Conil de la Frontera, Spain

I remember how much I like blogging just when I think I don't have time to do it. It is a nice way for me to keep track of what I did when and look back on fond memories and/or learn from things. I also like to think I may be halping soemone else who happens to find my blog while preparing to do something similar. So, this is post kind of fits all of those categories.

Over Easter, we decided to take a mini break to Spain.Specifically the southern Atlantic coast of Spain. On our agenda was relaxation, ocean, Gibraltar and maybe Morocco. I loved the idea of touching 3 countries on 2 continents in a span of 4 days but in the end relaxation and the ocean won out over Africa. When this is your balcony, you would choose to spend as much time as possible here too.

We had both been to Spain before on vacation as teenagers and for work more recently. We thought about Barcelona but then decided to go further south and ultimately revisited a hotel P stayed at with his family in the past. It also happened to be the one I found via Google maps when looking for something near to the beach.

There's so much I could tell you about this location that won me over in the end. I think I will start with the photos because even though they can't do justice to the location, they still make me swoon. I should also note that these photos were taken on my red Japanese video camera and have not been edited in any way because I am way to lazy to learn photo shop any time soon.

More words to follow. + Gibraltar + Easter + Tapas.

Keys

I am just quickly dropping in to show off my latest functional stress reliever. Banging nails. With more than 100 nails in the completed project, I can safely say this entails the most non-load bearing nails of anything I have ever built and I build with nails a lot.

This was a spin off of a the Pinterest challenge I wrote about last month. One of the other challenge participants made a nail and string New Hampshire and it won me over. I had this small board that I bought from the Ikea spare parts section years ago intending to use in a wedding project. It cost 1 EUR and P has yhreatened to throw it out several times but it has the perfect hanging holes in the back so I could not part with it. When I saw 2 packages of "extra" Ikea nails in our bathroom I knew I had the bones of this project and just needed a practical reason to make something out of string. Anyone who knows my husband knows he is famous for asking where his keys and glasses are and sends me on a panic search for either at least once a month. I clearly made this for him. He seemed genuinely impressed by it when I showed him the final project. Now to see if he uses it is another story.

Total cost 5 EUR mostly for the string of which I now have about 100 meters left.

3 Chairs Hooray!

I couldn't resist that title. I finished chairs 2 and 3. There was a bit of a challenge with the upholstery part of these two. First, the home improvement store in the city does not sell foam (or Styrofoam either in case you are wondering) so I had to wait for P to visit and ask him to get me some with his car. Which he did...he also got a piece of wood for another project which is another story all together but exciting none the less.

There was a bit of MacGyvering going on here as I needed to figure out a way to spruse up the cane seats. I was set on upholstery, especially when I found that nice lt. grey polka dot fabric but not really sure how to do it. I thought about removing the caneing. Then I learned these chairs were an iconic style and started searching the inter webs to see how others had remade them. This is the post from Apartment Therapy that caught my eye via Pulse one morning. So, I guess I really need to give some more credit to P for forceing me into a smartphone lifestyle. Specifically, this rainbow confirmed my decision to upholster

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

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Brain Dump

My favorite blogs are ones which post daily and teach me new things. I try to teach things on my blog but I certainly don't post daily. I don't post reguarly. I get it, this would not be my favorite blog for that reason. I won't be promising to post more frequently. In fact, just the opposite. I am in the super stressful end phase of my dissertation and although I just had a very positive research meeting, there is so much to do....research, analysis, writing, editing, and other daily tasks. When I am not in my office, I am at sports, sleeping or (hopefully) doing something creative. Blogging requires sitting at my computer and lately I only do that at home to watch TV. It's just how it is at the moment. So, instead of not posting until I have something with photos here's a brain dump of what'S going on in my life.

I had an amazing Easter weekend in Spain. Eventually, I will post the photos. I will also pick a few favorites to fram and hand in my apartment and actually do it this time. The photos are that impressive and the vacation was that good. I can highly recommend Conil de la Fuentera and if you want more info before I post about it, just ask.

I booked a flight for my next "mini break." Great friends are gettign married 2 weeks before I hand in my dissertation and it will surely be the peak of my stress but it is so important to me that we are there. They flew across the country to celebrate with us and I was happy to have them so I am happy to do the same, remove country, insert Atlantic. I am actually really looking forward to a long weekend in the US. I just need to get myself in line so I can enjoy it with minimal stress.

I am looking forward to breakfast at my fav. cafe with my husband tomorrow morning. I know this is a small thing but sometimes the small things are exciting and should be savored.

I have two pallets on my balcony waiting for my attention. I dread the sanding process but would really like to do something with them so they are 1) off my balcony, 2) useful, and 3) I realized I really enjoy nailing. I also really enjoy painting so I will most likely use this as an excuse to pick up another color. I think I will make the smaller one into a shoe rack as I am constantly running out of places to put my shoes. On the construction front, I also need a board to make my entryway table more useful, maybe I can combine the two somehow. Measuring tape required.

I like to releive my stress via sports. I did 3 sessions of training this week instead of 2 as well as biking to work 4 of 5 days and it is a huge difference in my productivity and attitude. I hope I can work some more running into my routine in the coming weeks as I am running in a team marathon on May 11.

I think I may head out "early" today and ride my bicycle to the Turkish grocery store for olives and wraps. It really is the little things like finally a day of sunshine to ride my bike and the promise of olives that make me excited. There's also a second hand store around the corner which has a nice selection of furniture, maybe I will stop in for inspiration.