Evan's Here!

Wednesday was a lovely, productive day.  Connor was in daycare, so Nina and I went to lunch at a new place I'd been wanting to try and headed over to Dunnes again to go shopping.  Nina then showed me Dublin's best kept secret: a GIANT grocery store in the basement of Dunnes!!  It's cheap, it's huge, it has a million choices, and it's now my happy place.  Gone are the days of multiple grocery stores for multiple items.  This place is one stop shopping and as I now have a Dunnes Frequent Shopping card, I'll be back all the time.  Every day perhaps.  Who KNOWS!?  I bought some stuff for the apartment, walked across town to get a new oscillating fan, read in the park, came home and made Spaghetti Carbonara for the first time (no pics, but I'll make it again), and then we got ready for Evan's arrival!!  Here are some pics of my day before Evan.

Pretty day on the river!

Merrion Square.

Oscar Wilde in my park.  We talked about how important it was to be Earnest and stuff.

The Custom House.

Evan, Drew's oldest and best friend, and my best guy friend since 8th grade, is going to Harvard in the fall and took a month off of work before school to travel.  We were lucky that he was able to swing by Dublin on his way home for 5 days!  Woohoo!  His flight got in on Wednesday night and I ran down the stairs to shower him with hugs.  I kinda thought I'd start crying and never let go to be honest.  There's something about fighting a (relatively fun) uphill battle and seeing a loved one from home that really brings out the waterworks.  We all hugged and danced around and giggled like school girls and caught up on his travels and life.  So good to have him here.

Thursday, I let him sleep for a long time and we finally got ready and out of the house by noon.  I took him to our worthless piece-of-shit bank, and then walked over to Lolly and Cooks for the savage roll that he saw a picture of on the blog.  I got one too and they were DELISH.  As per usual.  I then walked him through Merrion Square, St. Stephen's Green, Grafton Street, and Trinity College, where we sat for about 2 hours in the grass talking and laughing.  We walked over to Temple Bar for some afternoon beers, home for more lounging and changing, and then met Drew at Ocean Bar for din.  Other conversation and activity highlights include...

• Planning a trip to Croatia, Summer 2013
• Reminiscing about meeting at Student Council Camp before 8th grade, where our friendship blossomed, where Tyler was nice, and where Peter poured his heart out to me about Kendall D.  
• Looking over at the table next to us at Temple Bar to see some teenagers measuring something out with a credit card and then SNORTING IT!  Maybe I'm a naive lame-o but I was very disturbed.
• Having one of the girls who snorted the mystery substance with swastikas all over her hands crash into our table and fall on her face, only to pick herself up and hug me and kiss my cheeks and neck several times 
• Evan talking about finally getting the nerve to ask Jordan Stiff to the Christmas dance in 8th grade, and hearing she was sobbing her eyes out after she accepted.  Ouch.
• Discussing Middle Earth and the possible location in real life and the fate of the Elves and Aragorn and Arwyn's romance
• Lamenting how difficult it is to make friends in new places
• Evan's desire to get a sleeve of tattoos on his lower arm, and what they would be ("I don't know, nebulous gases?  Stars?  I have to decide because this is happening.")
• Answering Evan's thought-provoking questions, like "What are 3 things you'd ask a genie to change about yourself?" or "Name your top 5 Beatles songs." or "Pick 5 places in the world you'd like to have a home." (Mine were the French Riviera, Tuscany, Sevilla, New York if Mere still lived there, and somewhere in the Caribbean but I need to do more research.  With a home base in Dallas.  This is happening.) 

Friends!  Yay!

St. Stephen's Green.
You might not be able to see the droves of people sitting outside to enjoy the weather, but Evan observed that Ireland's economy might be better if anyone actually worked, rather than lounging in parks.  Well put.

Ocean Bar!

Evan is always a good time, asking good questions, telling good stories, making me laugh non-stop, so I see great things for the days ahead!