29th June 2015 - Waiting and waiting

It's waiting time for me. Nothing much is happening with my apartment so I'm waiting on news trying not to buy too much random stuff. Couldn't resist the last weekend though. I was at the Dublin Flea and I bought a few things: a new ceiling lamp shade and somebody's dishes that originally belonged to a set and I got the leftovers: 5 breakfast plates and 3 small soup bowls. Not crazy about complete sets anyway. That's kinda boring. Currently all in the bout of my car so there will be pictures of them the next time.

Instead of spending I'm trying to use what I have. I won a voucher at last year's Christmas raffle in work for Ticketmaster and eventually managed to go to another event. I went to see Darragh O'Briain (pronounce Dara Obrien) in Vicar Street and had the best laughs in a very long time. Tickets were "only" €30.00 and I had an amazing seat at one of the tables, second row from the stage. It was a very good performance. I had seen him plenty of times on TV and definitely will go again if he's performing in Vicar Street.

Picture of the stage before the start of the show. I didn't dare taking a picture of him while performing on stage. Firstly, I knew he was going to take the piss out of me and secondly, he was jumping around on stage so much the camera picture would have been awful.

I took several more pictures at various occasions the last couple of days. It seems that's all I'm doing at the moment: trying not to spend money and taking pictures. Starts being a bit frustrating, especially as I don't have a moving-in date yet and contracts haven't been signed yet either. All I know is that's moving along and I'm trying to be conscious of what I'm doing with my money in the meantime. I've Bundoran coming up on Friday so there will be another post after the weekend. After all, I'm going surfing. Will be so much fun.

I have been to Howth as well, on the hunt for seals with a friend and I did manage to get one in front of the camera.

There's our little buddy, as my friend said.

Otherwise, our cats seemed to have a fight yesterday. At least that's what I thought when I hurt a cat crying. When I took a picture they looked all innocent at me - we didn't do anything. I think Weasley will be happy when he's moving out to live with me at my new place.

Took that from my bedroom window. Look at those two innocent faces.

Last but not least, I went out for a walk with another friend tonight and the boats were out.

Took this on the way back and thought that it looked very nice with the flowers.

Just to make sure I don't loose my readers, this post is for you. I hope to have some news on my new place soon and that I get great pictures in Bundoran.

18th June 2015 - Sweet Sicily in Big Dublin and summer

Summer is finally here which means it's above 20 degrees and we can go for long walks at the beach which I did today with my friend. I hadn't seen her since her holiday in Greece so our catch-up was lovely. Life is busy at the moment and work keeps me occupied during the day so I'm not up to much otherwise.

Another friend brought me recently to a lovely Italian coffee place in the middle of Dawson Street in Dublin. I walked right past them as I didn't realise it was down in their basement with two (or three floors) of craft shops above them. All very reasonable if you think that it was in the middle of Dublin 2. The coffee shop itself is called "Sweet Sicily". They lovely coffees and paninis. And their Nutella cakes are divine. Had to give in. Certainly a lovely spot for coffee and get away from the crowded Dublin roads. The tourists are here so you are happy to find little hidden spots that take you away for a while, making your forget that you still live in Dublin.

Door to the coffee place from Dawson Street. It looks very small but extends to the back.

Otherwise I've spent the last couple of days taking the occasional picture with my phone - as said - I'm not up to much these days. It's too warm already to move and it's still very bright outside late at night. I spent a night at friend's house last week and it was still bright by 11:00pm. Same when I left the cinema last Sunday (Jurassic World - good movie). The sun was only really starting to set.

Not quite sure what flower this is but I was blooming just outside Sweet Sicily.

The flowers around the train station are in full bloom at the moment and I've also never seen such much Elderflower blooming. I feel the itch in my finger to make cordial again and I found a recipe for Elderflower gin/vodka on the internet. Definitely on my To-Do-list.

My legs are tired so I'm having a quick shower and then off to bed. Night!

1st June 2015 - Loads going on, no time to write

Okay, I had a couple of busy weekends, more appointments for viewings, catching up with friends, work and all the other stuff you have to do in life. In the meantime though I managed to finish my Owl cardigan, put the buttons on it today but pictures will follow shortly.

During the last weeks we had the An Post Rás on, a bicycle race that went through Skerries. A friend of mine came up from town. We were in luck, the weather was good, sunshine most of the time and we were even able to walk in the water at the beach.

Picture during the race. And yes, we have a new pub/restaurant called the Salty Dog. Does nice food, big portions, still a bit unorganised but I will give them a try again soon.

Little fellow we met at the beach. Skerries restaurants serve the local fish and seafood straight from the sea. So I'd say he can call himself lucky he hasn't ended up on somebody's plate yet.

Overall, the weather was stunning that day. As far as I can recall it was raining the next day.

Yesterday, I went out to Celbridge. The guy that sells the coffee at Skerries train station brings out his coffee van to Castletown in Celbridge, one of these lovely castles in middle of nowhere. They have a market on every last Sunday of the month, coinciding with the Dublin Flea and the Coop market. My friend is currently on holidays so I gave the Dublin Flea a miss and went to Celbridge instead. I ended up the Carbury afterwards for a BBQ. Busy as a bee indeed.

Picture of the stalls at the market. This setup can actually call itself a market. People were selling fruit and vegetable, home-made items such as jewelry (yes I bought something), soy candles (yes, those too) and other amazing stuff like pizza from the stone-oven. It had just rained a few minutes ago, typical Irish weather, kept changing all the time. Certainly will go again, was a fantastic day.

From 2:00pm there is always live-music

However, my attention was draw to a man at a stand making sculptures from lime wood and teaching children how to carve these cool wooden faces. I was tempted to try it myself. Maybe next time.

To sum it up, I had a couple of lovely weeks and hope to have some good news soon. I finish this post with a picture of the sea at Balbriggan train station, taken one morning while waiting for the train.

Still surprised what my phone can do. Hope it stays with me for a good while longer.