2 weeks off and no money

It's Christmas Santa, I want an adventure. I have a ton of people I want to gift and the low cash is not helping either. First my love ones this season then me. With that in mind, I still want to do something. Maybe a Christmas show and skating at a lake will do my adventure fix for the season. I've never skated on a lake or seen a Christmas show.

Hopefully, I also will be taking my mother in law to the Houston Holacoust Museum. That will be super exciting; I have been there 3 or more times. It is an emotional experience every time and she is really into that type of history.

Finally checking stuff off my list

I just finished a wonderful walk with my baby Sky. So I was thinking about my list and things I have been able to cross out on my list. I went to my first University of Texas football game, I'm growing an herb garden, I've hosted a family holiday party and I rode a horse. Things are looking good.

The UT versus Central Florida game was exciting. We were beating Florida so badly, I decided to leave and show Lynn where I like to tailgate. We had so much fun. It's always fun to see my old roomie Jenna. I'm going to have to go to more games.

The second thing I accomplished was that I rode Tank, Katie's horse. If you have never rode a horse you should try it. You get an incredible feeling I can not explain. I'm already looking forward to seeing if I can eventually handle running with Tank.

Gobble Gobble Day

This year has been big for me. A new place, a new true love, and a new hope. I am so thankful this year for everything I have, for the people around me and my health. I even have a job that I am truly thankful for.

Because of the new space I was finally able to host the family Thanksgiving this year. To be honest, I totally forgot about my camera so I was not able to show you the feast. I made home made bruschetta using basil from my herb garden, meatballs with homemade bbq grape sauce, real cheesy mac, stuffed mushrooms, fresh cranberries sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, and last sauteed green beans with onions, mushrooms, and potatoes. My brother would only come if my mom made the turkey. She makes awesome turkey =) so I would never object to it. My mom also made the rice, and Bacalao( for my dad who doesn't eat turkey). Most everyone had never had Bacalao but loved it. Lynn's mom, Teresa made the best home made rolls I have ever had, and the yummiest corn bread stuffing ever. Shelly made this mouth watering short bread tart mmm. I'll ask here for the recipe later. My cousin Tania made her usual Pavê. Mmmm its never the same but its always good. Christy brought ham and a sweet potato marshmallow casserole. I've never had sweet potatoes with marshmallows, it was a total surprise that I liked it. It is totally an American thing. I totally like that mix. I will have to try to make it. Neumo came too!! He's moving back to Brazil. I'm going to miss him but I'll have to visit =). Lynn will like that. On the beach, drinking out of a coconut without a care in the world. Dani came in from A-school. We are so proud of her. No one really saw any of the kids. They were all having fun, being kids. I think Thanksgiving at my house was a total success. Both families together, being together and eating yummy homemade food.

Inventing the simple and the practical

I was surfing one of my favorite blogs and I came across this awesome concept where the packaging was part of the product. That's pretty eco friendly, the only question now, is the box a fire hazard?

I want to smell flowers

So its been over a year I have been with Lynn. I have a job, a dog and I'm moving into a house. Behind the house there is a green belt which is super exciting. Space, green, water and a park for fun. Things are going really well these days. The only goal I haven't really start pursuing is losing weight to get fit. What I need to do is make a plan, little steps. I should make a point, starting every Thursday, run for 30 minutes. If I complete this, I'll get myself a bouquet of flowers. Let's see if this works. I love getting flowers.

My 100 Things To Do Before I Die

So I bought No One Cares What You Had for Lunch, 100 Ideas for Your Blog" by Margaret Mason and I checked out her awesome website Mighty Girl and found this really cool idea Intel is sponsoring, Mighty List. The idea is a list of things she wants to do before she dies. Well if I had a sponsor or not I will still want to do these things so why don't I put a list together as life list of 100 things I want to do before I die. I would post blogs about all my adventures.

