Day One in Barcelona

Q2 and I arrived at Barcelona’s airport around 8:30 a.m. after a luckily uneventful 8 hour plain ride from NYC. First stop was the baggage claim (although both of us only had a carry-on size bag, we thought it would be easier to check our bags rather than deal with the increased security and restrictions regarding liquids). Next stop was the ATM machine to withdraw money for the apartment that we are renting for the week.

We took an aerobus to Placa Espanya and from there got on the metro to the Arc de Triomf. The weather was cool and the surroundings simply beautiful, so we took our time walking to the apartment. It was around 9:45 and the streets were mostly deserted. With time to kill, we decided to stop in a little café for dos café solo and a croissant.

We were on time to meet Anna, the woman who Q2 has been dealing with to rent the apartment. She showed us the apartment and we chatted for awhile. Originally Dutch, she moved to Barcelona 6 years ago and is fluent in English, Dutch, and conversational in Spanish. Anna is representative of the wave of immigration from Europe and other parts of Spain into Barcelona. She is a lovely woman and explained how Barcelona is such an attractive place to live in Europe.

Based on the little I’ve seen, I agree entirely.
























The afternoon was low-key. Q2 and I both napped for a couple hours while the cleaning woman finished tidying up the apartment. Then we both showered up and went to grab lunch at a nearby café. We shared two emapandas (1 spinach, 1 manchego cheese with mushrooms), a spinach crepe, red wine, and flan dulce con leche. The entire feast came out to 20 euros and the food was quite good. The dessert was exquisite- the most creamy, flavorful, and rich flan I’ve ever eaten!!

After lunch, we did some window-shopping around the Born (Barcelona’s SoHo). A couple hours later we were both hit a wall and decided to stop at a wine shop and grocery store to pick up food to make dinner. The wonderful advantage of renting an apartment is having access to a fully stocked kitchen and really being able to relax and feel at home in a foreign city. This really is the best way to travel!

Luck has been on our side as we made it back to the apartment just as the rain storm hit. . now just need to rest up in case we decide to go bar hopping later in the evening. 

mystery solved!

in the past 10 months of living in my apartment, i have never seen anyone enter or leave the apartment next door. for awhile i assumed that the neighbor is just a hermit. but lately, it's started to nag at me.

occasionally, i hear noises but never anyone coming up or down the stairs. there is a picture of the ramones next to the door.

knowing that i'm a scaredy cat, my friends like to tease me that there is a ghost living next door. . .sometimes we'd debate about whether or not anyone lives there at all. . but that wouldn't make sense since these apartments are nice, rent is not outrageous in terms of market average, and demand for apartments in williamsburg is high.

so instead, i've been imagining (or trying not to imagine) that there is a ghost or dead body residing in the apartment next to mine. all my friends told me i should just call the landlord and ask him what the deal was. . but part of me didn't want to know. . if he told me no one lived there then i would be freaked out b/c i have heard sounds coming from that apartment. for example, last night i heard the phone ringing next door, but no one picked it up. . no answering machine either. . .

today, i ran into my landlord on the way to the gym. i asked him if the apartment was empty. he said that there was a man that lived there. . . it's probably just the little, old polish man i see once and awhile leaving the building.

fighting the urge

y'know when you are a couple days away from vacation it's just impossible to movitave yourself. . i'm already in vacation mode. . . thinking of what i need to pack, etc.

greek pride

went to roosevelt island with jpan on sunday to go to her future mother-in-law's (FMIL) house for lunch. while we were waiting for the bus to come, an older greek gentleman (OGG) came up to us and asked if we were american.

V: yep

OGG: where were you born?

V: virginia.

OGG: ahh! that's where all the virgins are. it's a beautiful state, i've been there before.

V: (taking a breath, remembering to be patient, and with a fake smile) the state was named after the virgin queen elizabeth.

OGG: yes. that's where all the virgins are. . and what about you (leaning towards FMIL)?

FMIL: well it's a long story. my parents are chinese but i was born in panama.

OGG: so you are chinese.

FMIL: yes, but also panamanian by birth.

the rest of the conversation made me feel like i was in a scene from my big fat greek wedding.

OGG: i'm from greece. do you know any greek words?

FMIL: (pauses thoughtfully). . n-no. . i don't.

OGG: democracy.

FMIL: (nodding respectfully) ahh. . so that's a greek word.

OGG: philosophy. another greek word. so many words have foundation in greek.

then OGG continues to rattle off some more words and launches into a rant about war and how the greek shot down german parachuters but that greeks don't get any respect.

