Somewhere Near Albacete

Now that we are down to only one day off per week, it makes it extremely important to wisely choose what we are going to do with that precious day. You see, I say that "we" are down to only one day off because even though I'm a stay-at-home mom, I feel like the only time I really get a break is when Alex is home with me. So, Sunday it is. This Sunday, though, we found ourselves obligated to go on a mini trip to Albacete for an 8 year-old's birthday party. I have to admit that I was less than enthusiastic when it came to the prospect of spending the day locked up in their house with the tv blaring and trying to make sense of their strange vocabulary and difficult accents. It turned out to be fine, though, and do you  know why? Because I had some new stuff to photograph!! Always a good enough reason to give up a lazy day at home!

I grabbed Julietta right after lunch and we went on a walk around the tiny, run-down town. I mean, it's OLD! Walls are falling down, paint is chipped everywhere you look. The entire place is weathered, and I think it's beautiful. I would have been in awesome backdrop heaven if I had had a willing upright model, but Letta likes to put everything in her mouth and doesn't sit still long enough for me even to push the shutter release, so instead I went around and just took some shots of the town. I'm pretty sure these photos aren't really any good, because I have no idea what I'm doing when I'm not shooting people, but I thought they really captured the feel of the town.

I thought this was so cool with the kitty cat staring at me.

After walking around in circles for quite a while (the town is tiny. EVERYONE knows each other. A man stopped to talk to me and knew immediately that I wasn't from there. He, of course knew Juani and Felipe, Alex's cousins, and even knew exactly where they lived.) I found a spot where I could let Julietta roam free for a bit.

And later we met up with the rest of the crew and I fired off a few more shots before heading to the town pub for a warm drink... or was it a gin and tonic... tomato tomato (to be pronounced differently, obviously).

This is Julietta and Christian seeing each other for the first time.

Christian. He looked like the Marshmallow Man in his big green jacket. I wanted to eat him up!

And Felipe. He's a real ham. If all kids were this easy to photograph, it would be a breeze!!

The bunch

Serious Alex

Serious Bella.

Not a bad day, if I do say so myself. And next weekend? Another workshop from Creative LIVE! with Tamara Lackey!!

Entering Number One!

This was a hard decision, guys. I was really leaning towards number three, but the favorites were clearly number one and four. I chose to enter number one.

Oh and just so you know,  this isn't some huge contest or anything. It's for a contest on the Bloom forum I'm a member of. But, you know, I LOVE games, so I have to enter, right?!

Thanks to everyone who helped me choose! You are THE BEST!!

Love, Sarah

Help me Choose - Barefoot Babies

Remember back a couple months ago, when I wanted to enter into a photo contest, but I didn't know which picture to choose, so you helped me, and I sort of, kind of won a little bit?  Well, there's another contest (nothing big. Just a fun one from a forum) and once again I don't know which image to choose. Help me, please!!

The theme is FEET. Which one do you think I should I enter?

1)

2)

3)

 4a)

 4b) Which version?

I have to turn it in by Monday, so if you get a minute, let me know what you think.

Thanks, friends!

Flare it up

I heart flare. I do. I like the sound of the word. I like that it means putting a bunch of pins on a vest if you work in a restaurant. I love that one of the definitions is : a. To erupt or intensify suddenly. And I would have a love affair with lens flare and haze if it weren't so controversial.

This one doesn't really have any flare, but I just love it.

Flare isn't loved by all, apparently. One of my photographer friends said that she's surprised at how many of her clients don't dig it. I dig it, though, and so I will make sure that it plays a major role in the unraveling and evolution of my style.

Our Last Halloween in Spain

She liked being the mermaid princess

Halloween. It's special to me. Do I have to tell you all how much I miss Halloweens back home? Since I've lived here, I've done my part to bring the spirit out. We used to do a huge Halloween party at our café, The Bohemian Café, every year. This year was Bella's first year to really understand what was going on, so I wanted to make it important.

