The past week and a half have been pretty rainy, so I have not been talking walks like I normally like to do. Living in Colorado and California spoiled me for have uninterrupted sunny spells, such that the few times it rains, you just don't do outdoor activities.  Today, however, I decided after a couple breaks in the rain, that I would just go out and embrace the weather. It was overcast, but not raining when I left the house, but by the time I was to the end of the court it was lightly misting.  By the time I was far enough away to not turn around, it was frankly pouring, so I just decided that when in Rome....and it was a beautiful walk!  I felt as if I was in a tropical rain forest with the birds singing and all the lush gorgeous greenery and it turned out to be a wonderful afternoon, even if I had to wring out my socks, ponytail and pants when I got home!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

After now being in our house 3 months, we can't be more thrilled with where we are and our wonderful new house.  I know I have been gushing about it frequently, I am sorry to bore you even more, but I know I liked the house when we moved in, but I have to say I love the house now.  Our beautiful yard has blossomed with many a spring flower and the trees are full and lush.  We are also so happy with all the wonderful wildlife which continues to surprise us - just in the past few weeks we have a frequent visitor of the cutest little bunny and even a quail to our front and backyard!

  Some spring flower in the backyard

The Flowering Dogwood tree and our Hummingbird feeder

Our bird feeder & looking out from our top deck - it is even more filled out at this point

Another great thing about our house is our proximity to the Kesley Creek Park - at the end of our court, just a few houses down, is the trail head for several trails which wind through the park and make you feel like you are in a tropical rain forest with all the exotic sounding bird calls and dense vegetation. What an added bonus to where we decided to make home.

  View of downtown Seattle from our bedroom window - zoomed in that is..... 

Now that we are back in the states we are also having some friends visit us - just in the past couple weeks we have been able to spend time with Dick & Trina, Mike & Bunny, Kathy, Omar, as well as having our friends from Colorado, Tom & Danielle, come and stay with us.  We really missed all our friends and it is so great to be able to catch up.

As for the rest of life, Reeves has been working hard at becoming a new part of the SharePoint team at MS and I have been unpacking, organizing, starting some projects and looking for a job.  It may take a little while for me to find something as the Pacific Northwest is not exactly rife with archival positions, but I am always hopeful.  :)

We do, however, have a busy summer planned with more friends coming to stay, a trip to Ohio for Reeves's 20th High School reunion, a Little family reunion in California and a long over due trip to Colorado in September. 

Once again, so much fun stuff, so little time!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

Over the past few years, I personally have become more and more conscious of how much waste we produce.  Over the years we have tried to do our fair share in recycling all glass, plastic, paper and aluminium, for over 10 years now (we rarely fill up our garbage wheely-bin but frequency fill up our recycle one) - this has been partly for economics, but I have really started to realize what impact each of us has on our environment.

Living in Ireland, however, really made me aware of how much waste is present in everyday life, beyond just what we can recycle.  A small fridge made me buy fresh, and only what we needed.  We really reduced the amount of things we used or threw away.   We also didn't have curb-side recycle, so we made the commitment to save all our recyclables and once a month take a half-day trip to the "bring center" - a small price to pay for being a consumer, in my opinion. 

Also, because no grocery store or DIY or many other stores provide bags in Ireland, I just got used to always having my reusable bags in the car as well as carrying at least one with me when I didn't take my car somewhere.  Now, it is just part of life.  I have to say I was really taken aback when a nice older gentleman stopped me in Safeway last week and thanked me for bringing my own bags!! 

I have also tried to keep using Ziploc bags to the bare minimum, use cloth napkins and use paper-towels rarely, and if I do, use the "half-sheets" they now have.  My groceries are also becoming more and more organic, which I have to say I really enjoyed going to the farmers markets on the weekends as they were so atmospheric, they were an "event". Whole Foods is very convenient, but not as much fun as a 250 year old square. :)   

Owning our own home again, I am becoming acutely aware of all the chemicals we use everyday.  While we have started using organic/biodegradable/environmentally friendly products, I have challenged us to try and reduce all chemicals to a very minimum.  It is not necessarily always easy, but is totally worth it I believe.

While the things we do may not be everything we can, we are trying to change our ways and do our part.

So, as the add campaign in Ireland says it is "the Power of One" .....so what are you doing to made a difference????

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

Now that we have been in our new house about 6 weeks, we are finally getting to really enjoy some of the wonderful "luxuries" which, in many cases, we didn't remember we really missed or never had before to know what we were missing!!

Here is a quick list of a few of my favorite things about the house:

1) The kitchen!!!  I love it all...but I really missed a sink disposal, large sink, ice-maker and filtered water from the fridge. New things we are enjoying: the 6 burner gas cook top, the double drawer dishwasher, the open shelves - SO convenient I didn't realize how much I would like them, and the "instant-hot" water spigot - this is one of those things I didn't think I would use, but has really come in handy.

2) The backyard - it is so wonderful to look out and see all the beautiful plants and new flowers which keep popping up every day.  A couple weekends ago we bought a seed bird feeder and a hummingbird feeder and I have spent much time with the binoculars distinguishing all the birds which are new to me. It is also fun to watch the squirrels become so frustrated trying to figure out why, when they jump on the feeder they can't get the seed! (it is a special feeder which is pressure sensitive and closes off the seed holes when too much weight is placed on the perch ring - genius!)

3) Our bathroom, specifically the shower seat and drawers!! It has been a long time since I have had drawers in the bathroom - seems like a simple thing, but it is such a luxury!  Also, we have a seat in the shower!! I feel so decadent when I take a second to sit while luxuriating under TWO shower heads - pure heaven!!!  One smart thing, however, about the shower is you can control the water volume independent of temperature - great for saving water and not freezing while shaving your legs.

4) Room in our bedroom!! While we really enjoyed our precious little Dublin home, I do not miss shimmying by the side of the bed to get in - I had less than a foot between the wall and the bed, yikes! We now even have room for 2 sitting chairs and a dresser - what a treat!!

5) A Garage!!  After having only one car for 1 1/2 years and parking it outside, it is so wonderful to have two cars again and to be able to park them under-cover! Well, sort of, at least I have gotten to since we moved in - we have had two issues, one being too many empty boxes to fit in a second car and two, the second side of the garage doesn't have a garage door opener. This problem, however, will be remedied soon as we are having new garage doors (replacing the large, flat ones original to the 1976 home) and getting garage door openers for both. 

6) Not one, but two gas fireplaces!  I didn't know how much I would use these but they are wonderful.  We have had such crazy weather this spring - in fact, right now it is in the 30s and snow/hailing - basically, coming out of the sky are tiny little snowball-looking things!

Anyway, needless to say, we feel very fortunate to be here and looking forward to creating many happy memories in the years to come!

A few pictures from our move-in day...

