Top 5 Things I Will Miss About Spain #2

Shopping!!!


It can be a girls best friend. It can also be a release aka Retail Therapy. Shopping! I mean who doesn't love going from store to store, selecting ultra-cute outfits and making them yours. I love shopping so much, I even Internet window shopped. I mean you have to keep your fashion up to date even if you don't have money. To add to that you are shopping in Europe, where you can find the newest fashion trends way before we do in America. That is unless you are a top model or fashion designer. I am neither, but I do dream!


Late & Lovin it in H&M

After hard days of practice, there is nothing like chilling on the weekend in a mall. My town of Finestrat had a pretty descent mall. It was not as big as the ones from back home. But I loved it just the same. There were actually many high end stores in there that I wouldn't dare step into because I knew I would probably be able to buy a piece of an outfit.


Always wanted a cute cut out bathing suit, but this one was too uncomfortable

If we were not at the Central Commerical La Marina, we were down by the beach in Benidorm that also had some pretty nice stores and little shops ran by vendors. The vendors sold little knick knacks and souvenirs. Sometimes you could bargain with them for a cheaper price.

Another place we shopped was in the airports. I mean we were there a million times with nothing to do but wait for our flights. Mostly connecting through Madrid, my favorite airport to shop in was Barcelona. But if you do happen to visit Spain and you fly through Madrid, visit Terminal 4. It is the newest terminal and it has many shops, a lot of them being very high end stores such as Dooney & Bourke, Coach, and Lacoste to name a few. Some of you may remember I bought my green LaCoste purse from the Madrid airport and love it till this day.

Sweetest purchase made in Spain- this Rihanna inspired dress from Zara

Movin on... SHOES! Sweet Baby Jesus! I have to admit I am addicted to accessories; three in general- purses, shades, and SHOES! This obsession has made it impossible for me to put anymore shoes in my closet. I confess, I bought five pairs of shoes while in Spain. One of my favorites is pictured below. Adding to my obsession was the easy accessibility to such cute shoes. In America I wear about a 10 1/2- 11. (I know my feet are small to be 6'2). In Europe that is equal to about a 40- 41. Usually the shoes sold in the states for people with big feet (anything over a 8 1/2) are hideous. I know many tall women can have my back on that. And I mean who has the money to have them custom made like Paris Hilton (size 11). So to get to Europe and see the most hip, stylish shoes was equivalent to me panting like a dog with its tongue out. I absolutely had to take advantage. :D

Confession: These Shoes from H&M hurt my feet so bad, but I couldn't resist

One of my favorites by Mango

Lastly, and probably one of the funnest things about shopping is trying on clothes. This was a past time Lindsay and I cherished. I mean if you don't like it in the store, you won't wear it outside the store. Key Rule. There is nothing like walking up and down the walk way in a dressing room, pretending its a runway and you are a model at New York's Fashion Week. Don't forget to pose at the end in front of the mirror. Another rule I might add is that you don't have to have money to try on things. Whats wrong with trying on things that you know you will not wear outside the store because- a.)the outfit is too Au Couture and over the top to wear in reality, or b.)the outfit is too expensive, but you still want to see what it might look like draped over your body if you did have the money to purchase it. There were many times in which we entered the dressing room arms full of clothles and walked out with nothing. Still fun.

Cute sundress I passed up in Zara

Another cutie I found in Zara... the back is cut out

So if you are ever in Europe, bring an empty suitcase and go nuts! For the moderate shopper wanting to look nice at a reasonable price I suggest these favorites of mine... Mango, Zara, H&M (in America too), and Stradivarius. But take it from me... its always nice to splurge sometimes.

Top 5 Things I Will Miss About Spain #3

3.) Maria Revilla

Ok when I have ever said I love my setter. I mean in high school I was pretty fond of my setters, but beyond that its been a high way of hell trying to connect, communicate and restrain myself from getting in a physical altercation with the quarterback of my team. (Well I will make an exception for Katelyn- we made up and actually had a pretty good relationship afterwards). So me being anything close to friends with a setter is pretty amazing, and if there is one thing I will miss about Spain, its this chica.

Maria is the best kind of teammate there is. Her positivity is contageous. I mean I had the hardest time being down and negative around her. She brings so much energy to the court. M started off as our main setter, but with coaching decision, she became our 7 player off the bench. But she was never discouraged and every time she got an opportunity to come into the game, it always pumped me up. The energy she brought to the court was awesome.

