Some people need ice cream, others alcohol or drugs, but for me, as I stepped off of the plane in Barcelona, I felt like I could breathe again.  Dealing with a heart that wasn’t truly broken, but slightly crushed by the weight of disappointment of “what could have been”, I knew that I was in the right place and soon to be on the mend.  This time around, I was truly home, greeted by my Realtor Extraordinaire, Rafael Rosendo, of Lucas Fox Realty and the keys to my flat for the summer.

After such a long journey to arrive, there was one solution prior to sleeping, to help cure the combination jet lag and hangover from the in flight drinking and continued drunken misbehavior in the One World Lounge at London Heathrow.  I dropped off my bags, and headed straight to La Bodegueta, my version of Cheers, where everyone knows my name, except the food is much better.  With eyelids so heavy that I could have used toothpicks to keep them open, I scarfed down my Ous Estrellats amb Pernil (fried eggs with sautéed potatoes and Iberic cured ham) specialty of the house and instantly cabbed it back to my new bed.

Coming out of my pseudo hibernation a day and a half later, revived and ready to go, what better thing is there to do on a Sunday afternoon in June than to hit the beach.  Remembering that Opium Mar was the “it” place for late afternoon drinks by the sea, I headed over after a few hours of sun, to enjoy a bite, a drink and a little people watching.

Only minutes later, I had landed my eyes on what I consider to be one of the most beautiful male creatures to have ever caught my attention, and what was this, he was checking me out as well? To this day, I still do not have exact recollection of how it all happened, as the mind can play tricks on you when in the presence of such beauty, but somehow, after enough exchanged glances, I ended up mid conversation with he, an adorable and way too young German footballer, and his group of friends while enjoying cava, sangria and sushi.

Honestly, this encounter all had more or less originated by my attempt to avoid the group of flashy Russian guys, sitting on the bed to my left, who instantly spotted me as their prey from the moment I arrived and began slowly edging themselves towards my bed.   Almost simultaneously, at the final determining moment where these guys were so close to have made conversation inevitable, I could feel the weight of the stare of this tall and dark haired Adonis, and I thankfully stood up, grabbed my glass of wine and moved over to join him, just in time to escape from any undesired conversations with my other neighbors.

So, yes, my graceful German host with very broken English ended up being sweet and incredibly seductive.  Having stayed there drinking with he and his group until well beyond sunset, then being invited out later, to dinner, accompanied by one of the others as a bit of a translator, and afterwards, reuniting with the whole group again at Opium Mar for some partying until sunrise. The shocker of it all was that the significant age difference didn’t really seem to deter either of us.  He did look and act a good deal older, or that’s how I justify it, we’re quite a bit in contact till this day, and I still get a smile on my face when I think of his kissable soft lips like pillows.

With one simple Rock Star afternoon turned into night, my bruised heart was well on it’s way to being mended and my optimism up for the phenomenal summer that I had ahead of me.

Just the thought of lingering afternoon paella lunches at Arenal on the beach, evening poolside parties at The W Hotel, nights of dancing upstairs at Eclipse that turn into mornings before you even know it, mixed with the occasional cultural outing like the Magic Fountain laser and light show, or live music in the summer concert series Musica Als Parcs in Parc Ciutadella, I was filled with excitement! And I hadn’t even started on the “unknown”.

 If only there existed a simple equation like this to solve the other challenges in my life.

*Inspired by my travels to Barcelona, I’ve teamed up with Braccialetti Cruciani to create the perfect wrist look for this destination.  Gypsy Love’s Cruciani, “Accessorizing my way around the world, one Cruciani Bracelet at a time.”  

Hope to see you rocking this look next time you’re in Barcelona!