life in the concrete (jungle)

Hey, you!

2009-02-18T13:47:00.002-03:00

Yes, I am talking to you!

Stop waiting for the perfect time. Stop trying to find excuses. Stop foolling yourself. There'll never be a perfect time.

Make tomorrow, today.

I could hear this all day

2009-02-16T14:31:00.000-03:00

swimming lessons

2009-02-11T00:36:00.004-02:00

More than 20 years since I last attended a swimming lesson, I got back to the pool today.

Every single muscle of my body screams in pain (even the little ones I NEVER thought I had)...

I can't hardly wait for tomorrow to find out new muscles in pain...

We listened to lots of Lloyd Cole and had an amazing Lamb Burger for lunch. However I'm too tired to even go after the camera and post pictures.

Worst of all...back to work now (is this an appropriate time for an honest woman to work - 12:38 a.m.?)

not a cooking blog, but I'll try it

2009-02-09T13:24:00.012-02:00

Again, I'll try to commit on keeping this place updated.

This is what happened around here today:

Soundtrack:

Lunch:
Couscous with smoked trout and green apple

Dinner:

pumpkin and green apple cream

tomato and anchovie salsa

Bed-time:

Rumpletistekin (in Portuguese)

See you all tomorrow

Queen Sylvia of Sweden

2008-11-28T10:35:00.003-02:00

I had my fifteen minutes to feel just like a queen. Queen Sylvia of Sweden, more precisely. Or maybe Mother Teresa, or all these people who dedicate their lives to care for others.

An area in the South of Brazil is suffering with floods and storms. Thousands of people lost everything, not to mention those who died. I had to do something.

In partnership with a neighbor who works for a company in that area, we planned a campaign to receive donations.

The response has been amazing, and we even got a small spot on the media.

Queen Sylvia must feel like this with her work at Childhood...

Thankful

2008-11-28T10:29:00.003-02:00

I am thankful for the fact that this semester is almost over.

Kids got sick all the time, and that is pretty tiring. F had scarlet fever twice, C had it once, F had a crisis of urticaria, followed by terrible soar throat... And now C's got the flu, soar throat again and all.

Not to mention the dog's operation and now an allergic crisis.

In the middle of all this, I still had to work, we decided to repurpose our home- office into a TV room, which required remodelling the studio (to include my portion of the home-office) - Pictures on a later date.

Everything is falling into place now.
And I am truly thankfull for that.

Xmas countdown

2008-11-26T20:53:00.003-02:00

Our Xmas party is coming.
Dec 13 is right around the corner and there's still SO MUCH to do...

It's always stressful, but I love it.
And in the end, all ends well. Always. No matter what.

We're having about 60 people over this year. Lots of champagne, finger food, and good music.

in the kitchen

2008-11-07T09:17:00.002-02:00

Things have been busy in our kitchen lately. Beet-bread, banana bread, strawberry and rhubarb jam, yoghurt are some of the things we prepared this week.
And now, as I prepare chicken stock, in a hint of a second I was brought back to my childhood days.
After setting the huge pan to start the ever-so-slow cooking process I came back to work on a huge project due this afternoon. Despite of throughly washing my hands in an attempt to get rid of the mixed scent of raw meat, onion, garlic, and everything, I sit on the computer and such a familiar smell hits my nose. And THAT is comforting. The childhood days spent near the stove at home, at grandma's farm, and all the kitchens held dear in my memory, come back in a flash.

What can be more comforting than knowing that your following such a familiar ritual? The setting would be perfect if only I had the time to bake a cake...

new addiction

2008-11-05T10:04:00.002-02:00

I like this just as much as the original

no common sense

2008-11-04T16:43:00.003-02:00

I studied in a very big traditional school which 100th anniversary will be held in 2011. As a start-up for the celebrations, there'll be a reunion on Nov 29. As I called in to confirm I would attend it, I heard that the invitation is for one person only, which means my husband could not attend. But, he studied in the same school. The problem is that he did not register as alumni. In an attempt to bring some common sense to these people, I said that if people are not allowed to take their dhs, dws, partners, whatever, there will be very few people going. I was told that they have to follow some criteria.

