dublin–guiness, neolithic sites & trinity college

the final destination on our tour du Ireland was Dublin – the country’s capital!

we were scheduled to stay there from thursday night-sunday morning (sunday morning we would fly out bright and early)

thursday morning – after bidding adieu to michael & the delphi lodge (the happiest place on earth) we headed out on a cross country trip towards dublin

oh look it was raining…

it seemed to be that every time – no matter what time of day or for how long – we got on the bus everyone fell asleep. some days it felt like we woke up to eat breakfast to board the bus and go back to sleep

…some of us…::cough jenna cough:: decided to dope up on dramamine for this trip

the orginial itinerary had us hitting the neolithic site ‘newgrange’ on the way to dublin – but we were way behind schedule and ended up having to reschedule that stop for friday – instead we rearranged our schedule and decided to do a mid-afternoon stop at the guiness factory (which was originally on schedule for friday)

look at this bitch doped up on dramamine

at the time i didn’t know she was high on drams – i realized she was quite out of it and loopy during the guiness tour – but never understood why until a few days later…

seriously i pee my pants with laughter every time i look at that picture

the guiness tour was a self guided tour through the factory

this gave ample time for crazy jump attempt photos

i also accidently threw my penny over the good luck fountain fall..don’t ask – i have great strength…and swim skills

and weird photo shoots that may or may not have brought attention to us silly americans

i wish my excuse was that i was doped up on dramamine – i was the only sober one.

will. do. anything. for. the. perfect. shot.

cool & fun facts along the way & a tasting mid-trip

guiness survey says? BLEGH.

and then a full glass of guiness at the top of factory in the sky-bar (which gave a great panoramic view of dublin)

you could also redeem your free guiness by learning how to make the perfect pour

pros in the family – whatupp.

after guiness – we headed on our way to our hotel – we stayed in the heart of dublin in this pretty cool egyptian themed hotel right behind trinity college called the trinity capital hotel (the name will be engrained in my mind forever because that’s how many times i asked ‘how do you get back to the trinity capital hotel…”

the hotel was eh – it was SMALL i mean the rooms are SMALL. maybe it’s me but in the US we have large & in charge hotel rooms – it seemed like everywhere we went in ireland (with the exception of delphi which were real bedrooms) the hotel rooms were tiny! made for midgets! we’re big people – so the first night was a little stressful – i was a crank monster.

friday morning i washed off my crank-monsterness and got ready for an all-out touristy day

first up we hit up the neolithic site – newgrange – we didn’t actually go to the largest one (newgrange) but we went to knowth (another one of the tombs – or whatever they were) on the site. – apparently getting a reservation for a tour at one of these is like meeting the president – who knew!

i still don’t know what neolithic means…

it’s like a series of tomb passage type things from 21 gagillion years ago – i thought the views were pretty…

neolithic jump shot – obvi.

on the way back to dublin from newgrange we stopped at a random pub and had our first gypsy (sorry irish ‘traveler’) siting!

sean confirmed and then i gave the whole bus a lesson on irish gypsies – i was finally glad that all of the time spent watching TLC paid off

we got back from newgrange mid-afternoon and were scheduled to have a guided bus tour of dublin with a stop at trinity college

our tour guide i swear was like paula deen

trinity college was really cool! the book of kells was meh for me – but i was super impressed with the library

after dinner – we ate at a cute little bistro near our hotel and then went for a dublin walk-about

phew! it wasn’t raining for like the first time ever

we walked down temple bar (which was a super cool block with TONS of live music & restaurants) and around the city center – eventually we found a few of the guys from our group at a local pub and just chilled out for the rest of the night

rockin’ our irish wool

we slept like beasts that night! the next post – the final post is our last night in dublin – the jameson factory!

love to love you <3

-julie

 

weekend paleo breakfast & koss headphones

let’s take a little break from ireland – shall we?

no worries – i’ll finish eventually!

i <3 the weekends.

don’t you?

sometimes i love the weekends so much that i try and create weekend mornings during the work week – and well they just don’t seem to work out.