Off the court she is the sweetest person as well. Always willing to learn and understand my culture as an American as well as share her Spanish culture with Lindsay and I. She was one my of translators at practice as well, sometimes forgetting to speak Spainish at all. Towards the end of my time in Spain, her family opened up their home to Lindsay and I for three days and even gave us tickets to a futbol game in Getafe. Touring Madrid was one of the highlights of my stay in Spain. So thank you and Gracias Maria. I will miss ya.

Top 5 Things I Will Miss About Spain #4

Top 5 Things I Will Miss About Spain

4.) Fanta Limon & Kebab


It seems as though I have picked up a favorite food in every country I have lived in. When I say favorite, I mean obsession. In Germany it was the Apple Juice with gas and the sweets. In Finland, it was the Pear Cidar and Rulla (another form of kebab). In Spain this year, it was defintely the Kebab and Fanta Limon. I was actually introduced to kebab by my friend Shonda Cole when I visited her two years ago in Spain. Since then it has become an obsession. Everytime the girls and I went to visit our American friends in Benidorm, we had to make a stop. And no kebab meal was complete without Fanta Limon.

Nicknamed 1/2 burrito by Nay, Kebab is actually a dish from southwest Asia. Similar to the Greek food the gyro, it is fried meat wrapped in a thick tortilla, shell or pita served with a salad, special sauce and sometimes peppers. If you are like me, you add hot sauce to it. Yum! Traditional Kebab meat is Lamb, but pork, chicken, goat, beef, fish & seafood is also available.

Each time I ordered kebab, it was of the Döner Kebab version. Döner Kebab is this big stick of meat that rotates while being cooked. Then when it is time to serve, the cook just shaves the meat down onto the tortilla and prepares the kebab for dinner. Döner literally means "rotating meat" in Turkish. Upon first inspection, the meat does not look very appetizing, but once its in it shell on your plate and the juices are running, you will start to drool. Kebab is also served in just about anything including pizza or even in a salad.

To go along with a delicious kebab plate, may I suggest a can or "lata" of Fanta Limon. Now this tastes just like any regular lemon carbonated juice, but for some reason I cant get over the electrifying taste it leaves in my mouth. It could also be that this flavor of Fanta is not served in America; so when I came to Spain, I absolutely fell in love with it. At every team party, function or dinner I went to, everyone who knew me knew exactly what drink I would order. May I add that Fanta limon is also great when mixed with wine. :)

Top 5 Things I Will Miss About Spain #5

SO I have been at home for about three weeks now. Me Aburro or I am bored! As I sit here and wait for the rest or my money, I cant help but hate all of Spain. But what a waste because there were good things I miss about being over there. I am trying my hardest to not write off a whole country because of one negative encounter with a group of people. So in no particular order...

TOP 5 Things I Will Miss About Spain....

5.) British Square

Just about every weekend that we played at home, the girls and I would "go out" to a street called British Square or English Square. It basically was a street full of bars and pretty much everyone spoke English. It is located in the English/ Australian tourist part of Benidorm. Visitors from England and or Australian who visited Alicante would all venture to this street, but you could basically find just about any nationality there. I have met people from South Africa, Australia, GB, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Chile, Switzerland, Czech Republic, New Hampshire, Malta, France, and Greece to name a few.

Our favorite spot was Club Bahamas. Here we met DJ Fariss Boukili, who would always play the hits and give shout outs to his favorite American girls. Then there was Hippodrome aka "Chinadrome" (<- not my words) not to be disrespectful, because of their high population of Asians that attended. But trust me, it was just as poppin and they also played the hits and it was a pretty cool hang out joint.

Rounding out our top three was Beachcomber where our dear friend Tomas works as a promotor. Love that guy to death, especially his Czech accent. This club played mostly techno music, but it was pretty jumping. I will also mention that we obeyed the number one clubbin rule... Know the bouncers, who by the way all seemed to be from Morocco. They were pretty cool people as well

It was always good times and trust we would dance the night away...

Dancing in Hippodrome

Relaxin out feet...

The girls with our favorite Czech Tomas

Lindsay, Stefani & I outside of Bahamas

Tina, Kerri & I photo'd outside of Hippodrome with out new friend Nick & a bear?

