Week 8: Here to Stay For a While

We moved to Ireland on Irish Mother's Day, arriving the day after, so I missed it.  Never to fear.  I got another chance this year...American Mother's Day, which happened to fall the day after we got back from our trip.  We took the train in to City Centre to Mass at St. Theresa's and then over to Cafe En Seine for their Sunday jazz brunch.  It was brilliant having Mother's Day all to myself, rather than sharing it with every other mom in the country, so we got right in, despite their losing our reservation.  That place is SO COOL and GORGEOUS!!  What fantastic atmosphere!

Fancy free at Cafe En Seine

Not the best picture of us, but you can tell I love the two o dem!

I am not a big shopper, but shopping in City Centre is fun!  Not like a mall or strip center, but more glamorous and exciting.  I loved Brown Thomas (Who doesn't?), which is the Neimans of Dublin, I would say.  Lots of en vogue, fancy, classy, shiny, unique, new stuff....Who buys 300 Euro sunglasses?  Well I found that putting some on can make anyone feel like a movie star.  Marks and Spenser is a bit more in the middle market as far as quality and expense, but it still seems a bit "Rodeo Drive-ish" when it is on Grafton Street.  Rounded off a beautiful day.  I am truly blessed to have such a loving family.

Monday included some not so glamorous, but much more practical shopping when we went to "Power City" to FINALLY purchase a kettle, a toaster, a vacuum.  I have had so much trouble figuring out where to purchase things here.  I figured Marks and Spenser, a department store, for instance, would have kettles in the kitchen section.  Wrong.  After all, an electric kettle (Yes, that is what everyone uses here....not one for the stove) GETS PLUGGED IN.  Therefore, it would be categorized the same as a tv or a dryer, and must be located at the "plug it in store."  (my words)  Thus, Power City filled a great need.

We got organized and started settling in to school life in our school room (which is AWESOME) and in our new life.   Lots of walks to town, on trails, up the hill, discovering views, discovering the area.  Everything is a new and seems to just sparkle like brand new to us because it is in our eyes.

Killiney Hill covered in gorse flowers

Also this week the kids and I went to our neighborhood park for the first time.  The huge playground and play space is a part of Killiney Hill Park, set up high with a great great view of the sea.  The kids enjoyed all of the equipment, but especially the zip line!  It is really long, and if you are above a certain weight (like me), your butt tends to drag when you go across the middle, so you have to have serious ab and leg strength to keep from getting a butt rug burn!  (The kids are just under the weight where this is an issue....but barely!)

This park is going to be so great to have literally as our front

 garden!

That Saturday we picked up my car (finally).  The only criteria we had was that it be a VW "People Carrier" (their small version of a mini van) so we have room for guests, and that it be an automatic.  Had A LOT of trouble getting a hold of one of those.  They kept asking Thomas, "Are you sure you have to have an automatic?"  But Thomas did not like the idea of me driving on the opposite side of the road, from the opposite side of the car AND drive a stick.  (I just took defensive driving and one of the things they stressed heavily was to know your driving abilities and to choose a car that fits you.  Never heard of that before, but I guess it makes sense.)  Turns out they finally found ONE in the entire country.  We didn't even specify color or anything!  So it took over a month, but I finally had my vehicle.

The rest of the day was spent out and about shopping, mostly for the kitchen (We still didn't have drinking glasses, pots and pans, etc.).  Thomas was enthusiastic about "Woodies," claiming that I could get anything there.  Well it is pretty much true.  It's like a Home Depot, a Party City, a PetSmart, and a Bed Bath and Beyond all rolled into one.  I just couldn't get myself to buy kitchen stuff in a place that smelled like fertilizer, so we moved on.  Next up we headed to Liffey Valley Shopping Center.  Ugh.  A mall.  Soooo American.  What sort of adventures could we possibly find there?  Well, I'll tell you.  It's called THE CAR PARK (parking lot).  We kept trying to go around "just over there....See it?  There's Marks and Spenser JUST OVER THERE."  But "just over there" REALLY meant here and there and around and up and down and, "Don't hit that car" and "which way now?" and "Look out!"  and "How are we WAY OUT HERE suddenly when M&S was JUST OVER THERE?"  These Irish road and car park planners are MAD, I tell ya!

Somehow we managed to find our way to JUST OVER THERE and we had a good time shopping like we were getting married and having the fun of doing a registry all over again to outfit an ENTIRE HOUSE (but this time WE are paying for it!  Actually, Dell gave us a stipend, but we have to make it stretch out for loads of necessities.)  There was absolutely nothing in the house, and it is crazy to think of all the things we use every day that we sort of take for granted.  We ALSO take for granted one stop stores like Target.  There is no such thing here.  One must search and hunt and browse to get what one needs.  However, I FINALLY found a store called Home Store and More, which is almost identical to Bed Bath and Beyond, and while I love the full Irish experience, I have to admit that when I walked in there I had a sense of comfort and home.  Too bad this is not a common store, and the one we found is a ways away.  Oh well, that will keep me from falling too far back into my American ways!  (Although, if you talk to any Dubliner about this plight, they will all say one word..."Ikea."  Yikes!  We have yet to make it over to that maze -- there is one in the country -- but it may have made things a bit easier to get it all in one place, supposedly.)

Attention Woodie's shoppers!  For Senior Citizens Day today come take care of your pets, and pick up a storage bin and some compost while your at it!

If you are looking to host a birthday party, you've come to the right place.  Come to our Party Shop to place an order for your balloons, choose your plates and napkins, and then come pick your paint samples to paint the whole room in your party's theme color!

Next, if you are in the market for fine stem ware and cutlery, head over to the home shop, just past the wheelbarrows.

On special today, just past the toilet plungers you will find kitchen dinette sets, with wood floors to go under them.  You'll find everything you need right here at Woodie's DIY (except what Amy and Thomas are looking for today!)

So typical Irish.  Love it!