Battle of the century

The Babylonians vs. The Romans

As mentioned below, I got two fish. After a mighty battle, for breath, Nero won. Nebuchadnezzar died after only three days. I didn't mean to do my own animal testing but I got the wrong info from the pet store and apparently Nebuchadnezzar needed a filter to survive while Nero does not. I gave him a proper flushing burial.

Long live Emperor Nero.

It get's lonely at the top—and I live in an attic.

Hardly a replacement for logan, but meet Nero (left) and Nebuchadnezzar (right).

I've lost EVERYTHING!

I've always thought highly of macintosh computers, everyone know's that. But now, my faith is wavering. Only one year after i bought my macbook, the hard drive has crashed. the ironic part was i was backing up all of my photo's when it crashed. so now i've lost the last 6 months worth of photo's which are precious to me. Not to mention all of my design work.

just got off the phone with the apple repair guy...it would cost me over 500 euro ($620) to retrieve the data. So i sucked it up and i'm just getting a new harddrive without the retrieving the data.

One year - no regrets

As of yesterday i have officially lived in Dublin for one year. It's crazy how time fies, yes when I'm having fun. I've learned so many new things living over here, mainly how to live on my own and be comfortable with myself which is far from easy sometimes. I've decided I'm going to stay for another year and see where this crazy world brings me. After that I think i'd like to continue traveling, asia will be next.

To celebrate my one year anniversary I came down with strep throat, so I've been celebrating in bed for the last 3 days with Tom Robbin's Skinny Legs and All. Usually I'd be celebrating with my computer re-watching all the episodes of Firefly but my computer decided to get strep throat also, and is dead. Unfortunately, without my start up disc's (which are in oregon) I can't fix her. Bugger.

So I'll be keeping a low profile this weekend, taking my antibiotics, napping and reading. exciting stuff. Bring on year number two!

Week in a flash.

What a doozy. Last week was very slow at work but my nitelife was running faster than I was.

Wednesday I headed out to a Design Social put on by Design Ireland.

Thursday evening was Tanja's (my flatmate) last day so all of us in the house headed out to wish her safe travels back to Switzerland.

Friday nite I went out with some friends after work, great nite.

Saturday, Aishling and I headed up to Howth for a walk along the beach, followed by Tapas with Susan and Owen then met up with Martina for drinks.

Today was a lazy day, filled with sleeping, tv watching, laundry, cleaning the room. And I just got back from watching Sherrybaby with Ash, good movie but very depressing. We were suppose to go see the Simpsons Movie, but of course it was sold out.

Next week I foresee a week filled with movies the Simpsons Movie, Transformers, and an outdoor showing of Spinal Tap.


The flatmates, from left, Keiran, Donnacha, Tanja, and yours truly.


Howth >>>




Fish and Chips by the sea, some of the best I've ever had!

not much

Sorry I haven't been writing lately. There just hasn't been much going on. But there has been a lot going down...rain that is. The most exciting news is, I went and watched Alien's on the big screen last nite, outdoors, with NO rain! It was great, watching a scary movie outside where real alien's could have attacked at any moment! However, they didn't, only a few seagulls flew over.


The morning commute


Sunset from my window

Who's bright idea was this?

An outdoor festival in Ireland???

Wahoo, yesterday Martina and I headed out to Punchestown in Kildare for the Oxegen 2007 music festival. The festival was two days but we got day tickets for Sunday only. Upon arrival we were 100% satisfied with our decision to buy wellies, due to the fact that we have been receiving more rain this summer than ever before (yes even for ireland). By the end of the day mud people were abundant and mud wrestling was the main event, set to the tune of some of the most popular bands around.

Our day started out by catching a bit of Charlotte Hatherley (of ASH), nice and rocky. We then sloshed over to the Green Room to watch Calvin Harris, great energy, horrible lyrics. It was pretty exciting when the top of the tent burst during his set. Lunchtime! We ate the best felafel's I think I've ever had listening to the rhythm of the Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars.

