So yea... as I said before

Karma is a bitch. And snicker I did at my sister's ginormous bosom when she was here over the summer. All a by product of the baby thing... but little did I know that now that I am at about the same phase of the pregnancy thing as she is, I too have been afflicted. Dear lord... not like I needed any help. I can know understand just how it's so that even nicole richie has boobage now. With that said you can imagine that volupous does not even do justice to my current state. If I were blonder and fabulously gorgeous I might accidently get taken for Scarlet Joanssen who is in town shooting with woody allen... well not the body part as I'm pregnant and she's not... but defo the boob dpt.

On another not so booby subject. Some of the more hairy members of my rapidly expanding family are doing their best to leave their mark on everything. Even down to the tiny plastic clip at the end of my memory stick. I can't even begin to think when she got her little fangs into that? Fredu has taken to referring to her as "todo los dientes"which translates to " all the teeth". Extracted from the expression "que miente con todos sus dientes!" which means you're lying with all your teeth. Hmm. Somethings just don't translate so well. I guess we do however say in English lie through your teeth.

Asleep while standing

I sort of feel that way... no no actually I do feel that way. I think it's the combo of travelling and this heat wave we are going through that is making me fight to the death to stay concious at my desk today.

My wee sejour in London was lovely. It was really great to see all the peeps again. Sad really that this is the last time for a long while that we will all be together again, but nice nonetheless. I'm not quite sure if it was because I was not partaking in the imbibing of alcohol or if the sands of time are pilling up... but it was quite a subduded event when compared to our standard gatherings. Guess we'll all be grown ups before you know it. I think I'm guilty of pushing the trend in that direction. Not that it's bad... it's just different!

I'm suffering from extreme puppy withdrawl. She's been with the breeder since last wednesday. He is due to bring her back to me tonight. My heart strings are being tugged. It's all a bit brutal really. I can imagine that she is huge now after hearing all the forbidden food that he's been feeding her. So much for keeping her on human food only!

18 weeks in and the bump seems to be now growing... the skinny jeans still fit which is a surprise... but perhaps by the end of the week this will no longer be the case. I'm just counting the days until the 19th when we have the scan that will reveal the gender. The doctor who listened to the heartbeat the other day was thinking it was a girl as the heart rate was quite quick... but that's just hearsay. We will find out for sure soon enough... everyone channel your energy for a girl. Not that we won't love a boy... it's just that I've got my heart set on a girl.

Only time will tell.

I'm off now to perfect the art of sleeping with my eyes open. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

strange things this way come...

I'm sitting in the office slurping back a tiny container of liquidized apple... it's the goodness of one full apple but in the convience of a drink. It's terribly expensive but look ma i'm eating fruit! While secretly in the back of my mind I'm straining to pull through the beautiful smell of roasted chicken that is wafting through the office. Im still pretty much in full on allergy attack mode so it's quite a challenge! My confession?

Damn the chicken smells good. I had a quick look on the counter where the not yet eaten portions remain... one look was enough to confirm that the sight of it was still enough to keep me safely in the veggitarian relgm... but for one small moment I thought just perhaps I would consider eating it again.... eating no... smelling. YUM.

I think we are the owners of the only dog in the world who really has no interest or enjoyment out of going for a walk. I took miss martini out this morning very early when the streets are empty to try and get some excersise for her in before I left for work... she was very good and did walk but trying to express the terror mixed with total disinterest that was expressed in her tiny little face... would be difficult. Poor thing. She doesn't even sniff about when she's out she's pretty much a little robot filled with terror. Best keep watching the dog whisperer when it's on on Saturday's dubbed in Spainsh. Maybe Cesar will have the tip we need to convince her that walkies are fun... or maybe we should just oblige and keep her as an indoor dog?

I'm not sure how I'm still standing

but i was hit today by a massive wave of allergies... from where and from what I'm not sure. I guess perhaps the weather has changed and whatever the spanish version of hay fever is has come early. My sinuses are about to explode. I do not exaggerate when I say I probably sneezed 500 times today.

