Thursday, February 02, 2006

Jan 27th - Feb 9th













Well... lots to say this week!

The past 2 weeks have been good. I had my training with Brian and this past Monday was my first day as a Personal Lines Account Executive. It's going alright but I think it's going to take me a while before I'm completely comfortable doing this. It's a lot of work and fairly high-stress what with claims and quick changes being requested/called in all the time. Lots of paperwork and phone calls. Not exactly thrilling or what I pictured myself doing but it does mean I'm outta here at 5pm everyday instead of 5:30pm and that makes a HUGE difference to me. I actually get home before 6:00pm!

Luke is work, work, working his butt of, as usual. They're really piling the work on him but he seems to be handling it. We both can't wait until April as that is when Luke will find out if he will be taken on permanently and will (hopefully) receive a raise and I will receive my raise for my new position. In the meantime we're both working our butts of for crap pay....!

The last weekend of January Luke went to Gorey to rehearse and record with the band. I stayed in by myself, in my pj's watching t.v., relaxing and going to bed early. Love it. Luke arrived back in Dublin at about 3pm and from there we pretty much just relaxed all day. Took it easy. Luke and the guys were up until about 4am and Luke was on the 11am bus so needless to say he was pretty knackered.
Saturday night we had Sarah over for dinner. Luke cooked yummy chicken with pesto on a bed of fettucchini noodles with oil, garlic and sundried tomatoes (It was to die for!!) which all enjoyed. After dinner we had some wine and beer and then at 10:30 the three of us headed to Pearse Tavern for a round of BINGO, which none of us won, but which did involve us being one away and having to yell 'PULL IT!' (Luke didn't play... he doesn't play BINGO). The couple the four of us met a few weeks ago was there again (You recall the photo from a previous blog entry?) so we sat with them and AGAIN, they bought us a round. Luke has, unsuccessfully, tried to buy THEM a round in return. It'll go on and on, I'm sure... We ended up there til quite late, got Sarah safely into a cab and walked home.
Sunday morning Luke and I got up, ate brekkie and jumped on the DART to Malahide. Not much to report from there. Cute little town, kinda yucky harbour (See photos) and not much to do. We decided to attempt to find Malahide Castle but ended up walking all the way to the next town, Portmarnock where there was even LESS to see and do. Disappointed, we headed back into Dublin to cook dinner and relax.

The following work week was good..... especially Wednesday. Luke received passes to the Premiere night of the Jameson Dublin Film Festival. We weren't sure how exciting it would be as no one we spoke to had much to say about it or any idea what we could expect.

Wednesday Luke and I attended the premiere for the film festival. It started at 6:30pm so I left work at 4:00pm to make sure I had enough time to change because Luke and I were going to walk to the venue. I arrived home at about 5pm and Luke was there shortly after me. We got ready, had a glass of wine and a fag or two and then we were on our way. I opted to put some effort into my outfit as I wasn't sure what to expect. We both wore jeans but we dressed ourselves up around the jeans.
We arrived at the venue at about 6:40pm and were startled to see there was a proper red carpet lined with photographers and journalists. It was a sight! I almost spun around and head in the other direction. I wasn't prepared for that! Luke, the spotlight lover, held my hand and dragged me to the entrance. Down the red carpet we went surrounded by flashes and journalists with microphones. It was incredible. We managed to dodge the journalists all the way to the end of the carpet but at the last second I made eye contact with one of them and she pounced! 'Are you excited about this evening?' she asked, jamming the microphone toward my face. 'Yes, I think it will be fun' I answered, turning to leave. 'Who are you wearing?' she asked next. 'Mine' I replied. 'Your hair looks great. Who did your hair?' she asked. 'Me', I replied. 'Where did you get your purse?' she asked. 'Penney's!'. I said and lifted it up to show her. (Penney's is like... I don't know... cheap and cheerful stuff. Certainly nothing she would have been impressed with). That satisfied her and she let me out of her overly friendly clutches. Phew, I thought. I made it through with out f*cking up. Luke and I then walked up to the door, showed our pass and were guided inside. I was a little flustered by the whole red carpet frenzy and interview but was thankful that there hadn't been any video cameras on me. That is, I WAS thankful until Luke mentioned that there was in fact a camera. I just hadn't noticed it! Ahhh.
Once inside we were approached by a lovely little cocktail waitress with a tray full of complimentary Jameson & Gingers and Jameson & Cranberry's. Luke and I took one each and started to have a look around. The venue was gorgeous. Originally a church, now a bar/restaurant. We pushed through the throngs of people to a nice spot by the door where we could put our drinks on a table. From there we could also see who was coming up the red carpet. Perfect vantage point to see the rich and famous. We waited. Nothing. We had another complimentary drink. Nothing. And then, all of a sudden we could see Cillian Murphy approaching (For those of you that name doesn't ring a bell for he was in Breakfast on Jupiter, Red Eye, etc.). Lovely. Absolutely lovely. My first celebrity experience in a small venue. Luke and I left him alone (Aside from Luke snapping a couple of photos). We backed up and watched him come in and walk by us. He was much shorter than I expected him to be! After all that excitement Luke and I were about ready for another complimentary drink so we made our way to the bar and waited to be offered one. Lucky for us it only took a minute. Ahh, the one celebrity expected for the evening (Cillian was making a speech to kick off the Film Festival) and the excitement was over. But, who was that I saw coming down the red carpet on the big screen.... Could it be? No.... Is it? No... Yes... No... Maybe.... YES! It was Jonathan Rhys Meyers and he looked a vision in his cropped bomber jacket, casual tee and jeans. He was a sight to behold. And he was coming our way. 'Oh my God', I said to Luke. 'That's Laura's FAVOURITE actor. Laura's poster boy!'. He was getting closer. 'Let's take a picture of him', Luke said. 'Yes. Let's', I said. He was even closer. He was right in front of me. 'Um, excuse me?' I said to himself. He turned to look at me. 'Yes?', he said. 'My sister is absolutely IN LOVE with you, oh, and I am too, of course! Will you pose for a picture for her?' I asked, nervously. 'Of course', he said. Luke had the camera ready, Jonathan Rhys Meyers stood next to me, put his arm around me and leaned his face in close to mine and *FLASH* Luke took the photo, I thanked the lovely Jonathan Rhys Meyers and he was on his way to the VIP area. It was a lovely 2 minutes! LOL. It was great. (That explains who the guy is in the photo with me). I ran to the ladies' room numerous times attempting to reach Laura to tell her the exciting news however I was unsuccessful every time. From there Luke and I continued to indulge in the Jameson Whisky until about 9:30 when we headed home, stopping for a bite on the way. Once home we put our pj's on and cuddled in front of the t.v. before hitting the sack.

