Brace Yourselves...

...It's Casa Batlló time! This was by-far one of my favorite things we went to in Barcelona, and on our entire trip as well. It was truly nothing like anything I'd ever seen before. Casa Batlló is one of Gaudi's most popular designs. It's an apartment building quietly sitting on a beautiful block of buildings near La Rambla.

Y'All get ready for a lot of pictures (couldn't narrow them down)...

Tile, tile, and more tile. The facade looks "skeletal"

THE window to have.

A rainbow of tile...

Looking up.

Stairway - backbone, anyone? Gaudi was not subtle.

Just your average window...

Gaudi employed a bunch of VERY skilled artisans for all the craftsmanship of this apartment.

I got arty-farty again...

Skylights, woodwork, stained glass, oh my!

THE window from inside.

Best craftroom ever, right?

Chandelier | Window.

Old | New | NewOld

Seriously. These doors.

Shell-like ceiling.

Arches like I've never seen...

This is how Gaudi chandeliers.

Looking out.

This tilework is on the patio in the back of the property.

So, after I'd been to NY for the first time, I'd watch tv and be all "I've been there! And there! And there!"...you suddenly recognize all these iconic locations that are on tv all the time....or, you get back from Spain and promptly resume watching cultural garbage like Jersey Shore and what do you notice on the walls of those guido kids' beach house?

If you are me you're all, "omigod, that artwork is of the tile in Casa Batlló!"
True story.

This is looking up at the roof from the back of the property. More tile.

Ok now. The atrium. Can I get a witness? He graduated the blue tones of the tile so that it got darker as it got closer to the top. This gave the illusion of space and light, the lighter tile being at the bottom of the bldg where the least amount of light was, and the darker tile at the top with the most light. You get it...

There was an actual apartment in this bldg that is occupied! Lucky Person.

Again. Picture taken through the glass lining the stairwell...Gaudi is not being subtle about his water reference...

Cool eh?

I died when I saw this door. Custom font numbers too!

Top floor hallway.

I mean, vertebrae, right?

Then...at the end of the tour...holographic Gaudi? Somehow this seemed wrong and weird.

Finally: THE ROOF!

Chimneys. I think.

Dragon's back? Oh and some religion. Gaudi loves to sprinkle some Catholicism everywhere.

Three sisters.

Rooftop looking down into the neighbors yard. Neighborhood mansion watch!

This neighbor's yard is in my opinion awesome. Wonder if they do weddings.

Look at this guy. Awesome fiance. With some light reflections arty fartiness.

Sittin' on a Gaudi sculpture.

Making him pose too.

Couples!!!

Another awesome building on this block.

It's good to know your neighbors. If you live in a Gaudi house.

You Guys, if you go to Barcelona - Casa Batlló is an absolute MUST SEE!!!

Art Framing I Was Talking About

Here ya go...a pic of that easy way to frame art that I'd mentioned, found via Apartment Therapy (what isn't on that site?). Aight have fun gettin' your DIY on with this one!

Ask MansionMogul.

Enjoy yourselves a Vitamin-D-crazed "Ask MansionMogul" edition from Palo Alto, California:

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I love all the questions! Keep them coming readers! What's on your mind? Do you need advice or ideas? Go ahead in the comments and Ask MM :)

La Rambla Boqueria Market

While in Barcelona we went to the most amazing market EVER!!! Omigod You Guys - if you go to Barcelona you HAVE to go here. The Boqueria Market was full of all kinds of abundant fruits, veggies, meats, cheeses, olives, omg the list goes on and on. Lots of these things I'd never seen before which was the best part!

Even the entrance is dramatic with colored glass...

Booo-ya! I die for the gorgeous color of these tomatoes.

Spanish ham - US customs no likey. FYI.

GAH! Mushrooms!!!

"Barnacles" - what do you do with these!? They're weird and pretty.

I think these are sweet potatoes.

Beautiful eggs!

Monochromatic fish!

More fish!

Seafood galore!

Get a look at that tuna - right?

This is disgusting and I can barely look at it. But I had to put it on here for you people. Documentation purposes.

Hot Spanish guys serving people Tapas. Tapas is a real thing.

Peppers and spices.

Poms.

OLIVES - hollah

Our picnic spot.

Stained glass n' stuff

Spicy chorizo sticks - we got one, it was fabulous.

CHEEEEEEEESES

Nuts!

We didn't get this, but I mean how amazing does it look???

I've never seen smoothies look so gorgeous. I got one. It was too watermeloney.

