Just as a quick brain-dump/stress relief/mental break, here's a list of the 100 million things going on in the next 24 hours
#1 - Need to finish cleaning the greasiest kitchen in England. Seriously, how does that much grease get everywhere when I don't fry anything?
#2 - Just got confirmation that I have been accepted to the Masters of Science in Marine Environmental Management Program at the University of York this fall.
#3 - DH and I are "celebrating" our 8th wedding anniversary. "Celebrating" is in quotes because really, there's nothing special that we're doing, mostly because...
#4 - DH's and my octogenarian grandmothers are arriving from the States tomorrow morning for a two-week visit. These prospect of entertaining these gray hairs is rapidly giving me many many more of my own.
#5 - I am stressed out about everything, and there's no gin or tonic or limes in the house to take the edge off. I've not been myself for the last few days as the stress-levels have reached stratospheric heights, and I just feel like life is on hold until the grammas are packed up on their way back to the States.
On top of that, DH and I would like to start house-hunting for somewhere new to live, and I just simply don't have the time to do it right now. Then there's the stress of packing and moving and etc etc etc.
Please, if you see me babbling some incomprehensible jibberish and drooling out of the side of my mouth during the month of May, please hand me a Xanax or a G&T to get me back to my senses.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Friday, May 08, 2009
Things I am happy about...
I find that when I'm not talking about the latest travel destination we've visited, most of my blogposts since I've arrived in England are about the things that make me unhappy: the weather, the boredom, the idiosyncrasies that I know are cherished by the English but annoying to this American.
That's a one-way road to depression-ville, though. So I thought I would purposefully sit down and focus on the things that I am happy about - even as the wind howls outside, I have bathtowels drying on the line outside and I know they'll be as stiff as boards when I bring them in, and there are no current plans on our horizon that involve me spending time in a warm climate.
#1 - We have no children. This sounds like an odd thing to be happy about, but seriously, I couldn't be happier. For every status update on FB that is something positive about parenthood, there are ten others that bewail some other stress, drama, problem, or frustration. I know it's not a very scientific way of understanding parenthood, but I think my bliss will be in ignorance on this particular subject.
#2 - We are financially stable. This is probably directly connected to #1, but I also chalk this up to the choices that DH and I make about our lives. Living beneath our means, keeping focused on our long-term goals and having clear priorities about what we value now are all key for us. But mainly it has been because DH has a good, stable job that he enjoys and even though I'm not working at the moment, when I was working it was also in a good, stable job that I (mostly) enjoyed. Is luck involved? If so, is it lots of luck, or just a little? Who knows - I hate to give too much credit to luck when it denigrates the very real choices and work we do to be in our position, but I also realize that circumstances beyond our control contributed to where we are now. Particularly during these times when so many are struggling, this bit is something I'm especially thankful for.
#3 - We have a positive marriage. Again, this is greatly influenced by #1 and #2, but I have been in enough relationships to know I have much to be thankful for in this respect. DH and I have similar values, similar life goals, and while our relationship is far from perfect (who's is, and what is relationship perfection anyway?) at the end of the day (or sometimes, the next morning) we contribute more to each other's life than we take from it.
#4 - I love my car. This sounds so shallow and minor, but it really represents something bigger. Everyone needs something that brings them utter and complete joy without strings, without complications, without drama, without trying. For me, that's my car. It represents the first BIG THING I ever bought for myself that was purely for me, that was exactly what I wanted, and it has never let me down. I can be in the worst mood in the world, but I get into that car and that black cloud evaporates immediately.
#5 - I have my health. I may not be in the best shape of my life, but I think my health is one of the most precious things I have. This is another one of those bit o' luck, bit o' personal responsibility things (don't smoke, don't drink to excess regularly, don't overeat but also have good genes and good fortune on my side). This is definitely one of those areas that could turn in an instant, but for now, I'll be happy about it.
Five things is a pretty good list I think. Some of them are in my control, some of them aren't. But right here, right now, as my two kitties sleep peacefully in the back room, DH is on his way home from work early, and a weekend full of work is in my cards, I can sit back and look at these five things and find a little internal sunshine to counter the dark clouds out the window.
That's a one-way road to depression-ville, though. So I thought I would purposefully sit down and focus on the things that I am happy about - even as the wind howls outside, I have bathtowels drying on the line outside and I know they'll be as stiff as boards when I bring them in, and there are no current plans on our horizon that involve me spending time in a warm climate.