My 100 Things I Want To Do Before I Die List
Pick lavender flowers. Grow herb and vegetable garden. Get scared at a bull fight in Spain. Go dog sledding in Alaska. Go backpacking through southern Europe with my love. Make my dream cook book. Fly a plane. Build a bird house. Have a picnic at Yellow Stone Park. Sit on the equator. Go to a UFC fight. Go surfing at the Praia Fernando de Noronha in Brazil. Go to a TED talk. Learn to whistle. Bargain in a market in Moracco. Sun tan in south of Italy. Eat a hot dog and watch a play in New York City. Fish out at sea. Eat fish and chips in London. Go on a cruise. Buy something comical in Portugal. Ride a horse. Touch the Berlin Wall. Watch a sunset in Greece. Take a road trip across the United States. Wake up to the Amazon Rain forest. Visit every Latin American country. Bike to another city. Teach Sky my dog to catch a frisbee. Boil a lobster. Build my own computer from scratch. Start a non-profit organization. Attend cooking classes. Program Christmas lights. Build a haunted house for Halloween. Cook a big holiday dinner. Have a wedding. Be a mother. Go on a Safari in Africa. Rome around Machu Picchu. Pyramid at sunset in Egypt. Listen to some real blues in Chicago. Watch a Texas Football Home Game at the stadium. Ride something bigger than a horse. Learn another language. Dive with a whale shark. Dance with the tri-electro Carnival in Salvador. Tango in Argentina. SCUBA in the Great Barrier Reef. Volunteer abroad for a month. Cross a glacier on foot. Buy a boat and learn to sail. Climb an active volcano. Photograph an endangered species. Participate in Burning Man. Attend a music festival in another country. Attend the Olympics. Throw a tomato at the La Tomatina Festival. Participate in a triathlon or marathon. Be renewed in India at the Holi festival. Partake in a Japanese Tea Ceremony. Go to Oktoberfest. Join a caravan in the Sahara. Stand at the North or South Pole. Watch a match at Maracana stadium. Enjoy a freshly rolled cigar in Cuba. Watch an orchestral performance in Vienna. Teach English in a foreign country. -68- Ride a air balloon. Golf at a real golf course. Drink Whiskey at a pub in Ireland. Stand inside the Taj Mahal. Ice skate on a frozen river. Make my own perfume. Sew a dress for myself. Stay in a ice hotel. Stand on the Great Wall of China. Go a day without speaking. Own more than an acre of land and build my dream home. Own a beach house in another country. Build a tree house. Attend a NFL and a NBA game. See the inside of the Colosseum. Attend Mass at a Catholic church in Europe. Learn to snowboard. Visit all of my family in Brazil. Gamble in Vegas. Host the family Christmas at my house. Be at a World Cup game. Sky dive. Go hunting. See a kangaroo in Australia. Start a company. Hang glide. Camp out on the beach with my love. Helicopter over Mount Kilauea. Go white water rafting. Spend a weekend in Tokyo. Spend a night at a Scottish Castle. 3 day Hike through the Rockies.

Get Inspired at Half Price Books

Sometimes when I want to get inspired, I go to Half Price Books. I never know what I'm come out of there with. This week I went and totally bought random dvds. I even picked up a dvd collection of some old time classic cartoons. Mighty Mouse, Woody the Wood Pecker, and Betty Boop are some I can't wait to watch. About 70 cartoons for a dollar, woo woo! Gosh I feel like a kid. I have never bought dvds until this past year. I guess I know what I like to watch and these days I just miss those classics. I also recently bought Gladiator. I can watch that one and still get sucked to the storyline.

The only book I bought was totally random. I was looking for any interesting technical book on SQL reporting services. I found nothing I didn't already know from my best friend Google but noticed this totally random book called, "No One Cares What You Had for Lunch, 100 Ideas for Your Blog" by Margaret Mason. I had started this blog and I didn't know what to write about so I wrote about what came to mind. My worst fear in school has been writing. I love to write but in general I have always have had conflicts with communication. With a quick skim of the book and at 5 bucks, I was sold. It wouldn't hurt to explore my passion for writing. Tackle my fear of judgment at the same time. With guidance, I feel I can learn more myself by challenging myself to think. I figure, living life though my passions of enjoying life and exploring my interests will help me in my quest of self exploration.

