Day Seven: Button

I was at work, getting slightly bored with the task on hand, when it suddenly dawned on me that I had not yet looked at what today's photo challenge theme would be.  I quickly searched the interwebs for the list and a huge smirk drew across my face as I read number seven: "button".  What did I happen to be working on at the time?

Many buttons!  After debating for a second about whether or not to post current "designs" on the web, be it only as it may on my humble blog, I thought, "meh, they're buttons".  Besides, how could I not take the bate?

Day Six: Dinner

This is another one of David's and my favorite new dinners.  It's kind of a vamped up pico de gallo with shrimp!

Ingredients:

Chopped onion, tomato and avocado

Cocktail shrimp

Chopped cilantro (or cilantro paste)

Lime juice and salt to taste

Instructions:

Toss it all together in a bowl (or as we like to do, in a dessert goblet) and serve with tortilla chips.

It's so easy, healthy and delicious, and I recommend you try it!

I'm totally pooped as we have been going non-stop since I got back into the city after work.  Intensive grocery shopping, and then many household chores.  We finally sat down for dinner at 11:30 PM!  (With an episode of The Nanny!)  It is so beyond time for bed!  Good night!  (Or good afternoon to you lucky western hemisphere dwellers!)

Day Five: 10 AM

I can't believe I'm still going at this, guys!  Yay me!  I also can't believe I waited until 11 PM (11:11 actually!—wish made!) on Sunday night to write about Sunday morning!  It's just depressing!

Anyway, this morning was idyllic.  David still sleeping soundly, I got cozy on the couch for my weekend blog catch-up.  I made my coffee and put it in my very special mug.  My dear friend, Christine, made it for me in a NaNoWriMo get-together.  It says, The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page, a sentiment I truly comprehend.  Recently I decided it was just too awesome to keep only as decoration and started putting it use.

It's been another long, relaxing, lazy kind of day.  And I can actually say that I'm looking forward to getting out of the house tomorrow, just not the going to work and the getting up early part.  Hopefully the week will breeze by and we'll be celebrating our first anniversary (one week from today!) in no time!

To those of you in the US, happy Superbowl!  Enjoy the commercials for me!

Day Four: A Stranger

Today's theme had me in a little bit of a panic.  I thought, "How am I going to take a photo of a stranger?!  Especially if I don't plan on leaving the house today?!".  Well, as it turns out, I did end up leaving the house, but only for a quick (and startling cold) morning jog.  I still hadn't glanced at today's theme, but even if I had, I probably would have been against the idea of running up to a stranger on the footpath to snap a quick photo.  Plus it probably would have turned out annoying blurry.

Later it dawned on me—and this isn't a cop-out—all I needed to do was take a simple portrait.  I've been dealing with a sort of identity crisis for the past several months.  I think it's totally to be expected for any person rounding off his first year of marriage, especially if said person has also spent the past 18 months in an entirely new country.  

The issues are there, but I'm working them out, and I'm optimistic.  But still, there are days when I struggle with getting in touch with myself.  I soak in long day dreams of my past in a effort to grasp the sense of identity I once prided myself on and now covet.  I know, I know, I'm not going to find this by looking backward!  It's a habit I need to break completely, and with the help of my supportive husband, I am taking some huge strides in this area.

So anyway, the photo of the day is a portrait of myself, a photo that's actually so reminiscent of so many old ones I have of myself that it actually makes me feel a bit nostalgic, and a little bit closer to my corporeal and spiritual center.  And that, my friends, is therapy by Instagram.

Day Three: Hands

So I'm feeling much better today.  I probably could have gone to work, but I think it was a legitimately better idea not to.  It's freakishly cold here right now due to the Siberian cold front (It's been snowing in Rome and Istanbul!  Eek!) and I'm still tired and with the slight hurting of the throat.  So, I spent another day resting alone.  And boy has it been nice.

David informed me at around 3 this afternoon that our friend Elena's surprise party was tonight, not Saturday as we had both thought.  They were going to meet up at a place downtown where you pay for the site and drinks and have something resembling a potluck.  David decided to make his healthy pizzas that we have been freaking out over lately.  Basically it's just a ready-made crust, sliced vine-ripe tomatoes and onions, fresh mushrooms, a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper and basil.  It's disturbingly good in its simplicity!

So, I helped him, snapped a few photos (these are his fingers) and then watched him as he carted them away in a box (*Sob*).  Yes, I have decided to stay at home and rest.  My idea was that if I do so, I have a pretty decent chance of being 95% back to normal tomorrow.  If that were to happen, I could get back on the work-out wagon and perhaps even enjoy a productive weekend!

For now it is back to Buffy and/or Final Fantasy with plenty of hot tea and chocolate.

Day Two: Words

Well it is day two, and although it took me most of the day to get around to it, here I am, sticking to my commitment! I can totally handle this, February is a short month! Leap year, shmeap year!


So, today I called in sick. Despite being under the weather, I was actually able to enjoy the bit of R&R and embraced my opportunity indulge in old habits.

Not long ago, before I even had permission to work in Spain, I spent countless days reliving the glory days.  Well, perhaps "glory days" is a bit too affectionate a term to describe the various comatose Buffy marathons my cousin Shelly and I have shared, but believe me, it was magical.  Today I got to pop in a DVD or two (or three...) and veg out in the company of some familiar situations and some great old friends.

I realize this show can be pretty cheesy, but when viewed as it was designed to be (consecutively and pretty much nonstop) it's easy to recognize how truly original, thoughtful and remarkable the series is.  Joss Whedon (creator, writer and director) will always have a place in my heart, not just because of Buffy and his numerous other works of art, but also for creating a platform that helped bring my cousin/bestie and I back together after a couple year hiatus and forged a bond that's resistance and strength rival that of the slayer herself. 

FEBRUARY :: photo a day challenge

So, I've been meaning to start bloggin' again.  And I've also been wanting to use Instagram more often.  When I discovered this challenge on sécias's blog, petite insanities (<3), I immediately knew this would be a great way to kill two birds with one stone.

The idea is to take a photograph reflecting each day's theme and then post it to Twitter, Instagram, or any social network of your choice.  I decided to kick it up a notch.  In addition to posting the photo on Instagram, I'll repost it along with a brief description here on my blog! I think it will be a fun and easy way to get back into the habit of blogging and a great way to utilize my long commute time!

So, let's begin with today!

Today I was feeling kind of like the weather.  Cold and mildly crappy.  As the day progressed, I realized that my presence at work was rather pointless as the most I could do was stare at my screen and almost kind of stay awake.  At lunch time, a couple of coworkers told me I wasn't looking so hot, and that maybe I should get a ride to the train station and go home to rest.  I thought, well hey, why not!

So, I got a ride with a coworker, and took the one-point-five-hour-long train ride along the coast back to Barcelona.  As we cruised by the numerous beaches, devoid of all life save a few devoted runners, I thought that this image was a good metaphor for what it is like to leave work early when you are sick.  It's exactly kind of like a sandy beach with palm trees... in the cold, wet rain.