And the loved continued..........

So here's the Valentine evening in all it's glory.

 I went to visit Gran and had a quick rummage through old book. (Will blog a little about this later, no pics at the moment) 

Then I was whisked of by Mama and Juanchi back home to drop of and pick up more supplies for mamas sleepover. After a few unexpected surprises (see below) we were all set to make our way to Anti (Antipasto) little did we know Pepa had made a run for it. Well Mama and Juanchi let her out! After eating her dinner and on a mild night. What were they thinking? 

Well we called her and called her but her phone was turned off. hahahah only joking shes a cat for goodness sake. Anyway, we yelled and yelled and she was no where to be found. There was no option but to let mama and Juanchi go and stay behind with Hali until Pepa had finished giggling in some obscure hiding place. At 7:45 she re-emerged (table was booked for 7:30) with that innocent little face and we were free to meet mama and Juanchi on the main road and embark on our trip for foooooooood. 

These are the surprises I found when I got home........

My new ring is gorgeous and my new new ring is more than I expected. :) 

But Hali don't think I will forget you cheated and copied my card message idea. 

Could I been any more spoiled? (That will be answered lower down)

Finally here was dinner at our favorite local.....

we had.....

Grilled veg

Prosciutto with artichokes and sun dried tomatoes

And Mussels

Followed by delicious mains...

Fettucini con salmone 

Calves liver 

Calves liver with Greens

Meatball pasta- Very good by the way, they do delicious things with horse now a days. :) 

 And he are the happy faces.

 My cardigan looks rather unfortunate. 

Note to self: Look in the mirror before leaving. :)

The cool Boys.....

 Mama Spoiled Juanchi....

And Juanchi spoiled mama...

And mama spoiled us....

And I spoiled you.... :)

Love is in the air.........

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

I hope it is filled with love for everyone. xxx

Here was our morning....

Who's a lucky boy........ I know I'm a lucky girl. :)

Does anyone remember last year? Well lets recap....

 Last year I was a bit more crafty with hand made gifts....

Hmmmm scones for breakie.....

and my beautiful hot water bottle thingy....

Oh and in the afternoon I got a yummmy tiny cheese cake......

P.S. It's my first Valentines as a WIFE! (shocked face) thank you so much all you gorgeous people that surround me. I love you all so much!

PANCAKE DAY!!!!

Well, another big day in the Jo-lender (Jo's calender) has passed and we enjoyed it as much as the pancake batter would allow. 24 pancakes later we still wanted more. 

Well 24 officially, unofficially it was more like 30-35. But seriously the first ones are testers, no?

I LOVE PANCAKES!!!!!

I love them with....berries and yoghurt, banana and Nutella, lemon and sugar and all combinations in between.

Look at my last artistic one. I am so accidentally coool! What do you like in your pancake?

Bella likes the yoghurt, no pancake needed.

Yepppppppppppppy... Nine elms has reopened!

This morning started like any typical morning, cats jumping, fighting, alarm going off which frankly is the last straw!

Then once out of bed all the getting ready with a bit of house choirs to liven the morning. So typically by the time I am meant to leave I was half way through a task that couldn't be abandoned. This morning was hanging some washing and putting a new load. This meant I left home at 8:15 instead of 8. 

So when I finally ran out of the house you can't begin to imagine my delight at finding buses going through Nine Elms. Frankly, these the last 2 weeks of walking in snow, rain and wind through crane after crane and constructions sites I was in two minds about purchasing my own high vis jacket and hard hat! 

My daily commute looked a little like this.....

On an overall more lovely note... Look at the beauty who is adorning Sloane square. Isn't he stunning? His name is Boris (or so mum thinks) If he is life like I can honestly say they are HUGE! I mean look what me and Halil are reduced to next to it.
I think it's a tiny bit bigger than Juanchi, who is by far the tallest person I know. :)

Finally, in a Bafta inspired ending I would like to give a few Jo-wards. 

The award for most amazing Galette 2013 goes to none other than Ewa Amposta for her amazing Febis Galette. I am a huge fan of the Galette du rios but the Febis has stolen my heart 100%. Sorry Paul's this year you missed out.

 

Please put your hands together for Halil Yildirim winner of the cutest present award. This award has had many winners in my life time but he is an extremely worthy winner with his name ring... 

Cok cok tesekuler (thank you so much)

For the 28th Year running Liliana Gonzalez has maintained her position as most wonderful mama of the year with her rush to cook and care for me when she's around. You are just fabulous!

Finally, the award for supporting hero the winner is Juanchi for keeping my mama happy and helping her make my life incredible. Thank you to you all. :)

My frenemy....

I have a love-hate relationship with glasses, understandably I love them because well, without them everything would be a blur. I wouldn't recognize anyone until they were kissing distance, which could be potentially very embarrassing. I wouldn't be able to type this without steaming up the screen with my breath. It's not even a joke just how close things need to be for me to see them.

