Next stop: Ollie town!

So after fervently fighting with my blackout curtains that for some reason extremely enjoy staying shut until 3pm, I dragged myself out of bed to take advantage of the Madrid summer sunshine. Saturday morning, my neighbors and I were going to meet up with a local friend of mine and hit the shopping district. You know when you hit one of those moods and a voice enters your head desparately seeking material validation? That was Saturday.

Anyways, we cruise around calle Fuerrencal in the Chueca neighborhood, hopping into and out of stores like we were an accessory on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in Disneyland. For those of you that do not know, that ride has cardboard cutouts stuck to a track that go in and out of spaces in an eerily mechanical routine, like a string of guards riding around the face of a Cuckoo clock on the hour. Anyways, the day was progressing nicely, as our hands weighed heavier with merchandise. We decide to stop for a bite to eat and low and behold, we see an Umami burger. This restaurant is famous in Hollywood for the best burger in town and I had no shame bringing myself back to the home land just for one meal. We had an amazing meal and had the most engaging waiter with a rat tail that hanged down to his lower back. He made us all surprise cocktails and I felt like a Lady Who Lunches.

Just as Nena says she has to go home to study and our local yocal has to head home to siesta, Ollie began to unfurl her freak flag as my one-on-one with her was just about to begin. We pay the bill and the two of us cruise around looking for some more therapeudic entertainment. After a little while, we head past a tatooo-piercing place and Ollie starts hyperventilating. She had wanted a certain piercing for over a year but was just too afraid to get it. I enabled her like Dina Lohan and said, "Let's just wait outside the front door to think about it". She stares at the door, stares at me and within 30 seconds she heads inside. After an in-depth description and a diagram of the subject to be pierced, I Dina her some more "just to check out the needle". That got her on the bed. I was holding her hand and the guy said he would warn her when he...BAM! PIERCED! My hand nearly disengaged, fell lifeless to my side as my dream of becoming a World Needlepoint Champion vanished. But she did it, and the walk home was a little bit brighter.