Breaking My Arms Around the Ones I Love

As I sit in front of the screen, listening to The National, candles lighting the room and thinking back on this weekend, I feel full...oddly complete and so calm, the kind that makes you smile and say, "Yes, this is what it is to be happy." In the background, The National is singing out a lyric that portrays exactly what I feel:

How can anybody know
How they got to be this way
You must have known I'd do this someday
Break my arms around the one I love
And be forgiven by the time my lover comes
Break my arms around my love

"daughters of the soho riders"

And I think, it is not around one I break my arms, but many, so many people that make me want to hold them, to love and to give endlessly because I get so much in return for it. This weekend was "girls just want to have fun time". On Friday, we got dressed, put on lipstick and headed to a cool restaurant where cosmopolitans and martinis were the thing to order. After, we went around El Raval to have beers and then back to our neighborhood town to finish it off with a little dancing. I was delighted to be surrounded by so many wonderful women, laughing, dancing and simply loving to live.

The next morning, Gisela, Mary Alice and I woke up nice and early to catch a ride with Alex and Monica, north to Girona. The day doused us with sunshine as we caught up on a few more minutes of much needed sleep in the car. Once in Girona, which is such an amazing town, we made our way into the old part of town, where we wandered into a church. The church caretaker approached us and next thing you know we were getting a free tour of a church built in the 14oo's. He took us into places that only open for special events and we were thrilled to get this kind of treatment. I think he was thrilled to share this excitement with us, since all the attention is usually on the Cathedral of Girona...lucky for us we know how to find the smaller things in life. After the hour tour, we sat on the front steps of the cathedral and let the sun pour down on us. We decided to calmly stroll around the town, no plan in mind, find a sunny terrace to eat lunch, shop a little and then have a coffee in a marble tabled cafe and wait for Alex and Monica to call us and you know what? that's exactly what we did. The day could not have been more perfect. We ate in the sun, romanticized, bought fresh tea, a new mustard yellow purse and had mochas. A Saturday could not have been better spent, even if we were exhausted and needed to sleep. I laughed with the girls and told them, today we simply get to be girls, eat, shop and treat ourselves to chocolate and coffee. I was breaking my arms.

After a day of fullness, we headed back home, took much needed naps at 8 in the evening, only to wake up and go eat sushi, have a beer and drag our tired bodies back home to sleep.

Then there was today, Sunday. We woke up when our bodies told us, okay, I'm ready to begin the day.
We went to our neighborhood vermouth spot, started the day with a pick me upper and then came back home to make lunch. I had Jordi, Alex, Monica, Mary Alice, Amy, Charlotte and Julia all around me, waiting for my food, chatting and helping me in the kitchen. As simple as that but as fullAfter a long slow lunch, Susanna and Sergi came over for coffee and chocolate cake and to help me hang up some bookshelves in my room. Yes! Finally I have a new desk, shelves and a dresser to store and organize my life...And now I sit in my room, sipping on Vanilla/Cinnamon/Cardamon tea that I bought yesterday...breaking and breaking my arms all over again, but it's not just around one, it's many. All these people, all these faces that give me so many smiles and that remind me that living is exactly this, remembering to do what you love most as big or small as it might be. And so I tuck yet another Sunday into my memory box and look around my now re-arranged room and think this is how I got to be this way...and I will keep breaking my arms.

http://www.myspace.com/thenational

Look Who's in Town!

This weekend I was fortunate to spend some quality time with the girls and not just any girls...
On Friday, Idoia and I dolled ourselves up and went to a lovely restaurant to dine our happiness away and then have a drink before calling it a night, only to wake up with plans to see none other than Mary Alice straight from San Francisco! She along with two of her good friends, Charlotte and Amy had lunch with me in a semi-sunny plaza in Barcelona's center. Then we walked around and I got to show them one of my all time favorites, Caelum, a beautiful and cozy cafe with delightful sweets, perfectly foamed cappuccinos and a cavernous downstairs perfectly lit with candles. After catching up on what I've missed out on in San Francisco, we walked around El Gotico and El Born. It felt good to have a piece of home near me and to seem them enjoy the city as much as I do.Later that evening, Gisela, who I would like to present to you as our newest member at La Llar, or home...the new addition to our apartment who has quickly become part of the family and I can honestly say I am glad for it since it brings more balance and girl power, met up for dinner in Gracia with a good friend of hers, Estell, visiting from Reus. Again, another night of getting pretty and being girls. Afterwards we went to a bar where they were handing out free donuts! I laughed as she bit into that donut with all the passion she could give it and secretly thought, "I love the choice we made!" If she can enjoy something so simple as a donut, she will definitely fit into our home...
Then today I had another incredible day, waking up with sunshine and plans to have a vermouth with Mary Katherine and our Californian guests, finished off with a picnic at one of my favorite parks and later coffee and lemon-flavored chocolate chip pound cake at my house. As I sat at that table and watched all the girls indulging in the company and treats I thought of how truly fortunate I am. Each time more and more, I realize that I am surrounded by some pretty spectacular friends and to top it off I have the luck to indulge in living well and making those little small wishes come true, like picnics on a Sunday afternoon with poofy dogs and all.Mondays don't seem so bad if you really look at it, or at least not when you can start the week by saying you've had a fabulously indulgent weekend with those who make you laugh out loud. All it takes is a little planning, some good food and a slow pace with lots of good company.

