Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Bom dia, friends and family! I'm back to blogging after two weeks of our home being invaded by the flu, bronchitis, sinus infection, and stomach virus. It's been a rough few weeks here in Brazil, but we are all slowly returning to normal.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and being so far away from family on this holiday is going to be difficult, so we've decided to spend the holiday with some of our new friends here in Macae. A rig manager that Gabe works with, Fategue, and his wife Fattu are bringing their three beautiful kiddos over tomorrow afternoon to celebrate with us. They are from Ivory Coast, and have been so kind to us since we've moved here. They are constantly inviting us to their home for incredible feasts, so Gabe and I figured it was time to repay their kindness.

I've never made an entire Thanksgiving dinner before. This will be my first year cooking by myself (yikes!), but I am trying to have a sense of humor about it all. I'm assuming that at some point tomorrow, I'm probably going to have a stress meltdown, and want to throw one or more of my dishes into the ocean, but I figure that anything is funny if you have enough wine! :) Big thanks to my mom and my mother-in-law Marie for sending me such great recipes! You two are such spectacular cooks, so I hope I can make you proud tomorrow! :)

To all our family and friends on this holiday--we love you, and we miss you more than you can possibly imagine. Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, and hope the Aggies BTHO t.u. :) WHOOP!

Hugs from Brazil,

Move Over Picasso!

The somewhat frustrating thing about Brazil, is that you have to go to a different store for everything you need to buy. Basic food necessities—one store. Fruits/Vegetables—another store. Paper products—another store. Clothes—another store. Paint—another store. Meat—yep, you got it, another store. There aren’t any giant superstores here, which makes every shopping outing a race against time and the other hoards of people to buy everything you need before it gets dark. I’m telling you, if I could open a Super Target in Macae, I’d be the richest woman in Brazil!

I’ve been begging Gabe for months to let me paint the apartment, because I just can’t stand the blindingly white walls anymore, and with a 3-year-old in the house, they’re impossible to keep clean. However, since we don’t know our way through the maze of the downtown area very well, it was hard for us to find a paint store. Thankfully, my sweet Brazilian friend, Carla, offered to help me out, and she came and picked me up yesterday morning. She took me to a store here in Macae called Vilarejo. It is a home improvement store, and the closest thing I’ve seen to Home Depot here in Brazil. Now that I know where to go to get things to update the house, Gabe’s wallet better prepare—I found all kinds of good stuff!

Carla flips and then rents homes here in Brazil, so the people at Vilarejo knew her very well. She was able to help me order the paint, and even get it delivered to my house. I’m still waiting for it to be delivered—that’s another thing, everything takes twice as long here, and I’ve learned a whole new level of patience. :) I’m really looking forward to starting the painting process, but without all the handy painting gadgets that I’m used to, (I only have a roller and a small brush), it may get interesting.

As for the family, Jake and Gabe are doing great! Jake is doing really well in school, and he almost has the potty training thing down! YAY! On Saturday, Jake had a Thanksgiving celebration at his school. The turn-out was great, and the staff at Maple Bear had all kinds of fun activities planned for the parents. Watching Gabe and me trying to decipher game directions shouted over the microphone in Portuguese, and then actually attempt to play the games was a riot! Inevitably, hilarity ensued, and we looked like a couple of idiots, but we really had a great time! After the games and a buffet of snacks, Jake’s class dressed up as Indians and sang a cute little song for all the parents. Here’s some pictures of my sweet little Indian. :)

That’s all for now, but stay tuned! Pics documenting my painting extravaganza are soon to follow. Hugs! :)

Bem-vindo ao Rio de Janeiro!

We woke up at the crack of dawn Saturday morning to get everything ready for our trip to Rio de Janeiro. A “minivan” picked us up from our apartment, and we proceeded to attempt to pack ourselves, and our luggage into the van. When I say “minivan”, understand that I mean a Brazilian minivan, which actually isn’t a minivan at all. It was more like a square-shaped sedan with a third row. We had the driver and Gabe in the front seat, Dayane and Pedro in his car seat in the middle row, and then Jake and I in the very back. Gabe said I looked like a sardine. For those who know me well, you know how terribly I travel in the back of cars, so of course I was horribly carsick the entire trip. So it goes.

