diana + ana: the tale of two americanas.

this post has been sitting in my draft box for literally almost two years now. and considering it heavily involves one of my best friends in the whole wide world (whose birthday it just so happens to be today!), i figured there's no better time than the present to share! 

let's take it back to june 2011. 

madrid, spain. approximately 1:35 a.m. metro stop sol, red line. 

enter, these two (guapa) girls:

note: i'm totally aware that this photo makes me look like an alien, but i'm with a magnum bar, so i feel pretty okay about it. 

these two had recently become best friends, after sharing a 4x4 room in a suburb of madrid, spain for a summer. they may or may not have been out a bit past curfew on a weekend night (it was before the time of yolo, but they were a bit ahead of the curve, with the summer motto "always down"), exploring the city and walking the gran via. this evening exploration also just might have coincided perfectly with the victory of f.c. barcelona in the champion's league final. 

needless to say, the city was a liiiittle bit excited! cars honking their ways through the streets, barcelona flag's waving everywhere, and drunken men shouting cheers of celebration at every pub-- it was madness. 

as two rubias, they made it through the chaos without problems and stepped into the metro station to make their way back to alcalá, but as they waited for their train, they were noticed from across the platform. 

"ey! hola, guapas!" spotted. 

"AMERICAAAANAS! GUAPAS!" shouted another. 

it was as if a spanish boy band had stepped onto the platform and was anxiously searching some american backup dancers. but here's the thing; they actually looked like a spanish boy band. so dreamy.  

the girls had gotten pretty good at ignoring cat calls after a few months in europe, but their train was mere minutes away, and they were a whole platform away from these men, so they decided to have a little fun with it. 

after a few flirtatious exchanges lots of "te amo!s" (from the americans) and "I LOOOV YEW!s" (from the spaniards), their train arrived, and they hurried onto it...

only to be bombarded by heaps of blown kisses!
the only natural response to this was to blow kisses back, to which the spaniards responded by enthusiastically catching the kisses mid-air.

and then they were gone forever, the girls' spanish dreamboats... and their hopes of being in the next big latino music video.





so why do i share this story? mostly, because it was hilarious. and so spanish. and really typified our study abroad. and i'll now always remember it.

but it also typifies my relationship with my darling devaun. i'm often baffled by how lucky i was to be placed with the best amigas ever in spain (and so often in life; god really knows us... he does!). and especially to be roommates/automatic best friends with devs. she filled a void in my life i didn't even know existed before i met her. she's one of the kindest, most hilarious, and smartest chicas i know.
she is so supportive and looks out for me all the time... has even fed me ice chips and pudding after sinus surgery and picked me up from the airport after living in south america, peppermint hot chocolate in hand. i'm pretty much obsessed with her and all the adventures we've had (and with our third amiga, of course!), and i can't wait for all of the adventures to be had in the future.

i hope you have the best twenty-third birthday ever, devaun! love you!!
besos,
anna