Barcelona, part 2

Our time in Spain got better and better with each day. We were both just so happy to be there. Of course, we ate churros and chocolate like we'd never see them again once we left Barcelona. 

I am mortified to pull out my camera in front of locals (which is weird considering I have this blog), but Katie is very comfortable with the paparazzi/ super-flash/ tourist thing. Hence, these lovely food photos were taken by Miss Pelton and appropriated by me, for your enjoyment.

Our most stimulating experience was at a farmer's market. The photos kind of capture it, but we were amazed by the vibrancy of the colors. We've both been to many markets, but this one was just gorgeous. Mounds of fiery orange, yellow and red spices, dozens of different fresh juices stacked in clear cups, every vegetable imaginable. Really cool- we just walked around and tried to take it all in.

 

Towards the end of our trip, Katie and I got serious about our priorities. I wanted to wander the streets and shops of the Gothic Quarter and Katie wanted to visit a massive cemetery and dip her toes in the Med. So we split up and each enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Candy store above.  Full of women. Saw an American get her purse stolen on her way out of the store.

Oh, my, gosh. Heaven. I spent a good hour in this jewelry store. Each jewelry case had items by different designers. Very unique jewelry.

Clouds finally rolled in as we were on our way back to London.

Barcelona, Spain with Katie

Katie and I spent four glorious days in Barcelona. We'd been dreaming of Spain since we were 14 years old, sitting in Señora Henning's Spanish 1 class, singing Christian songs in Spanglish. Us 'mijas' were really looking forward to finally trying out our Spanish in the motherland, in a city that doesn't even speak real Spanish. I worked my Spanish with a little French (sil ou plait) and German (ja), figuring that Catalan kinda sounds like French Spanish (plus I couldn't get 'bitte' and 'ja' out of my brain after having spent the previous week in Germany). In the end, we always got what we wanted, which is the point really.

We flew Easyjet, which was a surprisingly clean, friendly, and easy experience. My previous experiences with discount airlines (Ryan Air) had left me feeling disgusting, frustrated and cranky. In the future I will definitely look at EasyJet for short haul European flights.

Short fight from London to Barcelona

The weather was perfect, 75-80 degrees the whole time. Our hotel, The Olivia Plaza Hotel, was right smack in the center of the city, the staff was friendly, and our room was nice and clean. The photo at the beginning of this post is the view from our room- hello Barcelona!

I was so happy to see Katie's face when she arrived in London :) As soon as she set down her luggage in my flat, we walked over to pick up some Barcelona guide books at Daunt Books in Marylebone. The picture above was taken in Regent's Park.

Gothic Quarter of Barcelona

Katie

On day one we wandered around the city, checking out the architecture everyone talks about. Here we are doing our 'Facebook profile picture' poses in front of Gaudi's Sagrada Familia church. 

Me

Courtyard amplifying the music of Spanish guitar players

Picture for Mom (La Sagrada Familia)

Another one for Mom

We were so, painfully, tired, here.

Paparazzi Katie

Remnants of sangria at Andu

KDP Visit- an Introduction

Katie and I have been best buds, partners in crime, co-adventurers, yada yada yada, since middle school. We were brought together by a shared passion for P.E. class, or more specifically, badminton.  We were terrors with lots of energy, and Ms. Jessie, our P.E. teacher was scared of us. We got bored during softball so ran sprints back and forth across the outfield. 

Katie (KDP) came to visit me in London last month. We had a great time, running around Europe like there's no tomorrow. After our fun, it took me a full week to catch up on sleep. We drained the life out of every day :)

Here are some pictures of Katie and I growing up.

We must be 15 or 16 here. Snuck a camera into P.E. class. The sad face was definitely about softball- you can see the field in the background. So boring. We would have much rather ran around the track for an hour.

This was probably taken during our senior year of high school. There's Katie's cute little VW in the background. We were about to wash our cars together at the Pelton's house. This picture really captures us during high school, just goofy and having fun.

