Just a heads up! I'm planning on getting my own domain and if you'd like the new location, please shoot me an email at irishash@gmail.com.  Thanks for continuing to follow me :)

EDIT:  I've acquired a new domain and with the help of a few friends, the blog should be up and running again. I'm excited to have my own space!

...because it's broken.  Fractured.  Past the point of repair.  Perhaps the foundation was cracked from the start or maybe the effort was one-sided.
 
Before I continue, I should explain that what you're about to read will not be what is expected of me, blog-wise.  You'll want to laugh at the men that can't possibly be real and situations that would never happen in real life (but they are real and they do, oh.. they do).  Rest assured that those posts will continue, but this one is quite different.

Anyway, back to break ups.  They suck for both parties, but the most important thing to remember is that there is no more relationship.  That sentence in itself is very difficult to swallow.  You'll want to analyze everything that was said and done but in the end you must know that nothing will change.  Why waste time trying to understand or fix something that has already been declared broken?

Some important things to remember:

• There's no doubt about it-breakups suck. But in the first few hours or days or weeks that follow, there's one important truth you need to recognize: Some things can't and shouldn't be fixed, especially that loser who dumped you or forced you to dump him. It's over for a reason, and deep down inside you probably know what that reason is.
  
• Anyone who assesses you or your relationship as "disposable" is not worthy of your time or tears.
  
• Just remember, though, that any reasons you come up with are ultimately irrelevant. The harsh reality is that even if you have EVERYTHING else in common, the one thing you don't have in common is the belief that this relationship can work. & that alone trumps your shared love of puppies, The Dave Matthews Band, and Mexican food.
  
• Awesome thought: The annoying thing that your ex did will never bother you again. I'm sure that your plan to get him back worked out in your head. I'm even sure that it worked out in some movie you saw. But your ex does not have the time to follow a movie script and you shouldn't either. Move on. 
  
• So many of us find ourselves saying "BUT HE WAS SO GREAT!" Yes, and the people who got on the Titanic thought they were going on vacation. Things changed and it's important to remember that they did.

“Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish it's source.”

Life has a funny way of throwing little "games" at us when we're least expecting them.  We really have no choice but to play them and to hopefully laugh about it later. Today, I guess my name was pulled from the "haha let's f*ck with someone today" hat.  This isn't my favorite game but luckily I've been pretty victorious for the past decade.  

This game is usually played when two people, who once dated, meet somewhere unexpectedly.  Sometimes this meeting takes place in a bar, or perhaps a mall, or maybe even on the drive home from work.  The rules are simple: Whoever looks better and appears to be the happiest wins.  Bonus points are awarded if the losing player is having an "off" day.  The game is over indefinitely if the winning player is seen with a bf/gf that's more attractive than the losing player.  In the event that conversation occurs between the two players, the player who acts the least awkward will be awarded bonus points.


Did I lose you yet?


Anyway, the game today took place on the ride home from work - in traffic, no less.  Unfortunately, I'm having one of the worst "off days" I've had in a long, long time.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I would scare small children if I were to leave the house without make-up.  It's not looking good for player #1.  Meanwhile, player #2 pulls up to player #1 in his new truck and looks to be having the opposite of an "off day".  At this point, most onlookers would wish the game to be finished.  Thankfully, the gods of traffic agreed and we parted ways.  

Evaluation of the game concludes that Player #2 is the obvious victor and is awarded bonus points caused by Player #1's fail day.  However, no gf/bf was spotted accompanying player #2, so the game may continue at a later date.  Although Player #1 didn't come close to winning, she did take active steps to avoid the bonus points that Player #2 would have gained had they conversed.  It's important to note that pretending to text to avoid eye-contact is an acceptable form of defense.  

If you're forced into this situation, take comfort in the fact that you're not subjected to this game very often AND you may just win.  Today, I wasn't so lucky.

• Group or Individual vacations
• Vacation length
• Accommodations (ex: hostel, economy hotel, etc)
• Local transportation
• Vacation sleeping habits
• How far in advance you need to plan
• Next vacation preferences (where? by land or sea? departing in how many days?)

I met "The twin" on myspace - before myspace got creepy. Or was it ever not creepy? But I digress. He was absolutely gorgeous. He was exactly what I was looking for - typical guy but with a punk/alternative edge.

He suggested we meet at a local bar to get to know each other. He was a few years older than me, had a tattoo on the inside of his arm (hot!), and he had an identical twin who was extremely close to him. The conversation was amazing and he seemed to actually care what I had to say. When we finally left he walked me to my car and gave me a kiss goodnight. Didn't ask me to go home with him, which was refreshing.

