36-hour reunion in barthelona

my friends jenifer and jule, who i have known since i was five, crossed the pond to spend a few days in spain and france. the spain part of their trip fell during the august bank holiday, so i flew to barcelona for a whirlwind, fabulous reunion. we were so busy catching up that i don't think i saw one famous landmark. unless you count the naked guy standing on the corner by the beach a landmark?




i arrived saturday night around 9 pm, took the bus into the city, and met my girls at their hotel. none of us had eaten dinner yet, so we put on our finest and went in search of the perfect paella. i was planning for it to be an early-ish night.


however, every time i hang out with these chicas, we always accidentally end up staying up way later than planned. dinner ended around 11, followed by a cab ride to the beach (i was able to have a conversation in Spanish with the driver the whole 10 minutes!), drinks by the beach, then dancing at a random club with some Frenchmen the girls had met the night before.


after a few hours of mind-numbing techno music and G&Ts, i ended up in the mediterranean for a quick dip (in my clothes) before we headed back to the hotel. the paella we ate wasn't really holding us over, and we were all starving! but nothing was open at 5:30 am for us to munch on, so we pled with the hotel manager to feed us.


kind soul that he was, we got a nice (albeit random) plate of chorizo, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, and ciabatta bread. i woke up at 9 am at the foot of the bed, covered in egg shells. this is what the "snack" plate looked like the next morning.


we finally got out of bed at 1 pm, at which point i poked my head outside to see what the rest of the world was doing.


despite not seeing any famous landmarks, i did get to see the side streets and back alleys of barcelona on a our long, lost walk to lunch, which were pretty cool in their own right.










we finally ended up in a tasty cafe around 4 pm, where we gnawed on crepes and sarnies (that's English for sandwich).




we spent the rest of my first/last day in barcelona relaxing at the beach. i had to hold the camera up really high to take this shot, because everyone on the beach except for us was naked.

Bodrum trip post...a little late!

It's been a month since we got back from Turkey, but busy schedules have prevented me from having time to do...anything! However, I'm housebound this weekend due to a pulled muscle (oops) so I figured I would update my neglected little blog...


Adam's friend owns a condo in Bodrum, Turkey and was generous enough to let us stay there. We arrived at night, and the condo complex looked like a village in itself, sprawled across a massive hillside.




Turkey in August is...hot. It was around 100 degrees each day, and we began each morning with a vertical climb to the market for bread, fruit, veg, and whatever random meat we could find in the freezer case.




After our trek to the market, we could barely muster the energy to head to the pool. The heat and sun were relentless, so we only lasted about an hour outside before running to find shade.


Lunch was usually a potluck eaten on the balcony of the condo. We hid under the umbrella and feasted contentedly on watermelon, olive oil, pasta and bread.


Most nights we cooked at home, but one brave evening we ventured out to the restaurant at the top of the hill to try the local fare. We ordered testi kebabs (yes, you read that correctly), which were presented to us flambe and with great fanfare. Adam and I both had to dance with the waiters before we were allowed to eat. 100 other diners looked on with awkward interest to see which idiots had ordered what everyone else had already identified as the "party in a clay pot" dish.








The end result of the dancing, clapping, and hullaballoo was similar to goulash. Really tasty!



The sea in Turkey is crystal clear and about 80 degrees (perfect!)...but the landscape is very rocky and not good for sunbathing. To rectify this, the resorts cut away the hillside and brought in builder's sand to accommodate beach chairs, umbrellas, and snack bars. The end result is a little rough on the toes but worth it for a dip in the Aegean sea, where the water is so salty you can float without effort.


I bought these shoes from the L.L. Bean catalog when I was in the 7th grade! They are Tevas, sawtooth pattern if you really must know.
















The pool by the beach was an infinity pool, which was really neat. I was swimming with a t-shirt over my bathing suit to avoid getting too much sun, and I got kicked out of the pool by the resort manager! Guess American girls in baggy shirts aren't the image they wanted to project. ;-)


To conserve electricity, Turkey have rolling blackouts that last about an hour. Most of the meat we purchased was frozen, because it is the only way to keep it from spoiling when the freezer stops working in 100 degree heat! One night we de-frosted our mystery pack to find chicken wings and tiny chicken legs. Another night we thought we were buying regular sized chicken thighs and legs. However, upon defrosting we noticed the colour of the meat was much darker than chicken. After some taste tests, a mental review of all game meats we have ever eaten, and a quick look at the local wildlife, we came to the conclusion we were eating duck. Whatever it really was, it was delish. :-)


A map of the Bodrum peninsula, if you are curious.


Turkish currency is still Lira and one Lira equals about 43 pence. I like the design of the fiver best.

One thing that was frustrating about Turkey was that I always felt like I was being taken advantage of. I was really interested in learning about the culture and eating local dishes, but no one we met wanted to share any of that - they all wanted to make a fast profit. Even the taxi drivers, who I can always rely on to tell me where to get the best food whether I'm in Peru or Portugal, had ready-made sales pitches to push us here or there. The final straw was at the airport when I brought two bottled waters up to the cash register. The sales clerk looked at the water, looked at the 10 Lira in my hand, and said "Yes, 10 Lira please." Are you kidding me??? Next time I'm keeping my money in my pockets...