As we approached Rio, I was quickly distracted from my spinning head by the beautiful architecture of the city. Prior to our trip, Gabe and I had heard nothing but horror stories about the crime in Rio, and thought we might have to stay safely secluded in our hotel, but we were pleasantly surprised by our surroundings. In fact, downtown Rio actually reminded us of some of the European cities that we have visited. The best way to describe it would be to say that it has the hustle and bustle of New York City combined with the somewhat grunge coated beauty of Bordeaux, France or even Rome, Italy. With the 2016 Olympics looming in the future, the signs of improvement were all around. Many of the buildings were covered in scaffolding due to cleaning, and many of the roads were being repaved. They have a long way to go, but it was good to see that they’ve at least begun the work of cleaning up the city.

On Saturday we checked into our hotel, then took a taxi to visit Sugar Loaf (Pão de Açúcar) mountain. They named it Sugar Loaf because apparently there is a type of bread here that is the same shape as the mountain. The only way to reach the top is to take a series of cable cars across the water. I also discovered that I have a terrible fear of open heights, and began to feel that sweaty carsick feeling again as I stepped into the cable car. It basically looked like a subway car with windows for walls, but I can’t deny that the view was truly spectacular! Once we got to the top of the first mountain, we walked into a beautiful park with 360-degree panoramic views of the city/ocean. As we stopped to take pictures, we met a new friend—a tiny little monkey about the size of a guinea pig jumped down from the branches of a nearby tree to say hello. :) Jake and I were amazed! So cool to see a real, live monkey in the wild! There happened to be a juice shop in the park, so we stopped for a drink. One awesome thing about Brazil is that you can get fresh squeezed juice everywhere you go. We had a glass of tangerine and pineapple juice—so refreshing and delicious!

Then we boarded the second cable car to the top of Sugar Loaf. This was a much steeper climb, and the car kind of tilted like a roller coaster climbing the first drop of the ride—needless to say, I was freaking out a bit! Due to my panic attacks caused by the cable car ride, Gabe discovered that he loved making it worse for me by talking about the cable breaking and shaking the car…such a jerk! lol However, we made it safely across, and if we thought the views from the first mountain were good, we were in for a big surprise. The views from the top of Sugar Loaf were breathtaking! Up close, the city had that griminess to it that most cities have, but standing on the edge of the mountain, breeze in my face, with the city reaching up from below, I felt like a bird flying freely above a beautiful city at sunset.

After taking about a hundred pictures, we rode the cable cars back to the ground, and took a taxi to a nearby shopping center. Our friend Diogo told us that he was taking us to “one of the best restaurants in all of Rio de Janeiro”—Outback Steakhouse! LOL The food was actually really delicious, and it was nice for Gabe and I to experience a bit of home for the afternoon. After dinner, we were exhausted, so we retired to our hotel for the night.

On Sunday, we woke up early, at breakfast, and took a walk along Copacabana beach. The beach was gorgeous! Even at 9am, there were hundreds of people already sunning themselves in the sand. As we walked, we came to a really cool street market. There were booths selling every type of craft/statue/jewelry/painting/clothing you can think of. Precious stones are plentiful in Brazil, and cost about 1/3 the price in the U.S. We found the most beautiful carving of a toucan made out of jade, turquoise, quartz, and amethyst. It was gorgeous, and it only cost us R$ 50 (around $25 bucks)!

Then we went to meet Diogo and Dayane, and we took a taxi to the bottom of Corcovado Hill. Corcovado is the tallest point in Rio de Janeiro, and is also the home of the famous Christ the Redeemer statue that stands guard over the city. There is an awesome tram ride up the mountain through the surrounding rainforest. The plants and flowers along the way were so beautiful! My mother and sister-in-law, Natalie, would have been in heaven! Once we reached the top, there is a series of staircases that you have to climb to reach the Christ statue—probably around 10 flights (thank goodness I had been working out!). When we finally reached the statue, I was overcome by how truly enormous it was! Already being at “the top of the world”, it literally seemed to reach right into heaven itself. It was awe-inspiring.

