Spain! Madrid - Day 3!

Sooooo....here we are again.  Me attempting to finish up this here blog.  Spain.  Two years ago.  Going to finish it for nostalgia's sake and for a reference point when I (or anyone else) should travel to Spain in the future.  My friend, Maggie, has declared August "daily blogging month".  I'm joining in!  I should put a major dent in finishing this up...if I don't completely finish.

So, let's continue with the Spain trip.  You can read prior entries here :

Madrid, Day 1
Madrid, Day 2, Part 1
Madrid, Day 2, Part 2

Day 3 in Madrid would be our last.  I loved this little city and it was a great place to start our 2+ weeks.  But, we still hadn't had any churros y chocolate (shout-out to my West Jr High Spanish classmates!).  We started our last day in Madrid at Chocolateria San Gines where we dined on what is supposedly one of the best spots for churros y chocolate.  It was at the back of a small alley-like street and there were tables outside and it was very quiet and quaint.  The churros y chocolate was pretty good, but definitely not my most favorite thing in the world.   The churros have a bit of a donut taste and I'm not fond of donuts (ridiculous, I KNOW!).  But, it was still a fun experience and definitely not bad!

Love the little alleys like the one where we found

our churros & chocolate!

 The little plaza at the back of the alley was

lined with customers eating their churros, drinking

coffee, reading papers

Looks great, right?!

 Our lovely view while we ate

After breakfast, we strolled through the shops of Calle Mayor, stopping in the boutique store, Custo Barcelona, because I had read that Julia Roberts and Christina Aguillera like it.  It was a really interesting shop with very different shirts & dresses.

We walked through the Plaza Mayor again - it was much less chaotic than it was on the day of our arrival since the festival was over.  We also happened to see the motorcade of some Consulate passing through in a carriage surrounded by men on horses.

We had a super fun, interesting adventure to a convent - Convento de las Carboneras.  These little nuns are known for making delicious cookies - especially their almond cookies (almond is one of my top 2 favorite flavors!).  It was really hard to find the convent - wasn't well marked.  We finally figured it out.  The nuns are not allowed to see other people, so we buzzed the door and they spoke to us thru an intercom system in fragmented English and they let us in.  Then, we had to guess our way around until we came to an empty room with a lazy Susan - just what we were looking for!  There was another bell to ring and then they came and took our order from the other side of the lazy Susan (it was built into the wall so that we could hear them, but not see them).  Unfortunately, they were out of the almond cookies, so we got lemon ones instead - they were quite delicious!  They passed the cookies to us on the lazy Susan and we passed our money back.  It was a crazy, fun adventure!  (Shhhh....I could see the little, old nun thru a crack when she turned the lazy Susan).

The convent was at the back of this pretty plaza

The doors to the convent

Some people came in not long after us.  This guy

was the most fluent in Spanish and it got a bit

confusing when they were out of the almond cookies,

so he helped us out!  We got the last box of lemon

cookies, so we shared some with this group.

Our reward!

Next, we went to another park called Parque del Oeste.  It was nothing like Retiro park.  This one was much less groomed and more rustic.  But, it did have a very beautiful, huge Roselada (Rose garden) that was very well manicured.  We spent time admiring the roses and then walked over to a cable car that we rode over Campo del Maro Park - this was a huge park with trails and lots of trees.  We also had neat views of Madrid, the Palace, and a few cathedrals from the cable car.

 

For lunch, we went to Casa Marta, which claims Don Qoixote as a former patron.  I had read good things about this restaurant and its price-fixed lunch, but we were not overly impressed with the food.  We did get 3 courses, plus bread and wine for a good price, but it probably wasn't worth it.  They did give us a plate of delicious olives though - reminded me of all the ones I ate every day in Greece!  But I swear that the mashed potatoes we ate there were instant :)

From lunch, we went to San Francisco el Grande Cathedral which is known for it's amazing paintings.  We lucked into a tour taking place.  It was in Spanish, but Michelle could understand several things and a few other English speakers could translate other parts.  It was interesting and we did get to see parts of the cathedral we wouldn't have wandered to on our own.

We shopped in the Chueca neighborhood looking for good Spanish shoes at the outlets on Augusto Figuero (we came away with none) and hitting up an interesting olive oil shop.

Since we were nearby, we did a little bit more walking through Retiro park - so beautiful!