#1 - We have no children. This sounds like an odd thing to be happy about, but seriously, I couldn't be happier. For every status update on FB that is something positive about parenthood, there are ten others that bewail some other stress, drama, problem, or frustration. I know it's not a very scientific way of understanding parenthood, but I think my bliss will be in ignorance on this particular subject.
#2 - We are financially stable. This is probably directly connected to #1, but I also chalk this up to the choices that DH and I make about our lives. Living beneath our means, keeping focused on our long-term goals and having clear priorities about what we value now are all key for us. But mainly it has been because DH has a good, stable job that he enjoys and even though I'm not working at the moment, when I was working it was also in a good, stable job that I (mostly) enjoyed. Is luck involved? If so, is it lots of luck, or just a little? Who knows - I hate to give too much credit to luck when it denigrates the very real choices and work we do to be in our position, but I also realize that circumstances beyond our control contributed to where we are now. Particularly during these times when so many are struggling, this bit is something I'm especially thankful for.
#3 - We have a positive marriage. Again, this is greatly influenced by #1 and #2, but I have been in enough relationships to know I have much to be thankful for in this respect. DH and I have similar values, similar life goals, and while our relationship is far from perfect (who's is, and what is relationship perfection anyway?) at the end of the day (or sometimes, the next morning) we contribute more to each other's life than we take from it.
#4 - I love my car. This sounds so shallow and minor, but it really represents something bigger. Everyone needs something that brings them utter and complete joy without strings, without complications, without drama, without trying. For me, that's my car. It represents the first BIG THING I ever bought for myself that was purely for me, that was exactly what I wanted, and it has never let me down. I can be in the worst mood in the world, but I get into that car and that black cloud evaporates immediately.
#5 - I have my health. I may not be in the best shape of my life, but I think my health is one of the most precious things I have. This is another one of those bit o' luck, bit o' personal responsibility things (don't smoke, don't drink to excess regularly, don't overeat but also have good genes and good fortune on my side). This is definitely one of those areas that could turn in an instant, but for now, I'll be happy about it.
Five things is a pretty good list I think. Some of them are in my control, some of them aren't. But right here, right now, as my two kitties sleep peacefully in the back room, DH is on his way home from work early, and a weekend full of work is in my cards, I can sit back and look at these five things and find a little internal sunshine to counter the dark clouds out the window.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Brilliant Barcelona
DH and I are back from a 3 day, 3 night trip to lovely Barcelona. It's the perfect short trip city - it has enough sights to keep you entertained, but not so many and not so "important" that you feel guilt if you don't hit them all. It has great food - in fact, I really consider it a foodie paradise. It's compact and walkable, with easy and cheap public transportation when you want to get somewhere fast or your feet are aching a little. It's gorgeous - everywhere you look there's another something that catches your eye and makes you sit and stare.
We arrived at about 7pm Saturday night, checked into our hotel, and then headed out to Paco Meralgo for what was easily the best meal of the trip. Two bottles of wine (including a lovely spanish Chardonnay) and 12 plates of tapas later and we were full and happy. All for 25 euros per head, which I consider to be incredible value. One of our friends (we were traveling with three girlfriends from Harrogate) was a salsa dancer, so we hit the Mojito Club so she could dance the night away. We got to the club about 1130 and it was dead empty! However, by the time we left the club around 130am (when they changed from salsa music to reggaeton, we could barely get out the door. It was a good night, and we slept like rocks that night.
The next morning we got up bright and early (1000am) to the sounds of thunder and lightning! It was pouring rain, like a mid-summer storm. The storm ended, but the clouds never left us, so we set out to Mauri (a gourmet pastry shop) for a croissants and coffee breakfast before making our way down to the Gothic neighborhood to visit the Picasso museum. This museum focuses very heavily on his early work, when it's clear that he's a skilled, but otherwise unremarkable artist. The number of works start to thin as one progresses through his life (the museum is organized chronologically) but they also improve in their imagination and uniqueness. You can see the dramatic change in his style and expressiveness once he gets to his Paris phase - although there are hints of it in earlier periods. Finally, you see a dozen or so works from his blue period, and a room or two full of his cubist period (with a strong collection of his studies of Velazquez's Las Meninas. I had been previously "warned" that the museum was heavily tilted towards his unremarkable pre-Paris works, but all in all I thought that the presentation and the chronological arrangement did a strong job in showing his personal and artistic development.
