Birthday Season

The official 'birthday week' celebrations have begun, and hot damn, I'm getting olderrrrr.  and now I'm even older, and now I'm even older.... and even older still... nerd.

Age never seemed to be a scary thing.  People who ran around bemoaning 'yet another birthday' always conjured up sad images of Cathy cartoons or uninspired Hallmark cards. 
(And I always wanted to say 'well, its better than being dead')

Me, age 25  

Then it was me getting older.

I mean, not to Cathy out on anyone, but moving out of your twenties is tougher than expected.  Especially when your career is tenuous at best.  I don't know if young anyone else did this too, but young me set up these ridiculous 'milestones' I was supposed to hit by certain ages. 
Young me didn't know shit about shit. 
I got married way earlier than anticipated, and exited my music career about 40 years too early... And I seem to be lagging on getting a house, having kids, and figuring out what I want to be when I grow up.  And oh yeah.. I was supposed to be either a multi-millionaire or dictator of the world by now.  Sheesh... I have a lot of hypothetical catching up to do.

Thankfully, late 20s me has enough perspective to understand that these milestones are total bullshit.  There are no regrets on the experiences that I've had- and not feeling the 'need' to acquire, or reproduce, or force myself into a boring or uncomfortable or overstretched way of existing takes some stress out of the daily grind.  Late 20s me understands the meaning of 'trade offs'- and does not worry about having a smaller savings account because I've chosen to travel the world or live in a pretty apartment.  Late 20s me understands that everyone has their own path, and making comparisons between people's paths drives a competitive person bonkers.  Late 20s me gets to say 'Jeez Sara, stop it!'  And the best thing about late 20s me is that I do stop it!  I don't fight back!  I might actually for once listen to my own common sense.

And that makes me happy about being 29.  I'm gonna get wrinkles.
Cathy can suck it.

CSAdventure (Cont'd)

We've been CSAing (its a verb now!  I make words!) for over a month.   And its awesome.  The produce is the perfect amount for a whole week of veggie-intense cooking, the price is very right, and the pickup location couldn't be more convenient.  Actually, it could be delivery- that would be the most convenient... but whatever- it would be a tragedy because I'd miss chatting with the farmers.  I love my bongo and rain stick playing farmers!!!  They are true hippies to the core.  Respect.

What keeps surprising me is how good real food tastes.  I'm a skeptical person- and  always thought farmer's market yuppies were more or less talking out their collective asses when they'd proclaim "natural food is more flavorful!" or "you need less when there's more nutrition..."  Sorry yuppie bros- you were right.  I don't see myself going back to the old routine unless our CSA stops existing.  

Another pleasant side-effect is that I find myself easily avoiding Ralph's or Whole Foods (our local chains).  I don't like giving my money to giant grocery stores, right-wing and/or libertarian crazies posing as CEOs, agribusiness, Monsanto, and all the other destructive food-related evils.  Ralph's is notorious for having incorrectly weighted scales and measures, food waste, and treating employees poorly.  Whole Foods pisses me off more. With UFCW Local 770 (*SOLIDARITY!*) workers about to go on strike to protect their wages and healthcare benefits, its an even better reason to stay out of the major grocery chains and shop local (or Trader Joe's for the yuppie deliciousness and soy products I can't say goodbye to!).  Nobody wants to be a scab.

'But enough preaching!' you say!!   'Show me the food porn!!?!'

Haha.  Yeah- I posed my food that week.  But now I'm too lazy.

upper left - fatty basket of FRESH FIGS, WUT?!!

I love being able to use such good stuff to cook meals for me and Dylan.  Its making my (mostly) vegetarian lifestyle almost too easy.  Veggies are quick to cook, and alleviate some of my guilt about not being a kitchen-talented spouse.  And I know its good (health-wise and environment-wise) for D to cut out meat for a few meals a week. 

Sooo- I don't really know where I'm going with this post.  But I would heartily recommend joining a CSA to anyone who might be on the fence about taking the plunge.  It has improved our lifestyle for the better.

