Pick a’ Mix

Right… time for a bit of a scatty post. Which is a reflection of how scatty brained I feel this evening. Thank God the weekend is nearing, though I was convinced most of the day today that it is Tuesday. Don’t ask, I have no idea why.

Having spend a fabulous weekend away over Easter (see previous post) I prepared myself for another weekend of great fun. In total we were 9 girls (with some who flew in from various destinations to Dublin) that had a blast. We used to all work together when everyone still lived in Dublin and now we try to meet up at least a few times a year.

This was the first time in 3 (!!!) years that we all were in the same pace. I have laughed so much this weekend gone by. Eaten way, way too much food and we also went for a great walk around the Howth cliff walk. It is definitely one of my favorite shorter walks around Dublin. Needless to say that did not make up for the amount of food consumed… I am not sure why our meet-ups always revolve around food but we had quite a few favorite restaurants to sample. Sacrifices have got to be made.

At the top of the walk

and Howth harbour

Oh yeah the cliffs did not attack… but you never know…

I was in addition dying with a cold so I stayed sober throughout the weekend… wow… there are some serious weirdos on the dance floor at 1am – things like that you only really notice when sober. It was concluded that there was maybe one decent looking guy in the ENTIRE place… maybe beer goggles are a good thing after all.

I am always amazed at how great if feels when we are all together. Or as one of the girls put it “… it is like balm for the soul”. Even with a cold those few days energized me and made everything feel just fine. Now to save up for the next meet-up. That is if my car ever stops needing additional repairs…. enough said.

By the way, have you ever seen a bar that you have to peddle to get going? A novel way of seeing Dublin by “bicycle”… and it gets the beer flowing – bonus!

I am also longing for warmer weather now. Today it has been your typical Irish four-seasons weather… lashing rain, hail storm, windy and the odd sunshine. All in all repeated every hour. It makes for good sleeping (I always sleep well when it is raining) but it is the waking up part that troubles me ever so slightly. So come on sunshine.

I did get some sun while I was driving home, even if it just was a glimpse.

This scatty brain will now direct her feet to the nearest duvet. And yes, I am now also talking about me in third person. Definitely ready for Friday to come rollin’ in!

 

Joint venture call-out!

Attention! Attention!

This is a call out for a joint venture that I have the privilege of taking part in. A new blog is born. It is a joint blog project by myself and the exceedingly witty and fabulous Christy from Cat Fur To Make Kitten Britches.

It is two girls, one blog, 3703 miles. One in Dublin and one in the suburbs of Chicago. Spanning a distance of 3703 miles, divided by the great pond.

We have just started so who knows how this thing will play out but that is just the idea behind it… to play and to see where it takes us. To examine our lives on two separate continents, have fun writing and share that with others. The whole structure and posting schedule (if any) has yet to be defined so bear with us a little.

In the meantime, please feel free to pop on over and have a read. The very first posts are now up!

Living 3703

Taking pictures in the rain

Autumn has most definitely arrived in Dublin. The rain has not stopped since yesterday afternoon and the trees are still showing off their leaves. The world is looking colourful. It is beautiful.

Now those who know me, will know that rain is not one of my favorite things in the world. Normally I spend rainy days under a blanket, planted on my sofa with a good book and cup of tea. However today I decided to go outside and take a few pictures before the next autumn storm will scatter all the leaves and just leave us with bare branches for the next few months.

I readily admit that I do not know a thing about photography. If you start talking to me about ISO, white noise and shutter speed settings you will just receive a blank stare from me (you might get that on other occasions as well but lets not go into that…). Which also means that half the settings on my camera are a mystery to me.

You see, the thing is… I spent an afternoon a while back looking at old pictures. I used to only take pictures of people – different gatherings and parties and so forth (if I remembered to bring the camera in the first place). I still love those pictures because they bring back fun memories. However I realized that I hardly ever take pictures of what is around me. It is easy to take all that for granted.

Another thing I have realized lately is that there is beauty to be found everywhere. If you only open your eyes and look. There is enough ugliness in the world as it is – let us not spend our days trying to find more to add to the pile unnecessarily.

So out I went with my umbrella in one hand and my camera in the other – getting strange looks from people hurrying past me as the rain kept lashing down. I can honestly say, I had a great time.

