LMAO!!!!

You have to try this site: http://www.yearbookyourself.com/

Here are my results....First there is me in 1956...so scary I have no comment!

Then there's me as my MOM!! in 1966. This is strikingly similar to her.

Here's me with sexy, long straight hair in 1974.

And as my sister in 1976!!

And this one (1990) is so similar to my actual senior picture I peed my pants when it loaded!! Even the pose is the same! Oh, Aqua Net!

And then I loaded this one from 1994, and I realized this is closer to what I actually did with my bangs during that period of my life! What was I thinking?

Thanks Jill, for providing the link on your site--http://brennekids.blogspot.com/. It made my night.

New painting for the house...

pretty, huh?

When you rise before your alarm and are greeted by awesome beauty....it makes it ok! (even at 5:30 in the morning)

I've been doing a lot a thinking lately. Not just the every day thinking. The deep, introspective kind of thinking. The kind you can get lost in. Too many ideas have crossed my mind in the past month to list, but two very important goals have come from hours of sitting still:

1. Don't borrow worry Sara.

2. Capture moments.

I'm making a conscious effort to avoid overly stressing out. I am working to not fret about the small stuff. Most importantly, I am letting go of things I can't control. Why worry about something that will never be? It takes too much precious energy. Life is fragile.

As I find myself more and more often with a large grin on my face, I am stopping to breathe in the moment, to capture it, to freeze it in my mind's eye. It comes from being so completely grounded and emotionally healthy--it is an amazing feeling.

But these things are sometimes easier said than done. However, I think a higher power is keeping His eye on me, helping me to stay on track with these two personal goals I have set, for when I might be losing perspective, I am gently reminded with an awesome view like this:and I remember that beauty surrounds us, people are priceless, time will pass but memories are forever and this life we each trudge through is a true blessing!

Chilly Macae!
Here are a few more pictures from our weekend in Macae with Francesca and Sophie. My camera batteries died in the first morning, so I had to wait this week for Francesca to upload and send me the shots from her camera. Here's me the first night in Cesca's apartment...it was late and it was chilly (it is winter here afterall) as the wind off the ocean blew through her veranda door.

We enjoyed a couple of hours on the beach Sat. afternoon, despite the breeze and overcast. Neither of us ended up in our bikini--it was too cold, but we had the chance to have Sierra take this shot of the two of us. My neice saw this photo and said I look like my sister here. (I often look like my sister.) Another friend of mine looked at this picture and said Francesca and I look like WE could be sisters. She's such a good friend of mine that she's like a sister, so I guess that counts, right?
Here is the beach in front of her building. The last building on the right in this picture is Cesca's apartment building. Seriously!?! Could you stand it? The only thing you hear is the ocean crashing on the shore! It's amazing.
Our angel babies, Sierra and Sophie. Despite the 5 year age difference, these two played extremely well all weekend long. Sierra is the patient "big sister" and Sophie is a gentle joy to be around.
Would you take these two to lunch?? We did!! Proudly!

I think this year will find us in Macae often, visiting Cesca and Sophie. It is a beautiful, quiet city just outside of Rio and a welcomed rest from busy, noisy city living.

I'm thinking of buying a new place...

Check out the support beams they're using during construction!!

The downside of being a teacher.
Last year I started a project at school teaching adult staff members English one night a week after school. I had a huge turnout the first couple of months (almost 30 students) then schedules and staffing changes forced over half of my students out of class. They were no longer able to keep up with work responsibilities and attend class. However, I had four or five regular students who persevered through the entire school year, many of them making great progress in their acquisition.
When I returned to Rio this July, I learned that my star student had been released (not as in The Giver released) from staff (a.k.a. fired). I was shocked and heartbroken. This man is one of the kindest people I have ever met. He was so driven to learn English that he was continuously asking me for more practice exercises between classes. He made incredible strides in his oral fluency. It was very rewarding to both he and I.
I don't really know what happened or why he was released; I guess I don't really need/want to know the details. I just felt like I never had the chance to bring closure to a friendship. I felt like it was stripped from my life without warning, and I was sad that I might not ever know what becomes of him. This, my friends, is not a new thing to us teachers. However, it is never something I enjoy.
However...I opened my email this morning to find this email:
Hi Ms Sara.I am not working in the school now. If I am writing this e-mail, it is because I had a good teacher. What I learned, will be very important for my life. I don`t know what I go to do now. I am studing the books and I am doing the exercises. You will be my teacher always.Thank you.
As I read the email, chill bumps traveled up my arms and down my neck, my eyes welled with tears of happiness and pride, and I said a small prayer of thanks for knowing that I have helped make a difference in this man's life.
I am going to offer the class again the year; we will begin in a couple of weeks. I need to give the supervisors time to sort through the schedules to make sure those who attend class can be successful. I also think I will work it out to meet this former student once a month for coffee to practice his English.

