New Year, New Beginnings!

I went in the office to do a few hours of work on Saturday to catch-up from being gone on my business trip to London last week. Peadar then called me to tell me he got locked out of the apartment and was going to the pub to wait for me to come home. Now, Pad's plan for Saturday after work (yup, farmers work on Saturday) was to watch rugby anyway, and under normal circumstances he would probably love to chill at the local (pub, but people in Ireland just say the "local"), drinking away and enjoying the games. However, he is training for a 10k obstacle course run this Sunday and was trying to avoid the drink!

4 pints later....

I went home and rescued him with the house key. We had a big weekend and all, seeing as I bought a new car AND we signed on a new apartment! But more on that later, let's begin where we left off last. 

I was at Peadar's last weekend and something that could only happen in the country, happened. A Sunday "Tractor Run" was on, where farmers gear up their brand new tractors or old vintage models and drive through the countryside at 5mph. Check out pics below...

Yes... they are still coming....

 

And there are so many more I didn't even post! Bet you don't mind ;)

Peadar also had a birthday recently, turning a ripe 27 years of age. But don't say he is getting old, he hates that when people say they are old when they are still plenty young. We decided to have a country-western party "fancy-dress". Fancy-dress for all my Americans, is not dressing up fancy, as in formal, but dressing up for a theme! So we asked everyone to come in full-on plaid shirts, braids, cowboy hats, daisy dukes, you know the style! We cleaned up the apartment nice and pretty, and I even had the local florist do some wheat stalks for me to add to the effect. It was a bit of a farewell party to the apartment too, since we are moving out in a week or so!

Makeshift Bar

Sunflowers, Cadbury Heros Chocolate, "Why Every Man Needs a Tractor" and a Cow Milk Jug (The last two items courtesy of Suzanne Keating. I think my mom sends me anything that has to do with farming, tractors, or Ireland. But we love it!)

Note the wheat stalks. Very important. 

Saloon doors! Too cute!

Now that we are moving out of our place, we have grown to love it even more! Even though we can't wait for the extra space and the upgrades of the new apartment, but 6 The Anchorage, Townyard Lane in Malahide has done us proud. 

Catherine Whyte, Rockin' Out. 

I catered fried chicken, mac and cheese w/ bacon, cocktail sausages and green been salad for the party so my Irish friends could get a taste of good ole' country American cooking. The funny party is I'm from Chicago, which is a city and no where near the south, but for some reason I am obsessed with all things country. I guess it works out that I am dating a farmer then! Who would have guessed? From country club to country pub! I was too busy running around all night to take pics so thanks to Pad's bro Mick's GF Lindsey for the great party pics below:

Peadar and I

Ciaran (Pad's lil bro) and his GF Jane

Pad's Oldest Bro Ned and his wifey Joan

Cousin Dermot and Brother Brian. They're all related around these parts. Big Irish Catholic families!

After Peadar's birthday party I headed straight to London for a business trip. boxPAY were exhibiting at the Digital Content Monetization conference at the Tower Hotel in London. Check out our booth and my colleague Paul below.

We went out for dinner one night to a nearby pub and there was absolutely no one in it! We were the only people eating, it was the strangest thing.

But later we went to a bar called the "Dickens Inn" which was super cute (it looked like an old 19th century hotel) and had loads of people in it. It was on St. Katherine's Docks and there were some pretty sweet sailboats and yachts in the harbor.  

The view from our hotel was straight onto the Tower bridge. I have been to London twice before this, once to sight-see and once to Chelsea for another biz trip. But I never got the chance to actually go into the Tower of London, so on a lunch break Paul and I decided to pop in. 

Toture Device. There was actually a sign in there that said "Torture was actually rare in London back in..." blah blah blah I don't believe it! 

Henry the 8th Suit of Armor

We also went to look at the Crown Jewels, which you are not allowed to take pics of, but I did snap a picture (above) of the vault doors going into the exhibit, which I thought were pretty mission impossible-esque. The jewels were cool, but just seemed so excessive and unnecessary. Just made me think of people sitting pretty on their thrones of gold when there are starving children out there.

