Barcelona, Spain: FULL DISCLOSURE

view from Barceloneta (Barcelona) beach apartment 

This photo features my good friend Anna and I relaxing on a couch after an afternoon BBQ at a friend of a friend's Barceloneta Beach apartment. It is, I believe, the perfect photographic representation of Barcelona: a spectacular seaside city filled with great people, great food and fantastic views.

After bouncing back and forth between the US and Spain for 10 years and working as an English teacher and later as a staff writer and editor at a cultural magazine in Barcelona, I've compiled a comprehensive list of places to shop and eat at, as well as visit in the city I consider my other home.

Mountain Side Gear Rental: Camping Equipment Rentals Delivered to YOU

Mountain Side Gear Rental

I'm in the midst of planning a West Coast adventure trip. The fun will start at a close friend's wedding outside San Francisco and continue with a road/plane trip with another friend coming in from Barcelona, Spain, to explore the vineyards in Sonoma and cities like Las Vegas. The highlight: a camping adventure inside the Grand Canyon. One of the greatest obstacles though, until now, was figuring out how we would pull of our camping outing. We couldn't possibly smuggle all the necessary gear on the different planes we are taking to California from NYC and Barcelona respectively. And with airlines now charging for checked luggage, we needed a smart solution. I searched online for camping rental shops near the Grand Canyon and was about to give up, when I stumbled upon a forum, where a woman mentioned Mountain Side Gear Rental. 

What do they do? Rent camping and backpacking equipment, everything from tents to cooking sets. 

Wanderlust Revelation: Bang Bang Boogaloo Label Launch Party March 8, 2011 (NYC)

 Bang Bang Boogaloo

It's been my experience that 90% of the time 'Boogaloo' is used in the title of an event, it is a sign of a guaranteed good time.

I got the tip-off on Bang Bang Boogaloo's Label Launch party happening Tuesday, March 8, 2011 from another blogger, Vivian Kelly, of the Fashion Examiner, who is not only hip to what is happening with factions of fashion, but is clued into many cool cultural city happenings. Unfamiliar with the Bang Bang Boogaloo crew (an NYC record label/blog dedicated to authentic music and specializing in digital compilations of relevant artists), I emailed my personal music guru (a dynamite DJ, who puts on fantastic funk/soul and boogaloo -there it is again, that magical, fun workout word for your mouth muscles- sets every Friday in Barcelona, Spain under the heading 'Friday Nite Funk Fry') and while he wasn't familiar with the BBB either, he did say it "sounds like some white boy blues thang... could be fun." 

Wanderlust Revelation: Salseek.com Launch Party February 18, 2011(NYC)

Salseek.com is having a sizzling launch party 

February 18, 2011 at Hudson Terrace.

Natalie Maniscalco, CEO and founder of Salseek.com, a digital magazine showcasing all things salsa, says she's wanted to learn how to dance salsa "probably from the first time I saw the movie Dirty Dancing." Personally, I think my first encounter with the big world of sexy Latin American dance styles was via a screening of the film Lambada in the basement during a birthday party in 6th or 7th grade (if I recall correctly).