Thankfully, my kids attend a whole different school.

full bloom

2008-11-04T14:40:00.001-02:00

On my way home nowadays I meet these beauties everyday.

In white...

and in blue...

xmas party here we go

2008-11-03T10:29:00.002-02:00

Now we focus on planning our 'traditional' Christmas party.
We plan having around 75 people over this year.

There's LOTS to be done. Invitations, menu planning, decorating.

I'll keep you posted.

party favors

2008-11-03T10:13:00.007-02:00

From this...

to this...

Kids loved them!
After an 'old-fashioned' party, no fuss, just plain play time with friends.

chick songs - baby's B-day

2008-10-30T10:30:00.003-02:00

Today is C's birthday. 4!!!!

We no longer have babies in the house.

Things are getting ready for the get-together here on Saturday.

In the meantime, I give you this selection.

she's much better

2008-10-27T08:08:00.002-02:00

The dog is getting well pretty fast. In fact, it seems as if she had no pain at all, and we had to send her back to the hotel to be taken care of because she just wanted to play around, jump up-and-down (which is not good considering she's all stitched up).

Way to go, Morgana!

and yet another (lighter) note

2008-10-24T23:56:00.004-02:00

Please do check it out... I couldn't resist...

Another note

2008-10-24T23:51:00.002-02:00

The dog has just undergone surgery. Things turned out just fine, and she's resting at the clinic. A really severe case of pyometra caused her to be castrated.

We'll get her back in about 10 days. Those who know me know I'm really not qualified to care for wounds and bandages.

spring has come

2008-10-24T23:09:00.003-02:00

Oh, how I wish we had four seasons as we were supposed to. One at a time, throughout the twelve months of the year. This is not the case. For the last two weeks we had everything, from winter to summer, going through fall and spring, sometimes in one single day.

But Mother Nature knows best. And now we find clear signs of spring. Flowers are blooming all over the city. And best of all, agapanthus are coming to life all over. By far, my favorite flower.

This is the time that we can distract from the traffic admiring the colorful carpet that covers the neighborhood with its bright lilies in yellow, orange and red, iris in all shades of the pallet, and amazing huge red amaryllis (which I just found out are not amaryllis, but hippeastra). Unfortunately, sibipirunas have already lost their yellow stars (fairy dust for my kids when we walk to school).

I do hope the weather gets a little milder because the last two days were killing hot.

things are looking up

2008-10-05T08:57:00.003-03:00

Time to attempt to go back on blogging.
Who knows what lies ahead?

funny how life goes

2008-02-07T00:08:00.001-02:00

I should've learned by now that I really can't plan my life too much. It seems I'm living proof of John Lennon's "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" (though about tatooing it).

I was sure I'd be able to update my blog and fill everyone in with what I'v been up to tonight, but no. Life had other plans.

F. smashed his mouth against a piece of furniture and we had to hurry to the dentist with him with two teeth quite hurt. In the end, the dentist managed to put one tooth back to its place but had to take the other one off.

My little guy was the bravest! He never cried the whole time and kept on reminding the dentist that he needed his tooth back to give it to the Tooth Fairy. Not easy to lose a tooth before 5 yo, but will see the pediatric dentist tomorrow and discuss the need to use some kind of fake filler while his permanent tooth is not ready.

Anyway, as soon as he got home, he took his little toth to the window and asked for the Tooth Fairy "Hey, I am a good boy and I'd really like if you could bring me one thousand dollars so I could by myself a present".

First thing tomorrow, find him a new dinosaur! (his new addiction, for a new post)

busy, busy, busy

2008-02-05T12:21:00.000-02:00

Quite a busy time these last few days. Many things to blog about, many pictures taken, and many, many on-going projects, but no time!

Later on today, I'1ll try to update as much as possible...

In the meantime, gotta get kids ready for Carnival.

see ya

Blue Monday

2008-01-21T13:25:00.000-02:00

Just found out that according to a Welsh scientist, today is the saddest day of the year for British people.

