Team Lost arrives in Madrid

I may have mentioned this before, but in case you didn’t catch it, I left for Spain Sunday evening! I haven’t done a lot of travelling, and certainly have not been overseas – Toronto has been the extent of my international travel. So last year, when Sara and John decided to hold their wedding in Spain and asked me to be their photographer, I jumped at the opportunity to spend a week or so in this amazing country. I really had no idea what to expect, and my emotions this past week preparing to leave have been a mixture of excitement and anxiety. I don’t speak Spanish at all, but can make out some of the written words (but we do have a Spanish phrase book – no worries there!). Luckily, Jared can understand some Spanish but Sara can speak the language and has been great at translating for us, (dumb) Americans.

So we flew out of the Miami airport on Sunday evening, taking the red-eye to London’s Heathrow Airport. One meal, one (free!) glass of wine, a movie, and a bit of restless sleep and we were in London. We sprinted to our next flight and made it to the gate just as they were boarding our flight to Madrid. Two hours later, we were in Spain! After finding our hotel, we spent the afternoon wandering around the city. We visited Plaza del Sol and Plaza Mayor, where we met up with John’s brother and had lunch. Did I mention that lunch here is late (2-3pm), followed by siesta (everything closes until 5pm or so) and that dinner isn’t until 9pm? Not to mention that the sun stays up until at least 9:30-10pm, making it feel so much earlier in the day.

We wandered around some more, briefly visiting the Palace and finally making our way through the back streets of Madrid (meat markets, fish markets, and random small stores) to the Riena Sophia art museum. We rested a bit in the square, people watching (one of my favorite things to do!) It seemed as if every child had a soccer ball, and this seemed like a place for families to congregate in the evening to socialize while their children play. The museum was beautiful and had work by Dali and Picasso, including Picasso's Guernica. After struggling a bit (and naming ourselves Team Lost) we managed to find the bus stop to take us back to the hotel. We grabbed a quick dinner and crashed, tired from a long day of walking and travelling and jet lag.

Some quick photos from Madrid (more to come, I promise!):

Part of Plaza Mayor

Awesome shot by Jared, looking out of the plaza into one of the small streets, taken from the cafe where we had lunch.

This was a small bookstore on one of the small side streets. LOVE it!

And one last shot:

The view from where I wrote this blog post. Don't hate, but that's the Mediterranean out there... If it was clear, we'd be able to see Africa.

Somewhere between excitement and freaking out...

In four days I will be on a plane to Madrid (with a short stop in London). For the first time in my life, I will be leaving the continent, traveling to a place where they don't speak English (natively, at least), where they use different currency. Part of me is so insanely excited I can barely sleep. Part of me is also petrified! But the saving grace to my fears (which are mostly just due to my need to plan and know what to expect) is that not only is Jared going with me, but we are traveling with two of our closest friends. And, to add even more excitement, the whole reason we are going to Spain is because they are getting married! I met John and Sara while we were all in graduate school.  Sara earned her Master's degree under the same advisor as I had for my graduate degrees and John worked very closely with our lab. John's first words to Sara? "I like your shoes." Seriously -- how can you not love this guy? I've been blessed to not only know these two as great friends and individuals, but I've watched their friendship turn into love. I've watched them build a home, adopt to great dogs, struggle through school and job changes. I've watched them grow as individuals and as a couple. And I can't be more excited to be a part of this new adventure!  I promise to bring back lots of photos -- of our excursions, of Spain, and of course, of the wedding!  It is sure to be amazing -- Sara is crazy with the planning and they've gone all out -- from having traditional paella as part of the meal to Flamenco dancers for entertainment during the reception. So forgive me if I'm a little absent over the next two weeks. I'm planning to have the trip of a lifetime. Don't worry, I'll take photos!

And to keep you occupied, a few shots from John and Sara's engagement session last spring (taken around the University of Florida's campus).

Taste of summer

This past week, I discovered something wonderful. An entire field of blackberries. Right. Beside. My. House. That's right, my own personal blackberry field. Growing up, we picked blackberries all summer long in the fence rows of my grandfather's farm.

Look at those beautiful berries!

So of course I picked some, braving the thorns, fire ants and mosquitoes!  I picked enough to bake some scones tonight (Thanks to the Everybody Likes Sandwiches blog) and although mine don't look quite as pretty as hers:

They sure are tasty!

ummm, yup, Twizzlers

I love Twizzlers. What isn't to love about that strawberry twisted goodness??

And that's all I have today. That, and an empty bag of Twizzlers...

More to come!

Lovin' it...

I think I'm in love. For the first time in the six (!) years that I've lived in Florida, I went to St. Augustine this past weekend. For those of you that aren't familiar with St. Augustine, it's the oldest continuously occupied city in the US. The city has wonderful old Spanish architecture and is just delightful. I was in St. Augustine for a bachelorette party for one of my best friends and as part of the celebration we had dinner at the Columbia, a Spanish restaurant in downtown St. Augustine. The restaurant was lovely, the sangria was amazing, but the company was beyond compare!  Here's to good friends, good sangria, and good times!

Sangria!

The restaurant had these amazing chandeliers...

Here's to great friends!

Beachin'

I'm not really a beach girl. I didn't grow up close to a beach and we never really went there while I was growing up. Since we've been in Florida, we visit the beach a few times a year, usually for two hours or so, letting the girls play. And then we get bored, pack up and head back home.  This past week has been tough for both of us, with a lot of long days and some frustration for both of us at work. We talked about getting out of town for a few hours (especially since it's graduation!) and decided to head over to Cresent Beach for a few hours. I think we stayed at the beach longer today than we ever have -- four or five hours!  Annie has always loved the water, so she and Jared usually run right in and bound through the waves. But Bella, ah, my Bella, is so much more of a diva and doesn't like to get her toenails wet in a puddle, let alone in the waves. Afterall, they chase her!

So imagine how proud I was when we found an area of the beach with a sand bar and small tide pool that she willingly entered!!  Jared and Annie were out on the sandbar and she was just sure she should join them. After a bit of coaxing, she came out onto the sandbar and then played with her ball in the small tide pool!  So proud of my Bella-stump! 

And of course, some photos to prove, I mean, commemorate the occasion:

She really is happy to be hanging out with us at the beach.

Annie posing like a good pup.

Annie LOVES to swim!

Look! Feet in the water!

And even though I came away with a nasty sunburn, I'm glad we went. We spent a few hours just chi-laxing, talking, and hanging with each other. And really, that's what we both needed at the end of this week.