Our stawberry/ladybug

I considered taking the girls to the Halloween party with The American Club, but that sounded so overwhelming - making costumes, making a dish to bring, bringing drinks and sweets for the kids, bringing a drink for myself, finding transportation there and back ( it was outside of Valencia and Alex, of course, had to work), and then on top of that, going by myself to a place where I'd only met one person, all the while trying to take care of two kids by myself... I don't know, maybe it's just me, but it just sounded a bit too stressful for what was supposed to be a party.

Not a fan of butterfly wings

Instead I took our leftover decorations from The Bohemian and decked out our house while Bella was with the Yayos. The look on her face was priceless when she walked in to see the walls covered with bats and the windows trimmed with garland. She, of course, wanted to start touching everything, and then she did her rendition of "Cumpleaños feliz" (it evidently looked like a birthday part!).

For costumes, I brought down our box of  costumes from Halloween's past and Paquita borrowed some kids' costumes from a workmate. We all went wild playing dress up.

Good thing we went to all those St. Patty's day parties back in the day.

And Carnival celebrations

I also tried to make a Halloween inspired menu, but we won't go there. I should always stick to being on the decorations or costume committee. Let's just say there was yet another burnt beans incident.

Representin'!! Go Vashon!

I know I said this last year, but friends, I WILL be home next year, and we WILL have a Halloween party together. We can even do it at my house. (I'll be in charge of the decorations!)

A Day in the Life

Spain sounds like a grand place to live, doesn't it? I get that all the time. I think people assume all we do is get together with our friends in cafés, eat yummy food, drink sangria and travel around, taking in the beautiful scenery every day. And let's not forget the massive amounts of siestas we take! We obviously need the rest with the constant fiestas!!

Ok, we do these things... sometimes. But instead of sangria, I usually drink tinto de verano, because it's not as strong and just tastes like sparkly juice. (But WATCH OUT! It's NOT juice! I found that out the hard way!)

Anyway, I thought you might like to see what we do on a typical day, so these are just some candids from around the house the past few days, nothing special, but I  did get some really cute shots that I wanted to share with you.

After the two hours it takes us to get ready in the morning, we almost always take a walk to the park, or go to the grocery store.

Bella likes to copy Alex and sometimes she pretends she's "fadada", or angry.

I left the dog pee in the picture, because it's ridiculously realistic.

Julietta chills and smiles at everyone she sees.

Bella pushes her buggy everywhere we go. Usually it's carrying a sleeping Grinch or Winnie the Pooh.

Sometimes we'll see the Ya yos on their way home for lunch, and they'll stop and push the girlies on the swings for a few minutes.

Juji is very fond of the grass, sticks and leaves, and Bella is very fond of being around her sister ALL THE TIME!

After park time, we'll usually hit up the local grocery store (it's tiny) and buy whatever ingredient we forgot to buy the last time, and then we'll all have lunch together. Alex leaves immediately after lunch, and the girls take their nap.

I know I said the "girls" take their nap, but Julietta has been very erratic lately with her naps. Instead, she usually crawls around, gets into the potatoes and onions in the kitchen, and follows me around.

She doesn't like it when I cook or clean or spend very much time in the kitchen at all. Ok, Juji, I'm not going to argue! I actually spend a lot of this time on my computer, if she lets me.

After nap time, we may see a few breakdowns here and there. We usually spend the next two hours either just playing at home (while I try to get some cleaning and cooking done... and laundry. I MISS having a dryer!!), doing a bigger project, or meeting with Sarah and Christina, our German friends. At 7.15 it's Ya yo time where I get a little break!!! (I love this time of the day) And when the girls get back, the three of us have dinner, story time and bedtime.

I know I have some more shots of the girls playing in the living room, but you get the general idea. This is what we do most days. I get really bored of doing the same thing all the time, and I jump on any chance we get to hang out with other people, but it doesn't happen very often since I am car-less.

I do manage to stay sane, however, because we are getting much much closer with the paperwork for Alex's visa, so we're just waiting now on the interview date. It doesn't sound too intense, so let's all just keep our fingers crossed!

And that is my life. Undoubtedly simpler than you imagined. but simply special!

Ever Wonder What my Kids Look Like? - Wordless Weekend