Blame it on my deep passion/interest for such people, that's exactly how I feel today.

Lots of things to be done, so little time. And a summer day like this.

Can we say this is a summer sky?

But things easily got better. Thanks to New Order and their Blue Monday.

back to school

2008-01-08T19:08:00.000-02:00

Home is going back into its regular routine with kids back in school.

For a couple of hours everyday, the house is silent. Or at least, without the never-ending playing/enjoying/having fun/fighting we face all the time during kids' school-off-days.

But we still sense they're presence 24X7. Like this.

walking in somebody else's shoes

2008-01-06T11:17:00.000-02:00

When you have kids around, life seems to be a never-ending argument. They either argue with each other, or with you.

But in the middle of everything, there are always those moments when you wanted time to freeze so you could cherish them a little longer.

This is one of those. C's decided to be F, for a while. And said she'd be in his shoes to see how it felt.

Probably not that comfortable...

Coldplay

2008-01-06T11:09:00.000-02:00

Funny how kids evolve. With three kids, so different from each other, we've been through so many different phases that one would think we'd better find a notebook to track things down.

This is C in her new phase: pretending to be a teenager.

Her new best friend: Coldplay

as per your request

2008-01-04T20:56:00.001-02:00

Starting with self-portraits. This is F's:

the vacuum cleaner saga

2008-01-04T01:26:00.000-02:00

I wanted to be an inventor. Magically solve all issues that afflict my trembling mind.

For starters, I'd create the perfectly silent vacuum cleaner. AFter eight years of faithful work, my old one decided to die on my hands (when I need it the most with my new WHITE kitchen floors).
After three days of research on the net, and visits to 4 different shops, I still questioned: would I rather have a silent thing or another withy incredible power?

Then it hit me, as I live on a very busy street, why would I need the silent one? To hear the phone while I'm vacuuming for instance.

Anyway, in the end, I finally got one that is not THAT loud (and purple)!

an hourglass glued to the table

2008-01-03T13:13:00.001-02:00

Have you ever felt that life was just like that? An hourglass glued to the table? Of course that's a fact. But at the same time, can't we just rewrite things for a change?

This is my commitment for 2008. Rewrite everything that needs to be rewritten, change bad habits, adopt new ones (better ones, as well).

No one said that this is going to be easy, but whatever happens, I'll try. Honestly.

For starters, this is already a change. A new post.

Again

2008-01-03T00:33:00.000-02:00

Just a side note, Living in China is written by my sister, who's living in Shanghai since October 10.

Once is not enough

2008-01-03T00:30:00.003-02:00

For those of you who were curious, we finally managed to end our renovation in kitchen/bathrooms on December 12. Since we are very optimistic people, we have scheduled a Christmas party here for about 50 people on December 15.

Yeah, you're right, that left us with three (I really mean, 3) short days to get everything done...

OK, I admit the final touches were on Dec 12, but the heavy (read DIRTY, VERY DIRTY) part ended on Dec 8. We even managed to get the Christmas tree up on Dec 9!

Anyway, I promise to include some pictures of our new home very soon.

new year's resolutions

2008-01-03T00:19:00.000-02:00

It is that time of the year again when everything seems to be open, and things have a new chance to turn out successfully.

Resolutions include, of course, update this blog at least weekly (see how realistic I am, I was about to write daily).

Also, share more pictures and tips on amazing sites.

Considering that apart from one or two great things and some few people we had a chance to see late in the year, 2007 was not so good. I am sure 2008 will be absolutely GRAND!!!

See y'all

Terrible blogger

2007-11-28T13:17:00.000-02:00

I've been the worst blogger ever.

Remodelling around here is still on going, and with so much to do, there's little time left to gthe blogsphere.

In the meantime, don't forget to check these amazing people:
Amanda, Simone, Gabrielle.

See you soon (as I truly hope)

long time no seeing

2007-11-06T09:39:00.000-02:00

It's been quite a long time (almost a month, wow!) since I last posted here.

Please bear with me since we are undergoing very heavy renovations around here (bathrooms and kitchen, all at once).

