The Solomon's Visit: Part One

I still haven't posted about the Solomon's visit almost a month ago!  They left a few weeks ago and we are still talking about the good times we had with the whole famdamnily while they were here.  It was a real treat having everyone together and having Blake and Beth be real troopers and stay with us, and showing them our city/country.  Yay!

They literally got off the plane, came to our apartment while Susan and David went to the hotel, we all napped, and then we headed out to the Queen of Tarts and to hear some live music at The Brazen Head!

All the siblings together!

A group of 4 Scots who delighted us with their bagpiping talents.  And indiscernible accents.

Bethie and I got picked to play the bell and whistle for the same song Susan and I did in February.  And they made another sexual joke in front of the whole pub and my face turned red again.  But the guys remembered us so that was fun!

The girls in action: bell ringing and whistle blowing.

I think I'm probably telling Beth how awkward I feel and how much I'm sweating during this song.

Live bagpipes!

Just a couple of my mates playing their instruments.

Susan's Instagram pic that I forgot to crop before I put on the blog.  Whoops!

We had to work on Monday and Tuesday so the 4 of them went all over the city and saw the sights.  That night we got some drinks at The Porterhouse and went to a live music and Irish dancing show.  Drew and I hadn't been to one of these before and let me just tell you: it was AMAZING.  I felt like a giddy little kid watching these people move 90 miles a minute!  They were incredibly talented and I'd highly recommend catching one of these shows if you're in Dublin!

"Their legs flail about as if independent from their body!"

I had a crush on/wanted to be the tall blonde girl on the right. 

There she is again with a costume change!  Sorry these iPhone pics are so blurry.

The best part: they needed some audience participation and they picked BETH to get on stage!  It was awesome.  I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard.  This is her about to do a do-si-do or something Irish along those lines.

The next day, they saw more sights and did more fun things and we all ate a delicious pizza dinner at Paulie's.  And tomorrow I'll hopefully be posting about our family getaway to Northern Ireland, where we saw some of the most amazing views I've seen in my life!  Goodnight for now!

July 4th, Dublin Style

Last year, we went to a 4th of July party on our second day here.  Drew, Tracy and myself walked into this huge house where we didn't know anyone and felt like total dumbshits and tried to get to know people and blend in.  I broke a plate.  I liked the people there a lot but had no clue if I'd ever hear from them or see them again.

And now I'm happy to report that a year later, these people are now my best friends here.  I was excited but scared to death to move, mostly because I never thought we'd make friends in a million years.  Which is the same way I felt leaving high school, and then college, and leaving Dallas.  So it was a really cool full circle moment walking in to the same house we've been to over and over the past year and feeling totally comfortable and not feeling like the odd ones out, and feeling like we belonged.  That was nice.

Look at these amazing cookies Autumn made!

And a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie!  It tasted as good as it looks.  She's gonna start her own bakery over here, God willing.

The baker with her masterpieces.

Friends!
Tara, Cassie, me, Tracy, Autumn, and Missy (the host).

Sparkler time!  Cause no 4th is complete without 'em.

Creepster.

Some killer dance moves towards the end of the evening.

We're blessed to have friends here and proud to be Americans and all that other jazz!  Happy 4th!

Dubliniversary

We've officially been in Ireland for a year, last week.  I already can't believe it's July, and I certainly can't believe it's been a whole YEAR since the scaredy-cats that were our former selves showed up here - a couple of young kids who had no idea what they were getting themselves into.  I rarely read those first posts from Dublin, but when I do I always tear up because they were so sad.  And it was really hard.  And we were so lost and confused and questioned what the hell we were doing so many times.  But now...that's so far away!  And we've built a life here for ourselves and we think it's probably the best thing we've ever done!

We went out on Tuesday and had some Guinness at the pub we went to on our first night and reminisced and looked at pics and laughed about our past year.

We decided....
The best thing(s) about living here: our relationship has grown by leaps and bounds and we get to travel a lot and we've made some life long friends.
The worst thing(s) about living here: it sometimes feels like a third world country (am I even allowed to say that?) and both of our jobs are sucking right now and I'm missing all the babies back in Texas.  I just added that last part.  That wasn't discussed but I just saw a picture of Annie and also of Walker on Instagram and my heart is getting tight.  Bye!