This past weekend was good. Luke went to Gorey on Friday night (as ususal) and I stayed in being lazy and enjoying every second of it. I got a call from Luke at about 10pm as I usually do and then I went to bed at about midnight. At 8:30am I was woken from my slumber by keys in the lock and someone coming into the apartment. 'It can't be Luke!', I thought. 'His bus back here isn't until 11:00am!'. But... it WAS Luke. He had opted to come home early to get into bed with me since they were up until 4:30am. He could have slept for a couple of hours and then gotten on the bus home but figured it would be nicer to just make it through the night and then come home! (The other two guys opted for that as well). I was THRILLED to have him home earlier than expected so we got to lie in together for a bit.
Because I had slept that night I was up at about 9:30am but Luke was obviously going to be sleepting late, so I got up, made myself coffee and a little brekkie and read my book (It's actually not MY book - Jim Beer was kind enough to lend it to me. I will return it the next time I'm home!) 'Round Ireland With A Fridge. (GREAT book I might add). By noon I was tired of lazing around so I got showered, got dressed and made my way downtown for some shopping (Work clothes - nothing thrilling). At about 2:00pm I called home and woke Luke who agreed to meet me for a cappucchino off of Grafton Street. We met at the cafe, sipped our cappucchino and continued the shopping. All in all, a lovely afternoon.
That night we had dinner together, went to BINGO but left right after the game. We did a kind-of pub crawl together (Just Luke and I. No Tom and Sarah this time). We were home late after a great night of dancing and the like.

Sunday Luke and I opted in stay in the house and hang out. Didn't feel up to much after the night before so we just relaxed, took it easy.

Monday Luke met with the guys for rehearsal in town. I stayed in. Not much to report there.

Luke's guitar is giving him some trouble so he's dropped it off to be fixed. Hopefully that won't take long but in the meantime he'll have to use Darragh's 'axe' as he calls it. He also got a haircut this week and looks great. I'd like to do that myself BUT I have to grow it (As you've seen over the past few months I look like a complete boy/moron so there is NO WAY I'm ever going to cut it short again... what the hell was I thinking!?).

The rest of the week was fairly uneventful. Except TODAY, of course.... because.... TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! I'm the big 2-7 and I don't feel a day older than 19. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Not sure what we're getting up to tonight. Originally I thought we were going to have spring rolls but Luke has told me that he has something planned. We'll see what that is. I have no idea what it could be. I've told him not to get me anything as there is nothing that I want. I'd rather buy some more work clothes and get my wardrobe up to par. I think that's a better way to spend our money than on something I don't need. On Saturday we will go out with Tom and Sarah (Tom finally has a Saturday night off and doesn't have to work early on Sunday!) so that should be as fun as it always is. Sunday Luke and I are going to see an orchestra (For free through MBNA) so that will be nice. Something different.

You know what else folks?! This is our 100th blog entry! Can you believe it?!

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah Jessie pooh is 27, And cheers on the 100th blog entry.
I hope you have an awesome birthday and I'm having a beer to
celebrate it. Congrats to Luke and the band.
Love you Baby
Emily

4:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jessie!
I didn't forget your birthday! I was going to call you and I lost my address book with your cell phone number in it. I hope you had a great day and does that picture ever look like you!!!!! I thought it was one of those cut outs you stuck your face in until I read your entry! Email me your number...
Love your pics...you guys look great and so happy!
Love ya!
K

3:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hope you had a good birthday Jess.

You look great with Jonathan Rhys Meyers. He was great playing Elvis and won a Grammy for the role recently.

See you in August.
Carm

10:54 AM  

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