After visiting the museum, we headed out for a tapas lunch and lazed around the Parc de la Ciutadella for a while. We then made our way to Barceloneta, the fishing village cum trendy neighborhood. The marina was FULL of sailboats, and despite the gray weather and spitting rain, we stopped on the beach and dipped our toes in the water. That night we made our way back to Eixample, where our hotels were, for a truly dreadful dinner at "Obamas" - a British-African theme spot, before hitting the sack.
Monday brought bright blue skies and sunshine - the perfect day for a little modernisme! After another lovely pastry and coffee breakfast at Mauri (where DH descovered the Snecken Brezal - a pretzel-shaped pastry that was divine!) we sauntered down the Passeig de Gracia admiring the myriad modernisme buildings that line the street. I really wanted to tour Casa Battlo, but the 16.50 euro price tag seemed quite steep. So we popped into Casa Amatller's gift shop, where amazingly I bought myself a necklace and earrings. We walked along to see Casa Mila (La Perdrera), then set out for the Sagrada Familia.
What can I say about the Sagrada Familia. It is one of the most unique, beautiful, stunning, impressive examples of modern architecture I've ever seen - and it's not even done yet! I could easily have spent an entire day exploring the facades and towers. We had gorgeous weather, which made the pictures all the prettier, but it was just an incredible place to visit.
After spending 3 hours at Sagrada Familia (and believe me, I could have spent twice that!) we made our way up to Park Guell high above the main city center to enjoy a little picnic lunch/dinner. It was quite crowded with tour groups, but nevertheless we found ourselves a nice spot on the mosaic-tiled benches and enjoyed the view. We took some lovely photos of the architecture of the park and strolled back down the hill to catch the Metro back into town. Dinner that night was at Taller de Tapas, which wasn't bad, but no where near the same league as Paco Meralgo.
Our final day began the same as our first - pastry and coffee at Mauri. We then strolled down the Passeig de Gracia to the Placa Catalunya, then down the (in)famous La Rambla. It has the reputation as being a tourist and pickpocket mecca, but in reality it's a kinda cheesy, tree-lined street with lots of street performers and tourist eateries overcharging for mediocre food. Our main reason for this stroll was to visit the Mercat St Josep - otherwise known as La Boqueria. What a feast for the eyes - what a feast for all your senses! The displays of food were magnificent! We spent about an hour or so just strolling around all the stalls, looking at the beautiful displays of fruits and vegetables, meats, seafood, eggs, cheeses, olives, spices, nuts, candies, etc. It was heaven. I was so sad that we had eaten only an hour previously, because there's nothing I would have rather done than to have eaten my way through that market.
We left the Boqueria reeling, trying to get a little fresh air and sunshine by strolling over to the Barcelona cathedral. It was nice, but really, having been through the Italian cathedrals, I just wasn't that in to it. Plus, it was being heavily restored, so that detracted from it quite a bit. We sat for a while, a bad decision since I ended up getting pooped on by a pigeon. Afterwards, we popped by Palau Guell for our last little dose of modernisme, returned to the Boqueria to grab some lunch essentials (a baguette, some chorizo, 1/2 pound of manchengo cheese, 1/4 pound of olives, and 1 pound of strawberries for less than 10 euro!) and then sat in the sunshine back at the cathedral and enjoyed a delicious lunch.
We ended our time in Barcelona by walking the rest of the way down La Rambla to see the monument to Christopher Columbus, and then watching the fishing boats return to the harbor before hopping into a taxi and returning to the airport.
We took over 600 pictures on this short trip, which you can see here, here, and here. You don't need a Facebook account to view them.
We arrived at about 7pm Saturday night, checked into our hotel, and then headed out to Paco Meralgo for what was easily the best meal of the trip. Two bottles of wine (including a lovely spanish Chardonnay) and 12 plates of tapas later and we were full and happy. All for 25 euros per head, which I consider to be incredible value. One of our friends (we were traveling with three girlfriends from Harrogate) was a salsa dancer, so we hit the Mojito Club so she could dance the night away. We got to the club about 1130 and it was dead empty! However, by the time we left the club around 130am (when they changed from salsa music to reggaeton, we could barely get out the door. It was a good night, and we slept like rocks that night.