anyways. one of the main reasons i <3 the weekends is i get to hit Crossfit and get in a stress-free workout, then come home and enjoy a beastly delicious breakfast – if i’m taking an off-day from working out – or sick (like I was this past weekend) then I get even more time to enjoy breakfast, coffee & the morning works.

this weekend? this weekend i actually didn’t hit the gym once – i wanted to believe me – i still would like to wash my ireland sins off – but i ended up with a flu-like cold all weekend and so i had ample time to perfect my perfect weekend breakfast

it’s big. it’s more along the lines of brunch because it’s really big – it makes me full – it’s a good thing i wear lululemons on the weekend because i’m pretty sure they’re the only pants that fit after this meal

it’s like a smorgasbord of random things all in one pan – then all in one bowl.

you’ll see.

it’s pretty epic.

and it’s paleo.

because i guess i should admit that i’m pretty paleo at this point in my life…

not making any claims here – but it’s kind of delicious.

also – i had my final post paleo challenge weigh in on friday -

i gained 3 pounds and lost 2 inches in my waist – added an inch to my hips – does this make sense?

who cares. breakfast is delicious – even if it does give me 3 extra pounds.

this one has blueberry breakfast sausage in it –

but if I don’t have any of those on hand i’ll use an apple chicken sausage from trader joe’s

weekend paleo breakfast bowl

• 2 cups of sliced brussel sprouts
• 1 cup of shredded brussel sprouts
• 1 handful of sliced carrots
• 1 handful of spinach
• 1 chicken sausage (or leftover burger, sausage patty or just ground beef in general – you could also use bacon)
• 1/2T coconut oil
• 2 eggs & 2 egg whites
• tessemae’s hot wing sauce (or frank’s hot sauce)
• nutritional yeast (for sprinkling – also optional)
• other toppings include: avocado, bacon, etc. and if it’s post workout i’ll throw in some cooked sweet potato

heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add in your coconut oil, if you are using an uncooked sausage link – once the pan is hot and the oil is bubbly then add in your sliced brussel sprouts & shreds & carrots, about 2 minutes in add in your uncooked sausage link or bacon (diced) – if you’re using precooked meat then hold off. continue to cook the brussels & sausage until they are browned – then add in your spinach and allow it to cook and wilt. set aside

in another small pan (or you can use the same pan and just take the brussel mix out) cook your eggs/whites mx – sometimes i fry them, sometimes scrambled – i am not good at poached so that’s really out of the equation

once your eggs are cooked throw the sausage/brussel mix in a bowl & top off with hot sauce, avocado, nutritional yeast – whatever your heart desires! consume and feel happy <3

YUM.

when i came back from ireland i had a pretty cool package waiting for me!

i was sent two pairs of headphones from Koss – who have paired up with fitfluential to promote the launch of their new headphones

these headphones are special because they are a part of their ‘fit series’ which are headphones specifically designed for women – to ensure us ladies and our small ears have the perfect fit

i know sometimes i suffer from headphone drop-out mid squat or burpee and that does not make for a fun fix – it ruins the flow ya know?

i digress – the koss fit series designed two models to make sure every woman could find the perfect headphone fit

the koss fitclips (on the left) is designed so that the clips rest comfortably around the ear, the koss fitbuds (on the right) are the smallest earbuds koss has ever created (5 millimeters in diameter – making them 33% smaller than the average earbud) – each set of headphone comes with three sizes of ear cushions designed to fit any ladies ears – they also feature many different color choices, sweat-resistance coating for active use & durability

my thoughts? i think they’re okay! i guess i have larger than normal ears because i did have trouble keeping the buds in – i actually like the fitclips better and normally i hate those kinds of headphones. my one issue is i don’t think the sound quality is as good as the apple headphones but i definitely think the price is right at $29.99 each – they do seem durable and the fitclips are surprisingly comfy!

note: i did receive these earphones for free through the fitfluential ambassador program

all in all – if you have issues with headphones falling out i think these would be a great match for you – plus the cool colors make them super fun.

if you’re interested koss is offering a $5 off coupon code (includes free shipping!) if you purchase them at http://koss.com and use the code Fit4Life

that’s all for now!

love to love you <3

-julie

what’s your fav workout tune lately?