anniversary

happy first anniversary to my darling husband, it has been an amazing (plus many other synonyms!) four years!


ever since we got hitched we knew we wanted to do something special each leap year, as they will be our "real" anniversaries. so with this first one we wanted to do something big, go somewhere nice! maybe take a cruise or a short flight to mainland europe somewhere, BUT with this babe growing inside me and due any week now, i knew we couldn't really go anywhere (darn you airplane and cruise/ferry boat terms & conditions!). bummer. so, since we're stuck on this island, we thought we'd go to the north instead. i mean, it technically IS a different country. even though it looks the same, its only a short drive away, and the weather isn't any nicer. oh well. there is always our second anniversary!

we left waterford on friday and got a groupon for a weekend at a self catering house in ballycastle, co. antrim. it was just near the giants causeway and other various north coast destinations that we've never been to before.

and from monday we've been staying at another self catering flat in the city center of belfast. we have been to belfast many times before, so we are familiar with this city to a certain extent. but its been amazing being able to stay here for a few days and discover all sorts of nooks and crannies (and entire neighborhoods!) that we've never seen before. we've found some yummy restaurants, quality coffee shops, and more vintage/charity/book shops that we lost hours in. and for all the in between times, we have just walk, walk, walked!
so, with this whole new city to discover, we spent our anniversary doing all sorts of random things. i spammed instagram with pictures of all we did today, so i will share them on here as well. all in chronological order!

anniversary banana pancake breakfast!

anniversary good coffee drinking!

anniversary stroll through the botanic gardens!

anniversary ulster museum-ing!

anniversary REALLY good lunch eating!

anniversary napping!

anniversary used bookstore scouring!

anniversary movie seeing! (we saw the vow. yes, i cried!)

anniversary dinner! 

anniversary night time stroll back home!

anniversary ice cream nightcap!

yes, it has been a real nice trip. it started out with no plans, and ended up being full of good memories!

little stroll

i drink a lot of milk lately, and yesterday i couldn't stand the thought of having to wait till my husband got home to bring me some. so i decided to walk to the shop myself (uphill, barefoot, in the snow!)(no, not really, but uphill, yes!). here are some pictures of things along the way. 

aaand, made it back home. 

i sure do live in a beautiful place, and talking nice quiet walks like that help me to not forget it. 

nesting vs. ocd

lately, many women have been telling me their personal stories of this pregnancy side effect called "nesting". they tell me their various horror stories of going crazy on old cooking pans and scrubbing them raw or wildly ironing anything they can get their hands on or scrubbing their floor till their hands blistered or throwing away perfectly fine towels or sheets because they weren't new or matching. they tell me of this irrational behavior that takes over and makes them do all sorts of mad things. sure, i laugh when they tell me the things they did while nesting, and i agree when they tell me its crazy, but all the while i'm (ashamedly) thinking in my head "oops, thats nesting? i did that when i wasn't pregnant" or "hmm, thats a good idea, i should do that on tuesday".

so lately ive been expecting this so called "nesting" instinct to kick in. but honestly, i think i'm going to have trouble discerning between what is nesting and what is my usual obsessive cleaning and/or organizing self.

for example, this morning, i found myself taking apart my vacuum cleaner into as many possible pieces, and proceeded to clean it with soap, water, scrub brush, toothpick, and hair dryer (in that order). or yesterday, i cleaned the whole bathroom with a toothbrush.  or last week, when i vacuumed under everything and dusted on top of everything. or a few weeks ago, when i took everything out of the spare closet, vacuumed it, scrubbed it, painted it all white (every nook and cranny), then put everything back in in a reorganized fashion. or last month, when i emptied out the pantry and divided everything into relative categories and put it back accordingly. the list goes on, i mean, i can go back months, years even. to the days long before pregnancy! am i crazy that i do these things on a regular basis? that i "spring clean" almost monthly? you think i'm making this up don't you? i dont lie! you can even ask the person who knows me best, who sees my madness on a daily basis, my (ever loving, supportive, patient!) husband!

now, i know it can be a lot worse, and i don't think i actually have a diagnosable condition. its not really all that bad (although writing this, and not having any trouble coming up with past ocd happenings, and looking around at my house now, maybe it is??). i can let things go pretty easily, its not like everything HAS to be in its place all the time, or things NEED to be cleaned up straight away, or my house is ALWAYS in a perfectly clean and organized state. i can assure you, its not!

anyway, i guess the big question is, is the craziest nesting case anyone can imagine going to come upon me in these next six weeks or will things stay just the way they always have been?