Barcelona...

While already living in Catalunya for 10 months now, I never had the time to even have a glimpse at Barcelona.. even though now I only live a mere 15 minutes away from the center..

Of course its not that i never been there in my life, but just say its a couple of years ago.. kidd-less.. and most of the time job-less...

Today though I had to go to the local tax office in Barcelona, and to start of with, had to face the so much hated metro infrastructure of the centre of Barcelona..  

The reason I hate it so much is because it just doesn't make sense that one has to walk from one stop about 30 minutes underground via other metro stops from other coloured lines ( yes they all have their own color and number ) , past a bunch of tourist who are ooh-ing and aah-ing at every stone and one didn't mention yet the false singing underground ' street' artists , beggars on the floor who you see later walk past with beer and smoke in hand , and the horrible stuffy stinky smell of... well a mix of everything together what doesn't include flowers and spring..

When finally arrived at the right metro line/stop... one can be lucky to squeeze in and even more lucky to come out with possessions still with the right owner..

OK.. now I have to rewind.....

Before the whole metro thing/rant.. I actually just came out of the train at Passeig de Gracia, where I never been in my life before.. The first thing my eye caught is this beautiful house with the Gaudi architecture.. I sigh and think.. That's why I love this city so much... Atmosphere, Culture,History, People and don't forget the weather!!  After snapping a couple off turisty pic's , i head down to the dreaded metro.. 










On my way back I of course ended up in Passeig de Gracia again and thought ' i might as well enjoy it , and take a little stroll down the passeig and see if I can find a shoeshop for the girls..'  They are in desperate need of some pair..
Probably the people who know Barcelona better then me, start laughing about right now!! The further I walk , the more hesitant I come to find a shoe shop ...... of my price range that means... the only shops i see is Hermes, Bulgari, Boss, Benneton, Louis Vuitton.. and so on...  I decide to turn my head and watch people instead of shops.. as that's way more fun at this stage.. 
With my salary i probably can just about afford a shoelace in this street!!

So I am off home, finally put my bum in a chair.. and can stand straight up again as my phone rings ... its daycare, daughter dearest is sick...again...
So I raise my bum and walk of to daycare..

For so far my half-a-day Barcelona  adventure.. i am off playing Mama/Nurse for my oldest...
 
Hasta pronto!!

Busy Saturday

Middle of May, Sun is shining again, Winter sleep is officially over!

Opening one eye, realizing the sun is shining, is the best beginning of the day for me. My daughter came in the room and told me I have to get out! No problem girl, mummy is coming!!

Straight away all ideas for the day formed in my head, but first coffee time!!

After my morning coffee and cuddles with my girls, I decided to do some DIY.
It was a while ago, I decided already the girls dresser needed some upcycling, and today seemed the best day for it!


I got this idea from Pinterest:

Because of the  move a month ago, I still had lots of buckets half full of paint left. Since my DYI-ing, I am turning in a bit of a hoarder, so obviously I didnt threw it out :).

The dresser the girls had was boring old white and My Mum-In-Law decided a couple of months ago together with Sofia that it would be nice to put some ' Hello Kitty ' stickers on it.. I thought what the heck, if my daughters like that, let them put the stickers on.. 
Ofcourse as Sofia sometimes get bored and therefor has destructive rages, Kitty turned out headless and armless and ugly..Poor Kitty..

                             So it was time to say ' Bye Kitty' !

While I started sanding the dresser, just to be sure that the paint would latch,and put the first layer on.. 


The neighbor boys Pera and Marti dropped in. They wanted to play with Sofia and Livia.
Eva, their mother ran screaming behind them , as she didn't realize that they were gone.

Then she decided that we should go with them to their summer house in the mountains of Montcada. 
I thought why not.. dropped the paint brush, and off Sofia and me were..

