Greetings from Spain!
Yesterday I would've written sunny Spain which it has been for the last week, but this morning I woke to Wizard of Oz style weather. My sea view is still spectacular although the dark choppy sea reminds me more of Ireland than the Costa del Sol. Still I'll have a chance to scrub off my layer of fake tan and apply a new one. I'm at that slightly patchwork stage now - with some parts (around my ankles and wrists) that are still VERY brown and the rest is looking more Irish and less Spanish by the minute! A bit scaby looking for want of a better word.
The children are slowly getting a nice glow to their skins but I've learned by this time in my life that I'm simply not going to tan, so I apply my factor duffel coat and sit under a brolly, slapping on the fake stuff at night! So much better for the complexion dahling!
I've had two trips to the local supermarket which was utter bliss for me. I know it's sad but I adore foreign supermarkets. I filled a trolly to the brim - I've no doubt the girl on the till thought I was cooking for the army - and 90% of it was junk food. My God the Spanish people like cake! Little almondy ones, lemon ones, chocolate oozing ones - the list is endless. Wheat and I have a rocky relationship - I love it - it doesn't love me. It lures me in and promptly turns my bowl into a skip - it's akin to eating cement for me. So I only nibble tiny tastes of the delicious doughy delights as the children and their friends munch them after one of their many swims. I'm reliably informed that the lemon ones are 'the yummiest.' I am seriously checking my two kids for fins at night - they're spending up to eight hours a day in the pool and sea! We're here with a gang of friends and they've collected several others along the way. Language barriers are out the window as all kids speak 'splash' and 'giggle.' It's such a joy to see them frolicking and tearing around without a care in the world. Their only annoyance being us mums bugging them about sun cream. You'd swear we were attempting to rub acid onto them with wire wool the way they wriggle and complain. I do the tough love approach with them by asking if they want to die of skin cancer instead... I get the head to the side and don't-be-so-dramatic look from them all - but it makes them stand for long enough so I can coat them quickly with another layer of factor 50!
Another lovely part about this holiday is that I've been allowed two weeks off my chemotherapy for good behaviour! So this monday I got a little fizz of giddiness each time I thought that I really should be in the oncology unit with a freezing scalp cooler on my head, hooked up to a drip! I'm finding the treatment quite tolerable if the truth be told, but it still brings a certain amount of nausea and exhaustion - so it's wonderful to be able to dodge those sensations for a couple of weeks.
I've been having so much fun with my hair pieces - I have a selection ranging from ponytails to clip-in-under-your-own-hair extensions. My own hair is thinning but hanging in there thankfully. Because I'm advised to wash and brush it as little as possible these fun and really cheap clip on pieces are a Godsend. The ponytail was the dearest at €18 and looks much more. It's brilliant to be able to enhance my own hair in seconds. I got my ones in a place called Hair Spray which I know has online shopping too if you haven't a store near by. The waiters in the local cafe are openly confused by the fact that I have a tiny stubby bun at the back of my head during the afternoon and Cheryl Cole-esque flowing locks an hour later!
A huge thank you to all the lovely people who bought The Pink Ladies Club which has been in the bestseller list for the last few weeks. It's such a thrill and privilege to know that so many of you bought it. I am bowing and saluting each and every one of you. I've had so many heart warming and positive letters from readers too, which never fails to fill me with humbled glee.
This month I've been chosen as a WOW woman on www.jaynemcox.com - a website designed to bring positivity and hope to women. Check it out if you have a moment.
I'm off to scrub and apply some more tan - isn't it amazing that when the sun goes in I still end up bronzed by the end of the day? Funny that.
I hope you are all enjoying your summer. News from hubby back home in Ireland tells me it's lashing rain and depressingly cold. Himself couldn't come with us because his new triathlon shop Base2Race needs his full attention. It's the height of race season back home so he's had to pass up on this holiday :-(
He'll be thrilled to see the collection of presents the kids are accumulating for him though - knock-off gold watch, lazer in a key ring, small furry donkey with tiny baskets attached (both creepy and vile) costa del sol t-shirt and there'll be more treasures by the time we return!
Lets hope that little orphan Annie's song rings true and that the sun does in fact come out tomorrow!
Adios from Spain and I'll catch you all again soon.
