BitterSweetHoneyBea

Visitors and their awesomeness!

2012-07-25T18:34:00.000-03:00

Hey, everyone!

I hurt my knee real bad about 12 days ago, on my very first roller derby practice in quad skates. And I still can't really walk (now I'm a pro at limping, though), and who knows how long I'm going to be away from my brand new amazing skates! :-\

But now let me write about good news...

Husband and I had visitors for a week and it was AMAZING! Chelsie and Dona lived in Japan with my husband Julian many years ago and they all became true friends! They came down here to visit him and to get to know me and our cat Fiona and guess what? I'm IN LOVE with these beautiful crazy girls!!!!

It was the first time I had champagne (seriously!), cherry vodka, coconut rum... and besides drinking and going to bars, we took the girls to places we like around here!

Of course, we had to take them to Penha's convent, the most famous tourist attraction in our city, Vila Velha:

We had an amazing Brazilian barbecue! I even ate meat and didn't feel sick! ^^

Julian took the girls to a night club in Vitoria. I love dancing, but I really don't like night clubs or crowded places! And my knee is killing me... So I decided to stay home! I'm not sure they'll like to see their pictures here, but these are two of my favorite ones! Chelsie is SO sexy and what can I say about Dona? I'm crazy about that woman! She's the love of my cat Fiona's life!

We went to one of my favorite places, Matilde. We had a great time at the waterfall, walking around and exploring the place!

So those were some of my (many) favorite moments with these ladies. I hope to see them soon! I think I have more good friends at the U.S. now then I have here...

They went back home today and I already miss them!

Thank you all for reading and I hope you have a great week!

I heart trash pt2!

2012-07-13T17:06:00.001-03:00

Hey, everyone!!!

I'm still getting used to writing posts from the cellphone...

Today's post is about how we can transform old drawers in beautiful shelves!!
I've seen it at Ana Rita's house and I knew I had to do it, too! I was going to throw my kitchen drawers away, because they got terribly old and broken... But why throwing away something that can become something really useful and cute? :D
So I put some nice fabric inside and nailed them on the wall... Isn't it nice?

I hope you liked it! Thanks for reading!!

Derby, derby, derby!!!

2012-07-09T14:11:00.001-03:00

Hey, everyone!
I'm sorry for not writing enough lately, but I've been blocked for anything else that's not ROLLER DERBY right now!!!

I'm that person who never fits anywhere, can't manage to have a social life, lots of friends, like a normal person. I hate sports, I'm sedentary, chubby, anti-social and sometimes rude. But you know when you find something that suits you right away? That's roller derby! I'm completely in love with the sport and my new derby girlfriends!

My skates are arriving on the 18th, Chelsie and Dona are coming from the U.S. to pay us a visit and they are bringing my quads with them! (*_*)
I still have to learn the basics of how to skate, though. I SUCK! But I'm very motivated to learn and be the best I can possibly be!

Last practice the girls lent me a pair of extra inline skates just for me to start practicing SOMETHING before getting my quads. Here are some pictures:

The girls have been super patient and they are willing to teach me everything!

If you had never tried it, put skates on and do it! It's awesome, it's love, it's everything!!!
And if you live in Espírito Santo (the state I live in Brasil) and want to join the league, contact us! As you can see, you don't need to know how to skate, I'm learning from the very beginning!!!
Check out The Black Hearts Derby Girls on Facebook or our BLOG! Join us!!!

And thank you for reading!!! ;)

This is winter!!!

2012-07-03T14:00:00.002-03:00

Hey, dear readers!
Winter arrived but there's no sign of cold. Temperature reaches over 30 degrees Celsius and sun radiation keeps destroying our skin.

I love the cold, spending my free time under the blankets, watching movies and getting fat. But since we live in a tropical country with hellish temperature, Julian and I enjoy it the best way we can!

We went to the beach this morning (it's five minutes from our house on foot), the sun was great, the ocean was amazing (it's usually really strong and dangerous, but today it was like a lake) and the best of all: there weren't a lot of people!

The beach is a very nice place to read. It's calm and quiet when it's not crowded and the sound of the ocean is so relaxing!

