265/365

Ringing in the new year with some nice American beer!

264/365

His resemblance to my Pappy Furry is uncanny.

263/365

The chandelier in the Throne Room of Dublin Castle.

262/365

Wore my new Steelers hat today!

261/365

Christmas lights in Cork! Their tree is WAY better than Dublin's!

260/365

This one is a two-fer because I couldn't choose:

We shouldn't have bothered with the Dora gift for Lana and just bought her a play camera!

Dean eating his starter of mashed potatoes. Oh, Ireland!

259/365

Merry Christmas!

258/365

The new puppy has been exiled during meal preparations.

257/365

On the train to Cork!

256/365

Opening Christmas presents! Check! Yummy lasagna in the oven! Check!

255/365

We're going to dinner at some friend's tonight, so I picked up some wine and incredibly stinky cheese to bring along. I swear I've tried this brand, but I don't remember it being so stinky I could smell it from 10 ft away!

254/365

In this season of consumerism, I give you the symbol of the Irish economy - the shell of the Anglo-Irish Bank. This is what it looked like a year ago when the economy crashed and a year later there is still no money to finish it.

253/365

My first batch of Christmas cookies. They're not as nice as I would like, but I'm sure I'll manage to choke them down! Tomorrow I'll make oatmeal cinnamon chip cookies. Wes asked what they were for. Uh...Santa Claus of course! Men can be so dense sometimes! :)

252/365

It snowed in Dublin today. We occasionally had flakes, but it was mostly the dry little balls that pelt you in the face.

251/365

I hauled these puppies down from the depot today in the hail/rain/and maybe even the odd flake of snow. I'm pretty sure with my red coat, white hat, dark gray pants, and sack of goodies slung over my shoulder that I looked like Santa Claus!

250/365

Please note the placement of the sun in Dublin at 11:50am on December 15th. It's low and on its way down! Frankly, I'm just happy it made an appearance at all!

249/365

Someone else is excited about the heat too! Normally she would be hibernating back on the bed at this point.

248/365

We were watching Friends and Chandler challenged them to name all 50 states in 6 minutes. Wes was taking the piss out of how they were unable to do it and banging on about how he could do it and he's not even American. CHALLENGE!!! He managed to get 46 which is very impressive for a non-American (and frighteningly more than most Americans), but I still laughed at him because he said he could get all 50. He missed Colorado (which he only got because Tag told Ross he was from Colorado), and I had to give him Hawaii, Wisconsin, and Arkansas.

247/365

At the pub watching Liverpool. The pub was all decorated for Christmas and it was really nice. There was a child in there with some adults who were watching the match. I saw her go up to the bar, ask for something, and they gave her a Nintendo DS to play with while she was there. I thought that was the coolest thing! Hopefully she had a better game than Liverpool. :-(

246/365

People ice skating at the rink set up in Smithfield Square

245/365

Sorry, but this is the lamest Christmas tree ever. I was on the LUAS one day and I heard this dad pointing out the special O'Connell Street Christmas tree to his son. The kid was like, where? Where? My sentiments exactly. It looks like a lawn ornament and as you can see, it's pretty much invisible during the day.

244/365

I saw this at the GPO when I was posting my Christmas cards and I thought was so cute! I even saw a little kid posting his letter!

243/365

In Ireland you have to pay to even LOOK at Santa. He lives in a grotto and you pay to go in there and sit on his lap. I wouldn't be surprised if you have to then pay extra for photos. This makes me a little sad. This is Santa's house in Jervis. It's much nicer than his house in the Stephen's Green Shopping Centre.

242/365

I almost forgot about these Christmas decorations! My cousin, Jess, made them for us along with gold and white snowflakes. I love the little stockings! Unfortunately we don't have a tree this year so I have no good place to display them. :(

241/365

I helped my friend Lisa's son with his project on Ireland. As a thank you she sent me some pizza Combos and plain M&Ms (they taste different here). Woot!!!

240/365

Today is a two-fer! We had our Secret Santa party which had lots of delicious food and drink! One picture is Beth, Meg, and Aisling kicking back and enjoying themselves. The second one is my Secret Santa gift. THANKS LIZ!!!

239/365

Wes actually agreed to have pizza delivered! It's been suggested many times and tonight he finally said yes! Miracles DO happen!

238/365

They're winging their way to the US as we speak! I hope they make it there okay - all of the gifts are wrapped and I just realized that I forgot to write something on the customs slip for the smaller one.

237/365

We put up our Christmas decorations today. TA DA!!! We actually have more than I realized. I knew we had the nativity scene as my aunt gave that to us as a wedding gift. The snowman gourd and the Santa balancing thingy were the surprises. We bought the gourd a year ago at a farm shop near my parent's in the US and we think the Santa was supposed to be a gift for my mom last year, but then we ended up getting her something else so we kept it for ourselves. The stockings and the stocking holders are new this year!

236/365

The River Liffey is tidal so it's always going up and down. I was crossing the river today and noticed that it was higher than normal due to all of the rain we've been having in Ireland. We've been fortunate that we haven't been affected by any of the horrible flooding that they've had elsewhere in the country.

235/365

I'm surprised I came home with anything. My decision-making skills were brutal today!

234/365

Exciting times around here...I moved the dehumidifier from the bedroom into the living room because the mold is worse in there right now. We're pretty sure the landlord 'treated' the mold before we moved in by just painting over it. My new purpose in life is to track the mold growing in our flat, clean it, then make important decisions about the location of the dehumidifier. I'll need to add this to my CV as it's a very important job!

233/365

You know it's cold when Little Kitty lets me cover her with the blanket.

232/365

Our favorite tombstone in the pet cemetery at Powerscourt Estate. More photos from the day are here.

231/365

This is on a door to a restaurant in Dublin. Yikes!

230/365

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Clearly we need to purchase a gravy boat.

229/365

I hung up my fall decoration today. Behold....THE HAND TOWEL!

228/365

Public sector workers were striking today in Ireland. Sorry, but striking due to the possibility of loss of a pay raise...during a recession...when the population is emigrating just to find employment...is really stupid. No one is getting any support from this unemployed person!

Oh, and apparently being on strike means you just stand around, holding a sign and talking to friends or texting on your phone. Some of the strikers did actually walk in a circle, but there is no chanting. Boo!

227/365

On my quest for french fried onions, I took the wrong bus. To get where I needed to go I had to walk down this posh road with lots of gates and walls.

226/365

Ewww!!!! I need to clean the oven! Or at least the glass!

225/365

Grafton Street's Christmas decorations. While nice I think Henry Street wins by a landslide!

224/365

The Christmas decorations are up on Henry Street and I LOVE them!!! The little white dots next to the wreath drop down like snow flakes.

223/365

I waited around all day for Wes' new hideous sneakers to arrive. They're some special running shoe, not meant to be a fashion statement.

222/365

Thanksgiving preparations have begun!

221/365

There's something afoot in Smiffy!!! Upon further inspection I discovered that they are setting up an ice rink for 'Dublin on Ice'. Interesting....

220/365

I rarely cross the O'Connell Street Bridge, but I was on the bus the other day and spotted the cool lamp posts. I went back today to take a picture. There are even cooler ones in the middle of the bridge, but I wasn't able to get a good shot of them. Maybe another day!

219/365

Wes spotted this bit of nature when we were walking in D4. We don't get any nature in D7, so this was a nice surprise!

218/365

View from the bedroom:

Traffic? Check!
Posters? Check!
Weeds? Check!
Pile of puke next to the Heineken can? Check!

We love living here!