Back To The Emerald Isle

 Afternoon, 

Working flat out again in order to get done and dusted in time to catch the evening flight to Dublin International I raced out of the office and bombed it down the road to Nanny Pumpkin's house. Parking the car up and popping in to see her and other family members for a few moments before the cab arrived I was pleased that she was looking well, especially given the circumstances. Boarding the plane, Mr. Warehouse and I were lucky to blag not just seats together (obviously being Ryanair it was doubtful we would be sitting together unless we paid more than the flight itself) but we also managed to get slap bang in the middle of the plane meaning extra leg room for Mr. Warehouse's pins!

Arriving in a drizzly Dublin I worried as Mr. Warehouse and I bumbled through passport control and immigration, collecting our bags and heading to the hire car desk, anxiously awaiting to see if we would be given the car. This was the first time that we will be hiring a car and as such I was nervous about it all. Because I had been driving less than two-years I had difficulty trying to find a hire car to start off with, but eventually I found a reliable and trustworthy car hire company in Thrifty. I had several concerns and worries on the run up to collecting the car and one of those was the fact that there was a €1,700.00 deposit needed to be placed on a credit card. A credit card in which I did not have a limit for. And so Mr Warehouse had volunteered himself to put the deposit on his own credit card. This would have solved things nicely until we discovered that Mr Warehouse did not know what his pin was and after several attempts at a local corner shop had blocked the card. 

Worries and concerns aside we collected our hire car keys and headed to have a look at what we had bagged ourselves. Dashing out to the car park avoiding the raindrops as we went I was constantly unlocking and locking the car to see which lights would go off. Eventually the Bae spotted some headlights flashing in the distance and as we got closer and closer we realised that it was a huge 4x4 type vehicle. I thought to myself that 'surely this can't be our car' and I was right for the next few moments a gentleman walked passed us both with a briefcase. Yes this was not our car. Walking on a little further we seen clicked and found a few flashing headlights that ended up to be hours. As I sat in the driver's seat and adjusted my position to something a little more comfier, Mr. Warehouse loaded the boot up with the suitcase and paced round the outside in order to make a note of any additional knocks, bumps or scrapes. With everything seemingly in order we headed off out of Dublin city centre and on the road to the sticks (AKA County Kilkenny), arriving with my auntie and uncle just after midnight making good time on their assumptions of having to wait up until the early hours only to receive a phone call from me saying that I was lost somewhere in Galway. 

The next few days for sprint in a blissful unawareness of work or anything remotely strenuous, instead spending our time talking about family, life in general for Mr. Warehouse and I back home in the UK and drinking. Lots of drinking! The thing is that Ireland for me has always been a retreat and somewhere to rest your bones whilst the rest of the world ticks on by. Something about The Green Isle always makes me feel better after visiting. I suppose given my grandfather's departure last week, almost to the hour that I am writing this, a visit to see family and recuperate was certainly something that I think both Mr Warehouse and I definitely needed. 

But alas we all have to come back to reality at some point and mine just happened to be this morning. With everything said and done most things are now organised and set in place ready for the funeral. I have yet to still get a hold of my brother, although I do hope that he has some sense in order to try and make amends with the family but if not that then at the very least to pay his respects and see our grandfather who loved us irrespective of our differences or how our parents treated one another. In a funny sort of way I have made my peace with my Granddad and all I want is for him to have the opportunity do the same. I suppose only time will tell. 


'Til next time, Love A.Lou xx

Being a Baby About It

Hello!

So after what it would seem as weeks worth of Halloween or fancy dress parties, this weekend saw Mr Warehouse and myself meeting up with some familiar faces from our old workplace to celebrate in true 90's style with an old work colleagues 40th birthday party. You would have thought that I had ran out of ideas to dress up as and I will be honest with you that by Saturday afternoon I still did not have a clue what I or Mr. Warehouse were going as. 

