Drop us for Tapas!

We arrived without a hitch. We spent most of the first day just wandering around.

The first thing I have to say is the internet is so slow. I don't know if I'll be able to post pictures, but I'm going to try.

We had our first tour on our first evening. It was a 4 hour walking tapas tour. Our guide met us in the lobby of our hotel. She walked us around and gave us a brief history of Barcelona.

After our tour, Veronica took us to a traditional tapas place that has been in business in the same location with the same equipment since the 1920's. The old "ice box" was amazing and huge! She told us the history of tapas. The word tapas means "to cover." It started when people would come for a drink. The establishment would provide a small plate of something---complimentary---to put something on the stomach---or cover the stomach.

I understand that now. But I haven't really been all that receptive to "small plates" in Nashville. What it means to me is little food for big price. Somewhere I missed the part where you are supposed to order many small plates and then share them. It adds up pretty fast.

We let Veronica do all of the ordering for us. I forgot to take pictures at the first place, but this is what we had:
1. Russian salad (tuna salad, peas, carrots and potatoes mixed together with mayonnaise)--excellent.
2. Tomato bread (I thought this was just so so)---this is something served at all the tapas places because it is so popular. I didn't really get it.
3. Anchovies---good, but I'm used to them ON something (salad or pizza)---didn't love them by themselves.
4. Croquettes---some sort of meat. Didn't know what it was, but it was good.
5. Ham---this looked terrible, but was really delicious.
6. Special cheese---that is so hard to get only the restaurants have it. Very good.

One thing about tapas is that you are meant to use your fingers and dip your fork/spoon into the same dish. Now I don't have a problem with that when it comes to family or close friends, but we had just met Veronica. Sorry, a little too friendly for me.

The next place we went to was a contemporary tapas restaurant. I would refer to it as a gourmet place. Most of the dishes contained a lot of unusual combinations of ingredients mixed together.

I cannot remember everything that was in this. There were 5 of them. It was Stephs' favorite of the night. I passed on it because it had foie gras. I eat just about everything and am not in any way picky. But I cannot abide liver!

 This was a pea dish with hog jowls. Sounds disgusting, but it was truly delicious.

I don't remember everything that was in this dish, but it was my favorite. It had eggs with potato foam and truffles on top.

Cannelloni stuffed with chicken. Again, I couldn't/wouldn't eat it because the sauce you see on top is also foie gras. Veronica encouraged me to try a bit of the filling. I didn't want to be offensive, so I did. It just about ruined my night. When it comes to liver, I cannot be polite.

Another thing she told us is that it is considered rude to leave anything on the plate. Considering we had already eaten at one place, we were pretty full. Everybody did their part---and Butch had to pick up my share of the liver dishes. This was tough on him. We're worried that this may have been his entire food allotment for the week! We joke about it all the time. If he has a big meal, he doesn't want to eat for 3 days.

Today we had a fabulous tour that included Gaudi's Sagrada Familia---an amazing church that has been under construction for 130 years. More on that later. When the tour was over, we had the driver "Drop us for tapas!"

After our experience last night, we decided to try tapas on our own.  We had our driver drop us for tapas! This is what we ordered today:

These were shoestring potatoes with two fried eggs on top with a chili sauce. The waitress mixed it up before I got the photo. We all liked it.

This was fried artichokes---not at all what we expected as there was no breading, but it was delicious. You can see the tomato bread in the background. It was delicious! It was a hard, French type bread with olive oil and the tomato smear. I thought it was just okay last night, but loved it here.

Prawns in some sort of sauce. We all loved it. We also had lightly fried calamari that was really good. We ordered a beef dish, but it was much too rare for me.

So the verdict on tapas is---it's a fun way to eat and get a chance to try many different things. You have to be adventurous and open to unique food combinations---even if they don't sound good. Here in Barcelona, it's fairly inexpensive. Our lunch which included 3 beers and a diet Coke was about $10 per person. I would have ordered one more thing, but what we had was enough.

The only bad thing---they don't have dessert tapas. Seems to me that someone should invent it. Who wouldn't love a little dab of this dessert and that?

Mindy says she doesn't like tapas because if she likes something she wants the whole thing for herself. I get that too. But when you've never been to a place, if you only picked one, you might get a "bummer." This way, you get to try so many. I just don't understand how restaurants can really keep up with so many things---there had to be a hundred different things on the menus. I guess they know what they are doing.

Okay, the posts are probably going to be few and far between. It has taken me two and a half hours to write this one and upload the photos. Incredibly slow internet!! Luckily I needed to rest my feet and prepare for the 4 hour walking tour tomorrow!

