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| Friday, May 23, 2008 |
| Free Money - Seriously... |
Okay, it's not a lot, but I did just get a $10 payment!
I just click while I watch tv in the evening :P |
posted by Alana @ 3:47 PM  |
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| Wednesday, May 14, 2008 |
| More Pics Uploaded |
Click on the pic and you'll see more that we've uploaded.
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| posted by Alana @ 11:01 AM |
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| Tuesday, May 13, 2008 |
| Off to Gibraltar! |
Whew! What a day!
We went to Gibraltar this morning. It's a Rock Island... Really, it's a peninsula, that's owned by England. So, in theory, we visited England while in Spain. :)
It was a 2 hour car trip... Not too bad.
We parked just across the boarder and walked in. I was a little sad that they didn't stamp my Passport. We took a bus into town and a friendly gal helped us find the easiest stop. We went to take the cable car up to the top of Gibraltar... But there was a chain across the step saying that they we closed! There were some sales guys there trying to get people to take a minivan tour, for $25 Erous each! (The cable car was only $13 e) We went to find coffee as this was just too frustrating to handle on a non-caffeinated stomach. By the time we finished our coffee and chips (fries) the air lift was up and running. We went to the top, happily caffeinated.
The Barberry Apes we very cool. A little scary. I think they like to bite people's knees.
We walked 2 kilometers down the hill to catch the car halfway down.
That was about all of Gibraltar everyone else could stand, so we caught the bus back to the boarder and hightailed it out.
All in all, it was a fun outing. There were a few other things I would've liked to do, but it was very noisy, hot, busy.... I'm glad I went, but I doubt that I ever would again.
When we got home, I laid down on the bed for a min. and woke up an hour later! lol
We went out to an English pub for dinner and I had fish and chips and mushy peas... mmmm... mushy peas are awesome. David had his fav, Bangers and Mash and English beer.
A quick stop at the internet cafe and off to the house... It's 10:50 pm and I'm in bed... Another day tomorrow!Labels: Spain, Vacation |
| posted by Alana @ 10:42 AM |
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| Monday, May 12, 2008 |
| Lazy Days in Spain |
Not really much to say... The weather was a little cool and rainy.
Saturday, Anna and I went to the Torrox market. Then that evening it was David's birthday dinner, so we all went out for Chinese.
Sunday... We had a lunch over at our villa. Then David helped his brother with hos computer. Rainy day on Sunday.
This morning it was blue skies and calm waters, so we went to the Costa Market this morning and then brought a picnic to the beach and soaked up some sun. I jumped into the sea, but it was almost as cold as Lake Superior, so I didn't stay in long.
This afternoon, we wandered around town while Anna and Pat had a massage and then spent some time at H2O, our fave internet cafe. Now, we're off to an English pub for an English dinner.
Tomorrow we're heading to Gibraltar for the day. That should be fun!
Anyway.... We're off!Labels: Spain, Vacation |
| posted by Alana @ 10:39 AM |
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| Thursday, May 08, 2008 |
| Just Uploaded all of my Posts. |
I've actually been blogging on my crappy laptop in bed each night and saving them in txt files. I've just had a little extra time to upload them all!
Today we did some grocery shopping and then went up into Torrox proper to see David's brother's house in town. They live out in the country, but have bought a house in town to fix up. The ride there was terrifying! Thank god I wasn't driving! The road was never built for a car. Now I know why European cars are so tiny. We even had to pull in the side mirrors. It was neat, but dang... I couldn't live here. It's so clausterphobic... Everyone piled on top of and next to each other.
David grilled our dinner early and then Anna and I slipped out to H2O for our internet fix. David stayed home and asked Pat to stay with him. It's like a Girls Night Out! lol. Driving in Spain is not bad in the normal areas. No small town driving for me though!
You can check out all of our pics so far:
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| posted by Alana @ 2:01 PM |
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| Wednesday, May 07, 2008 |
| Days are starting to blend together! |
Hmmm...
What did we do today? Everyday seems so full, it's hard to remember. This morning we went into Nerja, and had coffee at the famous Balcon de Europa at our favorite cafe con leche place. Then we ambled around looking for a bookstore. We found one, and it was English, but they only had a tiny selection. Guess what, no sci-fi/fantasy. So... I'm stuck reading an old beat-up copy of Dirk Gentry, again...
We then went and hooked in to the internet for a bit at H2O... My computer is still having issues. Oh well. Used David's again.
