Festival d'Elaine!!!!

Well... What a weekend that just was. I have to say it was the best party I have ever been to with the best people and so much fun!

The pictures... Special thanks to Colin for helping me not be the only psycho camera person and thanks a million for gettin' me all the files so quickly! Also thanks to Siobhan H. for takin' some photos with Colin's camera... also to Tommy for bein' such a great and enthusiastic learner... you're a natural and got some amazing shots! Also thanks to Trish and Ronan for their contributions. You should have a complete story of the weekend now!

So, let's see... where to start.

Friday we drove down and made it to the holiday homes right around the same time as Mir, John, Tommy, Siobhan and a bunch more of the gang. We were all kinda in need of showers from the drive, but before, we had a bottle of champagne to celebrate.

When Elaine went to take a shower, we all went into mad mode to decorate the house! Ya can see she was surprised when she came down. We had actually decided to hide and yell SURPRISE even thought she knew we were all there!

Friday night was amazing... so many came in and we just had a wonderful time. We hung at the house for a while and headed out to McGann's, but, by then, it was so late that we kinda just decided to drink instead of have tunes... but... a few sat in. The pub was great and it was really nice to be back in Doolin. We were up until the wee hours of the morning and wow... what a time! Ya can see from the picts :)

Saturday... brilliant. We woke up and all piled into Elaine's bed before heading to the pier. We got out there and it was so so so so sunny all day. It was the best weather we could have hoped for. The gang at sausage sandwiches and Colin and I took pictures and I walked a bit on the stones. After the pier we headed to the market... uh it was fantastic. It was such a sweet little market with homemade things and the best food ever. We had such a blast and didn't want to leave! So we didn't...

Instead, we went outside to the playground and showed some teenagers and little kids how NOT TO GROW UP. I hope you laugh looking at us laughing! What a blast and with the sun pouring down on us the whole day... wonderful.

We headed back to the house because more people were due in. A bunch of us got the BBQ going while people arrived and while Elaine played good birthday hostess! What a BBQ it was... beautiful food, great laughs and good fun. We stayed there pretty late and then went to the pub... all of us! Such a blast. Elaine got us these bubble rings... ya can see them... and they were so fun.

We came back to the houses and had tunes until 7am. Wow... so many people, so much fun.

The next day we were wrecked... as you can imagine. We went to the pier again, but were a bit slower moving. We headed back to McGann's where we had tunes outside (brilliant) and where Siobhan and Miriam braided my hair (discovered these are called Plaits here... by the way... I learned so many new words this weekend! You would think as long as I've been comin' here that I would have heard most of them, but noooo... )

So we had tunes in McGann's and they fed and watered us... so kind. The gang all left around half 8 and Elaine and I went back to finish cleaning up the house and to pack the car. We decided to stay the night in Doolin because it was raining and dark and that road to Galway from Doolin sucks. So we headed to O'Conner's and had one soda and couldn't even SIT to listen to brilliant tunes. We shocked ourselves, but we were so wrecked... it just wasn't happening. Beautiful nights' sleep and then we returned to Galway on Monday where I did nothing but nurse my cold (yes yes, ick) and edit pictures.

Colin came over tonight and we all watched I Am Sam... ah what a movie. I forgot how much I loved it.

I will pack tomorrow and do some last minute things to get ready for the farm. Then I head out early on Wednesday. Excited for the change, but a bit nervous!

Hope all is well :)
Smiles.

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