Spain Vacation Day 4: Back to Barcelona

Hello!

It’s already Day 5 as I’m writing this, but I’m still keeping up with my goal of daily blogging, so today I’m sharing about Day 4. To be fair, there wasn’t a whole lot of sightseeing or adventure today, but I promised myself I’d document as much of this trip as possible.

As for my travel journaling, I’m a little behind. The only journaling I’ve managed so far was finishing my Day 1 spread last night, and even then it mostly involved gluing all my collected bits and pieces into my Traveler’s Notebook. I’ll catch up eventually. Hopefully. Haha!

Day 4 started with our train ride from Madrid back to Barcelona. The main reason for returning was to meet up with family arriving from Manila, as well as another group of relatives who had arrived in Barcelona earlier and spent some time in Mallorca before joining us.

Once we arrived, we checked into Casp74, a nice serviced apartment that will be our home for the next few days.

Before the family arrived, we had a little over an hour free, which gave us the perfect opportunity to catch up with an old colleague from my Citadines Millennium Ortigas days who now lives here in Barcelona. We met at Saga Coffee Stories and spent a short but very sweet hour chatting over iced coffee and catching up on life. 

After that, the family started arriving and things immediately became busy with unpacking, settling in, and figuring out sleeping arrangements.

At one point, Ton, a cousin, and I managed to sneak away for a quick visit to a local craft store. Sadly, I forgot to take photos, but it was a big and fun store and definitely worth the visit.

I was actually quite proud of my self-control because I didn’t buy a single thing. Well, except small things for my friends.

Then again, I do have a crafting haul that arrived with my cousin from Manila, another haul from my friend Kaye’s recent US trip, an Echo Park bundle she bought for both of us, and approximately 23 kilos of craft supplies waiting for me back in Saudi Arabia.

So maybe resisting wasn’t that difficult after all. Hahaha.

I’m sharing photos of some of the goodies that arrived from Manila today. Receiving crafty treasures while on vacation feels a little like Christmas! Some were pasalubongs from friends, advance birthday and Christmas gifts from family and friends, and some I bought online and shipped to my sister in Quezon City.

Tictacs from Ton's Aunt. When she found out I love different flavored Tictacs, she has been buying all sorts for me.

US pasalubong from Kaye

Budol bought by Kaye for the both of us

Mini camera from Ton's cousin. Three of us girl cousins matchy matched this.

I have more loot I haven't opened! hehehe. I'm scared for our luggage.

Later in the evening, we headed out again for dinner, this time joined by my husband’s mom.

And finally…

Spanish food!

I know. It only took us four days. Hahaha.

We ate at a nearby Spanish restaurant and bar, which turned out to have a Filipino chef. Instant bonus points.

The owner, a local Spanish lady, was absolutely delightful and seemed very proud of the Filipino words she had learned. At one point she enthusiastically shouted “Putang ina!” and “Gago!” while the Filipino chef visibly cringed in the background.

It was hilarious.

Then she proudly announced that she knew an even worse Filipino phrase and started saying it before the chef quickly - and very aggressively - told her to stop.

I only caught the first couple of syllables and didn’t recognize it, so naturally I became curious. I told her I didn’t think I knew that one, then leaned closer and asked her to whisper it to me, and she did while everyone laughed and the Filipino chef looking mortified.

After dinner, we stopped by Carrefour to pick up some groceries. We bought bottles of Cacaolat, one of Spain’s famous chocolate drinks, along with a few breakfast items since I volunteered to make breakfast for the immediate family the next morning.

I also picked up two treats for Lucky, making them our very first pasalubong purchase of the trip.

Priorities.

Afterward, we returned to the apartment. We had plans to meet up again with the cousins later that evening, but they replied to my message about an hour after I sent it. Unfortunately, by the time she replied, I was already asleep.

And that was pretty much our Day 4.

Not the busiest day of the trip, but one filled with reunions, family, crafty goodies, unexpected Filipino comedy in a Spanish restaurant, and the excitement of finally being together with everyone.

Now I’m sharing the most important update of all:

Photos of Lucky from our pet sitter. 

Vacation is great, but I still miss my little guy.

Also, here are my junks collected! hehe

And of course, sharing here links of my previous vacay posts:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Polkadoodles Digi Choosday Project | Graduation Shaker Card with Noodle Panda

Hi crafty friends! For this week’s Polkadoodles Digi Choosday Design Team challenge, our theme is Graduation, and I wanted to create something fun, interactive and happy so of course, I went with a shaker card! If you’ve been following me for a while, you already know how much I love anything shaker… I just can’t resist all that sparkle and movement!

For this project, I used the adorable Noodle Panda Graduation Digi Stamp. After cats, pandas are definitely my next favorite - they’re just so cute and innocent! Aaaaaaand those funny panda videos online? Instant mood boosters right? 

To keep things simple (because I’m currently juggling quite a few projects before our upcoming vacation), I created this shaker card using my Cricut Maker instead of nesting dies - and I’m sharing the Design Space project link with you so you can recreate it easily too! Don’t forget to follow me on Design Space while you’re there!