OGG: the olympics originated from the greeks. do you know how long ago that started? 776 BC!!! before christ!

FMIL: (playfully) see, that's why i don't know. that's before i was born.

jpan and i exchanged glances and noted that our bus had arrived. since it comes on the half hour, we started to *politely* pry ourselves from the conversation and make our way to the bus. FMIL noted that the bus ride was two dollars. i pulled out my wallet and started to pull out 2 singles.

V: (to the bus driver) so it's $2?

BD: (glancing up at me) for you? it's free. get on.

V: (surprised) thanks!

following my lead, jpan and FMIL follow me to the back of the bus without paying the fare. and that my friends, is good karma. . .

only in new york

after work on tuesday, the boy and i headed to union square to hang out for a bit before i went to the gym. we were walking from the 6 train to the exit when i heard a voice yelling "V, V".

i spun around trying to see who was calling my name. to my surprise, i saw my best friend from middle/high school, ddt.

V: DDT!!! i can't believe it's you!

DDT: i recognized you immediately. i was like, that's V!

V: that's so amazing! i was just talking to cRich about you about how we were both wondering where you were.

DDT: i live right around union square. i'm working on my MBA and working at l'oreal. do you live and work here now?

V: yep, i work in the city and live in brooklyn.

DDT: let's definately catch up!

V: definately.

we exchanged numbers. . . i have managed to run into so many old friends in ny. it's amazing how small the world is. can't wait to sit down and talk to DDT and catch up on the past 9 years of our lives!

bye bye fridays

lots of changes with work. debs is leaving the company and DJ is coming on full time... that means that my role will be expanding and i'll be facing increased responsibilities. . .which entails increased hours and saying good-bye to my fridays off. it's too bad, i had a great thing going with my 3 days off a week. . but in retrospect, i wasn't being very efficient with my extra day off. just took longer to go to the gym, run errands, relax. . not going to work on side-gigs like it was meant to.

the positives is that i'm getting more experience, there's the potential for more event planning gigs at and through my current company, and with increased duties there should be increased compensation. all good stuff.

i'll just have to be better at managing my time. . . the problem i always have is overcommitting (e.g. not being able to say no) and being too ambitious with the time i do have. . between work, the boy, friends, family, side gigs, and exercising i barely manage to catch my breath. . .of course, the first thing to go is sleep.. . thank heavens for redline.

plexing

had planned to go to central park to have coffee, read teh paper, and go row-boating with the boy. . .but with the temperature heating up to 85 degrees by 10 AM we opted to grab brunch then seek AC solace at the movie theatres.



















after brunch, we hurried to the movie theatre and made it in time to catch the matinee of "you, me, and dupree". once we got to the theatre, we saw that "scanner darkly" was playing in the adjacent theatre. . since we had been talking about seeing it for sometime, we both looked at eachother and decided to watch that first. the plan was to see "you, me, and dupree", "devil wears prada" and "little miss sunshine". instead, we made it to "scanner darkly" and "you, me, and dupree".

afterwards, we went to tops to pick up some groceries and i cooked us dinner at my place. it's been a wonderful weekend- doing whatever suited our fancy and having little adventures on the way. . the type A/planner in me has been enjoying the change of pace. 

day trip to long island city

saturday morning, the boy and i decided to check out ps1 in long island city. ps1, formerly a public school, is a contemporary art gallery that has parties with deejays and live bands on saturday afternoons in the summer. we arrived around 4:15 pm and checked out the exhibits first. as with my previous experiences with modern art, i find some of it amazing, some of it absurd, and some of it to be incomprehensible or unremarkable. nonetheless, i love the concept of ps1 and enjoyed myself immensely.

a live band started to play around 5, so we grabbed a couple seats on the stairs to listen to the band and people watch. the scene was incredible. all types of people representing all the boroughs- the preppy, frat boy types, the 80s punkish hipsters, the buff and beautiful gay men in tight shirts, and so on. it was even more fun watching the way people dance.

























the crowds fleshed out by 6:30 and the crowds and heat were starting to wear me out, so we headed to the "cooling room" which just turned out to be a room with blocks of ice. . not very cool unless you sat on it, which some ppl opted to do.

around 7 i had reached my limits so the boy and i headed over to long island city water taxi beach. . it's a totally random, surreal place. a beach in the middle of nowhere with people playing volleyball, loud reggaeton, and grills and bars set up. it's just a stone's throw away from manhatta with an unparalleled view of the manhattan skyline. . it was definately neat to see and check out. we watchd the sun set then called it a night.