  The moving van pulling up in front of our house

Reeves standing in our empty living room (well, with the new vacuum and the rug the other owners left for us at least)

A view of the dining/living room, back deck and hallway to the master bedroom from about where Reeves is standing in the above picture

Me in the kitchen after day one - the movers helped me unwrap all the kitchen stuff, now I just have to put it all away!!

   A frosty morning for moving in!! (our backyard)

Not a great pictures, but it is the view of downtown Seattle from our bedroom!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

This trip, however, is not for a holiday, but a much more unfortunate occasion, the funeral of my friend Amy's Mother, Edith or "Dee Dee".  She had been battling breast cancer, and associated problems related to the disease, for the past several years, after being in remission for around 20 years previously.  On Tuesday, however, she passed away peacefully in her home with her husband and Amy by her side.

Yesterday we had the very beautiful funeral services and then a gathering at the Mendel's home in Great Neck, NY.  This is the home in which they have lived for the past 32 years and where Amy grew up.  Dee Dee was an artist and her work is such a beautiful addition to the home's warm and cozy charm.  We were there into the evening hours sharing stories and memories.  While it was a sad event which brought us all together, Amy's extended network of friends and family were so happy to finally meet each other and put the faces with the names we have all heard so much about.

Amy is an only child like myself and I know how important my friends are to me, so I am really glad there was such a nice gathering of her friends for support and encouragement. 

Today we will gather again at their house to visit and allow more people who were unable to attend yesterday's services to stop by and say hello. 

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

I have to say that I have been avoiding all things digital for the past few weeks as they represent a whole set of "to dos" that I just haven't had the energy to accomplish.  As much as I have wanted to return e-mails, post blogs, etc. it has just been that straw that would break this camels back.  Since I am now able to see my desk above the piles of stuff, I am trying to slowing return to the digital world.  So, please forgive me if I haven't been the best pen pal, I truly will return to the normally scheduled program very soon!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

It is about 6 pm and after a pretty lovely day of sunshine and 50-something temperatures, it started clouding over around 4pm and then started sprinkling just the littlest bit.  Well, the temperature has dropped and it is now snowing AND thundering outside - what a crazy mix, but I have to say I LOVE the thunder and am really excited about our new home's climate!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

After moving into our house, spending many copious hours unpacking almost all our boxes, getting a sinus/lung infection and then a stomach bug on top of it all, we are finally in Mexico!  It is our annual Little family holiday and 14 of our clan are here at the El Cid resort, located just south of Cancun on the Riviera Maya.  This is the first time in 10 years we have stayed at a hotel vs. a private house and it has its up and downsides. 

We are on the "all-inclusive" plan so I am still getting used to the fact that every time a nice little wait-person comes by asking me for a drink, it is already paid for and I don't need to automatically say "no" to an overpriced cocktail. Also, there is a huge pool with a huge faux stone grotto that the kids love with a huge slide and 10 foot jumping pool.  There is more food than we can possibly eat at the various buffets and tonight we are having a sit-down dinner at one of the five restaurants. On the beach they have lovely palapas under which to lounge on the nice loungers and there are kayaks, boogie boards and paddle boats to use on the ocean.  All of these are lovely amenities.

On the other hand, there are lots of people here and although the hotel stipulates they don't take "spring breakers", there is still a bit of that mentality with the daily pool aerobics and various other activities all done to loud music.  Since none of us are into the group thing, and really like the privacy and intimacy of a private house, this atmosphere is a big change. 

However, it is really fun to catch up with the family in a warm and beautiful place and we are all having a wonerderful time in the sun, sand and surf!!

El Cid Resort - the view from our room

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

We got the keys to our house yesterday!!  I was in there today cleaning a little bit before the movers come tomorrow & the next day - thankfully the old owners really cleaned up nicely and had the kitchens and bathrooms professionally cleaned.  We will just need to do some touch up painting, but other than that, it is ready to move in!

A very quick update to the rest of what has been going on -  I just got back from NYC and visiting my friend Amy. It was a last minute trip, but it was a great way for me to get my mind off everything that is going to happen this week.  While there we drove down, with our friend January, to D.C. to stay with another friend, Sara, and attend the "D.C. Big Flea". This is my second time, but the rest are all experienced flea-ers and we made it through two HUGE warehouse-like buildings in one day. I found a few treasures and can't wait to see what they will look like in our new house.

This week is going to be crazy but I will try and post some new pictures soon of the new house!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

Yesterday I caught the Oprah show and it made my design encounter with Nate Burkas make sense!  The show was on a whole house make-over for a deserving family in none other than Kirkland, Washington!! This is the community just North of Bellevue, so Nate & friend must have been looking for a few accessories to go with all the Pottery Barn furniture which was featured in the show.

Interesting to think that was just a couple weeks ago and the show just aired yesterday - that is some quick production!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

I was running errands and I threw my handbag onto the seat next to me, like I do everyday. This time, however, my car started dinging at me.

I was unsure at first what my car was trying to tell me since it is a new car, but then I noticed the "passenger airbag light" was illuminate - so being the math genius I am, put two and two together and lifted my bag off the seat. 

Needless to say it stopped dinging at me and I start laughing at myself. 

Guess I need to stop carrying around all those errands with me!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

This past Sunday, as Reeves and I were browsing around the local Bellevue Crate & Barrel for furniture ideas for our new home, I heard this voice behind saying something innocuous like "what about this one" or "no, that one over there" - turning around, as I am always curious what other people are shopping for, I first saw this tall stylish man (obviously gay as few straight men dress that well, especially on a Sunday morning) then I heard the voice again from the other man who was with him, but had his back to me, which sounded strangely familiar. Since it had to be a couple, I though hmmmm....I want to know what they are buying so I can get ideas on what they think is worth viewing. 

I heard the voice again and in that instant, the shorter of two men turned around. If it wasn't for hearing the voice first, I don't think I would have recognized him as he had a knit cap pulled down, was in a bit of a scruffy coat and had about a weeks worth of stubble going on. It was Nate Burkus the interior designer made famous by Oprah!! 

We made eye contact (and he has great eyes) as I almost ran into him since he tuned around about 3 feet in front of me. Not wanting to do an obvious double take, I walked past him trying to pretend to look at more furniture, whispering to Reeves who he was - from which Reeves said "who???" :) 

I really wanted to subtly follow him around to get some free design direction, but they soon went down the escalator and I am sure kept moving so not to be recognized. 

I was really impressed I actually recognized him as I am really bad about celebrity sightings - usually I am too into getting done what ever it is I need to get done to worry about who is around me!

I also am wondering what Nate was doing in Washington?!?!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

For the past two months we have spent WAY too much time on Redfin looking at houses.  Being in Ireland and having no way of "looking" at homes till last week, it was our lifeline in starting to determine what we wanted out of a house. 

Since Redfin aggregates home listing, using the MLS as its database source, it is the best way for the average home buyer to see basically everything that real estate agents can see. (including the $36 million property on Mercer Island overlooking Lake Washington!)