I'll come back slowly since things are starting to fall into place again.

In the meantime, enjoy my angel - one of the reasons I survived this month despite all the dust, dirt and noise... I give you Regina Specktor

new me

2007-10-06T12:30:00.000-03:00

Gotta learn to do nasty things to others and I refuse to do so.
How can it be that some people are natural experts in the art of being distasteful, obnoxious, and wicked, all at once?

This is something that bothers me ever since I remember, but I believe it is time to try to act like that.

I am hating myself for that. And will try to think it over in a cold shower.
Sorry for ranting.

3 degrees

2007-10-04T09:08:00.000-03:00

While I walked the dog this morning I remembered reading somewhere that with the Internet, there is no longer six degrees of separation, but five.

As one thing lead to another, these are some brief considerations on this:

1 - since we used to live on the same street as a famous Brazilian actress and her famous rock star husband, we are only one degree away from many, many celebrities - not a big deal. The list could include all major Brazilian actors, actresses and musicians. But most importantly it brings me only three degrees away from Mark Ruffalo.

2 - since hubby has been working with model agencies for almost ten years now, we got to know many of the now-tremendously-famous models from the beginning of their carrers (Gisele included). Again, this brings me close to many, many international celebrities. And again, not more than three degrees away from Mark Ruffalo.

3 - since I have friends who work at that famous hotel which cannot be named, once again, no more than three degrees away from Mark Ruffalo.

After thinking for a while, I found out that:

1 - I'm definitely, only, 3 degrees away from Mark Ruffalo (and the President, and President Bush, and many others, for that matter)
2 - I'm most definitely starting to get obsessed about Ruffalo
3 - It is time to focus something else (while I wait for Blindness)

late night discoveries

2007-10-02T09:36:00.000-03:00

Now that's a weird thing.

During a late night conversation with hubby we made this awful discovery. We only love each other. Can a marriage survive only on love? Isn't love the secret feeling people look after their whole lives? Why are we complaining then? We were blessed with our love for each other, right? Not that right.

How about butterflies? And the never-ending doubt should-I-call-him/her? And the anticipation? No more of those? Bah, that's no fun.

We decided we have to find passion again. That terrifying/consuming/crude feeling.
Otherwise, will be destined to a marriage only based on love.

And that's definitely not enough.

KFC

2007-09-27T08:21:00.000-03:00

Here we are in the middle of a makeover in the laundry room and innocently I decided to look for a lanudromat nearby. What an illusion.

There are NO self-service laundry rooms in town! I figure that Brazilians are too "lazy" to say the least to do their laundry and then go home and iron it when we can pay someone to wash it and iron it, and delivery it to our door, paying by the kilo.

This means that in the end, I'll spend about R$ 100,00 for someone to do my laundry for this week. That is truly outrageous.

It seems that some of the big hits in the world will never have a chance here. It's just like Kentucky Fried Chicken (but then, Burger King seems to be going pretty well in his fight against McDonald's).

Alice

2007-09-25T08:06:00.001-03:00

You can bet that when I write a book one of the characters will surely be named Alice. And not because I think much of this name.

First, this name is one of the few truly international names I can think of, I mean, it's the same writing in almost every language. It is also a timeless name, you find little girls named Alice and grandmothers named Alice.

And then, Alice in Winderland is one of my favorite child stories, where Alice is an amazing little girl, bold, brave, independent, not to say dreamy.

This is all to recommend to anyone "About Alice", by Calvin Trillin. One of the best love-stories I read this year. A pure love statement from a husband to his wife.

PS - Note that I said "when" and not "if" I write a book. Now that's progress.

Springtime

2007-09-23T17:52:00.001-03:00

This is the firtst time the kids will have to celebrate spring in a different way. There is no garden here to be honored, no plants to be planted, or cared for.

That is why we decided to bring spring into our home.

{Pictures will come in tomorrow}

Also, if you see a crazy-kinda-nut guy watering plants using a large green water can on the streets, or maybe talking to them, be aware that it's my dear hubby. That's his way to celebrate the most colorful of the stations.