Neil Gaiman is an *AMAZING* writer and this book is awesome! There are many short stories, which is really good for you to read while waiting for something or commuting on a bus or just chilling in a nice relaxing place.

Julian can't take pictures without squinting... LOL!

Funny face...

And when we arrived home, the day got even better! Dad was making a delicious barbecue and I ate meat!!! No stomach pains so far... And mom opened a delicious bottle of wine. It's our favorite grape (malbec) and it's from Argentina. We love their wine! And she told us this bottle was not expensive, just 25 BRL! Loved it!

So we're waiting for the "cold"... Every year we have 3 to 7 days with lower temperature, it gets around 15-20 degrees Celsius...

What about where you live? What do you usually duringwinter?

The Black Hearts Derby Girls!

2012-07-02T12:44:00.001-03:00

Hey, everyone!
Yesterday I went to a Roller Derby practice for the first time in my life and... I'm already part of the team!!! :D

I have no experience in skating, but I tried it and the girls told me they would teach me everything I need to start playing! I felt like I'm part of the group immediately and I'm obsessed with the idea! I think I can only think and talk about roller derby for a while now... LOL!
I'm going to buy the skates and all the equipment, but while I don't have anything I'm going to watch every single practice and try to understand and learn everything I can about it! I always hated exercising and playing sports, but this was love at first sight!

Here are some pictures of the girls practicing:

Is it awesome or what?!!

What about you... do you practice any sports? Have you discovered something amazing lately?

Thanks for reading!

Liebster Awards!!!

2012-07-01T03:19:00.000-03:00

Hey, everyone!
I've been nominated by Adrian for Liebster Awards!!! And I'm so happy about it!!! ^^

Adrian is my sister-in-law and I love and admire her so much!!!!

If you need some more explanation about this award, it's a good idea to read the post she wrote about it on her blog!
She asked me to make it a vlog, but I've been trying to figure out how to make it in an interesting way, and I got so anxious about talking to the camera for you guys to watch! I guess I'm not ready yet to take this big step, so let me grow this idea on my mind first!!! :)
It's 1:30a.m. here in Brasil and I don't usually sleep that late! I kept thinking about how to write this post, how to make it really nice (awards!ahh!!), but maybe this time it's supposed to be direct and simple, since I've been blocked all day and can't think of how I could make this right!

"Here are the rules for receiving this award:

Each person must post 11 things about themselves
Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you've tagged to answer.
Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
Go to their page and tell tehm
No tag backs!"

How can I say 11 things about myself! It's too much!! LOL! Let me try...

Well, I'm a really shy person, but nobody believes that! I get kinda scared when meeting new people and my defense mechanisms are either getting quiet, or excessively talkative, or rude (it sucks)...
I don't memorize names and faces very well, so if you know me, just talk to me a little that I'll remember you!
Most of the time I don't focus on who I look at on the street, so if you walk by me at the street and I "ignore" you, I'm not actually ignoring you. Call my attention!!!
When I was a small child learning how to walk, I used to walk in the opposite direction my parents wanted me to go. ALWAYS.
My house is on top of my parents' house. And the entire house used to be only my bedroom when I was living with them!
Every time I go down to my parent's house I open the refrigerator for no apparent reason. And I have no idea why! It's like an OCD.
Another OCD I used to have it's when my sister lived with me. I used to start following her no matter where she was going. And every time she asked me why I was doing that I really didn't know the reason!!!
I hate yellow. I think I hate it so much because of a song my dad used to sing to me when I was a child, in which a cat gives his girlfriend cat a dress and it's yellow. And she hated the dress because it was yellow and destroyed the dress...
I LOVE books, but I'm lazy and I don't read as much as I would like to.
I love dancing, but I don't like going out to nightclubs and things like that. Crowded places are not for me!!!
I'm obsessed with the idea of buying roller skates to start practicing roller derby because of a cousin of mine who told me about it today!

Let's see if I can answer all of Adrian's questions properly!

I started blogging on January 28th (this year!)... I spend a lot of time online just doing nothing and it annoys me a little. I wanted to do something more productive with my time than just checking my social network accounts or looking for ideas I was never going to actually use. And I know I make lots of mistakes when I'm writing and speaking English, I'm a EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher in Brasil. It's not my first language, so I have to practice a lot so I can learn! And I believe I have to be an example to my students, so how can I ask them to study and practice what they learn if I don't do the same!

