It's all been a bit much

Dany and Andrea eloped to NYC and got married on Brooklyn Bridge. Lukie and Helena's wedding was an absolute delight... Joey's baby bump is glorious and so nearly ready to make her way into this crazy world of ours.

We're flat hunting like mad again but still not much joy on the horizon. The prices also seem to be inching up again thus it's just really a matter of time before it's all crazy crazy prices again.

Work has been very challenging. Staff issues have made this promotion very difficult. I just want to do things well but don't seem to have time for anything as there are so many issues flapping around like a chicken on fire that even working till half two in the morning doesn't seem to help. I can but remind myself as my zen master boss would say... we only make websites, we don't cure cancer.

In the lead up to the big wedding i managed to crank out a painting as a gift for the lovely couple. I wish i had more time for it but it's not bad... not my best work but not bad....



Titled Helena...

Is it actually summer? with all the rain I thought i was confused? More sleep may help!

The other night

I was having supper with the lovely Vero after my haircut with her at Le Petit Salon. While we were waiting for our meals to arrive we saw out the window of the restaurant a father arriving home (late as it was at least half 10 by then) the child was about the same age as Sienna and was crying most likely because it should have been in bed hours earlier. As the father struggled to open the entrance door to the flat and struggled with the pram to get it through vero and I looked at each other with a knowing nod as in.. yep I've been there... two seconds later a small barking dog bounded up and joined the father and child. At that instance we broke out laughing in the spirit of 'oh my god you've made some similar choices to me buddy' Small dog... 2 year old. It was bitter sweet but nice in knowing that we are in no way an island and that a lot of other people have made similar choices and share similar difficulties :)

The hair cut will take a while for me to become accustomed to... but such is the case whenever you change anything. Should be quite good for the "summer just back from the beach look".

Chillaxing at the Beach

After a rainy and somewhat tumultuous week at our flat in bcn with mum, sister and her two wee ones we´ve arrived at a place we rented 2h south of Barcelona. It´s early yet for full on beach action but the sun is hot and we´re working on our tans. Mum surely did chose a great place this year. Too bad the lady has it booked out for the rest of the summer as I would love to come back here for a week when it´s hotter. It´s so nice to be reminded that life exists outside of work and although I have awoken a few times in the middle of the night with a fright that I´d forgotten to mention something in my handover to my colleague... I quickly remember that it´s all good and that I´m on holidays...

so many pictures to sort through... we´ll get there!

I can believe it...

But the ash cloud has decided to interfere with mu mum and sister's fights to Spain... We were so anxiously awaiting their arrival tomorrow morning. Air space is closed and it's not looking likely. It's quite the pain as they're flying a charter so it could mean days off their holiday. I'm half contemplating going back to work next week and just waiting until they do arrive to take my holidays....

We had a lovely visit with miss Siobhan last week. Although it rained incessantly while she was here we still made the most of it. Her dad and step mum were here visiting as they were ending a transatlantic cruise here.

Fredu and Sio had a ball taking tons of pics. there are som really lovely ones here... enjoy!

Auntie Sio and Sienna on her scooter!


my lovely neighbor zeus


Baby body count... they're sleeping.


Olive?


Look it's not raining for like 5 seconds... quick get mama's shades on!


aww dada and lilli

The cat came back...

Well in this case it was the carrito... or in english the pram. I dont know how or why or even how to begin to write about it. But after a 2 week hiatus the pram has returned. Well it wasnt quite returned moreso it was abandoned outside a shop down the street and around the corner. The lovely ladies who work there saw it there abandoned and pulled it inside and kept in in their storage area until last week when Alfredo came in they asked him if he had lost his pram... he assumed that they had heard about it as this neighbourhood is fairly small and everyone knows when something happens... but it wasn´t that... it was that they had it! Its in perfect contidion, with siennas school batita and all the toys and rain cover that were in the storage area beneath the seat. Its so strange and so unexplicable it´s left us feeling a bit out of sorts. We are of course greatful but can´t for the life of us figure out what type of person would do that... and if they stole it then felt remorse why wouldn´t they just bring it back to where they got it from in the first place? These questions of course will never be answered... but for now we've put a lock back on it and will soon just bring the thing upstairs... too much stress... but quite difficult when you´ve got to get it up 120 steps to our house...