Minesweeper

2007-09-21T09:30:00.000-03:00

May the first one who never played this game on a moment of boredom raise hands.

Why can't I see hands up?
Because everyone has already tried this one.

being single

2007-09-21T07:13:00.000-03:00

I miss being single. At least I did for some time yesterday.
Small kids watched TV before going to bed, big kid was doing her thing (whatever that is) with her friends on MSN, and hubby was out having dinner with a partner.

I had some time for myself (which is VERY rare) and surfed on some of my favorite blogs. Checking Objetos de Desejo I found No-Sex-and-The-City. Reading her posts reminded me of how fun it was being single.

But at the time four small hands grasped me to watch my "favorite-TV-show-of-all-time", I realized that being single was truly fun, but my life now is much more fun.

And there we went to watch my "favorite-TV-show-of-all-time" (which, by the way, was Tom & Jerry)

the magic of motherhood

2007-09-19T18:53:00.001-03:00

Here I was going back on a trip down Memory Lane watching U2, Bad, at the Live Aid in 1985 (Wow, Bono was so young!).

As I have been a bit on the nut side since I can remember, I have honestly tried to convince my dad to go
with me to London for the Live Aid. Come on, I was only 12! This is even younger then my eldest is today! Nut case.

But the funny thing was to look at my son's face watching the video and asking "Mama, am I going to that show?" And I told him that not to that one, but probably to many others to come. To which he replied "No way, mama. Not amongst all those people and all that noise".

What can I say, definitely not "like mother, like son"

Just do it

2007-09-19T08:18:00.000-03:00

Billboards all around town ask me "What kind of runner are you?"

And I while I face this chaotic traffic (even at 7:00 am) I go wild on this one.

I am the kind of runner who never gives up, no matter how far the end line is or how close the others are. I am also the runner who knows that, no matter how hard it trains, it won't be the first one. But the fun of running is just that, running. No to mention that I am that runner who enjoys the scenery, and stops by to exploit every little corner of the track. Looking for the sublime in small things.

I invite you to think what kind of runner you are.

to be or not to be

2007-09-19T00:44:00.000-03:00

The other day, I was told that things only happen to us when we let them. I agree with that and I've learned to live by the consequences of my wishes.

The major thing here is that there comes a time when we understand that just because we want them to happen we may not be ready to live by the consequences. And that is precisely the moment when you step back and try to put things into perspective (which is not that easy at 01:00 am - after a very looong double journey).

As Jim Kerr nicely puts "Life goes on". That's my new motto.

Sweet dreams everyone.

No chicken-pox

2007-09-18T17:09:00.001-03:00

Thankfully, no chicken-pox in this house.
Only a really bad sore throat for the kids and an awful hoarseness for mama.

Lots of hot tea, honey, ginger, and lemongrass (excellent to control that not-so-high fever).

2007-09-18T17:02:00.000-03:00

Am I entitled to have ALL the answers?

Give me a hand, and some answers...

Sunday cookies

2007-09-17T23:08:00.000-03:00

As the kids were (and are) still feverish, we spent the whole Sunday inside. That means we had to find many different things to do.

For starters, the plans for our picnic moved into our living room. So down went the plaid towel and all the goodies we had for our lunch/picnic. Afterwards, a little story time while dad did the dishes, followed by some sewing on our project "sew your drawing" (later on that).

Late in the afternoon, while we had to wait for the bread dough to grow, we decided to try our hand on decadent chocolate chip cookies. Hmmm. Simply wonderful.

As F is alergic to chocolate, mama here separated a batch for plain ginger cookies, which were just as good.

At the end of the day, we had happy kids tuck in bed early as we older ones enjoyed a tribute to Audrey Hepburn on TV.

It couldn't have been better (we could spare the fever, of course)

THE outfit

2007-09-17T23:03:00.001-03:00

That's the real thing. Everyone should have THE outfit. when I say that, I mean that outfit which makes you feel wonderful, pretty, and powerful. It is what I call and outfit to conquer the world.