Look who turned 10!
Sierra's 10th birthday was Friday and to celebrate I had a cake and some brigadeiros sent to her classroom during brunch for the class. While we were in MN, she celebrated with a birthday party at Justice with her cousins from WA and a friend from MN, so she didn't have another party here in Rio. She told me Tuesday night, "No offense Mom, but I don't really want to do anything with you this year for my birthday. I just want a friend to come over and hang out. You can go out."
So, her friend Marina came after school and stayed with Tania, our maid, until about 9 o'clock. The girls did a little "cooking" in the kitchen, played at the court and play level here at the condiminium and rented a girly movie. I hope this isn't an indication of "teenager" mentality when kids don't really want to "hang out" with their parents. It's just too young.

Here is Sierra's class with their teacher, Ms Diane--far left in black shirt--before singing "Parabems" and digging into the cake and brigadeiros.
The boy on the left in yellow is also the birthday boy. Fernando and Sierra share August 15 as their birthdays. They are in the same class, but Fernando turned 11. His mom and dad and I put 2 sets of candles on the cake, an eleven and a ten. At first Sierra didn't like having a birthday buddie, but after it was all said and done she said it wasn't so bad. It was actually kind of neat once they started comparing the time of day they were each born.

As for me, I find it hard to believe that my baby is 10 all ready! Sometimes I look at her and still see the sweet, tiny little baby in my arms. Other times, I look at her and wonder where this very mature insightful young lady has come from. Always, I look at her and give thanks for the true blessing in my life that she is.

Happy happy birthday my baby girl!

Official Jason Mraz - I'm Yours video

I LOVE this song. It makes me smile and want to move my feet!!

Have you ever looked at pictures of yourself and not recognize the person in the picture?


My friend Barrie had a birthday party for herself last night--Moroccan style. They transformed their house with beautiful draped fabrics and mosaic candles lighting every table. The food was unbelievably good, as it always is at their house. It was a great evening, but when I looked this morning at the few pictures taken last night, I didn't recognize myself. Weird. Maybe it has something to do with always being the one behind the camera instead of in front of it.

Here's one of me and my friend Suzanne. (Her eyes are actually open!)Not sure what I'm in the middle of saying, but I'm not surprised that Suzanne's eyes are closed.What in the world is this about??? Who is this?This one is actually pretty good. From left to right: Suzanne, me, birthday girl Barrie. The three of us make up the middle school English department at EARJ. I think I'll make each of them a print of this picture.

We also have the resident Mae (pronounced "my" and means mom). Vania is such a source of stability for many of us younger teachers on campus, and the ongoing joke is for all of us siblings to vie for attention from Mae. She didn't move from the sofa very often last night because each of us fought over our turn at her side.

Here are Priscilla and Ana Helena getting their "mom time". I am so lucky to work with so many wonderful people--my Brazilian family!!

Hi Dixon!!!

We miss you (and your mom!) Sending you big hugs.

Going Brazilian...

I have lived in Rio two years, and I finally had my first Brazilian. All I can say is, "What was I waiting for?!?!"
(it is not possible to publish pictures for this post.)

Visas, RNE cards, expiration dates

Brazil requires foreign residents and visitors to acquire Visas prior to entry. There are about five different types of Visas, depending on the travelers individual situation. I have been here in Brazil on a Temporary Visa - V, which is a two year visa permitting the holder to work while in the country. The Visa is pasted right into the holder's passport and adorned with fancy stamps and illegible signatures. To acquire this type of Visa, a company or entity in Brazil must sponsor and assume responsibility for any potential holder. The American school sponsors my Visa and Sierra is granted one due to her being my dependent.

Once you enter the country with this type of Visa--or any Visa for that matter--you are required to register with the Federal Police within 30 days of entry. On the day you register, they take your fingerprints, file several passport sized photos, and document your entry. It is Brazil's way of keeping track of the foreigner population. You also receive what is called a protocolo once you have registered. The protocolo is essentially a strip of paper about an inch wide and four inches long with your passport picture adhered to one end of the strip. This paper serves as the foreigners legal identification in the country while waiting for the RNE, or Brazilian Identification card to be printed. The time between the protocolo and the RNE is supposed to be less than 180 days. When it surpasses the 180 days, the protocolo needs to be sent back to the Federal Police to be stamped for another 180 days. Mine and Sierra's protocolos have been stamped and re-stamped for 180 days 5 times!!