A monster cold has taken over and forced my working like mad crazyness to a halt this weekend. I did muster up as much effort as possible to go to my first football match ever this weekend. Wow what an experience. Great seats indeed. Thank you grand fromage from work for bestowing them to me. I´m not great in crowds and never quite understood the massive swell of football fans who attended matches... now I do. I can but say that the only way I can describe it is like being at the worlds busiest airport with a heaving crowd of people with absolutely no manners. We had VIP tickets which made it pleasant before the match and at half time but the walk from the area to the seats we were pushed and jostled... it was a bit much for me. Well the one thing that can be said is that although I was indeed thankful for having the experience, I don´t think I´ll be returning again in hurry. Watching a match or two during the world cup once every 4 year on tele is much much more enjoyable.

The torrential rain...

Decided to start just as I was about to step out from the gym with wee miss who's hair I had just carefully dried. Murphy's law some would say... Just my luck is more like what I was thinking... but we didn't melt as although my sugar consumption is often high... i'm not made of the stuff.

I get these funny flashbacks when I teach Sienna how to swim. I spend so many years of my adolescent life teaching hundreds of kids how to swim when I worked at the local pool as a swimming instructor and lifeguard. I think I can do it on auto pilot. Flutter board in hand I go through all the same lessons that for some reason I've not forgotten. Luckily she's fearless and hates wearing water wings... combined with her stubbornness surely means she'll be swimming on her own in no time. We were indeed fortunate to have a swimming pool in our backgarden for most of our lives until I turned 12 and we moved to the new house. I guess living 10 minutes from the sea is pretty cool too but not quite the same when you're trying to learn. Good thing the new gym just opened near my house. I swear, nothing melts away the stress of a crazy day faster than seeing wee miss float on her back with arms and legs out like a starfish while singing twinkle twinkle little star. I'm hoping she sleeps well tonight as a result!

As with everything in life...
You´ve got to keep moving... It´s been hard to get past the anger and frustration of being robbed not once but twice in the span of two weeks. My work load these days is not helping in that Im working betweek 10 to 12h a day minimum is not helping... and things just seem to pile up and up and the stress is really opressive. Luckily some suprise arrivals have helped keep me trucking along.

The lovely miss Siobhan is arriving at the begining of may for a visit. Her father is going to be here from Canada for a cruise so he´s helped her with the pennies required to travel from the west coast of France to here. I´ve not seen her in nearly 4 years now which is just silly as her and I spent so many of our summers together when she was living in Portugal. I´m so excited for her to meet sienna and lilli and fredu.

Then a week or so later mum and sis and her brood will arrive for a two week sejour. This is the best as I´ve got the time booked off from work and albeit early it will be my summer holiday. It´s going to be a very tight squeeze getting all of them to fit in our tiny abode but it will be so so nice to have them here we will overcome it.

On our way to a bbq at a friend´s house in poble nou yesterday we spotted these cute little solar powered flowers in the window of one of the chinese shops. They were a bargain at 2euros each so we bought 3. They do help cheer things up. I think I may just bring one into the office.



so cute!

enjoy the full action of the ktich solar dancing flower in this video.


and if that doesn´t lighten things... miss sienna sporting uncle luca´s moto helmet just may...

Sometimes life leads you to where you need to be going...

However in this case i think it´s becoming clearer to us that that would be out of this neighbourhood. Some lovely person stole our child´s pram from the entrance way of our flat. It was not just sitting there of course. It was behind a locked door. But seeing as the delighful owner of the building has refused to get the front door properly fixed, it does not shut properly unless you really tug on it. So some nice kind soul decided it was a good idea to steal our sole means of transport. Words simply cannot describe how heartbroken I felt. I felt sad for the person who stole it... i felt sad for the world we live in that makes stealing a pram to (re-sell for cash I would assume). Just the week before someone stole Alfredo´s iphone right out of his hand while he was talking to me. I could hear the robbers take it... run away with in then i could hear the person whom they passed it to havea relaxed chat with his friends in arabic. Such a pleasant place to live don´t you think... desperate times have fallen upon this city. Petty crime is rife and we´ve been hit pretty hard in the past couple days. we´ve not got much and damn it... now we have even less. I really feel like we´re letting the wee one down by continuing to live here. However one thing keeping me here for now is that I´ve recently been given a promotion... so it´s not really the ideal time to pick up and leave. Good thing really as after all this craziness it would be a very inviting idea.