Picture This

After a whirlwind three weeks of eating, drinking coffees (peppermint mochas...yum), taking advantage of all the love and attention from family and friends, being a guest in my own country, spending an amazing six days in New York for New Years with two of the most beautiful women I know and have the honor of calling buddies, I finally arrived back to Barcelona with both feet ladden in new leather boots, firmly planted on land. But it really wasn't over. After those three weeks of being away from the people I've gotten so used to, I had to have more coffee dates and adventures to catch up on all I missed. I will not eat for the next month. I swear if I could, I would hybernate until the sun comes out again.

Well after a few weeks of festivities I came back for one last special day, El Dia de los Reyes! Forget Santa Claus people, this story is so much more intricate and it doesn't come around until the 5th/6th of January. The kids even get an extra day off of school so they can play with their new toys! Talk about taking gifts seriously and there's three of them! With camels, elephants and horses and they drink wine and whiskey, not milk and cookies. Okay, I'm getting off track. So as soon as I returned, I was honorably invited by Jordi Mena Haro (see previous blog or two) to join him at the calgavata (I think I spelled it wrong), the big parade in the city center that welcomes the kings to Barcelona straight from the port. Unfortunately I forgot my camera (first time ever!) and was not able to get a single shot of this breath taking experience so Jordi gave me a great idea, to write an entire blog with just words and descriptions, no images. It will be up to you to imagine it, so grab a friend and have them read it to you so you can see it with your eyes closed. Or just read it and use your wildest imagination.
Picture This:
It's a cool January evening. Jordi and I meet in front of Gaudi's Sagrada Familia and we decide to make our way to the center walking. I look at all the beautiful modernist buildings and am so glad to be back in the city that has adopted me. We make our way to Carrer Pelayo where we find the perfect spot, front row seats to an event we know will be packed within a few hours. Jordi goes on a sandwich and warm coffee run for us and leaves me with an elegant older lady who is by herself and strikes up a conversation with me. It is only 6pm and the kings are estimated to pass at about 7:30pm, we don't care we want front row seats. Jordi returns and with him tons of people excited to see the spectacle. After an hour and a half of waiting, somehow becoming family with all the other families arounds us, Bertha the beautiful blue-eyed five year old, her parents, toting their letters for the kings (wish list), the foreigner who has the 6 boys playing games so they don't get impatient, but is really having a better time himself, the elegant older lady and all the others, applaud the entrance of the helpers.
There are colors everywhere, blues, yellows, reds, oranges with see-through material that wavers in the sky, silver confetti, giant stars, suns, dancers, everything you can imagine. In the background you hear Arabic music as the Kings arrive, each representing a different area, Arabia, Asia and Africa.
And they are throwing candies, candies everywhere! The burst of colors is exhilirating and I am bent over laughing hysterically as Jordi reaches for the ground, battling against the countless children to collect some candies for me. Even Bertha's grandmother who a few moments ago kept complaining about her aching body was down on the ground. Suddenly a Sugus, a version of Starburst, hits me on the head and I laugh even harder. Everyone was laughing, everyone, children, parents, grandparents, Jordi, I....there was not a serious face miles around. The Kings helpers collect the letters and a presenter then announces to the children that they must eat one candy before going to bed because tonight and only tonight they are magical candies that will help them go to sleep, knowing that if they are awake the kids will not be visited. A child then screeches out "COCA-COLA!!!" as he sees the coca-cola candies approach us. The man in charge of the six boys is having the time of his life and I am re-living one hundred and one memories of when I was a child. Suddenly I screech out when I see real camels! Real camels decked out in gold and red and all I can think is that America doesn't have camels in their parades and I am a child again, instantly, along with everyone else around me.
Then it is over, the street cleaners pick it all up and the families scurry home to prepare for the big visit. There is excitement in the air, my skin prickles with all the magic around us and Jordi and I go over the people we saw. The transformation of the man, Bertha's eyes at the sight of it all, the older elegant woman who decided to come by herself to re-live her own past, to adopt a family momentarily and live an experience she probably has had for decades.
It was pure magic and all it took was a little fairy-tale, some candies, and a lot of imagination. I applaud the seriousness and dedication everyone involved had in order for the children to believe for a few magical hours. They even had me believing that night as I heard footsteps above my head.
The Kings didn't visit me this year, I think they didn't know I was here, but I can promise you next year they will pay me a visit.

I wish you all an amazing 2008. I hope your experiences were just as exciting and love-filled as mine and that one of your top priorities for this year is to come and visit me if you haven't yet.
That would be the biggest gift of all. Now, go eat some candy!