Chrimbo Craft Fair

Since I seem to be incapable of doing one thing at once, I always have to multitask. This last year I have been making a bunch of jewelery and learning how to juggle. Since my juggling skills are not going to get anywhere near making me any extra income, i have been focusing on my jewelery. I signed up for a craft fair in Greystones for Christmas. I did not get to see it before hand, but all I knew is it was going to be in a Christmas theme and be big. Louise, another co-worker, met me at work in the Sunday to collect the display and take it out to Greystones with me, which is about 30 minutes out of the city. The model barely fit, but we managed to get it in. Louise help me set it up since we could not fit Ben in the car, he had to take the train out to meet us.

I had a few girlfriends meet us out there and they were some of by best customers. I sold a few things, that did pay for the table and I even made a profit! One of my co-workers wives like it so much she wants to have a party at her house in February with her friends. I will keep you updated on how that goes, I am excited for that and getting ready!

Pumpkin Pie Extravagnza

We have our token American friend here that is a good friend of one of my college mates. We have become friends with her and her fiance. So for Thanksgiving this year since she had the day off she was able to cook all day on the Thursday and join her for the day. I was able to get a half day and head to her house to start on the best Bloody Mary's I have had in a long time. By the time Ben got there, we were all in good holiday spirits. It was mainly Andrew's family, one of Tori's co-workers and ourselves. We had an amasing meal, with a good taste of home. She even had the cranberry sauce that holds the shape of the can when you pour it out. Disgusting stuff, but a requirement on the day of. Ben was in charge of cutting up the turkey, he did a very barbarically good job at it. We sa down for dinner and had several helpings of food until we were ready to explode or as Ben says, were ready to fall into a food coma. The ended the night tucked into their living room in front of a fire with pumpkin pie!

Saturday we had to do it all over again! Oh darn! We started cooking early that morning to get reaady for our 15+ house guests. The pies were baked, the potatoes were mashed, turkey basted to perfection with little lemon halves underneath the skin to make it look like it was stacked with some large breasts on its breasts that kept it quite moist. We had to make sure that all the food was cut up small since there were not enough knives to go around for their paper plates. We had some green bean casserole, corn bread, sweet potato pie, stuffing, gravy, turkey, mash, and fluorescent orange mac n cheese! That was the biggest hit. We had a good night, with everyone crammed in, and the wine flowing. Once the pumpkin pie was gone and the drink started to disappear, so did our guests. It was another great year, and I even helped Ben with the dishes, which is a marked improvement. We do miss our families on this day, but it was a lot of fun to do it with all of our foreign friends once again!

Mary Kicken' the Holy Ball Pub Quiz

I had my first pub quiz! My plethora of useless information actually helped me for once. Ruth's rugby team was raising money for the upcoming year. We paid for our spot on the table, it ended up being Ruth's boyfriend Tom, Catherine, her boyfriend Andrew, myself and Edell. There was a great turn out, about 250 or so people. Once we are all settled in with our drinks and meeting most of her family, they passed out the packets. There were 12 rounds. The MC for the night was one of her teammates friends who at first was quite funny, but soon became way to inebriated. The first 4 rounds went by quite fast, and we were doing decent enough, getting more then half right, some getting 8 out of the 10 right. Tom excelled in Sports, Catherine in History, Edell in pop culture, Andrew in Geography and I seems to have an even spread of random information.

As the night went on, the MC got so drunk that is just kept dragging on. What should have taken about 2 hours tops, was turning into 4 hours plus. When the prizes for the raffle started being called out we encouraged Ruth to take over and call out the numbers. Things then started to take a more rapid pace! Even with about a few hundred gifts, I swear Edell and I were the only ones to win nothing! NOTHING! Upon not receiving the prize for the best name: "Mark Kicken' the Holy Ball" since the rugby clubs name was Mary's, we decided it was a no win situation. Out of the possible points, there were a few teams that had near perfect score, and although ours was one of the better, 82 was not going to be a winning number for us. Edell took me home and we proceeded to drown our sorrows at home upon not winning with chocolate. Still a good end to the evening!