However, yesterday, we were finally scheduled to pick up our RNE cards (the permanent, plastic version of the protocolo) at the Federal Police in a little town outside of Rio called Nova Iguacu. We were on the road by 8:15, in Nova Iguacu by 10:30, and standing in front of the agent at the Federal Police by 10:35 to be handed these:

Our permanent Brazilian ID cards. I know you can't really make out the writing on the card, and that is not important. Actually it's probably better that it is not possible to read them since there is a lot of personal information on them. But, in the top card, I have drawn a black arrow at the section of the card that reads "Validade". (Validade in Portuguese means Valid until or validity--for clarification.) The date below Validade on both of our cards is 27-07-2008. (mo.-date-yr.)!

The cards expired the DAY BEFORE we actually picked them up from the Brazilian Federal Police. And of course they did, they were processed with my first temporary working Visa, two years ago. At the time of filing, the Federal Police had no way of knowing that I would still be here after the initial two year Visa. How could they?

In the meantime, my working Visa has been officially extended another two years. Sierra and I will need to go to the Federal Police to register again, in the the next 25 days or so, be fingerprinted and photographed, and most likely receive ANOTHER protocolo to wait for a valid identification card.

The good news: In the two years I have been here, I only needed to show my protocolo when entering and exiting the country and one time when riding and interstate bus to Paraty, a small beach town between Rio and Sao Paolo. At least the ID isn't something that a person needs to produce regularly. AHHH, politics, government bureaucracy, red tape. I think no matter where you are these things don't function in the way any of the civilians using the services would like.

Some last days' pictures from our holiday in MN

The final days of vacation are always insanely busy! When you first begin a 6 week holiday, it feels like you have all the time in the world. It never fails though, the last day sneaks up on you before you know it, and you have failed to cross off all the "want to do" items on the list.

Nonetheless, we were able to spend a lot time with and visit many friends and family in MN while on vacation, and we were fortunate enough to make a trip to VA Beach to spend time with my sister and her family. Many things to be thankful for.

In the final days, Sierra and I tried to squeeze everything that was forgotten and spend the days with Gramma and Pappa too. Long mornings spent drinking several cups of coffee while sitting on the patio were cherished. Now my morning coffee doesn't taste the same without Mom and Dad's company or the sound of the birds chirping in the trees around us. Sierra and Gramma feverishly finished and painted several more leaf molds. We were lucky enough to fit two of them in our suitcases, wrapped in bubble wrap. They now decorate our veranda in Rio.Sierra took the time to give Gramma a lovely beauty makeover (notice the blue eyeliner--earlier used by me and Colette for our 80's party, now Sierra's play make-up), and Pappa was pretty shocked when he walked in the porch and saw the two of them all "done up". I believe he is contemplating laughter or tears here.

We endulged in a night of broasted chicken in Grandy at the "world famous Brass Rail".The good thing is that with modern technology we can talk to each other on the phone anytime we want, and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Mom and Dad can pick up their phone and dial our number here as a local call. It sure makes it easier to be so far away knowing that I can hear their voices regularly. That certainly wasn't the case in 1995 when I first came to Brazil. And it made it easy/possible to call this afternoon while laughing my butt off because I found this in my kitchen cabinet:

Let me tell you the story of "Mario". I bought a People magazine the first week I was in MN. I buy several People magazines while I'm in the states because I really like People--except now because Brangelina is all over them--but anyway. This particular People magazine happened to have a bunch of pictures of Mario Lopez in several different apparently famous poses like the one shown here, which was originally Burt Reynolds in like 1970 something. Well, Mom and I had a riot with this magazine. She and I decided we would unstaple this shot of Mario and tape it to the inside of her kitchen cupboard where the coffee grinder is stored in hopes that someone, namely my brother, father or Aunt Jo, would open it to grind coffee and find the shockingly revealing picture. So amidst giggles, she and I taped it to the cupboard one night when no one was looking. Unfortunately, no body was ever actually surprised by the picture. It seems that the coffee grinder and filters have been stored in this cupboard for so long that no one really looks when they open the door. They simply unconsciously open the door, reach up, grab what is needed, and close the door again--without EVER LOOKING! So we ended up having to point it out to everyone--mostly threw hysterics because Mom and I found it quite amusing.

The funniest thing now is that somehow, in my mother's infinite wisdom, she managed to convince my daughter, secretly, to bring this picture back with her to Rio and tape it inside MY coffee cupboard! I had NO CLUE! I don't even know when Sierra accomplished the task. It wasn't there yesterday. She went to bed before me last night and woke after me this morning! Somehow that little trickster, with the coaching of her Gramma, pulled it off! And I just left a message for my mother on her answering machine that she will probably not understand because I couldn't stop laughing long enough to speak!

