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26/07/06

Day 13 and I still can’t believe I am in Ireland.  Since we still don’t have our stuff, I guess it still feels like we are on ‘vacation’ like everyone said we would.  However, if this is vacation, it is a really exhausting vacation! J I started to muse about what makes one feel ‘at home’ in a place.  (yes, I have had too much time on my hands) As much as I have professed I wanted to purge our life of too much ‘stuff’, I have to admit I really miss the stuff we don’t have.  It is not so much the physicality of our stuff (although I really have wanted to curl up on our couch in front of a movie in the evening) but what I really miss is the idea of ‘us.’  ‘Us’ being the home we have built together, the choices we have made to create a unique and comfortable home which reflects the memories and choices we have made over the years, and in some cases, the items passed down the generations. Still a month till our stuff arrives, but it gets to take the scenic route and will see the Panama Canal, something I have always wanted to do! :) 

I found another new store today which I really like.  It is called Habitat and the American equivalent would be if the high-end stuff at Ikea merged with Crate and Barrel and then had smaller babies.   It has more modern looking items in addition to having a section where they do sales of vintage Scandinavian furniture, something I am very excited about purchasing.  It is located in city centre right across from a 19^th century church converted into the Dublin tourism center.  It is the most beautiful center you could ever image and very apropos for the surroundings.  I picked up a good 2-inch stack of free brochures for Amy’s visit next week and for our further enjoyment of the greater area. 

Once again, it was a glorious day and I did an hour and a half walk in the morning through Ranelagh, over to Rathmines, and down through Beechwood, three of the closer villages to our Milltown.