Back from Spain

This is my first real post since I got back from Spain.  Had a great time but it was a very quiet holiday, really. Not much partying to be had. (Apart from one mad night which involved copious amounts of cocktails and some ill-advised dancing.  And neighbours at the door at 4am.) 

My plan had been to go and get an awesome tan before coming back home for my cousin's wedding but the weather wasn't all that great.  Nice enough for most of the time but the night before I was going to go to the beach there was a storm - thunder, lighting, the works... - and we got soaked. And then the next day was kind of cloudy so we didn't go.  Never mind, I went a kind of golden brown so that was good enough in the end.  Probably better for the skin, too!

I went for lunch with my friends to this cool Colombian restaurant, and it was really tasty!  Lots of good eating!  We also went to see the Shakira concert, which was good fun, though I hadn't been a huge Shakira fan before we went.  In the end there were about 7 of us there and she put on a really good show.  We all went to celebrate my friend Fran's birthday - he was dying to see her, so me and him went along during the day to camp out and get a good space in the queue.  When we arrived there were already about 100 people there waiting, so we set up camp and waited it out through belting sun, rain, and clouds for about 5 hours!  It was worth it though cause Fran was so excited.  Here's a pic of him just after we arrived and marked our territory, well prepared with sun hats, parasols, water, beer, munchies, and iPods:

One day whilst I was there I hopped off the bus on a whim and had a wander about a market that I'd just passed.  It was all painted in bright reds, oranges, and yellows outside and I just couldn't help myself!  So I went in and bought myself a quarter kilo of cherries for 90 cents, and they were so good I almost couldn't believe it!  I'd forgotten how amazing the sweet cherries are when they're in season and I scarfed almost the whole lot as I wandered about looking at the other stands.  I couldn't eaten a kilo, I'm sure, but I probably would have paid for it later! 

Some of the other things I forgot I liked about Spain:

1.  Fountains all over the place.  In the tiniest, grubbiest of squares, you'll often find a fountain.  Or on a roundabout, or in front of a bank or official building.  And they're always turned on, and they're always immaculate - no rubbish thrown in, nice clear sparkling water.  And most people don't even notice them because they're all over the place.  Well, I always did, even when I was living in Spain, cause I love them!  And here's one just in a normal roundabout in a quiet street I walked down.  Lovely!

2.  Buildings in lovely colours.  I don't know who chooses the colours to paint buildings, if they're colour co-ordinated, or if the council just got a good deal on coloured paints, but everywhere you go you see rows of buildings all painted different colours.  Some of them are bright, vibrant colours, others are pastels but they all look fresh and clean, and make wandering about a wee bit more cheerful.  Here's a building that caught my eye in the Russaffa area of Valencia.  I loved the balconies, as well as the nice paint job...

One more thing to tell you about, and that is:

3. the trees!  There are trees everywhere in Valencia, you can't walk down a single street without seeing them and there are loads of different kinds.  The ones you notice most, I guess, are the orange trees.  These are everywhere, and they're all full of giant, heavy fruit.  Quite often you'll see an orange splattered on the ground where it's fallen out of the tree, though I've never seen anyone get hit, yet.

If you walk around at twilight then the orange blossom starts to open and the air is filled with this incredible heady scent that lingers and seems to envelope you as you walk about.  It's a wonderful smell, and is maybe the strongest memory I have of living in Valencia.  I used to walk home from my work at the school at 10pm and, passing a row of orange trees, I would smell this incredible blossom and feel very content.  Even after a hideous class, of which there were many. 

This time, I didn't get a photo of an orange tree, but I did snap a couple of palm trees, which are also all over the place, even in the middle of the city.  This photo was taken at the beach, and these are the big tall palm trees rather than the wee fat ones that look like pineapples, which are actually more common.  I love this photo though, perfectly timed intersection by Fran!

Of course there are things I hated about living in Spain, too: bank queues, supermarkets (the stupid layout, the lazy, slow staff, the massive queues, the fact that there's no express queue...), people quite conversationally informing you that you've gotten fat or had a bad hair cut... but never mind that for now, this post is about some happy memories, so I hoped you enjoyed  photos! 

And if you're looking for a new holiday destination on the Med, you could do far worse than go to VLC.

Holiday!

