The cookie

Peanut Butter Patties, you just may very well be the death of me...










But oh my, it would be such a tasty, tasty way to go.

Granola update

So it didn't turn out like I expected it to. It was not clumpy enough, and was a bit on the salty side. I blame the peanuts, personally. But don't we all?

Wish me better luck next time...

I amaze myself sometimes

I cooked.

A meal.

And it wasn't from a box.

Seriously, yes, Amar and I had spiffy pasta and broccoli last night. And in paying me perhaps the best compliment, he said, "This is good. This is 'invite people over' good."

So yes, I'm on a roll. Or at least the beginning of one. I mean I was rolling and cutting basil leaves. Amar was slicing garlic and cubing mozarella. I was dicing tomatoes and sprinkling red pepper flakes. Flavors were flying across the room left and right. The aroma of a nice meal permeated the entire place. Wow.

And it was apparently good enough that we both had leftovers for lunch today. Yee haw! We're in business!

I'm going to attempt two more dishes in the next few days, but as I type this, I'm reminded of some wise words....

"Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall."
Proverbs 16:18

I'm back!

Well, I'm back in Austin. Finally! I just barely made it out of Texas before the huge ice storm hit, and I wound up missing the entire thing. I've already unpacked and done laundry (a record!) and I'm hoping to stay unpacked for awhile. Wish me luck :)

Amar and I are still recovering from Christmas decor. Yes, the tree is still up, though yesterday we made some progress. He's taken our lights down, and I've packed up all the ornaments. Once we decide to stop lounging around, we'll start dismantling the tree and we'll finally be finished.

Anyone else still have Christmas in their house? Please, help me feel better about myself and admit that you still have decorations up. I know you're out there...

A few Brazil pictures

Out sick

Sorry for the lack of a decent update from the southern hemisphere yesterday. It seems that I was under the weather. Quite under the weather if you don't mind me saying.

But I'm back upwards of 90% today, and all is well. I'm literally counting the hours until I can be back on my home turf. Not that Brazil is bad or anything. Quite the contrary. I just miss my peeps, that's all.

Anyhow, it seems that now Europe is getting the same stuff that Texas got earlier in the week. I have a theory that there are really only a handful of storms circling the globe. Every time they cross the international date line, they change personalities. They do some reorganizing. Sometimes they downsize, choosing to let a few clouds go. Sometimes, if the hydrologic cycle has been good to them, they can spend a few extra on some cumulonimbus clouds here and there...maybe a cirrus or two.

But it's the same bunch every time. Just like corporate America, they have contractors that work for them. For instance, sometimes you just don't have the talent on-hand to generate the lightning that you'd really like to unleash on the Midwest, so you open up a few recs, and off you go.

Ok - enough silliness. Back to work.

P.S. On Wednesday we had both a fire and a massive power outage. Too much fun, my friends. Too much fun!

The update for Tuesday

While Austin has been busy digging itself out of the massive blizzard of '07, we've been enjoying rather nice weather down here this week. Apparently before we arrived, they had experienced daily showers since the beginning of the year. But the sun has joined us this week, and it's been really nice down here.

After a rather uneventful day at the office Tuesday, I returned to my hotel room to find a beautiful bouquet of flowers that had been sent by my dear, sweet husband. What a wonderful suprise!

We went out to a pretty snazzy pizza place last night, and enjoyed a stroll around the neighborhood in the cool weather. But by the time I got back to the hotel around 9 o'clock that night, I was dead tired.

So there you have it, the skinny from Brazil. That's all for now, folks.

A third of the way there...

Well, these first few days of work have been...how should I put it? Oh yeah, long!

We catch the shuttle at 7AM to get here, and we catch the shuttle at 6PM to leave, and an hour's drive on each end of that journey. That makes for a long day. But we're being productive, I guess :) Still wearing hard hats and safety glasses, but this time around we have indoor plumbing. Oh, bless those people who have been working on that!

We also have a cafeteria in the building now. But I'm still relying on my good ol' rice and beans to get me by. I'm not willing to risk the mystery meat yet. Here's an actual conversation I had with a Brazilian friend of mine yesterday during lunch:

Me: What kind of meat would you say this is?
Him: What? What do you mean?
Me: I mean what type of meat is this? From what animal?
Him: Well, I guess it's meat. The normal kind.
Me: Um, yeah. I'm going to pass.

Other than that, nothing too eventful has happened. It's warm here, so it's a bit crazy to imagine Austin as a block of ice right now.

What really happened...

So I'm in line, about to board my jetliner for the 10 hour flight to Sao Paulo. Boy howdy, I've been eagerly awaiting my first class seat. My free first class seat. I hand the lady my boarding pass. The boarding pass which has an obscenely low row number listed on it. She scans it. And then my whole life flashes before my eyes.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Ma'am, you need to see the agent at the ticket counter."

Despair pulses through my viens.

I hand the agent my boarding pass, and with an incredibly cold and heartless tone, she tells me that she has to bump me to coach. Coach! She says that some "missed connections" who "actually paid for first class" deserve the seats more than me.

"But you don't understand," I plead. "The sheer fact that I have first class seats on an international flight has literally carried me through this incredibly long day."

"I know. But I have to take your soul from you now. I can try to get you a good seat in coach, if you'd like."

"Thanks," I reply in a tone I can only describe as deflated and surrendered.

