19th July 2015 - Almost there

I'm close to signing the papers for my apartment. Next week I finally will be able to get into the apartment again; take pictures and have a look at whether there are outstanding items for repair or replacement. It's very exciting as well as unnerving. I have an appointment tomorrow to get life-insurance cover and somehow this all makes me really nervous. It sounds so serious. I'm looking forward to my new place and currently I'm spending a good bid of money of things for the apartment.

As mentioned in one of the previous posts I bought a lovely Tiffany-style lampshade that I'm currently using. I always had a thing for Tiffany and I'm delighted somebody was willing to part with it. Next Sunday I'm planning to be at the market again in hope of finding more spoils for my new place.

Still can't believe that it was only €5 and the light is lovely.

I went to the Next Sale on Saturday which meant getting up at 2:40am in the morning to queue at 3:30am - the Sale started at 5:00am. Sounds crazy but honestly for the amount of stuff I got and for the prices I got it at it was worth it. I got two pairs of trousers, one pair in red and one pair in rose and a few tops and I cleared their Homeware department and got myself glasses, cutlery and a pretty set of dishes. And I saved about 50% if not more. When we went back again for another round, my friend and I, I noticed that everything household related that had been on sale was gone. So lucky me that I made my purchases earlier.

The Sales prices are about the same as IKEA but the items wouldn't be as nice as in the picture above so I'm happy I bought everything. I inherited a toaster and kettle last Friday and a few wine glasses and coasters as well. I can't complain my collection of house stuff is growing well.

Additionally, I've decided to work on a quilt or Granny square blanket, not sewn but crocheted instead. I have a lot of one-ball yarns left so while watching Breaking Bad and waiting on calls regarding the apartment, I work up squares. They go quick enough and I have made about 70 since the last weekend. Bad news is that I need 300. For some reason I have it in my head to make a 15 x 20 square blanket plus border. I have no idea how long this will take me. But at least Breaking Bad is keeping me company and avoids spending too much money otherwise - unless it's for sale items of course!

My current selection of Granny squares.

Sample idea with a few of the squares. This is 8 squares by 7 rows which makes it pretty large. I hope to cover part of my double bed when I'm done. Otherwise it will be fine on a single bed as well.

Before anyone asks, I went back to bed after the sale at around 11:00am and slept on and off until about 2:30pm. Looking forward to tomorrow now in the hope to get a message from the estate agent that I can get into my apartment. Hope to be able to post more soon.

7th July 2015 - Weekend in Bundoran

I've just returned from Bundoran only to be greeted by rain. All of Sunday was very wet; we drove through a thunderstorm near Virginia in Cavan. It was like the flood gates had opened.

At least on Friday when we left we had gorgeous weather. We arrived in Bundoran at 5:30pm on the dot, checked into our room and went for a long walk afterwards.

Main Street in Bundoran.

Picture of the surf school. Our room was the last window on the right.

Bundoran is located in Donegal and a very popular spot for surfers. There are three beaches that are used for surfing. We went to the closest one: Tullan.

People surfing Friday afternoon. The beach has cliffs at the side where we went for our walk to and I took this picture. Tomorrow afternoon it was going to be us down there.

Another picture near the cliffs. Bundoran is very picturesque and it was certainly not the last time I was hear. It turns out that I already had been here before. I figured it out when we went for drinks that evening. It's just that I only had seen one side of the main street and never went up to see the rest.

Bundoran is very pretty, even though there isn't much going on as such. As usual there are a few pubs, restaurants, hotels and a few shops. But it's unbelievable how close it is to Dublin. It took us about 3 hours and we were on the other side of the country.

My friend took all the pictures of us in the wet suit the next day when we got dressed for the surfing lessons. I have to say that they are a nightmare to put on especially when they are already wet. We received shoes with them already full of water. And the noise they are making. I scrapped by fingers a bit. It's difficult to hold on the fabric and the next day was even worse. But I had fun.

We got onto a minibus and where brought to the beach. We received some training instructions after a warm-up and some safety instructions and then it was off into the Atlantic Ocean. I have to admit I'm not very good at surfing. It struggled holding my balance and when a wave came I usually wasn't up to speed enough to get carried by the wave and I ended up in the water. Our instructors were very good though and before we knew the two hour session was over.

On the same day the hostel had organised a barbecue. We brought our own drinks. We sat on bean bags while eating watching the sun go down.

There are a few mobile home parks around in Bundoran and one is just behind the surfing school. Somebody was so kind and took this picture as we had to climb up the van to see the sunset properly.

Sunday flew by and before we knew we were back in our wet suits for Sunday morning surfing. The weather had changed slightly, rain had been announced and the sea was slightly wilder which made the surfing even more entertaining. The waves came quicker at us and were higher than the day before and it was even more fun. I still didn't get to surf properly and spent more time swimming in the water or lying on the board but even with the rain I just simply enjoyed it.

