I’m a lucky girl!

 

There is something about Halloween oreos… I don’t know what it is, but they are my absolute favorite!!

Amelia’s Mom recently sent her a box for her birthday. And inside I got a treat too!!  

Leanna, thank you so much for thinking of me! It absolutely made my day!! I was so surprised and so tickled! They of course were immediately devoured. Seriously, in two days, GONE. (in my defense, I had a little bit of help. But just a little! haha)

Good snacks, even better friends. Life is good and I feel so blessed! Thank you so much!!

Christmas Carols

I have been singing Christmas Carols. Particularly the one that goes... I'll be home for Christmas, you can count on me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going home to see my family and spend the holidays and I couldn't be more excited!! Once Decemeber rolls around it will be 2 and half years since I've been home! I can't wait to see my family and friends!!! 45 days and counting!!!

Grape Juice

 

 

 

Amelia and I found these in the store a couple of weeks ago. Call me juvenile…but I just couldn’t help myself.

Hobby Lobby

My first attempt at my new hobby! I really love bracelets. Especially big chunky ones that call attention. So of course, I love the first one. I made that one for me, but in a different color…to go with a shirt I bought! Anyway moving on, this all originally started because it was Amelia’s birthday! And while shopping for a present, I found a bracelet for her I loved! It just screamed her name! And then I turned over the price tag and did an inside head scream (those people were crazy y’all).  So I decided I’d make her one myself. You know, since I’ve never actually done that before.

(Also Amelia and people that know Amelia might be wondering why I thought a bracelet screamed her name since she doesn’t really do much jewelry, especially not with big FAT rhinestones in them. I’m not really sure either. But I decided to do one more toned down, just for her. Case in point bracelet #2. And just in case that really is just a terrible plan, I am also planning on taking her to lunch)

Anyway I thought they turned out well. And people have had really positive reactions to them. I have more coming. I also want to try and make necklaces too. But I need to take my time and decide what I want to do and what I want to buy. This is an expensive hobby. Anyway, people here tend to wear lots of things like this, so I hope it goes over well. If you love it, tell me. If you don’t, well…take Thumper’s advice.

The country…Part II

 

I am always amazed to see all the fruit in the “wild”..do I sound as ridiculous as I feel?? The extent of my fruit growing were strawberries, watermelon, tomatoes…and that was pretty much it.

 

Bananas (my favorite!)

Avocado! Which we eat here with sugar, and it is delcious…though nothing beats a good guacamole dip! So if you are feeling adventurous, blend an avocado, banana, milk, sugar, and ice together, and have a tasty drink!

Limes! Another favorite! And the tree too!

Acerola (with bugs)…Acerola is a bittersweet fruit (for me)

Coffee!

This plant has colored seeds inside of it. Here people use it in the food to give it “color”

If you can see, that is a Caju fruit. It is where you get your cashew nuts. Not a big fan of caji, but will drink it when im out!

Graviola (or in English soursop…what in the world??)

Bobrina (like a squash! one of my favorite vegetalbes here)

No Ordinary Day

Today is Sidnei’s birthday!! I won’t reveal how old he is…he’s s3nsitiv3 about his age….but of course I would be too if I had a smoking hot young wife!

I kid, I kid!

Anyway, I haven’t talked much about Sidnei lately. So here is what is going on with him these days…

When we moved here, Sidnei opened his own construction company. Things went really great and he stayed extremely busy. We hit a dry spot last November and although things picked back up, we didn’t like the way that dry spot felt. So Sidnei started looking for something with a little more security. And he found something SO MUCH better than we expected. He is a supervisor in an engineering company. That means, he is no longer doing the heavy work, he just watches other people do it. (Which is great because I was really worried about his back!) He works 7-5, M-F. He has off on all the holidays. (Well he would, except he’s been working them to receive overtime…as well as Saturdays..let’s just say I haven’t seen much of him) Anyway, but enough with all the specifics. The important thing is he is really liking his job (thankfully because it was kind of a hard transition for him…he wasn’t accustomed to not doing the work…) He has also really excelled. All of his supervisors are impressed and Sidnei is proud of himself which I love to see!

