Such a long time

Ok, so i haven't written in such a long time...we've had a huge month.

Austin and Carl visited from Austin, and we had so much fun with them. They made Dublin seem very unique again when seen from their perspective. We went to London, my first trip there to see U2 at Wembley Stadium...it was incredible. We went a bit early so Josh could work a bit out of the London office and I got to wander around the city, which is probably the biggest city i have ever seen. It's sprawling, and bustling with fantastic food and shopping. And it's cheaper than Dublin, imagine that. I spent the first day wandering Oxford Circus and Bond Street, went to Regents Park and Hyde Park, and then Notting Hill. The next day was Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Parliament, then Josh got off work a bit early and we hit Notting Hill again. We met up with Ryan Jussel, a friend from high school who i hadn't seen in over a decade, and hit the pubs properly in the neighborhood. We ate Greek food, German food, and even Mexican. I got everything i was craving except sushi. Saturday we met up with Sarah Jane and Ciaran and their friends John and Caroline, got ready to hit the concert. We met up at the Globe, as old bar that was absolutely packed with people heading to the show. We had the access to the pre-show hospitality party, so we were all ready to go, hopped in a cab and told the driver where we wanted to go. We were having a lovely time until we realized the cabbie was pretty much lost, then he decided he couldn't get us any closer and dropped us off, telling us to walk the last 2 miles. Much consternation and frustration later, as everyone who was int he cab behind us was already at the party in the stadium, we started walking towards the stadium we could see in the distance. Of course, the London police stopped us as there was a suspicious car parked under a bridge, so they told us to backtrack and directed us to walk up a damn freeway to get to the next ramp and cross over there. Because that is safer than allowing us to skirt the neighborhood and an abandoned car. So we did, ruined my hair and we walked a good 2 miles in heels thru a ghetto to get there. But eventually we did get there, just in time for the show to start, and we had access to what was called the Red Zone, right next to the huge contraption that is their stage for this tour...it's overwhelming. Josh got me a good 3 flutes of champagne somewhere that immediately improved my mood, and we had such a good time at the show.

My mom and dad are in Ireland right now for their 40th anniversary tour of the island. We saw them Monday and Tuesday as they arrived and had their Dublin portion...I know they were both super excited to get out into the country. It was so good to see them!!! I hope they love every minute of their trip.
Josh just had his birthday, and we had all the boys over for American ribs, potato salad, baked beans and beers. 33 in Ireland is a good place to be.

September is huge...we have mom and dad on the back end of their trip, the 4th thru the 7th. The 8th we leave for NYC and are there til the 12th, where i will be shopping like mad and kicking myself that my life now ranks NYC as a cheap and affordable place to shop and stock up on all the little things we need but hate to buy over here in Dublin. Anyway, so excited to see Kelley and Zach and the kids while we are there, also Mike and Laura and everyone else we love there. Laura is working away on the US Open, but she is fitting us in and i am thrilled to see them. The Carters arrive, preggers and all to Dublin on the 14th, and will be here til the 20th. Steph and i will lounge and thank jesus she is bringing copies of all the Project Runway i will have missed. Jon and Sandy arrive on the 17th and will be here til the 29th, so we have a bit of overlap with Josh and Steph, so i think we're going down to the south for a quick overnighter to Kinsale. Then on the 23rd, Oktoberfest in Munich with the Hittmans! We're there til the 27th, Jon and Sandy go home the 29th. Non-stop.

My hard drive crashed Saturday, which meant there was a damn long beginning to this week as i am incredibly isolated up here in my glass tower without an Internet connection. Josh saved the day with a temp computer, and Sandy has fed-exed the hard drive so i think it gets here tomorrow, but all my pics and everything else from U2 are inaccessible at the moment. Once i get them, i'll edit the post to get them out so everyone knows exactly how close i was to Bono...

SS

We had the best time in San Sebastian with Jake and Jeno; i had only ever met them briefly years ago in SF, we both missed each other's weddings and every other time we've tried to get together, so i was happily surprised to thoroughly enjoy traveling with both of them. It's so damn hard to find couples where both josh and i actually like both members, but then to compound that by actually spending 5 full days together and have to be able to travel together is really challenging. I admit, a large chunk of that difficulty lies with me as i typically don't care for many girls, so i was thrilled to find both Jake and Jeno were a lot of fun.