We left Bundoran around 1:30pm and were back in Dublin around 5:00pm. I pretty much fell into bed immediately, watched a movie and slept on and off during the night. I'm off today so I have some time catching up, do the washing. I have to get a few things sorted for my apartment but I'm getting there. Hope to move now soon.

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.

13th May 2015 - Save Return

This is just a small post to let everyone know that I'm back in Ireland. I had a lovely though a little sad time. And of course it was over too quickly. Work awaits, house hunting awaits. I hope to have good news soon.

One good though before switching off: I managed the get my lamp home safely and it's absolutely beautiful. A friend's father made it for me just based on ideas and I understand that my friend found it difficult to part with it. Just to let you know: it arrived in Ireland and it's working perfectly.

My personal designed butterfly-flower Tiffany lamp with a energy-saving bulb inside. Once the English and German websites are up I will copy it into my blog.

Lastly, two pictures I took while I was on holidays. I think I'm getting the hang of using my phone properly to take pictures even though the resolution is not the best.

Tulips I bought for my mother.

Picture taken from inside the bus last Tuesday, 5th May. It suddenly started to pour out of the heavens like in a movie. The sky turned dark, rain came down in sheets. Within a couple of minutes trees were broken in half by the storm. Not far from my home town, a tornado destroyed a village - tornadoes in Germany, first thing I've ever seen on TV.

Alarm clock is set, light is going out soon. See you all soon and thank you for the great time.

3rd May 2015 - Sunday in Hamburg

My friends had invited me today to visit them in Hamburg. I got an early train and was treated to lovely home-cooked food: vegetable soup and vegetable lasagne. It was heaven! We had a very long catch-up, loads of coffee - LOVE coffee and then we went for a walk/cycle to the Stadtpark. Haven't used bikes in a while. Hamburg introduced a rental service, similar to the service available in Dublin, for people to rent bikes, free of charge for up to 30 mins of use.

I took the opportunity to take pictures. I'm seriously considering buying a proper camera to get more into proper photography. But I can't spend the money on one at the moment. So I use what's available, my Huawei phone. I think some of them are really good.

My friends explained to me that this is one of the restaurants where you can rent boats to explore the river.

Cherry blossoms fully in bloom.

The park hosts a lot of different types of flowers. This one is tricky - I got a close-up picture of a flower bud making it look like it was the size of your palm. It's about the size of your thumb.

The local geese had a little offspring. Still all fluffy looking. So cute.

According to my friends this fountain is rather new. Really love the penguins.

There's a round pond with remote-controlled ships. The pirate ship was even playing music.

After our walk we went for a beer in the beer garden. When we left I noticed this heart-shaped sculpture. You might not see it but fairy lights have been wrapped around the construction. I'd say it looks very pretty at night.

I left Hamburg with rain and a heavy heart, hoping to catch up with my friends again soon. Please read the blog and thanks again for the lamp!

1st May 2015 - New knitting project and my mum's cooking

I've decided to bring a knitting project with me which is Ginny's Cardigan. It has owls on the back in lace and I fell in love with the pattern when I saw it for the first time. I still have a lot of yarn stashed away so I hope this one will reduce it again as planned for 2015. I'm only back in Germany since yesterday but I've already started on the 3rd ball - only brought five with me. But my mum has crochet stuff to do so I will keep myself busy as it is.

Again, I decided to modify the pattern. I love the lace on the back but the front of the cardigan is rather plain and I'm not a big fan of knitted pockets. I always tend to stuff them with ... well ... stuff. Ruined a couple of jackets in the past. I've also decided to lengthen the cardigan as I have more yarn than required hence I started the cardigan off with two repeats of the owl pattern before starting the shaping for the waist. Here's a picture of the current project.

I didn't bring stitch markers with me so I robbed my dad of paper clips. Works well enough to mark the pattern section, e.g. decreases and the lace part. The lace is easy enough once you get used to those triple decreases: sssk and k3tog. Looking forward to the finished project.

Great thing about holidays is that I'm able to enjoy my mum's cooking again. And let's be honest - nobody cooks as well as your mum. She made gyros today with her own herb mix and baked feta cheese with peppers, red onion, tomatoes, dried basil and olive oil. The whole ensemble was served with olives stuffed with almonds, home-made sauce and warm bread. Picture of everything before going into the oven and the frying pan.

I didn't last very long once it was cooked.

Tomorrow, I'm going shoe shopping - desperately need new shoes and pay a visit to one of my favourite crafts shops, Sticklise, hunting for buttons.

Going to bed now. Night.