Day 6-Zaragoza: Nothing brings friends together like a delicious paella cookout!

Oct. 11-

We were privileged to have one of our Spanish friends from the region of Valencia cook us a "Paella Valenciana". If you have never had the chance to eat paella, I highly recommend going to a Spanish restaurant straight away and crossing it off your list of "to dos in this life". There are different varieties of paella. The one constant is saffron rice with veggies. Then you can have whatever type of meat you prefer--paella often has seafood in it, but since my tummy reacts badly to seafood, ours had chicken and rabbit. That's right people, I ate rabbit!  Sorry to sound cliche, but it tasted like chicken.  

Part of what made this trip back to Spain so different was finding my group of friends (myself included) in new stages of life. When I lived there, the majority of us were single. Now, most of us are married, and many have kids. Our paella lunch had so many kids, there was even a kids' table (notice the princess and the ballerina seated at the head of the table).

There was a grown-up table too.  :) 

It was a lovely afternoon with friends. That evening, we went over to my former boss, Toti's house.  He and his wife Paloma are wonderful and warm people, and it was great to see them. Toti is an artistic kindred spirit to me. He is always so encouraging to me in my artistic endeavors, and he is an incredibly talented painter and poet himself. 

SHINE!--A NaBloPoMo Challenge

As you may know, November is National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo), in which many bloggers choose to take the challenge to post something--anything--on their blogs everyday for the entire month. This will be my third year to participate, and I always love the challenge. The only problem is that usually about halfway through the month, I begin to lose inspiration, and I can't think of anything to write about.

So this year, I thought I would give myself (and anyone else who'd like to join me) a little inspiration. Below, you will find something to inspire you for each day of NaBloPoMo--either a word, a phrase, a quote, or an image to use as a jumping off point for your blog post. I have always been intrigued by how we can all look at the same thing, but see something different. I thought this would be a fun way to come together as a community and allow our diversity of thought and expression spring from the same source of inspiration.

If you'd like to take part in the SHINE! Challenge, leave a comment below, so we can all know who is participating. Feel free to grab the badge on my sidebar and add it to yours.  You can also join the SHINE! Challenge group on the NaBloPoMo website, though it is not necessary in order to be part of this challenge.

And now...30 days of inspiration!  Happy blogging!

1 - First kiss.

2 - Winds of change.

3 - Shhh.

4 - Political.

5 - If you could tell the newly elected President one thing, what would it be?

6 - Generation.

7 - What is she smiling about?

8 - Silly

9 - Vent

10 - Inner child

11 - Flawed

12 - Soulful

13 - Gym class

14 - 

Photo found here

15 - Best movie ever.

16 - Tell about a book you really enjoyed.

17 - 

18 - Joy!

19 - Travel story

20 - Good friend

21 - 

22 - In ten years...

23 - If you woke up tomorrow and the news said that the internet would be down for the next twenty years without any hope of repair until that time, what would you do?

24 - Bored

25 - What is the most memorable gift you have ever received?

26 -  

Photo found here.

27 - Thankful

28 - 

29 - "It's the most wonderful time of the year!" - E. Pola and G. Wyle

30 - Closure

Days 4 and 5 - Zaragoza: Enoc, Expo, and Italian Food!!!

October 9 -

We met up with my dear friend Cristina (Krispy!), her sweet husband Daniel and their baby Enoc. Aren't they a cute family? I love Krispy so much...she's one of my closest friends...a true blue friend.

Hubs and Enoc were big buddies!

It was a lovely evening for a walk, so we packed up the baby in his stroller, and all of us went to Zaragoza's big park "El Parque Grande" for a stroll. 

It is the perfect park for strolling, with its beautifully manicured landscaping, pretty fountains and tree-lined paths.

There is even a big map of Spain for tourists to have the perfect photo op!

Oct. 10 -

We got together with my other friend Cristina (Chispa!), May and her daughter Marta. These ladies are also very close friends, who I love dearly. This past summer, Zaragoza was host of the International Expo. The theme was "Water and Sustainable Development". The grounds of the Expo were still open to walk through.

May and Marta accidentally got drenched in one of the fountains...whoops!  At least it was a warm day!

There were also some incredible sculptures:

This was a huge suspended sculpture called "Splash!":

That night, we got together with a big group of my old friends at my favorite Italian restaurant. That's right, folks, the best Italian food (and hands down, the best tiramisu) I've ever had was in Spain! It was at this restaurant that I first discovered Lambrusco--a sparkling Italian rose wine...delicious with pasta!

Jose and Ana:

Chispa with Enoc in his cachirulo:

Me with Irene and Eva:

It was so awesome to be with so many friends at one of my favorite places! 

Day 3 - Zaragoza: A Memory, Toros, and an old Friend

On October 8, we ventured out for our first day in Zaragoza, the city I lived in six years ago.

Dear readers, this is the very store window where I first fell in love with my wedding dress. I had to take Hubs there to show him where it all happened:

Then we walked over to one of my favorite parts of the city, The Pilar, Zaragoza's big cathedral, located on the Ebro River:

Don't you love the colorful patterning of the Spanish tile on the roof domes?

These photos were taken from one of the spires. It was a beautiful clear (and windy!) day:

That evening, we did something decidedly Spanish...we went to the Plaza de Toros...

...where we attended a bull fight!

Because there was a week-long festival going on, there were a ton of cultural festivities happening, so after the bull fight, we met up with a friend to watch a performance of "jotas", which are the folkloric song and dance of the region. Yes, those are castanets clicking in their hands:

This is my dear friend Cristina. Six years ago, she took me under her wing and introduced me to her culture. I'll forever be grateful to her for reaching out to me and helping me to learn about and appreciate the Zaragozan way of life. Here we are eating some pintxos, a special kind of tapas from the Basque region of Spain:

Day 2 - Barcelona: City of Gaudi, City of Color

Oct. 7 - 

We met my friend Aida for breakfast. Aida and I met five years ago when we were both living in Zaragoza. She is a lovely Russian woman who I befriended in my Spanish class. She and her husband relocated a few years ago to Barcelona, where Aida has been studying directing and making films.

We breakfasted at an outdoor "terraza" cafe, which are ubiquitous in Spain, and I can't get enough of them when the weather is nice.  It was great to catch up with an old friend.

Later in the morning, we visited the "Temple de la Sagrada Familia" (Temple of the Sacred Family). It is the world's only 20th century cathedral still under construction. It was designed by the architect Gaudi, whose work had a profound influence on the flavor of Barcelona. I call him the Dr. Seuss architect, because his designs have a certain whimsy and lots of color.

Looking up at the ceiling of the cathedral, the sunbursts remind me of daisies:

This sentence "I que es la veritat?" (Catalan for "And what is the truth?") comes leaping off the three dimensionally inscribed door of the cathedral:

The three wise men (one of many scenes sculpted on the outside of the cathedral):

In the afternoon, we visited Parc Guell, also designed by Gaudi:

The park is known for its bright and colorful mosaic work:

From this upper part of the park, you can see the city of Barcelona all the way out to the Mediterranean:
Parc Guell is a total treasure. I got to go there with my mom and stepdad, John, back in 2003, and it was a joy to be there again with Hubs five years later!