SS is gorgeous, north coast of Spain with incredible beaches in the mountains. And oh my god, the food. Pintxos is Basque for tapas and they have the greatest food ever. A large majority of the pics are either of some grouping of the four of us drunk, or of the tiny plates of food we plowed thru ungracefully. The Basque culture is really interesting, so different than the Catalans in the south, yet still so fiercely independent from the idea of having much to do with Spain. The beaches were beautiful, and we made the most of them; the churches and tiny little winding towns were lovely, but hands down, the best food ever.

It's a funny place, even though Jeno and i would declare that after the craziness last night, tonight we are taking it easy by god, it never happened that we made it back to the hotel before 2. And that is 5 nights in a row, which is unheard of for me on several levels. We found this little bar, called Bar Nestor, owned by two brothers who were nothing short of fabulous. We found the place the first night when Jeno and i got diverted away from the guys by these little old Spanish men who took us in the bar and fed us dinner and bought us all these drinks. We loved the place so much, we went back every night except the last night we were there, and we weren't there Monday only because the bar was closed. Amazingly simple food, just plates of heirloom tomatoes cut up with huge salt flakes, roasted gindilla peppers, and these slabs of steak with an inch of fat still on them that is barely seared, then served to you on a griddle, all of which are covered in the salt flakes. Got to figure out where to get that. We adored that place, and by god, Jeno and i will end up on their wall of fame. Nestor gave each couple an apron to take home.
Great trip, we'll definitely be back; leave it to Josh and me to have a few places we continue to go back to over and over when we should have all of Europe to explore...

Everything else is going really well here! Nothing new, the dreary weather hasn't gone anywhere and it's raining yet again, but Harp and i are hoping for a bit of sun to hit the park this afternoon. We're laying low for the rest of the month, Spain took it out of us. Pics are below!

http://picasaweb.google.com/erinhittman/SanSebastian?feat=directlink

Can't wait to get the hell out of Dublin

Here are pics of the Dressendorfer's visit at the bottom of the page! We had a fantastic time out on the west coast and just for a short while in Dublin. They are great friends.


Josh and i are so ready to get to San Sebastian for 6 days on Thursday. It looks like it will be mediocre weather the whole time we are there, of course, but it has to be more summer like than what i've had in Dublin for July. Christ. I'm adamently packing nothing but bikinis and sundresses and it's just going to have to work. We're meeting Jake and Jeno there, they are friends of Josh's from Atlanta that i have only ever met once in SF years ago, but i am sure will be fun. We're going to Pamplona to run with the bulls, which should be interesting, and the boys will go to a bull fight but i'm opting out of that. My goal is to eat nothing but tapas, and to come away with a great set of tan lines.


http://picasaweb.google.com/erinhittman/Dressendorfers?feat=directlink

Duwes in Dublin

We had a great time with Sam and Brian this past week! So sorry to see them leave after 5 days. We went out to Bundoran again, and there was no surf but the weather was lovely. The Duwes got to see the countryside and some great old pubs, and we got some time with family. It's just so nice to have family around from time to time, and it was lovely to have Brian and Sam here.
Harp fell in love with Sam immediately, we went to the Book of Kells and the Long Library at Trinity, spent a lot of time in Lush, averted disaster when Josh found my lost engagement ring, and the Duwes took a tour of Wicklow. We spent a lot of time in the pubs, and it was just really nice to have the time to spend with them.
June is a busy month, the Dressendorfers get here tomorrow, and the Hassels are leaving Ireland to head back home this week. This is just too bad, we were becoming good friends, but we're in for a trip over my birthday, we just need to book it.
I've got to get Harp confirmed with his pet sitter and clean up to get ready for the Dressendorfers, try to Skype with my mom and Kelley and D, work in a yoga class and replenish the beer stocks for another solid week. We're heading out to Dingle and the Galway area, then back to Dublin for the weekend.

