitch. But the Bitch was too much for me… It bit me!

Slowly I would try new and interesting beers. I tried Lagunitas’s Hop Stoopid, at Pizzeria Paradiso in Old Town Alexandria, primarily because I liked the name. It had some hoppiness to it but I was digging it.

My friend Alia, from Alia Said…, may be young but she is well versed on beer and she introduced me to Rustico, also in Alexandria, VA. Rustico has so many different beers on tap and you can get a “Taste” for a fraction of the price of a glass. You can do your own beer tasting and their menu is always changing so you could do your own tasting every month. This is where I started exploring more and more.

One of Hophead’s favorite places is Dogfish Head in Gaithersburg. Except for Winter this is where you will find he and his friends after their Weekly rides. They are mountain bikers and Dogfish Head is well familiar with them. Hophead has made me a Dogfish Head groupie. I’m partial to the 60 min IPA as well as the Aprihop. Don’t even get me started on the food. Hophead and I are hooked on going Cajun there with the Cajun Egg Rolls and the Cajun Alfredo Pizza. If you aren’t into Cajun be sure to try the Grouper sandwich. Either way their pizza’s are to die for.

One night Hophead and I went to Agrodolce in Germantown. At first glance it’s more of a wine place and you would think the prices might be outrageous but look a little deeper. They have awesome pizza and a wide range of beers at great prices. The waiter suggested I try La Rossa and I became a fan. While we were there a group of kids were brought in for pizza. This place looks super nice and I took it for being a little stuffy but it’s not at all. It’s a family kind of place and seems to have something for everyone including great beer prices.

Speaking of great pizza, Brewer’s Alley in Frederick is a brewery that has some fantastic pizza. It’s a bit of a hike from DC but not as bad as you think since 270 North is much easier on the weekends. Brewer’s Alley’s is located in the heart of Frederick on Market Street and was once the Town Hall. You can have formal dining here, a night out with the family, or even as low key as sitting in the bar area with friends. When the weather is nice there is outdoor seating and live music on the weekends.

Hophead and I were in Frederick just this past weekend and met up with friends. After Brewer’s Alley we stopped over at Mick’s, on West Patrick Street. This was previously owned by the former Mayor of Frederick. The place has a great feel to it and the staff is very friendly. I even found an Alia doppelganger, young cute girl that has a finer taste for beer. Don’t offer her a Bud Light. Mick’s found a new place in Hophead’s heart when he saw Guiness as well as Dogfish Head 90 min IPA on tap. It didn’t hurt that the bartender, John, is a fellow mountain biker.

I am constantly on the lookout for good beer in Maryland, especially in the Montgomery County area. I wish Rustico was on this side of the river. Matchbox opened up on Rockville Pike and we were happy to see their beer selection. They even have Delirium Tremens on tap! HopHead was really happy to find out that Growlers, in Old Town Gaithersburg, re-opened. Oh and Olney Ale House is on our list of places to go.

If you can’t find great beer at a restaurant then the next best thing is to buy it and have it at home. In Montgomery County when you buy from the county stores it’s very limited. You may find Flying Dog in their stores but not Raging Bitch. Maybe it’s because of the name, I don’t know, but it has been banned in several states because of the name. Even though the County stores don’t have a wide range of beers we have found a few stores, with great prices, where we have become regulars: Elbe’s in Wheaton, Rodman’s in Kensington and Gilly’s in Rockville.

We are always on the lookout for restaurants and bars with a good selection of beers. I recently found the website DCBeer.com and I’m a fan but they are limited to DC and Northern Virginia.

The Amish Outlaws played Saturday night at Seacrets and as always they RAWKED the house.

Pictures are coming out of the weekend… OMG!

I do believe this picture is a precursor of the upcoming ShamrockFEST.

Photo by John Duffy

Oh and Happy Birthday Jay Wood! Hopefully, next time you won’t get kicked out of Seacrets.