At this point, I put him in the "dateable" category and hoped to see him again. He called a few days later and took me to a movie and then back to his place. It was pretty late and I had been drinking a little, so I decided to spend the night at his place. When we woke up, he was acting kind of weird and was in sort of a hurry to get me out of the house because he had "errands" to do. I thought it was strange but I just shrugged it off.

As I'm walking to my car, a girl pulls up to his driveway and gets out. At that moment, it clicked. I had been the other woman unknowingly. I drove away as quickly as possible and deleted his number. Well, a few days pass and a chick messages me on myspace and asks if I was at the twin's house a few days ago. After I told her I was, she told me that they had been dating for 10 months and were supposed to be serious. She said that she confronted him and he said that I was a friend that stayed in the guest bedroom because I had too much to drink. I told her that I wasn't aware of a guest bedroom and that it's probably a good idea to drop him. Girls have to stick together, right?

Well, after she stopped talking to him he started trying to talk to me again. He said she was young, crazy, and that their relationship wasn't serious. I wanted to believe him, but then I remembered what a cheating douche he was. I bowed out of the situation and told her that I was sorry for causing any grief.

The last I heard she tried to get back together with him, couldn't accept what happened with me, and then printed our entire conversation and left it on his table one day. I've seen him (or maybe it was his twin) a few times at local bars. I need to leave this city.

Like most people, I was apprehensive to join the online dating trend. I felt like I was attractive enough to not need to resort to that venue. When I was in college it was super easy to meet people, so I figured I should have no problem meeting people out in the "real world". However, having a career really only limited my social settings to bars where quality people were lacking. My best friend at the time had joined match.com a year earlier and continuously begged me to join. I finally gave in after several doomed attempts using the "old fashioned" way.

Since we were be st friends on the same site, we frequently shared screen names of the dudes we were planning to date. This insured we would not talk to the same guys and we wouldn't talk to guys that turned out to be losers (according to each other).

Well, apparently I forgot to ask her about a date I had scheduled a few days away. I mentioned his screen name in passing and she froze and bluntly said I can't go out with him. According to his profile, he was great on paper and his pictures didn't hurt my eyes so I was a bit surprised. I asked why not and apparently he had shown up with us downtown one night. I had been a little tipsy when he met her and I whispered to her that he was ugly and that she could do better.

I'm pretty picky when it comes to my dates and I don't like to waste my time. If I said he wasn't attractive after a few drinks it wasn't worth my time, just being honest. So I immediately called him up and explained that since he had gone on a date with my best friend, the date with us was off.

He went bat sh*t crazy. At first he couldn't remember her. Then he said it was only one date. I pulled the "I can't date my friends' dates" card but he didn't want to hear that. After about 20 mins of arguing about it (I should have hung up, I know) and begging me to give him a chance, he hangs up on me. NOTE: He's never met me. Who argues like that with someone they've never met? Not five minutes pass and he sends my friend an email on match.com saying how dare she interfere with his business, etc. I blocked him and haven't heard from him since.

I'm no longer friends with her but I'll give her props for saving me a horrible night.

Before meeting Moneybanks, I've never really met anyone that flaunts the amount of money they make every chance they can get. It might be the most unattractive trait I've ever seen.

I was sitting in an airport for hours due to a delayed flight (pretty standard for me) and decided to sit at one of the bars/restaurants and do some work on my laptop. Due to my outgoing nature and friendly personality, many people like to sit down next to me and talk to me. This is usually fine as I'm friendly and like to meet new people. Well, an older guy we'll call moneybanks sits down right next to me. Moneybanks is 37, never married, no kids and lives with a roommate on the coast. I know what you're thinking, red flag! HUGE red flag even. Or is that just me?

Anyways, he goes on to say that he's meeting a "model friend" in Long Island for a weekend getaway in the Hamptons. He was apparently paying to fly her up there and he is so excited, blah blah blah. At this point he's told me how much he makes quite a few times *rolls eyes*. He continues to drone on about how attractive she is and how he can't wait to see her. While he talks, I'm trying to do the polite "I'm working on my laptop, leave me alone" stance but he doesn't get it. Sometime during my attempt to ignore him, he asks me my age. I tell him and then he starts to ask more questions about me and gets closer.