I am sure that all the great conquerors in this world had their "the outfit". Maybe it wasn't even an outfit per se. It can be anything, really. A dress, a jacket, a shoe, anything which makes you feel GREAT.

It took me 33 years to find THE outfit. And this is it. I can't remember anything wearable that made me feel so good. And it's funny that hubby doesn't think much of it. In fact he thinks its plain weird. But I feel as if I could beat anyone.

Better yet when we manage to engrave that sense and feeling and atmosphere in our minds and we do not need THE outfit to achieve all that.

That's it. Tell me of your outfit.

feverish days

2007-09-16T02:40:00.000-03:00

So that's how life goes on.
Today, my son woke up with a bit of a fever and much to our surprise the doctor suspects of chicken-pox. How great is that, huh? (Anyone who was ever around a four-year-old with chicken-pox knows what I'm talking about. And how about his sister?)

Anyway, I remember that when I had the chicken-pox (around 6 or 7) I tried my best to convince my mum that it was just like having the amygdalas removed, all you could eat was ice-cream.

Truly hope that if it turns out to be chicken pox indeed, that his 'wishes' are just as harmless.

Sunday is a promising day! I'll keep you posted.

How about your exeperiences with chicken-pox?

25 facts about me

2007-09-15T02:14:00.000-03:00

I usually use this as the second post, to introduce myself to my reader

1 - mother of three amazing people and married to a guy who is weird, to say the least
2 - translator, but when I was 12 I wanted to be a writer
3 - I would love to have lived in the 40's or in Victorian England (England at any time would do)
4 - basically I wear black and white (but for the last twelve months I have tried to bring some color into my wardrobe)
5 - to compensate that, my home is full of colors
6 - I believe kids and pets have a lot to teach
7 - I can't live without a dog (nowadays, Morgana, Weimaranner, 6 years old), but I can't stand cats
8 - I love the Celts and Arthurian legend (as well as Tolkien and Middle Age, long before Hollywood)
9 -I got it when I was 8 and read and reread it MANY times... Shakespeare in comic book (Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest) - I wanted to have a child with a Shakesperean name (the youngest was almost Miranda as in the Tempest)
10 - I LOVE to cook (no special cuisine), but I am not good in baking cakes. But as I believe that life works on a compensation basis, I bake bread to die for
11 - I have a VERY bad temper (maybe because I have migraines), but I swear I am always trying to improve
12 - no one believes me, but I love waking up early (in an excellent mood) and sleeping very late (too many things to be done)
13 - I spend too much time on the computer
14 - I WILL learn to sew, speak German and play an instrument
15 - Elephants can remember, as well as I. Go ahead and ask... 30/05/81,17/02/84, 16/04/89, 02/08/90, 23/07/93, 10/12/95? I know EXACTLY how each of these days went by
16 - I really like playmobil and I think Lego is boring (in a 'letting go" mood, I donated my entire Playmobil collection to my kids on June 15, 2006)
17 - I can't enter a bookstore and not buy a book
18 - at school, I loved History and Math, but hated Chemistry and Arts
19 - I love paper, deal with paper, the smell of paper
20 - I am not a big fan of the theater, but couldn't live without the movies
21 - I like comic books (Disney, Little Lulu, Astérix, Tin-Tin, Hagar, Calvin)
22 - when I was a kid I wanted to marry Obélix (as it didn't work out, my two younger kids are just like Calvin (not to say worse than Calvin), and he is 4 and she will be 3
23 - three sites I dream of visiting: Ireland, Cornwall, the Red Square
24 - a dream come true: visiting Stonehenge
25 - my iPod plays: Marillion, Crash Test Dummies, Ella Fitzgerald, Gershwin, Sisters of Mercy, Glenn Miller, Simple Minds and many more

And you, tell me at least 5 facts about you.

yet another blog

2007-09-15T02:03:00.000-03:00

This is the fourth one I keep.
After a while, I get tired of them/busy/whatever, and simply delete'em.

Considering that everytime I talk to myself I do it in English, it is no surprise that a time like this would come up, when I would try my hand on an English-written blog.

Let's see what happens next.