Lopez Blogs

Yesterday was indeed a record-breaking day for EuropeCrazy - over 1200 visitors so thank you all! I guess those high numbers had something to do with a certain song contest taking place perhaps??? I noticed there were lots of searches for Eric Saade so if this blog is to remain "popular" then I guess I'll have to keep the Eric news coming!!

Thanks once again to all of you for visiting - much appreciated - and don't forget to visit this blog again soon!

I'm back from a fabulous short break in Pisa, home of beautiful food, beautiful weather and beautiful people!! Totally relaxed and refreshed and ready to start blogging again:)

Need to start dieting again too after eating too many of those lovely pizzas like this funghi porcini one from Friday... ;)


The Pisa Diaries, accompanied by some more gratuitous food photography (!) will be published from Sunday 15th onwards. No time for anything between now and then because....IT'S EUROVISION WEEK!!

OK so this is my last blog post before I go to Pisa. This blog will be back either next Sunday or Monday at which time I'll be catching up with all the pre-Eurovision excitement!!

See you all soon.

Laura x

OK....EuropeCrazy is on another blog break for the next month. See you at the end of April (unless I'm on holiday...will keep you posted!)

See you soon!

Love & hugs
Laura :)))

I'm posting from my sick bed today, as I've got a cold, a very sore throat and sore ears, so this has cheered me up!

As if reaching the four-year mark wasn't enough reason to celebrate, now more good news. Last night this blog reached the grand total of 100,000 visitors. I'm pretty overwhelmed by this statistic as you'll probably guess. When I started this blog, I didn't expect that anyone would ever read it, so I'm delighted that so many of you have passed this way, read the posts, left your comments. If you found this blog by chance, then I hope you found what you were looking for and maybe liked what you saw and stayed around for a while.

I've said it before, but the best thing about blogging over the past four years has been getting to know so many lovely people out there in blogland. Where I previously felt as if no-one else shared my interests, blogging has made me feel like part of a big happy family. Like all families of course, we don't always agree, or we agree to differ, but it's still great to be part of this community.

So thank you all, a hundred thousand times over!

(Statistical info supplied by Sitemeter)

Tomorrow, Friday 11th March, will be the 4th birthday of this blog - wow it seems no time since I was just celebrating its 3rd anniversary! - anyway it's been a great 4 years so far. Thanks again to all of you out there who make my blogging adventures such a special and rewarding experience.

Of course things have changed over the years and I don't have the time to blog here as regularly as I once did. There was lots of amazing stuff going on at my other blog over the past 12 months, and more recently my health hadn't been too great due to chronic back pain and fatigue - I got all these ideas for blog posts in my head and then was too tired to write them :(

Anyway I'm planning some special posts for this weekend, so expect these late Saturday night and on Sunday, as I won't be around here before then.

Of course it's a weekend full of special things ahead - apart from this blog's birthday, there's the final of Melodifestivalen on Saturday night so you can expect a review of that later, and I'll probably be chatting over at Twitter at some point too!

Whilst the result of Melodifestivalen appears to be a foregone conclusion, well, depending what website you read of course (!) there is one ingredient which could throw the whole thing into complete disarray: the replacement of the Swedish city juries by an expanded group of international juries. There will still be the televote of course, which, as recent history has shown, has a habit of overthrowing a potentially decent result (IMHO). Exhibit A: 2009. Exhibit B: 2010.

But I digress. I'm not predicting anything - got it so wrong last week that I'm getting exhausted even thinking about it. You know who I want to win (although I even have reservations about him now because of the whole taped backing vocals thing, etc etc) but do you know something? The one song from the final which I've probably listened to more and more over recent weeks is not really a favourite with anyone, it doesn't have a fanbase (and since I'm usually the kiss of death to any song which I like, it'll probably finish 6th or 7th), but boom chicky boom chicky boom boom boom....I love "Me and My Drum"! It's sooooo catchy!!

So if Danny doesn't win, I'd be very happy with Swingfly and my lovely Christoffer going to Dusseldorf. Everything else is a bit 'meh' at the moment for me...you could call it 'meh'lodifestivalen (groan) anyway I'll be back here on Saturday, no doubt to rant and rave.

See y'all then!! :)

I'd like to send my best wishes to all the readers of this blog and hope that 2011 brings you all good health and happiness.

Special thanks here to Damian, Rachel and Keira...my "hardcore" followers and special friends - blogland would be so much emptier without you, so keep in touch!!

Of course over the past year, this blog has had to take a back seat to my other blog, Planet Salem, which has had a incredible, successful and very busy year - just like the man himself :)) However 2011 should be very quiet "over there" so it will give me more time to concentrate on this blog "over here".