Needless to say Redfin has been a daily obsession seeing what is new on the market, what prices are changed, and if the status of the house has changed from being "active" to "Subject to Inspection" - basically this means the house is under contract and unless something extraordinary happens, it if off the market.

Well, just in the past few hours our house went "subject to inspection" - YAY!!!!!  One more sign we are on the way there! :)

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

After a very busy and stressful week, we had a nice and relaxing weekend recuperating.  I can't believe it is only week two!

Today I started getting into the swing of things and went to Whole Foods for the first time in a year and a half and I have to say I really had missed it!!  We are so spoiled here by all the wonderful selection of foods - from the bounty of fresh fruit and veggies to the vast selection of every boxed product you can imagine. 

In Ireland, it was not unusual, in fact it was usually the norm, for me to not find several items on my list because they were out of stock.  To qualify this, it was not that I was just picky about brand, many products only have one brand stocked - for example, I wanted to buy yeast to make some pizza dough - they were out and wouldn't be getting any in for two weeks! (and this is at Tesco - equivalent size to a Safeway)

I am excited to settle in again and start a routine and get into life, including even the grocery shopping!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

After a week, where we didn't think we could possibly fit in any more life changes, we ended up going under contract on a house we are totally excited about moving into! 

As of last night about 11:30 pm (we LOVE our real estate agent - let us know if you need one as he is so great) we accepted the counter offer and we were under contact.  Due to the extra-ordinary ability of Ken (and his partner, aka, wife, Lauren) we were able to get the paperwork back into the other agent last night and be under contract by this morning, with an inspection scheduled for 9 am today. 

We met with the inspector (he was also the best with which we have ever dealt - go Steve of Home & Building Services, Inc.!) and he had nothing but a glowing report of the house - in fact, he said it was in the top 10% of homes he has inspected in a while (in regards to quality). And this is the same inspector which flat out told our real estate agent to not buy a house he really wanted.  So, needless to say, we are really stoked about the house, the location (which does have some nice views of downtown Seattle) and the quality of the fittings. 

While we don't want to count our ducks till the fat lady sings, we are ecstatic about our choice and looking forward to moving in on March 3rd!

Here are a few pictures of the house:

The Living room (the kitchen is to the left)

The beautiful kitchen - living room is to the right

 

  Not so good exterior shot taken through the windshields of our car

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

After a very arduous journey to Seattle (29 hours of travel from Dublin - OYE!) we are safe and sound and getting our lives in order.  I really can't believe how much we have fit into the past six days.

On Saturday morning (after getting to bed at 2 am since our plane was so late) we started looking at houses - almost 30 over two days all across the greater Seattle/Bellevue/Redmond/Kirkland/Sammamish areas.  We have narrowed it down to two at this point and the next few days will be telling as to what happens and what we decide...stay posted.

We also ended up with two new (used) cars as of last night! We had only stopped by the Audi dealership on Tuesday for Reeves to look at the color of a car - well, there was this beautiful, shiny A4 sedan on the showroom floor that I fell in love with - I wasn't even looking to get an Audi, but after two previous days of snow and ice, the all-wheel drive was looking very good.  So, we went back yesterday and I test drove the car and by the end of the evening we were signing contracts for my new car and a new car for Reeves, specifically their Avant wagon.  We are now an Audi family!

We are still, however, waiting to pick up our cars since we are still waiting to have our funds transfer here - a whole other series of events I don't need to repeat anytime soon.  While we are so happy to be back in the land of customer service (and we have had some great people working to help us) it is amazing how much paper work, phone calls, faxes and snail-mail it takes just to move our own money from one place to another!

I will be very happy when we can slow down enough to reflect on the fact we are in a brand new city.  We are, however, very much looking forward to enjoying all the Pacific Northwest has to offer, maybe after we can get a full night sleep first! :)

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

We have been doing a round of "lasts" here in Dublin. Last Thursday night we met up with all the Microsoft people, plus spouses and friends, to have "last pints" at McSorley's in Ranelagh (closest little village to our house).  We had a grand time and we will really miss the friends we have made here - thankfully several are transplants from the greater Seattle area so we hope they will move back in the future!

This week we have had the movers come and once again pack up all our worldly possessions. Our cute little Dublin "semi" is now an empty shell waiting for its next set of memories to impart on another family.  Today we finished cleaning and tomorrow we will be handing our keys over to the landlord, the final step in our Dublin house adventure.

On Monday evening we met our Irish friend, Seamus, for some fun food and chat - we will miss his funny and witty banter!

Wednesday evening, we were graciously hosted for dinner by Ben & Chistiana - Reeves worked with Ben here in Dublin and since they are from the greater Redmond, we are looking to them for lots of great info on the place we are about to move.

Today, our last day in Dublin, we started the day with a latte and pastry at our local Cafe Inna, after which we met our landlord at the house to finalize all the details. We then went downtown to a wonderful last lunch at Elephant & Castle which has some of the best spicy wings we have ever eaten. 

We then proceeded to do our last retail experience at Avoca, picking up a beautiful Irish woven throw and cookbook from their restaurant. Reeves then surprised me by stopping by a jewelry store and buying me a "History of Ireland" bracelet- it is a hand made line of jewelry which depicts, in little pict-o-grams, the major point of Irish history.  We had seen these awhile ago and it is a fun reminder of our Irish adventure.  We also picked up a "traditional cap" for Reeves which really makes him look like a little Irish man!

For the afternoon, we tried to keep ourselves awake, since we had both had a rough night's sleep worrying about all the final details. So, after spending 1 1/2 hours in the business center finalizing the last of our bills, we had some lovely cocktails in the sitting room. We have been staying at the Four Seasons here in Dublin which I have to say has been the best customer service experience in our 1 1/2 years living in Dublin.  We have had a lovely stay and after relaxing in the suite and room service we are ready for our last night as residents of Dublin.

Here is to our new American adventure which starts tomorrow!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

One of the restaurants which we had been wanting to visit since we have moved to Dublin was the restaurant was Patrick Guilbaud. We finally were able to experience this place last evening. On a last whim, I called to see if there were reservations and we were able to get in for a Saturday evening.

After an unexpected day of packers at the house all day, having an evening out was a nice respite from the insanity.  we started the evening with drinks at the newly refurbished Shelborne Hotel which was closed for a couple years for a total redo. The No. 27 Bar is a lovely cozy and elegant place and quite busy, which we were lucky to get to stools strategically placed for people watching. 

