Happy Anniversary!!!

Today, it is Pau**lo and I 9th anniversary.

Since I love the story about the way we met, I will re-publish the same post from last year.

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We met at Chicago O’Hare Airport in October 1999 and it was love at first sight, but our lives were so busy and he had this great chance to work outside Brazil that we just kept our lives in the destiny’s hands. Every time he came to Brazil, he went to my hometown and we had those wonderful memories to keep us going. He is from São Paulo and I am from Curitiba. It is about 450 kilometers (280 miles). We talked over the phone every day and we exchanged e-mails all day and on weekends. But the distance was our constant enemy.
June 25, 2000 was a Sunday night, right after the Corpus Christy Holiday. I had worked all weekend including the holiday, because I worked in the IT area and we were about to implement a new ERP.
He called with a very serious voice. He was sounding really nervous, when he told me that on the previous Friday his boss had changed his employee status from traveler to International Service Employee and that he wanted to marry me.
It was quite a fairy tale, especially because we had seen each other 6 times in person. Our relationship was based on phone calls and e-mails. I didn’t have any doubts about what I felt for him that I just said yes. And on the following minute, we started to plan how we would tell to our parents and how my life would change a lot. It was a dream coming true.
It is funny to tell this story to everyone, because just a few people know it the way that really happened.

Monday!!!

My Monday started almost as planned.
Last night, I decided to change the early workout to the end of the afternoon. BIG MISTAKE.
I got to the office by 7:30am and so it began. We had MAJOR problems at one of our clients. At one point, my boss asked to me t o stop everything I was doing to help the other two girls that work in the same department, that were dealing with the issues. (What can I say: my boss and I are the most experienced).
I was really trying to have a opportunity to meet my boss and talk to her about my doc's appointment two weeks ago. I really need to know how the company will feel, if I need two days of work at home, if I get pregnant again.
We had lunch together, since at the office it was impossible to talk, and we talked a lot. She said that she will consult Human Resources and she will let me know.
So, this is one last thing down on my "not knowing" list.
The rest of the day passed like a blur, so many conference calls, so many e-mails, that when I looked at the watch it was 7:00 pm already and it was POURING rain.

Needless to say, the traffic jams were just HUGE. It took me one hour and forty minutes to drive about 10 miles. When I got to the gym, I was so tired, that I just gave up of my workout.

I am hoping for a calmer Tuesday tomorrow.

But I got GREAT news this morning. I won Carissa's giveaway. So, I will have a blog makeover that she will do for me. I am so excited. I do hope you all like it.

Now, I off to bed, because I am exhausted.

Sweet Dreams!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Happy Birthday MOM!!!!

We wish you a wonderful year, full of love and health.

I wish we were there to celebrate with you and with the rest of the family.

We love you!!

Church, lunch and a movie

No, this is not a mistake, since this is the same post title of last Sunday. HA!
Pau**lo and I just repeated the same combo.
We went to the 11:00 am service, which was PACKED, since this was the first weekend after the summer vacations. It was so PACKED and so HOT that we had to stay almost out of the church's door.
Right across the street from the church, there is "greenest" supermarket that we have down here. . We went to dispose some (a lot) of old magazines, as well as old newspaper, since they collect and donate all recycle items to the cooperatives that work with this kind of material.
We then went to lunch at the mall and to the movies. We had a great lunch at Jig's and head to the theater.
We watched Valentine's Day. Pau**lo was not really happy with the choice in the beginning, since it was a Chick Movie.
But it was a light and funny movie. It was perfect for a Sunday, right before we go back to our crazy lives.
If you haven't seen it, it is nice and worth a few laughs.

Now, it is time to get ready for the new week, with the new routine, since I plan to hit he gym at 6:00 am.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

I joined the GYM!!

First let me clarify about my days off.

As for the Carnaval holiday, we had Monday, Tuesday and the Wednesday’s morning. I worked on Wednesday afternoon, because I had a meeting with my boss about two new projects that we are working on. And on Thursday and Friday, I had two days off. We were supposed to go away, but Pau**lo has been staying out of the house all week due to his traveling and he almost BEG to stay at home.

Truth to be told, when we work the way we do and we stay outside of the house as much as we do, it is SO NICE to stay home ; )

So, it is time to go back to the title of the post.

When I went to my doctor’s appointment, she released me to go back to exercise.

We talked a lot about what happened and what are the next steps, if we decide to get pregnant again.

One of the issues that were discussed was the risks and bed rest that a new pregnancy will require.

When we came to discuss the bed rest, she suggested me that I make an appointment with a nutritionist and I should join the gym.

As for the nutritionist appointment, she recommended hers. And she wrote a letter explaining everything what happened and she asked for a weight loss program that is oriented to a future pregnancy with bed rest involved (because this is the real deal if I become pregnant again). I have an appointment on March 13^th.

As for the gym, she suggested that I joined the gym this week because I was off work. And I would feel EXTREMELY tired when I first tried. And boy, she was right.

Yesterday, I joined a gym close to my house. It is a huge Brazilian chain, with extremely nice facilities and extremely nice teachers and doctors.

The teacher, who made the gym presentation to me, was a sweetheart. I told her briefly what happened and I told her I was in really bad shape. She called the doctor on call to come and meet me. The doctor came and she retold my story to him. They came up with a startup plan that will take place for about 12 days. They suggested that I should do the stretching class once or twice a week and I should do 30/45 minutes on the tread mill or stationary bike 3 to 4 times a day.

The plan is just for me to rejoin the exercise world and to mainly help my back that has been really sore since I took the epidural back in January.

On March 1^st, I will have a meeting with them again to discuss my next steps to lose weight and to get ready for a new pregnancy.

I felt really blessed to find such wonderful professionals like them.

As for now, we will find something fun to enjoy this Saturday.

Happy Saturday,

Chilli Anyone?

We are having the HOTTEST summer in the century.
Let me say this: I HATE hot weather, I crave winter weather like Colorado and Michigan weather. I crave snow, I crave hot cappuccino, I crave Chili and Stew as a comfort food.
Whenever the weather is less hot down here, I end up doing one of those comfort food recipes.
The temps were a little cooler (or less hot) around 65°F, so the chosen one was Chili.

1. I sauteed one onion, three cloves of garlic in a two tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil;

2. I added 1 lb of cubed beef (I am doing a double batch, so I can freeze half);

3. ½ pound of beans (cooked from scratch – canned beans can be used, but in Brazil we cook them from scratch, don’t ask me why. )

4. 1 can of dark Brazilian beer

5. 1 can of peeled tomatoes

6. ½ cup of tomato puree

I brought it up to a boil and I let it simmer for about 40 minutes.

As for the chillies, in Brazil I can’t get my hands on good Mexican chillies, but I can get my hands on REALLY GOOD chillies from Bahia. So, I used some hot chillies sauce, along with a pepper (pimenta dedo de moça in Portuguese). I used a lot because Pau**lo and I love spicy foods, but it up to your taste here.

I also cooked in a really heavy iron pan, and it just added the extra thing to the Chili ; )

I hope you get inspired to cook over the weekend,

Happy Friday,