Dave Matthews Acoustic Concert

So after a quiet weekend, I am at work on Monday when I receive a call from a coworker who says, "Hey I just got back in town from LA, are you busy tonight?" My first thought, "yes, I have to go to the gym." Instead I say, "Why what's goin' on?" He proceeds to tell me he has an extra ticket to the Dave Matthews Acoustic Concert and it starts at 8pm, can I be there? Hmmm....let me think about that...HELL YEAH I can be there. In case I forgot to mention it, I have been a Dave Matthews fan since college and have attempted on a few occasion to see them perform in LA...unfortunately always unsuccessfully. So I hurry home from work that night, DART it into the city, meet Kevin, hail a taxi to the concert hall, which is actually a boxing arena the size of a high school gym, and as we are about to walk in a scalper asks us if we need tickets. Kevin asks him what seats they are. They are no better than ours, but suddently the guy yells out to his buddy and the buddy runs across the street and trades/upgrades our tickets for 30 euro which we can't seem to muster in change so we give him about 25 and walk into the arena as Dave is singing and find we have upgraded to 7th row seats for a three hour acoustic set with him and Tim Reynolds...and since I could never do it justice, I'll leave the rest to them...



and here are some of the pics as well...











It was amazing...I can't wait to go again in May when the whole band is in town:)

AND finally...a shout out to ALEX...HAPPY BIRTHDAY:)

Birthdays, Trips to LA...and on and on and on about nothing.

First things first... two of my best friends have had birthdays this week. Last Sunday was Karen's birthday and today is Tara's birthday. The hardest part about being away from LA is not being home to celebrate holidays, celebrations, birthdays and day-to-day events with the people I love most....because although I know that I came here to learn things and expand my horizons and get out of my comfort zone, etc. etc. etc. and I am sure that I still have more to learn and experience here, I can't even begin to go describe all the countless things I have been through with them because it would take years to recount all of the memories and experiences...and I miss them both (and everyone else for that matter) terribly especially when I am not there for the big and little things...so in honor of you...Karen and Tara...

I Love You TWO!!!!!

Things have been mellow around here. Everything is in a routine which is good, I really look forward to Tuesday nights with the girls and we made Mexican food (burritos and nachos) this last Tuesday. Jim was even able to join us which was a nice evening. For those of you who don't know, Jim and Jo moved here from LA as well and just had a baby boy (James Joseph). It's amazing to see how this little boy grows week by week. In the five weeks that we've been having "Grey's Anatomy" nights, he has changed tremendously and his personality is beginning to form. It's very cool to see and be a part of.

Since Paris, I've been back in the gym on a regular basis, trying to mix cardio and weight training and I have to admit that as much as I love it, I am sore today. I guess that's the price you pay for staying out of the gym for a while... your body catches up with you when you begin to push it again. But I am happy to be back on track with that so it's worth it. The gym is like a disco club, dark colors and beating music, tealights on stairwells and I really like it... and it keeps me out of the pubs which seems to be the only other form of week night entertainment around here, which is not my preference.

I booked a flight for the end of April for our annual Coachella tradition. I can't believe it but Coachella tickets are already sold out for Saturday and Sunday, so I bought one for Friday and will hopefully get tickets for the rest of the weekend when I get out there.

Karen has changed her wedding date to June 23rd so I booked an appointment for yesterday at a wedding shop in Blackrock to do the bridesmaid dress fitting yesterday. She picked out beautiful bridesmaids dresses for us and I am so excited for her wedding. The shop was an interesting example on how retail is so different here than in the US. There was actually a sign on the door that basically said, "we only allow our customers in by appointment...so if you don't have an appointment, please don't be offended if we don't let you in." While I was there, one of the girls arrived early for her appointment and they actually sent her away and asked her to come back at the scheduled time.

It amazes me how people here actually put up with such poor customer service and how the retailers actually get away with doing things on their own timeframe...and the consumers have little choice but to deal wit it. In LA, if customer service wasn't meeting expectation, people go somewhere else to buy their product. Here, customer service is poor everywhere and if you so much as threatened to go somewhere else, they would basically say, "That's fine. This is how we do things here and you won't get better service elsewhere so good luck." It still amazes me how different the cultures are in terms of service and expectations!

Ok, I am actually boring myself at this point...so that's all for now.

Honorable Mention...ok dishonorable mention.

So I posted a ton of beautiful pics of Paris on my blog and sent y'all a bunch of pics of my trip...but this one deserved a "dishonorable mention" on my blog for being a downright disaster...and hilarious...btw, Karen is the only one I know of who got it without mention, hence why she is my fashion guru...so I'm shopping in the most glamorous section of Paris which hosts the highest fashion in the world, ie. Louis Vitton, Prada, Gucci, etc. etc. and Caroline and I walk into an overpriced shoe store to browse and I come across this shoe. I immediately start laughing...Caroline looks at me like I 'm crazy (she's right, maybe I am) but I start giggling and take out my camera to take a picture of this...

Yes ladies and gentleman, for the measly price of 300 euro, you too can own this beautiful high fashion from Paris...camel toe shoe...and for those of you who want to see that in $$$, it costs about $390.00 US dollars to purchase.