Architecture Open House

Last year during the architecture tours, we mainly focused on Temple Bar, but since there is so much to see we only got to about half of it. This year we got to do the other half. Ben and myself on Saturday got tours in the City Hall building to see where city council meetings are held (and where we have some friends getting married there in June); the old Rates Office which is an old haunted bank that has a bit for Easter Rising history to it; and the main Dublin City Council offices. Since all of these buildings we walk by and live by I figured why not get a sneak peek inside. The DCC offices were impressive since the atrium is 5 stories high and is very energy efficient. The architect gave a very informative tour and then for a grand finale, we went into the traffic control office. More than two dozen monitors up on the wall showed current traffic conditions, it is the eye in the sky. It was interesting to see all over Dublin simultaneously.

Sunday we meet up with Tullia and Edell for a river tour around the new docklands. The two tour guides was the president of the RIAI and founder of one of the largest architecture practices in Dublin, and the other guide now works in planning but ran for the Taoiseach (president) so it was sort of like John Kerry of Ireland giving our tour. Although as architects we know most of the buildings, the history was great to hear. How the docklands used to be, and although the docks are quite built up now, it only really happened recently during the Celtic Tiger. The best part was just seeing Dublin from another angle, it is not everyday that we get a boat tour up the river. It was a gorgeous day with the sun shining very brightly that it made us forget that most of the leaves have fallen and winter is well on its way. Since the tide was up to high, we were not able to get back into some of the docklands to see the most current building that we are constructing (I worked on it when I first started and now working on the finishing touches).

After our tour, we crossed the road to the CHQ for the Oktoberfest celebrations. Who can pass up freshly cooked German sausages and yummy beer! I can't. It was a good end to a sunny autumn day.

Strange Anomaly #44

Baby jabs. Kept seeing adverts for what I thought was some kind of kids cold medicine and they kept referring to baby jabs. Wondered for a long time what that was, it is when kids get their vaccines, to it was a pain reliever for teething and shots.

Jam Packed Weekend

Although September was not the most exciting month with summer weather coming to a close, there were a few happy/sad events to keep us busy. Thursday was Auther's day, the 250th anniversary of Arther Guinness starting up his brewery. Town was absolutely insane that if you were able to get into a pub, there was a free pint at 17:59 (5:59pm) to commemorate the 1759 opening. Needless to say since Milltown is next to nothing, I did not have my Guinness.

But Friday was the turning in of my big project and Kat's last day. So I got off a bit early and was the first one to pick off another session in McSorley's with a night of Guinness. But this time instead of staying to the very end with the tearful send offs, Edell, Tullia and I buggered off early since there was much to do! We said our goodbye's to Brandon Kat and Liam, before heading into town. We took turns on Tutti's bike since our feet hurt from our heels. It was culture night so town was packed with everyone checking out galleries and exhibitions. We were a bit hungry so before we took part in culture night we stopped for some much needed Kebabs at Zaytoons. Tastes great, but makes you feel terrible the next day, well worth it though.

Saturday was Patrick's Going away Party since himself and his girlfriend and heading off to tour India and teach English in Vietnam for a while. They are both architects and since there is no work, they are going to go enjoy life and just wait until things pick up again. They have a great penthouse apartment right on the Quays so we all spent most of the night on the balcony. It was a crisp clear autumn night that we were able to count 16 spires from his balcony. That is a lot! Good chats and a bit of dancing concluded the night before strolling home at an ungodly hour in the morning. Time does fly when you are having fun.

The following night was an engagement party for some friends. A college mate introduced me to them over the internet and the four of us hit it off. They have great friends so even though Ben and I knew no one, we had a great night. We do hope to make it to their wedding in June, and finally get our mutual friend over to Ireland! Many strange yet interesting conversations to be had. Luckily we had been exposed to their most outgoing friend before so we knew what to expect from him.