We sat under the shade of the statue, and awed at the how small the great city of Rio appeared below us! After taking tons of pictures amongst the hoards of other visitors, we carefully walked back down the stairs to the tram station. When we got back down the mountain, Diogo & Dayane took us to the Botafogo Praia Shopping Center. This shopping center was actually a 6-story mall, with beautiful views of the ocean and Sugar Loaf. As we went up the escalator, I was overcome with joy. I couldn’t believe it, but THEY HAD A STARBUCKS!!!!! Yep, I was in heaven! :) After a late lunch at the mall, unfortunately it was time to head back to the hotel, collect out luggage, and begin the return drive to Macae.

Our first visit to Rio was short, but wonderful! It goes without saying, but our overall view and impression of the city is changed. Not once did we ever feel worried about our safety, and the overall beauty of the city was incredible! I can’t wait to go back!

P.S. Sorry, but due to my slow Internet connection, I couldn’t load very many pictures onto the blog. Check out my Facebook page for more! Love to all!

Rio, Here We Come!

Hey everyone! Haven't blogged in awhile, but honestly, I didn't have much to report. Same old, same old for the past few weeks. This week however, we are going to Rio! The driver is coming to pick us up early on Saturday morning. I'm really not looking forward to the drive (driving 110kph and playing chicken on a two lane road is enough to make anyone's heart stop), but we'll be there soon enough. Saturday, weather permitting, we are planning on spending at the beach. Our hotel is on Copacabana beach, so hopefully we won't get rained out. Sunday, we are going sightseeing with our friends Diogo & Dayane. We're planning on visiting the Christ statue on Corcovado and also Sugar Loaf. We've had many great suggestions as to where to eat, but having Diogo there, a native born Carioca (someone born in Rio), I'm sure he'll be able to show us around. Gabe has training on Monday & Tuesday there at our hotel, so Jake and I will probably just hit the beach or the pool during the day. Apparently there is also a great open-air market in Ipanema, so I'm REALLY looking forward to doing some shopping. I hope they send a big car to take us and all of our new stuff back to Macae! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures, and I look forward to sharing our trip with you when we return on Tuesday. Have a great weekend!

Michelle's Visit to Brazil

I’m back blogland after a fun and relaxing week with my friend Michelle. She arrived last Friday, and we all headed to Buzios for the weekend. We stayed at the Atlantico Buzios Resort, and unfortunately the weather was dreary all weekend, so no beach time. :( We stopped and had a lovely dinner with our friends Charlie and Carla. There is a dish here in Brazil called moqueqa, and this restaurant has the best I’ve tasted so far. Moqueqa is a seafood dish cooked inside a big pot and you can use any kind of seafood. Most places use fish, which we had, but they also made a lobster version at this restaurant. One word—AMAZING! Moqueqa is fish fillets steamed in a pot with olive oil, onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic, and spices. You serve it over rice with this sauce they make that looks like gravy, only thicker. In Charlie’s words, “It looks like wallpaper paste.” Haha! After dinner we took a walk out on the dock and saw this little kid catch a HUGE fish. No idea what kind of fish it was, but it was beautiful! Across the street from the restaurant is a seafood market. The ladies running the shop loved Jake, and one of them gave him a fish to take home in a baggie. I think it was a large sardine, but Jake LOVED it. He named it Charlie after our friend, which everyone thought was hilarious except for Charlie! lol Jake wanted to take his fish home with us, but without any ice to keep the fish fresh, after 20 minutes the fish was slimy and stinky, so when we went out on the dock, Jake and Gabe fed the fish to a sea turtle. Jake of course started to cry and immediately wanted his fish back. Needless to say, we had a heartbroken little boy in the backseat on the way home.

