If you remember back in June, Gracie was given the worst haircut EVER .

That was June.

I have been letting it grow back out. I have REFUSED to let anyone cut her hair. Despite the complaints about her hair, despite the fact that it takes me an hour to wash and dry her two times a week, I did not want to cut. EVER AGAIN. And of course that is a little drastic, but we were both scarred after that last cut. Anyway her hair had gotten really long and we had our first really hot day on Friday. She spent all day long laying in the floor trying to keep cool. And I felt like a bad dog momma. So off to the groomers we go.

Someone at work recommended a new place and I am so glad they did! I think she looks so great and they were so good with her!

Without further ado:


Not too short, not too long. Gracie is cool, Stephanie is happy. Win Win all around.

A little bit of pink

On my walk to work one day, before spring arrived, amongst all the dry, brown foliage (from the extreme lack of rain) were these flowers hanging over my head. They made me happy.

Last minute beach trip (in November)

We arrived on Friday with sunny skies! I wanted to go to the beach, but everyone wanted to rest (I always hate the first day rest, it bores me). So we rested. That night we went to Wal Mart. First Wal Mart I've been in since I've been in the states. Even though they had Brazilian products, it still made me homesick. I'm not one of those people that loathes Wal Mart. I miss it's one stop shopping, cheap prices, and who doesn't love People of Walmart's website with the crazy pictures? (but let's get real, no one likes the lines) Anyway we got SO MUCH FOOD. And that was a good thing since the rest of the weekend rained, rained away. I was sad, I was hoping to get a little sun! But seriously people, we ate ourselves silly.

We decided to stay an extra day (and when I say we, I mean everyone else) since Monday was a holiday and no one had to work on Tuesday (and when I say no one, I mean no one but me). Thankfully the rain let up a little (but not the cold) and so we went shopping and took a little walk on the beach.

Tuesday we left early, got home safe and sound (Despite my concerns about dying in a head on collision..) and I went straight to school to teach. I was a tired girl.

The trip was really nice (despite my complaints) and relaxing. Though next time I think a little planning is in order (like checking the weather..since that was everyone's biggest complaint...although I'd like to point out that I did and I knew, but what are you going to do at midnight and you're leaving at 3 am?) We didn't take too many pictures, but here is one of Sidnei and I!

And here is everyone:
Me, Sidnei, Sidnei's Uncle, aunt, and cousin (there is another cousin, but she's taking the picture) my sister in law, and Sidnei's brother!


Good Times...

How to die from embarrassment properly...

Just so you know, many of these were written a while back...I'm just now getting around to publishing them...


Step 1
Take a shower

Step 2
Take your time towel drying

Step 3
Here someone approach the door, but ignore it since the door is locked.

Step 4
Stand pretty much naked in front of your brother in law since the door is not locked.

Step 5
Die from embarrassment.

Step 6
Wonder what he actually saw since you were too shocked to properly cover anything up. (pretty sure he got a boob, if not more)

Step 7
Curse living in a house with others as you slap your head into the palm of your hand.

Step 8
Consider not leaving the bathroom ever again.

Step 9
Die from embarrassment all over again.

Step 10
Continue to do the head into palm as you can not stop reliving the moment of horror. Die from embarrassment.

Pico da Ibituruna

A couple of weeks ago, Sidnei and I got invited to go with Amelia’s family to see Pico da Ibituruna. It is in Governador Valadares and it is known as being the home of “vôo livre”or free flight. In other words, lots of people hang glide and paraglide! It is absolutely gorgeous!

Here is our day in pictures!

We stopped about halfway up the mountain to give our poor van a break! It was hot and thirsty. Our trusty mechanics here, making sure everything is okay. (it was)

We stopped a little park halfway up the mountain for lunch and some fun! Here are the guys hanging out in the shade after lunch! This is Amelia’s husband Wallace, Sidnei, and Wallace’s Dad.

Beautiful family! Brian (stepdad), Sally(sister), Amelia, and Leanna(mom)!

We decided to be adventurous and get suited up for the zip line!

This is Brian doing down first!

This is Amelia! (try clicking to make the images bigger!)

This is me, arriving, after I was saying, I don’t think Im going to stop!! (in my defense I came in really fast!)

And this is Sally with her cute pointed feet!

You know I can never resist these pictures. We’re just too good looking together.

