Busy Busy Busy

Not that I write too often anyway, but I'm mostly writing now to admit that I'll probably be writing even less frequently than I have been (if you can't already tell).

We have pretty much experienced the last free weekend in Dublin that we'll have in...a really long time.   We've got 3 straight weeks of visitors, plus a couple weekend trips upcoming.  I'm staring down the barrel of 4 months left and we're trying to pack in as much as we can - mostly by distracting ourselves (myself) from thinking about what that actually means.  Anyway.  More on that later.

First up, we have one of my college b-fries, Blakely, and her boyfriend PK coming over for St. Paddy's Day week!  We're gonna go out with all the Irish folk on Sunday and Monday, do some touristy stuff throughout the week, and they're headed to Galway for the tail end of their trip to see the Cliffs of Moher.

Next, my parents get here the day before Blakely and PK leave!  They're coming for a week and we're going to the Dingle Peninsula (yes, you can laugh) for the first two days, and then some touristy Dublin stuff the rest of the week.  I can't wait to show them our city!

Then our pal Ellen comes for a few days to check out some parts of Ireland from our home-base apartment.  After her visit, we're off to Bordeaux for a weekend of wine-drinking, then another weekend of biking around the Aran Islands in Ireland, and then St. Andrews in Scotland for Easter weekend with our pals John and Natalie.

I'm exhausted and am annoyed with how I sound even typing this out.  But mostly I'm just telling my [small] viewing public that I'll be in and out, unfortunately, and I find that this is the best way for me to cope with this big impending life change that I'm kind of dreading.

I'll post more this weekend!

Doonbeg Lodge

Drew was working like a crazy man in the month of February and I literally hardly saw him, he never slept - it was awful!  He pretty much wrapped up the client he'd been working on at 5am a couple Thursdays ago, and we were on the road to Doonbeg Lodge for some rest and relaxation 7 hours later.

Drew has a tendency to book travel when he's busy/stressed (for something to look forward to, I'd imagine), so Thursday afternoon we decided to go for it.

Doonbeg is located on the West coast of Ireland, close to Shannon.  It was built in the early 2000s by some South Carolinian business guys as a resort and golf club, and it was just recently bought by Donald Trump!  We'd heard great things and wanted to treat ourselves (or Drew, mostly)!

We drove the 3 hours there, explored the grounds, the cottage, took a nap, and headed up to Darby's Pub in the lodge for drinks and din.

Salmon with tagliatelle and clams in a white wine cream sauce.    Lovely.

A meaty lamb shank for Drewsome. 

Saturday morning, we ate brekkie in the gorgeous dining room overlooking the water before Drew's tee time at 9:15.  He wasn't paired with anyone so I got to walk along the course with him!  He called me his caddy but mostly I just tried to stay warm by bouncing around and occasionally looked for lost golf balls.

French Toast.  Yum yum.

Views from the course:

Look at that form!

At hole 14, there was an "exit" to the beach so I cut over and strolled along the coast back to the lodge.

I met Drew for lunch and some beers and then went to get a massage in their spa.  And this is how I found Drew when I got back:

That night, we went to Darby's Pub again for some drinks before our 8:30 booking.  We were each having a Guinness when two older Irish men seated next to us started chatting us up.  They wanted to know where we were from, why we were there, what we thought of the place (they were members who lived in the next village over), and eventually bought us another round of drinks.  They'd been there drinking since early afternoon so they were already feeling good at this point, I'd say.  Dermot and Johnny then insisted that we take some sort of "Texas shot".  Drew and I racked our brains and couldn't think of anything that constituted a "Texas shot" so we suggested tequila - the only kind the pub had - and asked for some limes.  "Of course we have limes!" the bartender scoffed.  And he then proceeded to bring us lemons.

Dermot, who was getting increasingly drunk and slurry, eyed us suddenly.  "Hey.  Hey.  You two ever do coke?" he asked, tapping the side of his nose.  

Drew nearly spit out his beer while I clarified, "You mean like...cocaine?"  

