I was sorry to leave the penthouse apartment that we were staying in in Barcelona but happy for the next leg of my surprise European adventure to begin. I had never heard of Sitges and was happy to see some of the Spanish countryside. This part of our adventure was pure relaxation. We spent entire days at the beach, pausing only to eat, drink and take the occasional photograph.

Highlights of this leg of the adventure include:

• Relaxing in the gay capital of Spain. Admittedly we didn’t see many lesbians, mostly gay men, but who cares. We were in the gay capital of Spain, the sun was shinning and we were happy.
• The perfect weather, sangria, the sun the beach. You get the idea.
• Swimming topless (when in Spain).
• The  history. Again, for a girl who had barely left Australia, it was overwhelming.

First stop, Barcelona. It’s hard to not fall in love with Barcelona. The history, the art, the people. The nightlife, the lazy afternoons drinking Sangria, the beach. Some of my highlights include:

• Picasso Museum - I fell in love with Picasso’s work and learnt about his love for a small dash hound called Lump.
• The Gothic Quarter – Which left me utterly speechless. We stayed in an apartment that was built in 1736, difficult to comprehend.
• La Sagrada Familia – Construction of this iconic building began in 1882 and is scheduled to be completed by 2040. Made me want to believe.
• La Rambla – Chaotic and busy.
• Spending time with my BFF. Drinking, eating and taking hundreds of photographs.

On June 9th I headed to the airport for the trip of a lifetime. My BFF covered my eyes as we passed through each checkpoint at the airport. We made it to our stopover in Qatar before I found out about the destination for the first leg of the adventure; Barcelona! My dream to get to Europe was finally going to become a reality…

A friend that I work with goes to Curves a few times a week. She invited me one day and I was given a one month ‘trial pass’. I completed two sessions and it really wasn’t for me. I am no fitness fanatic but the workout seemed like a pretend workout. Now I know that it must work, Curves is huge and continues to grow. But it wasn’t for me.

You will need:

90 g margarine or butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon honey (I used organic honey from Mansfield)

4 cups corn flakes.

Method: Preheat oven to 150C. Melt butter, sugar & honey together in a saucepan until frothy. Add this to cornflakes and mix well. Spoon into paper patty cases. Bake in a slow oven for 10 minutes. This recipe is supposed to make 20. My batch only made about 14. Not enough. Next time I will double the mixture, you can never have enough honey joys, especially when you share them with work mates!!

so i am going to take some time to revamp my goals. try to put a bit of spunk into my list.

I have spent many a car trip singing to The Waifs. I have also seen them perform about 7 or 8 times. Ideally I like to see them at an outdoor gig but the gig at the Forum on 17th March was still good. It’s a great venue, intimate and with a well stocked bar.

The Waifs are touring to promote their latest album, Temptation, and of course played a lot of the material off this album. The gig was recorded and it was a bit distracting having a camera crew walking through the crowd. The crowd didn’t seem to mind though, it was full of adoring fans who seemed to really come alive when they played Crazy Train. It was great and I was again left wanting more. Vikki, Donna and Josh all now live in the US and the opportunity to see them live doesn’t come around often enough. I hope that I don’t have to wait another three years to see them live.

The Waifs at the Forum in Melbourne

17th March 2011

$62.50

This gig was great. Sia did not disappoint, what did disappoint was the venue (The Palace in St Kilda), over-zealous security and not being able to really dance. The highlight for me was Breath Me, one of my all time favourite songs. I read somewhere recently that Sia isn’t planning on touring much in the future once this tour is over. That would be such a shame, I would love to see her live again. It would be a pleasure.

Random facts about Sia:

• She was born on the 18 December 1975 in Adelaide.
• Her uncle is Colin Hay, who was the lead singer from Men at Work. Sia’s dad also played in the band.
• Sia is apparently great friends with Christina Aguilera and they have written and recorded a number of songs together including a song from the 2010 movie Burlesque, Bound To You; performed by Aguilera and nominated for the 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.