Now, the fun begins. Bloc Party took the main stage, and put on an good show. We cut it short though and headed over to catch Albert Hammond Jr, but got there just as they were clearing the stage. Which is okay because we're going to see him at Vicar Street Next month. Now it was time for Martina and I to go our separate ways, she headed over to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and me to CSS. Due to a certain Amy Winehouse cancelling her set (ahg that woman, i tell ya always messin things up) I missed half of CSS because they were moved up in the schedule. But I was able to catch the last half, which was absolutely amazing, as expected. The good thing about the time change was I was able to catch the majority of the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club set with Martina, and found a few other friends there too.

We stuck around at that tent for the next band, Satellite Party. I'm not quite sure why they changed their name from Jane's Addiction though, all they played were Jane's Addiction songs. Wow is Perry Farrell crazy. Then across the way to see the fabulous Arcade Fire. Once again we cut the set short and slugged over to watch bright eyes. Now i was just expecting same ol thing, but, they blew us away! Without a doubt one of the highlights of the festival, I think I finally made Martina a fan also. She finally figured out "what all the fuss was about." We stayed in the same tent for the fabulous (tosses hand) Rufus Wainwright.

The end was near, the sun was going down and the Killers were on, but Daft Punk was louder. We stood half way between the two turning an ear to each. We also ducked into the Pet Sounds stage to catch a song from Brian Wilson, gotta say, a middle aged man sitting down playing a keyboard just wasn't holding a light to the lasers and light shows Daft Punk was putting on. We ended the nite with All These Things That I've Done by the Killers. Overall the last hour was filled with dancing to daft punk, singing along to the killers, and feeling sorry for Brian Wilson being overshadowed by the other two.

The nite was almost over. The heard of mudcaked people headed towards their cars, campsites and us to our bus. We ended the nite, in the standard Martina/Judy way, by getting separated. I squeezed onto a bus and the doors closed before Martina got on. We thought I was the lucky one but getting on a bus first thing, but it turned out Martina was the lucky one. About 10 down the road, my bus got a flat tire! Now we had 50 muddy, exhausted, drunk people waiting a half an hour for another bus to pick us up.

I finally got to the door and peeled off my wellies around 2am. Wow what a day.

Some mud pictures, this was not just a certain area, this is how the ENTIRE festival grounds looked:

Happy fourth of July

It's nites like tonite that I love where I am.


unfortunately, i did not take this photo, but this is pretty close to what it looks like.

I'm sure the rain will resume tomorrow.

Caio Italia!

Hello Ireland.
I'm back in dublin where it's easy to pay for things and find my way around, yet the food just isnt as good and the people are not as attractive (no offense ireland!). Of course the trip was good. I have to say it was very different from other trips i've taken.

I spent the first three days on my own, it was a bit lonely, but allowed some quality thinking time. Rimini is suppose to be one of the liveliest cities on the Adriatic coast. But because i was there on a wednesday through thursday not much was going on. I spent a lot of time on the beach, but got so burnt that i couldn't really go back. So then i thoroughly walked around the quiet city which took only about a half an hour. The majority of the remaining two days i passed time reading and drinking corona's in the garden at the hostel. Friday nite i headed out with two swedish girls (super nice girls), but headed in early because i had to catch my train early the next morning.

The Tiberius Bridge in Rimini, began under the Emperor Augustus in 14 and was completed under Tiberius in 21.

Saturday morning I headed to Faenza. I found the hotel that sarah was staying at really easy but she has left a note at the front desk to let them sleep a bit, so i grabbed a coffee and read more of my book. It was so great to see sarah, I haven't seen her since January and I haven't spent quality time with her in a very long time. The wedding was at three so we got ready and headed to the church. It was a smallish wedding at the very small, oldest church in Faenza. Now, all i know of italian catholic weddings is that the entire thing is read from a booklet and there's a lot of standing up, sitting down, kneeling and singing. After the wedding we headed to the reception at a vineyard a little outside the city. The food was amazing and the wine even better (as expected). After the reception finished, we headed back into town and joined the towns people in the pre-palio, (a jousting tournament between the town's five districts) festivities.