Driving…making our way back up, the scenery is breath taking!

We made it to the top!!

Wallace and Sidnei taking in the view

Isn’t the view incredible??

It never fails, no matter who I’m with, I’m always the whitest one in the crowd.

Sisters!

Wallace and Amelia

Amelia and I on the platform. You take your glider and run right off the edge of this! I didn’t see anyone do it that day, but I want to go back so I can!

 

Amelia’s cute mom, Leanna!!

Everyone hanging out before going home!

We got to see two paraglider’s jump (they don’t use the platform though, just the hang gliders) before we went home! If all goes well, I may be doing this for my birthday! I can not wait!

And of course, thanks to Amelia and her great family for letting us tag along! It was amazing to see and such a great day!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day has come and gone. We didn’t do anything special. My schedule has been really busy and honestly,it's hard to cook a huge meal when you dont have the day off. 

I do have a Thanksgiving story though. It was a rainy day (as they are often here lately) and I was getting ready to leave. When I say it was rainy, I mean like the pouring type. But thankfully by the time I had to leave, it had let up. So I got my trusty little umbrella and off I go.

Sidnei called me and asked if it was raining. I told him it was, but it wasn’t bad. He told me to go home he was going to come get me and take me to work. I assured him it was no problem, to stay there. I was almost there anyway.

Halfway to the bus stop, the heavens opened, and it was pouring so hard, I could barely hold up my umbrella. My jeans were soaked all the way up to my knees and I thought that is really going to suck when I’m in my air conditioned class room. (I teach mainly guys and they are always wanting the air…and I'm usually freezing, but in the spirit of Thanksgiving I'm absolutely thankful for AC. Best thing ever. I’d rather be cold than hot any day. Unless there’s a beach around.) Despite the wetness I continued on.

Almost to the bus stop and just when I thought things couldn’t possibly get anyway worse, it started to rain harder than before…I had no idea that was possible. And to top it off, the wind started blowing non stop. So it was horizontal rain. I kid you not. Meaning the shelter the bus stop offered did nothing. Nor did my poor little umbrella.

I thought maybe it would stop after a few minutes, but this tempest kept right on raging. When I was finally soaked down to every inch, I broke down and called Sidnei. He could barely hear me over the noise of the rain. Once I got off the phone, I looked around me at the driving rain, the flooding streets, at the two guys with me trying to be shielded by my tiny umbrella and I bust out laughing. I’m sure they thought I was insane, but I couldn’t help it.

It took Sidnei longer than expected because all the streets were flooded, but we finally both made it home. I couldn’t resist taking a picture for posterity’s sake.

Can you even tell I'm soaking wet? I have no idea…but I was. It felt like I had jumped in a pool with all my clothes on. Needless to say, later that night I was giving thanks for my blow dryer since all my books and notebooks for school were soaking wet.

Rain, rain go away and a wedding!

Here lately, there has been so much that I have wanted to tell you about! Unfortunately, my internet is not cooperating…I have taken for granted my great internet connection these last few months. I forgot how AWFUL it is during this time of year. I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I think it has to do with the rain. But today it’s not raining, it’s relatively clear.

So the biggest and best thing is that Amelia’s family came down and over to Brazil for Amelia’s wedding!! It is so nice to finally meet people face to face that you have been facebooking with! They are just as wonderful as Amelia is and I am so glad to have met them! They were very gracious guests, learning bits and pieces of the language, and in general loving Brazil!

But of course the highlight of this post has to be the wedding! Despite the rain that decided it was a good day for a visit, it turned out just beautiful!

 

Congratulations Amelia and Wallace!! Everything turned out fantastic and you were a beautiful bride! Thanks for being such a great friend and letting me be part of your big day!!

 

PS- Are there any chocolates left?

Ipatinga Country

About a month ago we decided to head out with some friends and go to Ipatinga Country! We had a good time! We thought we were just there to see a concert, however, before it started there was a rodeo!




After they had a pretty impressive fireworks show! It had been a while since I had seen fireworks (the big kind) and surprising they made me really homesick! (But I only got a picture of the very beginning!)


After all that then it was time for the concert! The concert did not end up starting until almost 12!

Eduardo Costa was playing. I am not very familiar with his music, but he is a good performer. The ladies love Eduardo Costa, they were going crazy!! We got lucky because our tickets were basically VIP, so we were really close to the stage and we were sectioned off from the other concert attendees! It was a small group, so it was really nice!