I mean- I love me some roasted organic sugar beets, greens, and lentils:

(hippie snacks)

  

Coming Home

I wrote this yesterday- but saved it for today so it would get its own header.

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Writing the travel recaps got me thinking- I really wanted to come home after this trip. 
Usually, I require a full week of decompression.  I get moody and irritable, and horribly depressed at the thought of vacation being done.  I drag my feet around the house, and loudly complain about the tyranny of life being on hold in order to work in order to make the cash necessary to enjoy life.  Deeeeeep.  And annoying.

This time, not so much.  I was ready to come home. 

It took a few solid tries, but we finally have an apartment that feels like 'home.'  After walking in and putting down my things, I got to look around and re-appreciate how beautiful and homey our place feels.  Everything was clean and uncluttered, and it smelled so nice.  I heard the sound of paw stampedes, and it made my heart get all mushy happy.

Seeing these faces?

Yeah.

But I gotta say, I missed Dylan's face the most. (not including photo for his internet privaciesss)

Being away from D for a whole week made me re-appreciate how lucky I am to have him.  Not many people get to spend their lives with someone they end up loving more and more every day.  It was hard not sharing all my jokes and dumb songs and complaints with him for an ENTIRE week.
It seems almost impossible that I could love him more at this point (it's been 11 years... no jokes), and impossibly- I do.
So yeah- coming home was very easy this time.
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((Awwww.  Sugary sweet!  DO YOU HAVE A TOOTHACHE?!  Because you should.))

I'm happy to be back.

The Great Escape 2011 - Chapter 2

Barcelona!  The City of Win! 

So much happened in Barcelona that I will only be able to touch on the highlights.  Partly because I'm at work and only have 20 min of lunch break left, and partly because I am completely overwhelmed by the expansive narrative.  So here goes - Barcelona Abridged:

On our first day, we rode around the city on bikes.  The tour was really long and lasted about 4.5 hours.

Which was fine by me, since we were basically chilling at the beach and checking out places like...

....Isabella and Ferdinand's castle from the 1400s where Chris Columbus got his big break..

...and the local bullfighting arena....

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-

...caution, what's about to happen is disturbing...

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-

... where this guy got his.

We walked the streets of El Born...

..of  Barceloneta...

..and La Ribera...

..and Barri Gotic.

We basically lived at La Boqueria.

Did

I

mention

the

boqueria?

Because, I mean...

I meant to.

We took tree-umphant poses (Punny!)...

...and we took three-umphant poses (Punnier!).

We saw some Gaudi at night.

We saw some Gaudi by day.

Honestly, we didn't really care about Gaudi.

We did care about Camp Nou, however... its MORE than a club!...

....and we loved the magnificent Cathedrals...

...Ok, maybe there is *one* cool Gaudi creation.  But its not finished yet, so maybe it doesn't count?

We became fluent in hobo napping....

...and surprisingly fluent in Tapas.

I mean... we needed at least a little bit of literacy to keep up with these culinary riches:

Yes, our interest in the language extended to fancy paella (which is Castillian, not Catalan) as well as....

Xurros y Xocolata. 

 Dayum.

-

-

We drank a little bit along the way...

...while strengthening our fortytude...

...while possibly finding our roots on a bottle of Cava...

...while sampling the local brew...

and a few (gnarly) imports....

...and it led us to some...

...slightly questionable...

...often strange....

...sometimes flashy...

...sometimes cheesy...

(artistic rendering)

..sometimes awesome...

...and always ridiculous places.

Sometimes we even had hangovers.

Barcelona was super,

super,

super fun.

Partially because the city is awesome, 

but mostly because I was lucky enough to travel with the best brother in the world.

I had a great time, and look forward to many future trips with my bro. 

 But maybe next time we'll omit the Barca Lung (or.. as it was also titled: the 'Iberian Infection.')

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P.S. I'm skipping Brussels pt. Deux because it mostly involves me being frustrated, strangers puking on the floor, being overly exhausted from Spain, and almost getting mugged but for the grace of Maculay Culkin and the gods of travel.  Skipppppppppppp.