The Latest Trend - being a ´Skinny Bitch´.

Now this ´trend´, as we call it, has seemed to be going on for a couple of years now. Also known as Team Size 0, it perhaps started off with celebrities like Victoria Beckham, Nicole Ritchie and Nicky Hilton to name a few, stepping out (all mostly on the streets of L.A. let me add) looking gaunt, thin and incredibly boney. Ok, what they were wearing looked great. Not a fat roll nor even a hint of cellulite in sight. But they started to, worryingly, show literally millions of girls across the globe that being stick thing made you look good in aboslutely anything you wore.

So then came the skinny jeans. denim short shorts, wet look leggings, that you just cannot wear if you don´t have super slim legs, and lots more. Sky high and platform heels were to make you look even more slender, and that is when the high street went mad. Did it only seem to cater for the skinny bitch look?

Being a brit I´m still up-to-date with the nation´s fashion; I´m not a secluded islander in any way! I´m also conscious of the US and most of Europe´s current trends, and clearly know what to wear and what not to.

However, now living on my island and doing most of my shopping in Mallorca, I can´t help but notice that most of the high fashion stores seem to forget about us curvy girls. This big controversy has sadly been going on in Spain long before the size 0 trend set in. Yes, it´s true that when I walk into Zara, Mango, Massimo Dutti etc, most of the sizes 34, 36 and 38 (UK size 6, 8 and 10) have all disappeared from the rails, but this actually has little to do with the UK and US´s skinny bitch appeal. Spanish girls do tend to be tiny, with a small frame, slim legs, a small bust and a pert little culito (bottom as we would call it). We´ve all heard the mediterranean diet being praised, with its abundance of olive oil, tomato salads and fresh bread. It´s true, it does exist, but I´m sorry, never have I seen people eat so unhealthily than in Mallorca!

The typcial breakfast, even for most slim girls, is either café con leche (milky coffee, usually full fat milk) or Cola Cao, which is again full fat milk mixed with powdered chocolate. This is then eaten normally with magdalenas (litte fairy cakes), ensaimadas (basically a spiral of pastry), or nothing at all. Lunch for a Spaniard consists of something deep fried or overcooked; few fresh vegetables; and tomate frito, which the Mallorquins put on everything and is a sweet tomato purée loaded with salt and sugar. Some would even go for a siesta with a full stomach after their huge lunch for anything upto an hour. Cena, or their evening meal, is usually ´light´if you´re eating-in, but, note, this will not be anywhere near before 9pm and could even be stretched out until 11pm. It could be the spanish omelette, made with about 10 eggs and a dozen potatoes, all previously fried; a huge baguette of white bread as wholemeal barras are hard to find; or something easy like a frozen pizza.

Can you see why it completely boggles me how on earth the average Spanish girl is a slim size 38 (UK 10)?

So the good news is that most of the chicas, at least on my island, have not being affected by the size 0 trend. They´re just naturally skinny bitches..... Grrrrr.

However, this doesn´t stop the rest of the female population, as mentioned before, mostly the brits and americans, from practically starving themselves to be able to fit into a tight pair of black skinnies. Whatever happened to eating healthily, doing a bit of exercise and being a slim size 10? This is what used to be acceptable. Now we seem to have to live on adame (soya) beans and sushi to even get recognised in the fashion industry.

I must admit though, after reading the controversial book, ¨Skinny Bitch¨, which when spotted in the hands of Victoria Beckham the sales not so surprisingly soared, I did fall into the whole I-must-be-thin trap. I´m not going to get into a book review now, but if you stick to what the ex-model and nutritionist writers say, (basically live a vegan diet), you will no doubt be a Skinny Bitch, and I truly believe that you will be a healthy one, as that is what the book boasts.

But the truth is, being a size 0 is just no fun. What normal girl doesn´t enjoy going out with her boyfriend/friends/work collegues for a slap up meal washed down with a few glasses of wine or a couple of vodkas? Ok, so we can always watch what we eat, that´s not hard, but when you have to limit everything you eat constantly is just boring, unsociable and most of the time it just leaves you craving for more of the foods you´re depriving yourself of. Trust me, I´ve been there done that many a time. And it´s sad but true, I´ll never be a skinny bitch. I couldn´t possibly begin to dream of wearing a size 0 pair of jeans, and there´s no way I´d give up my love of dark chocolate for anyone! But I know myself, just as much as we all do, there are limits and the most important thing is to feel comfortable with how you are and how the body that was given to you looks. It´s not about looking like all the stick thin celebs. They have a boring life. They may look good on the outside, but do you think they are happy on the inside? Life is too short to worry too much about your dress size. And the sooner you wake up to realise that, the better. I´d rather be a healthy tart than a skinny bitch any day!