The Shelborne No. 27 Bar

After an hour of cocktails and conversation we headed to the Merrion Hotel which houses the restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, only about a block away.  We were the first seated in the dining room, although we had the opportunity to have a cocktail in their antechamber - we passed since "we" had been drinking already for the past hour.  :)

The dining room has been recently redone and we had a nice table against the wall looking out toward the dining room and the courtyard.  For an upscale place, they had an extensive menu and Reeves choose the West Cork King Scallop -
Roast King Scallops, Light Garlic Emulsion, Parsley Cubes, Pine Kernels, Xeres Reduction and I chose the Lobster Ravioli - Clogher Head Lobster coated in a Coconut Scented Lobster Cream,  Handmade Free Range Egg Pasta, Toasted Almonds, Arbequina Oliva Virgen Extra Flavoured with "Kari" paired with a delicious glass of Pinot Blanc "Vieilles Vignes" (Meyer Fonnë) 2005. All was divine with a wonderfully delicate yet complex series of flavours. 

For Reeves entree he had Black Sole - Butter Roast Troncôn of Black Sole, Ratte Potato, Leek and Hazelnut, Xeres and Cockles Jus and I had the Wicklow Venison - Venison Fillet in Spiced Mulled Wine, Apple Polenta, Crisp Muesli, Balsamic and Cacao Grue Reduction.  I have to say my venison was perfectly prepared - rare but not raw and warm all the way through, which is difficult without overcooking.  I also had another great glass of wine with my entree - Chateau Clarke Bordeaux 2001.  I hope I can find both of these wines again as they were the perfect parings. 

We finished off with a vanilla Creme Brule and Red Wine Figs - Roast Figs with Red Wined Fromage Blanc, Star Anis, Almond Praline. I quite enjoyed mine but by this time we were both so full we both left about half our desert. 

It was a great evening and the service was top notch, what you would expect from a two star Michelin, but don't always get - a very memorable experience all around.  

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

The "removers", as they are called here, have begun our pack.  They are very good and have gotten through the kitchen, front room with all my 1300 books, the bathroom (which has some store cabinets for other things) the back hall & under stairs storage and have just started on my office - it is about 4pm on Friday and they are going to be here tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday.  They are here so many days because we do have quite a bit of stuff, but also because the place is so small, there is no room to put the boxes after they are packed, so they need to remove them after the pack them to be able to do the rest. 

It is such a luxury to have people pack for you, especially after you see how hard they are working!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

..and this New Year's that is ever so true!  Only 11 days and we will have a whole new life in the greater Seattle area! We just got back on Friday morning from a really nice trip to the states for the holiday and have been recovering the past couple days from jet lag and Reeves from a cold. We took a little time out of the craziness of our "to do" list to see the movie I am Legend  yesterday (good movie, but a little scary and depressing) as well as picking up our rental car to use for the final few days. 

Looking back on 2007 it is hard to imagine how much we were able to fit in and how luck we were to have so many great adventures.  We are now about to embark on another great life adventure to a whole new part of the country - let the fun begin!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

It is Christmas evening and we are in Goshen, NY having a wonderful time with the family.  We have enjoyed good food, good fun and above all, good family.  We are very lucky to have a warm and wonderful Christmas and wish everyone as nice of holiday as we are having!!

Merry Christmas to all!!!!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

...etc., etc., etc., That song sums it all up!

We have now been in town two full days plus a dinner and we are having a wonderful time.  I have now been to NYC enough times that I feel like it is my second home in many ways, especially since I "know" the upper West side from visiting Amy frequently.  This trip we are staying at a hotel which is right across the street from the Natural History Museum and the view from the hotel is looking that direction  - needless to say the view is great!

We started our stay with a trip to a sushi restaurant with Amy as soon as we arrived which is always our first inclination, especially here in NYC with all the great sushi restaurants.  It was amazing and after we were ready to fall into bed, considering the time difference.

Friday we got up and went to the Met to see their show, The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art - what a great show, the paintings being displayed together as they were originally collected in NY.  After the museum we met Leo for some lunch and catching up - he needed to get back to his work, so we walked back up 5th avenue, saw Rockefeller center and back to the upper West side to get Amy for dinner. 

We started at Bemelmans bar and had our celebrity citing thanks to Amy - she is always great at spotting people and this time it was the author, Tom Wolfe (The Right Stuff, Bonfire of the Vanities & The Pained Word) in full regalia of fedora & white pants.  This is the best NY classic bar, complete with crooner-piano player and fabulous cocktails.

We then went to another NY institution, Parma, which serves the most amazing Italian food, including my gnocchi! We had a lovely dinner and where home in bed by 10 pm - divine!

Today, Reeves & I met Amy for breakfast at Lenny's and then we left him for a day of shopping.  While Reeves went and had a massage, Amy and I did the city.  We met up later in the day for some drinks and a very yummy dinner at  Paris Commune. 

We have had such a lovely visit and more is still to come!!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

... and I say that since we just sold our car!  We put it up on the Internet about 2 weeks ago, but this is the worst season to sell anything big like houses and cars, so we really were worried.  It is our only real asset here and we needed to get it sold since we are off to NYC in a couple hours and after that we only have 12 days here.

Anyway, back to the story, the cosmic wonders of how things work for us always seems to amaze - we say it very often that we lead a charmed life and this is just a very small example...we put our car up to sell, we had ONE person call us about it, they are a very nice couple with a 6 month old boy, we arranged for them to drive it and that evening they called and said they would like to purchase it - for the asking price! (well, it was about 1500 euro under "blue book" since we HAD to sell it)

It is one of those transactions you just feel good about - they got a really great car for a really good price and we got it sold at just the right time to a very nice family who will take care of it for us!!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

I have to say I am in a bit of denial about moving, but in the mean time we are off to New York on Thursday.  I am very excited about our trip - x-mas in NYC is always magical and I highly recommend doing it at least one in your life if you haven't experienced the city at this time of the year.

We are visiting with our friends Amy and having lunch with Leo which makes experiencing the city ever more special when you can experience it with a local.  We are staying in the city for 4 days days to do a little sightseeing and shopping then heading upstate to Goshen to stay with Reeves's sister and family for the holidays.  Reeves's parents will also be joining us, so it will be a full house.

For anyone who might read this, I wish you a very wonderful holidays and hope it is a relaxing, joyous and above all, fun time!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

We just got home last evening after a final little adventure in the southwest of Ireland, specifically in a place called Dingle. [actually, this was partially written a week ago but after my computer crashing and losing the majority of the post, I just couldn't bear re-writing the whole thing again til now] Claimed as one of the most picturesque spots in all of Ireland, we weren't quiet sure of this as when we arrived on Saturday night as a huge storm was rolling in and the wind and rain shook the rafters. 

We had a nice drive down, with intermittent bursts of sun and showers, creating dramatic vistas along the way.  We stopped in Limerick for lunch and did a quick driving loop around the town.  Once into Dingle, we checked into Heaton's Guesthouse, run by the Heaton family.  The son, David, was holding down the fort while the rest of the family was in the States.

