0 St. Patrick's Blue

Best St. Patrick’s Day ever.

I woke up this morning at 6:00am and went to the temple with my sweetheart. We then stopped at Kneader’s for breakfast and ordered their 2-inch thick French toast, which is, of course, unlimited in supply – as well as deliciousness – and topped with the perfect combination of whipped cream, strawberries, and caramel syrup. Arriving back at our apartments, we got ready for the day and had some time to sit out on the porch swing and contemplate what to do about the very obvious yellow outlines that were left around the edges of where we had laid butcher paper to do some spray painting the night before. I laugh as I think about it now, but masking them with sidewalk chalk was all we could come up with so we used the holiday to our advantage and left a St. Patrick’s Day message outside Andrea’s apartment before I took her to work. Preparing for the first of our series of monthly culture nights – Ireland being the focus of this month’s edition – made my classes pass quicker than normal. Then, in the hour-long break between two of my geography classes, I went to Macey’s to buy some corned beef and cabbage for our Irish dinner, ran into Andrea there and met Harold (the gentleman in the older couple she works for), went home and put everything in the crockpot, and hurried off to class again. I learned a lot about Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day throughout the course of my classes, including the fact that blue was the color originally worn on St. Patrick’s Day. Andrea met me outside my final class and I accompanied her to part of her International Development class where I finished the PowerPoint on Ireland and left to go print the pictures that will go on the pages of our guest book. Once Andrea got home from class and the bookstore, we ate our Irish meal with the accompaniment of the best Irish folk music YouTube had to offer and downed a flagon of mead (which was actually just a cold, green bottle of Martinelli’s). The culture night presentation that followed was such a success that a nap was needed afterward. Next we worked on our guestbook and wedding announcements while watching Brother Bear, and at 8 o’clock we looked at an apartment which we ruled quickly ruled out because of its wood paneling and bomb shelter-like appearance. It was still so nice outside that we took a jog down to Center St. and came back to look at more housing listings. We called on another and the current renters said that we could stop by and have a look. This one was actually really, really promising. We both loved it. Now all we can do is wait and hope we made a good enough impression to have them pick us over all of the apartment-hungry couples that will surely knock on their door. Our final activity involved pears for dessert and hammering out our monthly budget. With that, we said goodnight to each other and to St. Patrick’s Day.