A Perfect Island Wedding..... or that´s what I hope!

In my first article, Why an island? Why Mallorca?, I described my love for my island. I mentioned that, not only did I fall in love with Mallorca, but ´more...´ Well, this ´more´I am marrying this year, on the 1st of August this very summer. Rafael (Litos) Vaquer Mayol. He deserves a mention, of course. A very special mention, for a very special person. Well, at least that´s what he is in my eyes. I wouldn´t be committing myself to him and only him if I thought otherwise. Committing myself to him. To someone. To vow to spend the rest of my life by the side of only one person. Til death do us part. For better or for worse. A scary thought? The truth, for me, not one single bit. And that is how I know he is the one. Allright, I´m not going to get all emotionally deep here. But I am experiencing one of the happiest times in my life as I wait impatiently for my big day. And I want to express that they´d be no way I´d ever dream of taking the huge step that marriage is if I wasn´t 100% sure that there is no one else on this earth I´d rather be with. Ok, so the earth is a gigantic planet and I haven t met even a quarter of the people on it. How do I know that I´m not destined to be with someone else? Well, because I believe in fate, and that very same fateful force that brought me to Mallorca in the fisrt place, also drove me to my first and only love. We´re meant to be together, forever, and I truly believe that.

Anyway, let´s get back to my wedding. Yes, it´s true, the word "stress" has passed my lips more than once as I organise and plan and schedule the whole ´shebang´. As everyone who has got married or has been involved in a wedding knows, there are literally tonnes and tonnes of things to do and remember to do.
My advice is just to be incredibly organised right from the very start. I´ve discovered that the best way to do it is to first make a list of everything that needs to be booked, organised, bought, hired, etc. It will be a huge list and there will, no doubt, be things you´ve forgotten to put on your list. But don´t worry, these will probably be minor things that can be added as you remember.
When you have your list, you then need to catergorise it into order of importance. In other words, all the things that need to be done first, or asap, depending on how far in advance you start planning. This will include things like ´book venue/church/priest or officiant/music, start looking for dress´. These are the things that need to be booked well in advance due to high demand, especially if you´re looking at a popular church or venue. Ths reservation is best done the sooner the better in my opinion. I booked my venue 14 months in advance to be sure I got that date that we wanted.
The best way to categorise your to-do list is into things to do: asap; 6 months before; 5 months before; 4 months before; 3 months before; 2 months before and last but not least, the big month. Literally go through it month by month. It will take off so much pressure, as one month they´ll only be one thing you´ll have to do, and the next month another....
You´ll know, of course, what it is that needs doing, and you´ll always be receiving help from different people, whether it´s from fellow brides, women who´ve been there, assistants from places you visit, and wedding planners and event organisers are numerous.
We decided eventually to have the whole event at one single venue. At an idyllic, elegant and impressive hotel, which overlooks the magnificent, turquoise blue, mediterranean sea that will be glistening in the hot, summer sun. The thought of it sends shudders of excitement through my body and a huge smile can´t help but light up my face. Excited is actually an understatement.
The hotel is also idyllic in the sense that its wonderful staff have taken so much pressure off what could have been a stressful and exhausting organisation of the whole event. The wonderful event coordinators from the hotel have been incredibly efficient, helpful and extremely kind right from the very start, and if we were to have wanted, they could have organised the whole wedding for us.

This brings me to my next point. Thinking back, I don´t know if I would have wanted a wedding planner or to put what will be the most special day of my life into the hands of someone else. Of course, they undoubtedly make the job a whole lot easier for you and if you have a hectic schedule or are unsure of where to even start, they are at your every need.
But personally for me, planning my wedding is part of the fun. Visiting venues, researching florists, hunting down suitable musicians... Little by little you´re building up to the excitement of the big day and it will bring tears to your eyes as you imagine how it will all turn out. You´re doing it all by yourself and you can look around on that special day and say to yourself, "I´ve done this; I´ve made this wedding happen; It´s all down to me." But with all the other emotion and happiness that your heart will be filled with, do you really think you´ll really have time to stop and think? Unlikely. But do it. I will be and I can´t wait for it. I´ve never wanted anything so badly in my life.

