Halloween

Jen, who just moved to Switzerland, came back for a short weekend visit. We met up on Halloween for a dinner. Now, I love to dress up for Halloween but the crowd she hangs with are so not the type. We were going to a very civilized dinner so I decided that since I tarted myself up the best I could I would secretly be going as an off-duty super model (did I mention I LOVE to dress-up?) and even one of the drunks I passed during the evening guessed my costume. (OK, I had to drop that in there for my ego, a compliment is still a compliment). We had a fabulous dinner where I tried to follow their speedy Italian. Even though my Italian consists of hello/goodbye, thank you, little mouse, and princess; I was able to follow along for the most part. Crazy, I know!

Jen's boyfriend Neil knows the owner of one of the nightclubs Krystal, and got us in for free to the VIP area. Our group of 10 were about the only ones not in costume. I was proud of Dublin since I had never seen so many people dressed up before. Very proud. But I had forgotten that it is a night for women to dress like street walkers. Even I was surprised at how many times I glimpsed neither regions I just should not see. One of the costumes consisted of a full body see-through nylon that only had small crystals over the groin and nipples. Wow. The best costumes of the night had to go to the group of Princess Leia's each dressed as a different Leia from Star Wars. Slave Leia, white dress with the hair buns, bounty hunter, it was great! My days of dressing up as Slave Leia may be over, but I am glad that there are other options too.

Ben's away and the girls will play

Katrin came over from Germany to visit while Ben was away. We had a packed schedule for the four days she was here. Straight off the plane it was off to Dun Loughaire to walk by the sea, have some Guinness and eat some seafood chowder. We went into the new office so she could see it, but sadly on a Friday no one is around. Marcella stuck around for a bit of dinner, and soakage, before heading out with the old OMP gang for a night of pints at Hogans. It was like old times. The good old times!

Saturday was up early to see the new baby of Brian and Cathy's who is only a few weeks younger than Abe. It is good to see a baby about his size so I can judge how big he is since Ben was actually at home being able to play with Abe. We enjoyed our tea in the sunlight spilling into her penthouse apartment while the baby slept soundly. It was nice to catch up with Cathy and some other work friends while there. After an afternoon of civilized tea, we took a walk with another couple along the Grand Canal Docks. We managed to give ourselves a self guided tour through the new Opera/Theater building. We got kicked out, but luckily we were done exploring. Our architect excuse did not work this time. Usually it does work and we get a bit of leeway for taking a peek at buildings. After a few drinks watching the rain come down on the canal and a beautiful sunset, we were back to my house for a few drinks before heading out for some dancing. Jazzanova (from Germany infact) pioneers of brilliant happy dance music are playing in the twisted pepper. I do love to dance, but I have never been a big one for house music and after 6 hours of dancing to it, by the end I was just bored. It was good to get the dancing out of my system.

Sunday it was our sleep in day before heading over to get some playtime with some of our friends little girls. Freya is about 5 and we had an amazing time building Legos and drawing. Apparently my sheep are terrible, but I can do a decent horse and have a fabulous Stegosaurus. I was amazed with how many dinosaurs she knew, and even more amazed that I knew how to draw them. Michelangelo has nothing to worry about, but it was fun to remind myself that I do know how to draw. Their younger daugher Mathilda has the cubbiest cheeks and is such a good little baby. When took the girls to the park and we played for hours on the equipment so Katrin could talk with Eoin and Christina since she was so close with them. As the sun set, we went to one of my favorite pubs, The Library Bar, where I kept Freya entertained with drawing the universe as she sipped her hot cchocolate. Children at that age are just little sponges, soaking up information. We went over the entire universe, she could name all the planets, and by the end we could draw the all. Rings, big red spot and moons. I was impressed. When they had to put the little ones to bed, I made a quiet dinner at home since we had to rise early and take Kat back to the airport. It was a quick trip, but one that was much needed sinced I was getting a bit lonely without Ben around for so long.

Strange Anomaly #58

When dancing in a club here, I do not need to initiate the dancing girl circle like we do in the States so we can watch out for our girlfriends to see who is trying to dancing with them and give them the nod or violent shake of our heads in approval. It was so nice to dance all night long and not have someone come up from behind and grind on me. I like that the Irish men were not overly aggressive and we could all have a good time.