Ireland
Living in Ireland: Christmas in Retail
For my friends and family living in the United States, I thought it would be fun to show you how Irish retailers are getting into the Christmas spirit this season. These are photos I’ve snapped with my phone while I’m out and about – sometimes in the store, sometimes just window shopping. Please excuse the glare, the awkward angles and the occasional appearance of my reflection. Meadows and Byrne is a Pottery Barn-like store. I will take one of everything. Meadows and Byrne is an Irish company with 12 stores around the country. This is a store window in a men’s suit shop that I walk past quite regularly, but…
Living in Ireland: Groceries
Food. We all need it. We all hope someone else will cook it for us. Am I right? One of the questions I often get about Ireland is how much do groceries cost? Because I’m a smart aleck, I like to say “it depends.” Seriously, though. It really does. In general, I find things like cereal or pre-packaged foods (e.g. macaroni and cheese) to be more expensive – especially if you want a brand name. If you are okay with store brands, then you can find great deals. So far, I find produce and dairy products to be very reasonably priced and of excellent quality. It does crack me up that orange juice…
Moving to Ireland: Primary School 101
Editor’s Note August 2018: New legislation passed in July 2018 will greatly change the school admission’s process in Ireland. For all of you American expats moving to Ireland with kids in school year 2019/20, I think (and hope) your life will get a little bit easier. I’ve tried to note in the below story where my experiences would now be different when the new legislation takes effect. Last week my kids started school. In a foreign country. I am the first to admit, over the course of my children’s lives, I have spent way too much time worrying thinking about their education. I really thought, at least as it relates…
Moving to Ireland: First Week of School
PHEW! We survived the first day of school. It’s the second day that’s the real killer. And the day after. And the…you get my point. via GIPHY It’s been an awesome summer. It’s also been a long, long summer. My kids were ready to be with their own kind. I was ready for them to be with their own kind – for at least a few hours a day. I was nervous dropping them off though! So nervous. My jazz hands were working overtime that morning to make sure my neuroses didn’t rub off on my kids. Fake it ’til you make it! The first day of school is always a…
Living in Ireland: Exploring Our New Country
For our friends and family back home, today is just a little bit of random life as viewed through our iPhone lens. We know Ireland’s beautiful summer weather is fleeting, so we paused for a picture one night. I’m not 100% sure, but I think Handy Husband was trying to blend into his surroundings. This is hard to do when you are standing next to a kid wearing multiple colors and prints. I admire her sense of style bravado. Wearing an uniform to school is going to be a big adjustment for this 9-year-old. She did ask me if she could wear any headband she wanted to school. My answer? Well, they didn’t…
Our Foyer – Come On In
When we lived in the Atlanta, Georgia area, I finally had the spacious foyer I’d always dreamed about having in a home. Always. The irony is not lost on me that while I finally had the spacious foyer, no one used it because the house was a ‘come in the back door right into my kitchen’ sort of home. *sigh* Our home in Ireland is definitely a ‘come in the front door’ type of home. The foyer is actually of decent size and is its own designated space, so people aren’t walking immediately into our living areas. Assuming that we’ve actually had people over. We haven’t. Note to self: need to…
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Moving to Ireland: Grocery Look Alikes
There are certain things I take for granted about life in the United States. Going to the grocery store is one of them. I have my routine. I know where everything is located. I know what’s a good deal. I can cruise through the grocery store on autopilot grabbing the items we use most frequently. In my experience, the hardest thing about moving to Ireland thus far is the mental effort that every single little thing, like going to the grocery store, takes. Even though I can thankfully read the labels, I can’t cruise through the store on autopilot. How do I know if Tomato Sauce A or Tomato Sauce B tastes…
Moving to Ireland: The Great Purge
Handy Husband and I have moved A LOT. We are no stranger to packing up our stuff and moving across town, across the state, across country. Moving across an ocean to a foreign country was new for us. Bring. It. On. The biggest warning you will get when moving to a European country from the United States is the homes are a lot different than what you are used to. “A lot different” is code for smaller. Unless you are uber-wealthy, a typical European home is going to be a lot smaller than a typical home in the United States. Americans must not heed The Warning because The Warning was repeated ad nauseam. You…
Moving to Ireland: A Day Out and About
Can I get a hip-hip-hooray for Friday? I have a bunch of posts in progress to share with you, but I just wasn’t feeling it for today. Instead, I thought I’d just share some random pictures. These all happen to be taken the day we got the keys to our new house, but have nothing to do with the new house. In the last month, we have become quite adept at taking the DART train. We’ve taught the kids to swipe their own train tickets and to read the signs so they know which train we are taking and when it is due to arrive. Tourist Tip: The trains are marked with their final…
Moving to Ireland: House Viewing #3
If you’ve been following along on our house hunting adventures in Ireland, then you’ll know that House #1 and House #2 were a big, fat bust. I hate to spoil the surprise, but if we are connected on Instagram or you ran into my dad, then you already know “third times a charm” is now my favorite phrase ever. House #3 is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath semi-detached home located in a small coastal village about 30 minutes south of Dublin. Semi-detached is just a fancy way of saying it’s actually attached on one side and thus a duplex. This home was built in 1966 and thankfully has had some updates since that…
