08 Thursday Jul 2010
Posted in food & drink, friends, sevilla, tapas
Soooooo busy!
This is a quick glimpse of round two from this afternoon’s Tapeo Extremo, with round three coming up this evening. It’s been quite a day, especially after round one last night ending so late, but have just had a refreshing shower and a change of clothes and I’m ready to go again. Will be meeting @AnnieBennet in about half an hour. Gotta run!
Update: Full report up on the Sevilla Blog
04 Sunday Jul 2010
Most of you know how rich I have been in gifts these past couple of years since I got sick. Gifts of all sorts – friendship, money, presents, visits, and especially patience & understanding – and of course a lot of this sort of generosity usually can’t be paid back in kind. But you can pay it forward.
I got a chance to do this the other day. After my wild night out on Thursday, Nog & I were coming home around 1.30 in the morning and I was surprised to see an old friend, Pepe, standing outside Bar Campanario. He used to own the place, but for years now it’s been run by my friend Maria Paz, with some help from her sister Elena. And suddenly there was everyone out in the street at this strange hour. I hadn’t seen Pepe in a couple of years and when I asked how he was doing it was a shock to hear that he’d just found out he has cancer…
01 Thursday Jul 2010
Posted in cancer, change, diet & nutrition, friends, health & happiness, home, hope
Awhile ago on a particularly pleasant day I said to Nog, “I feel so happy that it scares me” … and we both laughed. Since then, and especially since my good news on Monday, I just can’t shake this happy feeling. I think it started when I found out I had to wait another two weeks until the PET scan and I decided to just enjoy the hell out of those two weeks and treat them as a “holiday from cancer”. In other words, I gave myself permission to be happy. And well, okay, I got pretty nervous the weekend before the scan, but now that I know I have at least six months before I have to face that particular dragon again, I am going ahead with extending this cancer holiday season until then. And damn it feels good. No, not suddenly like everything is all sunshine and butterflies, but a huge weight has been lifted and I feel like I can really breathe again. Like I can finally be myself.
Turns out I’m actually quite nice once you get to know me. 🙂
21 Monday Jun 2010
Posted in cancer, food & drink, friends, geekiness, health & happiness, hope, internet, juggling, life stuff, photos, sevilla, work
… or in my case, several plans.
I didn’t realise what a turning point the trip to Málaga would turn out to be. So again, thanks to everyone who made it possible for me to go without racking up more credit card debt. In the end I only spent money on train fare and two lunches out, so it was a fairly cheap trip, but very rich in experiences. I think it also helped to have a couple of days on my own – and being by the sea certainly helped!
Anyhow, these are the various projects I’ve been working on since I got off chemo last summer: tapas tours, Seville website & blog (with forum), social media management, the Sevilla Store, and English classes (specifically for restaurants). So far the only ones bringing in a bit of income are the tapas tours and social media stuff – my private English classes, such as they were, finished last week for the summer. But it does look as though things are coming together…
20 Sunday Jun 2010
Posted in food & drink, friends, home, restaurants, sevilla
I’m a bit late with my post today because, well, I’ve actually been too busy enjoying my day. What’s that you say – az enjoying a Sunday??? Truth is, I’m feeling extremely well since my trip to Málaga. I came home last night with the very distinct feeling that … well, that I was happy. Really and truly happy. And so when I got up this morning I enjoyed spending time organising photos and doing some other stuff online. But it was such a gorgeous day that it was a shame to stay indoors, so Nog and I went out for a long walk. On the way home I gave my friend Bizzy a call because we were getting hungry and I remembered that I had been invited to stop by her restaurant L’Oca Giuliva for lunch one day – an invitation that included Nog – so it seemed like a good moment to take her up on her offer. We had a great time and it felt good to give Nog a treat, especially as he’d done such a good job of taking care of the boys while I was away.
So, that is our lunch up there … fabulous. Some spinach and provolone crostone, a fresh & crunchy endive salad with creamy gorgonzola dressing, and even dessert! I almost never eat dessert, but Bizzy insisted, so we shared strawberry “carpaccio” with vanilla icecream and pistachios, and a delicious tiramisu. Bliss.
After lunch we walked over to see if my virtual photographer buddy Antonio Cid was at work. I’ve known him for months now online but had never met him in person. Then I found out that he works weekends at a small bar near my house, so I decided it was time to stop by and say hello face-to-face. And of course it felt like we’d always known each other, very easy chatting, and we had a really nice visit.
And now Nog and I are back home. He’s reading and I’m taking care of some Sevilla Tapas updates and doing a few other things before I stop to make an evening snack. And then maybe watch a film and hit the hay. You know, I could really get the hang of Sundays if they were always this pleasant. Oh, and did I mention I am happy?
More on that tomorrow…
How was your Sunday?
casa azahar 