Holiday spirit

The commute feels much better. I know it's still far (I'm 71 miles away from work) but it is bearable. We've been getting home to a mess of boxes all over, but we decided to put the Christmas decoration up anyway. Feels nice and homey.

I had the ambitious plan of making cookies for the neighbors, but I'm coming to realize that I should be thankful if I manage to unpack before Christmas, so I gave it up. Maybe next year...

Thanksgiving at McDonalds

We had our Thanksgiving dinner at Mc Donalds. I know it sounds depressing, but it was not. Really. As much as I like Thanksgiving dinner, I was happy to give it up today. We are moving our last personal things before the movers come tomorrow to take the furniture. Mc Donalds was the only open restaurant tonight and we ate our burgers and fries with the packed jeep outside, being thankful for a good year.

This is the view from our new bedroom (we missed the sunset, but who cares?) and tonight will be our last in the old condo.

Cheers, to another step.

Moving

After many weekends (and weeknights) looking, we found a new home. It's in Oceanside, the most northern part of San Diego that we could find, by the freeway and - the best part - has an ocean view. We are packing and should move during the Thanksgiving holiday. Ripley doesn't seem to like all this packing and is protecting her toy.

My brother is in town this week, but will be gone when the movers come (very smart boy). He's been helping us to take some things up there already (we're moving glasses and some personal things ourselves).

The commute will still be long, but probably around 25% better than from Pacific Beach, which is where we live now.

Quick trip to México

I just came back from my first work trip, to México, and apparently there are many more to come. Good thing México is close, but it takes me a couple of flights to get there...

In a little break from visiting stores, Sergio (our operations guy down there) took me to see the Basílica de la Virgen de Guadalupe and I loved it. I guess I still owe her many more visits... That was the one thing I wanted to do while in México and I'm very glad I could.

Great friends is in town

I started my new job and I like it. A little scary at first (my first job in the US, speaking English full time) but apparently it's all about what I do best - and in the markets I'm familiar with - so I should be ok. The commute to LA is huge (two hours each way, if I'don't get much traffic) but I'll handle until we find a new place (which will still be far, but not thaaaat much). We hope to get this done by Thanksgiving.

Roberta and Dinho spent some days with us (and brought another couple of friends). It was their first trip since they had Marcella so Roberta was a little worried, but we had a lot of fun. The picture is from our wine tasting night. They are gone now, so it's time to get familiarized with the job - and with the commute.

Good things

It was Scott's birthday and I splurged a little, to give him a new computer (his old one already had a long life and is showing signs of old age). I think he figured it out before opening but, anyway, it was great to see his smile. We had dinner at Flemings (a great steakhouse and winebar) and went to bed relatively early because of the other good thing I want to tell.

The other good thing is that I got that job and will start tomorrow. It's not the money I wanted, but the job itself is a great fit (marketing for the cosmetics industry in Latin America) and I believe the money will come with results. So, apparently there is a new phase of my life starting right now. Yeee!

Down in Coronado

Just for a quick visit, with my mom and Scott. The weather was wonderful!

The Baby Panda

My mom is in town and I'm loving it. We went to the zoo to see the baby Panda (I've been there so many times and I can't get tired of it) and it felt like when I was a kid, just walking around the zoo with my mom. So nice!

I can't quite follow her rhythm, though. We've been shopping a lot and, at each store, until the last piece it taken out of the hanger and put back there, her mission is not accomplished. Lots of energy! For me it's great, because it keeps my mind busy and I'm not freaking out about other things, like the job issue.

Cleaning and interviewing

My mom is coming to visit so I'm doing some serious cleaning. I removed everything from the refrigerator and cleaned every little part of it - I wouldn't believe if someone told me I would do this one day. My mom doesn't drink beer, but she'll be proud of how organized they look now :)

I've been interviewing for a job - finally one in which I am interested. I'm not an expert in interviews - this is a completely new thing for me - but I think it's working well. Downside is that the job will be around LA and the commute will be scary. But I can do it for a job I like, so I'll keep hoping it works.

So glam for my birthday picnic

Ripley dressed up for my birthday picnic at Kate Sessions Park. We had a quiet but very fun day. Scott gave me lots of gifts, including some Steve Madden shoes I was crazy for!

Should I still be making this silly jokes with the dog at 32?