I know i know it´s just material things but it´s the loss of confidence the loss of feeling of security. I really think some majorly postive flat hunting energy would be appreciated so we can get the hell out of this jungle.

So barcelona and the street urchins that are slowly taking over it... can go and stuff it where the sun don´t shine because I´m not full of much love for either of you these days.

I wasn't too sure if it was humanly possible...

to work more than 17h overtime this weekend to get this important site live... and still have the energy to go to my birthday party... but it turned out that it was... The last 4h of overtime were put in on Sunday after only returning home from said party at 4am... it was a struggle to say the least... but yea we partied like it was my birthday... didn't drink bacardi like it was my birthday but we did have cava! I'm blessed to have fab friends... ironic dancing photographic proof photo? Yup here you have it...


Double chins (care of middle age) and ironic dancing of course...

Not quite sure how much more I can give to work this week... this crazy weekend working and then again last night and tonight are leaving me high and dry energy-wise... good thing the new gym in my hood opens on the 1st. It was a bit sad today as I resigned from my gym of 5 years... one of the first, I live in Barcelona things I did when I first moved here... even before getting my social security number. But today I resigned and will give this new one, closer to my house one... a chance... and if by August I hate it I can always toss it in and join my old gym again as they have a free joining around then every year...

On a totally un-related issue... is it normal that one's dog runs and hides when you try and take her for a walk... I think we got a human in a dog suit when we bought her... wonder if I still have the receipt? I jest... I'm sure it's something that we're doing wrong but I cant' quite seem to find an episode of the dog whisperer that addresses this. Even food motivation hardly works... Help Lilli Cesar... come to Barcelona and help us figure out how to be better doggie owners please!

There are about 30 Pink Balloons...

although I wish there were 99 and they were red so I could humm that song... but alas they are pink and plentiful and of course remnants of Sienna and Alfredo's Balloon madness that they unleashed upon the flat last night... knowing how insanely small our place is, you can only image how much extra chaos it adds to the ambiance if you will...



Working late and on weekends has returned... and it should be quite a challenge seeing that Fredu has arranged a big party for Saturday to celebrate my birthday... there are two major things holding it back, first the fact that the invites aren't ready yet and second... if all our friends are there it will be impossible to get any of them to mind the wee one... thus Fredu will have no choice but to stay home :( The next challenge will be me getting up on Sunday to complete the work that I need to do to deliver this website to a client by Monday... anyone have a magic wand?

The annual time has now passed

And with my birthday having been yesterday I’ve got to make the annual blog change of my age in the left hand column… it’s getting harder and I’m dangerously close to opting for the 30 something tag rather than the real age… okay okay one more year… I’ll change it to 34 now *sigh* it’s all just so surreal as when I started this blog I was 25!!!

I had a lovely day yesterday with fabulous friends and had greetings from everyone which always makes me warm and tingly!

Spring or the concept thereof, of spring has returned to BCN and it’s to be 18 today which is nice. Not long now and mum and sis and her brood will be jetting over to see us. May is of course still a way off but I need to have that goal to get me through another work week.

It's my birthday soon...

Well in just a few days to be precise. But it's the wee one who got a fabulous pressie yesterday. A year earlier than the reccomended age but you know it's just 'reccommended'...



We were busy scooting with her down the beach yesterday. It didn't take long to get the balance going and within a week or so i'm sure she'll be scooting along with us runnig behind, but until then we'll mostly be working on tightening that tricky side-butt muscle as we help her balance while moving along. Who knew!?! Seasoned expert miss Wendy added in a nice long yoga strap on the handle bar so you can help steer and pull... don't worry mum we're going to get her a wee helmet too.

The sun has finally returned to Barcelona but not quite the warmpth...

Tomorrow marks Fredu and I's 6th anniversary. So much time gone by so quickly. Miss millie has offered to mind the wee one so we can go out and do something to celebrate... must cook up something! Any ideas???

