Red underwear, wishes on paper, white and gold candles burning, lentils in your pocket... Whatever your lucky tradition may be for tomorrow night, here goes all my best to the ambivalent readers, hoping the new year unfolding brings you the good stuff. See you in 2005. If you don't see me first.

School year
And so the year 2004 is closing down for current affairs. And the dreadful tsunami has turned everything -even the year- upside down. Again. That feeling of horror that we've felt before and we will feel at times in the future. 2004 had a good share of awful. It also had plenty of wow! and beautiful... and *gasp* and butterflies. This is more or less what i've learned this year (*), in no particular order.

1. I'm through with the city hype. This translates into getting a proper flat outside Madrid, namely at one of the coziest towns i know. I think living in the centre is what one should do for a while, but i also feel my momentum is gone. Now let's see if we get lucky with the home search version 3.2.

2. Getting married is not that complicated. Taking, accepting, acknowledging the decision was not complicated at all. It was very easy to say yes, and it was also dead easy to keep saying yes in my mind. I still hear my own yesss every now and then. The hard part was getting it all organized, and other people helped so much i can't complain. Who wants to revisit the day?

3. Ooooh baby! I didn't think i'd be pregnant in the near future, much less this very year, yet here i am, playing Bach and craving on all the food in this planet. Liam, a much awaited, wanted and already loved baby, is kicking and teaching me every minute of the day.

4. My body swings (just like my moods). I've learned that it's possible to lose so much weight that raises people's eyebrows in just a few months. It is also possible to then gain your fat back by retaining liquids and a little boy inside. My body is not too mad at me for the changes, because it feels clean: i haven't smoked for a full four months. Please allow me to applaud myself now.

5. The kitchen is a friendly territory.
After years of proudly announcing to my mother that i was going to learn how to cook, i've finally passed my three dishes menu. I can cook something better than fried eggs, haddock or pasta. Not much more, but hey, i'm working on it. I watch the cooking shows. I ask the questions (me on phone: maaaa, would you say my lentils will be ready in the next five seconds?), i write and file the recipes. Give me time and fill my fridge, you'll be surprised.

6. Things can always get better.

(*): Inspired by Mary at HMS, who also ripped it elsewhere...

The night
The presents are wrapped and ready to hike to the Mountain House. I haven't decided what i'll wear tonight (i'm getting bigger by the hour, or so it seems from a recent batch of photos). I haven't organized myself for the flan preparation (click here to see what the first guinea pig flan looked like) and Pablo still needs to venture out into the last minute shopping crowds, to get a pair of gloves: apparently they're all going skiing on Christmas morning. Personally, i'm going to try and get a tan through the cold wave.

The spirit of the season is at home through the decorations and the little lights, while John Lennon sings 'Happiness is a Warm Gun' to Liam (as part of the music therapy the baby is going through since last Monday). If i could, i'd give Visionaire toy sets to my friends for xmas this year. Since i can't, i'll just post a picture here.



Have fun on 'The Night', boys and girls. And have a drink on me. I'll have to put up with water. Cheers. Merry Christmas.

Decadence, smiles and luxurious furniture
I had one of those birthday presents that come once in a blue moon. It was from Pablo. It wasn't wrapped. You can't wrap wishes. It was a dream come true, something i longed for since i was a little girl. I spent a good part of the day and the entire night at the Ritz Hotel. In Madrid.

Decadence, smiles and luxurious furniture. We walked in a little before lunch time, while he was pretending to simply enjoy the (freezing) city morning. I found out what my amazing gift was an melted. We pushed the door, announced our reservation and our lack of luggage. Our room was cozy, romantic and delicate. Decadence. We decided each item would look preposterous outside the hotel, but everything seemed to somehow fit just right in the atmosphere.

It's not tacky, as is the Palace. It's not trendy, unlike the Santo Mauro. It's not too much, like Villamagna. It's my favourite in the city. And elsewhere, for that matter.

We left for lunch and shopping, we went home to collect some basics, we had dinner out an Argentinean-Italian (Ficciones, in La Latina, don't go there) and returned to our little slice of paradise. Such a pity i couldn't have a glass of the wine waiting for us there. I compensated by scrubbing the city dirt out of my face with the bulgary green tea soap.



This morning, Pablo disappeared under the shower as two men in black knocked on our door, pushing a four wheeled round table with breakfast. I read the morning papers (what a wonderful expression, though a complete nuisance since there are no evening papers here) that came in a little plastic bag.

It was all perfectly decadent. Then we left, because our life was still out there, waiting for us in the sunny cold Madrid morning. Reality came in the shape of a doctor's appointment and a walk through the crowds.

The big 31 with little wows
It's happening again. I'm turning another big number tomorrow. I'm turning 31. Funnily enough, i don't have any WOWs coming up for this event. It's either i'm getting used to the older thing or i just decide to lay back and swing open the door to yet another change this year.

So i better start rehearsing new lines: Hi, i'm Uma B., i'm happily married, i'm 31 years-old and my first son Liam is due in Spring. I no longer work at the paper, or anywhere else for that matter, and i intend to live outside Madrid in the very near future. I can now make delicious flan and accurately describe what a baby kick from the belly feels like.