That evening we ate some extremely yummy dinner at the Half Door, a seafood restaurant which was in this charming old building with low ceilings and chock-a-block with Christmas decorations. We had some of the best scallops ever which just melted in your mouth with barely chewing.  After a big dinner and the blustery evening we retired to our lovely little room overlooking Dingle Harbor.  Our room had a gorgeous Jacuzzi tub so I took a lovely long bubble-bath before a great night sleep.

The wind blew beyond belief that evening and we were happy to be snug in bed, waking to some dramatic sky, still overcast with heavy gray clouds.  After a yummy breakfast, also cooked by David, we were off to Killarney and Muckross House.  On our drive along the south coast of the Dingle Peninsula, we were able to witness the gigantic waves and swells in Dingle Bay, just before Inch Point, from the progressing storm. 

We took some snaps of the impressive show, but all the shades gray do not turn out so well on film, which is a  bit disappointing.

 

Muckross House, our destination for the day, is just south of Killarney. First built in the in 1840s as a hunting "lodge", this residence is a mansion by any standards, yet electricity did not come to the entire area till the 1960s! We took a guided tour of the house, had lunch at their cafe and purchased a pretty vase made at their traditional pottery workshop. 

We proceeded south on a scenic drive called the "Ring of Kerry" and really enjoyed the passing bursts of sun which moved quickly across the vistas.  Stopping frequently to dash off a few pictures, we didn't make it very far till we had to turn around at Sneem (isn't that a great name!) and start back through the valley with the striking Macgillycuddy's Reeks on our left.

   A view from the Upper Lakes of Lough Leane

A view of the Upper Lakes near Moll's Gap

The weather for the day was actually not too bad with only a few passing showers, but the wind still continued to blow quite strongly. On our drive home, however, it took a turn for the worse and we actually went through a bout of hail and surges of pouring rain.  The drive, along these tiny Irish road, in the dark, with a vast cliff on your left, was quite the adventure!

That evening we relaxed at the Chart House for dinner (no relation to the American chain).  This was another delightful restaurant and just a wee bit more elegant than the previous evening with a very charming French host.  He was the only one working in the dining room that evening, but he was ever so efficient.  It was also very cute, when Reeves responded to him in French a couple times, he was so flustered he didn't know how to respond - guess the locals and the various American tourists don't usually know much French! [as a side note in regards to travelling Americans, we giggled a bit at another couple who, having breakfast at the hotel, the wife asked what "porridge" and "kippers" were - now I know I am not the most sophisticated traveller out there, but how sheltered of a life do you lead to not know these foods, at least on a general category level?]I dined that evening on the most amazing lamb which had a wonderfully wild flavor and Reeves plaice was incredibly delicate and crumbly.

Our last day we woke to filtered sunshine with the sunrise streaking through the clouds just over hills on Dingle Harbor.  Our itinerary for the day was to drive the Dingle Peninsula and the weather didn't disappoint.  With the storm now having passed through, it was a glorious day - mild, sunny and a perfect backdrop to see this picturesque country. 

Near Fahan on the Dingle Pen.

Someone looking for a handout

A view toward Garraun Pt from near Slea Head

We drove clockwise around the Peninsula, taking a multitude of pictures (gotta love digital) and also stopped by the Gallarus Oratory, an 8th or 9th Century stone chapel, one of the oldest existing of its kind. 

The Gallarus Oratory

Out here on the edge of the world it seems, was also a retail experience, the pottery studio of the famous Louis Mulcahy.  They have a shop in Dublin, but I prefer to purchase things from "the source" so we bought four of the most lovely mugs and a small milk pot from their Clogher workshop.  I would love to have one of their 2-3 foot high vases, but it is a little too big without know where it is going to go.

Our drive took us back trough Dingle again and then an uneventful drive home, which is always good.  It was quite a bit of driving for three days, but we really saw a goodly portion of the Southwest of Ireland and will miss this gorgeous country! 

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

...is the next door neighbor's teenage son who thinks he is the next member of The Who!  He is a bass player who frequently has his band members over to practice in their "club house" which is at the back of the property.  It is basically a shed without insulation and the problem is they like to practice at full volume, the same pieces, over and over and over!!  For someone who "works" at home, it is very annoying to have to listen to this for hours on end in the afternoons and evenings.  I have been trying to do paperwork all day; bills, insurance claims, etc. - fun stuff and it is hard to concentrate when your insides are pulsing with the sound of a bass. Sigh.....this will NOT be missed......

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

Tuesday we were off on an out of town adventure - we took the bus from Granada to Cordoba, about 2 hours away. Thankfully my very very rusty Spanish was enough to navigate taxis & bus stations as we really met very few people who spoke any English at all. For as many tourists around this area I was a little surprised no one spoke any English.

Along the route we drove by at least two Moorish fortresses (and of course, one of them had an attached cathedral) on the tops of hills which dominated the landscape.  It was fun to see them all lit up on the way back.

View from the bus of the Fortaleza de la Mota in Alcala la Real

We arrived in Cordoba around 1pm and proceeded to la Mezquita, the 8th Century Mosque in which Charles V carved out the middle in the 16th Century to build a huge cathedral amidst the sea of columns.  The collision of styles and cultures was fascinating.  It is impressive how many Moorish design and architectural elements still remain, but too bad that so many didn't survive.  Now officially a cathedral, it is hard not to see this building as a mosque first and a Christian cathedral second.  It was very quiet and few tourists were there so we were able to take our time and enjoy many picture-taking opportunities. We both love Moorish architecture so this building was quite a treat.

  The cornices and arches of the Mezquita

 The sea of columns, reused from Roman temples

We walked about the center of town a little till the Alcazar (de los Reyes Cristianos) re-opened in the afternoon.  It is the fortified palace built in 1328 which was used by the Inquisition for more than 300 years and a prison till the 1950s. The tranquil gardens and large modern hall with exquisitely restored Roman mosaics don't divulge its tumultuous past.

 View of the Alcazar from the tower

The gardens looking toward the Alcazar in Cordoba

After a long day we were weary and the entirely full bus was not exactly the thing we wanted, but what can you do.  It wouldn't have been so bad except the woman directly to my right across the isle ate, non-stop for over an hour, a full bag of popcorn, with her mouth fully open! Argh! Sigh....... again, what 'cha gonna do.

Our last day we decided to sleep in, and sleep in we did - we both woke around noon!  Another night of about 11 hours of sleep -pure bliss!!  By the time we were out of the hotel and to food it was already lunch time, even by Spanish standards, so we grabbed a quick pizza, found the post office, walk about a bit and happened to stumble upon the Monastery of St. Jerome.  As our tour book said, the very austere exterior does not divulge the over-the-top interior.  The main church look like someone was a little OCD with the Baroque and didn't know when to stop.  While grandiose, it was all a bit loud, as if someone was screaming Baroque at you.  