I have lived in five different states in Brasil so far. And I have traveled a lot with my family inside our country. One of my biggest dreams in life is to know many different places and cultures. I want to move to the U.S. because I love English and it would be nice to live in a place where I can live the language. But I would love to live in any other country for a while, so I can absorb as much as I can from every part of the world! But seriously, I really want to have a house in the countryside, with lots of animals and plants and where I can live peacefully with my family and friends, chilling.

When I was younger I used to collect everything about frogs. I love frogs!!! But I don't have a collection of a specific theme right now... I guess I collect MESS!!!

I hate the sensation of being followed. If I'm walking on the street and there's someone walking behind me, I rather stop and wait for the person to keep their way so I can resume walking. Or when my husband starts running behind me I panic! I lose control and start screaming, asking him to stop!!! He think it's funny... ¬¬

I guess they do, but they probably have no interest at all about it! Some of them are my facebook friends and they surely can see my status update when I say there's a new blog post, but I have never heard any comments about it. Some of my students have read my blog, though! And it makes me really happy that they are reading in English! Specially because lots of them tell me they don't like reading...

No one has recognized me from my blog... Maybe because I'm not as sociable as many people, or because blogging is not so popular among people I hang out with, or probably because I live in Brasil, my blog is not in our language and there are lots of people here who doesn't like to read where I live!!

I don't read so many blogs anymore... I used to check lots of popular blogs in Portuguese but now I'm trying to stay offline as much as possible so I can (at least try) to be more productive. But some blogs I check almost every day, such as my tattoo artist and really good friend Lee, my beautiful sis-in-law Adrian and my friend (and cat lover) Érica.

I would DEFINITELY eat one cockroach. Specially if it's deep fried, chicken fried, roasted or something like that! I haven't done it (yet), but I surely would! Yum!

I would walk barefoot. I love it! It's really good to feel everything under your feet, feel the energy when walking on grass, the heat when walking on the pavement, the cold when walking inside the house... Actually, I don't have so many shoes... And I love my feet because they are both tattooed with flowers (a rose and a carnation), because of a children's song (in Portuguese) that tells the story of an argument they had and both of them got really hurt afterwards... Kind of a sad song, but it's cute!

I usually spend around 3 minutes on my makeup, but I could do it for hours! I love using makeup and I think it's a lot of fun to try different things!!!

My favorite thing about blogging is when my friend from Nebraska Trista told me I was inspiring her children on having plants in the house. I was so proud of myself that day that it gave me strength to keep blogging! Sometimes I think I'm not making any difference, but it's so good when people say me I'm helping them anyway they need! It's such a positive feeling that I'm going to try harder to keep going!!!

Yay! I hope Adrian likes my answers!!! I'm really happy for receiving this award from her and she's a very special person in my life!

As I told you above, I don't have so many blog friends yet... :( So here I go, breaking rules again!!! I'm not capable to tag 11 people! So I guess tagging the ones I know it's just fine... right?

Bloggers I would like to write 11 random things about themselves and answer my questions (English or Portuguese) are:

Érica
Lee
Helio and
William, who has a blog but I don't remember the address and because he hasn't put anything new there that I know of for years now!!!

I'm sorry, guys! But I'm still trying to figure this blog addiction out! I know other people who have blogs, but they are even less likely to answer to my questions... :(

But if you follow or read my blog, PLEASE feel free to answer and send it to me!!! It's going to make me very happy!!!!!!

Oh! The questions are:

What is the perfect age to get married in your opinion and why?
Do you have any guilty pleasures?
Is there something you hate doing but you have to anyway in your routine?
Could you write about an embarrassing or funny situation that has happened to you?
If you could be a movie or cartoon villain, who would you be and why?
Do you have or would like to have any artistic abilities?
What would you do if you had a million dollars for just one day?
What is your biggest concerns at this moment of your life?
Could you write about someone you know only on the internet, but feels like you are friends?
What is your dream job?
Please, give three words to describe your personality and explain why!

