Costa Women Blogs

You Voted and We Won! Back in December I shared a competition Costa Women had entered into.  We were up against 40 international Social Clubs for expats.  This week I heard that Costa Women won!!   Thanks to you for voting and also the comments made. More information here:- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/9887564/Best-of-British-competition-the-2012-winners.html       You said:- “Costa Women is an invaluable resource for anybody already in Spain or thinking of relocating here. Great social network, events and get to know lots of new people near where you live. Very active on Twitter and Facebook & has a weekly newsletter too.“ “Very useful website for connecting with other expat women. As someone who lives in a remote area, away from the main urban areas, I find it a great way to meet like-minded people and collaborate on new projects.“ “A fabulous group and lots of people with so many ideas and interests. An asset to the community“ “Costa Women is a unique networking platform for women from all backgrounds to interact and share experiences of living in Spain and the islands. Every region of Spain should have a Costa Women group!“ “Costa Women is like a piece of shine located in a half full glass, one simple platform for networking, collaborating, friendship making and addressing a whole series of affairs, advice, requests, encouragement and a place for inspiration.” “Fantastic group which really helps women become involved in a community in Spain. Great for friends and to learn about local events” “Great community for Women abroad. If you are a self employed person or looking to run your own business than even better. Supporting women in Spain not just on the Costa.” “Through Costa Women I’ve met wonderful friends and great business contacts; and I’m having a lot of fun.” “I love Costa Women, it is a fabulous resource for all of us living here in Spain. A huge thank you to Ali Meehan the founder of Costa Women for her enthusiasm, generosity, sheer hard work, and vision in creating the networking group of the future.” “Ali Meehan is so generous with her help and time, and Costa Women has grown quickly for that reason. She shows the rest what social networking is all about!” “Costa Women is the CORE of all women who find themselves here NOW in Spain… We are a web of interconnectedness, supporting each other… sharing experiences… never alone… I love it… Thank you”   Thank you so much!  Please continue to share Costa Women with your friends and contacts. Website http://costawomen.ning.com/ facebook/costawomen Twitter: @costawomen Linkedin: Costa Women Entrepreneurs Pinterest/costawomen Google+ gplus.to/costawomen

  I have just reached post ONE HUNDRED. I have been working on my blog for 10 months, writing about Granada and Spain mainly.   To celebrate this milestone I have chosen the most popular 10 posts in this list here. http://www.piccavey.com/no-100-spain-blog/ Thanks for reading and for your support since I began this in April 2012. Rgds Molly

Over the hill? More like over the moon! Fitter, healthier (and happier) than ever at…   The other day I was reading the inspirational story of a lady of 102 who was the sole carer for her 80 year old daughter. One of the secrets of her health and longevity she said was to avoid doctors!   We seem have been brought up with the belief that as we get older mental and physical deterioration is inevitable. But maybe that doesn’t have to be true. As for me, while it’s true that some wrinkles have made their somewhat unwanted appearance on my face, I am also fitter, healthier and happier than I have ever been in my life. I may not be 102 (yet) but I am certainly of an age where I would generally be considered to be over the hill.   So what’s my secret? I’ve always been interested in health and all things alternative. Deepak Chopra’s first book Perfect Health really inspired me. The idea of studying people who were well, rather than those who were sick, to see what they were doing right seemed eminently sensible.   I was very pleased to discover that when it came to nutrition I seemed to know instinctively which foods were right for my body type 🙂 And as for meditation I took to it like a duck to water. With the right nutrition and meditation, I had the two cornerstones of my sickness prevention strategy.     The next step was to look at how I could deal with current health issues. I’d always been fascinated by alternative medicine. (Though considered little better than ‘voodoo’ by the medical profession at the time, even at fifteen I knew there had to be something to acupuncture, after all it had been around for thousands of years.) And after a particularly bad encounter with antibiotics, I started seeing a homeopath rather than a doctor. I also started to put together an ‘alternative’ medicine cabinet with homeopathic remedies, essential oils and Bach flower essences, to which I later added Reiki, NLP and EFT.   Since starting this new health regime nearly 3 decades ago I’ve had no serious illness and I just seem to get fitter and healthier with each passing year. I can walk up the hills behind Tarifa at a fast clip and dance non stop all evening, so what’s a few wrinkles between friends!   And if you live near Sotogrande, join me, Suzanne Le Quesne and Petra Mikat this Tuesday, 26 February to find out more on how you can put together an ‘alternative’ medicine chest for you and your family. check out events for more information.   And if you can’t make it, my website already has lots of information about how you can use EFT on just about anything. And I’ll also be posting more information in future blogs. I’m especially looking forward to sharing with you a very special NLP technique for everyday physical traumas. Picture by eMagineArt.com

