crampin ma style: the last of the 'fast

we meet again! i wanna hurry up and tell you about the rest of my trip (seeing as it happened, well, a month ago). get ready for an action-packed summary that lacks details, yippee!

wednesday morning matt's mum kindly drove us into town. she dropped off mattsy, who was getting his locks shorn, and then took me to get a manicure (heaven). the manicurist girlio and i chatted as she worked, and upon discovering i'm from the LA area, she whispered, "ooo, that's class!" if she only knew.

after carefully getting into the car, heather and i headed over to matt's grandparents' house, where we chatted and had tea and homemade lemon cake. so civilized! so dignified! SO. IRISH.

but matt and i had to hit the road before too long, since we were booked in for lunch at stormont, where he works a few days a week. to simplify things, it's the northern irish parliament building (i hope that's not too grossly inaccurate). matthew works for judith cochrane, a member of the assembly. judith very kindly took me, matt, and two of his sweet co-workers to lunch at the fancy-pants restaurant in stormont.

i tried wheaten bread for the first time (with real irish butter, of course), and it was so good i was tempted to forgo an entree and just stuff myself with bread! flipping miss decent bread, so much.

after lunch, which was lovely, we had a little meander..

mattseh in his element

...and then we were meant to walk home. too bad it was raining dog's dirt.

but i still got this sweet touristy pic!

i am at a total loss for what we did wednesday night! i think we just had a mellow family dinner? BECAUSE, the next day was the almighty wedding!

went with heather and auntie joyce to get our hur did. the lady did an amazing job on mine, i really loved it, though it was work-intensive (teasing, curling, slow-drying, teasing, smoothing, pinning, etc). and joyce treated me, out of control. too much!!

we bustled back to the house, where everyone gathered up their things, and i put on ma face.

it was a bit of a drive to the larchfield estate, which was nestled into the countryside. squished in the backseat with matt and euan, i tried not to move my head, lest i muss my hair. this amused the boys greatly. also, matt cracked a joke about how euan's cologne smelled like "the time my goldfish died," and i had a wicked case of the giggles that lasted about 15 agonizingly embarrassing minutes. thanks, matt.

matt's brother gareth and (now wife) nicole had very generously booked rooms at the inn adjoining the wedding location. so we got settled in and unpacked, and once 3pm rolled around, were ushered into our seats in the gorgeous, richly cozy wedding hall.

somehow, i ended up sitting between heather (mother of the groom) and matt's grandpa...in the second row, behind the groomsmen. i have no idea how i ended up in such a seat! i felt honored, and also like there had been a terrible mistake. LOL, jokes!

the wedding itself was truly beautiful. the minister, who is close with the mckibbins, gave what i thought was one of the best sermons on love i've ever heard. now i can't recall any of it. WAIT, it's coming back...he talked about the three types of love: eros, philia, and agape, and described the characteristics of each one, how all three are vital to marriage. i was basically blubbering in my seat, gangsta.

reception summarized: i met a ton of people, ate a delicious dinner, cried more during heartfelt speeches, laughed at lots of inappropriate jokes, etc. but what would an ulster wedding be without the "evenin' do," aka AFTTTAA PAWWWTY. apparently it's customary for a bunch of people who weren't invited to the wedding to come drink and dance after the dinner is over. so, as 9pm rolled around, the place was hoppin'.

i didn't want to be a drunken mess, so i didn't drink very much, but rather danced with some of the children (and matt, the biggest kid of all). hilariously, once the conga line started, the step-father of the bride rather wildly shouted, "I WANT THE AMERICAN!" grabbed me around the waist, and forced me to join the tenuous line of intoxicated adults. i loved it!

other highlights: meeting a man from the countryside who rambled on and on, and me not understanding a single word he said, freezing my bum off when standing by the door, matt's brother-in-law asking if i was going to finish my champagne, then polishing it off, sticky toffee pudding dessert, and pictures!