However, even bloggers need a rest, so I've decided to take some time out of blogland in January. I've got some jobs to do at home, but it's not going to be "all work and no play" - I'm going to watch some DVDs, read books, listen to music and come back here in February, just in time for Melodifestivalen - and ESC national finals season will also be in full swing by that time so there will be lots to write about!

In the meantime, have a great new year everyone....see you soon!

EDIT 04.01.2011: no I'm not back yet, but I've decided to try out this plan where I take a month off, blog for two months, take another month off etc etc. So my plan is to blog in February, March, May, June, August, September, November and December and take the other months off. Whether it works is another thing of course...!!

You've probably noticed that Christmas is coming :) So I'm trying to get organised now....but even stay-at-home bloggers need to get out once in a while and this weekend it's time to party!! I've got a couple of very exciting nights out happening this weekend. So I'm taking a few days out of blogland :)

EuropeCrazy will return next Wednesday, 22nd December. I have a number of unwritten or unfinished blog posts which I really want to get out of the way before the end of the year....so these will all be published from next Wednesday onwards.

EDIT 22.12.2010: unfortunately I've had no time to get all these posts together so it will probably be at least 26th December before they'll be published. Even when I'm on holiday there aren't enough hours in the day :)

Normal service (whatever that is) is returning to this blog. Over the last few months I haven't been able to post as much as I wanted to; that was mainly to do with Planet Salem taking up most of my blogging time for the best part of January-September, then I went on holiday, and then there were lots of things to do, and then I got sick....

There are still lots of things to do, (and Christmas is coming so there is even more to do) but I thought it was about time to bring this blog back again!

Over the next few days I'll be posting some long-overdue album reviews and a couple of other things...and then on Thursday 18th November it will be time for the launch of my annual chart countdown - the 2010-50. I'll tell you more about that on Wednesday.

In the meantime, a quick plug for my other blog, Planet Salem - the international Salem Al Fakir fansite. It's now back in action after a couple of months' break, as Salem's autumn tour has now started. Enjoy!

For the first time in the three and a half year existence of this blog, I received a very strongly worded 'cease and desist' email yesterday.

I've never done anything to merit a C & D - I thought C & D's were only issued to people who shared mp3 files on their blogs, and I've never done that - so it was pretty hard to understand why I'd received this, as it only related to a YouTube link within the most recent German Charts Update from a couple of weeks ago.

But hey, anyway I've deleted the whole post, not just the link, so the matter should now be resolved. Has this happened to any of you readers?

Regular readers of this blog will know that I haven't been posting as much on here, and unfortunately that's set to continue for a little while so please bear with me. It's a very, very busy time at the moment - having a new central heating system installed, and then I'm off on holiday!

Yes! It's that time again...on Monday I'll be heading off to Turkey - along with faithful travelling companion - for our second annual summer holiday there. Can't believe it's been a year since our first visit to Turkey and we hope that this holiday will be as fun and memorable as that last one. Hopefully I'll be home with some new Turkish music among my many purchases!

All things being well, this blog should return on the evening of 21st September. If there's any important news I've missed when I'm away (I won't be near the internet during that week) please get in touch and leave your comments and I'll get back to you on my return.

This blog will be back in action for the last week of September but will then be taking a break for most of the month of October - although there will be the occasional post, but there's lots of things I'll need to catch up on outside of blog-land so I've made the decision to have another blog break. (I will still be reading all my favourite blogs though!)

See you later in September......!

Hello again!!

I decided to bring the blog back 24 hours earlier :) with a slight redesign as you will see. Those new Blogger templates are very tempting although I'm keeping it simple for the moment.

Feeling revived and refreshed after this blog's 6 week break. The time has flown in so quickly! At the time I decided to put the blog on hold, it had been a bit of a stressful time which wasn't helped by a bout of nasty back pain which meant that I couldn't do very much apart from sit around watching the World Cup on TV, and catching up with a few outstanding things which needed to be done. Happily I'm now feeling a lot better on all counts!

Over the next few days I'll be running a catch-up of what's been going on over recent weeks. I'm calling it "EuropeCrazy's Summer Rewind" - OK I know that summer isn't over yet, although where I live you could be forgiven for thinking that it was, with all the torrential rain during the past week!!

I'm particularly touched that EuropeCrazy has continued to have visitors during this 'down-time' and I can only thank you all once again for visiting. However I'm well aware that "if you blog it they will come" so I'm hoping to update this blog more regularly now.

....this blog will be back. That's the plan anyway :))

Summer is here, even though today's weather has been non-stop torrential rain. Anyway it's June, and the World Cup is almost here! Which means that I'll be stuck in front of the telly for most of the time watching the footie. And when I'm not doing that, I'll be getting out and about and enjoying the so-called-summertime. Or listening to music, or catching up with some overdue reading. (And that's just in the leisure time - work is also going to be very busy!)