When I got back from London, I had scheduled a drivers test for the next day. I can drive on my American license for up to a year, but the insurance is brutally expensive on it and I have already been here 8 months, and it takes like 6 months to get your Irish license. Americans- never complain about the DMV again, Irish bureaucracy can be much worse! First thing, you have to pay 40 quid (slang for money, i.e. Euro)  to take a written exam and get 35/40 questions right. Once you send those results in you can apply for a provisional license, which you have to drive on for 6 months. Then you have to take an independent eye test and apply to a waiting list to take your actual exam. It's a process. So anyway, I made the mistake of scheduling the test less than 12 hrs after I got back from my week-long trip and the result is below:

34/40!! I needed a 35 to pass. Failed by 1 question, 1 stupid question!! Well, no matter, I can still drive anyway for a few more months. I haven't been driving at all since Pad's car is a stick and I only drive automatics. So I solved that problem on Monday by buying my first car completely on my own! No help from parents anymore, I am a real grown up. I feel so old! (Sorry, Peadar).

It's a Suzuki Jimny! Basically, a baby Jeep. If you took my old Jeep from the States and chopped the back half off of it, you would have this little weapon. She's a grand car, and a good fit for me too. I wanted an SUV to sit up high (helps my car sickness on the curvy roads), but here cars in general are much more expensive than the states, especially SUVs. For example a new Ford Focus over here is 22,000 EURO. Yup, you can thank government sales tax for that. On top of that, you have to pay car tax every year as long as you have the car. So in addition to petrol (Americans, read: gas), car insurance, and a car loan, you also have to pay a motor tax. It's the environmentalist mentality as well. For example a 1.3 liter engine has a 333 EURO tax, but a 2.3 liter engine has a 925 EURO tax. Anything 3 liters or higher pays 1,683 EURO in tax, EVERY YEAR. To put that in perspective, a Jeep Cherokee typically have a 2.8L or a 3.2 L engine. So choose your engine size wisely! And pray for me driving on the opposite side of the road over here :)

In other fantastic news, Olive had her baby finally! She was 16 days over her due date! Meet Joesph Edward, a healthy big baby boy at 9lbs 9oz. (Potential nickname oppty: Jedward, for any of you Irish people who know who they are) He's not chubs at all though, just very long. I'd say he's going to be quite tall when he grows up. Conrats to O and Finn :)

Alright, hope you have enjoyed this nice long blog. It's the start of a new year, and there a lot of new Firsts for me here in Ireland. I hope all is going well for my friends and family back home, leave a message and let me know how you are getting on. I will post some pics of our new apartment after we get settled in next week! I'm off to Derry in Northern Ireland tonight for my first swim meet since I've joined the National Aquatic Center's Masters Team. 

Lots of Love,

Amanda

12 Pubs of Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my friends and family both here in Ireland, back home in the States, and wherever else you might be in the world. I wanted to give you an update on what the holidays have been like here in Dublin and in the country (Naul).

But first, my boss Gavin bought a new puppy that he brings into work everyday. Meet Rufus, the new office dog. He's pretty damn cute, and making up for the fact that we lost Sophie this year at the grand old age of 14, whatever that is in doggie years. See the pic of her driving below. She had so many skills....

Rufus

Sophie

Little Rufi fell asleep on my Michael Kors bag one day at the office....

I wasn't even mad.

My office had a Christmas party and being the only girl, I, of course, was in charge of decorations, food, music, everything basically. I made Santa hat brownies, taco dip, sandwiches, and a Christmas tree cheeseboard. I got the ideas for all of this on pinterest.com, which I have seen a few people been getting into lately. There is some great recipes, party ideas, and other stuff on there. Be sure to check it out if you haven't. 

Last time you checked in with me I was headed off on a driven shoot with Eddie Whyte, Peadar's Dad. We went to this really cool old estate out in the Irish countryside, and apparently the house had been there for hundreds of years. Check it out below.

Basically how the shoot works is that there are 4 drives throughout the day, all at different sites. The pheasants are in the woods, and everyone involved in the shoot draws a number which correlates with their assigned position on the field. The shooters spread out to their positions (see the picture with all the men and their dogs) and "the beaters" chase the birds out of the bush/woods (hence the saying "beat around the bush").

