Ok… maybe I go a TINY bit overboard with the planning somtimes, but I have a really good excuse. You see, last February, I was put in charge of planning the itinerary for our Spain trip. And I might have messed a few very small parts up (such as any directions to anything whatsoever). After getting lost 18 times, Michael became very mildly annoyed one evening after we trekked through Sevilla for 90 minutes trying to find a hotel that ended up being 50 meters from our start point. No …

(tip of the cap to Melanie)

Jen and I and the Pope. That’s right. We took on the country of 900 people and so much artwork that they put it on the ceiling…

First, I’d like to say that the Sistine Chapel was all that it was cracked up to be. Anybody who would paint standing up, looking up 18 hours a day for 4 years gets major props, but then to see it was pretty spectacular. There were no pictures allowed in the Chapel (although it didn’t stop some ding dongs) …

My sweet sister in law made me an essay about how much she misses me.
I am posting it, and my response to it here:

Oh, How I Long For My Sister By: Kafaleen

I appreciate Jennifer’s sassy charm and quick wit. She makes me laugh all the time,
and I miss laughing all the time. Ryan does a pretty good job of keeping the
laughter rolling, but there’s a certain piece missing….and that piece is my
sister. I appreciate Jennifer’s fabulous cooking and baking skills! Her …

Okay, so my clothes came today. I can’t believe my life fits in two boxes. Well, those and the 2 bags I brought with me on the plane.
On to sunnier news. First, it has been sunny (and chilly, but sunny!) here 5 of the last 6 days. Second, thanks Mom! We received our first care package from Minnesota and it was nice to get something in the mail although some people *cough, cough JEN* got more than others *ahhhh-chooooMEoooooo*. Oh excuse me, head cold.

Anyway Jen got some fashionable neck wear, …

After only getting very slightly lost, we found our way to John and Joanne’s hotel. By the way, it wasn’t our fault we got very slightly lost, as apparently in Spain, you can make a complete 90 degree turn and still be going “straight” on the same road. Luckily Michael was there to figure it out because I would probably still be puzzing on the corner!
It was really good to see John and Joanne, and of course, Joanne wanted to go to Starbucks to catch up!!! Oh Joanne and her …

Okay so obviously, Michael has been kicking my butt in the excellent postings category (as well as putting all the photos of Barcelona on Flickr), so I will complete the boring old itinerary of the trip posting. Sigh…
Sunday morning we got up early (at least vacation early) and had the second B in B&B.  Then we headed out to see the city. It was a perfect day and we took the subway to the National Art Museum of Catalonia, which is situated on the Montijuic hill. There was a MASS …

Someone (Kristin(Jenni’s sister)), pointed out that Jennifer likes to eat a lot as witnessed by many photos that seem to be taken with her happy or smiling while eating. In lieu of that knowledge, I decided to follow her around for a few hours and photograph what she consumed. Below is what I came up with.

Jenni likes tree berries.

Jenni likes bark.

Jenni likes bush berries.

Jenni likes paper.

Jenni likes burritos.

So we set out today to go see The Cans Festival in The Tunnel on Leake Street. Basically it is a free zone for graffiti artists where they were had artists from all over the UK and Europe and even an Aussie and an American come in and do pieces in the tunnel. It was pretty cool to see some of the art and even some of the artists in action.

Whoever says Graffiti isn’t art needs to rethink that…

Then it was around the river banks and into the parks walking …

As the US economy spirals through free fall into chaos, and our stock portfolios waste away. (WaMu we hardly knew ye) allow me to sidebar you with an artistic tangent. Antoni Gaudí is one of those architects who you just know was scoffed at when he was initially designing. His architectural style is such a radical departure from most anything else, that his early ridicule is expected. (Much like my own pastel experiment on Cannon Dr.)

All throughout Barcelona you can find the architecture of Gaudi, but two places seem to …

Barcelona!!! What a beautiful city. Michael and I decided we could live there, except we don’t speak the crazy language. I can (barely) get by in Spanish, and while they do speak some Spanish there, the primary language is Catalan, which is a Latin derivative, but only bears a slight resemblance to Spanish. At first, I thought my language skills had just completely declined, but I felt a little smarter when I realized what was going on. I always knew the language was a little different, but I thought it …