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Showing posts with label Olympics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Olympics. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 02, 2013

3 days in Barcelona

As a fabulous surprise gift for my recent birthday The Prince gave me a trip to Barcelona!
I have never been to Spain & was so excited! These trips are so deeply moving for me as I never thought I would ever have the opportunity to travel outside of Australia so traveling to these cities I have only seen in pictures is a real dream come true. We may not have funds to fall back on but we scrimp for these trips & are not wasting any opportunities to see the places we want while we are so close.
The food in Spain is absolutely delicious! I was gobsmacked at the variety of tomatoes on one market stall. I know there are hundreds of varieties (they all have their own unique flavour!!) but had never before seen so many in one place.

Those ones bottom right are the size of your head!!

  
We bought some cherry tomatoes & ate them like cherries, they were the BEST tomatoes I have ever tasted! Seriously good stuff!
On our last morning we hastened off to the markets & filled my suitcase with goodies to bring back to The Old Dart, where lets just say its a little difficult to get your hands on this stuff. Was great to be laden with goods yet be able to sail past customs with nothing to declare, (as we were coming from an EU country) would never get away with it going back into Oz & rightly so.


Our market haul!! Why yes we did buy a little bit, it was like a great Waitrose shop but at a tenth of the cost. The red polka dot in bottom right is my souvenir of Barcelona. Best ever, cute & functional!
That's a 5 p coin (same as Oz 1 cent) for perspective. Suffered a slight blemish in transit but definitely did not affect taste!
Just so you don't think that it was all about the food, we did go on a tour of the city and let me tell you the architecture is pretty stunning and not just the Gaudi. Thankfully The Prince is a fan of the open top tour bus as am I. Some people think they are daggy/naff but we love that they give you a great overview of a place in a short space of time. 
The city is laid out in beautiful grid style & the apartment buildings are arranged as squares with central courtyards. Simple but makes the living feel much more spacious.



Seriously playful & gorgeous building




 This was my favourite building, whimsy & delicacy rendered in pink stone. Magic!! So pretty.

Random fashion store with lace doilies for decoration. Love.


Amazing shadow play.

Love the little bats on the stunning street lights
Massive roof of hexies on the Santa Caterina Market -we thought this market was better than the Boqueria
While the Boqueria is touted as the tourist market, we preferred Santa Caterina both for selection & price. It seems to be where the locals shop & so gave a bit more of a window into real life. Mind you the Boqueria was pretty!




Marzipan fruits
More marzipan fruits

Love the baby bombonerie
 We had a fabulous time, much thanks to my sweet Prince for the gift. If you ever have a chance, just go!! The people are lovely, the place is gorgeous, food is great. Did I mention the food?? LOL Just Go!!
Loving what I do

Lush x

PS: positive thoughts for my big sister who is going through a traumatic time post surgery & is still in hospital 2 months later. We are all cheering for you Sis, get better soon, we need you home where you belong. xox




Friday, September 14, 2012

Paralympics final round up

Back in January 2011 The Prince was asked to return to the UK to work for the Olympics & Paralympics. A huge job with loads of pressure, massive learning about media & very long days on the park during the games for around 8 weeks.

Taking this job meant we had to decide to move our little family to the other side of the planet.  I am so lucky to have the Prince in my life & I can honestly say I would not make this kind of move for just anyone but I jumped at the chance and it's one I don't think either of us have regretted for a moment. Don't get me wrong, we have had stress & pressure (and still do) but we have had each other to help us get through it all. I wouldn't have it any other way. Well maybe less stress & pressure??

I was extremely fortunate to get a ticket to see the medal games for the Men's basketball. Lovely sunny day, great seats & Aussies up for the gold. Who could ask for anything more?? Well I would have loved The Prince to be with me but that was not to be. So I had to enjoy it for both of us.

So Excited!!!

The foyer of the O2 Arena

Such an awesome game! The Canadians were well up for it.

The Aussies fought hard

Well earned Silver medal
Job Done!!
 Thanks my Darling Prince. For so much.

Loving what I do & especially with whom it is done.

Lush x

Saturday, August 11, 2012

I think I'm going to need a bigger pot.

We were very lucky we moved in to find a Bramley apple tree in the back yard. It is a lovely tree & makes a great addition to the garden. It has been trained to droop so you can easily pick the apples without the need of a ladder. Clever!!
 Last year we harvested around 25 apples & thought this was great. I think this year the tree has excelled itself!! This is our second picking. The first was about one quarter of this size & it took me 2 hours to peel & chop for sauce.


 If I ever want to do any more washing I had better get cracking. If anyone needs me I will be on the couch in front of the last of the Olympics.
Please send fluids.

Loving what I do

Lush x





Monday, August 06, 2012

Big Shout out to the Olympics!!

This weekend we decided to try to catch some of the Spirit. Well The Prince had to do a site check & I went along for the ride. LOL.
Off we went to Victoria Park one of the "Live" sites, ginormous screens, rides & opportunities to try different Olympic sports. We sat for a while & watched a Judo display which was great as it answered lots of my questions of how they scores points. I may or may not have described Judo as, a couple of three year old's fighting over a toy but I now have a much greater understanding of the sport.
Really wanted to but didn't. LOL>

Little ones introduction to Judo

Cool dino skeleton thing that you could pull apart & build again

How many bits got taken home I wonder??

Art project on the walls - this was a photo that had been embroidered (the rainbow) then shot again.

It has been fun watching the sport but I would like to see more of the Aussies.

Loving what I do.

Lush x

Friday, July 27, 2012

In for the off!!!

Whoo hoo!!! Right over our house!!! With the vapour trails and all.

Because most of our involvement has been about work & stress for The Prince it has been hard to get excited.
Worked on getting excited today. This totally helped :)

Loving what we do.


Lush x