Mad Dash to Madrid & Sunday in Segovia

20130515-010727.jpg20130515-010721.jpg20130515-010733.jpg20130515-010711.jpg20130515-010654.jpgThe weekend was almost a disaster when I work up 10 minutes before my train was to leave the station. (My fault, but I’ll blame it on the karaoke competition the night before.) By some miracle, I managed to throw stuff in a bag and run the kilometer to the station in about five minutes (definitely a personal best). It was a panicked and dramatic ten minutes!

I would have been so mad at myself had I missed the tennis tournament, so it was my lucky day. I spent the whole day at La Caja Magica. Seeing Nadal play in the semifinals agains fellow Spaniard Andújar, and in front of a Spanish crowd was so much fun…and totally worth the mad dash.

On Sunday, my friend Elvira and I went to Segovia for the day. The streets were full of puppeteers, musicians, and children’s shows. We walked through the entertainment to see the famous (and incredibly impressive — there is no cement between those stoens!) aqueduct, the castle that inspired Disney’s, and the ornate cathedral.

We finished the weekend back in Madrid, and as I was wandering the sunny streets Monday morning it hit me that I only have three weeks left in Spain… a karaoke win (and being subsequently interviewed on Huelva radio?!), a full day of pro tennis, a day trip to yet another beautiful Spanish town, and a last day of exploring the capital city…it wasn’t a bad way to enjoy one of my last weekends here! Hope your weekends were great as well! Un beso:)

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Wimbledon Twice! Make Some Scones!

Some people call it stuffy, but I think Wimbledon might be my favourite tennis tournament. It’s old, it’s prestigious, it’s classy.  I love the traditions, the white outfits, the grass, the pineapple atop of the quirky trophy, and the strawberries and cream that are a must for any Wimbledon breakfast.  This year, I’m excited to be getting a double dose of tennis at the All England Lawn Tennis Club — first we had the Grand Slam tournament earlier this summer and now the Olympics back at Wimbledon for London 2012…yipee!

Raonic and Tsonga shake hands after setting a record for the longest third set ever at the Olympics.

Raonic and Tsonga shake hands after setting a record for the longest third set ever at the Olympics.
via

Canadians got to cheer on Milos Raonic yesterday as he put up an impressive fight in a  marathon match against the 5th seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France. It was a nail biter, and I’m sure the lucky people in the stadium were pretty happy with the tennis they paid to see!

While I’m a pretty big Federer fan –I was thrilled when he won his 7th Wimbledon Championship this year– now that our Canadian contender is out I think I’ll be rooting for Andy Murray. I’ve never really been enamored with the Scottish tennis player, but after his hard-fought final against Federer a few weeks ago I think he’s deserving of a big win! Wouldn’t it be fun to see Murray win gold in front of the home crowd?? I think so!

Roger Federer and Andy Murray after the Wimbledon 2012 final.  via

Visiting Wimbledon last summer…someday I’ll make it for the tournament!

With all this tennis at Wimbledon you have to indulge in a Wimbledon breakfast (not that you have to wait for tennis to have a good breakfast)! The traditional strawberries and cream, English breakfast tea, a mimosa if you want to get fancy and fresh warm scones will compliment your British tennis viewing very nicely. I’m usually all for adapting recipes to make them healthier, but I think you should treat these scones as an indulgence and just go for the full buttery goodness. (I’m sure that is the proper English way of doing it anyway, right?) Enjoy the Olympics!

Blueberry Buttermilk Scones

Weekend Wind Down

Time flies when you’re having fun. It also flies when you are studying (and suddenly there’s never time to study enough!). I miss when weekends were more than just a prime time to get caught up on school work…I’m still working on finding that perfect balance between work and play…

Managed to drag myself out of bed earrrrly this morning to catch the last three sets of the epic men’s final at the Aussie Open — Dunlop was interested in the tennis ball, too!

Ottawa got all keyed up for the NHL All Star weekend in town. The ice sculptures for each team were lit up beautifully at night in Confederation Park.

Homemade pizza for family dinner

My lovely friend Christelle hosted a fun afternoon of card making; now I'm looking forward to sending out some snail mail!

Bright daisies for a sunny windowsill.

Hope the last weekend of January treated you well!