Larson's In London: love of my life

Barcelona - the crazy beginning

9:58 AM

Let me tell you a little story. I check airline fares weekly. In Europe there are a few low-fare airlines (like RyanAir and EasyJet) through which European travel becomes beautifully cheap. Of course, you give up selecting your seat, free in-flight drinks and any semblance of leg room but hey, Germany, Italy and everywhere else is less than $100 away.

So my birthday was coming up and I decided to bring some specific flights to Taylor's attention.

Milan! Copenhagen! Let's just pick a place and go!

"Ok, I guess we can," he said.

So this happy girl went about her normal life thinking a quick trip to Milan would be her birthday gift.

Fast forward two weeks...

We were in the Stansted airport worrying about the security line and when the gate for our flight would open when Taylor actually handed me our boarding passes.

I noticed STD>BCN but didn't have time to process what BCN could stand for. After getting through security, I scanned the departure board for the flight to Milan...but it didn't match the flight number on my boarding pass.

But it did match the flight and gate to BARCELONA....

"Are we going to BARCELONA?!?"

Moral of the story: Taylor is GOOD at surprises. A little too good...

Our hotel was in the center of the city, just a block from Plaza Catalunya.

Plaza Catalunya at 9:00am. A little to early for anyone to be out and about apparently.

The plaza filled up a couple hours later.

Palm trees and some Spanish balconies

I love the colours!

La Sagrada Familia from our hotel rooftop.

It was gorgeous weather, chilly but not nearly as cold as London. Look at all the blue!!!
This is just a teaser. All about our trip, favourite bits and all the pictures coming soon.

Suffice it to say while I'm working on the next post...we WILL be going back to Barcelona. Cracked into the top 3 trips we've made.

Larson's in London

Wicked lovely Valentine's Day

5:25 PM

I am catching up, slowly but surely. I will be throwing these posts up whenever I feel like they are done even if it's out of chronological order (which is what has held me back) and it'll all sort itself out. Here goes!

My sweet husband likes surprises. Because of how incredible he is at planning and executing a heart-warming surprise, I have decided to try and be more like him in that regard.

Valentine's Day 2015 was no different from his usual romantic gestures (2013 was amazing, 2014 included a rented puppy so... I am spoiled on V Day with Taylor)

All of London was dressed up for the holiday. Lovely flowers and tinkle lights everywhere.

The sweetest card from my love! The message inside brought a tear to my eye. Inside was also my surprise gift!!! Tickets to see Wicked!

We walked to St Johns Wood after I got home from Activity Days (a church activity for 8-11's where do crafts or learn a skill in a religious setting)

St Johns Wood church and gardens (on a regular old overcast day in London Town)

These adverts make me smile every time I see one. It's like the whole city loves me :)

Victoria Underground. The regal Victoria in silhouette all over the station.

We changed up our reservation and decided to go for Spanish tapas instead of curry some other place. It was delicious and we've been back for more. The shrimp was delectable!

La Tasca is in the Cardinal Place Shopping Centre just down the street from Victoria Station.

Westminster Cathedral (not to be confused with the Abbey).

Inside the cathedral. We poked our heads in because we had a little bit of time to kill before the show started. I love seeing cathedrals. So much beauty.

Leaving the theatre, Oz says goodbye.

Wicked is such a fantastic show and even though we've seen it before, seeing it in England made it a little different. The songs were sung in British accents and some British slang thrown into the dialogue. The talent was astounding! Great costumes, great dancers and unbelievable leading ladies. Elphaba and Glinda rocked the house. The actress who plus Glinda is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! So we felt an extra special connection in supporting her performance.

I love spending time adventuring with Taylor. We have a few of shows lined up to attend in the next couple of months. I love being married to musical theatre lover.

I recently read an article about being married to your 'opposite' (like, opposites attract). While Taylor and I have many things in common, we are incredibly different. But that makes life, like the article describes, a little more colorful and exciting. If we were into all the same things, we wouldn't have as much opportunity to find new things to experience.

Bottom line: Taylor is crazy romantic and he loves things I love being exposed to and we couldn't be happier. Life is good.