I had a check up with the Matrona today to make sure all sprog issues are okay. Funny thing is that I've not gained a single ounce yet. All these mad online resources say that you should have at least gained 10lbs by now... guess all this clean living is doing me good and what I'm loosing by being 'healthy' I'm re-gaining as baby weight at the same pace. Just wait tomorrow morning I'll wake up and be a balloon. Ha.

I got to hear the sprog heartbeat today... the Matrona said that she thinks it's a girl as the heartbeat is quite fast which is common in female bubs... but there will be no confirmation until the 20 week scan this time next month. sigh. I haaaaaaaate waiting. Apparently I'm 4 days more pregnant than they initially thought. How the hell do they know? I dont' get it. Doesn't matter really the 25th or the 29th of Jan... whatever the due date is, sprog will arrive once sprog is ready.

Until then I shall continue working like a mad woman... and running my business and puppy training... How I'm going to have any energy while I'm in London, I'm not quite sure. But lets see if I can make it to Thursday morning without having a sinus explosion (or implosion)

snnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnfffffffffffffffffffffffff

someone score me some sinutab? please? I swear the sprog will never notice!

If my dog could talk

it would be saying something like this right about now...

"mummy mummy, i love you I love you, I love you!"

"i'm sorry mummy I can't help it mummy, but I can't fight the urge to bite you on any occasion when your hands are anywhere near my tiny but leathal mouth!"

" mummy mummy i'm full of beans and no amount of sprinting around the house can calm me down!!!!"

however... since the only sounds she makes are squeeking and coughing (minus the 3 barks she emitted the other day when a stranger came in the house which she has never since repeated)... thus consider this dialogue as one transmitted through dog-human telekenesis.

I am sure glad that

We get 1000 free international minutes with our internet/phone service. As I swear my conversation (or diatribe) to Joey last night sure soaked up a lot of them! I'm not usually one full of gossip these days but I seemed to talk her poor ear off last night.

I've been busy this week cracking the back of this new project that I'm working on. It's quite a whopper of a task and I must say it's been good for the old brain to start working again on something that does not have anything to do with agencies.

Looks like miss sally is returning to the land down and under thus we prepare to send her off. I shall be back in london for the fete and then she'll be here shortly afterwards after her jaunt with Rich and Joey to Ibiza. It's going to be a bit mental!

Anyone want to chihuahua puppysit? Too bad she's not yet able to travel yet!

some of us are...

mostly enjoying the first ray of sunshine of the day. It's been so cold and stormy here the past few days... she is a smart cookie.




Update!

She is now enjoying full range sunshine in the sitting room.



Dog blog (first couple entries) are done and with the powers that be... I hope they like them. Worst case scenario I'll do a spin off blog from here and post about her there.

Thanks for everyone's well wishes regarding the bump... I don't really have one yet as I previously mentioned but I'm expecting to wake up one morning in the next few weeks to find that I have 'popped'.

The house feels very empty without all the visitors we've had in the past few weeks. Lilli of course fills it with a great presense of random poops but I'm mostly behaving. I did not even leave the flat once yesterday... I could so very easily slip into a world of agoraphobia... As with most things... I doubt I'd be very good at it as the lack of diet coke would quickly force me back out into public.

Things are ramping up quickly with my new job which I've not written about yet... I'll save that little gem under my hat for a while. You're going to love it!
.

My holidays...

managed to sneak up behind me and tap me on the shoulder... since then the blog wagon has rolled over me several times and I'm still all soiled and don't have any soap powder for my washing machine. No seriously I don't...

The tiny puppy is tiny no more... well she always will be as she is a chihuahua but she's a whopping 850grams now so there is really no telling what could happen. Bulldogs beware!


Uncle Mit and Lilli Martin mostly looking fab!


Is this what they mean when they say "put a cork in it?" nahh don't worry i'm not cruel she can't even bark yet... but she is mostly taking over drinking wine for me since I no longer can...

KJ and Bryan's wedding was a sucess which happened as you know just before the holidays.

