My sister is already leaving. Time just flew by. She is flying to Rochester tonight and she’ll be there for a week. She’s then spending the week in NY with her quasi-boyfriend. My parents are staying for a few more days. My dad leaves on Sunday because of the stupid presidential inauguration thingy which is on Jan. 1. My mom is staying for New Year’s although I have no clue what we’ll be doing. Everyone I know is out of town. Where does one take one’s mom for New Year’s Eve?

Sofia is moving here next year. This is awesome news. The Brazilian Duo is back!

Heidi, Chad, Squishy, and Lucy bought a house. That’s quite a feat for those of you familiar with the Bay Area market. I’m really happy for them and can’t wait to see the special room they will have for me.

I just found out that Sofia is coming to see me and she’ll stay for at least three weeks. Sofia and I went to high school together back in Brazil, then she moved to Rochester during my junior year in college and we were inseparable. We were roommates for four years until she decided to move back to Brazil.

Then, right after she leaves, my parents and sister arrive for the holidays. I can’t wait!

The nice thing about having a birthday in late October (other than the fact that we get to reset our watches on my b-day every seven years or so and I get to party for an extra hour) is that it is followed by Halloween (by far my favorite holiday). Except that I can never decide on a costume. I am now undecided between being a pirate or a 40s gangster. So I bought props for both… What will I do?

PS: I know they are pretty crappy choices but I’m not that creative when it comes to costumes. Plus, there are benefits to both choices. Pirate - get to wear an eye patch, tons of jewelry, I already have the hair, cheesy velvet jacket, red scarf. Gangster - the machine gun and the hat.

It was a good birthday (even though my parents got the date wrong). It started out with a call from Stefan which was a nice surprise (although now I need to find out when his b-day is. 1/5?). Then my sis called, then Sofia, my aunt, etc. I also can’t believe how many gifts I got.
I don’t think I had received these many gifts since I was a kid.

the trip

The trip was actually quite fun, much better than what I had expected. We went to this Hacienda del Sol Thursday night and had a great Spanish meal. There was also this “wine guy” there so we tasted some pretty good wines (all Spanish too). We started out with some sparkling wine then had an ok white wine with the appetizer. We then had this very nice (and cheap) red wine with the main dish and a not so good sherry with dessert. One of the marketing guys managed to bring a couple of bottles of the red wine back in the bus with us so that made the ride back to the hotel that much better. It’s amazing how work people become much more human after a couple of glasses of wine.

The sparkling wine (the bottle was beautiful, the wine was not so nice)

Omigod! I’m 31. That means I’m thirtysomething. According to Heidi, I should receive the manual any day now.

It wasn’t super cold but it was cold enough that my toes were complaining. Unfortunately, I leave for Tucson AZ on Wed. so I won’t be able to enjoy the cooler weather for too long. But I’ll be back Friday night. Just in time for my b-day weekend. BTW, can I just say that it sucks that I won’t be able to start pre-celebrating on Thursday b/c of this annoying business trip?

I can’t believe my sister is 29. I actually thought that was a great age. Enjoy!

My mom is coming to visit me in a few weeks. She’s actually coming to buy stuff for the house they’re building. Originally, she was only going to Miami but I convinced her to come here instead. I need to start cleaning my house now. Everything is such a mess!

ouch
I had my first session with the personal trainer this morning. My muscles are still tired. I’m soooooo out of shape!

I’m sleepy. It was a shitty game despite the score. I actually got up at 4:00 am to watch it. It helped that M. came over to watch the game. He remains so calm during all Brazil games which in turn makes me feel slightly calmer. I guess it’s easier to stay calm when it’s not your team playing.

By the way, I’m wearing red shoes today. Coincidence? I think not. (I apologize to my Turkish friends in advance but I just had to bring that up).

That’s all I have to say about that.