Moving Day, Again {Our New Bungalow}

Well, it's been a few weeks now, and we're starting to get all settled in at our new Bungalow here in Dublin.  As I mentioned in my last post, this was our 4th move in the last 12 months.  We hope it's our last here in Ireland.

We moved a whopping 1/2 mile down the road.  It took 6 hours and 4.5 trips in the trusty Little Green Machine - and then 1 last trip with our bikes.  That should give you an idea of how much stuff we own over here.  We literally started packing, moved and unpacked everything in 6 hours, stopping for lunch in the middle. 

There she is, the Little Green Machine

Believe it or not, this is actually the second yellow stucco place I've lived in.  My first apartment in college was also yellow, stucco and cute.

This was the last trip

It's definitely taken a little time to settled in and fix up a few outstanding issues, but I think we're really going to like this place.  The kitchen is the biggest we've ever had together, and it's been great so far.

So big, maybe I'll finally have get to help out with the cooking

One of the first cooked meals, brunch!

We still have 2 bedrooms (guests welcome!),

Our room, we get some good sunlight

The guest room, looking very inviting

And a small, but nice bathroom.

So small you can't even see the sink

And a lovely and large common room with a working fireplace!  I'm sure we will love it in the winter when it's rainy, windy and cold outside.

I took the photo at night so it's not the best

I had to snap this photo below of the last trip from our old place to the new.  I brought our herb plants, by bike.  I felt so, "Eugene, Oregon" or "Berkeley, California" biking our herbs down the road.

I didn't need that umbrella all day!

Now last, but very not least, we have a back garden and patio.  What a treat this is here in Dublin.  Below is a photo what it looked like when we moved in - a mess. Actually, this photo doesn't really show you what type of mess I am talking about.  At this point, we had already asked the landlord to clean up the shed and backyard for us.  They had hauled out a broken table, umbrella, and cleared out a bunch of junk from the shed (and I'm crossing my fingers he got the spider that was as big as my palm, seriously).

A very generous "pre" shot

Then, last Saturday, we bought a BBQ and one thing led to another and before I knew it Brian was back in the shed, clearing it out completely, and I was at the hardware store buying yard sheers and gardening gloves.

Appropriately, since we are in Ireland, while clearing the yard, we started to dig up a bunch of potatoes that someone had once planted.  And if that's not enough, we also inherited chive plant that was left behind, so appropriate, to go with the potatoes.  I tilled and weeded the garden triangle and planted our other herbs by the chives.  Brian trimmed the lawn and the hedges, and I attempted to pull and dig out weeds everywhere possible.  We swept and raked (with a shovel) and raked some more.  Several hours later, we had done all we could do.  It looks better back there, but there is still work to be done.

Look at those nicely trimmed hedges

See the potatoes on the ledge?
I couldn't get him to hold them up.

And here is where the herbs ended up

And the results of our labor

And finally on Sunday, we had our first BBQ.  The sun was out and we actually were able to eat outside, it was a real treat.

A great end to our first week at the Bungalow

We're looking forward to having some friends over to enjoy the bungalow, the backyard and some delicious BBQ.