To finish off our day, we decided to hit up a couple of tapas places.  There were tours you could take, but I did some investigating online and found where those tours take you and what you taste on them and we did a little one of our own for FREE!  We first stopped at a tiny restaurant and were offered a refreshing drink called Tinto de Verano (Summer Wine) - it's basically red wine mixed with lemon soda.  From there, we went to D'Fabula and had some of the very best tapas of the entire trip - excellent food!  We had a risotto dish, some patatas in a delicious sauce, and something called Migas that tasted like okra.  It was a great meal!

After dinner, we took a final stroll through the Centro neighborhood.  It was after dark and there were still TONS of people out and about.  You know I love a lively city like that.

This was our last day in Madrid, we were on a train early the next morning.  I loved Madrid and it's a place I would go back to (although...I'd almost always rather go explore somewhere new).    In summary, here is what I loved :

-- the winding, narrow streets that made the city so unique and cute
-- the buildings...apartments in pretty colors with flowers in their window boxes
-- great food experiences
-- fun times at the bullfight and the undercover cookie operation at the convent
-- RETIRO PARK!  Love, love!!
--  Wandering the streets of Chueca & Salmanca neighborhoods
-- The streets that were pedestrian only for shoppers
-- Their metro system : cheap, fast, easy, clean
-- Loved the plazas/squares lined with restaurants with lots of outdoor seating and tons of people
--  While in Madrid, we stayed at Suites Vienna.  It was nice and very close to the metro systems, making it easy to get all over the city

Happy Birthday Love

I just ran across this video on my computer and it made my heart swell!  Love, love these ladies from my Bible study last spring.  Oh, I miss them.  I wasn't there on this night and neither was one of my very favorites, Kelly, whose birthday they'd planned to celebrate.  Our group loved planning special things to celebrate each other's birthdays or other occasions in life.  And don't miss the harmony in this group!  There's some professional and semi-professionals, and just some good singers!

And while we're at it, I decided to track down another that we just made in December in Texas!  A bunch of my NYC ladies came to Galveston for a wedding weekend and I drove down to spend it with them and attend Katie's wedding.  While we were there, we recorded a birthday video for our lovely Amanda who is now living in England.

Final Rangers Game

Not long before I found out I was moving, I made it to one last Rangers game and took some girlfriends along.  It was a playoff game and we got seats in one of the suites - nice way to put an end to my awesome free perks at MSG!  It was a fun night with Megan, Hillary, and Kelly...some of my NYC faves!

L'ecole!

I've GOT to press on and get this blog wrapped up.  Not only do I want to get my pictures and thoughts documented from my last year+ in NYC, I have to get the pictures off my camera because both my memory cards are at capacity!!  Pressing on!

My last month in NYC was filled with many adventures, amazing food, and good friends.  Some of the girls from my Community Group and I went to L'ecole for dinner one night.  Our fearless leaders, Kelly & Daniel, left NYC for Austin just a few weeks before my move.  At their going away party, they shared with us that L'ecole was one of their favorite places in NYC.  We marked it down as a place to go (my list of places to go in NYC was always getting longer, never shorter!).  At the time, we did not know this was where we would go to share a last meal before MY move.

It was AMAZING.  L'ecole is the restaurant run by the students of the French Culinary School in SoHo.  It is a fixed-price 4-course meal.  Actually, Kelly & Daniel let us in on the tip that if you go after 8:30, it's 4-course, but before 8:30 it's 3-course for the SAME price....so, of course we waited until 8:30!  But, it ended up being much more than a 4-course meal (which K&D also warned us of).  They brought us several things to try that we hadn't ordered.  And then at the end of the meal, they sent us all home with a bag of cookies and whole baguette!  It was crazy!  And so much fun.

Besides the delicious food and excellent service, the company was wonderful.  Love these girls to death!

I had duck for my entree!  Yum!

And Baked Alaska for dessert.  I can't remember if it was mine -

they ended up bringing us a lot of desserts!

Ema was one of the first people I met at Apostles.  She's

also a real-life chef!  She's cooked for some great restaurants

in NYC, but now she's working for a company where she's

basically taping live demos in Spanish - kind of like Hispanic

Food Network shows!  They're awesome to see, but I can't

understand them, even with 6 years of Spanish classes under

my belt :)  She was as impressed with the meal at L'ecole

as the rest of us, so I'd say that's a good sign!

Carolyn, Leticia, and Claire!

Carolyn just started coming around in December, and although she

 was a young'n of about 23, I loved her!!  So wise and mature

and fun!  Leticia became a dear friend of mine and even a

work-out partner.  And Claire, our hostess extraordinaire.  We

had many fabulous parties in her home.