My tiny mummy and seestor... with my gramps in the foreground


Seestor's husband checking out the boobage! I love this shot (sorry bryan)

The villa was lovely and a good time was had by all. I think this year we really noticed that we were missing the 2nd week... but good times were had in Barcelona with my mum and my sister and her hubby the week following so that was good. Mum even braved a trip to Ikea with me to buy some stuff and get the spare room in better shape to host the new arrival that I have yet announced... oops well there you go, I just did. The new arrival will do just that around late January therefore there is plenty of time but mum will not be back here before then so she was an angel helping me get things sorted.


The villa gang (minus seestor who was taking the photo)


Seestor Mum and I


Seestor and I on the catamaran. Thank you Orsom for giving us a free spin (or my company a free spin)

Did I mention I was having a baby? Yes indeed. Well anything my sister can do I can always do better right? tee hee... I'm only 14 weeks or was it 15? who knows... I'm not terribly good at this whole new venture, and I've not even really got a bump yet... Fredu is thrilled to say the least. I'm cautiously optimistic as with everything really :)

I'm bucking the trend folks... instead of becomming a mommy blogger I'm going to strive to become a doggy blogger... I'm drafting up sample entries right now for a shot at scoring a slot as a regular content provider for this portal in the UK... nothing confirmed or promised but it would be good fun... time will tell.


Lilli Martini! Not sleeping or biting me to death... but of course relaxing as that's what dogs do!

Congratulations!!!

To my sister and her now husband.

They were married yesterday. It was very sad not to be there but since I spoke to her before and both the dress and shoes she chose to wear were both from me... I was there in spirit! I can't wait to see the pictures!

Work is beyond busy... but isn't it always like this just before you go on holidays???

The puppy now has a name!!! She is Lilli Martini... it was a hard call... all of my spanish friends were voting for Lola... which is really cute too but I think we're best with Lilli.

Suresh jetted back to London yesterday... I swear he did not miss his flight... well that's the story we're going with anyway. It was lovely to have him here. I'm sure Lilli will wonder where he's gone.

Next guests not far away. Mum arrives friday and seestor and new hubby on Sunday.

You know you and your friends all work in media when....

you have an msn conversation like this....

----------------------------------------------
karmparker@some-email.com says:
you got a sec?

http://random_devURL/test

what happens when you go there?

sarah says:
a video loads in top left hand corner

sarah says:
then plays

sarah says:
then there is lots of shooting and robot death

------------------------------------------------
Moments like this are amusing and surreal all at once.

much to my surprise

my paintings just became well expenisve!! I agreed to sell a few with this online shop... They take a 35% commission so of course I made sure the price I gave them was reasonable knowing they would take half... how suprised was I when I saw the actual prices they have them listed at! The whole art world is totally un-known to me so it's all learning... but holy moly for all you out there who already own one of my pieces... They have tripled in value! Hang tight... I can fake my own death and try and push the price up even more... that is of course if you make sure to wire me some money to my swiss account once you sell them (to help keep me in the grave aka a nice island in the south pacific). Thanks!

Finally

Someone who sleeps more than I do! She's not got a name as we are not sure we are keeping her. But she was a good little sleepover guest. She's so tiny and cute and is yet again sleeping! I love it! a true Spanish dog!

She's due back to the breeder tonight who has been indeed kind lending her to us. I think we are going to continue looking although it's a tough choice... but we were looking for one with a lighter face... I will meet her brother tonight when the breeder comes back to collect her. He's got a lighter face but I'm not sure we want a boy... nor if we want something bigger... but we're not so sure he's bigger... time will tell...

in the interim more pictures of her doing what she does best!



Look at the cute paws!


super tiny!

We have now adjusted ourselves and have move into sleeping dog pose number 54. Strech!!!!

i'm having the cutest sleepover ever


she's spending the night... on trust alone! The breeder is too sweet! The puppy is trying to walk on the keyboard as I type. I suppose she likes the clicking noises and the fast moving fingers... she also likes napping... she is 3 months... she's about 10inches long... and under 1kilo...she's so tiny she can't even bark yet... she squeeks!