Sierra meets Baby Oliver

Our friends Julie and Gustavo welcomed their second child, Oliver, to their family shortly before we left Rio for the US for holiday. With all the end of the year hoopla, Sierra and I never had the chance to get by to visit and meet the new baby. It was the first thing we did once we returned.

Here is Sierra holding the now 2 month old Oliver Simpson Soares. He is a super gentle (giant) baby with a full head of dark hair, which you can't see too well in this photo. His big sister Camila is adjusting well and so far seems to be enjoying being the big sister.

Congratulations Julie and Gustavo on your new blessing!

Back in Rio, safe and sound, almost entirely unpacked and settling back in after a wonderful U.S. holiday!!
Off to the shower...

It's all about making memories!
I can't do this in Rio! I'm a country girl at heart, and I have grown up with guns and gun safety. I'm a pretty good shot too, so when one man at my dad's cowboy shoot offered a stage for some target practice, I jumped on the chance. And Mom was there to make sure we had photos of the fun. After shooting at the range that day, I was determined to learn how to shoot a pistol with only my left hand, so a few days later Dad and I took his guns out behind the house to try. Uh, not so easy. I definitely need both hands to steady the revolver enough to hit the target.
So after being in the Wild Wild West, I jumped several decades to the 80's!!

Vicks, Auntie Burnsie, Me, Colette--80's style

Vicki and Chad threw an 80's party last weekend. I learned two very important things: #1 My hair can still be ratted beyond the allowable height, and #2 No matter the year, big hair and blue eyeshadow makes you want to party like a rock star!

It's all about making memories!

I LOVE this Girl!!

Beach BABY!

Does it get any better than this?

Or this?

Or maybe this?

It is GREAT to have had such beautiful weather for so many great outside, summer fun times with family and friends!!

Wild Wild West

My dad is a country boy at heart. He grew up in the country, farming mostly. The home he and my mother have lived in for the past 39 years is in the country, although not a farm. He is a hunter through and through. In retirement, he has taken up a rather interesting hobby, and I was able to watch him last Sunday at a real Cowboy Shoot!

There is a national organization called Single Action Shooters Society, to which Dad belongs. There are local chapters or other local organizations that are similar who hold monthly shoots at ranges designed specifically for Wild Wild West reinactment. He had a shoot last Sunday, and I was able to check out what it's all about. It was a beautiful, cloudless Sunday afternoon, watching Dad participate and enjoy this hobby. Here are some pictures from the day.

As you can see from this picture, he dresses in costume for the day. He crafted the cart next to him from scrap wood he had laying around the garage. It is used to carry your guns and ammo from stage to stage throughout the day. The stages sometimes require the use of a rifle, a shotgun, and two pistols or any combination of the three firearms. The shot here at Piona's Pleasure Palace required all three.The instructions of this stage were to sit on the bed, ask the time keeper, who was playing the school marm, for a big wet kiss, then stand up and start the shooting. From inside this structure, he had to shoot the rifle 10 times at various targets out to the right in the picture, then each pistol from the same position five times at other targets, come out of the "building", grab the rifle sitting in the middle of the staging area, and shoot that 4 or so times. The directions at each staging area were actually quite elaborate. Several times during the day, my mom commented on how many steps to each scenario and how could they remember what to do, especially Dad who has a hard time remembering what she tells him to do at home. I think her appearance at Sunday's shoot called his bluff on the whole poor memory thing. Hmmmm...

I was overall impressed with the safety precautions taken throughout the shoot. These guys are using REAL bullets and there are approximately 125 shooters there with 4 guns each; that's a lot of possibility for accident; however, there are very specific guidelines for how to approach each stage and how to handle the guns all day. There is a loading table, where there is always someone there to help count live bullets going into the guns, there is an unloading table after each participant takes his/her turn where there is also a second set of eyes making sure no live bullets leave the stage, and at all times while carting guns around or carrying guns back to their respective gun carts, the chambers are open. It is a well run competition. And these guys and gals are INTO IT!

There is one man, who goes by Jack Pine Bill, who insisted that I have a little turn at some target practice when the groups broke for lunch. Being my father's daughter, I was happy to comply. I went to one of the ranges and shot two pistols and a rifle at some targets in an order prescribed by Jack Pine. When I was finished, having missed only 1 of 40 shots, Jack Pine was ready to sign me up for next month's shoot. In all honesty, I think I would consider joining my dad in this activity if I lived closer. Until then, I'll have to live vicariously through his cowboy boots!

Fun with cousins!
Sierra and I are having a wonderful visit, catching up with family and friends. Here are a few shots of her with others from the last week or so.

Sierra with Veronique and Buttercup (the chick).

Sierra and cousin Taylor.Sierra and cousin Bailey.Sierra and cousin Emily.

Summer in the states is always relaxing, refreshing, and enjoyable!