Lazy days of summer…

On Friday after graduation my love took me to my favorite place for a graduation lunch. Puerto Sherry, Blanca Paloma, my happy place. I’ve mentioned it a time or two.

This is the place my heart will always think of when I think back to my time here. I just love it.

 

Oh and my favorite yummy, delicious salad. Ensalada Spagnola. Fresh mozzarella and pesto. Yes please.

And little Omar and I have been splitting this as well, the provolone and feta bruschetta.

And Omar gets some version of the pizza… ham and mushroom this time…

The rest of the day was spent hanging out at home. Got Omar’s sea bag packed so that is ready to go for the plane. I was giving him a hard time wondering if he even remember how to pack a sea bag because it’s been so long since he’s had to do it!  He does need some new uniforms as he can get by with less than what is required here but we can buy those in Hawaii.

Also made of list of EVERYTHING else I need to try and get done in the next few days, lots of checking out things.  Still stressing out about the dog situation. Just hoping everything goes okay with getting him on all three airplanes, picking him up, and dropping him off at the pet sitter.

Rented “Wanderlust” off of iTunes… Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston, I really expected more of you. It was one of those movies where most of the funny parts were shown in the preview. Omar did make a comment that I was a likely candidate for a commune after I made a remark about how they were living sustainably. Whatever.

Saturday we ALL slept in and it was wonderful, in fact I almost overslept for my hair appointment. I woke up at 9:40 for a 10am appt! Out the door in 5 minutes and still had time to grab a caramel macchiatto from the coffee shop next to the salon! Was just getting highlights and a trim, the girl left the color on for a bit longer than I would have liked so it’s pretty blonde when I really just wanted caramel.  Omar says it looks good and he’s not one to sugarcoat my hair choices! It’ll work for summer, especially since I am moving to the land of endless summer…

I had to stop and do some shopping for a baby shower I was going to this afternoon (what, I almost ALWAYS shop the day of a party, it’s terrible I know!) I swear, nothing makes me want to have another baby like shopping in the infant girls section.  (And no, no more babies for us, we are done!)

I was shopping for a gift for this lovely lady Amber. She is having her second baby, her first girl! She is such a great person, always smiling and happy!  We used to work together, she quit before I did so she could relax for the rest of her pregnancy. We had lots of fun friends there, and TONS of food. Oh my, the hostess outdid herself. I must have had three helpings of berry trifle!

(I want that dress in my size! Seriously, how adorable is that!) Congrats Amber! Wish I was going to be here to meet your baby girl!

Mother’s Day Weekend Recap

We had a fun weekend, took the dog to the beach, went to feria in Jerez, then out to dinner for Mother’s Day at Blanca Paloma, aka my happy place.

My kidlets were threatened that they better be on their best behavior so I could enjoy my favorite dinner, the beautiful day, and the sunshine. They did great, iPods and Nintendo DS’s helped.

 

Me and crazy pants. He demanded a silly photo.

The salad of my dreams. Fresh mozzarella, fresh pesto, sun-dried tomatoes. So, so good. I also had some bruchetta with tomato, provolone and feta.  No pictures of that because it was inhaled.

Happy Mom’s Day to me! I swear I don’t always have bitch face!

On our way out, the beach was PACKED when we got there and empty by the time we left. It was a beautiful day!

On Saturday a friend of mine and I took our boxers to the beach. This whole area is under water at high tide but at low tide there is a TON of room for them to run.  Swimming isn’t allowed so it stays empty and we can let the dogs run and they don’t bother anyone.

 

Bowser decided to cool off and get into the water. He’s never done this before, but once he realized how much it cooled him off he didn’t want to get out!  I don’t even know if he can swim! We’ll have to see this summer!

All three puppies! Bowser loves his buddies!

In the amount of time that we were there (maybe an hour total walking) I got sunburned! This Spanish sun is NO JOKE!

My happy place – Puerto Sherry

Puerto Sherry is what I pictured Spain would be like before we moved here.

I thought my house would look like these houses (not knowing we didn’t have a choice and HAD to live on base!)

Hello beautiful houses, will you be mine?

Puerto Sherry is where I go when I start to feel bummed about living overseas (I really do love it, it’s an awesome opportunity and I am going to miss the hell out of it when we leave but it can be challenging!)

As a matter of fact I DO love bougainvillea arching over my windows! I’ll take this one!

Puerto Sherry is a charming neighborhood that is parked right on the bay and has a small group of restaurants and a small beach.  The parking is pretty horrible (par for the course in Spain – when someone tells you about a restaurant the parking situation is one of the biggest pros/cons!) But there are parking lots and if you go during ‘American’ dining times as opposed to Spanish, you are fine.

Now our favorite place to eat? Blanca Paloma.  It is a small Italian restaurant that actually has another larger twin a few miles away. However there is no competition when it comes to the view!

The kiddos hanging out on the rocks next to the tables…

Big O and little O, hanging out at Blanco Paloma. You can see the beach in the background.

The kiddos and I last Mother’s Day… (A little blurry but you can see the city of Cadiz in the background)

Cutie pie!

A few things about this picture… first of all look at that great house behind O… And it’s for sale!! Also see the street right there? The street actually runs between the restaurant and the outdoor seating.  The outdoor seating is on a little strip that sits right on the water. The street ends at a small parking area so there isn’t really a ton of traffic. Also hey look there is Blanca Paloma’s phone number just in case you feel like giving them a call!

The view along the rocks, always LOTS of fishermen

Why can’t I have this roof on my house!!

M posing!

Puerto Sherry, Blanca Paloma, get there. You won’t regret it.