Inspiration comes from need

This video is an inspiration for all. People with less resources stride to excel and create. William is from Africa and had the a small resource of a library. From a book and some knowledge of some english, he took a simple idea from a book to create something that will forever change his family's lifestyle of living forever. William created a windmill that lights 4 light bulbs, and 2 radios when he was 14 years old. Now 19, he is determined to build a bigger windmill for his village to be able to bring irrigation to his village. As you watch, you understand how much William wants to provide for his village and to have them be self sufficient.

The Art of Science

I watched this video last night and my mind just start running. What a cool idea but what do you do with this type of ingenious invention? How can you take this and recieve benefits to help others?

Walmart Bingo

Austin has been hot hot hot. It feels as though there has been no rain for months. It started raining and I was sad. I love the rain but its the weekend I have a pre-teen on my hands. There were no movies to watch, it was too wet to do anything outside and I'm broke at the moment. What to do??? When all fails, go to Wal-Mart and play Wal-mart Bingo. I know its bad, but you will have to admit, where else would you find these array of charaters all together other than Wal-mart. She came up with the idea and its fun to goof around.

7th of September

Happy Birthday Brazil! It is Seite de Septembro, Brazil's Independence Day. A year ago, me and Lynn started talking. I remember because Wagner came down and I was super excited to see him for the big Independence day party at Copa. I can not believe it's been a year! We say our official anniversary is October 1st because that's is when we made it official. I am excited to see what is in store for our first anniversary together. Lynn is planning it, and I am super curious to what it's going be.

My good friend Danny sent me this video. He said the video reminded him of me. It is true. I love Lambada. It was the first dance I learned as a child. Lambada let me be passionate about dancing. Being swept off my feet literally as I learned to follow, to listen and to let go. I hope to teach Lynn this dance; I know he will be good at it. Maybe he'll take me to dance lambada. ;)

Future life saver for me and the world

Me and Lynn sat down, started watching this before bed and we were both was blown away. This TED video was about finally bringing safe water to people. Michael Pritchard invented a water bottle called LifeSaver that did just that. The demonstration was brilliant and proved his point.

Lynn was already changing what he wanted for his birthday gift this year. The wheels were turning in my head too. I think that everyone should have this in their family. More importantly I feel that maybe I should find something like this to help others in need. Getting kits together, and raising money to provide for countries in need. In terms of money and environment, I believe we as a nation would use less plastic if we had this type of device in our daily life instead of plastic purchased water bottles. Plus I would not spend the money on expensive bottled water which sometimes still tastes funny. All I have to say go safe water!!!!!!

In Love with Austin

I had never been to "The Capital" in Austin. So I went with my sweetheart. It made me think there is so much I have not seen in life, let alone in this beautiful city of Austin, Texas. I fell in love with Austin as Carrie Bradshaw did with her New York City.

I have been in Austin since 2002. I have lived through experiences that only alone in a big city could anyone start to understand. More importantly, I grew to become who I am today in this city. I face my fears, find my loves and live life because Austin changed me for the better. Today, I can say I always want to find an adventure.

We went to "Capital Building" in downtown Austin and I loved it. I know I need to visit many more times; I did not get to see everything I wanted to see. I found that I enjoy my adventures with Lynn. I was able to enjoy the experience with someone who appreciates the history, the architecture and the adventure of learning. I once took a trip over seas with friends who just did not get the point of living the moment, appreciation of culture and just going with the flow. My philosophy is "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." In other words, don't try too hard and just take it for what it is and learn. Luckily Lynn is a laid back Texan looking to explore the world paired with the same philosophy makes me pleasantly excited for what is in store for the weekend.

In conclusion, I can't wait to explore the world one step at a time and elated that I have found someone I can enjoy this journey with.

Why am I here?

So I sat home after being laid off. I questioned myself. Why am I here? What do I do? Where do I go? Do I change industries, go back to school, who am I and what is my purpose in life? I thought it through and a common theme came about. I want to be successful in what ever I set my mind to. I want to be an influence on my children so they can do whatever they set their mind to.

They say a child's minimal potential is as low as their mother's education and influence. I want to be a mother first and to be active in each child's life. I believe they need to see a strong woman figure. Being home is important for my children and my children I know will be my passion and inspiration. I also want to work in my passion.

I have many interests but through this blog I hope to focus and and explore those interests so I can find my passion in life.