Funny that British Square made my top five things missed from Spain and it has nothing to do with Spain... Ha

Team Finestrat Models!?!

March 19, 2010- Team Finestrat took part in a semi photo shoot. I want to tell you it was elaborate with hair & makeup, wardrobe, lighting and all the fixings. No it wasn't. But I can dream right? Actually it was a a photoshoot for one of our sponsors, Albir Playa Hotel & Spa. Yes the circle on the right buttcheck of our spandex.

The Albir Hotel and Spa is a 4 four (de cuatro estrellas) hotel located in between Altea and Benidorm in a town called Costa Blanca. It is just about 20 minutes from where I live in Finestrat. In between shots we got a tour of the facilities and let me just say it was pretty awesome. It has a very nice pool in the back and a dining hall that hosts different entertainment. I also hear the buffet is to die for. The hotel also provides a spa service called Sensae Spa Experience. It is a very sensual, deep-breathing and relaxed atmosphere with waterfalls in a feng shui type environment.

I sure wish my club would treat us to a day spa. But again, one can only dream. Check out the

Albir Playa Hotel & Spa here -> http://www.albirplayahotel.com/

The Beginning of the End

March 13, 2010- Team Finestrat traveled back to the island of Tenerife to take on the #1 team in the Spanish Superliga, Jamper Aguere. Last time we played them, it ended in four, in a somewhat lop-sided victory for Aguere. At this point we are in 8th place, just holding on to a play-off spot. After not picking up any points last week, it was very important that we play hard this game and really force games. I figured this game could go two very different ways: First, we could go out and bust ours and take the #1 team to 5 games and pick up a point; or Two, we could go out and play flat and accept our position in this league. Unfortunately, it ended up being the latter. We were defeated 0-3 (22-25; 18-25; 16-25).


Aguere gave us jars of Miel or Honey before the game

Coming into this game we were already a bit injured and beaten-up. We had to play without Katia Rodrigues, one of our outside hitters and a very important piece of the team. Not to mention Flavia will have to return on a weakened ankle and in a new spot, opposite. Our coach moved Lindsay to the O2 position, inserting Flavia at Opposite because her ankle was not stable enough for lateral movement. But even with these disadvantages, we are still have players that can put the ball down. Also Aguere was without one of their big hitters; the opposite Yasmina Hernández. So those two things were big game changers.


As game 1 started we were this no non-sense, play hard, in your face team. We started off suprisingly well. I almost didnt recognize us, but it didnt matter. We just needed to keep up the lead and hard work. At one point at looked at the score and it was 16-9. Yeap, versus the #1 team in the league. But as our story usually goes we couldnt handle the pressure. With a few unforced errors and ball control issues and defense, Aguere was able to climb back into the game and defeat us. With much help from their big middle Roberta Pereira. Defeated and deflated, we marched slowly to the other side. There was pretty much nothing from there on out. Nothing new for our team. Games 2 & 3 went on the same and we were sent home with an L. We simply folded and that was the match. Passing was gone and then went the offense. We got pretty good touches on the block but no one behind it could come up with the play.

We ofcourse had some people playing out of position, and to give us credit we did the best we could with what we had. It just sucks to be up on a team and know you can beat this team if everyone was on the same page and had as much fight as others. But that is simply how it goes sometimes. Not to mention we had not really prepared for this line- up that much in the week. We all know preparation is the key. Plan the work and work the plan. It didnt seem like we had much of a plan this match.

In the end my team celebrated because we found out that Team C.P Cantur had lost and officially we could not be kicked out the league. Yes, that is a good thing. BUt wouldnt you rather earn that then depend on someone else losing to get it. It just seems a little backwards. Dont get me wrong, I love that this team gets to stay in the league, but I feel like it was by default. We got lucky. This team was very capable of being much higher in the rankings and we should not even have to think about being dropped to the second league. So I am a bit conflicted there.

Next week will be the defining week. This season will all come down to one match. Heres the situation. Team Finestrat is in 8th place with 27 points. We play the 9th place team Xacobeo Ribiera, who has 25 points. If we beat Xacobeo we will solidify our position in the playoff race. Actually all we have to do is lose in 5 games, which would put us up 28 to their 27. Its gonna be a thriller. Who wants it more?