subway sighting

i'm a sucker for funny t-shirts.

getting off the L at union square, i saw a guy with a t-shirt on that read "don't piss me off, i'm running out of spaces to hide the bodies". . juxtaposed against his gold bling bling catholic cross necklace, i had to snicker to myself.

local grocer

went to the local grocer sunday night after getting a drink with k-flo to pick up some milk and cereal and food to bring to work.

i have been going there a lot b/c it's open 24 hours and they have great post-work out snacks. it's a korean run place and i recognize most of the workers there. . .sunday night there was a different guy working the register.

the conversation went like this:

Old Korean Guy (OKJ): (after looking at me for a few seconds too long) you japanese?

V: nope

OKJ: what are you?

V: vietnamese

OKJ: (appreciatively) ahh!

V: (glancing around awkwardly)

OKJ: (proceeds to ring up my items. He pauses and motions to a chicken wrap.) no charge

V: onyahasayo. it's the only word i know in korean.

OKJ: how do you know korean?

V: i used to have a korean boyfriend. ok, well have a good night.

so, i am having a moral dilemma. . why was OKJ being nice to me. . after going to that grocer for 8 months, i have never received preferential treatment. . . did i remind him of his daughter/granddaugther? more likely, it is because i am a cute asian girl? was i wrong to accept something for free?

i've become increasingly aware of how it is possible for women to use their looks to their advantage. smile at a boy and he'll help you carry something, open a door, etc. i never want to be that type of woman, at the same time, i appreciate gallantry.

fun filled weekend

beatiful and thorougly satisfying but tiring weekend. . am quite happy to have the day off to recuperate. . although i'll be spending the majority of the weekend running around!

friday morning i went to go pick up my dear friend cassanova from penn station. the rest of the day was a blur as the day was devoted to looking at wedding reception sites in new york for my first official gig.

an aside- my primary interest is in wedding planning however that is not my day job (yet!). my company was involved in planning a big event in LA, a competition/reality show of sorts and i did the majority of the planning for. . although it is not a wedding- the principles of event planning are the same and i'm happy to gain any type of experience i can.

poor cassanova, i dragged her around all day from one venue to the next! first stop was the asia society to meet up with jpan and the face to check out the facilities. a nice, modern space but as with a lot of venues not solely catered to parties/weddings, there would be a lot of additional work required. and as the wedding date is looming two months ahead, it was quickly nixed.

next spot was the brooklyn botanical gardens. exquisite grounds and natural beautiful. the palm house is lovely and their event coordinator was friendly, up front, accomodating, and was willing to work within the budget. a hit all around!

tavern on the green and glen terrace were on the list for the afternoon, but jpan was pretty set on the botanical gardens. so instead, we all went to check out the marriott that the bride & groom to be had checked out earlier in the morning. it was a nice hotel, well maintained and elegant. but in my mind and the rest of the group's, there was no comparison. the brooklyn botanical garden had character and personality and was the clear winner.

we had been dodging in and out of rain all day and were beat from running around. so cassanova, Q2, and i ordered some appetizers from the hotel restaurant and chilled out before heading back to willie-B. we cabbed back home and rested up for a bit before getting gussied up for our fancy dinner at the modern at MOMA.

dinner was decadent- the service flawless- the setting was gorgeous- and the company was amazing. after what seemed like endless courses of delicious food beautifully presented, cassanova and i succumbed to a serious food coma and decided to call it a night. Q2 met up with her friends for some drinks and bar hopping.

saturday was perfectly relaxed. i had a solid 8 hours of sleep, woke up and went to the gym, then returned home and started some light cleaning. cassanova and i lounged around for a couple hours, watched russell peters on my laptop, then headed out. in the end, we decided to stay in williamsburg and do some shopping in the hood. i got some nice pieces for work and cassanova got some flower jewelry (petals dipped in resin then worked into necklaces, etc). we stopped by the grocery store and went back to my place to make dinner. we cooked, chatted, & drank wine- an immensely enjoyable evening! after dinner, we got some icecream and walked around the park for a bit before heading back home and watching a DVD and falling asleep.

cassanova left fairly early sunday morning and i spent the rest of the day playing catch up with friends. had brunch had five points with R, shopping with VK, then dinner/drinks with k-flo. . .