Sofia loved the mountains ,and especially all the flowers on the mountain pad up.. Sofia and flowers is like asking for an extra hour walk, as she wont leave till all the flowers are in her hand..and mama's..and basically everybody who has hands..
We found some lovely poppy's and Eva showed the kids that the knobs ' pop' on your hand when you 'tick' them on your hand. Well call me a Nature monster.. I didn't even know that!

After an hour or two having a lovely time with the kids in the summerhouse, we went back home.. 
The kids were tired, so off to bed for a siesta and for me it was painting time again!!

After a couple of hours drawing and painting I was chuffed with the result!
As the paint dried really fast , I could put the drawers back and only realized i made a hugh mistake!! These things only happen to me of course...

I made a lovely butterfly on a green background, only to find out when I put the drawer back in the dresser, that the butterfly was upside down AAAARRGGHHHH!!!

 

THE RESULT!!!

So with a wet cloth and some extra paint I was entering this butterfly war!

Thank god I could get it sort of fixed, although the body of my butterfly looks now like a big middle finger with a face draw on it.. well the girls wont notice... i hope...

 




After the dresser was done and everything ( including myself) was clean, Hubby already started cooking.. yummy panga fish with oven potatoes and grilled pepper and onion.. It was a nice meal after a nice productive day!


But wait.. I'm not in bed yet.. My crafty fingers are still tickling , so now i am off making some nice coasters for on the table.. 



Hasta Pronto!!

Virtual friends , thank you technology

As I am working in a multinational company with offices all around the world, i learn to know people from all over!

One of the first people I learned to know is my ( now) good friend Alok.

He is a engineer in India, and works in Delhi for Colt. 

Although I never met him in real life, he is always there for a chat, a virtual shoulder or help me with my IT ventures ( which are mostly stupid questions..).

Now you think, and why is she telling us this???

Well ofcourse to give credit to Alok, for keeping up with my stupid questions and being a good friend, but also just to let you reflect about how blessed we actually are with nowadays technology!

Social media is dealt with as it was never different. yes for the bit younger generation then me, it has always been there, but i do remember ( vaguely though) that we didnt had a computer, and later a computer for all of us in the family.. which I can tell you.. caused lots and lots of brothers/sisters fights! Even so bad that my mother started timing who was next on the pc and for how many minutes. Now my sister Nikita always seemed to manage to get that keyboard ' glued ' to her hands, and sweet talk mummy in some more ' computer' time! Ofcourse to our frustration..

Social media started off for us with ICQ and went from there to Hyves ( yes stupid name in English, and yes i know what it means.. this was just our dutch facebook.. like Bebo in England/Ireland or Tuenti in Spain) and facebook. We were still chatting in the TMF chatbox, what was a ' cool' thing to do these days and if I think about it later, very dangerous. But ofcourse , at that time, the risks of public chatrooms for early teenagers were not very known.

Nowadays not only teenagers but also me in this case cannot go without my social media.. Social media for me means chatting with my friends and family near and far, but especially far.
Keeping up with their loves and lifes and still ' being ' there although virtually is a big part of my life.. 

So back to Alok, who is bugging me now, as he is nervous what i am writing at this very moment, thinking i am the worst person in the world to dedicate this blog to him ...

Alok, my very best- furthest away-virtual but true- friend.. 

This post is especially for you :)

 
 
 

..

 

A moment of reflection...

Sometimes I am wondering if i am the only person feeling the way I feel at times.
Sometimes I am wondering if it would help to fight further or just lay down and let it wash over me..
Sometimes I even dare to dream of  less problems big or small.

But then its said as being ' life ' ,
But then I think am i really to accept this as just ' to be' ?
But then again.. do I have a choice? Of course you will say, there is always a choice..
But then a choice as Catch 22??..... No

Struggling with myself day in and out , nobody aware of my being.
Struggling with an appearance to keep up , nobody aware of my mask.
Struggling to keep my emotions where they are.. dont show any of it!

I feel like failing when my moments of weaknes are showing
I feel like failing when my mask is loosing its grip
I feel like failing every moment plans are falter.. what to do?

 


Being me seems so easy, but nobody knows what my soul is capable of....