Upon Friendship and Travel Tips

What does it mean to be a friend. I stumbled across this post---actually that's not quite true. I follow this blog. It pretty much says it all when it comes to friendship in my book. Take a look at this post and then think about what you think it means to be a friend. I have!

We're off today for Spain. I haven't even begun to pack. Not so unusual as we don't leave until about 9:30. I always say I can pack for any trip in 30 minutes---even international---assuming my clothes are clean. Still true. Here's my strategy:

1. Pick a color scheme for the week. I usually go with pink and orange--mostly pink. Sometimes I go with green and blue. Picking a color scheme allows me to mix and match my clothes and jewelry all week.

2. Plan on wearing everything twice. If you follow my color scheme tip, you will actually never wear the same outfit twice. I choose my most comfortable outfit for the flights going and coming home. I add an extra top or two since I'm at that age where I tend to spill on myself. Connie, it's an age thing, right?---although you've been doing it for years.

3. Choose a cross-body smaller purse that can hold just your absolute necessities: wallet, camera, phone (which I don't carry once I'm in a foreign country), Kleenex, Blistex and lipstick, pen and pad, passport* (yes, I prefer to carry it unless Butch is with me---then he handles passports), sunglasses/glasses, and Equal (that way I'm covered if places don't carry it). That sounds like a lot of necessities. It's pretty much everything I carry all the time minus the checkbook. Yes, I still use a checkbook. Girls, stop scoffing. I've gotten to where I use a cross-body purse all the time now. It's because that style allows my to have my hands free to break my fall. I'm not kidding!

4. I take three paris of comfortable shoes---2 daily pairs to switch off. I've found that no matter how comfortable your shoes are, if you wear the same pair every day, your feet will hurt. I swap back and forth. The third pair is a cuter pair for evening. They are not really all day walking type shoes, but look better with evening outfits. Since I'm wearing one of the pairs, that means I only have to pack two pairs. Shoes take up a lot of space.**

5. I always take a pashmina. The girls in this family love their pashminas! I usually throw it around my neck as a scarf. If it's too hot, I tie it to my purse. If it's chilly, it becomes a shawl. And it can be a pillow if I need one. Very versatile. I always take the cheap ones when traveling so as not to "wreck" the good ones. I learned that lesson the hard way when I left a Jones of New York one in a restaurant. Luckily for me, they still had it a week later when we were going back to the airport.

6. Depending on the time of year, I take a light rain jacket. Butch always carries ponchos for us (and even extras for traveling companions---he gets them at the dollar store) which are perfect if there is a torrential downpour. Otherwise, my light rain jacket is perfect for sprinkles and if there's a chill in the air.

7. As for electronics, I don't go anywhere without my Macbook Air. Mary, my friend/travel agent knows NOT to book me anywhere without internet access. I've been doing this so long, I don't even have to think about what to take: charger cord for computer, phone, and camera. I only use my camera when traveling international these days. Otherwise, my phone is my camera--less to deal with. I charge up my Kindle in advance, so I don't have to take a charger for that. I also charge up my Fitbit. This will be the first time I've worn my Fitbit since my surgery in the fall.

8. Cosmetics and skin care products are always ready to go. I have extras (you know me and my multiples problem). I just grab and go, no thinking whatsoever. When I get home, I refill everything so my bags are always ready. I mean it---extra hair brush, toothbrush, paste, etc.

9. I have one of those little weekly pill containers that contains all of my vitamins and medication. I carry extra prednisone---always---I've learned that lesson the hard way. Flying is always a trigger for my hives. Traveling business class definitely helps. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

8. I take plenty of reading material and sometimes I take my needlepoint. I take a spiral notebook to jot down thoughts. Believe it or not, I'm always thinking.

9. There are things I do to prepare the house for our departure: arrange to have the mail picked up (although I don't really think this is so necessary anymore as we don't get much mail), turn thermostats up or down depending on the season, decide which lights to leave on while we're away, empty the trash (Butch does this) and make sure all dishes are washed or at least run on the "rinse and hold" cycle. Don't want to come home to smelly, moldy dishes. I also make sure all the bills are paid and money for Margarita is laid out. Butch sometimes beats me to the punch on house preparation.

10. Lastly, I leave the house in perfect order. If something should happen, (God forbid) I would hate for anyone to come in to a mess. Wait, I don't think I ever have much of a mess anyway. And I ALWAYS make the bed!

I'd say that just about covers it. My tv shows are already set to record, so I never have to think about that.

*I have a copy of my passport in all of my suitcases. That way if it's stolen (God forbid) I have something.

