Dublin

Friday morning it was up early (don't expect anything less when travelling with my dad) for breakfast. My Uncle John and his wife Jenny met us at our hotel so that we could all pile into the Mel's van (our driver for the rest of the trip) for a tour around Dublin.

Our first stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral.  It was built in the 1100's and is reportedly the sight of all the baptisms that St. Patrick did to convert the heathens of Ireland to Christianity.

Stained Glass Window in the Cathedral

Mom & Dad with the Altar behind them

Me & Dad with the Altar behind us

After walking around the inside of the church, we went out to the gardens. Where there's a plaque explaining that somewhere within those gardens, is the place where St. Patrick baptized people in the 5th Century. Gee, thanks for being so specific.

Mom, Dad, Jenny & Uncle John with the Cathedral behind them

Me, Dad, Jenny & Uncle John with the Cathedral behind us

Next stop was Pheonix Park, this is where the President of Ireland lives, also the US Ambassador lives there and was the site of the Pope's visit in 1979. It's a HUGE park with lots of trails, sports fields and even a zoo.

The cross that was erected for the Pope's visit in 1979

This is the President of Ireland's house. Look familiar? The guy who built our white house stole borrowed the designs from this one.

After driving around the park, we headed to Dublin Castle. It's been around, in some form, since the 1100's. The English used it as their seat of government/power when they ruled over Ireland, and it's now used by the Irish government as office buildings.

My Uncle John, standing in the guard stand. Sorry ladies, he's taken.

Standing in the courtyard, reading signs.

This picture was unstaged, my mom's a papparazzi. I seem to be the only one noticing she's taking a picture.

We decided we wanted a tour of the castle, so we bought our tickets and then made our way to the Cafe to wait until our tour time. Once the tour started, we got to walk around the rooms that were used by the "important" people of the time, and the Queens and Kings when they came to visit.

I look perplexed by whatever I'm reading.

The view of the gardens from the "estate bedroom."

This was the Ladies Lounge. You waited here until a guy decided he wanted to come and ask you to dance. If no one asked you, you stood there all night and then left. Notice there's a mirror every 4 feet.

The Chair that Queen Victoria sat on when she came to visit. It used to have "claws" for feet. But she was so short, and thought it looked not royal for her maids to help her on the chair. So they cut the feet off.

This is the dining room - also holder of all the portraits of the important people.

The state room.

After seeing the inside of the nice castle, we made our way to the old part of the castle. There are still remnants underground of the castle that was built in the 1100's. It still boggles my mind that people back then had the knowledge/technology to build something that could still be here thousands of years later...

My new, shiny friend. I was actually kind of scared someone was hiding inside and was going to scare the crap out of me.

After the tour of the castle, we had Mel drop us off near Grafton Street. It's a pedestrian shopping area, where most of the Dubliners do their shopping. But our first, most important stop was for lunch.

This was my mom's lunch, fish pie.

Mom, pretending to enjoy a Guinness.

My Uncle John and I chowing down on our food.

For as much as people warned us the Ireland isn't known for it's cuisine, the food was actually pretty good. I don't think Kenny would've necessarily agreed because it was a lot of seafood, potatoes and vegetables. If you're expecting the quality of food you would get in Italy, you will be sadly dissappointed. But if you realize they're working with what they got, it was all in all pretty good.

After lunch, we walked down Grafton street for a bit. My mom and Jenny did some shopping damage. All I got was a shot glass (I have a collection, sort of, from places I've been).

Hustle and Bustle of Grafton Street

After the damage had been done there, we made our way back to the hotel to freshen up before heading to the Old Jameson Distillery in Dublin city. The one that is currently in operation is in Middletown, Ireland...this is just a tourist attraction as well as a place for you to learn how they make the whiskey.

We got there early (shocking), so we wasted time by taking pictures and drinking the drinks they were making at the bar. They were all made from Jameson but none of them tasted like whiskey. I got an Apple Martini that basically tasted like Apple Pie. My dad got a straight up Jameson and everyone else got a pineapple concoction. Due to a miscommunication, Uncle John got one. But because of his diabetes, he can't really drink. Don't worry - it didn't go to waste, my mom made sure of it.

Dad, in front of his favorite drink.

Decorated for the Game

Hanging out

Cheers

Double fisting, and those were both gone in less than 10 mins.

After the drinking, came the tour. It was interesting, to a point. My dad was all about it...maybe trying to figure out how he can do some homemade brew? I was transfixed on this absolutely creepy stuffed cat. The tour guide pointed him out and explained that back in the day, Smitty the cat, was a champion. He caught a record of 20 mice a day. He was beloved by all the workers. And when Smitty died, they were all really sad. So, how did they fix the problem? They stuffed him. And he still sits there today, watching over everyone. I turned to my mom and told her to not get any ideas...