After that we were going to go to La Parra - a restaurant that was on Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares. It looked like it could be good once Gorden was done with 'em, but when we got there, it was deserted. It looked like the owner might not have listened. So we changed out minds and went to the local English pub-like place and had fish and chips. They were great! And Mushy Peas! David had been raving about mushy peas since we met... They really are as good as he says.
We went to a Pharmacy and got David some cough syrup. I'm hoping we're both going to sleep better tonight!
Tomorrow, more family time. We're having lunch with David's niece, Lisa, and her son, Sua (Soo-ah). He's a doll. He's about 2 years old.
Anyway... Another day in Spain... It's going surprisingly fast. It's almost a week already.Labels: Spain, Vacation |
| posted by Alana @ 11:59 PM |
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| Tuesday, May 06, 2008 |
| Thank god for wires. |
Tuesday...
So... Today I swam in the Sea. It was chilly! But not too bad. I didn't bring a swimsuit. Since we packed last minute, I couldn't find my suit anywhere in the house... I tore apart my dresser, closet, laundry area, and just couldn't find it. I may have left it in Michigan last fall. So David's mum brought an extra and I am using that until I find another.
During Siesta, we went over to Paul's house (David's sister-in-law's brother... follow?) he runs a company out of his home and has great internet connections. My laptop has been sucking. My wireless barely works and I can't control my home computer with a sucky internet connection. Why do I need to control my home computer, you might ask? Well, my e-store, www.divadata.com, is still up and running and the orders are still coming in! I've made about $200 since arriving in Spain! I love the internet! I have a gal who is taking care of the orders for me while I'm here. But, I need to be able to print out orders for Brit.
So anyway, we went over to Paul's house and downloaded new drivers for my wireless card. Now we're at the Wireless cafe and my fricking wifi stil doesn't work. I'm having to write all my blogs on my computer in notepad and then upload them later.
I think that the only thing that I really get frusterated in Spain about is the lack of technology. I take it for granted that we have such steller connections and wifi... I have a hard time letting some of that go.
Anyway... more to come!Labels: Internet, Spain, Vacation, Wireless |
| posted by Alana @ 10:56 PM |
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| Sunday, May 04, 2008 |
| Must ... Have ... Internet ... |
Mmmmmm... Cafe con Leche.
You just can't reproduce it. David and I have tried. It's not a latte, it's not espresso, but it's not just milky coffee. It's a hot, sweet, caffinated cup of heaven.
We tried to go grocery shopping, but it's Sunday, everything's closed.
We went up to David's brother's for lunch. Spanish lunches are huge and take up 4 hours. But it was YUMMY!
After dinner... I mean, lunch... We rested... Then we tried to find internet. Rumor was, that there was internet access within walking distance.
So we found the restaurant... The Anchor (in English anyway) and, wouldn't you know it, the internet's out. The fish and chips that walked by me looked amazing. I guess we'll find out in a few days when the internet is back up. The waiter gave us directions to Casa Maria's, where, he said, we could get dinner and wireless. (After a 4 hour long lunch, I was starving.)
We zoomed around the village in the car looking for it... He had said it was down a dirt road, but we were having a hard time finding the dirt road. Then we came across a sign...
We drove down the goat track. Found the restaurant and NO WIFI! the food wasn't supposed to be good either. So we decided to heck with it! We know where there's WiFi, and good drinks... So off to Nerja and the Cafe H2O.
So... I go to connect and my frickin Wireless card is giving me trouble... But I am drinking the best, sour, peachy, tangy, drink... :)
We'll find more internet where I can update my wireless drivers.Labels: Internet, Spain, Vacation, Wireless |
| posted by Alana @ 10:52 PM |
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| Saturday, May 03, 2008 |
| We made it! |
We arrived!
We managed to find our baggage, get our rental car and get out of Malaga. While we were waiting in Madrid, I realized that I had left the usb part of our GPS system in the truck... At the Raleigh Airport. It's been so long since I've driven without a GPS that I was terrified I wouldn't be able to get anywhere. How the heck do people deal with life without technology?
We made it to David's brother's house without any trauma. Once we were on the main highway, we both remembered the way.
Our villa is great! Beautiful bedroom overlooking the sea, just a walk down the road to the beach.
We had a pretty good dinner and then waited up for Anna and Pat, David's sister and mother. It was tough, we were both exhausted. But it was definitely worth it. |
| posted by Alana @ 11:50 PM |
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| Friday, May 02, 2008 |
| Stuck in an airport.. .~sigh |
Wow...