Sunset in Macae

Once we got back to Macae, the weather was still crumby, so Shelly and I played cards all day on Monday. We took some runs along the beach between rainstorms, and I expanded Shelly’s knowledge of great movies (She had never seen Caddyshack, Arthur, or the Princess Bride…I know, folks, I couldn't believe it either). Thankfully, the sun finally came out on Wednesday morning, so Michelle and I spent the entire morning at the beach. The people-watching was incredible, as usual, and she was amazed that people go jogging here in nothing but a speedo. We also saw a water rescue while we were laying out. Apparently, a man got dragged out to sea by a strong rip current, and we watched the lifeguards swim out to save him. It was an exciting day at the beach! Before Michelle had to leave, we had a great goodbye lunch at our favorite little restaurant in Cavalieros called Ilhote Sul. We had shrimp in a cheese sauce with bananas and peas (sounds gross, but it was awesome!) Unfortunately, then it was time to say farewell to my friend. It was a short, but great visit with Michelle, and we miss her already. That’s the only rotten thing about people coming to visit; they always have to go back home. We’re ready for more visitors! Who’s next? :)

Here are a few pictures of Jake when he came home from school dressed as a tree! Have a great weekend everyone!

Face Lift! :)

Welcome friends & family, to the brand spanking new tEXas Expats blog! Here is the aforementioned awesomeness that I was referring to last week. My best friend, Erin, is a multitalented craft/design genius! She knows how horrible I am when it comes to computers, so she kindly lent her expertise to my site. I must say that I am completely in love with my blog now! Erin has her own awesome blog as well over at craftsandsutch.blogspot.com. Everyone check it out! It is sure to inspire you to find your crafty bone, even if like me, you were not born with one. :) Many thanks and heart-filled hugs go out to you, E! Thank you!!!

As for an update, today was day 3 of my running program. I have to say, even though it’s only the third day, it is already getting easier. It’s also nice having this amazing view and weather to accompany me on my runs every morning. I’m sticking with it, kids! Watch out for a new, healthier Mary in the near future!

We are also expecting a visitor tomorrow. My friend Michelle is taking the dreaded and hellaciously long flight to Rio tonight. She will arrive in Macae tomorrow afternoon! Yay! I can’t wait to see her. We will then be heading to Buzios on Saturday to enjoy some beach time! It’s really awesome being able to share this once in a lifetime experience of living in Brazil with my family and friends. To all of you who have made the trip down here, thanks for coming, and come back ANYTIME! To those of you who haven’t, what are you waiting for? Everyone is welcome, and we love having company! I’m looking forward to a great weekend! Love to all!

Run, Forrest! Run!

Today was Day 1 of my running/strength training program. I bought an app on my iPhone called C25K (Couch to 5K), and started it this morning. I must say that the high after working out is incredible! I feel so good right now, and am finally determined to stick with a routine. Here’s my Week 1 running program:

Warm-Up: 5 minute brisk walk.

Begin: Alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

Cool Down: 5 minute walk

I also did 10 minutes of weight lifting for arms, and 10 minutes of abs. (I was cracking up laughing this morning when I thought of a quote from“There's Something About Mary": “Seven minute, AAABS!” lol :)

On another note, last night our neighbors downstairs were having a birthday party. They were singing so loud, and the song seemed to go on forever! Again, I was cracking up when I thought of a quote from “So I Married an Axe Murderer”: The family is singing Happy Anniversary to Mike Myers’ Scottish parents, “Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy Anniversary! Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy Anniversary! Happy, happy, happy….and the dad yells, “Hey! Shut it!” LOL

I honestly think my entire life story could be told in a series of movie quotes. Hope you guys are having a great day! Love and hugs from Brazil!

You need a steel pair to drive in Brazil! :)

Yay! It’s the weekend! Gabe had to go to the rig on Friday, so it was left to me to take Jake to school. I was really nervous getting into the car--I know my way around Macae pretty well now, but driving here his terrifying! Houston freeway traffic is a leisurely drive in the country compared to driving the streets of Brazil. I had somehow forgotten about the motorcycle drivers who think they own the road. Every time one of them cut me off or zoomed by me with an inch of clearance, I just kept picturing turning my wheel just a tad and sending them flying into a palm tree! Jerks, but I made it safely to and from Jake’s school. His teacher and fellow students were so excited to see him! The staff at Maple Bear Academy are so nice, and most especially patient with my poor Portuguese. I really need to get a proper language teacher—life would be so much easier here if I could just freely speak the language!

