I use the word "anyway" alot. Its the nice hypotenuse that connects my thoughts.

Hello Furrends.

I am in a particularily ridiculously mood today so inevitably it is blog-writing day. The timing is exquisite!

I doubt my blog will come alive. And that folks is the saddest news of 2011.


Anyway I write blog today but I have no particular topic. You never have a topic. Quiet, you naysayers!

Has anyone noticed that I discovered the strikethrough button??? I love it! No, really I LOVE it! Its like the paranthesis' hipster cousin that we didn't know existed. It does so much. Should I type this thought? Yes! Write it and strikethrough! Any comment that might push the line can still be said and the saving glory of the strikethrough will right all wrongs. Its the morning after pill for words.

Now where do we go...... I am skeptical that my thoughts on cool punctuation tricks will make for a good blog entry. Ah, I know. I will tell you about my New Years Resolutions.

Actually, fuck new years resolutions. I'm tired of making false promises to myself. I will always love cooking and food and so I am just going to accept my round little Camilly-roo self. (Dear god, please do not like strapless belly shirts come back in style. I'm your favorite remember!) Anyway, instead of NYR's, I prefer to just keep adding outlandish things to my Bucket List.*

 Here are some of the things:

1. Have a bilingual dog. I AM GETTING A DOG. Remember? And if I have to learn spanish, then damn it, my dog will too. I can't wait for my dog to make sassy comments to Jess in another language.
2. Go hangliding. Wind, sunshine, flying. Yes por favor.
3. Have more than 10 twitter followers. http://twitter.com/#!/coco_therese. No, this isn't publicity pump!
4. Jump on a moving train. I'm still jealous of Ginger for doing this before me. (PS for you Europeans, trains in america don't carry people. They carry coal and animals and I don't know what else because I'm not very educated on the transportation of goods biznass). Imagine something more like this:

5. Successfully say the word "vegetarian" in Spanish without fumbling. It is vegetariano. Currently I say things in Spanish like "She is a person who doesn't eat meat." Or "Can we go to that restaraunt that has food without meat?" People are starting to catch on...
6. Swim from Terapin Creek to Sixshooter. This doesn't seem that ludicrous. I bet I could do it in June. Are you with me Patrick?
7. Make a music video. Actually just make more videos. "Babies inspired by babies" didn't get the credit it deserved. Integrated marketing again? No, pshh never.

That's all I can think of right now. And my spin class is about to start. Bad ass legs and a little round belly! Mierda.


*I do have one. Written on a peice of scratch paper I think. Somewhere in Elizabeth and Jason's house. We wrote it when we were in one of those moods like "Oh my god time is flying and we've done nothing cool with our lives!!! Lets write things down!!" (yea....smartisimas). I need to rescue it and see if anything can be crossed off. Yoga at the top of an uninhabitated island. Check. However I will never be as cool as this girl. Yep, that's Olivia Marie. If you didn't open that link, don't be lazy. Do it now. I would say I want to be able to do the splitz, but that will never happen. My mom and Olivia will always hold the trump cards to Elizabeth and I.

Let me tell you about how the Spanish spend Christmas

Eating.



I was invited to eat Christmas Day dinner with a family that I'm friends with. I arrived at 12:40. (I was told to come between 12 and 12:30 and I was kind of stressed about being late). I should know by now that my being late is nothing compared to the way Spainards do late. They make me look good. I admit this is one of the reasons I choose to live here. Anyway, at 1:00 we began the later to be known as "Longest Christmas Dinner of My Life" or we could call it "The Day Camille's stomach grew three times it's size".

The dinner ended at 7:30 p.m. I'm drunk, mentally exhausted from so much spanish and am suffering from food paralysis minus finger dexterity.

I've been to long Spanish lunches before. Usually 2 -3 hours is normal. Luckily I got accustomed to this so I wasn't suprised at the 4-5 lunch we had when my parents were here. They flipped. Anyway this lunch blew the calcetines off those other ones. If you have ever been embarrassed about the amount of things on your daily food journals entries, read on. I will make you feel better.