For months I had been planning some ideas in my head something simple that would be easy to pull off. Maybe  a Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake double denim combo? Or perhaps a Posh and Becks PVC leather catsuit look? Obviously Mr Warehouse and I had to be "Twinning" with whatever we wore. But what could be more 90's than pops power couples? Well it got me thinking. TV and film are always great starting points when looking for fancy dress ideas. So hitting up Google I decided to look into some of my favourite TV shows growing up. 

One of the classics that I looked into was The Rugrats! With Angelica speaking to me in a way that no other cartoon character had before with her bossy attitude and need for constant attention I thought that she would be perfect! But that would certainly take a lot of effort and not being blonde at the present moment would mean I would have to buy another word for probably the fourth week in a row. Maybe some of the other characters would be a better choice?! Then like out of nowhere it struck me! Why not go as Phil and Lil from The Rugrats. It was so simple! And that was it! With the idea firmly planted inside my head I headed to town in Vivienne to purchase the necessary costume components. Hitting up Primark first I found all the pieces I needed in the men's section with extra large pink t-shirts and even larger green vests. Hopping from the town centre over to another retail park where I visited Hobbycraft in order to pick up some yellow, pink and white felt. 

At home I made headway with only a short time before we had to leave the house again for some fireworks with Mr warehouses brother and his family. Grabbing my hot glue gun I got to work sticking down the yellow duck and tissues in the pockets of the outfits, adding in some pink bows for details on my outfit. Completing the look by fitting into some skin coloured leggings and curly hair I thought that we certainly looked the part even if Mr Warehouse had never seen a single episode of the nearly two-hundred that were made of The Rugrats that's found more than a decade. 

After an eventful evening out watching some local fireworks with Mr Warehouses family we headed over to the party venue. I was excited to see some of my old work colleagues and was even more excited about the potential of having a couple of drinks whilst having a boogie on the dance floor. Unfortunately though it would appear that after arriving Mr Warehouse became very tired and weary. I could empathize as to why as Mr Warehouse had been working most of the day. I was almost certain looking at him there in the light of the disco set that there were many other places he would have preferred to being rather than at a party dressed as a toddler and with dance music banging through his ears. I on the other hand was well up for a party and was thoroughly looking forward to a good drink. But looking around I noticed only one or two of my old work colleagues had made it. I missed them all terribly. 

As I got talking to my old supervisor I soon realized that my career move had been for the better. As much as I loved looking back on my time with my old company through Rose tinted glasses, it was certainly not all lightness and sweet. Whilst I had grown to adore my job as well as the people surrounding me in it, the sales peoples and engineers especially, as well as other office members, I think I knew deep down that it was not going to last much longer. In the months leading up to me leaving I had it been becoming increasingly dissatisfied with my working career and the fact that I felt like I was still being treated as the twenty-two-year-old girl that walked through the doors several years earlier was patronizing to say the least. The constant belittling and making me out to look as though I didn't know what I was doing, when in actual fact I knew exactly how to run the ship tighter and fairer than anyone was taking its toll. Enough was enough. 

I hated the fact that I left, but I have to remember that this was a decision on took not only for me but also for my future self and family. Sounds ridiculous I know but I took the decision to move jobs because of the luxuries we would have as a little family with just me, the Dog and the Bae. Since my decision last year almost to the day, Mr Warehouse and I have indulged in a holiday (or a few) both with and without the dog and have many more fun things planned for the future. I don't think that I would have ever been able to afford to have Vivienne on the wages I was getting back there. But money isn't everything and whilst I have the progression and option to go further with the company I work for now, something I would have never got if I stayed where I was, I have lost contact I feel with some amazing people. 

I wish that my old work life could have continued in the way that it had started with partying into the early hours most weekends, dating random fuck-boys and living life to the fullest, it was time to grow up. Whilst they were some of the most memorable and happiest moments of my life, every chapter must come to an end for a new one to begin. 

 'Til next time, Love A.Lou xx