Allie in the South of Spain

Welcome to my third 30 before 30 list update. I am still slowly but surely crossing things off as I accomplish them and think I am on track to complete the majority before my 30th birthday (which is still a few years away yet). I am also excited because Jose and I have plans to be able to tackle a few more before we head back to Michigan this summer, such as number 7 (we would like to walk part of the Camino de Santiago in July) or number 23 (my sister and possibly my parents might visit us this spring). But onto the things I have been able to complete since my last update: 1. Go on another cruise. 2. Learn to cook Indian food. I have been playing around with recipes and finally found a super simple way to make chicken tikka masala (which I wrote about here ). It is my favorite Indian food and I am happy to say that I have also discovered an Indian restaurant here in Seville that I am excited to try out! Now we don't have to head to Portugal for our fix. The finished product...

My dog is needy. Like if I am sitting down in my apartment he needs to be on my lap needy. Like if I am standing doing something around the apartment he tries to jump into my arms to be carried around needy. Lately though I find that if I am distracted with something when I am home in the mornings before work, when I realize it, he has disappeared. This is not like him but now I am on to his game. When I am not paying attention he jumps into the bed where he knows he shouldn't be. I will find him cuddled under the blankets. I have started to take photos as evidence. As you can see from this last picture, he sometimes has the decency to try to look surprised that he has been caught even though he knows he isn't supposed to be there. Cooper usually sleeps in his crate with his blankie that he is loves. He is really comfortable and often will go in by himself at night without any prodding on our part. Would he prefer to sleep in the bed? Certainly as is evidenced ...

Last weekend I mentioned that Jose and I were headed to the state-mandated sales to try to find some work clothes that desperately needed replacing. We live pretty close to an outlet mall so we figured we would be able to take advantage of some great prices. Unfortunately this was not the case. We were quite disappointed in both the selection of clothing being offered as well as the discounts. Needless to say, we didn't end up leaving with much (I bought a pair of pants and a skirt for a whopping total of 12 euro). It was a bust. View of the outdoor market Since Jose still needed some new work wear we decided to try our luck at one of Seville's big outdoor markets that are set up on the weekends. I wrote about one trip we took there to do some Christmas shopping  here . These markets are not for the faint of heart. They are loud, crowded, sometimes smelly (mostly thanks to people smoking). This particular market is located on a big open parking lot. Vendors arrive early ...

I don't normally share recipes here on my blog but I recently learned to make my favorite Indian food (and it was super simple!). Admittedly it is a bit different from a traditional recipe but I used what I had and could find easily. First I made my spice mix, using about a teaspoon of each: For those of you who don't read Spanish those spices are: cinnamon, ground cumin, curry spice, ground ginger, cloves and paprika. These were easy to find in my local grocery store. Other spices that might be used in tikka masala (coriander for example) I wasn't able to locate. Side note: I used whole cloves because I already had them which means you have to be careful while eating and pick them out. The resulting mixture that I set aside: Next I cooked up my chicken. I used 2 big boneless, skinless chicken breasts. To this I added a few chopped garlic cloves and half a large onion. The first time I made this recipe I also used a few chopped tomatoes. (Today I didn...

Today Jose and I visited the Gran Hipodromo de Andalucia, a horse racetrack that we can actually see from our apartment's balcony. Each Sunday during January and February they offer free races and we have been talking about going for a while (we could basically walk there). Today we finally did and it was worth the visit. Though we can see the stands from our home, I didn't realize how large the actual track was. It's huge! The weather cooperated and we bought a few beers while waiting for the races to begin. They have one every half hour or so. Though we didn't partake in any betting (because we are pretty clueless) it seemed as if a lot of people did. There were lots of families there, enjoying a Sunday outside in the sun with (free) entertainment. When the race actually began, the majority of the people moved to the barrier to watch the horses as they galloped past. It was pretty exciting to watch them run by, but I had a hard time getting a good photo as you ca...

The latest pile ready for donation The 2-4-1 principle is an easy idea that helps to simplify things in your home. The plan is that for every new item you bring in, you should get rid of 2 (hence the 2-4-1). We don't follow this principle too strictly in terms of regular items, we aren't pack rats and don't have an apartment overflowing with stuff. Instead, I use this practice with our clothes, when something new comes in it is more than likely that 2 will go out. We always have a basket with clothes/household stuff to be donated. When it gets full, it is taken to our local drug abuse rehab center. I first wrote about the 2-4-1 principle  here  and have been trying to apply it (especially) to Jose and my clothing purchases since. We donate quite a lot of clothes every season but honestly haven't been buying much to replace them. In fact, besides some work-out gear and new jammies that were gifted to me for Christmas,  I haven't bought/received any new clothes...