So I spent my 10 hours in the (bumpy) air listening to the people in first class clink their glasses, order wine, cut their steak, and freshen up with their hot towels.

But I made it just fine. It's a sunny, summer day here in Brazil, which is more than I can say for the entire state of Texas. Oh, and there was a super pretty sunset last night. I'll upload some pictures later. Peace out.

It's the journey, not the destination

Saturday's trip recap:

I should have known that my fairly decent travel record was going downhill with all that happened during last weekend's trip. However, I am learning the hard way that things don't always go according to plan.

My body of evidence:
1) The flight out of Austin yesterday was delayed because on its way into Austin, the plane was struck by lightning. According to the crew, they needed to patch some holes. Yeah, that's a great start.
2) We wound up leaving Austin 2 hours later than expected, which pretty much ate up our layover time in Dallas.
3) We arrived in Dallas 15 minutes before our flight was supposed to leave. However, the plane at the gate we were supposed to park at was having mechanical difficulties, so we sat on the runway for a good hour. We watched our other plane take off without us.
4) Our luggage is missing in action, but they've told us that it'll be on the flight with us. Yeah, I buy that.
5) During our time in Dallas, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. Again, we're prepared for a South American summer here, not the Texas winter storm of the century. Cold? A little.
6) About 1/2 of the flights out of DFW have been cancelled today. We're hoping ours is among those that isn't cancelled. But we have no idea...our hotel reservations are good until 6PM, but the flight doesn't leave until 7:45. Nice timing, eh?

The bonuses so far:
1) The airline determined that we missed our flight because of "mechanical difficulties" so they put us up in a hotel for the evening.
2) We were rebooked on the flight for Saturday, and the only 2 seats left were in business class. Bummer :)
3) Because we're on business class for an international flight, we were autotmatically granted entry into the Admiral's club. Posh.

So here we wait in Dallas. For ~4 hours so far, and about 3 more to go. We're crossing our fingers that we get to leave tonight. If we don't, then we'll try again tomorrow. But the weather is supposed to get significantly worse tomorrow through Monday. So who knows. I may get a little used to the Admiral's club...

Editor's note: Internet Explorer thinks that I'm writing this in Portuguese, so every word shows up on spell check. Please pardon any errors...I'll see what I can do to get this fixed...

Racking up the miles

Well my friends, this week finds me looking head on into another international trip. Yep, I'm going to Brazil again, and with a whole 2 days notice! Wow! :) Wish me luck.

It has been travel central around our house lately. First to Brazil, then Mexico, then Alabama, and now Brazil again. I have no idea what time zone I'm in, honestly. I really don't prefer to live out of a suitcase, but it'll have to do for a little bit longer.

As for my to-do list, per Kaitlan's request, the participants of the recent 'Bama road trip are to compile a Top 10 list of various happenings. I don't know that they are in any particular order, but here is my list:

1. Taking the bridge to heaven over Prien Lake in Lake Charles, LA. The fog was so thick that day that we didn't know where we'd wind up. Tiffany and Krista describe it better...
2. The 18 mile bridge on which no cop could ever take radar, as confirmed by our pastor. Gotta love the Atchafalaya Basin bridge! All 18.2 miles of it.
3. Taking a nap in Birmingham with Anne's dog Penny. I never had a dog growing up, and I've always wanted one to fall asleep on me. This was a first. Shout out to the basset hounds out there!
4. Watching the car surpass 60,000 miles 2 miles before we got back home on Monday night. Woo hoo!
5. Beautiful Alabama sky at night during the drive from Orange Beach up to Birmingham. Tons of stars to see!
6. Showering myself, my friends and my family with powdered sugar from my beignet while drool was sliding out of my mouth. The picture of glamour? You bet! Action shot below:
7. Getting to spend time seeing the Gulf Coast states with some fabulous friends.
8. Attending my first beach wedding: white sand, pretty sunsets, cool water...very lovely...
9. Talking to Walter at 1-800-Starbuc while we were frantically in search of a Starbucks. He is the man.
10. Getting reprimanded in church in Birmingham by an elderly man that didn't necessarily care for the way that my husband had his arm around me during the service. Oh, and then talking about it after church with the pastor who we had only known for about 30 seconds. Great stuff.

I know, I know!

It's been forever.

Yes, I know. And I'm sorry. I couldn't be more sorry, actually. Or is it sorrier?

Well, whatever. I've been all over the place for the past couple of weeks, thus the noticeable lack of posting. Was there also a corresponding lack of post-worthy happenings? Possibly. But I tend to blame sheer laziness and vacation for the recent void around here.

Ah, sweet vacation. Amar and I didn't have to travel much for the holidays. We slept in. Made our own schedules. Had coffee. Relaxed around the house. Ran errands. Hung out with friends. Hung out with family. Ate lots of yummy food. Decorated. Wrapped gifts. Unwrapped gifts. All that jazz. It was fun!

But now we're both back at work. Not so much fun :( But seriously, I didn't even open my laptop over the holidays and it was great! Now that I'm back in cubicle land, however, and much more on-line than I have been in recent weeks, the posts should be rolling in on a semi-regular basis.

Well, except for this weekend. It's road trip weekend as we head to 'Bama for a wedding. Long drive? Oh, heck yeah. But it will be fun to spend time with friends and visit a few other folks on the way as well. Wish us luck!