TIHL #3 How To Celebrate St. Patrick's Day

I might have been a bit too optimistic in one of my earlier blog entries when I hypothesized that St. Patrick's Day was sure to be "a shining beacon in the midst of March." St. Pat's day started off well enough-I woke up to sunlight, blue skies, and a wonderfully adorable St. Patrick's Day gift from my parents. ( This gift, in case you were wondering, included green carnations, green socks, some nail decals in the shape of shamrocks, and a little ceramic coin with a "Luck O' The Irish" wish upon it.) So, adorably and festively clad in the aforementioned gifts (well, I didn't actually wear the carnations), as well as a green shirt that says "Everyone loves an Irish girl," I set off to work on my independent study project, which I have heretofore been ignoring.

Since I was having little success concentrating at my house, I decided to move my efforts elsewhere, namely Caribou coffee. It was apparent that the Luck O' the Irish was with me as I ordered my drink, because they gave me a Chai Tea Latte with a veritable mountain of whipped cream (which is what I wanted) instead of a plain Chai Tea (which I had reluctantly ordered, since it has WAY fewer calories.) Never one to complain, I resigned myself to the fact that I would simply have to drink the less healthy beverage. In conjunction with the chocolate chunk cookie I had ordered, this drink supplied adequate brain power to independently study for at least two hours before the Sunrise leprechaun came to escort me to work.

St. Patrick's Day festivities abounded at Sunrise! I walked in to find residents drinking green beer and eating green-sprinkled cookies, having quite a grand old time. I may have joined them, had I not been assured that I was going out for my own festivities in just a couple of hours. It is a humbling thought that perhaps many of these octogenarians ended up having a cooler St. Patrick's Day than I did!

You know that old saying, "The best laid plans always run amok"? Well, I guess I'm not sure that my plans for the evening were exactly the best laid, but I'm fairly certain that they did not originally include staying home all night and working on my independent study. However, this is exactly what I ended up doing. Never one to let a holiday pass without some sort of musical recognition, I did accompany myself on the guitar for a couple choruses of "O Danny Boy" and "When Irish Eyes are Smiling." (Ok, if you must know, I also sang a short rendition of "Sweet Rosie O'Grady".) It was only after this little concert that I felt compelled to make up for my lack of green beer consumption with a glass of red wine...

My St. Patrick's Day might have been complete in its lameness at that point, but as it turned out, I received a phone call just as I was getting ready for bed. One of the friends I had planned on going out with had been so busy performing her civic duty (namely, calling the Edina police on various St. Patrick's day revelers who were in violation of the city parking ordinances) that she just hadn't had time to make it out on the town. This made me feel slightly better, for at least I was bored on account of a noble cause. (???) I guess now would be the time to start planning for next year...