Organic cheese making made easy. Learn the art of cheese making at one of my workshops. Take part and make your own cheese using natural organic products. Also in the class you will learn and taste same...

Hello Ladies,   As some of you know 6 weeks ago my husband and I adopted the most wonderful doggy from Los Barrios rescue. Whiskey is doing really well, but to make sure we are all safe and happy we have decided to do the basic obedience training with him. We decided to go with  highly recommended  K9 company http://www.k9educacioncanina.com/English/ and want to start asap. They offer few options: Private classes when the trainer comes to your house Intensive course, 2 h, 3 -4 times a week in Marbella 2 hours per week on Saturdays in Marbella   My top choice-private classes, but I must say the price is a little too much we were planning to spend. I would go for option two, but going back and forward to Marbella is not optimal. The 3rd option is great, but again…Marbella.   There is another option. The owner of K9, after a private consultation (FREE!), mentioned that he could run a group in the Sotogrande area if we managed to get together 10 dogs. Group Classes would last around 2 hours, once a week (the day and time depends on the needs of the group). The price is really great: 100 € / Month. http://www.k9educacioncanina.com/English/index_5.htm There is also an option of classes few times a week, but we can discuss when a group is put together.   If you or your friends are interested or have some questions, please drop me a mail at karolina@relocation-pro.com and I will do my best to put such group together.   If you want to see how those classes look like, you can join me for the Marbella class on Saturday 11am-1pm. The price is 25eur per session.   Kind Regards, Karolina

Well no we don’t, but clearly for a successful life in Spain we really need to conquer the language and have set ourselves a target for learning Spanish before we leave to start our new life there. I am however very proud of my longest Spanish sentence which was a large(ish) list of drinks ordered at Bar Ortega in Comares! Its not for want of trying as I have enrolled on a number of Spanish courses in the past but have never completed one and have enough courseware, books and tapes to last a lifetime! We recently discovered an on-line learning tool called Busuu which is fun to do and has a peer to peer option for native speakers to comment and grade submitted work and to practice with native speakers too. Study is divided into vocabulary, grammar, tests, and live units.  So far we haven’t had the confidence to actually chat on line, but this is something we will definitely look to do in the future. The basic site is free and really useful, you can upgrade to access more resources if you are really serious about your learning and set targets dependent on the time you have available to study. To date we have covered ¡Bienvendo!, ¿Como estás?, Ser o no ser and about to start basic numbers! This site has certainly superseded Chris’ iPhone app where he has had hours of fun translating rude words and phrases, then getting me to guess what he is saying!!!! He has also developed a rather loud Mexican bandit accent when practising his Spanish! I’ve compiled a list of vocabulary and phrases for both Chris and I to learn this week, we want to incorporate as much Spanish into our discussions as possible but may end up not speaking to each other for an easier life, (should be fun)! Chris has also found another on-line learning tool at Learn Direct which covers four levels and costs £29 per level. We are too late to enrol on an Adult Leaning class for this year (Oct 2012), but there does seem a lot of other options available. The Lonely Planet Guide to Andalucía recommends an easy-to-grasp Spanish language course at the Universidad de Málaga, something we would both like to do on a future visit. Hopefully when we return for a week in February. And if anyone knows of an easier way to add acute and grave accents and upside down question and exclamation marks please let me know!