Love
Emma
Yesterday I would've written sunny Spain which it has been for the last week, but this morning I woke to Wizard of Oz style weather. My sea view is still spectacular although the dark choppy sea reminds me more of Ireland than the Costa del Sol. Still I'll have a chance to scrub off my layer of fake tan and apply a new one. I'm at that slightly patchwork stage now - with some parts (around my ankles and wrists) that are still VERY brown and the rest is looking more Irish and less Spanish by the minute! A bit scaby looking for want of a better word.
The children are slowly getting a nice glow to their skins but I've learned by this time in my life that I'm simply not going to tan, so I apply my factor duffel coat and sit under a brolly, slapping on the fake stuff at night! So much better for the complexion dahling!
I've had two trips to the local supermarket which was utter bliss for me. I know it's sad but I adore foreign supermarkets. I filled a trolly to the brim - I've no doubt the girl on the till thought I was cooking for the army - and 90% of it was junk food. My God the Spanish people like cake! Little almondy ones, lemon ones, chocolate oozing ones - the list is endless. Wheat and I have a rocky relationship - I love it - it doesn't love me. It lures me in and promptly turns my bowl into a skip - it's akin to eating cement for me. So I only nibble tiny tastes of the delicious doughy delights as the children and their friends munch them after one of their many swims. I'm reliably informed that the lemon ones are 'the yummiest.' I am seriously checking my two kids for fins at night - they're spending up to eight hours a day in the pool and sea! We're here with a gang of friends and they've collected several others along the way. Language barriers are out the window as all kids speak 'splash' and 'giggle.' It's such a joy to see them frolicking and tearing around without a care in the world. Their only annoyance being us mums bugging them about sun cream. You'd swear we were attempting to rub acid onto them with wire wool the way they wriggle and complain. I do the tough love approach with them by asking if they want to die of skin cancer instead... I get the head to the side and don't-be-so-dramatic look from them all - but it makes them stand for long enough so I can coat them quickly with another layer of factor 50!
Another lovely part about this holiday is that I've been allowed two weeks off my chemotherapy for good behaviour! So this monday I got a little fizz of giddiness each time I thought that I really should be in the oncology unit with a freezing scalp cooler on my head, hooked up to a drip! I'm finding the treatment quite tolerable if the truth be told, but it still brings a certain amount of nausea and exhaustion - so it's wonderful to be able to dodge those sensations for a couple of weeks.
I've been having so much fun with my hair pieces - I have a selection ranging from ponytails to clip-in-under-your-own-hair extensions. My own hair is thinning but hanging in there thankfully. Because I'm advised to wash and brush it as little as possible these fun and really cheap clip on pieces are a Godsend. The ponytail was the dearest at €18 and looks much more. It's brilliant to be able to enhance my own hair in seconds. I got my ones in a place called Hair Spray which I know has online shopping too if you haven't a store near by. The waiters in the local cafe are openly confused by the fact that I have a tiny stubby bun at the back of my head during the afternoon and Cheryl Cole-esque flowing locks an hour later!
A huge thank you to all the lovely people who bought The Pink Ladies Club which has been in the bestseller list for the last few weeks. It's such a thrill and privilege to know that so many of you bought it. I am bowing and saluting each and every one of you. I've had so many heart warming and positive letters from readers too, which never fails to fill me with humbled glee.
This month I've been chosen as a WOW woman on www.jaynemcox.com - a website designed to bring positivity and hope to women. Check it out if you have a moment.
I'm off to scrub and apply some more tan - isn't it amazing that when the sun goes in I still end up bronzed by the end of the day? Funny that.
I hope you are all enjoying your summer. News from hubby back home in Ireland tells me it's lashing rain and depressingly cold. Himself couldn't come with us because his new triathlon shop Base2Race needs his full attention. It's the height of race season back home so he's had to pass up on this holiday :-(
He'll be thrilled to see the collection of presents the kids are accumulating for him though - knock-off gold watch, lazer in a key ring, small furry donkey with tiny baskets attached (both creepy and vile) costa del sol t-shirt and there'll be more treasures by the time we return!
Lets hope that little orphan Annie's song rings true and that the sun does in fact come out tomorrow!
Adios from Spain and I'll catch you all again soon.
Love
Emma
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