The Revenge of Labor Pain

My husband had a quite similar reaction when removed an ingrown nail.  :)  The Revenge of Labor Pain

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There is Nowhere like Home

One year and three countries later, we are now finally at HOME.  There is nothing like our own place.  It is ok that I come from a big city, then I lived in an even bigger city for almost 10 years and now I find myself stranded in the middle of the desert.  Now I will have to learn how to drive, something that I never needed to do in my life.  Food is a problem easily solved with a good supermarket (thanks, Trader Joe's!), internet buys and lots of cooking websites from all over the world - now I have my own kitchen again!!!

My Desperate Housewives Gloveables Gloves

Everything is rated according to the point of view of the viewer.  In Brazil, even on a big city, I was used to big spaces, big houses, lots of storage for things you will never touch again (i.e. clutter).  In London, the biggest place was a joke compared to what I was used to back home.  So I went on to live in very small cramped spaces, learned to throw away all that was not necessary anymore, lived on the bare minimum.  It is true that I first arrived there with a backpack, and for my last move I had 15 boxes packed to be shipped to "the new world", but this is another story.  Our house in Albuquerque, NM, used to be hubby's bachelor pad and it was rented out while we were in London, UK.  He always complained that it is too small.  Well, now I kind of have Londoner's standards, it is a palace compared to many places where I had to live during those expat years.  It is not small, it is cozy :)  I couldn't love it more.

 

My cute little helpers (and highly effective)

It has been a great pleasure to find the right places for each of our belongings, to clean every spot in the house with all love, imagining where we will fit our furniture.  We are fortunate to be able to move little by little, as everything is stored in the in-laws basement.  And that is how we decided to do things, one load at a time. Everything gets cleaned and organized, then another load, etc.  We haven't brought any furniture yet, only cleaning stuff, some kitchen and bathroom basics and little food.  Yet, I don't even feel like I'm camping anymore, I couldn't care less about sleeping on the floor, it feels so much better than the most luxurious hotel in the world.

Best bed in the world!!!!

Now I can't wait to use my crockpot, my coffee maker, my oven, bake an orange cake, prepare my kibes and coxinhas, eat rice everyday, have lots of garlic and onions on my food, buy real bread at the French Bakery, yumy!!!

THANK YOU, GOD!

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And we are doing it again

My hubby is calling me. We will be away for a few days, he will take a million pictures again, and I will be his tourist guide once more. This time in the second most beautiful town in the world. The first is Venice and we covered it last week. ;-)

And be sure God is each minute with us, making this trip even more special.

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Small Things Are The Biggest Blessings

This afternoon I was strolling in Battersea Park with my husband. Miserable day, cold, windy, rainy, and I find London to be at its most beautiful under a weather like that. Suddenly I felt so happy and fulfilled and started thinking how blessed we both were to be brought together by God.

God is the centre of our lives and there is no day without thanking Him for our blessings, our health, our families. Anything else is really small when you can recognise the presence of God in everything.

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And in Italy Treviso 1x0 Venice

For ages people have been telling me I have a talent to be a tourist guide. For many reasons, in various places, all my life, in totally different circumstances. Even with that said, what happened yesterday left me a bit shocked...

Piazza Duomo, Treviso

Making the 4 at the University, Treviso

Via Riccati, my old address

Venice has been my favourite city for many years. It is a different city, not a "live" one, but something that exists as an "open air wrecked museum". The city life is not apparent to non-Venitians. Don't get me wrong, it is beautiful, the architecture is amazing. I am a Town Planner with years of study of Urban History and World History. I can see past the "immediate". I am aware of the wealth of medieval Venice and how it produced what is still the main beauty of the city today. This is the beauty I see.


Inspite of all that, and of having lived 15 min away from Venice for a year, visiting the islands every other week, I still get lost there. I could never get back to some shop I liked or find ever again some osteria where I ate something amazing one day. Venice is a maze. I don't know how to get to where I want if not by boat or with a guide. I know little about specific buildings, apart from the obvious, as I really never had enough time to study them in detail.


All that is being said because I lived in the town of Treviso and I got to know it well. It is way smaller than Venice, one of the few walled medieval towns where gates, walls and canals are still somehow intact. I had many problems with Italy while I lived there, but I fell in love with Treviso the minute I put my feet there for the first time. Apparently this becomes evident while I am showing Treviso around to people. After spending a day in Treviso and a day in Venice, my lovely husband told me Treviso is his favourite spot in our trip... And by the pictures he took in both places, it shows through.


In Treviso:

Walking to the comune in Treviso

Under sottoporteghi, still in Treviso

Outside de Walls, sitting by the canal, in Treviso

Il mio Prosseco fermo i bocconcini

Leave cholesterol in London and have uno piatto di prosciutto crudo e mozzarela

And a real tiramisu!!!!

And without Lemoncello non c'é felicita completa

E, alla fine, Piazza San Marco, finalmente a Venezia!!!