Now I make you list of food.

1. Somekind of pinwheels made of roquefort cheese and ham. (3-4).
2. Pineapple juice and champagne. (3-4 glasses).
3. Mystery appetizer thing I kept being offered (3).
4. Cheese and ham on cracker (2).
5. Shrimp with garlic sauce.
6. Bread for the oily garlic sauce after the shrimp left.
7. Those big bad daddy shrimp. In spanish they are langostinos. I don't know how we say it in English. I am from Oklahoma. (3).
8. Crab legs. (2).
9. A large shell that contained a mixture of vegetables and scallops. (1).
10. Some ugly colored crab mixture thing that I can never remember the name of. This stuff I know I don't like and I kept trying to turn it down but I was besieged with a thousand "Pruebalo Camille! Pruebalo!" Fine. Ill try it again.
11. Salad.
12. Lamb and potatoes.
13. More bread.
14. Turron (customary spanish sweet during xmas season).
15. Ice cream with hot fudge and crunchy graham cracker sticks.
16. One slice of my cranberry pumpkin bread that really didn't fit in.
17. A bite of some mystery cream cake.
18. Polvorones. (1). A crumbly little candy thing they eat at xmas.
19. Champagne (2).
20. Coffee. (1).
21. Licor Cafe shot. (1).

I declined the after dinner drink.

Note: I don't list the wine because there was no way to count. I would turn my head and the uncle next to me was filling up my wine glass. I would go to the bathroom and my glass would be full again when I got back. I just decided to drink and be merry. Christmas, that is.

Anywayyyyyy...... I can't move. I am too full. My sweats gave me a warm welcoming hug when I put them on. P.S. Remember the girl from Oklahoma last year who was too scared to eat shellfish? I'm totally all over that sea food business now. It's just so damn good when its fresh! Although its pretty obvious I'm a novice at how to eat it. I can't really concentrate on two difficult things at once so I got pretty fixated with breaking shells and finding meat that I totally lost  track of the rapid spanish conversation around me. However I did catch Maria, the 8 year old near me, yell to her mom across the table, "Mommy! Ayuda Camille!" Apparently Maria saw I was failing.

Feliz Navidad desde Espana! BESOS!!!!!!!!!


Here are some pictures of things from google:


This one is especially hard for me to look like I know what I'm doing:



And funny note, when someone made me take another monster crab leg, Maria said "Jesus! Vas a comer otra??" She really knows how to make me feel good about this sea food biznass.

My Friday Morning

So after almost three weeks of no kitchen sink*, the technico finally comes to repair it. He is Cuban and has a speech impediment. I am sure what he is speaking can not be spanish. I do a lot of gaping and nodding. I sure hope what he's saying is "Fix this up in a jiffy ma'am!" But I know it's much more ominous than that. The part I did catch was that he is stopping at 1 and will come back later. He arrived at 12:30. Welcome to Spain.


*This is the worst. There is nothing worse than doing dishes in the bathtub. At least not that I've experienced in my life. Although maybe I should live in the slums of Mumbai so I can learn not to freak out when peices of scrambled egg are near my washcloth.

In other news, life is good. I can't complain. Except I have to go yell at our cat now. She is attacking my gym bag. What is it with cats being bitches?? I mean I like them but they can be such brats.When I get a dog (this is happening) I'm also going to get a cat. The dog will be the best behaved dog ever and the cat will be a cat. And then I will train the dog to look up at me and shake its head disapprovingly when the cat is doing a dumb cat thing. And then we will laugh.

I should probably get out more. Otherwise it is very clear how my future will play out. Pets, Muffins, Quilts, Homemade potpourri. Sooo busy!

Ok I need to run. I decided to switch the buttons on my blazer and the crafts store closes at 2:00!