I'm definitely not interested in him at this point but he's so ridiculous I couldn't resist. He went on to tell me he owns several boats and makes tons of money off of selling various things on ebay. As soon as I'm about to leave for the bathroom, my friend arrives (finally!) and sits next to him. I introduce them and leave, thinking that she'll either join in on the fun or tell him to go play in traffic. What I didn't realize is that she's taking the fun route a little too extreme. She gave him my number. I noticed he had a big smile on his face when I got back but I thought nothing of it. He paid our tabs with $100 (didn't see that coming) and left.

The next day I got the following message from him:

"Ah well I'm in a luxory (yes, that's his spelling) bathrobe sitting on a lounger over the water on my private huge ass rooftop terrace overlooking the water, you could party with 50 people on this thing. My date unfortunately got wasted at the wine tasting and is quite under the weather.. I need to choose my travel partner companions more choosily (again, his word) me thinks. So FYI there will be an opening for the position of Moneybanks' next future ex girlfriend if you care to submit an application, my fringe benefit package is to die for!!!"

I really can't make this stuff up. Nor will I forgive my friend.

The last message I received from him was via voicemail. I haven't responded to his texts or calls. The voicemail goes like this:

"Hey, I'm super interested in you and would love to take you out on a date. I could come to you or you can come out to me. It'll be worth your while!"

Eh, if I had a quarter for every time I heard that ... ;)

Most of my stories and experiences will be bad and you'll get quite the kick out of them (or so I'm told). However, this experience is different - it's usually something that only happens in chick flicks. And so it begins:

[Background Info: At the time, I was dating someone for about 2 years. He was inconsiderate, cheap, and extremely immature. Needless to say, I was quite unhappy]

The company I currently work for usually sends me out of state quite a few times throughout the year. For this particular trip, I was on my way to Stockton, CA. For whatever reason, I was put on the earliest possible flight. Since I had a boyfriend back home and it was super early, you better believe I was still dressed in my PJs with no makeup on. I boarded the plane and while I was waiting I noticed a cute guy around my age sit down in a seat across the aisle from me. For a moment I cursed my decision to be comfy but then I reminded myself that he was a stranger on a plane and I DID have a boyfriend.

The plane landed in Denver and the connection flight wasn't for two hours so I made my way to one of the airport bars. I was only seated for a few minutes when Mr. "I'm sitting right across from you on the plane" took a seat right next to me. Now, I've never been one to get nervous when meeting new people, but something about him stirred up a few butterflies in my stomach. We exchanged names and I found out that he was going to Seattle (where he lives) and was only in my city for work for a few days. He offered to buy me drinks and we exchange a few jokes about how both of our drinks were getting expensed anyways (office humor, bare with me). I mentioned that I may be taking a trip to Seattle in the future for business, so we exchanged information. Who doesn't like a native to show you around?

I ended up at my gate and to my dismay, it was delayed for 30 extra minutes. I had a seat next to the wall and busted out my ipod. Just as soon as the earbuds went in, Mr. Seattle was standing in front of me with a coffee. Apparently, he had seen that my flight had been delayed (as was his) so he wanted to surprise me. Here come those butterflies again. I thanked him, hugged him, and finally got on the plane.

I ended up in California for a week in what can only be described as cow land. There wasn't anything to do but cow tip, apparently. Each day I was greeted with a "good morning" text from Mr. Seattle and we'd end up talking every day after work. During those talks, it came out that he had noticed me on the plane and that he thought I was cute. He also saw me checking the status of my flight and was relieved that he found me at the bar in Denver.

Almost as soon as I arrived in my city, I broke up with my current boyfriend and continued to talk with Mr. Seattle. He'd email me at work and talk with me at night. A friend called me the Cheshire cat because I had a permanent smile on my face. It was like we had known each other for years. I'm pretty impulsive and had some money saved up so I decided to fly to Seattle to see him. The moment I showed up he gave me the biggest kiss I had gotten in a while. Welcome back, butterflies!

During my stay, he took me to a Mariners game (3rd row from the 1st base line), took me to Pike's Market (with the flying fish), the first Starbucks, a drive-in movie, and a romantic dinner on top of the space needle. My trip felt way too short and I hated to leave him. To this day I have a few songs that I listened to on repeat on the plane there that will forever remind me of him.

Our relationship lasted for about 5 months, which included me taking another trip to visit him (I love to travel). The distance and time zone difference began to take it's toll on the relationship and eventually I had to break things off. Last contact I had with him, I learned that he was engaged with a baby on the way.

Welcome to my blog! I'll be adding a few stories and experiences later. Feel free to add me and I'll be sure to return the favor.

Have a fabulous day! :)