I haven't had a cocktail in months (and i miss the wine glasses). I haven't had a cigarette since August. No regrets whatsoever on that side. I still swear and leave my ironing till too late. I don't have any wrinkles around my eyes but i'm getting a lot more regular on the lotions.

I dance around the house. I don't dance around the bars. I enjoy quiet times with Pablo. I enjoy being who i am. Most of the times. I enjoy being almost 31. Help yourselves to some cake and a raspberry shake.

Do it yourself



Come in and i'll make you a cup of tea or serve you some white wine. I've actually just cooked a flan. Upcoming tasting in a few hours... Can't you smell the caramel?

Not so spectacular, was it?
Now that the blogging buzz is all about season adds (namely the Spanish institutionalized Freixenet publicity), i want to pass a little commentary on the perfume area. All the adds suck. They're all the same. Even the most expensive is just a longer version of the rest. I'm talking Chanel. Nicole. That Luhrmann production.

There's been so many talk on that commercial, i actually thought it would be worth while at some point. Especially if i take into consideration how much i loved Moulin Rouge. Especially because i think Ms. Kidman is like a character that just jumped out of an 18th Century portrait. Especially because i enjoy the Chanel spirit as part of the new deluxe christmas traditions. Especially because i remember the beautiful Chanel commercial with bird Paradis in a cage.

I watched it last night. I felt i was watching a deleted scene from Moulin Rouge. And i thought it was sooo long. And tremendously predictable. I don't even think the Lagerfeld dress is that spectacular, spectacular. So there.

This is Lucas
And he has a twin brother, Carlos. I stole the pic from Ona's photostream on Flickr. This is just a little ambivalent note to send my warmest wishes to Ona & family, hoping little Lucas gets better soon :)

Under construction
What an odd December. Some mornings i feel like i'm a thousand years old. Some days i just think everything and everyone is a thousand light-years away from me. Then i realize it's probably me who's currently living in a place not that easy to reach.

I see the lights, i've bought a couple of presents, i smell the traffic. But is it really Christmas again? I've even decorated the house with hand-made cardboard stars and a cut out tree for the fridge (also known as the McCain Minibar), but i'm lacking that certainty i generally have in this time of the year. And now i think days are just dashing before me, so days will probably leave behind without me noticing.

I'm turning 31 next week and i only realized it yesterday. The fact that i'm not throwing a party this year has a lot to do with it. I don't drink, i don't smoke, i don't club. I don't take walks under the rain to see my friends. I don't linger at busy coffee tables, fixing a mood. I don't organize my agenda. I don't even keep one.

My life as i knew it is not here. I don't think it's gone, i'm under the impression it's just dozing off under some dirty laundry pile. It will wake up, perhaps with a new masterplan. I cruise a hard hat area. Maybe i'm a hard hat area. My life as i know it is full of innovation.

A baby forming inside my belly. A person.
A we. A huge we.
Scouting out of Madrid every six days to look for a family home.
The worries.
The health issues.
The money talk.
The smoke, gone.
The clothes i wear, making me a new me.
The books i don't read.
Those i do read.
An erasable timetable.
The sleeping hours.
The sleep-walking hours.

So much is new and so many old things are missing. And i suddenly notice it all now, in this odd December that's wrapping my head. I'm away and i'm all over the place, at the same time. It's not ubiquity. It's just me, under construction.

It's raining men, hallelujah
What can i say, all i can think about lately is boys. Because there's a new man in my life.

Little M goes Big[ger]
That pensive girl in the 40s looking photograph is Little M, my youngest niece, who turns a huge seven years-old today. She's having a party tomorrow to honour the occasion, Mountain Family style: a large crowd of short party animals are gathering around that dark-eyed basket case, at the Mountain House, already decorated for the season.

Gifts to the Mountain Princess include a spy kit (sic), a lamp that clips on to books and a drawing crayola board with magnets. Necessary items for someone who has finally reached the 'age of reason'. Our little m is going Big. Happy birthday girl!

Portrait, daaaahling
So this is Uma, as seen through the dazzling eyes of dWalks. I asked for my own version of this, and he responded. Who's a happy girl?

Strange little wishlists
I would like an oval tiny bed and a custard apple.
Please?

More information over at the Baby area, in Coming Up Next.

Reflections
This week's entry for the Photo Friday, under the theme 'Reflections'. You can click here for the bigger picture. I took this during our trip to Santander and Bilbao, where we indulged into some serious spa luxury and then a nice dose of art, decadent skies and giggles. Happy Friday.

As usual, other Photo Fridays to be checked out here.

First hints
Happy New December, boys and girls. I took a walk around the neighbourhood yesterday evening, and had the pleasure of being among the first visitors of the Christmas stands in Plaza Mayor.

I hadn't realized you can flick through the minishops without loud and distorted carols banging your ears, without having the entire population of the city around you. It was not too cold, it was inspiring, it was good.

After that i dragged my christmassy belly to our local starbucks (yes, Kurt, now that i'm not a smoker i actually stand being in the place) and on my way i decided i don't like this year's city decorations. The lights are too faint. The theme is there is no theme. But i took some pictures anyway.

You can click here for the first Xmas hints of the season. Where are yours?