Oops...

So, I forgot to write yesterday. Oops.

Yesterday, I got up early (well, for Spain) and headed to the grocery store. Since I stuck with my meal plan all week, I shopped at the precocious "Corte Inglés" - yay!

I did a lot of writing, working on my dissertation! The first chapter (which I'm currently working on) just keeps growing and growing...

Then, I took Watson to the park with my friend Lula and her dog Metraya ... metraya means "shrapnel"; an interesting name for a pooch ... and then I went downtown to meet some friends.

Puerta del Sol, the Madrid equivalent to Times Square, is THE place to be on New Years Eve, where they ring the bells at midnight - 1 for each month of the year - and you eat one grape every time the bell rings. Well, it turns out that they have a "practice run" the night before NYE, so my friends and I went and had a few glasses of wine and then pushed like linebackers until we were in the plaza and watched it all go down. There were SO MANY people pushing to get in - in fact, at one point I realized that if someone fell down, they might very well get trampled and die just trying to get to Puerta del Sol!! - but once you got into the plaza, it was much more comfortable.

Here are a few photos of the evening!

Maria enjoying and contemplating a glass of white wine.

Max and Zonia looking happy!

The very large metal and light Christmas tree in Puerta del Sol taken about 2 hours before the festivities began!

A shot of the craziness!!

Ok, so here is my food journal for yesterday:

• Breakfast - 1 egg, 2 sausages, banana, tea
• Snack - yogurt and olives, tea
• Lunch - salad with ham, cheese, lots of tomatoes, caesar dressing; and Fanta Zero (like Coke zero, only Fanta flavored - yum!) ... oh, and I had a piece of bread while coming back from the supermarket
• Snack / Dinner / ?? - olives, some ham bits, some cheese bits, a small piece of bread, 3 pineapple rings and some Greek yogurt... it started out as the yogurt, pineapple and bread, but I was still starving, so I made an impromptu meat and cheese tray.
• With friends - 3 glasses of red wine, a few bites of: patatas bravas (potatoes with spicy sauce), ham, tortilla española, croqueta, bread. We ordered a tapas sampler, and since I literally had 1-2 bites of everything, I didn't feel so bad. And it was almost delicious; well, as delicious as an appetizer sampler of everything "Spanish" can be when you're so close to the tourist traps.

Today (Saturday), is the last day of the year. That's kind of awesome for two reasons: 1) it's less than 2 weeks until I get to go back to the States for a visit, and 2) I feel like I'm already sticking with a New Years Resolution, and it isn't even time! Yay!

Tonight, we're having a barbecue the terrace of a friend of mine (so Spanish!), so I can't really meal plan for that. But, my meal plan looks something like:

• Breakfast: eggs and yogurt
• Snack: fruit
• Lunch: salad
• Snack: yogurt and fruit
• Dinner: ???

I hope that everyone has a very happy and safe New Years Eve and a prosperous 2012!!