I am back #2

I've just realized that I need to plan carefully all the things that need to be done in the following months otherwise I'll end up being overwhelmed pretty soon. 

It's getting difficult to work at home as Orlando needs lots of attention & exercise. This morning, after  a 30-minute run in the garden, he slept for like an hour and then he was ready for another "running session". However, he can't stay in the garden alone. Even if he has improved, he still chews and swallows things he shouldn't eat so someone has to stay outside with him which is not ideal. He has high level of energies which is both good and bad. It is good because he is funny and extremely vital, it's bad because I mainly work at home and I obviously need to focus. Sometimes I just can't as it's like having a hyperactive child who runs around and wants to play all the time. Luckily, we can rely on my mum and  my uncle but sometimes I wonder what we would do if they fell seriously ill. 

On a more positive note, I'm looking forward to a couple of trips: one to Brussels and the second to Prague. In Brussels I'll reconnect with friends I haven't seen for a long time and Prague is a wonderful city so I'm thrilled to go with G. 

To be honest, I do have bad memories of Brussels but I'll be pretty busy so they won't haunting me. I hope I won't bump into someone I am not keen to meet who lives in Brussels though. If I bump into this person, I promise I'll share the whole story here. 

I am also organizing an important event in Milan. It's for my job and I'm charge of it... I'm nervous about it but I'm sure things will work out ok. The event is scheduled for April and everything has to be almost "perfect"... I have my fingers crossed.

I'm back

Scotland in a month and Sardinia in July. No, I'm not going to Sardinia on holiday ... believe or not, I'll be there for a meeting. This will be a first for me: a meeting in a warm place :-) I don't think I'll be staying there just for a couple of days.

And then Bulgaria in September (not my fav.place) and Scotland again in December. And perhaps somewhere else in October but I still don't know about it.

These are all biz trips though, we don't know if and when we're going on holiday this summer. G's contract will end in July. He is quite concerned but I'm pretty sure the contract will be renewed. However, one never knows and, understandably, he is not thinking about summer holidays too much. Neither am I, to be honest. I'll be VERY busy until the end of July.

As far as Barcelona is concerned, we had a great time. It's definitely my favorite European city. We wandered around the city for 3 days and walked for hours almost everywhere and even spent a few hours on the beach at Barceloneta. Great weather, delicious food and nice hotel. However, if you happen to go there, I wouldn't recommend to stay too close to the ramblas for at least a couple of reasons. First, it's a noisy neighborhood and second it's the paradise for pickpockets. A Spanish friend recommended us a hotel which was not on the main rambla but in the heart of the Raval anyway. The hotel was lovely and quiet (except for the first night when Barca won the Copa del Rey) but the neighborhood was not ideal, especially at nights. 

I feel exhausted. This was just a quick update. I'm alive! I'm just busy at the moment but I'm planning to catch up with the blog.

p.s. by the way, along with the book mentioned in the previous post, I'm reading this which is very good. I've just started, but it seems an extraordinary piece of non-narrative fiction. On the contrary, I don't know why this is "the book everyone was talking about" as it is quite ridiculous. I read a free sample via amazon and I had enough. It speaks to certain female readers, I think. 

Leaving

Hi there,

as mentioned I'll spend a few days in the UK. I'm not super excited to leave as G. is going through high levels of stress and I am a slightly overworked (not to mention that the weather forecast is dreadful). As I'm not going on holiday, I guess I'll be quite exhausted by the end of next week. On a more positive note, I will catch up with colleagues I really get along with and I'm looking forward to see them.

The hotel, which is set in a woodland, looks really good... very British, I would say. As I said, the weather forecast looks very bad though which means that I'm in a bad mood already. It's almost summer here! We are currently experiencing high temperatures and I can't even imaging wearing a coat. How can one possibly live in a place where the weather is, more often than not, bad? I don't understand.

Anyway, it's a beautiful sunny day here and we're going out to celebrate my birthday (I'll turn 36 in a few days). I will enjoy last warm rays of light and try to stay positive in order to deal with rain, wind and low temperature until Thursday. I'll bring my laptop so perhaps I'll update my blog.

Speak to you soon