Author: Ali Carras

Holy shazbot the past month has been craaaaaaazy! 30th birthday=celebrated (more on that later). Brother had a baby=AMAZING. Cdawg photographed the President=Say What?!?! Trip to WA for an unfortunate event=sad. But, before I get into any of that here are some more Ireland pics. Yes, Ireland is still on the brain.

Some great photos of the countryside, cows and castles

and tea time

and the table (this photo probably wasn’t intentional but I really like it)

and Guinness beer kegs

and an Ali shopping (my head looks tiny compared to the rest of me)

and an amazing “house”

with an amazing bathroom

and wellies!

I’m ready to move into that “house,” wear wellies allllllllllll the time, drink tea and Guinness at the time same time but in separate glasses and look out from my house to the view of castles and cows. Yup, I’m ready.

We then went to Ennis where my family might be from according to census records. Potentially my GGG-Grandparents are from this area? Whether they are or are not it was great checking out the town…small and not touristy!

We went to the pubs and listened to Irish music…

Cooper says this doesn’t make for very interesting video but just so you can hear some of the Irish music were listening too (and watch Cooper sweat in front of the camera):

We got to have a great breakfast (side note, I could eat baked beans for breakfast everyday…)….

And before heading out to our next destination we stopped at their local Farmer’s Market where we got a fresh baked scone (yes, yum is correct) and listened to an accordionist while watching an senior fellow churn fresh butter. Hint hint to farmer’s markets…freshly churned butter is a great idea for a new product. This photos is after the farmer’s market…to memorialize that I stepped foot in what might be the potential area where my family is from.

Ireland film scans are back! I can now share a few photos (both digital and film) from our trip to my homeland. The first few days we were in Galway which I loved…although we didn’t make the most of our time there because of 1.) jet lag  and 2.) Cooper had to adjust to driving on the other side of the road. We did get to have a great dinner/drinks with friends and went to a true Irish pub where two drunken Irish men arm wrestled. Oh, and another highlight: I went swimming in the pool at the hotel and it was the first time in my life where I wasn’t the only really really white person in the pool. In fact, Cooper’s farmer’s tan was much much darker than any of the other skin tones. I surely loved fitting in.

First up for photos: Cliffs of Moher. Breathtaking? Yes. Touristy? Yes…until you go beyond the fenced areas and live life on the edge (literally, ha!). My Dr. Scholl’s insoles for lower back pain made me slip around in my shoes too much to totally feel secure on the cliff’s edge but it was a great sight nonetheless. Just writing about it makes me weak in the knees.

The trip wouldn’t be complete without Cooper doing a jig:

I just spotted this over at Rockstar Diaries. Love the modern/kitsch-ness of the Irish hand dancing. I want to be hand dancer when I grow up…but first I have to get rid of my carpal tunnel, ha!

Lots to catch up on now that we are back from the homeland (aka Ireland). I have many many many photos and videos to share from our trip but since we are now “back to the grind” I’ll share a moment from a wedding we shot this weekend. I realized that when Cooper had the camera pointed at me for a few minutes and the lens wasn’t moving it was my cue to try my hand at channeling my inner Jay-Z/Alicia Keys. Then I noticed the guests/bride watching and if the lighting had been better you’d see me turn a bright shade of red.

Off to the homeland, aka Ireland. So very very excited for this trip. I’ve always wanted to venture to the land of the green, gray and cable knit sweaters.

photo courtesy of mysweetiepiepie‘s Etsy page

I might also kind of fit in looks wise with my very fair skin and dark hair. I’ll never forget when I was a kid and a friend’s gma said to me “You are so Irish looking!” I had no idea what she meant by that and it made me a little nervous but then seeing how my own Gma Kopp was so extremely proud of her Irish heritage I now think it is a major compliment.

Time to go shake my shillelagh (sp?) and drink lots of guinness (and other beers) extra cold.