Sunday we walked around the town a bit and then headed over to the stadium with everyone else in town to watch the Palio. It was pretty fun, but at time more fun to watch each district yell and shout at the other districts and in some cases throw water balloons. After the match was over we headed out for a bit to eat and then sarah and i stayed out assuming there'd be some sort of victory party. We ended up crashing the winner's party but it was quite boring so we went and sat in the piazza for a while. Around 1:30am, the piazza was dead, but just as we were about to give up on any further festivities and head home, we heard drums and along trots the winning district with their pennants flying high. We sat around for an hour or so more and watched them celebrate.

Piazza del Popolo

This morning I had to get up early and head home. The travel home went very smoothly, I only wish I didn't have to do so much sitting around at airports I could have had some more quality visiting time. I need to get working on that teleportation devise.

See more Photos

To feel the sun on my back

Isnt it great lying in the italian sun? its only great until you wake up the next day and realize youre a lobster! I can barely move. And that was with sunscreen on. As italy will have it, i was suppose to head to Faenza today to meet up with sarah but guess what? Train Strike! No trains are running for 24 hours. Not only that but sarah missed her flight in Frankfurt (curse you again frankfurt!). So I hope to see her tomorrow. Off to put some more burn cream on.

Rain, rain, go away...

The weather here is crazy! Everyone is freaking out because normally June and July are very nice in Dublin. However, there's flooding all over the country and the rain is not stopping. It's predicted to rain for the next month solid!

I think I'll go to Italy and lay on a beach all day! Rimini and Faenza here I come!!! Be back on Monday.

The end of an era.

Sad day.

Brú na Bóinne!

Wow, what a great weekend!

Guess I'll start with friday. After work, it was so nice out I couldn't bare to go home so I walked up to stephen's green park and walked around then popped in topshop where i found two great shirts and ran into Martina (imagine that). We went and grabbed a quick bite to eat and then I met up with Kieran (my flatmate) and his friend Tom at Trinity College for a few cans on the grass. Headed home just after nine.

Saturday, I woke up early and hit the bus station for a trip out to Newgrange. I usually don't like tour bus' but it is one of the only ways to get out to Newgrange if you don't have a car. So at 10am I climbed on the bus with all the other tourists. On our way we stopped by Mainistir Bhuithe, an early christian settlement. Now mainly a graveyard with a remaining round tower. Then back on the bus and off to Mellifont Abby, dating back to 1142! We had about an hour tour and then back on the bus again.

Celtic Cross

Cup o flowers

Mellifont Abby

Next stop our main attraction, Newgrange. Let me also point out that it was HOT outside, well into the 70s and clear blue skies, therefore, the airconditioned bus was actually quite enjoyable. When we reached newgrange we had an hour break for lunch and then waited out turns to catch a minibus out to the site. It was pretty amazing, it was constructed 500 years before the pyrimids! Of course no one is quite sure what it was used for but, it aligns with the sun for the winter solstice. They've built in a similation of the solstice while you're inside. It's pitch black and then slowly a pencil thin light begins to creep in and illuminiates stones with spirals carved on them. Pretty cool indeed! We remained at newgrange for an hour or so, then back to the bus for the ride home.

Newgrange

I was walking up the path to head back to the bus, and who comes trotting down the path towards me? Kieran and Tom! Crazy coincedince. They were out for a drive, saw signs, and decided to check it out. I got my stuff from the bus and told the driver I wouldnt be continuing home with them, which was fine, he was a super nice guy and a great guide. Unfortunatly the boys had arrived too late for the last tour out to newgrange but we were able to book the next one out to Knowth.

Knowth

Around 5:30, tired, and sunburned we headed back to dublin, stopping at an overpriced golf pub on the way for some grub and watch a little Back to the Future.

Long day huh? Well it wasnt over yet. Got home cleaned up and then met up with Martina and Aishling for a nite on the town. We were all in great form, full of laughs and beers. We ended the nite shaking our booties at Whelans pub.

Again today the sun was out. I absolutly love dubin in the summer, as do the dubliners. Everyone just gathers in the parks to lounge all day. I grabbed my book and headed down to stephen's green for some reading. I was dreading having to go find a dress to wear to Erick's wedding, but I completely lucked out and bought the first dress I tried on in the first shop i went (i swear by this shop, it works everytime). Then I met up with Aishling for some sushi! And now I'm home.