I hope you guys liked this post!!! My computer froze during the process and it's now 3:12a.m. and I still don't feel like sleeping... I'm sure I'm not going to feel good tomorrow!!! So I really have to try to sleep... Thank you for reading!

Going through changes.

2012-06-29T17:12:00.001-03:00

My sister Anita, who is more than 7 years older than me, used to play with her Barbie Hair before I was born. She was always asking mom and dad to get her a 'Beatriz'. And they got her one! After I was born, she used to play not WITH me, but USING me as her doll. LOL! She used to dress me up and put makeup on me... I have some pictures in my mom's house, I'm going to try finding some to post here.
The thing is, I used to play with animals, plants, climbing on trees, running everywhere, but I didn't play so much with dolls and stuff like that. Of course there's a consequence. Now I play with myself... Uh... please don't have the wrong idea!! Now I love using makeup just for the hell of it, experimenting new ideas, doing my own nails and... cutting my own hair...
I haven't had bangs since I was a small child. I used to have them just because I wanted to play without having hair in my face and in my eyes. Today I've decided to cut my hair and OOPS, I snapped and cut my bangs! I'm not sure if I like it yet... It's just SO DIFFERENT!

Before (picture from last December):

Now (today):

I think it's the most extreme thing I have EVER done to my hair!!! Holy bacon!

And that's how I've changed my hair in the past few years:

Short:

Anita and I:

On my wedding:

Honeymoon:

Wtf hair...:

Blonde (yuck...):

As you can see... I LOVE purple. Unfortunately, I can't find a bunch of photos right now with different hair cut or bright red... I had many different hair styles. What about you? Have you changed a lot? Show me some pictures!!!

Thank you for reading!!!

Skulls!

2012-06-18T13:57:00.001-03:00

Last weekend I made a cute keychain for my mom and a cushion. I really like sewing but I do everything by hand. And I don't know any sewing techniques, so I try my best...

What have you done lately?

Nails!

2012-06-18T10:33:00.000-03:00

Hey, readers! How are you doing?
Today's post is about something that I really like: nails!
Last year I wasn't working so hard and procrastinating so much on taking care of my appearance. So it was really common for me to do my nails frequently.
Here are some pictures of what I'd done before.

Normal nails:

Water marble:

Flowers:

Stripes:

Tribal:

So as you can see, I love beautiful nails. I feel bad when I don't have the time to do them and when I take good care of them even my confidence and self-esteem get better!

But today I'm showing you the basics of how we do our nails in Brasil. People usually get them done by professionals, but you can save a lot of money by doing them yourself. It's very important for you to have your own material and don't share it. There's a risk of catching fungi and bacteria diseases which you might have to get treatment for the rest of your life! In beauty salons they have a special machine to disinfect everything.

Most women here don't like keeping their cuticles undone. It's ugly and gross and when you use nail polish they always get in the way.

First, I use some moisturizer for really dry skin in my cuticles and leave my fingertips on warm water for five minutes or more. It's for people who have a darker skin complexion, because this type of skin needs more attention to not dry out.

Then I detach the cuticle from the nail, pulling out the parts from the edges on the sides between the fingers and the nails, always carefully, so I don't hurt nails or fingers.

I cut the cuticles off very carefully.

Clean nails!!!

The next steps most of you know... Using nail files and nail polish.... Ta-daaa! :)

I hope you like the post! Please leave a comment and share! ;)

How do you do or get your nails done? How often? Do you have any tips about it?

Happy dia dos namorados!!! 

2012-06-12T11:49:00.001-03:00

Today is Dia dos Namorados! It's the same as Valentine's day, but in Brasil. My sweet husband gave me a beautiful dress and flowers. I gave him a T-shirt with the roseta stone pattern, since he loves translation, and made us brunch with bacon, eggs and pancakes. This was the FIRST TIME in my whole life I made pancakes. Can you believe that?!

What are you doing for dia dos namorados? What do you enjoy doing with the love of your life?

Here comes the sun...

