QUEEN B QUENCHES MY THIRST FOR LEMONADE AND BARCELONA CELEBRATES VALENTINE'S DAY IN APRIL?

Yesterday was an amazing Saturday. I had an incredibly leisurely morning writing and snuggling with my furry boys. All 3 of them! My friend Abbie also reminded me that In Barcelona (my future home) yesterday was the day of love and culture! Men receive books and women get red roses for The Day of Saint Jordi. It's the most romantic day of the year and also known as "El Día de los Amantes”. I suddenly feel so excited for the future. It as been a rush of emotions from excitement, anxiety, stress and so on. Lin and I made a pact that we would just breath and make this process fun . It should be fun. It's going to be an amazing chapter in our lives. And next year we will be fully prepared to celebrate our new Valentine's Day. April 23rd. Who's visiting??! How gorgeous is Casa Batllo for Saint Jordi??! Si ! Si ! Así emocionados de celebrar San Jordi el día del año que viene con mi zorro!! Lin just asked if he could be the Saint Jordi....um....no Lin....

My dear friend Lara came over for Thai take out from The Tropical (The best Thai food in T-town) And we patiently awaited Queen B's Lemonade special on HBO. Beyonce once again surprised her Instagram followers (helloooo, me) with a teaser of a new cryptic project titled “Lemonade" causing us to immediately cancel all weekend plans and not think clearly about anything else happening in the world. Queen Bey’s “world premiere event” also had us wondering what Saturday night would actually bring. Is it another politically charged music video? Or another self-directed documentary like 2013’s Life Is But a Dream? Or maybe, just maybe, it’s the release of her long-awaited new album? Or maybe we are going to address the elevator gossip in some great artistic fashion because I still have some questions! Is she running for president? Or has she simply gone mad while not eating carbs?! Agh. We could hardly wait any longer!

So 8:00 CST came and OMFG. She just blew mine and Lara's minds to such an extent that we’re speechless. Her hour-long HBO special Lemonade just aired, and it is pretty much the most badass thing we’ve ever had the privilege of witnessing. Not just a music video, the film featured a compilation of several as-of-yet unreleased songs as well as several spoken word pieces. Our eyes were glued to the tee-vee. The unifying theme of much of the film alludes rather blatantly to the fact that her husband Jay-Z has cheated on her, but rather than play the victim, Beyoncé exacts the best revenge any scorned woman could ever imagine in one unbelievably empowering work of art. However I have also heard another theory that the majority of Lemonade was about her father cheating on her mother and how she saw it from her mom's perspective. OMG who would possibly cheat on Beyonce or Bay's mother???? If Jay-Z and Beyonce get a divorce we have lost all hope... but whatever is happening, this babe is not to be trifled with. Remind me to NEVER get on her bad side.

At the start of the film, Beyoncé is sad, and then angry and she takes us on an emotional roller coaster ride ( Intuition, Denial, Anger, Apathy, Emptiness, Accountability, Reformation, Forgiveness, Resurrection, Hope, Redemption) rediscovering her Country roots in one song. Throughout the angry song, she annihilates everything in her path with a baseball bat and I mean every single thing. These lyrics are definitely screaming marriage drama between our favorite couple . Lara and I are freaking out. Really really freaking out.

1. You can taste the dishonesty / It's on your breath as you pass it off so cavalier. ("Pray You Catch Me")

2. Can't you see there's no other man above you / What a wicked way to treat the girl that loves you. ("Hold Up"

3. Something don't feel right because it ain't right, especially coming up after midnight / I smell your secrets and I'm not too perfect to ever feel this worthless / How did it come down to this, going through your call list? / I don't wanna lose my pride but I'ma fuck me up a bitch. ("Hold Up")

4. What's worse, looking jealous or crazy? Jealous or crazy? / More like walked all over lately, walked all over lately, I'd rather be crazy. ("Hold Up")

5. It's such a shame, you let this good love go to waste. ("Hold Up")

6. Who the fuck do you think I am? You ain't married to no average bitch, boy. ("Don't Hurt Yourself")

7. I am the dragon breathing fire / Beautiful man, I'm the lion / Beautiful man, I know you're lying. ("Don't Hurt Yourself")

8. I smell that fragrance on your Louis V, boy / Just give my fat ass a big kiss, boy / Tonight I'm fucking up all your shit, boy. ("Don't Hurt Yourself")

9. This is your final warning / You know I give you life / If you try this shit again you gon' lose your wife. ("Don't Hurt Yourself")

10. Looking at my watch, he shoulda been home / Today I regret the night I put that ring on / He always got them fucking excuses. ("Sorry")

11. He only want me when I'm not on there / He better call Becky with the good hair. ("Sorry")

12. My daddy warned me about men like you / He said, "Baby girl, he's playing you." ("Daddy Lessons")

13. I've always been committed, I've been focused / I always paid attention, been devoted, tell me what did I do wrong? ("Love Drought")

14. Ten times out of nine, I know you're lying / But nine times outta ten, I know you're trying. ("Love Drought")

15. Are you aware you're my lifeline, are you trying to kill me? / If I wasn't me, would you still feel me? / Like on my worst day? Or am I not thirsty enough? ("Love Drought")

16. Pictures snatched out the frame / Bitch, I scratched out your name and your face / What is it about you that I can't erase, baby? ("Sandcastles")

17. We built sandcastles that washed away / I made you cry when I walked away / And although I promised that I couldn't stay, baby / Every promise don't work out that way. ("Sandcastles")

18. Found the truth beneath your lies / And true love never has to hide. ("All Night")

—but eventually (spoiler alert) she transitions into forgiveness and, ultimately, reconciliation and redemption (of her husband, and of her relationship). The message delivered is, in the end, that her husband may be weak, but that she will make him stronger through the power of her love. OMFG. Whoa. Wow. And who the heck is Becky with the good hair?!! Ugh Becky..we hate you !

Lemonade gets its title from video footage of Beyoncé’s grandmother Nettie’s 90th birthday party, shown at the end of the film, in which the nonagenarian is shown saying “life gave me lemons, so I made lemonade.” We do know that but as far as everything else..we are only left to guess. Dear Beyonce...just tell us ! You cannot play with our minds this way !!

We cannot possibly forget the wardrobe in this visual album. Throughout the hour-long, 12-track film, Ms. Knowles-Carter seemed to change up her look every minute. Starting out in a hoodie over a long black dress, she transitioned to flowing ruffled dresses, fur coats, dramatic gowns, and Victorian-style bodysuits. Beyoncé enlisted the help of Marni Senofonte, one of the stylists who worked on her "Formation" music video, to curate the looks for the project. Viewers were also treated to some of Beyoncé's surprise costars in the film, including like Zendaya, Serena Williams, and Amandla Stenberg, who were all styled like Yoncé—and looked equally as incredible.

As "Lemonade" wrapped, the new album of the same name appeared on Tidal, Jay Z's streaming service. How many of you downloaded it??! OMG now I patiently await for Game Of Thrones tonight. HBO..you are on fire ! And Dear Marni..can I work under you ?! And Dear Bey..can we do some kind of secret launch special where you promote my blog please and I am like the first person to drop the news of your album leaving me breaking the internet?! (one can dream..)

(all beyonce photos are via instagram)

Channel your inner Beyonce here..

Xo

Sam