Sometimes, things are easy

Well, this morning we were awake quite early to drive into town. It's a chore... for a girl who used to be up and at the gym by 5am, some days I'm lucky if I can get up by 9! I'm shocked at my laziness sometimes but when you don't have a schedule, you can go the gym whenever you feel like it! Anyhow, the goal was to get into town when the immigration office opened so I could extend my visa. I had my passport, my insurance card and a letter from my broker in the States saying I had a little money to keep me from living off the state... boyfriend was driving, amazingly little traffic (even though we used the taxi sign to ride in the bus lane) and a parking spot around the corner... The line was huge at 8am, all waiting to be let into the building. And it was f^%&in' freezing out, 2 degrees C maybe (about 36-38 F, I think) but sunny and clear. We decided to hop over the Bewleys for breakfast. Bewleys is the oldest tradition in Ireland I think. It's closing two of it's biggest restaurants this year - this one and another on Grafton Street (people in Dublin want trendier places with trendier coffee, these days). M used to go every day, in his old life as a banker. He actually knew the person making the coffees. Anyhow, after an uneventful meal (we could see why it is closing its doors, to be honest), we wandered over to the immigration, took a ticket and a miraculous 2 numbers later I was at the counter. Unlike the last time I was in Ireland for over 3 months, this guy was nice and friendly. Maybe because we were so organized, I don't know. M had his passport full of US stamps to prove we were together. It all finished in 10 minutes. We were pleasantly surprised. Now I'm in for another year! Not just a year TOTAL, but a year from today (2.5 months after I arrived)! Not bad. We probably won't stay this long but it was nice to know that somebody's country would welcome us without us being married. Guess that's all for now.