For over a year my typical morning routine was getting up before the sunrise to enjoy a cup of coffee after my adorable alarm clock pawed relentlessly at my face. I relished in the silence and stillness of the morning. I felt comforted by the warm sips and aromas, and the purring of my sweet, little alarm clock lying next to me. It was my perfect way to start the day.
Last December, I started implementing Tarot readings with my relaxing routine. I want to tell you it’s because I’m a witch… but the reality is my sister and a friend, by uncoordinated happenstance, purchased birthday gifts that perfectly complemented each other. One got me a Tarot deck and the other an Oracle deck. The curious, intrigued person I am decided the universe presented them for a reason. My sisters were with me for my first reading. Despite all of us being utter noobs at the art of Tarot, my Past, Present, Future reading was eerily spot on. Further intrigued, I researched more readings, card meanings and combinations. I first looked to the Tarot for instructions but I was unwilling or unable to heed the advice – still carrying emotional baggage from last year’s lows. But after a couple of months my practicing became a tool for meditation and mindfulness. The cards are therapeutic now, so I couldn’t leave them behind in Houston. Yesterday I popped into the Mercadona I wanted to shop at on Sunday and found some pretty decent, inexpensive coffee. This morning feels like I’ve replenished some comfort I was missing since arriving. I have my cup of home brew and a daily card just sitting in quiet reflection enjoying the moment.
*Several hours later* I forgot to post this in the actual morning, but at least it’s the same day! I am a few hours shy of brewing some more of that pretty decent coffee to prepare for my early AM departure for Buñol. Any guesses what I’m up to?
Month: August 2019
Carrefour, the 24/7 Store
I skipped right over a post about things I’m looking forward to in Madrid and went straight to food. I guess that’s a hint! I heart food. Finding information about restaurants is pretty straightforward, but the internet research on grocery shopping specifics around here are slim. Since I am a planning, budgeting foodie, I figured keeping a record of shopping lists behooves someone out there like me.
I went to bed last night excited to check out Mercadona for this morning’s grocery excursion.
Just kidding! Discovered Mercadona is not open on Sundays.
Being unprepared for a morning hike uphill to Mercado Anton Martin, I scratched down a simple list for sandwiches through the week and walked a block away to the Lavapies 24-hour Carrefour I’ve visited every day since arriving in Madrid. Praise 24-hour stores! My first haul was a bottle of wine, a premade salad, an apple and a pack of rice cakes that all set me back about €6.50. I opted to get rice cakes over bread since I anticipate to be eating a lot more of the latter. Couldn’t have made a better choice for snacking to accompany the Peanut Butter and Cookie Butter I brought with me from the states. (The post about what I packed for 4 months will be coming soon!) Yes, I had to sacrifice some clothing for my heavy ass butters -no regrets!
I spent €16.68 or $18.75 on a week’s worth of sandwiches and then some. My apartment didn’t come with olive oil or any seasonings except for salt, so I had to “splurge” and get a couple of those. Breaking it down in euros below:
2.35 for extra virgin olive oil
.63 for black pepper
.69 for a Skyr “yogurt”
2.00 for Iberico chorizo deli meat
1.25 for a loaf of bread
1.99 for ½ dozen eggs (more than I was expecting to pay)
2.29 for a block of cheddar cheese
1.00 for arugula
1.29 for an avocado
1.59 for a bag of onions (too many, but no desirable singles to be found. just like my love life.)
1.50 for butter
.10 for a paper bag (need to remember to reuse this)
This might have been the first time I made a list of groceries and purchased ONLY what was on it. I mean, I forgot the eggs, but whatever, I immediately went back for them. Still a proud moment, you guys.
Breakfast is served!
Circumstantial Oddities
I experienced an immense number of synchronicities through my emotional development last year. Of course, I’ve noticed the occasional coincidence here and there throughout my life, but never before had I noticed so many in such a short period. It was super weird and freaked me the fuck out, but only at first. I started reading into this whole universal awakening and became more comfortable about them happening. I haven’t been so inundated since last year, but they still happen.