That Madonna knew what she singing about alright, holidays rock!  How do I know?  Because in approximately 39 hours I will be jetting off to sunny (it better be sunny!) Valencia for a ten day spree!  Saturday morning I'll be hopping a flight to London and after the Hours Of Boredom In Stansted Airport (of which I am now, unfortunately, a connoisseur) I get another plane to Valencia.

In the interest of saving money I decided to only take hand luggage and this leaves me with the interesting challenge of making sure I have enough to wear for ten days and nine nights in a small suitcase weighing no more than 10 kilos.  So far I'm about 3/4 packed and I'm at about 7 kilos though I still have to stick a few things in.  The key, dear reader, is all in mixing-and-matching it up.  Loads of nice separates but nothing goes in unless it can be worn with at least two other items on the list.  Also, a few things like jumpsuits (hurrah!) and was-maxi-now-midi (thanks, belt) dresses are whole outfits in one go! 

Having obliging pals to put you up and provide towels and other stodgy space-stealers is also recommended.  I have a lush pair of new wedges to grace the pavements of Spain, too.  From New Look, and with a much appreciated 20% discount, here they are.  Crafty New Look don't seem to let you copy pics off their website so you'll have to go and have a swatch.

I'm not always convinced by wedges, especially when they become so ubiquitous over the summer months, but I love these - they're like my lovely shiny spike heels in a similar colour, but done down for summer.  It must be said that wedges go well with maxi dresses, especially when you're vertically challenged like me, and this lovely nude colour really lengthen the legs.  I think they'll go with everything and (fingers crossed) be comfy for hitting the cobbles in search of Sangria!

In other news...

The beautiful Grecian dress I got for my cousin's wedding was a bit small in the waist (bloody vintage!) and it needed altered a bit, despite my gym efforts.  Well, I was terrified to have it taken out in case it ruined the drop of it and the lovely shape, but I'm happy to report that I had a shorter zip put in the back which means I can do it up fully now, and not only is it now a perfect fit but you would never even know it had been altered.  The woman that did it is a lovely lady called Andrina and you can check out her alterations website here.  It took just one week and was a very reasonable £8.  So there you go - don't throw out your favourite trousers after a summer of excess - just get them altered and have another slice of cake!

Back To Reality

That's us back in Glasgow now, after an all-too-short holiday, and I actually cannot believe the weather!  We arrived in Prestwick to gale force winds and rain, and when we got home we realised that the garden fence had been blown down!

Had a long lie today and then went to the gym and did a punishing 70 mins of cardio, plus some weights and my TA arms routine.  Feel it!  Came home (soaked to the bone, thanks rain) and made a pot of soup.  So hopefully that's lunch for the next week sorted!

I got some nice new things in Tenerife: a Lancome Colour Fever Shine lipstick, in a lush nude/apricot shade; a leopard-print mini dress, which has already catapulted it's way to the Favourite Dresses list; a set of pink toned fresh water pearls, and a snazzy purple bikini. (Looked good, didn't hold up so well when swimming.  Nearly had to dive to the pool floor to retrieve my pants...Luckily I have fast reflexes and I caught them about knee-height.)  I'll post some pics once I've got them onto my laptop.

I've decided that taking your laptop on holiday is just not worth it.  Not only is it heavy, and you have to take it out at airport security (and then get a huge electric shock when you pick it up on it's way out the X-Ray machine!), but I only used it for 10 mins each morning for my arm exercises, and then 1 hour of overpriced Internet surfing.  Never again.

Can't say I'm thrilled to be back.  When I was over there I started to really miss being in Valencia, probably more than I've missed it since I moved back to Glasgow.  And I'm finding it quite hard to shake that feeling at the moment.  Crap weather and unemployment don't help, but I know if I did go back to Spain (and I'm making no plans to in the near future) there would be loads of things I'd miss from here, too.

I think it's just easy to stick on the ol' rose-tinted specs and forget about all the crap stuff that was mixed in with the good.  And, to be honest, if you were to weigh it all up, you might even say the bad outweighed the good, at least in the first year I was there.  So, must focus on enjoying being back here!

Really looking forward to the yoga classes I've signed up to with KM.  Not sure when they start, but I think you can go from next week onwards, and take the block of ten anytime you like over the next year.  So, maybe we'll make it once a week or something.

Speaking of KM, I saw something advertised in a magazine this week that I'm going to get for her birthday.  Annoyingly, I can't say what it is, in case she reads this, but after her birthday I'll post something about it, I'm sure most of you will appreciate it!