Ema & Katie.  Katie and I spent months reading books

together and became sweet friends.  Love her.

Sweet Katie and I so happy with our baguettes!

Such a fun night!

Leaving New York City

So, my life in New York City has come to an end.  I have no regrets from my time there.  I did everything I wanted to and so much more.  I could have never planned all that I got to do and see and eat.  Not to mention, the church I was a part of, the people I met, and the job I got to have for most of that time.  I truly believe that God greatly blessed my time there.  I couldn’t have orchestrated it so perfectly myself.  I still love that city deeply and it was definitely hard to make the decision to leave now.  But, I’m happy about what Dallas holds for me and came to a place of peace about leaving New York.  New York is not going anywhere - I will visit often and, who knows - maybe I’ll move back some day (this IS my 3rd time to live in Dallas, so it’s clearly possible!)

This blog will probably come to an end soon.  It has served as my scrapbook during my NYC years.  I really want to finish posting the pictures and details from this past year (including finishing the Spain trip....ahhhh, I’m a year behind!!).  And the past month has been a BLAST, so I definitely have to share with you all that went down during my NYC last hurrah!  So, there will be more posts to come for a bit.  I hope that this time of transition affords the time to finish this blog up, as I currently have no standing obligations or commitments in Dallas (well....except for that little Bachelorette party on Monday nights - same party I was attending weekly over 6 years ago is still happening with the same girlfriends.  I am so glad!).

As I leave New York City (literally...I’m on the plane!, but will post this later.), I’ve been thinking about how much I learned during my time there and how I want to make sure I take those nuggets back to Dallas with me.  Here is what I’m inspired to do in Dallas : 

1)  Make an effort to get to know my neighbors.  I got to know my neighbor, Christine, fairly well.  She lived on the 5th floor of my building.  I probably wouldn’t have gotten to know her so well if she didn’t also work with my friend from church, Megan.  But, that connection set us up for friendship.  We ran into each other in the neighborhood often (and even the Lower East Side recently one night!).  She came over to my apartment for small parties a couple of times and also had me up to hers.  She even had me up for cosmos and a to-die-for dip on my last evening in the City before I had to head to dinner with other friends.  She was also the person I could complain to when our one set of rude neighbors did things like leave a trash bag full of stinky, dirty diapers in the hallway.  My friendship with Christine made me realized that it’s worth it to know your neighbors - reach out to your neighbors and get to know them!

2)  Tell my co-workers I appreciate them and thank them for their hard work.  This does not happen in the workplace often enough and whether I am feeling valued for my hard work or not, I want to make sure those around me know that I do value them.

3)  Get out and explore - even if it’s by myself!  I LOVE to explore new things - places, restaurants, events.  It may be a bit harder to find interesting things in the Dallas area, but I’m going to make it happen!  And I actually love exploring by myself almost as much as I do with other people, so I can’t let that be an excuse.

4)  Surround myself with friends who love Jesus and who make it a priority to strengthen their relationship with Him through prayer and time in the Word.  I spent the past year amongst some Godly women who truly love Jesus.  These were women who have known Jesus their whole life and women who’ve only known Him a year or two or three.    They were each inspiring to me and my own personal relationship with God.  There was a long period in NYC where I didn’t have these kinds of friends in my life and I saw myself stumbling in my own personal walk.  Seeing others being transformed and filled with joy through their relationship with Jesus is contagious!  I need that in my life.

5)  Make some friends who do not know Jesus at all.  It is very easy in Dallas to fall into the Christian bubble.  There are so many great churches in Dallas and when I lived there before it seemed as if everyone I knew was not only a Christian, but very involved in their church and striving to gain a greater knowledge and understanding of Jesus.  Don’t get me wrong - this is a good thing!  But, I also know that there are many, many people in Dallas who do not know Jesus.  In NYC, I was able to get to know some people like this through my Book Club and the Baylor Alumni club, and my neighborhood.  I want to make sure I have friends who do not know Jesus in my new life in Dallas - it may take more effort, but I’m willing to try to find them!  And then I will pray that I would love them well and that Jesus would be glorified to me through me.

6)  Don’t become a hoarder.  I lived in very tight quarters in NYC and it was totally fine - I even liked it!  I had much more than I needed and way less than I would have had if I had more closet space and rooms.  AND I still managed to take 4 huge bags to Goodwill as I was clearing out my apartment in those last days.  I’ll most definitely be living in a larger space in Dallas (they don’t even make studios here...do they?), but I don’t want that to be an excuse to have more “things”.  

