And she hits the ground running...

Friday night: rodeo in a neighboring city with a few friends - Tomas, Wagner, me and Vitor

Saturday: Hippie Fair with Aunt Donna and Jennifer, an unsuccessful search for 2 dogs to adopt for the girls' ranch, back home, dinner, exercise, and to bed

Sunday: pick Jennifer and Donna up from the girls' ranch, lunch with Donna while Jennifer met with some friends, a successful search for 1 dog to adopt for the girls' ranch, a lot of happy girls with a new dog, dinner, church, out with friends, and to bed

Monday: my first full day back in the office, an outing with the birthday boys from Hope and with Donna and Jennifer, and back home and to bed

Tuesday (today): another full day of work, a 10-minute nap, house cleaning, dinner, dance class, and blogging. :o)

I already have more invitations for stuff to do this weekend than I know what to do with.  I'd say I have two lives... in two different countries and two different languages.  Life is crazy.  And our God is so good to bless us with fun adventures!

A long trip

As I told people before I left, I was super excited to come to Brazil but dreading the trip itself.  And rightly so... haha.  I got up at 4:45 on Thursday, was at the airport shortly after 6, my plane left at 8:40, and I arrived in Atlanta about 1:30 (Eastern time).  I had an 8-hour layover in the Atlanta airport, which is always fun (not.)  So I came up with a way to help pass the time. 

As soon as I arrived at the airport, I posted a message on my Facebook page for all to see: So here's the game: I have about 7 hours in the Atlanta airport until my plane leaves.  (9:20 pm eastern time).  Help me pass the time by leaving a comment which lists an item I must find and take a picture of while I'm here.  (you know, like a scavenger hunt)  Ready, set, GO!  

Within a minute or two, I had about 10 responses.  So I got my camera ready and set out on "The Great Atlanta Airport Scavenger Hunt," as I dubbed it.  I can't post all of the results in this blog, but I will share some highlights.  If you want to see the full results, you can visit Facebook. 

"an elephant of any size"

"a lady with three children" (the third one is in the stroller in the front..)

"a moose!"

"a he-mullet"

"a 'car' backpack"

Awkward!

Emery was over last night, and, as is common to do with a 2-year-old, my mom at one point said, "Emery, I'm going to check your diaper," as she pulled the back of her diaper open to see if Em had left any "presents."  While she was doing that, I said, "Hey, Emery, say, 'Awkward!'"  And she promptly repeated, "Awkward!"  I just about died laughing!  We kept practicing, and I told her any time someone looks in her diaper to say, "Awkward!"  She got to where she would do it without even being prompted, but the later it got, the more difficult it was for her to remember her new vocabulary word.  I was a little worried that all our hard work wouldn't be paying off just yet... 

This morning, however, I got a text from Kevin when I arrived in Atlanta: We asked Emery this morning what she says when we check her diaper.  She said, "Awkward!"

'Atta girl, Emery! :oD

still on the go

Well, I kept with theme of "going out with a bang" until the very end, I'd say...

Monday night, my friends convinced me to go salsa dancing.  We had fun!  Definitely glad I went!

Tuesday, I worked all day, went to the eye doctor, from there to the Stone Age for 45 minutes of climbing before my "body sculpting" class, then straight to Staci's house for an excellent dinner, on to swing dancing, and out to Frontier after.  

On Wednesday, I did what I needed to for work and then got to packing.  My dad picked me up about 5:30 and we went to get my new glasses.  

Then I convinced him to get his first pedicure with me. :o)  (He enjoyed it despite the fact that he has VERY ticklish feet!)  

We grabbed a bite for dinner at Fuddruckers.  Then we stopped at Walmart to get some odds and ends before I finished packing.  We raced the clock:

Then was Albertson's for a 3-month's supply of Jelly Belly sours.  We also raced the clock there:

Then it was home again, home again.  Emery was over, so we spent some time with her.  Then I finished packing and was in bed in record time!  10:25 pm!  I have NEVER gotten to bed that early the night before a trip to Brazil.  The sad part is, I didn't get to sleep until about 1 am. boo.  Then up at 4:45 and on my way...

"Going out with a bang"

This was my last weekend in Albuquerque... until August, anyway.  I'll be back in the States at the end of August for a good friend's wedding (yay!).  It's always nice to "go out with a bang," as they say, and I think I managed to do that.  

Friday night I hung out with some friends, mostly from church.  We went to my friend Ricky's house and had a little barbecue and played some games.  There were about 10 of us, and it couldn't have been better.  A great mix of people and a great time.  

I got to spend all day Saturday with dad and Kevin.  Jenn and Em started the day out with us but had to leave early because Em wasn't feeling well.  We went to Sandia National Lab's Family day and got to see some pretty cool stuff.  Security is very high at SNL (employee's can't even take their cell phones on campus), so it was a treat!  Kev, dad, and I went to a movie afterwards.  You should definitely see it, if you like action movies: Taken.

In the evening I went to a party for the Christian fraternity (KYX): The Stache Bash.  As I'm sure you can deduce from the pictures and name, the theme was mustaches.  Everyone was supposed to wear a mustache, although not quite everyone complied.  It made me very thankful I don't have a 'stache!  but it was fun while it lasted. :o)

After that, I went out with some Brazilian friends.  Fernanda just finished her master's at UNM, graduating yesterday.  And of course that calls for a celebration.  Brazil Night at one of the bars was just the place for it - samba, capoeira, and all!

Sunday was church in the morning, and nice, relaxing afternoon with Kev, Jenn, Em, and mom at home, and then church in the evening and to bed.  I was exhausted!  

I am trying to economize my time this week, so I worked from 5am-1pm today and will probably have a similar schedule the next couple days, so I can get as much done as possible.  The countdown to Thursday morning seems to be moving very quickly!

It's all lies, obviously...

This is definitely old "news," but I think it's still worth sharing...  When I came home for Christmas, I had a lot of lying to do in order to keep my visit a secret from my parents.  Since I am usually online to talk to them over the weekend, I decided my alibi would be that I was going to Iguassu Falls for the weekend (since I would, in fact, be traveling).  I thought it would be fun to post a blog, including pictures... to really have them fooled!  I wound up not posting it after all (since it's pretty easy to tell they're not real), but I had a fun time doing the "photo shoot" in my living room at my apartment in Brazil.  I used Photobooth, which allows you choose a background for your picture to be on top of when you take it... if that makes sense... Here are some of the highlights... (notice it even got "windy"...)