The VERY Baroque interior of St. Jerome's

We ended the day with a visit to the archaeology museum which was just down the street from our hotel.  It was a nicely done little display exhibited in a Renaissance building.  

The last food hurrah was back at the restaurant from Monday night and the same delicious Paella. Even eating at 7:30pm we were the first ones in the restaurant followed about 30 minutes later by some German tourists and British tourists.  It wasn't until about 9pm the place started to have some locals come in....my questions is, what do people do till 9pm when they have dinner! :)

I am now inspired to seek out some great Paella recipes and give it a go - but I think it will have to wait a few weeks! :)

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

We are resting in our lovely room with a view (of the Alhambra, that is) after a great day visiting the palace complex.  We slept in a bit, till 9am, and had a nice little continental breakfast at the hotel and walked up the back side of the hill on which the Alhambra is situated.  Our hotel is very centrally located and we really are enjoying it as a place to stay. In fact, our room when we arrive was small, but nice, the problem was however, since it was winter and they had turned off the hotel's air conditioning, the room did not have a window which opened to the outdoors, it was warm & stuffy, and definitely too warm to sleep comfortably. When we inquired about this they stated they would upgrade us to another room the following night free of charge - very nice!

The view from our room up to the Alhambra

Back to the day - we walked up to the palace and did the tour of the main palace or Palacios Nazaries. We really enjoy traveling in the fall/early winter as the crowds are less and there are fewer children to trip over.  I can't even imagine how exhausting this place would be at the height of tourist season with the summer heat, but we had a lovely sunny, crisp day with only a few tour groups to navigate around.

Reflecting pool at the "Court of the Myrtles"

A small bite for lunch at the plaza within the Alhambra

The views from the palace were amazing and we could see our hotel from several vantage points. 

Our hotel is up the street in the center of the photo

With all the fall colors blanketing the trees, it proved a nice contrast to the red palace and the bright blue sky.

Yesterday, after sleep almost 13 hours (I think we were both exhausted!) we had our brunch of Tortilla Espana & sliced chorizo while basking in the warm sun.  The restaurant was along the Carrera del Darro near our hotel and provided the perfect spot for people watching out on their Sunday stroll.

Reeves and a lovely brunch venue

We then walked up and down the Albaicin area till we arrived at the Catedral.  It wasn't open yet so we decided to take an open-top bus tour around the city.  It was so-so, with the audio cutting in and out, but it let us see a few parts of Grenada outside the area we could comfortably walk. 

We arrived back at the Catedral and visited the Royal Chapel & the main church.  It was such a spectacular interior and much more uplifting and light than the typical English or French cathedrals which was a nice change.

We ended our day with a huge lunch which was actually our dinner since we had skipped "lunch". It was an incredible Paella which we shared and did very well, almost finishing the whole plate!

Paella!!!

By 7:30 we were ready to collapse and enjoy an evening in our cozy room with a view.

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

..on the coast!  And thank goodness, especially since when Reeves and I landed in Malaga, Spain, it was overcast, raining and cold we were not too terribly happy about the beginning of our holiday. Our flight was right on time and we made it to the bus station toot-sweet, but that just gave us a couple hours to wait in the cold for the bus. We were both discombobulated from waking way too early, the bus station was a bit scary and dirty and we were having a hard time finding anyone that spoke English.  I think with all the stress of everything that is going on, at that moment in the bus terminal, if we could have just been back in Dublin, we would have both wished it!

We did, however, make it safe and sound to Granada, our destination around 4 pm after driving out of the rain into a beautiful sunny afternoon- just in time for lunch, Spanish style.  Just around the corner from our hotel was a lovely restaurant where we could sit and have a menu in English, at least for the first day when we were tired and grumpy.  It turned out to be fabulous and after we walked around for a short bit taking some shots of the full moon over this charming and romantic town.

The moon over Granada - no it is not a new Denny's menu item :)

We are now back in our hotel room and ready for bed like the old fogies we are - especially when people are just going out to dinner here!!  I really do love our hotel - more about that soon.

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

While we really love living here in Ireland - the wonderful people, the culture and the great travel opportunities - the time has come to move onto the next stage of our lives.

Reeves has accepted a new position at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington and we will be moving state-side the second week of January. While this is a great opportunity for us, we can't help but be a bit sad leaving this great country.

Just in case we thought we might be bored over the next six weeks till we move, we have a few trips to keep us occupied.  Tomorrow morning (7 am flight - eek!) we are off to Granada, Spain for 5 1/2 days.  Then we have a 3 day trip to the Southwest of Ireland in Dingle planned for the second weekend of December.  For Christmas we are off to New York to spend a few days in Manhattan to visit our friends and then to Goshen, NY to spend the actual holiday with our family.

So, new adventures are afoot for the Littles - stay tuned for the latest craziness!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

Yesterday we made our way down to Waterford, an adorable little town on the banks of the Suir River. Our destination was the what most people think of when they hear "Waterford", their Crystal Factory.  Housing their entire line of crystal products, there were plenty from which to choose. I have always wanted a set of lovely old fashioned tumblers, so we purchased the Dolemn patter.

  Our new tumblers

We had thought we might spend the night so we could see the sites, but with the Irish weather there was not much to do outdoors, so we decided to head over to Cashel to see the historic site, the Rock of Cashel.  First used as a defensive fortress for the overkings of Munster, it was given over to the church in 1101.  From there a great church and other buildings, including a round tower were built here as it became the seat of an archbishop.

The Rock of Cashel fortress - view on a clear day, which wasn't our trip

We could see why the site was abandoned for a less inclement location the 18th Century - while we were there it was raining quite hard and the umbrella bending wind was whipping the rain around in all directions.  The restored private living chambers of the monks, now housing a museum and theatre, were not heated and they were freezing and damp.  I can't even imagine what it would have been like 1000 years ago without modern advances of electricity and central heating!

We had skipped lunch and by 4 pm we were ready for food.  Right at the bottom of "the rock" was the most scrumptious place called Cafe Hans (with a sister restaurant for dinner called Chez Hans next door in a converted chapel).  Reeves had a lovely gnocchi with spinach & rashers and I had yummy lamb chops over mashers and green beans.  All the food was top quality and an unexpected treat as most restaurants we have stumbled upon are barely better than "pub food" and finding good cuisine in Ireland is usually a challenge when you don't have a specific recommendation. I would highly recommend this place if you are in Co. Tipperary.

While I was hoping we could spend the night to avoid driving home in the weather, Reeves really wanted to sleep in his own bed so we braved the pouring rain and bad drivers and made it home in one piece - another Irish adventure to add to our collective memory.