We’re not enemies we’re just bad friends…

We have recently become avid watchers… Of phineas and ferb… We are more than happy to admit the fact that we appreciate it far more than Sienna does… in fact I think we openly delight when It’s 19h30 and it comes on… We merrily flip between the EN and ES version of it as the songs are way better in EN but the dialogue and most characters sound much better in Spanish.

I will also admit to having a Perry the Platypus Ring tone on my mobile (okay so does Fredu)…



Soooooo join the madness… Wikipedia will enlighten you if you’ve not yet had the pleasure of what this is all about…

The series follows two suburban stepbrothers on summer vacation. Each day the pair devise ambitious, involved plans and inventions to stave off boredom, often bringing them into conflict with their sister, Candace. The series follows a standard plot system; running gags occur every episode, and the B-Plot almost always features the boys' pet platypus, Perry, acting as a secret agent to fight an evil scientist named Heinz Doofenshmirtz. The two plots intersect at the end to erase all traces of the boys' project just before Candace can show it to their mother.

The other day while Alfredo was out I was watching an episode with Sienna while she drank her pre-bed milk. She was sitting in her little chair watching away. Now I have to mention here that we really never thought she processed very much of the show as there is so much dialogue… but in this episode, Perry the Platypus’ nemesis Heinz Doofenshmirtz has decided to ‘break up with him’ and replace him with a new nemesis named Peter the Panda (from Seattle) . It’s pretty funny as Perry starts to shed some tears when he accepts their relationship is over. He approaches this storage area within his secret layer and can be seen putting away his evil fighting hat that changes him from a normal platypus into “Agent P” . At this very moment a very sad little face turns to me from her chair, eyes filled with tears and in her little most sad voice says “mama, perry, hat!” And then breaks down crying. The poor little sausage. This was the point where it became perfectly clear to me that she totally understands what’s going on. She transferred to my lap for the remainder of the episode with me re-assuring her that Perry would get his hat back and that all would be okay… watch and enjoy!

On the upside of things

The 8th of March passed and both Miss Seestor and Miss Jojo celebrated another birthday... and thank goodness this year I wasn't held up in the hospital recovering from apendicitis.

The downside is that the flat hunting has fallen flat... the lady who was kind of strining us along with the promise we were the first people she would give the flat to has fallen off the radar and thus we can but sigh and resign that it wasn't for us... nothing else seems remotely affordable or remotely attractive... at least summer is supposed to be approaching... that being said, it snowed here in Barcelona for the first time in over 20 years. It was really funny to see how excited all the people were to see snow! Sienna played contently at the window with the snow out on the terrace until her hands turned red from the cold... she was not into the mittens we put on her to prolong the fun... it's melted now but we're stuck in a cold snap that is seeing me wear my hat indoors and by dressing gown over my clothes to keep warm... brrrrrrrrrrr it's -4 with the wind chill. Not fun in a house with no heating and tile floors and windows that don't even shut properly!!! Summer please hurry up!

While the Canadian Nation celebrates...

The big hockey win... I was busy sifting through a gagillion new photos Fredu downloaded... it's such a feast for me to do this and I just love seeing his work and of course... the wee miss features heavily in the shots but we like!

The weekend was lovely and relaxing... I'm really starting to get the hang of having my life back and not working all the time!

We're feeling kind of home sick these days and so in honour of my most beautiful sister we had a 20 repeat marathon of the Party in the USA song by miss miley... Sienna requests -more hannah- when she wants to hear it again. So cute to hear her laugh... it's nice when a song reminds you of someone!


Rock Chick


Fredu in Sienna post carnival - having sushi


This looks like an innocent pic...


but yes... that is chocolate smeared on my face!


Naughty Millie!


Portrait of Dada taken by Sienna while i held the camera for her.


Little madam in her sonia rykiel beret *from the H and M collection of course


She surrenders!


Pinkie!!!


Beautiful shot with auntie mille!


Peak a boo!

Not far off...

It's friday and so far this week it's looking almost possible that I achieve 2 out of 3 of my goals... We finally after 2 years won the appeal against the tax office about a baby bonus we should have received! 2500 Euros coming our way! Just in time of course to put the deposit on our new place if the lady agrees to our offer that we're making today... easy come, easy go!

Miss Sienna had her first haircut ever yesterday at her auntie vero's salon. She was so patient and sat still for nearly 1h while vero gave her a nice trim. The photos show a great deal of apprehension but she didn't cry or squirm. She's a diva I tell you.