"Yeah!  Cocaine!  You guys ever do that?" he repeated.  I chuckled but  had no idea where this was going.  Was he looking to buy some?  Was he wanting to sell some?  Johnny just smiled and continued watching the girls rugby match ("They have to shave their beards off every morning, poor girls!")  

I had to explain multiple times, despite his disbelief, that neither one of us had ever done coke and he was sorely disappointed - he evidently realllllllllly wanted to know what it was like to be on it.  They then forced us to take an Irish Flag shot with them, we had some more chats and laughs, and we finally extricated ourselves from the funny/uncharacteristic situation when our table was ready.  Thank God.

The Irish Flag shot: layers of Creme de menthe, Bailey's, and Brandy.
Pretty damn good, actually.

Thumbs up before din.

After another great night's sleep and a rich breakfast, we were on our way again.  The weekend was just what the doctor ordered.  Cheers to the [technical] end of busy season!

Parisian Street Style

Sometimes, bloggers type in this format.

I don't know how I feel about it. 

But this felt appropriate.

As a sudden faux fashion/travel blogger, I wanted to share some

nontraditional

yet

 cliche

pictures we took.

Betsy and Hannah shopped and Meredith and I played with the camera.

Here are the results.

------------------

Subject: Meredith

Age: 29

Occupation: Yelp sales balla.

Style philosophy: "My style philosophy?  Why buy it full price when you can wait until it's out of season and buy it half off?  I like to think of my style as a time capsule, provoking onlookers to think, 'I remember seeing that on the racks...4 years ago.' Or at a local PTA meeting."

Favorite stores: I work on 5th Avenue off Union Square so all my favorite stores are in walking distance - Anthropologie, Madewell, Gap, Old Navy, Joe Fresh.

Subject: Lauren

Age: 22

Occupation: Real Housewife and world-renowned blogger

City: Dublin

Style philosophy: "I like paring older, cheaper pieces of clothing with other old, cheap pieces of clothing....to look fabulous!  I'm never afraid to experiment with color - namely, the color black."

Favorite stores: Target, H&M, Gap, and Nordstrom and Neiman's when she has gift cards or Northpark Gold

Subject: Betsy (or "B" as her friends call her.)

Age: 25

City: New York

Occupation: Corporate oil and gas balla.

Style philosophy:  "When getting ready, I ask myself: is this more Samantha, or Miranda?"

What her friends say: "She has things we can only dream about owning."

Favorite stores: Calypso, Christian Louboutin, Bergdorf's

(Editor's Note: we regrettably do not have as many pictures of B as we would like due to her absence during the photo shoots.  She was shopping for the fabulous things the other two can only dream of when they were approached by our cameras.)

Lauren's outfit:

Top:  Blouse, H&M

Pants:  Coated jeans, Madewell

Shoes: Boots, Steve Madden

Accessories: Necklace, Madewell; purse, Tori Burch

Coat: Kenneth Cole Reaction, circa 2003.  

("You say old and outdated, I say timeless, classic,  vintage!")

Meredith's outfit~

Top: Bordeaux top, Anthropologie.  Black blazer, White House|Black Market.

Pants: Jeans, Old Navy

Shoes:  Booties, Old Navy

Accessories: Necklace, Madewell.  Purse, Cole Haan.

Coat:  Banana Republic

"You know the phrase, 'If at first you don't succeed, try try again'?  I prefer 'If it actually fits, wear wear again...like literally all the time, down to the thread, with stains and holes and all.'"

B's outfit:

Top:  Silk shirt, Equipment.

Pants:  Leather skirt, Vince.

Shoes: Booties, Isabel Marant.

Accessories: scarf, Epice. 

Coat: Elie Tahari

"I may look put together, but what you don't see in the pics are the shocked Parisian faces for all the times my skirt came up...including one unfortunate incident where it got stuck in my tights as I came out of a dressing room.  #moonlightinparis"

Thanks for visiting our fashion blog.  Check in soon for more fashion updates!  