I can´t express the importance of time. You´ll need a lot of it, unless you don´t mind being rushed off your feet just weeks before. The invitations, the dress, the presents, the flowers.......
You´ll see as you make your list. Be prepared. Be organised. Be happy. Put all your heart, soul and happiness into it. It´s been nothing but excitement since the day we set the date and we´ve still got 185 days to go! And who said weddings were stressful? One word of advice - ENJOY!

The Economic Crisis. A glimpse of...

Ok, so I'm no expert in the economy sector. But who isn't aware of the world's economical situation at this very moment in time? I know that like the US and the UK and a huge part of the world, Spain has been spiralling down this economic crisis/credit crunch/recession or whatever you want to call it and it's not about to get any better any time soon.

Yes, we all know that it all started with the banks lending cash they borrowed from bigger banks. But people couldn't pay back the loans due to rises in fuel etc impacting on their lives and the banks couldn't pay back the bigger banks. So the big banks got worried and reduced lending thus creating the crunch.

At practically the very same time, the oil price rocketed and the massive increase in food prices, mostly due to high demand from China and India, also added to this crisis, and basically it's annoying.
More than half the Spanish population work hard for a good salary and a decent standard of living. Many people, myself being one of them, don't use credit cards or have a loan (mortgage aside). People living on credit have the same standard as living as me and now we have to suffer partly because of them. Bankrupcies, closing down sales, businesses going bust and, of course, redundancies are all results of the crisis.

Just like the UK, Spain is highly exposed to its failing property market and if I were to look into selling my 3 bedroom apartment in Palma de Mallorca only 16 month after I bought it, I would be looking at about a 50,000 euro drop in value. It's unbelievable, but the big question everyone is asking is, when will it all come to an end?

Well, in the US and UK, which seems to be where it all stemmed from, they're talking about "borrrowing and spending their way out of recession", and other good effects have been the falling oil prices, as the demand drops, and a rise in gold. (Does this sounds like Roman times or what?)

In Spain, on the other hand, it only seems like bad news I'm afraid. There is the ever-growing need to correct the bank's current account deficit and the main reason for the deterioration in the income account lies in the growing external indebtedness of the Spanish economy .

It seems clear that conditions will continue to worsen all through 2009 and probably shrink again in 2010. Oh blow, there goes my trip to Thailand out the window! As which middle class citizen on an average salary and an ever-rising mortgage to pay can permit themselves these little luxuries whilst the crisis is still a big part of our lives? But then again, as I step out into Palma on what I thought would be a quiet Thursday morning, all I can see around me are men, women, children, tourists and even the elderly racing from shop to shop, crossing high street to high street, their arms weighed down with 'El Corte Ingles', 'Zara', 'Sfera' shopping bags. Fair enough, the word 'Rebajas' (sales) is scrawled across most of them, but still, if we were caught up in such a scary credit crunch, then why do we just continue to buy and shop and spend? Who knows? But my very wise father tells me, we've come out a recession once before and we'll do it again. Eventually.

Why an island...? Why Mallorca...?

Mallorca. Islas Baleares. Largest island and most polulated. Area: 3,640.11 km2. Population: 790,763. Off the western coast of Spain. Official languages - Catalan and Spanish. Thrives off tourism. Inhabited since antiquity. My island.
Did I know all this facts and was I aware of all these figures before my plane touched down on that hot, sunny and glorious summer's day what seems like an eternity ago? No. Did I know I were to fall in love with the island and more that very summer? No. Did the thought pass my mind that here was where I was going to spend the rest of my life? No. Did I know this was part of my destiny? I had no idea. All I knew was that I had 5 fantastic weeks ahead of me and that I was going to enjoy every moment of them.
But 5 weeks turned into 12 months, and 12 months then turned into 2 years, then 2 years turned into 4. And here I am, 2 739.31649 days later. There's not a day when I look back, and not a single part of me that wants to moved back to my native UK.
I love my island. I love everything about it. The culture, the gastonomy, the people, the language, the landmark, the turqoise blue sea. I love my life on my island. And that is what I wish to share with you. Life on my Island. Mallorca.