It made for a very busy weekend, but it did much to lift our spirits even with the goodbye since most of the people leaving are just happy to have had a decision made for them. Monday was Kat and Dom's last day in Ireland so I met up with the two of them, Sean and a few of their other friends at Peter's Pub for a few cheecky pints and for one of the best toasties I have ever had! (Grilled cheese, ham and tomato on white bread) I needed a bit of soakage since the guy sitting next to me kept filling up my pint when I was not looking and I really did not mean to get that hammered on a Monday night. Sad to see my friends go, but since they were so happy about it, that really helped!

Dublin Suburbs

Katrin's team has slowed down since their big project wrapped up, so it was not really a big surprise that there were more redundancies. What was sad though, was Kat was included in that. She is quite happy since her and Dom decided to move back to Germany since they are out of these recession times. Know then, that I would only have a few more weekends with her, we decided to drive around the Dublin suburbs to take a look at architecture that we just never got around to seeing.

First stop was Ballymun. This was once a very run down village with large cconcrete apartment blocks that were dark and depressing. A few U2 songs are even inspired by they large towers. Some have since been demolished but some were remodeled. New townhouse socially affordable housing has since been rebuilt. Some great little row houses have been built and just as we got out of the car to get in a walk, the sun came out!

After stretching our legs, we were off to Skerries. It is a coastal town way up north about a hour or so outside city centre. It is a great little coastal village. We stopped in at the old mills to the farmers market where we grabbed a few muffins to tide us over. We drove into the village centre where we were able to get free parking and walk along the coast picking up shells and chatting away. The sun was shining brightly and made for a glorious day. After our long walk we were famished so we found a great little cafe and had a few more nibbles and a coffee to tide us over until dinner.

Next stop was Malahide Castle. The grounds are immaculate and with trees still full of leaves, the shade was a bit welcoming. We wanted through paths in the trees, and it may not be a forest, it still felt great being among the trees. I had not realised how much I have been missing that. We walked around part of the castle, but did not need the tour. Once you have seen a few dozen castles, you have pretty much seen them all.

With the sun setting a bit, we were back to Dublin to pick up Ben and get dinner ready at their place. It was Sean's birthday so it was as good as excuse as any to get together for some dinner, drinks and some board games. It was not too late a night since the next day was Ikea.

Jen has been needing a new dresser for her new place, so since she needed a bit of muscle, Ben and I joined her at the new Ballymun Ikea. It was just like any other Ikea, but it was still interesting to go see. Now I can say I have been to Ikeas in multiple counties and continents. I had forgotten how much I do loathe big box retailers, but Ikea helps you forget that with its flashy displays. Ticksters!

Strange Anomaly #43

A few bits and bobs about clothing:

One; there are so many tags in shirts because the instructions need to be in so many languages.

Two; sizes here are a bit different as well. Sizes size 6 here is a size 10 back home. They have English and European sizes so where my shoes back home are a 10 I am either an 8 or a 42. Which is huge here by the way.

Three; since Irish are not exactly the tallest race of people, all of their trousers are super short and jeans only come in one long length (which still is not long enough for Ben and I) so what they do is alter and hem everything. Frustrating, so I just go to the American stores so I can find proper length but spend a fortune!

Strange Anomaly #42

Sure I have my own superstitions, but a black cat crossing my path was never bad, I mean, I do own two. But here, a cat crossing your path is good luck. That means I got tons of it!

McDonnall Family BBQ

Sean is my new extended family here and it meant a lot to me that I got invited to one of his own family BBQs. Since I have a great memory for names, I felt like I already knew all his brothers and sisters. His nephew was having his first communnion so the family all got together at Sean's house which is next door to his parents. He had all the BBQ goodies there and Tullia and I ate until we were stuffed and then ate some more. The occasion was his nephews first communion. Daragh went around to his family and neighbours to collect money, which he made a small fortune.

When night started closing in we headed inside for a sing song. Sean has a few guitars so between Dom, Tom, Colin and Sean there was always a tune being strum. Even his little nephew Conner climbed under the kitchen counter with a guitar and started singing away. Sung a few irish songs as well, and even impressed Da McDonnell with my 'extensive' Irish as we had a chat in Irish.

As we got a bit peckish, Tullia and I had to fight for the last of the ribs and when they ran out before we were satisfied, we were promised another future barbque. As the night drew to a close, our voices ragged from singing, we filled up on chili before jumping into a taxi. All around good family night, although it was not my own, I never felt like an outsider.