2012-06-05T11:16:00.001-03:00

My sunflower has bloomed for the first time today! :)
The pictures are out of chronological order because I'm posting from my phone and I just can't do it right!
My beautiful sunflower looks like a heart... And it's so romantic, because in a week from now we're having DIA DOS NAMORADOS in Brasil! It's the same as valentine's day, but it goes on June 12th down here. Since I'm a Brazilian and my sweet husband is an American, we celebrate it twice a year!

There's a holiday this weekend and I'm going to really clean my house an have another tattoo apointment. I hope I have the time to prepare something nice for you here on the blog!

Thank yoi for reading! Please, leave a comment and feel free to share!

Annita.

2012-05-29T12:04:00.002-03:00

This is kind of a sad post because I'm writing to tell you guys that my grandma made her passage from life to whatever you believe we go after that.

I was thinking about adjectives, but it's so difficult to give her one? My sweet grandma? My loving grandma? Well, she was not that kind of grandma. She was strong and quite independent. She was a tough lady! You wouldn't mess with her, she would kick your ass! And that's what I love the most about her and that's how I am going to remember her forever.

People say she was about to turn 100. But I think she must have had 300 years old or so. I was looking through some family photos a couple of weeks ago and showing them to my friend Ana. Grandma has always been old!!! I had always doubt she would die some day... I thought she would live forever and bury every single person of my family. Now I think someday she will return and maybe start some zombie apocalypse... I just can't believe she's gone forever.

And I'm really happy my husband had the opportunity to meet her before she's gone. He also have very good memories of her and that's really nice.

What can you tell me about your grandma? What kind of woman is\was she?

=^..^=

2012-05-10T10:13:00.000-03:00

Fiona in Wonderland.

Cuddling with mom.

Happy family!

Cat print outfit.

Fiona Glennane - our baby cat - went through a surgery two days ago! Now she's a spayed lady.
For those who say "poor cat! don't you feel sorry for her?", here's an article on the benefits for the health and well-being of your pet. http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/spay-neuter.aspx

This outfit is to protect her stitches. There were many different patterns of fabric to buy. Girly flowers or butterflies... But Fiona is a strong wild cat, so this leopard one goes perfectly with her personality! it's so cute!!! But she hates wearing that...

Do you have any pets?

Update on the indoor garden.

2012-05-07T15:30:00.001-03:00

I haven't had the energy to do anything lately. Making diy crafts, creating blog posts, taking care of the garden and the house, studying and working... I've always enjoyed those things, but it has been difficult and I don't know why!!

Some of my plants are growing fast and stong, though! The onion, which I thought hopeless, decided to finally grow. The peppers are so beautiful! I have to take the smallest ones out so the biggest and strongest ones can grow even better. The one with the purple tiny flowers were given to me from my friend Ana, she also grows plants indoors. The sunflowers are huge! I also have to put some of them in another vase!!! I'm seriously thinking about giving some to Ana.

Thank you for reading! I hope you like this idea and start your own garden!
I'm so happy I've influenced Trista's children to start theirs! She is a good friend from Nebraska, we have never met but we talk to each other online sometimes and I can't wait to finally meet her!!!

Beer bottle caps and cloth part 3.

2012-05-05T12:58:00.001-03:00

More magnets made out of recycled material! Don't forget to look back on the video that teaches you how to make it here on the blog!

I hope you like it! It's a nice souvenir to give as a gift to your friends , to decorate your own house, to hold pictures or important notes in your fridge or in any other metal surface. And it's so easy to make!!!

Cute cloth skulls!

2012-05-05T12:46:00.001-03:00

Hey, dear readers!
For those who like sewing, you know that after sewing a piece of clothing or a bag or anything else sometimes you get lots of spare cloth pieces that are too small to become something and too large to throw them away.
I've taught you in two different posts here on the blog how to make jewelry and home dacoration items recycling cloth and beer bottle caps. This week I've made these super cute cloth skulls! You can use them on a dull shirt, on a bag, as a keychain or even in your hair. You can also make magnets for your refrigerator or make matching skulls to put on top of your shoes and make them more interesting!

I hope you like it! It doesn't take so much time and it's fun making them!

The pictures are not in the correct order because I'm posting from my phone.

What have you been doing lately? Share your ideas! And don't forget to tell me what you think on your comments! ;)

I heart trash!

