Brazil Trip #1

   Gabe and I had the amazing experience of going to Brazil. My work would not allow for me to go before Christmas but we were able to go just after. I will admit that I was very scared. I had never been to Brazil and had no idea what to expect. Gabe's mother, step-dad, brother, and Grandma Lima were able to attend the wedding but nobody else was able to. Here I was going to this foreign country that I had never been to, did not speak the language, and was meeting new family members. It was all just a little overwhelming as one can imagine. Gabe continued to reassure me that everything was going to be just fine. He would protect me, translate everything, and his family was going to love me. In the meantime my mother was freaking out. Several years ago my mother read and watched a  story written by Danielle Steel, Not without my daughter. This was a true story about a woman that had married a man from Iran and had a daughter that lived here in America. They had decided to go visit his family in Iran for a few weeks. When arriving there her husband took their passports away and held his wife and daughter in captivity. The story is based on how this woman tries to escape from her husbands wrath. Her husband allows for her to leave but tells her that she must leave their daughter. It continues to tell of her struggle of not leaving without her daughter and her success in returning to the U.S. So of course my mother is afraid that somehow the same will happen to me and that I was going to get stuck in Brazil!
   My parents drove us to the airport the day after Christmas. After Gabe had reassured my mother time and time again that he would bring me back, she let us go. We boarded the plane and started our journey to New York. Once in New York, we had a bite to eat, stretched and prepared for our long flight ahead. The longest that I have been on a plane at one given time was 6 hours, and for me that was enough. We flew through the night and finally reached Sao Paulo. Unfortunately out trip did not end there. We had to board another plane and fly for another 2 hours before we reached Gabe's home town. In Sao Paulo we had to go through immigration and customs which was a complete night mere. We had a 3 hour lay over in Sao Paulo and it took us the entire time to get through customs. We boarded the plane once again and two hours later we had finally made it to Porto Alegre.

   We were greeted by Gabe's family, we went back to the house where lunch was provided for us. It was so nice to be there. It was really warm but had 70% humidity. We met Grandpa Neves who is 91. He is such a sweetheart. I fell in love with him the moment I saw. He reminded me a lot of my own Grandpa Maybury. We met Gabe's Uncle Fernando, Aunt Andrea, and their daughter Ana Clara who is 2 such a doll. We went to the beach, shopping, and ate tons of amazing food. The following week we went to this lil town called Germado. It is a cute lil town just 2 hours out of Gabe's hometown. There we were able to meet Aunt Marta, Uncle Mark ( who is from Germany), and their daughter Marina who is 8. The language was the most difficult part. I had no idea what the heck anyone was saying and at times I felt left out. Gabe kept his promise and translated what he could.

   It was a great experience and we had a lot of fun. The plane ride home seemed to take longer because I think that I just wanted to get home. It is a great thing to be home and to be back in my own home. Needless to say my mother was very grateful to Gabe for bringing me home and saving her a trip to Brazil to come get me. We are planning our next trip back soon and I have to learn Portuguese. 

                                                                        

Goals!!!

   January is one of my favorite months ever.  This is the time that I begin to look over the coming year and decide what I want to happen. For years, I have always had the same goals that I wanted to accomplish. Somehow by the middle of April all those goals have gone out the window. By the end of December I have accomplished nothing that I wanted to. This year I hope to be different. Let's be honest, I have never ever been classified into the skinny category. My weight has always been an issue for me. At times I have found myself sad, depressed, and in envy of all the beautiful skinny women in the world. Often times, I always thought that all men wanted skinny, petite, size zero girls. It was not until I met Gabe. He was the first man that loved me for me. I love him with all my heart and I know that he loves me, but I want to be able to love myself. I want to be able to look in the mirror and to be happy with what I see. I also want to be healthy, I want to be able to have children one day and to be able to see my grandchildren. I want to have more energy and not feel like a slug.

     My work has done something very fun this year. They have started The Biggest Loser. All those that have wanted to join pay 20 dollars to the pot. For 12 weeks we are all on a diet, exercising, and having weekly weigh ins. The winner at the end of the 12 weeks gets the money in the pot. So far we have gotten the pot up to $600 dollars. I am not doing this for the money, although it would be nice. I am doing this for me.  I need to be healthy, I want to fit into clothes and look good. But mostly I think that I want to feel happy about who I am. I will never be a size zero and that is ok. I just want to get to the point in life where I am happy to see what I see in the mirror and I want to feel better about myself.

   I am determined to do this. I have reached the breaking point in life that I have run out of excuses. So my goal for 2012 is to be healthy, to be happy, and to love myself. I know that when December 31st roles around I am not  going to be sitting around depressed about what I have not accomplished but rather happy at what I have accomplished.