**That reminds me---years ago, Butch just about had a fit when we were going to St. Louis for a long weekend. Between the 4 of us girls, we had 26 pairs of shoes!! You have to have the right ones for each outfit---right?

As if I don't have enough problems!

We leave for Barcelona, Spain on Saturday with Stephanie and Nicky. We have our whole week planned with 4 hour walking tours just about every day. I've already been wondering if I'll be able to keep up. Well, it didn't help that this happened:

Butch left his suitcase sticking out. On the dark green marble floor, the dark green suitcase is almost camouflaged---definitely is camouflaged in the dark! Now picture this: I get up at 1 a.m. to use the bathroom. I get up at least twice a night. I'm walking in the dark (who turns on lights in the middle of the night?), all sleepy-like---when I stub 3 toes---yep 3---on this suitcase. Now that seems like it wouldn't hurt, but---let me tell you---it took everything in me to not cry out. When I finished with the "dance of pain," I hobbled on in and took care of business. The 3 toes I stubbed had nothing to do with my surgery---3 different toes.

The next morning, I could not even touch them Right away, I'm thinking, "ohmygosh! I've broken more toes!" I could not put on the walking shoes I'd planned to wear in Barcelona. I'm feeling a little panicky. I pulled out a pair of flats and was able to get them on. They hurt and caused me to limp, but I really had no choice. I figured I would just slip my shoe off during bridge and hope that they would recover.

All of a sudden in the afternoon, I realized that I had forgotten to take off my shoe, but it didn't seem to be hurting. By the time I got home, my toes felt almost better. I could touch them without pain. So now, other than the little piggy that "had none" (come on, you can figure it out---it's next to the one that went "wee wee wee all the way home") is all black and blue.

Butch was very apologetic and felt bad. Thank God I didn't fall down!! I'm such a faller.

I woke up this morning and can walk and move it without pain. It only hurts when I press it, so it's just a bruise now. Yippee! I'm back in business!

Bring it on Barcelona! I'm ready---even if I didn't do what I should have done to prepare---translate---I should have been on that treadmill. Heck, if it's too much, I'll just park myself in the Sagrada!

If time permits, I'll be blogging from Spain!!

I Love my Gypsy!

But I hate Provo Craft---the Cricut makers.

I am an original Cricut owner. In fact, when it first was coming out in 2008, Pam and I ordered it six months in advance and waited. That original Cricut later became known as the "baby bug"---which was quickly replaced by many newer models.

The Cricut is an electronic die cutting machine. Back in the early days, Pam and I even taught classes with the Cricut. We loved our machines! Back then, you had to refer to the book that came with each cartridge to know what it could cut. Pretty soon, as our library of fonts grew, this became a bit of a problem. And then....

They came out with the Gypsy. It's a hand held computer that stores images from ALL of your cartridges. My favorite part of the Gypsy is the search feature. For example, if you are searching for an image of a tree, it will show ALL the images on the cartridges you own and even the ones you don't. Very handy for finding just about any image. You design what you want to cut on the Gypsy, then simply plug it in to your Cricut and cut. Love, love, love it!

Over the years, Provo Craft has come out with newer versions of the Cricut---with better technology each time.  Weeellllll, I got an email earlier this week letting me know that Provo Craft was no longer going to be supporting the Gypsy. Seems they have come out with an App for you phone where you will do all of your designing there. I'm sure you'll have to buy the app. That's all well and good, but new technology is too new for those old machines. As if to smooth it over, Provo Craft offered me a $50.00 discount on a new machine. That's a joke and I told them so. Those machines are hundreds of dollars. Not everyone can afford to replace their machines every couple of years.

I did, in fact, purchase a new Cricut a few years ago so that I could take advantage of their "Design Space" on the internet. You can use and buy, individual images without having to own the cartridges--for 99 cents. Considering new cartridges were once $89.00, this seemed like quite a bargain. Except for one thing---the thing they don't tell you BEFORE you make the purchase---compatibility with Macs is limited. I spent many hours on the phone with tech support to finally be told by one of the techs that I needed to check back occasionally and update the software to my machine because they were still working on the Mac compatibility issues. I've used that machine exactly twice. It's been 2 or 3 years and has been gathering dust. In all fairness, I haven't checked to see if those bugs have been worked out.

So that brings me back to the Gypsy and a recent discovery. You cannot get the new cartridges to work with it---and now we know why. Provo Craft is no longer updating the Gypsy. I sent an email of dismay. The problem as I see it---is that Provo Craft has to force you to keep buying new machines as this is the only way they make money. And let's face it, users make the big purchase once. It's a lot of money to shell out. I let them know that if I'm forced to purchase another machine, it won't be a Cricut! I'm usually brand loyal, but unless they give a huge discount to their loyal customers, they can count me out.