How creepy is this thing?!

At the end of the tour, they give you a glass of Jameson. You can either have it straight up, or mixed with cranberry juice or 7up. The 7up route was actually pretty tasty.

We were then lead to a dining room where it was time for dinner. The options were Beef (you should see how many cows they have roaming the countryside) or fish (they are an island). I went with fish, cause when in Rome Ireland, do as the Irish do.

Waiting for dinner

Other side of the table, waiting for dinner

After dinner was served, an Irish band came out to entertain us. They were really good and really funny. I think I understand my love of music and dancing now. Everywhere in Ireland, there is music constantly playing. And the Irish are constantly singing, tapping their foot, bobbing their head...they are doing something to show their appreciation for the music. So see, the dancing in the grocery store isn't my fault...it's in my blood :)

The Band

They also brought out some Irish dancers. I wish I had better pictures of them. But their little legs were going so fast, it was hard to capture an image. I wish I would've learned how to dance like that...

After the entertainment was over, we loaded back into the van. Mel dropped Uncle John and Jenny off at a hotel so they could catch a cab to their hotel (which was pretty far away), and then he drove us back to our hotel. Where it was off to bed for another early morning.

Ireland - Travel Day

My apologies for my lack of blogging. I have been informed I need to step up my game or my adoring fans will stop reading (hi Susan & Sharon!). I've been busy with work as well as packing for Ireland. And then of course - I actually went to Ireland. So I thought what better way to get back into the swing of things than by blogging about the trip.

My dad went to the Naval Academy and they were playing a football game against Notre Dame in Dublin. Once they announced this last year - my dad made it a mission that we would make a journey to our homeland, where his grandfather came from. Unfortunately, Kenny wasn't able to come. (Stupid work). But spinning that into a good thing - I was able to upgrade my economy ticket to a first class seat (winning!).

My dad told both my mom and I that we could only bring 1 suitcase and it had to be the "medium" size one of the big, medium and small suitcase set. I am pretty good at packing so I was able to fit an outfit for everday, plus one extra, and 7 pairs of shoes (3 of them being boots). Kenny and my dad said there was no way I could do it with that many shoes, challenge accepted and defeated gentleman..thank you very much.

Our flight left Dulles @ 6:50PM. My dad wanted to leave for the airport around 2 - please keep in mind the airport is only 30 minutes away from our house. So, if you ever wonder why I'm always 5 minutes early - it's because I was raised by he-who-must-get-to-the-aiport-3-hours-in-advance. I had rented a car to drive to and fro (I was up there for the week for work), so we got gas in that car, returned it and then took the shuttle to the airport.

Even with checking our bags, and going through security - we were at the gate by 4pm. The good thing about being in first class, is you get to go into the "Lounge." There the provided free drinks (of the adult persuasion) and food. We got a little snack and hung out in there until they called us for boarding. Of course, like the ametaurs we are, we were taking all kinds of pictures.

The Virgin Atlantic Lounge

After boarding the plane, we came to our seats, which were nothing like I had seen before. They were like a little Pod or Cubicle. They had a main seat for you to sit in, and then another seat @ your feet which you could use as a prop, or if you wanted to have a companion come sit there during dinner, so you could eat together. The seat also folded down into a bed. This is our family photo shoot in our awesome seats, the people around us were probably like "Amateurs," but sorry I'm not sorry.

 

                 

After a free champagne toast to a good journey, (also a secret weapon to get my afraid of flying mom to calm down a little)...it was time for takeoff.

Once dinner was served - pork with mashed potatoes, gravy, & veggies, and dessert was eaten. It was time to fold the seat down into a bed and try to cozy up for a little nap.

Watching a movie while laying down in bed

I actually only ended up sleeping for about 2 hours. They give you real life comforters so I woke up SO HOT! and then couldn't get back to sleep. I ended up enjoying more of the movie selections until we landed.

After we landed at London Heathrow, we made it through the maze of buses, escaltors and waiting in line again to go through customs/security. Once we figured all of that out - we had some time to till before our next flight to Ireland. We ended up at a place in the airport that served breakfast.

Dad, at breakfast

Mom, and I at breakfast.

Next up - walk through another BMI checkpoint (they scan your fingerprint and your eyeball) to get to our gate. There wasn't enough space in the overhead bins for big carryon luggage, so they were gate checking what seemed like the whole plane's luggage. This was a very speedy process and didn't annoy my dad at all. (This is where I need a sarcasm font). After that debacle, we got on the plane for our 1 hour flight to Dublin.

Flying over Ireland

After landing, going through customs and then to baggage claim we were finally free to walk into Ireland :) They had the airport all decorated for the American fans coming into to watch the "American football" game. It made it really easy that Navy & Notre Dame have the same color scheme.

