la gente está muy loca, and other tales from tenerife

Carnavallllll!!! Ages ago, my friend Amandine tried to convince me and a number of other people to come to Tenerife with her and celebrate Carnival. My reply went like, "hmmm, maybe, thinking about it, mmm money, probably not..." and then less than a week before thought "Oh what the hell, I'm GOING!" And I went. Which turned out to be a great idea. Costumes, all night street parties, colour, madness, music. Three days of that in the middle of February in a warmish climate (the Canary Islands are basically Africa, but it was windy) were just what I needed to get a big dose of joie de vivre. Tenerife is supposed to have the biggest Carnival after Brazil, and it was properly crazy!

Anyway, here's some pictures from the night carnivals. Crash course: men dressed like women, women dressed like angels or mice, everyone drinking rum and coke out of plastic bottles, everyone pretty much insisting you take their picture. "Why didn't you take a picture of me? Why didn't you use the flash? Are you a photographer? Add me on facebook!"

I started out the night sort of costumed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (this is Ruby Slipper Journeys after all), but somewhere along the way I acquired a pink wig which I'm completely in love with now!




Nerds was also a popular costume!






Batman waiting for his churros






A lot of straight boys letting their inner drag-queen out.



Then we walked back to our hotel by vomiting Snow Whites and traffic directions given by fake policemen, waved to the fallen angels in the park and headed to bed!

so sophisticated, and then less so

Recently I was invited to an art opening at MACBA, Barcelona's modern art museum. Well, I just walked in off the street, so I guess there's no reason why I couldn't have invited myself all these past years, but anyway, I felt posh. ;) And there was free champagne, which I imagine accounted for at least a portion of the crowd!

I love the MACBA building, which is like a white beacon rising out of a sometimes chaotic (but always alive) neighbourhood.


Rosa and her camera necklace



Then we headed down the road to Bar Fidel, which makes possibly the best sandwiches (and very good salads too) in Barcelona. I had a ham, camembert and asparagus baguette.



Then we wandered down into deepest, darkest Raval, to a bar I used to frequent when I was 23, and Rosa pulled strings to get us some horrible drinks that had bits of cigar in them!



Until there were only three of us, and it was time for ceiling-touching competitions...



...and Edvard Munch impersonations.

when clothes do express your personality

People always go on about using fashion as a means to express their personality, but I seldom feel like my clothes say much about me, actually, beyond the superficial (middle class, late 20s, periphery to a certain urban tribe, etc.) I've always felt there's a divide between how I dress and how I think, with the former being girlier, and more mainstream in a way than my actual personality.

But I think this outfit actually does represent my personality a bit more than usual. The necklace is a nod to the past without being obsessed with it, and this is one of my favourite dresses: not in-your-face feminine, but layers well with demure blouses. I also love plaid... often for women you have the option of floral (why must our default setting be flowers?), stripes (too potentially preppy or wannabe French), or polka dots (too cutesy). Plaid expresses heritage, character, and a certain masculinity that I like to think is more unisex. Also I love the way the asymmetrical hemline flutters in the wind. And I love my hair in a bun.

What looks do you think best represent your personality, or are you still struggling to discover them?

a weekend with a new/old friend

What constitutes knowing somebody in the internet age? Before I had a blog, knowing someone was fairly clear. You met them; and either inclination or circumstance kept you knowing them. Since I started blogging though, I've developed relationships with all sorts of people I've never met, a fair number of them it can be assumed I will never meet. But through reading their blogs over months or years, I know some of them better than I know some of my real-life friends.

A couple of weeks ago I hosted one such friend who I had never met before, Ashley. I don't even know which random click brought me to her blog or her to mine 2 1/2 years ago, but I've been interacting with her since I lived in Mexico. Now, she lives in London, so obviously we had to arrange for her to come and visit me here.

I had fun giving my usual rambling tour, long on food and coffee and short on actual monuments, most of which I made her visit by herself. ;)


dinner with friends


I took her to Parc de la Ciutadella for the obligatory mammoth picture




We had chocolate and churros and coffee at Granja Viader


And on Sunday we went to Parc Guëll. I hadn't been for years myself... it's good having visitors!





That crazy girl in green was wandering around the park in skin-tight pants and six inch heels. Somehow she made it up the pinnacle with the crosses though.


And we did quieter, more local things, like watching Swing dancing in a square in the Gràcia neighbourhood.


And going for cocktails with friends, on a night when I became an official cocktail photographer! Ha!

Come back any time Ashley! Now that we know each other and everything. Also, we've got to finish drafting our best-selling future novel about sexy Leprechauns!

sneakers and schlumping

A few weekends back I was determined to have a quiet, lazy-ish weekend just schlumping around the city. As usual, that kind of flew out the window as one thing led to another and I ended up going out for dinner twice, to the theatre, out for vermut and out for breakfast, but anyway I guess I dressed the schlumping around part.

Albert was in town and on Saturday we went to watch an antique funeral cart being transported to its new home in a museum. Sounds like a strange thing to do to, but it was a really beautiful old wagon and they had people in fancy dress driving it and following it, so that was fun.



Then we went to French café (where I once ate an entire plate of cheese) and had pain au chocolat and coffee and I sneakily took pictures both in and outside the café.









Then jumped around for the blog a bit, and went home for the first of many naps! (Think I may have also had sparkling wine before lunch that day, tut tut).



Also, this dress is short, but not that short. I think the sweater over top is not helping with the proportions...

leica moments

Albert bought an old film Leica on ebay last year, and we've been bringing it along on some outings since then (then forgetting to get the films developed for months and months. I originally posted this outfit back in June, but I liked the Leica photos enough to post some more now (also, hot and sweaty as that day was, I kind of miss it from the point of view of shivery February). I particularly like the photos of the surrounding neighbourhood--Plaça Espanya, close to where I live. Black and white photos shot on faintly grainy film always have a sense of gravitas that is missing from digital photography. I mean, it's all in our heads, but they do. I'm not sure if these photos of the city are more or less realistic than digital colour photos would be... on the one hand, life is obviously in colour, on the other, the heavy humid air is captured pretty perfectly in Black and White!