Don't be fooled she's hardcore like the cape says

She's not grown 2 feet... she's sitting on a bench thus the illusion she's so big!

It's a GIRL!!!

For the lovley Joey and Pierre. I couldn't be happier for them! Now only another 20 weeks to wait to meet her!

The news is in and maybe my demand for 3 good things to happy this week may just be possible. The word on the street is that the resolution for my appeal has been completed and put in the post on the 20th thus should arrive any day now... I'm so curious as to what the outcome will be... Also we're in the queue to rent this flat we've been waiting on and are due to have a meeting with the owner today... not sure she'll take our offer right off the bat but hey... we can but try... well things are moving, that's a start!

Spring is springing here in bcn... no buds on the trees quite just yet but much much milder climes are drifting in. Thank god. I couldn't take much more of the grey skies.

So on that note... I feel it apt for a photo of the lovely proud papas to be just moments after they got engaged on a Beach here in Barcelona during our week at the villa. We love you!!!!


Joey and Pierre!!!!

I've been reading...

Well I do a lot of reading really but the most recent book I've been feasting on is called a thousand splendid suns. It's by Khaled Hosseini. It's really beautifly written but is shockingly horrific. I was so into reading it last night that my bus passed by and I didn't even notice so I had to wait another 15 minutes to catch the next one. And now stupidly after looking up the link that I've pasted to the book above I've seen how it ends... grrr note to self... don't be so stupid.

Good things happen in three's right? Well if that is so then here are the three things that I'm pouring all the positive energy that I can muster that are GOING to happen this week.

1) Fredu's passport will return
2) We get notice that the new flat we've been waiting on can be ours (at the reduced price that we can afford)
3) Fredu will get a job!


Not too much to ask for! Ha :)

Soooooooo

I'm back and the visit with the tax office was informative which is positive. Turns out it's never what it seems and my appeal is still pending but what had happend was that somehow it was recorded that I applied for the same benifit this year which they rejected as it had been too long since the birth of my child... strange as I never applied for it again... they didn't seem as bothered as I was as I can't imagine how that happened... but the positive thing is that my appear is still pending and I can follow up with the government body in charge of that separately and ask them for an update. So it short all is not lost yet. Thank god my friend from work was with me as it's insane how they give you as little info as possible...

So in thanks to the good news today I'm going to do another kind exchange as I recently was passed a link to the Governement of Catalunya's site which features all the info you need when you have a baby in Barcelona. All the forms you need to fill in and all the aid you're entitled to... and because they're not all evil... they've got the site in English too. So go and check it out here if you planning to have a Baby in Barcelona and don't know what you need to do!

It’s been fun…

Really it has the whole David and Goliath jousting match that I’ve undertaken with the Spanish tax office. I’ve been fighting this impossible battle with them for this 2500 euro baby bonus that I was due to receive when Sienna was born but due to an administrative gap that made it impossible to present them with the paperwork they required as it simply did not exist at that time… they’ve fought me and refuse to listen to reason and I’ve even got the Ombudsman in Madrid to agree to defend me… their latest tactic is after missing their deadline of 1 year to respond to my appeal they’ve told me that it was I who missed the deadline to submit my appeal which is totally false! I’m furious but not surprised in that it’s more clear than ever that they have been briefed to make it as impossible as possible for me to win. So armed with my lovely colleague we’re due to descend upon their office today to take up the next chapter of the fight. I will not go down until I’ve fought every last angle… I guess the up side of this is that I’ll be in a very good position to help other foreigners in Barcelona who may need help figuring out how to battle the beast! Wish me luck… I wonder if security will let me through if I bring a big stick or a slingshot with me!?!

After the initial anger and frustration about the no pay rise or bonus thing at work I’ve actually turned the page and now feel an immense sense of freedom. I’m free from feeling obliged to work more than my contracted hours and not a single weekend will be darkened with work again! That is pretty amazing. I am really looking forward to the freedom! I guess every dark cloud really does have its silver lining.

Speaking of clouds with silver linings… the sun is out today properly for the first time in ages and it’s so lovely. We can almost hear the whispers of spring wafting through the city. Come on Spring you can do it!