2 years

Nothing is really new this week, we had a lovely anniversary, and it's cool to have spent it here. First anniversary was in Santorini, second was here in Dublin, so I've got no complaints! We went to Bentley's, a posh little oyster bar by the Green that was lovely, with local Irish oysters that are really very good. I'm a lucky wife.
We're excited that Sam and Brian are coming out Saturday. We'll head back out to the northwest Saturday with Harp, even though the weather will be the predictable shit. They can see the coastline, maybe attempt to surf if there is any activity in the water, and see the countryside. The boys will golf Monday, Sam and I can hit my yoga class, she can take Harp out on a run, or she can just hang out if she prefers. I'll take them anywhere they want to go in Dublin, Guinness, Jamison, Kilmainham, the museums, Christchurch and or St. Patrick's, Howth, the Green and Grafton...whatever they feel like.
Josh is in London for a couple of days, of course there is the tube strike there right now, his luck, but he'll be back late tonight. Harp and i are getting ready to have guests! We did find the British version of Project Runway, called Project Catwalk, ha, Kelley Osborne is the sad and chubby host. It's worse than a poorman's version of PR, it's just horrible and they try so hard to stage bitchiness, i am in love with it right now in small doses. I cannot watch a full show, it's too tedious, but i can drift in and out and mock them out loud to Harp. He's my stand in for Steph, who would be disgusted with this cheap imitation. But she'd watch it anyway, given the black hole i have for any other option. So every single weekday at 1, i am pathetically addicted.

Bank Holiday Weekend!

This past Monday concluded a 3 day weekend that has had amazing weather. Almost 70 degrees, for like the past 5 days, we've spent every single day outside. We rented a car and got up early to head to the west coast for a surf trip.

We had an awesome time, after finding no waves in Streedagh, the boys' usual spot, we headed up to Bundoran, and found a brilliant day with 9 ft waves, tons of sunshine, and fairly empty water. Harp adored getting into actual waves and was exhausted by the time we were done as he spent hours leaping over each wave that would break. There are some great cliffs right beside the water, which were a bit dangerous as they are riddled with what are called the Fairy Bridges...literally sinkholes that have fallen thru the hillside down to the ocean crashing below. But anyway, if you are careful, you can head right out along the edge of the cliff and really get an incredible view of the surfers, literally right out below you. So after Harp and i were finished throwing his ball into the waves, we'd head up to the top of the cliffs with my camera and the long distance lens...the reason there are so many damn photos you'll have to sort thru if you check out the link below is because i could actually see Josh's face thru that lens from the to of the cliffs. It was awesome to have such a powerful camera! Of course, by the time i get up there, Josh has been surfing for at least 90 minutes and is still riding a few waves but i missed the chance to get most of his good rides when he was fresh and not exhausted. Next time we're out there, i'll have to figure out a way to placate Harp on the cliffs for a while before we head down to the beach.

We went to Yeat's grave which was in an incredible Irish cemetary, all old celtic crosses and the church sports a carved cross from a monastary that dates back to 500 ad, had fresh crab claws for dinner, and didn't crash the rental car. It was totally a victory. We got back in Sunday evening, hung out with Ciaran and Sarah Jane on our roof deck for the evening, then on Monday we went hiking in Wicklow. We managed to find a sheep trail we followed thru the bogs til we got to a mountain (of the Irish sorts), that we climbed. Harp loved it, was climbing around like a mountain goat and leaping into bog pools--we all had a good day and were completely exhausted when we made it home.

http://picasaweb.google.com/erinhittman/BankHolidayJune09?feat=directlink

Home!

We made it back to Dublin, safely and with no drama. Truly, by the time i had my bags from baggage claim, and made it out to meet Mick and Josh, we called and Harp was ready to be claimed. After all of those papers, those appointments, on and on...there was no trouble and the people at Lissenhall released him immediately.
Harp had had no adverse reactions to the trip, we got him home and he checked out the place, and on Sunday we took him up to North Bull Island so he could run the beach. He loved it, i think he like the dunes best of all, and he barked at the kite surfers. We had a lovely day. He's been for runs with Josh in the mornings already, and it's great to have him round the house while i am here in the day, we're checking out the parks, and he dislikes the rain, so he figured out quickly that the umbrella works for him too if he sticks close to me.
I've got an appt with the SPCA here tomorrow abt some volunteer work and their Safe Haven grant, but nothing else is new, we're settling back into life here! Pics from the visit to the States and Harp's first day at an Irish beach are below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/erinhittman/StatesAndHarpSFirstIrishBeachOuting?feat=directlink