The next morning we got up bright and early (1000am) to the sounds of thunder and lightning! It was pouring rain, like a mid-summer storm. The storm ended, but the clouds never left us, so we set out to Mauri (a gourmet pastry shop) for a croissants and coffee breakfast before making our way down to the Gothic neighborhood to visit the Picasso museum. This museum focuses very heavily on his early work, when it's clear that he's a skilled, but otherwise unremarkable artist. The number of works start to thin as one progresses through his life (the museum is organized chronologically) but they also improve in their imagination and uniqueness. You can see the dramatic change in his style and expressiveness once he gets to his Paris phase - although there are hints of it in earlier periods. Finally, you see a dozen or so works from his blue period, and a room or two full of his cubist period (with a strong collection of his studies of Velazquez's Las Meninas. I had been previously "warned" that the museum was heavily tilted towards his unremarkable pre-Paris works, but all in all I thought that the presentation and the chronological arrangement did a strong job in showing his personal and artistic development.
After visiting the museum, we headed out for a tapas lunch and lazed around the Parc de la Ciutadella for a while. We then made our way to Barceloneta, the fishing village cum trendy neighborhood. The marina was FULL of sailboats, and despite the gray weather and spitting rain, we stopped on the beach and dipped our toes in the water. That night we made our way back to Eixample, where our hotels were, for a truly dreadful dinner at "Obamas" - a British-African theme spot, before hitting the sack.
Monday brought bright blue skies and sunshine - the perfect day for a little modernisme! After another lovely pastry and coffee breakfast at Mauri (where DH descovered the Snecken Brezal - a pretzel-shaped pastry that was divine!) we sauntered down the Passeig de Gracia admiring the myriad modernisme buildings that line the street. I really wanted to tour Casa Battlo, but the 16.50 euro price tag seemed quite steep. So we popped into Casa Amatller's gift shop, where amazingly I bought myself a necklace and earrings. We walked along to see Casa Mila (La Perdrera), then set out for the Sagrada Familia.
What can I say about the Sagrada Familia. It is one of the most unique, beautiful, stunning, impressive examples of modern architecture I've ever seen - and it's not even done yet! I could easily have spent an entire day exploring the facades and towers. We had gorgeous weather, which made the pictures all the prettier, but it was just an incredible place to visit.
After spending 3 hours at Sagrada Familia (and believe me, I could have spent twice that!) we made our way up to Park Guell high above the main city center to enjoy a little picnic lunch/dinner. It was quite crowded with tour groups, but nevertheless we found ourselves a nice spot on the mosaic-tiled benches and enjoyed the view. We took some lovely photos of the architecture of the park and strolled back down the hill to catch the Metro back into town. Dinner that night was at Taller de Tapas, which wasn't bad, but no where near the same league as Paco Meralgo.
Our final day began the same as our first - pastry and coffee at Mauri. We then strolled down the Passeig de Gracia to the Placa Catalunya, then down the (in)famous La Rambla. It has the reputation as being a tourist and pickpocket mecca, but in reality it's a kinda cheesy, tree-lined street with lots of street performers and tourist eateries overcharging for mediocre food. Our main reason for this stroll was to visit the Mercat St Josep - otherwise known as La Boqueria. What a feast for the eyes - what a feast for all your senses! The displays of food were magnificent! We spent about an hour or so just strolling around all the stalls, looking at the beautiful displays of fruits and vegetables, meats, seafood, eggs, cheeses, olives, spices, nuts, candies, etc. It was heaven. I was so sad that we had eaten only an hour previously, because there's nothing I would have rather done than to have eaten my way through that market.
We left the Boqueria reeling, trying to get a little fresh air and sunshine by strolling over to the Barcelona cathedral. It was nice, but really, having been through the Italian cathedrals, I just wasn't that in to it. Plus, it was being heavily restored, so that detracted from it quite a bit. We sat for a while, a bad decision since I ended up getting pooped on by a pigeon. Afterwards, we popped by Palau Guell for our last little dose of modernisme, returned to the Boqueria to grab some lunch essentials (a baguette, some chorizo, 1/2 pound of manchengo cheese, 1/4 pound of olives, and 1 pound of strawberries for less than 10 euro!) and then sat in the sunshine back at the cathedral and enjoyed a delicious lunch.
We ended our time in Barcelona by walking the rest of the way down La Rambla to see the monument to Christopher Columbus, and then watching the fishing boats return to the harbor before hopping into a taxi and returning to the airport.
We took over 600 pictures on this short trip, which you can see here, here, and here. You don't need a Facebook account to view them.
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