"When you take challenges upon yourself, you're in a much better position than you'd be had those challenges forced themselves upon you." -Ralph Marston

*This blog comes about 2 weeks late and for that I apologize. I have had many things on my mind and could not get a clear mind with a somewhat positive point of view.

One Step Forward.. Two Huge Steps Back

Saturday- Team Finestrat had a great opportunity to distance ourselves in this race for a spot in the playoffs. Unfortunately we did not take advantage. We were defeated by C.V. Playa de las Canteras 0-3 (21-25; 26-28; 18-25). A match that seemed pretty evenly matched on paper, ended with Team Finestrat being terribly defeated and outplayed on our "home" court. I say "home" because we do not have a home court. We dont play where we practice. And I can sit here and spit out all these excuses about why we are not prepared. Some of which I really believe matter and others are just frustratation. But the point is when we lose, its simply because we did not play. We didnt show up. There were some games this season that I truly believe we should have won. And then there are games where we flat out got beat fair and square. The opposing team came in, outplayed, and out-strategized. And that is what it is. Nothing more, nothing less.


First, lets get the excuses out: Three out of the six starters are still plagued with this viral throat infection; three players are have intensely strained I T bands and hamstrings (mine is to the point where it hurts to walk or bend my leg); we dont actually practice volleyball stuff that pertains to an actual game; we dont scout or watch video of the opposing team until five minutes before we warm up; our head coach was out sick the whole week (thanks to me I guess). So on and so forth. We could recite these things every week like clock work, but at the end of the day, they shouldnt matter. When that whistle blows its pedal to the medal volleyball. The adrenaline kicks in, and you feel nothing but the game, the kill you just got or the block that reached the floor before you hit the floor. None of this happened yesterday.

I am a not a practice player. Im a gamer. Yes, I know that is bad because there is the saying that you practice how you play. But not me. Usually in a game I am ready to go no matter what hurts. But this match, the lingering pain in my leg stayed with me the whole game. It was like I was having surgery with no anesthesia. I could feel every jump and land, every dive and every swing. Im not gonna lie, I was not ready for this competition. It sucked. But had to do the best I could. We came out really flat. Every weak aspect of our game was exploited. Our passing broke down, their hitters were getting balls through, and we were getting blocked off the court. They outblocked us 13-4. Mentally we were not making good decisions on the court as well. For example forcing the outsides to hit through a double block, because the other team's middles were releasing. We got lazy and started to do things the easy way instead of the right way. I might add that Katia did a terrific job in the first set of finding the court. So kudos to her.

Game two started off differently with us unprecedently on top for once. With the work of Naomi and Lindsay, we got off to a 5-0 start and quickly opened up a pretty nice lead. But Canteras never left and hung on to the very end. We could not defend their middles behind or their opposite at all. I honestly do not believe we dug one ball from zone 2 in that set. With many unforced errors on our part, they stole the second set 28-26. It was a heart-stabbing blow to our egos and confidence. The third set went pretty much the same as the first. Canteras took the lead and never really relinquished it. Blown opportunities and undiscipline play resulted in Team Finestrat being defeated 3-0. Might I add that I feel we just didnt match up well with this team. Offensively their setter spreads the offense around. She will go back to a hot player, but she will not forget her other hitters. That is because it obviously takes more than one person to win a game. Especially a game like volleyball, where one outcomes depends upon another. Honestly its hard to defend a team when you have to look out for everyone instead of just one person.

With that said.. You win as a team and you die as a team. I wish other people would realize that. Not one person can win a game nor can one person lose a game. This was a collective team effort for Team Finestrat. Even though I wish I could have contributed more, opportunities were not there and at the end of the day the only name on the jersey that matters is the one on the front. Team Finestrat will have to regroup, put this behind us and focus on next weeks match. Can't cry over spilled milk.

Leading all scorers was Vera Willis from Canteras with 18+ 12 on 17 kills and Dani DaSilva from Finestrat with 15+ 5 on 13 kills. By the way Vera is an old friend from Costa Rica. It was good seeing her here in Spain. :)

We will travel next Saturday to face off against Jamper Aguere, the #1. We are still very much in the playoff hunt and a win or points here would be critical to us maintaining our position. Vamos Finestrat.

"Turn "I can't" into "I can" and pretty soon it'll be "I did" - The Daily Love