Let It Grow, Let It Grow, Let It Grow!

And I thought I had them all, but noooooo, there's more!! Another sweet little creature to visit in Portugal! Congratulations to the happy couple, Jorge and Rae and their little butterfly. Something's in the water I tell you. I love to think that there is love all over the place.
Rae was the very first person to visit me when I first moved to Barcelona. She stayed two full weeks with me and continuously reminded me that I was doing the best thing ever and now I will get to visit her and remind her that she couldn't be doing better. Not only are they having a baby girl, but they just bought their first house with 3 bedrooms, one which will host me:)

If there is anyone else out there, you better tell me now...congrats to all and be happy, life is well full of life!
A little melody for all the families to be and those that already are:

Slumbering Calcots during Carnival (or other things you've missed)

Here just a few more events I've delayed on posting, like the slumber party with the girls the weekend Alex and Jordi went out town...there was no use in keeping the beds empty! Of course, that meant going out to dance a little and dine on some finger licking Cuban food...




and then the breakfast with French warm croissants, juice, mermalade and cafe con leche...a dash of sunshine and the weekend edition of La Vanguardia...the house's only newspaper
And of course there was Carnival...Spain's Halloween...this year I decided to go South and celebrate in Tarragona which had a lot more to offer when it came to costumes. We even got to reunite with the boys we hung out with in New York, only to meet a few weeks later in Barcelona...We have promised to keep the circle very cosmopolitan...my favorite drink to sip and say (try making a Spanish say c0s-m0-p0-li-tan hahaha

The Safety helmet. I was set on wearing my mask no matter what...made me feel a little like Robin from Batman and I LOVE IT!And finally, right before I left, the Calcotada, or the onion festival...remember? I did it last year. Only this year it was in a different country home with a different crowd...lots of kids, mommy and daddies to be and me. I swear I kept thinking I forgot something, oh no, I was the only one that didn't have kid either in me or on me!! Congratulations to all the soon to be parents...I will be the eternal aunt, I swear!

Births,Returns, Birthdays and Saints

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!! Ladies and Gentlemen, after a long wait of the latest bcn stlye blog, I present to you Susanna and the big surprise, Gerard!! As you can see it is all in working order and quite close to perfection and that is pure joy. I have promised to be the best speaking English aunt I possibly can be and have already brought a few English speaking toys from the states to prepare the little munchkin.Aside from the big belly above, there have been other wonderful things happening in my little world. As most of you know, I had to go to California for a few weeks to put my final documents in order. It was a nice mini-vacation that was very much needed and I got to see a lot of faces I hadn't seen in a while or didn't get to see last time I was there. I have decided that Febuary beats Christmas time by a million since the stress level is -10! On the way back, as I made my way through London Heathrow, I decided to contact my friend Antonella who I hadn't seen in almost more than 3 years and it was fabulous to catch up and remind each other that space is not ever large enough to distance a friendship. She has been working hard on her photography and looks great and at home in London...Check out her website: http://www.antonellafabiani.com/

Of course, returning to Barcelona meant catching up on everything I had missed and already I had a list of things to do and an agenda full of beautiful faces I had to see that I had missed so much. To start off with, it was the lovely Mary Katherine's Birthday and we took her to the typical wooden benched restaurants and bars in El Raval, treating her to pitchers of Sangria and finished off dancing in a stylish velvelty bar, making fools out of ourselves but having the time of our lives...God it's fun being a girl!!! Happy Birthday MK!!

Then this past weekend we were suddenly celebrating Easter and that meant I had to go on vacation once again and visit my favorite pals in Tarragona for the weekend. If you recall, last year I got to see the processions that they do in Tarragona and I signed myself up once again to see it and welcome Spring even though it continues to be cold...Like the year before, I was truly inspired by the devotion these people put into their religion and traditions. The statues are giantesc, with the candles flickering in the cold late winter breeze and the sinners carrying their petitions of forgiveness on their backs and bare feet.