Now… I think I will find that blanket, grab a book and a cup of tea and relax on my sofa.

 

Sunburned, tired and feeling good.

Just got back from Enniskerry after having walked the first part of the Wicklow Way with a friend … even though we also somehow deviated from the Wicklow Way and ended up on the Dublin Way at the end. Still no idea how that happened but let me put it this way… the sign-posting for the paths is not exactly great. It did cause us to pass the Johnnie Fox’s Pub – which some might say was a sign. That beer was divine after 5 hours of walking.

Either way it was a lovely day. The sun was shining the entire day (hence the sunburn), the company great fun and the views were fabulous. It was a great hike. As I have not done anything like this in a long time and because my boots still are pretty new… I am paying for it today. Sore legs and very blistered feet. But still… I’d do it again.

As usual I did not take as many pictures as I intended to but here are a few.

There was a Fairy Tree in Marley Park… enter.

Dublin in a sunny haze.

Boulders and peaks.

Up we went.

On the path.

Rolling hills wherever you looked.

Down through the forest. I love forest walks.

A great pit-stop.

Sore feet… I will spare you the view of my blisters. It was worth it though.

 

 

A cold beer in the sun…

Image via Wikipedia

In this particular moment I am sitting on my balcony in my sun-chair with my laptop in my lap (obviously –  as I have yet to invent telepathic blogging…working on it though). I have a cold beer (German pilsner) next to me and let me tell you… it is oh so good! The sun is shining, there is not a cloud in the sky and the temperature is hovering around 25 c in the shade. Can it get any better than this??

It is a bank holiday weekend, meaning that all are off on Monday as well. As we do not get this sort of weather often in Ireland our managers in work decided that we could all leave at 3pm to enjoy the sun and to have a great long weekend. This month will be mad busy in work so they basically told everyone to go home and chill while we can. Yep… it is a pretty decent job that I have, even though it can drive me mad at times.

Tomorrow I will head into the Wicklow Mountains with a friend and go for day of hiking. Ending it with a night in a B&B before heading back to Dublin. The weather forecast looks promising and I am really looking forward to it. Will hopefully remember to take some pictures and maybe put together a post later on – provided I have not gotten lost and am halfway to Galway or something… with my sense of direction anything can happen.

It has been a pretty good week altogether. Busy in work but not mentally… yet. Attended a course yesterday called “Emergenetics”. Not sure if anyone of you ever have heard of it or done it but it was great fun. Basically it is about finding out your preferences and certain behaviours etc. It was pretty awesome. It helps in seeing why some people react the way they do and makes you understand others that you work with easier. I am not going to go through my results here. All I will say is that according to my profile my emergenetics motto is: “Efficiency with feeling”… LOL!!

I will continue to catch some rays now and try to get a somewhat resemblance off a tan. Living in Ireland means that you must take every available opportunity there is to get some sun. I was supposed to clean my apartment but there is no way I am doing that right now. Hope you all have a great weekend wherever you are!

Friday’s tune

Such a brilliant tune! “Jigsaw” by Ryan Sheridan – filmed in Dublin. I loooooove this song!

Boredom strikes but laughter prevails

The sun is setting over Dublin. Setting after a very sunny albeit windy day. It has been a great day today. A day filled with sunshine, great company, a nice long walk, good food in a cosy pub and a shandy to polish it off.

I am very happy with how this Sunday turned out… but I am finding myself bored stiff at the moment. No idea why. I do not even know what I would like to do right now. Going out partying does not sound tempting at all. Watching a film is equally uninteresting. If it was not for the late hour I would go to the gym or something I think – which is weird as I am tired at the same time. Maybe it is just that I feel like having some company to chat away to this evening… not sure. I hate it when I get bored and I cannot figure out what to do about it. So I decided to write a post instead. About appreciation.

Anyone who has met me knows that I like to talk. I like to interact with people I know. I am not as chatty when I meet someone for the first time, I can be quite the opposite even. When I was younger I was very shy. You could get about three words out of me if I did not know you. I came across as grumpy a lot (the wonderful teenage years) but in reality I just did not know what to say. As I have gotten older I am no longer shy but I can still be reserved initially. Very quiet and just observing – unless I feel some connection to the person I meet.