Ok, I'm kidding.  I can't even say that with a straight face.

Thank you to B, Mere, and Hannah for being willing and gracious subjects, and even better travel partners!

Vday Bday in Paris: Part Deux

More good times in Paris, continued!

Monday was our hipster day - Meredith is weirdly into all things hipster so she chose some up and coming gentrified arrondissements to explore.  Betsy and I are NOT into all things hipster so we smiled and nodded and went along with it, and naturally we are now glad we did.  :)

Our morning started with a train over to Gare de l'Est in the Canal St. Martin area (10th arr.) and a stop at Bob's Juice Bar, a tiny little cafe that serves fresh juices, smoothies, and other light breakfast and lunch options.  We all got healthy green juices and then wandered...a mere two doors down to a cute restaurant, Holybelly, for breakfast/lunch.  Holybelly is a "newcomer to the neighborhood and fan favorite on the foodie blogs, offering market-driven and classic cafe dishes, along with coffee that Americans love - since a good cup of joe is hard to find in Paris."  (Meredith's description, God love her.)

So fresh and so clean.

Watering hole at Holybelly.

Sweet Potato Saag Paneer for my lunch!  

Their staff was very friendly and clearly don't take themselves too seriously, as their Wifi password was "MacauleyCulkin" and they keep a couple of arcade games in the back.  Another fellow patron looked like Jesus of Nazareth himself ("No way!  We were JUST TALKING about you!") so that's when you know it's good.

And look!  Just around the corner from THAT restaurant was a fun patisserie we'd read about: Du Pain et Des Idees!   We hadn't gotten enough to eat with our juice or lunch so we got a light snack here.  How can you not?

My chocolate pistachio "escargot" wheel.  Didn't disappoint.

More wandering and then...look!  Another patisserie we'd read about: Libertine!  If you're really going to thoroughly review the patisserie scene, you've got to get something at eat place and let everyone sample it.  Again, it didn't disappoint.

Perhaps our favorite patisserie find of the trip was this chewy chocolatey loaf of happiness that Betsy got, and we proceeded to eat the rest of the afternoon.  Thanks and sorry, B!  MAN it was good.

It was then shop-til-you-drop time.  We walked and walked and walked, eventually making our way into Le Marais again, popping into cute clothing and jewelry boutiques along the way.

Merci, a fun and popular "everything" store

An afternoon drink break at le Jardin d'Hiver

This picture encapsulates the essence of B.  I love it.

More shopping, and then more wine at Frenchie Wine Bar, another popular hot spot opened by Gregory Marchand - who happened to be at the wine bar that night!  Cool!

And after a long day, we retired and relaxed at Le Comptoir du Relais in St. Germain des Pres for an amazing meal.

Escargots!

Seared tuna steak covered in a colorful veg medley.

Betsy's Beef Cheeks, which actually looks like an amazing macaroni soup.  So good!

We ended the evening at the famous Cafe de Flore, next door to the equally if not more famous Les Deux Magots, for dessert and a lot more wine that we ultimately regretted the next day.  At least I did...when I was doing deep breathing to prevent getting sick on my flight the next day.  Shoot!

Our funny charming waiter

Just 4 Americans being deep thinkers and intellectuals like the patrons of years past, no big deal.

The next day, Betsy and Hannah wandered off to Montmarte while Mere and I sprinted to Poilane for a jumbo bag of sugar cookies (not pictured) before I had to catch the train to the airport.  The rest of them left later that afternoon.  Sad.  

This was such a fun trip - fun because I was with my best pals, fun because the weather was oddly perfect, fun because we got to explore new neighborhoods that Mere scouted out for us, fun because we tried all new places that I probably never would have gone to, fun because everyone on the trip is a hilariously good time, and fun because this trip made us all happy and grateful for the chance to even be able to do this.  So thanks to Mere and B and Hannah for a great weekend in beautiful Paris!  Let's do it again soon!  No, but seriously.