Apartment Beautification Plan

I'm sure you all have had this feeling before. You have guests coming from out of town to visit and suddenly all of those little "projects" or updates you've wanted to complete for months around the house have a much greater sense of urgency. Well, that's exactly that's happening to me.

In less than 30 days, my sister, Gwen, Maz and Jez will be coming to BSB and staying with me. So hard to believe since we've planned things for such a long time.

One of the little projects I've wanted to do for a long time was rearrange my living room. Today I went to the Hippie Fair and bought the tv stand.

By doing this, I was able to flip the entire room so I could take full advantage of my view from the comfort of a couch.
Another "project" that's been on my list was to move my laptop into my spare bedroom. This took a little while as a hole had to be drilled between the two rooms.
With all of the other changes today, I was able to move it. Next step will be to use add wi-fi so I can sit from the comfy couch while enjoying the view and some coffee but we're moving in the right direction.

The next "project" will be to hang up artwork. I've bought some here and as so many of you know wherever I live I add my photographs to the walls. I've got them already in frames waiting to be hung. This week I'm hoping to do that as well as having some shelves I bought hung.

I bought a mandala at the Hippie Fair too. Mandalas are circles, can be found in nature, and are used in lots of different ways. Mine was bought more for the aesthetic quality and the message's good too, especially while I'm sleeping. Thought it was cute, the price was great and I got a good bargain so went for it. I finally have something on my walls.

A final "project" was to find a door stop. Living in my apartment I have great cross breezes but this causes doors to slam. Such a Brazilian no-no. I receive this first door stop from Kathyas a Christmas present.

And today I found the perfect one for my front door. It's both strong and cute. Definitely stood up to the wind challenge today.

I'll post more apartment beautification plan updates as they occur in the next few weeks.

Quick Carnaval News!

As I sit here at Starbucks in Rio. Yes, that's right friends. Starbucks. Waiting patiently to sip away my java chip frap, I wanted to take a quick moment to let you know how AMAZING our time has been here. There will definitely be more detailed posts later but while I've got a moment wanted to share just a few bites for your reading pleasure. So far on my wonderfully amesome (lame adjective but so appropriate here) Carnaval week I have:

• Dressed like a fruit vendor on a subway,
• Got hit on while dressed like a fruit vendor on the subway,
• Danced my heart out at the Sambadromo with Imperano Serrano,
• Got horrible blisters (yes, there's always something with me) from dancing my heart out,
• Made friends with some of the other dancers in our wing,
• Eaten/ing lots of deliciously wonderful food (goat cheese with walnuts, thai basil chicken, cinnamon and clove ice cream)
• Been gaining a nice tan after months of pale gringa-ness,
• Taken naps everyday,
• Spent 4 wonderful days hanging out with my great friend,
• Seen less than 10 clouds total in the skies since arriving on Saturday and
• Slept in till 9 am each day.

And the best part is that it's only Tuesday. Sigh. More soon. Wish you were here.

Hooray for Brazilian Drugs!

Today, after several weeks of procrastination, I finally visited one of the pharmacies on my commercial. I was just about to the bottom of my medication and needed a refill. I'd put it off long enough.

While I was home over break, I stocked up on a few over-the-counter and some perscription drugs. When you're sick and you open your medicine cabinet, it's just nice to know that what you have works for you. No trying out something new after stumbing through a poorly translated conversation with the pharmacist.

Also, I'd found while home that the medication I needed was not covered by my new insurance plan. The pharmacist at home had tried to see if there were substitutes but alas none. When I asked how much the cost, thinking, I'll just suck it up and pay for what I want. The reply. USD$200. What!??! I asked him to repeat. Unfortunately the reply was the same. Grrrr. That left me with the Brazil option. Try and see what they can do for me. The reason being...

Here a lot of the perscription drugs we have in the U.S. are over-the-counter. Included in those range from birth control to allergy medicines to lots I probably don't even realize are. Well, as I geared up (really psyched myself for my trip - it was truly about the Portuguese) I went to the pharmacy on my commericial today. I was hopeful the medication I needed would be on that list of easily available drugs. The cost of drugs on that list also seems to be signifcantly less expensive.

Prior to my visit, I'd been chatting with a friend who had found the same medication in Brazil, brought her along and hoped we'd get lucky. If she could do it, I'm sure I could.

I brought my medication with me to the pharmacy and after saying a brief good afternoon, the pharmacist instantly asked if generic was ok. Definitely. I LOVE generic. The cost was R$35 for about half the size of what I got at home.

Had I paid the full crazy inflated drug price in the US, I would have been out $200. In Brazil, I got the same perscription drug. If I match quantities, I would have paid R$70 which is approximately USD$35.

So people, do the math. That's a $165 difference. I could go into the whys and frustrations of perscription drugs in the U.S. but I think for now I'll just say "Hooray for Brazilian drugs and pharmacies!" I definitely need to get over my language failure fears and just appreciate the money you save me daily.

Samba-ing com uma Cinta de Tornozelo

So, t-minus 48 hours and I'll be dancing. Dancing in a samba school parade with Andrea in Rio. And yes we'll be wearing our lovely fruit vendor costumes (can't help but laugh out loud for several reasons with that one) but I'll have an additional accessory. I'll be wearing my ankle brace. Hope that doesn't detract points from Imperio Serrano.

The way that I just wrote that it sounds like a bad thing. It's not. It's actually a good thing because it means I'm healing. I just wanna be all healed-up and things take time and I have to be a bit patient.

Look at all of the exciting things I can do now that I couldn't do 2 months ago:

• wear two shoes,
• walk around Brasilia,
• wear my stylish ankle brace with Birks,
• wear skirts and actually look normal rather than wearing sneakers and not cute ones like the real ones,
• get a crazy hot pink pedicure,
• do physical therapy with some (not major) pain (stupid arch and achille's tendon),
• walk for ice cream and yummy food.

So see, life is good. I'll let you know how samba-ing with a cinta de tornozelo goes. Promise! Now I just gotta go and practice my song. Sou Imperio!