I'm all for the latest and greatest technology, but this is highway robbery---I tell you!

I love Starbucks!

But just last week I hated Starbucks! They announced their new rewards program. The way it is now---you get a free drink when you've earned a dozen stars. You get a star each time you visit---not each drink you buy. Now they've decided to go with a program where you get a point for each dollar you spend. You have to have 125 points before you earn a free drink.

I'm pretty sure that I'm the reason they went to this plan---although they say it is due to customer demand. No, it's me. I love my "ventiicedblackteashakenwiththreeequalsplease." The problem (for Starbucks) is that it's cheap. 3 bucks. Half the price of their fancy coffees. As the program works now, whether you buy a 3 dollar drink or a 6 dollar drink or even buy 4 $6.00 drinks at one time, you only earn one star. So basically, after I spend $36.00 on a dozen drinks, I get a free one. Now I'll have to buy 42 iced teas to get a free one. That means it will take me over a year to earn a free one.

I sent Starbucks an email expressing my dismay. I asked about who the customers were that wanted to spend more before qualifying for a free drink. Of course, I got the pat response: "we thank you for your concern blah, blah, blah" without really answering my question. I GET that some people may have been upset to only get one star while purchasing more than one drink at a time. I just can't figure out how the new program is a good deal for anybody. Oh well, it is what it is.

That leads me to my next complaint. I had a free birthday drink. Okay, so my birthday was all the way back in January. I kept forgetting to use my reward. When I finally remembered, they told me it was expired. What??? Are you kidding me? So that made me really hate Starbucks! There's just something about getting a free drink that makes me feel so good. And now I lost it! On top of the new program, that's adding insult to injury.

Well, yesterday, I stopped for my "veniticedblackteashakenwiththreeequalsplease" and asked again to use my reward. When I got to the window, the "guy" told me it was expired. I told him that I kept forgetting to use it and could he do something for me. He said that the birthday rewards expire after just a couple of days because they want you to come in right away to redeem it. He said he'd see if he could do some sort of discount for me. He couldn't and apologized. I acted all sad---NOT mad---because after all, it was my fault! About that time, he says, "you're in luck---that's the manager behind me and he said you can have this one for free!" I LOVE Starbucks. They really do know how to do customer service---at least in person.

So there it is. I'm torn. I love Starbucks, but then again I hate them too. I guess I'll just continue this love/hate relationship with them.

I also have a love/hate relationship with Cricut, but that's another story.

Upon the Ending of Downton Abbey

I'm so sad about this. I cried during the last episode---not because the material was sad, but because I'm so sad that it's ending.

In this final episode, they pulled out all the stops. The clothes were so incredible. I've always loved period pieces whether I'm reading them or watching them. But, I have to say, the garden party scene--Edith's dress was my favorite. She is very attractive in real life even though they made her look "plain" on the show.

I just spent a half hour trying to find a picture of her in that dress. I couldn't but this one is pretty darn beautiful too. Those gloves...

Julian Fellows did a good job of wrapping up every story line neatly---no huge surprises or sad endings.

Goodbye Downton Abbey. I'm going to miss you! Sob, sob...

Family Craft Day---

Easter edition. I'm not really sure why we do craft projects. Personally, I don't like them. But I've always said that as long as the girls want to do crafty things, I'll do it. For me, it is an exercise in frustration.

I had everything pre-cut and ready to go so that we could whip these out and move on to our stitching class. Right away, Mindy and Stephanie started to complain---"these aren't long enough"---"this doesn't look right"---etc. I said, "just trust me, it'll be fine!" When they finally did, they agreed that the wreaths turned out cute enough!

After wreath making, I gave them their first lesson on the needlepoint project we're all doing together.  Even though we're all making the same project, they will look completely different due to the color selection. Stephanie is using red, blue, white and silver. Mindy is doing black, white, gold and silver. I'm doing green, blue, yellow and silver. Like I told the girls, it doesn't matter what colors you use---they will look good. Connie is using blue, green, white and silver. While we were at the store picking out our materials, another lady was getting hers. She picked purple and blue. I'm not crazy about purple and would never have thought blue and purple would look good together, but just looking at the fibers she picked out---well, they were pretty awesome. It's going to be fun to see how the project progresses.

After our crafty projects, Stephanie took us to lunch at a place called PUBlicity that I've never been to before. It was really good. I spent the rest of the weekend at home doing a little reading, stitching and scrapbooking. I made a pot of French onion soup---so good. 

A weekend just how I like them!