To celebrate the end of our holiday, we went to dinner at a posh beachside restaurant. It was Friday the 13th and we were seated at table 13. :-)






The end.

travel jitters

adam has a friend who has an apartment in bodrum, turkey (where we can stay for free) and we have been excitedly plotting a week-long holiday on the beach. we finally get to leave today (yay!) but i'm nervous about flying.

no, i'm not worried about the flight itself, but traveling around europe, while it is mostly short distances, is a HUGE hassle especially since i'm not from the EU. for someone who is well used to flying, i find myself getting jittery over a few things here:

- there are always surprises. always. whatever can go wrong actually DOES go wrong, and it can be anything from not realising you have to fill out a fake visa (malta trip) to finding out you have to go through customs BEFORE you get on the plane/train. (and my friend beth wasn't allowed on a train because she forgot to pick up a free train ticket FOR HER BIKE) no matter how many times i read the fine print, there is usually something i miss.

- no one that works here actually cares if you miss your plane/train and they sometimes seem like they WANT you to miss it, because then you have to pay more money.

don't get me wrong, i love living over here and i love the opportunities that living here affords me. i just miss the days of being able to look forward to holiday without a care. there's something to be said about the ease of driving to florida or hilton head.

gah. wish me luck! x

happy customer

i've been working on a switzerland-based account since march or so, and we recently picked up business with the uk market, which means i have regular face-to-face client meetings (yay!). while i enjoy this interaction, the client is very corporate and i don't have much dress up stuff here in london. i just haven't needed it! hence, i've had to do bits of shopping to save my co-workers and clients from having to see the same black and white dress from target appear in EVERY meeting.

shopping here is a nightmare since most clothes are targeted toward either pencil thin girls or the under 25 variety. however, there is always one safehouse i can find...anthropologie. i love anthropologie. i do think a lot of their stuff is overpriced but it is classic and fits well. i couldn't be bothered with the bus trip to regent street last weekend, so i rolled the dice and tried online shopping. online shopping never, ever works out in my favour but i carefully selected my (sale) items and then spent an hour (or three) reading online reviews from other american customers to see if things ran big or small, if they were good for people with large hips, etc. :-) after much deliberation, i decided on two purchases (not necessarily to be worn together although they could be, if were ever warm enough here)





i ordered everything on saturday and it was being shipped through the royal mail, so you can imagine my delight when the package arrived on wednesday! i was even more delighted to open the box and find this:



normally when you order online, it comes in a crap box and everything is in plastic bags and looks like it came from a nasty warehouse somewhere and not an actual retail store. but this came with my packing slip in a reusable sachet and my two items lovingly wrapped in tissue paper. awesome!

granted, there were still plastic bags once i dug a little deeper but the clothes had actual tags on them so i didn't care. it was the best experience i could have hoped for AND everything fit! hurrah! i would definitely do this again.

as a side note, i did do a little shopping in person in angel last weekend and stumbled upon what looked like the cutest boutique but is actually a giant global chain - all saints. (adam and my hairdresser had a good laugh over this story) well, whatever, we don't have that store in cincinnati and since when have i been on the cutting edge of fashion anyway??? :-) i bought a dress that looks like a combination between this:



and this:



it's black and really light jersey material, no eyelets but it does have the buttons and the sash. and it was a good bargain, too. :-)

sunny but raining sideways

Only in London...

new haircut, y'all

i guess while i'm thanking people i should also thank my hairstylist from jarrold's for providing me with four consistent haircuts/highlights in a row. in my experience this is hard to find!

an ode to my local favorites

i'd like to take a minute to thank the local establishments who have kept me fed and watered these past few days. in no particular order, thank you:

café saffron
you always deliver my monday night saag paneer consistently and deliciously. though we seem to have a different idea of what "make it a little spicy means", i do appreciate the little treats you throw in the bag each time, from poppadom to those wonderful fried veggie things. i also appreciate that you never become aggravated when i bring my drunk friends in on a friday night, even though we are loud and once (accidentally) dropped a beer bottle into an irretrievable place.

sekforde arms
your £9.99 jugs of pimms keep me refreshed on a hot sunday afternoon, you are willing to serve up a nice pint of kronenburg even at 5 minutes till 11, and frankly, i am well pleased with your recent remodel of the ladies' toilet. also, your staff is quite friendly. i consider you my "local" even though i don't live across from you anymore and have to pass at least two other pubs to be received into your welcoming arms.

la porchetta
you are typically one of the first meals i feed to out-of-town guests who are weary from traveling and who always very much enjoy your fine, thin-crust authentic Italian pizzas. your lovely waitress never fails to recognize me, whether she is working in the clerkenwell or holburn branch. perhaps this is because i went through a month-long spell where i dined with you at least once a week if not more. thank you for making affordable delicious food that is close enough to my house to be convenient but just far enough away that the walk might count as exercise.

though i haven't been there in a while, i'd also like to thank:

the three kings, for their chili bakes and random jukebox full of B side songs from the 70's. also, their bartenders never let anyone queue jump unlike some other establishments on clerkenwell green...

the curved angel, for its small but filling salad bar and the free re-usable takeaway box, all for £3. you make lunch possible when i have loads of change and only five minutes to spare.

bless you all for making my world a happier place.