But, I hate the way they steam up when I am in a hurry and my body heat is more than they can cope with, or when getting on a warm train/bus/room. I can't stand that when it rains they become such a burden and then cause the even bigger burden of trying to keep them clean! I simply abhor that when I want to hug, kiss or cuddle anyone (cat included) a poke myself and get them all smeary AGAIN! Not to mention the discomfort on my ears and the rather unflattering dents they leave on my nose. Oh, and the cost of them, mine are not even designer ones and I had to fork out about £250 for them with lens thinning blah blah blah. But perhaps the worst thing is how tired and run down they make me look. I don't know why even with my funky purple new ones which should make me look ultra cool I LOOK CRAP!!

P.S. Not a happy glasses wearing bunny.

Family history...

Whilst visiting grannies on Friday for a 'coffee'. Or what she considers coffee, which to any other person I think is dinner. Correct me if I am wrong but our 'coffee' consisted of, fried beef, rice, plantain and arepa. 

Anyway, while I gobbled up everything grannies served we had our usual conversation about my dad and how irresponsible he is. This is the hot topic at grannies and what if anything has changed his end. This time round we ventured into my dads past or to be precise his parents. It started as an innocent chat trying to understand or excuse my dads way of being.  I am aware the my dad's dad is a man of no scruples and someone I could hold no respect for. He rejected my father from the moment he was born without rhyme or reason but, this is only one heartless thing I know of him. 

My grannie spoke to me of my dad's actual mother, Alicia, and how she fell in love with a man that very quickly showed his true nature. He was no stranger to getting drunk and quickly left Alicia for one of her close friends. By this time they had a little boy, Miguel. I am unsure if my dad was already around as I know nothing of my dads family and whether he was the youngest, oldest or of how many. But I will tell it as grannie did. 

So he fell in love with this other woman who was married herself, along the way he ended up in prison for stealing. My grannie can still recall their anger (her and her parents) at Alicia finding the largest piece of beef and making it for him with frijoles and rice. You have to understand even now beef is a luxury so a large piece could have gone a long way. Every time she visited him in prison with a box of food under her arm she would find his lover there visiting too. In a burst of fury her son would suffer all the repercussions, if he cried she would throw him on the bed or aggressively stick the baby bottle in his mouth and not let him take it out.  Once out of prison her husband would call on her for 'company' whenever he was drunk and the other woman was unable to join him. Alicia could never say no to his requests and gran is sure she never stopped loving him though she could never understand why. 

Much later when Alicia lay in bed in agony due to a cancer that had caused her to be burned inside, I imagine in those days that was the treatment, grannie remembers she asked Alicia if there was anything she wanted to drink. All Alicia wanted was milk, something she was never given by the other family members as it made changing her and the bed that much worse. My grannie did everything to make her sister more comfortable knowing that the moment she returned to London this would cease. When Alicia's time was almost up my gran asked the family to ask her if she wanted to see her husband before she passed away. It may seem a crazy thing but she knew how Alicia felt and she felt she would have wanted to see him. They never asked her and he never came. 

She told me with tear stained eyes that by the time she visited her sister looked way beyond the grave sadly she lasted more than a year after that, trapped in bed screaming in agony. I can't imagine the suffering she endured. 

I found this a very sad tale, I couldn't help but wonder if Alicia had any happy moments in the path her life took. She was naive to stick by her husband but I don't feel able to judge, I can't comprehend why a woman would not just prefer to be alone. These were different times and as she is no longer here we will never understand her side of the story.

P.S. Sorry it's another sad one. Monday is no better than Friday for negative/sad tales. I think my blog needs much more Joie de vivre or I should have given it a completely different name. oppps

Most illusive thing I know.....

MONEY!

I read recently that on average we spend 5 years of our lives worrying about things that won't happen. Mum, was the survey solely based on you. :) If so that's a massive understatement!!

I would say that since I bought my flat (one year ago. Only!) I have worried solidly day in, day out about money, only money. I know you clever people out there will say 'and what has that solved?' Well f**k all but, still I can't just play stupid with something as necessary as money.

Ok, I am not living of my credit cards, I am paying a mortgage and paying the bills before reminders come through the letter box but still; it's that feeling that you will never stop just covering costs. That you will never be able to lay back and take your eyes of that money pot. Money pot being a metaphor because seriously I would have sold the empty money pot by now just to get a bit of cash.

So, why all the panic? Well, because it's pretty frightening the idea of not having any money. Right? Also, when I think of the future and possibly having a family, before the only option is adoption, then time goes terribly fast and money sort of trickles in at a snails pace. I know, I am not alone and most people my age and much older are in the same boat. You only have took look at the age of first time buyers to know....we are all kinda screwed.

Perhaps you want to join me on the sofa with a budget ice cream and a box of tissues? :(

P.S. Sorry not really a Friday topic but I am feeling rather troubled. Perhaps because today is that first of the month and my account gets scoped clean with all monthly payments. :(

P.P.S For all you things-could-be-worse-gang. I KNOW!!