Strange Anomaly #41

There are little to no yards here. So how can you have a yard sale you may ask? Well, a Car Boot Sale. The boot is the trunk of the car, so you put all the stuff you are going to sell in your boot and when it starts raining you just close it. Genius!

Strange Anomaly #40

Telephone calls you always have to pay for no matter what. They always wondered why Americans talked so much on the phone, which getting free local calls will let all those teenage girls chat for hours!

Catherine's 30th Birthday for 4th of July

Catherine's 30th happened to coincide with the 4th of July so double reasons to celebrate. It was a small celebration at her new place on the sea, Tutti, Ruth and her boyfriends, the two of use and Catherine's boyfriend Andrew. We all brought our own meat, and she had all the fixins. Hot dogs, burgers, potato salad and sweets! We were in heaven. It threatened to rain, but luckily it only drizzled for a few minutes before leaving the sky blue all the way out over the sea.

We ate until we could not eat any more while Andrew and Ben cooked away. We had a bit of cake just to top off the night for Catherine's birthday. We all caught the last train back to Dublin, a 45 mintue cab ride would have been a bit out of our budget!

Strange Anomaly #39

There is graffiti here, but not of the caliber or the extent that you see in other towns, it is better then most European cities. There are some places in Dublin that encourage the artists to use their graffiti skills that change every few months or so.

Playing with cute kids/kitties

I miss playing with my kitties and no one here has animals. That makes me sad since the zoo is so expensive and I was in need of cuddle time. With Maurizo's birthday, him needing a night out with his soon to be wife, and the fact that they are leaving to move back home soon; Tullia and I volunteered to watch their kids. Tutti is Camilla's godmother and I had met Nora a few times so when we showed up in all the pink that we own (the two and four year old girls love pink, big shock) they were so happy to see us. I don't really own pink so I had to make due with orange and purple which worn together sort of look pinkish.

I knew to come bearing gifts, so I brought mix to make chocolate chip cookies and marshmallows. When Camilla threw the fastest temper tantrum, Nora bribed her out of crying with the marshmallows. Glad we brought the sweets! We watched cartoons, they helped me stir the cookies, the older boy helped me put them on the cookie sheet, and then they were the best little helpers in helping me eat them.

The girls were extra cuddly and we giggled, ran around, bounced, painted our nails and I got to brush through the largest near deadlock mat of curls in the back of Nora's head. It was a bit of a miracle that I got through 95% of it. Detta was shocked later that night I managed to do it, but when I have them distracted with pinkilicious candy, cartoons and chocolate chip cookies, it all really helps.

Tutti made some the best gnocchi which the kids gobbled up. The youngest even ate our portions as well. Not that we were eating much but still. Good little eater. Once the kids were fed, each girl curled up with us and promptly fell asleep. I even had their cat snuggle up to me and fall asleep as well. I was in heaven. Alfredo helped us put the girls to bed and we tucked in with our wine and watch some more cartoons. He even put himself to bed and we had a nice night then the two of us chatting. The worst part was it was a Sunday night and when we finally walked ourselves home at 1:00 I knew that Monday was going to be a long day...... but it was worth it!

Strange Anomaly #38

Irish love their privacy. And with privacy comes with high garden walls. And what comes with high walls is glass concreted into the tops of walls to stop people from jumping over. It is quite harsh but effective, not the prettiest though.

Aran Island Sunburn

The June bank holiday sort of snuck up on us and I did not have anything planned, but I have always wanted to head to the Aran Islands. I checked the forecast and it was to be sunny all week, yes you read right, sunny! Thursday I booked a hostel, booked the train and the ferry for a whirlwind trip out West. What I did not realise was that the Ocean Races were going on in Galway which is why the entire town was packed. We took the early train down and I am glad that we got on at the first stop, because by the time we reached Galway the train was packed. I just love it that our names appear over our seats so there is a good way of knowing if the seats are reserved or not. The streets were jammed packed since it was actually hot! We walked along the quays and down along the beach. We saw a yellow tent and I had Ben head that way. Sure enough it was a circus! We grabbed the coupons and planned on coming back later that night.

