Happy Birthday to Me!

Hi Everyone! Happy Birthday to me! Peadar and I celebrated with some dinner and champagne last night. Roll on Moet & Chandon.  

It was Malahide Summer Days in our little village over the weekend. We had amazing weather and loads of people came out. There was everything from jazzercise in the park, to bands playing on the street, and the restaurants each had little booths with great bbqs! 

I went for a walk, a long ass walk down the beach on Saturday because Peadar was working (joys of being a farmer, can't imagine what the impending harvest is going to be like) and I took some great pics along the beach. People were actually swimming in the water even though it was only like 65 degrees out, but hey, that's a scorcher to the Irish.

I think the entire population of the Malahide Yacht Club was out on the water, see the sails dotting the horizon? Maybe one day I'll be cool enough to be a member ;)

So anyway I was walking down the beach, and I just kept walking and walking down through Portmarnock, a town that is famous for its golf club, which doesn't let women in. Well let me tell you that sure didn't keep me out. I was walking down the beach and there was fewer and fewer people. I kept looking in the distance thinking I could see a road, and Peadar could pick me up there, not realizing there was water in between me and that road. I knew I was in trouble when the beach started curving, and I found myself on a sandbar peninsula. I heard voices and ran ahead to find a couple, and I was planning on asking them how to get out of there when they said..."do you know which way the road is?" We were all stranded.  Well turning around meant at least a 2 or 3 mile walk back and my new found friends and I were not prepared to go back. We were on an adventure damn it, and we were going to Bear Grylls our way through this thing.

You are welcome for the picture of him (in Ireland, actually) in no shirt!!! My new friends and I literally hopped a stream and waded our way through marsh quality grass, when we spotted...that's it... the Portmarock Golf Club! We dodged some flying golf balls and flaunted our feminism (well except for the guy that was there) as we ran through hole after hole of staring, unapproving men in old school golf sweaters. In end we doged security and Peadar was waiting for me at the entrance (I had called him earlier for a ride home). My hero.

Later on we went back into town in Malahide for an evening concert, but I was so tired from my big adventure that I went home early. It turned out okay though, because then on Sunday I had plenty of energy to go to the beach with these 3 gems pictured below. I then became one of the Irish swimming in the water I was laughing at on Saturday. Funny how that happens...

How's that heat wave in Chicago?

XOXO

Amanda

Wedding Bells, Irish Songs, Country Living

 Hey everyone! Pad and I had a great weekend in Killarney, Co. Kerry for a wedding of Peadar's cousin!

But the Friday before we left, we shot a promotional video at the office. See the lighting and cameras below. In the end they decided they needed and girl and a non-Irish accent, so I made the cut and will be in the video! I'll send you a link when the editing is finished.

The lights were really bright so Gavin (my boss and co-founder of boxPAY) wore sunnies during the breaks.

After work on Friday, Peadar and I drove 4 hours down from Dublin to Killarney. Check out the map below. Ireland is smaller than Illinois, so 4 hours is definitely the most it takes to get anywhere, and usually anywhere you go is about half that time!

It's really funny how many animals you see in the countryside. We stopped at this hotel for dinner on the way down and there were just these horses hanging out by the parking lot. You could go right up to them!

But we finally made it down and there was a lovely wedding! See Joe and Juliet below...

And Peadar and I...

Okay this is seriously not a joke, late the night of the wedding, usually at around 5AM (yes Irish weddings last that long) there is a "singsong," where everyone sits around and listens to different people taking turns to sing, or all sing together. I didn't make it to the 5AM singsong thanks to all the wine I had, but lucky for me there was a repeat performance the next night at dinner. Check out the video to see what I mean!

I am going to post the words to another song that someone else sang that I thought was really lovely and you would enjoy:

This version is by the Dubliners, but the song is called simply "A Song For Ireland"

Walking all the day
near tall towers where falcons build their nests
Silver wings they fly,
They know the call for freedom in their breasts,
Saw Black Head against the sky
Where twisted rocks they run down to the sea
Living on your western shore,
Saw summer sun sets, I asked for more,
I stood by your Atlantic Sea,
And I sang a song for Ireland

Drinking all the day,
In old pubs where fiddlers love to play,
Saw one touch the bow,
He played a reel that seamed so grand and gay,
I stood on Dingle beach and cast,
In wild foam for Atlantic bass,
Living on your western shore,
Saw summer sunsets, I asked for more,
I stood by your Atlantic Sea,
And sang a song for Ireland

Talking all the day,
With true friends who try to make you stay,
Telling jokes and news,
Singing songs to while the time away,
Watched the galway salmon run,
Like silver dancing, darting in the sun,
living on your western shore,
Saw summer sunsets, I asked for more,
I stood by your Atlantic Sea,
And i sang a song for Ireland

Dreaming in the night,
I saw a land where no-one had to fight,
Waking in your dawn,
I saw you crying in the morning light,
sleeping where the falcons fly,
They twist and turn all in your air-blue sky,
Living on your western shore,
Saw summer sunsets, I asked for more,
I stood by your Atlantic sea,
And I sang a song for Ireland 

A really popular thing to do is drive the 'Ring of Kerry' to enjoy the scenery. Pad was keen to do this, but seeing as how I get really carsick on Irish roads (think one lane winding roads and small stick shift cars) and it was really rainy and overcast anyway. I have a sneaking suspicion the 'Ring of Kerry' may be like the 'Road to Hana' for all of you that have ever been to Maui or have heard of that! So I did all my sightseeing from the view of the spa we went to on Monday, Aghadoe Heights.