I was really looking forward to a beach day this weekend, but the weather didn't cooperate. Awesome temperature, but rainy/overcast all weekend. BOO! We went for a walk today, and down the beach from us is an awesome pavilion restaurant called Quiosque. They serve everything from appetizers and salads to seafood and steaks. It is a family run restaurant, and the co/owner is the waiter while the other owner is the cashier—the mom/wife do the cooking. The food is amazing, and the waiter is always happy to see us. “AMIGO!”, he yells at us as we approach. He is such a nice man, and after finding out that Gabe was without his family for his birthday, offered to throw him a dinner party at his restaurant. One thing I can say about the Brazilian people is that the majority of them have been very kind and friendly to us gringos.

On another note, I’m beginning my workout routine today. I downloaded an app on my iPhone called C25K (Couch to 5K), and I’m hoping that if nothing else, it will give me a set workout and thus help me get back into running shape again. I really need to get my stamina up, and since Gabe recently finished putting the Bo-Flex together, I now have a way to strength train as well. It’s going to be a LONG road to being in shape again, but I’m looking forward to the challenge! Hope everyone has had a great weekend! Love and hugs from Brazil! :)

Back to School!

Jake started school again today! He was so excited last night that I had some trouble getting him to sleep. Thankfully, he woke up on time, and Gabe just left to drop him off. He looked so cute in his uniform and Buzz Lightyear jet pack backpack! After having him with me all day, every day for the past 3 months, the silence at home is deafening! It's nice to have some quiet time, and also free time for Mommy! :)

Before we left to come home in June, we took Cindy with us to Buzios. For those who don’t know, Buzios is our little resort getaway here. It’s only an hour drive from Macae, and is such a beautiful place to visit when we need a break from the city. When we were there, we found the most awesome hammock/chair. It’s made from ropes like a hammock, but hangs upright from the ceiling. Our maintenance crew was able to get it hung up on the porch while we were home in the states, and it looks so awesome—really comfortable too!

Also, it was recently brought to my attention that I haven’t posted any pictures of our condo in Macae. It’s still a work in progress, and I HATE having white walls, but it’s home. It is night and day from the hospital room it was when we moved in! So here are some pics of our Brazilian pad.

So this is home for us now. What do you think? We miss you all so much! Hope everyone has a great day!

Roger, Roger. What's your vector, Victor?

I’m so frustrated with our two coconuts and a string Internet connection--it’s currently moving at about ½ KB per second! Keeping a blog is going to be extremely difficult when it takes more than 30 minutes to upload one picture. Oh well, sorry, but no pictures today. :(

So it’s day two back in Brazil, and it couldn't be a more beautiful day! I love listening to the sound of the ocean—so peaceful. The wind has died down a bit, so the ocean is settling as well. The water is slowly turning from an angry, churned up brown back to the emerald green waves we’re used to. Sorry Houston family/friends, but it’s 76 degrees – sunny and breezy here. :) Gabe, Jake, and I are planning on taking a beach walk tonight while the weather is nice, and I’m also going to take Jake to the pool downstairs this afternoon. Unfortunately, the genius architect who designed our condos, put the pool on the side of the building where only about 3 rays of sunlight can hit it during the day. The result is a pool filled with FREEZING COLD WATER! I actually think the ocean is warmer than our pool. We’ll see how long we can last before we turn blue!

On another note, for those who know me well, you know how much I love to read. I’m thinking that as long as I’m writing about our life here, I should include the one activity that seems to take up the majority of my free time, and share what I’m reading with you guys. (P.S. If you’re a reader, and haven’t invested in a Kindle, I highly suggest making the change from paper to wireless reading device. It’s the best invention ever!)

I just finished with The Girl Who Played With Fire. It is the second book in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy. If you like twisted thriller/murder mystery stories, then you’ll love these books. The first book in the series is the internationally acclaimed novel, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo--this book follows the brilliant and eccentric, although troubled, Lisbeth Salander as she helps journalist Mikael Blomkvist solve the strange disappearance of the young niece of a notorious billionaire. The twists and turns are awesome! It's a fantastic book! Up next is the final installment titled, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest! I'm starting it tonight, so stay tuned…

Back in Brazil!