Just a little over a week ago I wished a friend and his girlfriend well on their upcoming trip as I thought they were leaving before me. A few texts later revealed my friend and I purchased tickets for the same flight out of Austin to layovers in London. May I remind you we live in Houston. Yeah, this is the sort of thing that isn’t even weird to me anymore. In fact, I felt elated that someone I knew was suddenly accompanying me most of the way to Madrid! Additionally amusing; we’ve inadvertently stalked each other over the past 8 years finding ourselves in the same neighborhoods through 3 moves around the city. We have good taste?
We boarded the plane and I went the 10 rows behind my friend and his girl to find my window seat taken by a small child. In friendly confusion, I told the woman sitting next to the child, “Hi, that’s my seat.” The mother amicably replied, “We want to sit together, we’re a family,” and pointed at her and the other child next to her. Although I was annoyed with how she thought herself entitled to plop a kid in a seat -I reserved, for the record- without asking, I didn’t want to be an ass to a mom who wanted to sit with her children. I smiled and told her it was no problem and sat in the middle section where one of them was supposed to be. It didn’t take long to realize these two other children on the other side of me were also hers. The bitch duped me and I was sitting in the middle of them all. Anger escalated ever quicker when the kids started passing things to each other over my head. Not today, Satan, not for 9 hours! I asked a stewardess if it was a full flight and, thankfully, it wasn’t. I waited for all of the passengers to board before making a move, but these people didn’t waste time on prime real estate. A guy two rows ahead scooped up my targeted seat. I was texting my friend all the while about my unfortunate circumstance until he said there’s an open window seat up here. Sold!
It was one guy with a row to himself and he didn’t mind my taking the window. We got to chatting about travel and I mentioned my friend, who found this vacant seat for me, and his girl were on their way to Norway. This guy was visiting Barcelona for the nth time, but then heading to Norway for the first time a few days later. After I finished telling him I quit my job and what I was up to he told me just that morning his best friend turned in his resignation planning to leave for Central America in a few weeks to study Spanish. I think this was a coincidence he needed since he also mentioned desiring a change himself but felt uncertain about leaving employment for a hiatus abroad. We chatted for a while longer before taking a break to try to sleep. An hour past trying it just wasn’t happening for me, so I selected a movie for entertainment. My heart palpitated briefly when the main character was called by the same name of the guy next to me. While I don’t discredit the fact that lots of people travel all over the world for leisure or to study every day, and his was not an unusual name by any means, these are the sort of instances that make me wonder what’s really at play. (Is it you, Carl Jung?) The fact that this felt meaningful will help me to remember the conversation and connection I made with some cool guy I wasn’t even supposed to sit next to… or was I fated to sit in 11A all along?
Flying the Coop
First official blog post – woo! If you read the It’s me! page, then you have already received an introduction and some background on why I’ve started a blog. If you haven’t read it, then go do that! This first post kicks off with an extension of my background and where my newfound freedom is taking me.
After a couple of roadtrips with dad and the girls it was like, I developed this mega appetite for new places. In a literal sense, dad and I were big time Triple-D fans and on the hunt for featured food everywhere we went. Plus, I was Yelp Elite back then, so I owed due diligence to my status. Less literally, I discovered this untapped desire to see more than I ever imagined. I started daydreaming about escaping the office oppression for a quaint, sunny apartment abroad living this other life surrounded by another culture bursting with unparalleled creative energy. When I actually started travelling abroad, the daydream became less of a dream and more of a living fantasy, even if it was only for a couple of weeks a year. Well, my living fantasy just got an upgrade. Tomorrow I leave for Madrid to study Spanish and do all the things I can squeeze into 4 months (within a budget).
This is huge.
I have never been away from Houston alone for longer than a few weeks, nor have I ever lived anywhere else. I am not spontaneous, I struggle with anxiety, and I am kind of afraid of this enormous leap I’m taking. It took a lot of planning and reassurance just to get over the hurdle of deciding to quit my job – not quitting it – deciding to quit it, because what sort of fool leaves a coveted, cozy desk gig with a good salary and benefits? Right here, y’all! Except quitting didn’t just mean leaving behind a salary. It meant leaving behind friendships I’d made, stability, and all that I’d known for more than a decade. It meant going against the grain of the sort of life I thought I was supposed to live.
So, as cliched as it sounds, off I go flying the coop to find myself (hopefully, in the arms of a sexy Spaniard).