At the same time I like silence. I like being on my own as well and just chill but I also enjoy quiet-time in company of others. When you can have moments of silence in company of others without it feeling awkward are rare but very peaceful when they occur. It is something I have come to appreciate more and more over the years.

It is funny how things change of what we appreciate around us with time. I believe it comes with feeling more centered and secure in ourselves. Our experiences in life play their part as well. Some things will always be important, no matter what. The cornerstones I suppose you could call them. For me the cornerstones are: laughter, friends, honesty and an open mind. Pretty simple things but oh so important to me.

People are today being accused of being flighty and restless compared to previous generations. In truth, we are more restless today. The world is smaller and travel has never been so easy and convenient. This is a good thing though in my opinion. I love to travel. I love working in a different country. My appreciations have not changed though. They have actually become more solid. Traveling, meeting new people and having new experiences all contributes to an open-mindedness that was not as prevalent before. Being away from my place of birth has made the bonds of friendship that I have all the more vital and important to me. Without honesty, I would not have gotten where I am today. Finally without laughter neither honesty, friendship or an open mind would make a difference. If I cannot laugh at the world, the situation, with others or even at myself – then what good is there?

So I guess being able to smile is what makes the world spin for me. Funny how this post started with boredom and ended with a smile.

A pinch of this and that

Image by desmeki via Flickr

It has been a whole week since I posted something on my blog. Can’t believe time has just flown so fast. It has been one of those weeks were much was done in the “real” world with little time to read blogs, check emails or write anything down.

I will not bore anyone with updates about work, part from that it was mad busy and a bit manic. The rest of the working week (or the few hours left over) … I can’t actually remember much of what I did…how bad is that…! Collapsed in bed is likely. However on Friday the fun started. A few friends (who flew in from different locations) and the rest of us still in Dublin all met up and had a girls only dinner with lots of wine, laughter, great food and a volume level enough to break the sound barrier. It was fab! Next day it continued with late brunch (Herbstreet restaurant; highly recommended) then dinner together with more friends and significant others (Pacinos restaurant; avoid!!) and a must visit to Cafe en Seine…it was packed, it was boiling hot, the dancing was entertaining and the drinks kept coming. Sunday arrived, it was time for breakfast/brunch/late lunch with the same gang…  at Koh restaurant (oh sooo good!). So many laughs and so much good food (and lots of water… oh and some irish coffee to balance things). Then all the sudden the weekend was over and all had to go back home where-ever that might be. Miss you all already!!

Now I just have to catch up with everything else. My mail, my blog, other blogs… my laundry! I will also try to get some cooking done this week as this is part of my new plan. Cook loads and put into containers so that I can just defrost in the evenings when I am too knackered to cook after work.

It was great eating out all weekend. Wish I could do it (and afford it) more often. Time to put something together in the kitchen I think… a pinch of this and a pinch of that will do just fine.

 

Snow ninja

It is a busy week at the moment but sometimes you just need to disconnect from work and everything and just let your inner child roam free…which is exactly what I did the other evening. It was snowing like mad once again in Dublin…

Snow ball fights were a given in the evening… I lost, as is plain to see.

Myself, my partner and a friend that stayed over (as the heavy snowfall prevented him from going home) ventured out in the snow and build a snow ninja… this piece of art was erected, immortalized on picture and then met an untimely death at the hands of some particular bad swordsmanship… 🙂

Yeah…we had fun! The neighbors are probably convinced now that we are totally mad…but you know what… it was worth it!

Slowly back on (icy)track?

Image via Wikipedia

I dared the elements and ventured out in the ice and snow among the deserted streets of Dublin to go the extra mile, to make the effort to, to make it to the club for a training class.

OK… slight exaggeration… it wasn’t that dramatic really. I drove to the dojo…it was a bit icy and a bit snowy and no problem at all. I just took it easy but listening to the radio in the car one would think that we are in the deadlock of -35 degrees with 15 feet of snow. Talks about bitterly cold arctic conditions and making no unnecessary journeys etc. FFS… it is about -1 and a bit icy…OK, some spots were more icy than others..but still!

Now that is not the point of this post. My point is that I was back training and it was great. It ended up just being three of us (instructor plus two students) but I really enjoyed myself. We had a very open mat evening trying out a few different things. It feels really good that I went there tonight. I need to feel that I am getting back on track as I have missed too much already.

Bring on Thursday!