Our driver for the day, Jim, suggested that since it was only noon - our hotel room wouldn't be ready yet. So he decided to take us on a little driving tour around the outskirts of Dublin as well as the city to kill some time and so that we could see the sites.

On the hills overlooking Dublin Bay

After a bit of seeing the landscape, we went to Clontarf Castle Hotel - the site where Brian Boru (the ancestor where the O'Brien's come from) defeated the Vikings in 1014. We stopped there to admire the hotel (where we would stay a night later) and take a potty break. My mom found it necessary to also take a photo opportunity.

After that, we drove down to Dublin city. And got to see how city life works in Ireland. Not all that different than American cities - other than the fact that it's much smaller. The whole country could fit into New Jersey, population and all.

Store fronts in Dublin

The Guiness Factory in Dublin

After driving around for awhile, it was finally time to check into our hotel. We were initially supposed to stay at the Clontarf Castle Hotel Thu-Sat nights. But seeing as the Notre Dame football team (we later found out) was staying there - they had moved us out of that hotel and put us into another. The Royal Marine was a nice hotel that sat right on the water in a little suburb of Dublin called Dun Laoghaire. After checking in, we headed to the bar for an afternoon snack and drink (we hadn't eaten lunch) and it was an attempt to not take a nap. We were still on American time and had been up for over 24 hours (not counting the 2 hour nap on the airplane). But we knew in order to get our bodies on schedule as soon as possible, we would need to stay awake and go to bed at a "normal" time in Ireland.

Mom & Dad at the Hotel Bar

Dad and Me @ the Hotel bar

We were in Ireland, of course we had to get potatos!

After our afternoon snack, we went back to the room to take showers/get refreshed. And then decided to take a walk around the town of Dun Laoghaire before dinner.

The town

After walking around for a little bit (most of the stores were closed because it was 6pm), we made our way back to the hotel where we ate dinner at the restaurant there. After that it was up to bed for some much needed sleep.

An Organizing Craft

So I'm a hoarder sentimental person. I have kept most of my cards that special people in my life have given to me throughout the years. My mom gives me a card for every holiday, I've kept every letter my dad wrote when he was deployed, birthday cards since the age of 10, graduation cards, etc. Here's just some of my stash:

So I knew that I wanted to keep the wedding cards that Kenny and I received but I didn't just want to shove them in ziploc bags and hide them under the bed (the fate of most of my other cards). So once again, I turned to pinterest and found this tutorial. Click here to see in detail. The only thing I would add to this is make your ribbon longer than what she suggests - cause you can always cut it but if it's too small your bow looks dumb (a la my bow). But here's my finished product:

It's sitting on our coffee table so people can look through it if they want :)

Bathroom Makeover

Before I got here, Kenny took the minimalist approach to decorating. Such as a see-through shower curtain, old towels (which he only had 2 of) and mismatching rugs. Now, I do have to give him credit for having rugs in the first place. And that each sink had it's own thing of soap, I'll give him props for that. So here is what the bathrooom looked like when I first moved in:

The toilet has it's own little room, and an awkward towel bar in there - like who really needs a towel while they're on the toilet? You can see the clear shower curtain. All of *my* stuff strewn on the counters, and the weird cubby hole that's in between the sinks.

The first line of business (after putting up my pretty new shower curtain), was to get the stuff off the side of the tub. I'm probably a freak but I really don't like it when my shower things just sit on the side of the tub. They leave rings that are hard to clean, and I just don't like how it looks. So once again, the before picture.

So I bet you're thinking "you should just get one of those things that hang from the shower head to put all your stuff on," right? Well, in a normal case that would work. However, since Jacksonville has such 'hard' water - think smelly water that makes your skin dry, rough and red - we had to get a filter to go on our shower head. It is definitely worth it because the water smells no longer and my hair and skin actually feel pretty nice. But since it's so bulky, getting a shower caddy to go over, and still have my big bottles of shampoo/conditioner fit just wasn't going to happen. After looking through pinterest, I saw an idea involving a shower curtain rod and a hanging device from urban outfitters. I happened to already have an extra shower curtain rod - it had gotten moved down here along with my backup curtain rods. And I happened to have a coupon + promo code from urban outfitters for this beaut (here), so I managed to only spend $10 with shipping. So in total the project cost $10 - winning!

Anyways, Kenny put the shower curtain at the back of the shower and just a little lower than the outside one so you can't see it if the pretty shower curtain is closed. And then we hung the organizer plus some hooks (for my washcloth and loufa) and voila an organized shower without stuff all around it.





Next up was the "cubby" area that was between our sinks. We decided to use this area as a storage area for all my "girly stuff" as Kenny calls it. The storage bins are home to my womanly needs, nail stuff and all of our travel stuff. I thought this was genius. But everytime I walked into the bathroom, I got hives looking at it. For one, those plastic bins are kind of unsightly and two, my business was out there for everyone to see. And yes, I'm aware that not many people will be hanging out in our master bath but still... I didn't like my business out there for the world. So I decided to remedy this situation.