While sometimes it seems like all we hear in Spain is bad news every day: economic crisis, unemployment, corruption, daily protests, there are in fact good things happening as well. It often seems easier to focus on the doom and gloom (which is probably an easier sell for the media outlets) but it is nice every once in a while to hear something positive. Here are a few things which are going right here in Spain: -In 2013 Spain reached an all time record for organ transplants and leads the world with 4,279 operations last year. According to the National Transplant Organization, Spanish citizens who are in need of an organ are the most likely to get one in the whole world. The number of bone marrow donors has also doubled in the past year. This data speaks well not only of the health system here but also of Spanish people in general, that they choose to become organ donors and give the gift of life to other people. It's pretty amazing! ( article in Spanish) . -Spanish people a...

Cooper is obviously cold Right now back home everyone is suffering through a particularly harsh winter in terms of temperatures and snow accumulation. Here in the south of Spain we have temps in the 60´s and the sun is shining almost every day. To be honest, there is not much that I miss about Michigan winters (since I am not a winter sports person) but since I wrote a post about 7 great things to miss about fall (read it here ) I figured I should do one about winter as well because honestly here it doesn´t exist. 1. Snow days Who as a child (or as an adult) doesn´t love to be able to fall back into bed because school is canceled? During those days the world was your oyster. You could play all day outside in the snow. It was the best! 2. Hot chocolate My mom was a pro at having hot chocolate on hand for when we would come inside after being out in the cold. There is nothing like a steaming cup of hot chocolate with little marshmallows in it. For some reason it is just not th...

So I have had my braces on for a few months now and honestly a lot of people have told me that they aren´t that noticeable at all which makes me feel good. I, however, notice them all the time. They are a huge pain in the a**. I don´t remember my teeth hurting as badly when they put them on the first time when I was in middle school. Maybe I have just gotten softer in my old age but yowza, the first month or so was killer.  I am happy to report, though, that the one tooth in particular that bothered me is now pretty much in-line with the rest. Another bonus of the kind of brackets that I got is that you really can´t see them in pictures. Other than constantly feeling like I have food stuck and knowing that soon I will have to make some more payments (dammit) I am still very happy with my choice. Ask me again in a year and we will see...

Since I will be spending another holiday season here in Spain, I have decided to do a series of posts about holiday traditions that are important when celebrating. Some of them are similar to those back home, others are quite different. I hope you enjoy learning a bit about what we do here to celebrate the season! Rebajas The day after everyone celebrates with the coming of the Three Wise Men (January 6th) and right after they have bought and given out lots and lots of gifts to family and friends is when one of the two HUGE annual sales begins here in Spain. These sales are called rebajas. It is a time in which companies sell off the last season´s merchandise (most often clothes) in order to make room for the new. As you can imagine, in a country where there are only 2 times a year with markdowns, the rebajas can get pretty crazy. Especially during the first few days as people try to snatch up good deals. Think Black Friday but without the reported violence. I myself don...

So this is the last time I will update about our Christmas movie marathon (since our vacation ends today, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa). As you can see, we didn't quite meet our goal but allow me to explain why. First, we started re-watching all the seasons of The Office (and have made it to number 7). Second, Jose has really been bugging me about going to see the second Hobbit movie. Since I had never even seen The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I decided to finally sit down and watch it. As you might know, those films last like an eternity. So in the end we have some Christmas films still on the list for next year. The list: 1.  Love Actually   2.  Dr. Suess's The Grinch Who Stole Christmas   3.  A Christmas Story   4.  National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation   5.   Elf   6.  Miracle on 34th Street   7.  Bad Santa   8.  Nightmare Before Christmas 9.  Charlie Brown Christmas   10.  It's a Wonderful Life ...

Last year in 2013 instead of making a bunch of resolutions that I knew wouldn't make it until the end of January I decided to choose a word (in that case CREATE) to base my goals around. I wrote about it first here . This year my one word resolution is PROACTIVE. I have found that I need to stop being passive about certain things (especially my health) and start doing things to get to where I want to be, what I want to achieve. In fact, this resolution actually began in the fall of this past year as I finally bit the bullet and got braces again as an adult. My teeth had been bothering me for a while. I noticed that they were moving. It was something that I focused on in each photo or when I looked in the mirror. Most people thought it wasn't that bad, but since it bothered me I finally became proactive and became a braceface again. (Read about it here ). Even though it has been a complete pain in the ass, I am very satisfied with this decision and it has inspired me for th...

Tanger and Tetuan Jose and I spent the last 3 days in Morocco on a short trip visiting several of the most important cities in the north of the country, closest to Spain. The first two we stopped in were Tanger and Tetuan. This was only after a 2 hour taxi ride from Seville to Algeciras on the coast where we took a ferry across to Ceuta (a bit of Africa that belongs to Spain). Next we took our tour bus across the border to Morocco which was a slow experience since lots of people were headed home for the New Year. We weren't allowed to take photos but there were tons of people crossing the border on foot, laden with lots of bags full of things they were bringing back home. It was a stressful crossing as we inched into Africa. When we had finally gotten into Morocco late in the evening it was a harrowing bus ride to our hotel in Tanger where we arrived in time for a late dinner and sleep in preparation for the next day. In the morning after breakfast we headed to Hercules'...