Cancion y beso oficial del Copa del Mundo

I'm obsessed with it.




And also obsessed with this, of course!

La Mallorquina en mi cocina

Even though I think Crescent Rolls would be better jazzed up with more salty savory accoutrements (olive oil and garlic, thyme, rosemary perhaps?)...


I made Nutella 'Croissants' that looked like this yesterday.

And it took about 30 seconds to make, 10 minutes to bake. (Beat that, Rachael Ray.)

It was my roommate's first experience with Nutella (success).

And though I have to say, I longed for my favorite Napolitana de Chocolate from La Mallorquina in Madrid (my mom and I went 3 times in our less than 2 days there at the end of my study abroad) ...mine were a pretty bomb American substitute.

(Best 1 Euro spent in all Europe. Photo via here)

My roomie/"esposa" Sarah and me in front of La Mallorquina.

Our faces (and thighs?) were so round by the end of study abroad! hehe

Come over and be fed.

One thing more...

Sometimes I miss crazy Spaniards and their bulls.

Running of the Bulls is underway in Pamplona...click HERE for a great NPR story.

Besitos!
Alejandra

Couples around the world

Inspired by Amy's post...

Snapped this gem in Espana....this couple was not holding hands, but they had the same crook in their backs which made them lean the same way....

just taking a little stroll at mediodia during siesta...cute, huh?

Mis hermanas españolas

Had a great little Spain reunion the other night at Kendal's bridal shower...

(Liz, Lauren, Sarah, Me, Kendal)

She is marrying the male version of herself, and I couldn't be more thrilled for her.

Yeah, freakishly beautiful children will be on our planet in the future.

Here are some memories of us in Spain...some of the following I stole from Laur's blog...

Clowning around in Leon...We were so cool (lame), we quoted Mean Girls all the time...
especially
"I'm not like a regular mom, I'm a cool mom!"
"You go Glen Coco!" and
"You can walk home, b's!"

We would always, always laugh.


Riding camels in Morocco in our Kandurum dresses-
we broke the rules by jumping Gibraltar but all agreed the above photo made our study abroad.



Our many nights sleeping together....



I believe this was after we watched Ellen DeGeneres stand-up comedy on our laptop.
And then were laughing so hard we watched it again.
Then had some quality GT, as always.
And then we slept head-to-toe like Charlie Bucket's grandparents in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.


Porto, Portugal. Love the pirate style boats (we took a boat cruise on one!).
This is evidence that we would yes, indeed, take the initiative to siesta wherever and whenever we could.


Bar-the-lona...Sarah and I shamelessly sporting our see-through pants, that we all bought at H&M and wore all the time.


Ahh! So many funny memories of being with you guys.
Por ejemplo...

"My host parents still don't know how to pronounce my name..." -Kendal
Making our 'Arabian Nights' music video...and the one inspired by 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'...
Scheming about buying a baby chick on Las Ramblas, Barcelona
Napolitanas from La Mallorquina, Madrid
Laughing/being grossed out at Garrett squatting everywhere

Making friends with those Tangier shop-owners
Always electing for doner kebabs over 'gross tapas'
Andrew pulling out a sword in a Toledo shop ('Viva Espana!')
"Proxima Parada...Atocha Renfe"
Getting ripped off by nuns in Toledo
Mimicking John-Charles
Sarah screaming at the lizards at El Escorial
Las Fallas in Valencia and cursing all the kids throwing firecrackers in the street all day, thinking if we were anywhere else it would be a war-torn country
Laughing at Angelica, our Spanish teacher, dangling chalk like a cigarette ("Ojo clase! Ojo!")

That doesn't even begin...


US, reunited back in December (with some strange lurker...)

My East/West Schism

Item 1:
I'm back from Boston...the grungy couch surfing caught up to me and now I'm sick. But it was worth it, even if now my throat makes me sound like I licked an ashtray with that raspy Maggie Gyllenhaal crinkle as if I were to order a bagel "light on tha schmea!"

Oh, now I'm thinking about lox and that makes me sad.

I promise I didn't get my cold from some East Coast prepster (how I fancy them so).
Though I swear I saw more attractive men, shirts tucked in (aww!) with that perfect balance of equal parts European sophistication and American pragmatism than I've seen in my 4 years in Provo.
Seriously.

Item 2:
So I came across Will's blog and remembered why I adore him...
If I lived in NYC, I would want him to be my Stanford Blatch wingman.

Item 3:
This 9-year old could teach wonders to Cougarfolk.

Item 4:
I confess: so maybe I AM really just skin deep sometimes...
Por ejemplo, the fact that I watched all 10 current episodes of The City within 24 hours. (Hey, commercial free, on MTV's web site: if I planned my days around being home to watch it I would be more worried).
Of all the things that are so mind-boggling unrealistic about the show, the only pervasive thought that keeps coming to mind is their FLAWLESS SKIN (and the fact that NY looks sparkling clean). I understand that they are wearing pounds of makeup but seriously, nobody in New York has peachy blemish-free skin like that.
Everyone knows as soon as you get to the city from somewhere else, you get a fresh crop of city blemishes that don't go away until you leave again.
And I'm convinced that Olivia is not really from the city. Because any true NY'er (let alone someone who's allegedly born and bred) would be downright embarrassed to be on any TV show about it.
So yeah, amongst all the sweeping shots of the Manhattan skyline and nostalgic building/restaurant spotting, all I can really do in the middle of the show is ogle at their clear skin.

Item 5:
I'm training for a half-marathon in early May. And I am notorious for hating running. Should be interesting.

Item 6: Another story to humor you, this just came to me: I will never forget the time I was sitting around Madrid's Puerta del Sol and my friend Sarah was around (I don't know, bumping and grinding or just being her Mexican self)...but for some reason I was alone for a couple minutes....it was 2 AM, the height of a Spanish day, and three Madrilenos come over start talking to me, preguntandome, and their THIRD QUESTION, I KID YOU NOT, was: "What religion are you?"
I thought I might die of hilarity.
If Spaniards struck my fancy, I would have considered them attractive...but they were strangely fixated on talking religion, and because I could not communicate what dear Thomas says below, not to mention that true God-loving Mormons love everyone despite their flaws (novel concept) I was way over it, and since Sarah didn't learn any Spanish in Spain, we had to bail.

We could have partied until noon at Kapital and had an amazing time.
But ah, lo siento, mi amigos, no great story to tell of that.