not matching at all, aye but sure.

i poured myself into bed that night. the party didn't end till 1am, aka the whole shebang was 10 hours long. i didn't even have the heart, or strength, to take out my updo, so i slept on it.

the next morning, the innkeepers made us a full ulster fry, and once again i was in heaven. but i didn't have much time to digest, because before long i was saying goodbyes to some of matt's relatives, and once again we were on the road!

matt was taking me to some surprise location...i had no idea where we were going. finally, all was revealed: we were going to downpatrick, aka ST. PATRICK'S HOOD. first stop, cathedral and grave!

creepy cemetery

st. paddy's grave, such a cool surprise!

we moseyed around the cathedral, but i didn't say my usual new-cathedral prayer cause it wasn't catholic. LOL, jokes! hope wee pat understands!

car. drove to a beautiful, empty beach that was supposed to cost moolah. but we got in fo free cause we slick (also cause no one was in the ticket booth).

one of those figures in the distance is a horse!

car. headed to newcastle, a funland destination for the northern irish youth. lots of arcades, kid-friendly gambling, etc. we gambled away two pounds, oops, then walked down to the beach...where i yet again demanded a photo sesh.

by then, it was lunchtime, and i wanted a sammy. so as we headed to our next destination, we stopped in a "spar" convenience store. matt was taking FOREEVERRR deciding, but i didn't care that much. then, to my total surprise, our friend claire waltzed in!! she had taught in japan last year. matt had set the whole thing up! i was overjoyed to see claire, and unbeknownst to me, we were in her hometown!

the three of us went to an expansive park to catch up and eat some grub. then we had a little meander..

and went along this river. that thing on the right is a huge drain to prevent flooding when it rains too hard!

only of course, there was yet another surprise to be had. matt had booked the quintessential irish countryside cottage for us to stay in! it had a piano. A PIANO! and a fireplace! i was simply in awe. haha, also, the staff apparently thought we were newlyweds, because an envelope with inn info was addressed to "mr. and mrs. mckibbin," BAHAHA

LOOK! SO COUNTRYSIDE CHIC!

more good food to be had, as well! that night, we went to a local pub to get a feed. i got vegetarian lasagna, which obvio was great, and we split some sort of cheezy potato appetizer. stuffed, we came back to our cottage, where two chocolates and whiskey nightcaps were set out for us, haha! gotta love the irish! watched some BBC and attempted to light a fire, fail. such a great place though!

next morning, the place had a very fancy breakfast, which was only slightly awkward because all the guests eat at the same huge table. we discreetly laughed at some german golfers, munched some muesli and fruit, slurped up coffee, and high-tailed it back to belfast.

...and along the way, saw this stunning rainbow! it was a full arc, it went all the way across! where da gold at? i was so happy to see a real irish rainbow!

got back into b'fast. by the way, it was saturday. aka LAST DAY. i wanted to scoop up some more mural pics, so we ventured once again into the 'hood so i could get ma fix. mattsy gave me the grand tour...these are just a few select shots.

also bought a few souvenirs for the japanese peepsies (utter faux paus to come back from a trip empty-handed), and made a pitstop...

..at mattsy's favorite place. did somebody saaaaay mcdonald's?

i unfortunately had to pack once we got back to the mckibbin abode. but for dinner, mattsy and i got an indian feast, and watched the x factor. also went round to his sister lisa's house to say bye to her family, and then soon after had to be dropped off in the city centre to catch the 1am bus to dublin.

ahhhh too many painful memories! i really didn't want to leave gorgeous ireland, and i especially didn't want to leave the mckibbins, who were so unbelievably kind and generous to me. so i'll skip all the goodbye deets. suffice to say i made it back to japan in one piece. one very tired and rather sad piece!

but now, we gooood. the trip was everything i had hoped for and more, and in approximately 50 days' time, give or take, my family gets to unleash on matthew! pray for him.

acutely missing the emerald isle,
wee lilleh