Ciao, Italia!!! Noi torneremo fra pocchi anni

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From Hubby to Wifey

Aren't they lovely? The first tulips I've ever received. Love them!!! From the most lovely hubby in the whole world!

More pictures to come?

Gerald really, really loves pictures. Taking pictures, looking at pictures, make comments on pictures. In only a few days in Rio he took almost 1000 pics. And in London the camera is as indispensable as the house keys, so... We are preparing a new venture together, a photoblog with the result of all this frenetic picture taking. It will be fun!

The Rule for Rulers

This post is for those who think that distance is a complicated thing and want to learn all about distance. Specially if you are moving to strange countries where everything is measured with rules that are very different from what you are used to. Be specially attentive to fractions, they can ruin all measures you need to take.

The ruler

"Terminology

A ruler used to be called a rule, and rulers would be rules. Today, the more commonly found term is ruler. The dictionary defines both the term rule and ruler, so either can be used, and for this document I will only use the term ruler."

Those are cute. They come in pairs. But not practical when the work needs to be done by diferent systems, you can loose one of them.

"Metric Rulers"

Metric rulers are fairly easy to read - I always knew that. They deal with centimeters and millimeters only. You wont have to worry much about fractions.

The larger lines with numbers are centimeters, and the smallest lines are millimeters. Since millimeters are 1/10th of a centimeter, if you measure 7 marks after a centimeter, it is 1.7 centimeters long.

English Rulers

English rulers, are much more difficult to read. Mostly because they deal with fractions - yes, lots of fractions indeed!!! -, which are a bit more dificult to learn."

"Although you are probably familiar with rulers, yard sticks, tape rules, folding rules, and tape measures, you will also find rulers on many machines that you use such as saws, sewing machines, photocopiers, and computer scanners. Computer programs like Microsoft Word and Adobe PhotoShop have electronic rulers that you can turn on to help you with the exact placement of items. As you can tell, reading a ruler is a valuable skill that you will use almost every day both on and off the job. Measurement is just one reason to learn fractions. "

Rulers not only measure things with different systems, the difference between the systems give us a complete different reading about the same piece being measured. What can be 10 in one, in the other it will be 3.7#>"£"*@/. So, people take pleasure in complicate easy things, nothing will ever be unified. So the ruler bellow can be a good solution sometimes:

Well, in the end, this is my favourite, since my times in an Architecture office. You have all the systems in only one instrument, you can measure even in some system you don't know, and the best of all: you can easily prove that 10 is equal to 3.7#>"£"*@/ when they are together...

Bride and Groom

Well, I do think we are a beautiful couple together. I love my hubby!!!! May The Holy Family always bless us. Amen.

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From This Moment On

I never really liked Shania Twain, but I was looking for a song for my husband to be our first dance in our wedding party. I couldn't avoid it: this one is the only one that says everything I wanted to tell him and the only one that follows all our beliefs in marriage. It is beautiful.


From this moment life has begun
From this moment you are the one
Right beside you is where I belong
From this moment on

From this moment I have been blessed
I live only for your happiness
And for your love I'd give my last breath
From this moment on

I give my hand to you with all my heart
Can't wait to live my life with you, can't wait to start
You and I will never be apart
My dreams came true because of you

From this moment as long as I live
I will love you, I promise you this
There is nothing I wouldn't give
From this moment on

You're the reason I believe in love
And you're the answer to my prayers from up above
All we need is just the two of us
My dreams came true because of you

From this moment as long as I live
I will love you, I promise you this
There is nothing I wouldn't give
From this moment
I will love you as long as I live
From this moment on

***

YMCA and roses

And in a certain wedding party...

Rita Lee 1979 - Mania de você

This one is for my hubby. ;-)

Hun, I will give you a private translation of this song... I love you!

Newlyweds

I know my father is in heaven now blessing us:





On Wednesday I became officially Mrs. Gerald :-) The real thing - Church Wedding still have to wait for a couple of months. But the judge and my hubby's family offered us a magical evening together.

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Bridezila

I always saw brides becoming mean. People that were usually normal and calm, nice, turned into different creatures beyond recognition. I always credited that to be too spoilt. Now, without ever have asked why it happens I have all the answers in my life as if I'm being part in a horror movie.

Saudade

My love, I've been missing you so much! It is now only 27 days until we'll be together again. I am counting every second that is still to come.

I love you!

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I Just Want to Give You a Kiss Now

Missing you already, my love. On a countdown now. And I am not watching Star Trek until January, I promise!!!!

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My love is here

How can I spend my time writting for this blog then?

How cute is that?

I love you, my cute cowboy!




And this is what I want to do with you...

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Laptoptypewrittingwaiting by the river

Waiting can be enerving.

Can be frustrating.

Can be sad.

Can be a happily painful wait for someone we love.

Can be only SAUDADE.

Can make me cry or help me be more patient.

I don't know anymore.

(Photo by Robert Doisneau)