Once we'd been to this market I felt like I'd really been to Barcelona. So fantastic!

A Few Fun Things About Barcelona...

We went to this crazy restaurant, Los Caracoles, which specializes in roast chicken and...snails. Mmmm mmm!

We were drawn in by their storefront - they (usually, not when I took this picture) have chickens roasting right there out front and all this cool metalwork. Oh and Rick Steves recommended it.

They're very snail-centric there, even with their taps!

I mean they are really dedicated to their theme. This pic is focused in on my goofy face instead, but believe me they have snail plates.

And something about this water was cool. I can't remember what...

Not only was this roasted chicken amazing...

...but the snails! OMG. They come in gravy. Also, snail-shaped roll.

So they came in their shells, and we didn't see any tools on the table. Our dumb confused faces tipped our waiter off to the fact that we had no idea what we were doing, so he explained that we were to use the ceramic sugar holder to "smash" the snails, then pull them out of their shell. Hrm. I documented this for you:

So that was fun an interesting, right? This restaurant also had the best, fanciest, cleanest bathroom of our entire Europe trip. It was like stepping into Heaven! I also found 10 Euro there! It could've had bathroom germs on it but c'mon, it was still 10 Euro!

We spend a lot of time just strolling along La Rambla (main drag) and people watching. I found this gentleman's outfit choice particularly interesting...I present to you, Man'Pris:

And here's us having a good gawk and confident ManPris Guy:

What also blew me away were these Mobile Pet Stores that were scattered along La Rambla...have you ever seen anything like this?! I'm not sure how I felt about it. Pets are not tacos, People!

I mean...cool...

...but do the pets travel IN this thing, like, on the road?

Mystery!

What a Difference a Bedframe Makes

2 1/2 years. That is how long we went with our mattress on the floor. And we are not college students! Anymore. I digress...eventually I decided to quit holding out for my "dream bed" and bought a plain ole bedframe to just get this freakin' thing off the ground. I also bought a bedskirt for it, because I can't even express to you how tired I was of looking at that UGLY boxspring.

Behold, the BEFORE and AFTER:

I fully acknowledge that not everyone is crazy like me and would care about this stuff. But maybe you would after 2.5 years!

First "real" cooking in the new house...

So I'm finally getting a little more comfortable in our new kitchen, and it was time to attempt something a little more ambitious than heating up soup, and the other day I saw this crazy Italian lady on PBS was making "Chicken in Beer", and it looked super tasty and easy.

Here's how my Chicken in Beer (aka Classy Beer Butt Chicken) turned out...

It turned out darn good! She used parsnips in hers and I used red potatoes instead and they got a little overdone so I would probably choose a heartier veggie next time. I also added mushrooms :) I loved the cider & beer combo - totally made our house smell awesome too!

My RecipeMogul adaptation of Lidia Bastianich's recipe.

Oh, Why Not???

This is, word-for-word-for-picture-off-the-internet, what I wrote in an email chain with my mom & sister about The Golden Globes Red Carpet and my sis said I should blog it, so I thought, why the hell not? I mean, just because I have readers who might not care about fashion, doesn't mean there aren't readers who hella do, amiright?!

Here we go.

Ok there was a definitely (like Court said over text) "Studio 64" feel of a lot of the dresses - lots of glitter and 70's cuts. Which I didn't totally hate - but yeah, there was the good and the bad...

Below are my best and worst and "undecided".

First, my Best picks:
Leighton looks amazing - this pic doesn't do it justice!
I am not a fan of Eva but I love the neckline and the way this black dress puddles at the bottom.
Carrie U - I mean, champagne and sparkles always look good on blondes!
Ema Stone - WOW! I love this weird fabric and it doesn't show ANY flaws! (she probs has none)
Lea Michelle - this dress looked great on her, architecture but still flowey.
CZJ - FLAWLESS and classic CZJ!

My Worst picks:
Michelle Williams - So 90's!
Halle - Yuck, looks like lingere, super masculine
Julianne - ewwww sleeve
Sandra - her hair is overboard and it looks sloppy
Nicole - this color is gross on her, the lines are BORING

My "Undecided" picks:
JLo - I'm not in love with this but it was flattering and pretty.
Claire - I liked her up-do, she needed bigger jewels
January Jones - she's trying too hard again, but I love her retro hair!

So there you go, people, my "Best" and "Worst" and unqualified fashion opinions!

History for Music Lovers

Nerds are amazing. These people are making popular songs into videos about history! You have to check out more of their videos - HistoryforMusicLovers. Brills!