I'm trying not to think about it, but being 32 and be trying to figure out my professional life (again) gets me freaked out. I should be all sorted out by now... If I didn't get a divorce from my first husband and didn't change careers for the first time, I would probably be a 32-year-old mother with a boring job (if any) and an unhappy marriage. I think I would be miserable by now... Let's just face it, maybe I'll always need some change to keep it going, so I'll spend my entire life trying to sort the next steps out. Still don't know if I think it's good or bad...

The attack of the weirdos

As I said before, I'm volunteering with the San Diego Blood Bank. It means I go to blood drives with the staff and help to inform the donors and organize appointments and all that. Today we had a drive at Comic Con, which is a Cartoon convention. I saw grown ups dressed up as Darth Vader and very fat girls posing as sexy mangas, among other very weird caracters. Ah, and I spoke to Lou Ferrigno, who used to be the Hulk when I was a kid. This was a surreal day.

Biggest concentration of weirdos per square meter, EVER.

(but it was kind of fun)

Accesorized

I took Ripley for a bath and she came back with a scarf. So sweet!

The waiting place

"Waiting for a  train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow."
                               (Dr. Seuss)


Do you ever feel like you are stuck there, in the waiting place?

Bye bye World Cup

We got together at Dani's (with husbands and all, once this game was on a weekend) to watch Brazil's soccer game. Unfortunatelly the last one.

See you guys in 4 years - and I'll go back to my football ;)

World Cup

I got together with the Brazilian girls to watch the soccer game and, as I have all this time on my hands, I decided to make some cool decorated brownies instead of buying something ready. And they also tasted sooooo good.

Cooking a lot

Since I came back from Brazil, I've been either looking for a job, taking pictures or cooking. This is a rack of lamb with mint pesto and gruyere potatoes gratin.

I've talked to some people, sent some resumes and went to a couple of interviews, but nothing seems very interesting. It's like a completely different world here, looks like everything is about technology... I'm making a big effort to keep the positive attitude, though.

I started a volunteer job, with the San Diego Blood Bank. Once I have all this time, I might as well use it for something good. I'm the person who explains all the issues with donating blood, to posible donors. I have to ask them very personal questions and sometimes it feels weird, but I'm glad I'm able to help. I tried to donate blood a couple of times, but my iron is always low. Bummer.

A really fancy dinner

We've been wanting to invite Michelle and Franco for dinner for a while. We met her when we were moving to San Diego - she helped us to find this condo - and we've been wanting to thank her. She a very fun real estate agent, very much at home in California - and she's married to Franco, an Italian lawyer who's very much into food, wine and music.

I took it as a cooking/entertaining challenge and spent the week testing recipes, preparing ingredients and making a winning playlist - and everything worked very well. We had a very pleasant evening with them, that started with those little canapes and ended with chocolate mousse served in a chocolate cup (I made it myself) and topped with rasberries and cocoa powder.

I'm starting to look for a job and really don't know much where to shoot - I've been doing all the online stuff, but we don't know anyone around this area, so I'm a little lost. Michelle was very sweet and gave me a couple of contacts of people with whom I can talk to.

It was easy to take the picture

Difficult was to get to the almost 7 thousand feet of Cuyamaca Peak, the second higher in San Diego County. I would never have gone if I knew.

And my legs will still hurt for a day or two...

Breakfast with the Prince

Mauro couldn't go to São Paulo for the wedding, so he met us on our last day in Rio, to celebrate over breakfast. I always love it when I can spend some time with him.

He calls me his Duchess, I call him my Prince and, even though we don't see each other as often, I always feel him very close. It will always be like that, doesn't matter how far away we live.

Sightseeing in Rio

I can do it a thousand times and I'll never get tired of it. This is the view from up where the Christ statue is. The day was really cloudy and kind of rainy when we woke up, but the skies cleared as soon as we reached the top. I'm so proud of my country!

On the way to Rio

We are not really having a honeymoon. Bruce, Yvonne, Brian (my brother in law) and Melanie (his girlfriend) wanted to go to Rio and Scott and I went with them. We had our share of honeymoons and will still have a couple, I'm sure, so it was not a big deal.

These are Brian and Melanie, being cute during the flight. They've been living together for a while now and I'm sure it won't take long until we see some rings on their fingers.

Other events around the wedding

As Scott's family went to Brazil for our wedding, we had some other events before and after, while our families were together.

My mother in law (Jennifer) and stepfather in law (Nick) hosted a great dinner my favorite steak restaurant on the 23rd and that was the moment when everyone started to feel comfortable around each other (it was a big big table). After that Scott and I went out with our siblings to meet my friends at a bar. I really wanted Scott's brother to meet some of the people before the party.