Great weekend!

As always see my Picasa Page for more photos

I pomised my mom I wouldn't do anything crazy

So I cut my hair. Bangs!

Blog theft!

For your viewing pleasure, meow.

Short Trips

This weekend was (still is) a bank holiday weekend! Aishling and I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and head over to Galway. Galway is only a three hour train ride from Dublin, it's one if Irelands largest cities. It's most known for the Claddagh Ring. Over all it was a cute little city, we were only there for one nite but walked circles around the city center several times. We lucked out with the weather, Saturday it drizzled off and on. Sunday when we headed out to Salthill, the beach, the weather was gorgeous. Here are some of the highlights.


Galway Cathedral


Claddagh


Salthill coastline


All smiles at the Bierhaus, drinking a nice blonde ale.

The Great Distraction 2007

1. Puppies


2. Coffee


3. Quick trips


4. google kittens and puppies


5. Flash


6. Ratatat


7. C.I.


8. Jake Gyllenhaal


9. Johnny Depp


10. Substitutions


11. Photography


12. Friends


13. Six Feet Under


14. Slayer


15. Not eating meat


16. Imagining

weekend photos.

This weekend I went back down to Killiney for one last look before they go to their new families.




This one was the hardest to leave...she also didn't find a home that day so it made it extra hard not to bring her home with me.


This is nacho, he reminds me a lot of Logan, and apparently doesn't mind puppies too much.


The beginning of the sunset on the way home.


This is just a crazy door in Dublin.

Home and connected

Guess who has has the internet!?! Yep, me.

I returned from my Spanish adventures to find the internet up and running at my house. Hooray. So you can once again expect regular updates from me.

What's new you ask? Well let me tell you.

First of all my boyfriend is now a handsome 30-year-old. Happy birthday flynn! The great girlfriend that I am, I decided to celebrate his birthday in Spain...without him. And this is how it went:

May 5 Saturday

Martina and Aishling picked me up in a cab and headed off to Dublin airport to catch our 3:45pm. After only a 2.5 hour flight we landed in Madrid around 8pm (an hour time change). We found our way through the metro to our hostel which was conveniently located in the center of the city. After a quick freshening up we hit the town to meet Aishling's brother, Rowan, who's been living in Madrid for the last year. After dinner we met up with a few of his friends and headed out to a bar. The bars that we went to were all great, good music, great people and cheap (but good) beer! Not much more I could ask for there.


The first bar we went to had no television...

May 6 Sunday

As true Madrilenians do, we stayed out all hours of the night and finally settled back into our hostel around 6am. Not the best idea for sightseeing the next day. However, we only had plans to go visit museums and some parks. First Aishling and I headed to the Museo del Prado, where I got to see Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. Then we met up with Martina and spent the remains of the day in Parque del Buen Retiro listening to the bongo's beat to rhythm in our heads.

Madrid Archetecture

May 7 Monday

We got up early, 7am which is early for a holiday, and made our way to the Madrid train station to get a train to Toledo. Surprisingly we found everything quite easily and had our tickets within 20 minutes so we had plenty of time to spare. We picked some breakfast and awaited our train. The ride was only a half our so it was almost over as soon as it began. We stepped off the train into the quaint historic city of Toledo. We hadn't a clue where to go so just followed our fellow tourists and soon found ourselves on our own, snaking up a hillside towards the city. Once we reached the top we were so amazed. Toledo is such a small quite town (even with all the tourists), surrounded by stone walls and beautiful old buildings.

The sign into Toledo

I can easily say that our highlight was the Toledo Cathedral, dating back to 1226. Now, I've taken lots of art history classes, and I've seen the slides of intricate alters, but I was not prepared for this one. One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, and unfortunately it could never be replicated in photos (believe me, i tried) and is something one has to see.

The apse of the cathedral

Wall painting

The current Cardnial

We wondered around the cathedral for a good two or more hours. We stopped of for some lunch and then visited Santa María la Blanca, a synagogue dating back to 1180.

