Barcelona

One of the cities we explored on our recent European trip was Barcelona, in the state of Catalonia, Spain. We spent three days absorbing the scents, sights, and sounds of this coastal city.

We did not rent any cars on our trip, and found public transportation in Barcelona was the easiest and cleanest, which says a lot because everywhere was pretty clean and easy.

This city was the first time we worked with a guide on our trip, as we participated in a free walking tour and a cycling tour both put on by Travel Bound. We highly recommend both. Please be aware these guides work for tips only and are not paid employees of Travel Bound. If you were to take this tour from another company, you’re likely to pay at least 40 euros per person.

Guest Posting: Faith in Ambiguity

A few weeks ago, Tara from Faith in Ambiguity sent out a call for guest bloggers while she enjoys the salty Atlantic Ocean air. Her writing style is so wholly different from mine that I was sure she didn't mean me.

Until she sent me a direct request. What?! One of the writers I admire most wanted me to write a guest post while she's traveling? Wow!

I saw down, got very serious, and decided that was ridiculous. Go check out my post today, other guest posts from this past week, and spent a little time in Tara's cafe if you haven't been there before. She's pretty awesome.

Thinky Thursday: Love

Photo courtesy of morguefile.com

I wrote a post last week about acceptance and received a lot of thoughtful responses, both here on the blog and personally via email and a few phone calls. While still noodling on that, I happened upon a blog post (through Jen Luitwieler on Twitter) about a girl who stopped eating in an effort to gain some sort of control over her life. I shared that blog post via Twitter and my Facebook page and wanted to come back around here to share the gist of the conversations I saw happening as a result of this post.

Thinky Thursday: Acceptance

Acceptance

It's sort of a heavy word. It probably means different things to different people, as most words do. Dictionary.com says it is favorable reception; approval; favor.

I strive to be accepting of other people, particularly women. On a trip once, I noticed the women wore tighter clothing than I'm used to. A lot of those women would be considered overweight where I'm from, and they didn't seem to be shy about their bodies. I saw them dancing, laughing, eating, drinking, playing with their kids ... and seeming to not mind their body didn't fit the magazine definition of beauty (at least in the US; I'm not sure that same definition applies elsewhere). I didn't *know* these women, so I don't know what internal dialog they had on a regular basis about themselves. But they looked happy, content, free. I wished I had the confidence to rock that 2-piece swimsuit or that low-cut top.

Meet the Family

Hubs comes from a large, conservative, intelligent, cerebral family. I come from a smaller, non-traditional, much louder family. We're purty smart, too, but Hubs' family can Scrabble us all into the ground. The only game I can hope to win against them is something pop culture related, especially from the 80s and 90s, as they don't watch television or movies.

I know, right!?
The lack of a television is likely at least half the reason they're all so dang smart!
note: Now I hardly ever get control of the remote. It's like he's making up for lost time.
With the Golf Channel of all things!

When Hubs was still to-be, he told me about his family and while I don't remember the exact words he used, he basically told me to watch my mouth. What?! Me? Okay, yes, I can, sometimes, fall to the temptation to let one fly.

Picture, if you will, me in the kitchen with Hubs-to-be's family, when he still had brothers in single-digit ages and no nieces and nephews yet.

Wow! Remember back then, OK family?!

Hubs' sweet and wonderful mother, C, was making conversation and asked how my family felt about the quick engagement (we got engaged 6 weeks after we met, but that's another story). I smiled as sweetly as I could and sort of caught Hubs' eye across the room. I told her my Dad was fine with it, but had told me I'm not allowed to use the "f" word until I graduated from college.