What is this all leading to, I hear you ask? Well I thought it would be as good a time as any to take a little break from posting on this blog and at Random Ramblings, probably for at least the next 4 weeks or so - although during that time I will post that long-overdue Eurovision review, and maybe some other vaguely urgent stuff, who knows?

Planet Salem will continue with tour updates and other news - you don't get rid of me that easily ;))

To all my readers and fellow blogging friends......have a great summer!

A couple of things I was supposed to get round to...

• my Eurovision review
• my Bratislava holiday diary

...will eventually be posted on here, although there aren't enough hours in the day just now, so bear with me, they will be posted eventually, and definitely before the end of June...!

Firstly, I can only apologise for the lack of posts/updates on this blog over recent weeks, as a certain other blog of mine continues to demand most of my attention and will continue to do so in the coming weeks and months.

This means that EuropeCrazy won't be updated as frequently as it once was, however I'll try to update it whenever I can. I had thought about putting this blog on hold for a while, however I realised that I would miss it if I did that :)

Anyway this blog is taking a break for a week as I am due to go on my spring-break holiday to Bratislava tomorrow.

I say "due" although there is now a very real prospect of cancellation due to the volcanic ash cloud which continues to cause major disruption - several British airports are closed today and further closures are expected tomorrow. Feeling really, really p****d off about this now.

If we do get away, this blog will return next Sunday. So it's maybe goodbye for now, or maybe not.... :(

If all goes to plan I'll publish the rest of the Gothenburg Diaries and also parts 2,3 and 4 of that ESC preview.

(I haven't been able to devote as much time as I'd like to this blog of late - particularly the music side - and I can't really see that changing over the next couple of weeks....so after this weekend I'm probably going to put the blog on hold for a week or two as I have a few other things going on)

Fingers crossed that this blog finally gets back on track this weekend!!

So you can expect some chart updates, an album review or two, some Swedish telly stuff, a write-up of my Gothenburg trip and maybe even the return of Retro Saturday.

You can tell that I don't really have more exciting things to do this weekend but I think last weekend was exciting enough to last me a long long time :))))

OK, waving the white flag now and have to temporarily admit defeat once again: I haven't had the time to update EuropeCrazy of late, all the work is going into Planet Salem (obviously) with the odd Random Rambling along the way so therefore this poor little abandoned blog is, to all intents and purposes, on a break. Just like the same time last year I guess :) Nevertheless I may sneak in the odd post or two over the weekend, who knows?

I had wondered how I should celebrate this blog's third birthday. And then I thought of something: if this blog had an accompanying "EuropeCrazy's Greatest Hits - Best of 2007-2010" soundtrack CD, then it would probably sound something like this....

CD1

Good Song - Salem Al Fakir
When The Night Comes Falling - Sebastian Karlsson
Cara Mia - Måns Zelmerlöw
Double Je - Christophe Willem
Happy Hour - Palladium
Until I Die - September
Love Is Gone - David Guetta featuring Peter Cincotti & Quentin Mosimann
Inga Problem - Snook
Let It Shine - Tingsek
Love Child - Fibes, Oh Fibes!
Miss Blue - Vincent
Speakerbox - Signmark feat Osmo Ikonen
Let Me Think About It - Fedde Le Grand feat Ida Corr
I’m Not Alone - Calvin Harris
Bonafied Lovin’ - Chromeo
Vayamos Companeros - Marquess
Hurtful - Erik Hassle
Your Loss - Paul Steel
Bang On The Piano - Jack McManus
Jennie Let Me Love You - EMD

CD2
　
Black and Gold - Sam Sparro
Loveshift - Christian Walz
Lay Your Love On Me - BWO
Higher - Star Pilots
Beggin’ - Madcon
Propane Nightmares - Pendulum
Ingenting - Kent
1000 Miles - H.E.A.T.
Allein Allein - Polarkreis 18
Save The Lies - Gabriella Cilmi
Just A Minute - Rongedal
Late Night Session - Ali Love
Stay The Night - Alcazar
Beli Jablan - Aleksa & Ana
Dance With Me - Zoli Adok
We Are The People - Empire of the Sun
Do You Love Me - Amanda Jenssen
I’m Yours - Jason Mraz
Ayo Technology - Milow
Keep On Walking - Salem Al Fakir

I think that's a pretty representative list!

Where did the last three years go? I've had such a brilliant time doing this blog over the past three years and there's a long way to go yet. Even if I haven't always had the time to update it as regularly over the past year, it's still great fun doing EuropeCrazy and I don't want it ever to end!

To all of you who have passed this way, I can only say a big thanks - and please keep visiting! And of course special thanks to my best blogging buddies past and present (you all know who you are): you inspire me and keep me going.

Onwards to year 4 and beyond!!