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

...and that is the only word with which you can describe Harry, utterly Dreamy!!  We just got home from the Harry Connick Jr. concert and is was such a lovely evening!  We had the most excellent seats - we were only 5 rows from the front and positioned just slightly behind, but almost in line with the keyboard of the piano - the perfect spot to be blown away by his talented fingers and see that sparkling smile.  Being so close made it almost feel like an intimate bar gig, that is if you didn't look behind you and see the crowd. :)  I also never realized what a natural comedian he is - it was one of the band member's 50th birthday and they brought out this little lopsided chocolate cake, lit the candles and we all sang happy birthday - Harry then proceeded to bring some slices of cake down to the audience and handed a couple the people right in front of us.  He then walked all the way to the back to deliver some cake and came back around to the stage after telling some very random but funny stories.  A good time was had by all!!

A random 7 degrees of separation with HCJr. - I went to the same high school as his wife, Jill Goodacre, in Boulder, Co. She's a couple years older, but was already known as the Victoria Secret Model by the time I was a Senior. (ok, so maybe that is one's a couple degrees :) )

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

Today is the 14th anniversary of the day Reeves and I first kissed!  I has been 13 fun filled years full of lots of kisses.

I knew Reeves was something special from that very first kiss so long ago....back in the dark ages...when I was still a Junior in college! :)

Happy kiss-iversary Honey!! 

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

I was realizing today this is the first time I have visited the greater Seattle area at this time of the year - what a beautiful place!  The trees are in full fall bloom in vibrant shades of crimson and mustard leaves.  Today, Leslie and I took a drive along Lake Sammamish from Redmond down to Issaquah.  It was an overcast day and was raining a bit on and off so there were low clouds nestled down among the pines, weaving themselves into the trees - gorgeous! It gave the lake a cozy feeling making me want to curl up in front of a lovely warm fire in my fuzziest of PJs. 

We ended up having lunch in the cute little downtown area of Issaquah and then driving up and around the Bellevue, Kirkland and Juanita areas.  There really are many great little communities which have beautiful wooded areas and great views of the mountains and various water features.

It started to get me in the holiday mood with the weather and the environment - scary thought x-mas is less than 2 months away.  It always seems to sneak up on me when I least expect it!! 

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

Never a quiet moment and we are off again, this time to Redmond, Washington.  Reeves is going to have a busy week of work but I get to hang out with my friend Leslie and enjoy all the delights of area, including some wine tasting!  Since I am getting my new laptop while I am there, I will hopefully get some more time to blog, as well as working on my genealogy class which, I can't believe, is almost over.

I also can't believe the x-mas season is already here!!  The shops here have had x-mas decorations up even before Halloween - it is becoming especially intense now since there is no Thanksgiving holiday to break up the November-December time - my how the time flies!!!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

Yes, I am sad...Reeves just left this afternoon to attend a conference in Washington D.C. and he left me here alone. I am a big sap when it comes to my husband and have to say that I hate to be apart from him.  It is bad enough he leaves me everyday to go to work, but I really hate it when he goes off and leaves me for several days - the nerve! :)

Yep, I new he was "the one" when I could stand to be with him 24/7/365 and never feel like I needed a break from him.

Miss you honey and hurry home!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

I had to share my new favorite fragrance, it is called "Kate" by Kate Moss.  Now don't let the fact it is a celebrity fragrance scare you away, which usually is what happens to me. In fact, if a product is endorsed by a celebrity, 9 times out of 10 I will run the other way as I can't stand the "cult of the celebrity" which is all too prevalent. Anyway, I digress...

I was in the department store a couple weeks ago, and as I usually do as I walk by the beauty department, I will pick up a fragrance or two for a quick sniff in what always seems like a vain attempt to find something I like. My favorite scent, which I used the entire line of lotion, shower gel and perfume, was discontinued a couple years ago, so I am always on the hunt for a replacement. My body chemistry is also such that some nice perfumes will turn horrible when settled on my skin. I am pretty particular about scents and I have always been very effected by smells, to the point I will be physically uncomfortable in a room if the smell is unsettling to me. I know I would not have done well living in the middle ages and the "aromatic" world in which people lived. But, I digress again...

The bottom line is, I am really enjoying this light, clean fragrance with just the slightest hint of fresh rose.  I am not usually one who likes artificial rose, but this one seems to work.  So, if you happen to see it, give a smell and tell me what you think.

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

We just returned on Monday from a last minute trip to Belgium.  We decided to spend my 35th birthday in another foreign country (last year we were in Salzburg - lucky me!) and we flew in very early on the 4th so we had a full day of enjoying Brussels, which was our hub for the trip.  It was a foggy morning, but mild temperatures, so great touring weather, just not great for the pictures. 

We walked from our Hotel, which was off of Avenue Louise, toward the old center of town, passing by all the great boutiques along the way. We walked passed the Palace of Justice which is currently undergoing a huge face lift and the vast majority of the exterior is obscured by scaffolding.  The top of the dome must have been the first part cleaned and restored as even in the fog it glimmered through the haze.

En route to the Grand Palace (Grote Markt) we also saw the exteriors of the Palais Royal and the exquisite art nouveau exterior of the Museum of Music.  Once at the Markt we had a lovely little lunch on the plaza at the restaurant Le Paon, a former guildhall built in the 15th century, but restored in the 19th century. I had the traditional Moules & Pomme Frites (Mussels & french fries) as I always like to do the "when in Rome" thing, at least once.

   North facade of the Grand Palace Markt

West facade of the Grand Palace and the view from our lunch table

After lunch we did a little window shopping and strolled down the enclosed Galeries St.-Hubert where we found my birthday gift, a lovely silver bracelet made in Brussels.

The glass ceiling of the Galeries

Making our way back to the hotel so we could rest a bit before dinner, we stopped by the Cathedral Church of Sr. Michael & St. Gudula and then through the Parc de Bruxelles before we stopped for a quick "Birthday Waffle" - I have to say it was a fabulous treat!

mmmmmmmm........waffles......

As a special treat for my birthday we had made reservations at the restaurant Comme Chez Soi. In 2006 (haven't check if in 2007 it still is) it was rated as a 3 star Michelin restaurant so we had high expectations of a lovely evening.  We had a very nice time enjoying each other's company and the intricate art nouveau interior.  I also really like their china - a contemporary white service with concentric circular grooves (looking much like record groves) in a matte finish with the center in a gloss finish.  The restaurant also had a window into the kitchen so you could watch the chefs busily hurrying around.  A subtle compliment to the kitchen-view was the landscape mural on the back wall of the kitchen, it really added a sense of serenity to a crazy show. While the food was all very nice, it was not over-the-top spectacular, and the service was too slow in my opinion for a restaurant of this level (my water glass and wine glass were both frequently empty over the three hours we were there). Thankfully I had my favorite company along to enjoy the event of evening.

Birthday dinner at Comme Chez Soi with my new bracelet - sorry Reeves there is no picture of you

The next day we woke early so we could take the train out to Bruges (Brugge). It is an "impossibly picturesque" town, as one of our tour books quotes, around 11am.