We strolled around the city for a while before catching a train back to Madrid.

View of Toledo

We met back up with Rowan for Tapas and a few beers. The last bar we went to looked like it was straight out of the 1920s, light jazz was playing, we were surrounded by art and we were expecting some flapper girls to walk in at any moment. At the evening's end we took a short metro ride back to our hostel and said our goodbye's to Rowan and thanked him for being an excellent tour guide.

Tapas Bar

May 8 Tuesday

We were up early again to catch our train to Barcelona. We had bought our tickets the day before so we just headed straight for the station and where after a little hassle i was finally able to get some breakfast. Finally we settled into our train seats for our 4 hour ride to Barcelona. I passed the time watching the country side and reading The Courious Incident of the Dog in the Night. When we arrived in Barcelona we found our hostel easily, settled in and as usual, hit the town! It was only 5pm by the time we headed out so we took a stroll down La Rambla to the Mediterranean sea. We sat by the sea for while and then stopped in at this silly "fairy bar" for a few pints, where we ended up for the nite. Imagine if the enchanted forrest was a bar and you have a pretty good idea what the inside of this place looked like.

May 9 Wednesday

This day was dedicated to Antoni Gaudí First we headed to his Casa Batlló. Amazing, and once again something that pictures can not capture. If only every house was created with this much thought and passion.

Roof of the Casa Batllo

Next we headed to Sagrada Família. Now, I knew that this building was still under-construction, but I had no idea to what extent. It's basically a construction site, men with hardhats, cranes, machinery, lots of hammering and drilling and throughout all of this are tourists wondering around the perimeter. The front facade is very angular while the back facade is the most intricate piece of architecture I've ever seen. Every time I looked at it, i saw something that i hadn't seen before. We were also able to take a lift to the top of the cathedral where we had great views over Barcelona and could get closer to Gaudi's incredible designs.

stained glass

Me and Aishling, view from the top

We continued our Gaudi walk to Parc Güell. We spent several hours here walking throughout Gaudi buildings and artworks.


Gaudi has now jumped to one of my favorite artists. I've never seen anything like his buildings and I never imagined anything liked them existed. On our way home we stopped at a xocolata cafe for a cup of chocolate and churros!

May 10 Thursday

Today was was our museum day. We began the day by visiting the Salvador Dali Museum. What a wacko!


Next off to the Palau de la Música Catalana . Just when I though I'd seen it all with Gaudi, along comes this building. Unfortunately for us, we could only take a guided tour through the building and no pictures were allowed. The interior was pure eye candy at the hight of the Art Nouveau period, right up my alley.

After a short trip on the metro, we found ourselves at the Joan Miró museum. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of Miro, but it was bright and colorful that's for sure. Some of his paintings were beautiful, others were simply a black squiggly line on a white canvas...the kind of painting that makes you say..."I could do that." But you gotta hand it to the guy, he was dedicated. There were Hundreds of paintings and most of them were on wall-sized canvases.

For dinner we headed to the Café de les 7 Portes, established in 1836, where we had paella in the same seats as, Orson Welles, Dalí, Picasso, Miró, and Che Guevara have eaten.

After dinner we headed to Bar Marsella, an absinthe bar, where we stuck to beer, and tried to gain some of the genius of Miro, Picasso and Hemingway who had all drank there.

May 11 Friday

Beach day! We laid on the beach all day, with the occasional dip in the Mediterranean. When the sun started going down, we headed back to the hostel to freshen up. We found a great little cafe for dinner were were had the best dinner of the trip.

The modernist trail, trail markers throughout the city

Local Graffiti

May 12 Saturday

Flynn's Birthday! We took one last stroll around Barcelona, grabbed some lunch and headed to the bus station to head to Girona. We had an 1.5 hour bus ride to the airport and then a 2.5 hour flight home. I can't say it was the best to be home, because that means I have to go back to work and no more sunshine. But it does mean I get to sleep in my own bed and not spend so much money.

And that was my trip to Spain.

As always for the complete slideshow visit my picasa page.