still have a lot of catching up to do this week- dinner with jb tonight, ladies night tomorrow, damien rice concert with the boy wed, movies with mikey and R thur. . .where does the time go?

first big event

as some of you may or may not know, i was in LA for a week to work on an event that my company has been planning for the past few months. . . bigB put me in charge a she knows that i want to get into event planning. . this meant being the point person for coordinating all the logistics and details. it was a major undertaking, circumstances were not ideal (changes in personnel, difficulty with financing, etc), and this was my first time planning anything on such a large scale.

luckily, i was so busy trying to plan the event and stay on top of my normal responsibilities that i didn't have time to freak out, only to plow full steam ahead.

sunday through wednesday, i worked on finalizing last minute details, overseeing the budget, handling RSVPs, working with vendors to make sure we were ready to go by friday.

wednesday, the rest of the team arrived in LA. . .or i should say they trickled in. bigB had a delayed flight and arrived wednesday morning. DJ, who has been my right-hand, arrived in the evening and i picked her up at LAX. debs and i, were supposed to arrive at the same time as DJ but their flight was delayed due to storms passing through NY. DJ and i met bigB at the sky bar for snacks and a drink. we were all exhausted though, so none of us made it to a second round of drinks, instead we headed out to city of industry. debs and I ended up arriving at 6AM the next morning.

thursday, DJ and i worked on getting the programs finalized and printed, purchasing food for the crew and VIPs, setting up the venue, etc. several set backs occurred over the following days: (1) after we already paid for the program printing, we were informed that one of the sponsor logos was incorrect and therefore we had to reprint everything, the programs, fix the banner, etc, (2) after notifying all the competitors that they had to arrive at 6-7 AM rather than the previously scheduled 8AM check in, we were told that the studio would not open its doors before 8AM!, (3) the judges changed the rules midway through, (4) the studio didn't have any water fountains, etc. .

yet despite the madness, we managed to pull it off. the competitors were amazing- there was a earnest sense of comraderie, mutual respect, and some great talent! the venue looked great and all the decorations we ordered arrived on time! we had a full house in terms of audience members. we kept everyone well fed. the vibe was upbeat and we kept things running at a fairly smoothly. the turnout for the cocktail reception was excellent and there were no major catasrophes.

i remember standing on the backstage, monitoring the audience, and seeing it all come together and feeling a huge sense of satisfaction. . . and being amazed at what our team was able to put together with such limited resources and time. . altogether, the experience reconfirmed my aspirations and excited me about the future.

barcelona here i come

Q2 and i have been dreaming about taking a trip together for awhile now- first it was miami, then vietnam, then peru/argentina. due to an unusal unfolding of circumstances, it looks like we'll be going to barcelona together in august!

i'm so excited. . .i've never travelled with a girlfriend before and we're both foodies, love to dance, shop, and appreciate culture so i think it'll be a blast!

the great thing is that i was able to apply skymiles so the only thing i had to pay for was the taxes & fees. . .now i just need to start researching barcelona!

blow dry mishap

my godsend of a roommie went out and bought an AC window unit while i was out of town. the difference has been astounding- the kitchen and living room are downright cool and the timing is perfect with this week's heat wave. the boy is going with me to pc richards after work and will install it for me. . .can't wait! too many restless and sweaty nights (not that kind!).

this morning i got up early, went to the gym, bought some juice for my out of town visitors, then went home to have breakfast and get ready for work. i was in the middle of blowdrying my hair, when suddenly, there was silence.

the fuse had blown, the blowdryer and AC stopped working.

damnit.

put my hair in a bun, grabbed my things, and headed out the door to go to work. on the way to the cleaners, i called the landlord and told him about the electric fuse and he said he'd be over in 10. called my roommate and told her he would be coming.

can't wait til this heat wave passes over!

the storm

event starts in two days.

million things to finalize.

the team flies in today.