On the 24th my father in law (Bruce) and his girlfriend (Yvonne) arrived and we went out for dinner with them, so they could meet my family before the wedding too. My cousin Veronica arrived from Argentina and joined us there. Everything was perfect.

The picture above was taken a couple of days after the wedding. Bruce was really interested in trying some Brazilian wines (we warned him, but he insisted), so we helped him to organize a tasting, with all the glasses and some fun finger food. As expected, none of the Brazilian wines was great, but we were very excited with a couple of really good Chilean ones that he brought as benchmark. It felt like the wedding was going on and on, for all these days. We had a great time.

You can call me Mrs. May from now on

Don't I look like a very serious married woman?

Everything was great. Yesterday, when I woke up, the house was already full of people moving furniture out, bringing tables in, arranging flowers, speakers, rugs... In the afternoon, with all my mom's antique rugs outside forming the aisle and a couple of lounges, the rain started. And it was not a shy, slow rain, it looked like the sky was coming down! The catering workers, that had set a working station outside, to assemble appetizers, started carrying everything inside as fast as they could. In the end, everything worked wonderfully. My mom is the best party planner in the whole wide world.

The ceremony was so beautiful, made by two priests that are great friends with my family: Dom André spoke in Portuguese and Dom Geraldo in English - and everyone looked so touched! Then Nick, Bruce, my mom and Brian said some words, we cut the cake, had a delicious dinner and the dancing started, to stop almost at 4 am, when the workers came back to reposition all the furniture. My mom and my brother stayed with them, helping and making sure that everything was in place. I tried, but ended up falling asleep on a couch. I couldn't believe it this morning, you couldn't say that there had been a party in that home some hours before.

Anyway, Scott and I are married now, with wedding bands and everything. And soon we'll be back in San Diego to start the next step of our lives. I'm really happy!

On the way

I always get a little scared when I have to fly on these Embraer little planes that make the commute trip between San Diego and LA. I'm on the way to Brazil, though, and will come back as a respectful married woman :)

Northern California with my brother

My brother finally came to visit.

He arrived in the end of February and brough our wedding invitations in his suitcase that, very unfortunately, was lost by the airline. I was very freaked out until they found it, almost a day later. Now they are all on their way to the guests.

We flew up to see a Bon Jovi concert in San Jose and stayed a couple of days more to visit San Francisco (it was his first time in the west coast). It rained all the time and we got soaked at Fisherman's Warf, but we always have a lot of fun together, so it was worth it.

Everything is arranged for the wedding and I'm getting ready to go to Brazil. U-hu!

Go Steelers!

Super Bowl XL Champions!

And I might be turning into a football freak. We watched all the games this season and I have my favorite players and everything. We're buying season tickets for the Chargers next season, so we'll be sure to be there when the Steelers play here.

Literary review that comes with reading material

The DHL guy knock on your door to deliver a gift from a dear friend - priceless.

I've been talking to Mauro (a dear, dear friend, who lives in Rio) about this book. I read some reviews and he read the book - I didn't because I haven't gone to Brazil in a while and I can't find it here. It was really sweet of him to go through the trouble of sending me this gift. It's a very interesting story and having reading material in portuguese makes me feel so at home. I can't put it down (you can see - by the crease on the spine - that I couldn't help reading some of it before taking this picture).

A friend in town

My friend Sabrina is spending the week here with us. She's actually the first one to visit, from Brazil, since I moved to the US and this is a big surprise. Out of the other nine in our ten girls group, she's the one with whom I'm less close - I would never guess she would be the first.

It's been a great week and I think we're finding out that the only reason why we were not so close was the lack of time spent together - we worked fin the same building for a really short time and I got to know her better as a friend of Flops and Gisele. I'm very happy to find in her a very good friend.

We've been around, sightseeing, talking and laughing a lot - we even spent a day and a night in Disney, having fun as if we were two little kids.

A brand new year

I'm still not very sure about what people do for New Year's eve in this area. It's such a big deal in Brazil and here people don't seem to mind it at all. We were planning a picnic on the beach (even though it's sort of chilly, we were ready to bundle up and go) but it started to rain and we are not thaaat brave. So we changed plans at the last minute, prepared some good food (these asparagus with prociutto and an artichoke risotto) and had a quiet, but great time at home.

I know I said it before, but I'm so looking forward to 2006!