Polkadoodles Digi Choosday Project | Graduation Shaker Card with Noodle Panda

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How I made this Graduation Shaker Card

1. I used Print Then Cut in Design Space for the pattern paper card front, star layers, and the digi stamp.

2. Cut your shaker walls. I used 271 gsm cardstock and layered 8 stars (excluding the top printed layer).

3. Cut your glitter layer and glitter star.

4. Cut your star acetate.

5. Prepare your card base: 8.5 x 5.5 inches, scored at 4.25 on the long side.

6. Adhere the pattern paper to the glitter layer of your card front.

7. Add the glitter star to the upper middle section.

8. Stack and adhere all the star layers to form your shaker wall.

9. Fill with your favorite shaker bits.

10. Seal with acetate then adhere the patterned star on top.

11. Let everything dry well before moving on.
12, Add your colored digi (I used Noodle Panda Graduation).

13. Finish with your sentiment - I used “You Passed Congratulations!” from the Noodle Panda sentiment pack.

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This card came together so quickly thanks to Design Space, and I love how cute and celebratory it turned out - just perfect for any graduate!

I hope this inspires you to create your own graduation-themed project! Don’t forget to join the Anything Goes Digi Choosday challenge for your chance to win, and I’d love it if you’d follow me on my socials for more crafty inspiration!

Instagram: @my.cat.and.crafts

Facebook: My Cat and Crafts

Happy crafting! 

(Spain) Vacation Day 3: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Day

Day 3 of our Madrid trip was probably the day with the fewest activities on paper, but without a doubt, it was the most special one so far.

We saw the Pope!

Not only did we see him, but at one point he passed less than three meters away from us. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was one of those moments you know you’ll remember forever. Out of all the things we had planned for this trip, seeing the Pope in person was definitely not something we expected to happen.

People waiting for the Pope to pass

We also attended the Mass he celebrated, which reportedly gathered around 1.2 million people. Seeing that many people gathered together was incredible in itself, but what impressed us even more was how organized everything was.

Entire streets were closed off for the event, attendees had to pre-register, and huge screens were set up per street so everyone could follow along clearly. The screens were not only massive but also surprisingly clear.

The part that impressed me the most was Communion. I kept wondering how they would possibly distribute Communion to that many people, and then priests started walking to different stations throughout the closed streets, allowing attendees to receive Communion without needing to crowd into one area. ANG GALING!!!

One of the many communion priests - the one under the umbrella. So before communion, you'd see white umbrellas spreading through the place!

The Mass lasted around two hours, and despite the size of the crowd, it felt peaceful and incredibly special.

I saw about 3 people who passed out, probably of the heat and maybe hunger as it was a 10am mass and people started walking to the place around 7am, maybe some even earlier. So not everyone was able to have breakfast. There was a lady just behind us who did too. But her family called for medic and another lady in front of us immediately rushed to go to them. But by that time, someone was also already assisting the passed out lady. 

After the Mass, we headed to Delica Bistro for lunch. It was an Italian restaurant, which means we still haven’t had a proper Spanish meal. Well… unless churros count. Haha!

This was sooooo good especially after being under the sun for hours

After lunch, we wandered through the Sunday market. I was hoping to find more handmade goods, but there weren’t as many artisan vendors as I expected. Whenever we came across something handmade, the husband would look at it and say, “You can make that too!” like the supportive husband he is. Then me in return would point at something and say "and you can make that!" hahahah. Mej mayayabang din.

The weather was a bit of a mixed bag. The breeze was nice and cool, but the sun during the mass was quite intense. Between the heat and all the walking, our energy levels were completely drained by the afternoon.

So we headed back to the hotel, took showers to cool off, and promptly passed out for a nap.

When we woke up, it was time for the glamorous part of travel: laundry. hahahaha

We did a load at the hotel while grabbing takeaway dinner. Ton got a kebab from Culto Kebab, and went to an Indian restaurant in search of rice. Apparently they wouldn’t let him buy just rice, so he ended up buying a meal as well. 

While waiting for the laundry, we settled into the lounge area near the laundry room. I spent the time working on a Design Team application and finishing a blog post for Printable Cuttable Creatables.

And then came one of the sweetest and most unexpected encounters of the trip.

I finally listened to a video message from Viv - the lovely lady I mentioned in my Spring Market blog post. In the video, she shared that she would be sending one of my cards to a telenovela actress.

A woman who was also waiting for her laundry overheard the message and started chatting with us. She had also helped us figure out how the paid laundry machines worked, which we appreciated!

She asked if I was from the Philippines and then asked if I was a Canva Creator.

I laughed and told her I wished I was, but that digital art isn’t really my strength - although learning it has been on my list for a while.

It turns out she is a Canva Edu Creator from Mexico. She initially thought I might be in Madrid for a Canva event or that I was some kind of artist because she heard bit of the video message about a card i made. We ended up chatting about Canva, creative work, and even tried figuring out whether we had mutual Canva friends in the Philippines.

A little while later, she returned from her room carrying Canva merchandise for me.

Eeeeek!!! Kakatuwa!

Canva goodies!!!

She asked if I was interested in becoming a Canva Creator. I told her I probably needed to learn a lot more first, but she encouraged me and said to message her when I’m ready.

After the laundry was finished, we finally redeemed our complimentary welcome drink coupons from the hotel. We sat outside with two glasses of beer and a cookie that we purchased from the hotel café.

The cookie deserves its own mention because it was really good.

We spent some time sitting outside, enjoying our drinks and chatting about everything we’d done over the past few days. It was a nice chill bonding with the husband.

Back in our room, we started packing for the next leg of our adventure.

Tomorrow, we leave Madrid and head to Barcelona.

Madrid gave us beautiful architecture, great food, unexpected shopping adventures, a new friend, and one unforgettable experience that we’ll be talking about for years.

How exactly are we supposed to top seeing the Pope from three meters away?

I guess Barcelona is about to find out. 

Here are random photos I took the whole day:

Lucky photos from our sitter:

And my junk journal mini stash for today:

Also linking here my previous vacation posts:

Day 1

Day 2