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| Last Day, Barcelona, at Playa de Sant Sebastia |
I am glad to be back from Spain, I did have a lovely time, and I really do want to get back (especially to see the finished Sagrada Familia in 2026), but I was beat by the time we got home. :-) I have more travel type photos to share later, but since this is more an "ootd" kind of blog, I know those can wait. (I know, I know, I haven't really been all that great at the ootd lately. Ha. But I am trying to get back! Hand on heart!)
Okay, so though I started with the above image (one of my favorites from the trip), I am going in order from the first day traveling on the plane (from Philadelphia to Madrid), followed by Madrid, then Barcelona (and day trips), and finally the trip from Barcelona to Philadelphia.
I knew I would have to wear super comfortable clothing, but I also didn't want to wear clothing that was shlumpy, so I tried hard to meet my needs for cute and comfy right in the middle. I did choose to use three main colors, a deep teal/aqua, grey, and black. I only brought two pairs of shoes, and that turned out to be more than enough. In fact I brought just enough, and we had room left over to bring back souvenirs (including the "top" from the top photo up there). I bring more than this to my trips to Mississippi and Louisiana. I think I am going to try this capsule kind of thing again. It was great!
Day: Monday-Tuesday, March 28-29, 2016.
Where: Travel to Philadelphia from Alexandria, then the flight from Philadelphia to Madrid, and finally Madrid (with a nap for me at the hotel).
Outfit Details: Coat, Anthropologie; Tunic, handmade (used New Look 6240); Shoes, Clarks (find them here at amazon.com); Sunglasses, J. Crew (here); Leggings, Madewell.
Anecdote of the Day: I had a sinus infection before leaving town (yep, that's my third illness of 2016, after the Pink Eye of January and the Strep Throat of February), so I had antibiotics and strong cough medicine to take with me on the plane. I was very tempted to just go when we arrived in Madrid, but I heard the doctor in the back of my head reminding me to not overdo it, since that was likely what landed me with a third illness this year. (She called it having a suppressed immune system, sigh.) So while the rest of them went sightseeing, I slept for four hours instead. I felt much better after waking up.
Day: Tuesday, March 29, 2016.
Where: Madrid. Mainly the Museo del Prado. This was after I had my nap.
Ease of Wear: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) Again, super comfortable. Very few of these outfits, btw, are anything but comfortable. One or two might be described as a bit less comfy, but nothing dramatically uncomfortable.
Outfit Details: Coat, Anthropologie; Top, J. Crew; Shoes, New Balance for J. Crew (they have this cute pair in gold and ivory right now); Pants, J. Crew; Sunglasses, Ray-Ban (I think these are the same from amazon.com); Necklace, Stella and Dot, Bag; Travelon (buy the same one from amazon.com).
Anecdote of the Day: The Museo del Prado had free hours between 5 and 7, if I am remembering correctly, and though I would have preferred to spend more time there, we got quite a bit more of the "must-sees" done in that time, so yay for small things. I would have thought it would have been more crowded, and though there were a lot of people there, it didn't feel overwhelming.
Day: Wednesday, March 30, 2016.
Where: Continued Madrid sightseeing, including the castle and the Museo Reina Sofia.
Ease of Wear: (5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) I made this dress a while back and I think I forgot to give you all the blog post I wrote on it for Fabric Mart. Anyhow, the dress is wonderful and fits so well, plus the knit fabric (from Halston Heritage!) moves and drapes beautifully. It also has pockets. :-)
Outfit Details: Dress, handmade (used Ottobre Magazine 05-2015, read more about it here); Shoes, Clarks (find them here at amazon.com); Sunglasses, Ray-Ban (I think these are the same from amazon.com); Tights, probably Spanx, but I can't remember; Necklace, Stella and Dot.
Anecdote of the Day: This was day one of MANY many miles walked in Spain. Most days we walked 10-12 miles. Angus was in his buggy or on my back for the most part, but the older two were forced into walking the whole amount. That said, we ate and drank very well, so though I didn't lose any weight, I definitely didn't gain any (and I ate a lot of very high calorie foods and all my beverages were of the vino category).
Madrid, btw, is where my mom was born. She is Spanish only by birth (she is German/American), but I know that your birthplace is still important, and it was nice to see the city she knew as a little girl. I was quite taken with Madrid. It is apparently a very big city, but it felt small, and that was appealing to me.
Day: Thursday, March 31, 2016.
Ease of Wear: (5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) These pants were made by me to fit extremely well and do well on travel, so it was a no-brainer I was going to bring them. I wrote more about the process of making them here at this Fabric Mart post.
Outfit Details: Top, J. Crew; Shoes, New Balance for J. Crew (they have this cute pair in gold and ivory right now); Pants, handmade (used McCall's 6901); Sunglasses, Ray-Ban (I think these are the same from amazon.com); Bag; Travelon (buy the same one from amazon.com).
CW, by the way, is wearing one of my favorite mini Boden dresses ever, the Sweatshirt dress. It is still available, but it is out of stock in most sizes in this color.
Anecdote of the Day: We walked so much that day, and I LOVE walking, but by 6:30 pm, I was done. This is the first time in my life where I can remember actually wanting to stop. We had to keep going, but at least we didn't head to another museum. I think the kids and I would have revolted had we continued.
We ate dinner at a hole in the wall, and this British couple was sitting near us, and very quickly identified that we were from Virginia, based on our accent. I was stunned. People in Wisconsin think I am from the deep deep South, but people in Mississippi think I might as well be from the Bronx. Turns out they had lived in Harrisonburg, VA, and knew the accent of "us" very well. Yeah. Good for them. They may be the only people who can do it outside of Virginians. :-)
Day: Friday, April 1, 2016.
