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! :)

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!

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.  

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!

..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!

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!!!!

...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!!

... 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!!