Happy Wednesday!

Not only is today my last day of work for the week (We're heading to the Galway Races and Aran Islands), but I came into work this morning and found this lovely Burberry Trench coat in my inbox on MAJOR sale.



I have been looking for a trench coat for seriously a year and was willing to spend a bit of money for this timeless piece (I use the whole "cost per wear" bit to justify buying anything pricey), but Burberry Trenches are just a bit TOO pricey and I can't believe I got this on such a lovely sale. I can't wait for it to be delivered!

Wedding Planning

So... with all the concentration on house stuff, we have not made one bit of progress on the wedding planning at all. No continent selected, dates, color schemes- nothing!

But today, I thought I should probably start thinking about it a bit (pull together a tentative guest list so we can determine budgets, etc) and what could be handier then Google Doc wedding templates!

Obviously I'm partial to G products, but there are all kinds of cool templates that can help you arrange guest seating, schedule your entire wedding day, organise your vendors etc. It's nice especially for someone who is completely clueless about wedding stuff. They have some templates that break out budgets down to the level of unity candles, cake knives and rice for throwing after the wedding (um... had I even thought about these things? no. ) It's nice that they think of everything!

Shopping Frustations

We have been shopping everywhere for new things for the house- Both big and small and I can't even begin to tell you how frustrating it is to shop in Ireland. Obviously with clothes the selection is limited which I found out quickly when I first moved here, but I'm having the same problem with home stuff. I am just looking for a simple yellow curtain and yellow rug cause I want my living room/dining room to have this kind of feel, but no dice. I've even looked on UK websites but many don't ship to Ireland... booo.... On the plus side, we finished painting the conservatory. I need to furnish it (impossible!) before I put the pics up though!

Wooden Floors

This weekend BF and I got so much accomplished. We had the cable implemented, the plumbers and locksmith came to fix broken things, the electrician came to put in a new stove. But most fun was the wooden floor guys,who were amazing! I would highly recommend using them if you're in the Dublin area. They were super fast and professional. We finally got rid of the old lady carpets and put in new wooden floors.

Before:


After: (Can you see BF's creepy head?)

Our New Tenants

They don't pay rent, but they do have the task of keeping an eye on the lavender plants!



Do I think they are tacky? No. Does BF? Maybe... Yes. Do I care? No, not really.

Need a job?

Apply at Google! We're hiring tons of new peeps...seriously there were about 50 new starts last week. If I'm off for two days, I come back and don't know anyone!

Check out the jobs here: http://www.google.ie/intl/en/jobs/dublin/adsales/

If you're interested, send me an email (utran28@gmail.com) with your resume and I'll fast track it to HR. You know you want to. Think of the amazing perks you read about all the time on this blog!

Paris

I have loved Paris since the time I took my first French lesson in grade school. Although I traveled a bit before moving to Ireland, I had never traveled to Europe. So the first place that BF took me when I moved was Paris. Dream come true!

I obviously wanted a bit of Paris in the home decor. When I saw this at Arnott's, I nearly peed my pants. In love! We quickly purchased it and can't wait to hang it.



I've been on lots of design and home blogs finding ideas for the house and there was a gal who suggested pretty wrapping paper for decor. After researching a bit online, would you believe I found the SAME FREAKING print for um... $4? We paid significantly more, but it's out of print so I'll keep it. Still I'm V mad we paid so much for it. I do love this company though and will probably order another (CHEAP!) print for the house.

Heating

So... we had a plumber over to our house yesterday to make sure the heating is in order. We were debating between oil (which we currently have) and gas. However, the plumber told us our house use to be heat by.... FIREPLACE. Umm... had I known I was buying a house circa 1842, I would have rethought the purchase.

The house was actually only built in the 1980's but this country is so quaint, it was still heating houses by FIREPLACE. I still can't get over it. Picture, me, BF and our ten kids huddled around the fireplace- Angela-Ashes style. Sheesh.

On a funny note. This is a picture of BF checking out how much oil we have in our tank. He has asked me before to stop putting embarrassing pictures of him up online, but I pay him no heed.

Date Night

Before starting our weekend of housework, BF and I kicked it off by heading to the Academy to see Michael McIntyre. He normally sells out large venues but we got lucky and got tickets (15 EUROS!) to his show. He was testing out new material and it was hilarious.

Although seats were unreserved, we managed to get front and centre seats. I thought "How Fab!" until he started picking on people in the front row. CRINGE! He was making jokes about Americans AND Google. I would have been great ammunition. Thankfully, he only made it as far as the girl sitting next to me. Whew.

We could see him spit!

Painting and WallPaper

See how my life use to be interesting with trips to exotic lands and shopping galore? It now all revolves around house stuff :)

This past weekend, I spent EIGHT (!!!!) freaking hours trying to pull wallpaper off in the bedroom. We had a wallpaper steamer to help and everything but it took FOREVER, and it's not even 100% done. I did all the work on Saturday and then on Sunday started to peel paper off the walls again but I had to stop and leave the house before I kicked the walls in. So frustrating! Since it's not complete, BF and I are sleeping a creepy, creepy room.



On the plus side, we (I mean BF) got the bathroom painted. One room done. Woop!

Before:


After:

House Slave

House House House! Seriously that is all we've been doing on our free nights. We rented a car last week to get "stuff" for the house and have been painting and scrapping wall paper and planting. I will update with our progress but the first project which I completed last week was painting our new little stool for the kitchen. (Baby steps into DYI).

We started with this:


And ended with this piece of art :)


See the Hydrangeas and lavender in the background? We planted those too the past weekend and they survived - so far...

Willpower (or lack thereof)

I'm in London at the moment for the next couple of days which is great because even though I've been to London plenty of times for work, I've actually never been in the London office so I'm looking forward to that tomorrow.

However, I got in relatively early this evening and decided to meet some of BF's friends for (an ASIAN!) dinner. Woop! The Jubilee tube line was having problems which caused them to be delayed - only by 20 minutes- no big deal. However, in that short amount of time, I managed to find myself in a bit of trouble.

Banana Republic. Summer Sale- 70% off. I die.

I only had 15 minutes before I had to meet them, but my grabby hands reached out for everything in sight that was in my size. I managed to try on a bunch of things and bought dresses like I would never see a Banana Republic again. I think BF is going to warn his friends to be on time the next time I meet up with them!

BBQ Summer

It has been a fabulous summer so far in Ireland (knock on wood), and I've been stuffing my face almost every weekend with some type of grilled meat product. YUM!

This weekend was no different with two BBQ's- one to start off the weekend on Friday night and one to end America's Independence day with a bang. My friend D who lives along the canal was having a party on Friday night and his BBQ was fab - though he was flipping meat with a potato masher. Is that a normal thing in Ireland? :)

About sums it up....


Saturday BF and I spent ALL Freaking day in B&Q which is the Home Depot of Ireland. That is a post in and of itself :) To reward ourselves for all that tough shopping, Sunday we relaxed with our only - I mean, best, American friends. Happy Belated Birthday America!

Patriotic cupcakes

Down to Business

My sister took baby Carson for his first trip into New York City this week. The little bugger is ready to take on Wall street already!