Belated Halloween

 

 
Since we have two friends in London with birthdays on the 29th of October we decided to have our Halloween party the weekend after instead - which also happened to be the 5th of November (Guy Fawkes day). They celebrate that here in London by setting off lots of fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes. Totally normal.

The other thing we learned when throwing a Halloween party here is that you have to have a theme. Just saying, "Halloween" won't do. So our theme was ANIMAL. I went as a mounted trophy of a lion's head and Jefferson went as the hunter that shot me. It was a fun but mellow night and next year we need to get the pub crawl part of the night going again. Feast your eyes on these lovely animal pics...

Yummy spread!

Decor

Decorations

Lots of poses with the wall trophy...

 
And probably my favorite pic of the night - it looks like our friend Matt is saying something just amazing and poetic about this dip he's eating - and we're all listening very intently.

Granada, Spain

Last week I traveled to Granada, Spain with our friend Steve while Jefferson traveled to Denmark for work. It was a really fun trip and not just because - but mostly because - when you buy a drink they bring free food to your face ("tapas"). It's an amazing thing to experience. Every drink comes with a small to medium size food at no additional cost.


Some of the foods were really good - cheese, paella, pork, choroizo - and all were served with bread. These people like their carbs. The moment I got into town I met Steve at a Taberna and upon ordering a beer was given a plate of most delicious paella:

First free tapas, NOM

We also did a private tour of the Alhambra - which is a famous palace and fortress complex. We walked around it on our tour for about three hours and learned a lot. For instance, they don't know where the name "Alhambra" came from but they do know it means, "the red one" and the very first Muslim ruler to build up the Alhambra was, in fact, a ginger (red head) by the name of Mohammed. Amazing! So it could have been a reference to him - but much like Stonehenge, they have no idea. Here are just a few of the amazing things found in and around Alhambra - including a beautiful view of the Sierra Nevada mountains (see last pic way below).

 

 
















Steve and I walked all over Granada - to parts most tourists don't go, parts lots of tourists go to, pretty much just picking a direction and going that way for a while then deciding to turn when it suited us. Which is how we found donut shop named Moopies (yes, I ate a donut), a free set of workout equipment in a park, and the strangest shaped eggplant ever.

  

Sierra Nevada mountains behind us!

Meine Schwester Stacey

That means, "my sister" in German.

A few weeks ago Jefferson and I traveled to Berlin to visit our friend Rob. We were at the tail end of bad head colds so we didn't go too crazy but we had a great time. The first night in I got there earlier than Jefferson so Rob took me to an indoor street food market that was DELICIOUS. We had some craft beers, some pork belly bao, shared some raclette (cheese) and then had some ice cream to top it off. On our way to this market we passed a restaurant called, "Rocco and his brother" - see below - ha!

It's starting to become a trend for Jefferson and I to visit botanical garden's when we travel and the one in Berlin is supposed to be one of the top in the world! I don't know who decided that but it was pretty. We also went to visit the East Side Gallery which I liked a lot more than I expected. The "gallery" is a long portion of the Berlin Wall still intact and painted on the front side by artists and the back side by anyone who wants to graffiti it I guess. Here are the two pics of art/graffiti on the wall that I liked best.

From my Sup Gurl chronicles

Cute panda!

      

 After that my sister, Stacey, came to visit for a week and a half and we had a fantastic time! Super relaxed and super fun. I did make her walk a LOT but we saw some cool things and I even got her to play Pokemon Go for a hot second (she was thrilled, I tell you). Pokemon was second only to how much she loved me making her do a Snapchat photo each morning - mua ha ha - check these out:

We visited this Ramen restaurant that gives you hair ties and bibs - which are really quite helpful.

Duck Face!

Terrifying Bunnies

     

Poor Stacey now knows my neighborhood very well but that could be because she had to go to the Dentist with me THREE times while she was here. THREE. Imagine me putting one fist in the air and shaking it with an angry expression and yelling, "SMIIIITTTTTA!" That's what I do a lot now - and that is the name of my dentist. I got a temporary crown just before Stacey got to town and it fell out twice while she was here. Very exciting stuff. I'm on a more permanent but still temporary one and I've kept all my teeth in my mouth for one week as of today. WOO!  Gotta have goals.

It was an awesome trip and right after Stacey headed back to the states, I headed to Spain with our friend Steve and Jefferson went to Denmark for work, per usual. More on Spain in a bit...