So now onto the birthday mush  mush.

I feel incredibly lucky. Sidnei is an extraordinary person. He is honest to a fault. (No really, if you don’t want the absolute truth, don’t ask) He loves and protects fiercely. He is funny and full of zingers. He is really handy. (Today he changed the showerhead…we have GREAT pressure now, I was so happy) He is extremely detailed (he watches over my jewelry making and fixes the flaws..seriously). Basically the man is good at whatever he does.

The truth is I could list a million different things that are great about him. But it all boils down to the fact, that I am so glad I get to celebrate him today. His life and the difference he’s made in mine. Happy Birthday to the man who forever changed the meaning of October 5th. I love you more than I know how to say!

In the country… part I

Disclaimer: I just found this draft…this happened a while ago…in fact in reality I don’t even remember when exactly…

 

We took a little trip to the country to see Sidnei’s (ex) Uncle. He lives on a little sitio. I really love going to spend the day in places like these. Full of fruit, animals, and me, the american girl with her camera taking pictures of EVERYTHING. Because seriously, the fruit here? Things that grow on trees? Craziness. Have you ever seen a pineapple plant? I hadn’t either. It was awesome.

 

So for part I, I decided to stick to beverages. First beverage, Sugar cane. We decided to make juice. Ant it was hard work for poor Sidnei!

 

But absolutely worth it for us. (I had more, I just drank most of it.) Delicious!

My second beverage was fresh coconut juice. I had no idea they looked all green on the outside until I moved here to Brazil. I just imagined they grew with their brown hard shells and that was that. Let me tell you, it is not easy to open those bad boys.

Look how they grow!

And someone was kind enough to open it for me! The coconut water was so sweet!!

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I have to be honest, the first time I drank coconut juice I didn’t like it. But the taste has grown on me and on a hot day, there is nothing better than ice cold coconut water!

Did you all know that this is how coconuts looked? I didn’t until I came to Brazil. Did you know you could make sugar cane juice? I knew lots of things could be made with sugar cane, I just didn’t know juice was one of them!

Sunday Citar 3

 

Things have been crazy busy lately. School has really got me running day in and day out. Thankfully things seem to be slowing a little. My private Saturday class is heading off to the U.S. so I officially have my Saturdays back! Hooray! I have been doing some marketing for my job by going to other schools and playing with the kids in English. It has really been fun, but time consuming. I leave the house every day at 7 AM and generally arrive home between 8pm and 9pm. They make for VERY long days. Unfortunately, this has left very little time for ME.

I am definitely feeling this void. So this week I decided to try and change my schedule at work a little bit. I’m going to go in a little later on Tuesdays/Thursdays so I can get back to my exercise class! I have really missed it…and so has my body. I haven’t gained any weight…but my clothes fit different now. Not that things have ever been very firm, but I feel more jiggle. I don’t like it. SO, back I go. In reality, I have really missed it. There are days when it is pure torture to get out of bed and go. But I seem to always feel better for it. So here we go…again. 

Another thing I decided I needed was something besides work. I literally have just been working. As you all have noticed, I don’t even have time to blog. I don’t have time for anything. And that is just ridiculous. Though admittedly, I spend WAY too much time on Pinterest. (more on that later)

SO, I have decided to start working on some things. One thing I have been meaning to do for a long time is start on my own program for children to learn English. I have been thinking about starting some private groups. But first, I need to build a curriculum. But that is still along the work lines, but something I have been wanting to do.

The second is a hobby. I real live hobby. I want to start making jewelry. In fact, I started today! I will take pictures and show you soon. It is costume jewelry. Something that I have always really loved to use. So everything I make, I want to keep for me. But this hobby is an expensive one, so to keep up the habit, I need to sell too! Wish me luck!

Tuesday I will start the torture again (aerobics class). I only say torture because the next couple of days, I will be groaning with every single movement I make. I will be so sore I will not be able to think of anything else. Wish me luck!