STOP - a quick pause on real life

Four days on a mountain with no internet or cell signal. Just us, friends, good food and wine, fluffy snow and some pairs of skis (or snowboards for the cool crowd).

I could very easily get used to that life...

I'm someone who makes (well, made one) bread

So much fun to play with the dough - and, looking at the result, I feel a little Martha Stewartish... With these beauties out of the oven, my home smells like heaven.

My Twilight Zone: new boots

So hot that men faint when I walk by... ;)

Happy Haloween!

(the horrible carpet is from my office - SOOO NOT MY CHOICE!)

Happy b-day, Baby!

For Scott's birthday, yesterday, a Black Forrest cake made by his cute little wife (hahaha). It's his favorite.

And my least favorite, which is great, so I don't get tempted ;)

Things you probably don't know about me - 001

When I'm alone in a hotel room (which is pretty much all the time these days) I always check under the bed for corpses, ghosts and other creepy things. Thankfully I haven't found anything so far.

(The picture is from two days ago, in Lima, Peru.)

LA office for a week

I'm back in town for a little more than a week before my next business trip. Will it be enough time for me to pull myself together? (The picture is still from last week, but I kind of like it, so I don't really care it doesn't match the text.)

A quick drink in Puerto Rico

That ended up turning into an all night event.

And today I woke up wishing I had a simpler life.

Where to?

Sometimes I look at the monitor and wonder if I could just go to a
different gate and fly somewhere else, for some R&R.

On the way to the Caribbean, but for work - one island a day, I don't
think I'll get to see any sand.

Happy hour

Is this what you call summer?

The ladies wine club

It's not an official club (or a very big deal), but every once in while a small group of us girls get together in the office, after working hours, to taste a couple of wines.

Yesterday we were all very elegant (and kind of boring) wearing black and white - including Paisley, Lisa's dog who was just coming back from a grooming apointment and just came for the crackers.

This was actually the second time we did it. And I can say I liked the first one better...

On being Argentinean

I guess I can't have or be everything, but I do sometimes feel entitled to more than one home. So, setting this straight, I'll say that I'm a Brazilian at heart and if I had to choose only one place to be (or to love) Brazil would be it.

But, while I don't have to choose, I can have days like yesterday, preparing caipirinhas and drinking Argentinean beer, while watching a very american basketball game on TV in a neighbor's garage (isn't watching sports in the garage, in a kind of a "men cave" ambiance, the most american of all american cliches?)

Argentina's soccer team was also playing the US and the score was a shameful 0-0... I know that this is a very american thing to say (and also a manly one) but I'm so looking forward to football season!

Brazilian Samba

I went downstairs for a Diet Coke (yes, I do that a lot) and Claire offered me this fun drink she bought at Vons yesterday. I love it, mostly because of the flavor name: Brazilian Samba!

(the photo is horrible, I know)

The dating game

Not for me, of couse - I had my share. A couple of days ago I got together with some girlfriends and, after some coffee, tea and cheese puff (Kellen makes the best cheese puffs) we started to talk about Pati's love life. She got divorced two years ago and can't really find time, or didn't want to put the effort, to get back in the game. So we signed her up to eHarmony. She was there and kind of agreed, but she would never have done it by herself. Let's see how it goes now. In a way, we are all so excited about it that it feels like we are the ones looking for a boyfriend :)

Kellen's cheese puffs are these little yellow breads in the middle of the picture. When they are around, no one cares about muffins, fruit, croissants, granola...

Back to life

As Pat says, I believe that sometimes you just need a little bit of change or a quick break to get more energy and keep going but I'm not sure it really works with vacation. My four days in Hawaii were great, but definitely not enough. I'm proud of myself though, because I didn't check my office e-mail even once while I was away - and that's a biggie for me!

Anyway, after snorkeling with turtles, laying on the beach, attending luaus, eating the best fish dishes ever and drinking my fair share of Mai Tais, I'm back. And I'm trying to focus on the fact that I have so much to look forward to this year that I should only be happy to be back home, working on on real life plans.

Bah, I miss the beach!

Happy in Hawaii

A do or a don't

Yesterday I came back from work to find my neighbors outside chatting, so Scott and I joined for a little bit. The guys were talking about surf, the girls about bikinis. By the way, these are beautiful fit girls who go for a long run in the morning, while I'm either sleeping or commuting (sometimes with a bagel in my hand, I have to admit). Anyway, one of them was saying how she was wearing a bikini by the pool and felt bad because people were looking at her as if she shouldn't, because her body is not 100% back from the pregnancy. I, with a much less in shape body than hers, wear bikinis all summer. Not mini bikinis - and I don't keep walking around without shorts on - but they are bikinis, anyway. Shouldn't I?

This is a four-year-old bikini picture, btw. Don't get fooled by it. ;)

The best friends on earth

I know I'm not doing a great job posting here. This picture is still from Brazil (I've been back for 10 days and some part of my brain still doesn't seem to accept it): two Sundays ago, lunch with most of my dearest friends (we were 7 out of the 10 girls, plus guys and kids).

When we started the VTP it was just us, 10 girls having a really fun monthly dinner at someone's home. Now we bring husbands, boyfriends, kids and even a nanny sometimes. The boys bonded too and I'm sure they would stay friends, even if us girls disappeared from the face of the earth. It's such a great group and, together with my family, the reason why I miss home so so much.

Fernanda was really pregnant on that day and she gave birth to Manuela a little more than 12 hours after leaving the restaurant. I was amazed. I mean, I know where babies come from, but seeing her round belly on one day and the baby (a whole new person) in the crib on the next day just blew me away. Makes you want to have one too, you know?

Bem Casados (Well Married)

I hate to be away for so long. I know that I don't have many guests, but I really do this for myself and I like to be able to look back and remember what I was doing at a certain moment and how I felt about it. Sometimes I skip posting for many days because I'm burried in work and at other times I disappear because I'm having so much fun somewhere that I don't really have time to open my computer. That's rare but, when it happens, I love to be away for so long.

Anyway, this time was a mix of both. The plan was to fly to Brazil for my sister's wedding (last Friday), work for half of the time and enjoy guiltless vacation time in the other half. I did attend the wedding (and all the fun before and after it), but I worked every day. Not all eight hours of everyday, but everyday... Bummer.

These little cakes in the picture are called Bem Casados (which translates to Well Married) and they are traditional in wedding parties. I love Bem Casados and I always take a couple home (they are wonderful at breakfast, with a glass of cold water, on the morning after a good wedding). My sister ordered soooo many (soooo many more than those in the picture) and I've been eating at least a couple everyday :)

If we don't go to Rio

Rio comes to us. Well, kind of. My friends Paty and Paul from Rio are in the US and spent the weekend at home. It was a weekend of chatting, eating (a lot) and drinking. Great, but we need to ingest some fruits, vegetables and water to compensate. We also did some shopping and spent Sunday afternoon at the Disney, like four kids. I miss having friends around all the time.

This was a 1 pm breakfast, btw. My favorite kind.