ahhhhhhhh, spring

I have no reason to write other than that I feel so dang good right now, I just have to tell someone about it. This is one of the better days off that I've had in a while. In the words of the great Victoria Stembokas, I am all kinds of content right now.

Until this week, I have been cold for 2 months. I mean, I have been alternating days between my fleece socks and my sweater socks, and only wearing shoes that fit over socks that thick, which means that for two months I have worn no shoes other than my adidas that should have been thrown away 6 years ago or my hot pink mesh sneakers. I have not worn less than 2 shirts at a time for 2 months. For 2 months, I have stooped to being one of those girls that always has to use a hairdryer because it has been too cold for wet hair. I could go on, but you get the idea. For 2 months, my life has revolved around being warm.

Ok, maybe it hasn't been 2 months of that. Maybe it was more like 4 or 5 weeks, but it has been really cold and I'm a whiner when it comes to that. The coldest winter Madrid has seen in 20 years.

But today my windows are open. Today, I spent about 15 minutes lying on a rock in the sun between a fountain, an egyptian temple, and a great view of the palace, with the sun beating down on my face, toasting my jeans and making my hair feel hot to the touch (it's not hot enough to hate having dark hair yet--it's still fun that the sun heats it up like a microwave or somthing). I ate it up. It was effortless comfort. I couldn't look to my right because the sun was too bright, but to my left I could see Madrid's beautiful sky--a shade of blue that you don't believe until you see it in person. If you're from Kentucky, imagine the color of the sky at 5:30 p.m. on a sunny August afternoon--it's that shade of blue, all the time. It's majestic. I'm pretty sure I could live in that spot.

I then proceeded to my second favorite acitivity (besides sunning myself on a rock like a seal)---tossing the frisbee. Kelly Crull and I tossed it back and forth for who knows how long (an hour maybe) and chatted about whatever came to our minds. I was pretty rusty after not having touched a frisbee in about 5 or 6 months, but all in all I didn't embarrass myself too badly. I'll have to rebuild that calloused place in between the pointer and middle finger from frisbee tossing, though. I have a blister.

I then walked home, somehow weaving around enough that I managed to turn a 20 minute walk into a 45 minute stroll, complete with a stop at Mercadona to pick up strawberries and bananas. The strawberries are finally in season--the kind that are so sweet and so good that when you take the first bite you can't help but make a noise. The bananas are always good here because they come from the Canary Islands. Mmmmmm.... If your mouth isn't watering yet, imagine chopping up the strawberries and bananas, throwing them in orange juice, and blending up a smoothie masterpiece.

I took off my shoes, rolled up my jeans, painted my toenails, and took in the open windowed, blue skied, smoothie perfection world that I live in today. I am all kinds of content right now.