We started by touring St. Johns Hospital which has been converted into a museum housing many of Hans Memling's works.  They were truly spectacular pieces which are considered to be of the Flemish Primitives school of art.  It was a nicely displayed collection in the ancient backdrop of the hospital, but it was a bit annoying there were no individual labels on each object and you were forced to carry around a photocopied collection booklet to which you had to refer - all the while trying to navigate and listen to the hand-held audio guide. 

The exterior side of the St. John Hospital

We also visited the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk church which houses Michelangelo's carved white marble Madonna and Child which is one of only a few pieces of his outside Italy.

Michelangelo's Madonna and Child

Lunch was again on the agenda and as we like to do, not necessarily for the great culinary experience, we chose to eat on the Markt so we could people watch and take in the day.  After we quickly walked through the Belfort-Hallen, a belfry and hall with an imposing edifice.

The Belfort-Hallen    The traditional biscuit-tin buildings on the Markt

Wandering through the perfect little streets we wound our way over and around the canals till we decided we wanted to do one of the canal boat tours.

 

  

 

Next we were off to the Groeninge Museum.  A relatively small museum, but has some wonderful masterpieces by Jan van Eyck, Gerard David and Hieronymus Bosch. (One of my favorite paintings is Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights)

After its closing, we walked toward the windmills, which have been relocated to their present location on the top of an earthen bank which is the former location of the old town walls. These are my first Flemish windmills and it was quite a thrill to see them in the warm setting sun light.

    Reeves taking a picture of the next windmill

Reeves and I stayed around Bruges for dinner at the suggestion of a person we met on the train - he said it would be much less busy coming back after dinner (as it was standing room only en route - thankfully we had seats).  We had dinner at a restaurant overlooking the canal.

 View from our dinner spot 

Us at dinner

While we had a lovely dinner location, the good times were not meant to be...we both spent the coming night and next day suffering from food poisoning - yuck. At least we really got to relax!

The last day we were up again early, both having recovered enoughto continue our travels.  We found the most scrumptious little bakery & cafe for breakfast.  

 

Le Pain Quotidien

We found out later that this shop is actually a chain, so if you happen to see one, be sure to stop in for wonderful breads.

Next we were off to the Belgian Center for Comic Strip art, including a museum in Brussels (Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinee).  It is home to the likes of TinTin and the Smurfs, each of which Reeves and I grew up on. While is was a nice size collection, the vast majority of the strips were not in English, as well as not going international, so while we enjoyed what we did understand/have a connection to, it would be much more enjoyable if we were French/Belgian.

 

 

We then caught another train out of the city to what we were hoping was going to be Antwerp.  We, however, were not the only ones who seem to have gotten on the wrong train as the group in front of us also had to get off and reassess their location. We thought we were heading in the right direction, especially when we went through "Brussels Nord", but little did we know the train turned south and we finally got off at Namen (the complete opposite direction we hope to go) when the ticket-taker told us we were on the wrong train. 

Making lemonade, we decided to stay the afternoon in Namen and visited their historic citadel which has been the sight of many strategic defensive armies, up until even WWII.  

View of Namen from the Citadel - you can see a bit of the fortress in the the foreground

We had a lovely al fresco lunch in this quaint little square, visited a couple churches and took the train back home.  We were exhausted and both couldn't face sitting in a restaurant for another couple hours so we asked the concierges for a take-away recommendation and walked to where she just had dinner.  We had some great Chinese take-away while sitting in our room watching Shrek III - gotta love vacation & on-demand TV!!!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

 

I wanted to go back a couple weeks and comment quickly on our friend's visit to Ireland.  Max is from Colorado and we went to High School together in Boulder.  We have stayed friends for all these years and he was nice enough to come to Ireland to keep us company for a few days. 

We had a really nice visit including a trip to Northern Ireland and we had to take him to the Guinness Storehouse for a real pull of the pint.  The tour is self guided and has a few interesting points, but the real reason for visiting the Storehouse is the view from their panoramic roof-top bar.  The day we were there it it was a crystal clear afternoon (the rain the night before, followed by some winds, created the perfect viewing) and we were there in the late afternoon allowing us to see a gorgeous warm evening light thrown over the whole of Dublin. 

We enjoyed our "free" pint (included in the purchase of the tour) and continued on to dinner. A great time was had by all!

If you too would like to have a free pint, please come and visit, we would love your company!

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

I had my third class last night and we were discussing genealogy resources, including online resources.  We were discussing access to computers and the instructor asked the class the class, as a matter of passing, if everyone had access to the Internet.  There were several people who raised their hand who didn't - ok, I can understand this to a certain extent,  about 75% of the class is over the age of 55. Not all have sons/daughters who are on-call tech resources to overcome all the perceived challenges of getting online. A bit surprised by this, however, he back peddled and then asked if they had access to a computer, at least three people said no. Lastly, one woman raised her hand and said not only did she not have access to a computer, she had never typed. 

Now stop and think about this one...she had never typed.

For the audience reading this, of course you have access to a computer and probably consider typing, as I do, like breathing or walking, it is just something you do without thinking....but when this women said she had never typed, it really made me pause and think about how much of my world revolves around typing and what I would if I couldn't/wouldn't.  Even if I take away any part of a "career" revolving around a computer, I still pay all my bills, write letters, check the weather, organize my pictures and a multitude of other small thinks, everyday. I feel my world would be very lonely and inconvenient without the computer and an effective method of input, like the keyboard.

It really gave me a new perspective into understand how the other half lives.  I guess I have never been so acutely aware of the digital divide as I am now, especially now when I think about her every time I sit down at my keyboard!

BTW - even after this discussion in class I overheard she was still debating if she should do the class for credit, which includes a 7-10 page (typed) essay!

Too bad I got rid of my old Brother electric typewriter with a floppy-drive I had from high school. At the time this was quite the leap forward for me and I had been saving it as a sentimental museum piece, but just couldn't justify saving it any longer - it would have been a great high tech gadget for her! :) 

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The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

Since it has been almost a whole eight months since I finished my Masters, it must be time to start another class!  Yes, its true, I have taken up the books again and started a Genealogy & Family History class at University College Dublin.  It meets once a week for 10 weeks and covers all aspects of techniques, resources, and theory.  While I have been doing our own family history in small bursts of research, I hope this helps me develop a more methodical approach and helps me to utilize the Irish sources while we are here in Ireland. 

I do have to admit I am not holding my breath, however, on finding much in the archives here as the 5 branches of Reeves's Irish family we have been able to trace back to Ireland (basically from the point they arrived in America) all left the island between 1730 through 1790.  This far back and the records become irregular at best, either being destroyed or dispersed or never collected. I also still have my research cut out for me in the states to confirm what has been passed down in family records is what exists in official records.  I have found a fair amount on www.ancestry.com already as they have the biggest, and I do have to say, impressive, amount of access to digitized records.  We have even been able to find some of the listings of Reeves's ances