Some other stats we calculated for shits and giggles:
365 days in Ireland
7 countries visited
18 cities visited
Numerous friends made
1 awkward (American Women's) club joined
1 club started! (Check out the Texas Exes website - more on that to come!)
2 apartments (1 shitty, 1 awesome)
19 visitors
2 trips home
1 job started
A thousand pints of Guinness
A kazillion new meals made
12 lbs gained
9 lbs lost
10 million kilometers trekked by foot
1 St. Paddy's Day celebration
1 American Football game
211 European instagrams
140 Ireland Blog posts

First Instagram at Slattery's, a mere 52 weeks ago.

Just what we needed.

Can't tell if he's changed much in a year.

I imagine this next year will fly by, just like this one has.  But I don't want to think about that right now.  Cheers to a year!

Brussels

We shot over to Brussels on Sunday for a mere 24 hours to check out the sights.  When our friends here would pipe in with their opinions and recommendations on Belgium, almost EVERYONE would say "Oh gosh, I LOVED Bruges...it's SO much better than Brussels."  And to that I have to say...well, yeah.  But you're comparing apples to oranges and they are completely different cities.  Bruges is a cute old town with canals and beautiful architecture cafes and squares around every corner and Brussels is a bustling metropolis that houses the EU and tons of international businesses and everything else you'd find in a huge city.  But I did like Brussels - though I don't think you'd need more than 24 hours there.  Here are some pics!

We had a sunny seafood lunch at a cute cafe under the shadow of a big beautiful church!  Mussels in Brussels!
Confessions: I consider myself an adventurous eater but I don't love shrimp with their heads and eyes still attached.  SO SUE ME!

Brussels also has a big square, the Grand Place, and it's hailed as the "biggest landmark in Brussels."  The architecture is ornate and pretty magnificent.  It's surrounded by...what else?  Cafes and beer gardens!
This is Town Hall, topped with a statue of St. Michael slaying a demon.  Yikes.

The many guildhalls all around the Place.

Guildhalls + Cafes.  La la la.

The Maison du Roi ("The King's House") or the Broodhuis ("Breadhouse").

So...this is a very famous fountain statue called Manneken Pis.  It's a little boy peeing.  People go nuts for this statue.  They also have a woman peeing elsewhere, called Jeanneke Pis, and I took picture but its just too crass to post.  Weirdos.

Here's a life sized version of Manneken Pis, holding a Belgian waffle.

Delirium is a type of Belgian beer, and they have their own beer hall in Brussels!  We spent quite a bit of time here.

Cutie with a brew.

Bonjour.

Cool ceiling decor.

A sampling of beers.  Ooohh yeah.

Raspberry beer!  Interesting but good.  Unlike a cider, it just tasted like...a fruit beer!  Weird. 

The funny bartenders holding up their beer goggles - pint glasses with magnifying glasses on the end.  Silly Belgians.

Pic taken by a set of Canadian gals we made friends with.

Drew and a bicycle-riding cat.  WTF.

Drinks at Le Roy d'Espagne.

Blue Chimay - this stuff is STRONG.  But good.

Dinner at Restaurant Vincent, recommended by one of our pals!  It's basically a traditional French bistro - I'd highly recommend it too!

House salad.  Why do I take pictures of this stuff?  And more importantly, why do I post these pictures?
Because I'm a food pornographer.  That's why.  Dangit!

Mushroom toast - sooo good.

Filet au poivre for Drew - this peppercorn sauce was a dream come true and now I've made it my mission to try every peppercorn sauce offered across Europe.  SO RICH.  SO DELICIOUS.  SO HELP ME GOD.

And lastly, my main course: the steak tartare.  I ordered the Filet Americain, thinking it was just a filet, though I'd toyed with the idea of getting the tartare anyway.  "When in Belgium.." and all that jazz.  So the waiter told me what it actually was and I WENT FOR IT.  It was...interesting.  Rich.  Had the texture of a really thick guacamole.  Hmmm.

This was the little counter at which all the waiters would come and prep the food.  Cute.

The rare meat was a little too rich and red for us towards the end of the meal so we went home and moaned and groaned about our food choices.  But it was all delish and I'm glad I got it!

Last day: we wandered around the city parks, the EU, and headed back to Dubs.  I naively thought that the EU was like...one big large headquartered building, but it's actually a bunch of buildings all together.  Which makes a lot more sense.

City park/monument/museum.  I should tell you which one but I just don't have the energy to Google it right now.

Part of the EU!

More of the EU!

A really cool photography exhibit about different world events.

(Click my photos for bigger versions and you can actually see what they are.)

Brussels was cool.  Bruges was cool.  I'm glad we went, ate some good food, drank some good beer, spoke a little French, soaked up some culture, and checked another fun place off our ever-growing list!