Are we the only one's who think that's funny????

The designer(unknown) must be laughing his/her way to the bank!!!

I'm now waiting to see it in the US Weekly section of "The Fashion Police...When Bad Clothes Happen to Good People" section(my favorite), lol;)

Caroline and Vanessa in Dublin and Paris!

Caroline was my first visitor to Dublin since I moved here in September and so we took the opportunity to get some art and culture and planned a 4 day trip to Paris while she was here.

She arrived on Saturday, February 3rd, just in time for The 6 Nations of Rugby matches to begin on Sunday, so after a victorious win by Ireland, we headed to the City Centre to meet up with one of my old Tiltware employees from LA, James. We first headed to John Kehoe's for James' first pint of Guinness, then to the Sporting Emporium to place a bet on the Superbowl Game, and then we went to Fallon & Byrne for a bit of wine and cheese.



Later that night, we headed to Ray's house in Dalkey for a Superbowl Party thrown for all the Americans who have of course been missing American football. Caroline, James and I bet on the Colts and for the first time in years, they finally won, which was extra special since not only did we double our money, but Thyra for years had made me bet on the Colts(being from Indiana) in office pools only to have us lose over and over again so I was really hoping for a victory for them...which we got!!!

Monday I headed into work, but didn't make it through the whole day so I went home early and we laid on the couch watching Sex and the City episodes until bedtime. Tuesday morning, we had our 1st real snow in Dublin, amazing.

Caroline headed into the city centre while I worked and we went to Jo's house for Grey's Anatomy night on Tuesday night. Jo was very excited to have a pediatrician from the US in the house as she has a 4 week old baby and baby James took to her immediately and pretty much stayed glued to her for the evening, it was very cute.

Wednesday after work, we headed to Paris. Funny enough, our flight was delayed so we got there a few hours later than expected so we checked into the hotel around midnight and walked down the block and found an open cafe for a late night snack. We awoke Thursday and headed towards the Eiffel Tower.



The plan was to go to Versailles but after a few hours of walking to pick up tickets, eat breakfast in a cafe, wander around, I was exhausted and so we headed to another cafe for a light lunch and it ended up pouring so we were lucky to have a bit of cover from the torrential rains.

It quickly ended and we went back out and ventured to the shopping area so that Caroline could buy something from the Louis Vitton store in Paris.

I then discovered my love for french lingerie shops. It makes Victoria's Secret look like amateurs because the french lingerie shops are so extensively packed with beautiful things in all shapes and sizes. I would be hard pressed to find anyone who couldn't find something they loved in one of these many shops throughout the city. As we walked back to the hotel, we found a nice place for dinner and made a reservation for later that night. The service was good, the dessert was amazing so well worth it.

Friday, we dedicated to shopping so after eating breakfast in another cafe, we headed to Lafayette Galleries, which is equivalent to Harrod's in London. It's 6 stories high and a very long block wide and is filled with every designer known to fashion. They had an entire 1/2 a floor designated to lingerie so I went a bit crazy in there. We hit the shoe section, a bit of the clothes and ended up closing the place out. We found another adorable lingerie store across the street so we wandered into there but they closed before we could try anything on so that was a loss. We then hit a happy hour cafe across the street for more crepes and wine and cheese and french onion soup.

Saturday, we were dedicated to the art and culture so we first headed to Musée d'Orsay where I got to see my favorite Degas paintings and my favorite sculpture, "The Little Dancer of Fourteen Years" is exhibited there as well along with a huge variety of other fabulous pieces. We mostly wandered through the impressionist section of the museume where Degas, Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir, Sisley, etc. are displayed. It was quite fabulous.

We then crossed the bridge to Le Orangerie for the Waterlilies display by Monet. This was Caroline's favorite and quite beautiful... we wandered through the entire museum and then headed to the Louvre, where we were able to see the famous Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci as well as some of his other works and some of the Greek sculptures. The Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Venus de Milo were quite impressive in person and of course I love the statues of all of the Greek Mythology characters.

I have to admit that the walk between the museums is breathtaking, somehow the city has a romantic feel as you walk through parks with children playing with boats in the ponds and couples strolling holding hands. There is a quiet nature about the city and a warmth that is quite overwhelming.



After our beautiful day, we headed to one last cafe so that Caroline could try a crepe...she hadn't had one yet...and when she ordered hot chocolate, she was literally served a silver tea holder with melted chocolate in it...wow, talk about decadent. Then it was back to the airport where a few of the French were heading to Ireland as well for the Ireland vs. France Rugby match and everyone was singing their national anthems back and forth in the airport. It was quite entertaining. Caroline left early Sunday morning to head back to LA and I have to admit, I was quite sad...I was getting used to have someone to run around town with. But she has already promised to return and maybe we will even make an annual trip to Paris in February's since we both decided it was the best time of year to go. The weather was beautiful, the city was not crowded, the clothes were all on sale since the spring fashion lines had just been announced, and all and all it was a fabulous trip.

I would have to say that Paris is definitely the most beautiful place I have ever visited. I can't wait to go back and explore some more.

That's all for now.

xoxo.

Ness