Okay... So.
Thursday night David didn't sleep at all... He was sick and had a really bad sore througt. This means I didn't really sleep at all either.
Friday morning David went to his Microsoft conference. I caught up on a few emails before we left.
We made it to the Raleigh Airport with plenty of time and hopped on the first plane to Phillidelphia with no problems. We made it to the gate to Madrid just as they were bording. Great! While waiting to leave the gate... the capitain comes on the loudspeaker,
"Hello, this is the capitan. While doing the complete plane check, which is something done after every international flight, our staff noticed a fuel leak."
(WHAT!?!)
"We're just going to check if this is something that can be fixed. Give us about 5 minutes."
(Holy Crap!? Did you NEED to tell me that? Just tell me you have mechanical difficulties! Don't tell me that we might explode!)
"This is your capitan again. It looks like it was just a leaking fuel tank panel. We're just going to unload some of the fuel, replace that panal, refuel and we'll be ready to go. We have an estimated wait time of about 45 minutes."
(Wait! You're jsut going to PATCH UP the fuel tank and send us OVERSEAS!?!)
. . . 10 minuets . . .
"This is the capitain again. For safety reasons, we're going to need you to leave the airplane while we make this adjustment. Please leave everything but your ticket stub onboard."
(Oaky, you want me to leave all my stuff ehre so it can get blown up..??)
. . . 1 hour . . .
Me: "Ummm, Excuse me. With the delay's, by the time we reach Madrid, we're cutting it close to missing our flight to Malaga."
Deak Gal: "We should be underway shortly. You won't miss your flight"
Me: "Can you please change it anyway, Just in case,"
Desk Gal: SIGH "Okay, we can put you on the afternoon flight instead of the morning flight."
Me: "Thanks."
. . . 1 more hour . . .
Loudspeaker at the gate:
"Hello folks. We're going to have to change planes. You're going to have to get back on board, gather your things, and go down to gate 22. But, because we've completely powered down the plane, we have to wait for an airport official to come down and turn on the power. It will be about 15 minutes."
. . . 30 minutes later . . .
Go in to get out things in a surprisingly calm and orderly fashion. Proceed to gate 22.
Loudspeaker at the gate:
"Hello again folks. They're getting the plane from the hanger, stocking it up, moving baggage over, and we should be ready to go shortly."
. . . 1.5 hours later . . .
By the time we left, we were 5 hours late. Thank god I changed flights!Labels: Spain, Vacation |
| posted by Alana @ 11:48 PM |
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| Thursday, May 01, 2008 |
| Trip to Spain - Thursday, May 1 |
I know I haven't updated this blog in a while. But I didn't want to post about my trip on my "Passion Parties Blog"
Packing for a 2 week trip is hard. Packing for a 2 week trip for 2 computer/techno geeks (one who has ADD!) is REALLY hard. I Think we put more thought and planning into the electronics than into the wardrobe! We put it off until today, and we we're trying to get out of the house by 3.
We got off to a late start. We managed to leave the house by 5:30. Which means, by the time we dropped the dogs off, we left Asheville by 6.
So, it's now 9:30pm and we're still driving. Okay, WE are not driving. HE is driving, I just did my obligatory 1.5 hours.
There;s just something I love about driving with David. After nearly 6 years, I can still look over and be so excited to be sitting next to him. It;s a little shocking really. I never thought I'd last this long in a relationship, not to mention, marriage!
I'm a little tired... David has a Microsoft Conference tomorrow and then we're flying out in the evening! Whoo Hooo! We'll land in Spain at 10am on Saturday! I'm going to do my best to blog and take pics of the whole trip.
I'm still not sure which blog I"ll actually send this to... My personal one... Which hasn't been updated since last summer... Or my Passion blog. Is it right to blab about my personal and family life in a blog that I would like to keep Passion Parties?
We;ll I guess that's the question, isn't it? Is my blog about My life as a Passion Parties consultant... or is it my life and I happen to be a Passion Parties consultant?
I'd love to hear from anyone who actually reads it.. Would you like it to be personal... Or would you rather that I kept it Passion Parties related.... though I don't seem to be very good at keeping it up just based on the business!
Anyway... We're about 6 miles away from our hotel, according to the GPS... So I'll end it for today!Labels: Spain, Vacation |
| posted by Alana @ 10:41 PM |
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| About Me |
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Name: Alana
Home: Marquette, MI, United States
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