I’m sure there are many, many more things I have learned that I need to hold on to, but these are the ones that are at the forefront of my mind and where I will start!

SJ's Wedding!

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day Weekend!  I did so many fun things this weekend!!  And it all ended on Monday night when my friend and Bible-study leader extraordinaire, Sarah Jane, got married!  She asked me to be one of the greeters and help with a few other things - it was so much fun!!  I loved, loved, loved the venue.  The ceremony was on a rooftop with amazing views of the city.  SJ is a Broadway star, so there were a lot of B'way celebs at the wedding.  Kerry Washington was there (she's done B'way and a lot of TV/Film) and at dinner I sat across the table from a guy who I recognized from seeing Book of Mormon a few weeks ago.  Partway through the reception, SJ changed out of her wedding gown and into her party dress.  Then she and Justin had their first dance, which turned into a FLASH MOB!  So much fun.  My friend, Katie, is the 2nd girl to get pulled into the dance along w/ her boyfriend....Katie was Glinda in Wicked for years.  In fact, there were at least 3 former Glinda's in attendance (including one from CoMo!!).   And almost all the dancers are people from my church.  Anyway, I have a lot more pictures to post from the wedding, but that may not happen until I get to Texas.  So, for now, enjoy the Flash Mob video!!  (Oh, and you should note that Sarah Jane is a HUGE fan of Hanson, hence the song choice.  Yes, Hanson is still around and actually has quite the following, I've learned.  SJ also is known for her love of bacon.  For dessert I had a vanilla cupcake w/ chocolate frosting topped with bacon :) )

If you click on the title it will take you to the actual video on YouTube where the quality is better!

Whole30!

I just finished my first Whole30!  Whole30 is a very restrictive 3-day eating plan derived from Paleo eating.  It's known as a nutritional reset- a way to diminish your cravings and change your mindset about food.  I did it for the entire month of April and it was amazing!  Here's the jist of the plan : 

- No Dairy

- No sugar

- No alcohol

- No grains

- No legumes

So, what COULD I eat?

- LOTS of vegetables

- Meat (I tried to keep it lean)

- Fruit, but don't go crazy

- Nuts-I tried to limit (and not peanuts, because those are a legume!)

During the 30 days, I learned a lot about how dieting works best for me :

- I'm not good at "diets" and actually hate the word.  For some reason this was easy for me.  I think because it was SO simple and straightforward.  I knew what I could have and everything else was out, so no point even thinking about it.

- Accountability is key.  I had 2 friends doing it alongside me...one who had done her first 30 in March and her experience was encouraging and valuable.

- Prayer!  I had at LEAST 20 people praying for me.  I think it's no coincidence that the one time I stuck to an eating plan was when I asked people to pray.

- Don't weigh yourself to often.  I've learned in the past that this can be discouraging and cause me to give up.  I decided to not weigh for the entire 30 days.

I changed and my habits did too : 

- My pants were all a bit too tight, now they're a bit loose!

- My mind used to look like Candy Land.  Seriously, dreaming about cookies and candy all day long.  I rarely find myself thinking about food now and my cravings are nothing like they used to be.

- I hurt my calf muscle almost a year ago and it has caused me issues and transferred to pain in my foot that has been around for many, many months.  Now?  Completely pain-free!

- I'm cooking at home a LOT more.  It's almost impossible to eat out or with other people on this diet, so making the time to cook at home and planning ahead had to happen.

These were all goals that I had hoped to accomplish.  I wanted to do something that was going to take my cravings away and change some of my habits and I believe the Whole30 has set me on the path towards those goals.  But, the icing on the cake?  I lost ELEVEN pounds!  I was hopeful I would lose at least 6, so I was very excited about 11.  

My plan going forward is to continue to eat like this for the most part - I want to make exceptions when I'm with friends/family.  Today I cheated twice, but most days that won't happen.  We had an office lunch today and there were sandwiches - I wouldn't have eaten one in April, but I did today.  It was just 1/2 and on thin bread and I ate some salad and fruit with it - not bad!  For dinner, I met friends and had chili with a few small pieces of bread - more grains and some legumes!  Back on track tomorrow for at least a couple of days!  I can see myself doing the Whole30 for 30-days straight again in the near future.  I am ready to make some significant changes to my body and how I feel!