C and A's Wedding

So... now we are at 10 hours post the Chocolate con churros (see post below) and the REAL reason for me being in Madrid--> C&A's wedding... I thought I'd post some pictures... and mention the fact that we didn't finish again till post 8am. The wedding ceremony was beautiful and it was really cool as the priest summarized his sermon in english. A year of not practicing Spanish left it rustier than I imagined! "A" looked beautiful in her wedding gown and "C" looked funky in his tux and funky tie... (as u can see below)


So, here's the whole family in this beautiful church on Calle Serrano

DA BOYZ!!! There was some "camarero!camarero!" game going on which was remeniscent of Punjabi Boliyaan


This is from the NEXT morning... not long after the two hours of sleep I got after the wedding.Something about the unusual (for Madrid) colour scheme is what was cool (or could have been the lack of sleep!)

101 reasons for Chocolate con Churros

this post is dedicated to all those who have over-indulged in BEvERageS while in Spain and needed to head for the local Churreria to recover. And thanks to Susana who pointed that I hadn't posted anything about this great Spanish tradition (read the comments of the post below this one)!
Let me preface this post by saying that the below experiences are not far removed from the fairly normal practice of "la marcha" in Madrid.

So, C&A's wedding festivities started with an all-u-can-consume (solid & liquid) Argentinian dinner.This is the picture of the gang, just post-dinner with loosened belts and big wine-enhanced smiles!So, while everyone else headed home to prep for the wedding the following eve, I continued (in the grand "la marcha" tradition) to B's birthday...
After hours of dancing, we were too tired to lift the camera off the ground! (just kidding!)

NOW... we went to San Gines which was CLOSED... but we got our fix of chocolate con churros at the bar next door... which was still serving drinks at 8am... it was funny as we were the only ones interested in winding!
So, here we are below... munchin' away long after the sun has risen but well before we are to see our beds!
AND the birthday boy just couldn't WAIT till he made it to bed! Sorry B... I just HAD to post this!

Bales... bales.. and more bales...

so, the weekend before London and Madrid... was at the Everdale Center for a workshop on Straw Bale House building held by Ben Polley of Harvest Homes. An awesome experience... and a highly recommended way to build a house! And no... you can't huff and puff and blow it down (considering it is significantly stronger, more fire-resistant and has a higher insulation value i.e. lower heating and cooling costs).
Ok... enough of horn-tooting... its picture-time! :)


this is the house we built in that weekend... NOT!!! This is HOME ALIVE.. check it out!!! GO VISIT!!! :)


This is the inside of the walls of HOME ALIVE! :)


NOW... THIS is the the crew and the house we were learning to build! :)

Bride 'n Bhangra

So... going back into my memory banks... lets start off with L&G's wedding... an awesome time... and one of the coolest parts was the two dholi's who were later accompanied by a Chinese Lion Dance troupe. The drum fusion was kickin'! This, of course, on top of the dancing, food and consumption of BEvERageS! :)
So, here are some of the pix... (I had some more "normal" ones... but whats the point of showing normal ones...
"G" is TRYING to be the sad and demure bride but quite unsuccessfully as you can see. She's just smilin' away...


The post-wedding siesta in the car after a quick run to Dairy Queen... Sorry guys... I HAD to post this one... I think its really cute... don't kill me for it!


This is one from the reception... "L' lookin' sharp!