2012-05-02T13:46:00.001-03:00

Oh my holy bacon! I haven't had the time to write on the blog lately. I'm really sorry about it guys! And I really miss writing...
I've been working a lot, correcting lots of tests and students' papers and I still have to write the final paper to finally graduate at college. This past week I've been taking care of my dad. Mom went to Rio to help my grandma, who is at a hospital. So it has been difficult to create new things and new blog posts lately!

Last week I did something I love doing... I brought some trash home! I found this box and decided it is going to be very useful to keep some craft material in it. So I used some sand paper in it and painted it and it looks much better now!
What do you think of that? Have you been recycling anything lately?

I'll try to write some more soon. That's all I can do for now. =\ Lots of classes to plan right now!

Thank you for reading and sharing!! Leave your comments!

They way you look doesn't always defines what kind of music you listen to.

2012-04-10T09:04:00.000-03:00

I don't know about about the rest of the world, but in Brasil (at least at most of the cities), people really like judging and criticizing each other.
Julian and I are sick of it! Anywhere we go where there're people that doesn't know us they don't even bother asking his name. They look at me right away and ask me (right next to Julian), "Is he a GRINGO? Does he speak Portuguese?" And when I answer "Why don't you ask him? He's right here!" or if Julian answers "Não, não falo português não..." ('No, I don't speak Portuguese' in Portuguese), they get REALLY mad at us!!! It sucks.

When people look at me they see a girl with piercings, tattoos, make up... People here claim they are liberal, but they are actually extremely conservative. It's much more difficult for me to find a job or to be accepted in many social groups because of it. In their heads, I'm a hardcore crazy whore, a crackhead, a satanist...!!!
And something that really annoys me is that people get completely shocked when I say I don't like going out very much because I don't like crowded places, I rather stay home, making crochet, taking care of my garden, listening to Bossa Nova... They don't believe I'm a family girl, that I'm a normal married housewife!

My musical taste is the strangest thing in these people's opinion. I love listening to many different kinds of music, but BOSSA NOVA is really my favorite one!
Since I'm a baby I listen to rock and roll (mom and dad's influence) like The Beatles, Queen, CCR, Raul Seixas... When I was 13 I got addicted to heavy metal and other types of metal, and also rock n' roll, like Iron Maiden, Iced Earth, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Rammstein... And back then my favorite band was After Forever, and I loved gothic metal... That's why I studied singing for 6 years.
When I was 16 I started listening to black, thrash, death, doom metal... I became really extreme for a while. My favorite bands were Death, Slayer, My Dying Bride, Moonspell, Cannibal Corpse...
But my favorite band of all times was Opeth... I still love it!

I still like all these music styles a lot. But I've been in a much stronger Bossa Nova - Samba - MPB phase right now. Elis Regina, Tom Jobim, Chico Buarque, Nara Leão, João Gilberto, Maysa Matarazzo and many others are my heroes at the moment.

And since I was a little girl, the most amazing singer of all times in the entire universe for me is ELIS REGINA. She sings with all her feelings, she is AWESOME!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVuFcHNH-7o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1tOV7y94DY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ciB0XwxE-Y

She can't help it and starts laughing when she sings a happy song, she cries when singing sad ones... she puts a lot of energy on what she sings!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35FPZR24djg

Unfortunately, she died in the 80's, of a cocaine overdose. :(

Have your music tastes changed? What are your favorite bands and singers?

Gardening!

2012-04-07T16:25:00.001-03:00

I was working some more on my garden today! Let's wait and see if everything is going to grow.
The sunflowers are in a bigger vase now, I put some passionfruit seeds in a vase on the staircase, planted more beans in small vases, onions, garlic in plastic bottles and peppers in milk cans. ^^

If you want to see some serious gardening, check out my sister-in-law's blog adrianlovesowls.blogspot.com !

Do you grow plants indoors? Share! :)

Getting Tattooed!!! :D

2012-04-06T15:38:00.000-03:00

One more session at Lee's! I can't wait to finish it!!! (*_*)

15 needles (O_o'

Julian and my friend Ana took those (and tons of other) pictures.. This is her playing with Lee's dog Bella ^^

If you like art and tattoos, take a look at Lee's blog and tell us how do you like it! ;)
http://artexpressionlee.blogspot.com.br/

Caipirinha!