After being inspired by my sister-in-law, Natalie, and my crafty best friend, Erin, I’ve decided to start a blog. Not only will it give me a chance to share all of my thoughts and our adventures in Brazil, but also it will be an easy way to stay connected to friends and family. I’m not the most computer literate person in the world, so Erin is the one who designed this awesomeness that you are seeing--I’m just the written word on the page. Thanks, Erin! :)

Well we left on Sunday night to head back to Brazil. With me, I had three large trunks, one suitcase, one car seat, two carryon bags, one wild man in a monkey leash (Yep, I’m the mom who puts their kid on a leash. Judge me if you want, but only after you yourself have had to chase him down in a crowd full of people), and a partridge in a pear tree. When I got to the airport in Houston, the lovely people at Continental told me that my bags were too heavy to put on the plane. So I spent the next thirty minutes, with my belongings strewn around the check-in desk as I tried to move things around. I finally got everything re-packed, and off went our luggage. As we went through security, Jake kept trying to run through the metal detector while I’m attempting to put all of our things into the scanner (Thank you, monkey leash). Thankfully, the people working that night were very helpful, and somehow as our circus tried to get through security, I managed not to irritate too many passengers waiting impatiently behind us. It wasn’t too long of a wait to board the plane, thank God, and we got to board first. Yay! Unfortunately, the flight was sold out, and Jake and I did not have seats next to each other. I asked the a-hole flight attendant as we boarded the plane if he could help me with that, and he just humphed at me and said, “You’ve got the two worst seats on the plane. Good luck with that.” Thanks for nothing, and like I said, he was an a-hole. As we walked to our seats, a more helpful flight attendant took care of us. She spent the first 20 minutes asking everyone on board if they wouldn’t mind switching seats with me. I would have loved to have seen someone else try to deal with Jake on a 10hr flight, but finally, a nice man agreed, and Jake and I were seated in the last row with me on the aisle and Jake in the middle. A nice older man was seated next to us, and he was so sweet to Jake the entire flight (he even let Jake wear his noise cancelling Bose headphones to watch The Karate Kid). Jake couldn’t hear anything other than the movie, so he kept screaming at me saying, “Mom! These are so COOL!” lol Thankfully, Jake soon fell asleep, and after 10 hours and 15 minutes, we made it to Rio de Janeiro.

Copacabana Beach--Bad picture but it was taken from the car as my driver was going 100kph!

Christ the Redeemer statue on Corcovado above Rio

Somehow we slid through customs without having our trunks opened! I still can’t believe it, considering the amount of stuff that we had with us! I think the man could see that I had made it to the end of my rope, and took pity on me by waving me through. Thank you, customs security guy! Jake was so helpful too. I pushed 3 trunks on one cart, and he had a suitcase and a car seat on another. He pushed his cart all the way from baggage claim, through the long, snaking line at customs, and out to the exit. He just followed behind me, and we played red light/green light through the lines so no one got run over. We had two drivers pick us up. One for the luggage, and one for us, lol :) , and after a 4 ½ hour drive, we made it to Macae! Sweet Gabe was waiting for us with lunch ready at the condo, and Jake was so excited to see his daddy! We spent most of the afternoon resting/napping, and Jake was thrilled that all of his “wo-bots” (Transformers) were still here, and that “they missed” him.

Today has been the first day in over a month that I’ve had a moment to just sit and relax. There just always seemed to be something that I had to do at the new house in Spring. Thankfully, that headache is over, and we got moved in (THANK YOU, MOM, ERIC, FRED, SHAWN, and CINDY)! I think I was a little nervous to come back to Brazil, especially after such an awesome summer back in Texas, but now that I’m here, it actually feels really good. I’m currently sitting on my porch, drinking coffee while watching and listening to the ocean crash into the beach. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon. I missed the ocean, and I missed my husband, so altogether, it’s really good to be back. The negatives about Macae are still here, but I’m concentrating on the positives, and taking every new day as a gift to enjoy and explore a new country.

View from my front porch :)