After the

processions, we made our way through the old city of Tarragona to have a wonderful dinner with Carles, who will always remind me of summertime and the incredible time I had with him in August. We celebrated by having drinks and re-uniting once again. Somethings just don't change and I am ever so okay with that.

Then on Saturday night, Mary Katherine joined us and got the honor of meeting the famous T-group straight from Tarragona. We danced, caught up on the last few months of madness and began dreaming about what we would do for the summer that is just around the corner and you can feel it, even if the bite in the air still screams winter. It's coming and you can tell by the lovely smiles on our faces.

In all the talk, I mentioned how I really wanted a godfather in Catalunya so I could get a "mona" a delicious cake with cream and chocolates like all the other kids get. Both Cristina (on the far right) and Luis (center man in pink shirt), took me seriously and on Sunday, before heading back to Barcelona they called me up and told me that my very own mona with Nutella and peanut M&Ms was ready!! and so it is official, I will NEVER grow up and I will forever be in good hands since I now have 'the' godfather taking care of me....thanks Luis! Below is the creation of my lovely mona which I just finished sharing with Alex and will share with all my other friends since that is usually the point of eating the mona, the coming together of friends. I love this country!

I went to a tiny chapel for mass by myself, I laughed my head off for three straight days, I had a mona and more importantly, I was surrounded by amazing people who continuosly demonstrate to me that love is really everywhere, all you have to do is look around you. On holidays like this, I like to think that I am truly blessed and to take the time to give a little thanks for all the amazing things that continuosly happen in my life. "All you need is love, tan tan tan tan tum, all you need is love love love" Happy Easter to all!!!

PS...Idoia's love letter to the world, I got a crack out of it! Go get 'em girl:

California Dreaming (with Frankurt somewhere in between)

I felt it would only be fair and right to post a few of my adventures in California, even if my blog is about Barcelona. So this is dedicated to the West Coast, which will forever be the place I call home...Thanks to all those incredible people who made me feel right at home and as if nothing has changed. As you can see, it is an avalanche of amazing and beautiful faces and many more who I forgot to capture but I carry in my mind.

Before making my way to sunny Cali, I had a very long layover in Frankfurt, Germany in which I got to walk around, go to a musuem and meet Julia for corned beef and saurkraut dinner with some green goo that not even Julia knew what it was...We laughed and toasted to life with affelwine...may I remind you Julia is German and so she knew how to make her way around.

Once in California, I got to enjoy the spectacular weather they were having and took full advantage of it by going to little league baseball games, eating cotton candy, putting on our converse, sucking on popsicles and most importantly, spending quality time with my best friend and her kids, my daddy and Madison.

Then I made my way north to San Francisco, to get even more loving. I was warmly received by everyone, especially my very two special hosts, Patricia and Rene who took me out to the typical SF brunches I miss so much or by bringing me coffee in bed!!! I am the LUCKIEST gal I tell you:

Along with Patricia and Rene, I got to sit and picnic with Veronica in Dolores Park, have drinks and dancing with the P&P crowd, toast in the Mission with Amadis, Steve and Fernando, hold Cynthia and Bernardo's little Andres, drink cold beers in the warm sun at Cafe Revolucion with Yael, Cynthia, Mary Alice, Eugenia, eat Bi-rite ice cream (YUUUUUUUUUMMY), dine and talk with my beautiful Keegen as we cheered in North Beach with cool Proseco in our hands and laughed at our insanities as well as shed a tear or two, have coffee with the lovely Michelle decked out in an amazing red outfit that went so well with the sun and allow myself to be nurtured and inspired by all these people!Once back in Cali, I got a chance to be reunited with the boys that started it all, Ramon, Chad and Eduardo...because of Eduardo's wedding 3 years ago in Spain, I now am writing to you from Barcelona. We laughed and relived those 3 crazy weeks in the land of the Spanish that has grabbed me by the ankles and held me down in a neck hold...and why I am now writing of visiting California...how the world spins and whirls!