All in all, it was a good night...albeit a LONG one! I think we got home a little before 3! We haven't stayed out that late since..well long enough that I can't remember! It was fun and something different! Next time I'll have to get my cowboy hat and boots out :)

Learning how I do best...

So this is essentially what my MIL's freezer is supposed to look like:



But generally it basically looks like this:


So what's my point?

Saturday we went to the store to stock up on meat since they were a having a sale. Literally the size of the freezer is the picture above....combined with the ice build up of picture #2...there's not much room. So I did what any girl in my position would do! I hit that handy dandy defrost button!

Or at least that is what I wish I had done. Instead I grabbed one of these:


Did you all know there are tubes that are filled with gas inside your fridge and freezer that keeps everything cold?

Do you see where I am going with this?

Here I am happily stabbing away at the ice and the next thing I know, I hear this loud hissing noise, cold air is streaming out at me. Of course the first thing I think is, holy crap! How did all that air get trapped under that ice?! Then the second thing (immeadiately following I swear) was, oh crap, that air has a smell...and that's when I called Sidnei.

He then proceeded to melt into a bubbling puddle of....but WHY?!?!?! would you do that?

So thankfully five bags of ice, an expensive styrofoam cooler, nothing cold to drink, three days later, and 200 reais less in the bank...we have our fridge back.

Expensive lesson learned.

Only me. I swear.

So let's count real quick:

Things Stephanie has broken that belong to her MIL since arriving in Brazil:

1 plaque with a religious saying
1 glass goose, broken in several places...fixed with crazy glue, a sharpie..never to be the same again.
1 blender
1 spatula (blenderized...need I say more?)
1 fridge
3-4 little glass cups (i lost count)

I'm sure something is missing from this list...

I'm also pretty sure my MIL will be as relieved as I am when we finally move out.

Trekking

Back in May, my school put on a “trekking”…I’m not sure why they didn’t call it a hike..but sure. So we trekked through the beautiful mountains here in Ipatinga!

What we did was actually a competition. There were nine groups, with crazy looking maps, compasses, and timers…the goal was to find our way through the woods, using the exact amount of time to get from point to point, where there were people waiting to clock us in. Whoever did things at the correct time were the winners.

Guess who won????

Well it certainly wasn’t my team. Where did we place? Last. Dead last. Why? Because instead of letting the kids take over and have a good time, we bunch of controlling Moms, who wanted nothing more than for their babies to win. Who also thought they knew better than the instructors and anyone else who tried to help them. But, I digress.

We managed to have a good time despite all the competitiveness. Here is proof:

My cute group before we started

 

The Mommas helping us win

After we reached the summit

 

One of the other teachers and I

*Also let it be known I’m all about national pride, but that color yellow, on my pasty white skin…not cute.

 

I didn’t get a picture of us when we finished, but let’s say it had been raining all night the night before and stopped just in time for us to start our trekking. So the way down was slippery and quite treacherous. A lot of people fell, a few got hurt. After close to five hours, we were tired, muddy, and hungry. Thankfully for the winning team and the professors (woo hoo!) we went to a FABULOUS rodizio, and it was all paid for. We were definitely grateful for that! It was well earned!

Monkeying Around

So the other day we decided the weather was beautiful and we were going to take the dog for a walk. We picked a little path by the river. It was beautiful, green, peaceful, and picturesque. I loved it! As we were nearing the end of our walk, I discovered these:

Look how cute! We saw them in the trees above us and stopped to look at them! They came down because they thought we were going to feed them. And I probably would have (though Sidnei says it’s not the best idea) but I had no food. Anyway, they were really interested in my camera. This guy kept tilting his head when my camera would click and it made me laugh!

I really had fun taking pictures of them and playing. They got so close and truth be told they made me a little nervous, but it was so fun to see them playing. Their  curiosity was so funny! This guy made me laugh, I took a couple of pictures of him, but he’s what we nicknamed “the blinker”! He couldn’t keep his eyes open!

 

So it was a fun little day! Gracie had a good time too, though she had to go wait in the car while we played with the monkeys! She was so sad!

Thankfully her hair is growing back….albeit slowly.

And I couldn’t leave you without a photo of us!