1000 things on my plate.

sleep deprived.

need caffeine.

note to readers

some of friends have mentioned that they have to be a member of blogger to comment. i changed the settings so that anyone can post.

so let the postings begin!

conspiracy theory

in the middle of playing "hips don't lie" by shakira during my run yesterday, my ipod started giving me a sad face.

i tried resetting it but that didn't work. i tried updating it but that didn't work.

sigh, that means i won't be able to use my ipod until i have time to go to the apple store sometime next week. Q2 thinks that s-genius gave me a defective ipod so he can see me again.

i'm just frustrated that a machine i paid a lot of mulah for can give me so much trouble. . . my dreams of upgrading to a nano are being called into question.

first gig

so i landed my first official wedding consulting gig. sure i helped with my bro's wedding & helped out here and there for theng, the real mckoy, and my brother, but this is my first paid gig!

just wanted to share the good news.

sometimes you just have to laugh at life

practically everything that could possibly go wrong yesterday, did.

friday night i worked until 1:30 AM trying to finish up odds and ends before my flight saturday morning. luckily the boy stayed around to keep me company. which was a beautiful thing, otherwise i would have been a bit creeped out staying in the office all alone and responsible for locking up. i grabbed a cab and got home and started to pack.

my flight was scheduled for 7AM so i had arranged a car to come pick me up at 5:30AM. after packing and showering it was 3:30 AM. . and although i realized there was a risk of oversleeping, i decided to nap for an hour. i had major tired headaches after a week of late nights at the office. needless to say, i did oversleep and missed my flight.

i woke up with a start at 8:15AM, rushed to get my cell, and called the car service to come pick me up ASAP. i called the airline and tried to get the next flight out. unfortunately, i wouldn't be able to make the 8:45 so i decided to take the noon flight. .i had two options: (1) the airline would charge me $400 for the flight change if i wanted to make it now, or (2) i could pay $25 but had to wait until 9:15AM and risk not having a seat to make the change. i opted for the latter. washed my face, threw my things into my suitcase, and went downstairs to wait for the car.

the car was on time, i got to JFK in half an hour. the line to change tickets was ridiculous so while i waited in line i called the airline's customer service and was able to make the change fairly quickly. checked in at the e-ticket counter and went through security. got to my gate and thought everything would be fine. the flight would leave around noon and i would have enough time to meet up with my friend, get dressed at her place, and head out to the wedding. just as a precaution, i brought my dress, shoes, flat iron, and makeup onto the airplane i could get ready on the flight.

we boarded on time and i was already half asleep when i heard the flight attendant annouce that they couldn't find the pilot!!!! turns out the airline didn't notify the flight crew that they had an AM flight. a backup crew came and we didn't re-board until 3PM. all i wanted to do was get on the plane and sleep but i had to take care of logistics so i called e, eulalie, and maekre. told eulalie to go ahead to the wedding and i'd meet her there. luckily maekre agreed to pick me up and drop me off at the wedding.

we left around 4pm and by then i had resigned myself to missing the wedding ceremony. an hour before landing i went to the bathroom to change into my dress and heels only to find that my dress was wet and stained!!!! luckily i had packed a backup dress but that was in my suitcase.

after landing i got my luggage (which thankfully was not lost) and maekre picked me up. the car ride was nice and gave us a chance to catch up with one another. got to the hotel and headed for the bathroom to get ready. so more bad luck. . the zipper had broke on my backup dress!! i had three women trying to help me zip it up and ended up pinning it with safety pins. (darn cheap chinese dress)

i left my suitcase with the bellman and went to the reception. . .managed to catch the last couple courses of the chinese banquet, have some drinks, and finally relax. eulalie and i had a wonderful time and i've never seen a happier bride and groom which gave me warm fuzzy feelings! all the frustration and stress of the day subsided and it was all okay.

when just nothing goes right

the day started off beautifully. . .until i got to work.

reasons why yesterday was just a bad bad day!

1. condescending email from a client that seemed to question my competency

2. i was very excited about ordering from a new restaurant called tossed that has whole-wheat crepes, low carb high protein per my new diet. placed my order around 3pm. and waited and waited and waited for it to arrive. . .it was 4pm and i called to check on the order status. apparently it hadn't gone out for delivery yet. . .so i cancelled the order and still had no food! had to run down to guy and gulliard for a wrap. have i mentioned i become ms. cranky pants when i'm hungry?

3. there is a problem with the 30 rooms that i had gotten blocked for my company's event in a couple weeks. people have been trying to reserve rooms but have been running into problems with the hotel. now it seems like the woman that helped me block the rooms might not have set them aside. . which means i have to get all nasty and bitchy to hotel management until i get my way. . and come up with a backup plan.

4. annoying conference call with client from #1

5. left work at 7:30 hoping to get home by 8 so i could eat a quick dinner and have time to digest before working out. . had to wait for 30 minutes before the 6 came. . . so i got home around 8:30, again hungry, tired, and stressed out.

working out helped relieve some of my tension, a good post workout snack, and reading US helped me zone out to bed by midnight.