The drill cranking monkeys...

obviously had the day off today... either that or they were on a cofee break when I was seeing the dentist. I waited for nearly 30 mins for my 11h20 apt. this morning with my CAP salud dentist. When she finally re-surfased from her coffee break that I saw her leave to take not long after I arrived... she ushered me in. I sat on the chair, she asked me to open my mouth... she looked in using one of those tiny mirror jobbies... however did NOT use that hideous pick thing which they normally prod all your teeth with hoping to find a cavity... no no, no prodding. After then 10 second visual scan of my mouth she pronounced that all was well... in fact muy bien! I apparently did not need a cleaning nor did I seem in need of any further attention.

Under 1 minute after arriving I was back out again and on my way in blissful ignorance to my actualy dental hygine status.

You get what you pay for... and this my friends... was free.

No worries. I like denial. It's what's been keeping my pearly whites just that for the past 5 years. I shall carry on just like I have been said the dentist!

Sticky toffee or jawbreaker anyone?

Sometimes some people take secret pictures...

It's just one of those secret things photographers do... I think they can't help it. I found this one... evidence of my slumber... I swear I was dreaming of red devil cupcakes with cream cheese icing...

It's pretty fab considering it was only taken from his camera phone. Kudos to you du du!

For the first time in a long time

I've had a really chill and relaxing morning. We had a very early appointment this morning but the person we were seeing was so late. I thought things were then off to a bad start... but it picked up. I had a lovely breakfast after the meeting... I forget sometimes how lovely the terrace is around the corner from my flat. It's nice to sip an iced coffee while nibbling some toast with apricot marmelade and watch all the cute puppies and people go by.

I'm obviously not in the office today as there is no computer there for me... thus my freedom! So here i set listeing to the Smith's John Peel session... Brilliant does not even begin to describe it. I highly reccomend it.

I've got a dentist appt. tomorrow morning. Usually I need a few weeks to psych myself up for such things but I just found out that heath services here include dental therefore I'm going for a checkup. I guess I've not to worry so much about the checkup it's more about if they find I have a million cavities that have developped since my last apt. It was probably close to 5 years ago... back when I had posh dental insurance while working for Chello... sigh. I'm thinking the service will be a bit less high tech for this visit.... well as long as they don't have a monkey turning the crank that powers the drill, perhaps that's a start....

Happy Canada Day!

It's hot and humid and mildly rainy here today... pretty much average Canada Day weather. It's just not the same though without the beer tents and bad bands! This year I don't even have a balcony from which to fly my mini Canadian flat... we have a terrace but we're at the back of the building and way way up so no one would see it. I'm there in spirit!

Friday night we were hunting around to find some ever elusive sundresses... they are elusive as everything here is so tiny on the bust that if you've got a broad back and anything more than a b cup you're pretty much out of luck. You can do your best to learn the language, understand traditions... but fitting into clothes in a foreign country isn't quite so easy... it's not like I'm huge but by judging some of the shops here I'm a plus plus plus size. What we did find however was a beautiful wedding dress for my sister. I know she already has one but she said it was quite informal... when we stumbled across this beautiful grecian inspired dress we just had to get it for her. I think she will love it. I hope it fits her! I would of course post a pic but I don't want to ruin the surprise for her hubby to be if she decides to wear it. The dress is jetting it's way to her as we speak in an oh so fancy dhl evelope.

Happy birthday duffy denise!!! Welcome to 31! Disfruta!

No puppy news as I had hoped... buying a puppy here pretty much adds up to the same run around routine foreigners seem to feel about all process here... you need patience and perceverance... as well as the ability to wait for many many mananas until you get something done. But it's all good. Good things come to those who wait my mum says... guess spanish people end up with LOTS of good things because we sure as hell do a lot of waiting!!!!

Summer ever so kindly

seems to have put the really good weather on hold as i buckled down this week and did some serious amounts of work. We've not had the heatwave of easter europe or the torrential rain like England... we've mostly has overcast and temperatures in the early 20 degrees... nice but not summer more like autum without the doom of impending winter. It could be worse. I just hope it hots up a tiny bit for the big party my company is doing next Friday.