The street performers were out in full and we were constantly entertained. Galway is such a lively city and it was good to be back and see it in good weather, the last time we were there it was lashing rain for Steve's honeymoon. We checked into our hostel which was part of a campus just outside of town. Nice little room in a dorm like setting that was cheap and clean. It was a great last minute find. After unloading our stuff we headed back for some dinner, ice cream and circus!

Now I did not have the highest expectations, but I was impressed. The tent could have fit maybe several hundred people, but only about 25 came. After the ringleaders introduction the clowns came out and wanted volunteers, three men and a woman. As can be expected in such a small crowd, no one volunteered so the picked people out of the crowd. The woman was one of the ticket collectors, two men were dads who kids wanted them to do it, and then the woman picked Ben. He was not happy but was a good sport about it. The volunteers were to make a movie. The director was a clown. The first man volunteer had to put on a tutu, leap across the stage and start the scene. At this point, Ben looked across the ring to me, crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, I knew he was not happy with me, but I was happy to snap away on his camera. The woman then was to sauter across the ring looking beautiful. The second man was then to go over and woo her and dip her in a hug. Things were looking up for Ben, no purple tutu wearing. Then Ben was to be the jilted lover. The 'director' would show each of them how to do it and then they would enact it. Then they put it all together. When Ben came to knock on the door and see the cheating lover, he fell to his knees in horror, slammed the flowers onto the ground and then pulled out a gun and shot them. Then the director ran over picked up the gun and then shot Ben which Ben had a great death scene, then shot the tutu man and then himself, thus ending the 'movie' . The ring erupted in its scattered applause and they all took a bow. Ben's theatrical debut was wonderful! Not that I am biased or anything, but he did give the best performance.

There was a juggler, mermaid contortionists, ribbon acrobats, horse trainers, women hanging from rings and clowns. What more could you want from a cirucs. They all did great, a few minor mistakes, but better then anything I could ever do. Oh how I love those contortionists. All in all, we had a good time and were entertained. We headed out through the insanity of town and had a nice quiet walk home.

Early the next morning we got up to collect the bus to the ferry. After a small mix up on my part, we eventually got on the correct bus going the 45 minutes out of town to the ferry port. An hour ferry ride later, we were on Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran Islands. We hired bikes and headed out on our adventure. The sun was up and there was not a cloud in the sky. Now we did put on sunscreen, but we would find out later, we did not put on enough.

The first stop on our ride was Dún Aengus, one of the old ring forts that is built right on the edge of a shear cliff. Our twenty minute bike ride was great, but we did not anticipate the thirty minute hike up to the top. It was a wonderful view and it was so peaceful to listen to the surf thunderously crash into the base of the cliffs. We ate our snack and just enjoyed being in the sunshine. We hiked down, got back on the bikes, spoke some Irish to the locals and were off to our next stop. But what we did not realise that it us back up hill the whole way. We stopped for a breather midway up the hill and got to pet a very friendly horse that looked like Tír na nÓg from 'Into the West'. When we finally reached the top, we gladly coasted back down to the coast to ride along there to see one of the smallest churches in Europe. When we noticed that it would be a hike up to it, we settled for distance pictures and heading back into town for a bite to eat. The cemetary was right on the beach, that even the dead get a great view. We had a fabulous lunch and then fell asleep on the beach. I was just so happy that we had good weather, i did not want torrential rain like we did on our last Irish excursion up north.

We headed back to Galway on the ferry and caught the last bus back to Dublin to end our whirlwind tour of Galway and the Aran Islands. I am just so glad that we finally made it over there since my folks said how much they enjoyed their little trip over there. Now I only have more counties to see and one more island, Tori Island with the last of the Irish Kings!

