Tag Archives: friends

happy mondays

16 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by in cancer, death & dying, friends, life stuff, love

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Awhile ago I created a #happymondays Twitter hashtag to greet people with on Monday mornings, since so many people seem to really hate Mondays. But not me. I always see Monday as a fresh start to a new week full of possibilities. I reckon it’s probably 50/50 the number of people I either annoy or cheer up with my whole Happy Monday thing, but what the heck, it’s fun.

Then this morning I woke up and, as usual, had a look through my emails on the iPhone while still in bed. And I got the news I’ve been dreading for some time now, though it still hit me like a ton of bricks, that my friend Pat is in hospital and “fading fast”, heavily sedated due to being in so much pain. In a flash I went from not wanting to lose her to wishing she would let go soon so that she wouldn’t be suffering anymore. And then I decided I would have a Happy Monday anyhow, or as much as I could manage through my tears, because I knew Pat would like that. Going out for a walk now…

How’s your Monday been so far?

pat in sevilla

12 Saturday May 2012

Posted by in cancer, friends, hope, sevilla, spain, tapas, travel, trips, video

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Dearest Pat,

The other day after reading your very moving post No More Room in the Bucket I kind of fell apart. Even though you had told me that you’d stopped treatment – and although I knew exactly what that meant – I guess a part of me just couldn’t accept it. It was only after reading your blog post (published on the same day I wrote here about still being NED) that it finally struck home. Especially when I read this bit…

“There is no more room in the bucket for big dreams like cross-country train trips. I feel a pang watching tv shows set in NYC, knowing that I’ll likely never visit my favorite city again. It aches to see puppies and kittens and know I’ll never own another one. I’ve never tasted foie gras, or truffles, or uni. I never got to visit the Food Network. I’ll never meet my friend Shawn in person or visit her in Seville, Spain.”

And well, I knew straight away that I had to take you out for tapas!

This video was made on the fly on Thursday with my poky pocket video cam and so my clips turned out pretty rough (one clip showing us having some grilled foie and tuna belly at La Azotea was unsalvageable, but oh well…). Luckily my friend Juan Tarquini not only offered to invite us for tapas at his fabulous Vineria San Telmo, he also very generously edited and polished all my rough cuts into something quite wonderful that I could never have done on my own. I hope it will make you smile.

Everyone really enjoyed meeting you and plying you with fabulous food and drink. It was actually quite an amazing day and I know you touched a lot of hearts here during your brief visit in Sevilla. You will always live in mine.

te quiero Amiga,
Shawn xx

For those of you who don’t already know, I met Pat Steer on the Colon Club forum just after being diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer, when all this was new to me and I was scared and looking for helpful information. Pat had been diagnosed four years before me. She became my sister, my friend, my hero. I love her with all my heart.

girlie afternoon

03 Thursday May 2012

Posted by in food & drink, friends, fun stuff, hair, sevilla

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BIG surprise when I got a text message from Jessica asking if I’d be free for lunch today! Turns out she’s been in town doing research and, with that out of the way, she was free to play for an afternoon. We met early because I had to go to the hospital to get my chemo port flushed out and Jessica offered to come with me – nice! So we taxied there and back and then got caught in a massive downpour, ducking inside a cosy doorway just in time. I have to say it’s not everyone you can actually enjoy being trapped by the rain with. Finally we made it to our lunch destination – a new place called La Brunilda. Very nice kinda gourmet tapas but without the gourmet prices. In fact, I’ll be taking my tapas tour group there this evening for our last stop to see how well it works as another “less traditional” option (Jessica’s suggestion).

After a lovely lunch and lots of catching up we stopped by La Azotea so Jessica could see their new location and we ended up having a nice chat with Juan. Then I stopped by the Bodeguita Romero to take a photo for their blog and reserve a table for the second stop on tonight’s tour. And as Jessica had asked me where I got my hair cut we went by so I could show her where it is and I was surprised to find it open (it was just after 4pm). So we decided on the spot to both get our hair cut . Such a girlie thing to do! I treated myself to a dye job, which I usually do at home, and had a wee trim. But Jessica had about 10 inches cut off! She ended up with a feathery just below chin length bob that looks amazing on her … and I forgot to take her photo! Damn. Because after we were done at the hairdresser we walked a bit until I had to head home and she went to do a few errands before going back to Paris tomorrow, and I got a bit choked up about saying goodbye and so totally forgot about taking a pic. And so you get these cute barrels from La Brunilda instead.

Now I have to quickly change, fluff up my perfectly salon-dyed and blow-dried hair, and go meet my clients for a fun evening out.

Life is good…

whirlwind week

18 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by in friends, restaurants, sevilla, social media, spain, tapas, tapas tours, work

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In the middle of a whirlwind week! Not only am I up to my eyeballs in tapas tours, but I’ve also got a lot of social media stuff on the go, as well as my own websites to keep up with and update. Then there are the day-to-day things to take care of, plus trying to get to the gym.

In the midst all of this I have not one but two special guests visiting this week, one of whom will be staying with me. Which of course has meant trying to fit in a very serious spring clean-up (overdue, but nothing like a house guest to get those gears moving). I can’t complain that my social life is suffering because my work and my guests ARE my social life. I just need a few extra hours in the day.

How’s your week going?

connecting…

05 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by in friends, social media, twitter, work

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A couple of days ago on Twitter someone I’ve known there for a couple of years recommended that someone else get in touch with me as they were coming to Sevilla this week. And so they did.

This afternoon Peter and I met with Sarah Jane Evans and her husband Richard for a bit of a tapeo and we had a great time going to a couple of my favourite spots. And just before we finished up Sarah Jane gave me this book she’d written about Seville, which was published in 1992. Very cool.

Made me think about all the great connections – and friends – I’ve made on Twitter over the years. In fact, it turned out that Sarah Jane and I have a lot of the same Twitter pals in common, probably not so surprising as they are all mostly food and wine people. Good ol’ social media!

How do you meet new people?