2012-04-04T22:39:00.001-03:00

I confess that drinking is an important part of my week. I work from Monday to Saturday and, on weekends, I enjoy cooking and making drinks or going to the beach with my husband and having a beer. Alcohol is something I think about when I'm planning the budget every time I write my grocery shopping list.
I'm not saying that I like alcohol abuse. No way! I just think it's something relaxing and we can enjoy some moments with our family and friends, eating and drinking in a healthy way.

I have been writing for months now and I believe the readers of this blog are aware of the fact that I'm a Brazilian. How come nobody has never asked me about how to make a caipirinha yet?!!! In fact, there are so few people leaving comments... C'mon, guys! Let's share our opinions here!

Caipirinha is a (perfect) Brazilian drink with cachaça, a very strong liquor made of sugar cane. Many people like drinking pure cachaça. You can have it all in a single gulp like tequila, or you can sip it while eating something salty and greasy. I'm a girl when it comes to pure hard liquor. And if you are weak like me don't even try it. But I can have drinks. And caipirinha is one of my favorite ones.

Something foreigners don't know is that not every Brazilian knows how to make a great caipirinha or how to dance samba. Fortunately I know how to do both quite well! Besides being a little expensive to buy in bars, it's not just mixing a few ingredients and it's done. Making a good caipirinha needs feeling. It's a process that takes CARINHO, a word that doesn't have a perfect translation for English, but it's something you feel and give to people and things you truly love. It's similar to affection, but way better. So if you're not in the right mood, don't even start it.

First you put some good music to play. You need to drink it with people you like to be around, it's not a drink for lonely people.
Peel a lime. If you leave the lime's skin, it's going to get way too bitter. Cut it into small pieces an put it in a proper container to make drinks, with a spoon full of white sugar and squeeze all together using a pestle till you get all the lime juice. Caipirinhas are traditionally made with white cachaça, but I prefer the yellow ones, they are so tasty and delicious! Here in Brasil I always buy a blend called Boazinha (the translation of this name is something like 'quite good'... so funny!), it's 20 reais for 1000ml. I also like Salinas and Velho Barreiro a lot. So, you put 1 and 1/5 shot glasses of cachaça in the container with limes and sugar, put some chopped ice in it and shake it. (Shake it like a polaroid) Hahahaha! Just kiddin!!! But shake it well. Open the container and put what's inside in a glass. Caipirinhas are so amazing that the glass doesn't matter so much. But choose a nice and pretty one. Put some ice cubes inside and now it's a good idea for you to put just a small (tiny) slice of lime skin to give it a bittersweet taste. I like to wait a couple of minutes before drinking it to admire this piece of art and to wait for the taste to settle down after all the shaking. Use a straw to drink it, don't worry and be happy!!! :D

What's your favorite drink? How do you make it! If you make a caipirinha, tell me everything about it!!!!

Magic beans.

2012-04-02T23:38:00.001-03:00

A couple post ago I've told you about my recent gardening experiences (and I'm kinda ridiculously layperson about it) and my beans and sunflowers (just some seeds thrown randomly in small plastic vases)... I'm embarrased to say that the psycho-sunflower grew so absurdely that I haven't taken any pictures. Only after I move them to a bigger vase. They grew not abnormaly by size, but in number of crops!!!

My magic-beans are growing so cute that I took some pictures of it and I'm serious considering moving them to a bigger place, too!

How much do you understand about gardening? What's your most recent success?

A very self-centered exposing post o let it all out.

