This weekend we went to Rio. How awesome is it to say that sentence?! Still can't get over it, t'was incredible. A short weekend (too short)- but we fit a lot in. Of course, we hit up the classic tourist sites, ate feijoada on Saturday afternoon, and hot churros filled with dolce de leite for dinner. And felt pretty fabulous doing it.

The Corcovado was first on our list and we lucked out with perfect blue sky weather. It was Alex's first time, and it could not have been better! If you go, don't miss the amazing juice/smoothie you can buy at the top. I'm not really a juice person, but this actually tastes like you are drinking a mango...nothing like it.

After lunch, driving around the city and browsing through little shops, we made it to the Pão de Açúcar in time for sunset. This is by the far the best time to go! Must, must, must. And toms are too.

The next morning we headed to Ipanema for the Hippie feira. Apparently the feira started from hippies selling homemade trinkets in the seventies, and still only homemade art and crafts are sold today. We still have Frank Sinatra singing Girl from Ipanema stuck in our heads.

Rio's Botanical Garden was next. Loved it! 

Ant hill. Everything is bigger in the tropics.

We love you Rio. Next time we hope to just beach bum it and eat at a churrascaria. 

New

Good news… we are in Brazil! Alex has an internship with the HR department of Azul Airlines, and I’m working in marketing. When the opportunity presented itself, we figured.. why not? With only a semester(ish) left of school at BYU, Alex finishing his temp job with the NORC, and childless- we really didn’t have much tying us down. It also helps that I’m technically a Brazilian, but unfortunately a brasileira who didn’t speak a lick of Portuguese.

We arrived 3 weeks ago, and are loving it.  For marketing, so far I’ve been able to tag along to places like Rio and Florianopolis, while Alex resides in psychology heaven’s cubicle. But so far most of what we do is study. And study. 

Right now is the heart of Brazil’s winter- also known as perfection. The coldest it gets is in the 50s, but typically 70s. Everywhere is green. The food is fantastic, perhaps a little bit too much. There are gorgeous beaches everywhere. And one of my very favorites, the mercados every Saturday with all sorts of fresh fruit and vegetables that I've never even seen before, tasty pastels, homemade trinkets, and more. But the people here are even better.

There are definitely things I miss about the U.S. already, but it is so amazing to actually live somewhere else. Not a week or two vacation, not a month long humanitarian trip, but just live.
 ..even though I will take the other two any other time. I may be saying this knowing that in three months we will be back in the comfort of U.S., because anyone can do anything for 4 months, right? Either way, right now it’s pretty awesome.

pão de queijos 

Here we are with Paulihno from the tallest building in Sao Paulo, after a 3 hour wait. Trust me, do not go on a Friday.

Italia

We had an amazing trip. Incredible! I don't think I've stopped thinking about it since, and considering it was finals last week- that is saying a lot.

We started in Venice, drove to Florence, and ended it off right in Rome. Oh and a lot of darling towns along the way. I've never been to Europe before, and Italy was so unlike anywhere I've ever seen. I absolutely fell in love!

The beautiful rolling hills with perfectly straight lines of harvesting grapes, orchards of olive trees, and fields of yellow flowers. Then the cathedrals, domes, and museums that left us all awestruck. Killed me!

And what blog post of mine wouldn't include something about food? What can I say, we are food people. You'd think after having pasta twice a day, gelato (sometimes 3x..why not?), and endless pizza- I would be excited to get back to "normal" food. Not so much. In fact, I'm craving thin crusted pizza with prosuitto, lasagna, nutella gelato, and all the different types of pasta (that I embarrassed myself trying to pronounce) like it's nobody's business.

..And then when I came home and described this to the sweet girl I work with, she recommended Applebee's bacon alfredo pasta ("Seriously, SO GOOD!!")- I wanted to cry. Unfortunately, this trip may have turned me into an Italian food snob. Thanks, Italy.

Enough of the complaining, let's bring on the pictures! Here are some pictures from Venice. I really tried to narrow it down, but I suppose I'm a bit of a photography junkie.

 Some of my sistas

 The bag boys. What would we do without them? 

 

Erica's baby Adam. I missss him!

 

 Glass making factory

 Why yes, my husband is a model. You'll be seeing a few of these.

 San Marco's Square

 

The Problem With Valentine's Day

I believe that I had a epiphany today: Valentine's Day isn't perfect. In fact, it is seriously biting me in the buttox right now.

You see, the problem with Valentine's Day is ironically what makes it so great.

The candy. Creamy chocolate and sugary hearts all day long of the only guaranteed guilt-free day. It's bliss, isn't it?

...Until the day after. And the day after that. And if you're in my shoes, a week an a half later. Because it isn't really possible to eat it all in one day, especially when you take Valentine's Day as seriously as we do.

V-day needs stop around here already. Because my huffing and puffing, softening body is no longer amused.

V-Day

I love Valentines Day. Always have. Single or not, it is the perfect excuse to celebrate, eat chocolate, wear all the pink and red you want, and red lipstick isn't even a question. I'm not sure it gets better than that.

But as much as I love it, I do have mixed memories about this day. Like when I was 16, Abby and I spent hours upon hours making sugar cookies for my boyfriend because the first batch we mistook powdered sugar for flour. Don't do that. Then he took me to Subway (yes, the sandwich place) for our hot date where we shared a slimy sandwich with pickles. Or Jetblue's painful Valentine's Day massacre. Or freshman year at college we did a big group date to Olive Garden and mini golfing. My date tried to hold my hand, and that was awkward. Or last year when we babysat for my aunt's 6 kids all week, and I spent the majority of it dancing with my sassy 2 year old cousin- and loving every minute of it.

Well, this year wasn't anything spectacular. We both had classes, I had a crazy test, and then worked till 10. I don't think I saw Alex anytime between 9am-10pm.

But somehow, it was probably my favorite Valentines yet.

First off, I had an awesome outfit. Well I thought so.Yes, this is a self portrait...try not to poke fun.

 

In the morning I snuck out of bed to make chocolate chip red velvet pancakes, with a cream cheese glaze. (Recipe below.) With whipped cream, of course. Wow- don't even get me started! I full-heartedly recommend them, even if the amount of food coloring kinda weirded me out. AND I somehow managed to get it all done before I woke him up! (That never happens.)

By the time I got home to change for work, Alex had already left for another class. But waiting for me was a sweet surprise- little notes all over the place. Inside the microwave, in my closet, on the TV, and places that I'm still finding. I'm coming to find this guy to be quite the romantic, and I'm loving it!

Oh, and a trail of reese's peanut butter cups to the bed where a bag of Cadbury eggs lie. This guy knows me.

When I finished at 10, we dined over leftover lobster bisque while cuddling up to an episode of Chopped. We love our Food Network.

Can't wait for next year!

Red Velvet Pancakes with chocolate chips

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 large eggs

1-1/2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons red food coloring

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup chocolate chips

-Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl

-In separate bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk, sour cream, food coloring, vanilla. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold in chocolate chips.

Cream Cheese Glaze

• 4 ounces low-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon milk, if needed 

Simply blend together until even. And enjoy!