Ease of Wear: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) The pants are the same ones from the day before, and so still comfy, but stupid me only brought the rain jacket (not pictured, well except I am holding it in my hand in the courtyard at the Dali museum) and not the Anthropologie knit coat, so I was a touch cold all day. I drank wine to make up for it. Ha.
Outfit Details: Top, J. Crew; Shoes, New Balance for J. Crew (they have this cute pair in gold and ivory right now); Pants, handmade (used McCall's 6901); Glasses, Bebe eyewear; Scarf, MoMA (yep, it's Jackson Pollock inspired; apparently you can buy anything on amazon.com, including this).
CW's rainjacket is the Pack-Away Rain Mac from Boden. It's wonderful, and does truly and easily pack away and was exactly the right layer for her that day and others.
Anecdote of the Day: To get to Figueres, we ended up on the fast train to Paris. I was very very tempted to see Paris, so I threatened to stay on the train with CW. But I did want to see the Dali museum, and it was worth it. There were hordes of French teenagers everywhere, too, so it kind of felt like I was in Paris, anyhow.
Day: Saturday, April 2, 2016.
Ease of Wear: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) The tunics CW and I are wearing are made by me, and they were super soft rayon knit from Joann's, so they felt wonderful, but mine kept riding up a bit on the jean leggings. Ding down for that.
Outfit Details: Tunic, handmade (used Kwik Sew 3463 for mine and Kwik Sew 3958 for hers; I wrote more on my original make of this pattern here); Shoes, New Balance for J. Crew (they have this cute pair in gold and ivory right now); Leggings, the grocery store...seriously; Bag; Travelon (buy the same one from amazon.com); Necklace, Stella and Dot.
Anecdote of the Day: I loved this day. I was stoked to take it all in, and though the trip to get to the Park Guell was a bit of a bear, once we got there, it was very lovely, and I dug the mosaics everywhere. The view was great, too. We decided to walk (of course!) to the next Gaudi site, and it took us through these darling streets with cute shops and restaurants. It was hard not to fall in love with Barcelona that day.
We ended up having to go to Zara to get the kids some shoes (they complained theirs were too small), so we found some there in the sale section, and because it is Spain, and it is Zara, of course I had to peek in the women's section, too. I ended up with dos vestidos (two dresses--more like tunics on me, of course). They were both on sale, and when I checked the American price, I realized the price I paid in Spain was much better. Woo hoo! The cashier was super handsome, too. (Not that this matters, wink wink.)
Day: Monday, April 4, 2016.
(There is something and an ootd for Sunday, but the dress is under wraps until late April as it is my April make for the Fabric Mart blog. You can take a peek at it here at this instagram.)
Where: Barcelona, mainly the harbor/beach, and a very very long walk to the Sagrada Familia.
Ease of Wear: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) This is one of the two dresses I bought from Zara. I decided to wear it under the skirt as a top, but if I hadn't gone to Sagrada Familia that day, I would have been tempted to wear it on its own. Sure it was short, but I *think* I can get away with it.
Outfit Details: Dress, Zara (here, I did buy it for about $23, btw, but it sold out here at the higher price, it is worth it, though the back button is a bit flimsy); Shoes, Clarks (find them here at amazon.com); Sunglasses, Ray-Ban (I think these are the same from amazon.com); Tights, Boden; Necklace, National Trust UK.
Anecdote of the Day: So that beach there that I am posing at? It has a nudist beach there in the summer (though unofficially). No nudists there while we were there, but that would have made for an interesting discussion with the kids had we ended up there by accident in the summer. :-) Angus is really vocal when he sees bare chests, declaring that those people are "naked, Momma," so I imagine he would have been very loudly exclaiming over the nakedness surrounding him had this been the case. Instead we ended up nearly getting killed by an errant skateboarder who acted like we were the problem (yeah, no, you were skateboarding DOWN the stairs). I would much rather see naked people.
The Sagrada Familia is certainly interesting from the exterior, but the interior was so beautiful, I nearly started crying upon entering. I rarely have moments like those, but I felt the love and passion all the artisans had poured into its creation, and the fact that it was made for Catholics to worship in made it even more special and spiritual. I just wish we could have gone to mass there. (We went to Monserrat on Sunday instead, also a very spiritual place.)
Day: Tuesday, April 5, 2016.
Where: Barcelona to Philadelphia, and then the car drive to Alexandria.
Ease of Wear: (5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) The shorter length of the Gaudi top (purchased on the day we visited all the site) didn't ride up with the leggings the way the tunic did, so it was super comfortable. And considering I was on a plane with three children for eight hours along with a very surly flight attendant crew (not surly to us, just surly/complainy in general), I was very relaxed and at ease in it.
Outfit Details: Top, Gaudi inspired, made for the museums that showcase his work; Shoes, Clarks (find them here at amazon.com); Leggings, Harris Teeter.
Anecdote of the Day: I could have stayed a few extra days, but my body thanked me for returning to normal by insisting I sleep non-stop for days upon return. I was going to bed at 8 every night for a week. I am still very much hitting the hay as soon as I can. I do want to try and get more walking in, even more than I already do, since I love the benefit of eating and drinking well in return. :-)
Okay, that's it for now. Thanks for reading. :-)
BTW, Boden has both rolled out a collection for April and the Icons. The Icons are nearly sold out, but the new stuff for April is still around and I have a code for 15% off below and in my sidebar. I want to talk more about it, but I really wanted to get this post up instead. I am sure Boden doesn't care which I do. LOL.
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