I went and got a shower curtain/tension rod that was made for shower stalls, so it was smaller than most and would fit in that little space. I then got the shower curtain that matches our bath accessories (I didn't want it for the shower cause I liked the lace one better) but I thought it would be a perfect match for this. I decided to go for the "no sew" version. I don't have a sewing machine, and if I did, I'd probably end up sewing my finger to the curtain...so it was just better if I stuck with things that I knew I could do. I bought some no sew tape from Joann Fabrics (here) and decided to give it a try.

Cutting the curtain

So I measured the cubby hole, and then cut my shower curtain to that length. I used our laser level to attempt to keep the cut straight. I can't say that it was the cleanest cut ever, but it did the job. I then attached the curtain to the shower curtain rings and put it on the rod to measure the length of it.

Cutting the curtain for it's length

Once again, I didn't really do it precisely. I kind of just folded it where it needed to hit the ground and then took scissors to it. I knew that I would be folding it over a little bit in order to use the no sew tape and get a prettier/straighter line so I wasn't too concerned about it.

After making the necessary cuts, I got out the ironing board and the iron to make the hems look better. I followed the directions on the tape, you basically put the tape between the pieces of fabric, cover with a damp cloth and press down for 10 seconds on each side. Once again, I didn't go for perfection here. I used a ruler to attempt to make a straight line but didn't spend hours upon hours making sure everything was straight. It was definitely a practice for my ocd/perfectionism to be like "it won't look perfect, as long as it looks okay - it'll be fine." So here's the finished project!

I actually had enough leftover fabric  to make a curtain as well. It actually worked out that where the curtain was folded, in a nice straight line, in the packaging is where it needed to be folded to make the hem. So I just used that line, followed the instructions for the tape and voila a curtain. Since it's a shower curtain and I didn't want to use shower curtain rings on the curtain rod (shocking cause I'm obviously obsessed with shower curtain rings), I used curtain clamps. And here's the final product of the curtains.

We also added that white counter storage seen above for my make up. And its definitely allowed me to get better about trying new make up styles since I can actually see everything I'm working with.

For the little toilet room, I ended up cutting a corner shelf from Bed, Bath & Beyond to hold the tissues/extra toilet paper, etc. I also took a piece of the fabric I had left over from the curtains and framed it - already had the frame and the fabric so easy and free! I put the extra hand towels/wash clothes/decorative towels on the towel bar in there. Although I'm still kind of confused as to why anyone would need a handtowel in the toilet area for appropriate reasons.

I also got a print for $1 at Ikea and put that in a frame I already had to go above the towel bar that's right by the shower. So I technically spent $1 on the art for the bathroom - that's what my husband likes to hear.





So just to remind you - here's the before:

 And the after:
We still need to get 2 more dark blue rugs for by our sinks - but that's the last thing to do before the bathroom is officially complete!

I'm in the closet...

organzing, that is. See what I did there?

So, my parents always got on my case about how there was stuff ALL over my room - always. But now that I have sufficient storage space, everything has a place and our room is neat & tidy. So, I blame this on not having sufficient storage space Mom & Dad. Not MY fault!

But seriously - I have a huge dresser + a night stand + a huge walk in closet. My husband isn't working his way to a GQ award for best dressed, so his closet space needed is minimum. Which, is definitely a good thing, since apparently I'm border line hoarder status when it comes to shoes + handbags. Sorry, I'm not sorry. Shoes + purses fit no matter how fat or skinny you are (my weight flucuations are for another *very long* post).

Anyways, here are the "before" pictures. These were taken right after I got down to Jacksonville. I only had a few of my possessions while we were waiting for the POD, so these are representative of how Kenny had the closet. And yes, he does hang his t-shirts.

My solution for everything? Shower curtain rings. We have one of those white/plastic Closetmaid systems. So I just put the shower curtain rings around the bars and then put what I want on the shower curtain ring.
Putting my purses on them was life changing. I can actually see all the purses/wristlets that I have and they don't get smashed.

My belts/scarves

My purses

My hats were a little bit tricky. They don't exactly hang from a shower curtain ring the way the purses/scarves/belts do. So I used small curtain clips, put those on the ring and then clamped my hats. And voila!

Hats

On to my hoarding problem...my shoes.

Even though I got two extra long shoe racks that hold 3 shelves of shoes each - there still wasn't enough room. Oopsies. So while searching through pinterest I found this (here). Basically you can hang your flip flops. I have enough hanging room so I said 'yes please' and went ahead and made these. I didn't make them pretty cause I was going for function first.

Flip Flops hung up

And the "After" picture.

 See Mom? A place for everything and everything in it's place :)