My assignment was to help Eddie load the shotgun. This way he can keep his eye on the birds instead of having to fumble around with loading the shells. I was pretty good at this if I might say so myself!

Eddie locked and loaded.

The day we went, Dec. 19th, was one of the coldest days we've had in Ireland this winter, but I still got to wear a sweet outfit. Reversible camo hat, hunting jacket, beige skinny jeans and hunter boots!

The thing I love most about Christmastime in Ireland, is that it is a full week of celebrations and events, not just 2 days. Part of Peadar's present this year was custom t-shirts I had made. One says "Who left the fridge open?" because Peadar's always "giving out" (American translation: complaining) because I constantly open the fridge, browse around, then walk away leaving the door swinging. Another one was "GTL" since we love Jersey Shore so much, and another one is "I'd Rather be Farming" with the Farmville logo pig on it. Now that I think of it that would be a great t-shirt for my cousin Collin, who is a Farmville extraordinaire. 

Two years ago for Christmas (yes, that right 2 years, as in 2009) I got Peadar a Lego tractor for Christmas. I found it in his room this year, still completely unbuilt, and busted it out.  

Peadar and Ciaran started building it, but Ciaran got tired and fell asleep. Pad finished it though, despite many people who didn't think it could be done without his brother Ned's help. Apparently Ned is the Lego genius in the family. There's always one. My older brother Kyle was ours. 

My mistake, I think this is actually a Lego combine harvester, which is a totally different machine than a tractor, as Peadar will tell you. 

After Christmas Eve, and Christmas, is another holiday called "St. Steven's Day" aka: The Day After Christmas. I'm not sure what exactly that celebrates but I know it's another day off of work, which is grand. In between Christmas and New Year's, there is also an obligatory night where you do the "12 Pubs of Christmas" which is basically a pub crawl where you go have a drink at 12 different pubs, if you can make it. We joined at pub 3, and made it until the end. Although, we were hurting pretty bad the next day. 

Peadar and I brought funny hats to the pub crawl, me in my True Religion Eskimo number, and Peadar brought his "trilby" hat, which I also got him for Christmas this year. Pad's cousin Angela Wall is wearing the "trilby" in the pic above. Pretty badass. When Peadar first said "trilby" I thought it was supposed to be "Thrilby" and he just didn't pronounce the "th" because of his accent! Turns out I was wrong!

Christmas this year also involved a lot of sitting around and relaxing, as most holidays do. As I was strolling by the Whyte's living room. I snapped this pic of Finbar, Michael, Olive, and Eddie, all engaged with their cell phones or computer. Too funny! You can see Olive's baby bump in this picture. She was actually due New Year's eve, and is almost 2 weeks overdue at this point. She is basically ready to go at anytime, and mentally, she is really ready to get the baby going! She could basically be giving birth as I am writing this post, that's how ready she is.

Mary-O cooking away!

I even made deviled eggs and introduced them to Ireland.. Check em out in the spread below. 

St. Steven's Day dinner table. 

Peadar and Finbar rocking paper crowns, a tradition from this part of the world. You get them from "Christmas Crackers" which are not, as I found out, crackers that you eat on Christmas. They are basically like little fireworks that you pull apart and they have toys and crowns in them. 

On New Year's Eve we went to Peadar's sister Catherine's house for a party. See us looking sharp below!

Peadar's birthday is today, January 11th!  Happy Birthday Dude! As a treat I won't post any embarrassing pictures of you in my blog. What a present! Also, though, I got him a sweet flat screen which is a nice upgrade from the old TV we were using before. Now I can actually see the screen. 

Lastly, my good friend Rachel Taggart is headed to Brazil this Friday to do volunteer work for 4 months. Before she left though she found the time to send me some lovely xmas pressies for the home, including coasters, bottle openers, pictures, frames, etc. One of the things was a little stand that I wasn't quite sure what to use it for, but Peadar found the ultimate solution, an iPad holder! Thanks Rach!

Lot's of love to you all and have a happy, healthy, New Year!!

XOXO

Amanda