Katie, me and Kara at Jesuit's senior ball. We are 17 and 18 here. We were largely uninterested in our dates, and extremely interested in coordinating our dresses together.

Katie and I at my Abrego Rd. appartment in college, probably both 20. She was visiting from Cal Poly and we were definitely having a girl's night, staying in and going through my collection of Martha Stewart Weddings magazines.

There's a little background on our friendship. I'll put up some pictures from Katie's trip in the next post.

London, Chicago and Folsom- Summer 2011

Sunday rainbow in Hampstead

Hello there! I was just looking through some photos from my recent trip to Spain with Katie, when I realized I have a few pictures from this summer that I might as well share. 

Our summer was largely unadventurous, but we did go to a few concerts. My favorite was in Hyde Park on June 30- Beirut/ Mumford and Sons/ The Vaccines/ Arcade Fire. What a lineup!

What most of my summer looked like. I know, no complaints when you have Luca as a study buddy :)

Concert in Hyde Park

Arcade Fire was insanely more exciting in concert than on cd

Mumford and Sons rockin' the double bass and banjo

It was only 65 degrees, but the Brits were fully celebrating the first summer day of 2011 without rain. Olaf and I went to a Kaiser Chiefs /Killers concert the week before, but left early because of torrential downpours and my numb, frozen feet.

"Haha, jolly good day, I'm British, it's not raining, so I should stick my obligatory trilby on my obligatory brolly and block everyone's view of the stage." Cute.

Even more wonderful. "Haha, I'm British, it's raining outside, but I'm inside, so I'm going to throw my full pint of beer in the air whenever I like a song the Kings of Leon are playing here at the O2 and drench everyone standing in front of me."           Great concert, smelly tube ride after.

Watching the Killers in Hyde Park

Living in London is exciting and cool, but I constantly miss my family/ friends and I always missimportant moments in my favorite people's lives. I love love being home in California and "just being around" for races won, first steps, mad dog looks (Lauren), first houses bought (Kara), etc.(flip side, and isn't there always one, is that I miss Olaf's moments).

While I was home in wholesome Folsom, my brother Matt had his first day of work at his new job. Doesn't he look so cute and Bob the Builder in his hardhat? :) Matt's finishing up his engineering degree at Sac State right now and is also working at an engineering firm. I'm very happy for him, because he is absolutely enjoying what he is doing, and he's good at it.

Happy brother, happy boy :)

Olaf and I went to Chicago over a long weekend in July, for a girlfriend from law school's wedding. It was the first time I'd been back to the city since I graduated and moved to London the summer before.

Most of the wedding guests (including us) stayed at the Dana Hotel and Spa, on upper State Street. The hotel was packed and the staff did a great job handling everyone's needs. We would definitely stay there again. It was clean, stylish, reasonably priced, and well located.

We had a really, really wonderful time. The city was in it's best summer glory- the beaches along Lake Michigan were packed with tanned, relaxed Chicagoans, and the downtown city streets were teaming with young, energetic professionals and happy shoppers. Surprisingly, we ran into at least eight people from law school, people who weren't even in town for the wedding. I had never before thought of Chicago as a small town, but it sure felt like it while we were there.

The University of Chicago contingent at Ellenna's wedding

Mr. Olympia enjoying his protein ("pro-dee-een") plate at Tempo Cafe in Chicago

I experienced so much in Chicago during my three years there, but this was the first time I was actually relaxed and totally enjoyed the city. We had the most fun we'd ever had in Chicago! 

Santa Barbara is similar for us. We enjoy our annual visits there more than we ever enjoyed it while we lived there, even though I always enjoyed and appreciated Santa Barbara. My roomies and I would constantly tell ourselves how lucky we were. I walked down to the beach whenever possible to hear the waves crashing and thank God that I was fortunate enough to live in such a gorgeous place. But there is something so nice about being a visitor and relaxing without local due dates.