Lastly, on our way home, we stopped to see Peadar's good pal Gerry Delaney. Ger has visited Chicago 2x with Pad, this is us on NYE below:

Anyway Ger is building a house, which is going great for him, and he bought a new heard of heffers (cows). He so kindly showed them to Pad and I, and I was freaking out laughing, running around in them. I'm a real country girl now! Cows are big and look funny (and are smelly!) in real life.

Would you even know me if you met me now?

XOXO Amanda

Sunglasses and Umbrellas :)

Hi Everyone!
Please forgive me for not posting sooner, it has been a crazy few weeks for Peadar and I in Dublin and beyond, lots of adventures and pictures to share with you all! 

Peadar heard on the radio the other day that Ireland is having it's coldest summer in 40 years, but I heard today that “People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy,”  a quote from Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Either he is right and I am really happy, or Ireland isn't so cold after all!  I took 

this picture before a business lunch in Grand Canal Quay, and I thought it was a lovely day. 

Now, that being said, the #1 lesson I have learned since arriving in Ireland, is bring an umbrella and sunglasses with you at all times wherever you are in the this country. It may look like the brightest, nicest day ever outside, and 20 minutes later you could be "caught out" (as they call it here) in the pouring rain. So don't get caught out! Bring your umbrella! Sometimes it's pouring rain when you leave the house, and you think to yourself, "Oh! There's no way I am going to need sunglasses today." You would be wrong. You'll be on the train 10 minutes later with the sun shining in your face and you won't be able to read the newspaper without them :) Just some friendly advice for my future visitors to the Emerald Isle! Pack both, always.

There is a coffee shop down the street from the office that can always put a smile on your face with a designer latte. Everytime is a different design, the barista this week told me I looked in love, so made me a "love fern". How to lose a guy in 10 days anyone?

We had a photo shoot at the office this week, mostly professional head shots of the owners and things like that, but as quirky photographers always do, he wanted a "fun shot" and convinced the guys to get on tiny chairs in a window well, because it looked like a box, and our company is called "boxPAY". Funny!

2 weekends ago we went windsurfing and had a 4th of July BBQ, which I will tell you about below, but that Saturday I went to to Galway for the evening with Jane (Peadar's brother Ciaran's girlfriend) and her friend Liz (A Dublin Rose contestant!) Galway is a quintessential costal Irish town, there is always good craic (fun) and  is a great weekend destination.

We had great weather and we able to sit outside and drink some wine. The girls and I are pictured below:

That Sunday we had a big group of people go windsurfing! Below Bren and Pad are getting suited up for the lesson:

Peadar's cousin Brendan, Peadar's sister Catherine's husband Jay, and me! Can you keep up with all the relations?

So the story with windsurfing is that is was really fun, I was able to get up and get going pretty good across the water...with one minor problem! I can't turn! I could only surf the one direction...way out into estuary. Every time I tried to surf back, I just kept going further out. Eventually the instructor had to come rescue me, he surfed my sailboard back and I paddle-boarded back in!

After windsurfing we had a solid 4th of July BBQ, complete with props thank you Amanda Lynch for the lovely USA care package! I made all my Irish friends listen to country music and kept saying "God Bless America!" to everyone. Not sure how amused they were :)

I recently bought a deep fat fryer in a charity auction, and Peadar brings home fresh potatoes every week (benefits of dating a potato farmer! whoop whoop!) which = fresh homemade chips for the BBQ. As a reminder in Ireland french fries are called chips and usually served thick-cut style, and potato chips are called crisps. Anyway they were delish!

So as some of you may know, since I have arrived in Dublin, I have been on the hunt for a dirty vodka martini. Olives are not used as a garnish in bars in Ireland, so it is really hard to find the brine necessary to make the cocktail. You especially wouldn't get a barman in a country pub to make you one.

Anyway, I had a business networking event at The Mint Bar in the Westin Dublin. They had the biggest selection of vodka I have ever seen in a bar in Dublin. Pictured below is Rain, a favorite of mine, distilled 7x from corn and completely organic. Also there is Chopin, a great potato vodka.

Anyway, the barman had no trouble making me a dry dirty vodka martini straight up with Chopin vodka. It was delicious, but they did not fill the glass up all the way, which was a concern of mine considering....

They were 16.50 Euro a pop! That's a $25 cocktail for all you American readers!!!!

Lastly, I have been getting much better at looking the right way crossing the street, particularly thanks so painted signs like the one below, but I still press "1" in elevators when I want to go the street level. In Ireland, the 1st floor is what us Americans would consider the 2nd floor, and so on and so on. 

Press "G" if you want to get out of a building. FYI.

XOXO,

Amanda