2012-03-29T22:41:00.001-03:00

I have so much to think about who I am, who I want to be and what I've been doing in my life lately...
I met a friend of mine today that I haven't seen for a long time. I know the influence of negative people and their negative energy and comments influence us a lot to create this distance between us, but I've taking wrong paths that also contribute to that.
She told me today about constructive criticism, which made me very reflective on who I've become.
There's been a while since I came to the conclusion that I need to start building a wall around myself, too keep negativeness away from my life and my plans for the future (I guess writing about it on the blog is an attempt to tear these walls down a little bit).
Since I was a kid, me and my family have been struggling against judgmental people who can't understand and respect that we're kinda different and we just can't help it. I've tried to fit in, at many different stages of my life, but every time I tried to change who I am to be more like regular people I got screwed.
For those factors and many others, I tend to feel extremely alone... I just can't feel I'm a part of anything and I have become a very annoying opinionated and complaining person. I've been too bitter lately, too critic. I feel like I have to protect myself from everything and everyone, like I can't trust anyone besides my family. Is it true? Are people actually that phony and dangerous? Or have I become a terrible person?
I'm just tired... of trying to fit in and never succeeding, of other people's gossiping, of the problem of being myself. Trust me when I say, most of the time, being yourself can be the worst of your problems... Sometimes it's just socially simpler to act like a regular person.
I'm sorry to everyone I've hurt or pushed away for being such a difficult person to deal with... I really want it to change, I just don't know how to do it without feeling dishonest to myself about it.

Beer bottle caps and cloth part 2.

2012-03-28T16:12:00.001-03:00

Writing from the cellphone again! Yay!
I've finally made something to my house with beer bottles and cloth (there is a post here on the blog with a video showing how to make them, check it out)! What do you think of it?

And for those who have read the other post, have you already made something! If yes, share it! If you haven't made anything, time to start!

Indoor garden.

2012-03-28T00:18:00.000-03:00

This is the first time I write a post from my cellphone! Let's give it a try and see if I get used to it. It takes longer for me to type but maybe it's going to make me write more, since I can write from the bus on my way home (like now). (And later...) I saved it as a draft and finished it at home, on the computer, because I didn't know how to put the pictures in the correct places... But I discovered it already, I guess.

I've been reading a lot online about ways to have plants indoors. I live on the third floor, in a small house. Not having a yard or space to have many animals and plants is something really sad for me. I grew up in many different places an in all of them we used to have lots of nature all around us. That's probably why I want to have a house in the countryside some day...

I took some time today to work on my garden. It's such a relaxing activity to deal with plants and soil! Fiona (the cat) likes it a lot too. She couldn't help it, hoping around and throwing herself at the dirt...

The only problem is that I don't know the names of my plants!!! So I need the help of my favorite almost doctor biologist (and sister) Anita Bonita to tell me the names of all my plants...

My husband knows how much I love plants and nature, so he started giving me flowers a few months ago. Isn't he awesome?! The first one was this one, for no special reason. He just arrived home with them and it made me so happy!
They came in a tiny vase, so I put them inside an ice-cream empty container and it's a much healhier and happier plant now!

Later I bought one with no flowers. I was walking in the supermarket when I felt Like someone was observing me. When I looked at this plant it was like it was saying 'pleaaase, take me home!'. How could I say no?! I changed its soil for a better one and it looks great!

In March 8, international day of women, sweet hubby gave me five more different types of flowers!
I put these in an empty powdered milk container, which I still have to decorate.

These ones are violets, I guess, and behind them there's one that has yellow flowers... I saw this amazing idea in many different pages, specially on facebook, some friends sent me pictures of plants in soda plastic bottles (perfect for small spaces, because you can also hang them on a wall). I LOVED it!!!

I put some sunflower seeds in these vases, let's see if it grows!

Here there are three vases with garlic and in the other one I put some beans... I hope they grow and become magic beans! ^^

Some things remind me of good times in art course at the university, which I took for two and a half years but, instead of finishing it, I changed to English. The headless-armless woman (she used to have wings, but they broke) and the ball I made in pottery classes, my favorote art subject. The tray is what we used to eat that time in the university's restaurant. Now they use plates... boring!

These things are used to drink chimarrão, a traditional hot beverage from Argentina and south of Brasil. We bought them while we were in Buenos Aires for our honeymoon!

And I couldn't make a garden without one of my biggest passions... FROGS!!! I love all of them. When I was a child, I used to play with real frogs and toads in Pantanal... It was amazing!

Not only the vases are recycled in this garden. Besides using food and soda containers as vases, the shelf's decoration is made of free samples of formica found in the trash!

Do you have a garden in your house? Would you like to? What other recycling tips could you give me?