Spring Fever

With more paycuts, less friends in Dublin and being generally broke due to my traveling addicion, we did not get up to much this spring although it has been quite sunny. We have been doing dinners at each others houses instead of sitting in a pub all night long. Ben and I have gone over to Dublin Castle and read in the park to soak up some sun, although the wind made it a tab bit chilly. The two of us also took a nice walk out to Phoenix Park to check out Ben's building that is due to be completed in September. We were lucky enough to stumble upon a small herd of deer that Ben got to see first hand. I was impressed, and I am sure he was to some degree. Just still cool that you are in the centre of town but yet there are herds of deer running around in the park!

We have had some great pot lucks at Tullia's and Edell's. Most recently we went to Edell's since she just bought her first place. Not the best timing to have a mortgage but at the same time, buying a house is like having kids, you are never ready and there is never a good time so just do it!

Katrin and Dominic have a great place out by the Dublin Sea that we get to sit out in their back garden and have some quiet nights of board games. Most recently was Monopoly in which of course Ben won. He always wins! Next time I will have to make sure that us girls gang up on him.

To kick off the start of summer/end of spring we went to the art college thesis reviews. Tullia and I hapened to run into quite a few of our friends there as well with their respective partners and children. I got to get in some of my cuddly time with Maurizio's daughter, Nora. She liked ridding up on her mom's shoulders and when she realised that I was taller I stuck her up on mine. Several blocks later, her little curled pig tails kept falling in front of my eyes and I was informed that she had fallen asleep. She was just so cute! With such a mild spring, I am looking forward to an actual sunny summer!

Strange Anomaly #37

You can walk diagonal when you get the walking man since traffic stops in all directions for pedestrians to cross. It also clicks to let you know that it has turned for the blind, but it helps us as well to remember to cross. We have ended up in other cities and keep standing there not realising we had the right to cross.

Ohhs and Ahhhs

Jen organised a baby shower for Elena who is another Italian friend that in mid July is also heading home to Italy. Our friends Maurizio and his wife Detta are also moving back. I thought our beautiful Irish Summer (no sarcasim this time) would keep them here longer, but they have still decided to go.

The baby shower was fun to go to since enough wine we wer all ohhing and ahhing over the cute little baby clothes. Anyone that could have over heard us could have probably guessed it had to do with a baby since that is one of the only times women collectively get all mushy over cute things. It was quite difficult to find non blue or pink items as most Irish find out the sex. Elena wants it to be a surprise and it is quite early on. It is also supersitious to give the mother to be gifts in Ireland, but since there were no Irish at the party (I was the only one who did not speak italian), we did not know this until later. My Italian has improved, I now know about 20 words, none of which would really help me when we go traveling in Italy, but I could make them laugh.

Our summer has been gorgeous this year, it is making up for the crap economy. There has to be something good as of late! Hopefully this weather continues! I have my fingers and my toes crossed!

Strange Anomaly #36

There is a definite dog poo problem and their new signs are trying to get people to clean it up or they get fined. I just love what they say! But I am sure if they did have two hands they still would not clean it up themselves.

St Paddy's Day

Since we live in town, we had no excuse to not go to the parade since it is right on our doorstep, literally. The sun was out, Ben had the camera ready, and we met up with our new friend Tori (who is a childhood friend of my collegemate Liz who electronically introduced us). The three of us found a spot right in front of Christ Church Cathedral and then waited. It was great people watching, and definetly helped that the sun was out in full. Not especially warm, but the sun felt good on my face. After waiting nearly an hour and a half, the Simpsons finally made it up the parade route. They were promoting their newest episode that is based in Dublin.

Then we had to wait another half an hour before the rest of the parade caught up. The Simpsons must have been like 'screw this, we're hot, let's get to the pub' and just went as fast as they could. Now I know I have been spoiled growing up with the Rose Festival parades and watching the Macy's Day parade over the years, but this really was a crappy parade. I have heard that everyone else has a better St Patricks Day parade and I now agree. Most of the marching bands were American, most of them were just people walking for a good cause waving, but there were some colourful floats. Well maybe not floats per se, but more things built over a bike moving down the street. We had a good time watching everyone go by, having a small child accost my butt since I was in her way and just the general debauchery of people running around in leaperchan hats.

At least now I can say that I have done all the St Patricks Day fesivites that Dublin has to offer, and I am all about experiences!