HOLA… buenos dias, feliz martes from sunny SPAIN.

Yes. I am HERE. I made it!!!!! After 20 long months of yearning and feeling like I would never get back to the place I swear my soul belongs, I am back. And I could not be happier.

The pandemic marks the longest time that I haven’t been back to Spain since I lived here 11 years ago. I have been back every single year, sometimes several times a year, whether it’s to visit Sevilla, or La Cala de Mijas where I am now, or other Spanish cities. I have had my food and culture fix and kept on top of my fluency in the language every single year, and then the pandemic hit.

I haven’t allowed myself to be excited for this trip because I wanted it so desperately that I knew I would be so gutted if it didn’t go ahead – whether that’s because either of us got COVID, a fever, or Bozza decided to change the rules again at last minute (though now I know he’s on holiday just down the road from us and got here the day before us, so of course he wouldn’t have changed the rules at last minute this time). I’ve been on edge all of the last week trying where possible to stay out of potential COVID contact, and any other thing that might get in the way of me getting here!

Then two days before I was due to leave, I got stung twice by a wasp in the most unbelievable event (link above to read more), had an allergic reaction and ended up with an extremely swollen, infected, sore, and itchy leg and a course of antibiotics. The doctor advised me that I might get a fever in the next 24 hours while the infection is peaking, and I knew I would be temperature tested at the airport in Spain. Imagine if after all my precautions, the thing that stopped me being reunited with my soul place was a damn wasp. Anyway, it didn’t win the little bastard. I am here.

And I am overjoyed. I feel pure unfiltered, unapologetic joy. Finally having a break from working what feels like constantly is one thing, but finally getting abroad and back to the place I love so much is completely next level. I am so grateful to be here, even in spite of the infected wasp stings and 50,000 mozzy bites I’ve had already that have caused me to break out in what look like hives.

As a result, this week’s instalment is a short one! And a lot of it his holiday based of course!

Reading

YOU ARE A BADASS – Jen Sincero

I’ve made huge progress with this book since I arrived here in Spain, as I’ve been spending a lot of time reading on the balcony – my favourite thing to do.

I am absolutely loving this book – even though I am a lot more versed in the personal development space than I was when I first attempted a read at it some years ago, it has still been providing me with nuggets of wisdom and motivation that sometimes I forget I need.

If you are unhappy in any area of your life – be it your job, relationship, house, how you react to things, how other people treat you, how hard done by you feel by your life, WHATEVER IT IS, I really recommend you read this book. I’ve said it before – it’s self-help without the stigma or judgement, and it’s a really great book. Plus who doesn’t want to improve their life and be their best self?!

These two articles that shine a light on great people

This one is about a group of selfless firefighters who stepped in and covered another colleague’s shifts at the beginning of the pandemic, due to him needing to minimise exposure to the virus due to his child being immunocompromised. It made me tear up. I can sometimes forget how generally good people are.

And I thought this one was lovely, highlighting just how wonderful teachers are and how much they do for children. I have always admired teachers for all that they do, and I thought this article was beautiful.

Watching

The Sea

No this isn’t a show, or a series, or anything like that this week. I mean the actual sea.

Here in La Cala de Mijas the sea is proving quite the spectacle right now, in all the years I’ve been coming here I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so rough!

The video below isn’t great quality now that it’s been uploaded here, but I wanted to share what I spent literally hours watching yesterday! Absolutely stunning to watch the waves roaring and crashing on the shore, so relaxing and entrancing!

Listening

Dreamers – Courteeners

I’ve been listening to (the) Courteeners for over 10 years, ever since James introduced their very first album to me when we started dating.

I was recently asked what I feel is the best song they have ever created, and whilst I do have several songs that I adore, there was only one answer for me. It is a song that is quite underrated, never played at gigs and I think one that slips quietly below the radar.

This song is beautiful and majestic in its own right, and holds quite a profound way of looking at the society in which we live. I love it – and I’ve been listening to it whilst reading and writing on the balcony this week! Give it a listen!

Eating

What’s this? A new section?! You bet it is!

I am so overjoyed to have so much of the delicious Spanish food I love so much at my fingertips that I had to share it.

I absolutely adore shopping in Supermarkets in other countries, especially Spain. When I lived in Seville, I was introduced to so much food I’d never tried before, I think I was pretty sheltered before that. And whilst this is only a small insight into the food I can buy at the supermarket, they’re some of my absolute faves.

Tomorrow we’re going on a tapas crawl around Malaga, where I intend on eating my body weight in more of my favourite foods, so no doubt next week’s post will contain even more food snaps (and they will actually be of some quality too cooked by a professional!)

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You can get a lot of these things at home in most supermarkets – things like olives, Spanish omelette, chorizo etc. but they’re just not a patch on the ones here, even from the supermarkets. So so good.

Before You Go…

I am aware that I sound like a super stalker the way I talk about Libby Page so much, but her posts on new motherhood are invaluable.

One of the things I seem to see so often is people sharing how wonderful parenthood is. I see cute pics, videos etc. and I wonder how people seem to find it so easy.

When we got a dog, my life changed overnight (literally overnight – James came home unexpectedly with a dog that was now mine to take care of) and I struggled so much to adapt to my new life. I think I attribute my lack of desire to have kids yet to how hard that period of my life was.

So to see somebody finally posting about how difficult it can be having a baby is so refreshing and comforting. I don’t take comfort from seeing people post cute pics and videos of their kids (nice to see it don’t get me wrong – but from a selfish standpoint they don’t help me contemplate the concept of motherhood). But seeing raw, honest posts about the day-to-day activities and emotions of new parenthood – well I find it an invaluable insight into a potential life one day.

Here’s Libby’s most recent post where she reflects on the early days.

That’s it from me this week! If you spot any spelling or grammatical errors you’ll have to just let me off – it took far more time than I’d have liked to have spent working on this from my phone and I need a huge glass (bottle) of wine after battling with WordPress’s nightmare app!

See you next week!