It's funny sometimes... being a foreinger in a city that other foreigners constantly remind you of how it used to be... I mean people who moved here 10 years ago and not simply 2 like me... They talk of time when bars were open all night long... live music... party central... now the city has shut down most live music venues... there are strict rules to everything... Franco would be so pleased... but I diregress... Last night I met up with my lovely friend Eric in Gracia. This neighborhood is uptown from where I live and much more like a little village. There are far less tourists and bars actually still exist where you can get a beer for 1 euro! In the evening every single square is jam packed with people meeting their friends and familys for a drink and chat... as always there was nowhere to sit so we ventured to a place just off of one square that had a nice looking garden so we went in, in search of a table... there was one albeit inside but right next to the door... It became apparent not long after we entered that this joint was literally filled with just that... joints... everyone was skinning up and smoking their spliff from the comfort of their tables... Eric was beside himself as a fan of the hash he was happy to find somewhere like this... so there you old timer ex-pats... there is just a tiny remanence of old school liberal Barcelona left... now if only I can remember what the place was called...

Mum and seestor and soon to be hubbie have all booked their flights. I am beside myself with happiness. it will be so so good to see them! I think if I don't burn out from all this work before they arrive I will be lucky! It's actually been a long time since I've worked on a campaign site that I'm excited about. I think it's pretty dang good. I guess sometimes the evil ad agency is not so evil... I said SOMETIMES!

I never imagined...

That the day would come that my seetor would decide to get married... and that I would not attend! I know it boggles the mind but sadly it's true. She and Bryan are getting married on the 17th of July... so soon! They are however are then jetting directly off to visit me in Spain, thus the nonp-logic of spending over 1300 dollars for a flight which would be nothing more than a few days visit. I'm sad, but happy for them, but hey we always do things in my family a bit out of the usual... so we shall instead celebrate together once they arrive to my side of the pond.

I've not got to come up with a fabulous wedding present for them... and quick. I've got one thing up my sleeve that will thrill her to death but I need something else... something a little more tangible... this is deamn near impossible considering she is a person who has EVERYTHING... and since they have decided not to find out if their baby is a boy or a girl until she delivers it... pink frilly baby dresses are not an option... sigh..

Tonight is san juan here in bcn... it is the night that the city does not sleep and it explodes into a massive firework display... people hold all night long beach parties and watch the sun come up in the morning... All good in theory... but as I am detoxing (not drinking) it just seems a bit off pace for me... we'll see what I can manage. Chaira's mami and papi are here from Milano so we shall dine with them tonight... we'll see how long into the night I will make it.

Puppy news puppy news! we have a visit scheduled with a local breeder for next week. He's got a brood of 3 new puppies and he is giving us first pick. He seems really sweet and has even offered to give us a dog for a week to try out to see if we get along with it! I'm counting the days!

Off now to have my siesta... I think I will need it... I shall leave you will Alfredo's favorite Los Morancos (spanish comic duo from the south) you need to speak spanish to understand but if you do, you'll be glad you paid attention during language class as it's bloody hilarious! fiesta fiesta! pluma pluma gai!!!! Enjoy!

With all the excitement...

of seestors impending wedding and sprog, I forgot to rejoyce at some very exciting other news. After nearly 8 years my lovely relationship with OSAP has come to an end. Debts have been paid and that the good lord and my mum (who helped lots over the past few years) it's now finished! I remember feeling great despair when I signed the forms 8 years ago and accepted that by the time I was finished paying my loan off I would be 33 years old... but with some help from mum and my grandma it's all done... and 2 years early! Now if I could only find a use for my degree in second language aquisition... Do you think I can apply for a re-fund on my degree?

We have two new additions to our wee flat and they are so cute! One is called Olletta (named after Ollie who bought it for us) and the other little jane (whom bought it for us). I'm loving this new custom of house guests buying plants as thank you gifts! We are so fortunate! Now lets just hope I don't manage to murder them...



Little Jane

Oletta