Halloween - five days before Thanksgiving?

Alright! I seem to have gotten my life back in order. Can't keep a soldier down long. I'll forget for the moment about the near-catastrophic mound of laundry waiting to be washed (you can still kiss my behind, expensive washing machines, I refuse to submit to your costly convenience) and give you a little more photographic fun.

But before I get there, a little side note. What have I learned this week? I have awesome hair. (You were expecting the answer to the meaning of life or something equally deep, weren't you? =P) I've been living without a hairbrush for the past week, and somehow it still looks and feels good. Considering that it's really starting to grow out and probably needs a cut and that I'm running low on hair conditioner...thank you, Mom's side of the family!

Okay, and for more important lessons, related to my last blog post, you don't always have to do everything by yourself. While there's much good to be said about being independent and self-reliant, it's important to realize where stubbornness and pride can factor in and result in unnecessary strain. Simply put, note to self: it's okay to rely on others every once in a while. Chances are, if you surround yourself with the right people they won't mind at all. In fact, they probably want to help. Even if there's not much that can be done, more often than not other people do a much better job of cheering you up than you can do yourself. So there you go!

Moving on, I realize that there's plenty of stuff from my Barcelona trip that I haven't chatted about here. So time to recommence, even if it's way out of order. Mainly, every inner child's favorite holiday, Halloween! Mine was spent in Barcelona in a rather nontraditional way. No candy or wild parties, but there was a parade! I found it quite illuminating.

 Yes! Kids skipping down the street with giant sparklers!

Accompanied by a bangin' drumline!

 And, the man on the left- the ringleader! This is immediately after about five of them lit their sparklers at once, in a big circle. It. Was. Awesome.

 And the parade moves on!

We followed for awhile, enjoying the music, 10-foot handheld fireworks (we really need some of these in the U.S., I've decided), and atmosphere of celebration. I didn't take very good pictures, and they totally don't do this justice! It was cool to see this fun Halloween tradition. Afterward, Perla and I decided we wanted to explore Barcelona by night. We strolled the Gothic Quarter, explored on foot, and eventually made our way up Mont Juic to see the city by night. On the way, a man started chasing us, but we weren't too scared:

I win!

 Our eventual reward was seeing the congressional palace, a lovely park with fountains and paths to wander, and a stunning night view of the city. We just sat for awhile and soaked it in, glad to be there.

My camera is dependable, but not good for night photos. Guess you'll have to take my word for it ^_^

Definitely a non-traditional Halloween, but altogether memorable and happy. Until next time, I really need to do grocery shopping...I'm down to pasta and cous cous. I wish I was joking! Guess I'll add that to my laundry list of things to do.

I would also like to apologize for the several bad puns to be found in this post.