It has been a grand couple of days. I’ve been able to get a lot of work done, C-dawg’s brother is visiting and he is a great/easy house guest, we’ve eaten enough to give us a nice extra layer of padding for the cold months ahead and we’ve spent a lot of time outside in parks…on blankets…doing nothing. Life is good.

A few memory highlights:

1. We shaved Oslo’s ears. His head looks tiny. Cooper accidentally cut it a little too close on one ear and it looks like a big heart shaved into his ear.

2. All in one day we crossed numerous things off our to do/eat list: ate at Ike’s Sandwich shop, tried Tartine, got to scour through the Curiosity Shoppe, hung out in Dolores Park for hours. Ate candied apple flavored lollipops.

3. Went shopping a bit which we should not do but got a few new necessities. Such as: a mustard sweater, a new dress for weddings, a new pair of sunglasses and maybe some jeans (I have to see if I can afford these…not sure yet…aka buyers guilt).

4. HAD A CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA TASTE-OFF (for the second time for scientific purposes of course). Yes, once again we tested four chicken tikka masalas from from four different restaurants. Right away I could taste which one belonged to Naan ‘n Curry and I wanted to drink the sauce. Gross? Perhaps. But, I wanted to. We have to do this as least nine or more times to further our research so please come over and be a taste tester with us. Ha. This is what a chicken tikka masala taste-off looks like:

Tums were a necessity. Oh yes.

A couple of weekends ago we were shooting a rehearsal fiesta in SoCal…I was looking over the crowd, eying all the characters when all of a sudden a man sent from god entered the party: he had a thick 6 foot beautifully curled mustached. Yes, you read that right. Upon the event that you didn’t already know, mustache/beard art is an incredible thing in my book (way before it was trendy). My heart was racing, my hands were shaking…I was beyond excited to say the least. I thought to myself, “Self, I’m sure he gets gawkers all the time…how can you not with a mustache like that?!? Act cool, act cool.” So, I pretended it was nothing and took photos of some of the non-mustached guests. Then I realized he was wearing a CU Buffs jersey…LIGHT BULB!  A topic of conversation to break the ice without solely focusing on his massive mustache! So, after he got a glass of sangria I nonchalantly said “Great jersey! Are you a CU fan? I’m originally from Boulder.” He wasn’t really a fan but he collected jerseys and his nephew played for CU. So I moved on and went for the kill (aka my chest and face went really red). I said “I’m sure you get this all the time, but your mustache is incredible. I’m a huge fan of mustache art.” Then he pulled out his wallet and showed me a picture of him in the guinness book of world records from years back with his 10 foot (YES! 10 feet) long mustache. Then he showed me a photo of himself before he went on the Johnny Carson show. My jaw dropped. Then, yes, it gets better…all of a sudden he whipped out an extra copy of the photo and gave it to me. I couldn’t focus on taking photos of non-mustached guests. THIS MAN JUST GAVE ME A PHOTO OF HIM WITH HIS MUSTACHE! I was floored, told him it absolutely made my day, and thanked him profusely. This is quite possibly a highlight of my life.

The now highly coveted image…this is a framer, no doubt:

A friendly suggestion: if you know anyone between the ages of 2 and maybe 6 and you happen to be in the bay area go to Fairyland (and take me with you). It is a throw back to the 50’s and not a thing has changed. While there we heard a woman, who was probably in the mid 50’s herself, say she want to Fariyland when she was a kid and it is almost exactly the same. Be sure to get there in time for the puppet show…think Mr. Rodgers’ puppets. This place was awesome.

Oh, and I made a new friend (Gepetto from Pinocchio):

My little niece likes to touch my face. For some reason she’ll just put her wee little hands on my big cheeks and leave them there for a long long time. I don’t know if it is soothing to her, or if my face feels funny or maybe she is like “whoa! look at those cheeks! they are so large! I must touch them!” (my family is known for having pretty round cheeks). If nothing less it creates for a darn good moment between the two of us. Thanks to my brother and his iphone for catching this memory for the history books (aka blog).